Countdown! 55... 56... 57...

I’m rushing this post and putting it out to dry as soon as I could. It’s almost midnight, and I’m hoping I would be able to squeeze in a post before it officially becomes my 3rd Blogging Anniversary.

I just got off from biyahe, driving home in this wet Friday night after a two-day meeting in Tagaytay. I could’ve headed home sooner, but during this last weekday when yuppies start filling up bars and children jet into weekend madness, circumstance decreed that my plate end with zero, thus confining me to the outskirts of Manila until way after dark. And to think that I’d have to crawl through the traffic hellhole called SLEX eskinita, things weren’t really shaping up too well for me.

The only nice thing about SLEX is its multitude of mega-gas stations and their wi-fi facilities. I was thinking of doing this post remotely, as a celebratory gesture towards stealing to third base, (and the first I could have ever posted by this method). But I guess the itch of going home asap was too bad not to scratch.

Did I mention I had a couple of SML before I started travel? It couldn’t be helped though. Good thing I’m still in one piece. Now I know what it meant when that guy in the SMB commercial had to get his wallet all the way from Dasma… Cavite. My biyahe took pretty much the same breadth.

Hmm, I wonder what I‘ll be posting tomorrow. Do you think a look back over the past three years be a good idea? How about if I project what I think my life would be three years from now? Or I could also do it quick and easy, an apparent stab at sarcastic humor, when an obviously dry post mutes the celebration while actually drawing all attention to it.

It’s tough to decide. I guess I’ll just cross the bridge again once I get there. For the meantime, hold that thought.

Halfway down Memory Lane

Ok, picking up from where I last left off… the other half of my top ten nostalgia show list.

Care Bears. Cuddly little buggers. Hey, this taught me how to count backwards! Which is waaay cooler than counting the humdrum way through Sesame Street. Do the Care Bears Countdown, 5-4-3-2-1!

Uncle Bob’s Lucky Seven Club. Always looked forward to this show to catch a glimpse of what heaven looked like when I was a kid. Toys galore, from Zoids to the latest Joes.

Alf. Another sitcom that just didn’t made it to the finish line. I remember all my Saturdays had this.

The Comic Strip. Remember the catchy tune? C-o-m-i-c… S-t-r-i-p! C’mon take a trip on the Comic Strip! This was an animated series that featured Tiger Sharks, The Mini-Monsters, Street Frogs and Karate Kat, each with their own distinctive toon flavor and hit intros. This ran for only a year though, so I guess most of the time I had been watching reruns.

WWF Superstars of Wrestling. My mom never liked me watching “violent” stuff so I’d use to sneak to the TV in the middle of the night just to watch the circus pageantry of sports entertainment. I always got caught.

So there you have it. My top ten list for the year (what?). Ha ha, I guess now is a better time than any.

I'm sure you haven't noticed but have been extra diligent with my blogging these past coupl’a days (uh huh). See, I was trying to breathe some life back into my personal web space, like a garden chockfull of weeds need some cleaning once in a while (thanks but no thanks to the Google system, though, for trying to lock me out of my own site!).

Of course, the sudden burst of activity is my own small way of celebrating the approach of my 3^rd year Blogging anniversary. Wee! It’s been that long already.

Wow.

But I guess preordained or not, writing still takes that piece of extra effort to pull off, which makes it just as special as any other special thingy should be… because of that, uhm, yeah, that extra effort. Kudos, ha ha ha, kudos to me then. =)

Rainy mornings

I woke up early today to a rain-drenched Wednesday morning. The sky was overcast and even by 7 am it looked as if the sun wouldn’t bother showing up at all. Is there a storm brewing?

The sky wasn’t this dark and it hasn’t rained this hard for a long, long time. I love this kind of mornings. It reminds me of my pre-school days, when classes get suspended and I end up whiling the day away with 80’s cartoons.

Thinking of Myst and how nostalgic the scenery gets, it got me thinking about those old TV shows I used to watch. I kinda miss them. I remember watching these shows with my cousins, at my tito’s old apartment in Antipolo. We’d buy a litre of Coke each from our vacation allowances and spend the whole afternoon in the sala where the TV was. During commercial breaks, we’d play a game of who-gets-to-name-the-tv-ad first. We’d shout and spout out product names and trademarks, paunahan, until our irritated lola comes out of her room to tell us off for being loud and noisy.

Here’s five of my top ten nostalgia shows from the 80’s (and early 90’s). They’re not ranked in any way, and it’s more of a list of shows that remind me the most of how I was before as a kid than anything.

1. You Can’t Do That On Television. Hilarious show and very irreverant. First gag show I ever watched. Precursor to the Bulilit and Ang TV kiddie shows of ABS. You might recall their iconic “green slime” messing up the cafeteria on each episode.
2. The A-Team. Who’d ever forget Mr. T and his “I pity the foo’!” bit in all his golden chains glory? I think every boy in my generation grew up wanting to be part of this elite ex-military swashbuckling group. And oh, the TV theme was just so catchy!
3. Brave Starr and the Star Sheriffs. The usual fare of hero and animal side-kick with a western theme. Strength of a bear, speed of a puma!
4. MacGyver. In the world of super heroes and crime fighters, Angus MacGyver has gotta be the luckiest bastard of them all. He gets out of tight situations so often it borders on cheesy. How in the world do you manage to get locked in a room full of useful tools/materials 100% of the time?
5. Ghostbusters. For an 80s cartoon, the material here is well-written and the animation is above the industry-standard. Spun off from its successful movie hit version, this cartoon series became to us what the concept of T.G.I.S. is for Generation X.

Still Mysty-eyed

The scenes are beautifully majestic

More on Myst.

Originally launched in 1993 (the same year Doom^© made its debut), it became the best-selling computer game in the 90’s until The Sims^© came along.

Set on a richly detailed fantasy environment, Myst is all about a series of puzzles that slowly reveal a conflict between a father and his two sons. As an adventurer, your job is to discover and follow clues to be transported by means of books (you’ll find them in the library of starting point Myst Island) to several Ages.

There were four Ages in all on the original release, with one more Age included (for improved story-telling) in the RealMyst version. You’d have to go through all the Ages to collect scattered pages and notes that would complete some of the books in the library. Only by doing so can you progress successfully towards a gripping ending.

I enjoy Myst for its emphasis on discovery and critical-thinking. For those who have had their fill of mmorpg and shooters during college, I sincerely hope you’d try this one too. You won’t be disappointed!

Seeing through the myst

Does it come with age? I’m entering into my late 20s. I’ve been working for close to three years. And I haven’t played a decent, updated PC game in all that period. Well, I tried when HOMM5 came out, but my PC can’t handle it. I don’t have a DOTA copy. Nor did I play Ragnarok beyond its nationwide trial period. I suck at new releases.

So tell me, does this mean your PC skills diminish with time?

Anyway, just in case you’re wondering, I have ventured into the world of MYST for the first time. I guess being late has its perks too. Developers have launched Myst in an improved platform, marketing it as RealMyst. I find this game a unique departure (and a welcome release) from current gaming fare. There’s no time pressure, no sex and violence, and no score-keeping to worry about. RealMyst is a story-driven puzzle environment that spans across four instalments (I’m not sure though, better check with wiki).

I suggest you try it without the walkthrough.

It’s novel! It’s boring! It's fun! (Well, on a geeky sort of way.)

gimme, gimme... my net fix!

Through the years I’ve progressed from bbs hopping to web link downloading. Got introduced to kazaa, discovered limewire, then moved on to emule. And now I’m into torrents.

While the scope, speed and overall functionality of file-sharing (or worldwide file dissemination software) have incredibly advanced in the last half decade alone, there’s simply one thing that hasn’t. Nothing still beats that feeling you get when you’ve rediscovered a segment of your past through the files you are now able to grab from the internet. Our PCs are now time machines, and we’re time travellers who could step into the past with just a click of the mouse, a push of a button, or the loading of a page.

Un·der·state·ment (n.) I love the net.

...i just can't get enough

Ever since we got the DSL hooked up at home, WAHOO is hounding my every waking moment. I just get the flimsiest ideas for going home early running round-and-round my head… at the office! Malls bore me. Traffic (pauwi) kills me. Super time. Can’t get enough net fix.