From the monthly archives: April 2007
I’m not much of a TV person, except for all things childlike (Nickelodeon, Disney Channel) and my daily local teleserye fix. I’m not at all knowledgable in any foreign local shows unless I put my full attention to it — I could count the ones I focus on with my fingers: Joan of Arcadia and One Tree Hill. My thesismates used to watch CSI during our thesis nights, but since I am not a fan of anything gory, I never watched it.
Thanks to my brother, his girlfriend, CSI:NY DVDs for her and his Sony PSP, I got to watch CSI. New York, specifically. Yes, I’m still not a fan of the gore, but can I just say: I love this show.
I haven’t had the chance to watch Vegas or Miami, so all I can rave about is the New York version, but I love it. Again, despite the gore and the show’s uncanny ability to make me a bit paranoid, I love how it goes. I like the intrigue, I like the characters, I like the stories and the way they all work. The gadgets in the lab, the high-tech cameras, the complexities of the case, how they work, the way they find and piece together their evidences — ah, the geekness! I love! ♥
If their profession wasn’t so dangerous, and if the sight of blood doesn’t make me recoil, I’d love to be a part of CSI. Especially in the evidence investigation.
But, since I can’t…I’d have to settle for writing something like that. :P I’m thinking of writing something similar on Script Frenzy (don’t know about that? Now go and check it out!), which means I better get watching more to get some ideas. :P
Back in sophomore year in college, one of our favorite snacks is this yummy chocolate revel bars we buy for Php 25.00 each at the now defunct Coffee Club. Sometimes we’d buy two of those and enjoy the yummy chewy chocolatey goodness of it. Since the coffee shop closed within a year or so, the only way we could get our revel bar fix is whenever there’s a bazaar in our college and someone decides to sell them.
Last night, my mom asked me to look for chocolate revel bar recipes because she planned to bake some to bring for their outing. She was too tired to bake so the recipe was untouched. This afternoon, I was left alone at home (mom has a swimming thing and my brother has work) and I have nothing much to do except watch CSI:NY Season 3 and more TV. So what did I do? Bake. :P
Just a little backgrounder, I used to bake a lot when I was in high school, particularly the summer before sophomore year. I bake every single afternoon — cookies, cakes, brownies (the most popular one), and whatever I could cook given the ingredients we have at home. My mom liked it, and that started her baking, which started my brother’s baking/cooking too.
Anyway, so this afternoon, I decided to get busy in the kitchen and get going on those chocolate revel bars. :) The picture above is the finished product, I’m done eating that slice, and bias aside: it’s so good. :P Here’s the recipe I used, from AllRecipes.com:
I’ve never been a spontaneous person. I’d like to be spontaneous, to do things at the spur of the moment without thinking of how to do it or what the consequences would be, but it’s just not in my personality. I admire spontaneous people, and when I join in their spontaneity, I like it. But, as boring as this may sound, I like order. I like it when things go as planned, or at least somewhat close to it, even with little surprises along the way. I’m obssessive compulsive in that way — I like making to-do lists, I like having a scheduled time to do things, I like having even a general game plan. In short (and I have mentioned this before), I’m a control freak.
I know it sounds like I’m too stiff and boring, and probably most of you would say, “Chill, Tina!” It’s not that I totally get pissed off when there are changes in plans or things don’t go my way. Yes, I don’t like it, but I do know how to adjust. But I do have a limit, as with everyone. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?
It sounds so stiff and boring, and yes, I know one must be open to change. And I know it sounds funny coming from me, who talks about surrender and letting go and all time — but yes, I have issues with that. :P I want to learn how to be more spontaneous, be more unpredictable, but for goodness sake, at least be true to the plans you make. Why bother making plans when you won’t follow it after?
Hmm. Anyway. So many thoughts running in my head but I don’t know how to write it down. I just pray I’ll get over this pissed feeling soon. :P
No worries. :) I’m okay.
I was bloghopping through my Google Reader (wait, is that right?) and I read about Abe’s, Luis‘ and Juned‘s post about Ratified.org, this new Filipino blog ranking site which gathers data from Technorati and ranks the blogs according to their incoming links ((See complete description here)).
I submitted my blog just for fun, thinking that I would probably not even get inside the Top 100. But a few hours later, what do you know? I’m actually at # 88 ((What’s weird is that Mae is also in #88, and she has a higher Technorati rank than I do, so I should be at #89, right?))!
And I’m a break out too! How cool is that?! :P
I remember a few months back, Jomar and I were talking about how we get our Technorati ranks and how many people link to us and how poor we were with regards to these kind of ranking, but after being immersed with fellow bloggers (and getting lots and lots and lots of link love!) and with the recent WP theme-making stints, I’m surprised and pleased at how this baby of mine has moved — after three years. :P Wahaha, to think I’ve been blogging for about five or so years already but it was only now that I’m actually paying attention to these things. :P I think we can see the reason why I never got to go up like this in ranking and such before — just look at the way I used to blog. Que horror!
Anyway, I bet I’d be kicked out of that spot as soon as other more popular bloggers get listed in Ratified.org, but I’m happy that my baby managed to get in at the Top 100 on its first submission. :P That should be enough…for now. This means…more to come after! :P Yeahbah.
How about you? Have you submitted your blog to be Ratified? :)
UPDATE, 4:03 pm: Like I said. I’m no longer at # 88, I’m already at #89. :P
This is a follow-up entry about my Smart Addict Mobile retention plan and new phone woes — yes an unexpected development!
So I was busy minding my own business last Monday, doing some work stuff and such when an unknown number suddenly calls my personal number. I look at it for a while, wondering if it’s a possible employer who found out about my skillz…so I answered it.
Me: Hello?
Smart Man (SM): Hello, good morning, is this [insert my Mom's name here]?
I was dumbfounded for a while — why are they calling my number to look for my mom? Then I realized that it could be Smart.
Me: Uh…no, this is her daughter, I’m the one using this line…who is this?
SM: This is from Smart, we just want to inform you that your unit, Nokia 6233, is here.
Me: [pause] Ah okay.
It’s not a hidden fact to everyone that I am a Pinoy Big Brother viewer. I don’t think I’m a fan yet since I haven’t subscribed to 24/7 or went to any eviction nights, so let’s just stick to viewer. :P
Anyway, in the light of the recent event that a member of Slovenian Big Brother visiting the Pinoy Big Brother household for the Big Brother Swap, here’s a little tribute to Filipinos that someone posted in the PBB Forum ((No, I am not registered; I just subscribed to feeds. :P)) about how Filipinos are special.
This entry also goes out to Mae, maybe as an affirmation of sorts for what she just posted. :) [Warning, long read! But really, worth it.]
I was thinking, over thinking
Cause there’s just many scenarios
To analyze, look in my eyes
Cause your my dream please come true.
- Overthinking, Relient K
There’s no denying this fact — I overthink. Don’t we all? One of the things that feel so depressing to think of and realize is that when you realize that you really don’t know what you want. Or, when you think you know what you want, but when you get there or when you’re almost there, you wonder if that is what you really want.
Hmm. Yes, I’m overthinking again.
How do you classify mobile blogging? Is blogging to WordPress via GPRS counted?
There’s no internet here in the office, so I’m using my Smart GPRS to blog. I’m THAT desperate. haha. it’s hard to be in front of a computer w/o Internet access…I keep on clicking on my browser even if there’s n0 net. See, Im usng txt lngo n0w. grr.
wait. i jst got an email frm our tech. FINALLY, a workaround for our problem! back to regular programming!
Let’s continue being geeky because I’ve got some updates. No, no new themes (yet), but just some plain domain updates. Look up at the navigation menu and you’ll see that there seems to be a lot of new things there. Well, you’re right, there are a lot of new things there. Let’s list them, shall we?
- Domain Information – I delayed adding this before because I haven’t got the screenshots of the past two layouts up, plus I wanted to do some revisions. Anyway, they’re up now, with minor revisions, mainly on the content. Oh, and I just took a look at my entire layout history — man, I’ve been through so many years and layouts, what else can I do to add variety? Hmmm.
- WP Themes - Yes, I’m standing up to this newfound geekness I started doing so I have a separate page for my WP Themes. I’m still thinking if I need to put up a separate page for each theme, but since I’m still new at this and I only have two themes up for now, one page will suffice.
- Contact – I can’t find a place to stick the contact form other than this page, so here. :) I need to make new link buttons.
- Writings - Finally, I figured out how to manage my subpages! I didn’t want to put it up without proper navigation and after some short code tweaking, it works! I will put up some NaNoWriMo dedicated pages, but you may now hop over there and read old writings and maybe even comment. :P
UPDATE 11:33PM: NaNoWriMo novel pages are up! :) - About Me – This is not new, but I put up some subpages there too. I still have to revise these pages just because I want to.
I also put up links to my (yet to be updated again) online portfolio and Godchicks, of course. =)
Can I just say I really enjoyed all the webdesign/programming things I’ve done since last week? Ahhh. I love it! I remember this is the main reason why I took up Computer Science in college. :-B Now if only I could really apply it in the real world, as in do this for a living. Now that would be fun. :D
When I said it was addictive, I really wasn’t kidding. :P Maybe I’m just being über geeky, but I don’t care because it’s fun doing this. :)
So now I present to you my second downloadable WordPress theme. *bow*
This layout is entitled Falling Stars, and it is based on Jars of Clay’s Waiting for the World to Fall which is part on the Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack. I had a similar layout for this in RefineMe.org, which I released around late 2005, I think? It was my first purple and starry layout, two things I really, really like, which made me love it so much.
The original version of this, however, made use of tables instead of CSS layers. I was having a hard time controlling the layers to make it look the way I wanted it to. Also, the original one is narrower than this theme, and I had a weird appearing/disappearing sidebar. :P
As with the previous layout, I can’t remember where I got the images I used here. I remember searching for “falling stars” in Google and then got these images.
This theme is a bit girly with all the stars and such, but I think it’s a keeper. :P I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed making it (two days! Wohoo!). You may preview it here or click here to download the theme. If you like it and use it, please comment here so I can see it. And if you see any bugs, please don’t hesitate to tell me. =)
Wohoo! I’ve got more under my sleeve…er, my hard drive folders, and I’ll have them re-coded and up in the next few weeks. Right now I think I’ll rest my coding fingers and eyes and do some reading. :)
Happy Sunday, everyone!
