16 Years and Counting

 Welcome to the official anniversary! Tobie and I have been together for 16 years now, although we've been living together even longer, and we've been making each other happier longer still.

This is also the one day I make sure to post an update on this blog. LOL

And you get...bullet points!

• NetRunner
• Valentine's Day Party
• Fandom Live!
• O Bar
• ENIAC
• Wheelie
• Pamilya Egg
• Cubao
• Puerto Galera
• O Divas
• Singapore
• Clark
• Poi
• Yoshi
• Bob Fosse
• O Boys
• Hashtag
• FGTC
• BGC
• Palawan
• Bali
• O2Men
• Taiwan
• Crimson Resort
• Parañaque

Like with the photo collage above, I can only condense so much in the space I have. But it's a lot of many things, but also missing a lot of things.

I love Tobie. I love my life with Tobie. I love the love we have to share with those around us. I love our families and the people we choose to call family. I've learned new ways to love because of Tobie and I'll continue to love as best as I can.

The Anniv Month is Here!

 Yeah, its been quite a while since this blog has moved.  Admittedly, blogging fell a bit out of fashion for me but there is a desire to find a way to make this specific blog active.  Rocky and I are nearing our 16th year together and today got me thinking about families.

Rocky's family has always been tremendously welcoming and kind whenever we visited them or joined them for a meal.  And likewise, ever since Rocky and I moved back to Paranaque to live with my mom in the familial compound, my mom has always made Rocky feel welcome and part of the family.  It even amazes me how the two can share moments even while I'm busy.  

But since gay couples don't have the option to get married in the Philippines, there's nothing existing that formally or traditionally declares you are now family members.  Our families have not "officially" met yet, despite our many happy years together.  I do get its not something easy for our parents despite how much they love us both.  In many ways, both are still finding their way.  And for that, we love them both.

We also have our chosen families.  Our collection of people from different walks of life whom we hold close in our hearts and always keep in our thoughts. When we can, are there to offer support, advice, assistance, and if need be, be critical and remind them when things need to chance.  And when necessary, they to the same for us.   We have lost some of them, but we hold them alive in our memories and our stories. 

I guess I just really wanted to say how full our life feels right now.  So full of love. Of wonder. And it just seems to constantly flow outwards.   I love you so much, Rocky.   I love the life we live together.  And I love the families we have surrounded ourselves with.

Fifteen Years Now

Today marks our 15th year of choosing to be together. 15 years of being baduy together. 15 years of facing everything together.

And 15 year of Pamilya Egg! It kinda blows the mind how Nico has been our number one supporter since Day One.

It still scares me a bit how in tune we are with one another. There's the cliche about being able to finish one another's sentences, and we've always had that. But our degree of connection has always involved a deeply intuitive understanding of what the other was thinking or feeling at any given moment. It's a strange emotional candor that we've never been able to turn off and over the years we've just learned to lean in and work with it. 

We're still very different people - discrete individuals. While we share a lot of the same hobbies, we still have some very distinct interests that we've learned to just support one another with. But despite that, I have never felt more in sync with anyone else in the way I do with Tobie and it's a truly special feeling. It still has its scary moments when things get intense, but on the whole, it has remained to be one of the strongest reminders that we should be together. 

In the end, we are together because we choose one another - that commitment remains. But at the same time, being together also just makes sense on so many levels it can feel a little crazy at times. But that's how we are and who we are as a couple, I guess. We're two unique people who took a while to find each other, but once we did we knew we could never let go. 

I love you, Tobie. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for understanding me. Thank you for continuing to make every day memorable and special. I'm excited for all the new adventures we're still going to embark on in the many years to come. 

13 Years of I-Love-Yous

I thought I had already written this blog post but a quick check in the archives and even on my personal blog revealed zero posts precisely about this topic.

Tobie and I say "I love you" to one another a lot. Like a lot, a LOT. It's one of the first things we say upon waking and one of the last things we say before bed. It's practically a punctuation mark for non-existent sentences. Either of us can randomly call the other's attention just to say "I love you" and then we go back to work or whatever. We say it at the end of any phone call even if it was just to confirm a grocery item really quickly or before we part ways.

I'm the sort of person who doesn't see the point of celebrating monthsaries after your first few years together but I will never tire of telling Tobie "I love you" just about any chance I get. There are fractions of a moment that I worry that we say it too much and it might start to lose meaning. But then I just look over at Tobie and find that not saying "I love you" would be impossible. It's just something that we have to do.

Welcome to the 13th year of our different baduy moments like this. Every day includes some other reminder of why we're meant to be together and why this relationship is still one of the best things to happen to either of us. We've had our fair share of ups and downs and now we can also say that we helped each other survive a global pandemic. 

We're happily getting older together and yet unabashedly will also be the sort of couple who never stops saying I love you at random moments. And I have no intentions of stopping.

I love you, Tobie. Now and always.

Vlog Ep. 325: First Contact

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was all about our personal first contact stories with travel! It has certainly been a while since most of us have gone on longer trips and it's pretty fun to look back at our different firsts whether it's a trip with family or our first time to venture out of the country on our own.

I really feel that technology has made such a big difference to the way we travel and I can't quite imagine traveling without things like Google Maps, Google Translate, or even just organized public transportation systems. There are still a lot of adventures for all of us to experience and hopefully, this pandemic will inspire more of us to try to make first contact once we feel it's safe enough to do so. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 324: The Star Trek Deck Building Game

After a short break, #BaduyPride was back with a new tabletop game episode. In honor of First Contact Day, we decided to talk about one of the Star Trek-related games in our collection - this being the Star Trek Deck Building Game. We only have the Original Series edition of the game thus far and maybe we'll get lucky and find the Next Generation episode eventually. This is one of those out-of-print franchise curiosities that we're lucky that Tobie was able to find for us.

While not the most polished deck building game around, it still has a charm of its own. It uses different production stills as card art and managed to capture pretty much every single TOS story to some degree. The weird conceits of the game where everyone is in charge of a starship and recruiting very diverse crews from the Starbase isn't the greatest, but it works well enough to keep things going. And still play the game from time to time regardless.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 323: Talking Schitt's Creek

Today's episode of #BaduyPride is all about the surprisingly popular and award-winning Canadian sitcom, Schitt's Creek. We had a hard getting into this show, but we had heard a lot of good things about it and that helped us to get through the first few (rougher) seasons. But it did have quite the poignant ending with a lot of work put into giving all the main characters pretty solid arcs.

So in this episode, we talk about out Schitt's creek journey, many similar shows that weren't easy to get into but paid off in the end, and of course the different character arcs that ultimately defined the show. And that's where the show really shined - by figuring out how to get the Rose's to evolve from being selfish and out of touch with the world to people finally open to becoming better and making a difference. 

This was a community-contributed topic originally shared by Andrei! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured in a future video.

Vlog Ep. 322: Reflecting on Canvas

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was all about the beautiful and creative card game that is Canvas. This 1-5 player game was designed by Jeff Chin and Andrew Nerger and published by Road to Infamy Games. The base game first went to Kickstarter and was released in 2021 and the expansion, Canvas: Reflections officially came out this year.

The core mechanics of this game are pretty simple to learn (and equally simple to teach). The individual aspects of the game also seem familiar as we've seen a lot of these ideas in different games. But how everything comes together to create a brilliant game experience is the true genius of the game. Just because it's family-friendly doesn't mean you shouldn't underestimate the game's potential for strategic play or at least very interesting game runs. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 321: King Arthur Pendragon RPG

This episode of #BaduyPride is all about the brilliant RPG system that is King Arthur Pendragon as currently (and originally) published by Chaosium Inc. This game allows players to play the roles of knights back in the age of chivalry (actually a little before it) and really asks the question of whether they have what it takes to live up to the ideals of the period. And this goes beyond just role-playing, but the very system itself was designed in a way to creatively encourage players to be true knights.

This franchise has lasted over the years because of its ability to tell these stories so well. It celebrates those who love the Arthurian myths but it also enables the less familiar to experience these stories in an entirely new way. A friend on the stream mentioned that the game, especially when you play the longer-term Great Pendragon Campaign. becomes a character study of the players. And I totally agree with this sentiment. If you want a deep role-playing game experience that will test your characters on so many levels, then this is truly a game worth exploring. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 320: Wacky Races: The Board Game

Tonight's episode of #BaduyPride is all about a crazy cartoon that got translated into an equally crazy board game. This is Wacky Races: The Board Game, a 2-6 player game based on the 1968 animated TV series of the same name. This game designed by Andrea Chiarvesio and Fabio Tola is a fun little romp that has players racing against the other racers while trying to survive the traps set by Dick Dastardly and Muttley. 

This is a great example that a game designed from the ground up with a focus on trying to capture the essence of the source material, even if it's just a cartoon with only 17 episodes. And this is a great example off what you can achieve with what we term as a franchise game that is still family-friendly but still offers a lot of fun for a lot of different people. And we'll never get over how cute the little cars are.

If only we knew how to pain them to be cartoon-accurate.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 319: The Awesome Episode

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was a quick celebration of things we appreciate in line with both International Women's Day and the International Day of Awesomeness. So apart from just talking about many things that we consider to be awesome, we also took some time to show our appreciation towards some awesome women in our lives as well.

And while you could say that it's just another excuse to be grateful for things, we never regret such things. These pandemic times have had more than their share of ups and downs but it's always good to count one's blessings, as it were, instead of just giving in to the darkness. And silly little internet holidays like the Day of Awesomeness have some great thinking at heart that we could all use a bit more of to see us through the challenges of life.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 318: 51st State: Master Set

Today's episode of #BaduyPride was all about the brilliant card game 51st State: Master State. This 1-4 card game was created by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal Games. We figured it was a great time to feature the game given the closing of the Gamefound campaign for the 51st State Ultimate Edition. Plus it's a really solid game and definitely one of the best parts of the Portal Games family.

I love the setting. Tobie enjoys the gameplay challenge. We both wish we could play the original Neuroshima RPG that this and other Portal Games are set in. And we love how the core engine that drives this game resulted in other amazing games including our much-loved Imperial Settlers, Alien Artifacts, and more recently Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 317: Celebrating Game Masters

Today's #BaduyPride episode is our contribution to celebrating International GM's Day, which is celebrated on 04 March every year. Game Masters are the brave souls who have helped many players (old and new) discover new game worlds and craft some amazing stories together. And given all the work that running tabletop RPGs involve, it's only right that we invested some time in celebrating this essential aspect of the gaming hobby.

Tobie got me into the hobby by including me in his ongoing campaign and has run so many, many games for me since then, so this episode had a bit more of a focus on his experience as a GM and all the adventures in running games. But he has also inspired me to try to run games as well and I was glad to be able to contribute something to the discussion as well. 

Happy International GM's Day!

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 316: Adventures Above and Below

We wanted to feature a more narrative tabletop game for #BaduyPride tonight and we decided to talk about Above and Below created by Ryan Laukat and published by Red Raven Games. This 2-4 player game has players put in charge of different sets of villages who have an opportunity to explore underground caverns, find unique resources, build out the village and find more villages to aid in future explorations.

The exploration action as tied to the book of encounters is a central part of the game as a lot of resources can only be found through such explorations and you won't be able to build underground outposts without earning empty caverns. And this is really where the game shines and most of the fun is to be found. The other systems around it can feel a little complex in the beginning, but they call come together in the end to make for quite the unique game experience. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 315: The Color Yellow

This episode of #BaduyPride was our geeky way of commemorating the EDSA People Power Anniversary, which is celebrated on the 25th of February every year. But this is still Baduy Pride, so it became an episode all about the color yellow itself and the many roles it plays in pop culture.

So beyond discussing some of the established meanings of the color yellow (both positive and negative), we went on to just go through different comic book characters, movies, TV shows, cartoons, and whatever else one could strongly associate with yellow. We could have covered more on yellow food items maybe, but I think we had enough fun with the pop culture stuff.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 314: Brass: Birmingham

Today's episode of #BaduyPride is about the complex strategy game Brass: Birmingham. This 2-4 player game was created by Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman, and Martin Wallace and published by Roxley Games. Games last at least an hour and it is one of the highest-rated games on BoardGameGeek.

We had heard a lot of good things about this game together with its consistently high BGG ratings. And when we finally got a copy of the game for ourselves, it did make for an interesting play experience. And while we sort of explain most of the rules in this video, the main goal was to just explain enough in order to be able to talk about what we like about the game.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 313: The Jurassic Park Franchise

This episode of #BaduyPride was all about the geekily epic Jurassic Park franchise. Most know it mainly for the movies, but we did our best to cover all forms this franchise has taken starting from the novels and even the few games created based on the stories. It was quite a colorful discussion and there's so much to celebrate about these dinosaurs and the people constantly trying to escape from them.

I think the biggest revelation is just how much we love the original movie over pretty much everything else in the franchise. And that says a lot about the visionary work that crafted that movie experience. And while it feels like a no-brainer that a movie about dinosaurs would be popular, the fact that it was done so well is what has helped it become the juggernaut that it is now. And this is a large part of the reason we love Dinosaur Island so much. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 312: Dinosaur Island Rawr 'N Write

Today's #BaduyPride featured board game is a clever adaptation of a game we already love. This is Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'N Write, which obviously shares the same DNA (get it?) as much beloved Dinosaur Island. This 1-4 player roll and write game was created by Brian Lewis, David McGregor, and Marissa Misura and published by Pandasaurus Games.

We love the original Dinosaur Island and it kind of amazed us how much of the original game was still present here. There's no denying this is a fun roll and write experience on its own, but the fact that it captures a lot of the same elements of the core game while still embracing the genre it tried to capture here. It's fun how the developers have adapted the game to different play styles, but this is definitely one of our favorite interpretations of the base game concept.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 311: The Legacy of Romeo and Juliet

To continue our pre-Valentine's Day celebration for #BaduyPride, our episode focused on that classic story of tragic young love - Romeo, and Juliet. We've all encountered this story in one form or another whether it's the original stage production or one of the many adaptations that have used the original text or translated the core story into something else entirely. The structure of this story has become intrinsic pretty much to our global culture at this point and there's a lot to celebrate.

I never imagined that we'd end up talking about the works of Shakespeare on the show, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe we should have more discussions of this nature that go beyond "just" analyzing pop culture alone. This doesn't mean we're going to go full-on edutainment or anything like that, but it does add more variety to our live stream discussions. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 310: Fog of Love

In preparation for Valentine's Day next week, this episode of #BaduyPride was about one of the most "romantic" games in our collection - Fog of Love. This 2-player game was created by Jacob Jaskov with the tagline of being a "Romantic Comedy as a Board Game". And it may live up to that moniker given its clever use of layer game systems to guide the players through the telling of the love story of their characters.

It's not the most brilliant game out there from a pure gaming level, but the way the game translated the push and pull of people figuring out their relationship is where it shines. While the game is very narrative, it still involves a lot of interesting systems that strongly influence your decisions and make it hard to just surrender to the relationship that is forming between you.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!