Monday, November 30, 2015

One Night At The Disco


So last November 20, O Bar went back in time and celebrated the music of the 70's and the 80's with their Loco Over Retro theme night. And given our support for O Bar events in general, Tobie and I made sure to allocate some time for this night in particular and we had a great time. And I did promise I'd write a bit more about this night over on my personal blog.


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

All of Three or Six Years

Boracay 2010

When you're in a relationship with someone, friends will inevitably ask, "How long have you been together"and the first answer that comes to mind is, "It's kinda complicated." And that's because Tobie and had a bit of a break-up in 2012, which a lot of people like to make fun of whenever it comes up. Real friends get to tease you about moments in your life that people find kinda silly. We love you all dear friends.

The official answer is that as of today, Tobie and I have been back together for three years now. Another way to look at this is that Tobie and I have been living together since 2009, so that's six years of "being together". And while we did have a gap of a few months in 2012 when we were all single and such, a lot of people tend to ignore this fact and just take it that we've been together this long.

Our original anniversary was in April and now it's in November and the gap is almost the same as the gap when we were single. So maybe we should stop counting from 2012 and just count back to 2009, but still retain the November date and abandon the older April date? For all intents and purposes, we have been together six years after all.


But hey, counting only matters when you think about how long things will last. And I don't see an end to this "count" anytime soon. So maybe none of these dates even matter.

Happy Anniversary, Tobie. I love you.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Yoshi vs Thunder


Yoshi really doesn't like the sound of thunder.

To be fair, it doesn't make him bark or whine. He doesn't hide off in a corner nor does he run around. Instead he huddles as close as possible to any humans he knows, which is an interesting situation here at the office. This afternoon's thunderstorm had Yoshi going from person to person, huddling under desks right next to people's legs.

I even hoisted him up into my lap and he was perfectly content staying there while I worked. Of course this isn't exactly an easy position to balance and so working became a bit more difficult as Yoshi made himself all comfortable.



Eventually I just got him a chair and kept him beside me and for the most part he's been there, except to say goodbye to folks as they left the office.

Yet another reason we love this dog so much.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Rice Cooker Cooking


When Tobie and I first started out living together here at the Sietch in 2009, neither of us really knew how to cook. Both of us had at least fried stuff here or there and I knew how to cook rice both via a rice cooker or on the stove but that was it. But instead of just resigning ourselves to potentially years of ordering take-out, we both committed to learning to cook instead.

In that first year, the rice cooker was our primary cooking appliance. Beyond just making rice, we started a lot of experiments with what we could do with the rice cooker ranging from steaming items or actually mixing other things into the pot. Thus we had a lot of topped rice sort of meals like canned tuna over rice or some veggies mixed in. It was rather simple fare, but we were proud of what came out and we celebrated each mile like an extravagant feast.


Over the years, we've both learned a lot about cooking. I went back to my childhood and tried to explore the various dishes I grew up with. Thus a lot of classic Filipino soups like sinigang, nilaga and tinola and little home innovations like what my grandmother always called Mexican Relish. Tobie was a bit more daring and looked for interesting recipes online. Thus he's pretty handy now with baking fish and he can cook things like eggplant parmigiana and my favorite cilantro salad.

Together we come up with some pretty eccentric meals but at the end of the day we're really happy. We've long since retired the rice cooker since I prefer to cook rice on the stove, but it's nice to look back at our "history" of meals at the Sietch and appreciate just how far we've come.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Birthdays Are For Ice Cream


Happy Birthday, Tobie!

Yoshi says you can have more ice cream!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Non-Traveling Geeks


So I managed to get Maundy Thursday and Good Friday last week and thus I actually had a lengthy Holy Week vacation with Tobie. And we pretty much spent the long weekend at home with a few friends coming over to play board games and RPGs. It was a lot of fun even though we didn't leave the building this whole time.

The summer time is usually one invested in big out of town trips, as far as Facebook is concerned. This weekend alone we saw a good number of folks who hit the beaches of Puerto Galera, Palawan or Boracay. And yet you have geeks like Tobie and me who just stayed in the city.



And it's not like we're against travel or even against beaches - we have our fair share of time at the beach (even with Yoshi!) But it's just not something that comes up a lot. There is the desire to bring Yoshi back to a beach and see how he might react to the change in environment so many years later.

But the challenge of travel is, well, the traveling. We don't necessarily mind going to Singapore since the trip is pretty easy and then we get to stay with my sister while there. That makes it a nicely homey environment even when in another country. Beach trips, especially local ones, mean making the most of cramped environments and a lot less creature comforts compared to other locations.

But let's see - anything is possible and maybe we'll find the time to schedule something in the future. Although, WiFi or internet connectivity of some sort is rather crucial regardless of where we end up visiting. It's really hard not to have access to the internet, especially since I blog daily.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Dedication


Since today is a local holiday, Tobie had some friends over to play board games and they were pretty much up all night gaming while I was at work. What surprised me was the fact that Tobie had stayed up to wait for me to get home from work, which was closer to 11:00am quite honestly since I had a late start to my work shift last night.

It's a rather touching gesture, although ultimately one that I really don't recommend anyone do. In the end he was only awake long enough to see me arrive and to kiss me hello. Now he's fast asleep and I'm trying to wrap up my blogging quickly so that I can join him in bed and we can have one of those rare moments of being able to sleep at the same time.

When your schedules don't quite line up and your work week often feels like an endless game of playing catch-up, such moments remain rather endearing.

And relationships thrive on little moments of dedication like this. Big gestures are great - we all love those, but more often than not it's the little things that really make a difference.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Fandom Live Memories


So it's April, and I realize that I didn't manage to update this blog for all of March. Updates in general have been down to pretty much just monthly posts and I feel a little bad about that. But I guess given my daily updates over on my personal blog, it's not as easy to create dedicated content for his blog. But hey it's a new quarter, so let me see what I can come up with. Thanks to those who still stick around here to see what we might come up with.

In terms of recent updates, it amused me that Tobie recently uploaded a bunch of the old Fandom Live! episodes. For those who are unfamiliar with this obscure web show, it was a series that Tobie and a bunch of other geek friends created for movie reviews and other crazy geeky discussions. When I first met Tobie in 2009 the show was still in full swing and so among our early "dates" were appearing on the show together. I was a guest initially but later on I sort of became one of the regular hosts together with Tobie.

The show is dead now but every now and then Tobie and I think about putting up a web show, vlog or podcast of our own but have no idea where we'll find the time to do so.

For the curious, you can check out many of the classic Fandom Live! episodes via this YouTube playlist I've assembled from various sources.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Baduy Pride Has Got Your Back!


Here's Rocky and Tobie of Baduy Pride sharing our support for GLAAD's Got Your Back campaign to show support for the LGBT community. Feel free to show some LGBT love as well by taking a photo with the Got Your Back image or even just signing the pledge to show your support! We'd really appreciate it!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Mathematics of Love

In a similar vein to the Science Love Song (but not quite as fun), TED released a video in time for Valentine's Day talking about the Mathematics of Love. And while I have rather mixed feelings about the lack of quality in TED talks, this was a rather endearing one even though the conclusions might
seem a little weird.


Find the equation that makes sense for the two of you. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The NetRunner Gateway


Once again, today is NetRunner night. I've already explained the origins of this key moment in our personal history as a couple, but more recently I realized a few other things related to this event.

These days, no weekend is complete without a game session with friends. Whether we're talking about boardgame sessions or a lengthy tabletop RPG campaign, Tobie and I spend a lot of time playing such games with friends. I've also written how these games tend to be our primary channel for social interaction with friends, and a particularly fun one, too!

But as I think back to NetRunner night, I realize that I should have realized that our very first in-person meeting had pretty much set the tone for our relationship as well. Beyond the obvious concept of our union being quite a geeky one, our time together also involves a heck of a lot of games. And I'm really glad that this is the case - I grew up playing games with my siblings and my cousins and now it's an active part of my adult life.

Tobie really opened new doors of geekery for me and for that I'm forever grateful. And maybe that's what NetRunner night represents in a greater sense - proof that you'll eventually find the right geek for you to complete your geeky life. You just have to keep your eyes open and your gaming table free.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Hello 2015!


Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to...the Future!

2014 was a pretty good year and like any other year it had its share of ups and downs. But I'd like to think that on the whole, Tobie and I continue to move forward. And that's what really matters, right?

I wanted to put together something to commemorate the end of the year but of course the various social networks started to come up with their own stuff. This year's offering from Facebook didn't make much sense in terms of how things went, but that's just the quirks of algorithm-driven creativity.

But on the flip side, this year's Google+ creation was pretty hilarious. The fact that my Year in Photos consists entirely of photos taken while at O Bar was pretty trippy. But it just goes to show how much fun we have there. And a lot of our life seems to be connected with that bar.

There's a lot of stuff cooking this year, or at least this is what I'm seeing so far. It's all pretty exciting and I'm hoping that it all comes together.
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