There's this karma system on HCP that enables people to applaud or smite other members. The aggregate number is displayed as your rating.

For months, I really had no idea why I languished with a negative rating ever since this thing came into the HCP forum. I can't see any reasons why people smote me on the boards when I did my best to help them with their questions. They probably saw me as arrogant or something...I have no idea how. I slowly got used to it though. My personal worst was at -14.

Lately though I'm surprised that my rating's slowly creeping back up to positive. Right now I'm at -4. I heard from some of my friends that there are "karma wars" being waged in HCP---basically a term for the general campaign to give everyone "applauds" and raise their ratings. While I'm thankful that my rating's climbing, I'm not so happy about how it's going back up.

I generally give "applauds" to members which really do mean well, and I give "smites" to potential troublemakers on the board, and I personally see to that. So when I came across these "karma wars," I was pretty ambivalent about it.

Maybe it's just because I feel that this "karma" thing is something to be taken seriously.

Then again, it's just a forum, it's only online.

Lighten up, JM.
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Nicole Hernandez is a revelation.

Why?

Because this term she's actually my classmate...and she's been my seatmate for the past 5 weeks or so.
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Truth be told, in my first couple of college years, I used to think there was nothing more to Nicole than a nice body, white skin, gorgeous hair and a pretty face. I suppose that's the way I've become prejudiced against a lot of the models and actors I see in school.

I was initially really shy when she just happened to become my seatmate in my Economics class. I guess I developed this inferiority complex around celebrities of any sort. I mean, with the notions I had of her and others of her kind, I thought she'd be a bratty bore to talk to. Boy, was I wrong.

Despite her admission of having poor memory of names, she's a pretty amiable girl. She was the one who broke the ice first, and it hit me that despite her beauty, she was pretty much normal, just the way my blockmates and I were. Nicole had much the same concerns, similar problems and the same lack of sleep I did. I actually got jealous of her because she had already finished her first degree program, unlike my blockmates and I who were just beginning with our theses.

After a while we were talking about little things: her boyfriend, her recent trip to Bangkok, how we studied in high schools in the same village, the Thais' seeming aversion to brown hair (and the reason why she dyed her hair black recently)...all sorts of things. I don't claim to know her like the back of my hand, but I know enough to realize that she's human too.

Friends have been teasing me about my having a crush on her, as ever since we were seatmates she and I have never sat apart in class. Then again, these days I have a lot of crushes, as they don't mean anything serious (and I might as well go ahead and have as much of them as I could). Still, as beautiful as she might seem, I bet Nicole isn't my ideal girl. I'd be more comfortable calling her my friend and helping her with whatever lesson she needs aid in.
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I've indulged in having our new inkjet printer recently.

Amazed with the color I printed all sorts of things with the damn thing. It wasn't until now that I realized inkjet cartridges are so fucking EXPENSIVE. Buying a black and tricolor cartridge might as well land me 2/3 the price of our new printer.

Lately I've been interested in having the cartridges refilled by them newfangled ink-refilling stations, which offer the service at a much cheaper price than cartridge replacement.

Then my friend Bong shared his experience. Apparently they had their printer's cartridges refilled as well, but something went awry when they started using it again. According to him, the refilled ink "exploded" inside the printer and bogged down the vital mechanisms...to the point that they needed a new printer.

Hmmm. I might as well bite the bullet and save up the PhP2,100 needed for brand-new cartridges. Sigh...
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Speaking of money, I don't have enough of it to get the things I want.

What do I want right now?

- 4 new Yokohama ES100 tires (and if necessary, decent new 15" alloy rims to replace the stock 14s on my car). More of a necessity, really.

- A new, lightweight badminton racket. My racket from 1997 is "super-heavy," according to my trainer Coach Rey.

- A PlayStation 2 with at least a memcard and Gran Turismo 3 thrown in. I've been ogling this for years and it's the cheapest it's become at just PhP13,000. "JUST" PhP13,000. Augh!

- A mini-DV video camera. This is more of a necessity than a desire as we plan to begin shooting our feature film next term. Nothing too fancy, just something with manual focus and FireWire output (for editing).

- A lightning-yellow S15 Nissan Silvia Spec-R coupe. I love my SX8 Honda City to bits, but in all honesty its D15B7 engine lacks torque down low. Besides if conditions allow, the rear-drive S15 will let me attempt drift driving. On the SX8, it's impossible.

- Tennis shoes. A sort of necessity for badminton (weird huh?). My Filas seem to be more of basketball shoes than anything else.

- A soundtrack CD of Initial D. My favorite drift-driving anime series has great, great J-pop driving music. Even if I can't perform drifts, at least I can get into that high-RPM mood.

Ahhhh...I can dream at least...
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I swear, Initial D character Natsuki Mogi reminds me so much of Denise. The hair, the clothes, even the high-pitched voice.

Oh, my.
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A seriously shitty Economics quiz happens on Wednesday.

Yuck.