Barefoot in Manila

Fishing for compliments. Complimenting for fish. It's a life.

Friday, May 31, 2002

A pop quiz. Here's an article called Brainwashee or brainwasher: Which one are you?. Of course, I got this from uber

.: posted by cecille 6:41 PM

Baby, I'm a song. This is how I see myself: A pretty good enough pop rock song that's being wasted because a) no one's discovered it yet or b) nobody wants to listen to it.
Blogging is actually my way of bootlegging myself (think Napster) in the hope of getting discovered. I'm not asking for the Billboard #1 single status. Being an underground/indie hit is enough.

.: posted by cecille 9:46 AM

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Get away from me. That's what I've been saying to all my friends lately. I'm sick. I have a cough and a cold, and it looks like the flu may not be far behind. For the past few night, I haven't been sleeping well. The nights are so hot that I frequently wake up with my shirt soaked in sweat. I couldn't turn on the fan because then I'll get chills, and that'll make my cough a lot worse. I just figured out the solution last night: Now I'm sleeping with the fan on but I also have a thin blanket wrapped around me to keep the chills away.
The thing with being sick is that you always get so much advice from people about what to do to get well. One advice I got was to drink plenty of water. i don't usually drink a lot of liquids because my stomach feels so full that I always think I'm about to throw up. Well, I tried drinking a lot of water and, surprisingly, I feel some degree of comfort. Maybe my body is not as averse to liquids as it once was. They say drinking a lot of water will improve your skin. Hmmm, maybe I'll keep on drinking a lot of it even after my cough and cold are gone.
When you're sick (and especially when your sickness entails a lot of respiratory discomfort) you start experimenting on ways to make things better. I had this crazy idea that aromatherapy will help me to relax. So last night, I went out and bought lemon scented aromatherapy oil and a lamp/oil burner. As soon as I got home, I got a candle lighted. Pretty soon my room was smoking and smelling like lemon. (Deep sigh here.) I took deep breaths, thinking that I'll be more relaxed that way.
Apparently, smoke (lemon-scented or not) isn't exactly prescribed for ailing lungs. So a few minutes after, I was waking up the whole neighborhood with my coughing.

.: posted by cecille 6:42 PM

Monday, May 27, 2002

It's finished, for now. My obssession with the Vampire Chronicles has reached an impasse. I just finished book 3 (that's the Queen of the Damned) but I couldn't start on book 4 because I don't have it yet. I've been scouring the bookstores for about a week now, but so far my efforts have turned up nothing. My friend kindly offered to lend me a copy. I couldn't take it though because I usually make marks on the books. She might not like that.

.: posted by cecille 10:13 AM

Oops! My brother is going to kill me if he finds out. I was turning on the computer just now when I saw his StarCraft cd lying around the table. I got so pissed that I picked it up and threw it into his room.
I belatedly realized that I shouldn't have done that because cds are fragile, cds break. So I rushed into his room to look for it.
And I couldn't find it.
Oops.

.: posted by cecille 10:11 AM

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Look for me elsewhere.Here's a comment I posted at dansays.com. It's about haircuts, and how I always seem to get the worst of them.

.: posted by cecille 9:10 AM

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

Look what we got, a whiner! I was reading the previous entry and I realized that things are actually going well for me, despite some minor disappointments. What the hell am I whining about?

.: posted by cecille 2:26 PM

I smell a rat! Well, I don't really. But rats have been in my thoughts lately. The great Billy Corgan once said, "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage." That is so true.
My recent attempts to leave my present job have been foiled. One company had their office in rather remote area, populated mostly by factories and vacant lots. That's not a good place to be in when you're working overtime and you leave the office at nine in the evening. The other company I applied to was right in the heart of the Ortigas business district, about two blocks from where I presently work. I liked the people there and i really hoped that I would end up working for them. Unfortunately, they were not prepared to pay me what I was asking for. Instead, they asked if I was willing to get less than I am currently receiving. I said no. I felt bad about what happened but I understood where they were coming from. They were looking for a Technical Writer and all the articles I submitted weren't really about technical stuff. They were apprehensive that I wouldn't be able to write about, much less understand, the software that they develop.
So back to square one.
The only consolation I get is that more side-projects have been coming my way recently. I just finished two and am set to start work on another one. These compensate for the low pay am currently getting.

.: posted by cecille 2:23 PM

Monday, May 20, 2002

A vampire groupie would do just as well. I am in love with Lestat right now. If he were truly real, he wouldn't even have to say a word. A mere glance is enough. I'll be his groupie forever.
He, he. What a laugh! A vampire groupie? Me? Well, I used to declare to everyone I knew that being a groupie of a band was so passe'. I'd rather be a philosopher groupie. Well, I never did find a philosopher--at least not one as old as I am and with whom I agree with. So now, am ditching philosophers in favor of vampires. Lestat can philosophize just as well as any mortal, except for the fact that his attention span is rather limited.
I don't know why it tool me so long to read The Vampire Chronicles. God knows I've known about it for years. Now I know what I've been missing.
However...
I am not retracting my devotion for Clive Barker. I love him more than I love Anne Rice. I guess it's true what they say, first love never dies. He he he.
Besides, Anne Rice's official website sucks.

.: posted by cecille 4:39 PM

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Have you got the fastest finger? Clickhere to take the World Mouseclicking Competition challenge. I'm not such a clicker myself. The highest score I got was 28.

.: posted by cecille 3:08 PM

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Here's a good one. I like sites with small fonts, clean backgrounds, and simple layouts, which goes to show why I like this site.

.: posted by cecille 5:18 PM

Monday, May 13, 2002

Do you believe in evil? I grew up believing in evil, thanks to my Catholic-private-school-education. This is also the reason why everything in me is all fucked-up. I no longer believe most of the things I learned but they're still very much a part of me. The logical part of my mind has long accepted the faults of the cathechism I received. I've long come to terms with the possibility that the Christian faith I inherited may not make as much sense to me as I'd want it to. There's actually a huge part of who that no longer believes these things. Yet, I still want to believe. At least the scared part of me does. Preachers may make so much fuss on the concept of grace and miracles, but STILL a huge part of what they teach you is to believe because you'll be damned otherwise. Somehow, they always focus on the element of fear.
I'm almost through reading Interview with a Vampire. I think the best part of the book is the conversation between Louis and Armand. They were talking about evil.
This is Armand (played by Antonio Banderas in the movie, I think) speaking:

"Why does that make you as evil as any vampire? Aren't there gradations of evil? Is evil a great perilous gulf into which one falls with the first sin, plummeting to the depth?... But you're not being fair. Surely you attribute great degrees and variations to goodness.... And how is this evil achieved? How does one fall from grace and become in one instant as evil as the mob tribunal of the Revolution or the most cruel of the Roman emperors? Does one merely have to miss Mass on Sunday, or bite down on the Communion Host? Or steal a loaf of bread... or sleep with a neighbor's wife? But if evil is without gradation, and it does exist, this state of evil, then only one sin is needed. Isn't that what you are saying? That God exists and..."
Louis: "I don't know if God exists. And for all I do know... He doesn't exist."
Armand: "Then no sin matters. No sin achieves evil."
Louis: That's not true..... And what constitutes evil, real evil, is the taking of a single human life. Whether a man would have died tomorrow or the day after or eventually, it doesn't matter. Because if God does not exist, this life... every second of it... is all we have."

I don't even know what to make of it. I'm not saying that they're right, I'm not saying God does not exist. I don't know the answer to that question. I don't know my answer to that question. But I believe in the importance of human life. Without any concrete proof that there is life after death, then this life is all we have.

.: posted by cecille 11:37 AM

Saturday, May 11, 2002

Do nothing. Here's an article that might inspire all you good-for-nothing bums out there. Doing nothing can be stressful sometimes. It's always nice to know that there are perks waiting for you.

.: posted by cecille 8:28 AM

Friday, May 10, 2002

Unreviewed. Here are the results of the Peer-to-Peer Review Project where bloggers were asked to review each other's blogs. I signed up for the project but I didn't get reviewed. I'm a bit disappointed. I was looking forward to reading about what other people thought of my writing. Maybe the reason I didn't get reviewed was that I didn't submit a review of the site I was assigned. I was willing to do the review but there was nothing to review. The site only had two entries, and hasn't been updated since February.
Better luck next time then. I heard there's going to be another one.

.: posted by cecille 10:15 AM

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Hey! It's my birthday today. You can greet me. That's not such a hard thing to do right?
Please?
Pretty please?
Here's the comment link. Go ahead and knock yourself out!

.: posted by cecille 9:31 AM

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Here's a quote, and it's mine. The work of an editor is like that of a priest. It takes just one mistake for everything you stood for to be branded a heresy.
Do you agree with me?

.: posted by cecille 3:05 PM

I'm almost halfway (almost halfway--where do you figure that is?) Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. Lestat and Louis has recently settled in New Orleans after the furor in Pointe du Lac. Lestat is still loving his bad ways and Louis has just discovered the beauty of being true to your nature. And both of them teamed up to make a vampire out of Claudia.
I haven't seen the movie. It's on regular rotation right now on HBO but I don't want to see it until I've finished the book. I may be setting myself up for disappointment because the movie is always worse than the book. I don't want to see the movie because I think it's a good story. And with good stories, it's always better to take the scenic and more wonder-filled path than the two-hour short cut.

.: posted by cecille 11:07 AM

Self-congratulatory? Yes, but what's the matter with that? In less than 24 hours, I'll be turning 26. I will have lived for more than a quarter of a century. I know I'm supposed to think that I am young but, if you really think about it, 25 years really is a long time. I feel pretty good about where I am right now.
I've found a profession I like--I write and get paid for it. It's not a lot but it's a living. Besides, I can buy most of the stuff I want. And those I can't afford? I don't really need them anyway.
I'm going to lawschool, something that I've always wanted to do since I was a kid. It took me three years before I finally decided that I would never be happy if I didn't at least try. Law is my personal legend and I won't stop until I become a lawyer.
I've got great friends--one just right for every one of my multiple personalities. There's one I can talk to about books, music, movies, life, work, guys, and other stuff I go crazy about.
I've even got a Penelope Cruz haircut.
Only thing I need right now is a guy who looks like Tom Cruise but doesn't think and act like him.

.: posted by cecille 8:44 AM

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

I just remembered Nick Hornby. Or more specifically, I remembered the Nick Hornby book I've abandoned about six months ago. The book, whose title I can't even remember at the moment, is now gathering dust and patiently waiting for the day when I decide to pick it up. That'll probably happen around the same time that the movie (I heard there's a Colin Firth movie on it) finally gets shown.
I don't usually go around remembering bits about Nick Honrby, except that I stumbled on this Arsenal FC website. The main character in the book (whose title I still can't remember) is a rabid Arsenal fan.

.: posted by cecille 2:21 PM

Monday, May 06, 2002

Don't you just love these babies. In an Anne Geddes world, all babies are cute, cuddly, and well-behaved. In an Anne Geddes world, moms and dads all get enough sleep.

.: posted by cecille 3:33 PM

Sunday, May 05, 2002

Sometimes good ideas suck. Take my new hair cut for instance. I haven't had a hair cut for about three months and I've noticed that my thick hair has become a bit unwieldy. Whenever I put it up in a pony tial, it actually looks like a horse's tail. Something had to be done so I went to the salon last night.
Getting my hair cut wasn't a drastic decision. I;ve been thinking about it for sometime now. So when it was my turn, I knew exactly what I had to say: shorten the length by two inches, layer it, and some bangs please. Yep, bangs. Think JLo or Natalie Imbruglia.
As you may already have learned from your own experiences, sometimes there's a wide gulf between reality and fantasy. There are times when good ideas actually suck.
Last night, I re-learned that lesson. About ten seconds after she cut off my hair to give me some bangs, I was thinking, "What was I thinking?" And my friends started going, "Hey, give her some hair spray so she can tease it up like people did in the 80s."
Uggh.

.: posted by cecille 7:24 AM

Friday, May 03, 2002

A lot of this is obiter, but that doesn't mean these won't be interesting. Here's a meme on law for law freaks, students, teachers, or just anybody with no better use for their time. I wish something like this could be done for issues and developments in Philippine law. I could do it but where am I going to find the time to work for a living? If somebody's willing to pay me to work on it full time, I might volunteer. Any takers?

.: posted by cecille 1:26 PM

A voice over IP. More like putting up a voice on intellectual property issues. I was being interviewed yesterday for a new job. The interviewer noted that I was working toward to a law degree. She asked me what area i intended to specialize in and I told her that I was very much interested in intellectual property rights. If you're as keen on the topic as I am, check out Copyfight: IP Law, Politics, and Technology on the Net for the latest developments in the field.

.: posted by cecille 1:13 PM

Thursday, May 02, 2002

Call this a metapost. I get the feeling that nobody's linking to this blog so I thought, "Why don't I do it?" Well, here it is: {confraternity of the egg}

.: posted by cecille 8:15 AM

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

A toast to the workers. Hey, I'm a worker so Happy Labor Day to me. Today is the day for each one of us who work and contribute our taxes to the government. Let's love ourselves a little more than usual.

.: posted by cecille 10:19 AM

The reason why we're all pissed. The latest survey results from Pulse Asia show that more Filipinos believe that they're lives have gotten worse over the years. Call me blind to reality or optimistic, if you will, but I really can't see where all this is coming from. Sure, some people may be experiencing a decline in their way of life. That's just natural because our livelihood is dependent upon the flux of the economy. But for this pessimism to cut across all economic classes? I can't find an explanation for that. Personally, I can say that for the past few years, my economic situation has gotten better.
Where then do we attribute this bleak outlook that seems to be afflicting everyone in the community? I'd like to hazard a theory.
I think it's because of all the telenovelas, the soap operas. In the past few years, the number of soaps being shown on primetime has increased. The country's top two channels give us a serving of three (yes, three!) soaps a night. If we count the imported telenovelas shown earlier in the day, the number of soaps on Philippine tv shown each day could easily reach up to 12. That's 12 (daily) fixes of misery, pain, bitterness, and whatever other equally unfortunate circumstance the writers come up with. Even Norman Vincent Peale will forget the power of positive thinking amidst all this misery.
What scares me is that, while some of us may achieve catharsis by emphatizing with all the trials the characters go through, we may also be unsciously psyching ourselves into believing that, in order to be fulfilling, life has to have healthy helpings of misery. Maybe this is the reason why we, as a country, can't get ahead: We have romanticized despair and misfortune too much.
I remember that in the late 80s and early 90s, when the Philippine economy wasnt doing too well, sitcoms were all the rage. Maybe that's why we were able to grow economically in the mid 90s. Unfortunately, now that things are starting to look up, we've decided to concentrate our energies on getting ourselves down.