"Not a Good Bye Letter," They'd Say...

A beginning has to have an end, isn't it? It gives a chance for another new beginning to start.

It has indeed been awhile since that post about a weekend sleep over. A lot has indeed happened to our family (I'll be calling it 'outfit' or 'group' in this post from time to time) since that time. Dodski has rolled off the project, as well as El Pipil (though their spirit and legacy are still with us until this very day...
...Dodski's PS2 memory card and some of El Pipil's socks and shirts, to name a few...). And then there has been additional members and as we go along our group has become one big family. Let us now take a look at the original participants along with many of the new ones...

Mul is still the straight guy, though he's learned to deliver a punch line here and there (he needs more practice though, something that is getting a bit rare since El Pipil hasn't been around), he even managed to make fun of me once in awhile. A good effort indeed. (Mul, I'm gonna get back at you, mark my words). True to his name as well (that is, the 'straight' guy), he works STRAIGHT into the night. There were many times when I only see him in the morning and not before I go to bed. Many times, me and El as room mate worried about his well-being, but as long as we're still seeing that big ear-to-ear smile on his face (complete with a perfect set of white teeth and sprinkles of pimples here and there), I guess he's fine. Special note for Mul: his Microsoft Access skills has helped me come out of tough spots every now and then. Thanks again, Mul! You're such a great help!

When it comes to going home late, I guess I speak for everyone when I say that Fan2 is the reigning champion (although I suspect that Mul is about to take over that title from her anytime soon). Customer master team would be completely debilitated if she was not around and one would often find her still sitting in her cube in the office, back straight, staring into the monitor until late at night. Everyday. Well, almost. She even went as far as decorating her cubicle with her favourite stuffed animals and a lot of Powerpuff Girls figurines. The reason? Because she wants to feel at home in the office. A claim that, aside from being rather contradictory in nature(they call it 'home' or 'office' for an apparent reason) has, in some way, disturbed many of us here in the project (me included). She also could not be relied upon to arrive on time at parties held on normal working days. Regardless, this woman of slightly petite stature and whose sitting posture is probably the best I've seen so far, has experienced her share of entertainment as well. Many of us here would probably remember the period when a rumor was circling around about her presumed romantic involvement with El Pipil. That was one of the more interesting times in the project.

Fan2's room mate, Ro, was once earlier in the project's been given the title of being my ex-wife. Long story. Anyways, she's well known to have a lot of luck when it comes to lucky draws. A very calculating person, you can consider yourself lucky if you have her around to help you haggle with the local pearl hawkers in places like Market Market! or Greenhill (the same goes for any other business deal that involves money). I'm willing to bet that having her around can net you a better deal than going to any discount shops (either that or she can at least point you to the best discount shop around). Aside from her prowess in getting the better deal around (a skill that is seconded by the ninja of the group, more on that later), she also shows a knack in cooking more-than-decent meals and has of late shown a considerable interest in the field of photography.

Ro's good companion, a lady by the name of Diang, was originally a breakfast buddy/dinner buddy/whenever-I-feel-like-snacking buddy for me early in the project. She's also quite a good cook, though she would put cheese in some meals that don't commonly include cheese. But they turned out to be quite good. That or maybe I was just so hungry at the time. Many people got caught unaware by her seemingly well-mannered exterior. Inside lies a girl full of mischief and many fell victim to her comic acts (this is very true to the group's ninja, Mul, and also Ro). Due to work-related matter, I must say that I rarely see her joining us during weekend outings. She'd often opt instead to stay in her apartment and get lots of rest. And, maybe, finish one of her many jigsaw puzzles that she collects here. This is probably trivial, but she shares the same funny laughing sound as her older brother, who I got acquainted with during my college days. I suspect that her brother also shares many of her comic antiques.

Awing's still the ninja of the group, disappearing at times when least expected. However, since his techniques are getting more familiar now that we've been together for quite a long time, it's not hard to notice the signs (restlessness, unfocused eyes, etc.) that usually show up before the disappearance. This time he just might need that smoke bomb. His storm-bringer jujitsu technique, however, is still as potent as ever. The ninja, moreover, has unleashed/acquired several new useful skills such as: the womanizer skill (still in development, but I suspect that he's getting there), currency exchange tricks skill, getting-cheap-airfare-and-accommodation-price-for-all-our-FTA-needs skill, and many more useful ones. Thanks to him, we're going to HK late Feb and our FTA's been maximized to the fullest.

The ninja, however, has recruited an apprentice. Pet2, another addition to our outfit (if memory serves me right, he came during my 'disappearance' into the US), has been spending a lot of time together with the ninja-extraordinaire (they went to church together many times, seen walking together many times, etc.). However, in my opinion, Pet2 has more of a flair that makes him more suited to be a samurai warrior. He always make sure that his arrival is noted, has a loud voice, and at least I know when he's not in the room anymore (without looking) because the room would suddenly become quiet. He shows all the enthusiasm of a samurai warrior facing a duel to the death (lots of screaming and yelling), and though it is irritating at times, one just can't not appreciate the pure and innocent eagerness he so often displayed.

Put2, the princess among the prince, the sugar cube in a glass of bitter coffee, the sweet among the sour and so on and so forth (at least, she originally was...hint: more sugar cubes have been mixed into the bitter coffee, yada yada bla bla bla), is, at the moment of this writing, about to roll-off the project. On top of that, she's also rolling off the company, a fact that's taken us quite aback. However, one faces choices in life, and she's made hers. We can only wish her luck in whatever endeavor she chooses, and hope that life treats her well. Along the way, we also found out that the supposedly straight girl (straight, like, in the comedy sense of things of course) can deliver some entertaining punch lines as well. This is especially true when Merce or Mul is around. Behind the calm exterior lies a girl with quite an attitude that is in dire need to be unleashed from time to time (I appreciate the sucker punch you gave me about my needing to have more self-worth, Put...you know what I'm talking about). Oh, and an excellent taste in music as well. This is just my way of saying that if you, that is YOU, Put, has some new interesting songs like that 'Drop The Phone' by 'Shy Child' you gotta let me know.

Talking about rolling off, this is probably old news, but Dodski rolled off when I was in the US and soon after he had a baby. His first. So, congratulations to Dodski for his birth into fatherhood. I'd like to repeat what a billboard ad here in the Philippines says: that when a baby is born, two parents are born. Aside from the definite increase in expenses, I can safely say that this brings him an infinite sense of joy. So, again, congratulations to Dodski and wife Iwed. I am happy for the both of you. And yes, your PS2 memory card is coming your way, rest assured. Are you already bored with your kid, dude?

There was this time when I had to leave for the US (Dodski rolled off during this time), living there for a month and a half (an outstanding experience there, a lot of feelings were involved, but this has made a different man out of me, a better one I sincerely hope) and there were probably a thing or two that I missed during that absence, aside from Dodski rolling off (Dince, Adoy, and I think Nova, came to the outfit during this time, among others...). But their spirits were always with me when I was there, just contained in a different time zone. Which means that I usually stayed up late just to be able to chat with some of my friends back home. Anyways, this material is for a different post.

Moving on...

Yeah, after that one and half month, I finally returned to Manila and was assigned to a corner cubicle with a fine view of the city of Makati and beyond (and a huge amount of people traffic going into and out of the pantry, something that I rather disliked unless the person walking by happened to be a human of the opposite sex with a certain adequate amount of appeal). One of these traffic culprit turned out to be a new addition to the outfit, a person by the name of Dince. I didn't notice it at first, but after a day or two of my return to Manila I started hearing a person walking by uttering the word 'Arsoy!' every now and then. This happened to be a nick name that she unceremoniously gave me, a nick that for no apparent reason I didn't like at all at first. But you know how it is, sooner or later you'll just give it up and accept it. Turned out I was not the only victim, so I guess I'm cool with that (Believe me when I say that Dince has butchered a lot of decent, good-sounding names).

This new sugar cube addition to our bitter coffee garnered a huge amount of following in the coming months, due to said appeal level shooting off the roof. If a certain project member that I knew more than well enough were still present, a celebrity war would have probably ensued (and I would probably be unwillingly caught in the middle). In any case, gossips were passed around, jokes were made, and many more wink wink hint hint. A person by the initial of JM and HR (among others) came into the picture and the whole thing became more and more saucier by the day. She was not almost famous. She WAS famous (Din, if you're reading this, try not to let your head hit the ceiling, unless right now you're having one of those blonde moments).

Another sugar cube, Merce, also came into the outfit. This one is really an interesting creature. Her reasonings might not be sound oftentimes, and she has shown a lot of signs and behaviors that point to the possibility that she might be suffering from a mild case of OCD (Merce, have you look OCD up in the dictionary?). Putting her together along with the other two sugar cubes can create a cacophony of strange sounds and a whole lot of entertainment in its own way. Let's just say that it's always a riot seeing them together. On top of that, they put them in the same apartment unit. All I can say for the rest is that it's up to your imagination.

Dince became one of my on-and-off lunch mate (she's available when she's not being dragged away by one of her avid fans), and so was Adoy. He was also one of Dince's victim of unceremonious nickname-giving whose nick happens to rhyme with mine. Another interesting member of the outfit who has a penchant of being 'cunihin' (a word in Indonesian which means...well, let's just say that he has some 'funny' ideas inside his head and is not afraid to say it out loud), Adoy certainly contribute a certain element of much-needed wackiness into the outfit. A good lunch mate as well, who likes to award himself with a collection of Tintin comic books and an electric guitar. Let us see whether he'll be fretting that guitar often.

Supernova (I am SO giving him too much credit by calling him this name) is another addition to the outfit that I, ashamed to admit, could not write too much about. This is due to the fact that he often locked himself up in his apartment room and could only be coaxed to go out by his soul...errrr....room mate Adoy. I've also heard that he flirted with a couple of high-profile persons of the opposite sex. I was myself a witness of one such occasion, when he was seen walking along with a lady by the initial of MDG. I am sure that there were many other occasions, but I myself could not glimpse more that one such occasion (described above) since another office relocation ensued and I found myself (and many of my team members) moved from our perfectly fine office (and in my case, a great corner cubicle with an excellent view of the city) in RCBC building to a building named 6750. Well, it seems that I do know a thing or two about Supe. Oh yeah, he bought a bass guitar as well to complement Adoy's electric guitar. True soul....errr...sorry...room mate. I'm pretty sure there will be more about him that I can write about in the future. Probably more things involving Adoy and some high-profile ladies.

The relocation to 6750 has really brought some significant changes. But one of the things that I missed dearly about the old office (aside from that nice corner cubicle) is our much looked-forward-to (for me, at least) late afternoon coffee/smoking session. This usually took place on an open-air section of the 4th floor located on an area between the two towers in the RCBC building complex. The regulars were usually me, Dodski, El Pipil (these two smoke like trains), Johnny (an avid fan of Starbucks), Put2, and sometimes Mul (this didn't happen often, though). Good memories, here. I also remembered one memorable time when I misplaced my ID card (that thing costs a fortune) here in this place. I searched as far as the restaurant across the street where I had lunch that day, but finally found it there because we went there straight after lunch.
An obvious advantage in relocating to 6750 was its strategic location. There's a bigger variety of restaurant to choose from during lunch hour because 6750 is located just across the street from a big shopping mall called Glorietta. Before El rolled off I didn't usually go to lunch there, but opted instead to go back to the apartment to enjoy his trademark home-cooked anchovies with nuts ('teri kacang' we call it in Indonesian) made by his mom back in Indonesia. But there was only so much anchovies. Somewhere along the way Dince, Adoy, Harry became my regular lunch buddies. Since mall crawling is sort of my thing, after lunch I usually ended up walking around Glorietta - Greenbelt with Dince (and sometimes with the other guys as well, when they didn't feel like going back to the office at 1 o'clock sharp), the resident celebrity extraordinaire. I would offer my advice on things she should choose to buy, while enjoying the companionship because mall crawling on your own is just not fun. So, I have Dince to thank for a lot of after-lunch mall-crawling sessions.

El Pipil has contributed a lot as the mastermind of many of our events. His rolling off the project at the end of December 2007 made me feel that I am losing a worthy comrade and a pretty good entertainer (a sentiment that I'm pretty sure I share with many others involved in the project...and also my driver). The project video, to name a few, has a lot of his fingerprints all over it. Another event that is worthy of mention was the Release 1 Go-Live celebration where all of the Indonesians (except for me, who was in Bangkok at the time) presented a collaboration of Indonesian dance and music. The performance was critically acclaimed (always wanted to say these words), and it made us proud of being Indonesians. Thanks to Dince for her contributions in the dance lessons, and also Johnny for the music-related elements needed in the preparation of the event (Adoy finally had the chance to fret his guitar and actually doing it in front of an audience in this event) and El Pipil who has contributed in providing batik pants.

Like a good family, or any kind of outfit anywhere, we were lucky to have good folks to look over us. Our Indonesian managers and senior managers have been great 'parents' and friends for us all. They have taken good care of us, being parents when we need 'em to be, and be our friends when we need 'em to be. And, boy, when they get down, they REALLY get down. A quick roll call...

Indra's like the calm, serious father to us all. Maybe because he's the eldest among us. He's also fun to joke around as well, although people who don't know him better might be a bit reluctant to do so. Though he might seem serious most of the time (first time I saw him long ago before this project he was reading a book about Malcolm X) I think he's got his fun side with him as well (during cut-over weekend I saw him popping in Led Zeppelin's 'Mothership' into his laptop and started jamming). Riny would have probably looked like the right mother figure if not for her oft-occurring wackiness and clueless-ness. Let's just say that it's easy to lead her astray with incorrect information ('gampang dibohongin', even Dodski managed to fool her). But that's what makes her adorable. Johnny's fun to be with, and when he's passionate about something, he'd show it. He's got a tremendous talent in music, and (like many people in this project, including me) has great love for gadgets (and other things that boys much younger than his age shows much interest in). We suspect that he's currently undergoing his second puberty.

And then we have Harry. Harry's just...indescribable. You just have to be here to experience the Harry-ness. This guy's like wacky, silly, serious, I don't know how to explain it. He's just something. A real piece of work. And that's saying A Lot (yes, with capitals, they are not typos). Anthony's the perennial bullying big brother. He's got this I-don't-give-a-**** attitude about him that, well, sort of makes him who he is. He and Harry trade jokes and rebukes at each other oftentimes. But they were all good-spirited. Well, Bob (Anthony's well-known nickname from the olden days) certainly has his own distinct appeal. Jevros, who happens to be my new career counselor (he replaced miss Young), has his own way of being wacky and he definitely has a lot of confidence when it comes to his looks and body frame (an often misplaced confidence) but I guess that's what makes him...Jevros. Looks like being his counselee will be quite an interesting thing indeed. Just a bit of a worthy sidenote: his wife happens to be going to the same faculty as I did during college. We never said a word to each other back then but we met again in Manila, out of all places. Small world indeed. Finally, there's the newly appointed manager Justinus. The guy can be too serious at times...but he's been giving in to the craziness around him, which is a good thing. I mean, you can't survive this world without being a little bit crazy.

While these might not be from Jakarta office, but they are Indonesians and they have certainly become some sort of permanent guest stars in our family/outfit. Thus, they deserve to be mentioned. There's Pinky, one of the highest-ups in the project. This guy has a penchant for visiting Japan and buying a whole collection of various gadgets. Though he looks business-like most of the time, don't be fooled! Aside from a boat-load of gadgets, this guy has an always-up-to-date catalog containing the latest project-members-related gossips, gossips that some people might have yet to hear. It's just amazing. Well, maybe it's part of his informal 'job description' as project manager. Don't be fooled by Hendra Lauw's small frame. This little guy packs a whole lot of punch. And a trunk full of photography equipments. The guy's good at this, and you can witness it at his website. And considering how crazy most of us are whenever there's a photographer around ('banci foto'), he definitely got his work cut out for him whenever most of us are around. Last but not least there was Luis Kristianto, a guy who's not shy when it comes to spending his money. One only has to look at the clothes he wears, the watch on his wrist, the shoes he's put on, and you know this guy has style (and a s***load of money). But we love him (not because of his money) because he's such a cool, easygoing guy, and the guy's so proud of being Indonesian. He's also the guy who was responsible for my 'accidental' gig during one Christmas party in 2006. After that I kept hearing the word "artist!" being thrown around by him whenever I walked passed him. He is missed after he rolled off.

Last but not least, let's not forget the wonderful spouses and children. Many of us Indonesians here bring their family members along for the ride. So we also have the wives and kids in our big and loving family. They've spent a lot of time together with us on project or non-project-related events. And the children are just wonderful (like all children are wonderful): the shy and careful Nina; the curious and rather flirty Ai Ai; the noisy, racuous, slightly hyperactive Joel and Hanif, the rather strong-willed Mutia; and sweet Nila. They've added a different and pleasant color to the whole group, and has gathered for themselves many ad-hoc, unpaid, baby sitters (when the baby sitters were not baby-sitting any SAP program, that is).

All right... Have I got everyone in?

Oh well, many good memories abound, but before this post gets too long let me just go back to the initial opening. Like I've said before, a beginning has to have an end, because another new beginning needs to start.

To celebrate the end of Dince and Put2's involvement in the project, we held a small get together in Fraser on the night of January 31st 2008 (their last day in the project). The whole thing was arranged by Johnny, and was supposed to be some sort of a surprise party (which in the end come as no surprise to the two ladies). Even though the surprise element didn't exactly work out the way it was intended to be (the blame is partly on me as well), but we all did get together and had ourselves a lot of fun. The real kicker was probably when Johnny asked us all to go to the swimming pool for a bit of a photo shoot session. As to be expected, the supposedly photo shoot session turned out to be a push-people-to-the-pool session where almost everyone got wet in many ways (pool-water-wet, coca-cola-wet, mango-cake-wet, bottled-water wet, egg-wet, you know, the routine). It was a memorable celebration, and it showed how much of a family we've become and how our rolling-off (and rolled-off) members will be (and are already) missed.

By the time this entry reach this point, the plane's taken off, and another milestone in our project has been reached (more on that later). I'm sitting here in my apartment on a fine Tuesday morning (contemplating whether or not I should go to work after almost 48 hours of non-stop data loading during the weekend) thinking about how interesting it's been for all of us for the last 1 year and 5 months (interval varies between individuals, this one's mine).

Well, life goes on, I guess. And I'm sure that there will be more interesting times ahead.

So, I dedicate this post to those who are about to roll off/have just rolled off the project (Put2 and Dince), who's about to start a completely new endeavor (good luck, Put2), those who have already rolled off the project for some time (Dodski, El Pipil, and Kris), and finally, to more interesting times ahead of all of us. Thanks for the memories, and good luck in the future. We shall meet again.

Yes, Dodski, your memory card is coming (if not already).
Pil, do you still want your socks?

(Picture gallery can be found by clicking this link)

"Come, good sir, care for a shave? I shall give you the closest shave you'll ever have... >:)"

Movie Review
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber from Fleet Street
Directed by Tim Burton

Johnny Depp; Tim Burton; B-movie-like title; musical; a set of deadly sharp razor blades, (and, perhaps, Sacha Baron Cohen of 'Borat' fame) you could probably tell from these things that this is going to be a very interesting movie. And interesting it definitely is. Excellent, even.

First, let us begin with the story. Sweeney Todd was once Benjamin Barker (Depp), a simple barber living an ordinary life with his wife Lucy and his baby daughter Johanna. A judge by the name of Turpin (Alan Rickman, who's probably well known for his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series) desires Barker's wife and using his influence he sentences Barker on a false charge. Many years after his exile to Australia he returned to London, only to find out from Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) that terrible things have happened to his family while he was away. Burned by hatred, Barker (now Todd), armed with his beloved razor blades, vows revenge on Turpin and humanity in general.

As a musical, let's just say that the sound of music won't be the thing that will leave the most lasting impression in your mind when you finish watching this movie. Not saying that the music is not good. The musical scores are nothing short of excellent, and the actors' and actresses' performance will keep you entertained. Depp turned out to be quite the adequate singer, and Helena Bonham Carter delivered an excellent performance. Acting-wise, it's Depp. Keep in mind, though, that this is not Jack-Sparrow-Depp, and that this is a Tim Burton's movie. Look forward to more of the melancholic, Edward-Scissorhand-Depp, but darker and more sinister. Cohen sounded a lot like his Borat persona, though oddly enough, it worked out quite well. His performance in this movie, though short (but not terribly so), is quite commendable. As for Alan Rickman, well, he's always a pleasure to see. I must say that I'm quite impressed with Timothy Spall's performance as well (another cast coming from the Harry Potter series: he played Peter Pettigrew, or better known as Wormtail) in this movie as Beadle Bamford, Judge Turpin's right-hand man.

As far as the story goes, well, for the sake of being hyperbolic, let's just say that I can see the plot coming from TWO miles away. It's pretty predictable. The main focus of the movie (aside from it being a musical and the dark and sinister story), however, is in its over-the-top violence. You will see blood in this movie. And you will see them a lot. The violence is so over the top that you'll have a hard time deciding whether or not you want to cringe or laugh out loud, or probably do both at the same time. Everytime Todd picks up a razor blade, my hands instinctively gripped the cinema seat's hand rests.

The movie has all the feel of a Tim Burton movie. The dark, dreary, and brooding colors; dark, brooding, and sinister characters; a generous helping of dark humours here and there, what more could you ask? Well, from a strictly utilitarian point of view, this movie is definitely not a date movie. So don't bring your girlfriends along. As for the girls, it might not be such a bad idea to bring your boyfriends to this movie, but maybe they will raise an eyebrow if you initiate such bold endeavour. Oh yeah, make sure you didn't have too much meal before you watch this movie.

Personally, after seeing this movie I shall never bare my neck to a barber. Never did, and never will. Oh, and meat pie is definitely out of my diet.

Looking at Fear's Ugly Face

Fear said 'hello' to me again when one weekend my friends were planning to go wall-climbing and asked me to come along. I went along, but I didn't go climbing. I just sat down looking at them climb that wall and went wondering whether or not I'd be able to face it again.

My fear of heights. Of falling. Of dying.

As I sat there on the bench looking up at that wall, at my friends scaling it, I recalled events that happened almost 8 years ago during college. Fresh in my early twenties, I just got off a potentially deadly traffic accident. I was unscathed, and the car only sustained minor damages. If things were only an inch different (or a second too early, a second too late, a heartbeat away), I'd probably have said good bye to this life 8 years ago. But that was not the case, and at the time I suddenly felt invincible.

It might be considered foolish, but I felt as if I could face anything. Thus, I chose to go do some outdoor activities. I was always wondering whether or not I could survive out there. At the time in my campus there's this nature lover group that was recruiting new members, and it was probably easy to guess that I signed up for it. To be accepted, we have to go through this initiation process where we have to try every routine activities they had back then (camping, rock climbing, kayak-ing, cave exploration, rafting, SAR simulation, survival in nature, etc.). Before the initiation activities we had to learn all the necessary skills in theory classes that our seniors had set up (tying knots, setting up camps, packing your bags, etc.).

I only realized that we were in for a rough time when they told us that we need to carry our at-least-15-kg-heavy back packs all the time. It was not such a good idea after all, I thought to myself.

I could not back out of it. I was already in too deep, backing out would make me feel like a wimp for the rest of my life. However, something was pulling me back so hard at the time, telling me that going was a really bad idea. Maybe it was the idea of leaving the comfort of proper civilization that was pulling me back. Maybe it was my sudden lack of confidence. Anyways, when I tried that heavy bag on I knew that it was not going to be easy. But, like I said, I was in too deep and I felt that there were no other choices.

One by one my friends started to climb that wall, and my mind took me back to a night so long ago when I was sleeping along with the other would-be members of the nature-loving group. We set up camp under a cliff that night, a cliff that some of my friends were assuming we would be climbing the next day. Turned out that it was not, but the cliff I climbed was somewhere near. This is where I faced my biggest fear. Rock-climbing has always been one of the items in my list of things I would probably never do in my life due to my fear of heights. I remembered how scared I was that day, how frustrated my seniors were from trying to tell me to go ahead and give it a try anyways. Finally, I put my right hand on the first grip that I could find and started climbing. The cliff was not hard to climb, in all truthfulness, as there were a lot of grip points. My biggest challenge was facing my fear of heights and of falling. My energy was mostly taken away just to muster up courage to pull myself up ever so slowly. Halfway my senior yelled from the ground and told me to yell the group's name. Took awhile to tore my eyes from looking at the cliff face and looked down. It came out more like a whisper than a yell...

They told me to yell again when I finally got on top. It came out okay, but felt a little held back. I knew that it was not over.

Looking at a friend hitting the wall when he was being belayed down snapped me back to the present. When he finally came back to solid ground I told him to...

"Use your feet to break your impact against the cliff face!" My senior from the ground below yelled at me as I attempted to rapple down the cliff face. I was hugging the cliff face using my knees, afraid to let go and afraid of the heights. I kept telling myself that I would have to go down, there's no other way to avoid it. After some time, slowly I gathered my courage and using both my feet I propelled myself against the cliff face while slowly letting go of the rope. The going was slow, but as I neared the ground everything started to go smooth as I know that I would soon be relieved from the strain of having to muster up courage everytime I propelled myself against that cliff face.

The wall my friends were climbing was not as hard as the cliff face. The grips were large and quite comfortable. As I sat there, I knew that I could scale that wall. Fear, however, lurked behind my mind and teased. It reared its ugly face at me and it scared me.

For some strange reason, however, it excited me as well.

Many things happened during that journey to nature 8 years ago (the stories can make one long entry, something that I'm not keen on doing at the moment but will probably do so in the future). My personal fear visitted many times during that journey. It would probably too far-fetched to say that the journey completely changed who I was, but I did learn a lot of things about myself. I saw the dark side of me then (and was not proud of it, knowing that I could have been better). I also learn that fear is air with my face on it. But I believe that the most important thing I learned during the journey was that it created in me a heightened sense of respect towards nature in all its beauty and dangers. There's never a moment in my life when I look at the mountains and not think about whether or not I could make it again. The journey. There's never a moment in my life when I look at nature and did not feel an ever-growing respect towards it.

Maybe I did change.

In any case, this old friend visitted me again, and I felt its challenge. I vowed to myself to face it and get it over with the next weekend.

And get it over with I did.

True Legend

Book Review
I Am Legend

Richard Matheson

I must say that I have to thank the movie 'I Am Legend' because it led me to the realization that a brilliant novel with the same title (on which this movie is very loosely based) exists. If you read my review on the movie then you'd know that it's about the (supposedly) last man alive named Robert Neville, about an unknown disease, and about living alone while trying to survive madness in the world and madness in the mind.

So, since I already promised in the movie review that I will spoil the story of both the movie AND the book, then let's get down and dirty. First, let me begin with the story. The main character's name is still the same, Robert Neville. He's the only man alive that for some twisted luck did not get infected by a disease that has completely wiped out the entire human race (except for him) because of a natural immunity. The rest of humanity has been transformed by the disease into a pack of blood-thirsty vampires that hunt during the night and sleep in dark places during the day (for they could not stand the sunlight). Because of this, Neville can only go out during the day and he has to lock himself up during the night in his house to protect himself from these vampires (because even if he's immune, he could still die from blood loss).

During the day Neville would go out to look for food in the deserted city where he lives while at the same time hunts these vampires out by searching them in dark places where they are most likely to be hiding. Aside from these menace, he must also confront the madness within his mind that is caused from living alone without social contact for a long period of time. At the same time, he slowly looks for the true reasons why humans have become vampires.

Before we go to the spoilerific part, let me just tell you why this book is awesome. First of all, it is quite a short book, only slightly less than 170 pages, but it manages to pack in so many things in so short amount of pages. Second of all, this book has manage to create a perfect blend between the sci-fi and horror genre. I mean, the vampires have all the characteristics of vampires of legends: blood-thirsty, afraid of mirrors, afraid of garlic smell, can only die if you drive a wooden stake into its heart, and what have you. However, slowly but surely the book will show its scientific elements that will explain the true cause of the vampire (which I will spoilerifically tell later on after this paragraph's over). Third, the psychological condition of Mr. Neville is shockingly detailed and compellingly believable. Matheson has perfectly crafted a male human character complete with highly believable pscyhological schema. Mr. Neville here is just an ordinary guy who is thrust into an extraordinary circumstances. However, he is being described in by the author as being so ordinary that it's just wonderful. You'll believe in his feelings, you'll believe in his predicaments, you'll believe in his actions, you'll believe in his frustration, and you'll believe in his madness.

Beyond this point, it's all spoilers and spoilers...

..and spoilers!

Very well, let's compare the movie and the book. First off, let's welcome Mr. Neville of the book fame, and Dr. Neville of the movie fame. Now, Mr. Neville here is just a regular guy (I suspect that he's just a regular blue collar guy, a redneck even) that is trying to stay alive in the middle of all the vampire madness. At the same time, he actively hunts them and slowly but surely he started to do some scientific research into finding out the true cause of why people turned into vampires. His motive is not pure, he wants to know the true cause so that he could find better ways of getting rid off these sonsabitches. And mind you, he does not have enough academic credentials nor any expertise at all for doing scientific research. However, circumstances can really make a man do anything in order to survive. And a little bit of research is probably nothing compared to saying hi to your wife who just came back from the dead one night because she's thirsty. For your blood.

Now, enough about Mr. Neville for now. Let's say hi to Dr. Neville of the movie fame. Hey, it ain't fun gettin' jiggy with it alone eh Mr. Smith? Errrmmm, Dr. Neville, I mean. You sure look a lot darker than Mr. Neville there, doc. OF COURSE YOU ARE, YOU'RE A FRIGGIN' AFRICAN AMERICAN FER CRISSAKE (duh) and Mr. Neville here is purely caucasion with blue eyes to boot. Anyways, doc here has got some stripes on him (he's military), showed up in the cover of Time magazine once, and has a fancy lab with all the fancy apple computers in it to do some research into finding a cure to the virus. Reddie (Mr. Neville) only got a wood shop (where he sharpens a lot of wooden blocks into stakes). Doc knows the true cause of the disease and is determined to find the cure, while Reddie's got to figure it all by himself by trying to set aside legends and force himself to accept a concept commonly known to man as 'science'. Oh, doc's got a dog named Sam, while Reddie there ain't got no one to talk to except for himself (or the devil inside of him). Well, there IS a dog, but the poor thing was so afraid of Reddie and Reddie had to literally drag the dog in for companionship. The sick poor thing didn't last for more than a week.

Another thing as well: Doc tries to stay away as much as possible from these 'dark-seekers' while Reddie there looks for 'em vampires during the day and drive wooden stakes into their hearts.

Sorry if I make you sound like a wimp, Doc, but Reddie's got it rough (I mean, at least your dead wife won't be coming up your footsteps thirsty for your blood). Still, even if you are a wimp, you're an entertaining wimp, Doc. Sort of expecting you to suddenly start rappin' in the middle of the movie but I know it ain't gonna happen. It's possible for you Doc, I know, but not for Reddie there. I don't think he even knows the term 'rap'. Reddie's predicament started in 1975 while Doc's started in 2009 when some bitch thought she came up with a cure for cancer. As for Reddie, it all started with one germ and a lot of dust storms.

As for companion, aside from the poor sick dog (who lasted for probably less than a week and was scared as heck of Reddie), Reddie's constant companion is only his dead best friend named Ben Cortman who never fails to show up after dusk (along with the other vampires) at Reddie's door and keep shouting "Come out, Neville!" at him 'cause he thirsts for Reddie's blood. Doc, you're getting lame here...

The cause of the disease? Well, in the book it's a germ/bacteria, while 'virus' is the movie way to go at it. Some symptomps are the same (aversion to daylight, drinks blood), but that's probably where the similarities end. The book's variant of the disease make the human afflicted become a total vampire. These monsters couldn't stand the smell of garlic, could not live during the daylight (they slumber during the day), have fangs like canine, are afraid of crosses (at least those who, when still alive, were Christians), are afraid of mirrors, and can only killed by driving a sharp, wooden stake into their hearts (some even burst to dust afterwards). Basically, the monsters have almost all of the characteristics of vampires in the legends. The movie's variant however, is just a pack of aggressive monsters with higher heart beat rates and are attracted to the smell of blood. Oh yeah, they can't stand the daylight either. But they don't sleep during the day (they just hide in dark places). The vampires in the book knows where Reddie lives and they always show up at his house after dusk. The only thing preventing them to go inside the house is the strong smell of garlic. Darkseekers, on the other hand, don't know where Doc lives (at least at the start of the movie).

Might as well mention about the difference of madness between Doc and Reddie. Well, at this point it's probably obvious that Reddie's madness is of a more menacing scale compared to Doc's. Reddie's all alone almost throughout the story while Doc's got Sam for most of the part. Reddie's gotta cope with voices inside his head (most likely his own conscience) while Doc can take it out at the dog. And can you imagine the desperation of being alone when even the thought of having sex with lady vampires sounds tempting? Yep, Reddie's like that. No human interaction whatsoever. And Reddie ain't no smartie. Circumstances lead him to 'research' ('trial and error' would probably be a better term of what he's trying to do). Can you imagine the frustration of a person trying to study academic stuff when for most of his life he's not used to such a thing? Even I was banging my head the first time I tried understanding chemistry.

Well, before I wrote the whole book here, let me just say that in the end, Doc's become a legend among the living, while Reddie's become a legend among the dead. I'd say both version (the book and the movie) kick ass in their own ways. Go read the book for something more (due to lack of a better word) raw. If you're a sci-fi/horror fans, you won't be disappointed. Such a short book, but packs a whole lot of punch.

It Ain't Fun Gettin' Jiggy Wi' It Alone, eh, Mr. Smith?

Movie Review

I Am Legend

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Alright, this is what the story's all about: a black man being chased around by a pack of Neo Nazis. Okay, okay, I was just kidding. After all, that's what the 'monsters' all look like: pale, bald, with manic look in their eyes. Add to that the fact that Robert Neville (Will Smith) is an african-american.

Very well, let's get to the proper introduction of the story. It was 2012 and humankind has been afflicted with a disease caused by a virus that was originally created for the purpose of curing cancer. People who are infected by this once hailed virus become aggressive, blood thirsty monster who could not survive the daylight. Dr. Robert Neville, a military doctor, was one (if not the only) person that survived the affliction due to him being immune to the virus. Accompanied only by a german shepherd named Sam, Neville hunts for food during the day and continues his research in trying to find the cure to the virus. When the night falls, he seeks the comfort and safety of his house, carefully and methodically erasing any trails he left behind so that the 'dark seekers' would not be able to follow him home.

Living alone with only a dog as a companion can take a heavy toll on human psyche, and this is one of the aspect of the story that the movie is trying to put forth. I approach this aspect of the movie with mixed feelings. It must be noted that the movie is based on the book by the same title written by one Richard Matheson (Stephen King once said I Am Legend is one of his many inspirations). However, by the time I write this review I have just finished reading it. Regardless, I will write the review under the guise that I have no knowledge whatsoever about the book's story. Moving on, as I've said before, I have mixed feelings about Smith's portrayal of a man who is losing his mind slowly due to a severe lack of human interaction. At some point, it is believable. Yet at some parts during the course of the movie, his performance is not convincing, or maybe even slightly off the mark.

The bright side is, convincing or no, this is Will Smith, and his performance has always been entertaining. His on-screen persona always has a certain appeal. Moreover, this is the kind of movie that was made to entertain and not to bore. In this regard, it delivers successfully. After all, a blockbuster movie is meant to sell and make profit, and if it becomes too serious people in general will probably stay away from it. Aside from the actor's performance, the plot suffered the same problem. In trying not to give too much away, let's just say that at times, it is believable and yet at some points it is not convincing.

Regardless of such short comings, the plot, the storyline, the special effects (isn't it fun driving like a mad man in an empty New York City, a place that is known for its unbearable traffic), all worked wonderfully in delivering Entertainment (yes, it's Entertainment, with capital 'E'). It's Hollywood all the way through, baby.

Go watch this movie and Entertain yourself. You won't be disappointed, as long as you have not read the book yet. For those who have, I can only say to approach this movie looking at it as a movie that happens to have the same title as the book, the same main character's name, the same theme, but a completely different storyline and an ending that is almost 180 degree different. Loosen up a bit and you will enjoy this movie. I did.

p. s. I will be making a review about the book later on and there's where the fun begins. For those who haven't seen the movie don't read the book's review because I am going to spoil EVERYTHING. HUAHAHAHAHA