Aargh

hey. this is just to let you guys know i’ve set up a blog on blogspot, and if any of you are interested, here’s the URL: http://gerrmonster.blogspot.com

enjoy. >:]

just wanted to get this off my chest. those of you who live in BF Homes, Paranaque know what the title of this entry means. for years, BF has been a relatively safe haven for its inhabitants. if you didn’t have a sticker indicating you live in BF, you can’t just waltz in and do your thing. meaning thieves, murderers, and rapists couldn’t just prance right in and violate human rights. there wasn’t much threat of getting yourself kidnapped, mugged, or even killed. sure, for friends who live in other areas to visit my place, leaving behind your driver’s license was a pain and a bit of a hassle, but at least we all knew our security was doing its job guarding our safety. that’s what we paid them for.

now the gates are open, and all sorts of bad juju is flooding in. last night i sat next to two young women talking about the increasingly horrible situation in BF and realized that terror’s striking too close to home. i listened with growing alarm as one of the ladies told her friend about a suspicious phone call her daughter’s yaya received. the woman sounded exactly like the lady’s mother, and she told the nanny some tall tale about getting into an accident. the caller then requested that the nanny not tell anybody about it, and that she should just bring the daughter to a certain place. fortunately, the nanny was smart, and she was debating with herself what she should do when the real mother came home and demanded to know what all the panicking was about. an attempted kidnapping was, thankfully, foiled.

that doesn’t discount the fact that a call was made, and all sorts of devious gangs are moving in. moving in on what was previously a safe place.

another sickening bit of news. VERY close to where i live, VERY close to my parish, somebody entered a beauty salon, slit the throat of the cashier, and took all the salon’s cash. for christ’s sake, why kill the poor cashier if the money was all this son-of-a-bitch was after?

so here’s an urgent "wake-the-fuck-up" call to our mayor. Mayor Bernabe, what the hell have you done? you opened the gates and left us virtually defenseless. your traffic aides are useless, there is NO ONE guarding the main roads at night, and now there are thieves, kidnappers, and murderers traipsing about unnoticed and unchecked. piece of advice from somebody who can’t afford your precious bodyguards: CLOSE THE DAMN GATES. hell, if we knew this was going to happen, the voting population of paranaque probably wouldn’t even have given you a second glance, and it was BECAUSE of paranaque that you’re now the mayor. so do your damn job. ’nuff said.

meh.

i haven’t been able to write much since i’ve been pleasantly busy. pleasantly busy except of course for that one time i got frustrated while i was trying to animate one of our IB exercises. would you believe that the assistant trainer actually had us animate someone bowing in the 3/4 view? so everything about the person’s face had to CHANGE. our trainer admitted that back when he was a trainee all they had to do was draw circles resembling a human body bowing in sideview.

but apart from that initial frustration, everything else is going great. our trainer taught us a couple of tricks, which HELPED. XD i realized that i’m not the fastest worker in the batch. thankfully, i’m also not the slowest. it’s a humbling feeling, but it also inspires me to work harder. speaking of working harder, our next exercise is a killer. imagine someone roughly resembling a human frog in a sweatsuit with a shoulder bag exagerratedly running, teetering, jumping, and finally landing in a pseudo-martial arts stance. we have to do about 12 frames of IB work on that one. i’m just thinking about it and my dominant hand cramps up. -__-0 i’m wondering if the assistant trainer hates us for some reason. then again, this is actually a very good thing; we’re definitely being prepped to be competent IB animators. heheh. >:)

i’m coping well with commuting to and from work everyday. i guess the long weekends helped to ease me into the routine. i’m still wishing for a more comfortable way to get to megamall at least, because it’s tiring to walk from the colorum to the mrt station in ayala, and then from the station back to the colorum at the end of the day. better than the bus, i guess. ^_^0 and i also get a bit of exercise. which is good…i think. -___-0

BY THE WAY, i heard a rumor that Disney got rid of its 2D division and just stuck to 3D. BAD MOVE. you’re getting rid of 2D when it was the very thing that started you off in the first place? why? because 3D is "the next step"? i’m not dissing 3D stuff, because 3D is good (and there’s Advent Children), but to completely disregard 2D animation is a mistake. Toei went digital to bring out even better 2D animation. 2D has a magic to it that 3D hasn’t been able to top. 3D has merits that 2D doesn’t, and that little equation works both ways, boys and girls. don’t diss 2D. we’re here to stay, and we’ve gone digital. >:)

that’s all for now from this raving lunatic. XD

it’s near christmas, and i’m in the mood to share.

saw this on a cd in megamall, powerbooks, tower records. the younger…(thinks of a kind word, can’t come up with one)…the younger creature reminds me of pugsley addams. these guys came up with a cd full of songs for their mother (see the picture they’re holding up? the lady posing as though she’s singing to the sky?) the songs aren’t even original works by them. they had to create their own record label just to release this cd, by the way. -shakes head- honestly.

christ! well, no, it’s not our lord and savior, it’s a freaky old man on the packet of green tea. it’s terrible. look at him. i hear "bring out the lee-kum-ki" in my head whenever i see this.

the picture quality isn’t that great, but this santa strikes me as unique. if you actually do see it, he’s got a slightly different costume on, not so much RED like all the others, and he’s fur-trimmed. i’ve got only two problems with him. 1) the violin’s off-kilter. 2) animal lovers will have this santa’s ass on a stick.

you think the philippines is the only country with a jolina magdangal? think again. found this on a chinese channel.

took this pic a long time ago, when i was bumming at a friend’s apartment. looked at all the little anime figurines he has and found this. cute little girls standing around and completely ignoring the crushing scene before them.

how macabre.

and that’s it from me. sorry this blog’s pic-heavy. at least i didnt ruin anyone’s dinner by including my face on the pic roster. belated happy halloween, all. >:)

another long weekend. now i know it’s nothing to complain about, but it’s still another long weekend. when i was still in school, i looked forward to ‘em, but now i kind of view them as a roadblock to training. this week marks the last time we trainees do tracing/clean up work. we move on to actual in-between animation exercises next week. yehey. ^__^

it’s weird how things turn out. ever since i got into toei, companies have been calling me, asking if i am interested in a graphic artist position. (which reminds me, i better update my profile or something) and i think my mom finally got an idea of how well-established (read: stable) toei is. here’s a summary of her dialogue with a very nice lady who called the other day.

lady: i’m from (mom didn’t catch the name), and we were wondering if your daughter would like to apply in our company.
mom: ah, she’s not home, she’s training in toei.
lady: i’m sorry, where?
mom: toei, the animation company in libis…
lady: oh, well, if that’s the case, let’s not bother her na lang, ma’am. that’s a very good company, she’s better off where she is na. (pause) of course, if she would like to still broaden her horizons, she can always give us a call.

*ROFL*

no, of course it’s no laughing matter that suddenly i’m being somewhat besieged by companies looking for graphic artists. it’s a good sign that at least students of my course in benilde can get a job. not just from my school, too, from any school that offers arts and design and all that. i find this convesation that my mom had just a wee bit amusing because 1) i think she finally believes that toei is a good company (she kept asking), and 2) well, if i did want to broaden my horizons, it’d be too bad because she didn’t get the name of the company O__o at LEAST the lady who called was very nice, and she even paid me an indirect compliment. (thank you very much, whoever you are ^_^ i hope your husband gets you something nice for your anniversary) i got a call from another company, a rather well-known, big one currently looking for graphic artists, too. i won’t put down the name of that company, because i’m still a bit decent, but this is how the conversation went:

woman: ah, hello, gerardine?
me: yes?
woman: this is -blah- from -BLAHBLAH-, you sent in your resume for the graphic artist position? will you be available for interview on -blah-?
me: oh, i’m sorry, but i’m already in training at toei animation phil.
woman: ah, ok, SIGE. -click-

well, excuuuse me.

i guess i really can’t blame her, it WAS nearing the end of the day and she probably wanted to go home. still, that was a bit weird.

anyway, that’s about it for now. i’m sleeeeepy. goodnight. ^_^