a conversation with robin

over a week ago while robin and i were walking from school we had this interesting conversation.

"dad, do you know i have a girlfriend?"

blink. blink.

ok. that stopped me. literally. right there. on my tracks. the mind goes blank for a moment.

robin just kept on walking, stops, looks back to me and says, "what?"

"nothing." i said, catching up to him.

my mind goes from a standstill to a fast series of images, videoscapes, sounds and finally i was able to blurt out, "you have a girlfriend?"

"yup."

" do i know her? is she one of your classmates?"

"yup."

"who."

"secret."

grrrr... well, the thing is, at that time, he was just seven and will be turning eight in a few days. i opted not to pursue the "who?" anymore and just concentrate on being the "cool" father. although to be honest i was excited for him.

"well, that's great! really! so how is it? having a girlfriend, i mean."

"its ok," robin said with a smile starting to break.

what the...? he's not excited about it?!?! but he was smiling while we were walking so i guess there's a bit of excitement there.

i'm also excited about the fact that he's comfortable enough with me as a father and maybe as an older friend to confide in me.

uuuaaagghh

its been a cloudy day so far. it rained hard last night although only for a while. time enough to make sleeping comfy and cool. and as expected, the following day would be frigging humid. and it is. ugh.

there are dark heavy clouds above and i think they're still deciding whether to release the rain or not. i wish they would though. the city certainly needs some cooling down. i know i do.

agustin's rc stuff

a friend of mine — agustin v — sent me some pictures of his new ride. he told me he sold all his gas powered cars and an electric car and got himself a competition level electric car. for those who are a bit in the dark, i'm talking about radio controlled cars. the serious ones. these are not the double a powered thingies that you see being sold in department stores.


the one that gus got is a hot bodies cyclone. wow. speed controler is lrp quantum competition 2, katana 23-turn stock motor made by top, tires are by sorex (type 40 for day racing and type 36 for night) with hara hard inserts, batteries are nimh 4200 mah (already?!?!) and the stratus 3 body is by protoform. this is seriously wicked stuff. he didn't mention the radio he uses but i'm sure its pretty much serious stuff as well.


yup. the chassis is made from carbon fiber. and i'm almost sure that there's a sprinkling of titanium somewhere there. its 4-wheel drive complete with differentials. the suspension is totally adjustable with shocks and springs. camber, caster and some other thing that i forget are adjustable. sometimes i think that eventhough these things are about 190 mm x 395 mm in size they're almost as complicated as the real car!

i was and still am, although in a low profile kind of thing, into this hobby for quite some time. i have a race car and two trucks. all electric. my stuff is not really for competition like what gus has but they're still complicated enough for an enthusiast. all of my trucks and car are still in pretty good condition although i do have to get tires for one of the trucks when i get some extra cash (which is pretty rare these days). i'm cleaning the race car so i can play with them a bit in mendiola. i don't get to race because i'm not really into it but gus does and i heard he's pretty good at it too.

now, back to cleaning...

robin's 8th

24th of march. robin's 8th year on the planet. we think he's having fun. we had a small gathering of cousins. nothing fancy really. just a handful of balloons in light and dark blue, a chocolate fudge cake, chocolate ice cream, some spagetti, chicken, siopao, a square pizza, dalandan and orange juice.

the kids played first with go kart, bicycle with guide wheels, b-daman, whatever. they're kids and kids play. the chaos started at around 3:00 pm and everything was cleaned up my 9:30. the adults were all bushed but he keeps saying. "but i'm not sleepy yet!" well, with all that chocolate stuff he ate he wouldn't be!

if you want to see more pictures click over to my flickr collection.

v for vendetta

the wife and i watched v the other day. very good movie. i'd buy the dvd if i can. i don't know why but the movie had this "crisp" feeling to it and it made the whole movie very involving, in a matter of speaking. you guys have to go and see it on the big screen. its no fun watching the thing with a squanky pirated dvd (a bad thing) on a tv screen even if you do have those 6.1 surround-sound thingies. go to the movies and watch it.

i do have to read up on the comic book though. its been a while since i re-read the thing. my brother, gerry, has the complete collection i think. so i'd probably get the chance to go through the story again during holy week.

1 more day

one more day and finals will be over. i find it really hard for me to tutor robin. he's very hardheaded for a 7-year old. so i will be glad when final exams are finished and we can move on the summer vacation!

yes!

before finals

this is the week before finals and i have this weird panicky feeling that i should be the one doing the studying for robin. uaauuggh! i hate that feeling. and all robin wants to do is play with his cousins or play with his new b-daman with dhb gear. dhb is short for direct hit battle. pictures are coming.

the japanese have gone and created a totally complicated fun way of playing with marbles. complete with products, product upgrades, marketing and a cartoon show! amazing.

i wish i had these toys when i was a kid.

where i grew up

san pablo city is the place where i grew up. its a nice small town about 85 kilometers south of manila known for its seven lakes. the city of seven lakes as it is often called. i like the city because it is a lot more quiet than manila, there are more trees so the air is definitely cleaner. and most of the time i find comfort just by being in it.

my brother, gerry, made a video about san pablo city and, with his permission, posting it here.

bida fire!

today i was a doting father to my son. robin entered a battle b-daman tournament with his cousin david. there was also a side event they called "king of direct hit battle (dhb)" where they get a chance to win raffle entries. win three dhb events and your name gets included in the raffle. robin lost in the first round of the tournament and david finished in the top 16. both entered the king of dhb also. david won raffle tickets twice. robin lost again and again. and again.

i found out something about my son which shall stay with me for a long while. robin does not give up. he just didn't. the chance for a prize didn't really matter to him. he enoys playing and he enjoys playing with other kids. oh yes, he gets sad when he looses. who wouldn't? but when he did lose and got sad he just shrugged it off and kept signing up again. and again. and again. and again.

and that already makes him a winner.

magnitude 5.5

there was an earthquake around 7pm. i was in sm manila with cherry and robin having dinner. it was a "slow wave" quake and it was short so no worries. i later found out that the epicenter was in mindoro. wow. cherry was just there last weekend. i hope no one got hurt.

a landslide, a coup plot and an earthquake. in a span of a few weeks.

ugh.

buzzed

i can't believe it. i've just been buzzed by a couple of bats! i think they went as close as two feet from my head! you'll feel the wind from their leathery wings and that high-pitched screech they make becomes really loud. ugh.

well, at least, bats are still in the city which means there's food enough for them to stick around.

oh. and i was able to have my chowking halo-halo. at last.

sarap.

quiet national emergency day

it is! no noisy vehicles outside. no pesky jeeps. but its sooo freaking hot! uuuuaaagghh. what i would do for a halo-halo right about now.

and chowking is about a five-minute lazy walk from here. hmmm. two scoops of ice cream with a handful of finely crushed ice, topped with leche flan, ube, sliced bananas, sweet beans... i think they said they have 15 sweet toppings in all.

yum!

sige mamaya...

fiesta season

did i ever mention that the first five months of the year is what i call the "fiesta season"? lots of things happening. well, officially, may is the fiesta month but it sort of spreads its wings ang infect the rest of the surrounding months.

there are lots of school fairs with lots of rides, booths selling lots of different and colorful stuff and, of course, music. lots of music. from the given "piped in" music while the fairs and fiestas are going on to the almost nightly concerts at each school. and let's not forget the ati-atihan bands with their thundering drums. stay too long and too near them and your ears will be ringing soon enough.

and if that's not enough there's the coup attempts. how can this be included in the fiesta season? well, the children usually doesn't have classes which means they can play or watch tv or play with the computer all day, the offices (except sm malls) are either closed or closing early which means people can go to malling early or the movies or go home to sleep early. either way its an incidental "unwanted" vacation time. ha! and you thought coups are all bad. ;-)

dreams

i had this dream a couple of weeks ago that i couldn't shake off.

it was late afternoon, the skies was a bit cloudly. i was over a cafe adriatico, seated outside on an antique chair and table by myself. i was reading the comic section of a newspaper which was particularly thick that day. suddenly, without warning, a japanese guy, in a coat and tie, pulled the newspaper down, crumpling it. he was shouting at me in japanese, which, i cannot quite understand and pointing frantically behind him. i looked over his shoulder and i saw other people, in formal attire, all japanese, running away in a state of panic. the japanese man started to shout at me again and, as if on cue, english subtitles of what he was shouting appeared above his chest.

"godzilla is here! run while you still can! run!!"

weird dream.

godzilla is copyrighted. someone else owns it.

valentine 2006

it feels like a holiday today except that people still go to work (but i don't think they will do any), students go to school (study? today? nah.). the only one's oblivious to valentine's day are children below six years old who are too busy playing. happy thought.

so have a great valentine's day! if you can't be good then at least be careful.

feb eighty-six

that was the time i got my left ear pierced. just my left with a simple gold stud. at that time it was a rarity for males to wear earrings. my mom said she wouldn't talk to me anymore. "anymore" took about a day. people on the street looked twice. they sometimes stared. people i talk to gets distracted by it. most folks thought i was gay. word spread that i wear an earring and... that i was gay.

i didn't care. i know what i'm not. i know who i am. and i'm straight. it took a couple of years for the rumors to die down and the mongers are eating their words until now. they can't even look at me straight in the eye.

people are people.

i still wear an earring every now and then. people don't stare as much. sometimes they even smile. once every blue moon, i get to borrow an earring from my mom or my girlfriend.

long time friends and stars

last night my girlfriend and i went to an exhibit opening entitled "hubog sa apoy" (shaped in fire) in sm megamall. its a one-man exhibit by carlito ortega, a metal sculptor who uses steel and brass in his pieces. the sculptures on exhibit were fantastic with each one showing a lot of emotion. my favorite was about a father and son. beautiful piece. you have got to visit if you're in the neighborhood. the exhibit is in gallery genesis on the 4th level of sm megamall.

anyway, while i was at megamall, i also saw plenty of stars enough to last me a couple of years or so. lucy torres and richard gomez, senator loren legarda, malang, jaime zobel (yes, in megamall) and i think patis tesoro. sorry, no pictures.

but the real news was that i saw a really old friend of mine — boots and his wife ann. it's been more than a year since i saw them last and seeing them there in good health and spirits was simply great.

fun night.

rainy afternoon

it been raining on and off. i like the rain.

the other red chick passed away this morning. i feel sad for robin. no more pets. and he so wanted one. he actually prefers cats. he told us so. maybe when he reaches eight.

the other one is ok

yes, the other red chick is still ok. happily chirping away. i've been giving it muesli. i don't know if that's really good for the chick but he seems to like it.

hey! blog*spot's up again. it's been whacked over the weekend. ah, c'est la vie.

one red chick

yesterday afternoon, when robin was out with his cousins, one of the red chicks passed away. its the one on the right. i was even able to take the two out in the morning, hunting for food on the yard. i think it hasn't been feeling all that good for the past two days. it finally took its last nap in the afternoon.