Feelin' Groovy

Elise Applies For A Passport

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:51:00 +0000

Elise, preparing to go to the Embassy

Elise, inside our block's lift

Elise, at the Embassy, waiting for her turn

Elise, on her first trip to a mall

Elise, First Week

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Picasa Web Album:   Elise - First Week

Full name:   Kiana Elise Fauni Ramirez
Birthdate:   July 7, 2013, Sunday, 12:13pm

----

The previous Friday, July 5, was Kei's last day in the office, before her maternity leave starts. The next day, Saturday, July 6, Kei's mom arrived here in Singapore.

Our expected date of delivery was July 25.

But early morning on Sunday, around 3am, Kei woke me up. She got out of bed 20 minutes ago and had already fallen back asleep, but she suddenly awoke because she felt something wet. That was it. Her waterbag broke. It was a good thing that she had already prepared a baby bag with all the stuff we needed to bring to the hospital, in case we had to rush. Exactly like our situation then. At around 4am, we were already settled in at the hospital's labour ward. I was with Kei at the delivery room. Her mom was out in the waiting area, because only husbands were allowed inside.

She was put under observation, since she wasn't feeling anything else out of the ordinary yet. The nurse checked on her and said she was just 1cm dilated. The nurse on duty then was Filipina.

Around this time, Kei's mom went home for a while. We needed a few more things from home, and she wanted to cook and bring our lunch.

After a few hours, it was probably past 7am, a nurse checked on Kei again. She was only 2cm dilated. Progress was a little slow. A bit later, our OB, Dr. Gordon Tan, said that he's going to give Kei something to speed up her dilation. Along with that, Kei decided she wanted her epidural anesthesia, too. That was around 9am.

By 10am, the nurse came to check Kei again. She's now 4 to 5cm dilated. Kei says she already feels the contractions more frequently. Before 11am, she was already 7cm dilated. By 11:30am, she was almost 10cm dilated. The nurse called for Dr. Gordon. Kei's mom also just returned to the hospital.

It was around 12nn when Dr. Gordon entered the delivery room. Everything was all set, and there were two nurses ready to assist. I was directed to stand by the bed, beside Kei. A short while later, Dr. Gordon started instructing Kei to push. Later, after everything was done, Kei said it seemed like she only pushed three times. The delivery was vacuum-assisted, so when Elise came out, there seemed to be a line drawn around the crown of her head.

The delivery was over very quickly. Elise's official time of birth is 12:13am. Immediately after Elise came out, she was placed on top of Kei then Dr. Gordon handed be a pair of scissors, asking me if I wanted to cut the cord. I had no time to think, I just cut it.

Elise was weighed right away, she was 3.03kg. She was hardly cleaned, even for weighing, when she was placed back on top of Kei. Kei was asked to try to breastfeed right away, while the nurses were cleaning and tidying up the delivery room.

After the delivery room was cleaned, Elise was taken and brought to the nursery, for cleaning. Kei's mom and I went with the nurse all the way to the nursery. Kei was waiting to be brought to her room.

The first day, Elise was very sleepy. We only stayed two nights at the hospital, and we were back home Tuesday, after lunch. Elise was waking up, getting hungry and needing diaper changes more often.

We were told before we were discharged to watch out for Elise turning yellow, and that neo-natal jaundice was quite normal. What was needed to be seen was how long it takes before it went away. Friday morning, Elise had a check-up with the pediatrician. When she was seen to still be very yellowish, we were sent to the lab for a blood test. The result was that her bilirubin level was very high (normal range: 0-101, Elise's level: 300+). According to the pediatrician, Elise needed to be admitted for phototherapy.

So now, she's still there at the hospital nursery. She was admitted Friday, 3:30pm. At 9pm that day, we visited her to feed her, even if it was by bottle. Fortunately, we lived so close to the hospital. We were told to hold off on breastfeeding while Elise's treatment wasn't finished yet. We went back twice today, Saturday, to feed her at 11:30am and 8:20pm. Another blood test was done at around 9am, and her bilirubin level went down to 285. There was almost no trace of yellowishness on her tonight! Elise will be discharged tomorrow, Sunday, yay!

Night 1 of admission, 9pm

Night 2 of admission, 8:20pm

I Am Now 100000 Years Old

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Y'know, in binary.

So, yeah, I'm now 32 years old, at exactly this time, 3:30pm.

Me

I'm one year older, not that much wiser. I try not to worry too much. I used to overthink a lot of things, but over the past couple of years, I've learned to sometimes just let things go. It was hard, learning that. The result, feeling lighter and happier, is definitely worth it.

But, man, do I feel older.

Work

I feel I'm quite happy at work. There were a few bumps on the road we had to deal with, sadly. I also feel I could've done more, been more productive. I also miss doing development work, coding. But, overall, I'm really not that disappointed. I'm a bit bummed about not getting a raise this year, though. :-p

Home

So this year saw us move into a new home. Kei and I are enjoying living by ourselves. We've buffed up the place over the past 4 months we've been here -- new sofa, picture frames, and other fixtures and furnishings. The chores, however, do have a tendency to feel like, errrr.. chores. I only really sweep when there's already an undeniable feeling of filth (read: visible) when I walk barefoot. That's around every 2 weeks. Heh.

Family

Now that we have our own place, we're already expecting visits from family. Kei's family is coming this July. Mama and Tita Alice are coming on September. I'm really excited to have guests -- to help out with the chores. XD

Kei and our baby

Kei told me last night: this will be my last birthday that I don't have a baby. Our baby is due next month! We're both very, very excited and, at the same time, very, very anxious. Kei's pregnancy is going well, for the most part, so I'm confident that she'll breeze through labor and delivery.

I can't wait for Baby Elise to start walking and talking! I want to teach her so many things. Things that do not involve Disney princesses and fairies and dolls and purple dinosaurs and touch screen devices. Things like building blocks and puzzles and old-school physical games and letters and numbers and math! Math and stories and imagination! We'll watch Super Book and Flying House and Powerpuff Girls and Phineas and Ferb and Bill Nye, the Science Guy! What fun!

Pop Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 06:38:00 +0000

June 12 is celebrated in the Philippines as our Independence Day. This year here in Singapore, a bunch of organizations came together to give us Filipinos staying here a whole-day event to commemorate the holiday.

Out of the entire program they publicized, one thing stood out to me: The UP Alumni Association of Singapore was hosting a Quiz Bee competition!

My friends would know that I'm very fond of quiz contests. This one, I felt, I couldn't miss -- especially after seeing that the prizes were well worth competing for. So I signed up to join it.

When the day arrived, I made sure to get to the venue early. I didn't want to miss the qualifying round just because I got lost. To my relief, the place was quite easy to find.

The qualifying round would cut down the number of contestants to fifteen. This first round was a written exam, scheduled for one hour. At 10am, the scheduled time of the qualifying round, there were just a handful of us. A fellow contestant joked that they shouldn't disqualify late-comers, which would ensure that the five or six of us present at the moment would surely go to the next round, since we were way below the cut-off of fifteen.

I finished the exam in fifteen minutes. All the questions were mutliple-choice, so when I didn't know the answer (which was more than half the time), I just quickly put in my guesses. The questions in the exam were mostly really obscure Philippine trivia, and I wasn't so sure of my chances of qualifying, if it all came down to everyone guessing through the exam (throughout my quiz contest career, I've always been horrible at guessing).

The organizers said they'd give me a call or send me an SMS around an hour before the next round (at 1pm), if I qualified. I went out for lunch, walking and sulking, waiting for that call.

I was biding my time going up and down the escalators of Plaza Singapura when I received the call. What a relief!

The next round of the competition would be held on-stage. I've always thought I've already overcome my stage fright, but this time I felt a little bit nervous. It's been so long since I've been on any kind of stage. Most of my anxiety was from my fear of embarrassing myself if I couldn't answer correctly. That'll really hurt my pride. :-p

For the second round, we were given four huge flash cards for letters A through D. The game master will read the questions out loud, and then he'll read four choices of answers. We'll then be given three seconds to flash the card containing the letter of our desired answer. The top three scorers at the end of the round will proceed to the third and final round. I answered nine out of ten questions correctly.

When the results were announced, I was indeed qualified for the final round. There was a tie for third place, so we had to wait for their clincher round.

For the final round, we were given whiteboards, markers and erasers. We will be asked ten questions and we had to write down the exact answers -- no more choices. The questions were very difficult. At the end of the final round, all three of us finalists each got only one correct answer.

To break the three-way tie, we went to a sudden-death clincher round. After almost ten questions, this one guy failed to answer what the other guy and myself answered correctly. He was declared the third-place winner. We continued to battle for first place.

After what seemed like more than ten questions, our tie was never broken. The allotted time of one hour for the competition has elapsed, and we were told that we had to leave the stage to give way to the next event. The sponsors were very mindful of the time that they bought. Because of that, we had to continue the clincher round in the backstage.

Backstage, we were seated in an air-conditioned room and there was only a small group of spectators, so it was less stressful than when we were on stage. But my nervousness never left me.

I think it took us twenty questions of giving the same answer, whether right or wrong, until a spectator remarked that we finally answered differently. To add to the suspense, the game master took a couple of seconds before checking if one of us gave the correct answer. He peeked at his question sheet and announced what all of us had been waiting for: we have a winner.

See the official announcement of the results here: PIDC Quiz Bee Winners

See photos of the event here: PIDC 2011 Quiz Bee etc

Close Your Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:48:00 +0000

I'll pretend that I'm kissin'
The lips I am missin'
And hope that my dreams will come true

Up And About

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Man, it feels nice to.. uhmm.. not feel bad.

This past week, I've had quite awful nights. My body ached and felt stiff, and my hip threatened to act up again. I'm glad I didn't force myself and rested early. I actually (foolishly?) over-stayed in the office, and when I got home, I had nothing else in mind but dress down, hit the sack, and end my day.

A lot of my planned activities had to be shelved for a while. I had to accept that some social network backlog, I needed to ignore (which comes pretty easy these days).

I did enjoy the extra rest I had. However, I really miss how sharp and active I could stay way into the night. This growing old thing? I, fortunately, don't have the extra energy to feel bad about.

PicLyf #2

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:35:00 +0000

New gadget in town: the HTC Sandwich - Ham, Tomato and Cheese! XD

Content Farms Are Amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:07:00 +0000

/sarcasm

I've known about such Web sites before, but it's become more pervasive in my line of work after Stack Overflow (also known as SO) boomed.

Stack Overflow's content comes from the hundreds of thousands of programmers from all over the world who post their programming questions and answers in the site. SO licenses their content under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This means that what the SO content farms are doing is perfectly legal. Even if they simply mirror the original Q&A page from SO, as long as they link back to it, they're covered.

However, I'd say that what they're doing isn't different from what the ad farms and SEO-mongers do -- they hijack search results traffic from the original source of information, which in this case is SO (that they link back to SO doesn't matter). It's legal, but it's not something to be proud of. Personally, I frown on them.

Jeff Atwood, one of the co-founders of SO, has already written about the issue of rip-off sites in his blog post Trouble In the House of Google, although he did focus on faulting Google in their failure to keep the content farms from out-ranking them.

What pushed me to write about it was my surprise in seeing how seemingly instant this hijacking occurs. I just read about Google's Personal Blocklist Chrome extension, and it reminded me of this issue. I installed the extension and I tried to search for a question I asked in SO several hours ago.

A content farming site topped the search results -- and SO was not even in the top 5!

See how the site complies with the Attribution-ShareAlike license by linking back to SO:

And here's the original content in SO, and notice how fairly recent it was posted:

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not incriminating this particular content farming site. They might be totally legit and "nice". It's just that I think it hit me hard enough to feel uneasy about it.

Creepy Kid

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Last week, I ate dinner at a hawker center. I shared a table with an elderly man who was with a boy of around 8 to 10 years old. The boy rambled: "I'm going to sell it for a million dollars. A million, billion dollars. No, a zillion-zillion-zillion-zillion, trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion, billion-billion-billion-billion, million-million-million-million--" He takes a deep breath-- "thousand-thousand-thousand-thousand, hundred-hundred-hundred-hundred, ten-ten-ten DOLLARS!"

I was impressed that he got his decimal groupings right, so I listened on, curious of what he was talking about.

The boy stood up, went closer to the old man, stretched his arm, reached towards the old man's chest and continued, "I going to take out your heart, and sell it for lots and lots and lots of DOLLARS!"

Then an elderly lady arrived, and they left.

Caught Myself Staring At The Mirror

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:33:00 +0000

Because all I have to do is stare above my laptop screen, and I'm already looking at the mirror. =p

I, Fan

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:09:00 +0000

I've been caught up in Isaac Asimov's stories ever since my library membership here began. Even if I found them in different library branches, Asimov's books were still very accessible that I couldn't pass them up, especially since I've wanted to read his Robot books for so long.

I've only gotten started on the Foundation and Empire series, and the Robot books I've read are Robot Dreams and The Complete Robot. The Robot novels are almost always unavailable, on loan.

A couple of weeks back, I suddenly remembered that I haven't watched the movie I, Robot. Last weekend, I finally did. Here are my thoughts (I took notes while I was watching =p):

It's a swell Will Smith movie.
I read that some people hated the Converse product placement -- I thought it was amusing.
The liberties the movie took with Asimov's characters (okay, specifically -- or maybe, just Susan Calvin) were a serious disservice to the fans of the books. What endeared Calvin to readers, her cold attachment to robots they stripped off, and I didn't like her slight interest/fascination(?) with Will Smith's character. The Calvin in the movie was simply.. someone else.
I didn't think they should've played off the robot-as-monster theme, since.
I know that Asimov did write some action scenes (though not in the Robot stories), but the way they did it in the movie just didn't work for me. For example, I hated the revolving cameras in the final action scene.
Forgivable changes:

What happened to Lanning in the beginning of the movie. It fit the plot quite smartly.
Robertson's A-hole-ness.

It was nice how they integrated the central ideas of many of the robot stories:

the lost robot
robot + detetive -- weeell, I wouldn't call it a partership, just a pairing
the dream
the different interpretation of the Three Laws

I was hoping to see a Powell and Donovan cameo. =p

(WTF -- Ctrl+P in Blogger's editor means Publish. But I'm not done yet!)

Overall, I still liked the movie. =)

So, naturally, I felt that I had to re-watch that other movie based on Asimov's Robot stories: Bicentennial Man.

And it was AWESOME.

I haven't read the novel, The Positronic Man, yet, but it was quite faithful to the short story. The parts that differed from the short story were subtle changes that didn't touch the core of the story. While I was watching it, I felt the same way as when I was reading it. Simply fantastic.

Didn't Everybody

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:18:00 +0000

..else back in high school wish they were a Super Saiyan?

Hello, Lamppost!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:26:00 +0000

After sooo long, I finally added a header background to this blog theme of mine! Can't remember when I first applied this theme, but it's got to be more than a year now!

Kinder

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:03:00 +0000

This is how I remember myself back in Junior Casa in Asian Montessori Center in San Fernando, Pampanga. I was 4 years old, and I felt everyone was watching me. It didn't help that my teacher made me sit in the middle of the class with her (we usually formed a circle around her) with my head tilted aback, whenever I got a nosebleed (which was unusually frequent).

This'll Take Some Getting Used To..

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:48:00 +0000

Kei gives the most wonderful gifts! This is just one of several gifts she gave me. :)

This And That

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:45:00 +0000

I've been here in Singapore for three months now, working for slightly more than two. The initial sense of awe I had for the country has definitely worn off. It's safe to say that I've fairly gotten used to living here. There's only this lingering feeling of amazement at some of the high-tech aspects of life here that I think I won't ever get rid of (for example, the linked public transport system -- I can't get enough of that!).

I somehow still can't make up my mind about it, though. Part of me feels like: "It's been 3 months already? I didn't realize I've been here that long. I guess I can't say 'I'm just new here' anymore." On the other hand, I also feel like: "It's only been 3 months? How much longer can I stand being alone here?!"

I simply distract myself from getting too down. I amuse myself with my surroundings: the buildings, the people, the birds, the weather. When I'm in my room, I guess I feel that I need to be extra-distracted that, most of the time, I skip some household chores until I can't afford not to do them anymore. Right now, my floor has a slight shade of gray where I haven't walked on. I'll sweep it later. My sneakers have a tinge of yellow where it should be off-white. I'll wash it tomorrow. I think my stock of rice grain already has weevils -- I should get to that right away.

Right now, I'm glad that it isn't too sunny and hot, so it's not too uncomfortable to move around while I attend to my laundry. The dim view outside my window feels a little too gloomy, however.

I'm trying not to over-think things. I've already proven that over-thinking gets me nowhere. So, my usual state of mind for the past couple of months here is that of a certain kind of calm. Like I'm floating on my back in a swimming pool. I'm not just drifting aimlessly and "going with the flow", as if I'm on some wild river going uncontrollably downstream -- I'm feeling comfortable in the pool of my choice, enjoying every square inch of buoyancy.

Oops. I heard the washing machine beeping. My laundry's done. Gotta go.

Tekken Movie Reactions

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:19:00 +0000

I was able to watch the new Tekken movie courtesy of Mike. Several minutes into the movie, I just had to take down some notes as it ran. If I hadn't I would've just forgotten a lot of my reactions. In hindsight, I guess it would've been better if I had timestamps per reaction. =p

Here goes:

[Spoiler warning: If you do watch the movie, your day will be spoiled!]

I'd let the lame backstory pass.
No respect for the characters whatsoever

Raven? No hints of being a ninja? Dead, just like that, in a gun fight, not in a match?
Steve? No hints of being a boxer?
Christie? Not capoeira?
Jacks? Mere foot soldiers? Jackhammers. Anvil. Yeah, yeah.
Dragunov -- since when was it spelled "Dragonov"??

And why does he look like he's always just about to laugh?

Nina didn't look cold enough.

The fighting styles aren't obvious!

They should be since they're a huge part of a fighting game character's personality!

Why insist on Kazuya's facial hair? He would have looked great without it!
The bed scenes were totally unnecessary. Especially, Kazuya's.
Jin's portrayal is actually good! Probably the only aspect that's properly done?

Well, almost -- Jon Foo's Irish accent is showing.

Bryan is good, too!
"Heihachi Mishima is dead" -- CRAPPY DELIVERY!

Could've been a nice reference to the game

What's with the weapooons????
What's with Dragunov's "Hwoooaaah!" like he's Law or something?
Oh. Raven's not dead.
Yeeees.. Jin is the right amount of emoooo.. :p
Why do they pronounce Miguel's last name Rojo as row-haw?
Wow, a pep talk from Raven? *raises an eyebrow*
Finals already? We didn't see Anna fight?
THAT'S NOT A MACH PUNCH -- that's Jin's move!
Why so many wall jumps??!!
People cheering at the TV now? Way too lame, even for a kiddie movie nowadays. And, this movie isn't supposed to be for kids.
Kazuya's attitude seems just right for his Tekken 2 phase, I guess.
Even Kazuya uses weapooooons..
Parang PBA championship lang kung magreact mga tao..
Cung Le's name was misspelled in the credits: "Cung Lee"?
Bryan's name in the credits is "Brian"
Nice after credits extra scene!

How's This For A Realization

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:45:00 +0000

I don't get homesick.

I don't think I would really miss a place. Hindi ako namamahay. =p

What I really miss, though, is the company of particular people. If they could just be where I'm currently at, then I'd be fine. Kahit sa outer space pa. =p

But if that still counts as some sort of homesickness, then I'd be ready to take back my first statement.

---

Sub-/alternate title of this post: How's This For A Comeback Post

Blogging Then, Blogging Now

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:28:00 +0000

Then:

Only a few were online and connected to me (just my closest friends), so I had nobody to, uhh.. hide from.
I was a whiny nerd-boy. I ranted a lot. Luckily the lot were blind items.
I had little else to do. Being online was a big part of my lifestyle then.

Now:

I have a lot more interesting things to do offline.
Professionally, I am not allowed to write about some things, however exciting they may be (goes for the opposite, too).
Practically everybody (officemates, family) is online. I have to be tactful and mindful of what I write. Also, I *am* older now, and I have to act like it.

Breaking Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:02:00 +0000

I had a fun day yesterday. :)

Kei is taking a short course at the UP ITTC. Their classes are on Saturdays, 9am to 5pm. The first day of class was last weekend, though, but I wasn't able to accompany her then because it coincided with our company outing. I was so ready to ditch our company outing, but Kei insisted that I go. :p

So I went with her yesterday. We departed Makati at around 7:30am. It was a long time since my last MRT ride; almost half a year, I think. I bought a stored value card, since Kei's classes would still go for another three weeks.

We got off at the Quezon Avenue station. I was surprised that the mini-mall right by the MRT station, Eton Centris, was already open. The queue for UP-bound jeepneys was by the mall.

I've never explored the UP Diliman campus before. I only have a vague recollection of the few places I've been to way back in high school. It helped a lot that Kei showed me a map of the campus last Friday.

Map Source: http://iblogph.org/images/up_map.jpg

With my extraordinary memory, I was only able to remember the location of Ang Bahay ng Alumni relative to the ITTC building. It was a relief it was that easy.

Just walk straight along this street, then turn left at the 3rd corner.

Why Bahay ng Alumni? We wanted to eat at Chocolate Kiss! I first learned about it from Aldwin and Joe-e, when they suggested that we get together after our *ehem* victory, but it never pushed through, due to some time constraints.

When Kei and her classmates went to class, I walked to Bahay ng Alumni. Recon. :p

There was a commencement ceremony at the time, and Chocolate Kiss was packed. I asked if they took reservations but, apparently, they didn't.

As with any other new place I've been (whenever I have the time), I walked around campus. Luckily, it was partly cloudy and I didn't have to suffer the sun. I was a bit glad that I was finally getting around UP Diliman by myself. The last time I was there, alone, was way back in 2nd year high school. I was a kid who didn't get out much, who just lost all his money from his last jeepney ride. I had to ask passers-by for coins so I could call and page Ate (that's right, _page_ -- kids these days wouldn't know what that meant! :p). It took a while before I collected 2 pesos but, after I did, I ran around looking for a payphone and called Tita Nery instead, hoping that Ate was in Marikina -- she wasn't. It suddenly dawned on me that I could collect more but, this time, for jeepney fare! I can't remember if it was 6 or 7 pesos, but I was able to pay for a ride back to Quezon Avenue and I managed to get back to the dorm safely.

Back to yesterday. There was barely any activity, probably due to being a summer weekend, so I easily got bored. I decided to get on the next jeepney that passed by. Just like that, I found myself back at Eton Centris. There were fairly a lot of stores open already. I went into a used books store and noticed that the air-conditioning still wasn't operational. I didn't see anything interesting. I decided it was time to get back to the ITTC building. I took the UP Ikot jeepney this time.

When lunch time came, Kei informed me they were going to work through the break. I went back to Chocolate Kiss and had lunch there. I liked their dinuguan. I also liked their iced tea, which seemed like brewed tea that I had to squeeze calamansi and pour honey into.

After resting for a while, I wanted to go around the campus again, but this time on a jeepney. I got on another UP Ikot. I was surprised that it went outside the campus walls at some point. I got off when it reached the SM North jeepney queue. I was, once again, bored. I decided to go to Trinoma.

My original plan was to go to Coffe Bean and Tea Leaf and spend the afternoon online. When I got there, I just didn't feel like it anymore. I just felt like walking, so I walked around the mall. When I felt myself tiring, I went to Powerbooks so I can while away the time sitting down. I was able to finish How to Train Your Dragon before I had to return to UP. I liked how the book reads, and how it greatly differs from the movie. I described the differences to Kei later, and she said that the movie wouldn't have been as awesome if they stuck with the book. The book is interesting enough that I'm considering to collect the series.

I went back to UP after reading.. and buying a couple of books: Ender in Exile and A War of Gifts (both on paperback -- Randell got these on hardcover, if I remember correctly). After my time at Powerbooks, I suddenly felt that I missed reading books. I might just be a bit more picky this time around.

After Kei's class ended, we walked to Chocolate Kiss. I didn't know that their 2nd floor was on the other side of the building. We asked the waiter for recommendations and ended up ordering them: Beek Sukiyaki (a 2nd floor exclusive -- a surprise that they had those) and Garlic and Mushroom Spaghetti. They were okay, but I wouldn't order them again nor would I recommend them. We'll definitely be back, though.

Before returning to Makati, we stayed for some time at Trinoma. Kei had to get a couple of items for their apartment.

It was a long day! It was quite tiring, with all the walking that I did. But it was very, very enjoyable. :) It took me a while before I could convince Kei to let me accompany her next weekend. :p

SIM Card Not Available

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:40:00 +0000

If you get this error when you try to open your SIM card's Phonebook, you might have Fixed Dialing set to On. Just turn it off, and you're all set.

Breaking Fast

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:37:00 +0000

Imagine that. My last post was more than half-a-year ago, and it was a recap post. Great.

My online presence has dwindled a lot these days. I rarely update the social networking sites I pay attention to. I did a ningas-kugon for the local tech communities. Just great.

I'm still feeling groovy enough. Honestly, I am! And that's great!

Game Time Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Hah! This is another draft that I forgot to post!

Here's the continued recounting of events surrounding our TV game show experience, which began here.

========================================

July 21, 2009

GAME DAY

Kei and I leave early to pass by GMA to claim her wallet
We arrive at GMA at 10am, as scheduled
We were directed to the dzBB building across the street
We wait for the contact person
We meet him, and he takes us to another building where we wait again

Susan Enriquez comes out of the building; she is interviewed by some college girls right there at the building's entrance

The contact person comes out -- it IS Kei's wallet!

We proceed to McDo at Q.Ave. to wait for Ma
At the table next to us is Leo

Ma arrives at 11am, as scheduled
I order lunch
We wait for Joe-e

12:45pm, and still no Joe-e
Ma says we should wait outside
Joe-e arrives at 1pm
Quick! To the trike!

We arrive at ABS-CBN
Aldwin is already inside
Again with the thermal scanning

WE'RE IN!
There's that familiar-looking guy again

We all go to the dressing rooms
We're given forms to fill up
We strike up a conversation with some college students from Pampanga
Aldwin's mom learns that taping starts at 5pm!
We go out to eat
There's that familiar-looking guy again
He runs up to us, and introduces himself as Cholo from the Folding Water book launch! So that's where I saw him! That was just 2 weeks ago, and I already forgot!
Turon!
Joe-e buys bottled water for the college students from Pampanga
We go back to the dressing rooms

We all go to the studio, where the players for the 1st episode are already suited up
The set is being tested
All the reserves go up the stage for a briefing about the set
The 1st episode begins!
Yellow team, a team of middle-aged sisters, wasn't able to answer and wasn't eliminated and will return next episode
After the Taranta Round, all reserve players were called to the dressing room, where the next set of players will be announced
We hoped to be picked for the next episode, since the 3rd and last episode would end near midnight
We weren't picked. Among those picked were Cholo's team, another team of UPD alumni, Lou's team and Leo's team
Mmeal stubs were distributed and we ate dinner

We go back to the studio to watch the 2nd episode
Cholo's team gets eliminated in the Elimination Round
Yellow team, a team of middle-aged sisters, wasn't able to answer and wasn't eliminated and will return next episode -- again! Also, Lou's Green team
Leo's team gets eliminated in a Taranta Round tie-breaker

We're called back to the dressing room to wait for the next selection of teams
Reimbursements for transportation expenses!
We heard that the UPD team, Violet, won
Some players were joking around, asking whether anyone was willing to take on the UPD guys
Announcement of selected teams: WE'RE IN!
I was telling Aldwin and Joe-e that I hoped we be assigned Black team, so we'd have generic looking jackets we could take home
This was around 9pm

We suit up! We were assigned ORANGE

Joe-e and Aldwin put me in the middle, so i'd be the one to answer
We test the set
One of Grey team's buzzers is broken, and they had to replace it, after taking too long to repair
The waiting makes me nervous

Episode starts!
Thriller dance FAIL

Eliminations!
3 teams already qualify, only 1 more team will be selected
Joe-e and I bang against the metal barrier which dropped too late -- that hurt!
Yellow team gets eliminated
We're the 4th team to get in!

More briefing
Joe-e and Aldwin chose me to answer in case of a tie breaker

Taranta Round starts
Seat is not ergonomic, my back hurt when we were lowered
The question is: Mindanao cities?? Bummer!
I get picked to answer first!
Water in the face (and glasses) sucks! Couldn't read the choices for around 2 seconds
"Digos!"
Violet team makes a mistake: Jolo is not a city!
Joe-e and Aldwin answer correctly -- WE'RE IN!
Lou's Green team gets in as well

We were given towels to dry ourselves, and they powder us up a bit
We get on the thingies, and we test sensors -- I don't really get when and why swipes don't register somehow.. I decided to bend my knees a bit when I swipe

Diskarte Round starts!
Joe-e answers first
I make the 1st mistake! Sucks!
Lou gets the 10K! *gasp*
I send Lou Back To Base!
Lou passes question to Aldwin, who has yet to answer -- Aldwin knew the answer! Q: US president during Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 -- A: JFK
Joe-e passes question to Ayean, Q: which philippines peso bill has "Saligang Batas" -- Ayean answers P100, which is wrong! A: P20
Joe-e makes Aldwin advance
Joe-e and I are maxed!
Lou makes a big mistake -- he didn't send either of us Back To Base!
Joe freezes Lou, and maxes Aldwin
WE WIN!

Break, then briefing about next round
Companions and reserve players are sent out of studio

We play a mock Jackpot Round -- I sucked! I didn't say "Sure na!", I didn't put my hand back to my chest

The real Jackpot Round starts!
Aldwin is quick on "Mine!", gets first 3 questions!
We pass on the 4th
I answer the next question, an NBA question
Jjoe-e answers the next question, on fashion
We bonk the last question: Aling laruan ang inimbento ng isang karpintero sa Denmark noong 1932?
We answered train, despite knowing it was wrong.. We just knew that we were running out of time
Joe-e immediately turns to me and asks: wasn't it Lego?
Edu reveals that last question first: the answer is Lego!

WIIIIIN!!!

========================================

Maaan! Remembering it now still makes my heart beat a little faster!

Yo, Joes!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:21:00 +0000

Kei and I watched G. I. Joe with Joe-e and Aldwin yesterday, Saturday, at Gateway.

[Spoilers ahead?]

Some thoughts:

1) Mike already pointed this out last week: ice is not supposed to sink. So I kinda caught someone utter "tons of ice and metal" when the icepack was blown up. They did say that lots of tunnels and stuff ran through the ice. Is that enough metal to bring down humungous chunks of ice?

2) A lot of movements are messed up! Skidding a speeding jetski to a halt within just a couple of meters?

3) Snake Eyes' mask has lips! What the--?! Taking after Optimus Prime?? Doesn't work.

4) Why the heck was Storm Shadow teary-eyed in the plane?

5) Will there be no Baroness for the sequel?

6) Submarines move like water is air -- WTF!

7) Scottish accents are always welcome!

8) Maybe it was because I watched The Ballad of G.I. Joe before the movie, but I was kinda biased against the movie cast. Come on, it's hard to top The Ballad.

9) I agree with Kei's comment: "ang daming olats moments ng G.I. Joes!" For a team of elite soldiers they sure screw up a lot.

10) Great action! But it didn't feel one bit like G.I. Joe. You could've called them "Alpha Team" (like they did half the time) all-throughout, and it would've still worked. No tinge of nostalgia nor patriotism was invoked.

This Is Just Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki!) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Seen from Ayala Ave. at Bench at Glorietta 5:

They want you to "Fight the Economy"?! What?? Isn't the economy starting to recover already? They want to bring the economy down?