Letters Over the Summer

I had dinner with Chari and Arvi the other night and one of the topics that came up was Snail Mail during summer.

We were pretty young and at that time cellphones, email and other electronic communication was unheard of. Being teenagers we had to make do with paper and the postal system. It might sound weird and silly, but this was how we kept in touch in the olden days. A postage stamp for less than 5Php can send your thoughts and handwriting to any place in the country. It was slow, troublesome and takes time to write, but sending or receiving one really meant something.

I miss those days, but it is you whom I'll miss dearly. Be online more often so I don't have to resort to snail mail :D

Excel Sensei?

I was invited to teach MS Excel at the Foreign Service Institute, Department of Foreign Affairs. The class spanned a month, held 2 days a week and 3 hours each session. Speaking in front of people isn't in my arsenal, so what better way to improve it than trial-by-fire *hahaha*.

Conclusion: I'm probably better off doing web stuff than teaching, but I'll categorize it as 'a worthwhile experience' :D

In the picture above: 8 out of my 12 students.

H Fever

The first time I was hit by this fever was in Roswell, New Mexico. In the land of conspiracy and aliens, catching it was almost instinctive.

Was definitely felt in the year 2000 by 100 Girls.

The most recent and just as powerful was in a place called Seattle Grace Hospital. Although just a part of Grey's Anatomy, you'll be hit and be left just as Izzy.

The fever's name is Katherine Heigl :D

zOMG! Its Beautiful!

I've been a fan of Makoto Shinkai since I watched 'Voices of a Distant Star'. Like many others I was awaiting his latest Movie: Byousoku 5 Centimeter - a chain of short stories about their distance. Imagine my surprise when I found part 1 (Oukashou) available for viewing.

This director has a way of bringing out emotions that are probably lurking withing one's heart. Love, loss, dread, impatience, sorrow, helplessness. This is sooo welcome after the bad taste my previous Anime entry brought.

I can't wait to see the movie! It will be in theaters in Japan on March 3, 2007. When will the DVD come out? :((

Edit: I rummaged for the teaser/trailers I have and watched them. If I watched the entire movie at max quality, I'd probably in tears the whole time :)) Click the screenshot below to see how beautiful it will be.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Bleh

Macross came up with Macross Plus in 1994 and Macross Zero in 2002 which were fantastic both in story and animation. I already had bad vibes before I tried watching this movie/oav, but I did so anyway so I can smash it to pieces. Harmony Gold's attempt is mediocre. Story is so-so. Animation is americanized trying to be anime. CG is circa 90's. Comedy is corny. Drama is like "damn you, Salazar!". Pfft, there goes an hour and a half of my life. I do hope by losing it, I'd save you guys the pain.

Edit: HG used DR Movie as the animators. They did Macross Plus so there were moments that it looked like Plus.

10155 days and counting

I've been alive 10155 days and what does it amount to right now? How many more of them shall I spend as an SCU?

How many days have you lived? If you have M$ Excel, you can find out easily by pasting this function in one of the Cells:

=DATEDIF("4/22/1979",NOW( ),"d")

Just replace the date with your birthday.

Black Forest

Some people didn't believe me when I told them about this variant of Gardenia. I rarely find this in stores and it is fortunate that I was able to buy one.

Adobe Space Monkey

Seems like the people at Adobe are as creative as their programs.
Open Photoshop, Hold ctrl+alt, click Help>About Photoshop. (for cs2, it works without alt).

Almost all previous versions have their own Project Code Name and splash.