I mean...Happy Valentines Day! 
So how's your Valentines? Mine was fine, I guess. However, some stuff happened today which seemed to have compensated for the absence of bad luck yesterday, which was Friday the 13th. I repeat, Friday the 13th!!!
I started my day waking up very terrified. It was already 9:30 AM, and I have a project to pass to school at 10:00 AM. Waahh!!! 
And the school was around 11 kilometers from my place. Double Waahh!!!
So I skipped bathing and breakfast, and quickly changed my clothes. The weather was cool, so I didn't have to worry much about smelling bad. My dad offered to give me a ride to the school, which was very fortunate. I managed to arrive there --- not exactly on time --- and pass the project.
And then in the afternoon, a series of miscommunication between me and my classmates caused us to be late for our scheduled inquiry with a teacher. The miscommunication turned out to be rather complex, so I'll skip the part where I explain everything about this. Trust me, it's so complicated. I'm just happy everything turned out okay in the end.
Now for the chocolate-related portion of this post. I bought myself a bar of Meiji Black Chocolate. Mainly because it's Valentines Day (and my no-commitment single life gave me the luxury of enjoying chocolates by myself --- and my family). And secondly, because they have this contest that gives me a chance to win a Nintendo Wii, a PSP, or a new Nokia cellphone, not to mention a Toyota Vios, which I could care less since I have no driver's license anyway. Hopefully, I can win one of those gadgets --- even if I'm not a gadget-lovin' gamer dude.
Well, I hope you had a fun and safe Valentines Day. And as part of the annual Japanese tradition, I'll be expecting your chocolates, ladies. 
That's all for today. HAVE A NICE DAY!
***
Photo from here. Taken by richardmasoner of Flickr. Used under this Creative Commons license.
The title says it all.
Right now, I'm making myself busy with making an achievement test for my course on Psychological Test Construction. The subject I chose for my 80-item test was Philippine history.
Why history? First, because I always wanted to do a history test. Second, I somehow managed to relate the understanding of Philippine history to the cultural identity statuses of Filipino adolescents (which is related to developmental psychology). And third, my classmates are making Math tests here and Science tests there and English tests everywhere, so I decided to take the road less traveled.
Of course, it came with a price. The fact that I'm STILL working on my test is one of those consequences. Since it's Philippine history, I felt the need to check for different sources to see how accurate the facts are. While a lot of those facts were not hard to verify, others got me shaking my heads because they all deviated from one another. Those who made the Math, English, and Science tests, on the other hand, are finished already and are set to conduct the tests. 
But hey, there were some good benefits. One is getting an even better look at Philippine history, making my project a learning experience as well for a history geek like me. The other is being able to visit for the first time my university's high school library (which I thought I'd never be able to go inside) and my city's public library (which I've always wanted to check out ever since I was a kid).
Hopefully by Monday, I can FINALLY present my draft for my test and that it will be approved from there. After that, I can have more time to focus on other commitments, with dates for Valentines being an exception.
By the way, here's an item I made for my test but decided to scrap it since I had too many recall questions already:
37) Who was the pirate who led the Chinese invasion of the Philippines during the Spanish era?
A. Lim Ah Hong
B. Chao Ju-kua
C. Wang Tayuan
D. Li Sheng Shun
The correct answer here is A. But I shared this to you because of choice letter D. If you've seen Darker Than Black, then you would have realized that I used Hei as my distractor for the test. After all, it hasn't been aired here yet. However, the fact that my non-otaku classmate found Li Sheng Shun familiar kinda concerned me.
Anyway, that's all for today. HAVE A NICE DAY!
This is my response to theJanuary fan challenge. Hopefully, this can still make it.
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Hey aniki! This is me in my school uniform in Hokuei.
Dear aniki,
Hey there, bro! How are you doing right now? How's your girlfriend and her father? Hehehe...
I'm doing fine here in Hokuei. My classmates are very nice, and I managed to be the top student in the class...again. And I have you to thank for my accomplishments, aniki.
Ever since we've met each other there, I've always admired your intelligence and wit. It's odd that we even got a chance to be friends since I was just a junior high school student while you were already a high school student. Who would've thought that the moment that we saw each other at the public library a couple of years ago, we would end up becoming very good friends. You would share me stories about the great fictional detective while I would give you a lecture on Philippine history. I guess geeks are destined to be friends with his fellow geeks. Hehehe...
Between the two of us, you were definitely the smarter and more athletic one. In fact, you were such an amazing genius. You were so cool there in your high school, being a genius and a soccer player and all that. On that one instance where I saw you solve a murder case on the spot, I couldn't help but feel thrilled and be proud of you. From that point on, I told myself that I wanted to be just like you. Cool, smart, good...that's the kind of guy that I wanna be in my life.
I'm planning to take up a Psychology course later on, after which I plan to take up History and Secondary Education. I know, it ain't exactly a course for detectives. But who knows, with the knowledge I get from my courses, I might be able to work with you as your sidekick, in the same way Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Watson. I kinda like the sound of that: me as the sidekick of the great high school detective of the West.
Man, if only I hadn't transferred to Hokuei, I could've talked to you more often. Maybe you and your girlfriend should come here to Hokuei. You could bring the others along, too. I'll tour you here, and I'll let you have a taste at the delicious watermelons here. Just don't bring a murder case with you as well, okay?
Anyway, how's life as a little kid? I know it's hard to go back once again in your childhood years even though you have the mind of an adult. But the last letter you've given me showed that you're adjusting well to it already. That's good to here. I still hope that you can go back to your old self soon. I miss my aniki already.
How's your girlfriend doing? I know, I know. She's not your girlfriend...yet. But how's she doing already? Last time I met her was one year ago, when I was visiting your high school. You still haven't told her about your true identity, right? Don't worry, I won't tell anything to her. Oh, and if ever you and her decide to...you know, get married, don't forget to invite me, okay?
How about her father? Are you still helping him out in solving cases? Man, if only they knew the secret behind his sleepiness whenever he solves a case.
Speaking of sleepiness, could you ask our good friend, the doctor-inventor, if he can make me one of those tranquilizer watches that you often use? I'd like to use it to defend myself, especially in these times. I promise, I won't do bad things with it.
By the way, could I also borrow some of those mystery books stacked inside your house? There are times when I get bored and have nothing to do in my house, and I'd like to spend my time reading the books that you used to read. Aside from my history books, of course.
I guess that's about it. Please send my regards to onee-chan, or your girlfriend. Send my regards also to her father, to the doctor-inventor, to your parents, and to everyone else out there.
'Till next time, aniki. Talk to you later. And as you tend to say: Shinjitsu wa itsumo hitotsu!
The brother you never had,
Kooji
- It's been a while since I last posted here. So how's it been. It seems things are quite silent around here.
- I got my hands of the book Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination, which is a selection of short stories by Edogawa Rampo translated in English. At first, I checked it out in the university library simply because the name Conan Edogawa was partly derived from Edogawa Rampo. After reading the first story (The Human Chair), I was hooked. The stories were so imaginative, so creative, and so full of suspense. Just last morning, I finished reading the last story. This has now become one of my favorite books and I really recommend this for your reading pleasure.
- I'll be pretty busy by this month until March. Mostly because I've got an achievement test to construct and administer, alongside other school projects. Also, the student publication is now gearing up in its campaign, although honestly I tend to lose some of my energy and interest for this due to academic work. And then, there's midterms next week.
- I just realized that I never told you that I had already lost my anime convention virginity. Yippee! The anime convention I'm referring to is the UP Cebu Otaku Fest 2.0, which was held at the University of the Philippines - Cebu campus last December 13 '08. I might post my pics of it here, but for now you can go check their site to see what happened.
- I'm interested in joining this fan challenge by Sangome and Miss Anonymous. The rules are simple: write a letter to your favorite fictional character without mentioning who he/she/it is. You can go click the link for more details. As for me, I'll start producing my own writeup.
- I've started to compare my style of commenting from other theOtaku members. Here's what I noticed: I seem to talk too formal. 
Is that a good sign or a bad sign? I don't blame Shin for this (unlike the rest of you), but I blame SomeGuy and the Particracy game for this.
- And that's all for today. Have a nice day!
So it's finally 2009. How was your New Year's Day? Did you jump with joy? Or showered yourself with confetti and coins? Or, I don't know, blew yourself up with some firecrackers?
Well, ours was a simple old dinner filled with salad, baked spaghetti, chocolates, seedless grapes, cupcakes, and macaroons. Yeah, it's pretty nice. I also took time to write a list of my resolutions in a piece of paper and placed it inside my wallet right after 2009 began. I got that idea after reading Adam's post here.
On other stuff, I've submitted a Major e-card in theOtaku recently. I did this in order for Major to become a category here in the site anytime soon. Through this, I hope it would help publicize an ongoing anime that I think is really very good but is slightly underrated overseas.
Also, I attended a little "coming-back" party of my friend who's studying in the United States. (Note: I live in the Philippines, so it's distant for me.) Aside from the fact that she gave me and my brother a bar of delectable Cadbury chocolate (which would probably cause you to salivate right about now), my friend asked me who was my first kiss. When I told her I never had one yet as far I can recall, she asked me about my "girlfriend" (who's currently my friend in myOtaku). When I told her that we're not even dating, they were totally shocked. All these years, they thought that we were actually dating each other and that we're set to become husband and wife. Heh, I guess I can succeed in deceiving people.
This weekend, I'll be going to my aunt/dentist to have a dental restoration on my teeth, since I had a bit of a tooth decay problem. I'll also be busy with some assignments due next week, when we go back once again to school after the Christmas vacation.
And that's all for today. HAVE A NICE DAY!
