No More Bad Days Ever

In the living room a while ago, my gaze lingered on something familiar: a small black book that’s been sitting on a shelf untouched for a while now. I took it, saw the familiar silver letters on the textured hard cover, and remembered it was what Nina gave me for my birthday this year.

I took one more drag of the cig I was smoking before I began flipping through the pages. If this were effective, I thought, maybe I should have this with me wherever I go, just in case I or someone else needs it. First I opened it where Nina left the bookmark (more snapshots of the content after the jump). (more…)

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Cab UpLOLstery Be Hideous

One early morning, I hailed this random cab for work. Story of my weekday life. I opened the door, told the driver my drop off point, got in, said “Thank you” like clockwork (I always thank cab drivers as a habit, no matter what city I’m in. This gesture, I realized, almost always promotes a good vibe between me and my temporary chauffeur), and got myself comfortable on the back seat. No biggie, right? It gets better.

It took 2.5 seconds after my butt found its center of gravity on the cushion for me to notice the upholstery. No, more like upLOLstery. They reminded me of one blog post by Alexei a few months back where he showed another cab’s seat cover sporting animal prints.

OK, I may have been a bit harsh with my judgment so, here, see for yourself and prove me wrong. Be ready to say HOOOOOLY MOTHER OF FRRRRRR!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. My initial reaction was to get my ass off of the material because it looked as though it belonged to some hapless and now-extinct animal from the wild. An animal with ticks, also multi-colored but blood sucking and hungry, ready to find another host to feed on.

Oh lookie here, it’s got a bronze plate tag, awwww. They don’t make it like this anymore, do they? Huh-YEAH, because we’re in the year 2009 and not the 60s, THAT’S WHY!

I told myself that this is may be the very fabric that nightmares are made off but, hey, I’m getting off this cab in under 10 minutes so there’s seriously nothing to worry about. Only then did my pulse rate start slowing down to almost-normal.

Do note that all the while, I was on my feet inside the cab, my ass pinned to a closed window, my back glued to the ceiling, and both my hands were holding on a sturdy fixture for balance (my left palm was spread flat on the back window and my right had apparently grabbed the driver’s then tousled hair, God bless him).

Good thing this is an isolated case of bad taste. I’ve only seen one, so far, in my regular weekday cab ride of 8 years. That’s a 1 out of a 2,088 reandom chance if you allow me to get geeky with it (na na na na na-na-na, get geeky with it!).

Part Deux to this entry can be found here!

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ISO variables on the Sony DSC-H10 (alt title: The Day I PWNT Mensa LOL)

Digital noise.  You’ve got to hate them like the smell of sun-baked scalp poised under your nose while you travel via the MRT, one typical rush hour Friday. 

I’ve been toying around with the ISO settings of the Sony DSC-H10, an 8.1 mega pixel point and shoot camera with 10x optical zoom and full manual settings, under a normal, single, energy saver light. To judge whether it is up to the challenge of capturing clarity under feeble lighting, I took several shots of a letter I recently received under different levels of ISO. Now, don’t go whining about my choice of subject. Its importance, we will later on find out. (more…)

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I dare you to take the Mensa IQ Challenge

…because I did. I’ve been wanting to since high school (which seems eons ago already, come to think of it) and I finally gave in and went. And took it. And felt molested intellectually, afterwards. The day after the Elation Buffet Launch, I did. I mean, we did. 

Here’s the thing: If I don’t pass, you’ll never find out. If I do, however, that’s a different story. And by “story,” I actually meant sorry. Sorry because you’ll never hear the end of it. Imagine the state of my posts, post passing Mensa:

“Khthul khult tuhklthuu. Menkrukhldt.” That’s Mensan for “I’m srsly awesome, you’re not.” All this lower-IQ speak by trying to translate Mensan to English is making my IQ drop. Back to regular programming… Khukldhrrrtlidtl, umdtkhrrl hkthul!

Got the picture? I mean, got the Fritzparazzi-Mensan picture?!

Yeah, somewhere in those lines. Sad ain’t it? 

Dickery notwithstanding, we were told that IQ exams in league with the Mensa test could cost you at least P1,500. You get to only pay P500 (and P300 for students who can present a valid ID) for the IQ Challenge slated on November 30, 2008 at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street in Serendra, Taguig City.

The Mensa IQ challenge is explained in the following paragraphs:

“The only criterion for Mensa membership is to score within the top 2% (98th percentile and up) of the test. The test is culture-fair and does not test for math or language skills.

Limited slots are available to those interested in taking the Mensa test.  To avail of these slots, interested parties can pre-register at the online facility available at mensaphilippines.blogspot.com.  The deadline for pre-registration is  before 12 midnight of November 28.

Mensa has over 100,000 members in over 80 countries worldwide. Actress/Olympian archer Geena Davis, comedian John Cleese and science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov are some of the more prominent Mensa members.”

If like me you are still in the dark as to what IQ level you have, then this one’s the one to beat, pass or fail. Not passing may mean we are not in the top 2% of the population. IQ test results, however, can’t make any of us lesser rock stars. NOTHING CAN! I mean, come on, share my gloating lime light with me should I pass (I imagined it could be lonely up there LOLOLOLOL)! I and 5 others took the advanced Challenge last Saturday without as much as a single preparation nor idea what the questions would be like (no clues on what to expect here, so move along, people! LOL).  Also, think about it, if I don’t pass and you do, you can make ME not hear the end of it! That’s a sweet deal right there! 

For more details on how to sign up for the exams, click on the photo in this post. View the video below for the teaser. 

embedded by Embedded Video

Yes, that’s Kring right there, alright! LOL

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My Vote Goes To Mike Villar! FTMFW!

For the up and coming Philippine Blog Award‘s Bloggers’ Choice, my vote goes to our main man, Mike Villar. In the next several paragraphs, I’ll try to knock some logic into this decision primarily to convince myself why. LOL

Flashback, Winter 2005: I had been blogging for five months when I got a message in my then blog’s ShoutBox (shut up) from someone who I consider to be a somebody in the Philippine blogging scene. Only much much later will I find out that he isn’t really a “somebody” and neither is there anything that closely resembles the big, glittery, star-studded Philippine blogging scene that I wanted so much to belong to. Such ideas only existed in my daydreams alongside me quitting my day job, taking kick-ass photos, rendering short videos with 3D effects, and making it good in corporate. The big difference is, the latter three actually happened (duh). Sorry for getting ahead of myself with the story. Nostalgia can be a nagging bitch when let on her own.

Anyhootz, I did say I got a message in my Shoutbox (see image insert above).

Saw my reply? “Love your site man. Kaya ko ni-link.” The HELL was I thinking?! That, my dear friends, only goes to show how much of a suck-up I’d let myself be to Mikey primarily because I adored the guy. His style reminds me to this very day of one other blog I happened to follow during that era: Jason Mulgrew‘s. They both love writing so much about their penchant for self-sex and their drunken mischief back in the day. Gotta love that! To cut the long story-of-the-sidebar-comment short, and with four other editors, the Man Blog happened (a little bit of trivia there, boys and girls).

At this point, I would to make a shout out disguised as a vehement “fuck you” to Lauren, Ade, Pau, and Baddie for making their kickassedly rendered “I Vote for Mikey” entries SO kickass, you wouldn’t let yourself be caught dead making something sub par. I mean come on guise, must it be THIS hard for all of us?! (s_annoyed)

Moving on.

Despite the guy’s seemingly horrid/tasteless/”classy, NOT!” stories that lowers his self-esteem down to the level lower than blondes, this Mikey fella is actually an OK guy. How else can you rise in the marketing corporate ladder like he does if you can’t sell yourself despite everything you’ve written (his style) on the internet in plain view of all the CEOs in his organization/companies he may want to work for? What kind of people can partition stupidity and careful/calculated judgment and get away with both of them in two separate “worlds,” online and IRL? A genius, I tell you. Goes to show he wouldn’t call himself Michael “Fucking” Villar for nothing.

I can’t believe I still suck-up to this guy at this day and age!

Whew, I’m nearly done. Let me leave you with a photo of Mikey which I Fritzparazzied during the second Taste Asia bloggers’ party at the SM Mall of Asia. (more…)

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Photos from the iPhone 3G (Philippines) Launch by Globe Telecoms

[ Please click on each of the 15 thumbnail photos in
chronological order to reveal its larger version
and the blog entry ]

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