The old one that my family’s been using every Christmas has been serving us since 1992, methinks. So I figured this year would be a good year to have the old tree retire and buy a new one. One that looks more realistic and less plasticky, if there’s such word.

So off we went to a local mall and went through a whole day’s worth of shopping for a new tree and the decor we’ll be putting on it. My mum likes changing motifs every year so I said I’ll design the tree this year. I chose a blue/white/silver theme for this year. Last year, it was orange.

Got some blue poinsettias, silver and white Christmas balls, white LED lights and silver ribbon. Here’s what it looks like right now:

This isn’t the final product. We plan to add a bit more in the next couple of weeks, like some white twigs and more poinsettias, white ones to be exact. I originally wanted a white tree instead of the classic green one but mum wouldn’t hear any of it. But I’m liking how it looks right now. Spent quite an amount of money for this but I’m happy with the current look.

Have you started putting up Christmas decor where you live?

Before anything else, here’s what I had for lunch today:

And now that your mouth is watering, here’s what I got today from my trip to Greenhills:

Picked up the last Pixel Maritan Assault Combat ver. that could be seen in shelves in Greenhills…or at least from my personal knowledge. I chose this over the Battle Preparations version because this is a mail-order exclusive. Might as well get the exclusive before getting the regular one, right? Right! Also,  before leaving for Greenhills earlier today, I saw in my mail that the di:Stage Basic Sets that I pre-ordered had already arrived. So of course, I was more than happy to pick up the two I ordered. I’m still waiting for the Extension Sets to arrive. I got two of those as well.

Oh my weeping wallet. T_T

Another neat thing I was able to get today was a Disney Stitch DS Lite plastic case for my partner. She absolutely loves Stitch merch and was really miffed and saddened when she found out that the Stitch plastic case she’d been monitoring at Shangri-La Mall was gone when she went there the day after I bought our DS Lites. So you can imagine her absolute joy when we saw one in Greenhills and at less than half the price that store in Shangri-La was selling it for!

The rest of my day was spent window-shopping and getting ideas of what to give people for Christmas. Of course, I was also tempted to buy a Wii but I had to restrain myself or risk losing too much money in a single day.

As a preview of things to come from my office desk shenanigans:

Should be interesting when Pixel Maritan faces off with the Sniper Bitch from Hell.

Found out about this blog from a Twitter message that I got from a friend I met when I was still admin for SRW-type forum RPG. Clicked the site to see what the hoopla was all about and why Orcinus would actually bother to bring this up with me.

The OEG (Otaku Elimination Game) lists blogs on the net that claim to be otaku blogs, and one by one, tear them apart by pointing out why they aren’t or why they shouldn’t call themselves otaku. They’ve already published their first batch with just one blog passing and the rest getting eliminated from the list. Of course, being in the list doesn’t exactly make you jump for joy after this post. Whereas there are others who are ranting because they aren’t even on the list. I’m in it.

Others, on the other hand, are trying to figure out why they were or were not included in this hitlist and are ranting or raving about it.

Here’s my personal take: I agree with the fact that a good number of people if not most people in the English-language blogosphere who claim themselves to being otaku are not really otaku in the truest sense of the word. This was a bit of a wake-up call for me. The blog’s author(s) even go so far as to blame Danny Choo for propagating this culture of equating Japanese merchandise consumerism to being an otaku. I personally admit that I’ve been calling myself an otaku even though I do not immerse or involve myself as deep into otaku culture as those other hobbyists who consider being one as lifestyle in itself. So in that sense, I admit my mistake for calling myself as such. I’m not that hardcore. I don’t exactly eat, breath, sleep Japanese culture. I took up Japanese as my foreign language back in university but I’m not exactly putting it to use. But one thing’s for sure: the Japanese toy scene is part of my main interests in life. I’m no otaku but I do love toys, most specifically Japanese toys for that matter.

So of course, I had to do some degree of correcting. I am not saying the OEG is entirely justified in their pursuit but I do admit that if I am going to call myself something, I might as well use the right terms. Japanese toy-lover is a bit of a mouthful. I’ll work on it when I find time.

Back to the OEG. Now, whether I get removed from the list or not, I’ve done my part for fixing things up on my humble site. But again, the question comes back: what do they hope to gain with this exercise? For a term that labels a person as obsessive while at the same time being considered as socially inept, here’s a group that claims to be as such and acts in an elitistic manner, culling the “posers” and claiming authority on who among the English-writing bloggers can claim the title of otaku for themselves. They cut and approve people on the list mainly for the proper use of the term otaku, above anything else. And their credentials for it which they claim gives them the right to determine who goes or stays in the list is the fact that between the group, they have attended most if not all the major otaku events in Japan.

Such blogs and groups who claim to hold authority over others is a native characteristic of the blogosphere, actually. And interestingly enough, the OEG is no exception. At the same time, I have seen a good number of people mature enough to state that this is definitely an interesting exercise to watch, ESPECIALLY if the OEG is serious in their manner of criticizing what they claim as fake otaku blogs. They’re definitely being watched now. And I agree with those people who say that the OEG better not use some lame critique such as “because he only has ten toys” or “she hasn’t even set foot in a convention all her life”. For a group that claims to lord over English-speaking/writing otaku, they really should more concrete reasoning as to why such and such are not using the term otaku properly or even rightfully.

As for the work otaku, this loanword has become like most loanwords that were frequently used outside the borders of their country of origin: the lines between use and actual meaning have not just been grayed out or blurred but expanded beyond what the term originally stood for.  So it was inevitable that people would pick up the habit of calling themselves as such because of some minor or mediocre involvement with the hobby. Is it really worthwhile to go through such lengths? The OEG does consider it as such. Their personal mission to cull the posers and wannabes.

I look forward to them carrying their mission out with the panache that will make people say they were right all along.

So will this endeavor succeed in the long run or burn out sooner than most expect it to? Only time will tell.

For those who follow me on Twitter, last week, I made a call for what Nintendo DS games would be ideal to play. This was because last weekend, I went to Greenhills to get me and Chil a Nintendo DS Lite each.

Chil got the black one, I got the white one. Most if not all of my gadgets are black. My cameras are black. My mobile phones are both black. My PSP is black. My iPod Touch is entirely black but neither is it white. So for all intents and purposes, my DS Lite is my first and only gadget that’s white. And I named it Wadsworth, Wads for short. (Yes, I’m one of those people who give names to their property)

So mine is white, it’s got a plexiglass shell and then it has that additional hard case for added protection. I added that Goodsmile Racing sticker so now everytime I look at my DS Lite, it’s like I’m looking at the Tokyo Dancing Trooper’s chest (short of a Twitter sticker of course).

The interface was originally a Super Mario Bros design but I wasn’t exactly fond of it so after checking and updating my kernel, I went and edited my kernel’s skin. And what did I come up with?

I’m quite fond of my logo.

My currently-owned gadget names:

• Sony PSP – Saunders
• Canon 400D – Domovoi
• Lumix LX3 – Bruno (named by Chil)
• SE W960 – Godfrey
• Nokia 2700 – Stokes
• iPod Touch – Winslow
• Nintendo DS Lite – Wadsworth

So my armory when I travele from day to day just got heavier with Wadsworth being added to the crowd. Most if not all my gadget names are butler names.

It was only awhile ago that it finally dawned on Yoko that Kamina is dead.

Kyouka had the bad luck of walking past Yoko’s line of sight that time.

Saw this rainbow outside my window this afternoon. It was longer when I first saw it. It significantly shrank by the time I found a decent shooting angle from another window. And by the time I was done shooting, the rainbow had already completely disappeared because it had started raining again.

Large version download from my deviantart page. Wasn’t able to adjust settings properly since I was rushing to capture this moment.

Ah yes. I stepped into the Starbucks near my office and the shelves are now stocked with fresh new Christmas merchandise enough to make St. Nick binge on coffee. So of course, I could not resist stepping inside and look around at the stuff that will soon allow Starbucks to rob me of my well-earned money.

Christmas is pretty much my favorite season of the year. It’s when one can easily justify spending money on toys and gadgets and not get frowned upon. I’d just grin and say “it’s Christmas!” and it would easily slide.

And to welcome the official start of the Christmas season (it used to be September but since Halloween’s a big hit now in the Philippines, Christmas takes a backseat till after everyone takes down the skeletons and creepy-crawlies from their houses and offices)…

I bought a new mug~!

My friend, Emrys, immediately said “But you already have so many mugs (you twat). Why buy another one?”

“I don’t have a red one.” And that was it.

Now, Christmas season means them coffee addicts can once again start throwing away their money buying Christmas coffee in Starbucks and collect those stickers that eventually entitle them to planners they don’t really use since whatever plans they make don’t come to fruition MOST OF THE TIME.

I just got the stickers so that I’d have something to give away on Christmas day. (Yeah, right)

But seriously, this year’s design of Starbucks Planners looks like rubbish. I’d rather spend a grand to buy a moleskin annual planner.

So I’ll collect the stickers for the sake of collecting them but Chil can probably have my planner. I’ll just get a moleskin annual planner instead. Looks better, actually. Black matches the rest of my gear.

Any Christmas hols habits/promos you partake in during this time of the year?

So bored the girls are contemplating something that could spell utter disaster.

My 3-day Halloween weekend was uneventful, to be honest. Saturday was probably the best day of the weekend, going out with Chil and my two brothers to Greenhills for a wonderful lunch at Don Henrico’s (I missed their buffalo wings), did some window shopping and contemplated on whether it would be ideal to get a DS Lite (but that pink DSi made me want to take a bite out of it as my brother also claimed) and then had drinks at Grilla. Sunday was spent mostly at home and the same went for Monday, November 2nd.

We would have been over at Aringay, La Union, my mum’s hometown, if not for that damned tropical storm. These storms seem to have the habit of messing up plans by coming over during the weekends. Just goes to show how fucked up the environment already is. We got more storms enter our area of responsibility in October than in the span of May to September put together (I think…don’t quote me on that).

So now, at the office, catching up on mails and trying to get some stuff started.

So how’d your Halloween weekend go?

Alright, keeping this short but sweet. Above is the upcoming Nintendo DSi dubbed the DSi LL. The most significant change you’ll notice here is the larger bottom screen which is AWESOME in my opinion!

Kotaku has a comparison between the DS Lite, DSi and DSi LL. Once this baby hits the market, I’ll be really hard-pressed to get this over a new PSP. This one just looks awesome and I’m really hoping that Nintendo’s got oodles of new firmware features and capabilities for it.

I want this one. The white one. There’s a black version too among other shirt designs. But I’m a white shirt fan, primarily. Click the image to get the full article. Danny will be putting these up for pre-order soon but they will be first sold during the Cospa event, he says.