First crack at BRC

When Edward told me about a trackday event at Batangas Racing Circuit to be sponsored by Cong. Mark Mendoza...I wasn't about to pass it up. Seeing how much costlier BRC's rental fee is compared to Subic International Raceway, I immediately jumped at the chance.

My first exposure to it was in Mel's car, with me and Cliff along for the ride. Mel himself was following our instructor JP Castellano driving one of his students' Civics. JP's first lap was deliberately taken slow so that we could see the correct line through the corners, effectively in slow motion. After that, Mel decided he wanted a crack at the circuit left to his own devices.

I distinctly remember being a little spooked at first. Mel understeered through several corners at first, trying to learn the correct line at speed. The scariest part was the chicane. Understeer through that and you have nowhere to go but the tire wall, which Cliff sadly had a taste of first-hand.

When it was my turn to ride along with my groupmates (experienced from previous trackdays but new to BRC), I didn't fare much better than Mel's first foray either. BRC is loaded with double-apex turns, and I had frustration all morning with the very deceptive R-Bend. All told, I had Mav time me and I got a lap time of 2:28.6. So much room for improvement there.

Later in the afternoon I got tips from my friend Francis Arjonillo and, later on, JP himself while driving Cliff's car Sam, scuffs and all. I was fascinated with spots on the track where one could actually induce understeer to squeeze out a little more exit speed - critical for a low-powered car like Aibo. Momentum maintenance was the key. With their tutelage, I slashed my time down to a personal best of 2:20.8. JP was glad I cut eight seconds just by observation.



The best was yet to come though. Before the end of the day, I bugged JP to drive Aibo. I wanted to see how much more I could improve, and he obliged. With astonishing self-belief, he dove deep into the corners with super-late braking, and screeched Aibo's Toyo Proxes 4s from entry to exit round many a double apex. Such consistency too: all his laps were 2:18s or 2:17s, the best one a brake-fluid-boiling 2:17.21. After JP's stint, the tires and brakes had overheated and the brake pedal went noticeably longer due to bubbling fluid under hard use. Notably though, we shared a very similar line.

I'm very glad I got to sample BRC the way I did. My only regret was I didn't have my own GoPro or ContourHD camcorder to record my laps - I had to rely on Mav's brother Paolo and his cellphone for that. I'm looking forward to more.

Why, dammit, why

Why can't we all just get along?

Why can't we just follow the damn rules and respect the people in authority?

Why can't we just listen to the grievances of others without biases?

Why can't we stop crowding and tailgating other cars while driving?

Why do our egos always have to get in the way?

Why don't we look enough times before we leap?

Why won't the feuding ever stop?

Why do we have to get jealous of what other people have?

Why are we so trigger-happy?

Twenty-eight days ain't enough

February is a busy, busy month for me - much busier than normal.

Last week Mav and I went to Canyon Cove for my birthday and to ACE Water Spa on the weekend, and then the week before that I went to Niku and Chielou's fabulous wedding.

Tomorrow my mate Ador and I will be participating at the Accenture Badminton Club Cup tournament, while the weekend after, Mav, Joghz, Paolo, Ara and I will be going to Batangas Racing Circuit for my first trackday there.

All the while, my beloved Uncle Butch and Auntie Carole are vacationing here with us until the beginning of March.

It's certainly a jam-packed month. So many things are happening every week that it actually feels slower and more enjoyable than normal. I think I could've planned it out a little better so I could spend more time with my aunt and uncle, but so far so good.

Happy birthday to me

Wow I've turned yet another year on my life. I must be getting old! Hahaha!

It was a lovely lazy day spent with the love of my life on a road trip to one of the coolest resorts in Batangas, Canyon Cove. Then we had a great dinner at Manos Greek Taverna in Tagaytay. Aibo's legs really got stretched this time as we overtook a bunch of cars at full throttle along Nasugbu and Tagaytay's streets.

Not a bad way to turn twenty-seven. Wait a minute, who's counting again?

Thanks much to everyone who greeted and everyone who gave me presents: Tita Hedwig for the gorgeous Seiko 5 SNZG57K automatic watch, Mav for the very early present of the Deuter Giga laptop backpack, Bianca for her hand-me-down 5800, Mama for the cool, racey-looking jacket, and Papa for the nice black belt.

I'm sunburnt, red-eyed, tired, pooped but very happy. Ta ta!

Windows of opportunity

Apologies for not updating as often as I should. PLDT has basically given me the shoddiest DSL ever and it's become nigh-impossible to catch it working at home.

I am in a fascinating time. There are so many opportunities and activities opening up for me that I can't help but get excited at all the potential I'm smelling.

For three weeks now Mav and I have been jogging at Bonifacio High Street. We basically thought of turning to running as a way of keeping ourselves fit and maybe lose some weight, but so far we've been enjoying ourselves pounding away at the hard-packed concrete sidewalks. Mav is steadily getting better as she gets used to the demands of jogging.

Team Flat Out also invited me to Don Pastor's plan of making what they call a "gentlemen's racing series" - basically an open wheel-to-wheel racing class for daily driven cars and amateur drivers who have no racing licenses. If you can imagine what Keiichi Tsuchiya and his fellow race-driver co-hosts do on every episode of "Best Motoring" around Tsukuba Circuit, I reckon you wouldn't be far off.

Also when I try figuring out what I want to do with my life, it seems everything points to the direction of cars. Summit Media, that publishing giant with its offices just three floors down from mine, had a number of job vacancies, and Mav encouraged me to send in my application. Sadly there was no opening for "Top Gear Philippines" but maybe I could start elsewhere with that dream of being an automotive journalist in mind.

My only reservations revolve around leaving my comfort zone, I suppose. For better or worse I've adapted to my current situation pretty well, and there's a part of me that's fearful of leaving something that's already pretty secure. Then again I seem to have hit a wall and have stopped growing...perhaps because I've grown tired of my daily work grind.

So many opportunities, yet so many insecurities as well. It's an exciting time to be alive.

Another year, another trackday

To kick off the year right, I signed up for the 2nd Pitworkz/Hongly Trackday, once again held at Subic International Raceway. I had Mav and her brother Paolo along once again for the ride.

Unlike the December 5 event where just 10 of us shared the track on an extended, timed practice session, this trackday was a sold-out blockbuster affair with well over 40 participants. The majority of the runners were EG, EK and ES Civics, but this time there were trios of Subaru Imprezas and BMWs in the fray too. Also notable is the participation of a lot of track virgins, such as my friend Clifford Ang and his GE8 Jazz 1.5.

Bracketing was also implemented in the style of run-what-you-brung (RWYB) competitions. Basically all the drivers and cars were given a chance to set two hot laps, and this determines in which one of four time brackets the drivers will participate in. I slotted into Bracket C, where I eventually would win second place with a new record time of 58.4 seconds.

I had broken my previous record, but somehow it wasn't as satisfying as the last trackday. Key to this was the lack of consistency. After I had set that 58.4-second "magic lap" where my line was virtually perfect and I had no mistakes from start to end, I started to over-analyze things and began to obsess about getting the Turn 3 entry/exit correctly. That led to understeering at Turns 1 and 2, scrubbing my front tires and worsening my subsequent lap times. I never again managed another lap faster than 59 seconds after lunch time.

Fastest time of the day went to Doc Luis Buencamino and his GDB Subaru Impreza STi, with monster StopTech brakes and festooned with three GoPro sport camcorders. The blue-and-black Scooby ripped through Subic at an astonishing pace, bagging a 47.67-second lap time in the early afternoon.

Mav finally got to ride shotgun with me in Aibo while the track was open to free practice in the morning, and she took it well. I was amazed at how calm she was in the co-pilot's seat and how well she took video of my practice lap with my Mavica while I was attacking the corners and trying to forge my way past the less-experienced drivers. Paolo also rode shotgun and took an eight-minute-long video clip with his cellphone.

After a green beginning that was less than pleasant, Cliff eventually found his groove and saw his time tumble to a personal best of 1:04. Mel meanwhile got to within a whisker of his aim of breaking the one-minute mark with a 1:00.08.

The Bracket C win gifted me with a trophy and a four-liter can of FK/Massimo Super SS-X mineral engine oil. Although the deal would have been sweeter had I won fully synthetic oil, I'm not complaining about a free oil change - all I have to pay for are a crush washer, oil filter and perhaps labor.

It looks like my goal of breaking the 57-second barrier with Aibo still in stock condition will have to wait.

The calm before the trip...

As I write this post I'm in Mav's bedroom. I'm sleeping here tonight because of the long-awaited Bohol trip tomorrow, and we have to leave for the airport by 3 am.

The funny thing about this is it still feels like the trip is weeks away and not tomorrow morning. Perhaps that's because Mav and I have been planning this for quite a long while now - about five months ago to be exact. I'm not psyched up about it. Rather I feel strangely calm.

We'll see if I'll be singing to a different tune when I get back on Saturday afternoon. Hahaha!

Until then, guys.

Beginning 2010 in a drunken stupor

People who know me well know that I don't drink much, especially the hard stuff. I'm more of a red wine kind of guy.

So you can imagine what happened to me when Uncle Butch sent in 750mL of Patron's finest "Silver" agave tequila for the consumption of me, my dad, Uncle Gerry, Uncle Joey and my cousin-in-law Miguel on Bianca's birthday.

In hindsight, I took it pretty well, I guess. I paced myself as best as I could. I can definitely say that tequila is not something to drink the same way one would drink wine or whiskey. You don't smell it, you don't check its "legs" (as they say in whiskey tasting), you don't let the flavor linger in your mouth. None of that gubbins. You take the shot glass and chug it down as quickly as you can, then hurriedly reach for a lemon or lime slice and lick some salt. You don't drink tequila to enjoy its taste - you drink it because you want to get drunk as quickly as you can!

And drunk did I get. I am perpetually afraid of reaching that humiliating point where I can no longer control myself, nor can I remember the events that transpired in any part of my life when I should really be fully conscious. All that happened was that I nursed a heavy cold weight in my head for a pretty long while, and my loud-by-default voice got even louder. Heck, I could even park Aibo in reverse back into our garage from the church parking lot across the street - inch-perfect.

At least that's all that happened while the party was still happening at my house. When all the guests left, I finally took to the sanctuary of my bed...and felt dizzy and ill. Fortunately for me it lasted only as long as the first piss I took in the toilet, which was about an hour later.

At least I now know my limit in the safest possible environs because I got drunk in my house, not somewhere I should be driving back home from.

Happy new year. *hic*

Spring cleaning

I talk about getting my own place all the time nowadays but honestly I have no idea if I already know how to actually own my own place. Owning is a given if you've paid for it of course, but by "owning" I mean the upkeep and maintenance of a house.

If I'm ever going to start somewhere, I should start with what I already have: my room.

The perennial problem with me and my room is dust. My sinuses easily get sore from the feces of dust mites, and there's just too darn much of the stuff. It doesn't help that dust mites and I share one thing in common: a liking for paper. I'm a bit of a pack rat when it comes to old magazines, especially - I cannot let go of them immediately.

So December 30 saw me spending most of the day in my room, conducting my own version of spring cleaning. Out with the dusty magazines and sinusitis-inducing dust, and in with a clean room. I was suprised how much stuff I had removed and how heavy all those old issues of Autocar ASEAN and Top Gear weighed. Even with a dust mask on, however, by the time I was almost finished my sinuses eventually gave in and released a torrent of mucus and a storm of sneezes.

My room is clean again...for now. Maybe it's also good for me to clean out all those remnants of my past, and perhaps move on to newer and better things to learn from.

Happy New Year, everyone.

2009 was a good year for...

Car modification. The mods themselves were few and far between, but their utility made a very big difference. Already I can say the Recaro SRD seats and BRIDE RO-type seat rails are the single best modification I'd ever done to Aibo, as they increased my comfort greatly and laid out a solid foundation for developing my driving technique on the racetrack. However, I am most proud of how I did a lot of these modifications myself.

Watching Formula 1 racing. 2009 will forever be remembered as the year where the traditional Ferrari vs. McLaren rivalry took to the back burner, replaced by new blood filling the podium steps in the form of Red Bull Racing and Brawn GP. While I am happy that Jenson Button is now finally the world driver's champion, I am equally impressed at how the leveled playing field has shown the talents of so many drivers who are championship material themselves, notably Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Participating in racing. It's no secret that I love cars and I love driving them virtually in video games such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport 2. Driving on a real racetrack on a trackday, however, beats the pants out of that. 2009 was one of the most fulfilling years for me as a driver because I picked up the kind of confidence that I never would've had if I stayed driving on the streets, culminating in a personal-best 59.14-second lap time around Subic International Raceway. The pungent smell of burnt rubber while dashing at 120 km/h...ahhh.

Singing. While my participation in choirs has waned a little, due to the departure of my mentor and friend Nelson Albano, I've expanded into a new area as a wedding singer. By no means am I the best at it just yet; all my gigs have been amateur ones. I relish the chance to become better, though.

Video games. After eight years of soldiering on without one, I finally landed a hand-me-down PlayStation 2 from my cousin JB. This time I decided to do things the right way and bought all my games legitimately. In all that time however, the PS2's game library has never shown signs of slowing down. It still has lots of great games on sale and it's very reliable as a console, unlike the frustratingly fragile Xbox 360.

Relationships. Every day I spend with Mav, I seem to be breaking a record for the longest relationship I have had yet. We have our spats and arguments, but I can't see myself in love with somebody else - cheesy perhaps but it's the absolute truth.

Priorities. It's hard to say if I'm successful at this yet but I've held out on spending on myself to save for a long-term investment purchase: a condominium unit of my own. There's still a long way to go before I can call myself independent, but I think I'm on the right track.

2009 was a bad year for...

Car clubs and forums. I've basically sworn off most of the car clubs I've participated in because there are people who either cannot admit that they are wrong, or cannot see past their huge egos. My only remaining car club is HCP and I have no plans of involving myself with any more.

Exercise and fitness. For the second year running, my fitness has gotten progressively worse. While I was able to get myself involved early in the year, my changing work assignments have shot down any plans of keeping a healthy exercise routine. I'm heavier and fatter than ever, and I'm beginning to think that perhaps pumping iron isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I weighed my lightest when I was aerobically active. It doesn't help that my metabolism isn't as quick as it used to be, as well.

Work. As much as I was complaining about Barclays, my current internal assignments are all fish-out-of-water things that have dealt me quite the amount of pain and frustration trying to adjust. No matter how nice the people are, the work just doesn't suit me as well as it used to. I've lost most of my motivation for work, although I know I should be grateful that I even have a job.

Personal websites. For the most part I haven't been able to update this blog as frequently as I would have liked, nor have I paid much attention to my Multiply account. I guess I've just been too busy.

People and things that came to an end. Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy - all of them died this year. A few other things bit the dust too, such as T3 magazine.

Calamities. Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng dumped the equivalent of one month's rain in one September day. Enough said. Some kids are currently spending their holidays with at least a few inches of floodwater in their homes. And if that wasn't enough, Mayon Volcano is also rearing its ugly lava-spewing head as I write this.

Christmas of exhaustion

I guess I really am getting older. Not only has Christmas lost its characteristic "spark" as a holiday, but 2009's yuletide celebrations have also seen me in my poorest state of health yet. Between consecutive parties, lots of food and not enough sleep, and even a wedding the morning after Christmas Day, I felt like I could collapse and tremble at any time had my will not kept me on my feet. Naps have quickly become my best friend to alleviate my sleep debt.

This year I can also say that I've pretty much "graduated" from gifts. They're a welcome occurrence but I didn't really expect to receive anything. That said, I got a few nice trinkets. I was perhaps much more concentrated on giving gifts rather than receiving them this year, though.

Besides I have such a huge mess in my room now because of so much stuff crammed into it.

Maybe this year's Christmas losing its "spark" has helped me grow even just a little bit. Perhaps I've come to appreciate the season more for what it truly is rather than what people say it should be. Who knows, really.

A belated but meaningful Christmas to all!

What? It's Christmas already?

Christmas is only six days away.

I don't feel it for some reason.

The cold is there, the ridiculous amounts of food have been served, the bad traffic is present, the people doing their last-minute shopping are obvious. Yet I feel so detached from the celebrations, as if Christmas itself is still a month or two away.

Maybe I'm tired, or maybe I've just become a bit jaded.

On this new frontier...what 'bout my star?

True friends of mine know that I am a sucker for the anime "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" from 1982. The mix of space warfare, transforming planes and robots, an engaging love story and a huge slug of J-pop music made it an instant classic.

Twenty-five years later, Shoji Kawamori and Studio Nue made a brand-new series set about 50 years forward: "Macross Frontier." And dare I say, this is even better than the original.

"Frontier" builds on trademark Macross fare and gives it its own spin with a new direction. It's undeniable that the graphics and animation have improved a lot, thanks to computer-generated footage of the VF-25 Messiah fighter planes in action against the insect-like Vajra alien force. However, the real triumph of "Frontier" over "SDF Macross" lies in its characters.

The main love triangle plays out between pilot/student and former Kabuki actor Alto Saotome, amnesiac aspiring singer Ranka Lee, and the famous pop idol, Sheryl Nome, dubbed the "Fairy of the Galaxy." Interestingly, neither of the two girls resorts to disrespect or catfights. At the core of their relationship is a deep friendship and respect for each other, most evident in how Sheryl directly inspires Ranka to pursue her dream. It just so happens their friendship has Alto as a very huge part of it - he sees through Sheryl's fame and Ranka's clumsiness.

My favorite character however has to be sniper Michael Blanc. An incorrigible flirting playboy, he is actually the most perceptive and sensitive of the feelings building up between our main characters. He challenges the conviction of Ranka's singing ambitions, proves Alto's mettle in joining the private military company SMS, and aids Sheryl when her health and fortunes deteriorate.

As great as the music in "SDF Macross" was, "Frontier" just blows it out of the water. Since there are two pop idols in the series there is a much greater spectrum of songs on tap. Sheryl's sultry, sexy yet emotional high-BPM performance, sung by May'n, is tempered by Ranka Lee's innocent, bubbly but longing pop melodies, performed by Megumi Nakajima. Almost everything is composed by now-legendary anime musician Yoko Kanno, too.

I cannot recommend this title enough. Don't be put off by the eye candy. "Macross Frontier" is a masterfully crafted show.

When in doubt, FLAT OUT!

Finally the Team Flat Out trackday pushed through. Unlike the previous April trackday, slightly cloudy skies greeted us at the track and a steady breeze kept us all cool and comfortable.

Also unlike April where we were about 30 participants in all, this trackday saw just 10 of us hooning around Subic International Raceway's short track. That allowed for more practice in consecutive hot laps and a greater chance of improving on my previous best time of 1:04.4.

Our machines were all Hondas and Toyotas. Rommel brought his GE6, while Justin and I both drove GDs and the rest had EKs in various high states of tune. For the Toyota camp, Russell had his AE101, while Arby brought his rare supercharged brown AE82 five-door hatchback.

Edward and JP were on hand to give me lots of tips and advice. They were extremely helpful in building my confidence especially under full-commitment braking, and drove home the point that I should "show the car who's boss" as JP often mentions on the Honda Club Philippines forums.

After a bus collided with Aibo's rear end last year, I had become traumatized by full-commitment braking, but I learned that on the track it's no concern and that it was key to everything. My half-hearted heel-and-toe on public roads ruined my technique too. Perhaps I should just stick to throttle-blipping and brake normally on the daily commute.



On my first run at 9:00 am I virtually duplicated my previous best with a 1:04.21. The times kept tumbling as the day went by, however.

JP told me Aibo had good balance and a predictable nature, with its low power output making it an easy car to drive and learn. Aibo's Toyo Proxes 4 all-season tires gained and lost their grip in a nicely progressive manner, too. After driving it at full commitment for three laps with me riding shotgun, showing me all the markers and tricks, he said a 58-second lap was possible.

By 2:00 pm I had shaved three seconds. I was rounding SIR at one minute flat. While the others cheered my success, JP and Edward egged me on.

Thirty minutes later I was breaking the 59-second barrier! I was starting to believe JP's 58-second premonition.

Rommel sat at the timing desk to cheer me on. He had also improved greatly from his previous -best 1:03. By the end of the day he was bagging one-minute laps too.


Finally at 3:15 pm I logged my fastest ever series of laps. They were consistently in the 59-second range, but one lap saw me very close to JP's prediction.

My personal best is now 59.14 seconds!

That lap time took me totally by surprise. Perhaps I could have broken the 58-second barrier, but at that point my front tires were past their best and were suffering slight understeer from the heat of running. In any case it was better than my wildest dreams as my initial goal was to shave just three seconds off - I almost doubled that!

In the end though, Rommel and I thoroughly enjoyed this event and we left at 5:00 pm satisfied. It really felt like a gathering of true petrolheads, with no hidden agendas, no need to show off and no egos to protect. The track and the lap times kept us all honest. Our enemies were only ourselves and our previous best lap times.

After all the bullshit that's flown about in the car clubs I've gotten myself involved in, this was a very welcome change.


My new friend Russell (center on the photo above) was amazed with Aibo's potential. Equally amazing was how Aibo still clocked 12.769 km/L on the entire trip, all hot laps at Subic and 120 km/h NLEX/SCTEX cruising included.

I just cannot wait until the next trackday. Edward had already extended an invitation for me to join Team Flat Out on the RYWB (run what you brung) time-attack competition rounds.

We'll see. The next step for me is to become consistent as a sub-minute driver.

For the love of the track

Typhoon Ondoy wrecked our previous plans back in September, but tomorrow seems to be as good a day as ever to proceed with the Team Flat Out trackday. Since my first crack at Subic International Raceway in April, I've been itching to join another trackday, practice my skills and perhaps cut a few tenths (if not whole seconds) off my personal best time of 1:04.4.

Instead of upgrading anything mechanical on Aibo, the hip-hugging Recaro SRD seats were my answer to improvement. I wanted to increase my skill to their limits first, before becoming reliant on lowered suspension, power adders or trick tires --- or even higher-friction brake pads.

I took today off to take care of what I considered essential preparations for the trackday. Last September, Aibo already got a transfusion of Royal Purple oil, so today was dedicated to a flush and refill of coolant and brake fluid, the latter upgraded from DOT3 to DOT4. Afterward I decided to become independent with respect to headgear, so I got myself an HJC CL-14 full-face helmet in solid silver.

After spending the better portion of a day in shops and in bad Metro Manila traffic Aibo and I are probably as ready as we'll ever be. I'm just a little sad Mav won't be there with me because she has class.

Now for the not-so-little matter of waking up at 4:30 and getting to Subic at 7 am...

A wedding singer is born...

It seems the feathers are piling up on my hat as a singer.

The wedding went well, although not without frustration. There were last-minute changes to the song lineup and the singers which irked Ate Maya, Ate Edith and me to no end. A friend of the couple actually approached us at the choir balcony with chords to a song in hand. We were surprised and irked because it was totally uncoordinated, but we let the woman sing her guts out anyway.

As the designated chauffeur, I was also faced with the hassle of having to find a decent spot to park at the reception. The Oasis is a good place, I'll give it that, but parking there is a bitch. I reluctantly had to leave Aibo's keys to the valet because I was threatening to leave.

There goes my beginning as a wedding singer. I'm hoping this isn't the end. Probably not: Aileen's wedding is on December 26 and I'll probably sing there as well.

"Not for everyone," huh.

And "if you're everyone then everyone sucks," eh.

If being a purist means having to contend with blown egos, spending contests and hardparkers, I'd gladly be part of "everyone."

Thanks for the invite, but you can have your JDM. I don't want it. I have bigger fish to fry.

Deep blue something

This morning as I drove to work at 6:30 am, I saw a pleasant surprise climbing up the C5 off-ramp. I was about to pass my old steed WHH687, my 1999 SX8 Honda City 1.5 EXi.

It had been neglected by the new owner, at least cosmetically. I saw only its left side and rear; the rubbing strip had come off the left rear door exposing the mounting holes beneath. However, WHH687 was still mechanically sound. It was nice to know that my trusty, wieldy SX8 was still purring along without any smoke from the tailpipe.

The encounter was all of five seconds, but it was enough for me. It's nice to see you again, old pal.

Are YOU worthy of your power?

We as forum moderators have power. We have been entrusted the power to silence, the power to redirect attention, and the power to mediate in conflicts.

But are we deserving of such power? The reasons why we are moderators, I believe, come to the fore and are tested when we are forced to deal with offenders.

I've had brushes with forum mods and admins who fancy themselves on a power trip and mete out warnings and bans without giving the offending party some slack. Said mods and admins even dole out warnings when they themselves have been reminded by a fellow member that they are out of line on another forum.

Personally, I don't think we are moderators simply to suspend or ban offending members. Rather, we will be much better at our duty if we can get them to stay on while making them remember the rules of the forum.

That I believe is our ultimate goal. And I became a moderator again precisely because of that reason.

It would be much, much easier to mete out a suspension or ban, but it is much harder to grant an offender a second chance and a shot at reform. It's also the humane thing to do.