Happy Chinese New Year

 It's been a while. 2020's over for over a month now. 

Nothing has changed. Many businesses are closing. There's actually a new variant to the virus going around; the UK variant. They say it spreads faster but it seems to be weaker and does not give you much of the original Covid-19 symptoms.

I still have my job but I do most of the work at home now. 

I actually went back to doing YouTube videos for a while but decided to stop. I enjoyed making videos, don't get me wrong. However, I did not have the luxury of time. I mean... I didn't have the spare time to make any videos. 

You can still subscribe to the channel and watch whatever videos I have on there. Just click here. But what's the point in subscribing if I have no plans (at least not in the near future) to make, let alone, upload any videos.

With all that being said, Happy New Year... Chinese, that is.  

Social Experiment Done On Me

A couple of days ago, I was approached by a man; medium build, had a mustache and a goatee, about same height as me, probably around early thirties or late twenties. He was wearing cargo shorts, a black shirt, a red bandana on his neck (which he probably used as a face mask), some rings on his fingers I didn't know which ones. He was carrying a sports drink tumbler.

 

Anyway, he approached me while I was waiting for the company shuttle service. He asked if I had Php 20 on me. He needed to buy himself something to eat. So I said, "No." Then he asked again, and again I said, "No." Then he asked for just Php 5. Still, I said, "No." Then he went on asking why we, Filipinos, can't help other Filipinos in need. So I answered very sarcastically, "In these dire times, we tend to think of just ourselves first and not others." Then he approached other people.

 

Then he came back. This time he said that they (he had a crew somewhere) were taking a video on people's reactions to people in need. He even said that if I gave him some money, he will have given me Php 1000. He even showed me his wad of cash. He said that the video will be out on Sunday (12 July). Although he failed to tell their channel or page. So in short, they were doing a social experiment.

 

You see. There is a problem with that social experiment that they did.

 

First. Only one person did the, for a lack of a better term, begging. And I didn't think he need any help. He looked more like he spent all his money on something. Now, he just needs a bit so he could eat or go home. For me he just looked like someone who was irresponsible. Even if I had money to spare, I wouldn't have given him any.

 

Second. Back to the guy who did the begging; his approach was a bit strong. His facial expression was kind of aggressive. He looked like someone who was about to mug someone. His face did not show his hunger as he had claimed. That's because he wasn't. They were just after a bit of content.

 

Third. For it to be called an experiment, there should be another sample; one control and one experimental. Another person should have done the same. But with a difference; maybe he'd look a lot more like he literally has slept on the street for days. I don't know which one would be the control but, there should at least be a basis of comparison.

 

With his approach, I don't think anyone got the Php 1000 reward. If there were, there must be very few of them.

 

So to the guy who approached me, sorry. You really didn't seem like someone who needed help. I don't even regret that I didn't get a Php 1000 reward for being helpful. How am I supposed to watch your video if I don't know where to find it?

 

If any of you plan to do social experiments, make sure to have control samples, or basis of comparison.

Welcome Back to Work, and YouTube

I've been going to the office for the past few weeks now. Although I'm only required to report on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And the hours are shortened; from the usual 8:00 in the morning until 6;30 in the evening, it's just 8:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. We're provided shuttle services, of course, I can't imagine using the public transport for now.

I haven't been writing much lately. Not the usual reason that I had before. It's because of YouTube. I've been trying my hand in vlogging and video making. You know how it is.

I can't really compare the results with blogging since I no longer have a hit counter. Perhaps I should put one in again. My channel is pretty small. Just a couple of hundred subscribers. Slowly, it's growing. Not in a very fast rate though. But still, a growth. If you want to check it out, you can click here, and please subscribe.

Vidio making has it's challenges. Writing something, for me, is a lot easier. I can write something with just for paragraphs and it's all good. But that doesn't translate well in video. Those four paragraphs would probably be just a couple of minutes long. For a video, I'm going to need gimicks. With more than 60 videos in, I'm probably getting the hang of it.

However, today. I was on a live stream. And the people on that stream told me to continue writing. You know what, they were right. That's why I'm here. Even though I know that my readership is probably as low as heck, this is what I do best. This is the best way I know to express myself. I'm still not giving up on YouTube, don't get me wrong. I'm just going to continue writing.

With that being said, Love and Peace.

We're out of the Enhanced Community Quarantine

Today is the fifth day of being out of the ECQ and we're now on GCQ (General Community Quarantine). But still, it seems like nothing has changed, at least for me.

I still can't go to work since public transportation is in full force; I guess just 30% at the most. Work force is probably back at 70%. Not everybody has a personal vehicle for a commute to work. You can just imagine the imbalance there. The rush of public commuters will violate social or physical distancing. And I'm not taking any risks.

So now, I'm still working from home. However, this working from home is testing my patience. It's not really very comfortable to be sitting on a plastic chair for hours. The heat is just unbearable because there's no air conditioning.. The noise outside the house seems unending. Believe me, not everyone is staying at home.

I wonder when all of this will be over. It's not going to be the same, that's for sure unless a cure is found. Until then, everything will be different.

Covid Easter Sunday

The Holy Week came in and now on its last day without me noticing. There was no usual Pabasa on the usual houses. There were no masses at the local parish. I'm pretty sure no one did the Alay Lakad  to Antipolo on good Friday.

Today is Easter Sunday, and today was supposed to be the last day of the Enhanced Community Quarantine and tomorrow, everything would be back to normal. Unfortunately, as far as the Luzon is concerned, it has been extended until the end of the month and the first of May is Labor Day so "going back to normal" is still a long way off.

I just decided to write blogs again and on my Wattpad account. My account name is FoulJester just in case you want to follow me there. Now that mobile gaming seems to have lived its usefulness, at least I want to take a break from it. I've finished the Japanese drama that I mentioned on my last post. That's what I love about Japanese dramas; they're short but still have good stories to them.

I put up a couple of videos on YouTube during this quarantine but I think blogging is still better. I mean, I how do I make a 10-minute long video from a short blog entry. I'm better off writing.

I guess that's all i have for now. Looking at the stocks, still good for a week or so. I mean the local LGU did just gave out 15 canned goods and I estimate five kilos of rice.

So until the next post. I'll be writing my review on the Japanese drama on my other blog: retinalattachment. Check it out.

Holy Quarantine

I know. The tittle may not be as appropriate but, it is what it is.

It's Thursday night... Wait... It just turned Friday; Good Friday. Most of the neighborhood is up waiting for the distribution of relief goods. So we're up waiting.

Right now, I'm binge watching "Monsters," a Japanese Drama about two detectives. I''m only on my second episode and the whole series is eight episodes long. Hopefully, the relief goods arrive before I finish the whole series.

Usually... Well, at least I used to... Every Good Friday, I would be walking my way to different churches. All that changed after I got myself "Consolidation Pneumonia." I wasn't able to go around walking from church to church on a Good Friday after that. At least not for a long time. I remember I did once more until I got my second round of pneumonia with dengue fever, mind you. After that, I never did my "usual" Good Friday walk ever again.

That's the number one reason that I'm stuck in the house, going out only to withdraw money from my payroll account; being immuno-compromised. Having another round of pneumonia would probably the end of me.

For now, I will continue to binge-watch "Monsters" while I wait for the delivery of relief goods.

I hope everyone stays sane. I say that because there are some that are getting infected with some other kind of fever.

Stay-at-Home-for-Thirty-Days Challenge

It's been two weeks since the "Community Quarantine" started, and that was just for Metro Manila. After two days, it was upgraded to "Enhanced Community Quarantine," (ECQ) this time for the whole of Luzon. Then the whole country was placed unfer "State of Calamity." That has been an eventful two weeks but, not in a good way.

The virus has been spreading like wildfire. It's like something out of a science fiction novel. It reminds me of World War Z; the novel, not the movie. They're very similar.

The last time I was out, as in far out to work was almost two weeks ago on a Monday. That was the second day of the Metro Manila Community Quarantine. It was a disaster. Instead of everyone distancing themselves from one another, people were scrambling to get to any public transport available. This probably prompted the upgrade to "Enhanced."

The first week of the ECQ did not go well. There was a lot of panic buying; both for food and sanitizing products. But it eventually smoothened out. 

We were able to make a few supply runs and we received a couple of relief supplies. Today, we have enough supplies to last two more weeks. Water supply is okay. Same with electricity and Internet. I guess people are keeping themselves occupied with the Internet. It can be seen by the sudden rise of TikTok videos. I swear, I will never get into that craze. 

I didn't hear the news but I think the ECQ has been extended for another month. I hope that with the extension, the spread of the virus would at least slow down.

I just noticed I skipped one whole month. 

My Faith… Let Me Just Get This Out of the Way

I was born and raised under the Roman Catholic faith of Christianity. Even though I went to a public elementary school, once a week, someone would teach religion to us. Come high school, I already had a regular religion class because I was attending a Christian high school. By college, I had philosophy classes that taught other religions. So in a way, I come to understand other religions as well.

That's the key here, understand. I am better off understanding things first before believing in them. As far as I am concerned, that should follow; once I understand, I believe. So please don't get me into a discussion on Flat Earth because none of the Flat-Earther logic is understandable to me. They seem to throw away the science. Even without the science, the math alone cannot prove that we live in a flat Earth. But this is not the topic.

Religion. What is it? To me, it's a division of beliefs, norms, way of life, depending on whichever greater being or beings you worship in order to attain salvation for some, for others enlightenment. It's a vague description but that's how I understand it. In religion, there is always a divine god or gods. Of course, there are also the atheists, and they don't believe in any god.

So where do I stand? I do believe in a supreme being that created us; this planet, the whole universe, the multiverse if you believe in that, all the natural laws. Everything. Also, I do believe in science. But some people find it difficult to fully believe in both. Actually, I think, people find it difficult to fully believe in science and religion, and not science and a supreme being.

I say religion because that comes with the belief in the many creation accounts, which contradicts many scientific discoveries. There are probably more but, I am only familiar with what the Holy Bible has.

So how did I come to believe in a supreme being when I believe in science? Simple. Logic. At least, my logic. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, we are able to clone animals, and probably even people. Some say there is an "ethical" issue to that but then most (not all) of what we know about ethics and law is dictated by religion. We are also having breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence. Clones are technically alive. Artificial intelligent machines are almost sentient. We, humans, are the creators of these technologies. And to these technologies, which someday may have their own "lives," we are their creators. So following that reasoning, similar to our "creations", there must be a being that have created us.

However, the word "divine" still escapes me. I still cannot scientifically grasp the concept of a soul. But there is a so-called Noetic Science that is trying to explain the divine. Take note, divine, not random chance. Random chances can be explained by probability and statistics. And a I count the soul as divine. Most miracles are, as far as I'm concerned, statistical anomalies that lie at the extremes of a normal curve. They can happen, the probability is just extremely low. The so-called miracles that have zero probabilities have been debunked. Hoaxes.

And this is my stand, my belief. There is a God, and there is science.

#FoulJesterBOMB 01

Unlike most of the stories I wrote that I've changed names, threw around some facts, this story is all true.

It's all about me blogging; How I started, what I did, how I came about to doing what I do; blog of me blogging… BOMB. Hence, the title #FoulJesterBOMB.

This is not fiction. The names are not altered to protect anyone since, I probably won't be mentioning much names… Or maybe I would. Anyway, enjoy the trip. Enjoy the ride. Because I sure as heck did.

Let me start by introducing myself. My friends call me Jester. I pride myself for being so many things. Call it a jack of all traits. Unfortunately, probably a master of none. I do, however, write and daydream a lot… not necessarily in that order. I use FoulJester on social media to distinguish myself from the other jesters out there. The word "foul" on FoulJester came from the anime Flame of Recca. In that anime, there a weapon called the foul spider. And being a big Spider-Man fan, I took the name of the character of that used that weapon, Gashakura. But that didn't work out very well since in didn't sound jestery enough. So long story short, I took the "foul" from foul spider, spliced it onto jester and the rest is history.

I maintain a lifestyle blog; fouljester.blogspot.com … yes, this site exists. You're probably on in right now because… this blog is on this blog. I used to have a fouljester.com domain but that's out. Free is fine.

This is not my life's story. But, this is my story. This is a story of my writing and daydreaming.

Writing stories? I think I started early. In fourth grade, I remember turning one of my notebooks into a comic about a cat; a ninja with a gun and a magic word for a name, a wannabe Kamen Rider, and a Super Sentai where the red leader is female which then turned into something else entirely. Something in the lines of Dragon Ball or Yuu Yuu Hakusho. And then I just stopped. 

Then the Internet happened. Goodbye, high school.

Welcome 2020!!

And so 2019 has ended and 2020 has come. Welcome the metal rat once the Chinese new year comes.

As far as I'm concerned, 2019 was a much better year compared to 2017 and 2018 combined. I mean, at least time around, I still have money in my pocket.

I can't say that this is the year that I started uploading videos on YouTube. It isn't. Although it is the year when I started uploading videos on YouTube where my voice can be heard. Search for FoulJester to find my latest YouTube channel. I've deleted most of my older YouTube channels which had a lot of copyright issues. Even if they are just slide shows, the background music used were copyrighted.

I've re-started using Twitter. And at last I've reached 2,000 tweets after being on Twitter since 2013. Look for @FoulJester and follow me.

I now have an Instagram account using my cellphone number. I couldn't use my email and can't use FoulJester as my handle. For some reason, both were banned. So I had to make an account some other way. Look for @the.FoulJester to see pictures of food and toys. Although I'm thinking of putting up short videos as well.

I finally finished two stories on Wattpad. I'm planning on writing more. I just need to know what to write about. Read my stories by looking for FoulJester.

As for my dayjob, I finally had a raise that's not part of my annual, scheduled pay raise. So, thank goodness for that. 2019 was also the year of the passing of Mr. John Gokongwei.

As for notable events, there have been a few natural calamities. Earthquakes have been happening all over the Philippines especially Mindanao. And I can only remember the last two storms; Tisoy and Ursula.

Since 2019 was a way better year than 2018, here's to hoping 2020 would be a lot better than last year.

Mr. Bulbul

Mr. Bulbul is a Korean YouTuber who vlogs about food, drinks, and his life. He is married to a Filipina and occasionally reviews Filipino food coupled with Korean culture and commentaries.

It took me a while to decide on which blog should I put this on. On Tira-Tirahan, since Mr. Bulbul usually talks or comments about food. On Retinal Attachment, since I'm about to comment about one of his videos. But in the end, I decided to put it here on Canned Thoughts. Since I won't be just talking about a single video although I do have one video that I want to focus on.

Let me first start from the beginning.

The very first Mr. Bulbul video that I saw was the one where he reviewed Youngs Town Sardines. He was wearing his signature dark sunglasses. Nowadays, he just wears his eyeglasses. Of course, at first, I was a bit surprised at his name, Bulbul. But then I though, bulbul, probably means something else in Korea. Then he explained in one of his videos that he actually knows what bulbul means in Tagalog. And that bulbul is a kind of bird.

He has a lot of videos in his channel, but now I only want to comment about one. This is the reason why I would like to put this on my Retinal Attachment vlog. It's about his experience with a famous restaurant, Samgyupsalamat, which is also the reason why I want to place this on my Tira-Tirahan vlog. 

Mr. Bulbul says that Samgyupsalamat isn't really serving samgyupsal as far as he knows. Only one of the meat choice only comes close to being samgyupsal. And that's just coming close. It's not even samgyupsal, yet. Mr. Bulbul also said, that in Korea, the server will sometimes cook your barbecue for you.

Now I have to ask, what Korean Barbecue Restaurant serves actual samgyupsal? If I'm going to take a guess, it would be those do not have franchises. It would be those that are owned and run by Korean immigrants. And you would have to look for those kinds of restaurants. I've been to one of those restaurants; run by a Korean. Sometimes, the owner herself (or one of the waiters) will cook your barbecue while you eat. That would be Samgyup Story. Click here for my review.

For Mr. Bulbul's video on Samgyupsalamat, click here.

For the very first Mr. Bulbul video that I have ever watched, click here.

The Visit to Mang Juan

I'm not a reporter. I am just a blogger. And as a blogger, it's not like I have a lot of readers. So by the time someone reads this, this will have been old news.

As one of his thousands of employees, we paid a visit to Mr. John's wake. It is held at Heritage Park, Taguig. We went there this past Tuesday afternoon. We were asked to wear white or anything light colored. It was the family's wish.

The family were all in white; the children, grandchildren. They seem well; they may have accepted the fact. I saw a lot of flowers from prominent persons like the President himself, Rodrigo Duterte; from other politicians, and famous people. All of the flowers, white. Mr. John looked so calm. He had a Chippy pillow on his side; one of his more famous brands.

His son, Mr. Lance, said something funny on his message; on Mr. John's last day, he asked for food from his daughters. But what Mr. John asked form his only son was the business' financial statements. Mr. John still wants to know how their business doing.

Today is the last day of the wake. Tomorrow, will be the funeral. I'm sure it will be an emotional day for the family. It always is. You may be calm during the wake but, the day of the burial will definitely get to you.

Again, thank you, Mr. John.

Goodbye, Mang Juan

So I've just heard that our founder passed away over the weekend. While I do have a television, I don't have the means to watch local news since I don't have a TV antenna, cable, nor a digital TV box. My most credible source of news is Reddit. Not Facebook. 

So there I was, on my way to work, on Reddit, when I saw a post. I thought it was fake news so I had to Google search. I still had to verify once I got to the office, I had to ask someone. And yes, it is true.

Again. Thank you, Boss. Thank you, Mang Juan.

A Blog Blog

So I've read something today and I makes me want to write a blog as it is a blog. Although I kind of started already. Also in effect, the video version of it.

What do I mean?

I mean look. The word blog comes from the words web log. So it's a log that you put on the web. Kind of like a journal or a diary. That way, there would be an actual story coming from it. Of course, I'd still be doing the niche blogs and events on this one.

Since I've already started with throwing in my thoughts, opinions, and a lucid dream, let me continue with something that happened yesterday.

Our company has this event coming in a couple of weeks. Of course with events, there are contests. One of those contests is somewhat of a Music Video / Jingle making contest.

Before I continue, I will only point out a few of things from the contest mechanics; 1) the deadline of submission deadline is on the 31st of October; 2) the entries should be submitted in MP4 format; and 3) The song must be three minutes long at the maximum. Let's continue.

So come the deadline, there were only two entries that were submitted. However, one of which was in MP3 and was a few seconds over three minutes. So my boss says, "Let's loosen up the mechanics so that more can join the contest." So we accepted the MP3 format for now and told them to make a video in MP4 format. Also, the deadline was extended for three days. When the deadline of submission came, we ended up with nine entries. 

So on the next day, five finalists would have to be chosen. Those five would have to perform their song live on the event. After the finalists have been chosen, I uploaded their videos on our company's local site for others to view. And then the protest comes in. Or protests, I wasn't the one who heard of them directly. My boss did. Anyway. Some of the plants whose entries came in after the original deadline protested against the one plant that had the entry with more than three minutes long.

Why? Is winning the contest that important to them? Some of the rules were put aside so that more can join, including those who protested. Now they're pointing out that that one entry did not follow rules and should be disqualified. Come one. All but one entry did not follow the rules. Why have the nerve to complain about someone not following the rules if you yourself did not follow the rules.

They are adults squabbling like brats.

The Suspicious Removed Message

Have you ever seen something like this on your Facebook messenger?

When you remove a message from messenger, it leaves this remark that you removed a message. Which makes those who read it a little suspicious. Sometimes way too suspicious. 

Then on your group chat, you have an idea to leave a string of removed messages.

It's either everyone else not involved would think something is suspicious or someone will just jump in and join the bandwagon. Especially if all of you are a bunch of smart alecks.

But on a serious note. Just be careful with what you send out via the messenger to avoid removing a message. Because there's a lot of people out there who go overboard with their imaginations and make up stories in their mind why there's a "removed message."

2018 Year-End

It's almost November and I just noticed that I don't have a year-end summary for 2018. It's almost the end of 2019 and I don't really remember anything that happened during 2018. So there's no point in making one now.

What I do remember is returning to the Head Office job at the start of the year. That's it. Anything else? Yes but, I don't really remember. Besides those events that are on the blog. 

Let's check!

On this blog there's just the year-ender for 2017 so there's nothing here.

On the food blog there are three posts; one about Piattos, one about Nips, and one about Four Seasons buffet. That was my first time in that restaurant. It was okay. I still think Sambokojin is better… or maybe City Buffet. Perhaps because the latter two are closer to home.

On the movie, TV, and video blog there's a couple but, tell me that I went to the movies. In fact, I don't remember going to the theater to see a movie. I have not for a very long time. Except for Endgame. That was company-sponsored so thank you to the company I work for.

So there you go. My 2018 year-ender. Now to prepare for the 2019 year-ender. I mean, make the outline at least.

Dream

I just want to share this dream that I had. Actually, they were a few dreams but are actually one. It's a bit confusing so let me just tell you about it. 

It was a couple of nights ago. The dream started with me lying on the bed. I look at the window just above the head end of the bed. There was a man holding a machete, climbing up, about to get into the window. Fear set in. Then I woke up. It was a bad dream.

I went back to sleep after going to the restroom. Then another dream started. It was very similar. I was on the bed. I got up to see someone entering the house through the balcony. Then in the dream, I realized I was dreaming so I forced myself to wake up. So I did.

It was pretty much the same dream but just a little different. When I get back to sleep, will I dream that again? I could only know once I went back to sleep.

I went back to sleep. My dream started in a room or a hallway. I couldn't tell. It was dark. I followed the wall out. I could feel the wall. It was tiled. When I felt the wall, I knew I was dreaming. I just followed the wall until I reached the end. At the end there were many people. I could recognize them all since they were all family. There was some kind of party.

I wanted to leave the party so I did. There were two paths out. Somehow I know that one was a direct route out and one was unfamiliar and goes through someplace unfamiliar to me. I did not want anyone following me so I took the unfamiliar route. 

I went between two fences with fines crawling form both creating somewhat of a tunnel. After that, I went through a path almost similar to the once known as White Trails of Camp John Hay of Baguio City. I passed by what seems like an abandoned building. I was not sure what it used to be. It was either a school or a hospital. I moved on until I reached a road. Again, it seemed like one of the highways going to Baguio City but it was muddy. There were trucks going to and fro. I crossed an intersection avoiding the  huge trucks when I noticed that I left something at the party. I needed to go back and get it. 

It turned back and crossed the intersection once more. At the intersection, I saw a couple of co-workers telling to go and get whatever it was that I left. As I walked back the path I took, it went dark. But I had a flashlight. I turned it on and moved on. Then from a distance, I saw a house being invaded. I wasn't sure if I was watching one of the dreams I just had. There were other houses that were being invaded. Some invaders had guns. One of them saw me with the flashlight and shot at my direction. I turned off the flashlight to conceal myself. All of a sudden, a police car came rushing from behind me. It passed just a few inches beside me. The police car arrived at the chaos. Then my alarm woke me up.

What made this dream unique? It was because I felt everything happen as though I was there; I felt the tiled walls as it guided me outside; I felt the mud on the road as a walked on it. It was… lucid.

I am a believer of parallel universes; of alternate realities. Did I just experience going to one? Did I live a moment of another version of myself? I didn't know. I don't know. All I knew was that I was tired.

Sick

It's been two weeks since I fell ill. Well, I guess ill is such a heavy word. How about came down with the sickness? Still heavy? Got sick, then.

I still feel the euphoria of germs inside my body. The way they make me fell every time I close my eyes. I feel like I'm floating and don't even have medication in me. Perhaps because the feeling reminds me of the time that I was confined. I have been many times. The feeling of the medicines running through my veins. They just make me feel at ease. They help me rest. Sometimes, I wished that they would have helped me rest permanently.

Why am I telling you this? I don't know. I'm not ever sure if somebody is reading this. I have lost most of my readers from the past. That I am sure. But now, I've decided to write again. Blog again. If I can do it daily, then why not? I don't mind if nobody reads any of this. I just want to write what I'm thinking. This is a blog after all. This blog will contain my thoughts. Like what its namesake says, "Canned Thoughts." I still have my other blogs which are niched. I'll write them If I have the proper topics for them.

All I can think of now is this sickness inside me that would not go away. In fact it might have gotten worse even if I don't look worse. I look better actually. I even think I'm even projecting a better me at work. But the inside is just isn't.

But I know it will go away; sooner if not later. But eventually it will. I know it will.

I Thought… Well… I Was Wrong

The first time I heard the word 'depression,' I had no idea what it was. I was probably too young to care what it meant.

A few years passed and I learned about its meaning. It's a state of feeling is what I understood it was. It was sadness. A very deep kind of sadness. Still I was too young to even consider its effects. If I'm not mistaken, I had anime, I had video games, I had my bros. Depression wasn't much of a concern.

Fast forward around fifteen years. When I just have bits of anime, pieces of video games, my bros are scattered everywhere, plus the weight of the real world on my shoulders. I've got watching limitations; not allowed to watch the usual amount of tokusatsu, and anime that I used to watch. I don't even go out to see movies anymore. Pieces of video games; I'm down to my 3DS Lite, and PS3. No longer able to buy myself a new console, waiting for those two to break down. Not to mention a so-called gaming allowance. I've been told that I'm too old to do all these.

Even my passion of writing is on the brink of going gone. I can no longer do it because I don't earn anything from it anyway. Because everything is about money. If it doesn't earn, don't do it. I'm slowly running out of hobbies. Very soon, I'll be just a shell of my former self.

That's when depression kicks in.

If I can't do my writing, my drawing, my video editing, my video gaming, my show watching for myself. Then I am not doing it for anyone. At least not for free.

Jester's Canned Thoughts

Over the past few weeks, there have been a few issues that came out. Some are political, some scientific, and some are trivial. And I would like to give my thoughts about those. These are issues are a few weeks old, therefore my thoughts were somewhat, canned.

Issue 1: How difficult is it to open a Busog Meal at 711?

It is quite difficult to open one of those packed meals. The box is just sealed with a few adhesive tape strips on the sides. However, the tape seems to have a very strong adhesion to the box. So a few tips:
a) Have the cashier open it up for you. They usually have a cutter or a pair of scissors at the counter.
b) Use you plastic utensils to help you open the pack. Just in case you forgot to ask the cashier to open it up for you.
c) Take it home. I'm sure you have various cutting tools at home.

Issue 2: Philippine fishing vessel rammed by Chinese ship.

Whether or not they were rammed, the Filipinos should at least take the side of their fellow Pinoy. I saw a lot of Filipino posts on social media saying that the fishermen were at the wrong. Scolding a fellow Pinoy is fine as long as we do it among ourselves and not announcing it to the whole world. Doing it in public does not make us righteous.

Issue 3: As a follow up of the above issue, China having given the right to fish in our territorial waters.

"Giving up because you know you can't win," is a good plan. But being the head of state and showing that your tail is between your legs is not really a good image for a leader. You just let a neighbor come to your home and raid your fridge, literally.

Issue 4: Vinegar, the synthetic and the naturally produced. According to the Philippine FDA, "Vinegar is the liquid produced by alcoholic and/or acetous fermentation of onw (yes, I kept the type-o) or more of the following: malt, spirit, vine, cider, alcoholic liquors,

According to the Philippine FDA, "Vinegar is the liquid produced by alcoholic and/or acetous fermentation of onw or more of the following: malt, spirit, vine, cider, alcoholic liquors, fruits, grain, vegetables, honey, glucose, sugar (including unrefined crystal sugar and refinery syrups, or mollasses," and "Distilled vinegar is the liquid produced by acetous fermentation of dilute distilled alcohol or by the distillation of vinegar." And take note, I kept the typographical errors intact.

A technical description of vinegar is, "an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace chemicals that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5-20% acetic acid by volume."

Synthetic or natural, when it comes down to the chemistry of it, they are the same. There is no difference, just the source. We consume many synthetic foodstuffs that we just do not notice it. Vanilla, for example, is made abundant by being synthesized. Using natural vanilla is very expensive. If you want naturally flavored vanilla ice cream, be ready to cough out the dough.

The definition of the Philippine FDA is so old that it was even typewritten. It was probably drafted during the time when FDA was still BFAD. So it was never updated. The definition is still true, it just needs to be updated. For someone who is from a scientific background to say that artificially prepared vinegar should not be called vinegar is just… dumb.

Issue 5: And this happens to be my favorite (so far), Isko Moreno.

What can I say? So far, he is doing good. No, not good, great. Yorme Isko is very hands-on and very is making his presence felt very early in his term. He has a lot of videos on YouTube. He does Facebook live while he goes around the city. He is creating buzz and is becoming somewhat of a benchmark when it comes to being a mayor. He raised the bar, so to speak. It makes me want to be a resident of Manila City. I just hope he sustains this momentum he generated.

Those are the issues that I want to share my opinions about… so far. There would be more in the coming days. I just wanted to live up to my blog's title every once in a while.