I’m very tired. I’ve been trying to finish up version 6 of Kutitots in time for the Philippine Webbies, at the same time juggling the I-have-already-lost-count number of projects we have right now. I’m not kidding, I have lost count. Sometimes I even confuse the specs! Hehehe. But hey, that’s life. If there’s no pain, there’s no gain.

Another thing I’ve been working on is the front-end of our company’s web site. Well, since we’re officially incorporated since June, I think I can talk about it already. Our company is called SHEERO Media Solutions Group, Inc. Yep, we named it after Sheero, my pretty darling doggy. I didn’t leave my fellow incorporators alone until they agreed. Well, at least one of them thinks it’s unique! Hehe. Anyway, I’m still not sure if they all want their names disclosed before our official site launching, but to be safe, I won’t. Marc is part of the team of incorporators, by the way.

Speaking of Marc, he went on leave for this month of July just so he could help out in the launching of our company. We’ve got a lot of projects on hand, which is actually the main reason why he went on leave. You know, with all the projects we have to do, Marc practically lives here. Hehe. Choknat isn’t happy about the setup! Sometimes they peacefully exist, sometimes they’re at each other’s throats. Honestly, I think it’s Marc’s fault. He ALWAYS scares Choknat just when the dog is relaxing at his presence. As I told Marc, their relationship is at a healing stage, and he musn’t do that else they’ll never ever get along.

I said I was broke, and yes, I am VERY broke. I just spent my earnings paying all our bills and…… bought myself a 17 inch LCD monitor!!! Weee!!!!!! I gave Dad my 19 inch flat screen monitor, which is still in good condition, just a year old. I’ve been meaning to make this investment, and I tell you, I never regretted it. For some reason, my beloved LCD “encourages” me to design better. I don’t know, probably because the screen is much more eye-friendly? Well, for one thing, I can last longer in front of the PC now without straining my eyes. Marc made an investment too (so we’re both broke), bought himself a faster system, but didn’t buy a new monitor. Hehehe. I swapped my Dad’s old regular 19 inch monitor for Marc’s 15 inch regular monitor… so now I have a dual monitor setup! It’s cool, I can easily check resolution compatibility of my designs and at the same time have a spacious desktop.

I took Sheero for a walk with Marc yesterday morning. We went to the Shell shop near our house, and Sheero was really happy for it. She was in a good mood when we got back. The walk was good for her. She had been in this insecure funk lately… Sleeping on the floor when Choknat or Harry takes her place on my bed. Well, at least now, the walk helped her realized that she’s still my number one baby doggy.

That’s it for now. Please come back regularly for the launching of version 6 ok? For now, just live with my blog. I’ll have my Flash personal site up in a few.

If you’re a die-hard Harry Potter fan, you know what that means… Book 6 of Harry Potter is finally out! I can’t believe that I actually waited 2 years for that. Well, obviously, this series is my absolute favorite.

Marc bought me the Half-Blood Prince book as a gift. I woke him up at 530am on July 16 and we were there at National Bookstore by 7am… The bookstore people are really anticipating avid Potter fans like me to turn up really early for it. They even moved their usual store opening to 7am just to accomodate those looking forward to the book. This really is one of those books that require special “attention.” Geez… When Marc and I were at McDonald’s, a woman who seems to be in her forties just asked me out of the blue where I got my copy. A STRANGER just asked me where I got it (I actually reserved it at National since last March 7 hehehe). Well, that’s Harry Potter for you!

I must say… I was quite surprise with the latest installment. It’s definitely not the usual… and it’s a shame that Hermione ended up with Ron, Harry would have been a better man for her. Not that I don’t like Ginny, but her character just happened to come out of nowhere… It wasn’t build up like Hermione. Hell, Marc the non-Potter reader actually wanted her to get together with Harry. So does my sister, who doesn’t really like reading much. Well, the romantic stories in the book weren’t the ones that really surprised me… I wasn’t even surprised at the newly killed character (it’s about time, for crying out loud. It’s so typical in these stories.). What really surprised me is the overall way the book was written.

One thing: this book isn’t exactly the type of book parents should read their kids as bed time stories. It’s darker, and has issues that a more mature audience would appreciate. Well, lucky for me, I’m an adult already so what the heck. Poor kids though. Harry’s growing up.

I haven’t really updated you guys on my dogs lately… Well, nothing much happened, aside from the love-and-hate relationship Marc and Choknat now share. They would have truces at times, then get really pissed at each other after a few hours of peace. Oh, well. At least it’s an improvement from the total hate-hate relationship they had before. This is a huge step forward

Sheero might be pregnant… But Patatats definitely is. Harry was the father… The freak! Patatats is his sister

By the way, version 6 is almost done. Stay tuned!

I know that this blog is aimed to be light-hearted, mostly about my life and my life with my 14 dogs, but this current political crisis really ticked me off. Allow me to vent out my woes please!

Ok, first of all, a disclaimer. Do not sue me for libel, this is just an opinion, an opinion based on venting out frustrations. Bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan PIKON.

I am absolutely disgusted with what’s happening in the country right now. Aside from having a president who cheats, we have all these politicians swarming around her like hungry vultures waiting to devour the prey. Ok, so I’m not a political “expert” like other people believes themselves to be, and probably my opinion will be merely dismissed as blabbing from an over-stressed designer. But come on. WAKE UP PEOPLE! Do you honestly think that another EDSA rally will do any good. You remove yet another president in office, and then what? Susan Roces takes office? Then after a few years, the actress with no political experience (at least ERAP was senator before he became president), will be removed from office by another EDSA rally. We’ve had so many “EDSAs” that I’ve already lost count. Just call it EDSA nth, where N is the variable of how many times vultures try to take over.

My dad explained to me yesterday how Parliamentary procedure works (ok, I admit, I was probably absent when they discussed this in class), and it seemed to be the best thing for us. All these politicians can argue all they want, and if they don’t like the president, they replace him/her. But the best thing about this is that governance continue. Since everybody seems to want to be president anyway, they’ll have their chance. And our country won’t suffer no matter how many times they try to change the presidency. Life will go on.

It’s just really sad that no matter how often activists clamor for change of government, everything is just the same. I had thought that having an economist for president would do our country good. I am one of those people who check the dollar rate every day, and I’ve seen that from 56.something to a dollar, we went to 54.something. Some might think that it’s not such a big thing, but from 56 to 54, you can really feel the change if you get paid regularly in dollars. Then what happens? Controvercies spawn up triggered by opposing politicians who want to be presidents themselves. Dollar rate shoots up again.

That’s not the only thing that’s sad about this. Look around you people. While we have “good” politicians and activists clamoring for “change”, you have kids in repressed areas who don’t have enough books or good teachers to guide them to read. I spent weekends with these kids during my stay in the Ateneo, I’ve helped teach college freshmen social awareness and accompanied them to different repressed areas in Manila, and from what I have seen (I’m sure there are much worse situations than those), no EDSA nth has made any difference.

It is too much to hope that these politicians clamoring for power has the people’s best interest at heart. I really admire those politicians who just do their jobs with geniune concern for the people. For me, they are the real heroes of this country.

I think I will end here now. I think it might be too much to hope that these power-hungry politicians will come to their senses and just do their jobs. I am not saying that what GMA did was a good thing, it was really a lowly thing to do, but if she has to be removed from office, due process must be followed. Politicking will not remove her from the presidency, it will just drown our country further into depression. Let her do her job, for crying out loud. And maybe, HOPEFULLY, WISHFULLY, these political vultures will have some kind of holy intervention from God and realize that there are more to things in life than being president.

I’m still alive! I’m just extremely busy at the moment. Kutitots v.6 is underway though. It might take a while though, the only time I get to work on it is during the weekend.

I’m actually thinking of joining the 8th Philippine Web Awards. Well, that is, if they still offer the cash prize ok 10k bucks. Money is tight lately (I’ve got a lot of bills to pay and a family to feed) and who knows? If Kutitots wins an award, I’ll have money for rest and relaxation! I’m finding it extremely difficult to spend my hard-earned money on “gimik” stuff. Anyhow, I still have more or less a month and a half to think about it. I guess I’ll just finish version 6 first right?

Anyhow, that’s it for now. I need to get back to work.

Marc and I are trying to start a new habit: night jogging at least once a week at the Ateneo. We’ve done it twice already, and we’ve brought Sheero along each time. Marc and I just meet up on a place while jogging so we can keep our own pacing, so Sheero and I are pretty much alone when we jog. I have to follow Sheero’s pacing though Yesterday we even spent practically all our jogging time chasing cats and frogs.

We had a late dinner after. We took Sheero to Mang Jimmy’s at UP Diliman (good thing the place was pet-friendly). I tied up Sheero at a wooden pillar right beside my chair, and the little squirt had her own fair share of sisig, beef tapa, and lechon kawali. Sheero seemed to have enjoyed the trip, because on the way home, she behaved for ONCE. hehehe

There are so many things (not exactly good things) going on here at home that I don’t even want to think about anymore. That’s actually one of the reasons why Marc and I started this jogging thing… Keep me sane. I don’t think I can handle being cooped up at home working all the time and hearing whines and shouts. Besides, having some time with nature helps me keep the creativity flowing… Anyway, enough about sad things. I don’t want to think about it remember?

If you’re a die-hard blogger and you haven’t registered yet at www.iblogph.org, please do. I’m not just asking you guys to join just because I’ll be one of the speakers (ahahahaha I’m not THAT thick you know), but hey, it’s the Philippines 1st blogging summit, so I don’t think you’ll want to miss that… especially if you’re the type of person who blogs more often than me! hehehehe. Anyway, hope to see you guys there!

Hi all… Sorry for being in hibernation mode… Been really busy. Not just with work, but at home too. My mom is in this depressed funk, and has become pretty demanding. We have a lot in our hands right now… But at least my mom is able to walk using a cane now, unlike before, when she couldn’t move her entire right side at all.

Anyway, on a happier note, I’ll be attending the first blogging summit in UP on May 7 as a speaker. I don’t know what I’m going to say to all those people, but what the heck! I’ve never had a concrete plan whenever I had to do public speaking. I’ve spoken infront of a roomful of prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison, around 100 students of Comtech freshmen, etc. etc… and all I brought with me is my thickness (kapal ng mukha). We all end up laughing in the end so what the heck?

Anyway, if you’d like to attend the blogging summit on May 7, just register at www.iblogph.org. It’s free for all. I’m up with Yugatech in the morning, around 9am. For the afternoon, I think they’ll be having The Sassy Lawyer. Anyhow, just visit the iblogph site and sign up… There’s a detailed schedule there. Hope to see you guys on May 7!!!

Do you think they (iblogph people) will allow me to bring Sheero? hehehe.

Speaking of my dogs… Harry has his own dolly now. Yes, he has his own toy doll. He and Choknat fight over it all the time. It’s a Flintstones Pebbles doll we got for free when I treated my family to a KFC dinner. Anyway, dolly is now missing a hand and a foot, so we might be disposing of her soon if Harry allows it. Hehehe. I’ll show photos of Harry and his dolly when I have the time. Oh, by the way… Sheero might be pregnant again

Happy birthday, Sheero!!! She’s three years old now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s my grandmother’s birthday today! Happy birthday, Mama Nena. Nice, considering that her birthday coincided with Easter. Too bad my mom’s still not strong enough, or we’d have visited her at the cementery.

Ok, I’m going to sound utterly MEAN here, but I HATE MY DAD’S LABRADOR RETRIEVERS!!!!!!!!!!! Dad says “forgive and forget,” but come on! That’s kind of hard to do when you can’t control your right hand without suffering intense pain because of a deep wound made by those dogs. Yep, Scout bit my hand. There was another “Little dogs versus Big dogs” war in the garden. Scout bit my hand to keep me out of the way and for me to stop protecting Harry.

Sheero had her right front paw injured too (kind of like my right hand), and has to hop to walk. Only Choknat remains unscathed (he was too scared to get into the brawl). The “birth” of the war actually went like this. Patatats couldn’t find her pups, so in desperation, she went into the garden (where the bad big dogs were at that time) to try her luck. Crunchie saw her and attacked without warning. Sheero went out and tried to help, but she got bitten on her right “arm” and had to back off. Crunchie went back to chewing Patatats who was already crying and full of saliva. Harry saw what happened, and tried to help. But Scout and Coal spotted him. They attacked him, and even as he tried to get a way (with my help), Scout pulled on his ear (my poor baby). Daddy pulled Crunchie off Patatats, so she was able to get to safety, but Dad had to hold on to Crunchie to keep her from helping the attack on Harry. Bing, our maid, helped me free Harry by pulling Scout off, but it wasn’t enough ‘coz Coal was still free. My sister Joyce had to pull Coal aside and pinned him down. I was about to carry Harry to safety, when Scout suddenly broke loose from Bing’s grip (man, that dog is huge) and knocked her over. I was carrying Harry, and Scout bit my hand so he could attack Harry. That was the last straw for me. Scout bit the hand I use for work, my right hand, the one I use to control the mouse (I’m a webdesigner, I need my right hand). I was so mad that I was able to pull Scout off Harry and throw him off (thank god for adrenalin, I won’t be able to carry that huge FAT dog on a regular state). I got to Harry and helped the poor dog escape. There. The story ends.

Pretty exciting huh? That’s true, but it’s also painful. I’m having a hard time typing this entry, but good thing that’s it’s starting to heal.

Mommy cried again when that happened. I think she was sad that she couldn’t help.

Arghhhh I can’t wait for these “dark times” to be over. I’m working my ass off to help my dad make ends meet, and I’m beginning to feel the pressure. Sometimes I feel like I can’t design, with so many things going on my mind. It’s a good thing I rediscovered an outlet, making digital art. I used to do that a lot before when I’m upset, so I’m going to start doing that again. Helps me keep that “creative level.” Watch out for the abstract splash headers I made for Pixelbureau.Com on its March issue. Hmmm…. Maybe one of these days I’ll get an account with Deviant Art.

Dammit. I’m beginning to hate getting mail. Not email, mind you, but BILLS through mail. I’ve been paying our household bills for quite some time now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing them. Marc even said that getting household bills is beginning to affect my moods too. He knows how to predict when I’m about to have my period (I get awfully cranky), or that I had a lot of work to do the night before and haven’t had any sleep. And now, another thing gets me pissed off enough to affect my mood for the day: BILLS!!!!!!! Oh well, as they say… That’s life!

Mommy is undergoing physical theraphy now, and there’s lots of improvement. She can actually say longer sentences that make sense. Though she can’t still walk, she can sit up in bed by herself now.

I’m having my teeth repaired… And just had two extractions today. Arghhh… It hurts

Sheero, Harry, and Choknat haven’t really done anything glamorous. They’re still their happy, loyal selves. Still keep me company every where I go.

Sorry, that’s it for now. I’m still pretty busy with work. I’ll be back soon… Maybe even with a version 6 of Kutitots! Bye for now.