31.10.07

Procrastination by Dave Walker

2 comments:
cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

For the sake of Halloween

1 comment:
It's really amusing why we Filipinos are so attached to our love ones and relatives that we still savor their existence despite the fact that they already passed away. Though I don't mind the long weekend, thanks to PGMA for doing this possible, we all have time to go back to where we came from and visit our relatives dead or alive.

But it's also amusing that we only bother about scary things during these times (and Holy Week.) And we are so foolish to scare each other with our own fears. I may not be the likes of the so called selected few with an open third eye or something but I don't want to be skeptical of the fact that these things might be true as well. It's still hard to believe if you haven't experienced it yet. And seeing something is not enough reason that such a thing exist and not seeing it is also enough reason to prove that it's not true.

Fear is a psychological thing. It's like a disease that's hard to cure once it got you infected. A disease that will eat your soul and suck in all your valid reasonings.

What the heck am I saying...

It's because of what Kris and I saw while driving along Katipunan Avenue a few hours ago. While driving along Katipunan Avenue, south bound, we saw a figure of a woman in long white dress and super long hair covering her face, in short a White Lady. Was I scared? No, not at all.

But I must admit that if I have seen it in my younger years, I would have been petrified.

The fact that not only me but also Kris saw it means that it's not just a fragment of my imagination. He even asked me if I saw it.,I said yes and we figured that they must be trippin' or something. For one, they tactically positioned a vehicle with too many early warning devices for you to not notice. Two, the location of the so called white lady is just a few meters away from the vehicle, and you can clearly see the image because of the headlight of the vehicle. Three, seeing the figure doesn't really give the creeps, at all.

Stating these facts, the group who did this foolishness must have strategically placed the car with so many warning devices for you to notice. Knowing that we are a bunch of curious beings, we would check out what's the problem as we pass by, as you pass by and decided that it's just a small thing, you go ahead and face the road and that's where the figure will catch your attention. They would have actually pulled it off if they have situated the girl a little farther where it is much darker and no distracting vehicle's around.

But seriously, do they really have to go to so much trouble just to scare people?

27.10.07

Hiatus Update

2 comments:
So, I'm sort of MIA for the past two weeks and believe me, it was really unproductive. For one, I didn't touch any of my crafting tools because I am totally pissed of people borrowing my stuff and not returning it to where they got it. I really hate it when people barge into my cluttered corner and things totally got messy in my POV. It sucks, I'm OC with my own mess and I'm fine with it but when a single soul gets into action and invading my sanctuary, everything else will get affected. It makes me hate of everything around me resulting to a non-productive hiatus.

On the bright side, I received my very first mail in Swap-bot, for the 2008 Calendar Swap. It nice to receive a package when you least expect it. Heck, I've been anticipating for a mail sent last month instead I received something for Down Under sent via air mail and saved me from my distress after 10 days. I just love air mails, I don't care how much will it cost, as long as my partners receive their packages on time and spare them what I am feeling right now. Geez, that sounds so negative.

Anyway, the calendar I receive went straight to my wall without me taking a photo while the extra planner (with cute kittens) that comes with the package is awaiting for New Years Day.

Thank you so much Robyn from Australia!

As expected, the mailman doesn't recognize my last name, got lazy to figure out who the hell that person is and decided not to look for the address, so I haven't received the mail sent by Wendy of SB. So temporarily, I changed my address to my father's address, apparently the mailman there, Mang Danny is way more trustworthy than any other mailman in the Philippines. Hoping to receive mails this time. I still need to talk to the nearest PO for a lock box (which is a PO for the other city.) I just hope that the person there is more trustworthy than the ones in this city. I really want to open a lock box in Manila because I love the PO building there and as I've been saying, the personnels there are more trustworthy than anyone else and I have heard of so many complaints about the custom personnels in Marikina so that's enough reason to not trust that office.

Oh, another good news, I received a mail from Jana in Crochetville! It really brightens my day. It's nice to receive mail from everywhere.

So to the lovely folks in my Send To list, expect to receive your mails in about two weeks. I'll be sending them by the end of the month, that is if All Saints/Soul's Day won't get in the way. You know, remembering our dearly departed really is a big deal here in the Philippines. It's the time to visit graveyards and sort of reunion with other relatives.

Lastly, I got invites for Ravelry! Woohoo!!!

16.10.07

Blog Action Day

5 comments:
Such a pity that we use plastic abundantly but we can't find a decent way to lessen it's waste. If we just think about it, it's not really hard keeping the environment clean. We just don't have to be lazy about it. What's so hard in putting that candy wrapper in your pocket instead of dropping it off the streets? There are a lot of stuff that we can do to help minimize waste.

Here are some of the things that I do recommend and some that I would try in the future.
  1. Coffee addict? Then why don't you go ahead and buy that tumbler in your favorite cafe. You'll receive discounts everytime you use it with your purchase and you're cutting down on the paper cups used.
  2. Are you a crafter who loves coffee? Then why don't you whip up a coffee cup cozy. There are lots of free patterns that you can use to make you own cozy. It's small so you can always bring it in your purse. Here's an example: link
  3. Try reusing you plastic grocery bags, if it smells bad, wash it with soap, let it try and use it again. You can use it as a garbage bag or for the next trip in the market. Or you can keep it all and make new things with it. Check out http://www.myrecycledbags.com/ for ideas. You'll never know what you can do next with your plastic bags.
  4. As much as possible, if you usually buy stuff that you can easily tuck in your bag then do so. Just keep the receipts handy to prevent misconceptions.
  5. Check your grocery stores if they are selling market bags. This bags are pretty cheap and really useful. Some even offer it for free. See SM's Green Bag
  6. Do you sew? How about making your own eco-friendly market bag. Morsbags are so in these day because they pretty much don't cost anything. You can use your old blankets or whatever stuff you can think of and sew it in the Morsbag way for a more sturdier bag. For more info: Morsbags
  7. For crocheters (and even knitters) the Reduction Tote Bag is so useful. How about this Market Bag? There are a lot of free patterns in the internet that are really useful.
  8. How about reusing used printer paper instead of throwing it into the shredder. You can use it to take notes, grocery list, to do list or whatever list that you can think of.
  9. Try buying recycled papers. It's cheap and really interesting. My letter sets are made of recycled paper.
  10. If you can't think of anything else to do with your trash, just neatly pile them all up and send it to the junk shop, you can even earn extra money with that.
Hopefully, this will help you get your move in making the environment cleaner. Don't limit yourself with these suggestions. Possibilities are endless and remember, little things meant a lot.


Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day

14.10.07

Get involved

No comments:

Eating Japanese

4 comments:
I'm into Japanese these days. Can't help it, Japanese food are so good. I have two favorite restaurant that I go to. One is in Makati beside my favorite Japanese grocery. That's one thing I missed in my previous job, it's so near these Japanese stores.

Katsudon and Miso Soup

These are my favorite rice toppings-soup combo. Katsudon got it's name from Tonkatsu which means pork cutlet and donburi for rice toppings. I don't know why but it seems that I'm the only person who likes Miso soup. I love miso soup mainly because of the tofu in it. As you may know, I love anything made of soy bean so that's already given plus it was said that miso soup is best to prevent certain cancer. Though Katsudon seemed easy to make, I still need to find some of the ingredients needed for miso soup (such as nori and dashi) but I read that there's miso soup in an instant pack so better look for it in my next visit. If you want to try other donburi, bento and ramen better visit Komoro Soba. Who knows, you might be lucky enough to see one of their Japanese chef cooking in the kitchen.

I have another favorite Japanese restaurant, Sango! It's a perfect place to hang out with Japanese and local friends. Main menu offers burger and fries with a twist. You gotta love their Master fries, I'm addicted to it! Why, you say so? It's made of thick fries topped with a special sauce and cheese with ketchup and onions on the side. Yummy! They also have some Japanese desserts and this is the perfect place to try Mochi and if you don't want to spend too much in any manga kissaten, visit this place for their manga, Japanese magazines and J-pop playing in the LCD screen.

Lastly, for this post are Meiji stuff. Meiji is pretty popular when it comes to chocolates.

You've seen my post regarding Apollo. Now here are my favorites.

Coffee Beat and Choco Baby

Obviously, Coffee Beat tastes like coffee and I'm just so addicted to them. And if you happen to see what's inside, it looks like coffee beans so it feels like you're eating raw coffee beans!

Choco Baby is just so awesome. I mean, who doesn't love chocolates? It looks hard in the photo but sure it's soft and you can try small doses of chocolates if you are on a diet (but not me!)

Though I fell in love in Macadamia and Almonds before but when I had my hands with these babies, I totally lost it.

Would you believe that I have tasted these two first before Pocky?

11.10.07

Visit to Japan

2 comments:
Just my imagination though.

Went to Makati today to process my clearance from my previous employment and the result is not appealing as I was pissed walking out of the building and waited for Neko's (cat in Nihongo) shift end.

But as a self-imposed simple rule to be happy, I have to think of the positive side of things, so I'm going to embark on happy thoughts.

I had been craving for Pocky for the past days, blame it on PMS so Neko and I went to our favorite Japanese store and found no luck. Even my favorite ice cream is not available. Guess, this store became popular these days. So moved to the other store, heck, they have empty shelves! Delivery must be running late. So we rode a jeep to the last but not the least Japanese store and I found Apollo! No, it's not my previous officemate's ex boyfriend but one heck of a tasty box of sweet sensation, a classic mix of strawberry and chocolate can never go wrong.

So what happened to Pocky?

Apparently, the only flavor left is Pocky Men, and I am in no mood to have a dose of bitter chocolate because I want to be happy, right, so sweets are the best regimen (and being with friends and love ones.) Though I would have preferred eating this straw-colate duo with unsweetened coffee, I decided not to and just savor the aroma of roasting coffee in a factory (What's the proper term for that? Brewery?) nearby and it feels like heaven.

A visit to a Japanese store won't be complete if we won't be checking out every item they have and trying to familiarize ourselves with it, I have found something that would definitely make my hands busy.

Chiyogami Bag!

The bag consists of 8 15cm squares and 50 origami instructions! Well, they should have included 42 more chiyogami so I can try it all out. But I have the other origami set on my list in the next visit (and the Shiseido shampoo!)

I was a bit disappointed though that there are only few letter sets left and the design is not appealing to me but the sticky paste tubes are so cute that must be the reason every one is so crazy about Japanese stuffs!

I hate going to this store with no enough money, there are a lot of things that I want to buy there and I miss croquettes already, the cup noodles and pudding! I really need to go there with a huge fat purse and try every ready to cook meals they have there. LOL!

And sorry to disappoint you crafty friends, they don't have Japanese craft books. :(

9.10.07

Poor Butterfly

No comments:
My partner KC and I were finishing the souvenirs when we heard a weird sound outside the room. It turns out that a butterfly got caught in the ceiling fan. His brother E turned off the fan as fast as he could and the poor butterfly is still in the fan. We can't really see the damage so we moved the fan a little for it to get out of it. He flew just a little and landed on the radio antenna.

We had a closer look and learned that the butterfly's left wing is damaged and the body was cut off. You can see in the photo that part of his body was missing and the damaged wing. He wont move even after taking his picture. We decided to leave him alone so he can recover from his shock and as soon as we left he flew outside of the house. This happened yesterday and have not seen him since then. Poor butterfly.

8.10.07

Going back to what I love

2 comments:
After the creativity shattering post, I have settled my emotions and have gone back to the things I love doing.

I signed up for a Scarf Cal in Crochetville because I've been wanting to make one and I think this is the right time because rainy season is here and it can get really cold in the Holiday season and it's perfect for Simbang Gabi (Misa de Gallo.)

The scarf is two inches wide, just enough for my neck and probably 60 inches long (the photo in the right is 13 inches long.)

I used Cannon thread size 8 in Natural and steel hook 1.5 mm. The pattern is just made of shell stitches and has consumed half of the ball already and hasn't reached a quarter of the scarf yet, that's quite expected because I like my stitches tight.

You're probably wondering why the heck did I positioned it beside a CD pudding. Well those are the blanks that Kris and I have to make (the debutante preferred a mix CD for her) and to be printed, about 50 copies of those.

The photo pretty much show my current work load. I'm working on my scarf while waiting for the CD burning and printing to be finished. This situation actually help me get the idea for something that will be really useful for my crochet hobby.

Presenting to you my new Spool Caddy!

My partner KC laughed when he saw this. I used the CD pudding as a caddy for my thread. This is really useful and is actually perfect for cotton threads that come in balls. And if you are using yarns, you can use the pudding cover (visible in the background.)

The pudding case is also a great way to stack your WIPs especially for small projects, such as scarves, cozies and doilies. You just put the cover, seal it (twist the cover clockwise) and you're done. And this little plastic thing comes cheap so you can buy a couple more if you're like me that loves to jump from one small project to another.

Talk about innovation!

+ + +

Just a little rant: The debutante and her peeps borrowed my craft supplies for cutting the tags and ribbons, now they're done with their thing and playing Bingo while my supplies are nowhere to be found and my scissors have found it's way home with no cover.

Still missing are:

  • steel ruler
  • craft cutter
  • craft zigzag scissors
  • Sharpie
  • craft glue
Thanks God I didn't lend my newly bought cutting board or they would have murdered it as well! I am hating them more and more each day! Geez!

7.10.07

Abuse me more, I like it

3 comments:
Still awake.

Traveling from Marikina to Quezon Ave. to Gilmore to Cubao then to Marikina again on a motorcycle is not pleasant at all. Don't get me wrong, I do love traveling and again my sense of direction has been tested twice today. But I don't like the fact that we are being rushed to do such a thing because there will be an event six days from now. I'm not really sure how it happened, it's just that everyone assumed that I will do the invitation for them. That's a new exciting challenge to me and I'm up for it if I was informed first. I didn't even know that she will have a party on her 18th birthday.

I went to my father's place last weekend and when I came back, bam, I overheard them talking about their plans for the said party. They asked me what kind of paper to be used for an invitation, so I said the things that I know and what kind of paper to buy. They should have bought samples but they bought a whole lot of stock enough for the 60 invitations I am going to print tomorrow (rather later.)

Guess what, they bought the wrong paper. It doesn't say if it's for ink jet printer or not and yet they bought a whole lot of it because it's pretty and I specifically told them to buy ink jet friendly paper. And guess what, I'm not supposed to be in the effing list and I don't want to be there, let's say that they need someone to complete the list because the SOB step mother of the debutante wanted to include some people in the list and 18 treasures was made because the debutante doesn't want to change her 18 candles list. So yeah, I'm messed up because I still have to buy a gift for her and I don't feel like giving her one because of what's happening right now.

Back to the unwanted road trip, went back tired but my partner and I still have to fix the printer for the ink refill, my partner had a headache and I had dirty hands. And that's not all, I was asked to fix the effing invitation and I have to live up to their wishes of using old style of invitation but have to reduce it to 4.25" X 6.5" (in short 8.5" x 13" specialty paper cut into four!) As expected the test print sucked because it's not the right paper for the printer and the font sucks so it looks like blotted ink on specialty paper.

So after their approval for the template of the invitation, I have to do the front page, of course, I did edit in PS the picture that they gave me because, the background sucks and her shirt camouflaged on it. After hours of testing brushes, downloading, testing, downloading and testing of brushes, I have decided that's it, that's the best regimen I can do for their sucky invitation preferences. And I am not having high hopes with the test print in parchment later.

Really, it would have cost them less if they have opted for the printing press. And she would have made our lives a bit more peaceful if she didn't follow her stepmom's wishes.

As you can see, after all the creative output I have made in this project, I will never ever have the intention of being proud of it. I did not chose the materials, it is not my style and the printing sucks. I have modified it to make it better but to no avail.

Now, my hands are stained, have a splitting headache, very tired and will have a meeting with supposed client in 30 hours which I think to be postponed because there's no way I'll go to a meeting with dirty fingers. Think indelible ink in six colors staining your tips?!

Lessons learned.
  • Never accept jobs from people who have no respect for your own creativity
  • Never accept jobs from people who wont accept your suggestions
  • Never accept jobs from people who have no respect for you own time
So, yeah. I'm in a messed up mood so sue me.

3.10.07

Swap Update 10032007

2 comments:
I am so glad that two of my partners received their package. Packages I mailed just last week and they received it sooner that I expected. I just wish that it works the same with the items being sent to me. It's been three weeks since my partner sent in her package and I haven't received it yet. Being flaked on my first swap is not a good experience.

Moving forward, just got home from the post office to mail some private swaps.

Here are some of the items I sent Wilma (sweetsugar) just because she posted in her swap that she wants something Filipino. She loves to cook so I sent a recipe postcard of Pastillas de Leche, the other postcard is about devotees of Sto. Niño Cebu because her Mom is from there. The other two on the right are for home decoration, it says East West, Home is Best and a fridge magnet that says I *heart* Philippines because she does love the country. I can't help but grant her wish.

This one is for Katie (k_k_k_katie) I tagged her in Send something local to the person above you and I just love spreading Filipino love. Sent her a notecard with an illustration of a Filipino vendor selling soybean custard (magtataho or a person that sells taho), a fridge magnet that says Pilipinas with an old house inspired from the Spanish era. I also sent her a postcard that has pictures of Manila's tourist spots.

I'm still anxiously waiting for my packages and I called the post office in this area to check if I have a package and I realized that they have a different personnel assigned for packages and letters and the postman for this area is not around. Ironically, the post office in Marikina is quite far in my current location while the Post Office's sub branch for Quezon City is near us. So don't get confused if your mail was postmarked in Quezon City and my address says Marikina. We are between boundaries of both cities. You just have to cross the street and you're in Quezon City.

I just hope that the postman here is just like Mang Danny, our postman in Manila. He's really nice and very honest.

2.10.07

Old Craft

2 comments:
It's nice going back to a house you grew up with found the things you do when you were younger. I have learned crochet and embroidery in grade school but doing something you worked on your own is something special.

Really special because I tacked it on my cabinet and now it's so dirty and dusty. (Look at the rust in the tacks) I wouldn't dare touch it!

I feel so bad. Why it never occurred to me to frame this pattern and why didn't I keep the pattern itself! Especially the patterns for the alphabet.

Seeing these designs brings back memories back when I was in high school. My friends isn't really into crafts then while I love writing. Keeping some letters in between their books when I borrow it. Or stashing some notes in their ball pen. I think I'm the only person who started using gel pens in our classroom then. My notebooks are filled with Stabilo marks and colorful inks. I'm not that old and yet it feels like its been so far away. So far that I can't even imagine myself going back there.

It will never be the same.

The school has been renovated. Lost communication with some friends. And a classmate lost her life.

We have lost our youth and we will never be the same again.

1.10.07

Welcome Fine Folks!

7 comments:
Hello dear Guests!

Thank you for visiting my humble sanctuary.
Feel free to browse through my experiments and comments are much more appreciated.

Peace & Love,
Gene

I'm back!

8 comments:
Whew!

My supposed one night and one day stay in my father's home was extended for one more night and day because of the heavy rain. Well, I enjoyed my stay because my dad cooked Caldereta for us and I had bonding time with my father, sister and Popeye. I was also glad that I was able to drop by Divisoria to buy some stuff.

I just love this set. It's Cannon Cotton threads size 8 in Natural and Brown color. It's really hard looking for cotton thread here so I decided to just buy cotton threads and work on it using all three threads for a bigger gauge.


And here are the floss that I bought together with the cotton threads. The first two (ecru and brown) are DMC and the others are Anchor floss. And the cotton fabric also in brown is for the Morsbag that I will be sending Marshmallow, yay!

When my partner fetched me in my father's house, we went to SM Megamall and made a big step of buying knitting supplies. I would really really want to learn knitting now. Also bought some stuffs for my one-on-one trades and a special gift for a special friend. I'll be sending some mails tomorrow and hopefully receive some stuff from US.