I'm such a geek, har har

I'm such a geek, and it amazes me sometimes how geeky I act. I've always been known to be quite an odd person. I do weird things, and that's just how I am.

You may ask, "A geek? But you're not a dork? A dweeb? A nerd? What's the difference anyways?"

Here's the answer:

I'm not a dweeb nor a dork because I've no problems interacting with other people. In fact, I can honestly say that I am quite the charmer. HA HA HA. That was hard to write. But seriously, I'm not socially inept. Shy at times, yes; but definitely not socially inept. So that takes dweeb and dork out of my choices, leaving "geek" as my only choice. (Though I have to admit, I can be such a nerd sometimes. I’m a little bit intelligent, a little bit socially inept and a little bit obsessed, so am I a bit of a nerd, or a bit of a dweeby dorky geek, or dweeby geeky dork, or dorky geeky dweeb, or dorky dweeby geek, or geeky dweeby dork, or geeky dorky dweeb? I'm not sure. Ha ha ha)

The thing is, it’s actually become “cool” to be a geek –before, “geek” used to be a derogatory term, the geeks have really managed to reclaim it. In reality, geeks are EVERYWHERE. I love hanging out with geeks, because not only are they fun – I’m always learning something new from them! Where nerds can be more generic, a lot of geeks are almost like …. specialists. However, “nerd” is still seen as a derogatory thing, and I think a lot of people tend to be closeted nerds. You just don’t see the proud declarations of nerdness that you do from the geek crowd.

In a galaxy far far away..........

Most people I've met know that I've been a geek all my life (and I'm proud to say that). Knowing this, they continue to become friends with me. Ha ha ha. No, actually, a lot of people say that me being a geek is quite fun. So, thanks to everyone who has let me become part of their lives. This is kind of like a tribute to you. It's symbolic, okay? Ha ha ha. Seriously. I think of the characters in this cute video I found as the people I've met - characters I will never forget.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_3Hyb6IfU&feature=player_embedded]

Tis' the season to....... go hi-tech?

Hey, you. Yes, you. Have you seen my site yet? You should check it out.

In recent years, Christmas has changed. It's practically lost its meaning to people. Instead of it being the time to celebrate Christ's birth, it has been replaced by the notion that it is time to buy expensive gifts, go on extravagant vacations, and to stuff our mouths with lots of delicious food. As we get older, the image of its sanctity in the Christian tradition fades away and our celebrations more exaggerated
The holiday season just isn’t the same anymore. Is it because of the non-stop rings and beeps that we get from our phones every two seconds that’s keeping us from spending more time with our families? Everyone has a phone nowadays, even elementary school kids (Which I don’t really understand. Who are they texting? Their parents? Seriously, who? Why are little kids in our time Facebooking and YMing? I didn’t even understand this whole technology stuff until I started high school.)
If they aren’t texting and making hour-long phone calls, chances are they’re listening to their iPods, mp3s or other gadgets. They practically enter their own little antisocial world when they tune out the rest of the room. They ignore the outside world having parties and drinking to their hearts desire as they listen to their own genre of music.
Besides that, they have their laptops, their Xboxes, Wiis, PS3s, and other toys to keep them busy in their rooms. The good thing about having these consoles is at least they can share it with their family. A little bit of new generation family bonding.
It is hard for the older generations to grasp this inconsiderate behavior. Brought up in a generation where the family worked and played together as a unit they are at a loss on how to deal with this actions during the holidays. Grandparents try to hold conversations with their grandchildren but can barely get a couple of words out before the cell phone goes off. They repeatedly ask the kids questions only to find out that the only thing they are listening to is the music on their ear phones. At a time when there is a growing distance between the young and the elderly this only deepens the gap.

“The world is your playground”

AKYAT BAHAY STYLE: PARKOUR

What do you get when you mix martial arts, gymnastics, track, and suburban ground? That’s right. PARKOUR.

Also known as "free-running”, the sport involves navigating through urban terrain and architectural obstacles. The goal of a traceur (one who does parkour) is to navigate an urban environment with as much speed and fluidity as possible. Basically you combine running with jumping on, over, or through an object; trying to combine moves into one flowing run. You can run or jump on (or off) rails, walls, steps, and basically anything that can be used as an obstacle.

Parkour originated in the Parisian suburb of Lisses, France. Sebastien Foucan, David Belle and friends were playing as all kids do. However they continued furthering their skills. Today, almost 20 years later, parkour has spread all across the globe. According to co-founder David Belle, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach", that is, the idea of using physical agility and quick thinking to get out of difficult situations, and to be able to go anywhere that one wants to.

Mostly, parkour involves drilling core techniques over and over until one is comfortable enough to combine movements. There is also emphasis on "discipline" because parkour is not a sport involving competition. It is more an activity involving you and your own boundaries, and a tight-knit community of friends.

Having just entered the Philippine radar less than a decade ago, it poses to be the next big urban-athletic trend. Even here in Baguio, you can see parkour starting to spread. There is a team/group of traceurs that practice in Burnham park and other “secret” locations, practically every Sunday, the X-Limit: Baguio Freerunners."Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move," as found on their webpage on Facebook. I think it’s quite inspiring that although they practice a discipline that is not quite known yet, they aim to spread knowledge about this budding sport.

And I still don't understand....

Those who know me personally know that I am quite a techie - I love my gadgets and I like being up-to-date on the latest stuff out there - and I try to learn about a lot of things computer-related. So far, I've learned how to use Adobe Photoshop, a little bit of Flash, Illustrator, and recently (thanks to Ms. Samantha Degay) I've tried dabbing in Paint Tool SAI. On the technical side, I've learned how to arrange a UTP cable, how to assemble a CPU (oh, my CAL ICT compeptiton memories, ha ha ha) and quite a bit more.

Recently, I've been told that I am a rose among the thorns in this field. I don't understand this. It it so rare to find a woman lugging around a toolbox? Or checking out a pair of wicked drives instead of cute accessories? To my disappointment, I saw mostly guys at a recent IT-related competition. In our team, there were three girls and one guy (Marianne Domalanta, Sam Degay, Jerricko Mabanta and I) and it kinda showed that girls are just as good, and sometimes even better, in these competitions. But as I looked around the hall where we were to stay, I saw mostly men. Of course, this was the norm, but I was hoping that there would be more girls there. It's a modern world, right? (Well, as modern as it can get here in the country.) Why are girls such a rarity in IT events?

I've done some looking into results of a few IT competitions in the country, and to no surprise, I saw mostly guy's names (unless masculine names are trending, which I really doubt). I was slightly disappointed, but somehow this gave me a bit of hope. Before, the field was dominated b guys, but now, at least there are more girls joining in. Hopefully "girl-power" will take over. Someday.