The Year in Collecting

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's the fact that I'm a collector (a mild version of a hoarder hehehe). I collect anything that fascinates me -lenticular photos, autographs, commemorative bills/coins, glow in the dark stuff, arcade tokens, foreign currencies, sneakers, candy/chocolate dispenser, stamps, flashlight, business cards (WTH!), tickets . I'm not a big collector though, I can't afford it. The stuff I mentioned, I have very few it may not even qualify to be called a collection. Still, I collect them whenever I could. There are priority collections, they are: Music box, books, and Ellen stuff. Out of the three, books won the number this year, I think I've bought a record number of books, (32) which is not much either, but still, for an average reader like me, I feel that's a lot. Most of the gifts I gave out to my niece and nephews are books too. I'm hoping that I could encourage and promote a culture of reading in my family. But I kinda hate this attitude I have when I keep on buying more even when I still have towering titles yet to read. I pledged over and over that I won't buy another one till I've read the other books I bought earlier, yet I keep on breaking them anyway. I'm an impulsive buyer. I guess it will be part of my new year's resolution to reduce my expenditure.

Books on the queue for 2013 reading hehehe

My music box consumption had also waned, I realized that I can't completely quit the toy collection, I had to compromised a reasonable bargain with myself. So the deal is, I should only order twice a year. One is for Christmas and one for my birthday. But can you imagine, I would scour the internet for music box all year round, and when the time comes, I'll choose the one I like the most, it's like a selection process.

This is what I got for Christmas (I bought it sometime in September as an advance Christmas present). This music box has all the elements I like - a Panda, a Santa, a blonda (blonde kid hehehe). Despite the Christmas design, it plays a non-Christmas song, but one of my favorite music - The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. I love the details of the figure, you can expect nothing less from Enesco. The music box is manufactured by Sankyo, another top name in quality, the sound is crisp and right on.

So yeah, it's not an absolute cessation. I know for sure that I've stopped buying any action figures, gashapon or die casts, but once in a while, I'd break the promise. But I've matured and have become really picky. I think about the future use and worth of what I'm buying. I'd like to think I am more reasonable now. Like when I decided to get a view master. It's an out of date toy, but I believe Mattel is still manufacturing them. We used to have one when we were kids, my dad got it for Oliver, but we take turns in using it. I decided to get one so my niece and nephews can enjoy some old toys that we used to enjoy. I got a 1950's model of the view master made of bakelite. I figured, the older the better, it has more stories and it's a good way to avoid made in China products (I try to avoid them as much as possible due to political reason, nothing against the Chinese people). I have 13 reels so far, 10 are scenes of old American TV shows like Mighty Mouse and Rin Tin Tin, and 3 our scenic spots in Japan. I plan to get more scenic reels next year. I'm hoping to use it to educate my niece and nephew of our beautiful planet.

Another thing I stopped collecting is the the Starbucks sticker for the Starbucks planner, years ago. For 6 years, Starbucks had always been my planner "provider", but collecting it has lost its charm on me. Everybody's going for it, even my sister, the competition just got boring. Besides, I've switched to tea. I still love Starbucks and sometimes I still have their coffee beverages, but I'm not getting their planner anymore. I decided to get something more practical and more appropriate for my usage. I realized how fun it is to look for the perfect planner. I found the perfect planner for me from Yeah Just You journals.

    

It's small and waaayyy cheaper, designed with a year, monthly and weekly planner, there's a space for budget planning (which I love), the weekly planning space has a weather indicator, there are blank spaces at the back which gives you freedom to doodle, it's colorful and cute I think I'm solved! Until I saw the Free Speech Publication journal, too late! But next year I'd love to have that one. Smartphone and tablets don't work for me, I like writing things down and i love to doodle, I think planners would be a yearly thing for me for the long run.

Speaking of gadgets, I also got me a copy of the last print issue of Newsweek. TIME's biggest rival has gone all digital, I think it's only a matter of "time" before they go the same direction. I'm not really a fan or follower of Newsweek, but I'm such a sucker for commemorative stuff like this (hoarder instinct kicks in). Both magazines, however, were my staple companion in the library when I was in college. So yeah, I may be crazy and all over anime and all those Japanese stuff at the time, but I kinda knew what's going on. In a way, it gave me a sentimental reason to get the issue for my collection.

In a way, I feel like my collecting (or hoarding) habit have toned down this year, I hope to keep it lower next year. I plan to shift my priorities to collective initiatives. I pray that I'll have the discipline to do that.

Cassette Orgel

Hey, do you know that trend in Facebook where you post the number one song the week you were born? Mine was Down Under by Men at Work. I'm not exactly a fan, but I do like some of their songs. I am a fan, though, of the 80s and 90s music, probably the best era in music for someone who grew up on those years. At the time, there were no ipods and itunes, no youtube singing sensations, and very few singing talent competitions. But back then, music made a lot of sense (IMHO). We had Walkman though, and cassette tapes.

Ahhh the cassette tape... up until the new millennium (Y2K) I used them to collect songs. I couldn't afford to buy the official albums, I had blank tapes instead. On weekends, I stayed up late to wait for my favorite songs in the radio so I can record them in my tapes. Sometimes, I'd record a talk in between songs, pretending to be a DJ playing a fan request song. Then I used them to record anime songs too. It sounds so primitive, but TVs don't come with a tape recorder, so what I did was place the cassette recorder beside the TV and hit the record button once the opening or ending theme plays. The ending song was a bummer, sometimes, the network stations won't finish the song, in a hurry to start the new program.

Then, way way back from my childhood, when my dad was working overseas, because we had no telephone, we communicate through letters and cassette tapes. We recorded our messages in blank tapes and send them to my dad. I had no idea where those tapes are now, it would have been great to find them and hear what my voice sounded like. Kids today are so luck that they'll get to see their videos of their formative years when they become adults.

I no longer have my cassette tapes. Maybe I do, maybe they are somewhere here. I never knew what happened to them. Just like any normal human, I moved on with the evolution of music medium. I listen to music through my CD player, laptop or smartphone. What I do have though, as a tribute to the music era that I love so much, is a cassette tape music box.

Sorry if I fooled you, this is another music box appreciation post, LOL. But this is great I tell you. The cassette orgel was manufactured by Takara Co., Ltd. and was designed by Yasuyuki Moriyama. The orgel mechanism, which is smaller than most music boxes around, is encased in a cassette tape. The spools spin when you wind up the music box, very similar to a real cassette tape when played. This music box plays Akai Sweet Pea by Seiko Matsuda, dubbed as the "Eternal Pop Idol" of Japan. The song was a big hit in the early 80s and was covered nunmerous times by different artists, even Patti Austin!

I'm not sure if I've heard it covered by some of the Jpop artists I know or was featured on any anime but the music song is very familiar. I find it kinda similar to Satou Akemi's (Fushigi Yuugi) Shiawase Ni Naroune.

Because of my attachment to the 80s and 90s, and its cuteness, this is one of my favorite music box.

Pinball tale

What's the best way to kill time while waiting for someone at the mall? Hands down, it's gotta be pinball! If you're like me, that is *shrug*

I'm not a fan or anything like it by the way. But I like hanging out at Timezone. It's just that, it's one of those free games I can play when I'm out of credits. It's kinda odd though, that in this age of digital video games, you'd see one pinball machine in every Timezone outlet. Who plays pinball in this era anyway?

The funny thing is, I play it, even though I don't really know the mechanics and all. What I know is, I have to keep the pinball rolling using the flippers in each side of the machine. I know that my numbers keep counting everytime the ball hits something. I love it when the ball enters a tunnel and something lights up, then my score keeps going up too. I don't know how many balls I have left when I drop one and I don't know just how many bonus balls am I supposed to get. The important thing is, it keeps me preoccupied.

After a while though, I just want to give up. When will it end? How many more do I have left? I think played enough, I'd just let the balls drop until the screen shows "GAME OVER". And why am I not surprised to get the highest score?

But after earning the title for the highest score, guess what? As a prize, I get one more credit to give me a chance to top my rank. No way man, I'm leaving. I hope a random player takes advantage of the unused credit tough teehee.

23 years ago...

So I saw an old picture of me, dated February '88, that my mom sent to my dad when he was still working in Saudi:

And it read: Dear Daddy, Here's Miss Japan of Tanay, Rizal.

Take note that my mom wrote this. Hmmmm.... now it figures hehehe

Here's another text message that reminded me of the Oooold days and made me smile from ear to ear!

"They said that you didn't pass childhood if you didn't have a taste of Santan's nectar"

Bwahaha! Why is that I asked? I don't remember starving to death. Why in the world would I go for a raw flower's nectar. Maybe because of my brothers. Tsk! They had so much influence over my behavior. I haven't seen any Santan flower since high school...

80s and 90s thingie...

I received a forwarded text message from a friend that goes on like this:

Are you part of the late 80s and early 90s era?

- you know Shaider, Bioman, Maskman, Masked Rider Black and Optimus Prime

- you know the Nano-nano jingle

- you played 10-20

- you know the universal song "uwian na" (it's time to go home")

- you danced Macarena and Boombastic

- you know the meaning of "time first"

- you put Pritos Ring in your fingers

- you have a pencil case with so many buttons to press

Then that means you're old!

Hell yeah I'm getting old and I don't realy deny it. I have to admit that I hate it though. What makes this notion really depressing for me is the fact that at this age, I'm still a nobody. I haven't achieved anything that I can really be proud of. Oh well...

I'd like to put some other details about the text message though

- I also watched (and liked) Turbo Ranger, Fiveman, Machine Man, Poseidon and various Ultraman series

- I really liked the Nano-nano candy especially the purple, orange and green flavor. They tasted like umeboshi (sweeeeeet, sour and salty....what it does to meeeeehhh... nano nano, nano nano...)

- I also played chinese garter despite the fact that I really sucked on it hehehe

- I didn't dance Macarena or Boombastic but I know the dance steps since they were really popular that time

- Damn those pencil cases, they were like a status symbol of the students LOL!

I also realized that before I got addicted to anime, I've watched a lot of them during this era (Voltes V, Daimos, Cedie, Mary and the Family Bontrap, Sarah, Remi (boy version), Peter Pan, Heidi, Georgie, Charlotte, Poly Anna, Anne of Green Gables, Romeo, Marco, Julio & Julia, Robin Hood, Zenki, B't X, Saber Marionette, Sailor Moon, etc.)

Oh yeah, I've got addicted to komiks other than Funny Komiks before. I just can't remember the titles because I don't really follow any series back then. I read one shot stories. I remember when I was in grade 4, I save at least P1-2 from my allowance so I can go to the public market after school and rent komiks. There were stalls in the public market where you can sit and read various selection of komiks for only 50c/issue. But I cheated because I read more than what I paid for since there's really no way that the vendors would know because there are too many customers. Back then I really enjoyed fantasy stories. I think I owe my knowledge about the Philippine myth icons (manananggal, duwende, engkanto, tikbalang, etc.) from komiks.

It's a little frustrating that this form of Phil. Lit have died. I think cable TV killed it. There are a lot of local comics available nowadays but most are really trying hard to capture the manga (art and story) style. I'm addicted to manga but what's wrong to use our own style? I mean the komiks style.

My friend, who is a teacher, tells me how she could feel the generation gap between her and her students. She told me how different students are nowadays. They hardly ever read the books for their assignment, they always realy on the internet and that they are too caught up with their mobile phones and gadgets. When we were on higschool (we're not classmates but we're from the same era), the bonding moments of different groupies would be playing guitar and singing. And who can forget the "songhits". I never bought one back then but I remember borrowing from my classmates hehehe....

How can life be so simple back then?