sophia

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I wrote this c. 2003.
—————————————–

Sophia entered the room

and his world, a nebular eruption

But she doesn’t notice this

because hers is a pedestal

of fame and family

Yet he still dreams of Sophia

in an ice-grounded lame surface

on the other side of her island of folly

She lives in silence, apart from his

Existence

And sophia, lost

in an unreachable

ocean of visualization

 

He lives, and smells the fresh

fragrance of the perfume

            she doesn’t wear

Maybe it’s under his nose;

He sees her kneeling in front of him

 

At the same time,

Sophia is staring at him from a distance

far away

Far from delusional thoughts:

He is patting the dog lying at his feet

in a place where once upon a time

He held her hand…

 

No pool of oblivion

Just touch of hand

His feet feeling a patch

of earth

of stones and sand;

Of only
stones and sand

 

© Ian Pestelos

hard fingers

I am disappointed with my writing. This blog is supposed to enhance my skills in the art, but for the past 4 months it seemed like I am over-exerting the effort to create a single entry. I really don’t pre-plan for topics to write about; whenever I open this page, I wait for my hungry fingers to work on the keys to cook the perfect soup of the day. That was the plan: spontaneity. But so far all I can think about is that its really not working for me. I guess I can never have the perfect soup recipe anytime I want.

But then after giving much thought, I’m usually able to write better, faster, in a very spontaneous manner when I am low, sad, depressed, challenged, fired up, or pissed off. Not to imply that I don’t get to feel those things anymore, but perhaps I just found a way to pile up such negative emotions in a single box that I will leave at my gate at the end of the day, before I retire to this life in megabytes per second. That’s actually good, right? Could I attribute this to maturity? Well, actually, I’m thinking of ‘old age’.

Perhaps I should look for more motivation than negative emotions (and software manuals, lol) in order to write with ease and with passion. The only problem is, I am boring. I am detached. I always rethink the idea of fun which complicates things. And most of the time, I am stoic…

…which could probably explain why technical writing works for me
…and why I became a news editor in College, not for features
…and why my fingers get harder to work with every writing day.

noobies guide to ‘friendster hacked’

Friday, December 19, 2008

“If you are having doubts in opening a link, try using your favorite search engine to get information about it “

The pictures you’ll see here are the ones being posted on several friendster profile comments. DON’T EVER CLICK ON THESE PICTURES IN FRIENDSTER! Even if looks like something from YouTube, Yahoo, or other reputable sites..

Of course I’m not an authority to speak on how malicious viruses, spywares, or worms work in detail or get distributed massively. But I’d like to share a quick and VERY basic guide (a noobies guide) on what to do with stuff like this:

[1] Hold your horses. Not because there’s a woman (or a man) with a great body looking straight at you from your 22-inch monitor means you have to click on them to follow the lead towards the pot of gold. Get it elsewhere. A good social networking site will not lure you into this.

[2] Roll your mouse pointer over the pictures or hyperlinks found in some friendster profiles. DO NOT CLICK ON THEM! I repeat. DO NOT CLICK ON THEM! They won’t take their clothes off when you click on them.  So I repeat, DO NOT CLICK ON THEM!

What you should to is look at the lower left corner of your browser window while your mouse pointer is over those pictures or hyperlinks. Assuming your status bar is enabled, you should see the actual link or web address of that object you’re about to click on. If it displays something that looks malicious to you, don’t click on it. (If you can’t see it, it’s either: [1] it is not linked, or [2] your status bar is not enabled. To display the status bar, go to the menus on top of the browser window, click on ‘View’, and then ‘Status Bar’.)

NOTE: Some of the web addresses displayed for the object appears to be something familiar, like “mail.yahooo.com” or “en.wikipidia.com”, but notice the incorrect spellings. It’s most likely a bogus or malicious site.

Sample pictures in friendster that you dare not click on (read: in friendster. If you click on it from this blog, nothing will happen):

 

 Some ‘almost nude’ pix…

 …and then, some wholesome videos.

 

The first couple of picture comments will display “http://free4uwebcams.com” or “http://friendjster.com/1″ upon rolling your mouse pointer over it. The last one is pointed to “http://login2.friendjster.com/1″ and is NOT a YouTube video. It is not even a video at all. These will direct you to probably a malicious site or straight into the hackers’ hands. —> (Again, you are not stupid to open or go to this links. Repeat. You are not stupid to open or go to this links.)

That applies to all other sites and web links. If you are having doubts in opening a link, try using your favorite search engine to get information about it (use the link as the search keywords). You may just find your answers.

Better be safe than sorry. Better be researching than sorry.

 * * * Update 2008.12.21 / 1:14 am: got another comment with the link now pointing to chatwebcamfree.com. Somehow something tells me its getting worse. I wonder what the friendster webmasters are doing about this.

* * * Update 2008.12.21 / 4:13 am: more friends are getting these comments; I already emailed friendster about it. I am not obsessed about the issue, but I guess I should at least do something instead of just writing a blog about it. That’s the least I can do. I’ll send an update if I get a reply, or if they get to fix the mess.

friendster hacked?

Not really one of the first thoughts I had when a friend of mine posted a comment on my friendster account with an almost nude picture of a woman captioned ’see me naked’. Of course I would love to (lol), but then I know its a member of the adware and malware population lurking over the Internet. This means that: [1] her friendster was hacked, or [2] her PC and friendster were hacked.

I was right and wrong at the same time.

I was right that her account was hacked. I was wrong to think that only her account was hacked. It turns out that many other friendster subscribers had their accounts ‘hacked’, and soon enough a handful other friends submitted similar pictures and captions to my comments box. Good thing, I configured my account to wait for my approval before any comment will be posted live. Besides, even if it’s posted on my page outright, I only get less than a hundred profile views per month. Minor problem.

And then, a former officemate posted this in the bulletin: “Friendster Members Hacked by Free Webcam Site”

I erased personal details and uploaded photos from my friendster account right away just for safeguarding. It might have been too late, but you’ll never know. I hope I won’t see my pictures on some bogus or malicious websites for any reason. I wish my personal details haven’t been compromised. Darn, imagine the possibilities. And imagine how dumb I am, together with you and billion other world-wide-webbed human beings, for letting this happen.

But then again, subscribing to these technologies seemed inevitable. Let’s just hope the sites, organizations, and webcampaigns we subscribed into have secured databases and impenetrable systems and networks. But hey, wake up, that’s wishful thinking.

sicko

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I just finished watching Sicko, a Michael Moore documentary about US Healthcare.

With just a few minutes after the film started off, I was so sure I would write an entry about it here. I was amazed and became a fan of Moore’s Farenheit 9/11, but that is nothing compared to the amusement and fun I got with Sicko.

Three important thoughts about the film:

1. The points of the film extend far beyond the United States of America. It goes head on to every single country with no reasonable healthcare policies.

2. It’s theme goes far beyond just health policies. It talks about government, yours and mine.

3.  More than government and health, it talks about humanity, about an idea too good to overlook: looking after another. 

4. I always believe in the Philippines, and intends to stay here all my life. I never really considered permanently moving into another country, until I saw this film.

5. Where the hell do all of our taxes go? I can lecture on and on about it, and so could you. We all know where it is intended to go, don’t we? But we don’t really know where it go: we can’t see it, and it don’t work for us. Read: it don’t work.

6. And yes, I am way over my ‘three important points’. Sixth already, and I can still go for another six. Watch the film, I bet you’ll be able to list a lot more.

7. And did I say ‘watch the film’? More than political, it made me laugh more than any of the comedy films I’ve seen.

benta

Sunday, December 7, 2008

…that was what i thought while watching the Pacquiao - dela Hoya ‘Dream Match’. Worst box-office boxing match I’ve seen in years. It was like watching the memorable fight between Ultimate Warrior against Hulk Hogan, only that now I’m already 25, and the amusement of a 10 year old has long gone.

No counter punches while cornered by the ropes? No decent trace of a real fight from a boxer who had 10 world titles? Not a single round seemingly won by dela Hoya? It was definitely a Pacquiao show, with the Golden Boy allowing himself to be a breathing punching bag. Err, what’s golden in that?

I am a proud Filipino with every Pacquiao match, win or lose. But I just can’t believe that ‘Dream Match’ ; it was a very easy win like what happens only in dreams.

 

mountaintop weekend

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

 I just had my most relaxing Baguio vacation last weekend. The trip was not as tiring as it used to be, and we got to stay in one of the city’s finest hotels. Not to mention Sizzling Steak’s great Australian Beef Porterhouse and a great breakfast in Cafe by the Ruins. Also, be sure to try Benguet and Arabica coffee from Baguio’s coffee shops. Between Starbucks and the local coffee blends, I’ll take the latter any day (except maybe if I’m just a sticker short of the 2009 planner, which by the way isn’t special at all - makes me rethink what I just said. lol. So I guess I’ll go for the local blends again. Ü)

Some nice experiences and thoughts over the weekend:

1. You can enjoy walking outdoors without being sweaty and stinky. A walk from People’s Park to SM Baguio is much like a walk from Washington (Makati) to RCBC Plaza and back, except that you won’t suffer the heat of the sun or the dirt of the roads.

2. There are more local blends of coffee than just Kapeng Barako. Equally aromatic and strong, you should try the Sagada and Benguet blends. One tall Starbucks Caramel Macchiato will get you three addictive cups of the local ones.

3. Night market in Session Road is different than what we have in Divisoria; I was not worried about pick pockets and overly persistent tinderas last weekend.

4. The wet and dry market is another story; you’ll get bugged persistently by boys and girls less than half your age to carry your sack of ube, peanut brittle and choco flakes for you, which by the way you yourself had a very hard time carrying. At least they’re not in the streets.

5. With less than 15 degrees at around 5am, a blanket or a warmer won’t work for me. Not that I’m freezing; I was actually perspiring with the blankets on. My body handles low temperatures well; could be a good thing or a bad thing, depends on your perspective.

6. Carpets are so nice. I love carpets.

7. You can get a cab anywhere, and the drivers won’t ask for additional P20 or complain about how oil prices are too high even if the flagdown is just at P25 and the next 400 meters is only for P1.50.

8. More on the cab drivers: if the meter reads P47 and you hand him P50, he will still get hold of his coins to get you the P3 change. Amazing.

9. When you say ‘thank you’ to people, they’ll say it back. How nice. Not something you see and hear everyday.