Month: July 2014
Windrunner in Pompeii
“DoTA or ako (DoTA or me)?” – that is the most popular question a girlfriend asks to his DoTA-playing boyfriend. Well, a smart man would choose neither – he’d choose DoTA 2. Just kidding, ’cause DoTA 2 and girlfriend still doesn’t stack. So James, DoTA 2 or a girlfriend that asks you “DoTA 2 or me”? DoTA 2, duh, ’cause that’s where Windrunner is, and Windrunner But yesterday, I almost chose having a girlfriend.
I was playing with Paolo on Pacific. I was playing as my beautiful Windrunner when this dude from the aisle behind us singing Pompeii by Bastille. His looks are a 5 out of 10 (this is important), but his voice was quite good, quite reminiscent of those who do Youtube covers, but I thought it was quite distracting, for Pacific isn’t a place for singing, and he’s kind of a showoff. It’s a place of songs, but songs in this place are mere background music to bolster the heroes’ morale, except for When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars, which totally pulverizes it. Why do they play that a sad song in the middle of chaos and carnage anyway?
A bit later, a girl – chinita, petite, fair-skinned, shoulder-length wavy black hair, CRS – rested her arms on top of the guy’s head; she’s obviously the girlfriend. She was very bubbly, cheering his boyfriend on as he played. Such daintiness, such liveliness, such…support for her boyfriend’s endeavor. How does that get a girl like that? I mean, she’s so…cool that her boyfriend’s a DoTA 2 player it’s almost unbelievable. Just when I thought things couldn’t get more incredible, it did – she sat on her boyfriend’s lap while he’s playing. OH GOD I WAS SO ENVYING HIM THAT TIME. Damn, if I had a girlfriend like that, I would’ve quit playing DoTA 2.
Lucky bastard. You may be singing Pompeii now, but next time you’ll be singing when I was your man. Besides, I don’t give a damn if your chick totally fits my criteria, ’cause Windrunner’s way cuter.
Can’t beat that green.
Hana Love You
I’m not a big fan of tsunderes. I don’t like how they feel something yet say and act the complete opposite of it. Of course, there are a few likeable ones, such as Misaka Mikoto from the To Aru universe, Tenma Sakurako from Love Collage, Sylvia from Wagatsuma-san is my wife, and Hana from Prison School. Yes, that crazy martial artist prude ex-warden. I like her now, she’s cute, and she’s the “say-the-opposite-but-does-what-she-feels” tsundere, so she’s got my like. In fact, I’m kind of confused now which between her and Chiyo will I root for.
Chiyo’s got that cute-sweet-shy-nice vibe that I always want in a woman.
But gods damn it, Hana, her fury is just so cute and sexy at the same that time my heart flutters while my penis gets hard whenever I read the chapter even though she’s fully clothed. I don’t know, her allure is on another level, so much so that it transcends the usual tropes of the genre. Damn it, Prison School has never been this kawaii; it’s giving me a soft, warm feeling inside my chest.
And now, the spam. Have some Hana love ❤
Only Hana can make an act as vainglorious as selfies a mathematically precise endeavor. Such passion.
Such depth and beauty…
I better try this out soon…
I’m no DoTA 2 pro, but I’d love to carry Hana.
Lucky Kiyoshi.
And my favorite. The art for this panel is so different and cute, and Hana is just so focused and attentive. It’s kind of Disney-ish, actually.
Come on Chiyo, don’t let Hana get the lead.
Family At The Hospital
The hospital – a place where great health interventions happen. But to me, despite being a nurse and therefore used to the hospital ambiance and setup, it will always have th at suffocating air of infirmity; I hate it. However, if there’s something that can curb that abhorrence, it’s my family.
After two days, I finally saw Mother and Father again. It’s just been two days, but I miss them already, especially Father, who I’ve been worried sick about. I’ve seen Father in worse shape before, but seeing him in a hospital bed afflicted with infirmity will always be an unwelcome sight. The surgery to put a nail in place to aid in the repair and strengthening of the fractured femur may have been a complete success, but he is still in pain because of the trauma inside his thigh and the incisions. Mother, on the other hand, is very much fine, and just like always, is doing a commendable job in taking care of Father as well as Sister.
For the whole day yesterday, I ate uraro and pili nuts, read Tokyo Ghoul, and help out in whatever things Father needs, which wasn’t much because the nurses are closely monitoring him. Despite being with Mother and Father, it still didn’t feel the same; looking at either Father helplessly lying down or the Makati skyline ridden with gray clouds and looming towers just made the feeling worse. Of course, I’m thankful because it could’ve gotten worse but it didn’t, though I wish this whole thing could’ve been entirely not happened altogether. Mother told me there’s a reason, both natural and divine, why all of this happened, but I wish I knew.
Later that night, after Georgina returned to the room and Sister Minnie, one of our churchmates, visited Father, I was ordered to check the bill. Holy God. I won’t say how much it was, but it’s enough to send a shiver up my spine. Of course, Father’s insurance will cover most of it, but upon computation, the amount we’ll pay is still going to be staggering. Well yeah, we can pay, but that’s still boatloads of money. Still, it’s better to spend such an amount because it’s all for Father’s sake.
My dinner last night was the closest thing I got to a family dinner for an entire week. Father had his hospital food, while me, my sister, and I had Jollibee. I miss real family dinners. When we were done, it was bedtime. For the past weeks, it was the earliest time I went to sleep – 11PM. When I woke up, we had a breakfast of dinner rolls and sandwich spread. I haven’t eaten breakfast in a long time, and it was quite appropriate to have one in a hospital, a place where health practices are observed. And before I left, I had a very small fight with Sister and Mother – very small, but nonetheless a fight. It’s about the games and my realistic-pessimistic minimally optimistic point of view, again. Maybe I do need to be a bit more optimistic, and maybe I need to follow Mother and play less games, but Sister, telling me to completely stop was way out of line. She’s not a gamer, so she won’t understand, and yet she has the audacity to claim that it’s no good. Yeah, maybe I should cut her some slack, treat her like the plebeian who knows nothing about geek culture but speaks like a damn expert that she is, and pretend like she’s not even there, but she’s just too loud and bossy I can’t take it. If there’s something I didn’t miss, it’s this.
I don’t know if Father will be discharged later or tomorrow, but when he does, things will go back to normal. Actually, because of his condition, not really, but it will be. Soon enough.
Alone
The second thing I hate most about what happened to Father is that despite being a nurse, I was forced to stay and guard the house until Brother arrives from Europe. I hate it, because it’s making me feel helpless and useless, both as a nurse and a son. Nevertheless, instead of wallowing in what I feel, I just decided to make the best out of my situation.
It’s definitely not the first time I’ve been left alone, but it’s the first time I’ve been left alone this long. It’s a bit boring, but then there’s DoTA 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and writing. It’s a lot more quiet, which is quite sad. Although I like a certain degree of silence, I’d rather have some lively family noise, especially that the reason behind the false peace is a grim one. But sometimes I forget that this isn’t the norm…and think that this could be a preview of things to come.
I like being alone sometimes, or even most of the time, but not all of the time. Good thing there’s my family and friends. Of course, I know I’ll never be alone, even if I don’t get married, but there are times that I think I might be. And during these past days, I guess I have a glimpse of what it feels like. Like I said, it’s boring, quiet, and even a bit sad, but its not without its own charms.
When you’re alone, you get to think. About what life is, what it means, what I should do with it, what to do next in Eorzea, what build and moves I’ll do in DoTA 2, what to write, and what to eat.
Yes. What to eat. Unless I no longer have a choice, I can’t and won’t eat premade synthetic crap for three straight days, so I decided to try cooking. Yes, I don’t know how to cook, save hotdogs and instant noodles, so for the first time in my life, I cooked eggs, fried rice, and sauteed corned beef. Yes, I am a useless freeloader who is dependent on Mother’s cooking, but being alone and being able to think about things, especially the fact that Mother won’t be around forever to cook me food. I might be able to get a wife, but it’s not a certainty that she’ll be a good cook. Besides, the whole “only the woman must cook” is a soon-to-be obsolete paradigm – it’s both the job of both the spouses, and I don’t want my future wife to think I’m a floundering fish in the kitchen, so I decided to learn a bit, even if it’s just the basics. Eggs? Fried rice? Corned beef? Big deal. Yes, it’s a big deal, because I cooked them myself. It’s definitely inferior compared to Mother’s, but I poured a part of my soul in those meals, Also, it is proof that I won’t have to rely on eateries or convenience store for half-decent food; it is proof that my folks won’t have to worry about my future.
Of course, surviving adult life is more than just pouring oil in a pan and then putting in the foodstuffs, and I definitely got very few things figured out, but as long as I do good and what is right, I know I’ll make it. I don’t know if I’ll have a family or become a renowned writer. Hopefully I would, but if I don’t, on one of the two, or maybe either, I know I’ll survive at the very least. I know that I can live with myself, by myself. I know I’ll never be alone, but in case I have to, I won’t mind.
I Haven’t Written Lately Because I’ve Been Writing A Lot: A Condensed Post of What I’ve Been Up To Lately, And Lately Means The Past Month
Ever since I read Stainless Longganisa by Bob Ong, a deep-sleeping passion for writing hidden deep inside my heart surfaced and inspired the air of realization. From that point on, it evolved. The fins that allowed it to swim inside my head became hands that shaped new worlds. In time grew wings, causing it to fly higher, closer towards my dream. But as it became more and more specialized, I realized that I have neglected its roots: blogging, the rudimentary act of writing my anecdotes, thoughts, emotions, and whatever things I fancied on a site, however I see fit. I have neglected writing about myself.
Lately, I’ve been writing fiction, which is different and refreshing because it’s based on reality yet so far removed from it. I’ve also been writing poetry, and I realized that I actually suck at it, but I nevertheless have to do it because it’s part of the curriculum. Besides, poetry has a different charm from fiction, as it evokes a fleeting yet powerful plethora of thoughts and emotions. Then there’s my ongoing Otaku Asia Anime Magazine contributor gig, where I review anime, manga, and games. Except for the last one, writing for me remains to be a personal affair, but they can never be as personal as blogging.
In fiction, I can create characters based on myself, my family, friends, my muses/romantic entanglements. I can fabricate situations that are patterned on the times I have experienced as well as those I shared with others. The settings, no matter how out-of-this-world, will be greatly influenced by the places I, as well as we, have been to. The thoughts and feelings I have – they will always be the themes. However, whatever I create, no matter how good it turns out, will never carry the same weight as the things I put in this blog, because they are and will always be unedited, unadulterated, and most importantly, real. In here, people do not have a writer who is in charge of their thought processes, dialogue, and actions when it comes to interacting with me, ideas are the ones I thought myself, the emotions are those I felt with all my heart and soul, and the events happened to me firsthand. Because of this, no matter how much I love writing fiction, I realized that there was a void in my heart for writing – a void only blogging can fill.
Thus, I return. I return to tell you that Maleficent isn’t as bad as the critics make it out to be, 22 Jump Street is a hilarious bromantic comedy that is a lot more intelligent than it seems to be in the surface, and Transformers: Age of Extinction could’ve not turned into a total clusterfuck if Shia stayed. I return to tell you that my poetry has been improving lately. It’s still not perfect, but it’s getting there. I return to tell you that I don’t know whether I’ll go for Nicolette, who I shared a dinner with at Pepper Lunch while she was dressed as Ayame of Dead or Alive and rested her head on my shoulder the entire jeepney ride home, or Jamee, whose unexpected return blew a whirlwind of confusion to my already settled heart that has grown indifferent to her existence (I’ll make two separate posts about them). I return to tell you that I’m thankful to God because Father’s fracture was just femoral and not a hip fracture, and he’s pretty much okay for now, so I am hoping and praying that the operation on Tuesday will be a complete success and he’ll be discharged on Friday, just like what the doctor said. I return to say that I shouldn’t be to worried because it’s not helping me; it’s just needlessly stressing me out.
Maybe someday, which I think is sooner than before, I’ll be published. Well, actually I already am because of the magazine, but my goal is to be a published novelist. However, no matter how many short stories, novels, review articles, and poems I write, I will always write blogs, for it has a special place in my heart.
I put the I in the UNIVERSE. I hope I can put U too. 