Making positivi-tea.

You guys. Sometimes, I think about taking down Baguio Below because I barely write here anymore. It's been a good run, but perhaps it's time to move on. Nonetheless, it is early and deathly cold in the mountains, and these conditions make me introspective and compel me to inflict my thoughts on the universe.

I have been making a point to do good things for myself lately.

First, I have been trying to eat better. I'd been thinking about transforming my eating habits for a while, since I'd been steadily gaining weight since I left college in 2006. Many people I haven't seen for a long time often use my weight gain as an icebreaker. One gets used to it, but sometimes I wish I owned a samurai and that laws regarding evisceration were more forgiving. I kid, I kid. Anyway, coming back, I have decided to eat better (not less, as it were). So more vegetables and fruits, and less of the deliciously evil things. But not chocolate. I can't seem to get rid of chocolate.

Also, I lost my long hair and am now wearing a 'do that dates back to my senior year in high school. The change has been invigorating, I like to think I shed a lot of bad energy. There would be a picture, but I am bleary.

Another thing is that I have resolved to read more books that I borrow. Hanna and I regularly have an exchange, and I have a growing pile of just her books. Several of them have been with me for months now. I also have some of Nicole's, many of which have been with me for so long, they are practically mine. My friends have been very kind to loan me their books, so I shall read them. This will also allow me to talk to said friends about said books, and not be a disappointment when they ask how I liked them. (Movies are another story).

Finally, I have also decided to start running again. I've been preparing for it (mostly, mentally), and I feel I have reached the point where I am ready for implementation.

I should go make some tea now. Later.

Today on KubiTV

Being back home, I've reverted to the role of glorified Bill-Payer. The money doesn't necessarily come from me (ha-ha), but I do literally pay the bills. I spend lots of time in lines and run into all kinds of situations, not all of them pleasant.

This morning, I went to the bills payment center on the third floor of SM Department Store (wasn't I just talking about this place?) and discovered that it does provide the intended convenience. They accept payments for insurance, utilities, most communication and internet service providers, and major credit card companies. The water bill still needs to be settled at the Baguio Water District in Utilities Road, about half a kilometer from the mall. But as I understand it, negotiations are underway for SM to begin receiving water payments. Imagine if that happened. I could accomplish bill-paying duties in one fell swoop. This is great news on the domestic front.

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Slim pickings at the movies. Lem and I saw Ninja Assassin and are thankful our tickets were free. The action scenes were probably wicked...if we could see them. We admit, the ninjas vanishing into the shadows was pretty cool. On the other hand, every other action scene fizzled in bad light and ended too soon. Yes, we know that ninjas move with preternatural speed and should make discreet kills, but what is a ninja movie without properly visible fights?

For one shining moment, when the ninjas massively kick Europol ass, I imagined the movie was a pointed jab at Western ignorance. I was wrong. The police eventually use heavy Western artillery to decimate the ninja clan's mountain hideaway. I am thinking too much.

I did like the scene where Rain's character, Raizo, practices stealth on a nightingale floor. One misstep and the woodwork sings like a bird, alerting the target to an intruder's presence. In Japanese history, paranoid leaders had these floors installed in their palaces as a security measure against assassinations. I remember Takeo from Lian Hearn's amazing novel Across the Nightingale Floor. I think I'll re-read it for a real ninja fix.

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Now that I'm blogging again, I've begun narrating events of my life in my head. I find angles to write about and test out working sentences to myself. This is a useful mental exercise that draws away from my usual train of thought. The people closest to me are up to their eyeballs in my frequent random bursts of neurosis. Restarting the writing habit has been good for my brain, which is becoming addled from disuse.

I return with a story about a disappointing sweatshirt

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sorry for the long silence. Most events in my life have been...internal. And that's no fun. (But anyway, here's a link to how I put my tangled emotions to good use.) I promised myself I would blog, though, so here I am. I missed you all! A couple of posts ago, I asked you to please support my piddling blog. Fruity put in a very enthusiastic response, and I'm hoping I'm still on her good side. (The last time I was online, I managed to read her post about slacker blogging and its wondrous inverse effects. If only we all were that lucky.) Sure I've slacked off for two months, but I still crave the blogging love. I attention-grub that way. This one bit of news that stuck is The Philosophical Bastard has gone off to greener domains. Still need to check that out. I'm home in Baguio now, therefore on dial-up. As far as Internet evolution goes, I'm still in the Dark Ages. This is long overdue, but thanks to Lisa for thinking to invite me to BlogRush. I have yet to realize the full potential of that service since I dropped off the blogging radar.

Blogging mojo, return! I know it will take more than that to get it back, but my desperation will force me to try anything.

Went and used most of my Christmas money this afternoon. For about three days I was really intent on this red hoodie I sighted at the John Hay Commissary. This thing drove me crazy. Truly, it occupied my thoughts for most of those three days. I went back there today to finally sate my desire for this coveted piece of clothing. It was disappointment, not satisfaction, that met me. I worked myself up so much, my poor expectant brain fabricated (haha) this vision of the perfect red sweatshirt. It was literally glowing in my mind. I felt that if I acquired the hoodie, it would be like getting bitten by a genetically-altered spider. It would become my secret source of power: the stone I would swallow for my boobs to grow to ridiculous proportions and the clothes on my back to magically transform into a two-piece outfit worthy of saving an imperiled world. That red sweatshirt would be like the earrings that turned a plain-looking orphanage mother to a bangin' rock star with a purple highlights. It was the sweatshirt to end all sweatshirts...in my head. When I saw it again this afternoon, I couldn't understand why it looked as forgettable as it did. I hauled myself into a cab, ended up in Session Road, and went window-shopping half-dazed.

To try and make up for that severe let-down, I stumbled into a bookstore. There, I found redemption in finding a long-searched-for title and 20% off on all items. Bookstores on sale are the most beautiful things in the world. The red sweatshirt disillusionment gave me clarity for books (and a solid pair of jeans). I'm slightly poorer than when I started out this morning, but I didn't do too bad. The Red Sweatshirt may have eluded me this time, but I will find it. Meanwhile, I will spend cheerfully on books and keep my eyes open for those hologram-generating earrings (Me and my friends are Kubi girls! Kubi! Kubi's my name!).

I'll be going about the rounds soon, folks. See you all in the commenting windows.

I'm supposed to be studying

Just when I thought the days between posts were getting fewer, I might have to disappear again. Hell week is rearing its ugly head and I'm running for the hills. Not to cower, but to meditate. I really should get my act together, but the the closer we get to the end of the sem, the more distracted I'm becoming. It's crunch time and I'd rather munch time.

I'd rather blog than study. I feel that tug every blogger gets when they need their daily blog fix. I have a Write! Write! Write! marquee scrolling around in my head. I go online supposedly to download things for class, but I end up blogging. I also forgot how fun it was to comment. It's like leaving muddy footprints around the blogosphere.

Anyway, speaking of commenting... The House of M (that's Marikina, not Magnus) has been swallowed up by the Marvel Universe, following our immersion into Avangers Disassembled and recently the House of M (that's Magnus, not Marikina). So: If you were a mutant, what powers would you have? Would you be an X-man or a member of the Brotherhood? Post it in the comment sheet and let's cha-cha.

Timing's a bitch. I'm getting my blog mojo back, but I need to go and be a shining example of academic achievement.

Bloggers rule the world

Ooh, someone's getting touchy.
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=56164

Update: Marocharim writes a call to arms for bloggers. Whip out your pens (I mean, keyboards), everyone. Time to exact change.

Let's all make it easier on ourselves

I've been living under a rock. The length of time I've been absent from the blogosphere is the same amount of time it took for RSS to pass completely over my head. I've been feeling some frustration over how it's so hard to get people to read my blog and how it's so difficult to keep track of things people are writing. Then, while scanning blogs that I had to draw blood to find, I read a couple of things about really simple syndication or RSS. So I went and researched and found a great site where you can learn a load of stuff about RSS. www.rss-specifications.com isn't cluttered and it's fun to poke around there. There's a lot of helpful information about feeds and how you can subscribe to your favorite blogs and sites. The site also offers a selection of RSS readers for you to download. (I'm using Feedreader, because it looks the most user-friendly. I'm a noob so I'm still exploring.) It's so ridiculously easy, I can't believe how long it's taken me to catch on. Has everyone been doing this and I'm the only one who hasn't heard about it? Good grief.

I've subscribed to most of the blogs I frequent. There are some of you guys, though, who aren't syndicating your sites. I hope you turn the feeds option on soon. I think you can do that somewhere in your blog settings. This way, your readers will have an easier time keeping up with what's going on in your universe.

RSS feeds will help you dam the flood of information racing through the Internet every blinking second. You get to view new posts from favorite writers in only one window. There's no need to go to the sites themselves, so you don't waste time going through so many individual pages. There's also no problem commenting. Just click on the title and you're taken straight to the individual page of that post.

I may sound like a caveperson evangelizing something that most of you are probably already doing. Just in case you aren't, though, do it. It'll make your life easier on both reading and writing ends.

**Blogger jaypee has a useful post on the pros and cons of using either full or partial feeds.