Mirroring A Recent Past

Early Sunday morning, may preparations to going to early Mass was interrupted by a phone call on my mobile. At first I thought it was sacred_essence, who had the penchant of calling me this early in the morning. But then I remembered that she was attending the dawn service of her congregation, and that she only calls me on thelandline, not my mobile. I was surprised to see my cousin, Jinno, as the one calling me on the other end. But I wasn't ready for what he said after I answered his call.

Jinno broke the news as gently as he could - his mom, my Tita Gigi, was having a stroke, and that he and his dad and elder brother had taken her to the hospital. It took a second for it to register before the full reality of the news hit me. The news brought back memories - my Dad suffered three strokes of the same kind, and I was remembering the feeling of fear and helplessness for those around him who love him and want to care for him, but don't know what to do and frightened at what he was experiencing.

I rushed to my Mom and told her the news immediately. Tita Gigi was my Mom's youngest sibling in her brood, and therefore special to her. Also, my tita's family was there for us when Dad went down with his last stroke, and so I felt a debt of honor to them that I know I can never completely pay, but willing to give increments to. Mom took the shock with grace, and we both decided that I should go to the hospital immediately to rush to my aunt's side. With another of my Mom's sisters as my companion, we got to the ER and found myTita.

At first glance, Tita Gigi was lucid. My comment at the time was she was going to be fine because she was "malikot" - she was moving around restlessly in the hospital bed. By my experience with my father, I saw this as a good sign that the stroke was not that bad, but again my opinion was from an amateur point of view, and I knew that the stroke was still progressing. I answered the questions of my uncle and my two cousins as much as I can, and tried to comfort them any way I can think off. I was quiet and solemn most of the time, remaining sober, although my heart ached as I saw my favorite cousin,Nino the elder brother, was brought to tears. Jinno, the younger, was taking it stronger - he has the same strong and feisty personality as my Tita Gigi, and I know he get through better. But I can see the turmoil that was going thru my three relatives in their eyes.

After sending home my cousins to get clothes for their vigil in the hospital, the doctor arrived with the diagnosis - the left cortex of the brain was hit by the stroke, and more tests was to be done to see the extent of the damage there. The left side of myTita's body was hit and currently weak - mobility was limited there. And her speech was impeeded - this is the worse damage a stroke on the left brain could inflict, at the same time she was having trouble swallowing.

The good news the doctor said that because my uncle noticed my Tita's stroke early in the progression, medication was given early - not early enough to stop the stroke, like some medicines can, but early enough that it can be monitored and medicated by the hospital staff as well. Also, after a good four hours of waiting in the ER, myTita was admitted to the Acute Stroke Unit - an ICU-style ward for patients with a progressing stroke attack. Thankfully my Tita was brought in there, and the isolation allowed her to rest comfortably and peacefully. It's a little tough for the family - visiting hours was severely limited to a few hours in the morning and evening, and there was no place to stay overnight. But we all agreed thatTita needed the rest and quiet, so we didn't grumble or complain about it anymore.

With everything stabilizing at the hospital, my Tita Baby and I, together with my Uncle Noy, left the hospital, leaving my cousins to wait on their Mom, giving Uncle Noy to rest up at home. I arrived at home slightly after lunch, to the waiting crowd of relatives eager for news about my Tita Gigi. I filled them in on everything I can tell them, which they accepted gratefully and unanimously decided to visit my Tita Gigi later that afternoon, despite my warning that visitors and visiting hours was limited. My Mom went with some of my cousins, and I stayed home for the rest of the day to be with my Dad.

As of today, my Tita Gigi is still in the Acute Stroke Unit. By experience, I know that a stroke patient will spend at least a week in the hospital so that the stroke could subside and the patient be monitored - that was the SOP when my dad had his three strokes. While still in isolation, I believe its for the best for myTita . She will need all the rest she can get, so that the medicine and medical care will send the stroke away, and physical and occupational therapy will deal with bringing her back to her feet again. It will be a tough time ahead for myTita's family - I can symphatize with what will be in store for them ahead. It will not be easy taking care of a relative stricken by a stroke, and my Mom and I have been goingthru this for the past six years now. But a lot of patience and love will help lighten the load, though it won't take away all of the burden. It is a burden I have learned to carry, but what has happened to myTita felt to me like looking at a mirror at my recent past. I pray to God that all will be well with my Tita, and that she can recover as much as possible from this saddening development.

Gundam Expo Tokyo 2007

Famitsu.com just posted a page on the Gundam Expo Tokyo 2007, held yesterday in Tokyo. The show is one of the premier Gundam expositions in the world, and I would kill for a chance to go to Japan just to participate in one.

The website put up a lot of interesting Gundam and Gunpla stuff, including more releases for the new Gundam 00 anime series, including a Gunpla of the Ptolemaois - the main warship of the series; 1/144 HG, 1/60 Big Scale and MSIAs of the four new main Gundams; a PSP Gundam game (I forgot the title); interesting dioramas of a Zaku head and a Type 3 Space Colony; the Gundam Card Network Arcade Game, a first look at the Master Grade versions of the Turn A Gundam and the ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundams, numbered as MG 100 and MG 101 respectively; and 1/20 scale models of several Gundams. Pictures of these items can be found on the link above.

But to me, the highlight of the show - and the one that definitely dropped my jaw when I saw the pic, was the 1/20 scale (about a six-footer version) of the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam. I have the pic here courtesy of Famitsu.com.



I GOTTA HAVE ONE OF THOSE! EVEN IF I HAVE TO SELL MY CAR AND TAKE OUT THE GARAGE ROOF SO I CAN PUT THAT DAMN THING IN THERE!

Hopefuly more stuff will come out. But for that, check out the links at Gunota Headlines via the links and feeds here on my blog.

ICC 2007: Where the heck are the Internet Cafes?

Yesterday, me and my lovely significant other, sacred_essence, went to the 2^nd Internet Café Congress 2007 at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 01. It was the last day of the event, and since we decided that we’d go to Megamall that day, ICC was a free-entrance event and we heard that some of the gang at HEROTV Forum was dropping by we thought to might as well drop by as well. Turns out to be an interesting trip.

Before we landed at Megamall, I took a quick detour to Connecticut Street at Greenhills. Conti’s Restaurant and Bake Shop has a branch there, and I’ve always wanted to treat SE to a slice of the shop’s signature cake – the Mango Bravo. So I took the chance and we headed over.

For those who you who are curious, the Mango Bravo cake is a curious delicacy of humongous size – a slice is about 8 inches tall and six inches in width, which is big for a cake, enough to feed a small family. The cake is a multi-layer mocha and butter chiffon cake with a layer of caramel in the bottom and mangoes in cream in middle, topped with almonds in a thick layer of whipped cream and chocolate, frozen to perfection. It’s really a treat and at only 70 pesos, quite a bargain.

I ordered one slice only, since by my own experience I couldn’t finish one on my own, backed up by some lemon ice tea and bottled water. As expected, SE loved it started gorging on it, slapping my wrist whenever I vainly tried to attack the whipped cream and chocolate. Except that the mangoes were a little on the bitter side, the cake was perfect. I offered to order another slice, but thankfully SE realized that was a bad idea and was full. She wanted to take some home, but since it was a frozen cake and we were still not going home, that plan was scrapped. We promised, however, to come back soon for more of that cake, and the other entrees as well.

So finally, we arrived at Megamall 10:30 AM, and before we left the car, SE gave me my early birthday present – the copy of Gundam SEED Astray mangas on DVD, and the custom Ultimate Coordinator t-shirt with the airbrush painting of a Kira Yamato chibi on the back. I really loved the t-shirt – I always wanted to get one made, and again SE read my mind. I really am thankfull for my S.O. – she is my happiness.

We proceeded to the trade halls. We took a peek at the ICC, but with the crowd forming around the registration booth, we decided to enter after lunch. SE and I started to walk around, without any general direction, entering shops and checking out merchandise. We entered shops to look for possible clothes for SE’s cosplay debut sometime late this year, looking for things from wigs to boots. We also dropped by Toy Kingdom, on our eternal quest to look for that bloody, pink Haro toy, and there I found some interesting stuff at interesting prices, which will definitely go up my must-buy list from now on (a 1/100 Master Grade RX-78-2 Gundam One Year War Edition at half the price in other shops at my number one). We also tried those toy dispensers from BANDAI, picking figurines from the Bleach anime, and getting a Gin Ichimaru key chain. The quality of the keychain is good, and quite cheap at 100 pesos for a genuine BANDAI figure. SE wanted to get a Rangiku Matsumoto figure (I did too), but we decided it wasn’t worth another chance crack to get one, then get another Gin in the process.

Next we decided to have lunch, and ended up in Sbarro’s. After a few minutes of arguing, we settled on picking two pasta dishes, and sharing a slice of the resto’s premium pizza flavors. SE got an order of lasagna with meat sauce, while I attacked a half-plate of ziti with a meatball, as we shared a humongous slice of Chicago deli pizza with everything on it. Thank God we didn’t order for extra cheese, since when Sbarro asks if you want everything on it, they put everything on it, which meant a generous dash of more tomato and meat sauce. And Thank God we didn’t decide to order two slices of pizza, because we probably finished 90% of each of our pasta plates, and about 75% of the pizza, which I took home in the usual doggie bag. Mind you, the pasta was great – I really love the tomato and meat sauce over the ziti, while I know SE is still bulgy-eyed over the nine layers of pasta and meat her lasagna had. Deciding (futilely) not to eat anything else for the entire afternoon, we returned to our window shopping spree.

We dropped over Power Books to look at mangas, and Comic Alley for usual walkthrough around really pesky shopclerks peddling (mostly) low quality anime stuff. We just like to look at whatever they have there, and exclaim that some of the stuff are “real”. On the way I took a peek at Lil’s Hobby Shop, looking for a blue, fine edge Gundam marker, but all they have are black and grey in colors. We passed through the Food Court, even though the smell of food was making me barf, and was pleasantly surprised when Manong Jojo, a fellow HEROTV forumer, found us and dragged us to where the TG boys (that’s Tropang Gising) was hanging out before going up to ICC. Several of the TG’s where there, like Tomiko_van, yuber, zeroaima plus several others. They were there to support yuuki_setsu’s cosplay bid – she was wearing a cute Haruhi Suzumiya number. After a little chitchat with the group, we left to go upstairs, promising the TG’s to meet them at the ICC later. A stop at EGG got SE a nice looking belt and a weird looking pig ballpen, and me a COW ballpen. It became a day-long subject of debate between the two of us, if the animal on my ballpen was bovine or a zebra. Too bad I don’t have a pic, but maybe I’ll take one later and post it here for a poll.

We did a quick recon of Shoe Mart for more cosplay stuff, then - surprise, surprise – we stumbled on the odd couple, Femme Fatale and Akitsuki Yamato, entering the mall. We hooked up with them, chit-chatted at the Food Court over the COW pen, survived (to Femme’s chagrin) Akitsuki’s Jedi Mind Trick in the elevator (which I have on video and will upload on Youtube soon) and linked up with the TG crew at ICC.

ICC was interesting, except for one thing – for an internet café convention, where were the internet cafes? I only found about four or five of them, the rest were computer networking stuff and mmorpgs. And the quality of the cosplay event was low – there were not many cosplayers, and the convention management handled the show very badly. I thought I was going to be bored, except that I found salvation – promo girls. Don’t get me wrong, I was just admiring them, and not being my usual ecchi self.

Beside the promo girls, there were many interesting tidbits about the show. I got a lot flyers from the booths about putting up an internet café, which I am interested to do again after the three years when WebPlus (a café I was investing in several years ago) closed down. I also found a anime dvd booth, and picked up a copy of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, even though it was the Hong Kong version with the bad English subtitling (Amuro is called Yaoba, Gundam is Gaoda, Frau Bo is Meimei!).

The TG boys were doing their interesting bit of posing as paparazzi, hounding cosplayers for pictures, and making forumers who dropped by looked like stars being hunted down by the entertainment tabloids. Every time we walked by they started asking for pics, and while I’m generally a shy guy when I comes to that, I agreed to a little fun. Too bad nobody got a shot of SE giving little old me a kiss in the cheek (the only public kiss between Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato) or zeroaima’s failed attempt to take SE’s stolen picture. Tomiko and I ribbed SE a little – Tomiko was wearing a black T-shirt with a Fllay Allster airbrush on the back, and I joked about going down to the car and changing into the Kira shirt and getting a pic with him showing our backs, and making a HEROTV siggy out of it. But again my adoration for SE, (and fear of her inner Lacus) made me think otherwise.

Later in the afternoon we decided to rest our feet and get some java, and found the Mocha Blends kiosk a floor down and stayed there for a few minutes. SE downed on a mocha frap (I can’t remember what Mocha Blends calls it, so Starbucks, don’t sue me), while I just enjoyed the seat. We ended up taking pictures of each other, and I got a nice pic of SE doing the pacutey look, which I’ll keep.

Finally we went back to the ICC to watch the cosplay show at 4 PM. It was SRO as usual, people being packed in a crowded place. Good thing the show started soon after we got there, and I watched as the cosplayers comically strutted their stuff. Yuuki_setsu, who we were rooting for, was the fifth, but for some reason she stepped on the floor before the third cosplayer was called, to the happy howl of the TG boys. She calmly went back, and when she was called, she did well to the good applause of the crowd. Too bad she didn’t win. The rest of the show was generally boring – there were too much of a character from Death Note (“L”); I wanted to strangle the Kira Yamato wannabee, and not too many seats. Like I said, ICC is not really a event meant for cosplay, because it was obvious the convention staff doesn’t know how to handle it. SE and I decided to take off about three-fourths of the show and head on home.

Overall it was an interesting day, and a lot of fun. It would have been better if the event was more anime and cosplay oriented, and it would have been better if I DIDN’T FORGET MY DIGICAM AGAIN! I have some pics on my cam-phone, and maybe I’ll post them in the future if I like their quality. But like I said, I had a relaxing and fun time, and with SE being there, it was magnified a hundred times.

Gunpla - 1/100 Master Grade Strike Freedom

Here is the newest Gunpla in my collection - the 1/100 Master Grade Strike Freedom Gundam. It's my latest acquistion and the my fourth Strike Freedom Gunpla. I guess its obvious that the Strike Freedom Gundam is my favorite Gundam so far.


I just bought this last week, and worked on it for several nights. I don't paint, so I did a no-paint method the best that I can, but I did panel inking and I think I did a good enough job with it.

Here's the Strike Freedom kneeling in front of its box. I love the articulation of the MG kit, that it can do such a pose with ease and stability.




Here it is in full Extended High Maneuverability Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) Mode, with the Super DRAGOON wings fully extended, with gold-plated solar flare thrusters showing.




This the Strike Freedom Gundam in its Blitzkrieg Attack Mode.



That's all for now. I'll post more pics of this Gunpla, and my other ones, as soon as I upload stuff on my PC. Hope you liked it!

My Opening Statement

Sup, people...

The name's ULTIMATE COORDINATOR if you haven’t realized that by now. Anime otakus sometimes call me Kira Yamato, my real life friends call me Jon in their hum-drum way. I like to go by UC – makes it simpler.

I wanna welcome you to my new blog. It’s my third, my first two being a disaster. Hopefully I won’t forget any passwords and keep this one alive.

Here I am going to rant. That’s right folks – this is MY RANTING BLOG. Here I can rant about whatever I want and nobody’s gonna stop me.

I’m gonna talk about politics here in the good old Philippines, and how it’s driving everyone around here crazy and away.

I wanna talk about volunteerism too – how I started to be involved in civic works for the local community for over twenty years now, and how it’s molded me to who I am now.

I wanna rant about my Mom’s Beef Caldereta – how her Spanish-style beef stew is THE BEST IN THE PLANET. Anyone who says otherwise better be ready for me going SEED with a Full Burst Blitzkrieg Attack on them, and ladies who wanna piece of bachelor me better learn how to cook like my Mom, or take a walk.

I wanna talk about anime, and how the Japanese animation films had affected my life and brighten my day. It gave me perspective of the people from the land of the rising sun.

I wanna talk about mecha – robots and more robots. I am obsessed with them, specially the Japanese kind that battles enemies with voice activated super weapons (from the Super Robot genre), and those mud trodding monsters who add the realities of war (from the real robot series).

And I wanna rant about Gunpla, my current hobby. I am so into building those Gundams from Japan, and I wanna share to all of you my simple collection. Granted I’m an amateur and I don’t paint my Gundams, but I think their looking out fine by me. Here's an example of my shabby Gunpla work, my MG Strike Freedom (my latest addition) infront of the 1/60 Strike Freedom Lightning Edition (my favorite Gunpla).

But for now that’s all I have to say. I wanna say more, but currently Manila is undergoing drought and I can’t fill the water of the Angel’s Bath. And since I only rant inside Angel's Bath, I can't do it right now. I can get water from the ArchAngel’s fresh water supplies, but Murrue-san’s already giving me the look – it says that I can’t use the bath at the moment. Dammit.

Oh well, there’ll be other days. Hopefully a storm or two will cover Angat Dam and fill it up to the brim with rain water – SO I CAN USE THE DAMN BATH!!!

But for now I’ll bury my misery in a plate of my Mom’s caldereta….

I love life...