Arriba Letran!

I found myself singing this song as I was driving to work. It's in Spanish so I couldn't help but think if I had the accent right. The school was founded in 1620 by the Dominican friars and was still an exclusive boys school when I studied there. They used to teach Spanish in the final year of High School but I'm not sure if they still do. This used to be a really prestigious 'institution' and I hope they bring back that old Letran glory. And I'm not talking about NCAA basketball here. I am hoping it would again become the school where the future 'Jose Rizals' would want to enroll in, and produce graduates with the intelligence and tenacity of 'Manuel Quezon'.
Arriba Letran!
















HIMNO DE COLEGIO DE LETRAN

Coro

Alma Mater, Letran esplendente !
Como el sol es tu gloria, sin fin,
Y perfuman los lauros tu ambiente
Como exhala su aroma el jasmin

Orgullosos de ti y de tu historia
Nuestras almas desde hoy juraran;
Conquistar por tu honor nuevas glorias
Y jamas olvidarte, Letran !

Solo

En el magico eden Filipino
Fuiste antorcha de luz y saber;
Y atraves de su augusto destino
De esperanza seras rosicler,

Pues lograste segun tu modelo
Tantos hombres ilustres formar;
Que semejan estrellas del cielo
En la noche serena al brillar!

Ngarag!

Work this week was so hectic, it actually felt like I was back in Manila. I only had 6 hours sleep in 3 days. And I wasn't sure about what I was doing so it reminded me of the time that I was working in Optima and Commotion.
Shotsculpting. That was what I was doing for 3 days. I looked it up in Google and Wikipedia but I could not find any definition for it so I'll try to explain it as best I can. Or maybe not. Unless someone actually reads my blog and asks me what it is, I don't think I'll bother.
We stopped basketball today when Mike Bain injured his foot. I haven't played basketball in months and I did not have the energy nor the stamina anyway. But I guess I'll play hockey tonight then. I need to get some exercise because I really feel that I'll have a heart attack soon. Nothing like sitting on a desk all day eating food made up of mostly fat and sugar and being sleep deprived.
I wonder why I like sports where I don't really have any advantage. I was too short to play competitive basketball in Manila but that's an understatement here. Now I have to guard someone that's half my age and more than a foot taller than me. But hey, I still get my shots in and could play good defense till my age catches up with me. The guys I play with here are twice my height and half my age. And hockey? Sounds interesting but I really can't skate. If I go fast, I wouldn't know how to stop. Kinda like that Mighty Ducks movie.
And I received an email this morning from Trish (my lovely and still teenage looking wife) that there's going to be a Filipino festival at Palmerston North this weekend. Hmmmm... siopao! Now that's getting me hungry. I better go grab some food downstairs. It's 5pm and a friday so it's beer o'clock!

Instant Coffee

Everyone drinks coffee at work. We have this fancy coffee machine (two of them in fact) and I envy people who walk back to their desk with something that looks more like a work of art than a cup of coffee. It would usually have some spiral design on top made up of cinnamon powder and froth. Which made me wonder if everyone here used to work at Starbucks before they joined the digital effects industry.

Now why can't I do those? I know how to work the coffee machine (I'd like to think so). I guess I just don't have the patience. I work till 2am and I'm back at work at 9am with the usual 4-5 hrs sleep. The last thing I need is to spend another 10 minutes just to make coffee. I don't even like coffee. I drink coffee because it keeps me awake. Red Bull doesn't go well with my empty stomach in the morning.

I'm probably the only person here that drinks instant coffee. Nescafe? Maybe. I don't know, I just get it from this glass jar in the 'deserted' 2nd flr kitchen. I'm kinda hoping it is though because it reminds me of Manila. Not that I drink Nescafe in Manila (I usually have a mocha frapuccino at Starbucks if I run out of Red Bull), but because I always used to see the Nescafe commercial on TV. It doesn't really matter, I can never tell which coffee is which. It's pathetic I know, but they all taste the same to me.

Pastries

One thing I like about Mondays are the free pastries they give out in the kitchen. Nothing like carbs and sugar to wake you up and start the day. I like Fridays too, but for the opposite reason. Free drinks and chips at beer o'clock to drown the sorrow of being stuck in your desk all week. I'm not sure if this just happens in OZ and NZ but wouldn't it be great if other countries did the same? Aside from the fact that your company is giving you free booze, you get to socialize for an hour or two and get paid for it.
I love this job.
And now that I'm done eating, I have to go back to work. It would be good to finish my second season of Grey's Anatomy. The series, not the anatomy book. We have lots of stuff in the network and most movies, tv series or mp3s can be found on someone's local drive. You can listen to music or an audiobook, learn a new language or just watch movies while working. I can't wait to watch the whole season 2 of Prison Break.
I really love this job.

Grandma's Boy

If you are working in the 'Video Games' industry, you should watch this. This is about you.

Or if the company you work for has a 3D/ animation department, maybe you can also relate to these guys.

This is a Happy Madison production so better smoke some heavy stuff first. You'd then be surprised at how funny this movie can be.

Goodbye SGI

The end of the dinosaur.

http://www.sgi.com/support/mips_irix.html

I hate to think that I gave up my P55k/month job at First Multimedia Center for a mere P16k/month at Optima just to be able to work on one of these.

Stupid. But that was 1992. I wanted to do 3d work for commercials and not AVPs (as they call it in Manila). And I wanted to see my work on the big screen. I have Optima to thank for that. Oooh..... the Onyx! In it's own little glass room. I wanted to bow down before it. The mother of my little Indigo and Indigo 2s.

But then I was transferred to Commotion. Suddenly my Indigos were nothing more than paper weights. We even had O2s but they were seldom used and not by me.

And now their reign is over. The last of the 'supercomputers' would be delivered late this year. People still use a few of them here at work. But if you go down to the stockroom you'll see them scattered on the floor, gathering dust in a dark corner of our building. Almost like a graveyard.