Rommel's Random Ramblings

I was told that there are a couple of strange (and possibly incriminating?) pictures of myself on my Friendster profile. I'm not sure what pictures those are, but from the descriptions I've been given, they don't sound familiar. It's been bugging me, but Friendster's been so slow that I can't check it out for myself. When I am able to get on, the pictures section doesn't come up. Oh well... I think I'll change my password just in case.

Had nothing much to write about recently. Richmond and Eric went back to the Philippines last Sunday. There were the tearful goodbyes at the airport and stuff, but that's about it, I guess. It felt very much like deja vu, though. Gosh, it's been pretty boring.

Well, today, I sort of injured my left ankle. This morning, I was at Uni High School next to UCI for the dress rehearsal for the children's Christmas musical tomorrow. I was climbing this 20-25 foot tall vertical ladder (you know, those metal ones that look like you're going into a tube) leading up to the catwalk. I was going to check out the spotlight that I was supposed to use. Anyway, I slipped on my very first step and received a pretty bad scrape on my ankle. Not too bad that it won't heal in a couple of days. But it is bad enough to give me a slight limp while walking. It also felt weird climbing the rest of the way with a foot injury.

Whew... after 10 minutes of recorded dialogue, 23 illustrations, and 7 1/2 hours straight of drawing, scanning, editing, and burning, I finally finished the cartoon last night. Actually, it was at 2:30 this morning. It's amazing how fast time flies by when you're doing something you enjoy. Having only about four hours of sleep is starting to take its toll, though. I haven't been that close to an all-nighter since I was still in school. Anyway, it looks like the event tonight went well. The video served its purpose: to get people thinking at the start of the pastor's message. I've learned that writing a funny skit is a whole lot easier than writing one that is dramatic, serious, or sad. I'm so glad it's the end of the day. Sleep is such a great thing... haha.

The skit for Friday is going to be a semi-animated cartoon. I say "semi-animated" because it's more like a bunch of illustrations with voiceovers. Not much movement going on. Anyway, the script is done, and the dialogue has been recorded. What's left is finishing up the visual part, putting it all together, and burning it onto a cd. All with just one day left.

I picked up Soul Calibur II yesterday. I think it's a pretty fun game once I got the hang of the gameplay mechanics. I'm not too sure, but I think the character Talim is supposed to be Filipino. She's a Southeast Asian girl with a couple of bladed tonfa. The names for a few of her moves have Tagalog words in them. For example: swift espada = swift sword; spinning low hiwa = spinning low slash; tornado assualt kamay = tornado assault hand; twin fang sahig = twin fang floor; inner sipa = inner kick. Even her name Talim is the Tagalog word for "sharp". Okay... technically, the word "espada" is actually Spanish in origin. But anyway, if she's not Filipino, then she's probably Malaysian or Indonesian. I don't know much of their languages, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more than just a few words shared with Tagalog.

I just had to get the game at a bad time. As if I didn't have enough distractions already. I should be working on a skit or video or whatever for this couples outreach dinner at another church this Friday. I've been having the biggest case of writer's block for the past two weeks. The assignment is to create a short story of sorts as an introduction for the message that night. Now that I've discussed with other people on the presentation, it's just a matter of figuring out how to pull this off given our schedules and the time we have left until then. Haha. Gotta love the pressure...