Decade Portal: Recollections and Ramblings

Once in a while, meditating on things can help you sort stuff out. Whether it's praying or mere reflecting on what has happened. For someone like me, who overthinks once in a while (OK, maybe a bit more often than that), it helps calm the mind, even for just a bit.

I haven't done any of that stuff recently and I do need to clear my head just a bit. After quick deliberation and judgment of a "good idea", I have decided take a mental trip to the past and look back 10 years ago. Just as much as I can remember now, of course. 

Why? Because I can write a blog post about this, that's why.

Memory lane seems to be set in Baguio or somewhere else high up in the mountains. It's a road covered in infinite fog that doesn't seem to go away. The farther you move forward, the less things that remain seen. You just leave a "light" of various strengths on things to help you see them better than the rest. 

So here we go.


...
...
...

Wow. I AM short. Sure, everyone is shorter 10 years ago, but man, I really am short. It's one thing that has been pretty consistent after all these years. I must have been playing video games when the heavens made it rain blessings for physical growth. That or maybe my stubbornness when it comes to siestas.

My Top 10 Music Videos: Freshly Handpicked from Memory

Let's have another music-related post. 'Cause everyone loves music.


This time, on music videos.


Music videos are ways to express the song visually, as well as promoting the artist and song. Some MV's express the mood of the song. Some tell a story, whether related or not to the actual song. And some artistically present the ideas conveyed in it. It can also serve as a little visual reminder of the song. Music videos can act like a song's make-up sometimes. When the music video is good, all of a sudden, the song sounds better than it was before you saw the music video.

Now, I've started to like making lists, so here's another one.

Everyone has their choice of music videos and this here is MY top 10 list of music videos. The only rule is that only one entry per artist. If you feel the need to share some videos or even your own top 10, go ahead and do leave a comment.



Saa, hajimemashou.

Album Review: Yoshu Fukushu

Hey guys. I've always wanted to do an album review in time with a recent release. I haven't really been listening to any new releases. 

Until now. 

And here I am, back with an album review. This time, it's about the long-time awaited full album release by the Japanese 4-men powerhouse (technically, 3-men-1-woman powerhouse), Maximum the Hormone: "Yoshu Fukushu".

They released the music video of the song of the same name on their official YouTube channel a few days ago, and in case you haven't heard it yet, give it a listen. It's kick-ass.

It might also help if you know some songs from them, as I'm going to use some as reference.

Gaming Principles and Tips

Let's spare the introduction and get on with it. Gaming principles and tips.


+ Explore the area as much as possible. 

"You don't want to miss anything, do you? You're playing the game, might as well see everything."




+ Look around for breakable/lootable stuff like vases, chests, etc.

"It's better to have an inventory full with crap you won't need than an inventory barely filled with anything needed. Who knows, you might get a key item that would save you from coming back there later in the game."





+ Don't leave loot lying around. 

"That old guy won't mind if you stole his $300 that was lying on the table, broke his expensive vases, threaten his wife with a flamethrower, and leave just like that. He's totally cool with it."





+ If you encounter a cut scene, you're going the right way.

"Blah, blah, blah, we've got company, blah, blah, blah, get to the roof...man, this is cut scene is taking forever. What is this, a short film? There we go. Now, fin--AW NO, A LOADING SCREEN! *waits* Is...it...finally--aaand it's another cut scene."

Skateboarding: I think that I shall never flip, a trick lovely as a kickflip

Whoever was those dudes who had the crazy idea of attaching roller skate wheels to wooden boards, you have my respect.

I am a skateboarder. I have been riding on a skateboard almost 11 years now. I have been ollie-ing down and up stuff, sliding on ledges, impressing people by doing some tricks, and trying to get my kickflips to look as clean as possible for 11 years.


How did I even choose this sport?


Tracing it back, the curiosity of the sport sprouted from another hobby of mine, which is common for kids: Video games. I was (and still am) an avid fan of the Tony Hawk skateboarding game series. I grew up on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 & 4 and spent most of my play time on doing all the goals in every level, unlocking skaters and skating gears, and just working on combos. Even though it is a game that has so many impossibilities, like landing perfectly from jumping off the tip of a clock tower to flat ground, or grinding electrical lines, or landing kickflips perfectly every time, I saw the real, possible potential of the sport. Maybe doing darkslides all the way along a 20-meter power line isn't possible, but I do realized that sliding your board along a rail IS possible. Maybe doing a manual after jumping off that clock tower isn't possible, but I did know then that going into a manual after some tricks ARE possible. These ideas went through my head and that made my curiosity grow and grow. 

Post-apocalyptic

Well, this was a fun semester. Andaming nangyari, andaming nakasama. It's been a fun college experience as a whole. A whole 4 years ever since graduating high school and entering the "college life" chapter.

This semester was very exhausting. Not that I can blame anyone for it. I've been an avid practitioner of procrastination although I'm not really proud of it, I am quite adept at it. Academics and Deadlines decided it was time I realized this. At the start, it was still as before. I can still afford to take it easy. But then, before I knew it, there was just this wall of deadlines were just set so fast and so dangerously close to each other.

It's because of this semester that I realize now where I'm lacking. At first, I'd say it would be down to prioritization and efficient time management, but there's more to them. To me, they seem more like mere branches from a tree. Follow them to their roots and there lies what's more important: my self-discipline is lacking.

Anime: Dono Taipu ga Suki Desu ka?

I've been watching anime for quite a while now. Started out 3 years ago, as an anime enthusiast. Or maybe earlier than that, if watching dubbed Mojacko and Cardcaptor Sakura as a child on local TV stations after school counts.

It first started out with manga. I started reading Detective Conan chapters for a school assignment. Yes, you read that right. "For an assignment". While reading it, I got hooked on the storyline and eventually caught up with the recent chapters. After catching up, I decided to watch a few of its movies. And it was awesome. I guess that was the time when I began to be curious about anime.

Although I haven't watched a lot of anime, I've seen enough and ones which I think are honorable mentions when suggesting animes to watch.

And here are my picks, in no particular order.

NOTE: Japanese names mentioned in this list are in the "Given name-Last name" order. However, I will refer to the characters using their last name by default, unless the anime character is usually addressed in some other way.

EXTRA NOTE: Even though I've mentioned Mojacko, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Detective Conan, they won't be in the list anymore. And just so you guys know, Pokemon isn't in this list either.

Naruto

Starting out with something pretty mainstream: the famous blonde-haired orange ninja of the manga/anime world. Naruto is a well-known ninja battle manga/anime around the world. Hell, you've probably AT LEAST heard of it. 

For those of you who do not know the setting: Main character, Naruto Uzumaki, was treated as an outcast by his own village because of a powerful entity sealed inside him: the Nine-tailed Demon Fox. In spite of everyone's cold treatment towards him, Naruto found teachers and friends that are willing to help him. As he gained a little more sense to living, Naruto now dreamed and vowed to become the Hokage (the village's prime leader), to make everyone pay no attention to the beast inside him and acknowledge him as a fellow ninja, as a part of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

Welcome 2013

As the revolution reaches its end,
They await eagerly, impatiently.
A mere time-frame is ending,
And a new one is dawning.

These beings, along with these things sure have
Memories made, memories remembered
Time surely flew by, hasn't it?
I once returned to where I left from

As the glowing yellow eye of the evening sees,
The beings have begun their fiery ritual.
Their fiery, but meaningfully colorful ritual.
As the glowing yellow eye of the evening watches...

The exploding color palettes rises from my skin
From the ground, up towards where the eye resides,
Explodes and makes the color scatter
All across the vast space just beyond me.

These colors they made, these colors they launch
It makes the void something to look at, doesn't it?
Everyone witnesses, everyone paints upwards
As the void of space is colored and covered in sparks.

As the revolution completes,
They all calm down in a haze, happily.
While now, my revolution is begun anew
And I'm moving away again towards "here".


Happy new year! :D

Hope you guys will face 2013 with courage! Will you?

\

That's what I'm talking about! Now let's get out there and light up the sky!

Reminders to Self

- Tandaan: priority, priority, priority. Unahin ang dapat unahin. First things first. And stop being needlessly redundant.

- Importante yung message ng mga last-resort slogan nung high school. Time is gold. Huwag sayangin. Hindi nagagawang bling-bling na pwedeng ibenta ang oras.

-Find a way to motivate yourself again. You may not be a horrible student but dammit, you're trying. Galaw galaw rin, dre.

- Reward yourself accordingly. And no, typing a whole paragraph in a .doc file and then erasing it all DOES NOT count as progress.

-Doing something in a different mindset produces different results. Be on the proper mindset. 

-Mag-aral. Hindi lang ng lessons mo. Go beyond the lecture.

-Sleep early. You're still human. And by early, dapat early at night. Hindi yung 5 minutes na lang madaling-araw na.


-Get some actual material for a real blog post. October pa kasi yung huli mong post.


And while I'm at it, I'll make a list of...
Guitar covers (I want) to do. Para maalala ko lang.

ONE OK ROCK
-The Beginning
-Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer

Motivational Speak

REMEMBER




"You are the one who sets your own boundaries."




"No one else can be the protagonist of your own story except yourself."




"Don't dwell on it too much if you fail by normal standards. Why? Is the normal standard the ONLY standard?"




"Failure is a motivation. Success is gratification."




"Children often follow someone as an example. Wouldn't it be great if it was you?"




"Think greatly, act humbly."




"If pessimism can affect your actions, there's no reason optimism can't do the same."




"The only thing you have to be pessimistic about is pessimism itself."



"When it comes to proving yourself, always go beyond what is expected. That is when you have truly proven yourself to them and to you."



"Be the person that would want the people to tell inspiring stories to their children about you."



"Never underestimate being different. When everybody else sees nothing, you may be the only one who can see everything."




"The regret of not taking the chance over-weighs the fear of taking it."



"YOLO: You Only Live Once. Then make sure the flashback of your life is something worth seeing not just by you, but also by everyone."

Quick posts: Top 10 EPIC songs

A quick post. Music-related again.

If I have to pick a genre to listen to, I'd go with rock/metal most of the time. And what really gets me into a song for the first time listening to it is the mood and the theme of the song. Normally, if you said to me to check some song out because I'll probably like it, it doesn't just happen like that. I don't always get hooked to the song instantly after listening to it. For me, it takes about a month or so (seriously) to sink in. Some songs are just plain awesome the first time hearing it. It really depends on the mood of the person at the time and the mood and theme of the song. Probably because of all the Dir En Grey I listen to, I've learned to appreciate the beauty of dark, weird and/or sorrowful themes. Not to mention, their um...attention-grabbing music videos. It's like you learn these things through music, you know? 

Although I play guitar, I'm somewhat of a lyrics enthusiast. Whether it's in English or not, I look into the lyrics. It's good to listen to songs that express things from a certain standpoint. It's like a look inside the protagonist's mind.

With that said, this is gonna be a top 10 list of songs. EPIC songs, mind you. Comes with the explanation of why they are epic. I've also limited the list to one song per band.

Album Review: "Living Things"

Now, after a long while, I have something to post again. And for this post, I'm going for an album review.

These reviews are meant to express the author's thoughts and opinions on the album being talked about. If you don't agree with the author's opinions, feel free to post your thoughts in a respectful manner.

And the album for today is...

Linkin Park's "Living Things".

Ang ganda ng Avengers!

Haha! Totally unrelated title.

...

So natapos na ang second week ko sa OJT.

As part of our practicum, we shall spend our summer working as interns. We've experienced 6 semesters of unending pressure after all, might as well experience the pressure of the corporate world to help ourselves adjust accordingly.

Etong OJT, in a sense, is a bridge of the student life to the work life. A transition to how we are to how we will be. Dito rin nagkakasabay ang academics (practicum requirements) at work (office tasks). This bridge is not a one-way bridge. Ibig sabihin, pwede pa tayong bumalik. Kapag naka-graduate ka na at nakakuha na ng trabaho, ayan na, natawid mo na yung tulay (under typical circumstances). Pero pagka-graduate mo, babalik ka ba sa school life ulit? It is up to you whether to burn that bridge or not.

Random stuff: Gestaltzerfall phenomenon

Motto koe wo kikasete yo

Motto koko ni itai kedo

Sayonara kokoro kara aishita

Namae mo wakaranai kimi yo...

This advertisement will be closed and will remain that way as long as you keep ignoring it.

Otherwise, enjoy.

Do you know the Gestaltzerfall phenomenon?

You've probably experienced it before. Try to look or listen to a word from somewhere. Yeah, pick any word. Now look at it. 

Learning: Am I doing it right?

Why do you go/have you gone to school?






In our educational system, we pretty much spend the first two decades of our life going to school. Spending our childhood learning. Well, that's the way childhood should be, no argues with that. That morning privilege/routine/torture (Choose one and choose wisely) we do 5 days of the week to learn about how and why things work (Science, Math, etc.), who made things work (History), and what were those people thinking when they made it work (Philosophies, Religion). These were taught to us to expand our knowledge of the world, of its inhabitants, and to give us an idea of how to use that knowledge for the greater benefit of the world.






Or at least, that's how it's supposed to be.

Before and After

Akala ko nung bata ako, may mga dinosaur pa nung panahon ng lolo at lola ko.
Tinanong ko pa nga sila eh.






Akala ko nung bata ako, hindi talaga pumupunta ng opisina ang mga magulang ko. Akala ko tinataguan lang nila ako somewhere sa labas ng bahay hanggang 5 o' clock ng hapon. Atsaka na sila papasok ng bahay ulit.






Akala ko nung bata ako, pinapalitan ang pangalan kapag matanda ka na. Para umayon sa edad.






Akala ko nung bata ako, bigla-bigla na lang magma-mature ang mga tao pagdating ng panahon. Parang Sims.






Akala ko nung bata ako, pagtakwil ang katumbas ng isang bagong kapatid.

An Infinite Word Spoken By Finite Creatures

I wonder why "forever" exists in man's vocabulary.


No, wait..


I wonder how "forever" exists in man's vocabulary.


We see/hear it all the time, don't we? In song lyrics, in movie scripts, in matrimonial vows (ok, maybe sometimes), on social networking sites, and pretty much everywhere, I guess.


Thanks to popular media, you probably see it being said in a passionate way. With confidence. With courage. With fire in their eyes. With cheesy dialogues and intense eye contact.




Question is: How can one accept a responsibility/duty/task that definitely transcends beyond his/her own lifetime?

Tuesday. Hardcore Tuesday.

*piano cue* Ang susunod na programa ay rated PG


February 28, 2012




4:23 pm, UST Library


Ayos, tapos na thesis works for the day. Kailangan ko nang umuwi. Nabanggit nga pala ni dad na magiging trapik mamayang hapon dahil may parang demonstration yata sa Quirino Grandstand. *le fastwalking like a boss*


4:30 pm, España Blvd, sa jeepney


Manong, bayad po. Lawton.


5:11 pm, doon sa may underpass sa Quiapo


Grabe, tagal naman umusad. Parang Pilipinas (lol). Inabutan na yata dito yung trapik. Paano na kaya sa Lawton?


5:20 pm, near Quiapo church

Patay, pinapababa na ang mga pasahero. Nandito na ang trapik. Tsk. Looks like I'm walking from here. Hindi ko na kukunin bayad ko. Lapit lang naman.


5:29 pm, pababa ng Quezon bridge


Wow, kailan pa naging open jeepney parking ang kalsada sa Lawton? Oh wait...nagtatawag yata sila ng mga pasahero. So naging isang malaking terminal ng jeep ang Lawton? Eh paano aalis yung jeep kung may nagku-kumpulan sila doon? Eh, hindi ko na problema yon. Sige lang, deretso lang sa paglakad.


5:31 pm, sa may terminal


Daming tao nakapila. Well, expected na yan. At least nandito na. Sasakay na lang.


6:25 pm, sa may terminal pa rin


May naririnig sa mga barker at driver sa terminal na matagal pang makakabalik ang mga sasakyan nila. Shit. Pero...hintay muna ng sandali pa. Baka may dumating...Pananalig lang.


6:55 pm, sa may terminal pa rin hanggang ngayon


LOL, screw this. Mage-LRT na lang ako papunta doon sa kabilang sakayan. Konti naman na ang mga tao sa train eh.


7:03 pm, LRT Central station


Whaaat? May pila na rin sa may hagdanan dito para magpatusok ng bag kay kuya guard? Pati grabe naman itong "pila" na to. Kala ko may magko-concert sa may taas. Nagkakahalo pa ang mga katas naming lahat. Parang chemistry experiment gone wrong. Pero astig, nagkakaisa ang lahat sa trip. Mga nagsisigawan na mga tao, nage-enjoy sa pila, nagkakaisa, kasi parehas ang sinisigaw ng kanilang mga isip: Gusto na naming umuwi. 


7:26 pm, nasa LRT na mismo


DUDE, ANSARAP NG HANGIN NG AIRCON. WIND OF THE GODS!


7:41 pm, LRT EDSA station/jeep & van terminal


Whoo, at least nakapagpalamig. Oh look, pila na naman. Jeep na lang ako pauwi. Mas mabilis mapuno at madami pa yata silang mga jeep na pwedeng bumiyahe. *hikab* Inaantok na kooo...


8:30 pm, sa jeep


YES! Aalis na! \:D/ 


9:02 pm, Cavite, nakababa na ng jeep; naglalakad na lang


Haa...haa...So nearly there...*insert Boulevard of Broken Dreams here*


9:05 pm, Home


*itabi ang bag, higa/gapang/gulong sa lapag* DUDE, ANG GANDA PALA NG BAHAY NAMIN. ANG PRESKO NG TILES AT CARPET.




Moral lesson of the story: Gawin ang mga thesis works kaagad.

May gagawin ka? Sus, mamaya na yan...

GWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

The number of school work to do is OVER 9000!!!
I'd blame the school, but it's my fault for procrastinating, anyway. Still, why does third year have to be overflowing with malevolent papers with threateningly-close deadlines?


Damn procrastination. The vicious cycle of resched, realize, response and repeat. Further discussion below (because this is the heart of this post).

Tekken Tag 2: Continue? 9. 8. 7. 6...

It has resurfaced. I thought I'd have better time to focus. Ever since I've caught the news, it's been tempting me; forcing through every possibility.


...ano yang pinagsasabi mo? Eto ang sinasabi ko, dre. Para sa mga hindi pa alam...


*drum roll*

*tssh*

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has reached Philippine shores! WOOOOOOO!