Holidays

Happy holidays y'all! As I write this post it is around 8:30pm Philippine time on December 25, 2006.

Gifts have been unwrapped, food has been eaten (or put in plastic containers to be stored in the refrigerator for future hunger pangs), and waistlines have grown an inch or five. 'Tis the season to be jolly and to eat!

So why am I not that ecstatic as I used to?

Well, first my grandmother's dead. First Christmas without her at our house, since she lived with us. Makes me miss her more, specially when I see some of our Christmas decorations that play a song when you press a conveniently hidden button. She always enjoyed watching those mice dance. Now all I have are memories of her.

Next, my girlfriend's in the US. So First Christmas without my girlfriend in seven years. Whoop-de-doo.

Finally I am supposed to be on leave this week, going out of country for some R & R and shopping with my parents. Instead of going straight I have to work tomorrow, despite tomorrow being a holiday. Why? Punk ass agency decides that instead of having the second presentation of a project I am doing on the 5th of January they want to see it on the 3rd.

Bastards.

Good thing I've got an officemate who'll fill in for me while I'm gone. But I am going to work tomorrow to meet up with him and try to tackle the revisions in one day (afternoon?) and hopefully I won't be thinking of work while I am on vacation.

What's the point of giving a schedule if they won't effin' follow it anyway? They asked me for a timetable and now they want it earlier? Hello, it's the Christmas freaking holidays! People aren't really gearing up for work the week between Christmas and New Year. I bet those a-holes in the agency won't even show up for work.

Sure, pick on the lowest on the totem pole. If it weren't Christmas today I'd probably be cursing my mouth off. I am, actually, just not typing it down.

Ad agencies here in the Philippines suck. They always demand the fastest timetable at the cheapest cost and then complain, complain, complain about "quality" which they don't even understand. Sure they want it to look nice but the schedules they request? Give me a break.

My officemate told me I could easily do this project in a week, but that's not the point. My boss once told me to make sure I had enough time to cover any possible snags in the project. Besides it's a lose-lose situation.

I understand my officemate's point, yes we can do this. What I don't like is the fact that the agencies will start thinking, "Hey, those rat bastards can actually do it in a few days instead of a few weeks. Let's just keep making schedules shorter since they can handle it." And if I screw up because of lack of time it's my fault. But if I get the job done they'll make deadlines shorter.

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

This is crap. I keep complaining but I don't seem to be doing anything about it. My folks are right, either just shut up or do something about it.

Give me a few weeks and I will do something about it.

Out.

Knicks - Nuggets Brawl, Comments, Aftermath

There was this recent brawl in the NBA involving players from both the New York Knickerbockers and the Denver Nuggets. I didn't get to see it live but thanks to the magic of youtube you can see it here.

Now I was expecting harsh penalties for the players involved (including Carmelo Anthony, the NBA's leading scorer and one of my favorite players to watch). And today at ESPN I read about the penalties given. You can read about it here.

Now while I may be a big fan of Carmelo Anthony I do not agree with the penalties Commish Stern handed out. 15 for 'Melo? 10 for JR Smith and Nate Robinson? 6 for Mardy Collins?!? Six? He started it all with his flagrant foul, and from what I heard he committed a flagrant foul the previous game too.

If it were up to me, I'd suspend Collins, Anthony, Smith, and Robinson the entire season. Jared Jeffries would get 45 games.

How come I'd give out suspensions that long? The NBA is still recovering from the "Malice at the Palace" brawl two years ago, and the suspensions were harsher then. Sure fans were involved, and now fans weren't really involved in this brawl. But still. Players are being paid millions of US dollars to play a game of basketball, entertain the fans, and they still manage to let tempers flare? Give me a break.

I say teach the players a lesson. Strike fear into them so that any stupidity on their part will hopefully be prevented. If the players know that they'll get in serious trouble for making trouble, then perhaps they'll think twice before doing anything stupid.

These guys all think the world owes them everything, that they can get away with anything. Someone ought to remind them that they're also human, and that laws apply to them too.

I'm most disappointed at 'Melo. Despite all the negativity that happened to him in previous years I was always rooting for him. I was always a fan, despite that DVD and the pot found in his bag, and now he does this.

Damn.

Out.

Times of Senti-Ness

Okay there are a lot of factors why I'm feeling sentimental / waxing nostalgic / feeling reflective today. First is the wedding of my friend Chito and second is because I'm listening to Reality Bites Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Yeah Reality Bites isn't that sentimental, but this is pretty mellow for my tastes already. And it brings back memories of high school. And high school was the time I was so damn immature I that thought I was a deep, mature, and introspective person. Guess not.

My friend's getting married. I'm the groomsman. Can't imagine that I've reached that age where my friends are getting married. A few years ago it was Marko, a friend I grew up with because he lived right next door. Now it's Chito, a friend I met when I ended up in Naga.

So I am older. Wiser. More mature? Hmm. Time flies. Can't wait for the day when I'll be getting married, which hopefully will be in the next one or two years. We'll see. First I need to get me a high paying job, if not in the Philippines then somewhere abroad. Signapore, maybe?

Hmm.

Lisa Loeb's Stay is playing. I have to stop typing or else I might get more serious.

Out.

Carbon

I've been playing Need For Speed Carbon for the PS2 lately. Not really enjoying the game. The physics and handling are totally different from previous NFS games. Specially drifting.

Just push the controller a bit and the car spins wildly. I totally enjoyed the controls of NFS Underground 2 for drifting. And the way the car handles is better in the previous game. This new game is just too wild for my taste, even after tweaking the car's settings.

That's another thing that irks me. The tweaking of settings are simplified. So simplified that you can't win boss battles unless you choose max horsepower max speed settings. What?!? So what's the point of setting my car up to be high torque and fully maneuverable if all I have to do to win races is to make the car super fast? What happened to tweaking the settings and achieving perfect balance in the car?

All in all the best Need for Speed game I've played is Underground 2. Best controls, best dynamics, best options.

Although the new game is only a few days old in my house, so I may get used to the controls eventually. After all, I have beaten three bosses. Just one more sector to go and I'll have finished the game.

But the car I'm using is "only" an RX-7, and I'm up against Skylines and Murcielagos. The sad part is I haven't unlocked tier 3 cars yet. Damn. I think the only way to unlock those damn cars are to finish all races in the previous maps.

The unfinished races? Drift races. Go figure.

I've no patience to learn the drift. I've won some drift races but those were when the track was wide. Narrower tracks are harder to manage since the damn car totally slides back and forth.

Unless there's some special trick or setting to drift properly which I didn't get to read in the manual (because I don't have a manual).

Oh well. I've created a new alias anyway, and I started using an exotic car, the Alfa Romeo Braera or whatever. Last time I started with a tuner, the Mazda RX-8. We'll see.

Out.