In this edition of "System-Shock!":

I now have another Gundam model.

I say goodbye to a dear old friend.

I watch and comment on another film most of you might not see...

And more thesis headaches!

Don't miss any of the gritty details! Stay tuned...
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Well, I finally mustered enough stupidity to buy myself another model kit. Yep, I did buy the 1/144 HG Aile Strike Gundam model.

It took considerably less time to assemble than the Aegis; it was finished in 2-1/2 hours. However I am amazed at just how poseable this thing is. Compared to the Aegis, which has considerable trouble just standing in one place and staying in one piece, the HG Strike is, well, very good.

It has to be said that my Aegis model now has some problems. It doesn't help that the mobile suit is tail-heavy to begin with. Some of the pieces have given way from the stresses of transforming from MS to MA mode and back, and I've had to super glue them into place again. The thing with cyanoacrylate super glue is that most of the time it ends up exactly where you don't want it---in my case, mostly on my fingers. Thank God it didn't end up anywhere near my eyes...
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Rummaging around on PEX, I came across their Gundam modellers thread, which had a small community of serious model makers who didn't mind shelling out thousands of pesos on their hobby, including the cost of modeller's putty, paints, fine sandpaper and lots and lots of super glue. These guys bought MG (Master Grade) and PG (Perfect Grade) kits and entered them into competitions by super-gluing them into dioramas.

Damn. I don't even have the balls or the budget to get myself an MG kit. I've had to satisfy myself with HG (High Grade) kits only.
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In other news...

The household is now one car short. After months of looking, my mom finally lucked out finding a buyer for our 1998 Kia Pregio GS 2.7. What surprised me is that the buyer accepted the price without haggling---PhP290,000.

I'm going to miss that great white whale. Sure it wasn't quick, but it was fairly gutsy enough for the uphill trek to Baguio, and one could hustle it to 120 km/h. The finicky aircon and the malfunctioning fuel gauge were the only sore spots on the whole car.
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My dad walked up to me yesterday and handed me a DVD of "Zatoichi." He said he borrowed it from Tita Vik and I might want to watch it, which I did later that night.

If you guys remember "Takeshi's Castle," you probably don't know that Takeshi Kitano, the show's head honcho, is actually a movie director. And yes, he directed, wrote, starred in and edited "Zatoichi" which seems like a remake from what I could tell from the sleeve notes.

Best to describe this movie as an 18th-century version of "Daredevil" (as Zatoichi himself is a blind masseuse with a mean katana hidden in his red cane). Only this one has action sequences that make "Kill Bill" look tame, a simple yet delectably twisty plot and a hearty dash of comedy that brings some notes of "GTO's" silliness to mind. Oh, I should mention there's a mean tap-dance segment too.

If you can stomach the violence of "Battle Royale" (which Kitano directed too), you'll like "Zatoichi." Pretty much an all-around good film. No faults anywhere, at least in my opinion. It'll leave you with a smile on your face, I promise.
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Just when I was getting ready to work with some people I don't really want to work with anymore (i.e. my thesismates), Denise tells me over the phone that our lead actress ran away from home and is nowhere to be found.

That's just fucking dandy.

We're already pressed for time on this thesis thing, nobody seems to be interested in seeing it to completion and when some initiative finally develops among my thesismates, shit happens.

This early on I can see myself taking PROJCO2 again next term. To hell with the failure accumulation. I want to finish this.
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MARKSAM has restarted, if you haven't known by now, and the quota's still set at PhP20,000. So far I've sold only AVON products to an admittedly limited clientele, and for my first sales report I am not too proud to say I mustered PhP3,000 in sales.

Yikes. :(