Zero, the Fool

I regret nothing

2008-10-05T19:16:00.007+08:00

The following exchange happened recently:

"Did I mention that I was a cheerleader back in high school?"

"With the pompoms and everything?"
"Yea."

"... Did you have a picture of you back then?"

"I don't think so."

"You still have your uniform, right?"

"Yeah...? I have it stored somewhere in my closet."

"You have a camera, right?" :D

:P "Come to think of it, I was wondering where my uniform top went."

"Even just the skirt will do."

And so we come to this (click for larger view):

Happy Birthday, Darl!

Fuck me, it's way past mid-2008 already.

2008-09-18T23:59:00.007+08:00

In between this and the last journal update, I have:

- left my old job and found a new one

- left that job

- got brokenhearted

- healed it anyway

- went through two birthdays

- got a new dog

- went through a quasi fashion make over

- got a laptop

- learned more Java

- barely drew

- watched Iron Man

- watched the Dark Knight

- got addicted to caffeine

- knew how little I knew

- learned how much I've changed

I may or may not have missed some things. Some of the things stated above may or may not be important.

Good day, everyone. Let me just dust the chairs and tables clean....

Peanut.....

2007-05-28T20:07:00.000+08:00

Yo, ho
haul together
Hoist the Colors high
Heave ho,
thieves and beggars
Never shall we die.

The king and his men
stole the queen from her bed
and bound her in her bones.
The seas be ours
and by the powers
where we will well roam.

Yo, ho,
haul together,
hoist the Colors high.
Heave ho,
thieves and beggars,
never say we die.

Some men have died
and some are alive
and others sail on the sea
– with the keys to the cage...
and the Devil to pay
we lay to Fiddler's Green!

The bell has been raised
from it's watery grave...
Do you hear it's sepulchral tone?
We are a call to all,
pay head the squall
and turn your sail toward home!

Yo, ho,
haul together,
hoist the Colors high...
Heave ho,
thieves and beggars,
never say we die.

www.xkcd.com

2007-01-19T17:06:00.000+08:00

I am just shamelessly copying this off a webcomic.

Guy#1: You should be more careful what you write. You never know when a future employer might read it.

Guy#2: When did we forget our dreams?
The infinite possiblities each day holds should stagger the mind. The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I'm sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handful of paths laid out ahead of us. We see the same things each day, we respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of societal norms. We act like if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us.
And no, I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: the solution doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of someday easing my fit into a mold. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.
This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can:
Fuck.
That.
Shit.

Close your eyes. Think of all the bubbles and the love we made.

2007-01-07T23:15:00.000+08:00

Got back from a high school friend's birthday party. It's been quite some time since I've seen them; refreshing to see old faces and catch up on what's what and who's with who.
The culture I was used to in college - mostly geek culture - was different from theirs. Some were rockers, playing in gigs, one was well traveled, several are married already (one's expecting!), one's a DJ, one's set up a business of his own. The experience was.... very educational. Funny thing is, even if we all took different paths of life, we somehow still share common burdens, like bills, money (or the lack thereof), relationships.

I really should meet more new people.

Goodbye, 2006.

2006-12-31T23:31:00.000+08:00

It's a little less than 30 minutes til midnight here. I've been meaning to type some sort of summary of 2006, with a catchy title like SONA (State of the Nerd Address), but right now I'm a little speechless. There are many things that have happened during the past year, and I am grateful for the experience. I can only hope that I learn well from them.

In a few minutes we'll be saying "Hello, Blazing Pig"! =D Happy New Year to one and all!

Hey, Darl

2006-10-06T13:38:00.000+08:00

Caption: Tony Stark can go to hell!

Belated Happy Birthday, again. =P

Yushen

2006-10-01T16:00:00.001+08:00

Mou Ichido logo and Kaze Onna

2006-09-17T23:26:00.000+08:00

First is the logo for the translation team Mou Ichido. The next picture is a kimono wearing wind elemental lady.

Azrael of the flame

2006-09-16T22:35:00.001+08:00

Based on everybody's favorite squatter-hating NEC person.

I'm no shorty, but it's mah birthday.

2006-09-12T00:21:00.000+08:00

Pizza, Pasta, and Chicken! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

*reads Around the World in Eighty Days*

I would like to thank the academy.....

2006-08-29T23:12:00.000+08:00

... and by academy, I mean the Empress, for my wonderful new look. Bow before her majesty. So awesome! =D

In other news, in two more days I am now a free man. I'm finally quitting my job of more than two years (I think three). I wish the exit could've been on a better note, but I guess it's just time to move on. So long, CRS, and thank you for the memory.

The System Is Down

2006-07-16T22:55:00.000+08:00

Desktop PC's busted. =( Farewell, dear PC, your great sacrifice will not be forgotten. *salutes*

To ressurrect him, a friend of mine will be donating a spare motherboard. The operation will be next week. In, the meantime... I still have two office PCs and my sister's latptop (whose japanese keyboard layout is a bit confusing).

In the absence of my PC I have rediscovered my hobby of drawing. Here is Jemma, the Hammer Priestess:

Cleric wielding a very large hammer. She is also known to kick men in the nuts. Loosely based on a friend of mine. 19 of 108 in the Megane Suiko series.

Flibar's Rating: Awesome

2006-06-16T23:17:00.000+08:00

I was hunting for Scott Pilgrim for more than two weeks now, and to think that I'd find it in little ol' Filbar's in Megamall was a very pleasant surprise. Power Books didn't have it; Comic Quest didn't even know anything about it; And Filbar's has the one copy stuck between porn magazines. I should personally hand Fil Barbasa a wad of bills as a thank you present.

Also, Scott Pilgrim is so worth the long search.

Comics, online and on paper

2006-05-26T20:45:00.000+08:00

Here are the webcomics I read on a regular basis:

Penny Arcade - usually a gamer's webcomic, but they touch upon books and movies occasionally.
Order of the Stick - comic about D & D. The art style is simple yet elegant.
Achewood - I do not know why, but browsing through the archive has got me hooked on this. I can't really describe what it is, either; better find out for yourself.
Questionable Content - comic about life in general. I'm not too updated on the indie music they refer to sometimes, though.

It's a real bummer I can't get a hold of any copies of Scott Pilgrim here in the Philippines. -_- Power Books can get it for me via Special Order, but I'm thinking if it's cheaper buying it from Amazon (counting shipping and tax).

Four-Color Love Story

2006-05-21T20:56:00.000+08:00

It's a cool song I found in the web. Note: It is in no way related to the four-color theorem in map coloring. It refers to the way the original comics were printed (probably up to this day): The usage of Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black inks.

Four-Color Love Story by the Metasciences
Another day at work is nearly over
You must've seen the whole thing on T.V.
Seventeen more city blocks and I can almost smell you
Waiting at the windowsill for me
It's our 41st anniversary
But we don't look a day over 23
Not in this life
Not in this universe

And we were still in high school when I met you
If you believe the continuity
I rescued you from robots and untied you from the tracks
And you pretended not to know that it was me
We didn't even kiss until issue 26
And this world still feels like 1963
I love this life
I love this universe

And you'll keep my identity a secret
And you will know the touch beneath my glove
And I may go out every night and risk my life for strangers
But you're the only girl I'll ever love
And Gwen Stacy isn't dead, she's only sleeping
And Elektra isn't evil or insane
And those bastards in the pentagon can't really kill Sue Dibney
No more than they could kill off Lois Lane
And I swear to god there'll be hell to pay
If anybody tries to take you away
Forget this life
Forget this universe
You're everything I need
You are my life
You are my universe
And they'll have to go through me

So how about that Code? I heard Da Vinci made it

2006-05-19T23:37:00.000+08:00

Watching it tomorrow night. Being a person of not so intense faith, I still believe it won't affect my beliefs, when I know that it's fiction at its core. People need to realize that and stop getting so damn tight-assed.

Story idea!

2006-05-18T21:24:00.000+08:00

I thought of this as we were going home from a weekend trip from Batangas. My crazy-cool uncle from Hawaii and my slightly crazy grandma were my inspiration for this.

Regular worker guy (tentatively named Blake) meets Regular girl (tentatively named Ria). They manage to hook up after a brief and formal courtship, and Ria (after an unspecified and unimportant period of time) finally introduces Blake to her family, who are definitely not normal.

Ria's father is an accomplished werewolf hunter, her mother is a master swordslady of a prestigious samurai line, and her uncles (father side) are : A bald guy with ESP, a ninja, and a hypnotist rock star.

So what's up? Apparently, Ria's family has a very long, unusual history. Each and every member of the family manifests some sort of power (ie her ESP and Hypnotist uncles), or experiences an event that changes him/her forever (her father and her ninja uncle). Whoever marries into the family, male or female, gets affected by this phenomenon as well. Also, male outsiders has to drop their surname and adopt the Weird family name, to preserve the line (technicalities aside).

The story revolves around Blake getting acquainted with Ria's many relatives and the oddball adventures that happen to him as he tries to get accepted into the family while trying to retain his sanity.

I have nothing to say

2006-05-11T22:42:00.000+08:00

except that today is a typical day for me. Come to the office, type up queries and generate tables of data, get interrupted by phone calls, get back to your work and realized that you have lost your train of thought and you need five to ten minutes to get your bearings back. Yeeeep.

Yesterday though was a different matter. I'm a total sucker for abstract mathematical discussions and stupid math problems (the kinds with the twist - you know about the twenty five peso rent and the missing peso? Those kinds), and in a book I read yesterday, there was this problem that made me utterly hate coconuts and monkeys.

The problem goes like this:

"Five men and a monkey were stranded in an island. To survive, they picked coconuts all day, and at the end of the day, they decide to start the splitting tomorrow morning, and everybody went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, however, one of the men woke up, and, thinking to get his share early, went to the pile of coconuts, and divided them (almost) evenly into five piles. One coconut was left over, and this he gave to the monkey. Then he hid his share, put back the rest into the pile, and went to sleep.

The second man did the same, dividing the coconut to five even piles, with one more coconut left over. The leftover went to the monkey, the man's share was hidden, and he went back to sleep.

This process repeated itself with the other men, each taking roughly 1/5 of the remainder and leaving one to the monkey.

In the morning, they divided the remaining coconuts among each other, and it was neatly divided among them, no leftovers (this was a modification of an older problem). The question now, is: How many coconuts were there in the beginning?

Home Alone

2006-05-06T21:26:00.000+08:00

Sounds: Cool Joke's UNDO

Preparations for the upcoming Freshman Advanced Registration yields a surprising lesson: The next time you try and pick up an HP LaserJet, remember that you are a programmer and you will have the tendency to be, well, a shrimp. My left bicep feels like a small child has his gums gripping it, not unlike a vice.

Today is Day 2 of 3 of the "me-being-left-while-my-sister-and-mom-enjoy-themselves-in- Puerto-Galera" Series, and I am hanging on quite nicely. Maybe I should practice my drawing hand again tonight, or tomorrow. I still haven't touched the past and spaghetti sauce they left me at the fridge; pray I don't burn down the house while trying to heat my lunch.

Why The Fool?

2006-05-06T20:48:00.000+08:00

I have several aliases used in the wide reaches of the web. But what inspired me to pick the name of what might be the most unique card in the deck of Tarot?
Firstly, I wanted something different. And I've never used any of the Tarot cards as a username, so now is a good time as any.
Secondly, the Tarot is one of the most symbolically charged items in the history of the Western world. I have a private habit of finding symbolism and connections in everything I see; one might say I love symbolisms.
Thirdly, and probably the most important reason of all, is that the idea came to me as I was staring at the register screen. And it hit me, in a way that a icy cool human-high sea wave might hit one in a hot summer. It just felt right.

"The Fool makes a profound statement[...] dropped in amongst the kings, queens, and powers of the cosmos. All the other cards are in competition with each other in the game; each player hopes their card will "triumph" over those of others, and much distress results if a valuable card is beaten and taken. But the Fool alone is not in competition; he's outside the game. In every hand he appears once, somewhere, unpredictably, never taking anything and never being taken. He just is. Total humility bestows invulnerability."

For more info on the Fool, check out everybody's favorite look-it-up site.