Getting ready for Enchanted Kingdom

Me and my sister planned to go to Enchanted Kingdom this coming Wednesday. It's been a while since we haven't been to Enchanted Kingdom, and it'll be our little brother's first. So I asked my aunt if I can borrow her car provided that we will be the one who will be providing a driver. So she agreed and we luckily got one from one of our neighbors. We're set to go around 10 am and leave around 9 pm so we can go around the whole theme park. I wanna go there too since I want to check the new rides they got. But what I miss most is the Space Shuttle. Can me and my sister broke our previous record of riding the Space Shuttle twice? Let's all find out this Wednesday!

Weekend with little bro

Got up early, around 10 am. Since I promised my little brother Kiko that we'll go out somewhere and have fun. Well, as I said yesterday, I got little money left with me. So I need to manage it wisely. In short, no snacks for the both of us. We need to ride a jeep. (Which he's not used to ride jeeps a lot) And we need to play arcade games, not those kiddie games where they give away tickets and exchange the tickets for some stupid prizes. Well, we just went to Cubao, instead of going to Megamall or other malls around. There are some nice arcade with kid rides in Cubao, My little brother played some arcade games, and as expected. He opted to play those ticket generating games so we just played those. Exchanged the tickets for 6 pieces of marbles. Played a couple of arcade games also. Took a couple of kiddie rides, like the bump car the so called choo-choo train by kids. We had a good time that day. Not bad for someone who's short on money! Hahaha!

Happy Kiko will take a ride on a bump car!
Playing at the mini-playground at the SM Food court!
Having a great weekend!
Happy Kiko is now tired. Time to go home.

Whoa! Where's my money?

I just woke up around 3 pm. After countless hours of playing Baldur's Gate, I still feel a bit odd today. I need to check my wallet. What the fuck! I only got 3,000 pesos left? Where in the world did I spent all of my money? Ok I need to break it down now. I searched frantically in my room for stuff I bought the past week, and some some receipts if ever I saved them. Well though luck! I only found a couple of receipts from Odyssey and a couple from Starbucks. Well I need to rely now on my mind to recall what happened the past 7 days to my 20,000 pesos I brought. Ok breakdown time. (Di ko na papakita kung magkano nagastos ko, baka isipin niyo pa nagyayabang ako! Leche hindi no! Ü)

1. Inuman session with friends
2. My Ambergris visit
3. Starbucks sessions (4 times
4. CDs I bought at Odyssey (Parokya ni Edgar's Inuman Sessions Vol. 1, Ragnarok Soundtrack, Spongecola's Palabas, and Sugarfree's Dramachine)
5. A couple of magazines
6. Drinking session with Kristel and some friends at Barko in Kalayaan Ave. Q.C
7. Starbucks Mug
8. Internet rentals
9. Movie sessions (Solo flight)
10. Food trips (Yellow Cab, McDo, KFC, and a couple of 7-11 hotdogs)

Damn! Only for a week, halos naubos ko ang pera ko! Lagot ako sa ermats ko nito. I'll try to talk to her about this. One week of total impulsive buying. What about the Enchanted Kingdom get away with my siblings. Tsk tsk tsk. Control Brian! Control your money you dumbass monkey! Hahaha, now I just hate myself spending all those money. I need to control myself when it comes to money! I'm such an impulsive buyer! Well it was all worth it naman. Who cares? I mean, pera ko naman yun. Kaso sayang parin kahit papano. Oh well, it already happened. Now on to the Internet Cafe. Need to get resources. E-mail mom! Yare!

Back to my old routines

I'm now back to my old routines. Sleep around 2 am or worst, 5 am in the morning. Get up around noon time or 2 pm. Call friends, smoke a couple of cigarettes, walk around the house, walk around the street. After that back to the apartment. Either have some gurb or spent countless hours on the computer and play Baldur's Gate. Go to an Internet Cafe (Since I don't have an Internet connection yet) or just stare at my ceiling for the sake of killing time. Errr.... what a life! Bored as hell. Might as well go somewhere else. Oh yeah, I'll bring Kiko somewhere this weekend to spent time with him or maybe to kill time again. Pfft! My life is currently pathetic. Same routines. It's killing me. Blah!

Gateway mall adventures

I went to Gateway mall yesterday in Cubao. It was my second time to be there. When I left the country, Gateway was being built at that time. When I came back from LA, I dropped by the mall a couple of days back. I bought some CDs at Odyssey. I walked around the place for a while. I checked some stores. They got Lacoste, (Nice sneakers, though they are old models) People are People (They got cool clothes just like Hot Topic but their largest size is XL only. Damn!) and Timezone. (The uber way to play arcades) They also have Fully Booked (Sorta like a Powerbooks) They got some nice line up of books there. I also like the comic books they offer. Sometimes I wish I can be a child again collecting those. Now I really have to find a job to support my hobbies. Anyways, the only reason I went to the mall is because of their garden inside the mall. Yep, a garden in the middle of the mall. It's on the 2nd floor right at the heart of the mall itself. I just want to take a look around inside the garden and take some photos there. Here are some of the photos I took.

The Firefox and Chinovela syndrome

Nothing special to post. Spend the whole time in my room fixing it and reading some of my magazines (Not my FHM you sissy!Ü) I was checking out one of my Wired magazines (February 2005 issue), and was astounded by the cover. It was the 19 year old Blake Ross. Who's Blake Ross? Well, he's just the one who made Bill Gates pee in his pants during the Internet browser wars. Why? Because he's the one who made the Mozilla Firefox. Yep. That's right, a 19 year old did all the amazing browser. Ok, so what's up with the browser? Well here's a breakdown:

1. Firefox is an open source project (Meaning it is publicly accessible in part or in whole). In short, the source code for Firefox is accessible to anyone who would like to make a different version of it or add plug-ins or extension programs in it. Open source software (Like Firefox) are mostly free. So you can download it at no extra cost. The result, the ultimate web browser.
2. It is more secure than Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Less security holes, and even if it has, (Such as bugs, or big security holes in it) It will release an update patch or security patch the next day the said bug was discovered. It even restricts the use of Java Scripting (The #1 source of security holes and breaches)
3. It has tabbed browsing. Which means, you can go over multiple websites in one window. Why you need it? Well, Internet Explorer runs in a certain executable files where it's codes or resources run independently, so the more IE open the more it eats up the resources at your computer, While Firefox share the same code and resources to every websites that you visit, (Those websites that are tabbed are sharing the same java script codes, and such) so it doesn't eat up that much resources at your slow ass PC.ܜ
4. The first day the Firefox was launched, by the end of the day the program reached 1 million download. (Watch out Bill Gates!) And it even reached a whopping 53% of change in share of US (take note US only) browser market during October to December of 2004!
5. Oh and did I just said it's free? Yes it is! So go and grab one!

A sample shot of the Mozilla Firefox.

That's why I was astounded with this kid. Look, he's 19 years old, he started the Firefox revolt, but what's really amazing is that he used the same code that runs the Netscape browser. Yep that's right. But what's more amazing is that he was 14 when he started hacking Netscape. Such a geek! I envy the kid! I really look up to this guy! I hope, one day I could meet him.



Ladies and Gentlemen, the 19 year old Blake Ross on the cover of Wired magazine. (February 2005 issue)

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On the other side of my day, I was at our sala watching TV. And guess what, I also got amused at watching chinovelas for the fun of it. The re-runs of Meteor Garden, Memories of Bali, and Stained Glass completes my night. I don't know why, but it just amuses me watching them. And guess who influenced me to watch them, Right!

It's her:


Siya ang may sala! Ate Edel watching an episode of Stained Glass. She was so focused at watching I decided to take a photo of her. And she didn't even noticed that I took a picture of her!

Oh what a night it is! I'll try to go to Gateway mall mall in Cubao tomorrow to check the place out and take some photos in their garden!

On a hot Tuesday night

Got nothing to do. Just stayed at our apartment the whole day. it was so hot that even if I want to go out and take some photos, I just don't feel like doing it. Hah! Blame it to the damn weather! It was already 7pm but it was still hot! I remember my first night here after I arrived. Ate Edel was laughing at me and recalling to me that she went up to get some stuff in my room, and she noticed me almost floating on my own sweat and I was crying while I was asleep because of the heat. Tama nga si Vayie sa mga blog niya. Sobrang init ngayon keysa nung isang taon. But me and my little brother Kiko manage to take a couple of shots.



This is what boredom and heat can do to you. Pose insanely! Hahaha!

The mamam session!

May panahon talaga na masarap ang beer. Kahit sabihin pa ng iba na baka bagong deliver pa lang ang mga beer, kahit luma na yan, may panahon talaga na masarap ang beer. That's what happened last night. I had a drinking session last night with Momon and Marvin - one of the closest buddies I have during my Ambergris days. Mark - Marvin's big brother was there also. I went to Marvin's place first to see them and then we went ahead to the usual hang out where me and Momon would use to drink our shitty minds away. (I forgot the name but we call the place Vigan since it reminds us of the usual designs of the houses in Vigan) We had 2 rounds of San Mig light first. After that, we tried to get another round but the waitress told us Colt Ice was the only beer they have. Colt Ice?!?? E ang lakas ng tama nun tapos ang pait pa diba? Pero ok lang. Uhaw na ko e! So we all agreed to have Colt Ice. Ellen arrived a couple of hours later. We all have a good time, this is one of the nights I'll never forget. Seeing my friends and coping up with what keeps them busy. Momon was promoted as a Resolution Specialist at work so does Ellen. While Marvin resigned from ITC and he's working now at Redbox in Greenbelt. Mark is still working in Convergys for the SBC Yahoo! DSL account. We just talk all the time. Sharing my stories and adventures during my stay in LA. While they, tell me what's been happening to them and to some of our common friends. We took a ride from the past. Remembering our good ol' days together at work. Laugh at the times when we almost got screwed at work, and some of our bloopers. Well it was most of my bloopers. We end the session around 5 am. And we started around 11pm. Tagal din ng inuman! But the weird part there was that I never did my signature "Spitting Shit" move. Even Mon was surprised that I never got wasted. Yeah I got drunk but not wasted. Coz whenever I'm drunk, I can manage to send my ass home. But when I'm wasted, it's either somebody will go with me on my way home or spent sometime in Mon's place to let the hangover pass for a while. But that never happened. The whole session, I was just stuck to my chair, drinking and telling stories. I never stood up to puke. I just stood up around 4am to take a piss. Galing ko no? May panahon talaga na masarap ang beer. Kahit makarami ka na, di ka pa rin senglots! May kasunod pa tong session na to for sure! Here are some pics from our inuman session. (The so called welcome party)



Momon's new bad ass tattoo.

The gang bang members!Ü (Top L-R) Me and Mark. (L-R) Momon and Marvin.

Fun times. Marvin showing some muscles. Momon looking around.

The crazy times! (L-R) Marvin, Me, Mon, Mark, and Ellen.

Marvin was already drunk at this moment. He's a psycho when he's drunk!Ü

Momon and Ellen. Show your killer smile fellas!

I'm home!

Finally I'm home! So tired! After almost a day of gut wrenching, airplane ride, I finally set my foot to my homeland. Kaso ang init! 40 degrees in Celsius?!? Are you kidding me?!? Ganito na pala kainit dito? (Parang ang tagal kong nawala no?Ü) My sister Cheng, my lil rascal brother Kiko and my Tita Butch picked me up. It was good seeing them again. Went straight ahead to Duty Free. Bought some grocery stuff for food supplies. I looked for some Kool-Aids and lots and lots of milk and cereals. (I can't live without those stuff. Even if I do, I feel so miserable inside me) Traffic pa rin! It turned my good mood into a ranting one. Just my luck! 1st day of my arrival and I'm sweating a lot, traffic was such a bitch! Got home finally! Good to see my ever dearest Yaya Edel (My 2nd mom since she took care of me and the rest of us for almost 21 years. Beat that you fools!Ü) Sarap ng pagkain! Caldereta and some biko! One of my favorites! (Isn't it obvious? I love foods!Ü) I opened the boxes, and gave my pasalubong to my siblings and Ate Edel. After that, I was dead tired but I can't sleep since it was uber hot! Went to KFC to eat and chill for a while. 108 pesos for a 2 piece chicken? No way! (Ok fine it's like $2 right? But then again I can earn $2 for working half an hour. Can you earn 108 pesos in half an hour here?) So we went to McDo instead. I just have some McFlurry since I feel so hot. I was even sweating even when I was inside McDo. We had some small chit chat. Coping up with what's happening here while I was away. I had a great time that moment. I was laughing out loud, that I don't even give a fuck if people are staring at me thinking like I was some insane fatso. Oh well nevermind them. I was having a great night. My first night here in my homeland. So the fuck do they care! After that, went to my bed, had a couple of beers para lang antukin. Ang init kasi. Finally I'm back home. I'll have some drinking session with Momon, and Marvin tomorrow. Inumang walang bukas to!

Cheng and Kiko checking out their pasalubongs.

Ate Edel trying her shoes.

Kiko listening to my MP3 player with my big ass headphones!

Leaving Los Angeles

It has now come. The day I'll be going back to manila. I'll be leaving LA this morning around 1 am PST. (Pacific Standard Time for the dodos out there!ܜ) I'll be having a stop over at Taipei and I'm gonna arrive there May 14. Then I'll be arriving in Manila May 14 around noon time. I'm gonna miss a lot of things here. I'm gonna miss the place, the weather, my work, my new friends, the bands that I've supported, the food of course! I'm just gonna miss everything! But all the things that I'll be missing the most, are my parents. Parang bitin kasi. After 2 years na hindi kami magkakasama, dumating ang pagkakataon para makita ko sila. Pero 6 na buwan lang yun. It's hard to leave knowing that your parents are gonna stay since they still have to work for us to survive. Errr.... I just hate this leaving stuff. It's hard for me to leave them. Oh well. Here are the people I'll truly miss:



My Tito June. #1 food trip buddy. #1 Computer man to go to. He works in a medical institute where he handles the tapes drives and monitors the activity of every servers and mainframes. Have you seen a mainframe? He always see them everyday. I drool with envy at his job. Ummm mainframes!



My cousins (L-R) Francis: An avid fan of WWE especially John Cena. He beats my ass in the Gamecube game NBA Street Vol. 2. Kevin: #2 food trip buddy. He's so addicted to Need for Speed Underground 2 that he spent 5 hours every weekend to finish it. Chuck: Cool guy, he's the one who introduced me to The Mars Volta. An avid fan of the said band. I just like this guy. He loves anything from R&B to Rock. But he just hate Emo music. Ü



My Tita Gina: #1 Lakers fan. One cool aunt. We used to drive around the city with my cousins and have some El Pollo Locco or a coffee at Larchmont. She even gave me a clipper for my birthday! Cool!



My Mamang: Ever noisy lola! Hehehe. She's just a good cook. My laundry buddy. She tells me stories of her childhood days (Which I thought will be boring but it wasn't) I will always remember her for calling me Salbakutah whenever I shave my hair. He even calls me fatso. But I will really miss my grandma.



And the people I'm gonna miss the most. My parents. Dad: Loves rock, though he doesn't show it (He borrowed my A Perfect Circle, U2, and Vans 2004 Warped Tour to copy them) And I got here Annie Lennox and David Bowie CDs! Astig! My mom: Definitely the coolest, she loves my work when I started doing photography. Loves Carl's Jr. a lot! (We always have this Carl's Jr. session every time I drop by her work) And by the way, she always say "Shit man!" just for the kick of it! Hahaha!

Bottom line is, I'm really gonna miss anything about Los Angeles. I'm gonna be back there again that's for sure!

The countdown begins

I went to the house of Jasper - my new friend here in LA. I went to his place since he's having trouble with his computer. I tried to fix it and it's been working properly after 2 hours of running intensive task. I would really recommended it to people having their PC run for at least 24 hours to ensure the stability of it. Well as I finished fixing it. We just went around downtown for a joy ride. Then we dropped by to Rey's place down in Pico. Rey is a former workmate of Jasper. As we're hanging out, we're having beers in the backyard. Rey's place is cool. Totally cool, the back is filled with plants that makes the place cool and relaxing. As we are just having some casual talks and some cold beer, Jasper dropped the bomb that make me feel like I'm about to sink to my seat. "When are you gonna gonna go home?" At the moment I heard the question it stayed to my mind stickier than glue. The question seems like a jackhammer that keeps on hammering on my head. It just made me realized that I have 12 days left before the big day - of going home. And because of that, it made me drink the whole bottle of Miller Draft bottoms up. Going back home gives me joy, relief, and it freaks me out too. Half of me is so excited like a freaking rabbit to go home. And the other half of me, feels like a s wanderer who suddenly found his home. It's been more than 2 years since I haven't seen my folks, and now that I had the chance to be with them, 6 months seems not to be enough. But here I am like a little boy crying out loud who wouldn't want to leave. Well I still need to go. I still need to finish my studies, and my siblings and also my girl. Now that my stay with my folks are about to end, a lot of things are now running in my mind. Like I never even ran out of it. So now, the countdown begins.