February passed by so quickly. Damn.
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I last wrote about my new Yonex shoes. Turns out they were devils to my tootsies. As they are they don't have much in arch support, so they left me flatfooted after wearing them the whole day just for walking. Also being thin-soled shoes, they have precious little cushioning power. Just warming up before a game left my feet absorbing huge shocks I didn't feel in my old Filas. As a result I didn't last very long in a game.

Last Friday I went around looking for some sort of solution. Personally I was looking for an insole or something by Dr. Scholl to aid the shock absorption. What I found wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was good all the same. Managed to find a pair of Sof-Sole AIRR insoles which were unfortunately sized for women's shoes, but fit my Yonex boots quite well anyways.

I wore them upon entry into Villamor AFB and I was pleasantly surprised with the improvement. I lasted at least 3 more hours without experiencing much pain in my feet and the shock absorption was working. The price was pretty dear though: those babies cost me PhP665. At least they're US-made and they work, I figured.

When I went back on Monday however, the left insole bunched up crosswise around the middle of my left foot and it felt quite weird, especially since I was in the middle of a game. After losing that one I inspected my shoes and found out the treaded underside of them insoles couldn't stand the strains of badminton footwork, so they simply disintegrated. Some of the gray stuff stuck to my shoe's interior. I just did my best to refit the insole sans some of its slip-resisting undercoating and it worked all right afterwards.

Yonex might be a grand name for badminton products, but now I know from personal experience that their shoes aren't as good as they're touted to be. Adding to the aforementioned comfort issues, a couple of weeks after my purchase the exterior now shows signs of wear and tear.

I'm taking Ate Lyn's advice and buying Mizunos instead for my next pair of badminton shoes. I might have to fork out a little more but judging from other people's good experience, I'd say it's worth it.
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Speaking of badminton I've managed to break my second pair of strings in 3 months. Both were blue Yonex BG66s. I know this type isn't noteworthy for its durability, but I never expected it to dismantle itself simply from wearing itself out on the edge of my racket.

I got light blue Yonex BG65 instead---a durable string (or so it's touted to be). Already I can tell the smash sound is better than what I got from the praised-for-smash-sound BG66. Hmmm...
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Ercx told me about a badminton tourney the De La Salle Zobel Alumni Association were planning to hold. Leveling was set on the 7th, at South Smash in Alabang.

Now I know I'm not that good (my shot placement and defense needs plenty of practice) but I'm interested in this tourney they're planning. I just want to test how good I am against fellow Zobel alumni. I'm pretty much looking forward to it.
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The heat is almost unbearable here. That's pretty much the indicator that summer's here already. I'd kill to be able to lie in a bucket of iced water the whole day.

The gallon jug I bring with me on badminton days doesn't seem to be enough to quench my thirst, too. Just 3 hours after I enter Villamor on a typical Monday or Friday, the water's all gone.

Phew...
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Lately I've been on a gaming spree. After not touching my PlayStation for anything other than Gran Turismo, I suddenly splurged on all these games I decided to play.

I got Tenchu 2, Parasite Eve 2, the original Rockman (a rip-off, actually, but it's dirt cheap so it's okay I guess), Ridge Racer Type 4 and Gundam Battle Assault 2. So far they've satisfied my gaming itch, especially Parasite Eve 2 which was damn hard.

This afternoon Bong and I even tried Need For Speed Underground and Gran Turismo 4: Prologue (i.e. demo version) on the PlayStation 2.

GT4's pretty much spot-on. The steering's still a LOT slower than the original, but now the game forces me to drive more smoothly than I did before and the use of weight shifting is excellent. They even got really tight and tricky tracks for rally mode too. Just a shame there aren't any pace notes to help navigation, unlike the other rally games.

NFS Underground is pretty much the best US-made effort for a driving/racing game. In terms of depth and breadth it's pretty much got the lot (circuit and street racing, sprints, drag races and even a cool drift contest). Graphics are amazing too. I say it gets 8/10 to the desirability of any GT game...which is high praise coming from a GT1 stalwart like me. I personally loved the drift contests.
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Had to say goodbye to Cher for a while this Saturday. She's now in her hometown in Leyte devoting herself full-time to the campaign trail. We had lots of fun while we were on our final YM session though. We exchanged postal addresses and promised each other we'd send snail mail every now and then.

I'm gonna miss my kindred spirit and great friend. I really hope she does well come the May polls.