02:07AM I just finished writing yet another paper, due on Friday. I won't have time to cram for it because for my father's birthday, we're taking him to an all-you-can-eat buffet at Saisaki. Besides, my mom bought us a Lord of the Rings box set--all three books of the trilogy, plus The Hobbit. I can't start reading that until I've cleared up all my assignments, which I've done. Ü I really want to start reading Fellowship of the Ring. Unfortunately, it's too late for me to start doing that; I still need to get up at 5:30AM later today. Good night! Ü

08:57PM Still on the topic of The Lord of the Rings... Before I watched the movie, I read about all these girls latching onto Legolas Greenleaf as an object of desire, and I resolved not to fall into the same trap. After all, I reasoned to myself, he wasn't really my type. Funny thing is, when I watched the movie, I couldn't help myself. Right now my desktop is being lorded over by the abovementioned elf.

I should probably start thinking of a new layout, but I'm still very busy with papers and other things--and my father's birthday is this Friday, so I can't stay home and do layouts in time for February 1st. This project will have to wait until the weekend.

In the meantime, please go visit my newly redesigned site collective, Rebel Heart. It now contains my layout archive and a brief history of all my sites. Ü

05:31PM Argh... After several weeks of bliss being hosted by Kat, her host crashed on us. Since I already was setting up my other sites with Portland, I decided (and she said it would be a good idea) to move this blog into Portland as well. Things have gone okay so far; I still have to cancel at Pick Me all my applications for hosting. To Kat, it was such an honor to be hosted by you, and I wish you well. Ü To the people who read this blog, please bear with me. I promise not to move this site for at least another six months. Ü

What have I been up to these past few days? Well, I paid for my family's tickets to Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring yesterday. Actually, I'd already seen the film on pirated VCD, but I knew that the cinematic experience would be much, much better. What happened was that when Elrond was to announce the creation of the fellowship of the Ring, the film jumped, so that the moviegoers ended up not knowing that the nine people were called the fellowship of the Ring. And then, during the part when Galadriel and Frodo talk, the theater's sound went muffled, and nobody could understand a thing that was said. When Galadriel said something important, nobody understood it. I felt like asking for a refund.

Now that I've watched the film, I need to read the trilogy. I originally planned to do the reverse, reading the books first before watching the film, but the film's run is already concluding in Manila. I couldn't wait any longer for the bookstores to restock on the trilogy.

By the way, I think my feet look like a Hobbit's.

08:18AM I'm going to try redesigning my other sites and then uploading them to my space on Portland. I hope I can finish all that today. Ü

It's almost the end of January and I haven't made any New Year's resolutions. I guess it's because I don't want to fail in any resolutions, and I can't figure out what resolution I will absolutely, positively be able to fulfill. One thing is for sure; I think I've gotten over the crush I had last semester. The issue is that he's on the opposite side of a huge campus, making it almost impossible for me to get a glimpse of him. When I got the chance to see him about three weeks ago, it was only by chance! I feel that I'm chasing some phantom around, and it makes me feel like a loser. So, I guess I've made some sort of New Year's resolution to forget about him. I'm really gonna miss having a crush--but right now it's really inconvenient.

Hello to Macy, who signed my guestbook twice. Such a dear. I'm fine now, thanks. Ü

07:43PM I haven't been writing recently because a ton of work came my way. I had to submit two papers today, and I've been so addicted to The Sims lately that I haven't had much sleep. :c It's actually all my fault why I got a splitting stress headache today. Ü I'll write some more when I recover. I just need some sleep and rest. It's a good thing my teacher called off my class tomorrow--I can finally get some rest. Although I do have that Economics exercise to turn in on Thursday...

Anyway, I also took the "Which drink are you?" test a few days ago. I'm a margarita--frosty, fresh, and strong. Ü Although I truly have no idea how a margarita tastes. Yes, people, I have been that sheltered.

Announcements: I've moved my guestbook into my space here at semi-sweet, so go sign it and tell me what you think! Also, let me issue a belated welcome to the newest member of the semi-sweet family, Maryam!

11:27AM I just got the "Be Mine" award! Thanks, Barbara!

05:39PM Which pop icon are you? I'm Mr. T, fool.

04:15PM In my previous entry, I think I spoke too soon about running Windows XP on my new computer. While it was a beautiful operating system, I could not run Edsamail on it. For those who are not familiar with it, Edsamail is a free email service here in the Philippines (I believe there's also Edsamail in Singapore), supported by ads that are displayed within its program. My family and I don't mind the ads as long as we get to use their email services all we want for free--we save a ton of money on this because we don't have to pay for logging onto the Internet or anything. To make a long story of installing and uninstalling several operating systems to find out which ones were compatible with Edsamail, I discovered that Windows XP and Windows 2000 are based on Windows NT--and that version of Windows does not support Edsamail. We had to downgrade our system to Windows 98; my mom's coming home from work today with an original version of Windows Millennium Edition (which I know works with Edsamail) so we can at least make some use of this computer's Pentium IV capacities. Argh.

In other news, this past Tuesday my organization brought off a very successful concert on the campus, featuring Side A, one of the Philippines' best bands--and we Filipinos are famous for our talent in music. Ü Anyway, I was at the venue three hours before the show started in order to help set up, and Joey Generoso, the band's lead singer, came out to check up on things. Some very lucky people who were already waiting outside the place got autographs too. The thing is, Joey G. talked to me and a freshman orgmate of mine, asking what year standing and course we were (I told him I was a senior and my friend and I were both Political Science majors). Of course, I flashed him a brilliant smile--one does not get to hobnob with a celebrity every day. I don't know, maybe it's just me--but I think I had a chance to talk with him longer than that. I got distracted suddenly when other people started asking me questions concerning the show later that night.

During the concert proper, my sister and I had run out of space to park our butts, so we just stood beside of the stage. It was a cool experience because we could still see Side A performing up close and personal, but we didn't have to rub shoulders with the enormous crowd already in the front row. Then suddenly, Joey B., the band's bassist, looked our way; my sister smiled at him--and he smiled back! The band was amazing; my sister and I only got to stay for their first set because we had to leave early (I had class the next day). We got to hear amazing renditions of Five for Fighting's "Superman," Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," and Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing," among other songs. Trust me: they were better sung by Side A than by their original artists! Ü

The only negative part of the concert was the front act, who had actually paid us so they could get the exposure of performing, and so they could promote themselves. They actually served to whet the crowd's appetite for Side A, because the crowd had absolutely no interest in their faux punk band antics. The people were there to watch Side A and not some monkeys running about the stage screaming their guts out.

09:01AM You are reading an entry made from my new computer! I went out yesterday with my parents to buy a new desktop computer, and we came home with a Pentium IV--and Windows XP!

I have to go now. I'm just typing this on the run. Ü

01:29AM I've temporarily lost my internet connection, so you'll be seeing this entry when I get to upload this to the server. Anyway, Survivor: Africa has ended, with my favorite castaway getting the title of Ultimate Survivor--yes, it's ETHAN ZOHN! Rah-rah!

What I liked most about Ethan was his attitude towards the game. He never seemed to be currying favor consciously with the other castaways. To my eyes he was just doing the best he could, and he was being himself. Now, since I don't know him personally, this assumption of mine will never be tested. However, I think that he played it straight from day one--he stuck with his alliances but never lied, cheated, or stole to make his way to the top. In my opinion, he was very true to himself to the point that he did not try to schmooze with the jury--when Brandon asked him who he thought was the least deserving to be in the Final Two, he went straight to the point and said that Brandon was so (even though it was Brandon who asked the question). Personally I thought Kim Johnson's answers were a bit too magnanimous to be natural, and that she was consciously trying to win over the jury. I'm happy that 5 out of 7 jurors did not cave, and instead they voted for Ethan.

I do think, though, that Kim Johnson was a survivor in her own way. She was older than the other castaways and looked frail compared to them, yet she made it to the Final Two. If she were my grandmother I'd be proud of her just for having come back from the African bush alive. Ü

08:43PM Okay, I did a search on Google, and this is what happened to Jordan Knight, who will, incidentally, be coming out with a new album.

Changing the subject, I found this Metafilter thread from Pau's site. It's hilarious, even though I don't know who this Kottke is. I personally would not take the whole thread seriously--I think it's just a bunch of people having fun.

I checked my guestbook and found a whole truckload of new entries! Kozzi (who kindly offered me hosting), JM (who's moving into his DigitalRice account), Alpitt (who just stumbled onto my site a few months ago and came back), Kat (my beloved host), Macy (who now has her own domain), Mela (who has a new layout), Clarissa (the first to congratulate my getting hosted), Candace (who has a good-looking site herself), Fiona (and my fellow hostees at Life Is Elsewhere), April (I'm sure I don't deserve half the compliments) and Nadia (are you telling me I'm older than you? Ü). Thank you all for visiting and signing!

04:16PM I hope I did well on that Economics long exam. It's the first for this semester (to be followed by another long exam and then a final exam), and I wasn't familiar with the teacher and her way of giving exams, so I'm just a little bit anxious that I might flunk it. Wait. I'm not just anxious--I'm piss-in-my-pants scared. I have an average to maintain! Ü

On another note, my sister and I bought a Jordan Knight CD yesterday. I'm not a big fan, but I really did like his songs. It's been a little over two years since we last heard anything about him, and when we saw that only two copies of his album were left, we knew we had to buy one. The record store may be unlikely to restock. It's strange how celebrities come and go. Anyone else still remember "Give It to You," "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," and/or "Close My Eyes?"

12:55PM A new year, a new host, and a new name! For those who are not familiar with the term, "ambergris" is pronounced "AM-ber-grees." According to the dictionary, it's an "opaque, grayish, waxy... secretion from the intestines of the sperm whale, sometimes found floating on the ocean or lying on the shore; used in perfumery." That description doesn't necessarily mean that my site will be designed in hues of gray in the future. I just liked the way the word looked, and I've been reading some Moby Dick lately. Ü

Christmas break is over, regrettably, although it was a lot of fun while it lasted. I got to go to Baguio City, situated some miles north of Manila (about 8 hours' drive without heavy traffic). It's elevated above sea level, so the temperature there during this season dropped to about 9 degrees Celsius late this December. It wasn't that cold when we stayed there for two nights and three days, but that's about as close as I can get to temperate climate weather.

As for the status of my other sites, I'm still waiting for Portland to send me my webspace info, so I'll leave them static in the meantime. I've got until February 28 to move out of F2s.com, which was a wonderful free host. Anyway, moving to semi-sweet.net will be a great experience. I always wondered how it would feel to be hosted. Now I know. Ü