A day in the life…

Went to the Toy Convention at the Megatrade Hall last Sunday. Yeah, I forgot to post that sked on my Multiply calendar, but past is past… anyway, I got there at about 11AM. The line was already pretty long, and there were lots of people inside. Thinking my significant other Gio was there already, I stood in line and paid for the entrance fee. Once inside, I went around, joining the skirmish of geeks, nerds, cosplayers and the curious ones as well.

Then Gio texted me that he was still on the MRT. So okay, all alone (well, not exactly) I went around, marveling at the Star Wars replica (staring at the 7-foot Darth Vader statue… if he were real, I’d really be scared!), looking at the Darna and Encantadia displays (kawawa naman yung mamang naka-costume ng sundalo, init siguro), looking at what Raymond the VCD guy has to sell for half the price (damn, VCD set of Samurai 7!), and looking for nice old comics.

And that’s where it actually begins. Just beside Raymond the VCD guy’s spot was a stall selling 80s toys, comics and trade paperbacks. Hmm, trade paperbacks. Rummage, rummage. Saw the first printing of Gaiman’s Sandman books 1 and 2 (have latest eds though), Miller’s Sin City, and… wait, is this Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns? People have told me that this was one of the best graphic novels of all time, with a really cool story. AND it’s pretty rare. It’s a hard-to-find find. And I wanted one.

So I ask the guy there how much the DK Returns would cost, since there wasn’t any price tag on it. He gets a calculator, and blurts out, "700." No kidding? I was expecting it to cost over Php1000! Now that’s cool! I excused myself, ran to the nearest ATM (which happened to be at the 1st floor, for crying out loud), got some money, and went back running, literally. Went into Megatrade Hall again, hoping it was still there. And it was! Yes! Meant for me!

Ending: yeah, I bought it, took it home and up to now, still reading it. I’m at the part where Joker was released from Arkham Asylum and begins his reign of terror — again. The story is getting a lot more interesting as the story progresses. What’s interesting is that all of the characters are already old. Batman’s got white hair, Gordon’s retiring, Superman’s a bit bigger now. And the new Robin’s a girl. Hmm, interesting.

Can’t wait to go home later to continue reading. But before that, another round of Gunbound. Hehe.

I must admit, I’m a boring person. I limit myself to really simple games in the computer, and those which does not include having to compete with someone you don’t know. Y’know, virtual players. So my games in my office PC were all Yahoo games or SNES roms. I was an addict of Bomberman, really.

But that was before.

My officemate Fluxx introduced me to a pretty "old" online game called Gunbound. And my world became a little bit interesting.

Nothing much, if you’re familiar with Pocket Tanks, it’s got the same principle: aim and shoot, create more damage, be victorious and you win virtual gold points. Simple. But really cute screenshots. And that was the charm, I guess. Slowly I’m becoming a Gunbound addict, coming into the office a wee bit earlier so I can have 30 minutes of playing time before my boss (or the owner of the laptop I’m using) arrives and over-loads me with stuff to do.

And now, after a week of battling it out in Gunbound (that’s an average of 3 hours a day, weekdays only), I have almost 20 virtual buddies, including my officemates Fluxx and Zeth. And I’m slowly becoming an addict. Withdrawal symptoms occur during weekends, since I know my sister won’t allow me and my brothers to install that game on her jowiwa’s computer.

If you wanna know why I’m raving about this game, you can check the Philippine version at mobius.ph. You need Pentium 300 processor (Athlon works, too) and 64 Mb of RAM so you can install it in your computer. Interesting graphics, nice gameplay, and a rather LSS-y soundtrack.

Tantantanantananantantan…

Told you I’m becoming an addict…

Last night, I met up with some of the former Montage people. Well, the creative people from the former Montage. Funny, I was expecting more people to come in, but well, they were either too busy or sick to attend the small get-together. Funny too, that most of the people there were either my officemates at present (Fluxx, Mike and Noddy), or people I have seen about a few months back, like Tren and Nelz. So technically, it was my reunion of sorts with Carly, whom I believe I last saw during the Christmas party at our college friend Feli’s place.

Despite the absence of a few (okay, that was Mich, Oji, She, Ana and A), we got to have a nice "catching-up" at Dencio’s Megamall and, afterwards, at Starbucks. We had a barrel of laughs, and talked about people ranging from our old boss at Montage, other people’s barkada and people we knew from college. It was a rather interesting night; I’m kinda thankful that I got a chance to see Carly again and relive a few V moments and get the latest buzz on some of our V friends. And even though it’s just for a short while, it was one of the happy moments of my life. Or of my 25 years so far.

It’s just a bit of a shame that the others couldn’t come. It would have been a riot.

Carly promised a get-together at Subway Cubao, just to relive the "old days." No definite sked yet. Still, I can’t wait.

Again, Prez GMA kisses the Filipinos’ asses by declaring Monday, June 13, a holiday. Sunday was the supposed holiday, but I guess GMA loves having holidays on weekdays (how elementary-ish), she makes June 13 an extended Independence Day celebration. Doing the students a favor, eh?

I used to enjoy these things, y’know, holidays falling on weekdays, or the signal-number-three-no-classes kinda thing. But then when you get to be a member of the Filipino working class, holiday breaks lessen. Sucky. What’s worse, almost all the "red days" this year fall on weekends. Lucky for us GMA has this knack for declaring this day and that day a holiday (I guess she doesn’t want to work on those days).

So what did I do during my long weekend? I got a haircut. I told myself I’d get a haircut when the rainy season comes. And so I thought it’s here. So I got a haircut. Layered style again. I needed to give myself a treat. So there. So far, there had been positive reviews. Hmm, guess all I have to do is get used to the heat.

I read this article yesterday on Netscape news about the bad habits of a person under a certain Western zodiac. I immediately scrolled down on the part of Scorpio, and guess what? The article said that we Scorpions have this knack to carry a grudge and look for vengeance when scorned. Really? Yeah. Just take a look at me.

Yep, I am a Scorpion. And that particular negative aspect actually describes me. See, when someone hurts my feelings (pride), I’m not much of the person who would fight back. I’m the type who would rather fall silent while concocting plans for that person’s downfall or misfortune. I still do that sometimes, trying to get even in the smallest ways possible. But you know, come to think of it, vengeance by my own hand isn’t that sweet. Most of the time it tends to get awry. It backfires, especially when you’re doing the wrong kind of vengeance.

There’s a wrong kind of vengeance? Personally, yes there is. Most of the time we plan to get revenge while our thoughts are pretty clouded by our anger. We end up having fallible logic about right and wrong. And that’s when the boomerang effect comes in. Karma, for some.

In my 25 years of existence, I have slowly (and i stress SLOWLY) learned to trust my wheel of fate. Thinking of revenge drains me too much. I’ve learned it’s better to leave it all to fate, or to the very religious, to the Big Guy up there, to give man what is due.

Life’s a wheel. Eventually it turns.

Am I babbling or what?

Got to watch the advanced screening of Batman Begins yesterday. Well, it was okay. I kinda expected it to be a dark, psychological almost-thriller. Well, most of the scenes were dark, it dealt with Bruce Wayne’s psyche, and it is not exactly a thriller. It’s more of the events that transpired when he was a kid, his parents’ death, and his training with Qui-Gon Jin. Or so it was Qui-Gon Jin in another movie.

Well, I can say it’s better than the last one, the one with George Clooney. Yep, without the nipples on the Batsuit. Though I can’t say the same for Katie Holmes though…

Plus, they portrayed Batman as in the comics: an embodiment of fear, an urban legend, something to be scared of, or so for the criminals of Gotham. I liked the part where the people of the Narrows were so "high" and saw Batman flying and while he was standing on a tower. Way cool.

It’s a nice movie. Watch it.

As for me, I’ll be returning to my "batcave."