Still Here...

Today marks the first month since that fateful Friday afternoon where I almost met my Maker. 19 October 2007, at around 1:25PM PST (GMT +8), an explosion shook one of the Philippines' premier shopping malls, killing about a dozen innocent civilians and injuring 112 more.

I had included in my itinerary a day before, that I was to go to the bank before lunchtime to inquire why the hell my new debit card did not seem to be working. And, after that, I was supposed to go to that very same mall which eventually blew up, to have my lunch and then check out any new items that would strike my interest.

The night before, I set my mobile phone's alarm at 10:30AM, but for some reason I only shut it off when it activated. I went back to sleep a few hours more, even though I was no longer feeling sleepy. I was also fully aware that I had to haul my lazy ass to the bank before it closes for the day, or end up stuck with a non-functioning debit card until Monday.

But something was trying to tell me that I should take my time that day, and not be in a hurry to go somewhere or do anything. When I finally gathered the energy to pull myself out of the bed, it was already 12:35PM.

I took a slow, lazy shower, and finished at around 1:15PM. I was getting myself dressed when I heard a soft "thud", at around 1:25PM. I initially thought that somebody from the unit upstairs must have dropped a heavy object onto the concrete floor.

Still not in a hurry one bit, I left for the bank at 1:45 and was surprised how there was already a traffic jam on the major thoroughfare by that time. When I got off the jeepney (I only commute), I saw ambulances and fire trucks rushing towards the direction of the mall. Could be a fire or an accident somewhere, so I thought to myself. As I approached the bank, I noticed that its shutters were already partly lowered even though it was around 50 minutes before their scheduled closing time. I hurried in and was the bank's very last customer for the day.

As I was patiently waiting for my debit card issues to be resolved, that was when I got to hear what had "happened". There was an explosion at the mall, so said some of the bank's employees who had just come back in after some Halloween decor shopping. The mall was closing down early because of the explosion which, the employees said, originated from a Chinese restaurant in that mall. Gas explosion, they theorized.

So right after they finally fixed my debit card I went to a smaller shopping center, which was located near the place where I rent, instead.

It was only when I got to the office later that night that I learned the extent of the damage, by watching the evening news on television. I thought to myself, this wasn't just an "LPG explosion" -- I have seen the damage an LPG explosion had done to a restaurant 18 years ago. This one was way larger.

And the explosion did not happen inside a restaurant, unlike the news that had been circulating earlier when I was still inside the bank.

Ground zero was located right where I usually pass through, every time I go to that mall:



It sent a shiver right down my spine. I could have been right there, if I had forced myself to get up and out of bed when the alarm rang.

Was it luck, or was it something else? A friend told me it was providence. But whatever one might think of what it really is, I can only say that it was a close call for me.

Up until now the authorities have not been clear as to what really caused that explosion. Is the public deliberately being misled by certain powerful individuals? Are we all being lied to; being given the runaround? Innocent people got hurt - and several died - that day. No self-serving, power-hungry reason can ever justify the loss of innocent lives.

May God rest the souls of the innocent, and eternally torture those who are responsible. No, wait - God does not do that. May the Devil always hound those who are responsible and make their existence as miserable as can be.

First Post for November

And hopefully, this won't be the last post this month. :) I seem to always get sidetracked with all the things I have to do at work. Though browsing while on duty is still allowed, I spend most of my surfing time nowadays searching for good deals at eBay, trying to snipe some good items at the very last minute and selling some items as well.

Looking back at my younger years, the 31st of October and November 1st were always something I would look forward to. Halloween was kind of a fun day for me and my childhood best buddy, Patrick. We weren't planning to go trick-or-treating in the evening, but more of creating mischief in the neighborhood by trying to scare those who were actually trick-or-treating. Or give them the creeps at the very least.

We would always be dressed up as ninjas - which was our favorite costume back then - and we'd try to sneak into and through the neighbors' lots as much as possible, without getting detected by the homeowner. Or their pets. If we were to do the same thing at our age nowadays, I think it would already be trespassing and we'd most likely get our asses arrested and charged.

And on the morning of November 1, me and my "family" (long and different story, those quotation marks) would go to my grandma's grave at the memorial park. A couple of times, best buddy Patrick was also there to join us. We'd put up a tarpaulin tent early and spend the rest of the day there. It was pretty much like a picnic, and also served as some sort of a "pre-Christmas reunion" for me and my relatives. It was fun way back then, though I don't know now. Is it just me, or is the sun hotter today than it was during my younger days? Must be all the pollutants mankind has dumped into this sorry planet that's wreaking havoc with the environment.

Times have definitely changed, and I spent Halloween and November 1st this year - and last year, and the years before that - at work. Patrick now lives at the southern end of the country with his very own family, I've moved to a rented room near the business district (I still haven't a family of my own), and we're both too old to be roaming around the neighborhood dressed as ninjas. I also lost my patience to wade through a mass of living human flesh at the memorial park and yes, I do think the sun has gotten much hotter than it used to.

And when the day was over , we'd be heading home and my thoughts would then be on...

December!

What?! Almost November Already?!!

...And I promised myself to post in this blog more often, now that the Wallaby/Kiwi training at work has ended.

But now we have some extra "chores" at work -- they call it "testing", I'd like to call it "proofreading".

Which goes to show how the Universe seems to conspire against you, by throwing more activities to keep you preoccupied and prevent you from doing something creative. Bugger it. Why does this seem to always happen to me? Or does this also happen to anybody else?

There now is an accumulation of toys that have yet to be reviewed. My dorm closet has now been filled with toys, and has displaced all my clothes. And because of this I need to buy one of those large Tupperware-type tubs soon, which will be a pain in the arse to transport from the store, back to the dorm. Ah well, at least those tubs will make moving my stuff to a new residence easier when the time finally comes.

Speaking of residences, I miss all those years living inside a subdivision -- everything seemed to feel more secure (well, at least in Ayala Alabang), the air was cleaner (dust used to accumulate in the electric fan's grilles - now I see soot in the grilles), and the neighbors were generally, uhmm, more attractive (hey, I'm now renting space in a boarding house near Washington Street in Makati, which can partly be classified as living in the dumps. Can you really blame me?).

Going back to the toys, I wish I had a decent cellphone with a decent digital camera to take pics with. One that's got a macro function at least. My fucky-sucky Sony Ericsson k610i doesn't have that. Nor does it have a built-in flash. Which explains the poor quality of most of my toy photos in this blog. This also explains why I decided to postpone any further action figure review in this blog. Postponed at least until I get a decent cellphone which has a decent camera - say a Sony Ericsson k750i - I don't really have the need or use for my k610i's 3G connection because using it is rather costly and still useless for me anyway.

Or miraculously get the money to buy myself a Canon S2 IS at the very least.

Ahhhh, money. It's always the factor that prevents me from doing the things I need, like, and want to; and getting the things to have them done. Just like this gallbladder removal -- it has been seven years, and I still haven't had it removed. Surgery costs a fortune nowadays, and being unable to go to work post-op isn't going to be of any help either.

And while we're now in the subject of money, banks here do not seem to give anyone a loan unless he or she has money in the first place. Which means that if you don't have any cash to start with, there ain't any chance that anyone will help you earn more of it. This means that my plans of venturing into the toy retailing business, by partnering with a friend and his toy shop, is just like aiming for the moon. And so does getting this buggered gallbladder removed.

What next? Train of thought just got derailed by the sudden influx of questions here at work. Damn it. Could be Murphy's Law. Or the Universe messing with me again.

I Can't Believe It's Already Mid-October

Time flies so fast, I never realised (yes, that is spelled with an "s") that almost half of October has already passed by.

Funny how I promised myself that I will try to keep my posting to a faithful, constant schedule. But I kept on getting sidetracked to other activities, both at work and otherwise.

My eBay sales are doing fine. It would have been better, if I could finally get a bank loan approved. Then I would partner with a friend's hobby shop, and start making some serious money and not just depend on reselling used stuff on the 'Bay.

And just as I was about to gather new ideas for my blog stuff, I, along with most of my colleagues at work, had to attend a week-long training session in *gasp!* the morning shift, which started last Friday. This training was for the company's upcoming New Zealand / Australia account (which accounts for my fancy spelling a few paragraphs back). Well, I'm glad to say that training session is now officially over, and I can go back to gathering my thoughts and material for this blog.

Wrong!

I'm now doing overtime at work, because the office seems to have been undermanned by their scheduling decisions. Oh, well. This helps me earn more pay by doing overtime, anyway. And to think it's Ramadan, so there's some additional holiday pay in for me as well.

It's just that I cannot get on my train of thought when all these questions begin to pour in, and usually it's when I'm just about to get into the groove in writing down my thoughts. Aaargh! Frickin' Murphy's Law!

Blimey. Ah well. No worries, mate.

A Confusion of Terms

Those who have been faithfully reading my blog posts would have known by now that I am a collector. I have been collecting stuff even before I realized I had this "obsession" as a hobby. It started with Matchboxes, Legos (which I haven't written about yet), comicbooks (a traumatic ending which has also yet to be divulged in this blog), Mini4WD's and once again, action figures.

And though I have always wished I was financially capable to collect each and every item (in the collectors' circle, they call such a person a "completist") in a product series, it isn't really the case. I have to settle with purchasing items which I really, really like, and feel would be my hard-earned money's worth. The good thing to come out of this is that I only have (in my opinion) the best ones in my collection.

But getting the best of the lot isn't always that easy. Especially when one starts out late and most of the items are no longer in production. Which goes to say that late starters - or should I say, "late bloomers" - like me would have to settle for trade forums and auction sites such as eBay to find the items we're looking for. And by that time, items either start to (1) become pricey, or (2) would only be found cheap halfway around the world. So if it, perchance, happens to be case number 2, it's the shipping and Customs fees that can put a huge dent in one's wallet.

In addition, what makes things harder for me is my lack of a credit card for PayPal verification purposes, so I'm not capable of selling or bidding on auctions overseas and will just have to settle with trading locally. For now, at least.

Joybidders, scammers, shill bidders, and bogus accounts are universal and has become a natural part of the eBay experience. Not necessarily just eBay, but online trade and auction sites in general. I just have to be very careful of who I trade with. And for the ten months I have been trading on the 'Bay, I have managed to have two accounts requested to be shut down because they won the bids for my auctions but never paid up nor communicated with me at all.

And now, my ranting begins.

What gets me irritated is the fact that local merchants do not seem to know the difference between what is "rare", and what is "hard to find". Oftentimes, some capitalizing individuals deliberately hoard an item in the hopes that stocks will run out and they will have a huge share of the market and as a result, end up with a huge amount of money by jacking up the prices to ridiculous and impractical amounts.

Such was recently the case with the Transformers Movie 2008 Camaro Bumblebee which disappeared from the toy stores' shelves all too quickly. And when such an incident happens, one can be assured that the items will start appearing on auction sites such as eBay. But I guess that's how business is here in this country. Unlike some toy store chains in the US where they limit a customer's purchase of a hot item to one or two pieces maximum. I've even heard of an incident during the initial local release of the Transformers Movie Leader Class Optimus Prime and people had waited in line at a popular toy store before opening hours, only to be greeted by a sales clerk as the shutters were finally opened and be told that someone had already bought all fifteen of the items in stock.

Why in the world would somebody bloody need fifteen Optimus Primes in the first place?!! Ahhh... the Filipino "entrepreneurial spirit" of course. He, or she, hoards every single item available on the stockroom and then manipulates the law of supply and demand to his/her favor. By limiting the supply and creating demand, the price for the item will now be at his/her mercy.

And now, the real ranting starts.

So what would be the most probable venue to sell these hoarded items if the hoarder does not a store of his/her own? Why, the 'Bay of course.

One can easily guess the title header of the item in the auction: "*Name of Hoarded Toy* RARE!!!"

You see, I can easily forget about their greed and shrug it off because all of us have been greedy at one point in our lives. What royally pisses me off is their utterly ignorant play of words by deciding which is RARE and which are not. Fuck!!! A limited edition numbered release (e.g., 1000 worldwide) can be called RARE. A manufacturing / packaging error can be called RARE. A mint condition Transformers Movie 2008 Camaro Bumblebee, after 30 or so years when 90 or so percent of them have been broken / discarded / forgotten into obscurity would then have the right to be called RARE. A Treskilling Yellow postage stamp is RARE. Being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis is RARE. But HOARDING EVERY SINGLE ITEM IN THE STOCKROOM THEN SELLING IT OFF ONE BY ONE DOES NOT MAKE AN ITEM BLOODY RARE.

Folks, it's as simple as this:

* RARE - Explained above.
* VERY HARD TO FIND (VHTF) - 1. When all the greedy entrepreneurs have successfully hoarded every single item, and the stores have attempted but failed to replenish stocks. 2. When the item has been out in the market for a couple of years and all production have ceased (discontinued), and there is only a very limited number available visible in the market.
* HARD TO FIND (HTF) - 1. When the very same entrepreneurs have hoarded the item, but never realized that the stores have replenished the stocks somewhat. 2. When the item has recently run out, but production has not been officially discontinued.

Sometimes I wish I could just send all these merchants a message and cuss at them for their stupidity without having my account shut down and be banned from the 'Bay.