wow. i can’t believe i’m finally posting again. in fact, i can’t believe i actually made it this far with my sanity intact. ok. i’m kidding. still, i’d like to say sorry to anybody who might care to notice that i’d been offline for more than 2 weeks already.

this marks our first free weekend in a month *flips over*. hardly a cause for celebration for most, but something of a lucky break for yours truly. i celebrated this fortuitous event by hitting the sack early and sleeping 10 hours straight.

i know i’d been extremely remiss in my duties as a seriously devoted blog-till-you-drop blogger (ahem). but for those who stumbled in here by mistake, i’d like to assure you that i’m still alive and kicking… and yes, barely breathing. chalk it up to our crazy schedule. for the past 3 weeks, we had been at the mercy of our clients’ whims erm timeframe. sometimes i can hardly tell whether it’s day or night because we more or less have a tunnel vision these days — with our eyesight fixed on this unwavering aim of meeting that all-important deadline *zing*. i wish i could say everything’s going to be fine and dandy from here on, but it looks like we still have a few busy days ahead of us (which, from a different viewpoint, should be seen as a good thing).

i might go out later to check out what goes on with the rest of the world lately, and maybe bring in a few anime DVDs that i’d been keeping an eye on. i can’t believe i missed watching The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bride Wars, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Australia, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. the list just goes on.

ok guys, i know i’m a bit incoherent right now. give me a few hours to screw my head on straight and i’ll be my old self again (hopefully). until then, ta-ta.

the latest book on michael phelps — No Limits: The Will to Succeed — is already available in bookstores and other outlets.

the book, which the swimmer co-writes with alan abrahamson, details his struggles, triumphs and defeats over the years, and unmatched feat as the most bemedalled Olympian ever (in a single Olympics; in terms of gold medals won, that is).

the book (240 pp., Free Press), which attracted its share of fan lines in NY, has even inched its way slowly in the bestsellers’ list. incidentally, michael phelps, 23, was recently named by Sports Illustrated as “Sportsman of the Year” (2008) and was also voted by the Associated Press as the top sports story for 2008.

and the word is out that there is also a michael phelps video game (505 Games), whose title is still unknown, on the way (release is set for spring 2010). hmmm….

Note: this will be the last of my re-issues (courtesy of Google Reader), originally published on dec. 28. hopefully, i won’t have to do this again in the future. anyways, i’m doing this mostly for myself because i can’t stand the idea of losing data permanently — or rather an online record of my memories — not while i can do something about it.

* * * *o0o* * *

when i inched my way towards blogging a few years ago, i had a this vague idea that i was going to do something i’ve never done before and that i’ll be doing it on my own terms. actually, until now i don’t know exactly what i was originally aiming for; still, despite my haphazard efforts and unpredictable routine, i seem to have reached a milestone of sorts.

over the years, as i built, improved, discarded, patched and sporadically updated several blogs, i began to entertain the idea of earning back some of the amount (as well as time and effort) that i had expended on blogging. the idea was intensely appealing but i had no idea where to start.

i asked around and did some research, but after a while my natural indolence kicked in so i threw my hands up and continued blogging anyway. i made a few online friends and a learned a few things here and there. on rare occasions i got lucky and actually earned a few $$, but it wasn’t until this year that things turned a bit rosy. thanks to a tip from fellow bloggers (esp. zarine), i even managed to buy something to mark this milestone *woot, woot*

it wasn’t much, but after letting my minuscule earnings pile up in my PayPal account for the past few months, i was pleased to note that my christmas moved out of the negative territory this year.

erm, i also would like to apologize to my neighbors who may have been deafened by my crow of triumph earlier this week (yayyy, may lcd TV na ako!). i did try to tone down my voice though and made sure that the door was closed before i uttered my battle cry nyeheheh. in any case, i did plan to replace my old TV, which was really showing signs of old age these past few months. thanks to blogging, i didn’t have to shell out that much. nice christmas, this.

in any case, i wish all of you guys who happen to stumble in here a HAPPY NEW YEAR. i know many economists and market predictions have been giving us a bleak picture of what’s to come in 2009, but let’s all hope for the best anyway.

Note: below is another re-issue, which i originally posted last dec. 17th (and inadvertently went astray with two other previous entries), a few days after our office christmas party. i wish there was some way i could include the “comments” that i’ve exchanged with some of the site’s visitors, but it looks like Google Reader doesn’t go that far. *sigh*

*****000*****

last week has been more eventful than i had bargained for. i was all set to plod through my usual pre-christmas routine (drawing up of lists, making purchases, balancing my budget, etc.), but when a friend tipped me off about Nike’s big year-end sale i didn’t think twice — it seemed like the perfect thing to spice up my otherwise humdrum week.

**Nike Year-End Sale
i thought i’d nip in at the Nike warehouse (Agility Bldg near the airport) for a bit, take a quick look around, and maybe buy a couple things that i might like — then go to work hah. i ought to have known that a splashy sale like this would attract a huge crowd. after lining up at the entrance, we proceeded to this cavernous building at the back, which was full of everything — boxes and stacks of shoes, clothes, gym stuff, etc., and most of all, sale-crazy shoppers who are apparently unaware or unaffected by dismal economic projections.

i don’t know why i stuck around long enough to pay for a pair of running shoes and a shirt, but i did despite the heat and the long payout lines. i think that, more than anything else, i just hated the idea of leaving (after spending 2 hours shifting through stacks of cartons and mountains of stuff) without buying a single thing. i arrived at the office disgruntled and tired, but oddly gratified nonetheless (i really liked those track shoes i bought). i guess there’s something about buying things on sale that sort of compensates for all the hassle you go through.

**Office Party @ Gilligan’s Island
we had our christmas party at Gilligan’s in Makati last Saturday. as there were only around 30+ of us, it was a fairly intimate but still a boisterous affair. if you had to judge by the noise level, you’d think there were at least 50 people in that function room. our rousing Mob-themed party inspired everyone to bring out their inner gangster — some showed up in fedora hats, trench coats, cigars, black silk stockings, dark clothes, etc. an officemate wanted to bring in a tommy gun, but eventually changed her mind because she wasn’t sure if the place’s security detail would allow it. another pal threatened to bring in SM props (leather gear, whip) but wimped out at the last minute. another color that leaped out prominently in terms of accessories (clothes and jelwelry) was gold — several attendees were wearing enough gold trinkets to drown the Titanic. a few practically clanked as they walked by heheheh.

**Off to a Gay Bar
but wait, the story doesn’t end here. after the party, some of us decided to proceed to a gay bar. i had the beginnings of a headache by then, but since this had been playfully planned last october i felt there was no way i could back out of it. and — accompanied by gay officemate who acted as our guide — off we went.

we blithely headed somewhere in roxas boulevard. the next 2 to 3 hours passed by like your usual roller coaster ride — full of unexpected twists and turns. as new experiences go, it’s not something that i’d care to repeat anytime soon but it sure was interesting and memorable. i remember a lot of giggling, squealing and shocked exclamations from some of our more excitable officemates. i also recall laughing and grimacing a lot. however, for me the experience was marred by a worsening headache — thanks to the insane lighting effects and the cigarette smoke that hung like a heavy pall around us. finally, around 12:30pm three of us decided we have had enough and left ahead of the pack. (the rest stayed until 3:00am, i think — around the time when raunchier numbers get shown.)

by the time i got home, i felt a bit more like myself. boy, what a week.