Studying and Starscream

I just got home and it’s begun to rain, the healthy kind that beats a good percussion on the rooftops.

I’ve just read Naruto issue 454 online and I have to say I’m liking his character more and more.  The plot continues to thicken as the Five Kages, or the leaders of the Hidden Villages are on their way to meeting after decades after the upheaval Sasuke and the renegade Akatsuki (something like our very own Abu Sayyaf) have caused in the ninja world.  I like the title so much that I’ve decided that as of the next payday, I’m going to start earmarking a portion of my salary towards collecting the graphic novels, starting from when Naruto first tried out for the ninja academy.

It’s really this never-say-die attitude Naruto has, apart from his fiery idealism and natural talent that sucks me into his character.  I’m really in need of that lately since I only have a little less than a month to read up for the dreadful written exams for the Foreign Service.  I’ve already given up some of my happier distractions, like searching for rare figurines (of guess who) all over the metro in order to spend quality time with my books.  I’ve also said goodbye to my level 29 Barbarian character, Kalibri (whom I’d named after my favorite font) when I uninstalled Diablo II on my computer.  I’ve also cleared a lot of work with my boss this week, and had been working really hard at finishing the lengthy output he’s been asking of me.    I’ve even given up smoking around the house as a form of deal with God in exchange for Him getting me through the impending exams.  (I think I will give it up altogether since I know it kills brain cells and I could use all the neurons I could get for that test.)

Call me a geek but I have this pseudo heads protector I got from the toy convention a couple of weeks ago that I wear whenever I’ve got to focus; something like a thinking cap to get me into fighting mode.  Wearing it banishes the laziness I have to cut through in order to finish tasks quickly and with fervor.  Whenever it’s on, I don’t mind waking up early in the mornings to cook breakfast, or sit down and write my articles or drive my mum to work–it always feels like I’m doing a great service to Konoha.  It’ll be plastered on my head for the rest of the month as I tackle my review, I think.

I’ve finally pushed further from the Neolithic Age in the asian history book I’m studying after being stuck there for so long.  Most of the time I let the words flow in and flow out, hoping my mind would in itself of important events and just really focusing on the things I’m interested in.  I’m currently on Indian culture and religion, which is fascinating.  I intend to finish the entire book down to the modern era by Sunday so I can use it as a base as I move towards more detailed readings like the the one on JPEPA and other trading treaties or current events like the Somali pirates, H1N1 developments and even the death of Michael Jackson (you never know what might come out in the exam).

Awhile ago though I spent some time eating takuyaki, fish and squidballs as I went looking for potential objects for retail therapy.  My older sister told me to start looking for a watch I like since she’s buying me one as an advance birthday present.  I’m not really a watch person; I haven’t worn a watch since grade school (my last timepiece was a good old Casio whose face had eventually faded from use), but I thought I could really use one now–it would be a useful accessory if I do pass my exam and move on to the oral exams where everything about you–how you speak, what you wear down to how many times you go to the bathroom–will be judged by the examiners in a formal diplomatic dinner.  Lora helped me pick a nice one I really really like which was well within the budget.  It was the type of watch that had a timeface that looked professional enough–the nice thing was, that at a switch of a button a digital face would appear with all the cool numbers and metrics you would normally find in a triathlon watch.  It’ll be very useful when I run the Iron Man in 2013.

I also found a nice mountaineering bag which I’ll be using on the LM trainings climbs once the exam is done.   That, along with a lot of useless things I want to purchase at one of those Japanese surplus stores that sold everything for P85.  Ah plans plans.

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Good news: JJ is no longer unemployed.  I think she’s had enough of our side remarks on this for the past months, apart from wanting to have her own gimmick money to spend.  For the most part her bumhood had given us the moral ascendancy to make her the willing Cinderella of the household.  And with good results too, as floors were waxed and meals were cooked.  But our happy days are over, huhu.

Welcome to the ranks of the working sistah!

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Nga pala, we have a new kitty.  Bebu and I found her at Shangrila the other day, under some bushes, motionless and bewildered the way most kittens are when they’ve just realized they’ve been separated from their litter.  She’s grown out of the milkfeeding phase, and after a few meals has become an energetic little thing around the house.  She’s three-colored like my last cat Petra who died last year, whom we had picked up under the same circumstances: abandoned, tiny and scrawny-looking.  Petra bloomed into a beauty after a year so this means that after more meals and a whole lot of lovin’ the new kitty has a future as the new Anne Hathaway of the cat world.

My sister JJ and I were still a bit hungover with Transformers 2 when we named her, which might have been a mistake since we now call her Starscream.  (She does run away to hide at the slightest noise.)  All hail, Starcream!