¬ ¬ sofar

books and other things

sofar — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:23:01 GMT

This was not how I envisioned starting the new year, but after battling bouts of depression at not having my favorite books readily accessible for re-reading, I finally cleared out our largely unused bookshelf. Largely unused because it's filled with old text books and technical books that have not been opened in ages and are simply gathering dust.

In the midst of it all, I unearthed some memories both old and bittersweet. Letters tucked in on borrowed books with no way to tell who it's addressed to. Papers and exams with my brother's handwriting. Books my college friends were kind enough to lend me when I got left behind in my studies. Sometimes I still miss them and wonder how they're doing now. But I'm not proud of what I've become or rather what I haven't become and so I largely stay under the radar. This is partly why I still don't have a facebook :)

But I digress. I don't know how to judge the value of a book and since some of these are old textbooks, I wonder if they would still be of any use to anyone. The general elementary and high school books maybe? Or would they be too outdated to be of any merit? And what of the technical in nature, like Turbo Pascal 6.0 or the Principles of Financial Management?

I have also accumulated several second hand or former library owned hardbound novels of the Nora Roberts and other persuasion because they were cheaper than the second hand paperbacks. I had hoped to sell these for cheap but I doubt they'd be marketable especially with how heavy they are.

Then there are some old books of dubious value like The X-Files Book of the Unexplained Volume 1 and The Death of Superman.

I would be perfectly fine with donating these all to whoever wants them but with this diverse mix of genres I am doubtful of any one institution that will benefit from getting them all.

I also have half a mind to offer these up for a donation sale to Red Cross to help the families hit by Sendong. With all my finances currently tied up with clearing out my debts, I can't afford to donate otherwise even if I wanted to.

If I were to think big, I'm sure a lot of people have books lying around they could donate to the cause. Yet the thought of the time and energy, not to mention massive organization skills this doubtful scheme would entail leaves me all but disheartened even before I've even begun.

So friends, I need your help to put me in touch with people who may be able to get some movement on this. Or people who know people who you think these books should go to. I know there are plenty of places looking for books, I'm just not sure these are the books they need in their library. I'm hoping to get some leads on this and will do my best to meet you part of the way. At the very least, where to haul books for recycling (like school handbooks etc). Left with no other option, I may just end up free cycling them.

[tv] Fall 2011

sofar — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:27:40 GMT

Having a hard time keeping track of shows old and new this season, so a listing we will go. I really didn't want to get into any more new series but my interest got piqued as usual due to cast. As usual, tastes run the route of crime drama and my interest is predominantly actor centric.

SUNDAYS

Homeland Oct 2 (10/9c)
- Damian Lewis has a new series on cable and Morena Baccarin and Mandy Patinkin are there with him. I didn't need any more information than this. The series' only blight is Claire Danes :/

MONDAYS

Terra Nova Sep 26 (8/7c)
- I had liked Jason O'Mara ever since I saw him on the now defunct 2006 crime drama In Justice. That and the promise of a world of dinosaurs also got my attention. Wherever it is they are shooting, the place is absolutely gorgeous *_*

House Oct 3 (9/8c)
- This is here more out of habit than anything. Surprisingly I am still behind on the last season. Much as I love House, they should put this series to bed already.

Castle Sep 19 (10/9c)
- Crime drama has never been this fun before or since. A great break from all the grim crime dramas I seem to gravitate towards.

WEDNESDAYS

Criminal Minds Sep 22 (9/8c)
- One of those grim crime dramas I was talking about. Staying now more for the characters than anything. Three episodes in and the cases have all been boring so far.

Revenge Sep 21 (10/9c)
- Drama and intrigue are not exactly my cup of tea, but Madeleine Stowe proves enough of a lure to drag me into this revenge-filled world of infighting and backstabbing. I doubt this will end well, but still very much rooting for Nick Wechsler's Jack Porter.

THURSDAYS

Person of Interest Sep 22 (9/8c)
- I came for Jim Caviezel and stayed for him and everything else. Loving the one upmanship the two main characters have going so far. My favorite freshman series this season.

The Mentalist Sep 22 (10/9c)
- Staying out of habit on this too. It feels like they don't know what direction to go to with this now. I vote they decide on a conclusion and draw the series to that end. Maybe a concrete goal will revive the series.

Prime Suspect Sep 22 (10/9c)
- Caught this for Maria Bello and she's cool and all, but it's getting increasingly annoying watching the rest of the bigots in her precinct gang up on her and treat her like crap every freaking week, so I'll probably drop this soon. I'm very curious about the original series with Helen Mirren this was based on though.

FRIDAYS

Chuck Oct 28 (8/7c)
- One of the few ongoing shows I'm still interested in, though it's starting to wear as well. I'm a few episodes behind on this so I might just catch up when there's more episodes out.

Grimm Oct 28 (9/8c)
- The last new series that has yet to air that I want to check out. I don't know anyone this time, so I'm interested purely on how they handle the promising premise of "Grimm, descended from a line of supernatural hunters tasked with protecting humanity from deadly encounters with the world's mythological creatures, each described in veiled terms within familiar fairy tale."

fun day

sofar — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:23:35 GMT

Big pictures behind the cut coz it looks better in this resolution.

Left assembled by A. Right assembled by moi. B applauded our efforts.

They made up. Or snake is strangling turtle. POV varies.

Turtle peeking out of a bag. Shaky camera fail XD

Too sleepy to log about the fun. This old lady is crashing now XD

[tv] Alphas

sofar — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 07:11:20 GMT

Wow, I have no entries posted here at all this year. Til now that is. Anyways, still here in some form or other.

Recently got into the new SyFy series Alphas.

Spotted Summer Glau as a guest in the preview for the next episode. SyFy sure loves her. Not that we're complaining :)

Mostly watching because of this guy. Clicking on the pic leads to the full 1920x1200 official wallpaper c/o the SyFy website. I like most of the group, but I like him and Gary best.

[random pic of the day] Wheat Grass Tray

sofar — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:36:42 GMT

So I take pictures when something catches my eye but I never get around to sharing or posting them. Trying to change that so here's the random picture of the day.

Salad Time! Wheat Grass Tray - Php 125

WHAT IS THIS? DO YOU ACTUALLY EAT IT? So why is it still planted? You have to harvest it yourself? Yeah, that pretty much freaked me out when I saw it at the produce section. Pricey grass too.

six days to go

sofar — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:21:58 GMT

Not as frequent at Starbuck's lately, but seeing this at the store still made my heart do a little leap. Because I love this drink so much, it takes very little effort for me to get the Starbucks Planner every year. Then I realized that like so many other things, I can't afford it these days.

selfish

sofar — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 02:32:44 GMT

Sometimes I wonder, if I were left to do only the things I wanted to, would I be in a better place?

[EDIT: And then there's the fact that it would hurt the most that the people I love would be the least supportive should I go ahead and do only the things I wanted to do.]

[book] After The Storm: Stories of Ondoy

sofar — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 06:08:21 GMT

It's a little book with story contributions by MRR Arcega ♥, et al.

Get your copy at the local bookstores today :D

ugh

sofar — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:11:08 GMT

Because I'm very harassed and stressed today. I join you in the quizzage.

Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:
You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.

Yeah, whatever. Feel free to dispute or repute. What? That doesn't even-

[tv] Fall 2010 Premiere Dates

sofar — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:06:20 GMT

So I can keep track of when shows I'm watching start up this season.

[The Usual Suspects]

Parenthood (Tuesday, Sept 14, 10/9c)
House (Monday, Sept 20, 8/7c)
Castle (Monday, Sept 20, 10/9c)
The Mentalist (Thursday, Sept 23, 10/9c)

[The Rookie]

The Event (Monday, Sept 20, 9/8c)
- Stopped checking out what shows debut for a season so this only got on my radar due to me looking up what Jason Ritter was doing now that they wrote his character off in Parenthood. This better be good coz I really liked his Mark Cyr and was rooting so badly for him and Sarah.
- Unless any of the new shows generate enough buzz and intrigue me enough to entice me, I probably won't pick up anything else that's new.

[The Others]

The Big Bang Theory (Thursday, Sept 23, 8/7c)
- Didn't really follow this before but have seen bits and pieces now and then. Finally watched all 3 seasons over the summer. Not sure if I'll watch this as it airs though.

Community (Thursday, Sept 23, 8/7c)
- Also not sure if I'll watch this as it airs. The direction it was going at season end didn't exactly appeal to me. But I do miss Abed.

Grey's Anatomy (Thursday, Sept 23, 9/8c)
- Just when I think I've licked this, I'm back in its clutches. This is all your fault Kevin McKidd. You too McSteamy. I should really just quit while they still haven't ruined your characters or relationships. Except I can't bring myself to stop watching something I've already started.

[TV] Parenthood 2x01

sofar — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:31:18 GMT

Home net is being atrociously slow tonight. Wonder if it has to do with the impending storm or if its back to suckville for Sun. Anyways, I logged in tonight just to get my hands on the latest episode of one of the few shows I look forward to lately.

Fall 2010 has officially started for me with the season 2 premiere of Parenthood. And the first thing I see as the show opens is water leaking from the roof onto a copy of the book What Color is your Parachute? 2010. Bhex recently gifted me with a copy which I finally cracked open today. I'm nothing if not a believer of signs from the universe. Incidentally, my copy is the 2009 edition. Funny how there is a 2010 edition out already. I'll see if I can talk more about the book later as I find more time to read it. For now, the author already has me at "Grammar and Language Note".

Right now, I wanna talk about Parenthood. Whatever misgivings I may have had as to whether they can come back strong in their sophomore year and still maintain the same level of writing and heart were easily quelled as soon as I started watching.

Once again, I find myself almost in tears (as this series is wont to do to me) when Haddie's mom started talking about her "catastrophization" tendencies. Yes, that is a word the dad made up to describe the mom's tendency to catastrophize things. In this case, she panics at the thought of letting her daughter loose in the world behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. As she began listing all the things she imagines happening to her daughter like being in a horrible accident and her having to go down to the scene and seeing her body and smelling the carnage and seeing all the swarms of people... (yes very much catastrophizing), I found myself teary as I remember this happening to my dad as he had to do so for my brother.

This episode was entitled "I Hear You, I See You" which can be heard from the overbearing dad a lot as he tries to work things out with the mom. But for me, it really applies to Sarah and Joel as they try to assert themselves and show that there is more to them than being a washed out unemployed mom and a stay at home dad.

I Hear You. I See You.

Of the four Braverman siblings, my favorite interactions would have to be that of Adam's and Sarah's. It's weird now that I've found out that the actors that play these two are going out in real life. When I see them on screen together I can't help but think of them as dating which makes me feel rather iffy. I wish I had remained oblivious. I discovered this inadvertently when I saw Lauren Graham on the cover of Redbook posted on the official Parenthood site and tried to find out what kind of interview she gave. Sometimes I really hate how spoilerish official sites can be.

Still looking forward to what the rest of the season has to offer though. Here's hoping they continue to deliver consistently.

nothing like a new shiny to brighten up one's outlook in life

sofar — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:32:01 GMT

This is coming a little late since I was too busy doing last minute things and running around all over the place to get ready for the vacation but it is no less true.

I LOVE YOU GUYS.

You know who you are. And you know why.

I wanted to say more. But THANK YOU seems to be all I can manage at the moment. I will take very very good care of it.

Thank YOU for instigating it.

Thank YOU for execution of the plan.

Thank YOU for lending me a temporary phone.

Thank YOU EVERYONE for your contribution.

I'll do my best to return the favor in future.

Thank you.

thank you for pointing out my obvious stupidity shithead

sofar — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:47:48 GMT

Why is it that when bad things happen to people, other people can't simply commiserate or empathize or sympathize or what not? Why is there a need to point out the stupidity of it all or the person involved?

I'm talking about when you lose something due to carelessness as well as someone's quick hands.

I'm not a phone junkie. As long as I can text and call on it I'm good. But if I have to buy a new phone I thought I might as well spend for it, especially if I wanted one with a decent camera. That's pretty much my main reason for getting a new phone since I don't take pictures all that often but want the option to have a decent point and shoot one readily on hand.

But I could not for the life of me pick out a phone at all. There was always something wrong with whatever I found based on reviews that abound in the interweb. My friends solved the problem for me by bullying me into buying a Samsung Jet. At first I wasn't too keen on it, but after some time I've found it to be a really decent phone that's perfectly suited for my needs.

Then it got snatched last Monday. Yes, I was careless enough to have it in my pants pocket with the strap dangling out during rush hour at the LRT. I had too many things on my mind and was in a rush so did not have the presence of mind to keep it in my bag. I'm normally more careful. I commute on a regular basis so it goes with the territory. So yes, I am partly to blame for this folly.

But really, do I need the grief of people calling me on this folly? Do I really need to be faced with an angry parent who blames me for being careless and for spending too much on a phone? Justified though they may be for being people who birthed me.

Worse yet though is a snot-faced co-worker who calls me on it. What right have you really? Don't I feel bad enough already?

I had finally mostly gotten over the depression of losing a really expensive phone (whose last installment I still have to pay next month) thanks to really really good friends and was finally of the mindset to consider getting a new one so I've been looking at the shops last night. I brought a phone brochure out today at work to get more information on the web on the models I was considering (who could remember those model numbers) and one of my sharp-eyed co-workers saw me and asked me if I was thinking of getting a new one. I said I was considering it. One of my other co-workers heard and his enterprising mind thought he could hit me up for a sale of a new phone he's about to redeem courtesy of his plan. I said a phone with a decent camera at least 5MP is what I wanted. Possibly sensing a lost sale, the snot-faced idiot comes back with a "well if you're ok with giving it away indiscriminately anyway (he thinks he's being witty here) then sure get another one"

Really. Thank you. That's just what I wanted to hear.

This wasn't how I wanted to post about this. But right now I'm too pissed off so I had to rant about the shithead. Work rants are what bore this journal anyway.

The Expendables

sofar — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:34:11 GMT

Was at the mall yesterday and saw that posters of The Expendables were finally up.

Needless to say I'm psyched to see this, I don't care how bad it turns out. Only now I'm not so sure if this opens worldwide date applies to our country. I mean it doesn't really make sense for them to be bandying about those huge ads with that date on it if we weren't part of the worldwide opening date. Still, this wouldn't be the first time that the ads have lied here.

So now I'm not sure if it IS showing here on August 13th :/
[EDIT: It DID show on August 13th so yey, watched on the weekend]

[Quotes] For Kicks, Dick Francis

sofar — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:10:57 GMT

The visitor turned to gaze at the big blue-green lagoon to the left, with the snow-capped mountains rising steeply in rocky beauty along the far side of it. Puffs of cloud like plumes crowned the peaks. Grand and glorious scenery it was, to his fresh eyes.

But to me, walls.

As simple as that, Dick Francis introduces and establishes the protagonist's malcontent and feeling of being trapped in his own life.

The full moon blazed in the black sky, and through a gap in the hills behind me Mount Kosciusko distantly stretched its blunt snow-capped summit into the light. I sat on a rock up on the mountain, looking down on my home.

There lay the lagoon, the big pasture paddocks stretching away to the bush, the tidy white-railed small paddocks near the house, the silvery roof of the foaling boxes, the solid bulk of the stable block, the bunkhouse, the long, low graceful shape of the dwelling house with a glitter of moonlight on the big window at the end.

There lay my prison.

I didn’t grudge the unending labor. I was very fond of my sisters and brother. I had no regrets at all that I had done what I had. But the feeling that I had built a prosperous trap for myself had slowly eaten away the earlier contentment I had found in providing for them.

It usually hit me about a week after they had gone back to school, this fierce aching desperation to be free. Free for a good long while: to go farther than the round of horse sales, farther than the occasional quick trip to Sydney or Melbourne or Cooma.

To have something else to remember but the procession of profitable days, something else to see besides the beauty with which I was surrounded. I had been so busy stuffing worms down my fellow nestlings’ throats that I had never stretched my wings.

Telling myself that these thoughts were useless, that they were self-pity, that my unhappiness was unreasonable, did no good at all, I continued at night to sink into head-holding miseries of depression, and kept these moods out of my days—and my balance sheets—only by working to my limit.

Common sense said that the whole idea was crazy, that the Earl of October was an irresponsible nut, that I hadn’t any right to leave my family to fend for themselves while I went gallivanting around the world, and that the only possible course open to me was to stay where I was, and learn to be content.

Common sense lost.

Flaming b-52

sofar — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:30:32 GMT

Coming from a relatively good weekend of R&R, this is proving to be a really shitty day. In an effort to distract myself, I wanted to brag about having finally tried the b-52 at the company party last Friday. The bar they hired to serve drinks had it on the menu and it was as good a time as any to try it.

I don't remember where or how I found out about this drink but it's pretty much the only drink I've ever wanted to try out since it's mostly coffee-based liqueur (Kahlua, Baileys, Grand Marnier). What I didn't know was that this could also be served "flaming" until the bartender at the bar lit up my drink.

I was too busy goggling at the blue-flamed shot glass to take a picture of my actual drink, so here's a stock photo for reference.

Flaming b-52

Just as I was wondering how the hell I would go about bringing the drink to my table, the bartender handed me a STRAW and told me to plunk it in FAST AND SIP IT IN ONE GO right then and there. Silly me, I thought I could slowly sip my way through my drink. So what if it was in a shot glass? I was obviously ignorant of the ways of drinking, social or otherwise. So I looked askance at the bartender and repeated his instructions, looked dubiously at the straw and asked wouldn't it melt? Bartender assured me it wouldn't as long as I sipped as soon as I plunked in the straw. Fearing for my life (ok not really), I did as instructed and sipped to the last drop pleased by the coffee chocolatey after taste. Finally a drink whose taste I actually liked! Course the blood was rushing to my head soon after and having Asian Flush didn't exactly help.

I could feel my blood vessels pounding, I felt like throwing up, and I just wanted to sleep.

Well, now that I've tried the b-52, this is without a doubt the last time I will ever drink anything ever again. Ever. Even if I did like the taste of this, I hated how I felt once it was in my system and this is pretty much how my body reacts whenever I DO drink. The only difference is, everything else tasted like rubbing alcohol or copious amounts of banana essence to the nth degree. So definitely definitely never again.

On Borrowed Power (Day 8)

sofar — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:24:13 GMT

Last Monday when the electric bill came in with a thousand bucks markup, I decided to stop using my home computer. Partly to save on electricity. Partly to shut my mom up about how much electricity it actually consumes. Mostly as a challenge to myself. Can I actually get through a month without opening my home computer?

This may not sound like such a big deal to some of you but it is to me as I watch everything on my computer. Of course, as luck would have it, I have plenty of other gadgets to tide me over. Without meaning to, my two new acquisitions in this area would actually make this abstinence quite tolerable. My new phone has a pretty big amoled 3 inch screen and can play divx .avi files out of the box. I got my new tablet netbook mostly as a glorified manga/ebook reader but the screen real estate at 10 inches looks rather excellent for watching stuff too. Though without it, my fallback would have been my 7 inch portable dvd player. So with all these alternatives, this wouldn't be as hard to do as I thought it would be.

To make things more interesting however, I decided to extend my plan to my other gadgets, whereby I would refrain from charging anything to a power outlet at home, so no further electricity would be consumed that would have offset not opening my computer and made the whole thing moot.

The challenge is, in this day and age and with my predisposed attachment to all things electronic, this isn't exactly feasible. I need my mp3 player for the daily commute. The cellphone is a necessary mode of communication. All these things require constant charging. So how does one make such a plan work?

Luckily, my workplace doesn't restrict things we can bring to work so the answer is to charge everything at the office. I realize this is another form of cheating but one can't exactly live without a cellphone. One might say this would just be using one source of power to substitute for another. It's also not exactly ethical to pass on my power consumption to the office expenses, even if they can hardly feel the difference. As you can see, the primary purpose of this experiment is to lower my electric bill at home, and not really lowering my carbon footprint. Ethical or not, it just doesn't sit right with me. I can however justify this move by charging everything through my laptop's usb. My laptop is always plugged in and technically its not added consumption (I could be wrong here, I never really looked into it) to plug stuff onto it's usb ports.

The netbook and portable dvd player are another matter as both have chargeable batteries that only charge through a power adapter. Depending on how I fare over the next few days, I'll try to refrain from using them much. I'm trying to make a concerted effort to do other things besides watch on the computer. I've already decided not to watch any of the shows I follow save for one. Parenthood is the only new tv show I'll be watching throughout all this. I have so many other old tv shows I could be catching up on and watching. And I'll probably just catch up to all my current ones when their seasons end. This ties into my internet abstinence plan, which I will go into more detail in another post.

So far I have managed to refrain from opening my home computer. This is the one area you won't see me cheating at.

The weekend was the perfect test. And I would have made some concessions had my cellphone lost power, but it made it through the weekend and was on its last breath as I got to work. I hardly used my mp3 player so that was still ok and it has a pretty long battery life. Go Sansa Fuze! Had it ran out of battery, I was gonna charge it on the docker as I used it as my sound system. But I was reluctant to consume additional power via the speakers. So all in all, it was a pretty successful weekend.

Cors I pretty much slept through most of it and read books in the other half. Now if only I could refrain from reading into the wee hours of the night and well into day break. Or actually do something a little more productive over the weekend. I'm trying not too be too hard on myself since this was the first weekend after all.

Here's what I ended up watching:
1. 9 (on the portable dvd player)
2. 30 minutes into Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (on the portable dvd player before the battery went out)
3. Parenthood 1x08 (on my cellphone)

Not great, but I'm making it work somehow. Let's see if I can make it through all this without going over the deep end.

House 6x17 - Knight Fall

sofar — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:52:31 GMT

I couldn't resist taking caps of House and holding Wilson at swordpoint.

Here's another with just him looking all srsbznss.

Before that there was House wearing only an apron. But I won't share caps for that. You'll just have to watch the episode :p

ultimate geekery 2

sofar — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:38:35 GMT

Lol, linebreak formatting sucks. And the userpic keyword
specification didn't seem to work. Perhaps its case sensitive? If my
userpic here works then that proves it. Now to figure out how to
break the linebreak barrier :D

ultimate geekery

sofar — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:32:49 GMT

Finally figured out a way to post on the go. Was trying to figure out
the best way to post to lj and be able to save drafts at the same time
when it finally hit me. I could make use of gmail's inherent email
draft saving capabilities and post to LJ via email. Now I don't have
to worry about porting content or saving drafts in LJ clients like
semagic, where I am restricted to one machine. My inner geek and OC
are both very happy. Now to see what defaults this baby uses.

Meet the Bravermans

sofar — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:33:30 GMT

Parenthood is NBC's latest offering for the family drama genre, a re-imagining of the 1989 movie.

First, let's meet the four siblings.

Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls"), is a down on her luck single mother who decided to move back home with her teenage kids in tow - angsty daughter Amber (Mae Whitman, all grown up child star of "Hope Floats", "One Fine Day", "When a Man Loves a Woman") and sensitive quiet son Drew (Miles Heizer).

Adam (Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under"), the eldest, and wife Kristina (Monica Potter, "Patch Adams") have trouble dealing with their high maintenance son Max (Max Burkholder) and consequently end up ignoring their teenage daughter Haddie (Sarah Ramos) for the most part.

Crosby (Dax Shepard, "Zathura", "Without A Paddle") is the screw-up slacker of the family who is suddenly forced to grow up.

Julia (Erika Christensen, "Six Degrees") is a successful, career-driven lawyer who has managed to alienate daughter Sydney (Savannah Paige Rae), who now openly prefers house-husband dad Joel (Sam Jaeger).

Their father Zeek (Craig T. Nelson, "Coach") comes on a little too strong in everything and seems to be having problems with their mother Camille (Bonnie Bedelia, "Die Hard").

I very much liked the dynamics of the family especially the banter among the siblings. It was great to see Lauren Graham and Peter Krause back on television along with all the other actors who I've known and liked in other shows.

While comparisons with the television family drama of this generation Brothers & Sisters are unavoidable, I actually liked the interaction and focus better on Parenthood. Unlike the catty nature of the latter, this one actually manages to show some very good interactions between the siblings and gets the right balance of focus on their respective children at the same time. My only complaint is mother Bonnie Bedelia who is pretty much invisible. Perhaps they'll develop her story later, but for now she leaves no impression at all.

goodbye my lover, goodbye my net

sofar — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:19:07 GMT

Can't say it's been fun, but can't say I won't miss it either.

Not sure why I'm still surprised at the onset of withdrawal symptoms when I know how much I hate change. I guess, despite it being such a thorn on my side, it wasn't without it's merits. And I didn't expect to be cut off so soon. The 3-month period of my Sun Broadband Wireless Plan Easy 799 was up yesterday. I started the trial plan on December 18th, and it ended on March 18th. I should be glad I changed my plans at the last minute and moved my Friday plans to Thursday when I dropped by the mall to pay for the last billing and subsequently terminate the plan. Otherwise, there would have been an overcharge of a day's worth since my plan would have gone over the 18th day (which if memory serves, is about 75 bucks a day, which was what I was initially charged with since I started my plan on the 18th and the cut off starts from the 19th). Sorry if none of this is making sense, I just wanted to ramble about all this.

So yeah, no more crappy 30kbps download speeds (on average at peak hours, which is like ALL the damn day) at Php799 a month. Asked the SUN guy about some of my options and while SUN will not admit that they do in fact cap your speeds (most likely to protect other users in the same area) and he said they increasing cell sites to provide more and better coverage, the modem purchase (Php 888) was not a total loss since I can still use it with a prepaid. I just need to buy the prepaid sim (Php50) and buy load for it similar to how prepaid phone lines work. They have a Php50 unlimited for 1 day card which I can use on the weekends when I'm home. If I do get on the net at 4 consecutive weekends then that would be just 200 bucks a month. Definitely better than the money sink plan 799. And I'm not always at home on the weekends anyway. So it could be much less than that. I'll explore other options later, like HSDPA or 3G access through a cellphone (in which case I would need a phone that actually supports it and is a whole other ball game entirely). For now, this prepaid option should suffice and should suit my needs.

I will probably expound on this later in a more coherent manner for posterity. But for now, goodbye my ~~lover~~ net. Guess it just wasn't meant to be. I'm glad I didn't get into the habit of doing anything other than downloading. It would have hurt more had I been actively posting from home.

[tv] The Pacific, HBO's new mini-series

sofar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:44:30 GMT

Holy cripes, it's out! How excited am I?!?!!!

The Pacific is HBO's new mini-series on World War II from the creators of Band of Brothers. I saw the trailer at a friend's house (I have no cable) and was definitely looking forward to it. Like it's predecessor, looks like this one also runs 10 episodes. I hope it's good.

[rant] on siblings

sofar — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:52 GMT

Apologies, pity party about to commence. I encourage you to avert your eyes while I do so. I just needed to get this off my chest.

This rant was prompted by cousins who should know better. It's about no one and it's about everyone.

One of the things that makes me angry with the world is seeing siblings fight. From the petty to the serious - I don't care - it just royally pisses me off.

Why? Let me tell you why.

You should be helping each other out. Sure you've got problems, EVERYBODY'S got problems. You think your problems are less worthy of attention or more serious than everyone else's? That's not true. It's all relative. To the person experiencing it, it may be the worse thing that's happened to them. Don't make them feel less for thinking it. I'm digressing.

My point is (and this is where the pity party starts) AT LEAST YOU STILL HAVE SIBLINGS. Someone you can lean on, someone you can turn to, because in the end, who else is gonna stand up for you or help you team up against your parents? I'm trying to be funny, sorry, must be another one of those deflection things I'm doing. Seriously though, I'm serious about this, seriously pissed off. Because you have each other, and when I get home, I'm all alone.

I have a brother, but he died in a car accident half a lifetime ago. I never got to be an adult with him. He never got to be an adult with me. We never got past the bickering teenage angst years. Before the accident, I was just thinking to myself, I'll make an effort to get to know him better, be there for him. Coz in his own way, he was there for me. After all, he was the eldest, and he was my big brother. I was just the annoying smarty pants whiny little sister.

I know it's hard to get along most of the time, especially when the age gap is pretty big. But think about it, would you really rather have one or none at all? Some of us didn't have a choice. You still do. So make an effort. Help each other. Is that really too much to ask?

Merry Christmas, One and All

sofar — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:15:01 GMT

Season's Greetings
from Santa Claus & Santa Paws, too~~ ♥

¬ ¬ sofar

books and other things

[tv] Fall 2011

fun day

[tv] Alphas

[random pic of the day] Wheat Grass Tray

six days to go

selfish

[book] After The Storm: Stories of Ondoy

ugh

[tv] Fall 2010 Premiere Dates

[TV] Parenthood 2x01

nothing like a new shiny to brighten up one's outlook in life

thank you for pointing out my obvious stupidity shithead

The Expendables

[Quotes] For Kicks, Dick Francis

Flaming b-52

On Borrowed Power (Day 8)

House 6x17 - Knight Fall

ultimate geekery 2

ultimate geekery

Meet the Bravermans

goodbye my lover, goodbye my net

[tv] The Pacific, HBO's new mini-series

[rant] on siblings

Merry Christmas, One and All

Season's Greetings from Santa Claus & Santa Paws, too~~ ♥

Season's Greetings
from Santa Claus & Santa Paws, too~~ ♥