about the talking fish

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Writer. Wheelman. Occasional DIY mechanic. Walking collection of hang-ups. Hopeless romantic. Old-school. Analog soul in a digital world. I am all of these things and more.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

I'm supposed to be packing my stuff for tomorrow's flight...but it can wait. My flight's still in the afternoon.

Right now I'm just checking all my usual sites.
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Tiring day. I had to accompany Bianx to the LTO branch in Las Piñas to finally get her overdue student permit converted to a driver's license.

Aside from the headaches of the actual process (I swear I ain't going there to renew my license!), what made me sore were the driving habits of Las Piñas motorists. And I thought Caloocan was bad...this was WAY worse. Everyone made his/her own counterflow, everyone wanted to make a left turn (holding up everyone else in the process) and everyone just cut in as often as he/she liked. What a pain.

I'd had my fill of Alabang-Zapote Road traffic. Sheesh. It's enough to drive anyone mad.
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My FINAMA1 final went...well enough, on record. I did fudge my way through some items that I never understood anyway, but what I did manage to answer felt all right in my opinion.

I guess this is fate's way of telling me I ain't never going to cut it as a banker like my parents. I suck at finance.
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Cher seems to be doing fine in Leyte, apart from another bad experience with love. Sigh. You deserve better, fwend.

The frogs will come and go...but I pray your prince will stay. *HUGS*
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I am so darn tired. It's probably a good thing this term break's two weeks long---what a surprise.

What's nice to do after the Bacolod tour? I wonder...

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Studying for FINAMA1 was a colossal struggle.

I hadn't noticed it throughout the term, but Professor Perez had actually covered so many topics that reviewing them alone the day before the final exam proved mind-boggling. An added handicap was that the formula index cards and notes we had so relied upon through the term were banned in the final exam. It meant memorization or bust.

To top it all off, my body seemed to have an agenda of its own---it preferred napping out instead of getting on with the task.

So when I came to school yesterday to face the inevitable (flunking the FINAMA1 final), I was sort of grateful for the classes being called off---literally seconds before my 1pm exam was underway. (Typical late DLSU fashion, yes.) However that meant having to move course card distribution as well as the affected exams to Monday.

Maybe they should have just pushed through with it after all?
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Right after classes got called off I had nothing better to do. I decided to head to Greenbelt.

What did I do? I wasted PhP300 on Initial D ver.3. Yes, I'm addicted to that game.

I've conquered the Akagi mountain pass as well, and I've also tried the other mountain roads. Shomaru is ridiculously tight with poor road surface, while Happogahara is full of confusing turns (I kept losing to Daiki). The Irohazaka road seemed as daunting as navigating chicken intestines, but when I tried it I actually found it pretty easy. Sequential hairpin turns at 3rd gear = fun.

Sigh...that game's going to make a pauper out of me.
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It's a soupy gray mess everywhere I look from my window. I feel sleepy again. Yaaaawn.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Two down, one to go.

I'm talking about my finals. QUATECH and COMLAW1 went well for the most part. For today I'm free, but come Wednesday afternoon I tackle my FINAMA1 final exam. Wish me luck.
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I got to watch Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz last Saturday and well...it was okay. Still doesn't generate any emotional tug from me though. It's still about five pretty boys with their ridiculously powerful mobile suits. It just so happens Endless Waltz shows the Gundams they pilot as susceptible to major damage as well. The overall theme is good though.

Particularly noteworthy is the analogy of history as an "endless waltz"---the three dance steps of war, peace and revolution. Whomever thought up that concept deserves major kudos.
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Before that I arrived ridiculously early for the HCP August EB. Deciding I had nothing better to do while burning the time, I walked to Greenbelt.

I was surprised to see an Initial D ver.3 arcade cabinet there. Off I went, buying my game card (I still got a Honda S2000 as my car), conquering the Myougi and Usui courses and finishing two legs of the Akagi mountain road. After the 9 races I was sweating like a pig and grinning from all the tension.

3pm came and I ran back to the Dela Rosa 1 carpark to meet up with the HCP guys. Some of us brought new rides---Emman had his brand-spanking-new red Jazz, Lyndon had his old-but-gold JDM EF9 Civic SiR hatchback (from the early 1990s!), and Eric had an immaculate EK9 Civic Type R hatchback in Championship White.

I spent the day mostly chatting with Angiela (Meow), her friend Sharon and Lyndon's girlfriend Ygy. Meow was too shy to make an outright appearance, so she asked us to stay with her.

Later on I met Ms. Rachell Diaz of HCPI's marketing team, among the giveaways of Lucky Strike BAR Honda F1 team stickers. She was responsible for brokering the sponsorship for our recital "Jazz Up Your Life," and I was delighted to hear that they were considering sponsoring our major concert come March 2005. Very very good news.

Overall an enjoyable EB...I just wish it were a damn bit cooler that day.
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Lately I've been driving on a very prudent right foot. When fillup time came after the EB going home, I was delighted to see my fuel economy was at 9.89 km/L. With a bit less overtaking I could stretch that to 10, easily.

Gas is expensive nowadays...I heard gas prices have increased just now. Shame.
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Is it just me or have I developed an addiction to Friendster?

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Gundam Seed finally came to a close last night...waaah! Why did Mu La Flaga have to die? And in such a pathetic way at that? He was my favorite character by far.

The final 2 episodes were a bit lukewarm compared to the dramatic buildup of the entire series, but they do the job and they're not such a sore disappointment as to tarnish Gundam Seed as a whole. I can't wait for Gundam Seed Destiny to begin airing---subtitled or dubbed, it's a treat. The voice talents on Seed don't shame the grandiose scale of the anime at all and that's kudos for them.

I'll try to catch the movie version of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz later. I just want to see what the hoopla was all about on this spin-off series.
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With all my blathering about Gundam I might as well plug this site.
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Cher finally answered my messages. It seems she's had more of those emotional instabilities that she's had since winning the councilorship race.

You're never alone, fwend. *HUGS*
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Good news: I'm going to Bacolod!

Pops is going to have its annual Visayan concert tour over the term break, and it seems Rachel wants me doing hosting duty. Gee. It's a great opportunity :) I've never been south of Luzon and I'd love to visit the Visayas once in my life at least. I've heard so many nice things about Bacolod...

September 1 seems so close...but I gotta finish finals and pass this term first.

Monday, August 16, 2004

For five days, it seemed everything and anything that could have been due indeed was. For that reason I had close to a week where I had a piddling amount of sleep just trying to get everything finished.

At least that's over. All I'm waiting for nowadays is finals week. I got three exams to finish---one of them at a particularly LATE hour.

So far the term's shaped up to be a pretty nice one in terms of grades. I sucked early on with two of my must-not-flunk subjects (MARKCU1 and QUATECH) but I think I've more than made up my initial sluggish start. QUATECH in particular had me scoring 95% and above over three quizzes---that's enough to cancel out my humiliatingly low early quiz scores.
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My colds and sinusitis haven't gone away though. They've simply become more persistent. To top that off I seem to have a knack for getting only 6 hours of sleep maximum, for some weird reason. I need more sleep.
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I've become reacquainted with a couple of games that have been sitting on my computer for too long.

SimCity 3000 is actually pretty fun. It's a huge challenge to balance expenses and income while giving Sims what they want and making my cities productive and healthy.

Starcraft in the meantime is one game I previously played only with full cheats activated. Now that I've started over with zero cheats (well, apart from the "black sheep wall" code), I see the huge challenge it poses.

Both games are fabulous ways of wasting time.
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I've turned into quite the Gundam fanatic lately.

It all started 9 weeks ago with the TV premiere of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. Because of watching Mobile Suit Gundam Wing from before, having been put off by its ridiculous dialogue and confusing story, I had my own doubts about Seed. I'm glad to say Seed is a lot better. The characters are no longer simply invincible "poster boys" (or bishounen for the hardcore otaku out there) pretending to have human problems, as in Wing; in Seed they are human, fallible and susceptible. That basically makes all the difference.

This week sees Seed finishing its first season. 5 episodes to go. I can't wait to watch the second season, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Destiny.

Then last week came the 25th anniversary edition of the original series that started it all in 1979: Mobile Suit Gundam. Plot-wise, Seed seems to have taken a lot of its elements from this classic---no complaints there as it works really well both ways. Gundam's animation is a bit iffy and dated (but what can one expect from something done in 1979?), and the music is a bit laughable at parts, but it's also still quite interesting.

I wonder which other Gundam series have that mix of splendid animation and well-integrated plot? They'll be worth spending money on.
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I miss Cher. Badly.

Ever since she went back to Leyte, it seems she's never sent me any text messages or answered any of my calls. I've become more than a bit worried. I shudder to think of what might have happened to her. I do pray she's all right. :(
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