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.

I.F. You Asked Me What I've Given Up, It Would Be This

Like what the title says, if you asked me what I've given up, it would be this: eating from six in the evening up until ten in the morning. Now in case you're wondering why the "if" is "I.F.", it's because I've recently started Intermittent Fasting.

Back in the day, I've tried a number of diet plans and they all worked for me. But, the temptation of food is just so great that limiting your carbo intake is just so challenging; pasta, pizza, turn overs, donuts, ramen… Plus, it doesn't help that I do have a food blog (https://tira-tirahan.blogspot.com). So, I get back what I shed off. Until age caught up and my natural metabolism wasn't as active as it used to. Even if I went back to the diet plans, exercise routines, it was taking more effort than it used to.

Eventually, I gave in and just accepted the fact that this is my fate. I've reached the weight of 80 kilograms. That's very heavy. Already on the obese side. I missed the days when I was just 64 kilograms heavy. I know that however I worked out and diet, I would never get to that weight again. Until one day, I heard of a technique that was new to me. It made sense because I know that the body, when it has no more carbohydrates to burn, it will start to burn stored fat. And when the fat is all out, it will start to consume protein. I also know that the brain consumes the most energy. The problem was, I didn't know how it actually works or how to activate the process. This technique told me how the process was activated.

But since I've let myself go for so long already, I never really paid much attention to it. I was skeptical since at my age, with my slowed down metabolism, it just might not work. So yes, I did not do any fasting in any form.

Then came our company's annual physical examination for 2019. When I went on the scale to get my weight, it tipped at 99 kilograms. Oh my god! Almost a hundred. Sure I was seeing myself getting bigger and bigger every time I go by the restroom mirror. And I didn't mind. But getting an actual number attached to that size, that was different. That was almost 20 kilograms from the last time I checked. That's when I decided to give intermittent fasting a try.

The first week was the difficult one. Suddenly adjusting my eating habits from "eating when hungry" to "eating just within the window" was quite difficult. I almost gave up. But I thought to myself, "Let's see where this takes us for at least a month, then we quit if it goes nowhere." So with a lot of will power, I persevered.

One week went on and the second week was a lot easier because my body had already adjusted to my eating window of 10AM to 6PM. After three weeks, it was already clockwork. And then a month went by without me noticing. I only realized that that I needed to check on my progress after a month and a half in. When I checked, I was down to 84 kilograms. It actually worked. And I could feel the changes as well; my shirts felt bigger, my pants as well. Some of the clothes that I couldn't wear because I got bigger started to fit again.

The wonderful thing about intermittent fasting is you can still eat whatever you like as long as you eat within your eating window. So I never gave up on the carbs. However, if you do choose to give up on the carbs as well, it might accelerate the fat loss since your body will skip the carbo burning and go straight to fat burning. That's just what I think.

If you want to know more about intermittent fasting, there are a lot of information out there about this technique. Just be sure that you're okay with it. I'm sure this is not for everyone, especially those with stomach problems like hyper acidity and ulcer. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

For now, I'm sticking to intermittent fasting until I get to the lowest weight I can get to. Even though getting to 64 is quite a stretch.

#Shopeescam, This Hashtag Says it All

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of BLACKPINK, nor am I a fan of BTS, Twice, etc. In other words, I am not a K-Pop fan. I am just overwhelmed by the trend of the above hashtag, saw a few videos, and was disgusted by what happened.

I'm sure a lot of you already know about this, since I think it's been days after what happened: Top buyers from Shopee won tickets to see their fans. They spent thousands to be top buyers. They were notified that they won. And on the event, on location, they were told that it was an error. That is bullshit. Why wait for date of the event before giving the notification of error? Why not a day before? Why not a week before? Shopee got the fans' hopes up and pulled the rug from right under them. All to get influencers and celebrities to get in, and most of them are not even fans.

I heard Shopee followers on social media are un-following, or unsubscribing. That's good. I hope they go out of business. And there Shopee thought that the influencers and celebrities would give them good publicity and promotion. Unfortunately, 500 plus fans has a lot more influence than mainstream celebrities.

That's all I have to say about this issue. Credits to the owner of the photo above, I'm not sure who.

Below are the links to the YouTube videos of Claro the Third and Nico David about this issue. Have a watch. Since I'm not sure if watching the videos here would give them views, I thought I just place the links.

Nico David's video.

Claro the Third's video.

Let me end this with a piece of advice. Don't go jumping onto a promo from on-line sellers that seem legit, that require you to cough up large sums of money. The mystery boxes seem like a big bust. Then came Shopee. Just think about it... a lot.

Hannah's Garden Resort and Events Place

It's almost halfway through 2019. I've had one post for 2018 and I sure hope that this isn't the only one for 2019.

Hannah's Garden Resort and Events Place was chosen by the company I work for (which I will not name), to host our annual pre-strategic planning workshop. It is not a hotel. It's accommodations are rooms of different types. Most of which surround it's huge swimming pool that I think is Olympic sized. Although I am not sure how big an Olympic-sized pool is.

First my rants: 1) It is not easy getting here. Most of us got lost on the way. My suggestion is have someone who knows where it is to guide you. Do not use the app, "WAZE." This app only shows the most confusing direction to the site. You're better off using Goggle Maps. 2) Internet connection is not that strong and so is cell service. Even if the place nice for your social media posts, they might have to wait until you get a good signal. 3) No cable. I guess since not many people come here, it is impractical to have cable TV service. Then again, why would you want to stay in your room and watch cable TV when you have Netflix at home. They do have a digital box for each room.

Now for the resort's redeeming qualities: 1) The food here is excellent. If you decide to have them cater to your food needs, their cooking is just great. 2) Since it is not the easiest place to find, not many people go there which makes it a nice place to have even a small to medium-sized group to have fun here and not have other groups hogging the pool. 3) It is a very relaxing place. It's distance away from the metropolis is quite nice. I'm not sure what kind of bird makes that sound (see my video review of the place below).

I cannot really comment on the expense side since the company I work for paid for everything. But by logic, I think this place would be quite pricey. Law of supply and demand, my friends.

Hannah's Garden Resort and Events Place is located at Baranggay Bunggo Silangan, Calamba, Laguna. You may contact them via land line through (02) 504-5747 and via mobile through 0977-805-9156, and you may email them at hannahsgarden.eventplace@yahoo.com. and their website is http://www.hannahsgarden.ph/

My recommendation is to prepare your wallets and pockets if you wish to go there and do your vacationing or relaxing. The stay will make up for the distance and the price. I know the food, at least, did. Watch my video review bellow so you can see how the place looks like.

The Calm After the Storm

The evening of New Year's day is noticeably very calm. From where I was at during that time, it felt like a ghost town. Probably because almost everyone is tired from the night's celebration. But then again, I did not feel the new year come in with a bang. Or on another perspective 2017 went out in a whimper. Just as well.

I never liked 2017. It is the year I wish never happened. I don't know, maybe it's just me but, it was anything but good; financial decline, illness, death, career stagnation. Heck! I wasn't even able to attend ToyCon, and I never miss ToyCon.

To sum up my past year, there is nothing to sum up. It was a big load of steaming crap. I just hope a year like that would never happen again. I'm still in the process of picking up the pieces that it left.

ToyCon is Coming... Bigger... Like Every Year

What better way to re-start this blog than getting hyped for ToyCon 2016.

Like every year, ToyCon grows bigger. This year, it leaves the usual venue of Megamall's Megatrade Halls for a bigger SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia. Check out the teaser poster below.

Like it says on the poster, it's happening on June 10-12 so you better save that date.

I heard Stan Lee's exhibit will be there as well so don't miss out on that one.


That's right, true believers. You better be there.

This is going to be big.


For more information, visit ToyCon's official Facebook page: TOYCON PH: The Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention
Their official website: ToyCon.com.
Follow them on Instagram and Twitter: @phtoycon