Subic + Aibo = success

At last, our Internet access has returned after three weeks. It's funny how we've all become dependent on the Internet here at home, even my mom.

In the intervening days, a lot has happened. The highlight concerned me finally breaking the duck with trackdays. I finally got to participate in a proper trackday in Subic, after six years of being part of car clubs! Mav and her brother Paolo tagged along for the ride.

Aibo did pretty well on his first forays into the Subic International Raceway's short track. The tricks I've been doing on the streets and in video games, like heel-and-toe downshifts, proper steering and seat positions and balancing the car on the throttle, worked much better in real life than I ever expected. I daresay it was much easier to heel-and-toe on the track than on public roads, where I rarely enter corners at high RPM. That tricky turn 5 hairpin showed me what understeer was all about, though.

In the scorching, humid heat of Subic, we had several practice runs, the first few ones queued behind more experienced drivers Mikko David and Patrick Chua, then free running until the timed lap sessions later in the afternoon. I asked Pat to ride shotgun with me for pointers, when he pulled out his Nokia N93 and took a video of me hooning around the track for two laps.



We got two timed laps per heat, where I ran consistently in the 1:04 range - not too shabby for a novice in a stock car.

Here are more photos of the event, many thanks to Mikko and his skills with his DSLR.

Short but sweet

I spent the better part of this holiday afternoon chatting away with Cher.

I miss all those days when we'd just blabber away on YM.

Let's do this again.

Bui buibuibui buuuuuuuuuui!

Meeting the ladies of the Girl Racers Club

I was at the Fort Strip again this afternoon for Jazz-City United's monthly EB. This month's meet was a little more special: it was a joint meet with the now-famous Girl Racers Club.

Francis, one of our moderators, had the presence of mind to note two records held by this event. This was by far the meet with the most attendees at the earliest time, and 95% of them had no one else with them. I guess that's what a little "incentive" can do for EB attendance...

Anyway, I've always been a little hesitant about reaching out to the GRC ladies online. Let's just say I have my reasons. I'm happy to report though that the handful of members that did show up (today was a Sunday after all) were quite all right. They even found us "disappointing" because we were too shy.

After the EB proper, Jobs, Steve, Andrei and I hied off to Pier One for an early dinner with the rest of the GRC ladies. I got to meet Cherish, Chalie and Jackie.

All in all, a nice day.

I should cut down on these trips a little though...the expense is eating into my bank account. Heheheh.

Casualties of the battle of the sexes

For every woman who is tired of acting weak when she knows she is strong, there is a man who is tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable.

For every woman who is tired of acting dumb, there is a man who is burdened with the constant expectation of “knowing everything.”

For every woman who is tired of being called “an emotional female,” there is a man who is denied the right to weep and to be gentle.

For every woman who is called unfeminine when she competes, there is a man for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity.

For every woman who is tired of being a sex object, there is a man who must worry about his potency.

For every woman who feels “tied down” by her children, there is a man who is denied the full pleasures of shared parenthood.

For every woman who is denied meaningful employment or equal pay, there is a man who must bear full financial responsibility for another human being.

For every woman who was not taught the intricacies of an automobile, there is a man who was not taught the satisfactions of cooking.

For every woman who takes a step toward her own liberation, there is a man who finds the way to freedom has been made a little easier.

- Nancy R. Smith, "For Every Woman"
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I got the poem above from Dr. Joy Barredo, an acquaintance I met by her stumbling across my blog a few months ago. We've been exchanging emails since then, and had things turned out a little differently I might have met her as one of my literature professors in DLSU.

If all goes well, I'll be sipping coffee with her in Alabang by December. We'll see.

Lost in communication, somewhere

You preach the gospel of simplicity. What I see is what I get, huh?

Unfortunately, it can't be that simple. When the channels of communication are as limited in expression as instant messaging, forum posts and emails, there are so many different ways of "seeing" lines of text that make up a "conversation" between virtual strangers. Not all those ways of "seeing" are pleasant, I'm afraid.

Perhaps I got my hopes up too high. After six years, I never thought I would get jaded with meeting new friends over the Internet.

All we are is dust in the wind, or so the song goes. No, all we are to each other is a bunch of electronic characters. A shame.

I went back to forums after all...

I went back to forums after all...

It's been a while since I exiled myself from all possible forum websites. I thought I could get by with blogging and an unhealthy obsession with Friendster.

I guess I've had a change of heart over this, though. Lately I went back to my old haunt, PinoyExchange.com's The Pitstop forum. I also registered on a couple of forums I've never been to, the Kotse Audio Club (for my little car audio project) and GD United, a spinoff group from the Honda Club of the Philippines made up of GD-series Jazz and City owners.

What can I say? I guess being by my lonesome on the Internet got boring after a while. I figured it would also be good if I tried to start anew, with a new online nickname.

She came drifting my way

She came drifting my way

It's been a long while since I last spoke to Chen, a friend of mine from my HCP days based in San Francisco. It was a pleasant surprise seeing her online, and an even bigger one that she still recognized me after so long.

Chen and I chatted like long lost friends, which we were in a way, although we've never really met. It was nice hearing about her Cuban boyfriend who was more polite than the cocky immature white men her friends were dating. She was studying to be a pharmacist and had around five years to go, but she said she was going here this year. Perhaps by then Angiela and I could meet her somewhere and basically have a nice time.

I told her about the girl I liked and she said I should just do something crazy this Valentine's. She had a point. Generally speaking, she said all the girls can do is wait for us to make our move. I just hope I don't mess up and make a bad fist of things.

Before long, Chen had to leave. One of her girl friends was crying over her boyfriend and was inconsolable.

We'll meet sometime, Chen. It was really nice talking to you again.