i. after the legend
Finished watching Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi / The Legend of the First King’s Four Gods a few days ago. After a couple of nights of minimal sleep, we finally finished it. My mom and I started and ended the series on opposite camps---she was empathizing with Kajin / Kiha, misunderstood, victim of circumstances evil girl while I was happily cheering for wild, street urchin Sujini who was the poised, valiant warrior princess Seoh in her past life.

( Cut for spoilers )

Thankfully, Dian came to my rescue with this link about the original script to the last episode. It really makes me feel better and I like to think of it as canon. Even if I can't watch it, it's nice to think that this is what really happened.

ii. ever so busy
We've been so busy at work these past few days. Almost daily overtime coupled with a weekend at the office. So the holiday starting tomorrow will be such a welcome respite. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing will happen to screw it up. Yes, it's that bad. I feel like I can't really rejoice until I'm already on my way home tonight.

Productive to do list:
• Fix up things that need to be fixed up with Kitchen Cow, including layout tweaks, additional plug-ins, and new articles.
• Shoot dollies.
• Get some sewing projects going.
• Bake macaroons. It's very specific since I already bought the dry ingredients a few weeks ago. *laughs*
• Scan some more of Gokusen v11 for our Gokusen scanlations project. Plus, edit my next few assignments.
• Troubleshoot my lighting set-up.
• Do research on possible freelance writing programs.
• Put together a sample work portfolio for freelance writing projects.
• Design and make business cards.
• Get started on 365 Toy Project again.
• Redesign / reconfigure This Doll's Life

What's more likely to happen:
• Start playing Layton again as I have finished (finally!) Apollo Justice.
• Read some of the books I borrowed from Chris.
• Trawl Dollie Mixtures and Flickr for dollie piccies.
• Nap.
• Eat potato chips.
• Snooze.
• Watch anime / jdrama.
• Read manga.
• Be lucky to accomplish at least one thing on productive list.

iii. objection!
I want more Ace Attorney action! Apollo Justice was one wild ride, and I want more! Joining Phoenix, Godot and Iris as my favorite Ace Attorney characters are Apollo, Trucy, Ema Skye and Gavin---Klavier, not Kristoph. So much fun! I hope they release Ace Attorney 5 already. Last I heard, Capcom did a press release about it May 2007. I just hope it comes out soon and is followed by an English language version at once as well. Makes me wonder who'll be in it. A defense-attorney-again Phoenix? Herr forehead Apollo? Or a totally new lawyer?

iv. photo request meme
I've seen Jannie and more recently, Cla do this. Now I want to join in the fun!

Photo request! List up to three things you'd like me to take pictures of. Give me a week to do this, and once I'm done, I'll post your requests.

Just a note, I reserve the right to turn down requests if they're not feasible, are expensive, or is obscene / pornographic.

And Cla, no, you can not request for a Junpei x Seiji yaoi photoshoot.

i. puzzled
I was happily enjoying switching between The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and New Super Mario Brothers when khursten told me that Layton's English version was out. She's been raving about it for some time now, playing the game in its original Japanese version. Her initial games got me curious but frankly, I can't even play RPGs in Japanese, what more a puzzle game?

So, anyway, I nabbed the game yesterday and was blown away by the opening sequence. It's soooo purty! And it's dubbed! So much love! Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a mystery game where you travel across St. Mystere, solving puzzles as you go along. The puzzles range from logic, to match, to optical illusions to brain-bending difficult things that can break your sanity! AND I LOVE IT!

View the English trailer to get a feel for the game but really, you have to really play it to appreciate it.



ii. out and about town
A few piccies I snapped from the past few weeks:

It's a restwaran! So Pinoy! Only, it's Japanese!


In my day, we had Cheer bear, Bedtime bear, Funshine bear---really simple bears really. But this new one takes the cake. I mean, BILINGUAL AMIGO BEAR! How original is that? At least we know he can be friends with Dora.


A tester. For feminine wash. In a supermarket. OKAAAAA~~Y.


iii. purikura love!
Ganked from Super Donut: Insant Purikura fun for your existing piccies!



iv. squiggled updates
• Updated Kitchen Cow with a new obento entry.
• Updated my movie list with Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo / The Girl who Leapt Through Time and 2 more episodes of Coffee Prince.

i. reading level=airhead!
I found this little banner on Rotch's eljay about your blog's reading level. I couldn't resist doing the meme. It basically determines what reading level is needed to comprehend your blog. I ran Kitchen Cow on it.


O.o

Then I tried my LJ.


I didn't bother running Aki's blog, fearing I'd get simian. I know I shouldn't be insulted and all because, hey, in communication, it's best to spread your message clearly, simply and concisely to make sure you're understood. In fact, even at work, I usually try to choose simple words that can't possibly be misconstrued. But still, practically being told you're an idiot...ah, the ego. It bleeds! *laughs nervously*

So if this makes me an airhead, does this mean I'm purtty? *tosses hair*

ii. saturday
I've never been so sad to realize it's a Saturday. Why? It simply means my work vacation is over, it's the weekend, and it'll be Sunday tomorrow. I guess I'm just too greedy for vacation days :P

iii. gammage!
Yay for DS gaming! I'm currently juggling Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, Final Fantasy Revenant Wings, and The Sims2: Castaway (I suck!). Yay for lovely games! But double yay if I can find a strat guide for Castaway, I really, truly suck.

iv. dollie dollie!
My aunt called me yesterday to greet me and asked me whether I wanted anything from there (Daly City, CA). Being the brat I am, I asked for doll clothes, Ken clothes in particular since the boys need clothes badly and there are only 3 FF boys sets in existence in Manila. I hope she finds some cheap, and I hope they're not any of the 2 Ken FF sets I have. Hope they manage to find some boys doll clothes. So difficult juggling 3 shirts between 2 boys. I really should try sewing again.

Oh yeah, and John managed to fix Seiji's wrist up. Plus, he made me a dollie house / room / flat that's really lovely. So double yay! Though I still don't have any idea for my TQ shoot. ^_^;;

v. shameless site promotion
Ohohohohohoho! My little heart goes dokidoki. Let your heart go dokidoki too. Check out the latest events in This Doll's Life. And goshdarned it, I managed to update Kitchen Cow with a Curry Omuraisu Bento. Really trying to get back on track with the food posts. Dollies are so demanding!

i. tadaima, land of the living!
After hell week which was capped by today's pitch, I can finally relax and enjoy my life again. The past few work days have been truly tedious. It was as if all our clients conspired to make things difficult by all having deadlines early this week. To add to the stress, we had a major pitch coming up so it all made for a messy, albeit fun week. Somehow, while everything was going on at a hellish pace, we still managed to have a few laughs in between deadlines.

So despite all the work and braindead moments this past week, I can still say I love my job. And with a real smile even.

ii. must catch up with my online life
And it looks like I have tons of LJ posts to catch up with, as well as bentolunch entries. I was planning to take a short hiatus from kitchencow because my IXUS II broke down last Friday, as I was shooting my food. Luckily though, I was able to borrow my cousin's spare digicam, so I may start bento blogging again on Friday--free lunch tomorrow so no bento.

iii. new camera
And since it's likely that my camera might be expensive to fix, it may be time to buy a new one. Currently torn between the S3 and a Digital Rebel. Points go to the S3 for price and relative ease of use since it still is a point and shoot. The DSLR screams pretty pretty camera though.

Sigh. Yes, I'm trying not to think about the cost, but if I do buy, it'll probably mean I have to put my DS Lite desires go to the backseat. Of course, if it happens that I can have my IXUS repaired for less than 3k, I'll just opt for that instead.

iv. ds lite love
I've been reading up on flash cartridges and I'm wanting a DS Lite even more. A G6 flash cart can actually let me play Avi-DivX files on a DS lite. How cool is that?! One thing which has me sticking to my Nano versus upgrading to an Ipod Video is the lack of divX support, hence the attractiveness of a DS Lite + G6 flash cart right now. Sigh. To have money to waste on little gadgetry.

v. to do list
- Catch up on FList backlog
- Check out the communities I belong to for new posts
- Watch anime / dorama / tv series
- Catch up on my downloads
- Start work on Project Tama-chan Pinky Mod
- Answer memes I've been wanting to
- Do khursten's wish list meme (this stands out from the other memes so it deserves a special slot
- Figure out what to get my mom for her birthday
- Bring Ixus to Canon repair center
- Update multiply account, especially post pictures taken at "unidentified beach" mentioned in a previous f-locked post.
- Drag padpad to Greenhills to canvass DS Lite and flash cart prices. Cheapest I've seen so far is the 8.5k DS Lite from Data Blitz. Anyone know of cheaper prices? I'm considering ordering from Amazon so that's less than 7k but that means I'll have to wait until my Aunt comes here in January before I can get it. I'm wondering whether I can hold out.
- Make new icons
- Catch up on sleep! Yeah, right.

i. barely breathing
I am finally home, but my heart is still beating a bit oddly, which isn't quite surprising since I just spent 15 minutes of sheer, heart-stopping terror, induced by the neighbor's...dog.

Having spent the evening with 24fps & gingermango eating lovely food at Amici, then shopping for bento, I got home a tad later than usual. Because I figured I'd be late, I didn't bother calling my mom to arrange a ride, since I thought she'd be home before me. Which turned out to be a mistaken assumption because she had dinner plans of her own. So I got off the village shuttle on the main road, two street corners away from our street. Pretty close actually, just around 4 houses (and a street) away.

So imagine my consternation when I realized that our neighbor's dog, the black askal (from asong kalye = street dog = mongrel) who hates me, was lying in the middle of the street, almost in front of my house! As I was mustering the courage to go home, (by this time, I had already called my mom to clue her in on the situation) the beast got up, walked around a bit, and I think stared at me. I was probably too far away for him to recognize, but still, the bastard was awake!

My mom tried calling our other neighbor, the one who lives across us (not the dog owners) but since it was late, no one was picking up anymore. I had to wait for 15 long, scary, heart-stopping (it was late, I wouldn't normally be loitering outside the house this late) minutes for a tricycle to arrive. All the vehicles passing by were private ones, so I couldn't hail any to ferry me home. Thank goodness a tricycle finally came, driven by an older man who probably pitied me for my predicament, and advised me to tell our neighbors to tie their fugly, beastly, bastard dog up. Sure enough, when we passed the dog, he got up (at this time, F.B.B.D was sleeping near the street gutter since he moved after staring at me) and pursued us while barking.

So, I got home rattled, and 12 pesos lighter (for the trike ride) but at least in one piece, with my legs unscathed. I swear I hate that dog. One day, I'll make good on my threat to run that bastard over. Either that, or poison him. If I can manage to leave the house though.

And no, I never did anything to make the dog hate me. Hell, I can't even manage to leave the house when he's around, how the hell could I piss him off?

ii. bento shopping
Ugh. I hate that dog, now I'm depressed and pitiful. And to think I was so ecstatic while going home because I had a new bento box, and a couple of bento accessories. Now, all I could think about is that dog. Ugh. Focus, kao, focus.

Anyway, since it was payday, the girls and I decided to go shopping for bento. Hehe, slowly but surely, 24fps is going bento, starting with the pretty boxes. Soon enough, she'll probably be prettifying her food too, nyahahahahahahaha! Looking forward to her crossing over, it would be so much more fun to have someone to bento with.

Pics of my new stuff to be uploaded to kitchencow.

iii. Edo Onigiri Monogatari (An Edo Riceball's Story)
Today's bento was higher on the cuteness factor than the nyummers factor but it proved to be pretty well-liked. People who saw me eat at work were all cheered up by the happy faces on my food. So was I. Even if I felt a little bit bloated after eating, but that was probably because of the dessert.

Anyway, check out today's bento at kitchencow. Here's a sneak peek:



iv. sodokurazy!
I blame you, ficsation! It's all your fault! Do you have any idea how hard it is to focus on work when you have an open sodoku puzzle book on your desk? Oh wait. You DO KNOW!

I have avoided sodoku even though it was pretty popular at work because it always looked so difficult to me. One glance at the numbered grid had me going, "Ang hirap naman!" (That's so hard!) But when someone came to sell us some puzzle books, I put in an order for two for padpad. But as I was reading the rules / introduction, I gave it a shot...

...and now, I'm horribly addicted. I'm keeping one of the puzzle books for myself, and have been voraciously doodling in it whenever I have a bit of time to play. Heck, that day when I first learned to play, I promptly downloaded a copy of the mobile version of the game to my phone, then proceeded to answer. But because my phone's screen is tiny (it's a Nokia 6230), and the van was dark, I got a headache instead of entertainment. Lesson learned. But I did finish that one puzzle.
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