Rainy Season's Sidekick

With rainy season (in the midst of May) comes flu season. 

Over the weekend, Nards and I accompanied our assistant to an event somewhere in the mountainous regions of Antipolo.  That venue was perched on a steep hill within a village with guarded gates and quirky street names.  

The wind was blowing so hard, it rocked the car in the parking lot after the boys disembarked and unloaded the equipment.  I was half-afraid that the car was going to get flung to the other side of the courtyard with me in it.  I didn't want to take that chance so I followed the guys to the hall beneath a theatre (where I saw little caucasian girls, in cute tutus, dancing).   The hall was nicely decorated and swathed with black and white.  There were strings of crystals suspended everywhere.  I love the velvet damask table cloths.

We had a glitch in set up.  One of the primary cables was not working, and we had to high tail it to a computer shop (all the way from the top of the mountain) to get a replacement.  I went ahead to the parking lot to get the car warmed up.  I was halfway to the car, when it rained.  And it wasn't a gentle drizzle, it was a full-blown downpour with cold winds whipping me into a glacial mess.  When I got to the car, I was shivering.  I turned on the engine and cranked the car heater just to get off the chill.  

The following morning, I had a colossal headache, a bad case of sniffles and an itchy throat. 

That night, as we were about to sleep I laid my hand on his arm. 

Nards: whoa.
Me: what?
Nards: you're hands.
Me: what about it?
Nards: they're like pan de sal.
Me: pan de sal?
Nards: yeah, warm like pan de sal.
Me: (touched his feet with my feet) even my feet?
Nards: you're feet are like pan de sal too.
Me: *groan
Nards: where's the paracetamol....

I developed fever, of course I did.  Nards, on nurse mode, gave me meds, fed me warm meals and supplied me with fruits.  Now, I am mostly on our recliner, resting, watching TV and dozing on and off.  Going online when I'm up to it, to check our business correspondences, because Nards is busy with our current events.

What's the take away here?  My sister sternly told me to always pack an umbrella or a windbreaker in my bag.  No argument from me.  But this weather is starting to wear me down.

RPGs and Me

Before I got involved with Square Enix, EA, Ubisoft and Capcom, I had a long standing love affair with LucasArts.

I remember that summer before my sophomore year in high school, when my parents got us a computer.  It was a 286 processor with 56kbs of RAM, with a CMYK monitor.  It had a floppy disk drive, (5 1/4 floppy disks were 360-800kbs only) and built-in speakers.  Powerful thing during those days, but quite pitiful by today's standards.  I learned to use Wordstar and Lotus on that thing.  I learned to touch type.  I also learned basic programming and how to make batch files.

Clockwise (L-R) from upper left hand corner: Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Pirates of the Barbary Coast, Sam & Max, Prince of Persia (photos from Moby Games)

But the best part of that computer was the new array of games we could play.   LucasArts, at that time, had the best games.  And my siblings and I spent most of our summer (when there were no 8-hour power failures), playing.  We also had Win, Lose or Draw, Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune.  I can still remember the midi sound track to all those games.

 Maniac Mansion Intro

There was no internet back then.  No walkthroughs to download.  They could be procured from the computer shops that charged a minimal fee for printing costs.  I remember my classmate in HS gave me the walkthrough for Maniac Mansion.  It was a big relief for us to finish that game because we got stuck at some point.

There are revamped versions of this game.  I have finished Prince of Persia Sands of Time and Warrior Within.  I have Sam & Max on my iPod.  I'm going to try the new Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island.  I hope I will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed their original versions.

May Showers

I find it ironic that the day I saw a friend twitted a news link that says La Niña is over, we get a downpour.   Not that I'm complaining.  I'm grateful for the relief from the intense summer heat, the sound of thunder, the smell of rain and the sound of it as it hits our neighbor's roof.  

I used to dread rain during the month of May because it meant that the new school year is just around the corner.  It was haggling season with my Mom on our sleep schedule.  (She liked to put us to bed earlier and wake us up earlier a few weeks before the first day of school to get vacation mode out of our system.)   It also marked the time when I had to start covering my new schoolbooks with plastic.   I love getting my new school books.  I'd always cover my literature books first and read them afterward.

I feel that was ages ago.  But at the same time it also feels like it only happened yesterday.   Does that make sense?  At present, all I know is that this rain is a welcome break.  And the whole city just took a much needed bath.

My biker roommate is a bit sad though, because rains = no biking today.

Mother's Day Macaron Promo

Click on photo to order. :)

Somewhat Rainy Labor Day

It's the first of May.  I hear our expressways were clogged.  A few people I know went laptop shopping and dumpling shopping.  Nards and I stayed home.  I tried working on some designs this morning, but I couldn't think because of distractions from friends who were on holiday mode.  So I closed photoshop, opened our video player and put on the entire third season of Mentalist.

The heat and humidity was more intense today.  And it made sense when dark clouds rolled in and the air became heavy with the scent of rain.  Around lunch time there was a brief downpour but the really good one came late in the afternoon.   It was strong and was accompanied by a brisk breeze.   I went out the balcony and saw a lot of our neighbors looking out their windows watching the rain.  

Thank you Lord. :)