I’ve long heard about the fun of Guitar Hero but having never seen it played, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fun to be had pressing a bunch of plastic keys on a guitar.

And then we got Rock Band in the office.

I. Am. Addicted. To. Rock Band.

I can’t believe it. I knew maybe 3% of the songs in the song list but even so, I enjoyed playing all of them. Initially, I was a little hesitant because it was the first time I’d ever held a plastic guitar controller. That didn’t matter as the people I were playing with weren’t hardcore video gamers either. We were a pretty odd combination, actually, and as expected, we bombed out the first couple of songs. We got our act together eventually and beat the first song for our group.

As a totally new user to the game, it was pretty easy to pick up the controls for the guitar with some instructions from veteran players. The whammy took a while to get used to though - that metal bar you can press up and down on. I tried using it but it was too much to coordinate since I was new to the whole thing. It wasn’t until the third day that I finally got the hang of that.

I haven’t tried the drums yet because they appear to be the hardest instrument of all, but I probably will at some point (probably early in the morning when no one is around). I was reading up on the game last night and reportedly if you can play the drums on expert, you are practically playing real drums. Okay, so you can’t read music sheets but at least you can play!

The way the mic works isn’t exactly perfect but it’s not that bad. There is a line that represents your pitch and you have to carry your tune higher or lower as the line flows. So you don’t have to actually sing to get points, you can just mumble along. The good thing is you can get away with “singing” a song you don’t know. The bad thing is you can’t sing in your own style. You have to follow the original way it was sung, and sometimes that’s just not practical for your voice. Personally, I refuse to sing on the mic at all owing to the fact that I seriously can’t carry a tune. The only exception I’d make would be for “I think I’m paranoid” by Garbage. I first heard that song on Rock Band and now I’ve got it on permanent loop on my music player. Gotta thank Rock Band for introducing a lot of new songs to a non-rocker like myself.

Must have more Rock Band! I’ve never been interested in the PS3 or the Xbox so I’m pretty glad that it’s officially coming out on the Wii later this year. Now to find a Wii!

Not blog-wise, but life-wise. I’m feeling pretty good about this year. There were a lot of new experiences in 2007 but 2008 promises to be even better. There are so many things I want to get better at, and so many more things I’ve always wanted to do that I’ve never had the opportunity to do before.

Some things I want to get better at: writing (working with a professional writer now - lots to learn), tennis (thickened my skin to ask a friend to teach me), communicating (practicing by meeting new people), surfing (in Hawaii!)

Things I want to try: self-defense, snow boarding, roller blading/skating, getting outside the office more often

If there’s one thing I learned from last year, it’s to grab an opportunity to do something new, even if you’re a little nervous at first. It always pays off, even if the experience itself is less than stellar. It’s all about how everything adds up, although the small bits that make up the sum do make it interesting.

There are some artists I’ve met who are too shy to share their work and you think, “Why?” Art is pretty subjective since everyone has their own opinion on what they like.

I like the artists who love to share their work. It’s pretty awesome seeing the concept art and later on the final piece. Oddly, I’ve often liked the concept art more. There’s something appealing about those rough yet not so rough sketches. I recently photocopied some of them to hang in my cube, which the artist was fine with. He encouraged it, in fact. So in turn, I encourage other people to ask him for a copy when they happen to fancy something I’ve pinned up.

TL jumped on the bandwagon and requested a copy of one of the artist’s “concept” art (though it wasn’t a rough draft. It was a full-fledged piece with lovely shading and pretty colors.) I was tasked with giving TL the work, so just before we started a large meeting, I said to him, “JB has delivered your monkey.”

“Yes!” was his reply.

Only one person gave us a funny look. I’m impressed! Or should I be dismayed by how much odd stuff we must say to make this sort of announcement normal?

Honestly, I don’t expect much from 2008. 2009 is when I’ve got major stuff planned, like visiting the Philippines again or striking out on my own. 2008? No plans. Of course, that just means this is the year everything happens. Already, once permanent things are changing. And this is only the first day of the year! I wonder what the rest of 2008 has in store.

I’d love to make some New Year’s resolutions but everyone knows those are never kept. Instead, I have a “Would Like To Do” list of things I’d like to do eventually, though it doesn’t have to happen this year.

Included (but not limited to) are the following:

Learn how to play tennis. Because it looks fun! Out of all the sports I’ve seen or tried, tennis appeals to me the most. It’s flexible in that you can play by yourself against someone else, or you can play as a team in doubles. It’s also really satisfying when you hit a ball squarely into the opposite court. The only part I’d liked about softball was hitting the ball. In tennis, I get plenty of opportunities to do so.

Read more. Not just books. Magazines, newspapers, they’re all fair game.

Write more. Blog more too!

Talk better. Not talk more; that gets boring. Talk better as in communicate in a clear, concise and engaging manner.

Socialize. This would probably help with the above. Meet more people, make nice friends, do new things - basically get out there and live!

Get back into web mistressing. And all the coding stuff that goes with it. I’m definitely going to learn Javascript (at last!) and polish my skills in CSS.

No typical goal to exercise more. Since I joined the gym on my birthday (literally on my birthday), I’ve been fairly good about using my membership. I do dread going to the gym during the next two months - I hear that getting fit is a top New Year’s resolution, which translates to packed gyms. It won’t last, though. Apparently, as the months pass, attendance steadily wanes until the gym population is back to normal.

I guess I’ll see for myself tomorrow. For now, Happy New Year!

At a meeting, SP props his pen on his notebook and restlessly puts his hands under the table. PC politely asks to borrow his pen, to which SP agrees. Except he doesn’t give her the pen. So PC tentatively reaches for it, then stops. His hands still under the table, SP encourages her with, “If you want the pen you’ll have to get it yourself. My hands are busy.”

SP sure knows how to phrase things almost appropriately!

Hitting the marrying age range isn’t as depressing as the media makes it out to be. (Or maybe it’s because I don’t know what I’m missing.) In any case, I still had to squee during the “you may kiss the bride” moment at a wedding I attended recently. I hadn’t seen the bride in about a dozen years, hadn’t even kept direct contact, but I still felt incredibly happy for her when the kiss moment came. Unlike the many weddings I’ve attended in the past (thank you, Philippines), the groom kissed the bride on the cheek, which was both demure and adorable. That’s not to say they’re a boring by-the-book couple. On the contrary, the cheek-kiss showed the sense of humor the couple had. During the garter toss, in fact, the groom crawled on the floor and stuck his head under the bride’s dress to grab the garter with his mouth. The bride, not to be outdone, said at the end of a heartfelt message, “Don’t forget to pick up your socks and put it in the laundry basket.”

If only all weddings were that fun!

The un-fun part was driving to the reception. Getting to the church was no problem but getting to the reception after was hell. We drove around in circles for one whole hour before we got anywhere near where we wanted to be. (Google Maps lies!) Luckily the bridal party was late themselves since they were busy taking photos at the capitol. Finding a way back onto the freeway was also difficult. There was a lone sign at the parking lot that pointed to “All freeways” but there were no signs after that. Sacramento gets some kudos for pointing us in the general direction, but I’d have liked more signs, especially since the tower bridge that would’ve easily led to the freeway was under construction. WHERE were the other detour signs?! And how unlucky was it that it rained pretty much the whole day? Darn dreary weather. Not good for marrying in.

The weather didn’t bring down the mood of the party, fortunately. Everyone was upbeat and happy and definitely not shy. I met the rest of the bride’s family again, including my childhood playmate, Summer. Summer was always the life of any gathering, game for anything and ready to lead the good times. She was young enough to show me how to be a kid and mature enough to teach me new things, like riding my first bike.

Now that I’m older, I see that any member of her family could be the life of any party. In fact, they used to hold all the parties at their house. Being neighbors and close friends, we’d inevitably be the last ones to leave because we helped clean up the after-party mess. Good times. Needless to say I cried when Summer and her family left. Their move signaled the beginning of a new phase in my life since, only months later, my family moved as well.

Quotes from the wedding:

Some of the usual mush - “Even when I’m old and hunched over (from stooping to kiss you), I’ll still love you.”

Advice to the newlyweds - “Don’t sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.”

Advice from an 8-year-old girl - “Remember that the wife is always right!” (gee, they’re teaching them young these days)

Male MC to the bride’s younger bro, “We know the bride’s a knockout but her brother is kind of pretty too. I think I have a man-crush!”

I was chatting with my BFM earlier. He’s had an emotional year but he still looked at it in a positive light. I remarked how mature he’d become because he thought the fallout he’d had with that girl was a good thing. It made him realize that she hadn’t been a good friend in the first place.

BFM: tayo, nag-away tayo but we became more ok after
(you and I, we fought but we became more okay after)
BFM: friendships like these are the ones worth keeping
Me: naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaks hallmark moment
(awwwwwwww, hallmark moment!)
BFM: don’t you agree?
Me: Yessir!

I admit that having a best friend in another country can be really difficult. Because of the difference in time zones, in places, in culture, we aren’t the same kind of friends we were before just like how we aren’t the same people. There’s been a good amount of drifting apart, naturally, but our friendship isn’t the type that snaps easily. It stretches apart, yes, but it draws back together too.

Also, the Internet helps. MUCHLY.

I’m totally being mushy right now. I’m grateful for the friends I have, here and elsewhere. They’re all really awesome and worth fighting to keep.

I’ve been scammed for the first time. Due to stupidity? Maybe. I have entrusted my credit card number with large but not so savory companies, the likes of PayPal, Amazon, and all the usual. But the company I strongly suspect as the source of the leak is - get this - Equifax.

I purchased a 3-in-1 monitoring subscription from Equifax to keep track of new accounts being opened in my name. I’d heard much about identity theft when I first came back to the States and I got paranoid because a background check found someone using my SSN once. I got Equifax monitoring in an effort to protect my identity, not open myself up to credit card fraud.

The funny thing is I haven’t been the most vigilant about tracking my transactions. For months on end, I didn’t know how much I spent or how much went out. I finally buckled down and started tracking things (Quicken helps muchly) but still not as often as I should have. It just so happened that Black Friday and the looming gift-giving season had prompted me to use easy plastic over messy cash. I thought it prudent to check my account often to ensure my transactions were going through and also to ensure my flurry of online purchases hadn’t exposed me to fraudulent ones.

Lo and behold, I found a fraudulent one.

The amount was so nominal that I might not have noticed it if I hadn’t been looking. That, of course, is what those scamming bastards are banking on. Imagine how much more people they’ve duped, people who don’t check their statements. I can relate to those unsuspecting people; I used to be one of them (so VERY recently) despite how often my parents drilled financial awareness into my head. If I could lapse so easily into negligence despite having been specifically taught NOT to, then it’s so much more likely to happen with other people who were never taught this, who grew up in this materialistic culture that promotes spending, perpetual sales and the I-must-have-this-now attitude.

Lesson learned: always check your financials. Always.

And though the internet is the home of these online scams, I’m also grateful for how fast information is spread about said scams. A quick Google search turned up a blog entry by someone who’d been hit, which prompted dozens of ‘me toos’ and an official news article. I got the information I needed - mainly to cancel my card (obviously, but the temptation not to because of the hassle is quite strong) and to contact Equifax directly about the potential link. I have done both and now I am tired. I’ll deal with redirecting recurring transactions tomorrow.

Some people are all about being entirely digital, entirely plastic. I was starting to go that way but this is a good reminder that plastic isn’t as shiny as they make it look.

I think Amazon’s Kindle looks pretty sweet. I like how they made it so you didn’t have to worry about internet connections, computers or cables. Works just like a cell phone - use anywhere to purchase and download a book. Now that’s cool. The price, though, is pretty steep.

Despite the obvious benefits of having digital books, I’m still a fan of physical books. There’s something about flipping through pages, marking them, owning them. With digital media, you never really own it no matter how they word it so that you believe you do. (I’ve learned this since I started working in an industry that deals with digital products.) I like the convenience but I don’t like the loss of ownership.

If I were to own a reading device, I’d find it really useful for reading fanfic - if I were still reading fanfic. Which is rare now. I need to find a fandom that isn’t insane.

We were playing Apples to Apples during lunch. Apples to Apples is a fun, social card game where each player gets noun cards and everyone takes turn playing the judge. The judge draws an adjective card for each round. Everyone else tries to find a noun that best suits the adjective. It often involves playing to the judge.

While I was judge, I drew the card “philosophical”. Not reading it through, I started reading it as “philosophy” but midway realized what the word was and tried to correct myself. The result was a very weird “phi LO so phi cal” instead of the proper “phi lo SO phi cal”.

“Now we know you can’t read.” TL told me.

*facepalms* Yet another Apples to Apples blunder. It really isn’t my game.