Weekend update
Graduation
Always a very bittersweet time.
I'm their thesis adviser (see if you can find me in those pics haha). I didn't teach many classes for the current graduating batch since I only started working full-time back in 2005, but these guys were practically bugging me almost every week for the past year. It's nice to see them graduate finally. :P
Posting these pictures online so if (when) these guys end up making really cool games in the future, I have proof that I was their teacher! >:)
Next year's probably going to be a bit more heartbreaking since I'll be leaving Ateneo AND the graduating AMC/AMF blocks have had me as their teacher since first year. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing my little boys and girls grow up and leave for the Real World(tm). :)
Dinner with the old-young-at-heart-timers
During the graduation dinner, I had the misfortune of having to sit with some of Ateneo's senior faculty, including Dr. Pablo Manalastas, Dr. Didith Rodrigo (our outgoing department chair), Dr. Jerrold Garcia and Dr. Fabian Dayrit (the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering). Intimidating!
However, for some reason our dinner conversations were littered with so much embarassing stuff I had never expected from the likes of them. They were discussing sexual references (some of them dating back to the 70's) with the rambunctious laughter you'd only expect from twenty-somethings. Plus, Dr. Philip Truscott had all these off-color jokes to tell (yes, they're called green jokes here in the Philippines, but he's from Europe), so our table was particularly rowdy.
Then for a while they were discussing about Diet Coke, and why artificial sweeteners are such a bad thing. Doc Dayrit then tells us exactly how hydrocarbons found in most of these sweeteners are unhealthy. (To which Allan Espinosa, a former student/co-teacher of mine said "this is what happens when you have chemists at the dinner table.")
Then I had the sudden temerity to pipe up, "so, wait, sugar is bad? That's a hydrocarbon..."
To which Doc Jerrold told me, "oh, but these sweeteners contain chlorinated hydrocarbons."
I thought for a while, then said, "so, um, sugar and salt are bad?"
Chuckles ensue. I successfully cracked a chem joke in the presence of renowned chemists! Score! =))
Why are games here sooo expensive
So my free trial for World of Warcraft ended and I decided that I seriously want to play the game. I looked at the Blizzard store and saw that the battle chest costs around $39. Not bad, but I cannot use their online store outside of the States.
I seriously want the battle chest because it's got guides and other stuff I can read at bed (see, my bedtime reading mostly consists of game manuals and random wikipedia articles on my web-enabled DS), so today I went to Data Blitz at Megamall earlier to check out their price.
To my horror, this is what was written on its price tag:
Php 2990 (that's approximately $71)
WHAT. That's almost DOUBLE. I can't believe they can get away with that ridiculously large price.
I just checked at play-asia.com and the price was more reasonable -- $44.90 (Php 1892). I think I better take that one instead.
That's still an additional $5, though. T_T It's so hard to be a Filipino gamer with these prices. No wonder most people here resort to piracy.
Random webcomic
Always a very bittersweet time.
I'm their thesis adviser (see if you can find me in those pics haha). I didn't teach many classes for the current graduating batch since I only started working full-time back in 2005, but these guys were practically bugging me almost every week for the past year. It's nice to see them graduate finally. :P
Posting these pictures online so if (when) these guys end up making really cool games in the future, I have proof that I was their teacher! >:)
Next year's probably going to be a bit more heartbreaking since I'll be leaving Ateneo AND the graduating AMC/AMF blocks have had me as their teacher since first year. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing my little boys and girls grow up and leave for the Real World(tm). :)
Dinner with the old-young-at-heart-timers
During the graduation dinner, I had the misfortune of having to sit with some of Ateneo's senior faculty, including Dr. Pablo Manalastas, Dr. Didith Rodrigo (our outgoing department chair), Dr. Jerrold Garcia and Dr. Fabian Dayrit (the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering). Intimidating!
However, for some reason our dinner conversations were littered with so much embarassing stuff I had never expected from the likes of them. They were discussing sexual references (some of them dating back to the 70's) with the rambunctious laughter you'd only expect from twenty-somethings. Plus, Dr. Philip Truscott had all these off-color jokes to tell (yes, they're called green jokes here in the Philippines, but he's from Europe), so our table was particularly rowdy.
Then for a while they were discussing about Diet Coke, and why artificial sweeteners are such a bad thing. Doc Dayrit then tells us exactly how hydrocarbons found in most of these sweeteners are unhealthy. (To which Allan Espinosa, a former student/co-teacher of mine said "this is what happens when you have chemists at the dinner table.")
Then I had the sudden temerity to pipe up, "so, wait, sugar is bad? That's a hydrocarbon..."
To which Doc Jerrold told me, "oh, but these sweeteners contain chlorinated hydrocarbons."
I thought for a while, then said, "so, um, sugar and salt are bad?"
Chuckles ensue. I successfully cracked a chem joke in the presence of renowned chemists! Score! =))
Why are games here sooo expensive
So my free trial for World of Warcraft ended and I decided that I seriously want to play the game. I looked at the Blizzard store and saw that the battle chest costs around $39. Not bad, but I cannot use their online store outside of the States.
I seriously want the battle chest because it's got guides and other stuff I can read at bed (see, my bedtime reading mostly consists of game manuals and random wikipedia articles on my web-enabled DS), so today I went to Data Blitz at Megamall earlier to check out their price.
To my horror, this is what was written on its price tag:
Php 2990 (that's approximately $71)
WHAT. That's almost DOUBLE. I can't believe they can get away with that ridiculously large price.
I just checked at play-asia.com and the price was more reasonable -- $44.90 (Php 1892). I think I better take that one instead.
That's still an additional $5, though. T_T It's so hard to be a Filipino gamer with these prices. No wonder most people here resort to piracy.
Random webcomic