Proud Pinoy

Ramiele Malubay shouldn't be underestimated, really. Yea she hasn't picked the right song yet. The last performance was even a disaster. But people still keep voting for her. She's charming and people like her. Let's just hope that AI won't block the numbers of the Filipino voters in the US just like (they say) what they did with Jasmine Trias so they could cut her out. Ramiele now has the support of Danny Noriega's fans, btw.

I'm starting to like David Cook. He can really rock the house. And his somewhat "emo" version of Hello is really fantastic.

But still, I think David Archuleta will win. No matter how many times people vote for their bets, AI still has the final say. David A isn't a newbie on talent shows, btw. He won the grand prize on Star Search when he was 12. Syesha Mercado was a part of a reality show called "The One: Making of a Music Star" which was canceled early due to low ratings. Kristy Lee Cook has an existing record contract. And Carly had already released an album that only sold a couple of hundred copies.

Cabal Online

It's past 1 am and was about to turn off the puter when I was reminded of Cabal Online, the new online (as goes with the game's name) game from E-Games. I clicked on Firefox to visit the site and download the game so I can install and test-play it tomorrow. But alas! amidst my wanting to take a bath and go to bed as soon as possible, I was faced with the game's story line, slowly appearing line by line on my browser, as if their target market are those who read so slow like a kindergarten. It's a flash thingie. I know it's there for effect. I just wish they put an option for skipping it. I don't wanna be faced with the game's story line everytime I visit the site.

Anyway online game addiction has me by the neck, so I waited... and guess what? It's not yet downloadable. AMF!

Gucci

40,000 hits on the first 3 days. Now that's a lot. Mr. Gorell really knows how to catch our attention. Real-life telenovela. The rich and famous, with their secrets. It made The Buzz seem like a kiddie show. The $70,000 blog is more interesting than the daily news. It's interactive. I even read the comments :)

Pity on Bryan Gorell. But really, it pays to use the head always, not just the heart.

Penguin Diner

I am quite disappointed with this y8.com game. There's nothing much else to do after buying all the upgrades. I want more of it. They should've made it more complicated.

Valkyrie

We pretty much acquire the interests of the people around us. And even if we don't acquire as much, we tend to try the things our friends do. Like I wouldn't be playing Ragnarok Online again if not for a friend who began playing the game. I'm not a newbie on Ragnarok. It's my first online game, as it is the first online game to hit the country. But when free-to-play online games emerged, I shifted. Just like much of my old game buddies. Unless you're so addicted to a pay-to-play game, you would definitely think of shifting to a free-to-play one considering the amount of money you spend on the former. But as it is proven by gamers, a free-to-play online game is more expensive to play than a pay-to-play one. Nothing is free, after all.

Ragnarok's free-to-play server Valkyrie was introduced late last year. I wasn't that enthusiastic about it when it first came out. Old school. Who'd want to go back to 2d when you have a handful of 3d's? I must admit, though, that a lot still play the game, including my friend who started talking about Valkyrie. So I tried playing Ragnarok again. I realized I still like being a blacksmith. Actually, I still have my blacksmith in the Odin server. In fact, I am using that old levelup account in the new Valkyrie server. But I don't want to purchase game time so I still haven't seen my Odin blacksmith since like three years ago, before I lost the drive to play Ragnarok.

It's fun being a blacksmith. It's the best looking character (imho) in Ragnarok Online. And isn't it best to have overcharge and discount everytime you do transaction with the NPC's? Here's the link to the guide I used for my new BS: blacksmith guide. And unlike the old days, there are lots of other guides now available. Quests guides, even answers to the tests required to pass the quests are now so available. But then, of course, doing that lessens the thrill of the game.

P.S.
I do bot.

Pegasus

I love using notepads, even if it means that my work won't be saved if someone accidentally closed it or the computer suddenly restarted or the electricity failed. Notepad is so basic, so simple, not to mention it's the word processor that opens the fastest.

But something happened last night I thought I won't be able to use the notepad unless I reinstall windows. Notepad automatically minimizes itself to the taskbar split second after opening it. I restarted the computer a couple of times, restored it to a point three days back (it wasn't like that a day or two ago but I chose to restore it three days back just to make sure), scanned it with my resident virus scanner, but nothing happened. And then I thought it wasn't a virus because all it did was to minimize my notepads. Would someone make a virus just for minimizing notepads? I don't even think that much people are fond of using notepads. So is the virus intended just for me? Hahaha.

And then I found this (notepad icons really catch my eyes) lonely notepad icon at the root directory of my computer filenamed Pegasus. Funny but I won't save anything at the root directory; my niece won't either. So I started googling the word pegasus. What's hilarious is that my web browser closes itself at the word "pegasus". It won't close if I typed any other word. Just pegasus. Solution: use another computer and search for pegasus. That did the job. And pegasus is really a virus. I found out it even changed the details in the "Registered to" field of my computer. It changed my name to "Black Pegasus" typed in ascii characters.

Again, I would like to thank google for being ever helpful. I found out a downloadable batch file made by someone nicknamed "nokie". And if your notepads minimizes by itself or if you're some horny male looking for the club pegasus's website and your browser suddenly closes, chances are you have the virus. Here's the filefront link to the batch file: http://hosted.filefront.com/nokie/. Download the file Kill_Pegasus.zip.

the one

Does happiness really depend on having a "partner"? What if one opts to be single for the rest of his life? What if he thinks he is happier without a partner? Would that mean he won't be happy ever?

Happiness comes from many sources. But it's sad how most of the things surrounding us imply that happiness is synonymous to having a partner.

Like I was enjoying the movie Crazy/Beautiful until the main character delivered her last line (in narration):

"There are millions of people out there, but in the end it all comes down to one."

Thank You

Life is beautiful. There are so many things we should be thankful for - the air that we breathe, the food that we eat... Cliche. Enough of that. But seriously I have a number of things to be thankful for this day.

1. I have gotten over my ex. We're good friends now. I think that helped a lot.

2. Ramiele Malubay got into the Top 12 of American Idol. I'm a racist. I love my own race.

3. I discovered this cute little y8.com game called Penguin Diner (which took most of my time today). Sometimes, it is good to indulge in things that are not so complicated. I lurv the game.

4. I was able to talk calmly to a telemarketer offering me insurance. I just wonder why he has my credit card details. (This is more of an accomplishment than something to be thankful for but I still want to include this.)

5. Nothing seriously bad happened to my mother when she stumbled upon something and fell down on all fours in front of the Meralco office. We are all sad about it and worried about letting her go out alone after that. I guess we won't let her without any chaperone anymore.

Nag-iisa, Wala Ka Na

Nag-iisa, Wala Ka Na by Noel Cabangon

I am now a Noel Cabangon fan. This is the song I emote to whenever I need emoting. The song's about the pain of losing a beloved, and acceptance of the harsh reality. The song - the melody, the vocals - is so sad that you would want to cuddle up with someone and promise forever (at least that's how I feel like doing whenever I hear it). The last stanza adds more emotion when it promises eternal love.

The Little Prince

I was forced to read The Little Prince. I know the story as a child. But when you have to summarize the thing, you would like to re-read it in order to be precise. And re-read it most especially when you have to make a reaction paper about it. I hate making book reports. I'm done with that. But there's this friend I can't say no to. He's already cramming - you know how students cram when the sem's nearing its end. And I (once again) played the Good Samaritan.

No regrets, though. I enjoyed re-reading the book.

"What's essential is not visible to the naked eye."

Really, that is so true.

Pain or More Pain?

The heart and mind don't really forget. The intensity of the feeling just lightens and (in case of bad/sad memories) the pain becomes bearable, but it never goes away. Sometimes, the pain becomes bearable just because we become so used to it. Not that getting used to it lessens the pain, it just makes the pain bearable.

Just recently I was faced with a situation where I had to choose between (1) pain and (2) more pain. The first option will give me pain immediately after making the decision, while the second one will let me be happy for a while (only God knows how long that while is) before giving me tremendous heartache. Number 2 is very tricky, too, for there's a 20% chance that it would give me not pain but happiness. The other 80%, though, is sure pain. If I have the strongest faith in the world and I know how to practice the Law of Attraction so it would really 100% work on me, then perhaps I would have chosen number 2. But then I'm the melodramatic type of person. I like to think of life's dramas when I'm in an emotional mood, and with it comes the drama of breakups and heartaches. Law of Attraction will surely not work on me in a positive way on the situation.

I didn't really have to make the decision right away. I even had an option to prolong the decision-making, likewise prolonging my heart's bliss. But reality told me that the more I give in to the bliss, the more painful it will become. And so I made the decision of putting an end to the drama the first of this month. I chose number 1. Number 2 just won't do for me. I hate playing "what if's".

The Swan Song

I just hope Ramiele Malubay makes it to at least the top 5. As Simon puts it, she's among the top 3 singers in the competition, vocal wise. But the competition is also about performance and connection with the audience. I don't know what rank she lands on with that.

Singing the swan song really makes me admire those contestants being voted out. If I were the contestant whose name was announced, well unless I was told beforehand that it was me, I don't really think I would be able to open my mouth to make a sound even close to singing. I would just be frozen right there at the center of the stage. Frozen until I could finally form the words cursing those who didn't vote for me.

So rude of me. But I don't think I can handle the hurt in that short span of time after my name was announced until before they make me sing for the last time on the contest stage. What's the purpose anyway? What if the voice breaks out due to the tension of being voted out? Isn't it putting more embarrassment on the voted-out contestant? Talking about rubbing it in.