Chapter 1

I had this recent dream. But before I tell you that dream, let me tell you a little something about myself.

I am personally convinced that I can see spirits and ghosts. I've so many sightings since I was in primary school that it's very hard to dismiss them as hallucinations. Friends and seers tell me that I have a 'third eye'.

As a kid (and until now) I always have recurring dreams of being chased or hunted by vampires and ghosts. However, not once have I been caught; I always manage to last through the nightmares until it is sunrise in my dream-world (that's the time the ghosts and the vampires disappear). In my dream-world, I have a great survival instinct. I hide, I run, I pretend to be one of them --- all of these just to survive in the dreamworld.

After I graduated from college (and taking up some special classes with reknowned 'psychic' professors), my vampire dreams took a new twist. No longer was I the hunted. I became the hunter.

For some reason, my dream self is able to weild some holy powers effective against my dream vampires, ghosts and ghouls. I can create a tower of light surrounding myself to ward them off. I can dismiss ghosts with some incantations and a few gestures. I can trap vampires by making some symbols on the ground and leading them to it.

I became somewhat like a vampire/ghost hunter in my occasional dreams of this theme. I'd dream of strangers and friends being shadowed by an unfriendly spirit or a group of vampires. I'll call on my 'holy' abilities and exorcise them while the potential victim remains ignorant of the dream threat. In all instances, I'd assume the role of the indifferent hero.

But not when I dreamed of someone whom I'll refer to as Mr. GO.

In my most recent dream, Mr. GO was sleeping uncomfortably on his bed as if he's having a nightmare. I had a perfect view of his room from the doorway but I had a blurry perception of it. I focused my eyes at the view and with some concentration I was able to perceive the presence of about 8-or-so ghosts clad in dark tattered clothes surrounding Mr. Go at his bed. The ghosts were unaware of my presence.

I could have dismissed all of them with some mumblings and gestures but I kept quiet and still.

I watched the ghosts sway back-and-forth about Mr. Go's bed as if they're building up tension for a certain climax. I could see Mr. Go twitching his head occassionally with his teeth clenched. I could see his hair getting soaked with perspiration.

And then the ghosts disappeared. I saw Mr. Go's mouth open as if trying to scream (or was it breathe?). He remained fixed in that position-- mouth open, arms at the side, legs straight but motionless. And he wasn't breathing.

I let him die in my dream. I didn't save him. It's the first time I let someone die in my dream. From an indifferent hero I opted to be just plain indifferent.

There was no guilt in my soul.

Mistake of My Life: Eurostar

Julie, Jackie and I went on a weeknight expedition to Eurostar, a small carnival at the Fort. We've been getting mixed reviews and comments from our peers but hey it's something new so we were excited in trying it out.



Right now I'd say that the Eurostar rides made a wimp out of me, considering that I consider myself a somewhat theme-park-ride veteran!

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What I Liked Most: BOOSTER

BOOSTER is a revolving disc platform tilted at a 10-degree angle. Riders sit on suspended chairs configured like an octopus: 4 arms radiate outward from a central axis and revolve about it. Moreover, the chairs themselves rotate at an angle perpendicular to the backrest.

Think of the arrangement that the center of the disc platform is the sun, the axis for the chairs as a planet, and the chairs are like moons engaged in planetary motion --- except that the moons can't make up their minds whether to spin this way or that while going around the planet.

The ride starts out calmly --- probably the designer's idea of providing 'false security' to the riders --- when all of a sudden the revolving disc will be provided sudden boosts in speed. The tilted disc provides the momentum gain for the arms and the seats. Eventually, you'll end up oriented upside-down, sideways-up, right-side-up and everything-in-between as the ride gets faster-and-faster.

Strobe lights provided a desirable visual disorientation (kinda makes you feel like having 'E' -- not that I've tried it before) to add to the thrill factor.

I got off the ride laughing uncontrollably... i was probably hysterical hahaha. The other riders were in a zombie-like daze though... too bad for them.

I woke up today with slight bruises on my shoulders/upper back.

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What I Liked Least: FLIPPER

You know that 'rotating saucer/teacup' kiddie ride in most fairs? Sounds peanuts, right?

FLIPPER is just like the rotating teacup but instead of going round-and-round on a level platform, the disc-platform tilts at almost near-vertical! Holy-mother-of-sh*t! I lost track of how fast the disc was going because I was too busy checking if my stomach is still where it should be.

So that's the way how shaker fries feel.

This ride is definitely NOT my cup of tea.

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Ride-which-garnered-the-most-expletives-from-me: RANGER

"Anchors Away" of Enchanted Kingdom is a walk in the park compared to this smaller cousin of his.

This ride looks like a rock-back-and-forth attraction, but upon stepping onboard the 'ship' I definitely had my doubts.

Instead of leg restraints, this ride has padded chest restraints (a padded bar pushes your chest and back towards the backrest. And it's caged -- there are overhead steel bars.

First sway: fine... 90 degrees. I can live with that.
Second rock: about 140 degrees... Tolerable.
Next sway: holy f*cking sh*t... almost upside-down, but not quite.
Next sway: p*tang **a... (we were completely upside-down, and I was holding on to the overhead steel bars already)

I thought that was the end of the ride... but the 'fun' was just starting.

Next sway: AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!! There was no next sway. The ride just looped and looped continuously.
And then it stopped at the top (again, we were upside-down).

Slowly, the ride began to tilt in the other direction... ohnooo... AAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!! hooooolllyyy fuuuuuu*****KKKK!

We looped in the other direction. And looped. And looped. I lost track after three loops because I was concentrating very hard not to throw up!

Somewhere along the way I distinctly remember saying "ayoko na!!!" ... boy, that was a first from me.

This ride really made me feel *sick*. Burp... urk..

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EASIEST-yet-MOST-THRILLING RIDE: JOKER

That is, if you're not afraid of heights. Well, I'm not. Julie chickened out on this one.

40+ feet, going around in circles at 100 km/hour centripetal speed right-side-up and upside-down! At some point, you get almost the same feeling as when you're bungee-jumping!

Hoo boy!



We called it quits after these rides (what?! we've only been at Eurostar for less than an hour!). I recommended that we find ourselves some tea and hot soup to alleviate our almost-vomit-able situations (hey, that really works! Julie and Jackie gave it a thumbs-up after!) so we headed off to Good Earth Tea Room nearby.

Congratulations and Best Wishes, NIKS and DEE!

I think that's a diamond-crusted titanium-gold ring with a round brilliant cut white-pink diamond.

I missed the momentous announcement last Sunday night at Starbucks Katipunan (I was on duty!). Thank goodness for our avid photographer Tintoot.

Niks is one of my airsoft acquaintances (one of the more talented and aggressive players I know). I knew him way back from the games back at "The Mall", then at whappakk nights, then on badminton games and recently as part of his team.

Dee, I first met when Chie and I were regularly climbing at Power-up Pasig. Niks was going away for his Chicago assignment. On one of our regular climbs, Niks and his brother Ru showed up with two ladies (Dee and Keysa) at Power-up to join us. After the climb, all of us had dinner at Metrowalk.

Since then, I'd chance upon Dee at some airsoft games.

Last year, after Niks got back from his Chicago assignment, we had a small gathering at Starbucks Metrowalk. It was there that he proudly introduced me to Dee: "Stip, have you met MY girlfriend?"

Since then, I've regularly seen the two in our gatherings for coffee, games, dinner (the two of them, when together, have enviable appetites!) and overnight drinking sessions.

I'm pretty sure that if I were at Starbucks Katipunan last Sunday, Niks would have mentioned something like: "Stip, have you met MY fiance'?"

Congratulations, you two! :D

P.S.
So I wonder when will Jayjay and RG make their own announcements?

Social Life Suspended, et al

Three days from now, the refinery I work in will undergo a 30+ days maintenance shutdown. It's the start of a 12-hour shifting schedule for me as part of the technical coverage team. Plus it's still work-as-usual for my normal work activities (planning, project development, etc.).

I'm actually psyching myself up in preparation for a month's dormancy on my social life, give or take five days. Hoooboy...

Mental note to myself: send messages to appropriate parties that until this tribulation is over, I won't be able to play airsoft, attend parties, go out on that date my best friend has set up for me (he thinks he's finally found my soulmate --- actually got to talk to her over the phone last weekend), attend family reunions, celebrate my birthday as I usually do, have coffee with friends, go on weekend DVD hunting sprees, play badminton, malling, drinking, and god-knows-whatever-future-event-I'll-miss...

At least I get to save a bit on gas and mall money.

On to other "trivial" matters.

A. BOOKS

Finished reading three books in the last ten days. I've been a voracious reader recently--- reading is still the best stress-reliever for me specially with my current work assignment.

Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" is fantastic! That is, if you have an interest on vampiric lore and history.
Steve Berry's "The Third Secret" is an intriguing piece of fiction. It's both interesting and light -- I finished reading it in one seating.
Stephen King's latest novel "The Cell" is interesting. He's got a unique doomsday scenario offered in this book. Surprisingly, I agree to one of the philosophical theories he used in the novel: man's core is madness... strip away his intelligence and what will be left be a being of madness and not of helplessness.

B. GAMES

Finished Shadows of the Collosus. 5/5 on my rating scheme. If it were available on the XBox I'd get a copy for Glenn to show him what he's missing.

Currently playing Wild Arms 4.

For my shutdown tribulation, I've got Prince of Persia: Two Thrones at the sideline.

C. Physical Fitness

Chest-to-waist ratio is already 1.14. The average man is at 1.04. Body-builders normally have a ratio of 1.40 and up, but I'm only targetting for 1.20.

D. Dating Scene

Okay okay... I will go out with this nice, smart lady Quito is setting me up with. After the shutdown.

For starters, she sounded smart and cheery over the phone. The way I figured it out, she's currently taking her MBA.

Just like my ... uhmm... crush. :D

I haven't gone on a blind date for 3 years. Hope I still have what it takes to be a respectable date, hahaha.

E. Music

Recent purchases: (1) Brownman Revival (2) Santana (3) Jackson 5 Greatest Hits.

F. Work

On my secret project, the study is becoming more and more technical as we begin detailed design specifications and economic justifications.

I'm currently behind on one of my projects by two weeks ... need to close this out by the coming week.

One Week at K.L.

I just got back from Kuala Lumpur last Saturday night. I attended a one-week training course for a simulation program that will be core to my current job assignment. The program is a very challenging application; it can even get on your nerves because of the configuration and troubleshooting. Thank goodness that the class (there were 12 of us), place, topic and instructors were such that learning was conducive, fun and satisfying.

That's the work part of my trip. On the non-work part:

1. On a daily basis, I grab either an irish caffe americano or a double mocha to-go at the Starbucks in front of my hotel. Hehehe... it's a nice feeling for me to sip on coffe on my way to Petronas Towers.

2. Finished reading two books: The HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova, and The THIRD SECRET by Steve Berry. Both were satisfying reads; I'd recommend both books to other readers. Kostova's book had a more tedious plot though. Because I'm such a bookworm, I've been sleeping 4-5 hours a day only during that trip.

3. Had dinner at Benny and Anne's apartment; met their 1+ year old baby angel ANGEL. Sabi ni Anne, mukhang "charming" daw ako sa mga bata. Wala pa daw kasing 10 minutes eh dumadaldal na sa 'kin at nagpapa-impress while oftentimes ANGEL tends to be a shy person.

4. Exchanged stories with Benny and Anne -- career, work gossip, personal stuff (pakasal na daw ako), own beliefs, choice of books, how to take care of kids, etc.

5. Bought some casual shirts at a factory outlet sale.

6. Scrounged K.L.'s version of Greenhills for a PS2 accessory. I almost bought a PSP because they've got units that can play pirated copies of the game!

7. Had to bear with the dragon dancers every night around 1030 pm when they do their thing at every floor in the hotel.

8. Dinner at hawker's center with Anne, Benny, Ronn, Cris, Erick and Cong. This is the only time na nakapag-pork ako sa KL. Kuwentuhan uli (ang ingay namin!) over a sumptuous dinner of chicken fish, lemon chicken, pork spareribs and Tiger beer.

9. Went to the hotel's gym on T/Th 630-800 a.m. just to stick to my physical fitness program.

10. Visited my favorite KL shop: Kinokuniya bookstore bwahaha. Bought only one book though.

11. Partied with Cris, Ronn, Tim and Kodaka-san on Friday night --- went to the Beach Club, then off to Hard Rock Cafe, and finally at the Zouk Club. Got myself a free shirt from a launch party at Zouk.

12. Meals -- I've only narrow options because I have a weak tolerance for curry. Buti na lang there's a Yoshinoya at KLCC, so I alternated Japanese food with Hainanese Chicken Rice. hehehe. :D

Many thanks to Frat (who gave me a premier pass at KLIA so I was able to breeze through immigration), Benny & Anne, Cris, Ronn, Erick and Cong for a great week at KL!

Promil Kid

I totally agree with Calvin.