Another badminton day, another badminton milestone. We have this running match-up since I started playing doubles: Edong and Jem vs James and I. So far we have been losing. But today we finally won 2-0! Woohoo! Time to think about that badminton racket milestone again. Yeah I got a guitar already, but I still don’t have the racket. Says a lot about my priorities. Haha.
When we were kids, my grandfather gave my brother and I a ukelele each. We never got to learn to play those but that didn’t stop us from making like we know how. We even put water-transfer decals on them. That’s how my affair with the guitar family started.
My brother went on to get a series of guitars and learned to play pretty well. I, on the other hand, just borrowed his guitars (and lately, my sister’s 3/4 guitar) and strum a few chords and songs.
But now, I finally go my own guitar! It’s a Karl Hofner HAC 304 Sienna Classical Guitar. It’s an entry-level guitar but it sounds pretty good and the people I consulted about it think so too. It also looks good: clean and no frills. Incidentally, Hofner makes violins too. Is this about as close as I will get to violins? I hope not.
I also got this nifty quick-change capo. At first I thought it’s Kyser capo. But later I realized it was a rip-off called Kayser. So watch out. But then again, it only needs to clamp the strings. How complex can that be? So there shouldn’t be any difference right? At least none that my newbie ears can discern.
We played a total of only five games. Each game lasted only about 10 minutes tops but the adrenaline rush made it quite exhausting. There is definitely a rush because I didn’t want to get hit. But majorly hit I got. Three times! First with a stinging hit on the top of my head that made my eyes water. Second on the knuckle of my pinkie that made my hand shake. And finally, a stunning blow on the jaw that dazed me. All the more reason I don’t want to get hit next time around.
During a break from the game, we also tried out some new realistic looking paintball markers. In contrast to standard markers which look like plumbers’ or painters’ tools (they’re actually farmers’ and lumberjacks’ tools), these markers look like your standard military issue M4 complete with magazines instead of hoppers. Of course, they just are not as realistic looking as airsoft guns. But a lot of people (mil sim fans) do not like paintball because of the look of the markers. This could just changed the minds of some of them.
At Lipa, we got down at the road to the Fiesta Mall and walked the short distance to the mall. There we hired a tricycle for P120 to Sta. Cruz, the jump-off off point to Manabu. We made a quick stop at the barangay hall to register and pay the P10 per head registration fee then it was hiking time.
We started climbing up around 9AM and we were at the peak by 11:30AM. We had a quick (made quick by a light drizzle) lunch at the peak then hastened down. We were at the bottom by 2PM. The jump-off compound was closed. So we skipped washing up and hired a tricycle for P120 to take us to the Fiesta mall where we finally got to wash and freshen up.
On the way from the Fiesta Mall to the highway, we saw a banana cue stand! I’ve been craving for banana cue for so long and so I immediately got one. Yummy!
At the highway, we caught a bus and headed to Rose and Grace, a supposedly good restaurant known for bulalo. There we had our late lunch/snack/early dinner (depending on who you talk to) of bulalo and steamed tulingan. It was expensive and the bulalo was a bit tough but hey we’re hungry so it was still okay.
After eating, we then caught a bus for the trip to Manila.
It was a pretty easy climb but since it’s my first in a long time it was okay. Besides, the guys were fun to be with. You can’t count the jokes (corny or not). Definitely a the great climb! Thanks guys!
I’ve been playing around with Fedora 7 on Selene, my Thinkpad X22, and I must say I was disappointed. Hibernate and standby didn’t work. Not even with Software Suspend 2. I consider those two to be critical features for a notebook so their not working just won’t do. Upon the recommendation of Alex, I installed Ubuntu 7 Feisty Fawn. Well what do you know? Almost everything, including hibernate and standby, “just works” as advertised out of the box. The two things I noticed didn’t work is the sound and the PCMCIA WiFi. Sound is not critical and the PCMCIA WiFi card is a 3rd party device so it’s no big deal. I like Red Hat and Fedora but does Ubuntu rock! I think I’m a convert.
UPDATE: Alex logged on to Selene and fixed the sound and the WiFi. Thanks man!