#events that matter

[twatkcox]

[#2024]

As this year ends, another one comes. Anyway, here are some of the notable things in my life that happened in 2023:

TWATKcox’s tenth-anniversary post was supposed to be published before the end of January. In fact, I’ve been working on a timeline-like post of the blog’s history (including its Tumblr counterpart and its spin-offs, plus some of the notable events in my life) since October last year, but I was only halfway through this extensively lengthy post that I decided to hold off on it for now and work on a different post, which only features the blog’s history and my blogging activities throughout its decade-long run. The timeline-inspired post will have to wait until at least next year.

I created some new banners for all of my blogs. Yes, The Quirk Concept and Literary+Fanfiction will have their very own set of banners for the first time.

As I’m preparing to resume my weekend rituals once again, for the first time in almost three years, I decided to buy some new pairs of black slacks (my old ones no longer fit on me as I’ve gained some weight in the past three years), a pair of new canvas belts, a new black cap, and a pair of black walking shoes (which I bought at Decathlon). Later, I decided to buy a new watch (bought at Mr. DIY back in May) after the old one’s battery died.

The SIM card registration bill was signed into law since 4Q 2022. All subscribers must register their SIM cards until the end of April. I managed to register my Smart SIM last February, and my GOMO (Globe) SIM last March.

My Vivo Y53 from 2018 (my second smartphone) started having problems with its battery. I’ve noticed that while the device is connected to Wi-Fi, the battery drains rapidly, thus the need to have it repaired. Well, the phone’s battery finally gave up on me after five years of use, and the only way to power it is through plugging it to a charger. I decided to have it fixed, since I still loved that phone and I could probably use it as a secondary phone/music player (it didn’t last long, though, just for five months). Lately, I was planning on buying an entry-level smartphone, even though I still have a mid-range smartphone, the Motorola Moto G 5G Plus, which is my primary phone since last year.

In February, my first mall-hopping trip for this year (my second since the pandemic) took place in the North Avenue malls (SM City North EDSA, Trinoma, Vertis North), and I managed to buy some second-hand manga books during my trip. SM North EDSA’s The Block is undergoing a makeover, and the layout on the upper floors was changed. Also, I get to see the Unified Grand Central Station (it was actually called North Triangle Common Station) from the Sky Garden (still in SM City North EDSA).

I finally decided to create a GCash account, mainly to buy load for my GOMO SIM (there are no load options outside of the GOMO, GCash, and PayMaya apps), and eventually, as an e-wallet payment for online shopping apps. Within an hour, I managed to sign up and verify my account without any problems. I eventually applied for a GCash card later that year and got it after a few days, With the GCash card, I can withdraw my funds at any ATMs whenever needed. I haven’t tried using it for in-store purchases yet, but maybe one of these days.

I finally resumed writing stories by March, focusing on the upcoming Literary special that I’ve been working on since 2017. At the same time, I’m fully committed to writing a bunch of stories, poems, and fan fiction for the Lit+Fan blog that I created back in 2020.

I discovered another awesome coffee shop (Cafe Luca), in addition to the ones I discovered (and visited) since last year. They have some ice blend (frappuccino) and espresso, plus a variety of non-coffee drinks, food, and desserts. It was actually more of a restaurant than a cafe, with a refreshing ambience and a wide, breezy alfresco area surrounded by plants and a few trees.

In May, I bought a new bag, a cross-body/sling bag that is a little smaller than the previous one (the old bag strap’s dog hook snapped and I initially wanted to have the it fixed). Although all of my things somehow fit inside the bag, it feels incredibly crowded inside. I later bought another bag, a larger one, online.

I decided to get a new pair of glasses from Owndays, as my old pair is starting to strain my eyes. I’m having a hard time seeing things with that old pair, which I’ve been wearing for nearly fifteen years. Can you believe that? Well, that should improve my extremely poor eyesight without the need to leaning my way through the computer screen or squinting my eyes to see everything clearly, but once I take it off, my vision is getting a lot more more blurry than ever, like there’s a thin layer of smoke even though there isn’t. Luckily, my (blurry) vision retuned to normal after a few months.

For the first time since the pandemic, the Pinoy Otaku Festival is making a comeback, via POF 2023: Shizen. The event’s theme is about environmental awareness. It is actually part of the Four Weekend Plan, but I wasn’t able to announce the concept until the event ended. Well, that was fun, though I kind of wished Pixel Hero was at the event too.

I bought a new wired selfie stick (I tend to call it a monopod for some reason) at a Mi pop-up store (Fairview Terraces), replacing the one I bought from Bavin five years ago due to the frayed (but still useable) cable. Regarding the latter, I still managed to use it during POF 2023: Shizen, mainly for selfies with cosplayers.

Speaking of the Four Weekend Plan, I somehow managed to begin this year’s T4WP with a visit to Drip’n Cafe and end it with a mall-hopping trip to Manila (including stopovers in Valenzuela and Caloocan). And then I decided to add a fifth weekend, which is all about reviving my interest to write stories once again, for the first time since the pandemic started.

Twitter (now called X) is starting to get worse. The automatic post sharing from WordPress and Tumblr to that problematic social media platform no longer works. As a result, I’m forced to manually post links to my recent blog posts to my Twitter account, making sure that I replicate the ones posted on the Facebook page.

In May, I decided to write some new stories to be included in the upcoming literary special, as I’m not impressed with how some of the finished ones turned out to be (the plot in these finished works are incredibly messy and awful, not to mention cringey in general). In addition, I’m planning to combine two of the stories into a lengthy one. Of course, a couple of the finished ones will be retained, but these will be subject to minor revisions and possible additions.

The first post in the TWATKcox@10 series (a series of posts celebrating TWATKcox’s 10th anniversary in cyberspace) was published. At the same time, I also started replacing the banners in all of the posts (the ones that have them, of course) which took me a few months to accomplish. I’m also doing the same for its Tumblr counterpart.

On first week of June, I decided to download the Lazada app in hopes of searching (and buying) some of the stuff that I couldn’t find in physical stores. At this point, I’m increasingly frustrated trying to buy certain stuff, as some stores only carry the same, boring stuff. Heck, I could even buy almost everything on the app. Speaking of which, I bought three anime shirts, two new phone cases (for my two smartphones), and two long fingerless gloves (in black and gray), spending more than a thousand pesos on these items within a week. And while I’m there, I also download the Shopee app as well, where I bought three pins from Pixel Hero, as well as a cotton kimono-styled jacket.

On the first week of July, I joined Threads, a potential alternative/replacement to Twitter, two days after it was launched. At the same time, I’m planning to delete my Mastodon account since I never used it much (well, I’m still deciding on it). Regarding my Twitter accounts, I’m keeping them up and running for the time being.

For the first time, in September, I managed to attend two events in a single day. Yup, the Manila International Book Fair 2023 and the Best Of Anime 2023: The Reunion were held at the same venue, SMX Convention Center Manila. The Best Of Anime event was the second otaku/anime event I’ve attended after POF 2023: Shizen.

I celebrated my birthday with just a simple feast (and two cakes). Nothing special, really, though I decided to spend the following weekend at a cafe in Lagro as a special birthday treat to myself.

I get to attend the Ozine Fest Halloween Special (the third otaku event I attended for this year) at the Fairview Terraces. I bought some nice souvenirs, including a small Pochita plushie and a book by AJ Bacar (Sskait). I decided to skip the second day of the event for some reason, though I sort of kick myself for not going.

I’ve been looking to update my wardrobe since 2019, but I only started buying black anime shirts (mostly online), plus a black twill over shirt, a couple of button shirts, and a jogger pants (all from Uniqlo), black linen shirt (from H&M), a Kimono jacket that I bought (from Shopee), and some plain black and maroon shirts (online). Plus some pairs of red, dark red, and black socks (also from Uniqlo).

Our accounting office had a Christmas party at Music 21 Plaza in Timog Avenue (Quezon City). I managed to enjoy the event but I didn’t feel like singing at all.

We only had a simple feast on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. After all, at least in our family, there’s no point in cooking a lot of food when there’s only the four of us, and not all of us are heavy eaters.

Anyway, I was hoping for things to go back to normal, and we’re already heading to that. But I can’t really expect things to happen the way I want. But before I lose hope, there are some things and events worth looking forward to:

Chinese New Year 2024 (a mall-hopping trip in Ayala Center or Rockwell/Circuit Makati with a stopover in Binondo, Manila)

TWATKcox’s 11th Anniversary Post

Pinoy Otaku Festival 2024: YUME (Robinsons Novaliches Trade Hall)

TWATKcox Literary Post Special (tentative)

#TheFourWeekendPlan Y3 (coinciding with POF 2024: YUME)

10000+ Word Autobiography (tentative)

Manila International Book Fair 2024

An All-Black Birthday Celebration

My First Novel (I’m currently juggling between several drafts at the moment)

Several mall-hopping trips and visiting new (and renovated) malls (including Mitsukoshi BGC, Gateway Mall 2, GH/Greenhills Mall, and the newly-renovated SM Sta. Mesa)

And my plans for 2024?

Buy a new phone, preferably with the same specs as the Motorola Moto G 5G Plus. I’m aiming at Xiaomi or Honor, probably Samsung (or maybe other brands). I’m also considering buying a tablet, if I can find one that has better specs and/or of great value.

I’m definitely going to work on my very first novel. So far, I’m progressing a little, but hey, a progress is still a progress.

I’ll definitely need to reorganize a lot of stuff in my room, as well as the files on my PC. Might probably prepare for a possible storage upgrade (a large capacity hard drive, maybe) since I’ve downloaded tons and tons of stuff since the pandemic, not to mention that the hard drive’s three years old already.

Updating the banners on some of the posts, as well as the ones on the Tumblr site.

I’ll probably need to buy some drawers. Or some shelves.

Read a lot of books, especially manga and light novels.

Create an artwork. The canvases I bought since 2020 are still blank and could probably use some creative scribbles and drawings... or whatever.

I might need to readjust my body clock, as I tend to fall asleep at times (mostly after dinner). Probably the combined effects of disturbed circadian rhythm and sleep deprivation in the recent years.

Maybe I should try to be kinder to myself, since I tend to say and write a bunch of negative stuff (mostly about myself) nowadays. I need to keep my sanity intact, for the sake of my own happiness.

xxxxxxxxxx

2023 wasn’t really that kind to me, at least for the most part. But for some reason there are some good things to be thankful for. Well, despite the good things that happened, I still considered 2023 as the cursed year, ever.

Yup, another year has passed. And another year comes. It’s a never-ending cycle, don’t you agree? But I hope that this year will be a lot better than the previous one.

[troythecatfish]

[intersectionalpraxis]

Trevonte Helton, a 29 year old Black man, "was found hanging from a tree at High Shoal Falls in North Georgia." This man was murdered, and their quick eagerness to call this an "isolated" incident is just horrifying.

[politijohn]

Source // Two heroes from the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting were a military veteran and a trans woman (misidentified as a drag queen in the article) who stepped on the gumman with her heels.

No cops. A vet and a trans woman.

[bigfatbreak]

Does Chloe tone down her direct bullying/harassment of Marinette after that day to just the dead mom jokes out of guilt, or is it more that Marinette now being homeschooled means Chloe just lost access? Also, does Lila try the whole lying/sabotaging thing on Marinette and just fail or does Marinette just not care?

Lila has no reason to sabotage Marinette because Marinette isn't threatening her little empire she wants to build. In fact, she really wants Marinette on her side BECAUSE she's not apart of the school, so she doesn't need to keep up an elaborate web of lies! She can just try to befriend a talented girl who makes AMAZING food and try to get freebies~

meanwhile, with Chloe, things got really complicated after the pool incident...

Tom was not in the mood to put up with this crap.

[pilloclock]

FREE CONGO 🇨🇩

We have to talk about Congo as well, they are so in need of our awareness that they’re setting themselves on fire because no one cares enough !

[egophiliac]

some (extremely) quick doodles to celebrate the glorious return of glorious masquerade! I haven't had a chance to do much personal drawing lately, but I didn't want to let it go by without doing something!

[notyourtoday]

Caption on post -

Weekly roundup of all the important developments in Palestine and around the world from April 22-28. We hope this makes it easier to stay up to date in case you missed any of our daily broadcasts, the least we can do is continue to stay informed and keep talking about Gaza.

By @letstalkpalestine2 on Instagram

[cavalierzee]

As A Jew, I Have No Ancestral Rights To Palestine

"As a Jew, I have no ancestral rights to the land of Palestine. If I got a DNA test, it would show European descent.

To think that a white person would have ancestral ties to Middle Eastern land is absurd and stems from a colonizers mindset."

e_galv

[juha-art]

I believe in you, Suvi, and I believe you.

[anarcho-yorpism]

To all the communist transvestites, VOTE👏VON👏HINDENBURG👏

I'm just as radical as you; I'm a proud member of the great Social Democratic Party of Germany! I don't know what the crazy communists are telling you, but Paul von Hindenburg is our only hope to defeat the Nazis. After we elect him, then we can discuss other politics, but this is the BARE MINIMUM, and if you don't vote for him, you clearly have this crazy purity test that'll bring us all to fascism.

I know you might be worried about his "senility" and "failing health", and I know you may not like him because of his push to the right, and I know you may be worried about the brownshirts, and the recent persecution of Dr. Hirschfeld and his work, and maybe you STILL haven't gotten over the whole Rosa Luxemburg stuff,

but none of that really matters! We need to keep the SPD in power, or else Hitler will get in charge! This is the most important and most basic thing you could do to help Germany stay a democracy. In 6 years, then maybe we can find a better candidate, but no matter what you think about von Hindenburg, he's the best shot we have at keeping the fascists out of power. We can totally push him left!

Any vote against von Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler. #Hindenburg1932

[twatkcox]

[#2023]

2022 feels kind of strange, especially in the first few months. I don’t know why, but something tells me that everything is bound to get back to normal very soon.

Anyway, I managed to publish 16 posts this year compared to 6 posts from the previous year. Well, I didn’t feel like writing much, mostly due to my extreme case of procrastination along with a slight case of depression and writer’s block, but hopefully I can get my mind (and my life) back on track once again.

All right, time for me to share some of the highlights for 2022:

The year begins with an incredibly cold spell, with a lot of people suffering from coughs, colds, and/or fever. Even I caught all three of them. I was sick for a couple of days, and my sore throat and itchy cough persisted for more than a week. Worse, there was a shortage of paracetamol and other medicines for coughs and colds at the time, so it took us a while to stock up on some medicine. Luckily, we all recovered within a two-week period.

I find myself watching a lot of YouTube videos compared to the previous years I’ve been online. This is becoming a habit now, and I think I’ll probably spend at least an hour per day just to watch some videos from various YouTubers and channels.

I gradually returned to blogging after a long period of inactivity. Anyway, I published TWATKcox’s 9th anniversary post more than a week after the supposed target date. It features the things I want to do before I turn 40. I was trying to be realistic on this one, knowing that I’m gonna have a hard time fulfilling each one of them before the decade ends.

The Otaku Diaries on TWATKcox-WP will primarily feature select topics, whereas its Tumblr counterpart will handle the rest, including anime and manga reviews. So far, I’ve never written anything for the series, but I’m already working on some of them.

Earlier this year, I discovered something awesome and a potential addition to my extensive playlist, a musical project called Ginger Root, fronted by Cameron Lew.  Ever since I stumbled upon one of their songs (Loretta), I immediately become hooked by their music, which is kind of reminiscent of the Japanese city pop genre. I also loved some of their retro-styled music videos as well.

A day after April Fools’ Day (I don’t celebrate that joke holiday, thank you very much), I paid a visit to my favorite hangout spot (Lagro, Quezon City) for the first time in more than two years, and discovered two new hangout places: Daily Grind Cafe DGC, the one I visited that day, and Drip’n Cafe��which I visited a few months later. Both are located near my high school, and I’m really delighted that I’ve got additional choices for my weekend rituals, which I haven’t done in such a long time. Their offerings (especially their coffee drinks) are quite pricey, so I’ll probably reserve these for special occasions (such as holidays), or when I can splurge a lot of money without breaking the bank.

Come to think of it, I was wondering what happened to Jits Cafe, one of the milk tea/coffee shop that I frequented since 2015. During my previous visits to the newly opened coffee shop beside it, they are closed. Either they just happened to closed early (even though it’s only 4:00 PM when I got there) or they’re actually closed on that day. I’ve yet to check the dessert shop though.

At the beginning of May, the Xiaomi Mi A1 suddenly had a problem right after charging it. The phone simply wouldn’t boot to Android and recovery ROM upon rebooting, and I had a hard time figuring out how to retrieve the photos (particularly some pics from my then recent visit to Lagro, which I, unfortunately, never get to back up prior to the malfunction). I don’t know if I’ll ever get to save the photos, but I’m hoping I could recover some of it.

As the Mi A1 is slightly damaged (the SIM card/Micro SD tray is damaged and the screen is slightly raised, revealing the LED inside), my brother got me a new phone, a Motorola Moto G 5G Plus, a mid-range smartphone with a bigger battery, larger internal storage, and slightly longer screen. I initially had a hard time adjusting at first, but I got used to it, especially the finger sensor on the power button (right side). Anyway, as for the Mi A1, I’m still trying to figure out how to flash a custom ROM to it so I can finally begin retrieving the photos on that device.

In June, I managed to publish the lengthy 350th post special, Twenty Years With The Machine: From 9x to 11, which records my personal experiences with different desktop PCs, a laptop PC, and most of the Windows OS (from Windows 95 to Windows 11, but skipping Windows 2000 and Windows 8.1 for some reason).

By the beginning of July, the 2TB Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive showed signs of failure. This is where I used to store most of my files when the PC’s old hard drive failed back in 2018. Luckily I managed to transferred some of the files to a new external hard drive, a 5TB Western Digital My Passport, bought during the Lazada 7.7 sale. As of this writing, I’m still in the process of backing up the entire contents of the PC’s hard drive.

By the end of that same month, the UPS (uninterruptable power supply) showed signs of failure as well, as it can no longer power my desktop PC. So I’m back to using the AVR (automatic voltage regulator) for the time being, with a possibility of unexpected interruptions during power interruptions. It was eventually replaced by a new one by the end of September.

On September 17th, I finally get to visit the Manila International Book Fair for the first time since 2019, as well as the largest IKEA store at the Mall Of Asia Complex. It also marks my first mall-hopping trip for the first time since the pandemic.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday at home with a feast: Marugame Udon’s rice bowl meals for lunch (I had katsu curry), North Park’s braised noodles, fried rice, and spicy calamares (can’t recall what we exactly ordered) for dinner, and Kumori’s strawberry hanjuku cheesecake for my birthday cake (all of these are delivered via Grab Food). That was the most expensive birthday feast ever, but I really enjoyed it so much.

I joined Mastodon last November, though it is quite a spur-of-the-moment thing as I have no plans of leaving Twitter yet (probably never will). You know, just in case Elon Musk (the microblogging site’s new owner) did some irreparable damage to Twitter and would end up like Friendster, Multiply, and Myspace (the latter one is still active, but... meh). I love Twitter (I still do), but I wished he would focus on improving the site’s interface, not ruining it.

I’m expected to upgrade and update almost everything, from my wardrobe (some new clothes, and probably a new pair of glasses), to my bed (with a new bed frame). Also, I decide to clean my room and reorganize some of the stuff.

As much as I wanted to have a booster shot before the year ends, I’d rather wait for an appropriate vaccine, preferably the one I was inoculated with (AstraZeneca, in case you’re wondering).

For the first time, as part of the accounting firm’s first ever Christmas Party, I had fun with bowling together with the rest of the employees and a couple of interns. We had a buffet lunch afterward.

I get to spend Christmas with my mom for the second time since the pandemic, and I manage to buy a new pair of embroidered ninja socks. I haven’t been successful in buying new pairs of black slacks, which are a very crucial part of my wardrobe.

As usual, I’m not feeling up to posting my upcoming plans for 2023 due to various uncertainties. But I’m so looking forward to celebrating TWATKcox’s tenth anniversary, as well as attending the upcoming Pinoy Otaku Festival 2023: Shizen at Robinsons Novaliches and the Manila International Book Fair 2023 at the SMX Convention Center (Mall Of Asia Complex). Hopefully, I can update my wardrobe in time so I can finally go out in style once again.

The year 2022 may have brought some significant changes in my life, but I’m still miserable as hell like in the previous two years. My life is still plagued with self-doubt, anxiety, and some conflicts, but I’m trying my best to remain as optimistic as possible. Will 2023 finally put an end to this kind of misery I’m having? I really hoped so. I mean, I deserve something better after almost three years of dealing with this stupid pandemic. ‘Nuff said.

Now that the New Year celebrations are over, it’s time to live up to your New Year’s resolutions, whatever you’re aiming to achieve for this year. All right, watch out for TWATKcox’s upcoming tenth anniversary post later this month, and probably some notable posts for this year as well.

[daily-trey]

for the fans that checked daily-trey right away after they saw the news. you're the real ones

K*-fi

[intersectionalpraxis]

Ryan was also a cross-country running enthusiast who aspired to study engineering. He was murdered heartlessly -lynched by a cop, who are now trying to carefully justify this by saying HE was the violent one... Ryan was on the spectrum of autism, and he was triggered by something before his killers arrived -and although he was being calmed by his father, he became very understandably upset when the cops arrived -and instead of LEAVING Ryan alone and calling in for additional mental health support -and attempting to de-escalate the situation a cop shot him at least 3 times. WTF can a garden tool have on a fucking gun? And not only did these cops LET Ryan bleed to death on the ground, the Sheriff's department has yet to release a full, unedited bodycam video to the family.

The cops have been called a handful of times previously, so they knew Ryan had autism. These cops need to be held accountable, and there needs to be better interventions with mental health crises. Cops should NEVER be on the front lines for this. They're not educated, trained, or have the abilities to help people -especially kids and youths in vulnerable situations.

Ryan, may you rest in peace and power.

[politijohn]

Source

A third red state BLOCKS anti-trans legislation from becoming law.

Kudos to all the brave activists fighting their states hard on their bigoted legislation.

[decolonize-the-everything]