The Fat Man Today

I recently wrote about bedbugs, and I can't help but think that, here in the Philippines, not that many people are aware - or even concerned - about them. A bed bug outbreak is one of the most difficult pest control issues to contain. That’s because these bugs populate at a fast rate, and while they don’t spread diseases like other bugs, they do have some unwanted, nasty side effects. And an outbreak of the bug in highly-populated areas can lead to an infestation that can be very difficult, and costly, to clean up.

I love cats, and have been the owner of a cat/cats for over a decade now. And while none of my cats have had that much longevity - the oldest being Zardos, the fat cat who lived to age 11 - they've mostly been amazing companions who kept me happy and sane despite, you know, life. I lived without a cat for a spell in 2007, and I honestly can't believe how I did that.

A screenshot of my Grab booking screen. I rode a Grabbed Uber this evening. I was on the way home from a meeting, and a commute would have taken way too much time, considering that I was coming from a city away. What can I say: nearly a decade of working from home has made me fairly resistant to the idea of traveling away from my home city, and the idea of going to the center of the neighboring city via public transportation was horrifying.

Some of you might notice that I've changed a few things in the ol' blog. The previous template was a drag to update, and since I'm no HTML wiz, I decided to do a revamp of sorts. (Some of you might know that I tend to do this once in a while, so thanks for putting up with me guys. I appreciate it.)

I used to think I was an all-out liberal. I had all the makings of one. I was (or I wanted to be) a writer, I was all for equal rights, I was all about kindness and justice. I liked drinking, living the free life, staying up late, burning the candle from both ends. It was a free world, and people were free to live as they dreamed. After all, your dreams are what make you, and if you can't indulge in your creativity, then it's a very dull world indeed. Nowadays, I'm not so sure. I'm still a drinker, I still write for a living. I believe in justice, but not so much in kindness. I still stay up late, and I still think that creativity is important in keeping the world a great, happy place.

I'm listening to Rossini's La Gazza Ladra  on Spotify. Since part of what I do for work has me sleeping at odd hours, I'm usually alone when I listen to classical music, and it's very peaceful. It doesn't make writing, updating the books, or looking through the shit-ton of files in the ageing filing cabinet any easier, but at least I'm not barking like an angry dog at every little thing. They say that classical music enhances the intelligence, an old wives' tale that I don't really put that much stock to. I mean, science also says that heavy metal calms the nerves; I listen to heavy metal music, but it doesn't really do much to calm me down, I've discovered. So it stands to reason that it's doubtful that classical music does anything to make you more intelligent. At least to my reason, anyway.

Add caption I tried watching/reading A Song of Ice and Fire , but it never really resonated with me. And that's despite the sex and violence. I'd never really heard of GRRM before this, and even after, I'm still not even sure if it's something that's worth my time. There'd been plenty of other examples of books successfully transitioning to the TV before this, such as Dexter , Bones , and even The Vampire Diaries  (ew), but none have the massive following of Game of Thrones . And none, as far as I'm aware, have influenced other would-be producers and showrunners as much. In just a few short years, you have cable TV shows scrambling to ape GOT , with Black Sails  (which ended last year, sadly), last year's much-celebrated Westworld , and this year, Starz's  American Gods  and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale .

I don’t think there’s anything that can relax me quite like a session spent listening to the Eraserheads. As a lifelong Eheads fan, I can just sit back (or lie back), close my eyes, and sing along to the lyrics that bring me back to those long, sunny afternoons of my youth where there was nothing to worry about, except what song to listen to next. I don’t exactly remember how I started listening to the band. But I believe my first cassette (yes, cassette) was “Cutterpillow”, their third album with hits like Torpedo and Ang Huling El Bimbo , the latter of which has gone on to become one of the classics, a number that's gone on to be remade and replayed, to the point of obsolescence.