Everyday is a Tank Day

Random Dreams #1: Being an Awesome Doctor

2012-01-02T21:49:00.000+08:00

As ironic as it sounds, I actually have a big exam later in the afternoon just less than 24 hours out from my Christmas vacation, my freaking last Christmas vacation while inside this body for that matter. But, you know, I get very lazy a great deal of times, which might also hinder me from achieving such a dream. I also tend to like blogging about something right before such exams. It kinda gets irritating a bit somehow, but you gotta scratch that damn itch, I say. Scratch it with a hopeful long lived series of blog posts entitled Random Dreams. I'm writing these because I feel strongly for these aspirations in life and want to put it in writing the various emotions tied to each one of them. Hopefully, I can remember to look back and read these over and over again in the distant future, so that I'll be reminded of the various silly, serious, impractical, practical, big, small, meaningful or senseless dreams I wanted at this certain point in life. I know I won't be able to achieve many of these, but life is short, and the human mind can only remember so much. So, let's begin with that very first big dream.

Becoming a doctor might be a very subjective experience. It's a matter of fact that not all medical schools are created equals. For sure, there are some that make my medical school look like a relative walk in the park, as there are some out there that which brands us that "No Life" label (although I really beg to differ). Of course, in this day and age, becoming an awesome doctor tends to be attributed to being like Dr. House or living your practice in Grey's Anatomy, and I can't deny the fact that those were pretty encouraging things to help boost your must-be-a-doctor drives. Being that awesome jerk who you have no choice but to go to seems like a lot of fun, but I doubt that will help pay the bills later on in life.

My mom told me that she remembered when I had to go to the doctor's office as a child, I got pretty impatient with the long line of patients and the bastard doctor who made us all wait in that humid and cramped doctor's office. So, apparently, I probably blurted out in traditional kid like semi-shouting volume that when I grow up, I'll become a doctor and make everyone wait for me too. Revenge probably has a hidden additional driving force for aspiring doctors, I say. But you know, I somehow also want to be a cut above the rest when it comes to punctuality. Be the apple pie among chocolate pudding and make a difference to the customary waiting game of health care in the Philippines. I just hope my peculiar disdain for early mornings won't turn me into those pompous bastards too in the long run.

And let's face it, the thought of money crossed our minds one way or another when you think medicine. It all depends whether you're the one taking or giving out medicine. It's not uncommon to peg wealth to this profession, so as long as you do a darn good job and keep your patients alive and cranky, and yes, I admit that money was indeed on my mind when I decided to pursue the path of a physician. Apparently, it's a common misconception that being a doctor will strike you a virtual gold mine. The moment you leave medical school, whether you realize it or not, you are indebted to the exorbitant sum of money your parents (or other benefactors) spent to get you where you are (and much more if you're studying abroad). Knowing my enrollment fees and the various expenses such as pricey textbooks, those numbers are something that would shame to your name if you don't use your relatively godly knowledge to good use. So, it's really gonna take you a really large amount of patients to recover and pay back the expenses, so for God's Sake, don't be daft and don't do it for the money.

Some of you may have noticed or may have been a victim to a racket I like to call Business Medicine. Something I definitely hope I won't be practicing when make a name for my medically unknown self. It seems that some doctors out there have a referral system of sort that forces a patient to seek the advice of other experts of various fields of medicine, and berates the shit out of you if you decide to smart up and get useful laboratory tests before his friends can rob you blind. My dad experienced this in Manila. Other more common forms of Business medicine you may be familiar with are the abuse of commissions you can receive with pharmaceutical companies and diagnostic laboratories. But really, what good does so much money do when you only want to have even more? I really see no point. A Rolex is the same Rolex when you buy it years later. Don't let patients suffer for your conceited worldly pleasures (which will probably be outdated a year later, just like smartphones). Future Dr. James, you better not stoop that low and think everything is about the money. Who cares about so many cars? You're already having problems with their batteries discharging due to lack of use. Be content with your stupid game room and gadgets. And don't you dare call me naive, God dammit!

I better get back to doing a second read. It's a good thing the exam is scheduled in the afternoon, or I'd be shitting bricks right about now. Remember, Future Dr. James, be at least half of that ridiculously awesome, handsome, sociable, kooky, sarcastic bad ass surgeon who speaks fluent French, Spanish and Italian you always wanted to be! Younger James says hi to your awesomeness!

Razer Goliathus-Speed Medium. Mini-Consumer Review.

2011-12-23T19:36:00.000+08:00

My Razer Deathadder gaming mouse has a new pad, as punny as that may be. Woohoo! I didn't realize there are other places selling Razer products in my area other than PCquickbuy, in fact, I was beginning to think that I'd probably never get to purchase a medium sized Razer Goliathus Speed soft fabric mousepad anytime soon. Hohoho I'm a happy kid when I see such an accessory on my desk. As a gamer that has considered investing in premium gaming peripherals (actually, I got this as a Christmas gift before I could find one), I wanted to protect my Deathadder's teflon feet from wear and tear from questionable mouse pads whose purpose are just meant for advertising a certain store or product. You wouldn't want to have your prized frag-dealing instrument worn down by shoddy provisions? Well, I did for a couple of months..good gracious!

Let's skip the specific numbers and just say, the medium sized version is more than enough for your gaming needs. In fact, this thing is twice the size of my previous mouse pad, and sales clerks keep suggesting I purchase the extended version (something twice as large and twice the price or so of the medium version)? My primary reason to want such a mousepad was mainly for protection, but now that I got to test it out in Skyrim and Battlefield 3, this thing boasts silky smooth mouse gliding! I know it's not much for most to have a few jagged feels as you span your mouse across other mouse pads, but this smoothness is kinda addicting. As to those nitty gritty details of making you shoot better or something, I don't exactly feel those game-enhancing changes. Either they're really negligible or I'm not proficient enough to make good use of their strenghts. Another thing worthy of note is the grip it has on the underside, no more mouse pads running amok in your desk! Less excuses to use when you die in a duel. Meh.

The other Razer mousepads are expensive, and I don't really have any idea how those feel in actual use, so I'm not going to go around recommending you not to buy. But if you're considering of buying a premium mouse pad for your premium mouse, then you can consider the Goliathus as a candidate. It's relatively cheap and below the 1000php mark. It's not too shabby at all.

Battlefield 3. Gamer Review.

2011-12-06T13:28:00.000+08:00

Any avid FPS gamer should know the hype and excitement Battlefield 3 caused the moment it showed off its teeth. Back then, I was hell bent on buying Modern Warfare 3. I wanted Battlefield to suck ass so much because I really wanted to buy Modern Warfare 3 and because I was always a fan of the Call of Duty series ever since its first title. Much to horror of other Modern Warfare fans (and me included), it seemed like Battlefield 3's new frostbite 2.0 engine bit off the head of the seemingly rehashed engine of Modern Warfare 3. Slowly, little by little, with every released trailer coming from both sides, Battlefield 3 was quite the sassy fox in slowly coaxing me to invest some emotions to her, and Modern Warfare 3 simply looked like what the past iterations have been, and that's not sexy. There simply was too much destruction, too much attention to detail, and too much awesomeness for me to ignore. When the Battlefield 3 Beta came out, that definitely sealed the deal. I was preordering Battlefield 3, bug ridden beta and buried in med school or not.

As far as the campaign goes, I'll say it out first, this is the first game I didn't bother going through the campaign before hitting multiplayer in the longest time. In as much as I'd like to offer a complete review, I'm simply too hooked with the multiplayer for me to be bothered by a heavily scathed single player that majority of critics bash as uninspired and boring. Of course, ever since Skyrim came into my life. It's been roughly adultery with both games with me jumping out and back in every now and then.

Simply put, the multiplayer is outrageously awesome! The long tested formula of Conquest game modes along with the relatively newer Rush game modes are maddeningly addictive and immersive. There are also the common place gametypes deathmatches and some modifications of such for those that like it old school. The concept of a team based gameplay where in team work between squads, armored vehicles and air support is heavily rewarded is highly different from the world of repetivive FPS deathmatches and capture the flags. The mix and variety of play styles and vehicles give the game the impression of being multiple different games in one neat explosive package. People definitely have roles to fulfill and make you feel like you're actually contributing to a large part of the battle regardless of your kill:death ratio being as lame a noob's noob. The game has a progression system which allows unlocks for weapons, vehicles and perks. Now, don't go believing perks will make this game an unbalanced perk dependent game reminiscent of Call of Duty. Those only bestow supportive abilities that doesn't necessarily give you the edge of majority of the players. This game is definitely skill based and relies heavily on team work to bring out the ultimate Battlefield 3 experience.

The visuals are stunning; clearly setting the bar a notch higher for high-profile FPS games out there. The newly developed Frostbite 2.0 engine exuded a captivating yet destructive package of textures that pays homage to whatever deities that grants whatever it touches superb visuals. Smoke and fog are well built and portrayed and can be used to gaining an advantage if you are able to utilize such elements of the engine. Explosions are highly dynamic which produces massive destruction to whatever gets caught in it. It can even renders a highly dynamic and realistic sequence of lighting that occurs when such an explosion lights up the dark nooks and corners of the game. What pleasantly surprised me though was the fact that even though my relatively ancient rig was running everything at the lowest settings, the graphics are still captivating and detailed. You honestly wouldn't be able to tell that the game was running at the minimum capabilities of the engine. I have yet to try it on my brother's super computer which sports a double Radeon 5870 running under crossfire, but I bet the level of detail promised by DICE on that beast should be razor sharp enough to detach the retinas in my eyes or something, but really, I'm too lazy to set up and get all the updates working on that abused workhouse of his. Maybe when I get sick of playing, I'll consider such an adventure, but for now, I simply am very content with playing Battlefield 3 in a dinosaur rig.

The level of detail and emphasis DICE gave to sound effects and audio is simply brilliant. When you drop into the game, you'd be able to distinguish the difference directly when you compare other FPS sound effects with such. Gunfire sounds highly distinct up close and get muffled and distant as it originates farther and farther from your position. Bullets whiz by and begins to get more ominous when they get to their mark too close for comfort. Such an experience immediately can send a player into a flurry of panic and excitement as he attempts to avoid or counter such situations. Explosions are deafening (of course, in a good way) and sends you into the mute ringing in your ears phenomenon if you survive such up close.

The game itself right out of the box, like most games, may have some balancing issues with certain weapons and bugs that may give users a distinct edge to those unaware of such, but it seems the developers are hard at work when it comes to game balancing and tweaking and are churning out updates and fixes as fast as they can. DLCs are being promised to bring out more for your game and add more content and replayability in the future. With time, I hope the game achieves the level of prestige and fun it rightfully deserves, and can give people with less than ideal bandwidth like me, a fighting chance in a huge game where sometimes a hundred millisecond or two could spell death and frustration to laggy connections. Yes, I'm totally bitter at people I unload shotgun shells and come out killing me with full health

There is much room for improvement in such an awesome game with massive potential. In my opinion, some features seem to be wrongly executed such as the lack of in-game voice chat for the PC version of the game, which is annoying because I either have to go into this mime war and hope people are thinking the same thing, or I have to connect to Skype to be able to coordinate with my friends in-game. The game offers a robust stat tracking service under Battlelog which is a good thing, my only complaint though is the lack of a in-game menu and lobby for connecting to games. Connecting to games through a browser is pretty peculiar and feels awkward for me, honestly. There are many more improvements people demand and have the potential of even further improving the game, especially those of Battlefield 2 veterans who miss certain elements of the predecessor.

To wrap things up, Battlefield 3 is a great game. I hope I didn't come out as a Battlefield fanboy, as I wanted to make this as unbiased as possible. It THAT certain must have title for any FPS loving gamer out there for the year of 2011, in my honest and unbiased opinion. It has some certain rough patches here and there, but I'm fairly confident that with some more tweaking and polishing, those limitations can be overcome. Play it with friends, and you're bound to have an awesome grand time of fun and laughter as you guys get to go on a rampage or be rampaged on. For the record though, You certainly can call me a convert. I certainly hope I'll still have the time to play some rounds next year when internship comes to take me away from this world. I'll probably get withdrawals and will need to steal some sedatives in the hospital or something.

Rating: 9/10

Samsung GT-I9100 Galaxy S II. Consumer Review.

2011-11-10T12:16:00.000+08:00

I have had the Samsung Galaxy S II (SGS2) for well over two months now, and that has given me just enough time to make a fairly geeky unbiased non-Android fanboy recommendation regarding this particular smart phone. For you that know me, you're probably aware that I have been saving up for a smartphone of this caliber for almost a year now through methods some might refer to as my inhuman powers of saving. Of course, that only half-true. Chinese blood probably has a lot to do with it or something. Back then, it was a choice of waiting out the next generation iPhone or picking up one of the most successful Android smartphones to date, but then of course, I've always been an admirer to the works of both sides, just that Android offers more options for customizability. Even before the iPhone4S sucked and disappointed the crap out of me, I already knew I wasn't going to regret the biggest purchase of my life (as to this point in time). For a full review, There is more after the break.

General Feel:

The very first time I saw this phone was when a friend bought himself one month earlier than my purchase. Of course, I handled that phone being the curious gadget enthusiast that I am, and DAMN, was it light. and sexy. It's like this sleek feather weight large screened bastard that just looks back at you with that smug look saying "Yeah, I'm that light. Take it like a man." In fact, the first comment of a large majority of the people who borrowed the phone is always about how light and huge the real estate is. Something I noticed iPhone users tend to say out loud more vocally. This thing will give you only an extra 110 grams of weight and 8.5mm of thickness, which by gadget standards, is one of the best deals you could find currently if you're that particular. The phone's size may be not everybody's cup of tea, as I've encountered girls who say it's too large for its own good. Actually, only one person said that. Majority loved the size, including my rather relatively small sized male hands. The casing is a mix of plastics which is a huge gripe to some which gives it a less premium feel, but no doubt about it, this plays a huge role in giving it its anorexic weight.

Performance:

Certainly, having a dual-cored processor in its heart means it's no sloth, and seriously, this thing is no sloth. The only time I get visible lag is upon start up of the device from a cold boot, while loading the various widgets around your home screen. In fact, benchmarks revealed previously that Samsung's own dual core 1.2ghz ARM-cortex A9 processor bests Qualcomm's dual-core 1.5ghz. Which is pretty stupid, if you ask me. This brute throws around apps like it's nothing and multitasks like a boss. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's only but a few apps out there that can fully maximize the dual core's potential. Which is pretty good because that way I get insurance that this thing is future proof for another year or two. Now, I won't be throwing around benchmarks here because that's the professional reviewers jobs, you can peruse yourself to their sites if you're interested. But take my word for it, just until recently, it used to be the baddest in benchmarks. That recently being until the iPhone 4S came out and had these inhumanly optimized benchmarks. So, maybe Apple wins that round, so my only defense is since technically no app can utilize their brutish CPUs maximum potential, it doesn't really matter? Just how you compare a regular guy and a WWE wrestler peeling potatoes? That's just me saving myself some grief. Probably.

As for the GPU, the ARM Mali-400 MP is found on board though I found myself not using any apps that's insightful enough to grant me wisdom to make a comment about it. I heard good things about it, but I really had no first hand experience with it since I really abhor 3D based mobile gaming.

One thing I noticed though, the phone has a quirky habit heating up by itself because of a firmware related problem which is called the Wifi Sharing Bug. It starts up randomly even when you aren't sharing your Wifi with anything and starts eating away at your battery. Fast. It's quite distressing at first, then you becomes annoying once you know how to deal with it (forced stopping with the task manager or a reboot). A firmware update to leaked Samsung's Gingerbread 2.3.4 fixes this, but that might be a bit challenging to the less adventurous tweakers, but, really, I just hope Samsung's Touchwiz-ed Ice Cream Sandwich comes out sooner.

Display:

4.3 inches of screen real estate is mighty huge. Hell, 4 inches is already big. Once you go 4 and up, you'll find yourself wondering how were you able to be content with just 3.5 inches. I sure did with my iPod Touch. The 480x800 pixel resolution isn't class leading, but it certainly does the job. Sure, you can't fully appreciate your HD videos due to this limitation, but what sets the screen apart is the Super AMOLED+ technology Samsung developed. It brings out truly astounding contrast and vivdness to your screen that, once again, when you go back to the regular variety, you'd again wonder how you were able to withstand such a bland palette of colors.

Camera

This thing packs an 8 megapixel camera that's bound to make digital point and shoot cameras weep. Once you test this out, I doubt there would still be a space in your bag for a digicam just for casual everyday shooting. The pictures are sharp, clear and simply wonderful. Of course, don't expect the tail end of the 8megapixels to be razor sharp. Practical sizes of the pictures taken barely give away such minor imperfections though. The macro settings aren't the best and may have trouble focusing on what you really want, but it can get pretty awesome and very convenient to have around. Night shots are not the best in certain settings, but pop out the Outdoor Visibility option, and everything seems to just get better. Don't expect things to be as awesome all zoomed at 100%, but the camera is definitely above average when it comes to mobile phone cameras. Simply put, unless I get myself a DSLR, chances are most of the pictures going to be placed in the blog are taken from the Galaxy S II. A little thing to note of is that tech blogs around the world hail the S2's camera as the best in class as of the year 2011 (that doesn't include the iPhone 4S' but some sites declared that the SGS2 trumps it nontheless). A LED flash is available at your disposal for those extremely dark shots you just want lighted up (can be used as a flashlight with an appropriate app too).

Dark picture without any settings(Left). Same picture with night shot(Center). Same picture with night shot and outdoor visibility(Right). Note how less shaky hands affect the third picture.

The SGS2 is also capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps without a hitch. The videos are sharp and buttery smooth. Although I don't have a sample video for this due to an extremely cumbersome upload process, take my word for it. This thing doesn't disappoint at all. You better hope you packed extra microSDs though. It's a given 1080p videos eat through MBs like me and a bowl of fine spicy siomais (chinese dumplings).

Android OS and Samsung TouchWiz 4.0:

Now, considering how iOS is already a household name in the realm of smartphone operating systems, making the jump to the Android ecosystem might be a bit daunting thought considering how iOS sweeps the market off everyone else. The perks of jumping ship the Android aren't too shabby at all. One of them being extreme customizability without the need for jailbreaking(or in the android world, Rooting). Customizability is it's forte. The open based nature of the OS means certain activities are more flexible such as playing music with a preferred music player, writing messages with a whole variety of keyboards to choose from, a messaging app that allows a wad of customizations, and watching a video of almost any format right off the bat without having the need to convert to mp4. Flash support might be plus for others, but I certainly don't find myself using too much flash, but for the people who do use it. That certainly adds another reason. One thing that certainly disheartens me is the choice of Apps from the Android Market. Quality Apps aren't abundant and Apps that also have an iOS equivalent tend to be inferior to the latter. Of course, this may change in the future (and I certainly hope they do).

Having handled a vanilla Android Gingerbread OS on a Samsung Nexus S, I can say that TouchWiz 4.0 definitely improves upon weaknesses of the stock OS albeit at the cost of some bloatware and a few ugly customizations like the Samsung Keyboard. It's definitely a good thing Samsung decided to remake the Camera, Phonebook and Dialer apps to name a few. Certain features are added which add functionality and convenience to the otherwise clumsy mold. I would also like to say that I am not a fan of the TouchWiz homescreen. It's hard to describe but perhaps the word bland could help put it to word. But matters of such are quickly remedied with the variety of launcher apps available in the Android Market. I for one use, LauncherPro.

Battery Life:

This has always been a trouble for most smart phones, and that problem doesn't spare the SGS2 either. A thing to consider about Android is that some of the apps aren't optimized for being battery efficient. That is to say, you may need to choose your apps well in order to maximize your battery's worth; some are definitely battery drains, and some aren't. It all boils down on to how well you manage your choice of apps and your smartphone usage. Generally, with everyday normal use that's more geared towards texting, a few calls once in a while, minor to moderate wifi usage to check on my feeds and twitter, and surfing around, the phone could last me around the whole day with around 30% of the battery left by the time I get home around 7PM in the evening. Massive usage of the wifi easily eats the battery and would probably last you around 6-9hours. Without usage of the wifi however, with pure texts and a few calls and not so much on the apps, it could easily last your for almost two days. I've tried the SGS2 fighting the bitter empty end around 36hours. All in all, the SGS2 caters to my needs and usage profile just adequately. I do bring around a AC charger for those times when massive gaming and video watching warrants more juice.

Wrap-Up:

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S II is not the perfect device for anyone, but if you're considering of taking the plunge into premium Android territory anytime within the next months or so, I'd definitely be recommending you to get yourself the best selling piece of Android hardware. If you're accustomed to iOS, you may not like the choice of apps, but I personally think the hardware makes everything up for it. Considering how much time it took me to save up for this, I'm certainly delighted to say that this phone might last me for years to come, although, I know, gadget envy will always be a problem. Oh, and try not to get annoyed when people seem to ask you "Why didn't you just get an iPhone?" alot. It's healthier for all of us.

Friggin' Battlefield

2011-10-29T12:27:00.000+08:00

Guess who's got this amazing thing up here? Me! Well, I got it a day after I was supposed to because of a certain unfortunate turn of events, but hell yeah! I finally got it. Now, Imagine me in a school girl giddy fit. That was me when I got this on the 26th. Yeah, probably had a half smirk pasted on my face for a long time. I just installed this thing last night, and regardless of how ancient my video card is (an Nvidia 9600GT) it still managed to run everything at the lowest of quality. Talk about lady luck having the hots for me. I'll be back with real review one of these days, if I manage to foil away the temptation of doing a quick match instead. My stats suck, and my bandwidth is friggin slow, so I hope things get better in time, and 'til then. Booyah! My new coffee rocks!

Thank you, Duchess! <3

Religion and Flyovers

2011-09-25T01:16:00.000+08:00

Something this country probably won't be having soon.

Currently, one of the biggest issues of the city I live in is one regarding an argument over building flyovers or opting for road widening. Personally, I certainly feel that this city needs a good general expansion of the road systems. Widening of two lane side roads to convert them into somewhat more mainstream passages might come a long way to decongest the traffic that is slowly growing like an insidious tumor over many areas, and over at my area especially. Of course, seeing that our 4-lane roads aren't doing a stellar job at relieving bumper to bumper dances (and neither are the canal system and the flash floods helping), but enough about that. What's more interesting is how religious group react to such issues and the things they're willing to do to hinder public good when it involves them.

If the local news haven't informed you, there is a heated debate with associated poo flinging between which among the two possible solutions gets implemented. One of the two proposed sites involves a so called heritage religious landmark which means someone's lot is gonna get a little shaved off. That's a given compromise if it means making a difference for the people. So, here's my funny little story for today. I attended a mass in the said heritage site and right before the part where the priest says to go away, here comes this unusual message that goes "we would like to share our comments, feelings and negative reactions with you regarding the proposed flyover" or something veeery similar and then proceeds to play, get this, a short film that portrays bad images of flyovers and images of the local anti-flyover rallyists with a reaaaally cheesy song whose lyrics are about flyovers and how useless they are, and then asks for our prayers and to join a novena asking for renewed guidance for the leaders involved in this flyover business. Seriously.

No offense to God and all, but damn, that was seriously pathetic. and very selfish. Projects like these are meant for the public good, and all they can think about is their gate, wall, guard house, a few parking slots and a nearby church extension. Relatively small price to pay really for a lifetime costs of the people who will probably suffer rush hour in that area. Petrol, time, probably somebody's life in emergency cases maybe? Perfectly reasonable forecasting, yes? After all, nuns are still human and humans are selfish. Not certainly role model material. Hoho just my 2 cents, really.

Oh, and road expansion doesn't shave your lot at all.

Johnny English Reborn. Movie Review.

2011-09-24T10:07:00.000+08:00

You know, back in the days, I can only imagine Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean. Sure, that was hilarious when I was younger, but as I matured and grew up, so did my distaste for goofball slapstick comedy. It's not something I could explain. Something about portraying thick faced knuckleheads seems to irk me at some point for some unknown reason. So, my general attention to anything Rowan Atkinson died the moment I saw the second Bean Movie. Heck, I didn't even finish that movie since it just ended up making me feel I wasted portions of my life which I'll never be able to take back again. I recently saw the first Johnny English movie with The Duchess, and even though it did portray reminiscent humor from his roots, overall the movie was able to keep me watching throughout the length. It wasn't good, but it certainly wasn't bad. The Duchess wanted to watch the next iteration; I was more in it for the company.

Johnny English Reborn reprises the role of non other in a sequel dated five years after the incidents of the first movie. English is now a recluse training to redeem his honor for a bungled up job which had him lose his knighthood and his job at MI7. Of course, stuff happen and they need the supposed best man for the job, which prompted his return to the field. He then discovers his current assignment had links to the botched up operation he was involved in half a decade ago, and so he sets forth to bring light to the irregularities of his past.

The plot is simple yet apt for the light nature of the film. Some of the scenes may be predictable and cliche but that is expected twice as much, although I did prefer his older partner, who unfortunately didn't make a comeback. Since Johnny English has matured over the years, that means he's bound to be more knowledgeable and less likely to do acts of idiocy to which I highly approve. There are indeed a lot of amusing scenes worthy of noting, but don't go expecting to end up having cramps from laughing too much, but to be fair, I found myself more amused this time compared to its predecessor.

If you're up for some mindless wacky fun about espionage and generally stuff that is clearly Rowan Atkinson, then I wouldn't mind suggesting you this flick. It's not the best, but clearly, it really improves upon its past mistakes.

Rating: 7/10

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Gamer Review.

2011-09-23T05:17:00.002+08:00

Before anyone starts yapping that this has got to be the biggest Gears of War and Starcraft ripoff, let me settle things first by saying that Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) started way back before Blizzard or the gear heads ever thought about men in metal diapers or aliens that love mindless murder. But unfortunately for the WH40K universe, it started out and became famous as a tabletop game rather than as one with computers. In fact, simply due to that fact, it has become one of the greatest sci-fi gaming misconceptions that litter the gaming world nowadays. Well, thankfully THQ seems bent on giving the WH40K the name it rightfully deserves with the Dawn of War series and it's latest addition to the WH40K franchise, Space Marine.

Space Marine puts you in the heavy greaves of Captain Titus of the Ultramarines, one of the more renowned chapters that composes the Imperium of Man. You come to the forge world Graia amidst an Ork invasion whose alleged intentions are directed at ransacking the multitude of weapons and clandestine projects that are hidden away in the many forges that characterize such worlds. Of course, nothing is as simple as ork invasions. That would simply be too lame, so obviously, somehow as the preliminary screenshots suggest Chaos forces, the evil counterparts of the space marines that have been twisted by the warp, come into play to add some sort of substance and treachery into the plot.

You are placed into a third person perspective of Captain Titus and lay waste to his enemies with either ranged or melee combat. The mechanics of each style is quite simple that you can easily grasp the concept of mutilating foes from whatever distance pleases you. Ranged combat is basically the same as that of other third person action shooter but lacks a cover system due to the notion that space marines need cover as much as they like cross stitching during their time off. But as much as space marines are the epitome of hard-ass semi-Chuck Norris-es of the distant future, cover is something you would still be looking for once in a while. Hell, even WH40K: Dawn of War series used varying degrees of cover to add strategy to their highly immersive nature. Other than that, ranged combat is an amusing and fairly satisfying aspect of the game. The armament are faithful to the various tools of destruction available from the whole series. Each shot makes you believe that the oomph of each bullet is well felt both to you and your foes' craniums (which makes a rather meaty pile of pieces if properly placed). There are a multitude of ranged weaponry to go by from the shotgun-like melta-gun to the lascannon which acts like a rail-gun for you familiar with Quake.

Melee combat, on the other hand, is the whole other shebang of the title. What characterizes the WH40K universe is the extremely violent and gratuitous nature of their melee kill sequences (which is what basically got my attention back when I first played the first Dawn of War). Although the mechanics to brawling is very basic and simple, it does get the job done on bringing those raging death blow to the context of shitting bricks. Space Marine offers you a select few of the various melee weapons the universe has to offer like the swift and raucous chain-sword, and the devastating thunder hammer, but you shouldn't let that dishearten you as the ones you wield are what characterizes WH40K best. Brutal executions are mechanism for regaining your health outside the regenerating shield your power armor bestows, and, boy, do they portray them in the gruesome manner you should expect fatalities in WH40K should be.

The plot is nothing mind-blowing, utterly predictable in course. The characters, on the other hand, are pretty stereotypical. Stern, valiant and righteous just like stereotypical grunts of the Space Marines from the Dawn of War series: That is what describes the main character of the story. The only thing intriguing about him is his certain ability to withstand certain elements not normal to genetically engineered super-soldiers, much more mere human beings. That alone makes me want to revisit his character in a sequel. I am in the impression that this won't be the last I will be seeing Captain Titus, nor will it be the last of the Space Marine series. The current game seems likely to setup for a larger portion of the overall story of the series which hopefully would be continued in sequels to the game.

The gameplay itself may become a little repetitive, but in my overall experience, I didn't seem to mind it as much I thought it would, though it certainly would be nice if it had a little more variety through the course of the game. A cover system would also be awesome. Honestly, it just boils down to your play style. Maybe a skill tree that may allow you to customize how Captain Titus specializes more would be apt for a more amazing gameplay? That, of course, would be subject to debate. Maybe the other races might be able to make an appearance. That would undoubted be awesome to us fans to the series. In general, this game is a diamond in the rough. It's certainly a step towards the right direction, and with more improvements, this would definitely raise WH40K into a pedestal that makes itself known throughout the gaming world.

The multiplayer component seems simple compared to other similar games, but it does offer some solid form of gameplay. It currently features the long time struggle between the two warring factions of the Space Marines and the Forces of Chaos, offering control of three different classes of Space Marines, namely: assault/Raptors, tactical marines, and devastators/havocs. Each class represent a different style of gameplay each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Perks, although unoriginal, add depth and dynamics into the multiplayer experience. One certain aspect worthy of mention is the customization options for your personal space marines, which offer a robust character editor that's meticulously addictive and engaging. It basically brings the table-top experience of making your own mark into the WH40K universe into an action packed online experience.

The game may have its flaws, there's no doubting that. It may certainly get repetitive and tedious for those that yearn for more in their third person shooters, but overall, fans should be pleasantly amused with what Space Marine has to offer. Curious new comers to the series will certainly find jumping into the bandwagon an amazing experience with Space Marine. This title has so much potential, that it is definitely worth revisiting in a sequel which I definitely hope will come soon. So, if you are mildly interested about what the whole deal is with WH40K or just want some mindless savage fun, then get your copies now.

Rating: 7.5/10

A Leap to Unhealthy Spendings

2011-09-17T10:48:00.000+08:00

You know, the process for saving up for more than a year on something (Yes, I'm looking at you Samsung Nexus S) and having that something replaced with something more awesome in the process is kind of like candy induced mania. Okay, maybe it's not, but you get the general idea. Hohoho Guess who brought in some of that hard earned, hard kept dough and got himself one of his first toys for the big boys? Actually, don't answer that and make me lose my groove. IT'S ME! Well, yeah, of course. Hoho Oh, how I've longed for this day to come (it's been here three days ago actually). My first purchase, my first big phone and my first Android at that, and for the people that scratch their heads as to why I chose android over iOS. Let's just say, I'm a non-conformist. regardless of the fact that I could have inherited my brother's iPhone 4 when the iPhone 5 comes out humping the pockets of the masses. Oh, giddy as a school girl! I'll be back somewhere in time with a full review! Wohohoho!! *Runs off to the darkness*

Half-time for the Third Time

2011-09-12T17:44:00.000+08:00

Hey blog, what's up? I know it has been a long time since I made a decent post - or any post rather, but what can I say, third year in The Institute has been quite taxing beyond the normal attention-seeking ways of my mistress, Medicine. Suffice to say, I missed blogging about the many things that I enjoy doing in life. So, here I am once again hoping to be able to lead a juggle with the blog and medical bandwagon.

The first half of this school year just ended a few days ago, and since has been enjoying what meager time students of The Institute are fed in the hostile world we're stuck with. Semestral break is now ON! A month too early for most since we begun a month earlier too, if you recall that post before. Of course, semestral break would mean a lot of gaming, dating, hanging-out, watching some movies here and there with a splash of bumming around over the top. Unlike most semestral breaks that are free of worries and hassles from the academe, ours will also require us to undergo these so called elective duties that are deemed mandatory. Clearly enough, the whole concept the of word elective escapes their tiny clutches. Our second thesis might require some serious elective semestral break work too, unfortunately. Then somewhere within the week, I will have to go to this registration thing to which I'm quite sure means for something called enrollment. Fancy terms that are obviously misleading are the in thing in my med school apparently.

I have a lot to catch up on, and to which, I hope I don't slack out of the game for writing. I'll need to do some overtime for the blog's third cosmetic change and setting up my med school organization blog/site. So, here's for now, and smells ya later! hyok hyok!

Of Counts and Mice

2011-06-24T20:21:00.001+08:00

Not much to say except that I'm a count and in seemingly record time too. Damn, the new Fiery Warpath area is nuts when it comes to XP. Took me around 5 months and 12 days to go from Baron to Count. That will take me twice the time probably to reach the next rank of Duke. Yosh! Back to the hunt!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Movie Review.

2011-05-28T19:21:00.000+08:00

The Gang is all here! Actually, minus the other two from the past adventures. But hey, our favorite eccentric swashbuckling pirate is here in a new adventure for immortality! Of course, you'd already know that if you were paying particular attention to At World's End's ending. Now, that's Disney for you, capitalizing on a profitable series whose trilogy has left the stage with thundering applause. If I think about it, somehow I still managed to sneak watching this thing even in the midst of the great torturous third year of med school, which is quite a feat already considering how burnt out I am post-examinations. So, free times are really hard to come by nowadays. But hey, Duchess wanted quality time, so I was there to sneak some of it in.

The story continues a bit ahead of where we left off the third movie. Jack Sparrow, notorious as ever, is on the trail of locating the much fabled Fountain of Youth. Of course, along the way, various other new and old characters pop up to bring some substance into the adventure. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Jack manages to travel with his former flame of sorts, Angelica, and historically infamous non-fiction pirate, Blackbeard, to look for said legendary waters. Barbossa is also back, just not the way I imagined him to be portraying.

As much I always found this franchise to be highly entertaining, the fourth film falls short on my expectations. Rather, I would say this film is left a bit unpolished, but it was certainly headed to the right direction. Too bad they empahsized too much on parts that didn't need any, and under emphasized on parts that needed it. It's just that It isn't really bad per se, but you can't help but compare this film to the previous films which were filled with much action, adventure, that great plot that reels you in somehow. Everything is tame an unexciting somehow. Don't get me wrong. If I saw this first before the other films, this would surely be one of those OH SNAP! films that's a cut above the rest. The way the plot progressed kind of made me realize that this isn't really in the context of a movie, but rather gave the vibe of sitcom that might have be called The Adventures of Jack Sparrow instead of Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, it certainly sucks when you got you've got huge shoes to fill and expectations to live up to.

The general feel of the show is a tad bit less authentic when compared to the old days. Maybe because Penelope Cruz as Angelica feels tacky in a way. Well, personally, I didn't feel the tackiness as much as many others out there, but a lot of my friends say that she made the whole experience less enjoyable because she didn't quite fit the role. Blackbeard's character also wasn't developed in the way people probably got attached to Davy Jones in the olden days, which left me in state of apathy when the event unfolded. Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Johnny Depp's magnetism for girls and his distinct humorous portrayals as Jack Sparrow, this movie would've been a dead meat the moment it got out of the front door.

If you're a fan to the series, or to Johnny Depp, then this movie will definitely interest you. Just don't expect too much from it and you'll save yourself some disappointment. Personally, I would avoid this kind of flick from the theaters, wait for the DVD release and save yourself for something more worthy of your hard-earned 170php.

Rating: 7/10

Portal 2. Gamer Review.

2011-05-22T04:35:00.001+08:00

Now, it's been for some time now that I beat this game, but the early start of my third year in med school isn't really helping now, does it? The sequel to the hit game by Valve, Portal 2 brings you back to the aperture science laboratories where ingeniously laid out experiments created by a maniacal AI await you in every room. For science. Of course, you start off where you left off in the previous game. Somewhat. You run through the ruins of Aperture Science laboratories since you destroyed the place in the previous game. You meet Wheatley, a blue eyed core with an amazingly hypnotic British accent that you would totally love the first few times he speaks, and he's there to help you escape the facility. Of course, stuff happens along the way or else there wouldn't be Portal 2 in the first place.

As with the original and as what the title implies, you solve puzzles thru some pretty neat and creative ways especially that you have your two-way portal gun which allows you to create two portals in certain spots in the room and allow you to go from portal A to portal B. Just hope where you’ll be landing won’t kill you. But for a game of science, it sure does ignore the fact that falling from great heights break bones, but besides that one strange mechanic, physics also play a key role to a whole deal of your daredevil acts of portal trotting. Turrets, box cubes, elevator like lights, a whole lot of buttons will accompany you through this gloriously exceptional adventure. The whole deal reels hou in.

The mood of the humor the game brings out is just as smart as the gameplay and, hell, hilariously stupid yet I still end up loving every bit of their witty sarcastic and occasionally silly jokes anyways. Although the game may be very scripted, the way events unfold around you have that certain charm even as they try to pull off zany preposterous situations you wouldn’t expect to experience ever in a game. The plot itself was pretty awesome in its own way. Nothing totally epic, but nothing to scoff at either, but due to its scriptedness, replayability might be next to nil, unless you play 12 months later or something. The characters each have their own distinct adorable personalities who are very original in their own right The typical run of conversations are littered with witty scientific jokes that I otherwise wouldn't have thought of. Burn your house down with lemons. HAHA. Ok, that sounds funnier when they say it.

The puzzles are tricky but let me assure you, I don’t really think they’re unsolvable. You just have to get pretty creative, and that should give you around 10hours of puzzles worth of mental exercises unless you’re some wonder kid rocket scientist, which most people aren’t mind you. Now, I don’t really consider myself to be queasy and easily spun, but I found myself forced to stop playing Portal 2 a bunch of times so that I wouldn’t end up cursing that I wasted my whole day playing Portal 2 and end up nauseated on top of the bed. If you’re the type to get dizzy, I suggest shorter play times. Portal Traveling isn’t for the inexperienced.

Graphics-wise, if you’re familiar with the Source Engine, then well. Simply put, it’s the source engine. If you aren’t, then Half-life 2, Counter-strike: Source, the original Portal are some examples more who use such. Still not familiar? In this modern day and age of gorgeous graphics, Source Engine doesn’t suck, but neither does it turn heads. Simply put, plain jane graphics who haven’t lost its touch, but fails to catch up on the pack. Nothing too major to worry. Just making an observation, mind you.

Portal 2 has a cooperative gameplay which I would’ve liked to try out and finish the game but...I simply don’t have such a partner to play with. Maybe in the future when I can get 2 computers or so, or something.

Portal 2 is very unique in its own way. It’s funny, quirky, charming and makes your brain cells reproduce (No, actually they don’t). The whole adventure is amazing the first the you go through it, not so confident about the second one. The gameplay is solid, and bound to entertain you for hours to come. Don’t mind the dizzyness if ever that were to occur, that’s inherent in the business of flying with portals. Give it a try, you might end up finding out you’re a wonder kind rocket scientist.

Rating: 8/10

Back to The Institute. One Month Early.

2011-05-08T23:56:00.001+08:00

What a great topic to write about my 100th Entry for my most long-lived blog yet. Tomorrow is the day that will break the hearts of many (actually, just incoming third year medical students of The Institute). Would you believe in a summer vacation most desecrated by the likes of start of classes in the beginning of the month of May? No, 'tis not mere summer class, and, yes, a whole month earlier than the start of tortures of most hell holes.. It is the genuine beginning of a school year long of torment as a medical student once again not only with encumbering chapters of medical stuff, but with real actual 8-12hours of clinical experience. HOLY CRAP, I think I just metaphorically shit my pants.

Third year will be no walk in the park. Actually, neither was the first or second years. This year, each one's mind, will power, mental stamina, physical endurance, and what other terms that are meant to be toyed with will be put to the test. Maybe, baptized in fire for those totally unexposed to the medical world. I so still wanted that extra month to be away from the endless paragraphs of medical jargon which our half-asleep heads are only drooling on, from the sleepless night before exams where I have to recram everything back into this noggin which can only hold so much, another extra month worth of blogging, gaming, and hanging out. That said, I'll surely miss being able to blog frequently, though I don't even know how many reads my blog. As many would say, third year will be the worst year medical students in our school would have, and I surely won't be ready in time for tomorrow.

The situation is already FUBAR. I know it's only less than a day before text starts to chisel my brain again, tests to broil the nerves, and expectations to disappoint one's ego. But you know, it's also high time to get that old mindset of mine to live a happier life lodged up somewhere once again: Set your standards low, and do your very best.

Yosh! Have at ye, Third year!

Dead Space 2. Gamer Review.

2011-05-07T23:42:00.000+08:00

If there's any good game out there that makes me stop after playing a level or two, then its name would be called Dead Space. I remember the horrors the first Dead Space brought to me as I played each chapter, each area, each corridor, each necromorph down to the exact detail using my trusty walkthrough. Yes, I admit, I probably won't be able to get myself to go through one chapter without a guide. My poor poor wits and heart. Dead Space 2 is the sequel to the cliffhanger ending the original closed its curtains with, and it continues three years after the events of Dead Space 1. You find our ever so unlucky Engineer and protagonist, Isaac Clarke, inside The Sprawl, one gigantic space station whose interiors vastly differs from the mostly ship interiors of the first game. Of course, you don't have Dead Space 2 without some flesh eating, limb dicing, stuff straight out of nightmares pals of yours, the necromorphs. So, definitely, something goes awry in The Sprawl leading to the sci-fi psychological horror survival game we all love to hate yet love at the same time. If the story interests you, I suggest you watch the animated immediate prequel of Dead Space 2, Dead Space: Aftermath.

The plot is simple, but the execution is nerve wracking. All you need to do is to simply destroy your best friend, The Marker, which reanimates the dead bodies into your BFFs (only they don't know that). That simple goal is augmented with various characters and obstacles which add more substance and points of interest to the story. You'll meet equally psychotic people and distrustful allies, not to mention your dead creepy girlfriend comes back to haunt the demented engineer, along the way that will help pave the general twists and turns of Isaac's ordeals. Generally, speaking, I am quite satisfied with how the plot turned out in the end.

Visuals are definitely an upgrade from its predecessor. The setting and execution of how poor lighting plays with our nerves definitely adds to the edge of horror. As you roam around the sprawl in various locations, You will encounter places that are ten times as scarier than normal when placed in the atmosphere of Dead Space lighting and execution. Think churches, kindergarten, cargo holds, and ___ _________ well, I won't spoil that last one. I was pretty shocked (and horrified) when I realized the next chapter was going to be held there. As much as the visuals add to the experience, I honestly think Dead Space's sound execution is the mastermind behind all of the intense moments of terror. I simply find myself turning the volume low enough just to hear the music turn into an ominous psychological tune that brings you on the edge for something that'll make you pump adrenaline like a madman. Simply said, Dead Space 2 is just as frightening as the original - which was also helluva lot frightening during its time. AH, good times.

Gameplay is basically the same as the original. They just added newer and more importantly (or not) creepier necromorphs, new guns which I didn't bother using because I was bent on upgrading my Plasma Cutter, the trademark and original gun from the first game, since it is tried and tested and proven to handle most if not all situations. What?? I like sticking to the status quo in horror survival games where money and resources are at a premium. They added new gameplay mechanics which weren't in the original game, like zero-G suit jets, vent crawling, and more puzzles to play with. Other than that, it's basically the slice and dice game we all grew to love and hate back then in the original Dead Space. Old formula still works apparently.

What sucks (or does not suck) in the PC version is that the various DLC campaigns aren't available as they're only marketed to the console versions. WTF. Seriously, you console people are holding progression and development of gaming as a whole. Get modern GPUs already, sheesh. Apparently, since money is floating around the consoles, potential is wasted and PC users suffer because of such. Bah.

If you're an adrenaline junkie who loves gore, an intriguing story line, and being a pussy at the same time (like me..WAIT I DON'T LOVE BEING A PUSSY), then definitely, Dead Space 2 is a must play! DEAD SPACE 3, I'M READY FOR YOU! (Come out many years from now, please, not so soon.)

Rating: 9/10

Crysis 2. Gamer Review.

2011-05-06T00:20:00.002+08:00

Crytek is back with its sensationally popular creation to bring the gaming world on its knees with the latest installment of the worldwide benchmark standard, Crysis. The old one being the revolutionary head of outrageous gaming graphics, Crysis 2 has some extremely big shoes to fill. The latest crytek engine is said to bring improvement to the already impressive engine used in Crysis 1. The long awaited sequel is finally out! About a little bit over a month ago. But anyways, that's not really important. You play as Alcatraz, a US marines soldier who unwittingly was able to acquire the new nano suit in a way that would spoil something in the story but, yeah, moving on. With this nanosuit, you are able to survive and adapt to situations that normal humans can't overcome. It may enhance your speed and strength, adapt to form a highly resistant piece of armor, or it may render you invisible to your foes. You'll be fighting against humans who are after the suit's technology and the cephs, highly agile and heavily armored calamari like extraterrestrials, who are mounting an all out invasion of earth. The suit has hidden special properties which allows it to be the saviour of mankind and is best left unspoiled .

While the plot might seem cliche with the whole alien invasion storyline, the whole gameplay experience makes the journey an action packed thrill ride that's bound to have you playing for hours. The suit is what makes the plot tick since almost everyone wants the suit, prompting the whole hidden suit properties situation which makes the suit essential for thwarting the ceph invasion. It only shows that a simple plot will still rock when it is epicly orchestrated.

The graphics on this thing is absolutely on another level when compared to majority of first person shooters that litter the market. Even on my outdated medium budget GPU (an Nvidia 9600GT), I was able to run this video card frying monster at medium settings with only noticable loss of frame rates at extremely action packed situations and graphic intensive cut scenes. Simply put, you can't compare this kind of graphics with anything else currently IMO. I read from all the critics that this Crysis might be sloppy when it comes to the rendering of the many objects of crysis, but I seriously think they're just prioritizing rendering high quality objects that are meant to be associated with the big metropolises, and not that of the previous jungle themed Crysis. Seriously, didn't even notice until I read that thing. I saw the console versions of Crysis 2 when I was in Singapore and damn, you console people should seriously get a change of hardware and release the next generation consoles already. Console Crysis 2 is one hell of an ugly baby that should be beaten with a stick. All the juicy details were simply gone, and that made Crysis 2 look very dull and ordinary.

Unlike most first person shooters, Crysis 2 allows you to pick your fancy of strategies. Whether you go all stealthy and break everyone's neck and slit their throats or, maybe, going out guns blazing and ego rockin' like Rambo, You decide. And with Crysis 2, there are almost an innumerable amount of possible routes you may handle a certain scenario with, since the game has an open type of system which seemingly gets rid of the scriptedness of many FPS campaigns. You get to be creative with your approaches. Whether you run enemies over with a powerful kick to the many heavy interactable objects in game, or you run around and confuse the enemy, leading them into traps of your own, the possibilities is quite long, and thankfully, enjoying your efforts are definitely worth it. The weapon customizing option is another sleek way of upgrading your weapons on the go, which allows you to adapt to the various challenges the campaign pits against you. Another amazing thing which sets this game from the rest is the refreshingly lengthy yet equally epic campaign gameplay time. It roughly took me around 12-15hours to finish it on the hard settings. When you compare that to the usual 5-6hour Call of Duty campaign, this one definitely seals the deal.

As much as this might be a very very good game, a very big downer is the lackluster AI. Let's face it, Crysis 2 AI are so dumb that enemies, it's either they're are too blind even though you're there in front of them day dreaming or they're too retarded that they're facing walls during a firefight just begging to get messed up from behind. But I'll be honest, there are definitely some situations that their dumbness may have helped me pass certain trickier levels where free kills definitely make the difference. Other than that, running up to me just to get slit by a single key press, isn't too flattering.

If you're a gaming enthusiast who enjoys action packed fire person shooters, then Crysis 2 will definitely be a part of your list of must play games. But if you aren't, I suggest you still give it a try to understand why Crysis 2 is so popular and treat yourself to some very advanced and polished 3D graphics. Bring on, Crysis 3! Spare my video card, please!

Rating: 8.5/10

Valkyria Chronicles. Otaku Review.

2011-05-02T16:43:00.000+08:00

If there's a familiar face that I've seen floating around in the internet, it's that girl in the front running through a war torn trench with her rifle. Apparently, that's with good reason; turns out that Valkyria Chronicles is a hit game in the PS3 that I would certainly love to take for a spin, but sadly, yeah...I am not so well off for such pleasantries in life. So, I thought I'd settle for the next best thing then, which is..well, son of a gun, an anime adaptation of the game itself! Then I read scathing reviews from the gamers saying the anime shouldn't be compared to the game itself since it does the game no such justice. Well, turned out I had to find out what the deal was then for myself. Valkyria Chronicles is a war themed anime that seems to take place in an alternate earth resembling the WWII. Although later on, development tend to add more fantasy related elements and romance started to play a role. It's typically how war neutral Gallia repels the Imperial Forces from taking over to acquire ragnite ores for the war effort somewhere else, but of course, people in power also have ulterior motives for the hostile takeover. The story is from the point of view of a Gallian militia squad with a unique tank designed by the war hero, brilliant tactician general and late father of Welkin Gunther and the strong spirited Alicia Melchiott.

The whole plot in itself is well thought out, and is already intriguing from the start. The change of direction of the plot later on was pretty unexpected and perhaps adds a lot of action and impact to the whole storyline. But somehow, I think execution of the many centerpoints in the show are sloppy and half-assed. It somewhat leaves me with the feeling of being unexpectedly left out in the cold from something that could've been much more. In short, many of the highlights have huge wasted potentials in being more dramatic or emotionally tugging on our heart strings. So much feelings could've been evoked out, but the plot chooses to jump directly to the next focus that it comes out as if nothing ever happened in the first place.

The art in itself isn't too shabby. Nothing majestic, but I didn't find myself grumbling about it either. The action scenes are average to a bit good. Later on, things become more chaotic and action junkies like me always love a good lump of chaos. The romance is suitable enough with some amusing set of chemistry, but as with above, I feel as though there is a lot of wasted potential when it comes to this department, but in the end, at least, I found the conclusion acceptable.

If you have a penchant for wartime romances with a fair bit of action with the late fantasy plot, then maybe you might enjoy Valkyria Chronicles -- Unless of course, you own a PS3. With that, I suggest you directly skimp out on the anime and go directly engrossing yourself in a game with a solid plot with universally high review ratings with game critics worldwide. Damn, I wish I had a PS3. Boo.

Rating: 7/10

Seto No Hanayome. Otaku Review.

2011-05-02T02:58:00.002+08:00

Months ago, an otaku friend recommended that I give this anime a chance, and he said that it's really hella' funny that you probably can't stop laughing. He even provided me with his burned CD with all the episodes in it. So, yeah, why not give an episode a chance. or two. or three even. Actually, it didn't stop at three. It got so addicting that it kinda started to affect my progress in my school readings. Seto No Hanayome (My Bride is a Mermaid) is a romantic comedy about how the human, Nagasumi Michishio, ends up having to be forced to marry San Setouchi who is the only daughter of a mermaid gangster group, and the crazy maniacal overprotective gangster boss father will not allow that while sipping afternoon tea. Since the bride has to move in with the groom, the mermaid now has to cope up with life in the city and adventures with the Nagasumi's wacky friends in school.

The plot is fairly slow to progress with episodes generally depicting misadventures rather than actual development, but there are some points where the story suddenly takes on a major plot development, so you can't really say that this show isn't totally going anywhere. But regardless of the lack of a solid storyline, I find myself enjoying the company of the various colorful misadventures each episode brings out. The humor is very dynamic to say it in one word. I find myself laughing a good amount at the many slapstick, totally random, out-of-this-place, WTF moments with some sexual insinuations. I mean, seriously, this anime is so random and awkwardly crazy that it's actually very good and very very funny. The characters each have unique personalities that gives each one a chance to do gags and stunts that I honestly haven't seen elsewhere in all the animes I've seen. Given that, each one is uniquely hilarious in some way or another. The romance of the story isn't exactly serious, but it's cute enough to make me go awwwww *melts a bit* somewhere among the episodes. The pairing is cute and humorous enough, and gives a lot more situations in which many senselessly laughter filled scenes can be shoved in to.

Art wise, the drawings aren't exactly the prettiest around, heck, I found the square shaped eyes a downer when I first started watching, and I was immediately filled with mean judging thoughts. Obviously, since I finished watching the whole 26 episodes, average art isn't able to deter my interests from sticking on to this one. For what they lack in pretty art, they make up in for a whole assortment of effects and catchy colorful scenes and crazy conversations and lines. In fact, I actually don't have any complaints at all, so far, for this anime. Wow. Yeah, just wow. The manga ain't done yet actually, so, I really really really wouldn't mind at all if they bothered to make a season 2 of this thing. In fact, please do. Pretty please?

Do yourself a favor, and watch this when you get the chance. Of course, this might not really apply to all, but I really did enjoy my time watching the whole thing. If you can appreciate slapstick humor with bits of semi-serious romance with the rest of the time just in a perpetual state of not being the main focus, then yes, please do watch this. Chances are, you certainly, won't regret watching this one.

Rating: 9/10

Being the Wiser Idiot # 2: How to Compute for Kilowatt/hour and Cost

2011-05-01T12:47:00.000+08:00

You know, ever since the whole deal with the world crisis and stock market imploding on itself, the globe was set on a massive cost cutting frenzy which led to a whole bunch of wonderful things (and a whole shitload of bad ones) like promotion of green technology, alternative energy, practical expenses and awareness for stuff I didn't even bother to give a thought about before. Now, I've always been familiar that the wattage of appliances is the one that will determine its cost-to-run expenses by the month's end. How much wattage influences the electric bill in the end was, sadly, another story for me. So, for the energy-conscious individuals out there without much understanding on the whole matter, I've decided to explain the whole process on computing the running-costs of your appliances in a manner as simple as I can.

Step 1: Let's start off with the formula for converting Wattage to Kilowatt-hour (kWh):

kWh = Wattage(W) x number of hours appliance used in a day(h)/ 1000 Watts (to convert watts to kW)

Example: An electric fan at low speed would run at 45 watts for 5 hours a day.
- 45W x 5h/ 1000W
- 225Wh/ 1000W
Finals Answer: 0.225kWh in a day

But what do we really are about some number with kWh stuck at the end, right? Doesn't really mean much unless we add something we really care about like say...money?

Here in the Philippine Visayas region, The Visayan Electric Company(VECO) are a very shrewd and devious bunch so we can't really pinpoint how much exactly 1 kWh costs in Philippine Peso, but for simplicity's sake, let's consider it at the rate of 7php = 1 kWh.

Step 2: Convert kWh to your currency of choice (in our case, Philippines Peso)
with the formula:

Cost = Kilowatt-hour(kWh) x kWh Rate (php/kWh)

Example: Take our fan from the previous example with 0.225kWh with the rate of 7php/kWh
- 0.225kWh x 7php/kWh
Final Answer: 1.575php to run a 45watt fan for 5 hours in one day.

Step 3: Convert day usage into monthly usage for a better understanding your monthly electric bills

Simply put, I'd like to use 31 days instead of 30 as it takes into consideration the most likely largest bill you might receive from using the said appliance. With that said, simply use:

Monthly Cost = daily cost x 31 days

Example: Our fan again with 1.575php/day x 31days

Final Answer: 48.825php in average for a months use. Roughly 49php once you round it off for a simpler answer.

Now that you've got the basics down, you can now pause in awe or smack your head, whichever you fancy, with your wasteful electric habits. Oh, word of the wise, for you abusive air conditioning people One Horsepower = 746 Watts.

Freezing. Otaku Review.

2011-04-29T16:26:00.003+08:00

The same friend from below also suggested that I turn my attention to this particular series when I didn't have any specific new anime to watch. Although before being told such advice, I was already aware of the gore-filled action packed nature of this show when I found it somewhere in the internet and that already somewhat piqued my interest. The plot revolves around Satellizer el Bridget who is also known as the misunderstood Untouchable Queen, and with good reason, as she doesn't allow anyone to touch her at all times due to a traumatic past. In the institution where she is training, Pandoras, female combatants that are capable of defeating Novas, a form of violent mechanical yet biologic entities that seems to be bent on wiping out humanity. The limiter Kazuya Aoi whose sister is a legendary pandora during her time has found a certain interest in Satellizer. As both of them grow in skill and experience, the greatest pairing may have yet to surface. Don't let the panty shots above fool you, these girls will flash you senseless just to get a slice or two.

Whether gore gibbing violent or over the top ecchi is what aptly describes Freezing better, I am not too sure, but definitely, both would be prime descriptions for this fighting heavy series. The type of graphic violence this series shows, may be a bit lower when you compare it to the Samurai X OVAs gorefest galore, but being less doesn't mean it still won't be grisly to some. Ecchiness of this show might be have gone a bit overboard as this might even be considered as partial nudity (or toplessness with nipples and all). I don't find it distasteful to have such blatant nudity being shown in almost all fight scenes, but watching it in the house can be pretty awkward especially when people are walking about and judging you for what you're watching. The fight scenes, on the other hand, are interesting enough, and each character has a unique weapon which leaves each battle amusing and fresh. Brawling is fast paced and has plenty of flashy moves that keeps things from getting boring. In general, the art of the show is drawn well enough not to make me say not so nice things about said animation. Certainly, not the best, but it definitely won't make your face cringe.

The plot unfolds at a steady although albeit slow pace, as I get the impression that this season is more of like an introduction of the main characters along and accommodation for a bigger plot yet to be unveiled in the succeeding season. The characters' personalities themselves are interesting and varied enough that labeling them as stereotypes would be too cruel, although I have an exception to that observation. The lead male protagonist Kazuya Aoi is plain ANNOYING. He reminds me of some snotty meddling goody-two-shoe brat who likes to make my hair stand on their ends. I'm not sure as how he is in the manga, but the execution and voice acting of his character simply ruins the whole mood of the story. That simply said, he also makes the romance of the story a lot less easier to love. That's my observation, so I'm not really one to make a professional judgement on that. but if you agree with me, HELL YEAH, HE SUCKS.

Violent adventure ecchi loving folks are right at home with this one, but if the sight of rampant bare breasts gives you the hives, I suggest you turn back and go wash your hands for you have been in the presence of Freezing, one of the more graphically perverted animations I've seen in a while. It's not a total seller to me, but the plot seems interesting enough to have me come back looking around when season two makes its debut.

Rating: 8/10

I.S. (Infinite Stratos). Otaku Review.

2011-04-28T18:19:00.001+08:00

A friend recommended me to watch this series when it first came out early this year, and since I was in a state that was lacking in much shows to watch, I decided to give it a whiff. Infinite Stratos is about a future that is lead by the development of robotic suits, obviously named from the series' title, that endow power and augment skills of their respective pilots. It's a bit cliche to make the suit normally only controllable by women, but I personally think they purposely as an excuse to produce a harem genre. The plot involves Ichika Orimura who happens to be the only boy that can operate an IS. So, thus, begins his journey thru IS training in an all-girl academy. Surprise surprise. The story generally develops as a light comedy about going thru everyday mecha-filled high school with sprinkled bits of typical harem situations and much bickering that is generally solved thru the use of their personal IS-es.

Story-wise, I personally think that there is much wasted potential of the ISes as the center of the plot especially when the story only progresses more on school life and IS training. Of course, school life and a harem genre basically brings out a flurry of numerous cute and humorous situations, but without anything that makes it stand out from the numerous other harems and school life themed animes out there, it certainly did get me wondering if there is anything deeper to this anime than it seemed. I haven't read the manga, so there might be amazing developments that I am not aware of in the story, and if ever there really is, the anime does a lousy job at making things more interesting. Personally, I don't like the lead female who seems to be the primary love interest of Ichika without much development as she is portrayed as a high-strung uptight yet unable-to-be-cute tsundere without an interesting personality. My tastes for a more dynamic or less awkward relationship would lie with either Lingyin or Charlotte, but hey, to each his own, right?

The characters are fairly drawn well enough to warrant an instant interest in my case. Certainly not the prettiest around, but good enough to sustain my semi-picky personality when it comes to the animation depertment. The IS are drawn in an extremely detailed fashion to which I whole heartedly approve as any extra tidbits of meticulousness in art is purely eye candy to a mecha loving otaku. The IS dog fights are well scripted and excellently animated in a way that I can compare them to the more violent Gundam mecha series. My only qualms in the fight scenes are that I feel as though they are hurriedly done and not given enough time to build up that state of awesomeness and excitement I get when watching Gundam dogfights. Just when I felt that the climax was about to arrive, the fight was actually more or less done already, which leaves me in a state of WTF, that was it? Another tiny peeve is how the some IS's abilities make the fights underwhelming and too stereotyped. Of course, I'll leave you to look for that there and not be spoiled.

If you've got the time to spare, and like general high school life and harem themed animes with a bunch of mecha dog fights, you might want to give IS another chance. If you have some other anime that is definitely established as something awesome, better give that one more attention as chances are you'll enjoy that more than this. All in all, IS (Infinite Stratos) is a so-so but unmemorable anime that leaves me longing for a better next season (if ever there will be).

Rating: 6.5/10

Rio. Movie Review.

2011-04-27T22:48:00.003+08:00

It's been a long time since I had gone out to slap money on the theaters and watch a film with The Duchess, and watched something did we. Well, as from the picture above, from the creators of Ice Age, produced this colorful depiction of the lush tropical realm of Rio de Janeiro. It portrays one of the sad realities of the dog eat dog world we live in, and that is having to resort to poaching animals for a quick wad of money. As one can naturally infer, poaching of various exotic animals, birds in this case, has led to the dwindling numbers and even extinction of various species of animals throughout the globe.

Rio is a story about Blu, a rare blue macaw, who was captured by poachers as a young bird and, as a result, was traumatized so much by the experience that he has a unyielding fear of flying. Due to certain circumstances, he was brought up by a girl who pampered him regardless of his inability to fly. Because of this, he has an exceptional ability to maneuver himself around will only his beaks and claws. One day, an ornithologist from Rio de Janeiro arrived and explained that Blu is a last male of his kind and he suggests that in order to save his species, he must go back to Rio and meet up with the last female of his kind. Of course, poachers are never far from taking the last two blue macaws of existence for a fat paycheck.

Rio's plot isn't exactly compelling, but neither is it worthy of being labeled as pure rubbish. It's something in between slightly leaning on the better side. The main characters have enough personality to make them somewhat interesting, but I get the feeling that the supporting characters are given less time for development and are somewhat half-assed in a way that makes them totally unmemorable. Of course, this is a cartoon animation, so some tolerance might be due, but maybe a bit more effort to make them stand out more would've been nice. I also didn't like how the movie ended in a way that just left my mind unstimulated. The various comical humor sprinkled around the movie are a welcome addition that managed to bring out a hearty laugh or two. The romance was somewhat a little too fast paced for my taste but what can I expect from an hour and a half worth of screen time anyways.

All in all, Rio wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptionally good either. The trailer doesn't do it any justice since I expected it to be much worse, but it wasn't a big waste when I thought about watching it after seeing the trailer. For sure, what made my movie experience worse was the fact that it was shown in 3D. 3D movies has continually been my bane from ever wanting to watch the theaters again, and this movie is one of the classic examples of using 3D effects to rake in more dough for effects that are more annoying than charming. I say Rio is better suited to watching on DVDs than on the big screen itself. If you're one that loves so-so animations and have the time to spare, then knock yourself out with Rio.

Rating: 7/10

The Three Idiots. Movie Review.

2011-04-17T23:34:00.001+08:00

Now, I don’t really get to see much Indian films from Bollywood a lot so that doesn’t really place me in a good position to say that they generally have outstanding films. The previous and first one that I saw was Slumdog Millionaire, but basing from reactions from the locals, it received a mixed reception among my circle of contacts. Personally speaking, I liked that film. Nothing outrageously stellar, but it certainly had enough impact to give me the notion Indian films aren’t too shabby. Last night, I was able to watch The Three Idiot with The Duchess, and, boy, I’d certainly recommend anyone who is able to watch it to certainly do so.

The Three Idiots is a touching comedy melodrama about success, true friendship and love that’s certainly bound to bring some laughs out of those lips and a few tears out of those eyes. The movie is showcases the story of three best friends who entered a prestigious university of engineering and their travails to become successful professionals in the future. Rancho is an eccentric and awkward genius with a passion for learning whose unorthodox and practical take in education and life places the prestigious university’s chairman, faculty and students in complete disarray, while the two other friends, Fahran and Raju, are simply there trying to survive the horrors brought on about by a rigorous unyielding educational system whose inflexibility takes its toll upon the student body. The story has much to teach us especially on our outlook in life and how we should live that life. Although I wouldn’t suggest following The Three Idiots’ radical methods in bringing about sense into this cold calculating world where output, status and power usually is all that matters, having some of that sense knocked into your head thru this through this heart warming story is simply expected. Don’t let the initial comedic nature of the story fool you, you’ll be have some unexpected twists and a few predictable steps which I can sometimes liken to as emotional gunshots. In this film, you’ll witness one of the best depictions of what true friendship would look like. Rough seas or thorned passages of life will undoubtedly bode lesser match for a bond that is built on something as genuine as their portrayal. The love story isn’t much compared to the other aspects, but since I’m always a sucker for a good romance, I’ll just consider it gravy. In all honesty, I do think some of the lighter scenes such as the comedic group singing and dancing detract the general emotional experience tied with their respective meanings, but hey, I’m also under the impression they are traditionally part of the Indian movie package.

Don’t let petty biases and misconceptions rob you of a great flick. I know some people who aren’t willing to watch Indian movies because of a silly reason that may sound a bit racist, but this movie is simply one of the better movies I’ve seen all year round. You may go around and say for a fact and most likely it will stay that way, this movie will be the best movie I’ll see in my entire summer break before I get thrown back in med school, and I’m not yet even half way through my summer break. If you got time, watch it and you won’t regret it. If this movie doesn’t melt at least the tip of your iceberg heart, you, my friend, should burn in hell with The Silencer.

To add a bit of mindless fun for you in the movie: look for the misplaced Korean-like actor. Good luck!

Ratings: 9/10

My New Old Rig

2011-04-16T07:37:00.001+08:00

New old hand-me-down rig

IT'S HERE! Actually, it has been here already two days ago, but the point is...IT'S HERE! Yeah. Not much of a difference actually -- just a new monitor and a change of color palette of the CPU casing. Actually, when these two rigs were assembled, my brother bought the same casing and during the time, we had our car repainted, so, he had this bright idea of using the excess paint on the CPU casing. Not the wisest of decisions, I tell you, but it's the innards what I'm after! Obviously, hand me downs wont be placing me anywhere near the modern standards but if it's snappy enough and could run games adequately, that's already fine by me. Its front USB ports still aren't functioning similar to the the previous rig, though it has 2 more USB ports at the back compared to the old one. That's better than none, I guess? The 64-bit OS really has a noticeable boost in speed and snappiness in terms of how fast things run. Oh, 64-bit, I truly am a convert!

New Rig Specs:

Processor: Intel Core2Duo E7300 @ 2.66ghz (2CPUs)
Memory: 4096MB RAM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
HDD: 250GB
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster EX2020
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVD+R/RW Reader and Writer

Previous rig for comparison

PVC Model Leaning Fix: Dead Master

2011-04-15T18:29:00.001+08:00

What's that? Oh nuthin', just The Duchess' 1/8th scale model of Dead Master by Good Smile Company from the anime Black Rock Shooter having an ice cube jacuzzi while she recovers from her blow dry heating session. As most model collecting enthusiasts would know (and absolutely hate), PVC models tends to lean when the distribution of weight of the models are located away from the base of support or when the supports themselves are too meager or inappropriately placed. Obviously, that is pretty undesirable, and causes much sadness and depression each time you lay your eyes on your collection. That mean it also pretty much makes The Duchess' very very sad, and I don't like that.

With knowledge of that fact that heat makes things soft and cold makes things solid, I set forth to bring some poise back into this once glorious figure. So, after a while of blowdrying the the culprit supporting parts, the model pretty much started to lean forward even more on its own, signifying that the PVC is already ready for remolding. After that, I pretty much bent the support backwards and maybe even beyond a bit of the original position. Hopefully, that way, we can prevent or lessen the chance of releaning after the fix. Got my glass of iced water and dunk the newly bent area to quickly fortify the new position. Not bad, I say. The left picture above shows that the model is now pretty much upright compared to forward bend it did before (sadly, I realized after the fix that maybe taking pictures was a good idea) and the right one shows the slight anomaly made after bending it backwards, but that's a pretty good deal compared to having the leaning woman with a scythe.

Well, I'll be observing the following days after and hopefully, leaning won't return to plague this proud figure. Oh, and to those that are wondering, the blowdry and chilling process didn't destroy anything in the affected parts, though I'd seriously advice against overzealous blowdrying.

Morphine and The Law

2011-04-15T17:10:00.000+08:00

Totally random and not too law-friendly without a prescription, I haz acquired morphine sulfate 10mg!

Dragon Age: Origins. Gamer Review.

2011-04-14T20:05:00.001+08:00

True RPG gamers would fawn over Dragon Age: Origins, that, for a fact, is for sure. This game is one of the true descendants of epic RPGs of the yesteryears such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. True strategy RPGs have become quite scarce as of late, and this title is for one a very welcome addition to the few yet astounding roster. The plot revolves around a user-created character whom you have total control over a vast number of aspects from facial features to the back story of his origins story who is called to protect Ferelden from an oncoming blight as a newly initiated Grey Warden, chosen warriors with the strength and abilities to combat Dark Spawn. The land is at the brink of being overrun by the impending blight as warring political factions and deception and treachery lurk behind Ferelden's future. It is up to you and your decisions how to bring forth and unite the nation and the various races to come together and defeat the Dark Spawn. All the screenshots I used in this review except for the one up top will feature my socially awkward Elf Mage Grey Warden, Mardukas.

The plot is intricately crafted to portray an enthralling tale of adventure, action, deceit, drama and fantasy. As you move about the world, you will encounter various side quests that have unique stories, from trivial messenger jobs to searching for lost people along your journey. As your journey progresses, you will encounter various NPCs that will become your dynamic party mates who each one of them has their own set of memorable personalities, as they interact with you, each other and the world. You choose up to three of them to complement your skills and abilities as well as each others to provide a variety of combos using spells and combat actions. As with most RPGs, you get to develop their skills further as you personally tailor their skills allocation and attribute points to stats each time they level up.

In order to achieve your main goal of saving Ferelden, you must must muster up your multi-racial army which sings in the tone of Lord of the Rings by going to the humans, the dwarves, the circle of magi and the dalish elves and presenting them with some sort of ancient promise that they'd help make some darkspawn stew with the Grey Wardens in cases of a blight. Of course, that would totally suck if it were that straight forward. Each faction has a unique subplot which must help them with before they join your ranks. No ancient pact is that sweet, afterall. Depending on how you handle each major problem, you enlist upon certain units that may or may not make things easier for you overall in the later chapters of the game. Usually, you are placed in a moral judgment call in each plot and one decision usually leads to some bad things happening. So, it's really up to you whether you're the defender of justice or the sleazebag gray warden who loves strong magical creatures.

Aside from all things fighting related, you are also able to build up friendships and relationships in Dragon Age: Origins. You can befriend and woo certain partymates with conversations, plot decisions and certain kinds of gifts. Apparently, in my playthrough, Alistair became the unwitting King of Ferelden, the bastard child of royalty that he was. He also tends to think I'm his bestfriend. That awkward screenshot up there? Purely quest related, I swear, although I bet all thoughts think otherwise. I also had a relationship with Leliana, the useless rogue of my story who thinks I'm having an affair with a bisexual elf assassin. Pretty complex. I could've sworn I was more flirty with Morrigan though. Meh, it's all good fun when it comes to the complex interplay of relationships in this game.

I started playing Dragon Age: Origins around when it got first released back then in 2008, but due to the nature of my kind of studies that I undergo, massive RPGs like these tend to consume huge amounts of time that may reach up to 20-30hours worth of gameplay (and yet still not complete the entire game) which would prove to be quite distracting to my work. So, don't let my two years plus worth of gameplay scare you into not playing since I'm only usually able to play during my semestral and Christmas breaks during the time. Dragon Age: Origins is definitely a must play for all you swashbuckling, tactics loving, heart breaking, demon raping RPG players out there. Honestly, if given enough time, I'd make a female rogue in the next playthrough. Although the expansion seems daunting to finish and the sequels has bad reviews, maybe I'd dabble in those in the future or so.

Here, above, we have the show-off Alistair, bastard king of Ferelden (of my gameplay) do some trick moves (which lead to a glorified death animation) with Ogres and the final boss of the game. Ahhh..good times.

Rating: 9/10

Let's learn Medical Stuff # 2: Aphthous Ulcers

2011-04-14T13:24:00.002+08:00

Hey kiddos, it's time for that awfully rare kind of post in my blog -- something somewhat useful yet something somewhat gross! That's right, that, kiddies, is a Uvula. Not just any simple uvula at that, but one that is lined with ulcers! Mmmm..can you feel the pain in that kind of trauma? I, for sure, can. Literally. Because that's my uvula and that's my ulcers being a such a B to anything I eat or drink.

Encirlced are ulcers on my uvula. Bonus to this pic are the spots where my upper third molars used to be. You can even see the sutures, actually.

A uvula is that piece of meat dangling from behind your soft palate in-between your tonsils. It's purpose is usually connected with the production of certain kinds of sounds, us, humans make, and is usually implicated in cases of sleep apnea. It's very normal for humans to have one, no duh. An aphthous ulcer, on the other hand, isn't. More commonly known for its colloquial name, Canker Sores, or locally as Lu-as, each one of us probably knows the level of hate this sort of wound begets. They are usually painful pale ulcerations on the mucous membranes with a distinct margin and may be located anywhere within the oral mucosa. Apparently, including the uvula. Causes aren't exactly known and there are known to be genetic links that predispose certain people to recurrent ulcers with no apparent cause. The most common cause is usually attributed to physical trauma, like say an incidental traumatic intubation or wrong flick of a drilling apparatus? But that's just me theorizing, but something tells me that anesthesiologist got hands that aren't meant for healing.

As much as I want to poke canker sore drops into that thing, something tells me I'll be regretting that decision for the longest time if ever. Highly tangy citrus drinks aren't helpful either (personal experience during a time I wasn't aware of the ulceration). I'm just hoping the series of mouth washes and saline gargles will help heal this bad boy faster.

Update:

Seriously, 2 days later, the ulcers got bigger and a hell lot more annoying so I decided to go in for the recall appointment early and the only thing I could get is a "Oh, that's a normal inflammatory response in some. Could be due to intubation trauma or response to the antibiotics you're taking. Your ulcer is so small, its just a small circle near the top; others have it worse." Seriously, the rest of the thing lining the uvula isn't a part of the ulcer? I would've appreciated it if you applied the canker sore drops I brought instead of some lidocaine anesthetic which provides only temporary relief. Too strong, my anus! End my misery with a big bang instead of having me go through Singapore with a sore bitchy uvula. As if that ain't bad, I have a wound underneath my tongue near the operation site. Kind of makes me wonder what kind of instrument did that.

Neon Genesis Evangelion. Otaku Review.

2011-04-13T13:17:00.001+08:00

If you're some sort of anime fanatic in any way, you must've heard about Neon Genesis Evangelion whether you saw it or not. Usually paired with titles such as the Best Anime of All Time and other similar words, I simply had to watch the series and find out what the hype is all about. The story revolves around the protagonist Shinji Ikari and his battle to protect Earth from Angels using Evangelions, humanoid mechs with a deep secret buried within them. The cast is lined up with a great degree of peculiar characters who each one of them has their own character flaws and must struggle to overcome their own inner demons, which adds depth to each of their personalities. The mixture of these different personas come together and clash in a somewhat harmonious yet grave tone.

The story at the start comes out pretty straight forward with the call for Shinji as Earth's savior regardless of being sissy shy teenage boy with a dull personality without training whatsoever who, at the same time, longs for his father's approval. Apparently, Gendo, Shinji's father, who is also the head of NERV, the organization that utilizes the Evangelions, has ulterior motives for the organic extraterrestrials who possess some form of ability to unite people of the world as one. Although that probably happens in a bizarre and pretty strange manner. This leads to a series of dramatic progression of the plot with secrets and developments slowly introduced as the story trudges on. The last two episodes of the show was the make or break point of the series. Apparently, the term whether you love it or hate it gets thrown around pretty often, and I'm sad to say I'm one of the latter. Aside from being unbelievably cryptic, it leaves us to use our imaginations in the end as to WTF JUST HAPPENED? Honestly, I think the last part seriously disappointed me, but that's definitely a subjective thing when it comes to perspective. I'm going to have to watch the remake of the last two episodes one of these days or watch the latest movies which rebooted the series with some changes to the plot.

Animation-wise, the drawings were probably top notch back in the olden days, but when placed side by side with more modern mecha anime, the differences are quite dramatic, but not that much to turn off most viewers. Some of the action scenes might be quite tame when compared to modern day animes, but there are some parts where it can go overboard with the gore and brutality with its unorthodox take on humanoid mechs. Simply put, I may not be the best of judges when it comes to reviewing anime, but I found it quite to be a disappointing series, but that could be because I found the plot to be overly confusing and complicated. But, hey, if you got the time like how I inserted this in between medical school (to which I currently no longer have any idea how I did that), then I don't see why not you shouldn't give this one a try. Who knows, you might actually love the series like that huge fan base this show has.

P.S.: I totally was weirded out during the time they portrayed Shinji as very very very very GAY.

Ratings: 7/10

Going Under For The First Time

2011-04-12T09:52:00.002+08:00

This is my panoramic x-ray showing an impacted right 3rd lower molar and two uncomplicated ones in the upper jaw.

Yesterday was the first time I went under general anesthesia for a simple removal of three 3rd molars. Amazingly, I have a missing fourth 3rd molar; To my extreme luckiness, it also happened to be my left lower one to boot. You see, my life (and orthodontically pretty set of teeth) would be totally f-ed up now if i didn't remove three of my premolars many years ago when I had my braces installed. Thanks to that, my upper jaw had space to grow the 3rd molars normally. My lower jaw is also relatively lucky, without that previous extraction, who knows what space is that 3rd molar ever going to grow on. Luckily or unluckily (however you see it), my impacted 3rd molar is of the Class C type; a dental student friend of mine coined it as the worst possible scenario when it comes to how deep it is embedded. That means local anesthesia wouldn't be able to reach the nerves and I'd probably end up slapping the dentist or something. They mentioned something about the roots are too close to the mandibular canal which precludes the local anesthetics, hence the need for general anesthesias.

My extracted third molars with the impacted one being torn apart to pieces (L) and my prescription medications for the next week or so (R)

Aside from the horrible IV insertion skills of that money-whoring anesthesiologist (three different IV site insertions), everything generally went smooth. In fact, it was too smooth that they didn't even tell me they were already putting me under. The next thing I knew, I was already in the recovery room playing with my groggy self and my swollen uvulas. Apparently, my right nostrils are filled with blood since someone probably shoved the endotracheal tube thru there, raping my uvula in the process. My left arm is filled with damaged capillaries due to the constant monitoring of my blood pressure. My right antecubital space (that's the space at the back of the elbow) is pasted with blown capillaries due to their uberly tight placement of tape to hold down the IV lines. Weirdly amazing, there isn't even much swelling on the side of my cheeks though. You know what's good about this? I'll probably be losing weight since I wont be eating much with these wounds around! Hoho! Ice cream be good and don't get me fatter!

Homefront. Gamer Review

2011-04-11T22:32:00.001+08:00

Patriotism is always a subject that brings out a vast mixture of emotions in people. So, these guys made a somewhat ambitious title featuring The United States of A as being some other country's squeaky toy. What fun! Plot revolves around the unification of the North and South Korean nations, and comes out from their army of super computer geeks and television actors, an army that quashed the world with their television dramas and gaming-originated tactics, and what kind of self respecting nation wouldn't have freedom fighters hiding in the middle of the city with a garden inside? You play as some former US air force helicopter pilot that got recruited in the resistance, and well..they want your helicopter flying abilities the most, no duh. It is, after all, for the grand scheme of things that will unfold over the coming sequels (if ever there would be) of the game. Game details after the break!

First off I played this game, it's technically a Call of Duty clone. The game depicts life within an occupied nation and the many debaucheries occupants inflict upon the residents. All these emotional scenes are used to evoke strong emotions from the player. I got to admit, some of the scenes indeed were pretty horrid, but that certainly also doesn't apply to all. At some point, there were parts where I'd go "Meh, ok. When do I get to shoot?". Graphics are pretty so-so. Average FPS graphics of nowadays if ever there is even such a thing. The plot is also average. It's somewhat predictable to a certain point and the length of the campaign is also pretty short. Since, I'm not the greatest fan of multiplayers except when it comes to the blockbuster hits. I certainly did not like the fact it was so underdeveloped. It left me hanging for a second or two, then life went on. Certainly, no lost moment of life due to a state of "aww..THAT WAS COOL! Can't wait for the next sequel!".

Gameplay is also comparable to most modern FPS. In fact, Homefront has some pretty weird game mechanics if you ask me. Enemies don't drop weapons on the ground even you killed a hundred of them. You have scavenge around for ones preset in the game. Which might be kinda annoying if you think about it but, it isn't because most of the enemies also die with just one well placed head shot. Which leaves me wondering, what the purpose of all those differently armored enemies that seemed to be covered to the edge? Even in hard mode, the enemies were fairly easy to take care of. Heck, I'm even using heavy machine guns as a precision gun because those things have the largest of ammo capacity even when they're meant for all out Rambo. Vehicle warfare wasn't so entertaining. In fact, it was awkward in a way that make me cringe as helicopters turn around and such. The only part where game play get a bit entertaining is when you're using the remote controlled Goliath to go forth and rape the Korean soldiers sending them flying through the air with obviously impossible physics.

When the sequel comes out, I hope it'd have better gameplay and a more solid plot. But for now, I honestly thought that was a waste of time to play that game.

Rating: 6.5/10

Magicka. Gamer Review.

2011-04-07T21:45:00.002+08:00

Magicka is all about something that you normally wouldn't see in a game nowadays. In this world of ragtag bands of clones of various genres, it is rather a very very refreshing game to fiddle around with. The game is all about the mastery of the various elements of the game which can be mixed and matched in any order to conjure your own kind of spell. Obviously, with more of each element placed and when the right combination is used, you shall be the grand master of magicks that nobody can stop! Of course, just don't get hit by anything because the stereotypical mage is dirt weak and paper-fragile. It has a considerable learning curve since this game is all about pure skill and mastery of the elements and maneuvering your character, but trust me, once you get a hold of the basics, you'll be raping goblins and everything else that moves left and right.

The story mode isn't particularly strong when it comes to the plot, but what it lacks in substance, it makes up for sheer patches of slapstick or satirical humor and various internet references that litter the game. If you're well verse with the world of the interwebs, finding those little tidbits of fun will definitely give you a chuckle or two. The made-up language the game uses also adds a strange sense of humor to it; kinda reminds me of the gibberish they use in The Sims series. The Co-op mode can be played with a group of up to 4 friends which includes the original story mode, and arena mode. Arena mode is simply what it says, and you'll have to defeat wave after wave of different enemies with random weapons and Magick spells (those that require a certain order to cast). The game is tailored in a way that makes Co-op a highly entertaining albeit chaotic venture since friendly-fire and imprudent casting of top-of-the-line spells will undoubtedly kill of your adventure buddies.

Graphics-wise, this game isn't necessarily the sleekest of the bunch but neither is it a total eyesore. It sorta reminds me of the yesteryears of games before when there was this certain cartoony feel to the 3D rendering. It's not bad at all since this game is an indie game using its own engine after all. Despite the lightweight footprint of around 600mb of the entire game, because of the need to render 3D, it definitely needs a video card of some sort loaded into your laptop, if you want to have a LAN party with your group of wizardy geek friends. That might not be a real problem for most but, just for the record, my laptop can't run it since it only has the on-board graphics powering it. One thing about this game is that it is loaded with bugs ranging from annoying to fatal kinds, but the good news is that updates are fairly rolling out a somewhat frequent occurrence. So, the time I played the game, it was already kind of stable. So, as long as you update to the latest version, all is dandy. The next updates will feature a whole new area devoted to parody the Vietnam War and PVP.

If you're a game who is sorta fed up with the constant flux of crap RPGs and FPSes, then this refreshingly unique game ought to perk you up! All gamers, for me, should at least try handling a mage of Magicka, since these are definitely once in a while gems that you don't expect coming from indie game makers. Plus, it's hella funny to boot.

Rating: 8/10

Upgrade in The Works

2011-04-03T02:11:00.001+08:00

Well, it seems all is well according to plan. With the old monitor sold, I get to have a new one be it hand-me-down or dazzling shiny new. Thankfully, it's the shiny latter prevailing for this episode of upgrades although I only expected an upgrade in screen size. Turns out that I'm gonna be rocking a new Samsung Syncmaster EX2020, geek for a 20-inch LED monitor, thanks again to my awfully generous brother. Although it lacks features from more premium monitors like a rolling stand and an vertically adjustable neck (lack of which makes my setup painful to the unadapted neck AKA mine), it makes up for in sleek contrast-rich goodness. All for a relatively affordable price of 6,200php. So far, I also did notice that glare from the annoying sunrise and sunsets don't seem to affect it as much compared to my older monitor, but I need more screen time with the monitor to really attest to that fact.

Since I still lack a dedicated CPU, I'm forced to use this messy setup for now. VGA cables connecting my laptop towards the monitor. For a first time experience, it's definitely pretty convenient feature I say, but I still prefer to have a cleaner desktop setup. Hopefully, in a week or two, I'd have that too. Stay tuned for updates!

So Long, Computer Amigo!

2011-04-01T18:48:00.005+08:00

Computer Buddy for Three Years

Look at that. Just look at that. That's my shining bucket of outdated hardware. Well, at least, it used to be yesterday. Now, it's left me (and off the province I live in, actually). We've been through tough times together: blogging, surfing, mass downloading, watching movies and anime, lots of photoshopping, providing company through the lonesome nights of med school, and a whole lot more. But then, yeah, technology gets older and a lot of new stuff begin replacing the gadgets we are comfortable today with. Sure, it wasn't the strongest of CPUs nor was it the most spacious of disk space, but it did cater to most of my needs for the past two to three years of being a total computer geek. Sure, it had it's issues with the broken DVD-ROM burner, the front USB slots and audio jacks that doesn't work, and the lack of support for HD resolution by the on-board graphics card which distorted the screen by stretching the pictures to cover the whole display. Regardless of its short comings, it was quite ineffable to describe how I felt when my brother told me in such short notice that someone already bought the thing and I needed to start transferring my files elsewhere. It's as if some part of me doesn't want to let go of the familiarity I had with that machine. They even took the monitor.

Kinda bare nowadays

Of course, getting rid of that rig meant that I, the bastard prince of hand-me-downs, will be inheriting my brother's relatively newer current household PC which is like 2 years more advanced than my previous one, since he's lately into assembling extreme performance rigs for business purposes. Since his full tower casing is only available from Manila, it's gonna take a bit of a while to get here. Meaning, I'm stuck with the just as outdated laptop for the meantime. Although, honestly, I'm quite excited to inherit his rig since that one has a pretty decent video card that would return the gaming privileges of my room once more, and gaming I shall do this summer! Hohoho!

Of Marriage and Mice (and Procrastination)

2011-03-26T16:31:00.002+08:00

Since final exams are the lamest of all tests when it comes to a school year here in The Institute, I find it quite hard to get a foothold on where to start reading (and reading, in general). So, maybe if I blog an entry or two, that would help me get settled and reread the same jargon that makes my head a few Chernobyls. Only roughly a week stands between me an a month of torture-free boredom-full days prepped for much gaming, hanging out, productivity and recuperating from wisdom teeth operations (damn it to hell).

So, I'd like to share this line I saw in game called Mousehunt I play over facebook. I know these type of marriage proposals are sweet cliches but who would've thought I'd be seeing my first proposal thru a browser game. Apparently. somebody wants to marry my dog. He even got her name spelled wrong. I dunno who this Shawn dude is, but he better be free from STD. and a doctor. *tough dad pose*

Sennheisser CX-300 II. Consumer Review.

2011-03-25T22:47:00.008+08:00

There will come a time in every Apple media player totting citizen's life that he can no longer put up with the abuses and hardships caused by the craptastic bundled earphones of every product. Of course, in most cases, such atrocities can't be dished out for too long since Apple earphones tend to spontaneously combust inside or outside (or both) after a year of average use. I bet most of you with Apple headphones will agree with me here. Well, mine, in particular, lasted for probably a good year and a half most probably because I keep it in a metal case to protect its wires from bends and kinks, and after a year of much meticulous care, its rubber padding around the speakers sorta melted off. Must've been some sort of predetermined lifespan in case the normal means of its destruction doesn't apply. Now, I have a fully functioning but painful to wear Apple earbuds. To hell with it, with its costly price for replacement and dented tin-can audio quality, I'd rather go get myself a new pair of quality earphones. And so I did (or rather, I was sponsored with one by my richer sibling).

Sennheisser CX-300 II is an older entry-level in-ear type buds made for enhanced bass experience. After taking quite a while to get the clam shell packaging open and donning it for very first time, the first thing might notice is that the wire lengths of the individual earphones are disproportionate. This is what they call asymmetric cables. It's designed so as to easily place the right earphone behind your neck. Personally, I prefer the normal symmetrical ones, but this ought to be helpful if you do a lot of bending due to reading or paperwork. The design is not something that will turn heads and are technically plain-looking. The package comes with two other differently sized buds for the perfect snug fit. I tried wearing these for almost eight hours straight, and I only experienced mild discomfort during the whole experience. More on from listening for eight hours than from wearing. It also comes with a free bundled soft carrying case. I normally prefer a hard case, but these are pretty functional too and beats having to provide one by yourself.

Now, I won't claim to be some expert on all things acoustic, but trust me when I say this: I definitely noticed there is a huge freaking difference the moment I placed these things on my ears. These things explode when coupled with particularly bassy songs. Less intense ones were either slightly enhanced or just as well as normal earphones. It was a different experience especially since I was using Apple earbuds for the longest time (and maybe because it's my first pair of in-ears earphones). This thing is capable of very loud volumes which might become too loud to be safe for your ears (and common sense dictates to steer clear from pressing the raise volume too much). Noise isolation is typically good in most in-ears though reviews from real critics may mention that this particular set might lack isolating capabilities of the average in-ears. By personal experience, outside noise definitely seeps in when music isn't playing, but with enough reasonable volume, noise hardly gets in. Perfect for medical students like me who frequent boisterous coffee shops often. As with most in-ears, noise leakages are negligible which is a good thing so as not to broadcast to your neighbors you're listening to Rebecca Black and her retarded Friday Song. Saves you the judging head-to-toe looks.

I got these for roughly 1,400php but you can get the Eco pack for 1,300php just for a different packaging and a carrying case made from recycled materials. Now, the nature loving me that I am would've gotten the eco pack but they sorta ran out of those, so yeah. Definitely a good pair to consider getting if ever you decide to replace your bundled crapbuds with superior yet cheaper goods.

Pros: Terrific Bass, comfortable to wear for long periods, bang for your buck.

Cons: Asymmetrical cables, average noise isolation

Rating: 8.5/10

iPod Nano 6th Generation. Consumer Review

2011-03-16T23:33:00.002+08:00

Hola, Tech junkies and casual consumers! Since my brother is relatively exceedingly rich nowadays, he has lately been on a impulse shopping spree of sorts out there for gadgets. The first thing he got his hands on was the latest 8GB iPod Nano ideally used for his jogging sessions. He got these for roughly around 6k php, most likely from a gray market source since the SRP, as of today, is 7,990php. Of course, dealing with the grey market most likely forfeits the 1yr warranty because these units don't come from the Philippines to begin with, but in my experience with Apple products, they have a propensity for self-destructing well over the warranty period with normal daily use, and obviously, that doesn't include bashing your gadgets against tables, chairs and walls.

The iPod Nano is a sleek tiny device with a 1.5inch capacitive touch screen with a 240x240 pixel resolution. It's roughly slightly larger than a 5peso coin, and isn't too thick for you to make snide remarks about. One thing would best describe the biggest change in the Nano series is the lack of the distinctively Apple click-wheel. I guess achieving the overly small footprint means having to make do with one of trademarks that identified such products. They got rid of the useless crap camera of the previous Nano altogether. It has a clip at the back for latching it to your pockets or where ever you fancy. It has 3 physical buttons on the side for powering up the device and for volume control. On the other side, it has 2 ports: One for the data sync cable for syncing your media with iTunes, and the other one is your typical 3.5mm jack for your headphones. It comes with the typically crappy set to spontaneously explode a year later crap-gear that is the Apple earphones without an inline remote. Overall, it does kinda look sleek and snazzy when you put them all together in a package.

Responsiveness of the screen is definitely fast; No hiccups that might occasionally occur in the more demanding devices like the iPod Touch. The selection of apps are your typical crew of media player functions (playlist, Now playing, albums, artists, etc.) although it does include an FM radio, which I don't really see often in Apple products. You can also view photos but honestly, I don't think there's much to see in a 240x240 screen. There's also the Nike fitness app for the health buffs which also came in the previous generations. One nifty feature that I found by accident is that when you clip it in a position that makes it hard to fiddle with the controls (e.g. upside down), you can flip the screen orientation by using two fingers to flip the screen. Something very familiar to most Mac users. In general, quality of playback is at par with most media players; Most definitely limited only by the quality of your files and your headphones. One, generally interesting application is the Clock app, which turns it into a full screen analog clock with 2 skins. There are products roaming around featuring a way to attach your Nano on to a wrist strap to make it look like a watch. Though certainly, it looks classy and unique with the proper choice of straps, It's generally impractical if you have to keep charging your watch every now and then if you use the app for music (much more if you don't use the Nano for music at all).

For the casual consumer, It's just a fancy uberly small media player with a really small touch screen that doesn't really impress me as I thought it would. It could handle almost a whole day of playing, which I use when I study for my exams. Sure, it's really small and handy. Might be a bit too small, it makes handling the device a bit awkward. It's also something I feel would be very prone to getting lost due to it's minuscule size. Although, I'm quite sure health buffs would love the almost negligible weight of the device. In general, it is most definitely a neat device to have, but practically, I'd have to go with an older generation Nano which would be definitely cheaper though a tad bit heavier and bigger but with typically the same media experience. Of course, that is subject to personal choice.

Rating: 7.5/10

Puss in Boots Coming Soon

2011-03-09T11:15:00.001+08:00

This looks somewhat intriguing for the child within me. Hmm..*strokes chin*

Bulletstorm. Gamer Review

2011-03-09T10:23:00.003+08:00

If you're a true blooded gamer, you would have at least heard of this game and what it's packing crawling around the net somewhere with in the past considering how much hype and publicity this title had going. Well, if you haven't, then at least know this. From their tag line "Kill with Skill", this game isn't your usual first person shooter; it actually encourages you to play with your food before eating them up or maybe, that would be made more clearly depicted by a kick towards spikes, ceilings, floors, off cliffs, into shockable stuff, carnivorous flora, bombs, random lethal objects, etc. often with some ingeniously inappropriately labels with hidden sexual connotations. To pull off these stunts, usually you'd need to pull them over with your laser whip of sorts and things just get jiggy. These net you points to be able to restock on ammo and equipments and promote the murderous little pricks' murder creativity deep inside our heads. Yeah but maybe you of heard it more as notoriously crude, rude like fifty foul mouthed kids on crack. Meh, if you're like me, I don't mind the dirty chatter much, in fact, I found some parts to be quite humorous but you know, not all get to be as awesome as that, so they tend to yap about how nauseating their language are.

Graphics are generally good, but definitely it could have been better. The limbs of enemies can look pretty awkward hanging from strange places. Aside from that and a few other quirks, it's generally at par with this age's standard of visual treats, but then again, it's kinda hard to tell it in an unbiased manner since the video card I'm rocking isn't necessarily the most high of ends. Sounds were fairly good although I'm not really a connoisseur of all things audio. To the average gamer, I really don't have much qualms in regards to the sounds effects and music. Although now that I think about it, was there even any music there at all? Believable voice acting? I didn't notice much of the suckiness, but neither of its authenticity. Emotional moments were not emotional so to speak. So-so voice acting with lots of cussing would be the best way to describe it.

The story isn't that compelling. Some drunkard vengeful uncouth space mercenary wants to get even with some equally uncouth general for using them to kill the wrong people. Sounds something out from the cinemas if you ask me. There are some moments my hair stood on its ends with some crap scenes and plot progression. Story aside, this game actually has some pretty amazing moments of monumental scale. It offers some scenarios I haven't seen in other games and those were definitely a dash of adrenaline for me; A gigantic metal wheel of doom following you for miles on the train tracks should get your minds creative. Replayability is encouraged in the Echoes game mode but I think I had enough of Bulletstorm to last me for the next 2 years or so if ever a sequel is coming out. Personally, as I was playing the game, it was such a hassle to plan on how to kill from one goon to the next. I ended up reusing the more simple skillshots over and over again for a quick fight and to finish the game as soon as I could; there are definitely moments where you just want to get it over with so you could stop playing.

Bulletstorm. Play to pass the single player for a definite unique experience in how to play first person shooters, but other than that, don't expect anything else much from it.

Score: 7.5/10

iPad 2 Letdown

2011-03-05T11:03:00.001+08:00

I remember I had a bane for all things Apple before just because people were buying them 'cause they were classy and that other stereotyped crap. I also hated it because of the rabid fanboys in my local setting becoming a wee bit too rabid. Then came a time I was legitimately impressed! Quite the self-shocker that it was, it was the release of the iPhone 4 despite the control freak tendencies of Apple that got me saying "Hmm..maybe they do got the reason to be all big and cocky." Their 2010 products were truly innovative and had that definite wow factor in them. Ah, yes, the only time I was in geek state of flurry of impulsivity for an Apple merchandise.

So, here comes the iPad 2, the instant hit wonder just because it's Apple. FREAKS. Totally underwhelming specs when placed side by side with the competition tablets, yet I know deep inside people will whip up a frenzy over a 1mp camera, white skin and an overpriced piece of magnet. To think I was actually excited what Apple might have in store for us this year considering the tablet market just got more grizzly. Suuucks. But to convey my horror in a lighter tone, here is Conan O'Brien's take of his horror towards this half-baked successor.

State of the Blogging Address #1

2011-02-26T07:37:00.000+08:00

Hey, guys, it's been a while, has it not? True to the scary stories behind medical schools, yes, we don't have much of a life outside our books. What's left of things that we can sneak by, or rather laze out with, aren't really related to blogging in so much as peeking at my untouched blog is most I could do. Updates and new posts are coming out less frequently that I want them to be. Not that there's a substantial readership base that will complain to that. So, to keep things trickling rather than stagnating and growing some molds, I've listed down some goals I'd wish to accomplish in no particular order and a deadline for posterity's sake set at oh, let's say uhh..end of April 2011? Sounds also kinda preposterous when I think about it.

Revised Blog Template (Currently working on that. Made some stuff I'm a little proud. I'm that easily impressed.)
New Blog Banner (Something still tells me that something is wrong with the current one.)
More posts? More of the kind like Let's Learn Medical Stuff maybe?
Get back into jogging.
Finish assload of PC game releases in the first quarter of the year. (counter-productive to everything else above the list.)
(Insert random whim here.)

Some noisy high-pitched dog outside is barking and making my head spin. When I opened my window to check on it, I noticed it was barking at a wall (or could be the pillow hanging on the wall). Word. This is why I hate waking up so early in the mornings. Either this is the same bane for sunrises or this is a newly contracted caffeine addiction my vocation requires for less study breaks accidents as I'd like to call them. Sun is rising! *HISS* Gotta hide! Kthxbye!

Baron of Mousehunt

2011-01-12T18:20:00.001+08:00

Strange topic for those not familiar, I suppose. As stated in the previous entry, I play this little passive game in the facebook called Mousehunt by Hitgrab Inc. I suppose it may be a little too late to start on this little memoir log of mine to remember the silly memorable mini achievements of Mousehunt since I have been playing for quite some time now, but meh, everybody's gotta start somewhere. Procrastinators can't be procrastinators if they don't ever do what they're bound to do eventually because there's nothing to procrastinate in the first place if that were the case. I'll look at these in the future when I'm down or something and it should fill me with a feeling of a false sense of accomplishment to boost my ego pathetically.

Yeah, It can't tell whether I have 2 balls between my legs or not. Moving on.

Ahhh..Nothing like a fleeting aura of smugness to procrastinate studying for my exams tomorrow to.

Hunt of Mice Provoked

2011-01-08T22:53:00.001+08:00

Because I don't like going from cover to cover without being a bad medical school student before hell week, and maybe since I am a fervent mouse hunter from the facebook game Mousehunt by Hitgrab Inc, I'd like to share something that i found over the net, this awesomely cute (and awesome) video about a mouse and cheese .

Must be better than Super|brie+?

Back to work for me.

Arrivederci 2010

2011-01-01T00:01:00.012+08:00

Another night like every other. Not considering the occasional bullet or two and the smell of gunpowder, of course. And yet, another year passes on half-noticed and under appreciated. Well, maybe that's from my point of view. 2010 was another year that I can't remember much out of it. Maybe, another typical year of mindless repetitive whacking of heads against a medical book on a study table? That must have jogged out the good memories out or something, but I do know that 2010 wasn't such a bad year either. Maybe it was tiring in so much ways, but I'm sure I had fun somewhere along the way.

Spent the first few hours of my New Year in this noisefest.

To many people, a new year is a start of new things to come. Perhaps, maybe a chance to start over, reinsert coin and play the game of Life once again. Sadly, reinsert coin for us folks studying medicine is a bleak reminder that the Christmas break is over and we should start hauling ass for the exam that's gonna greet us when we get back. There's still so much to do, yet I don't really have time (nor the motivation) to do everything that I'd like. I miss the blog. Tough luck, huh? Oh, how I loathe Game Over. *Inserts Coin*

A Happy New Year to Everyone!

Tankdays 2011

2010-12-30T14:42:00.002+08:00

'Suuuup? Bet you didn't expect this did ya? Well, neither did I. A new mast for blog for the New freaking Year! Wooohooo! I know, nothing as grand as the previous mast when placed side by side for comparison. But you know, sometimes I think it's impractical to go all out artsy on banners which I might not be able to complete at all due to the hecticness of my everyday life.

Sketch, lineart and coloring didn't take me more than 3 hours.

When you look at it, it's quite plain really. Just some dog which a lot of you in this country probably wouldn't recognize (and I pity you all) and a little text and shapes at the back. Now, what is up with that you may ask? Well, Welsh Pembroke Corgis are now officially my favorite dog breed (and so should yours) so I decided to make it my some sorta mascot for the blog indefinitely for the time being. I definitely want to own one. But, sadly, this breed is still unpopular in these parts of the world, and those few that are breeding them are selling them for a hefty sum (45K a pup). Oh, these things are so expensive. Something bugs me about my output though. I think I messed up the drawing somewhere, or I made him look retarded or something, but I caaan't quite place my finger on it. Any leads?


Skeeetch.

I want to revamp the blog. Maybe I feel that the design is quite dated. But that will mean I'll need major overhauling to pull off something original for the blog again and maybe in the end, I might still not have time for updates. Oh, the horror. *shudder* Maybe little by little then? Gah. Decision decisions.

Festive Folly

2010-12-25T16:06:00.001+08:00

'Sup, blog! A jolly holidays to the people who roam these lonely pages of the interwebs! Yeah, this blog is now pretty much neglected in many ways only blame-able to med (but during the holidays, that reason may not be applicable anymore).So, I thought I'd come along and give this place a little much needed love and attention.

The MORNING OF CHRISTMAS! sucks. for a variety of reasons. Though I already graduated from my days of pessimistic composition writing, let's just leave a whiff of the cause with the grand mix of viral gastroenteritis (during Christmas. yet again), an idiot sibling that keep on rambling on and on about everything and everyone, and an avoidable argument with The Duchess. But maybe that's not really important. You know, you're supposed to look at Christmas trees and stuff and feel fuzzy. Hmmm..Maybe looking at my dog works. KHYLA!!

Happy Holidays!

Five Month old Khyla

Institute Haunting

2010-11-06T03:04:00.002+08:00

Well, now that I'm back in the happiness grinding machine which some of you might guess to be the Institute, things seem to be back to the old ways before, boring and tedious..or maybe so I thought, now it's actually creepy and tedious as of yesterday. Now, I don't really believe in ghosts and stuff (unless I recently watched a horror film) but the things that happen around in the Institute are getting kinda freaky. So, what's the problem? Unhappy Cadavers. They apparently have a union and they are on strike.

Turns out, none of the freshmen went to the annual mass that is held for the cadavers during this time of the academic year; just the lab technicians AKA cadaver wranglers. So, maybe the cadavers got sad and needy or something, so hence, REVENGE. Amazingly, the worst they did so far is spookily add their names in the attendance sheet for the laboratory period. One might think this ought to be some sort of extremely late (and lame) April fools prank, but we kinda don't really know the real names of our cadavers; the administration has the list (unfortunately for them). We just give them nick names and stuff (We called ours Cada back then. Creativity at it's best). There was another incident concerning the secretary with a 'third eye' inside the administration office. It was something about a certain male looking for a name of a student. Turns out, surprise surprise, it was instead on the cadaver list. Yeah, certainly calls for stat campus wide blessing and mass.

There were other creepy incidents within the institute which also perplexes me, majority of which occur in the amphitheater 3 during class.

The door that always manages to swing wide open even though it's locked
The static that plagues the sound system occasonally.
There was an incidence a radio frequency entered the sound system to which the older doctor replied "Please, just a few more minutes. I'm almost done."
The microphone that works during a brownout.
An isolated case by a former classmate that wields the 'third eye' in which a large dark formless entity of some sort roams the halls and follows girls around.
another 'third eye' case in which ghostly patients are around the halls or something.

Ahh yes, what perfect (and creepy) timing that I actually finish this entry at exactly 3AM in the middle of the night. GOOSEBUMPS! >_< I'll wait for it to move pass the 3AM mark. I certainly hope cadavers aren't computer literate.

Boy Meets Sausage Dog

2010-10-29T14:37:00.000+08:00

Uh huh, this entry sure is long overdue, but what the heck. About almost a year ago, this household welcomed its first four-legged resident without any subsequent plans for eviction (hostile or not). This time, approximately a month ago, another pooch came over to add some frivolous fun and make some rather unexpected realizations. What sets the difference between last year's and this year's is that this one is all mine; my responsibility and my obligation to make this puppy come out like some champion show dog. I don't think that's gonna happen though with my schedule. Maybe a few commands or so. One of two tricks perhaps? Maybe that bits a tad ambitious.

Anyways, I'd like to present to the world Juliana. That's long for Anya, her original name. Now, she's known as Khyla (for reasons unknown to me by my mother). Born July 6, 2010 along with three other pups into a unloving hostile environment where canines are left to fend for themselves to survive. With meager food, restrictive dwellings, nonexistent medications, and a near absence of love, sometimes I think puppies shouldn't be born at all in that doggy hell hole. Even though she wasn't my first pick of the bunch, I can honestly say that she's definitely the best of the lot.

She was planned to go back with me home on her third month of life, but something tragic befell her puppy friends back home. Regrettably, a puppy from another batch fell ill to bouts of bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Professional help wasn't sought, however, due to the sheer stinginess of some people. Apparently, bloody diarrhea kills; Parvovirus isn't really a rare sight nowadays among susceptible pups. Think of it as something Ebola like for dogs, especially for puppies. Another puppy passes away amidst this sea of irresponsibility before the worst happens. Khyla started to grow weak, and it was only a matter of time before blood streaked stools appeared. I wasn't about to let my dog die in cold blood because of some wrinkling douche and his money-issues. Even though she was hardly three months old, the Duchess and I took her to the vet despite the disgust of the sick old bastard who could only think about money. The vet had to admit her for a day, and boy, did that make me realize something important. Vets are damn expensive. Preventing the thing that causes them to go to the vet is way worth more than bitch slapping the disease upfront.

She has a shiny red coat with a white spot on her chest and the tips of her hind feet. When I first got her, she was a sack of flesh carrying bones, but now, boy, is she round compared to the first days she roamed these floors. She's a glutton for anything stuffable between those sharp teeth (well, maybe except for millipedes and poisoned cockroaches, they sure damn stink); plays UFC with the former top dog of the house, Mika the Beggar Dog, and win 95% of the time; loves to crawl into narrow, unreachable places around the garden and house; has a habit of standing upright like an ape man from the future; Noms her food (and Mika's) like milk-starved babies; worships rugs and mats; desecrates floors with a semi-continuous carpet of crap and piss. She loves to be carried around like a LV bag (when she's feeling smooth and sexy) and is a freaking gecko with sharp teeth and talons (yes, I call them talons) when she wants to play with your feet and legs. She also has a nipping problem despite being given suitable alternatives, which is kinda bad since she nips rug frills, plants and furniture (thankfully, not wires) which kinda also means it's a way one ticket to get verbally abused with a couple of loud nos, bad dogs, etc.

As with most dachshund demeanor, this one is a tad bit stubborn, so that probably means that I won't be having any Chinese-command responding attack dog anytime soon, but that definitely won't stop me from trying to make this into my rug-hugging study buddy that will fend off the spooks of the night whilst I study medical stuff for the rest of my life (actually, just for the next decade or less). She's not perfect, but she'll grow on me (so, as long as she'll pick me over the helpers) and I, too, shall be her not-so-perfect master who hardly has enough time for her. Woohoo! Sweet deal!

The Mid-Med School Year of 2010

2010-10-25T01:53:00.000+08:00

Ahoy, me hearties! Long time, no blog, eh? And what a better day to break the trend than on a sunday in the middle of a glorious much deserved time-out from the world of pain medicine. I bet you guys are sick of the usual reasons blogging med students put upfront for well, don't you fret for you won't be sickened by such reasons any further! Med school was being a douche! There, worries solved. Now you won't have to be sickened until the Christmas holidays or Summer Vacation starts off. Woohoo!

Two good weeks of semi-unadulterated freedom from the books for me (sadly, this doesn't really apply for the parents) and now, only my thesis stands in the way between me and complete school girl giddyness. Meh, between you and me, it's a good thing that thesis thing is around. It gives me all the reasons to get out of the house and hang out somewhere else. Viva la thesis! *shaky fist*

Nothing much really. Just some ceiling lights from Bigby's to uhh..maybe symbolize the handful of outings I might be going out in these next few days?

But then again, two weeks kinda is a wee bit short for my taste; too little time to tap my fingers about my computer's keyboard to finish epic PC games which will forever itch my fingers as long as they nerdily flip through page after page of medical jargon. Ahh..I miss the blog. I miss the movies. I miss the games. I miss the gigs. I miss the old gang. I miss my time with the Duchess. I miss my old life. So, maybe I'll be getting some attention from them in the next few days or so. Ooooor...be burdened by the other tasks the monotony of this life paves for me (like getting that RN license of mine). Only time (and maybe mostly, laziness) can tell how these two weeks will be dragged along. Well, so far? I'm on my third movie for the night, so go figure. WOOOHOO! FIGHT CLUB! WTF, why is happy feet in this movie? Word.

Green Shirts and Insides

2010-08-19T19:02:00.003+08:00

Ahoy! I might not have much time to spare for the sheer bliss of blindly tapping the keyboard but, I'd like to share some of my effort (during a rather tedious examinations week, mind you) i.e. this batch shirt design for our Intramural (yes, lacking the s since it's only a less-than-24hours event).

Now, let me explain a bit on some of the design intricacies and whatnot. Here, you got a hole in your lovely green shirt with that freakish green-red heart inside. Out comes the red and blue amoeba-boys-like bacteria (well, that's symbolically the freshies' and juniors' batch color) being chased by a horde of polymorphonuclear and mononuclear (yes, medical jargon, I know. WBCs for the non-medical folks) with a trio of foreign-body giant cells munching on some really microscopic branches with leaves (I doubt they really exist at that size). Then as they chase them around, they wave out the flag that embellishes the current batch color. Not too shabby if I should say so myself. WOOT! Wacom makes all the difference, since this is my first product out of that thing. Hoho! What's your opinion?

An Entry from No Where!

2010-08-17T02:37:00.002+08:00

Groggy-and-just-got-out-of-bed medical student here, and boy do I feel unproductive. Ho humm..I'm not even sure anymore what time I fell asleep since it all just boiled down to instinct rolling at the first sight of comfort. So, I won't take much of your time, my point here is only to add uneventful yet hopefully amusing updates to the blog. Woohoo for that! and wooohooo to the many days of nonstop non-testing in The Institute! Although, there will be a certain day that will rear its ugly head and rape us mindless with weeks worth of medical knowledge. *Shudder* I cannot bear to bring myself to think of the mind humping inhumanity! *looks away dramatically*

Well, aside from that, nothing much happened between then and now. Just that a whole ass load of examinations happened and a surprisingly free weekend occurred right then after! Quite fascinating if you live in the wonderful sadistic world of The Institute, if you ask me. So, anyways, I should get my ass off the extended vacation and pay homage to my newly bought mini-idol, DAVE! WOOO!! SAVE ME!!

That's Dave (L) right there with his new action packed snooze button! and there's uselessly-more-expensive-for-reasons-unknown Roberto (R)

Update: Note to self, don't switch off the real alarm button if you ever plan to be productive. True Story.

A Tug from the Interwebs

2010-08-06T10:31:00.000+08:00

Hey, Blog, how long has it been? I've been swell too. Aw, no, I haven't been smoking weed all this while, too rich for my taste. Yeah, you know, med school and all with all the various complexities that goes with it or rather it's not even that complex. All you need to understand is that it's a one sided mind-humping-'til-it-gets-rather-numbing journey and you only need to placate one idea in what's left of the bajillion neurons that used to populate my brain. Medicine is better than me; better looking, sexier, sportier, smarter, and all that crap about competitive stuff. Also, he tends to be a jerk about it and rubs it on my face at times. Well, fine, maybe most of the times, but don't worry, Blog, one of these days, I shall be back for you, and we shall have a wonderful dinner here over at my room, have a glass of wine, then go right on ahead to poke stuff inside you and relive all those hot steamy nights we had together. WAIT FOR ME!!

I'm not sure who owns this picture, but i found it amusing in the middle of Examination Hell Week Horror.

Also, God bless, your dirty mind. It's a blog for Cripe's sake. :D

(A thousand years of shame for me, if you didn't even get that.)

Mika the Beggar Dog

2010-07-23T18:14:00.000+08:00

This place looks a little barren nowadays. I wonder who's to blame? *suspicious look* So, here I am taking advantage of the fact that our long coverage test won't be for a another 72hours or so. Sooo...now what? AH! Here's a recent picture of Mika then doing her beggar pose in the dining room. She's an extortionist I tells ye!

Summer Fizzle

2010-06-06T23:19:00.001+08:00

It has come to that point in time all incoming 2nd year medical students shall weep and mourn for the loss of their lives (for a 2nd time) and bid farewell to the passing blissful memory we all commonly know as summer. Time to dust off our brain again and start churning those little cogwheels in our heads for another tortuous year of MEDICINE! *mass hysteria ensues* Right. It just goes by too fast! I don't want to start broiling my brain again in a sea of text! Life would've been awesome if I just became an architect or something else, or if I had some big ass company to inherit. But, oh well, I guess this life will have to do. Having a Dr. prefix or an M.D. finisher isn't too shabby, now is it? Ah yes, now I remember why I gone into medicine! For all the wrong reasons! MWAHAHAHA! *ominous thunder*

But seriously, summer this year was more than a blast! Far more adventurous than a typical summer that I would normally live out. More trips, more outings, more escapades? It's one of those few summers that I'd honestly say I wasn't plagued through half the time with problems like "what should I do today? hmm?" *sigh* I can't believe it's almost over and another cycle of hell is about to begin. Tomorrow, The Institute will have its way again with me and molest me senseless with the countless medical books they make us buy. Kinky bastards. But what can I say, I'll never fulfill my selfish reasons for becoming a doctor if I don't start, eh? So, here goes that semi-famous line. So long, sweet summer. But, enough of that! Tally ho! Onwards to a foxy medical future FTW!

I might not have enough time again for the blog, but I'll see what I can sneak between the months. *dramatic exit*

Summer Tasks:

Hard bound my Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy (Got too lazy. Meh)
Trim the Arc de Tankè
Update the jailbreak on my iPod Touch
Get a Haircut
Spring Clean my Laptop
Enroll for 2nd year in The Institute
do some summer cleaning
Buy important 2nd year medical books
Plastic wrap my medical books
Have annual dental cleaning
Go on an Island Hopping trip
Prepare sister's cargo list
Go to Singapore
Go on a medical mission
Buy new glasses
Buy new screen protector for iPod
Make my desktop run Windows 7
Make Medicine Robee stickers
Re-label Old Medical Books

Fitness:
~~Run a 5k running event~~
Run at least a 10k running event (I blame the right knee, Kill joy! and laziness. WAHAHA convenient scape goat)
Get buff. --- not gonna happen. (Yeah..whatever. move along)

Interwebs Related:
~~Make blog banner~~
Make Gang CG (Lazy.)
Make Group CG (Lazy.)
Make avatar CG (Lazy.)
add Read More script to blog
add Related Posts script to blog

Gaming:
Finish Dragon Age: Origins (too long and time consuming)
Finish Dragon Age: Awakening (didn't finish Origins)
Finish Borderlands (uhh..oh yah! I have this game!!)
Finish Warhammer 40,ooo: Chaos Rising (ditto.)
Finish Batman: Arkham Asylum (Honestly, Batman, I was gonna play!! T_T)
Write reviews for the games (no comment.)
~~Finish Bioshock 2~~
~~Finish Mass Effect 2~~
~~Finish Assassins Creed 2~~
~~Finish Splinter Cell: Conviction~~

Movies:
Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Law Abiding Citizen
21
Taken
Sherlock Holmes
Iron Man 2
G-Force
Awake
Prince of Persia
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Tank of Arc

2010-06-06T20:40:00.000+08:00

The Red Cherry Shrimps have been practicing the multiplication table as you can see.

Arc de Tankè, oh how harsh have the times been to you? But it would be more appropriately said how harsh the we have been. Alas, you are now but a shadow of your former greatness. Fret not, for I still care enough to uproot the tangles and trim the overgrowth. I am too burdened to look out for the tank's welfare in a regular fashion, and the others only do half-assed aqua gardening just for the sake of making my folk's pleas for a less jungle tank. You may not know it, Arc de Tankè, but when I get home at times in the middle of the night, I still check your CO2 tank regulation to make sure it doesn't do more harm than good. I gave you a good haircut this time, took longer than the usual since I had to uproot most of the stem plants and replant the tops to prevent inferior growth. Don't grow too fast on me, okay?

That Sexy Temple Somewhere Around Town

2010-06-06T01:23:00.001+08:00

Remember that little construction above some hill in town? Yeah, the one that looks like a temple? Yeah, maybe because it's totally a temple! One that's built with it's own money and not from 3-4 years of consistent thick skinned alms collection to produce a unnecessarily lavish and grand church somewhere nearby. You know, the one's we commonly refer to as mormons? That's right! Their brand spanking shiny temple is open to the public eye for curiosity and scrutiny (and maybe, some clandestine bragging) until...well, yesterday 8pm. Now, it's formally closed for members use only. So, I snapped a couple of shots for the blog since they'll probably hunt me down with the temple police or something when I encroach into their turf next time.

Mormons, from how I understood from their mini educational tour of sorts, are technically Christians by heart except that they seem to have taken a real fancy for temples with many ridiculously upholstered chambers inside. They kinda emphasize on praying and reflecting and have a thing with the height of their ceilings symbolizing deeper understanding or something. Don't skewer me, I only had one hour worth of Mormon teachings to last me my whole lifetime.

Check out my new Temple Walkers!

They deem their temples extreeeeemly sacred. So, cellphones, cameras, noises and footwear are strictly, lets say, regulated. They make you wear cool shoe-plastics so as not to tarnish the sanctity of their temples (and most probably their evidently very expensive white rugs. and white walls. Actually, most of the temple is white). They like to interior design too! They reaaally love paintings of Jesus! The older, the better, I think. OOH! Did I mention how rad their facilities are? Centralized airconditioning, Temple police security people and gadgets, and uhh..okay, maybe they'll be hunting me down for saying this, but they have baptismal jacuzzies! Okay, maybe jacuzzi might not be the religiously correct term, but you get the drift. They have elevators for the cranky and whiny handicapped old women (true story). They have mini theatre like rooms with theatre-like seats except you only pray and reflect instead. Oh, The Celestial Room. I'm gonna have me one of those when I get rich! The very definition of ridiculously large expensive ivory rooms with large bay windows with powder white rugs and elaborate furniture and a rather large yet grand chandelier in the middle, and that room is used for praying only. Right. Mine is going to become my game room.WAHAHAHA!

But since, all forms of photography inside the temple is equivalent to heresy (or so I think), I cannot provide any pictures of the inside. Definitely worth the while to go and look around in that snooty place since I probably won't be stepping into temples anytime soon. Boo, and they had free munchies too in the end. *weep* But seriously, it was really wtf-worthy experience. and yes, without the caps.

Luzon Escapade of Summer 2010

2010-06-03T23:07:00.001+08:00

For the Past 5 days, I went away to the north on a flight towards Clark, Pampangga. 88 Km north of the Philippine Capital of Metro Manila. Apparently, the American Airbase that is now used for commercial purposes is FREAKKING HUGE.That thing could've bested the runways of the airport in Manila anyday. What's my point? Nothing, just saying. We stayed over there for a night and the following day, disembarked on a Provincial bus towards the Heights of Baguio.

Baguio city. Summer capital of the philippines. Strawberry machine of the north. A 7-8 hour bus ride away from the environment unfriendly capital. A place where you can look down and at the front to see clouds. Furious uphill driving. Ridiculously steep roads. Accident prone corners (first hand experience) Land of the car with bullet proof vests(amazing real life action drama story). City of perpetual air conditioning and nonstop pissing. Home of the abused pink haired horses and handled-like-poultry St.Bernard dogs. The Outskirts of hairpin curves. Where driving on the airport runway is illegal(like most places, no duh. First hand exp) and unofficially renowned to be feared for the unheated baths. Also, word of the wise, keep out of the road excavations and don't crash into drunk Igorots' cars in the middle of the night. Just plain unhealthy.

Drag Strip AKA airport runway in Baguio. then getting pulled over by the police after.

Going back to Manila to stay for a day before going back home, I realized some important things about the Philippines:

- Makati City can compare to Singapore, Hong Kong, and other first class cities of the world. A slight glimmer of hope for this country yet, but I personally think it's by a long shot considering the corrupted system of how cities develop properties. New found insights on the land development scene, made me realize how unjust the system really is.

-There's a green McDonald's by De Lasalle University. Different from the usual red and yellow.

- Makati has the cool and better pedestrian lights. It has the LCD signage that tells the people which areas has available parking lots.

- Luzon has the vast lenghty express freeways for your velocity-adreneline addiction, and apparently, lethal road accidents are frequent over there.

- Manila has districts which groups various different stores of a certain commodity (e.g. Cartimar for pet related goods and services) to which I approve.

- Manila LRT has uneven railroad tracks. Which probably means a slight rollercoaster like ride. A little slow on progress of technology, but it seems airconditioning has graced the trains, albeit in inconsistent ways.

- Prices of Gasoline and related goods are 4 pesos freakking cheaper over there in Manila. WTF?

- Property developments such as Serendra and Bonifacio High Street rocked my socks! Honestly impressed, til' I heard how much stuff cost there.

- The amount of attention non-Metro Manila areas development receive is, for sure, less than half of that occurs over there at the capital.

- I just realized our place only has a number of High ways that can be counted with fingers.

- Condominiums might be the way to go if you plan on living within a developing city.

- Traffic is a bitch over at Metro Manila. Old story, same hate.

- The Philippines has so much wasted potential for greatness. OH ENGLISH, WHY DIDN'T YOU CONQUER US INSTEAD OF THE SPANISH??

- Oh, and, an ocean world without air conditioning. Amazing!

Aww..just thinking.

Tank Days 2010.

2010-05-27T16:22:00.002+08:00

Ahoy! What's that flailing about atop the page? Egads, 'tis a new blog banner the Master dabbled during his free time! Why, it's been already for so long since that last one reigned control over this page, he abused the men and flirted with the women; ate the beef and threw the towel at the same time; yet he wasn't so pretty at all! Now, here comes a new replacement, for His Masterness felt a little bit less lazy for the past few days! Raise yer rum for the new banner! Arr~

CG and Extra Stuff. Roughly 12 lengthy hours.

The new banner depicts a young guy (most likely in His Masterness' image) atop a car parked atop a cliff face overlooking the ocean and rock formations. Canine fans would recognize that the puppy is a Japenese Spitz. It seems the Master currently has a unhealthy obsession of Japanese Spitzes. Feline enthusiasts would also recognize the old-tradition Siamese cat perched on top of the rock. Although His Masterness has a perplexing case of "love-need to be mean" demeanor to cats, he generally would also want to have a cat of his own (don't tell his feline-unhealthy brother that. Shhhh~). As for the random duck, well..random yet with meaning(?). The large vehicle with the awesome chin over there is an important aid for His Masterness in the real world. Skeletor, the vehicle's "nick name" (don't ask.), has been his trusty sidekick ferrying His Masterness to where he wishes for almost 3 years now, though generally having some quirks of its own, it still deserves a place here. If you are observant, the book on top of the hood is actually Harrison's Internal Medicine which will be tormenting him for the next one to two years in The University. As for the venue, well, since His Masterness is also nuts about photography, maybe one of these days he'll come upon landscapes such as these in his future adventures? Who knows?

Rough Sketch. Roughly less than 5 minutes.

Line Art. A good 5-6 Hours, and Yes, too lazy to draw the book myself.

Now, I know the work might not be comparable to the best of the best out there (e.g. Deviant Art people) but I think this would be considered a personal best when it comes to the CG stuff he learned doing all by himself. I think he is pleasantly pleased with outcome in general. Let's see what the next coming years will bring out!

The Previous Triple scene Banner. (November 2008 - May 2010)

Shrek Forever After. Movie Review

2010-05-21T23:39:00.002+08:00

Don't worry, folks! I'mma do this spoiler-free to annoy all those people who just loves to hate review writers who spoils the plot without warning. Now, Shrek forever After is the fourth and last installment to the franchise about a large swamp dwelling ogre, that's Shrek for all you poor childhoodless saps, and generally making Far Far Away a better place with his peculiar lack of manners with his merry band of story book characters. I think that's seriously a wise choice, as anything more than that would probably look like a desperate attempt to wring out the last of the franchise's potential for profit. Don't get me wrong. Shrek is one of the better animation sagas out there, but I think it already had a good run. I mean a good animation should be a given an finale that it can retire with in grace, to which I find Forever After an apt way to close the curtains.

Take Shrek, hero ogre for the past 3 movies, and give him a monotonous life to which he grows more sick of with each passing day. So, he fancied meeting upon Rumpelstiltskin and struck a deal to experience being a real ogre again for a whole day in exchange for a day in Shrek's past. Now, where would the plot be if that gnome-ish looking magical contract toting villain wouldn't screw with Shrek with some vague fine details which he can abuse (like true blue insurance salesmen)? So, Far Far Away becomes a place in which Shrek never existed and good old Rumpel becomes then ruler of the kingdom. The many effects of which can be clearly seen in the big screen since I'd rather not spoil that part. Simply put, Shrek must endure to win back the trust of his old band of misadventurers and put an end his tyranny. Simple plot formula, but it still works on me.

Apparently, the movie still relies on evoking emotions from the viewers during the more dramatic scenes. Heck, might be even a wee bit tear jerking if you're that much of a softie. Classic slapstick comedy still has yet to fail this series as moronic yet highly amusing scenes litter the movie, and my personal favorite in the movie, Fat Ass Puss' scenes are simply hilarious and unlawfully cute enough to warrant deserving awwwws. I shall never look at fat cats in the same way ever again. Even if I wasn't too keen on the movie, I'd still watch it for the cat. He's simply somewhat irresistible. or maybe, that's me being biased. Who cares. My only qualms for the movie is that an hour and a half for an animation finale for something as well known as Shrek? Come on, 2 hours would've already sufficed. I felt as though the merry band of alternate characters didn't have enough scenes to make them that much memorable (yes, I demand more scenes with Puss). Donkey, Gingy, Pinocchio, and the new bunch of ogres had much more potential left unscreened. Meh, not much we can do about that now.

Generally, I would just advise waiting and watch the movie on the TV, DVD, Blueray or Internet (If you're resourceful enough. You know what I mean) when it comes out, but I didn't feel as though I wasted the money on the movie either. It's great to watch with the family or with your cartoon loving girlfriend (or boyfriend, though that sounds a bit more strange). Now tell me, Who's a pretty kitty??

Spicy like Liquified Petroleum Gas

2010-05-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

The Wonders of Combustible Materials

OH SNAP! That thing's actually for real?? It really explodes when there too much cooking gas wafting around and you strike a match? It's a good thing I went through grade school or else I wouldn't be able to appreciate how gravity was, in fact, very real. They really do keep things on the ground! AMAZING! Oh, what was that you say? That's the least of the concerns? Deadly scorching flames enough to rip a door from its hinges? Fine, I'll rant about that for now.

Wow, it's actually closer to home, all those stories where some hapless househelp forgets something important like say, close the gas valves when you finish cooking and later on finding themselves ablaze in LPG! Times like these just make you stop whatever you're doing and then you just say "Daaaaaamn". Well, what you see up there is a classic close quarter explosion of the stuff we cook our bacon and eggs with. Close quarter being vague; let's specify that the jalousies were all closed and the door was shut closed. I'm nooot quite sure with the exhaust fan though. Probably not. Percolate that LPG brew overnight or so, get some sparks, and voila! Shredded door, broken glass windows, large gaping holes on the floor, ripped open ceilings, flying furniture of sorts, burnt fabrics and, of course we wouldn't forget, a burn victim. Don't worry folks! She's a professional! She'll live to experience a painfully excruciating recovery, not to mention, possible lifetime mental trauma for all things flamey.

So, remember kiddies, be good to your eyebrows and arm hairs. You don't want to singe those poor little pals of yours when you want to cook that delicious mutton on your stove. So, please look for the match first before opening the gas lines. Open those windows and try smelling the air for any spicy gassy material, and most importantly, seal off those valves when you're done cooking. I still think gravity is cooler.

Stargazing Gone Awry

2010-05-17T22:47:00.003+08:00

Last night, some heavenly bodies thought it'd be cool to get jiggy with each other and make a spectacle for all to make like paparazzi for them. I, too, wanted to be one of the said paparazzi because it was my childhood dream to become an annoying person with a cool camera that goes about and bothers the innocence out of people. So, I got my half-assed digital camera (because I can't afford a real one) and tripod and went about in search for this so called Romance in the Sky. Tough luck, damned buzzard clouds muddled the night sky. Waiting didn't help since the Moon and Venus were probably busy making sweet astronomical love somewhere else. So, I thought I'd retreat sad and defeated...when suddenly.

Devil Pooch!

Aww..who am I trying to kid? How long has it been since you've seen good ol' Mika (the eater of souls)? Clearly, I have a weee bit too much time on my hands. *Retreats sad and defeated*

The Adventure of OMFG NO MORE TEXTBOOK STOCKS Dilemma

2010-05-15T22:34:00.002+08:00

Every not-so-responsible medical student would have to experience this kind of thing at least once (okay, it actually varies from detail to detail) in his medical school life. You decide between an upcoming current edition that is going to be available in May 2010 or just purchase that shiny discount-showered older edition right off the shelf knowing there are going to be no more restocking of that book. Well, and since it's too much of a hassle to think about, you get all NEW EDITION IT IS!!" Life is truly simple~

May 2010 arrives, then you call that evil exclusive book store in town to check if they have the new goodies. They don't only the last copy to older copy to which the receptionist asks if you want to have it reserved. "Nah, I'll just wait for the new edition. When do your next stock arrive?" Ominous answer. She doesn't freakking know. "Oh. Okay, Thank you!" Then you call another bookstore in town to check if they have plans on being sexy and get the new edition. They're all ugly. So, you googled that damned new edition up to check if somewhere on this desolate country is a bookstore that actually sells such a book. Good news and bad news; Good news, it does come out in May 2010; Bad news, in the United States of America. Yeah, chances of that coming to these shores anytime sooner than a failed exam due to booklessness, smaller than having a pet Ewok. Splendid.

Time slows down in that action movie kind of way, You rush to call back on exclusive bookstore with one stock left of older edition. "Hallo! You still have that last stock on the older edition right?" *twinkle eyes*. BULLCRAP. Just sold it to somebody. So, as of that moment, You could only conclude that YOU ARE SCREWED. Inside, outside, sideways. That's a bad thing, I think. You convulse in a rabid like fashion and scour the interwebs for any leads to get that accursed older book. THINK!! THINK!! WORK YOU, LAZY MUPPETS IN MY HEAD! Ebay. Amazing. One stock left too. Cheaper too. Buy it now button *ClickClickClickClick be creative*. Turns out the seller is one of the less sexy bookstores in town who previously told me all stocks were gone. So, after much business talk with the book seller...You get your freakking book, that oh so sexy yet no really sexy older edition book that got you into sooo much trouble, and for a much cheaper price too! Long story short, some poor sap didn't make good with their reservation so they sold you the book instead. Sucks to be that guy, but overall, a happily ever after only until the start of school story, don't you agree?

Oh yah, did I mention it was based on a true story?

Moral of the story: Buy your textbooks early and screw the coming soon newer editions. Med student's honor.

2010 Elections and Stupidity

2010-05-13T02:46:00.001+08:00

I apologize for the crude profanities, but I find that it helps make the point stick out more.

May 10, 2010. The 2010 Elections or AKA the day that will forever be etched into the heads of many (or mine, for the very least) that a good deal of those living in this near hopeless country are RETARDED MORONS who should consider having sipping on rat poison to, at least do your country some good, and relieve this country of this moronicity overpopulation that has been going around since the Tabon cavemen. Seriously, when did the village fools of the olden days get around and start spreading their genes of dim-wittedness? Modern day ass hats, that's what they are.

Proof that I tried to save this shambling nation.

Politics never did always get my attention. In fact, I never thought I'd ever write an entry about politics in my life. It sort of bored the hell out of me; Old men in big seats clawing at each other for a wider seat and a fatter wallet. When I was younger, I couldn't picture out where politics would fit into my life and the impact it would have on the people. You could say that I was oblivious to the various intricacies politics would entail. Now that I've grown more mature, I realized that we, the people, are the ones responsible for thrusting the direction into which this country leans. Corruption is ever present, but we can always dampen its influence. I especially emphasize on that last line.

More or less, the results of the elections are final and if you take a gander at the presidential race, you must be one of those shit-for-brains if you can't figure out anything WTF-worthy about those rankings. I mean, seriously, WTF? Erap is on the prowl for the first spot for presidency and seriously leaving the rest of the candidates vote-hungry. Last I checked, the votes tallied to a good 7-8 million votes for that primate without a college degree. Though, Noy Noy has a good 5-6 million vote lead, the whole point here is that why the hell is that moron even there as a candidate in the first place?

Like, come on, if i remember it right, he didn't even pass highschool. In political debates he just says the most shallow of substance of all the twats I've heard in my life, that it embarasses me to have a filipino citizenship. The only thing he's probably good at is shooting make believe criminals with machine guns with his pistol that just never seems to run out of bullets. He doesn't even have ninja skills yet he can dodge all the bullets. I clap with amazement. He is a convicted plunderer who stole millions (or possibly billions, no one knows) from the taxpayers for his hobbies that uses fucked up wits. He doesn't even admit he stole money yet he signed those papers for his amnesty saying he did embezzle the funds along with various promises such as not dissing the Arroyo administration and, correct me if I'm wrong, something about running for a public position. Then he goes about rationalizing with that ass talk about him unjustly not finishing his term. What utter bullshitry.

Yet, people still vote for that. AGAIN? Guess that takes care of the question who the bigger dumbasses are. Why is it you vote for this fool? All for some law he promised that he'd pass that you'd benefit more? You are the bigger fools for not even considering the havoc he'd bring in the future. This country is already at the brink of economical anarchy, sheer retardness could probably make it do worse. Disillusioned fools like you are a liability for any hope for progress in this lackluster country. That is why I chose to vote for Noy Noy.

Leave it to our country to make such a thing as automation slower than the previous voting system.

True, that his credentials are hardly of any worth, but I don't think he is a person with a peculiar lack of IQ, though also seems to have a shortage of achievements. One simply does not walk in and enroll into The Ateneo de Manila University. One must have the intellect to graduate from such an institution. Patriotic as he is, He too has a name to protect. The Aquinos have a strong clean line of office, so at the very least, this candidate won't taint the presidency. As much as I can be an idealist, I am much more of pragmatist. I'm sure Gibo fanatics can out-debate me and probably sink in a teeth or two in me, but I postively think his credentials certainly cements the notion that he is the most qualified man for the job, but it is simply too much of a gamble to vote on someone who is unlikely to win and instead, have someone else as equally corrupt rise up into power. The previous administration was a midget from some preppy ivy league university outside (Harvard, was it?) yet she still seemed to have dealt some damage. Idealism can be blind, and averting a national crisis takes more than a few easy maneuvers. Given the oppurtunity, I would vote for the man in green (My favorite color), but yellow seems to be the more practical choice for this country.

I rest my case. I wanna sleeep!

P.S.: If it's any consolation for the green folks, look at it this way, yellow is looking forward to placing green into an office where he can use those brain cells for some good.

Sizzling Barks of the Sun

2010-05-07T14:43:00.002+08:00

Oh, hi there! If you're living in this side of town (or the world for that matter), it might be a good idea to look up and stare directly at that big flaming ball of gases that we normally call as the Sun. Hurry, hurry! Don't mind the sizzling tissue pain you're feeling..take in all that mysterious goodness out of that shiny ball of fire! I'm not sure if it applies to the other places around the world but..that is certainly not something that you'll be seeing everyday over here.

The Duchess took the shot for me since my camera still hasn't returned home from late night partying the other night.

Now, that is what you call a Sun Dog. A parhelion, if you must, if want to hit on the weather forecaster ladies. No, it is not a gigantic lens flare, you doof. Something about ice crystals in the air and the light hitting them and turning them into that little piece of eye candy. Meh, I don't like sounding too technical, so, if you want to know more about it, here are some more info about Sun Dogs.

Singapore, I and Shopping

2010-05-07T12:50:00.003+08:00

Singapore City, I'm not quite sure if it's considered a shopping destination, although after spending roughly a week of my life there, I'm fairly convinced that it might certainly be one. Sure, I mean, a whole district (I'm referring to Orchard) that's technically one big megamallpolis with massive underground cities of shops, restaurants, boutiques and passage ways that connect rows of malls to surprise, surprise, more malls doesn't sound too shabby, does it? Orchard's MRT station is located at the heart of this underground maze of shopping destinations. Singaporean ingenuity to reel in the gullible tourists and rich locals with such convenient placement of transportation stations makes me think this country is filled with devious yet really clever business minded bastards behind large office desks. Oh, how my country falters compared to these simple building strategies.

Some random photos I took while I was walking around the various malls.

The level of development of the stores of various designer goods might have been a little bit too much for my ignorant mind. I was just shocked to see a Louis Vuitton store that covers two floors high, limits the number of patrons that can get inside and has CCTV cameras practically all over the place. I went inside on flip flops. WAHAHA! Leave me to my little amusement, it's our, us unsophisticated mountainfolk's, trivial awkward fun. and mind you, that doesn't only apply to Louis Vuitton. As if that weren't enough, every other district technically has their own set of mini malls that contains fairly good share of decent shops. Did I mention, they also have a bunch of outlet malls? 20-35% discounted shopping frenzy for those that apply. That's where I got to get some sweet (shoes) and not so sweet (eyeglass frames) goods.

Though as amazing as those may sound, shopping in Singapore isn't really for the faint of heart. Seriously, there's hardly anything cheap in Singapore (except Giordano). I shit you not. The whole peso to dollar shift in currency has been totally a foot deep in crap. 5-9 dollars for a McDonalds Meal. A 10 dollar shirt is already 320-freaking pesos, and that my friend is considered somewhat dirt cheap over there. Normal shirts cost around 19-25 dollars. Shorts and jeans cost around 30-40. 5-minute express haircuts cost around 10 while those more normal ones cost 30dollars++. And, Eyeglass frames, booooy, I gotta tell you about those eyeglass frames. The normal unknown branded ones cost around a hundred dollars. That's technically twice as much worth than my old frames. Branded ones could reach around 1,400 SGD. Kinda makes me want to just go walk around blind and smack right into things more. Fixing the wounds up might be even cheaper. Good god, man, this place makes the Philippines the totally gnarliest shopping hub ever. Yet, I still bought stuff. IT BURNS!! *sizzle*

1SGD = 32Php, you do the math.

Well, this is, of course, from a Chinese-Filipino tourist's peso's point of view. I'll just simply take a logical explanation and simply say that the Philippine peso's buying power has never ever failed to disappoint me. Singaporeans don't really complain about the money they dish out, that's because they earn big, and when you earn big, you get to spend big, that's why these prices fall within the average Singaporean Joe's budget. Damn, I wanna be an average Singaporean Joe too.

Singapore, I and Society

2010-05-06T00:09:00.010+08:00

Sinagpore, tiny overly developed cosmopolitan in the middle of Asia, smaller than the island of Cebu, rocks the crap out of it fifty times over. First step into what is officially Singapore's property? Stupified. Airport uberly huge, lost in that maze of people, luggage and concrete. Mass transit more advance than handing over some coins and a boodle of races that are congregating and making orderly citizen love to each other in the city. They also talk fascinating jargon which leaves me quite speechless. Amaaaazing!

Singapore and all it's glory which we don't really have. *drool*

That in itself, Singapore has always been known for their clockwork mass transit, law-abiding citizenry and it's being such a fine city. Yeah, don't be the gullible me and take it for it's literal meaning. The penalties for the many many little laws that infest the city will rob you clean. Bubble gum manufacturers are like cuban drug lords over there. minus the death penalty. No, I'm serious! Really! Jaywalking, 500 smackers. Chewing gum; 1,000. piracy; 10,000. The list goes on: Feeding birds, walking around naked in your own condo, assault on bus captains. yaddi yaddi yah. Singapore, such a fine city. Yeah, took me a while to figure that one out. Oh, the shame!

As for residential housing, they have large decent government provided budget condominiums of sorts called HDBs (as to what they really mean, I'm not quite sure.) These are the equivalent to the houses we find here in the Philippines. Those that actually own the real condominiums and house and lots are the rich bastards (of course, I also want to become a rich bastard in the near future) that litter the country. Ahh, but there is a dark side to the residential world in Singapore. You can't really own the lots and the condominiums over there now, can you? That tiny city would run out of land soon and the government would have to sell their bodies to get the moolah moving in. That's probably a very bad idea if you think about it. Imagine hairy old men in the strip clubs. OMFG, dude. So, you're just technically renting them. for 99 years. Isn't that awesome?? Your 3rd generation kiddies get to know the value of having a house so as the virtues of thriftiness and whatsoever is passed down and never lost in the many many generations to come. No wonder Asians honor so many values.

But for the price of being a prestigious first world country and having various theme parks with god-awesome roller coasters (oh, and having many many big cool buildings and all those other first world country stuff.), I don't mind having to follow some uptight rules for the squares. Heck, it probably would even do this country some good not having bubblegum stuck under everything. Meh, but that's my opinion. I mean, there are bound to be better things than being a first world bustling metropolis that earns big moolah and be a stellar example for other less higher worldly countries out there, don't you think?

Singapore or Bust

2010-04-23T23:16:00.007+08:00

Know that certain day in your life when you're traveling internationally all set for that week long vacation in some snooty remote island with packs of skimpily clad girls playing beach volleyball? Yeah, I haven't tried that either. Someone send me a postcard when you get lucky enough for that. So, here I am, travelling 36,000 feet above sea level all by myself via Silk Air to Singapore, City of the Merlion...or whatever they nickname their city. Wait, what's that? Traveling all by myself? Sweeet! Taste of independence, I tell you, considering how much babied I am at home. Cons of being the youngest in the family.

Snippets of my lone journey across I don't know how many miles.

Well, so far I'm tapping this while I'm one-thirds into my more or less 4 hour flight, and since this is posted that probably means gremlins haven't totally destroyed our plane. Economy class was a bit cramped but that's what I expected from the beginning though. Too bad I didn't get the window seat. I LOVE window seats. Maybe on my way back If the threads of fate don't will it that I shall never have window seats. The food was better than I expected actually. Well that's probably because I totally lack in-flight experience. At least the veggies weren't fresh and green. I probably would have rated the meal as ridiculously cheap if that were the case. I like cooked vegetables more (and for once, eat vegetables willingly for the matter).

Also for something that might sound humorous for those who like to poke fun at ignorance, lavatories are COOL. Vacuum toilets that can probably suction the crap out of your crack. What? Just saying.

When I reach the ground, it's going to be a whole new adventure for roughly 2 weeks: places to go, things to buy, food to eat! Oh, I'm ready for Singapore, but the question is Singapore and the rest of the places ready for me?

Marathons by Choice

2010-04-20T14:26:00.006+08:00

Marathons are 42 kilometers of pure straight-up leg gangbanging. What sane person would even bother running that much and pay at the same time a ridiculous sum of money just to have his legs raped? I'm not sure either. All I do know is that doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. and many other normal people go for such things. Either they are closet masochists or there must really be something else to running aside from the usual benefits to health. Dude, I mean...my brother is running around more than I could ever imagine I could do. MY BROTHER, lazy blob of the yesteryears who could come up with almost any reason why all his previous diets and gym sessions have failed, has already lost 30 pounds. Imagine that, 30 pounds in less than 4 months. Although lost at unhealthy rates, yet he still managed to pull that off. I don't recall ever seeing him size 34 thin before. I think he's even cut 4 sizes down his jeans, and now, he's running around in 21 kilometer events. Sick, twisted world I live in.

So, anyhows, I decided to find out what's with all this hoo-ha in running. Although, I know that it's gonna be tough in the beginning since I lost all my stamina no thanks to the glorious wonders of Medicine, and as expected, I have now recently remembered why I hate - I stress, HATE cardio exercises. They are simply chores to be done; tasks that bring no joy, whatsoever, to the bottom of my pit. But yeah, for me to prevent an early death due to the various stresses and blood chemistry abnormalities that tags along with the study of medicine, I need to run a little and in the process find out what's with all the rave in running.

So, I ended up running on the Great Lapu-Lapu Run for 5 kilometers last sunday. Roughly, running around 4kilometers and maybe walking about 1kilometers with lack of regular proper training, lack of proper running footwear, and lack of proper support equipment, I could still say that I didn't do half bad at all, well, aside from maybe limping through half the course since I noticed my right knee is hardly cooperative to my endeavors. I'll have to invest on some knee support one of these days for this. While I'm at that maybe I can set aside some money for a decent pair of running shoes. I mean, my 5-6 year old basketball shoes are great but..they're not necessarily for jogging(bad for the ankles) and uhh..let's just say the past 5-6 years haven't been really kind to them.

We'll see over the summer if this running fever that spreading through the country lasts in my system enough to turn me into one of those marathon fanatics. Who knows, maybe I'll still be running in my second year of medicine (and probably failing because of it. I seriously hope not).

Summer Start-o

2010-04-16T23:22:00.007+08:00

Why, hello there! Summer has officially run amok err..2 weeks ago or so? Laze, I tell you. Laze has gripped me like how some locals swamp certain aged foreigners of sorts. But enough of that, I am now finally back! Unless laze happens to come by over and have a tea party, against my will!

After many many long months of morbid groveling over medical books for unhealthy lengths of time, I have finally arrived at a point ironically enough to have all this free time in a long summer vacation but can't think of anything else better to do. So, uhh...now what? Well, that is aside from occasionally camping at the gym, jogging around the village and mindlessly clicking both mouse and keyboard just to gun down some crazed drug junkie in a computer screen.

To begin summer posts in the blog, let's start off with...some boring discussion about the year's worth of mind-humping horrors. First off, the first year at medical school was something I somehow expected in the sense that Medicine is too demanding and took too much of my time. What I didn't expect however was that it was TOO demanding and took TOO much of my time. But, if you're good with schedules and stuff, I guess one can sneak a few gaming sessions, blog entries, dates, and outings here and there along the way.

Roughly, on average 8hours a day worth of reading and studying on weekdays and an average of around 12 on weekends is not what I'd consider as quality time for the love of myself. Though, I do have to admit, the lessons are, indeed, interesting enough to deserve attention but the period of time allotted for reading and studying? Only a rat's ass worth of time to force you to skim over and barely understand fully what you're reading. Oh yes, that applies very much to the dreaded biochemistry.

I'll briefly elaborate on the key subjects for the first year of medical school over at The Institute.

Histology. The study of tissues and all things structural and microscopic in everything in our body, in layman's terms. Over here at my place, we use this really old and really uberly detailed book called A Textbook on Histology by Bloom and Fawcett. It goes in such in depth descriptions of just of about everything that you would even be wondering how such info could even be used for everyday doctor-y stuff application. Unless, of course, you decide to be a Histology Professor. Heck, it even talks about the useless non-applicable stuff of the yesteryears and mentions them in the first paragraphs to boot. This then makes us highlight all the details thinking it is a very very important building block in which all other succeeding histo knowledge is based on, but nooooo, they'd mention in the last line that this way of thinking no longer applies, and then corrects it with the new current principles and such on a later paragraph. Medical students then stop, take a deep breath, exhale fully and make an annoyed look. They then stand up, and go on a 10 minute break. True story. Oh yah, have I mentioned that it is uberly detailed?

I personally do not enjoy histology, especially laboratory. You study the slides with all your heart and mind and know how to identify each and every tidbit in every cell. When the moving exams start, you'd just all googly eyed over the microscope, stand up with a look of despair for a moment and look again over the field. "OMFG! WTF IS THIS THING!?!?" Yeah, true story. They prefer to employ tricks and medical sorcery like really old, washed-off, mangled and distored slides and extremely unusual angles versus to the normal ones we would most likely normally see when you see real slides in the medical world. 'Tis but the sad truth, I probably barely passed my moving exams in histology, but all I care is that IT'S FINALLY OVER! for now. (oh noes!!)

Physiology. Ah, the study of how our bodies tick and tock. Can be described by two words. Interesting and Long. I cannot understand how they can make something simple sound soooo extremely lengthy. Don't believe me? Check out their condensed versions of the book Textbook of Medical Physiology, 11th Ed by Guyton and Hall, and you tell me why does that condensed version sound so simple yet have most of the key points? That too is what boggles me. The book is mostly easy to understand, but it's just the sheer length of it all that kills the medical students, considering the bulkiness of the book itself, imagine the number of info that can be stored in one page. As for the instructors, I personally don't like half of them since I am currently under the pretense that they like to pretend that they are smarter than they truly are. I mean, come on, if you don't know the answer, don't make us go look for the answer, and if you don't know how to make hard questions, don't go making grammatically erroneous hard ones instead.

But, aside from all it's bad points, It makes you appreciate all the vast coolness of our soul containers and the many time you say "REALLY NOW?" as you browse some texts. I can honestly say this has got to be my favorite subject for the school year. I love the book, the topics but am not too fond of the instructors (well, most of them, anyways).

Human Anatomy. Simply put, you study everything in the body that can be seen with your nekkid eyes! Skin, muscle, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, nerves and all those other squishy organs that turns us all into normal boys and girls. And, what would Human Anatomy be without the almighty Gray's Anatomy, 40th Ed., by Susan Standring be (and the price for that book is also equally almighty). Almighty enough to humble any medical student not to read its almightyness, for lack of updated references plague the subject, plus the Grey's Anatomy chapters aren't necessarily short stories to boot. The Institute uses the 38th edition which has a totally different editor which makes everything...well, just not quite like the 40th. So, that is why I can't give my unending love to anatomy regardless of all it wonders and beauties it can bestow on a surgery aspirant such as I.

The anatomy laboratory is a love-hate relationship sort of thing. It's cool yes, but cadavers aren't really cool. Formalin is hardly even cool at all, especially when it makes sweet loving to your eyes. Talk about spicy chicken wings. Then, well, there's the whole thing about all the cadaver juices..and formalin. So, yeah, aspiring surgeon who doesn't touch the cadaver at all. Sheer poetry. Well, I'll try my luck next time on real live warm squishy patients who doesn't smell like chloroform and see if I do better in the whole opening you up gig.

Biochemistry. The study of getting your ass whooped in the first year of medical school and oh yeah, all things your electron microscope cannot see and chemical-y in your body. Harper’s Illustrated Biochemitry, 27th ed. is not a forgiving book to read; it assumes you’re a biochemistry graduate or something from the very first chapter you open the book. Ironically, this book is also the smallest and thinnest of all first year books yet sadistically torments you with the iron grip of Gray’s Anatomy and Guyton’s Textbook of Physiology combined. It tackles the very basis of every, and I mean every bodily activity, that means you get to see things from the very molecular level on which all things happen. In itself, sounds pretty amazing but as you study for the various cycles and trees. They kind of get mixed up with one another as you go along the way. Not pretty for the examinations. In all honesty, you’d be amazed at what this book tells you, only that you need to re-read a lot of times for that to happen, something that medical students can’t really afford to do. As for the instructors, they’re sadists albeit brilliant sadists, so...that doesn’t really help with the whole biochemistry being hard itself. Though, one instructor does happen to be extra sadistic, her peculiar habit of laughing by herself and obvious lack of skills for diction does prove to be a welcome humor for tense medical students regardless whether it was supposed to be funny or not.

First Year Casualties: 4 yellow fluorescent memo liners, 3 orange Staedler highlighters, 1 orange Stabilo highligher, 5 yellow Staedler highligters.

Wiggity Whack, Happle Tea!

2010-03-25T12:47:00.005+08:00

In lieu of a time better spent on studying for the ridiculously and insanely lengthy killer finals exams of The Institute (I'm talking front cover to back cover killer), I'd like to share something amusing that I stumbled upon while bumming from the books which lead to even further bumming. Bad for the kiddies in medical school, no doubt.

Happle Tea

A webcomic that talks about mythology and all things that probably doesn't exist in this world only with modern and sometimes demented insinuations of a 8/11 year old boy with a sasquatch for a father/room mate. I still haven't distinguished which from which. Anyways, this is the 2nd ongoing webcomic that has ever caught my attention long enough to warrant recommendation for almost a decade. Updates are only twice a week, but quality of the products are at par with Sunday comics. Give it a whiff. Might make you sneeze some sense into this world where professionals in my country get minimum wage pay.

I'm off, back to the daily medical grind! Wiggity whack! If you haven't already guessed, wiggity whack is a line I fumbled across in Happle Tea. Hoo!

Hokey Avatar Pokey!

2010-02-07T20:12:00.004+08:00

Yes, 'tis I, Uberly Lazy Medical Student Man! I am currently in a delayed yakiniku eat-all-you-can fueled high from lunch (though sleeping might have helped here) so I opt to stop reading in favor of posting nonsense here...because I looooove you!! Aren't you happy??

Anyways, I won't be staying for too long since typing on my computer's keyboard is such a huge pain on the gluteus (HAHA! MEDICAL WORDS! GENIUS!!). No, seriosly, clacky (I'm not sure if there's even such a word. Just pretend that that's the sound it makes per tap), harder than the usual keys and a left CTRL button that doesn't respond. CURSE YOU, CHEAP KEYBOARD!!

Anyways, other than that...Uhhh..THINK!! Ah, since I don't have the time (and am too lazy) to produce..I might be using buddy poke to denote feelings and emotions to my posts. Many thanks to the Duchess for clawing my eyes open to see these cute little buggers! Here's mine!

Anywho..BACK TO STUDY! ew.

Let's Learn Medical Stuff # 1: Chemosis

2010-01-17T08:33:00.005+08:00

Ladies and gents! I would like to take this opportunity to pass on some medical knowledge on some things that might happen to you (or in this case, me).

For the first of this series, I would like to show you this thing called Chemosis. It is the edema of the conjunctiva. In layman's term, water pools under the surface of eyeball. How cool is that? Not quite, since I'M the one having that. Okay, fine, I admit..It's a wee bit cool.

It is usually caused by allergies or viral infections, but it could actually be worse, buuuut that's hardly the case if you're healthy. DAMN YOU PILLOW DUST!! and yes, that is my sexy chemosis right there on my left eye's left side (on the right side of this picture).

Treatment: Anti-histamine drugs or noothiiing. So unless, your eye balls are hanging by their optic nerves, this is nothing really serious. Actually I'd be dumping on my pants if this didn't happen to my brother a few years back and he had corticosteroids then. meh. anyways.

TIL NEXT TIME I (or some unfortunate fellow) gets struck down by the weirdities of health!

Surviving Medicine 101 #1

2010-01-17T06:41:00.004+08:00

Med school is a majestic fantastical place where everyone is smart and sexy and actually have fun every minute of their medical lives. Of course, that's what TV shows want you to think.

Let me simply just say that Med school is not all the hip, glamorous, fun filled life that you always dreamed of. In fact, take what you have and twist it exactly opposite of what you ever fathomed about med school. Unless, of course, you already thought it is the voluntary hell hole a lot of people get themselves into.

Back in the olden ages when Hippocrates and his god, Aesklepius, got their groove on to impress away the Greek ladies and godesses with their confounded 'Medicine' from idiot generals on chariots and morons with thunderbolts for spoons. Look what their little ploy to score a few Greek and Roman broads ended up with. Now, it's a full bloomed field of science now. I bet they didn't think of that their little charades would last up 'til now, did they? I'm not sure if the same techniques work in the modern world for bedding the opposite (or same, if you fancy it) gender since other prestigious fields are popping out left and right e.g. Law (oh yes, Law.), Rocket Science, Aviation, Garden Mowing, etc.; but one thing is for sure. Medicine is not just a simple dance move to get jiggy with the masses. So, if you're studying medicine, take time to ponder from those long days of shoving minute details of the anatomy of the anatomy of the anatomy into those little crevices (that's sulci to us med people, oh yeaaah!) of our brains, and curse Hippocrates and his god for this accursed field of philanthropy.

So, I, too, a victim of the field of Medicine, have decided from time to time (if mistress Medicine permits it) I shall be posting tips in surviving, besting or down right just trying to make medicine a bit more tolerable. Before I start, I would like to say before that these are just my own personal thoughts of how to cope up with the daily pressures and that they are based on the Problem Based Learning modality where students do everything and teachers do less for the value of their salaries and only for half the day. Now, let's see...where shall I begin?

1. You must want to make love to Medicine. That, in itself, is the number one tip that I can give anyone ambitious or, rather, masochistic enough for some to try wading through the kiddie pools of Med school. This one thing is enough to make you toil through the many crappiest times of your life to come here in med. Those on your parents' whims and lack of direction in life, beware. You will hate your life for the next 10 years or so of your life if that's the case, but then again, if you're here to be deranged, show the doctors' a smile on your face and and bizarre notes all over the school. True story.

2. Read in advance like the big nerds medical students ought to be. As discouraging as that may sounds, It will help you by the assloads when the tests come up. The world is an unfair one and this is one of the unfair things it doesn't want you to do so that you'll suffer even worse. It hurts to do this, but you'll be thanking yourself in the end and pitying those less industrious than yourself.

3. Highlight your text, you lazy bum. Some people highlight a few liners, some highlight practically the whole book (that's bad, mind you). How you highlight is up to you (really, don't highlight the whole book like a Christmas Tree). Highlighting gives you the sense of the coverage you have gone over and makes spotting important terms faster. If you can use two different colors: one denoting important must remember points or terms and the other one for useful description, the better. Though it seems highlighting slows down the whole reading process in my experience, overall, I personally think it's worth the trouble.

Extra: it sucks knowing that you have already read something months ago and the same pages come out as references in a new lesson. You could have saved time skimming over the pages rather than highlighting. True story.

4. Learn to forgive yourself when you cannot be too awesome during examinations. is something I utterly suck at. Pity. Medicine is hard. She doesn't play fair nor does she thinks you're cute. In fact, she probably likes you only for your money and would dump you the moment you go stingy on the dates. You treat her well, and she shoves a shovel up your anus yet you still kiss her tootsie like a moron. I therefore can only advise two things. Forgive and (don't) forget your unawesomeness at times or learn to become a masochist, though something tells me the latter works better. Well, you can quit? But that won't be placing any MDs after anyone's name, would it?

5. Don't forget to give yourself a pat in the back and reward yourself for the hard work. Ah, yes. This. If you happen to be a stingy bastard (like moi) then start dishing out on some legendary rewards for yourself depending on your fancy e.g. computer games, full body massage, clothes, iPod Touch, hookers, because it would make the whole enchilada with Medicine seemingly worth it. Note, I said seemingly. Also, joy obtained from said rewards may vary from personal preference, ability to discern great value products, your (insert word)-philia for the reward, and skill to double-dupe the swindlers. So, don't go stingy on yourself now. Your dough wouldn't matter if you crumbled to puddle of blood anyways.

More advice to come if I don't cut my fingers off first!

Missing the Good Old Days

2010-01-02T15:40:00.001+08:00

Ahoy, Merry Christma..oh wait, what's that? Err..I see. Cancel that. MERRY NEW YEAR!!! Belated.

I know, it's been a while since I last posted something of substance, but what can I say? It's getting hard to maintain even my own life, much more this blog of mine, but that of course doesn't mean that I'm going to be abandoning my blog. I mean, what kind of vacation is one where half of it is spent on studying for ridiculously long unit exam a day after you go back to class then followed up by another exam that’s twice as long a week after that?

These are truly ominous times, indeed. I had too much ambition, yet I lack the courage to face the dreams I have. I miss many things in many ways. I miss the boredom. I miss the gym. I miss my old routines. I miss my old gang. I miss my old life. I miss being with my other half. I miss the world.

Three more months or so, that’s the time it takes to steal a short deal of my old life back. I hope I don’t end burning up along the way. I have to be strong. I have to find my place in this hell that I chose to be in. But first, I need some stretching. So, I’ll see you all in the limelight ‘til then.

Oh joy! Here’s a very recent picture of the Arc de Tanké! Isn’t as great as its former glory, but I still try to keep it looking presentable every now and then. Sure, a few species or so of plants have gone..uhh..extinct, some in the 'endangered species' list, but hey, I'm trying my best. ^^

Boy Meets Dog

2009-11-15T11:44:00.000+08:00

You know, I've been technically four legged pet-less since I've been born. Ok fine, we had rabbits. Who cares about rabbits, they just grow up to be ugly fluffs of fur who crap your clean floor all day long, eat your flowers, runs away when given the chance and multiplies like germs? Well, fine, maybe PETA does. But the point is...I never had a dog in my life. Sad, yes, I know. Anyways, now I have a new study buddy for the late wee hours of the night to keep those inconvenient thoughts of the paranormal (Yes, thank you, Paranormal Activity. And our creepy rocking horse) at bay.

Heeeeere's Mika!

You can go into convulsions and die of cuteness now.

Over the Months

2009-11-15T09:32:00.000+08:00

It's been like what? A bunch of months or so since my last real entry? Hmmm..Well you could say that somehow. Medicine, how should I say, err..she hasn't been really warm to me (or anyone in The Institute, for that matter). In fact, remember what I keep on ranting about how nursing sucks? I'd take suck anytime to brutal, thank you very much. But then again, I find more meaning in readinge these insanely lengthy and screwed-up-short-of-time lessons (hundred pages in of pure technical text in just 2 days?). It's amazing that I still haven't developed something malignant in my skull.

Semestral break has already passed and yet here I am still ranting about how meager that week long break was. Although it was a welcome break to a rather long time of neurotic studying. I'd rather not complain anymore since life isn't really fair if you think about it. I must have been pretty much caught off guard by the sudden lack of things to read and curse about, I'm sure I was pretty much busy trying make the most of the limited bliss this time of the year brings.

So anyways, I'd like to mention some of the more important (or just plain strange) happenings from the multitude of repetitive and tedious events:

1. I didn't really expect myself in million years to end up getting attached to someone of the unfavorable lineage, yet somehow, I ended up not caring for traditions that hold the people of my blood. So, yeah, I love the Duchess. There's no denying to that.

2. I tried falling asleep while driving due to a night of much medical knowledge lovin' and of course, I bumped, note BUMPED, a car. Scary turn of events considering I came from somewhere hush hush. Uhh..from the Duchess' home, maybe?

3. Sold my bestfriend in medicine to my good friend during my days in The University. I simply didn't have enough time anymore to pay attention to him. He was bulky and inconvenient to carry around, to which many good RPG games wouldn't be played since he is no longer with me. May he be happy with his new owner. -__-

4. Joined a school organization for the perks, activities, company and simply for the heck of it that came along with it. Now, I have this sexy little badge thing stuck on my collar. Not that I'm complaining. Turns out one of the big shot neurosurgeons in my place is an elder of our org. I smell divine favor! ^__^

5. I've become an official parasite to a hapless coffee shop somewhere in city. It will serve me for my studying purposes whether it likes it or not. A cookie for a day's use, a total steal. What fun! and not much other customers to boot. Much evil convenience for the years to come.

(Note: The Picture is from somewhere I swiped off the interwebs. Credit all goes to that guy. Hey, at least I didn't go claiming it's mine, right?)

6. Around the last few days of the semestral break, I am now officially broke. Well, not really totally broke, but I made a hefty sum or money go poof for a small reward for myself. I bought myself new best friend in Medicine to replace my old one. Wooot! Smaller, sleek, sexy, versatile and more convenient overall to lug around. Now, if only I had a sexy silicone glove I could wrap around it. Darn.

7. ever tried having your doorknob thing invaded by big black ants that actually bite? Not cool at all. Of course, they're all dead here already. All Hail fragrant pesticides!

8. I officially declare that I have become the fattest version of me yet. 155 freakking pounds of lard up my belly! Ok, maybe exaggerating on where they are, but point is...I weigh that much and..I am having mixed feelings regarding my new found largeness. (Ok, I don't really like it.) I BLAME THE INSTITUTE FOR THE BLUBBER!

9. let me just say, a 21 year old guy finally gets himself his first dog. AMAZING!! I wonder what kind of deranged life a kid would have without ever having his own little puppy to play with. Guess I'll never find out then. Oh joy, time to teach chinese doggie commands! SQUIRREL! *BIG EYES*

Okay, fine, that's Doug from Pixar's Up but he's pretty stupid-cute, mind you.

That seems to be the more important ones of the latest happenings. I think. Anyways, i'll be placing more entries on the upcoming days or weeks. Hopefully. After all, my new best friend made this entry possible. At the price of my fundamentals of medical practice lecture. LOL.

The Institute and Hilarity #1

2009-09-06T20:04:00.005+08:00

Ahoy, all you non-medical student people out there!

Enjoy your lives because life is better boring than tedious. I know I was gone for an awfully long time due to circumstances that I voluntarily got my ass into. If I thought the hellhole I was in before was amazingly crappy and boring, then this current hellhole of mine is just too amazingly serious and downright fun-sapping.

I WANT MY LAZY LIFE BACK.

So, anyways, I just wanted to share and slack off (even some more) from my daily medical student duties by placing down some pretty amusing situations that happened yesterday in an orientation to The Institute's latest life depriving scheme of things AKA saturday classes.

It's the only way I can get back at medicine in general. *sob*

Situation One:

Big 1st year faculty doctor kahuna: you will have a taste of what 4th year is all about, but what you will be experiencing will just a tip of the icebird. heh heh heh. <-- Weird habit of laughing at her own statements.

Class: *tries to hide laughter*

Situation Two:

Some lady doctor: You all probably know me...*continues talking*

Class: Kinsa mana cya??? (Who the hell is that??) *looks at each other*

Situation Three:

Big 1st year faculty doctor kahuna (actually female): Alright, where is the attendance sheet?

Resident Class Fool: *in a very loud voice* SIR, NAA NGARI! (SIR, IT'S OVER HERE!)

So, anyways, I'm not even sure when I'll be back to post about the first few months about The Institute in general, but I'll see what I can pull out of my body cavities.

So, until then!

Welcome to The Institute

2009-06-17T13:41:00.000+08:00

All was peaceful in the life of Me. A week of respite has passed in the honor of a certain plague that befouls the world we breathe in, but that hardly sated my qualms over an imminent tragedy. Now, a time of eerie passing has come. Throw away all joys, all life, and all hope for the time has come...

The beginning of the no longers in a good lengthy portion of my life.
(See that small tiny green book at the back? That's The Evil of first year. Hiss.)

Some people, of course, may refer to this as med school. The path towards becoming a physician is hardly what you'd call a piss on the sidewalk. Some people choose to tread the path for the prestige the profession brings, some for the wads of money it reels in, and while some are the living testaments to a couple of frustrated doctors for parents. While most are here for the first two reasons (come on, you know you want the money) and while some have reasons beyond their control, I happen to fall on the common three. So, that's where my new life story begins. Back to square one and at the back of the pack once more. From here on forth, I shall be naming the medical school that we paid good money for to voluntarily torture me as The Institute.

Another campus to troll in, another set of faces to get bored with, another circle of mentors to cower away in terror, and another good four years of pure unadulterated medical elbow drops on groveling masochistic medical students. Yes, that sounds just about right. Time to say good bye or...rather should I say illegally sneak some much coveted happiness into my life in every reasonably shove-able time slot I might encounter. Turns out The Institution wasn't kidding when it kept emphasizing on being the deglorified wound licking lapdogs to an assortment of medical disciplines. They said it in a much nicer way, of course. Better not scare off their new guinea pigs now.

So, now I'm here thinking on whether to bid my social, internet, gaming, and all around slacking life farewell (the fools even rubbed it in some more during the orientation). Is this good bye? Going. Going. Don't worry, I'm coming back for you. It's a date!

Gone.

MAYBE.

The Great Adventure of No Summer in High Def

2009-06-09T20:31:00.002+08:00

Day 1 - arrived at 2pm or so, unpacked our things and got settled. Then, we were forced to vacate to another room. Retards. Also, we unknowingly violated the air conditioning policy, so yeah, but since we left that room, our secret (and penalty) hopefully stays there. Suckers. The retreat house is located somewhere in a mountain within a city, not too far from civilization actually but somewhat replicates some serenity of the rural areas. Force you to study due to the dullness of the country side would be far more accurate when describing its purpose. We didn't get to choose our rooms though and apparently, equality is quite an issue here since some rooms have thicker mattresses while some toilets have...TOILET SEATS. How dastardly. In fact, one of the beds has a hole under the mattress and it happened to be my first bed. And by first bed, of course, means I have a evilly exchanged second one. I pray for the soul of the person's vertebra that's going to be lying in that bed. Sucker. Wahahaha The room might be small, cramped and originally designed for one priestly person, but it has an air conditioning system (that only turns on at night and doubles as our refridgerator) and thankfully one of my roomies brought an extension cord and an electric fan. Now we can abuse the circuits with gluttonous electricity consuming appliance like electric kettles at will. God bless instant pancit canton!

Day 2 - slept last night at 3am and woke up to a 7am and to my humorous, I found out someone was dying beside me. We then had a hearty breakfast and went back to sleep in the midst of a warm morning in the hopes that the electric fan might make us all sleep better. We would then wake up to the sound of the lunch bell. Now, from here on, I will now be referring to this as "The Habit". It's technically our first morning in the retreat house and we already managed to lock ourselves out of our room. Thankfully, I am familiar to the ways of the keycard method of lock picking. Crisis resolved. Then of course since fate is such an ass, our bathroom then got locked out. Oh yeah, I actually studied in a homey setting seriously for once. My DOH book is almost fully read. Drama happened but it was quickly resolved in a masterful negotiating manner. Note to self, I am officially addicted to coffee. Oh, I also just took a cold drug to knock me out.

Day 3 - After finishing up with the habit, the afternoon was spent unproductive over Bride Wars and some minimal studying. Up against rise of the Swine flu, we have our own locally infamous yet many levels less deadly called the Lor Flu. I think this 'deadly' thing has spread to me and my roommate. Signs and symptoms would include blaming the original person carrying the flu and...flu like symptoms. Today, I officially finished my DOH book.

Day 4 - I woke up to the horror that is my roommate’s orchestra of an anal gas leak which sent me literally jumping off my bed. Of course the second equally repulsive one didn't help one bit. That one sent me out running of the room for the sake of my nose's sanity. It turned out to be a rather slow day without much happening. People were regressing back to their childhood years as they are out playing Japanese and patinero outside. Meh, whatever. Oh yeah, tonight happened to be Valkyrie night! Long Live Sacred Germany!! or not, a groggy morning for the preboards tomorrow.

Day 5 - Day one of the first preboards and I was already slumping in a drowse on the test tables from not being able to adjust my habit (or maybe its just my recent Valkyrie night). As far as i have come to know, the day was raining with test questions in which common sense unfortunately seemed to elude all trails of thought. It seems that a great many things are amiss in this world where the answers in books don't seem to satisfy test questions anymore; twisted world we live. Oh wells, tonight also marked the start of my Balita Reviewer.

Day 6 - day two of the first preboards and shit is topped on over our heads as answers with saner reasons and those clearly taught by school and those contained in books, once again, escape all understanding. For some words from the wise to our glorious review center who has yet to redeem itself from the latest ruckus it caused regarding the answer keys to the preboards, I seriously hope you greedy leeches rot in your money whoring charades. Anyways, whatever. Our scores are beyond substandard and I ended up studying the whole day in mottled self-esteem instead. What a load of rubbish. Oh yeah, stingy bastards; couldn't even afford your own set of plastic brown envelopes. The shameless bigots demand for a new set without prior notice from a bunch of reviewees who can’t even go out of the in-house.

Day 7 - last night, I slept at 4:30am due to an extremely strong sugar and creamed brewed Starbucks coffee that seemed to refuse to be pissed out of my system when I woke up. Thanks to that, I had trouble going back to sleep after an awkward breakfast. And now, I am learning the sacred arts and science of manual hand washing. No, I don’t mean medical hand washing. I mean for my unmentionables.

(Fig. 1)

Step 1: prep 2 basins and fill one to the brim and add a sachet of detergent. Set aside other basin.
Step 2: place unmentionables on filled basin.
Step 3: place article on palms and rub in a short repeating fashion (fig.1) on areas of distress.
Step 4: wring water off and toss into the other basin.
Step 5: with all unmentionables in the 2nd basin, open running water upon basin and perform figure 1 to rinse off detergent as needed then wring. Repeat 3x.
Step 6: hang with inner side of unmentionables on the outside.

After washing my unmentionables for the first time, I realized...I am an unmentionables washing PRODIGY!

Oh yeah, my folks and my sweet sexy niece ('cuz she has my mug when i too was a kid) came over to visit me. Of course, niecey snagged all the hearts of the retreat house (all part of my master plan to rule the world).

Day 8 and 9 - the preboards 2 has been a total itch in the crack. It is a whole assload of a notch harder and a whole deal of a highway robbery on the self-esteem. Once again, two days of sullen will and determination has left me disappointed, discouraged and unmotivated. I realized I have yet to comprehend the depth of the knowledge that I lack and if I'm already having a whole level donkeys in nursing, what of in medicine? The future looks bleak and mean. Anyways, update on the Lor Flu; I think an unexpected benefit of being afflicted by it is that it makes you smarter regardless of the whole wagon of discomforts that tags along with it. He topped one of the tests in his sickly pitiful state. Meh, but the smart bug must've choked on a protein or something. He seems to be just plainly sick now. Worse even. Meh, anyways, I would like to add that I have finished the ZAFT side of that PSP game about Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny in less than 24 hours...at uhh, at the price of not being able to study too for 24 hours. Alas! Wasted time, I mourn!! So, that is why I am now in this deafeningly quiet study hall of the retreat house where the stillness would wriggle under your undies. Amazing. Back to my nocturnal habits.

P.S. - funny news, our friends from the other retreat house seems to be parading in the paranormal. It would normally be trivial but since majority have been victimized by chain dangling sounds, eerie noises, knocks on the door at 3am, sudden cold drafts, personless shoulder tapping, massages and nape grasping. But the best of all for last, an unknown foot under the table that made one unable to partake in his preboards goodness. Amazing!!

Day 10 and 11 - I learned that I have a special involuntary reflex called the cuddle reflex. Place anything on my tummy or chest and most likely I will wrap my arms around the said object in a lovingly crushing fashion. Women beware. It turned out that i have been watching House M.D. for quite a while now to the point that I think I may be wasting valuable time to catch up with my boards coverage. Also, I finally had my long awaited time off since I came to this retreat house. Happy happy, joy joy. 10 more days until the end of the rest of my life. Look forward to it.

Day 12 - The noon had a tinge of thunderclouds to it and a crowd of hopeful reviewees that may partake in its splendor. Yes, I bathed in the rain for the first time in my life free of reprisal and consequences. And perchance, the rain I went prancing in happened to turn out to be a mini storm of sorts. Oh well, at least I have something that took some monotony out of my life here in the retreat house, at least, for now. Now, the trick in living a happy drenched life is not getting sick. Of course, I managed to elude sickness but now I have a pair of wet stinking clothes in our laundry bucket. Holy Hell. Later in the afternoon was a bit of surprise to me since it never occurred to me a friend came over to visit. She brought some delightfully scrumptious cake over for her 'advanced celebration' of her birthday. I realized it has already been quite a while since we last saw each other so, yeah, I definitely had to make up for some lost time. It might be one of my last few if Medicine might end up messing up my social life.

Day 13 - It's been nearly two weeks and it is high time...I say HIGH TIME for a great escape towards civilization! So, we did. Traverse the semi-mountains of the retreat house and its winding roads to a gate that leads to the great highways beyond. Okay, so they're not that great compared to Singapore's or China's (GOD BLESS CHINA!), but the point there was that..GOD DAMN, IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME; A long time since I last saw people other than the those that litter the retreat house, smelled the road smog and rode a jeepney. It's been a long time since I ate Jollibee burger steaks, saw a mall and the various boutiques and outlets inside. It's been quite a while since I saw...the world. So, we decided to bring a piece of life back along with us in the form of a horror compilation DVD. We got the gang to watch Silent Hill in the room ala movie cinema style with lights turned off and such. The movie was based on from the hit horror survival game, wait for it...SILENT HILL! It incorporates all the aspects of the game: the sirens, the walking abominations and th----ZZZZzzzzz…

Day 14 - My other roomie is extremely sick with his very own flu. He is drowning in his own salty secretions (according to him), I sense he must be having the time of his life. Due to this condition, he seems to be in a tissue paper rampage since he has already used up two rolls of tissue in less than 24 hours which left us in a tissue crisis. Today also happened to be the real birthday of my friend that visited the retreat house the other day. Normally speaking, being able to give a present would be next to impossible for the circumstances that envelop me but since I have awesome backups, the package was delivered albeit earlier than I’d actually want but who cares so as long as it gets there in nick of time. Booyah. Bonus points! Also, I'd like to add before I go off into another nauseating night of nursing review and recall; my friend's malicious joke accidently backfired when he mistakenly shouted at our clinical instructor when he entered our room during his routinary attendance rounds. Ahhh, what a way to conclude the day. And I'm off. Wooo! And oh, I technically finished my Balita reviewer by 3:30am. Wooot!

Day 15 - This day is a truly amazing day because...BECAUSE...I didn't do squat. A waste of time, money, progress but in return for free and idle time? I might wanna consider it time well spent. Might because I'm in denial. My parents also visited me today and dropped off some goodies. My cute baby niece didn't come today. She must be off somewhere manipulating town folks to be her lowly minions for my plans of world domination. Oh wells. I guess that can be considered a high point of this day. Another day goes to waste.

Day 16 - The thin geeky guy from our review center who "knows" all the answers came over to the retreat house for some quesadillas, but little did he know that he , himself, is actually the quesadillas to be crucified on the stake and be bitched around for some rather beleaguering test questions. Of course that'd look great on paper, but when it came to the actual focalization of answers, the mob just stayed quiet and submitted ourselves to some humiliating mistakes. Awww. Nothing I could do there since I find bothering with such stuff or actually anything for that matter to be too troublesome and pointless. So, since we have around 10 test papers with roughly a hundred questions each, it would actually make sense if we didn't finish focalizing everything. I would say it's somewhat of a waste of time to listen to the reasons behind the questions but one could never know they could come in useful one of these days in Medicine. Amazingly, turns out thin geeky guy watches a lot of medical teledrama series like Grey's Anatomy and House M.D. Turns out that he actually makes it a point to remember the various learnable stuff that litter the shows. 5 W's to Post-op fever? Thank you, Grey's Anatomy Season 1 Episode 1! Sweet.

Day 17 - How should I describe a day like this? A waste of time. Well, that's just me being irreverent. I'm not really the most religious of people out there in the city…probably even globally. But meh, maybe I could say today was an excuse to get out of the retreat house and mingle with the locals of society. So, we went church hopping or touring for that matter all around the province's tip to tip. Of course that'd be totally okay if it weren't for the coasters and the lousy air conditioning systems. Must be saving on freon or something. The damned contraptions hardly spew cool air, much less comfort for that matter. Times like these make me wish that I had used the time studying than doing a tour de chapelyos, but I guess all is good since I had ice cream sundae when the day ended (yet it still melted fast in the bus). Today, I realized that our last week might be used in a nonsensical manner of which both time for studying and prancing is wasted on things not meant for wasting. Well, no duh. I would just like to say something quoting some overly large obese hippo in House M.D. C'est la vie.

Day 18 - Other than a day spent on useless badminton and reading some handouts given to us by our review center, nothing exciting happened. Much. By much would mean only one dreadful event that is best kept to the grave. *shudder* Also, this thing has gotten me into trouble once again (trouble happens to be my secret insane stalker). Woe is me. Four more days until I can get out of this cave.

Day 19 and 20 - These days will be marked as the days that we went to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), stomped in for a minute, went back out and got molested by the morning heat while waiting for our rides. Yes, we came over to get our testing site informations. Turns out I'm assigned in some place that's pretty close to my house to which I'm all WTF about. Anywho, turns out one of my chums is one(or two for his case) the kingpins of the food industry and...Well, you get the idea. FREE FOOD AND FREEBIES! Woooot!! Of course, the following day we had bouts of diarrhea. Must've been from the raspberries he offered us. While that is a total downer to wake up to the cramps in your tummy as you crawl out of bed clawing for a roll of tissue paper, the afternoon that was spent on road trip towards civilization and watching Drag Me to Hell, an awfully nerve wracking yet at the same time a wonderful bag of laughs without it even trying to be funny. Screams and laughs riddled the theatre amongst the screams of a certain someone on the seat beside me. aaand of course, we ate at my kingpin friend's roast chicken place that has the best damned spicy pork ribs I've ever tasted in my life. Quite unexpected from such a place of such chickenry. Oh, when we came back, turns out the height of the Day before boards fever is running rampant amongst the residents of the retreat house. I'd like to say walking in a hallway that is treaded by man and woman kind alike in literally only your undies might not be a wise thing to do. Good thing a fire exit stairwell has there for him, hiding there like a horrified little boy. And so, lights out earlier than usual as we are forced to wake up early for the Boards. Good luck to all of us.

Day 20 and 21 - The Boards! Days of waking up at 3:30AM (4:30AM for lil ol' me), have some heavy breakfast, go up the rooftops and watch the beautiful twilight scenery of the city lights as they wait patiently to greet the sun, then of course you then get crammed into buses, go on dawn road trips towards the other side of the world. Then you realize…you’re over an hour too early to be at the test site. Curses. Amazingly, I saw many familiar faces from the many nursing schools that amassed at the test site. Many were old friends while some were those who I just had met during my nursing days. Small world. Oh well, just saying. As expected of the government of this country, there are always quirks within the system, so turns out we were robbed of some precious answering time which the proctors cannot extend the time allotted because of their inadequacies. That's regarding our room. Regarding other rooms might entail better or horrendously worse performance for guiding the board takers. The tests were a mixed with a fair quantity of simple and complicated questions. Most complicated questions come from topics which you can never read in a book and those we haven't even heard of or those that pertain to extremely subjective societal current events to which the answer totally depends on the how the Board of Nursing thinks. And what's worst of all, many of what we studied hardly came out especially the ever so annoying CHN (community health nursing) topics. I'm sorry for those who read that annoying DOH book more than once. Oh well, that's life. What's not life is having to worry about the pencils you answered the test with, or whether changing your wrong answers to the right ones screwed your chances at the passing boards…forever (or at least until your next eligible test). Life sucks, huh? So, yeah...after the boards, it was time to leave for good.

You know, living in retreat house has its perks though: people to wake you up, people who brings you snacks and lunches, people to teach, people to consult answers with, people to fart at, people to make life a little more enjoyable before hell is let loose, people to share life with in general and yadda yadda ya. You get my picture. Sure, the it has its share of ups and down, but a few days after leaving…kinda makes me miss living in that cave. Don't miss your chance at 21 days of secluded freedom! Make sure you choose the one's with air conditioning for the biggest bang for your buck! Unless you want to give your paranormal buddies a wedgie or two. So, yeah...now that we're back out here in the wild. Time to burn those ten to twenty pounds or so of lard we mustered up, boys and girls.

The Great Adventure of No Summer

2009-05-17T11:18:00.000+08:00

Ahoy, deckhands! As we all know, I have been stripped, robbed, mugged and purloined of my long lovely summer vacation by the likes of this vile thing called the Nurse Licensure Exams (NLE’s). Something totally not of my choice, and something that has a few nuts and bolts loose inside its system. Due to this..undying and seemingly glorious state of Nursing and all for the glory of the American dollar (and its cousins), the profession gains insurmountable, ludicrously garnered attention all at the same while predisposes it to much profiteering exploits hidden behind righteous and humanistic facades. Riiight. We all know we’re here for the money. The whole world knows it already, just flaunt it. Nobody cares.

Anywho, to get to the point; one, I am not happy with my summer vacation; two, summer vacation is not happy with me; three, I have only roughly 3 weeks until something totally amazing happens and four, I get to spend the next three weeks secluded in some mountain with a bunch of aspiring board-takers, a whole load of nursing review materials, three boxes of Instant Coffee along with a handful of my friends. Without a washing machine. Oh, Dear Lord. And seriously, I detest having to lug 5000 pages of nursing knowledge around in a paper bag while dragging a whole luggage bag and a sports bag with a ridiculously large space-devouring washing basin. Nuts.

I realized that as I am about to embark on this so called ‘intensive review sessions’ in a faraway asylum, I still have a lot of things that I have yet to do; simply, the products of procrastination. I need to juggle this entry over here and the Arc de Tanké which needs serious trimming. That kind of hobby gets inconvenient when you’re pressed on time and you have a partner that only finances and you do all the dirty work. And just in right now at 11am, My dad has his own ‘Grand’ plans on how to send me off to the in-house that probably involves me arriving later than I want to be and with a room that I’d less want to be in. I sense a whole ass load of trouble in the next 20 days. But, meh..anyways, I’ll be logging in my activities and happenings and posting it when I return enlightened from this trip. Now, I only hope to find an apple tree there to sit under on. So, see you until then random readers of the readership!

Medicine awaits me (not the Nurse Board Exams)!

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R1 and R2. Otaku Review.

2009-04-25T23:04:00.017+08:00

Greetings from the frequently wandering commentator, compositionist and rambler that is the dictator of this blog! Free time isn't too bountiful (okay, fine, maybe it is, but not in such a way I can ramble free flowingly). Lately, as a measure to cope up with the personification of wasted youth, I have been drowning myself in a pile of sitcoms and anime series such as House M.D., Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, To Love-Ru (though I have momentarily suspended further watching in lieu for something else), Soul Eater and Code Geass. Now, giving a review on House M.D. would be retarded since the world already knows the greatness that is Dr. Gregory House M.D. and his satirical and unorthodox methods of saving lives. God bless his fictional soul.

If you have been following my amazingly longest surviving blog ever since its conception, then you would know how strongly I feel about the anime, Full Metal Panic, and how it became my undisputed favorite anime of all time. Sad to say, FMP will have to relinquish its position of honor as another has come up to the stage and slapped it silly, unchallenged at that. Enough said, give your lunch money up to Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion!

In an alternate universe where the world is divided into three major warring nations, a Britannian student who is studying in Area 11, formerly called Japan and is now a colony of the great Britannian Empire, Lelouch Lamperouge, happens to be the exiled heir to the Britannian Crown to whom the Empire thinks has died during the invasion of Japan 10 years ago. In possession of a long rooted hatred for the Emperor who indifferently brushed aside Lelouch’s mother’s assassination. He has come upon the power of the kings when he stumbles upon C.C., a mysterious woman held captive by the Britannian army. The Geass is a special ability that differs from wielder to wielder. In the case of Lelouch, the power to coerce any human being to follow anything he says regardless of personal morals, creed and principles along with his superior strategical and tactical cunningness and enthralling charisma, he raises up an army from freedom fighters to realize his revenge on the empire.

Good animation, mecha, gratuitous gore and carnage, whiplash plot twists, unforgiving politics, annoying couple pairings and a Byronic protagonist are what makes up Code Geass and there’s nothing more to say after you cussed all profanities you know because of how the plot unwinds. What’s worse is that I think they did that in purpose, and they sure do a rather pretty job at that. A moving story that evokes much strong emotion such as anger and resentment from the viewers is what characterizes Code Geass. A memorable cast of characters that will somehow grow on both your good and bad sides litter the show, and trust me, you won’t be happy when your favorite characters get killed off. Such is the way of Code Geass; Lots and lots of senseless infuriating deaths that cause much anguish that make you want to stop watching the show altogether, but of course that won’t happen since Code Geass is THAT good. YES, IT’S THAT GOOD; Violent yet appeasing, tame yet so unprecedented, infuriating yet so stirring. YIN AND YANG, people!! I HATE MYSELF FOR EVER DOUBTING THIS SHOW. If you miss this now, I’ll personally come up your lawn and do a hunger strike. For the love of humanity, WATCH IT!!

The next portion of this entry will contain spoilers and is intended for discussion with those who has finished watching the entire anime. Since the ending was so abrupt and impulsively infuriating which may have caused many viewers to groan in resentment, I’d like to offer some points of view to make the story end in more pleasant way than it leaves most viewers. I now wash my hands off any unintended spoiling.

Show Spoilers

As we all know, Lelouch made a deal with Suzaku that he would die as a tyrant to whom the world’s ire and resentment all dwelled upon so that a true unifying peace would envelop humanity. Suzaku would come up wearing the costume of Zero and kill off Lelouch in front of the whole world, thus ending the oppression that Lelouch used to unify the hearts of the people. As Lelouch falls down beside his sister, Nunally, she touches his arm and Lelouch’s memories come flooding into Nunally’s mind. She finally realizes his selflessness and intentions for his dictatorial rule and everything he had to do and ends up collapsing into tears. Alright, discussion time! Lelouch’s Geass has already matured to the point that he is able to take up the code, which makes the bestowers of Geass immortal, of either C.C. of V.V. A characteristic of those who can bestow Geass upon other’s is that they can force memories onto others just like how C.C.’s memories flooded Lelouch’s mind. Lelouch did kill his father, Charles vi Britannia, who has taken up V.V.’s code. In theory, Lelouch most likely has taken Charles’ code yet still retaining the Geass C.C. has given him since the code Lelouch has taken is that of V.V.’s. In the last scene of Code Geass where C.C. is lying on a wagon of hay contemplating on the effects of Geass on humanity then asks Lelouch’s opinion about what she said, she leans her head backwards as if looking at the wagon driver. Of course, the wagon driver’s face wasn’t revealed. That’s the beauty of the ending, but with this discussion and theory, there is a likely possibility that Lelouch survived and was actually the one driving the wagon.

BUT SHIRLEY, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE!?!?!?!? POOR SWEET SHIRLEY!! *weeps* *mourns*

And uhh..oh yeah, LELOUCH VI BRITANNIA COMMANDS YOU TO WATCH CODE GEASS: LELOUCH OF THE REBELLION!!

Rating: 10/10

Seriously.