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, November 23, 2004

After fretting over my own procrastination, I had jittery nerves today before I made my sales presentation for the Honda Jazz as part of MARKSAM requirements. It got to the point that I had trouble focusing on studying for my PARTCOR quiz. I must have browsed through the same 3 chapters of Charles Futrell's book for God-knows-how-many times, never mustering the time to actually rehearse the damn thing.

It's a good thing we asked Mr. Maglutac to be the second group to present.

That got me enough time to rehearse and prepare. Catcat in particular was pretty dogged in her questions and objections and she got me prepped on how to address them within the presentation. I can even say that after going through her, getting Mr. Maglutac sold on the car was pretty easy in comparison. (Thanks a lot Catcat!)

Mr. Maglutac was rather pleased with how I did but did mention that I kinda balked on "asking for the business," instead going through with the presentation. Perhaps that part I owe from just being plain ignorant on how car sales are actually made. It just left my nervous mind that car salespeople go through getting a purchase order and having the customer sign it---THAT's how a sale is made. Hahaha!

At least he was pleased enough to give me a 92. Not bad for a procrastinated presentation! It did help that I'm basically a car-loving guy.

Now I feel pretty damn good. In all honesty I thought personal selling would be hard, but just by following a few simple rules of common sense, I can actually get people to do what I want them to. As Mr. Maglutac says, that's real power.

And I damn like it. If this feeling is how it's like to have power over people, I'm hooked.

Just like that, a creative salesman is born...WOOHOO!
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My sis and a few of her friends got together to put up a stall for the Zonta Claus bazaar at the Cuenca Community Center in Ayala Alabang Village. They sold a lot of different stuff there. I remember the man-hours she put in making all those earrings she sold.

It's just a shame that the powers that be didn't coordinate with their plan and literally rained on their parade. The rains drove would-be customers away from Cuenca, hence leading to lackluster sales. Bianx did turn a small profit though.

These young entrepreneurs have plans of getting another spot at another cheap bazaar soon enough. I wish them well the next time.
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I visited Market! Market! again recently, just to look for a Christmas gift idea I had in mind for my mom. I was disappointed that the item I sought wasn't there, but I was pleased that this time around more retailers had opened their doors.

Particularly interesting were SuperBench, the Metro department store/supermarket, and new hobby shops at the Technology Market!, where I found...yep, more Bandai Gundam model kits on sale. Particularly interesting was the HG 1/144 Providence Gundam worth PhP1200, which I haven't been able to find anywhere else.

They also carried some MG1.5 1/100 RX-78-2 Gundam model kits, which were priced cheaper than I thought (PhP1800). Found a similar MG kit of the RGM-79 GM type C at Robinsons Place Manila for the same price. Pretty darn cheap for MG kits! Probably because these were from the original Gundam 0079 series which isn't quite as popular as "flavor of the month" Gundam SEED yet. (The magnificent MG 1/100 Aile Strike Gundam I'm looking at STILL costs PhP2700...)

On the other hand this site's already accepting pre-orders for Gundam SEED Destiny model kits, particularly the HG 1/144 Force Impulse Gundam and HG 1/144 Zaku Warrior. I haven't even seen this sequel series yet.

Must...watch...SEED...Destiny...(drool)
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In related news...Gundam SEED is airing again on Cartoon Network's Toonami primetime block. Caught episode 4 of 50 tonight.

Might as well watch it again and relive the drama. I can get to see that bad-ass Aegis Gundam fighting again too. Heheheh.
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I just can't run away from some people I guess.

No matter how much I try to get rid of them, they've grown too attached to me for me to stop caring about them. I suppose a little re-framing is in order, but I just can't bring myself to forget my friend Denise. We just click too damn well to hate each other.

I'm a lot less angry now.

Here's to finishing our thesis!
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Might as well get this in.

Citroen C4 TV ad

It's a 4.7MB download but it's the most entertaining 31 seconds I've had lately.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Not too much for me to write today but I do have something to share.

This is what I've been doing in my free time.

Enjoy! Feel free to drop any comments.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Thought of scanning in some of my recent work. Might as well show it.

I finally have a decent photo host in Flickr.com by the way.

Duel Gundam Assaultshroud in ambient light


Duel and Aile Strike in saber battle

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

I'm beginning to notice a disturbing trend when it comes to my being an HCP moderator.

I think it's best to sum this up in one statement: I might as well stop attending officers' meetings and give up my moderator post if my colleagues have this mentality that I'm just a kid with nothing better to do.

Besides liking what I do doesn't make me a kid. I'm 21 for crying out loud.
===

Just this once I'm disabling comments for this particular post.

If you're from HCP, you're reading this post and have something to say, better keep it to yourself. I'm in no mood to listen, especially now that I know I'm not being taken seriously either.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Mike Llorin of GrupoToyota just died a useless and tragic death.

According to what I've heard on HCP, two non-HCP Civics were street-racing along Congressional Ave. One of them happened to cut into a green Pajero's path. The owner of the Pajero got off at a place (a gas station I think) where Mike and his fellows were hanging out. Thinking that innocent Mike was with the hot-dogging Civics, the Pajero owner shot him down right then and there.

What a major shock. He died at 30 and left a young wife and very young kids behind. And this was all because of some hotheaded Pajero owner. I could understand the anger from getting cut off but gunning down somebody just doesn't justify that, especially in Mike's case where he was totally innocent.

The one thing I don't understand is that Civics are Hondas and Mike's a member of GrupoToyota. Why'd he have to get shot down?

I don't know him personally but my condolences are with him. May you rest in peace.
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Although HCP strongly discourages any form of illegal racing on the streets (we'll do it on the strip or on the track, thanks), it's undeniable that a lot of non-HCP hot-doggers out there take their Hondas and drive with reckless abandon. Recently Karl, one of our directors, had an encounter himself with a 'vengeful' EK Civic he overtook legitimately. The EK driver tried to catch up to Karl's sponsor-painted car by passing through the right lane, almost smashing into a hapless Lancer GSR at the stoplight. That's very wrong now wasn't it?

Things like these coupled with Mike's untimely death make me very sad. Even worse, HCP can't exactly account for the driving of all such reckless idiots. All we can do is set an example for others and pray that people sit up and take notice too.

Let's all take care on the roads, shall we? The Philippines is NOT a safe place.
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For all the advancements we've made in science and technology I still keep wondering why a lot of us die precisely because of our so-called breakthroughs.

Sure, more of us get to eat, but a lot of what we eat just kills us in the end, such as processed food. We have advancements in reproductive health but more moms and babies die from the process of birth. Y'know, that sort of stuff.

Sigh.
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I'm not exactly the ideal kind of guy to most people but I'm so grateful that in spite of that, some people will still have the conviction to consider me one of their friends.

You know who you are, guys. Thanks a lot.

Friday, November 12, 2004

I'm back, and a lot has happened. It's just that I didn't feel like posting for a while.
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I finally met and exceeded my sales quota, but I'm not too proud of how I did it. Looking back I realize I haven't been applying all I've learned from sales techniques in MARKSAM and from my dad. And what better way to prove this than to demonstrate exactly how I can potentially fuck up a sale in front of my dad. Sigh.

Recently I took to reading his old book "How to Sell Like A Pro" by Dups de los Reyes. It might be too late at this point, but it's good reading and learning nonetheless. The tales of creative salespeople in that book are inspiring and I'd certainly like to be able to sell as well as they do. I certainly would like to keep selling even after MARKSAM is finished, and I'm not just talking about AVON either.

The abono factor is a bit of a turn-off though. I'm almost penniless as it is right now, absorbing the costs of ordering while waiting for the payments to come.

In other news I snapped my pen in two in frustration when I got back the result of my second ECONTRI quiz. My first failed quiz was easier to accept because I studied the wrong lesson by mistake. This instance, however, was so frustrating because I really studied hard for this exam yet I still flunked. Stupid little me felt so confident that all my answers would be correct...well, damnit, I got only one of the 4 questions totally correct and it was worth only 20 points out of 100. That 40-point costing question shit I felt so confident about turned out to be my biggest blunder.

In contrast Nicole aced the test...110/100. Sigh. I wonder what's it going to take to pass ECONTRI?
===

On a brighter note we're almost done with shooting thesis footage. The shocking thing is, I was surprised we were that far along the way. All we lacked were the montage sequences for the intro.

We showed our footage to Bro. Mike last Wednesday which meant an hour-long wait with Denise outside the CREM office. Apart from some complaints about harsh/inappopriate lighting and overly high-pitched acting he was all right with it, and he gave us the go-ahead to do a rough cut version of the final movie. All we needed was to up the pacing and maybe reshoot some scenes. He gave us until December 1 to finish.

We're all abuzz with excitement about FINALLY getting to finish thesis. I hear that as long as we get to finish it and defend on the 13th of next month, we'll pass PROJCO2. After the time we invested on this we might as well finish it on time no?

We'll start editing tomorrow...
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In two weeks Pops is going to perform at the Edsa Shangri-La mall (twice there!) and in Malabon. We'll be doing a Christmas repertoire of songs.

While that's abuzz, we Marketing people are trying to prepare for the major concert on March 12, 2005. I've been placed in charge of making the poster and the souvenir program, which will be based on a different concept this time around. I'm amazed and glad my mates already whipped up a concept design for the poster, and it certainly gets me a place to start this early.
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Some friends have either put up new blogs or got around to resurrecting their old ones.

Kuya Mike of HCP now has his brand-new blog. Meanwhile Mao got hers working after a long hiatus, and she's working on it with a friend of hers now.

That's great. :)

Friday, November 05, 2004

Last night I went to sleep with a 37.8-degrees Celsius slight fever. Felt kinda woozy and weak as well. As a remedy I drank so much green tea my mouth went dry...then again I guess the tea I made was too strong. It didn't help that even though I went to bed particularly early, that night's sleep was a disjointed series of short naps.

I woke up this morning feeling no different. The fever was gone but it still felt like my intestines decided to call the day off. Funny thing, though, was a few minutes before I planned on setting out to school my bowels started to move. And no, this wasn't a fart or a burp, this was real shit coming through.

Times like these, I'm thankful I can see my brown droppings in the toilet bowl. That's the usual signal that yes, I am getting better. I still feel lethargic, yeah, but I don't think it'll matter much as I have only one class today.
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The past few days I've been listening to nothing but the Portrait of Pops audio CD from Pops' very successful concert last March at the CCP Main Theater.

I haven't seen Moulin Rouge yet, but I'm so hooked on Mark T. and Blossom's rendition of Come What May. I've been singing it so many times and I never get sick of it...and I'm not even in love.

I never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
I want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day


Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
But our world revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide
But I love you (I love you) until the end (until the end) of time

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Oh, come what may, come what may
I will love...(I will love you...)


Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place...

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day...

===

It's weird what death is...I've been thinking about it so many times lately yet I can't put my thoughts about it into sensible words. I mean, apart from the pain that comes with some forms of death, it's probably not as bad as we think it is. I'd imagine it'll be like sleeping, only never waking up---at least not in any recognizable world.

Where we go after we die is actually a moot point for me; I've never really been convinced that heaven and hell exist. At least I'm very sure that decomposition gets the better of us and our bodies after we're done inhabiting them, although I'm not sure of how to react when we'll probably end up as fossil fuel later on. We become what we burn, in short...

The death of many may actually be a good thing, I ponder. There's just so many of us humans on this earth that we're practically suffocating Mother Nature. Of course, pro-lifers will scream bloody hell at my line of thinking but I think we really should consider thinking in the long run. There might not be an earth to sustain ANY life if we keep doing what we do to it everyday, without giving a flying fuck about the repercussions of our actions.

Okay, off the soapbox now.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

I have one more hour to burn before going home. Blasted color-coding traffic scheme means I can't go home before 7pm.

I don't really feel good. Something I ate or drank hasn't been agreeing with my intestines...I don't know if it's the nachos, the chicken and garlic wrap or the two glasses of orange juice I tried. (Methinks it's the juice.) I was soldiering on in class feeling perpetually full and gassy.

Went to the clinic to get some antacid but it seemed to get worse. That's when I thought of trekking to Starbucks and treating myself to a big glass of hot mint tea, to warm up my intestines and get them working somehow. Yum.

Right now I'm still a bit feverish, woozy and weak. I'm thinking maybe I need something else. Sigh.
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I don't know what overcame my friend Meow but all of a sudden she decided to give me an early Christmas present...in the form of the HG 1/144 Duel Gundam Assaultshroud model kit.

Especially exciting (if a bit creepy) was how she got me to agree.

"Promise me your answer to my next question will be Yes."

Paranoid nutter that I am, I had second thoughts but decided, hey, why not take a risk. Yes.

"I'll buy you one of these (HG 1/144 Gundam Seed kits). Your choice."

And all I could do was stammer. Her only condition was that I take pictures of it when it was completed...which I already have, just last night, armed with better equipment than before (Nikon PK-13 macro extension ring and a 500W light stand from my dad).

Thanks Meow.
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I finished constructing Duel Gundam in two hours, without the Assaultshroud parts (basically some bulky-looking armor, some additional verniers, a shoulder-mounted rail gun and a small missile pod). Compared to the Strike I have to say Duel is a bit lower in quality, but nothing an amateur modelmaker can't shrug off. The Assaultshroud parts are a pain in the ass to attach and detach though, and they severely limit the suit's movement especially at the arms.

But for a 1/144 kit it's good.

I've been eyeing the MG 1/100 Aile Strike Gundam and HG 1/100 Aegis Gundam lately and despite already owning their smaller, less detailed cousins, I have to say I'm very interested in getting them.

IF money were no object. Sigh. Huge IF.

I think I'm a Gundam addict.
===

I should lay off. I'll be going home soon enough.

More stories to come. I promise.
Went to Baliwag last Monday for the annual All Saints Day trek to the cemeteries. This was the first time I got to see the rehabilitated NLEX up close and it looked pretty damn good. Dad kept his Trooper at high speed all the time on the smooth asphalt, exploring the limits of the big SUV with frequent tailgating maneuvers and lane changes at 130 km/h.

Which wasn't the case going back home.

Once we had arrived at the Bocaue exit area on our way home the NLEX had turned into one big crawling parking lot, as everyone wanted to go back home at that time. It didn't help that so many vehicles either crashed into others or broke down along the way. What had been a short 1-hour trek turned into a 3-hour nightmare. One irritating idiosyncrasy was that the Bocaue toll plaza had so many nonfunctioning booths, but only 4 of those were open to traffic. Oh well. Times like those I'm grateful I wasn't driving.
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One of our beloved dogs, Bruce, died two Sundays ago. We figured it was because of the medicine we gave him for treatment of his distemper illness...although I have to wonder why he still died even when we followed the vet's prescription to the letter. My sister was crying as she managed to catch Bruce's final moments, struggling before finally slumping to the floor.

We're all going to miss this young pooch. He was just one year old but he was a big and heavy fellow, really affectionate and playful all the time. I hope he's enjoying in doggie heaven.
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I've been wondering over the past couple of weeks. What is death, really?

It all seems so routine, so regular. Life starts, continues, then ends. It's just a part of the normal course of things. Yet why do we get so hurt by death? Why do we fear it?

Sometimes I think this whole brouhaha about death is overrated...it's as simple as closing your eyes and never waking up again. There ends your taste of this world. Looking at it this way doesn't get rid of the fear though.
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I'd love to stay and type more but I got class to attend. Damn it, I'm sleepy. Thursdays are especially long: I get to school at 7am and leave at 7pm because of that goddamn color-coding shit.
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