01:12 AM I just killed a cockroach.

The significant thing about this cockroach kill is that it's the first full-grown cockroach I've seen in this house since we moved in. Now, it hasn't even been two years since the house was first completed, and already the pests are moving in.

11:08 PM I reformatted our other computer yesterday. I don't think we had a virus or anything, but I guess it was time for a reboot or something. At least now it's running way faster, and Marielle won't be bugging me every other day about the OS not booting properly. Ü

Anyway, sometime last year I had a cam section on this journal for about a month, but I wasn't able to keep it up. I also wanted to put some short stories and writing into a subsection of my site, but I didn't push through with it. God willing, I'm about to change that. Since next month is my birthday month, I'm planning to revamp the whole site. Although my permalinks are going to stay, uh, permanent, each section of the site might have a different layout to it. I'm still considering the whole project, and since my calendar is fast filling up with assignments and due dates, I don't know if I can make my deadline. July 4, after all, is my birthday.

01:09 PM I spent all of last Saturday reformatting one of my computers, and then performing a clean install of all my programs. For a reason I can't remember, it displayed a Blue Screen of Death (tm) last week, and then the programs just started going haywire. I could have withstood all that crashing if it hadn't affected the most basic of XP programming, the Scanner and Camera Wizard that I could access through the My Pictures folder.

I know my computer's going to run faster now, since I got rid of all but the most essential programs. I even downloaded Kazaa Lite rather than Kazaa because it doesn't contain any spyware. I'm currently downloading Spybot-Search and Destroy to use on my other computer because I get all these weird casino popups and suddenly there are links on my desktop to online casinos. My mom, who's relatively new to the Internet, seems to have downloaded a lot of spyware onto her laptop too. I detest spyware with a passion because they take over your computer without you knowing about it, and then you can't get rid of them because you can't get at them through the Add/Remove Programs function in the Control Panel. Not to mention some spyware programs leak information to spammers, and then you get hit with all sorts of unwanted ads. That is not what the Internet should be about, folks. The Internet shouldn't be about making money out of suckering people and pestering people with junk; it shouldn't just be about freedom of information, but also the freedom to choose the kind of information you're exposed to.

09:53 PM Today's Media Theory class left me thinking about a lot of things, mostly about how to structure my time to be able to study all the required readings. As a rule of thumb, the closer your house is to your destination, the more likely you are to be late. I proved that when I came to class when just about everybody had already arrived, and Ma'am E__ said "Oh, here's Noelle" when I entered. I hate making such bombastic entrances, and as a general rule, I don't like calling attention to myself in class (or do I?).

What's weird is that I started spacing out after the short break Ma'am called during the three-hour class period. It's all his fault; he showed me his FLASH-y site on his laptop and I was instantly consumed with the urge to rush home and revamp all my layouts. The green-eyed monster's name, it seems, is Macromedia Flash.

I would have started to learn Flash this past summer, but there's something about large file sizes that bugs me. Anything that helps keep a webpage file size down is bound to get my attention, which is why I'm such a fan of CSS. No more nested tables or huge background images if you wanted a static one in the middle of the page. Sometimes, though, I get frustrated because I have a design idea in my head and it's not going to happen if I use only HTML and images. Wait, I'm getting sad here. Ü

And now, via Daniel, the Pinoy Slang Dictionary. I suggest you browse for the word "kukurikapu." Hahaha! Oh, and in two weeks, something special's gonna happen. Can you guess? Write me a comment or something.

12:05 AM Lots of stuff to write about, it seems. Linkwise, Brownpau is back with streamlined design (very nice!), but two people from my link list have stopped blogging. Abs is either on hiatus or saying farewell forever, and Frances is on an indefinite break. I haven't been clicking on my link list lately, but I feel like I need fresh blood to browse! No offense to my old linkie loves, but I need more blogs/online journals to read!

Oh, by the way, has anyone using Globe Telecom's GPRS service to connect to the Internet realized it's been almost three weeks since some sites became inaccessible (Google and TagTag come to mind)? It's irritating because they keep saying it's service maintenance, but people in the WAP community in the Philippines have begun to grumble that Globe's blocked these sites on purpose so its subscribers would only be able to access and download content from Globe's servers--and that content has to be paid for, as opposed to stuff found with Google which can be downloaded free of charge. I've decided to go on a GPRS fast; instead of using my phone to download ringtones and images off the internet, I'm using my computer's ISP to search for the files, download them to my hard disk, and then use the PC Suite that came with the phone to send the files through infrared (my mom's laptop!). It's tedious, but at least I'm getting what I want. It all comes down to my being a DIY person. Ü

01:11 PM My first days of classes last week were a great prelude to what I think is to come. One of my subjects is described as "Broadcast Documentary." My professor says he's going to teach us the practical side of making documentaries, which means as a final project we're doing a 15-minute documentary. I've got a lot of ideas on the subject of my (future) documentary, but I can't seem to get past the hurdle of how to get all that filming done. He says for a final cut of 15 minutes of footage, there could be hours of raw footage to slog through. That would mean if I were to choose a subject, it should be something local (regularly accessible to me) and something I already know a lot about. I don't want to do something politically loaded, but I don't want to be too shallow either. At least he gives us about a month to think about what to pitch at him before we head out into the wide world with our cameras.

In the meantime, I've decided to start learning video editing. I bought a (pirated) copy of Adobe Premiere yesterday, and I'm planning on exploring its capabilities to the fullest while I still have time. That way, when it's time to start cutting together footage for the documentary, I don't need to farm out the work to those nonlinear video editing shops that charge 500 pesos an hour. I already have a way of getting the video images into the computer; I just need to learn how to manipulate them. Ü

Lately I've also become quite enamored of my mom's laptop computer. It has an infrared port, and ever since I installed my phone's PC Suite into it, I've been ferrying images and ringtones in and out of my phone. It's better than downloading stuff through my phone's GPRS connection because at least I'm not paying for anything, and as long as I can find midi files and images on the internet, I can create my own colored wallpaper and polyphonic ringtones. And that suits my creative tendencies just fine.

11:18 AM I can't believe I didn't write anything here for more than seven days. So, to make up for it, I think I'll make a nice long post.

I haven't been that busy with a social life, but I have been two-timing this computer. Ü Just kidding. I've just been using another computer to do all sorts of things, and so it never occurred to me to write any entries for the past week. I've been trying (and trying hard) to compose MIDI files of songs I'd like to turn into polyphonic ringtones. So far I have successfully made one, but being the perfectionist that I am, I still feel there's something missing in the sound. I'd just as soon copy and paste notes off existing MIDI files of those songs, but the problem is no one's sequenced them yet!

I also enrolled in three graduate classes this semester, but classes haven't started yet--for me, that is. Marielle's in UP right now on her first day of classes for the year 2003-2004. It amazes me how tireless she seems; she just completed a full load of summer classes, and now she's back in school again. Where did the summer go? Ü

I am practically a veal calf here in this house, as evidenced by my friends telling me last Friday that I'd become really, really pale. Some people shun sunshine; I shun sunshine; do you shun sunshine? (Oh, try saying that several times in a row.) I'm not a shut-in, but I hate going outdoors when the sun's beating down on you. Maybe I should consider a tan-in-a-bottle. Then again, I've effortlessly got the fair complexion other Filipino girls are buying out of a bottle from the commercials on TV. Hahaha.

12:57 PM The beginning of the school year is just around the corner, and I haven't been able to do all the things I wanted to for my websites. I was supposed to change the layouts of print/scan and Dreams: A Corrs Page. Just the other day I found out the email form for submitting applications to Higher Learning had stopped working, so I got a script from The Site Wizard.com, which now also powers my email form here at Ambergris. So, just feel free to drop me a line just in case you feel the guestbook or the comments links are too public for any message you might have for me.

Swoosh!