gO wIth thE flOw

This game is supposed to be the thesis research for the creator, but it ended up being such a big hit with gamers everywhere. I don't really understand what the thesis is about, or how the game relates to it. But I would assume that he succeeded, and prolly got an A+ for it too.

When I first happened upon this game (completely by accident), I didn't know what the heck it was. I controlled this plankton-like creature and it just swam around. When I ate something, the screen would change colour, getting darker. Or sometimes, it would get lighter. Then I realized there were two different kinds of creatures you could eat. One would make it darker, while the other would make it lighter. After more playing, I realized it was like an ocean, and when it got darker, it means I went deeper by a level, and when it went lighter, I went shallower by a level. And then I noticed as I ate some of the small things floating around, I would get longer and have more features. At that time, I thought what a quaint game it was. When I checked the time, I've been playing for 3 hours straight already. That's when I realized I was hooked. It is a great game, and very innovative. It lets you play at your own pace. For more experienced gamers, you can go hardcore and try to eat everything and evolve as far as you can. For those casual gamers or non-gamers, you can just let your creature swim around until you feel it's time to move on.

But that's not all! They released a PS3 version of this game where you use your controller to move your creature, but not in the conventional way. You tilt your controller to tell the creature where to move. For instance, if you tilt it to the left, it will go to the left. If you tilt it forward, it will go forward. And so on. I got the chance to try this at a friend's house. The best part about it is that you can play with 2 players! And it's possible to eat the other player! That was the most fun part when I played with my friends. We tried to eat each other.

The game actually has many different levels. The first one, you start off as a snake-like creature. Then after you fully evolve, you start a new level where you're one of those jellyfish-like things that you were eating. And so on. I don't know how many levels there are, since I haven't played it to the end. But it's pretty cool. So go and play it now! Or download it for later.

I Sense a Disturbance in the Force

For the uninitiated, that's George Lucas on the left, the creator of Star Wars. And on the right is J. J. Abrams, the creator of Felicity and Lost, and the director of the upcoming Star Trek movie. Early reports of Abrams' script did not give me a good feeling about the "future" of Trek, although I love the casting. It remains to be seen whether or not this movie will be a hit or a miss. But if the above picture is any indication, I have a bad feeling about this.

Oh, and no Jar Jar, please!

A Memory of Light

"James Oliver Rigney Jr, author of the long-running fantasy series The Wheel of Time and better known to millions of fans by the pen name Robert Jordan, died on 16 Sept 2007 from cardiac amyloidosis. Jordan announced he had been diagnosed with the disease in March 2006 and vowed to beat the odds, but determination and gumption sometimes just aren't enough in the face of a disease with a median survival time of just over two years. Jordan was in the process of writing the twelfth and final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, but the book was not slated for release until 2009 and is still incomplete. While there is hope that the book will still be finished from Jordan's notes, this is devastating news to all of us who have been reading the series since 1990."

For those of you who don't know Robert Jordan, he is the author of one of my favorite fantasy series, "The Wheel of Time". The series was introduced to me in high school by my friend Jeff, who had also introduced it to a lot of our other friends. It took me a while to get into the book, but once I got started, I couldn't put it down. And I continued to follow the series up until the latest book. Most of my friends had quit by now, mostly because Jordan had started writing too many plotlines with too many characters that have yet to be resolved. Add to that the last few books had stories that happened in ONE day, with nothing of significance happening. It was at this point that people realized that Jordan was simply milking the series for all its got. Despite this, a lot of people (myself included) still follow the book to know what happens next. The world that Jordan had created is quite rich, with its own lush history that he even wrote an encyclopedia for it. The initial stories were quite good too. Nowadays, it's hard to remember what happened to who. Not to say that Robert Jordan isn't still a good writer. He's a great writer, and a lot of fantasy series authors point to his work as the one that brought modern fantasy series novels to where it is today.

Anyway, a few years back, Jordan found out that he had cardiac amyloidosis, and it was gradually getting worse. He had started a blog where he communicated with his fans, and most realized that he may not be able to finish the series. He vowed that the next book, "A Memory of Light" would be his last, even if it had to be 1500 pages long. He tried to work on it during the free times he had, and unfortunately, he wasn't able to finish it.

I'm quite sad at his passing, and although my thoughts and condolences are with his family, I'm more upset that I'm not able to read his last book. I know it's very selfish of me, but I think if he hadn't wasted his time writing those past few books where nothing significant happened, and simply concentrated on finishing the book, he would've have left more people at peace with him. But such is life. Hindsight is always 20/20. But I am happy for him because he's no longer suffering, and I know he's a Christian. He's admitted it himself on his blog, and has been seeing his pastor often during his last days. Therefore, I know I'll be seeing him in Heaven, and I'll have a few choice words for him. :) RIP Robert Jordan.

Bad business

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker in our church, and he spoke on the topic of Worship (my favourite topic). Despite my having a lot of last-minute things to do concerning the LCD, I was still able to listen to much of the message, which I'm glad I did. One of the illustrations that the speaker told us was a true story about this businessman who was making a contract with a new customer. While signing the contract, he didn't even bother to read through most of the details, and missed the incorrect price quoted in the contract. The price was misprinted by someone in his company, and not influenced by the customer. When the customer saw the contract with the significantly lowered price, he was ecstatic, and was happy to do business with the man. But when the man received the first payment from the customer, he noticed the amount was far less than what he quoted, and called up the customer to confirm. The customer told him that that was the price in the contract that he signed. Upon re-checking the contract, he found the incorrent price written on it. Feeling sorry for the man, the customer offered to pay him a little extra, and the man said he would get back to them. That night, he went home and prayed, asking God for wisdom. The next day, the customer called and offered again to pay him a little more than the contract's price. But the man stopped him and said that it wasn't the customer's fault. He had failed to read the contract carefully, and that was the price that he signed, and he would abide by it. He then explained to the customer that he is a Christian, and as a Christian, whatever promise he made, he would keep. He refused to take the additional money, and accepted the original payment with the low price. The customer was so touched by what the man did that they decided to order all their materials from that man. I was taken aback by the man's reaction. I thought for sure he would have a plan to get his money, but he didn't. And in the end, he got the money and the respect of his customers. This made me think about my own self, and how I would've reacted in that situation. I think I would've done my best to blame the customer for the mistake, and fought with everyone for the extra money. In the end, I would just end up with the same amount, and bad feelings all around. And I would not have been a good example to other Christians, or show Christians in a good light. More on this tomorrow...

iPhone Again

Ok, I hope this will be the last time I speak about the iPhone in a while. But Steve Jobs is finally offering the $100 rebate for those who bought it early. Unfortunately, you have to have an activated AT&T number. Way to screw the rest of us, Steve. Hopefully, there'll be a way around this soon. But I'm sure Apple knows that more than half of the people who bought the phone aren't subscribed to AT&T, which is why they allowed this. Only half of the people will get the rebate, and Steve gets to keep his money. What a load of applesauce!

On a happier note, it seems the iPod Touch, despite its 16gb of memory and similar price to the iPhone, does not come with Bluetooth at all. And on top of that, the screen sucks compared to the iPhone! Also, all the third party applications that are available for the iPhone, are useless on the Touch! Makes me happy I didn't wait for the Touch. For those who are gonna get the Touch. Good luck to those who are gonna get the Touch. I'll be watching my videos happily without having to tilt it away, and playing all my games, and using my apps. :)

And in other news, it seems that Apple has been signing deals left and right with telecoms from different countries, and announcing the exclusive iPhone deals there. Yet there hasn't been anything announced in the Philippines. Hmm... makes you wonder whether they'll release it here or not. Certainly, it won't be this year. It might be next year. But how many people are actually patient enough to wait for it when there's a free unlock available now? Plus, it's a lot cheaper to buy now too. Cheaper than a Treo, cheaper than an N-series Nokia, cheaper than the P1, or the P990. Why would you wait a year for it? 3G? Who uses that in the Phils? I mean, really. Most people don't even know the difference between 3G and GSM, but say they'll wait for the 3G. Why? Faster data rates? Why would you need it when you have Wi-fi? And if you want to make calls, the other person has to have 3G too. Hmmm... this is prolly why no one has really been using 3G in the Phils. So, huh. I think I'll skip the 3G.

i-M-Patient

So as I said two days ago, I would wait for the user-friendly version of the iPhone unlocker to come out before I did it. So, I've read that a few people on a certain website have reported no problems with it. And best of all, it won't void the warranty! Excellent! Anyway, after much taunting from the Man with the Same Name, I decided, to heck with it. I'm gonna unlock it! Good thing I stumbled upon (No, not the Firefox extension) a great site that gives you step by step instructions on how exactly to do it. And within 15 minutes, my iPhone was unlocked, and working perfectly! The first thing I did was, of course, call the Man with the Same Name, to brag a bit, of course. But we both noticed that the quality of the call was pretty good. And we found no glitches yet. It's now been 10 minutes since I called him, and I tried getting my dad to call me, and testing it. It works great. The only bad thing is that the ringtones are a bit soft. I mean, really soft. I wouldn't be able to hear the phone ringing in a crowded, noisy room. But I'm sure I can make my own ringtone now in iTunes and transfer them over. And of course, I have to transfer all my contacts from my N80 over to my iPhone. And finally, I will sell my N80 for a Samsung U600, which I will use for my Globe (My iPhone will have my Sun, since I text more with my Globe and call more with my Sun, and I'd rather not text with my iPhone while I'm driving). Excellent!

The Man in the Iron Mask

Ok, despite my complete and utter hatred for Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) in the comics, I am so psyched for the Iron Man movie. I just watched the trailer last night, and it was so awesome! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, I suggest you go now! Surprisingly, Robert Downey Jr. makes a pretty good Tony Stark. I don't know how Tom Cruise would've been, as he's said before that he wanted to play Tony. Well, lucky us, we don't get to find out. :) I like how cool and funny Tony is in the movie, with lines like, "Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" And his reply, "Yes. It's very cool." Oh, and who could forget "I better not see this on your Myspace." And then, "Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up. I'm just kidding." And also the interview where he's asked, "You've been known as the modern Da Vinci, what do you say to that?" To which he replies, "That's preposterous! I don't even paint!" Hilarious! I might actually enjoy this movie. I hope Marvel changes Tony's personality in the comics to match this, cuz his comic persona is such a... well, you know. Oh, here are some other nice pics from the movie. Check it out!

The Heart of Worship

As I'm preparing to lead worship for the Greenhills Bible Study, I stumbled upon a couple of pages. They talk about worship, and how many people can take it for granted. In church, it's usually at the beginning of the service, and people use it as an excuse to come late, thinking it's only singing. But I think worship (or rather, worship in song, or praise) should be one of the highlights of the service. It's where we offer praises to our God for all that He's done for us. And it's also the time where we can truly quiet down our hearts, and prepare ourselves to receive His Word.

Now, most people who know me know that "Worship" is a hot topic with me. I love to know all about it, and I love to talk about all its aspects. But this time, I'll just talk about one: experience. One of my favourite quotes which I heard from a pastor in Toronto (Tim Tang) goes something like this: "If your worship life during the week is excellent, then on Sunday morning, it will spill into your worship. If, however, your worship life during the week was horrible or non-existent, then on Sunday morning, your worship will be subpar." Those aren't the exact words, cuz I don't remember them, but that's the gist of it. Our experiences during the week will shape how we worship on Sunday. If I had a terrible week, getting into fights with people, doing shady things, etc., then on Sunday, I won't have the right heart to worship God. But if during the week, I take some time to think about how God has blessed me, or take time to listen to God, then on Sunday morning, my worship will be an extension of my week's worship. That is why we need to spend some time in quiet meditation and prayer. Think about what God has done for us during the week, how God has blessed us. Sometimes, we don't even realize it until we take the time to think about it. Do you realize that everything you have was given to you by God? Have you thanked Him for it? Where you are now in life is a measure of God's providence and guidance. We don't have to wait for Sunday to praise Him. In our daily devotions and prayer, we can give Him thanks. And on Sunday morning, we'll be so full of joy that we'll just explode in praise. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about outward appearances. That's just a side-effect of what's happening inside. It's like when you're excited about something, you'll be screaming, or shouting, or shaking outwardly.

The song, "The Heart of Worship" is one of my all-time favourite songs, because it describes worship in such a beautiful way. When you take away all the supporting aspects of worship (the music, the instruments, the building, the comfort), would your worship of God still be the same? Would you still want to praise God? Or do you need the songs, the music, the church before you can worship God? God doesn't want the songs. He wants what's it your heart. He wants true worship. John 4:24, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

"The Heart of Worship"

When the music fades, and all is stripped away, and I simply come.
Longing just to bring something that's of worth, that will bless Your heart.
I'll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what You have required.
You search much deeper within, through the way things appear.
You're looking into my heart.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship.
And it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it.
When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus.

King of endless worth, no one could express how much You deserve.
Though I'm rich and poor, all I have is Yours, every single breath.
I'll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what You have required.
You search much deeper within, through the way things appear.
You're looking into my heart.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship.
And it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it.
When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus.

iPhone unlocked!

That's right! You can see it right here. And as soon as a user-friendly version is released (pretty soon, I'm sure), I'll be doing it to my iPhone. Woo hoo!

AZCOP Young Professionals Camp

For all those Young Professionals that are part of an AZCOP (Association of Zhonghua Churches of the Philippines) church (UECM, UECG, UECP, UECPasay, UECA, Jubilee, etc), you are cordially invited to join THE Young Pro event of the year!

When: Thursday, November 30, 2007 - Saturday, December 1, 2007
Where: Oxford Hotel, Pampanga
What: "Please My Ultimate Boss"
Why: This is your chance to meet with other young professionals from other churches, and share experiences and knowledge with each other. In addition, there will be workshops on public speaking, investment, finding the right career, and handling the family business.
Who: Theme Speaker is Rev. Danny Reyes, and Revival Speaker is Ptr. Adrin Munoz.
How: Contact your Young Pro officers.
How much: Registration fee is P500, Early bird is P2200, Late bird is P2700.

The Lostness of Man

Last night, I attended a meeting at United Evangelical Church of Greenhills (UECG) concerning the upcoming joint AZCOP Young Professionals camp. But it's not the camp I'm going to talk about, it's what happened after. It was pretty late when we ended, around 11-ish pm. And on the way back, I unknowingly turned into a one-way street. At first, there were no cars, and then suddenly, a black car went in front of me, and stopped right there. Now, I didn't know this way a one-way street (No, really, I didn't), so I left tons of space to my left for people passing through going the other way. But this guy refused to do it, and decided to block the whole road. Then he stepped out of his car and came towards me. On his face was already an expression of anger. He lashed out at me, telling me that it was a one-way street and that I had to go back the other way. I told him to just go around me and allow me to go through since I was so close to the intersection, and he was blocking tons of cars. The argument went back and forth, and in the end, neither of us were willing to budge. He went back to his car, and waited, while I did the same. Tons of cars were piling up behind him and honking at him. He went down and told them all it was my fault, and I had tons of people glaring angrily at me through my windshield. Still, I wouldn't budge. Then he came back to me and told me that he called the police to report that I stole the car I was driving in. I replied by bringing my window back up again. He then incited all the street people to tell me to move my car. I still wouldn't listen. After a while, I realized that I had let my pride get the better of me, and agreed to back out, to which he taunted me more by driving his car head-to-head with mine, as though pushing it back. On the way home, I entertained ugly thoughts about what I should've done to him. Today, as my mind is clear and thinking straight, I realize the error of my ways. I shouldn't have tried to butt heads with him. Even though he could have shown a little more kindness to me, I was, in fact, wrong. And it is a measure of my pride that caused me to heat up like that. My pride has been one of my big weaknesses, and something that I continue to pray to the Lord to help me with.

This incident reminded me of a sermon by my favorite speaker/author, Dr. Ravi Zacharias (You can visit his site and download his sermons from the link on the right), which was entitled "The Lostness of Man". In it he said these words, "God has told us for centuries now that the fundamental problem with man is his very heart. There is something twisted, almost demonic within the very heart of man. The Bible uses the word, sin. It makes it explicit that this is the heart of man, and implicit of that statement, that the bent of man is towards evil and imagination." He expounds upon the fact that man is by nature sinful. And it's until we realize that we are sinners can we be saved.

iThoughts on the iPhone

As most of you know, the iPhone's price has been lowered by $200 by the "great and all-knowing" Steve Jobs, only 2 months after it was released (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/). And then the day after, he offers $100 credit to those who bought it early. And most of you know that I have an iPhone, so, many people have texted/emailed/accosted me regarding this. And my response is, "It's still worth it!"

Yes, I was shocked and a little frustrated that there was a huge price drop so soon, especially since I bought it at full price. But considering how much I've enjoyed using it, I don't mind it at all. First off, with technology, you should expect prices to drop constantly, as newer and better technology is being invented everyday. If you keep waiting for the "next one" to come out, you'll never stop waiting. You have to say at one point that the specs meet your needs, and will meet your needs for a few years to come, and just buy. That's what I did with my Macbook Pro. I knew the Core 2 Duo one was coming, and decided to get it when it was released. Yes, Apple has released a new version since then, but can it do anything that my current one can't do? It's only a little faster, which translates to about 0.00001 nanoseconds, which isn't really worth it. But back to the iPhone, everyone's saying to wait for the 2nd Generation. But if I wait for the 2nd Generation, why not wait for the 3rd, or the 4th, etc? When will it stop? Right now, I have the iPhone, which has cured my boredom on several different occasions, and which I have used for productivity purposes when I was in Canada. And of course, you can't disregard the Wow factor, where everytime I take it out, people always wanna see and touch. And I think one person in particular in our church with the same name as me has been eyeing it jealously (Yeah, you know who you are :P).

I think most of you will be saying, "You can't even use the phone", or something more insulting. :) But it's only a matter of time till I get it unlocked anyway. I already have 2 other cellphones anyway. Once I get this unlocked, I'm selling them both off. I noticed that I have no interest whatsoever in new cellphones anymore. I used to go to gsmarena a lot to check out what new phones have come out, and drool over them. But since my iPhone came out, I've been thinking of trading down my N80 to something small and simple. And yes, I do believe Apple has done a great job with the iPhone, despite the lack of certain features and locking the phone to AT&T. And no, I'm not an Apple Fanboy like the aforementioned person with the same name as me. :) As for the features, I found that those were easily remedied by downloading a hack (yes, a hack, and no, it doesn't void my warranty) which lets me install tons of 3rd party applications to my phone. I can now read ebooks, play NES games, other games, doodle, view MS Office files, etc. Not bad, eh?

So, if I could go back in time and stop myself from buying the iPhone, and just wait, would I? The answer is a big, resounding, "NO!" Would I advise people to get it? It depends. Well, first, if your significant other will let you. :P Second, I don't think everyone would necessarily want or need it. If you have a Treo or Blackberry, you pretty much have the same functions, probably more. If you don't have one, do you have a need for the functions that they offer? (And when I say "need", I mean a real need for something like a job or whatever, not a perceived need.) If so, then the iPhone is for you. If not, save your money, and wait for something else to come along.

Press "Start" to Begin...

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here, thanks to some persistent people at church, United Evangelical Church of Malabon (UECM). I've tried to do blogs before, but work, church, friends and family got in the way. Oh, and also laziness. :) Anyway, here's hoping this one will work out better.

Ever since I moved back to the Philippines two-and-a-half years ago, I would say I have certainly grown and matured as a person. But lately, I realized that I had become stagnant. I've been too comfortable with my surroundings. When I first got here, everything and everyone was new to me, and it took a lot of hard work for me to get to know people (and for those of you who know me, you know that I am a very quiet, introverted person. Yeah, yeah, stop giggling). And so two years later, here I am, part of the Young Pro fellowship, and watching movies with friends almost every week. Now, I realize that I've stopped trying to meet new people, and am talking to the same old friends. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't want to limit myself. Also, I know there are still a lot of people in church around my age who are friendless and unnoticed, with no one to talk to but their parents. I used to be like that, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. Plus, it would reflect badly on our church. I remember when Mark (my cousin) and I visited a church in South Carolina. Even though we were the only non-African people there, everyone was so friendly to us, and kept inviting us to come back. And we obliged. That's the friendliness I'd like to convey to people in our church. But I digress. Another thing I noticed about myself, which Achi Hensie (our Young Pro Fellowship Advisor) shared with us in Bible Study last Friday, is that I tend to be satisfied wallowing in my relative spiritual mediocrity. And the big problem is that sometimes I don't notice it. (For those of you not in our Young Pro Fellowship, you can read up on Judges 13:1.) This reminds me of one of my favorite books, "Your God is Too Safe", but that's for another time. And finally, I noticed that I have become less linguistically-inclined, or in layman's terms, I'm losing my vocabulary. So I hope this blog will help me to improve myself, and those reading can be accountable to me. (Disclaimer: By having read that, you're immediately accountable to me. Sorry... j/k. :P)