tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75103122026-03-31T22:31:41.678+13:00A hobby blog (and then some)Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.comBlogger998125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-63413780248716686112026-03-31T22:21:19.714+13:002026-03-31T22:31:41.530+13:00

In a couple of hours, the month of March will end. Time flies.We finished watching the first hour of Rental Family on Disney Plus awhile ago. The bed beckoned so this is going to be a two-part movie. This Brendan Fraser starrer is based in Japan so that makes it all the more enticing to watch. It's amazing how the places being shown seems so familiar to my wife and myself. We couldn't help but

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-57830031897964672832026-02-20T16:26:00.001+13:002026-02-20T16:36:10.721+13:00

It's been nearly a month now since we left Japan. To be honest, it feels like we just woke up from a dream. In the few days since we arrived here in New Zealand, we would ask each other: "Did that really happen? Did we really go on holiday in Japan?" It seems so unreal and yet we have proof it happened - the videos and photos, souvenirs, snacks, Pokemon cards, gachapon toys. It really

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-24988438504277437402026-01-02T04:19:00.002+13:002026-01-02T04:19:40.535+13:00

A dream come true for me and my family: we have finally made it to the Land of the rising sun. We are currently spending New Year's here, in the land of Voltes V, Gundam, and all the anime I loved over the years.I tried to learn a bit of the language before we got here but 98% of it went out the window! It's so different from theory. I must be approaching it the wrong way.I am amazed at the

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-34201776974485526552025-12-08T08:42:14.619+13:002025-12-20T09:39:46.422+13:00

I re-watched the Netflix film 'That Christmas' last week. The first time last year, a quote in the film struck a chord with me; I found that it still resonates this year.“I always think that Christmas is a bit like an emotional magnifying glass. If you feel loved and happy, Christmas will make you feel even happier and more loved. But if you feel lonely or unloved, the magnifier gets to work and

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-14277264570696550472025-10-30T16:24:00.045+13:002025-12-20T09:25:01.310+13:00

 I added another year to my life a couple of days ago. It was a three-day weekend here in NZ as we celebrated Labour Day. So off we went to a holiday home near Paraparaumu beach!We're still in the cusp of winter though so the water was chilly.... and so was the wind! We just had a recent storm pass through and we were still feeling the effects. But we made the most of the time with close

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-10123126390983642882025-08-11T16:34:00.000+12:002025-08-11T16:34:06.425+12:00

 Day 2 of staying on my sickbed. The past couple of weeks, I've been having headaches, which wasn't  normal. I alluded it to sleeping late (for the past 5 weeks), so I ignored what my body was telling me. By Saturday evening, my body made it clear it's had enough. So here I am with a severe case of the colds.When I'm unwell, I would normally just take half day off work to rest and be

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-66471027578107640962025-06-26T23:07:00.004+12:002025-06-26T23:08:37.818+12:00

 And just like that, my son turned 20 and my daughter turned 14. He's practically a grownup, and she a teen.Oh, the many birthdays we prepared for them when they were kids! With their birthdays just 3 days apart, we'd combine it into one and they wouldn't mind.The most memorable party we did was the Angry Birds party. We prepared weeks in advance, with custom invitations and a pinata. He had

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-79931464575406235102025-05-18T20:28:00.065+12:002025-05-18T20:51:19.134+12:00

A rather unfortunate incident happened to me last March. We were still getting late sunsets and so we decided to make the most of it one late weekend afternoon when the kids and I played badminton. Everything was going just fine, when about 20 minutes into game, I lunged to try to catch the shuttlecock. I stretched forward with my dominant left foot, with my right leg stretched behind

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-87714113115097081572025-02-11T08:59:00.001+13:002025-02-11T09:04:13.636+13:00

We've had another milestone in our family recently. My daughter has started Middle School. It would be like a rite of passage for her; gone are the carefree Prep School days. I am confident though that, like his older brother, she will do well.One thing I am thankful for is that they did not inherit my loner attitude. Frankly, I do not like going out of my way to do or go to just about anything.

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-15394776921515705462025-01-17T14:08:00.004+13:002025-01-17T14:15:53.495+13:00

This one's a sad story and very much a personal one.When I was a kid, I became acutely aware of just how we struggled financially as a family. Sure, there was enough for daily sustenance and my parents managed to make ends meet, but there was no room for anything else. I realised this when I, along with my younger brother, became friends with some neighbourhood kids. Of special note were three

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-8004837042669516972024-11-27T09:01:00.008+13:002024-11-27T16:33:29.571+13:00

Last night, my daughter and I watched a Christmas classic: Santa Claus is coming to town. It's a Rankin/Bass stop-motion special that's one of the staples of my childhood.While watching, I narrated to Christine how, as kids, we didn't have VCRs or streaming services (or the Internet for that matter!), but we knew that RPN-9 (one of the local TV channels would start broadcasting these

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-53986091162961156962024-09-08T20:47:00.001+12:002024-09-09T08:50:56.139+12:00

Last Father's Day (1st Sept), my daughter gifted me an SD Gundam kit. It's probably obvious what sort of stuff I like, especially since we have a cabinet full of mecha, 80s robots, and Star Wars on display in the living room.It's been a while since I last built a Gundam kit though; she wasn't even born yet, come to think of it. It's the Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz OVA that got me into it. I nearly

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-20244279738847128032024-06-29T21:14:00.003+12:002024-09-09T08:54:30.625+12:00

When the month of June rolls in, the fleeting of time never fails to dawn on me. Just recently, my two kids became a year older and we celebrated another year of marriage.Time just keeps on marching on.This is actually the first time my son celebrated his birthday away from us. Good thing there's Uber Eats. My daughter, on the other hand, still likes hanging out with her friends so

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-25859797966377460492024-06-04T21:57:00.003+12:002024-06-29T21:21:11.290+12:00

The month of May had not been a merry one for me. I contracted COVID so I had to isolate for a week. A couple of weeks later, I'm still feeling the effects: dizzy spells and drowsiness especially in the afternoons. I get disorientated with the most simple of tasks; I misplace my keys, wallet, ID. That's really annoying. More annoying than when I first had my first bout of COVID when I

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-57595648675978763322024-04-19T15:10:00.004+12:002024-04-19T15:14:49.002+12:00

This month is certainly flying by so fast.My son had gone back home for term break and his three-week 'holiday' ends today. He will take an Uber with his mum to the airport early this morning, as I am not with them today. I'm in Auckland for a weekend conference, and my wife is flying this morning to join us.The weeks past have been a whirlwind of activities. I can't recall most of them now, so I

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-65166066922013506662024-03-31T17:49:00.001+13:002024-03-31T17:49:12.324+13:00

It's Easter Sunday. For Catholics, Lent is a very important time of reflection and prayer. I had been observing Lent as I always have - starting with Ash Wednesday, then visiting Churches and praying the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and celebrating on Easter. This year is a bit different; I've had the most revelational Holy Week. While we were doing a Church group activity in the

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-1619109119962805082024-03-15T16:32:00.004+13:002024-03-15T16:32:42.525+13:00

 Today, the 15th of March, marks the 5th anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks.New Zealand is as isolated as you can get geographically. A group of small islands relatively inconspicuous that it's sometimes mistaken as part of Australia, or even accidentally omitted in world maps. Being physically far from everyone else, one would have thought that this country would be spared from

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-75412526571913063502024-03-06T12:47:00.002+13:002024-03-06T12:47:16.503+13:00

We did something awesome over the weekend. We watched a concert! It's something I haven't done in years. I think the last time was in the 90s. During that period I sat in a stadium for a Corrs concert, I stood amidst a rather hyper crowd of Incubus fans (to be honest, I thought I was the oldest in that crowd), and jammed with Parokya ni Edgar in a more intimate outdoor venue in Cebu.

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-33444198430010452942024-02-25T21:46:00.004+13:002024-02-25T21:46:49.776+13:00

Last 12th Feb I recommended The Good Place to a friend. It's one of my favourite shows on Netflix and I'm sure he would like it too. But like most movies or series that I watch only once, I would have forgotten what happened between the start and the end. And so I decided to have another go at all 4 seasons.I just completed the series Last Friday (23 Feb) while on my way back home from work.The

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-45477114867376496652024-02-21T14:38:00.001+13:002024-02-21T14:38:11.269+13:00

It's 2.30pm. I'm in my son's room, counting the minutes til he comes back from Uni, counting the hours til I fly back to Wellington. I can't help but think how time has flown. I can still remember cradling him in my arms while I read the latest Harry Potter book. I loved giving him rides on my shoulder whenever we were out and about.And now here he is, moved away from us to pursue his

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-58930866788491548502024-02-16T19:20:00.001+13:002024-02-21T14:29:01.241+13:00

This week was quite a roller coaster.Last Tuesday, my daughter went off to her Year 8 camp. Then yesterday I accompanied my son here at the South Island where he will be flatting as he starts his first year of University, and his first time to be away from us.I didn't know if I should feel happy, or sad, or angry. At one point I felt anger was the best way to cope.But as I sit here in my son's

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-21505596206053750592024-02-05T14:27:00.000+13:002024-02-05T14:27:58.426+13:00

I'm starting at a perfectly blue sky today and this song just snuck its way into my head. 'Home, home on the range' must be as old as time itself; I learned this song when I was in grade school and was taught to me by a friend. And it' such a simple and fun song to sing to!Miranda had reminded me of how awesome pets can be, especially to those who feel down in the dumps. For some

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-32716368977614701762024-01-26T22:55:00.001+13:002024-01-26T23:01:03.528+13:00

The 'task' I chose from Miranda's book today is to list down five things I'm grateful for today.As I stare out the window of the bus on my morning commute, I actually started getting anxious about completing the list. I mean, five things? That's a lot isn't it? But just then a family with kids scrambled onto the back seats and the mum exclaimed 'we're going to have a fun day today!'

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-72240793427542795792024-01-19T15:41:00.004+13:002024-01-19T15:41:47.754+13:00

One of Miranda's daily tasks was to watch It's a Wonderful Life (or re-watch if you've seen it already). In other parts of the world, you can call this a quintessential film for the Christmas holidays. Not so much in the Philippines and here in New Zealand, though. My go-to film would have to be Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer from Rankin-Bass.But I've seen this movie 'advertised' in

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510312.post-77521909237073760252024-01-12T16:38:00.000+13:002024-01-12T16:38:30.930+13:00

Yes I know, I know. I haven't posted what I have done from Miranda's book the past few days. I found a number of the tasks a huge challenge, actually. Like getting my fellow commuters to sing (I might do a solo in the car instead), or pay for someone else's meals (I'm not a talk-to-strangers person, to be honest).So in a sense, I'm actually missing the point of the book, which is to try something

Nick Ballesteroshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11851406139825729546noreply@blogger.com0