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We are what we think & my blog entries reflect how I think. Have a sip of the poison of my mind.. It's not always lethal.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Another Brother Ties The Knot


(Initially, I wanted to title this blog "Another Brother Bites The Dust" but nah, I'll save the drama for another day. Don't let that scare you off, married life is great when there's communication, a sense of humour, mutual dieting™ & lots of healthy creative sex)

I knew Raymond when we were working our first proper job at VM in the IT distribution sales industry. By proper, I don't mean ideal, it was still a shitty job but an essential stepping-stone which helped pave the way for our future careers in the distribution sales industry, all the way to our current jobs which we could finally consider not perfect but ideal & proper. There were duds in-between for me though. Raymond was luckier. The man's always lucky.

So yeah, that meant we already knew each other for... *counts fingers while summoning memory bank power*.. 7 solid years. Even though we went to different companies after VM (and I actually became a colleague of Raymond again for a brief 2 days before I decided to change course & dive headlong into the Pharmaceutical industry when the opportunity came my way), we kept in touch all the way & met up for drinks & some yuppie merriment. I've lost count of how many times Raymond gave me free rides. May his tires keep going strong, we always have a need for speed.

So this night is the night of his wedding at The Grand Copthorne Waterfront. Needless to say, I'm feeling a milestone achieved for my bro. Photo below: That's Raymond & his lovely bride Faustina whom Raymond ought to be amused over my incessant insistence about how she looks like a Korean beauty queen. She's just perfect for Kimchi endorsement.

Exercising Marriage Free Speech

And this night, I feast my eyes because lots of the couple's friends invited are arty-farty people and they turned the wedding into a fashion show as well. There are rockers at the table behind me, Jap fashion strutters, funky hairstylists.. you name it.


One dude caught my attention & he's the guy with the hat in the pic on the right. That's not Slash from the former Guns & Roses. I like his long overcoat & his chick is dressed in Rocker Babe outfit and that's pretty cool. And I like the funky hairstyle of Henri, the man sitting 3 seats to his right. Henri worked in Japan for some years, so put 2 & 2 together to figure out why he escapes the dinosaur Sinkie man image.

You can find something similar in the sewers


And no wedding night would be complete without a sabotage drinking session for the bridegroom. Every dude I'm sharing the table with are some of the closest buds with Raymond & naturally, that translates to mean the naughtiest & noisiest table. And which table could brew the nastiest concoction for the bridegroom but the naughtiest?


So in the end, everybody couldn't figure out what exactly went into the concoction we brewed for Raymond since everybody poured everything within grabbing distance into the glasses willy-nilly. And for a finishing touch, we covered the evil brew with a red cloth and made the whole drama seem like a magic show, waiting for Raymond to come our way so that we can present formally to him our creative skills.

Suffering snakes, I hope Raymond has a stomach made of stainless steel.

The price of Love:
Our Hero of the night downing shite
So did Raymond survive the baptism by liquid fire in the end? Let's just say that it took him forever between sips to finish the poison. And by the end of it all, Raymond had to be manhandled back to his hotel suite. Raymond was a hero for being able to down that whole glass of monstrosity which made my stomach churn at the sight of it. Damn.

I messaged him the next day to ask if he managed to find his way out of the bathtub he was dumped in the previous night & if he was ok. He called me back to tell me he knew I wasn't one of those who forced him to drink the concocted liquid poison (I actually did volunteer myself to drink half of it since I practice Kamikaze but I was let off), so he gave me his assurance that I will be immune to his upcoming vengeance, ha.

So here's to my buddy Raymond & Faustina. You have to be a good boy from now on, brother. Well, most of the time would be good enough. Take great care of each other.

- De Lion Speaks

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Manga Galore

If you were a prisoner in a cell & the key to your cell door as well as a computer connected to the Net are just right in front of you within reach but you are too lazy to pick up the key & use it or too lazy to research on the Net about how to use a key, then you have nobody to blame but yourself as you continue rotting in your prison.

Just like how a friend commented she's bored with her iPhone while knowing that her phone is still doing time in its jail. At the same time, she's aware about the possibility of breaking the shackles of her mobile but still, she lets her phone continue staying in prison.

Thing is, a prisoner can never tell how big the outside world actually is & how much more one can do with the vastness & variety outside. But she's just a bimbo & bimbos are supposed to be dumb while complaining about their predicament which they actually have the ability to pull themselves out of if they bother to work the grey matter between their ears. So of course she got bored with her phone, tsk.

Sure, she can literally buy her 'freedom' for her phone but I digress. Suffice to say that if you have to pay for every single step you take out of your prison, sooner or later, you'll burn out. Either you or your wallet first. Caught my drift?

Alright, down to business. So this week, we talk about manga! Looky here:


What you see above is just a small section of the A-to-Z listing of the app 'Manga Depot'. It's an app that allows you to download & read manga. For the uninitiated, manga is not some exotic mango from the Solomon Islands. Manga is Japanese comics.


So Manga Depot allows you to download & read Japanese comics in English, as you can see in the pic on the right (click it to bloat it). The picture shows the portrait view and reading Manga in portrait view on your phone can make you develop wrinkles around the eyes before the 5th chapter. But don't fret, tap the screen once and you'll go straight to landscape view mode. So, are we good here or what?

Why Manga Depot? Well, I've experimented with other manga apps but this is my favourite thus far. Some other manga apps don't even have complete chapters, leaving you hanging like an Otaku lost in Akihabara (uh, if that's even possible).


And this pic shows how the interface looks like when you select the manga you would like to download & read. All you'll need to do is to click the 'download' tab on the left of specific chapters and once downloaded, just click 'read'. You can download subsequent chapters while reading at the same time.

Say what? Multi-tasking is so here already? Well, no shit, Sherlock.

But there's a wedgie, er, I mean con to the whole matter: not every manga can be found here. For example, Death Note and Bleach. Bugger that. But still, there are too many other titles to read. So give & take even more, don't bitch overboard about it.

And here's a hint: once you have found the manga title you like within the app's alphabetical or search list, click it, then click the heart on the upper right corner up-top to favourite it. Then when you are ready to read, just go into your favourites list; a simple procedure to prevent yourself from going all over the place and creating a mess, but an easily overlooked one on the first go.

You make the choice about whether your phone is just a boring brick or a very much alive multimedia tool. Manga is just one out of many goodies in the mobile world.

Just so happens that reading manga can make you miss your train stop, so watch out. Speaking from experience.

- De Lion Speaks

Monday, December 27, 2010

Better Late Than Never

And oh, Merry belated Christmas. Wish I could have been appropriately on time for the season greeting here. So some carol sings about there being 12 days to Christmas, but who are they kidding? But still, I wish Christmas consisted of 12 days. Too bad the corporate slave machine will never agree to that.

Anyway, I came across White Zombie's Thunder Kiss '65 & it rocked my holiday season. Here's the music video & I totally TOTALLY love the 60's dance moves of the chicks; never knew such moves could gel so well with Metal and you just gotta love Sean Yseult, the very first female in a Metal band.



- De Lion Speaks

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

More Juice For More Mobile Time


Do you know what it's like to be on MSN on your iPhone and just when your friend was about to reveal a deep dark secret to you, your battery dies? Or when you are about to hit level 12 in Ravensword after some hard grinding and your battery goes kaput? Then you would be left twiddling thumbs in the train for the rest of your long journey as suicidal thoughts that only geeks without their gadgets working could understand come flooding in.

So yeah, I abuse my iPhone everyday to the point that on some days when I reach home at the end of the day, only around 20% of its battery life would be left (if I get lucky). And to think I've even disabled everything that I will only turn on as & when I need them, like 3G, WiFi, location services & notifications (except for WhatsApp and eBuddy).

Extra Juice In A Casing (click to bloat)

Therefore, my new backup-power casing pictured above is a much needed purchase for me (courtesy of my Lioness since this is our 5th anniversary & Christmas present from her). Let's see now, it says:

Extra 5 hours talk time
Extra 7 hours video time
Extra 28 hours music playback time and
Extra 210 hours standby time

The manufacturer must be a sad no-life douchebag because there is no 'extra gaming battery time' indication, but no biggie because the extra video playback time is a close estimate for gaming time after you shave off 30 minutes or so if you are playing a 3D graphic-intensive game.

I've so far found 3 types of such iPhone 4 power casings locally: this one from Apple's premium reseller, this one by Energizer (both above $100) & my no brand brand ($88 from Mobile Fashion at Jurong Point). I don't need the brand names in this case, I just need the extra power.

The section on the right of the pic above shows how my phone looks like after installing the casing on it & I'm quite relieved it didn't turn out all fugly. I think I will only use the casing when my iPhone is low on juice anyway. Other than that, it stays in my bag. Best thing is, it doesn't weigh a ton. It makes the phone heavier, but only by a tad.

I don't think I'll be having withdrawal symptoms during long flights from now on.

- De Lion Speaks

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Celebrating A Buddy's Tying of The Knot


Derrick is not just my ex-colleague from R, he is also one of my buddies whom when I address as 'Bro', I'll mean it. Perhaps the fact that he's a Capricorn helps; not only do Cappies tell the best jokes which talent my funny bones do appreciate, but us Scorps' best get-along buddies are also supposed to be Cappies. The goat's unexpected angles of perspective from which they spring their spontaneous jokes never fail to impress me.

Picture a scorpion riding on a goat's back. Peachykeen & so becoming, isn't it? Can't think of anything else that can conjure up a better image of camaraderie. Not even an image of George Bush & Osama tearing at each others' throats while chuckling "Heil Hitler" comes close.

We came quite a ways, both of us having worked together in the same nonsensical company with a nonsensical boss. Derrick joined the corporate meat-grinder a couple weeks or so after me & along with Cheryl & Ming Er, we all suffered together. But to make up for everything, we played together to make merriment out of the senselessness of it all. You know what they say about how people caught together in the same dire straits can become close.

So the years flew by & before I could mutter a 'lo & behold', today is the day I attended Derrick & his lovely bride Regina's wedding dinner at Hotel Rendezvous.

I thought to myself that I must have been the last guest to turn up since upon reaching the venue, nobody was stationed at the guests reception desk, not to mention the time then was already past 8pm.

So I put on a 'lost' expression on my face as I rifed through the guests seating list myself DIY-style, and that seemed to work because 2 ladies standing outside the ballroom started walking towards me. I didn't think they were impressed by my initiative and were just coming over to congratulate me.

Turns out they were part of the guests reception team and they helped me find my table number. So remember folks, a lost expression can be as good as slamming your palm down on those silver bells that summon the service crew, if not better, since high-pitched 'ding's at sharp octaves aren't that healthy for the eardrums.

Walking towards the ballroom, a familiar figure stood before me ahead with his back facing me and I knew that must be Derrick. When he saw me, we greeted each other like 2 little kids and when I asked him whether anyone else from R made it there, he answered: "No man, you are the only survivor."

Bugger that. Makes me glad I went to support him & Regina even if I had to do it myself without the rest of the gang. I made a mental note to wring their necks when I see them next and how I'll freaking wring in a way that will make ragdoll physics look like child's play. For the meantime, that will be a story for another day as I just wanted to share in Derrick & Regina's joy and immerse myself in the mood.

So I was seated with strangers at table 20 who immediately made me feel welcome and I appreciated that a lot. They cared about whether I could get to the food and such and it was nice for a change to attend a wedding dinner that nobody asked me why I told the waiter not to serve me any sharks' fin.


Throughout the dinner, I took
pictures of the lovely couple and I even went over to their table with their immediate families sitting there and just snapped away as if I owned the place. I told myself this is my buddy's once in a lifetime event so shyness can just take a backseat this evening. I didn't tell you I'm actually shy by nature?

I so very much wanted to catch up with Derrick but this is his big day and he had to focus on the whole ballroom, so I limited myself to popping over to where he was once or twice to remind him that I still exist. And when he could, he came over to my table to remind me that he exists too. When I saw the tiredness in his eyes, I told him to hang in there since this is a once in a lifetime event.

So I'm elated for my buddy & his bride. Guess what, there is a plot of land next to my block where a new apartment block is currently being built. Derrick & Regina have already bought and reserved an apartment for it. Nothing like having a longtime buddy as your neighbor, yo?

+1 to another drinking buddy within grabbing distance.

This blog entry is dedicated to the lovely couple.



- De Lion Speaks

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A Good News Nippon-Style


My manager asked me yesterday if it would be alright if I report to the office today instead of tomorrow for this week. Since flexibility is a sound strategy endorsed by Sun Tzu & I can toggle between my planned areas of visit according to the call of duty, I replied 'sure'.

He was really nice about it, leaving the authority regarding the matter in my hands. If your manager treats you kindly, you cater to his needs to the best of your ability. Harmony at work both up & down the rungs of the corporate ladder is a vital thing that political corporate idiots don't know how to value.

Even though I was grateful for my manager's gentlemanly mannerism, I couldn't help but have a nagging worry about what the whole thing entails. So I asked him what the issue was about & he said he just wanted to catch up with me before he goes on leave this Thursday & Friday. So naturally, I concluded that he probably wanted to handover some work stuff to me.

Turns out he discussed with me about upcoming promotion activity plans for my customers for next year as well as the details of my upcoming task for training Jacelyn, Angela, Ken & a new sales rep by the name of Lester who will be joining us soon.

I'll need to train them on merchandising on the retail front since they will be helping me out to service the neighborhood stores under my care. I'm not worried about this because I get along well with my fellow sales reps. Goes to show the importance of having your colleagues as friends & allies; something which people who go around playing black politics & stabbing everyone in the back in the office or have zilch empathy don't have.

Sucks to be them. There's a price to pay for the grabbing of power at the unfair expense of your fellow troops or taking on the role of the office snob. Most end up not knowing how to deal with the price.

Anyway, the highlight of the day is that Jason has announced to Eileen & me (after we sort of interrogated him about it) that our upcoming company incentive trip in February next year will be 3 days in Hokkaido & 2 days in Tokyo if everything goes well!

Me & my Lioness at Otaru (March 22, 2010)


Zowee! Imagining myself going back to Hokkaido again (especially Otaru & Sapporo) causes me to have that fantasizing dreamy look in my eyes. All expenses paid too except for the binge drinking my guts tell me Lily, Jace & me will surely perform over in Nihon. I can even foresee that i'll be bringing them to that pub in Tokyo where I experimented with the local liquid poison during my previous trip there. Hope our planned trip will become a reality. February is gonna be snowing over there & I miss the snow & cold.. with a Passion.

And finally, I went running again at Jalan Bahar tonight. The original plan was to go at 23:30pm but I only managed to leave the house after 00:30am. Wish I could stop time since I can really dilly-dally sometimes. Too much to do, too little time. What's new?

So after I finished my run & workout, I had Mee Hoon Goreng for supper at the only coffeeshop at Jalan Bahar since I was hungry. I know, I know, you're saying 'wasted effort'. Oh shuddup. My appetite always shoots up the charts after exercising. The same goes for my sexual appetite. My physical appetitite & sexual appetite have a direct correlation just like two soldiers in the same foxhole who cooperate with each other like their lives depend on it.

Mid-life crisis.

As is my self-created tradition, everytime I come to Jalan Bahar, I'll buy a packet of coffee & go to the playground to enjoy the quiet night. I like Jalan Bahar, it's a place which is remote & seems surreal & separated from the rest of the country. Yeah, I need my frequent moments of isolation. If I'm not mistaken, this is the smallest estate of the country.

Makes for a perfect place for pilgrimage, meditation & reflection. I've had quite enough of the hustle & bustle concrete jungle life. Yeah, this remote little place is closer to Nature & being close to Nature is good.

So to conclude this blog entry, I'll now share with you the lovely view before me right now at one of the many benches here in the playground I use as my resting place where I'm sipping my coffee & listening to 95FM:

Simplicity at its best

Oh, and if you happen to spot anything otherworldly in the pic, do let me know as this place is quite haunted.

- De Lion Speaks

Friday, December 3, 2010

Cornered. Again.

Three times in a row today, I was asked by 3 of my dear Pharmacists customer-friends about when I'm gonna start working on a kid with my Lioness (and one of them is 5 months into her pregnancy). Ever since I went past the age of 30, friends & relatives have been asking me that.

So I've derived a default answer to that question: "See when you are free." I'm so used to that question that it doesn't really bother or intimidate me, but being asked 3 times in a row in one day? Well, that did get me pondering about the situation.

Ok, I'll secretly admit that everytime I'm being asked that, a little small corner in my mind fidgets a little due to a bit of... discomfort & apprehension. It's kinda akin to a little wedgie. See, my Lioness is of age for child-bearing.

So for anyone, like my 3 Pharmacist friends today who bother to dig into the matter with me a little further, I'd explain that it's not that I do not wish to have a kid, it's just that I'm not emotionally ready yet because I am not yet ready with the prospect of giving up my personal time for my hobbies & pursuits at the moment.

See, having a kid is like deciding to get a pet; if you think & feel that you cannot afford the necessary time to take care of a pet, it'd be better not to have one. Not only would you pressurize yourself but your pet will suffer due to inadequate care & focus.

But I always add that I am aware of myself being a little selfish in thought here, since my Lioness cannot remain young forever. Thus, everytime I really think deeply about this issue, I cannot help but feel cornered by life & time.

It's like a tug-of-war: I know that since a meaningful marriage ought to climax by reaching the ultimate fulfillment of setting up my own family with my spouse by sowing my seeds & creating little lion cubs in our den, my requirement for personal time is at odds here, since whether I like it or not, time is indeed catching up on us. Age.

Anyhow, I always conclude by telling everyone that I hope to have a daughter some day. I've even decided on the name of my future daughter already.

Oh well..

Anyway, I have just finished work & am standing outside Great World City. The time now is coming to 8pm. This is the first Friday that I've worked till this late because the heavy downpour earlier today trapped me in my house & I had to wait for it to subside before I could get out of the house for work.

Notable events that happened today: The Pharmacist who is with child gave me 2 tubes of Ketoprofen gel when I told her I wanted to buy one for my dad-in-law whose knee has swelled up & he's in pain. Bless her generous soul.

And I was quite taken aback by her cynicism regarding her description of how becoming pregnant made her & her hubby realize & experience a different & harsher reality from pre-pregnancy flowery thoughts of the joys of having a baby. Things which used to be a breeze like work & the traveling to-&-fro to the work place have all suddenly become a tiresome burden now that she's with child.

Fancy a cynic like me being taken aback by cynicism. Sometimes, we just hate our own poison.

And she even mentioned that on many occasions, nobody would give up their seats for her in the train. Society here has gone to the dogs.

So I'm here outside Great World City sipping strawberry milkshake from Mac and the condominium before me across the street looks lovely what with all the lightings about on this damp night but I wonder why there are really tall rooms that take up like 2 stories on several of the floors. Here, see for yourself:



- De Lion Speaks

Monday, November 29, 2010

A Working Monday In The Life of Me


5:40a.m.
My handphone sings & wakes me up. Since I have to report to the office on the other end of the country on Mondays & Thursdays & it's a freaking Monday morning, it's self-explanatory why I have to get up at this damned hour.

I cannot help being jolted into consciousness while observing myself sliding into Cranky Mode. Oh, the horror.

I hate mornings

Something in me always dies everytime the sun slowly manifests itself in the great blue here in the bloody tropics.

6:56a.m.
Sprinted out of the house & making my way to the train station. Yeah, it takes me that long to prepare for the day, mostly in front of the mirror. I didn't even eat breakfast. I also spent some time talking to my Lioness (a.k.a. my Little Rabbit). Talking to her cheers me up since she can be so funny.

Since I'm in the sales line & am the face representing my company as I have to come face to face with our customers, I have to metro myself up a bit & look modern. That eats up some time in the mornings. Even if I was in another trade, I'd still do the same. Just so happens that I find making myself look good a little to be really fun.

You try to have a bit of fun to cheer yourself up on a dreary Monday morning during the hour when you should still be in bed. Early bird gets the dark rings.

You know what irks me? This place I'm living in is a leading modern Asian country but lots of guys (not all, but lots) don't give a hoot about their appearances or level of modernity. Go figure.

7:22a.m.
I'm in the train right now at Boon Lay and my transit point is Paya Lebar station where I'll be switching to the Circle Line for another train to another station nearest to my office.

But instead of heading straight east, I'm taking the Boon Lay train in the other direction towards the remote Joo Koon station, which is 2 stops away and the final station of the western line. All this merry-go-round just so that I can guarantee a seat for myself on this long journey to the east.

And I do a need a seat today. Usually when I'm in the train or bus, I'd listen to music, play games or read iBooks on my phone. But it's freaking Monday, remember? On Mondays, I'll just listen to music & nap in the train.

"What? I thought you just woke up earlier?", you might say, dear reader, but my weekends are so precious to me that I squeeze every available second out of them for my loved ones, personal hobbies & activities. Last night, I was editing the 3rd part of our Japan trip's video, after which I practiced guitar & some music theory until some time past 2a.m.

And I went to bed with a satisfied smile on my face. Better to go to bed later with a satisfied sense of fulfillment than go to bed early with nothing accomplished.

So the time spent in the train on Monday mornings like this one is used for napping to make up for the previous weekend late night. Besides, this place has become so overpopulated the crowded condition of the morning traffic is a fucking misery, so I might as well nap & shut my eyes from this tragedy.

I fucking hate mornings

So good night. Later...

8:50a.m.
Arrival at the office. Good thing I managed to have coffee at one of the coffeeshops nearby just now. As a result, I'm now feeling more awake & better. On days when I don't wake up early enough, I won't have the time for coffee before coming in & such mornings suck.

No morning caffeine = Corporate Zombie

That's just one of the formulas for dealing with a zombie outbreak: besides shooting them square in the head, you make them drink coffee.

10:13a.m.
So after I've completed my paperwork, checked my work emails, finished some discussions or meetings & stocked up on my order forms for my customers & other nitty gritty stuffs, I'm now leaving the office to head out to the big bad world.

This Monday morning is different:
A number of my fellow colleagues from the Sales division didn't come to the office, which is a rarity. Angela has started her maternity leave, Jace is on sick leave, Dino might be coming in later & I'm not sure about Lily & Eileen. Only Ken, me & Zell made it. Hey, I just realized that all the guys are in & the girls are not.

Anyway, without the rest of them around, the office has become sombre & boring. Every working adult knows that the Sales division is the life of the party. It's an undisputed law of the Universe. But when I reached the train station, Dino WhatsApped me & we chatted while I made my way to my customers. I even get to hear some of her voice recordings she sent me via WhatsApp. How cute.

4:19a.m.
I woke up & realized 2 things:

1) My intended little nap when I reached home from work snowballed into full-blown sleep.

2) I haven't had my dinner.

But I'm not surprised. Usually on Mondays when I reach home from work, I'll shower & then crash for awhile, but often, I'll wake up in the middle of the night instead. I can get really tired on Mondays sometimes.

I love the night

Now stop calling me a child of darkness because I'm not into any of that satanic shit. I hate mornings & love the night because the night is cooler / colder & it's more romantic. It's also the time when your mind calms down from all the fast-paced poison accumulated during the day.

Stress ought to be officially classified medically as a slow, painful death, so you need to unwind & purge the poison from your system. This process has a name: Night.

Yes, yes, I also know about Beer.

Anyway, because I was attending to my customers throughout the afternoon, I chose to continue writing this blog after I get home since I'm so horribly longwinded & didn't want myself to get into the way of myself.

So here I am, lying in bed writing this. (Later, my Lioness got up to reheat my dinner for me, God bless my good woman).

Anyhoos, there are 2 highlights of the previous day:

I visited the Pharmacist who is also a dear friend to me after all these years of working with her and our conversations about official work matters were interspersed with iPhone discussions as well as her sharing her personal life matters with me.

We had a long & deep conversation. Because I care about her situation, I did my best to help her think about possible solutions to certain things & situations. I appreciate it when my customers place trust in me regarding their situations.

2nd highlight of the day was when a friend told me about an offer. To cut a long story short, one of the reasons she told me to take on that challenging offer was because I'm a guy.

Now I appreciate an offer coming from a friend, but when the offer is challenging & Risky & the justification for taking it on is just because I'm a guy and that particular offer has nothing to do with gender as a prerequisite, it just serves to remind me about how some girls here try to play with the machismo of guys in order to get them to do their bidding.

It works this way: the girl places the guy in a position that reminds the guy about his primal need to prove his manliness to the girl. If he says no to the girl, thus displaying the lack of manly guts or incapability to the girl, he ends up feeling inadequate about himself. So Mr Caveman ends up forcing himself to do her bidding.

Screw machismo, just because I'm a guy doesn't mean that I shouldn't take calculated risks & just behave with brainless brawn. If she was trying to use this oldest girly trick in the book on me, she ought to be disappointed by now because I have no shame when it comes to my alarm bell ringing about the possibility of girls trying to manipulate me.

I'll only do things for girls gladly when they can treat me with the principle of not doing things to others that you yourself do not wish others to do to you.

But then again, there would be no policemen without criminals. On a similar vein, if there were no stupid men who value the need to prove how macho they can be over their own common sense and allowing women to manipulate them as a result, there wouldn't be women who are 'smart' enough to take advantage of men.

Some dead heroes also happen to be dead foolish heroes.

Seems like I'll need to help my friend understand me better so that she will not be disappointed again by trying to use her girly tricks & watching them rebound off my back into her face. But then again, why bother?

So this is how my Monday went. To summarize the whole day just in one sentence:

This tired Monday was quite a typical one: while working as I travel about visiting my customers, quirky things can just happen along the way.

I hope your Monday was a wonderful one & not too Blue.

- De Lion Speaks

Sunday, November 28, 2010

When Time Becomes An Issue, You Do It On The Go


So I used to blog using this free but powerful web server at 50webs. Free because I do not believe in paying a single cent just to write about my life story, server maintenance issues notwithstanding; that's the Internet's problem, not mine

Powerful because I could insert my own Flash animations with audio & music I made which, coupled with Dreamweaver, was almost a blogging control freak's wet dream come true of controlling in the most freakish manner, everything down to the very last pixel. And I could create direct download links to the game mod files I created & stored in my blog's server. Now that kicked ass.

Add all these up & you get a Blogger's high that transcends that of the almightiness of Doodle God.

BUT, with great power comes great hassle. Sure, you could create the flashiest Flash of the time period for every single blog entry, but unless you are retired, you will find yourself up against the wall in terms of energy & time spent (more like a lack thereof).

..Especially if you are a non-single full-time working adult like me. I mean, I love recording the occurrences of every single day of my life for memory's sake, but trying to get fancy even with prepared visual candy-coated templates can get tiresome. Hardcore bloggers have their moments of disillusionment too. Who says the thousand-yard-stare was invented by Vietnam War veterans? Cavemen already started blogging on cave walls when wars were fought with sticks & stones that could break my bones.

I'm not saying the blogging of my everyday life on its own is a tiresome affair. It's just that during those blogging years without the advancement in mobile phone technology, one is limited to only having the capacity to blog when one is in front of a computer.

Which sucks because firstly, as things happen, you just wish that you could have a device on hand that follows you everywhere you go just like your shadow and record things down as they occur. Then later in the day, when something else happens, you could continue recording from where you left off previously.

C.O.N.V.E.N.I.E.N.C.E.

A blog is simply the accumulated recordings of daily occurrences or thoughts or ideas & convenience ought to be everybody's friend in this area.

Sure, there's always the pen & paper to jot things down first, but if you have to write down & then retype on the keyboard what you have written, that's double work and double work is stupid & such inefficient stupidity is meant only for MNCs.

Sure, you can manually write things down in point form & then type them out in detail in front of the computer later but you risk not remembering correctly certain details or the proper order of things. Besides, the lesser use of paper helps save more trees.
Go Green

So, the ability to record things on the go has an invaluable advantage: the fresher the memory at the time of recording, the more accurate & correct the details & information will be. Just so happens that we all have a finite amount of grey matter that depreciates with the passage of time.

So yeah, memories; the building blocks of blogs, are like beer. The longer you leave them untouched, the flatter & staler they become. Sip them quickly & they taste their absolute best, hic.

So I have decided to switch from my fancier computer-generated blog to this much much simpler blog. Why? Because of my iPhone and the BlogPress app. So my phone has taken on the role of that missing shadow I wish I had which could follow me everywhere I go, facilitating the ease of recording things or thoughts as they occur while keeping my beer, er, memories fresh as they get translated into blog entries, no matter where I may happen to be.

Only exception would be while I'm in the shower, I suppose. Get your iPhone sporting the wet look & Apple will suddenly deny you as a paying customer, even if you waved that warranty card in their faces.

So, I guess that with such mobility made possible by the current mobile technology, the advanced flashy eye candies such as animated Flash which can only be crafted properly on computers will have to be sacrificed if I choose this mobile platform. Oh, the Cynic in me just told me just as well, since I've already forgotten most of what I've learned about Flash & Dreamweaver after all these years of grey matter depreciation anyway. How timely.

But hey, when it comes to blogging, it's the thought that counts.. Above everything else, even though everything else would be nice to have.

Mobile blogging on the go

- De Lion Speaks