Hello.
I'm Tippie, and I'm an online shopaholic.
Gah! Yes. I admit it! I'm into internet shopping. Surprise, surprise!
I have thus far bought:
1) my wedding gift of a friend
2) my baby shower/hello baby gift for a "new-mom" cousin
3) a food processor for miself
4) 5 Christmas lights
5) 2 ceramic frying pans
6) and 2 non-stick cookie sheets
To-date, only the wedding gift has been retrieved (and already given away). *tear*
Items 2 & 3 are arriving on the 29th, while 4, 5 and 6 get here on Friday.
I think I should stop with 6.
Please disconnect me from the world wide web of happiness...
But seriously, have you tried to shop online? It's actually very... soothing. Okay, fine, that's justification talking but really, there are tons of great deals online.
Take the soon-to-be-mine-but-already-paid-for food processor I got from www.cashcashpinoy.com. I paid 1,500 bucks for it, when normally food processors cost 3k and up. How reliable is the brand? What brand? I don't know! It's not like I'm going to use it on a near daily basis for foodstuff. It'll be worked weekly, max, for the baking thing. It'll be fine! (Justification talking again.)
Then those ceramic frying pans I got for 730 and 480 (large and small, obv). Its home shopping advertisement prices them at 4,000 bucks! Granted they're sold as a set but who needs a set of 3 pans? I got two for less than the food processor. From where? www.lazada.com. And I only pay when the items are delivered. Not bad at all.
So yeah, there are risks in shopping online, but there are great deals and excellent buys, too. Not trying to turn anyone else into an online shopper like me but hey, shopping's just so much better with company, right?
Sunday, November 11, 2012
LOTR vs GoT... Hello! No Contest!
I had this conversation once, with a friend, who asked me, as a fantasy sci-fi reader, which do I like better: Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones?
My adamant reaction was, how dare someone even ask that? Nothing compares to Tolkien. NOTHING! N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!!!
Wrong. Three months later, I figure it out and realize my answer should have been... nothing. LOTR is much too different from GoT, so much so that the only thing they do have in common is their section in the bookstore.
Plus the fact that I have not read a single book in the GoT series (even though I have two of 'em sitting and gathering dust in my library), I really had no right to even answer the question.
But first, let me explain my near-violent answer three months ago.
I am obviously a very righteous fan of Frodo and the great Hobbit adventure. I think I've read the books 3 times each on average. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the movies (the extended versions are part of my yearly Christmas break ritual). And The Hobbit was the very first technically adult fantasy novel I bought for myself and devoured whole. I've said hobbit one too many times in a paragraph, haven't I? Might be 'cause I'm EXCITED for the movie.
So yeah, I'm a fan. But more than being a fan, I've considered myself to be a believer, of the themes and ideas Tolkien wrote of in his masterful trilogy.
Back in the (when were they published) 1950s/60s, as industry boomed after the war, Tolkien knew Mother Nature would struggle under the steel wheels of mankind, so he wrote of the importance of trees and the forest, how everything is better with good tilled earth. Amazingly even, he wrote of nature fighting back. Ents gatecrashing Saruman's dilly-dallying is one of my favorite scenes in Two Towers. He was, essentially, one of the world's first environmentalists.
Tolkien was also one of the first to write in women as strong characters into his storyline. Sword wielding Eowyn. Serene, collected yet strong-willed Arwen. Awe-inspiring Galadriel. They all had their role to play in the road to free Middle Earth from the fear of the would-be wrath of Sauron. Arwen steers Aragorn to accepting his fate as King of Gondor. Galadriel gives Frodo the bottled light of Earendil which saves him from Shelob. And Eowyn destroys the Witchking of Angmar ("I am no man!", another favorite, this time from Return of the King).
And Tolkien's presentation of good and evil is as clear cut as it gets. You knew goblins, orcs, Sauron, the Balrog, the Ring Wraiths and the Urukhai were evil. And you knew elves and dwarves and hobbits and eagles and men were good. Black and white. Good had to conquer evil and there's no going around that.
That was my main argument to the question posted. I said, I find the notion of politics, intrigue, cheating and lying and not ever knowing who's on whose side, makes GoT blurry and complicated. Guess it's why it makes for a good series. Its a book per season, you know. So GoT fans who rely solely on the telly, you've got a long way to go.
Fast forward to today, and I look into the books I'm into now. Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time blurs the lines of good and evil too, exploring the weakness of men (and women) to the temptations of power. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn explores cult formation and history manipulation, to rile the oppressed to fight or hide an unbearable truth from the general public. From my reading of Stromlight Archives B1P1, looks like Sanderson'll further delve into questioning what is right and what is wrong and peel back more layers to expose humanity for what it is.
Maybe its the trend of the new millennium. These are complicated times we're in. Nothing's as A or B as 20, 30 or 40 years ago. There's not just one road-not-taken here. The fork has morphed into a superhighway cloverleaf. Inasmuch as we'd like it to be, the world where Tolkien wrote his story is gone, replaced by this muddled sense of "hey, your own mother-in-law could be a serial killer". Okay, that may be too weird or extreme an example, but you get the point. Good isn't just simply good anymore. Good may be the president who calls in the explosion of an Afghan town that wipes it off the map in order to rid the world of the Al Qaida. Bad may be the corrupt police officer who just needs the extra money to pay for his son's school book photocopy. It's not as black/white clear cut anymore.
So, dear reader, people do turn over new leaves and sometimes eat their words. I honestly still prefer LOTR but I'm not going to put down GoT or any other budding fantaseries in the process of defending it.
Except maybe 50 Shades of NO WAY. But that's another entry for another day.
My adamant reaction was, how dare someone even ask that? Nothing compares to Tolkien. NOTHING! N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!!!
Wrong. Three months later, I figure it out and realize my answer should have been... nothing. LOTR is much too different from GoT, so much so that the only thing they do have in common is their section in the bookstore.
Plus the fact that I have not read a single book in the GoT series (even though I have two of 'em sitting and gathering dust in my library), I really had no right to even answer the question.
But first, let me explain my near-violent answer three months ago.
I am obviously a very righteous fan of Frodo and the great Hobbit adventure. I think I've read the books 3 times each on average. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the movies (the extended versions are part of my yearly Christmas break ritual). And The Hobbit was the very first technically adult fantasy novel I bought for myself and devoured whole. I've said hobbit one too many times in a paragraph, haven't I? Might be 'cause I'm EXCITED for the movie.
So yeah, I'm a fan. But more than being a fan, I've considered myself to be a believer, of the themes and ideas Tolkien wrote of in his masterful trilogy.
Back in the (when were they published) 1950s/60s, as industry boomed after the war, Tolkien knew Mother Nature would struggle under the steel wheels of mankind, so he wrote of the importance of trees and the forest, how everything is better with good tilled earth. Amazingly even, he wrote of nature fighting back. Ents gatecrashing Saruman's dilly-dallying is one of my favorite scenes in Two Towers. He was, essentially, one of the world's first environmentalists.
Tolkien was also one of the first to write in women as strong characters into his storyline. Sword wielding Eowyn. Serene, collected yet strong-willed Arwen. Awe-inspiring Galadriel. They all had their role to play in the road to free Middle Earth from the fear of the would-be wrath of Sauron. Arwen steers Aragorn to accepting his fate as King of Gondor. Galadriel gives Frodo the bottled light of Earendil which saves him from Shelob. And Eowyn destroys the Witchking of Angmar ("I am no man!", another favorite, this time from Return of the King).
And Tolkien's presentation of good and evil is as clear cut as it gets. You knew goblins, orcs, Sauron, the Balrog, the Ring Wraiths and the Urukhai were evil. And you knew elves and dwarves and hobbits and eagles and men were good. Black and white. Good had to conquer evil and there's no going around that.
That was my main argument to the question posted. I said, I find the notion of politics, intrigue, cheating and lying and not ever knowing who's on whose side, makes GoT blurry and complicated. Guess it's why it makes for a good series. Its a book per season, you know. So GoT fans who rely solely on the telly, you've got a long way to go.
Fast forward to today, and I look into the books I'm into now. Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time blurs the lines of good and evil too, exploring the weakness of men (and women) to the temptations of power. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn explores cult formation and history manipulation, to rile the oppressed to fight or hide an unbearable truth from the general public. From my reading of Stromlight Archives B1P1, looks like Sanderson'll further delve into questioning what is right and what is wrong and peel back more layers to expose humanity for what it is.
Maybe its the trend of the new millennium. These are complicated times we're in. Nothing's as A or B as 20, 30 or 40 years ago. There's not just one road-not-taken here. The fork has morphed into a superhighway cloverleaf. Inasmuch as we'd like it to be, the world where Tolkien wrote his story is gone, replaced by this muddled sense of "hey, your own mother-in-law could be a serial killer". Okay, that may be too weird or extreme an example, but you get the point. Good isn't just simply good anymore. Good may be the president who calls in the explosion of an Afghan town that wipes it off the map in order to rid the world of the Al Qaida. Bad may be the corrupt police officer who just needs the extra money to pay for his son's school book photocopy. It's not as black/white clear cut anymore.
So, dear reader, people do turn over new leaves and sometimes eat their words. I honestly still prefer LOTR but I'm not going to put down GoT or any other budding fantaseries in the process of defending it.
Except maybe 50 Shades of NO WAY. But that's another entry for another day.
Been too long
:)
Erm, no. Not quitting the job. As imperfect as it is, its still waaaay better off than most things.
Erm... no, nothing drastic's happening either in the realm of familia. And no change either in relationship status (to answer your awkward unasked Q).
One new thing is this entry. After a lull and a silence, I'm back to writing. Hope you don't mind all the other (howmanynumberof) posts here tonight. Its a writing spree, I tell you.
And I'm off!
Monday, September 17, 2012
If you want to get paid for your freelance work...
...then you ought to find and lead a tribe, build a base of people who want you, and only you, and are willing to pay for it.
-Seth Godin
Words to live by. :-)
-Seth Godin
Words to live by. :-)
Derailed, and the slow road of getting back on track
The past 9 months of 2012 have not been the best to me.
Nix that.
For the past 9 months of 2012, I have not been the best to me. I've let myself go, be moody, not read, not write, and get lost basically in a hullabaloo of work. As much "fun" and "experience generating" going back to media is, it's come at the consequence of losing focus on loving myself.
The past few months have found me angry at anything and everything in the world: inane drivers, idiotic pedestrians, worthless traffic enforcers... yes, they're mostly found on the road home after my rage has reached its tipping point for the day. I've been known to even lash out at colleagues, granted they weren't unwarranted but uncalled for nonetheless.
A few weekends ago, though, hope shone thru with the rediscovery of a passion for baking. It started with an episode of Everyday Baking, when host/baker John Barricelli showed how damn easy it was to make lemon custard squares. I couldn't believe how simple it was that I had to try it out for myself. Amazingly, they turned out pretty great!
That started a trend of experimentation of trying different things: red velvet cheesecake, blueberry lemon cheesecake, milk choco butterscotchies, choco swirl blondies, oatmeal apricot cookies... And hopefully to many more as the weekends push on. I have a few ideas to try out but I've built up a good repertoire of goodies for a viable SME.
And a good miniature, tiny tiny SME is the next step for me. The most of 2012 may have derailed me from a certain track but maybe its because I had to eventually find this new one I'm fixing my wheels on. I still hope to get back my healthy, fit self, but right now, the burning desire to make something out of nothing is so much stronger.
So how does "Hip to be Square" sound to you?
Nix that.
For the past 9 months of 2012, I have not been the best to me. I've let myself go, be moody, not read, not write, and get lost basically in a hullabaloo of work. As much "fun" and "experience generating" going back to media is, it's come at the consequence of losing focus on loving myself.
The past few months have found me angry at anything and everything in the world: inane drivers, idiotic pedestrians, worthless traffic enforcers... yes, they're mostly found on the road home after my rage has reached its tipping point for the day. I've been known to even lash out at colleagues, granted they weren't unwarranted but uncalled for nonetheless.
A few weekends ago, though, hope shone thru with the rediscovery of a passion for baking. It started with an episode of Everyday Baking, when host/baker John Barricelli showed how damn easy it was to make lemon custard squares. I couldn't believe how simple it was that I had to try it out for myself. Amazingly, they turned out pretty great!
That started a trend of experimentation of trying different things: red velvet cheesecake, blueberry lemon cheesecake, milk choco butterscotchies, choco swirl blondies, oatmeal apricot cookies... And hopefully to many more as the weekends push on. I have a few ideas to try out but I've built up a good repertoire of goodies for a viable SME.
And a good miniature, tiny tiny SME is the next step for me. The most of 2012 may have derailed me from a certain track but maybe its because I had to eventually find this new one I'm fixing my wheels on. I still hope to get back my healthy, fit self, but right now, the burning desire to make something out of nothing is so much stronger.
So how does "Hip to be Square" sound to you?
Friday, August 24, 2012
Big Fish
Seth Godin's latest blog entry talks about being #1. He figures being #1 in a small market is a whole lot better than being #3 in a big market. Ouch. That might feel like a slap on the face to a certain businessman somewhere... not anywhere in particular.
It's good advice, me thinks. Small market doesn't necessarily mean smaller profit nowadays. Hollowing out a niche for yourself allows leverage to dictate price due to remarkability of your product. And as your niche catches on, it eventually becomes the norm of the masses. Small pond gets rained on with habagat-like proportions and turns into... what do you know! Big pond!
It's like the real MVP announcing his twitter account today. He chose to sell this piece of info to the market who worships: the newbies of professionalismdom obsessed social media. He's king of that pond. Of course the entire fish population of that pond have their smart phones in tow, start following him in microseconds, tweeting and retweeting that they're now a techy degree closer to their demigod. Drip-drip-drop little April shower and now there's a game on twitter called "Watch the followers grow." 2,590 followers in less than 30 minutes. All this and not a single tweet to his name.
So, lesson learned. For passionpreneur project, I shall be the big fish in my bar none pond. I have no idea how yet but I guess that's something I have to figure out in the next few weeks.
4,016 followers already, and a tweet! Wonder when he'll get the "verified" tick mark...
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Unforgiving
I have a temper.
It's the kind of temper that fires up with bad driving, stupid pedestrians who don't use the sidewalk, the self-absorbed, and negligent workers.
It comes in bursts, granted they're short but of late they've come too often in a day. I try to control it but to reel it in would be untrue to myself. People are afraid of me because of it nowadays. They think of me as a sort of Jekyll/Hyde monster. Sweet and understanding one moment... Angry and hotheaded the next.
I guess there must be some way I can adjust my temper a bit for some to be less fearful of me. My boss advises I learn diplomacy and poker-faced-ness. I kind of don't agree because when I find something to be wrong, I am unafraid to speak, and speak loudly about it.
I hate it when people hide behind fake laughter and forced smiles, which is unfortunately the very base of the industry I work in. Unfair though, that for being truthfully unforgiving I am marked as near evil. Just because I can't force myself to be friends with the shallowly gorgeous faces of the media industry, I am dubbed mataray. Just because I rant over the stupid mistakes of others, I am dubbed ill-tempered.
I am not two faced. I am sweet and kind and caring. But push me far: don't answer my questions, ignore my emails, don't do your job so I can do it for you... that calls for a beating 'til you're a bloody pulp. And I will.
It's the kind of temper that fires up with bad driving, stupid pedestrians who don't use the sidewalk, the self-absorbed, and negligent workers.
It comes in bursts, granted they're short but of late they've come too often in a day. I try to control it but to reel it in would be untrue to myself. People are afraid of me because of it nowadays. They think of me as a sort of Jekyll/Hyde monster. Sweet and understanding one moment... Angry and hotheaded the next.
I guess there must be some way I can adjust my temper a bit for some to be less fearful of me. My boss advises I learn diplomacy and poker-faced-ness. I kind of don't agree because when I find something to be wrong, I am unafraid to speak, and speak loudly about it.
I hate it when people hide behind fake laughter and forced smiles, which is unfortunately the very base of the industry I work in. Unfair though, that for being truthfully unforgiving I am marked as near evil. Just because I can't force myself to be friends with the shallowly gorgeous faces of the media industry, I am dubbed mataray. Just because I rant over the stupid mistakes of others, I am dubbed ill-tempered.
I am not two faced. I am sweet and kind and caring. But push me far: don't answer my questions, ignore my emails, don't do your job so I can do it for you... that calls for a beating 'til you're a bloody pulp. And I will.
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