Gadget Names

When Bluetooth file-sharing became a standard for mobile phones, I didn't want to name my phone with my own name like most people do. At the time, I just finished reading the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings so I named it after one of the lesser known protagonists: Imrahil. After that, I got to the habit of naming my gadgets. There's no common source for the names. I just name them with whatever comes to mind. Here's the list:

1. Motorola V3i - Imrahil
2. Olympus C-350 Zoom - Dolon
3. Compaq Presario V3218TU - Adrahil
4. Sony PlayStation Portable 2000 - ParSniP
5. Samsung F480 - Tocco Schermo
6. IPod Shuffle - Yuffie

If I had bought an IPhone, I would have named it PersIPhone.

This post was cloned from the author's former blog. To see the original entry and readers' comments, click here.

On Poker and Red Horse

The first time I played poker was in March 2007 when I visited my brother in New Jersey. He brought me to a party with his Cebu friends and after the eating and the talking and the many kumustahans, the group decided to spend the night playing Texas Hold 'Em Poker. It was a play-and-learn session and I immediately got addicted to the game. Luckily the poker set belonged to my brother and when we went home after the party, we had a little game of our own until dawn. When everybody went to sleep, I immediately googled for the complete set of rules.

The next day, we went for a tour to West Point Military Academy and passed by Walmart on our way home. Guess what, I found a 300-chips poker set with 2 decks of cards and an aluminum briefcase for $20. Unsay dugayan, palit dayon!

When I got back to Cebu, I wasted no time in calling my drinking buddies and teaching them the game. It became the start of a weekly gathering. Every Saturday night, we would meet, buy our favorite Red Horse, and then play and drink and play and drink and play and drink and play until everyone becomes too drunk to read the cards and count the chips. I miss those nights.

In Singapore, beer isn't as cheap and Red Horse isn't as tasty. Lahi ra gyud ang patid sa kabayo sa ato. The only time I can play poker is when I'm logged on to Facebook which I haven't done for a few months now. It's just not the same when you're playing with real money and real friends...

This post was cloned from the author's former blog. To see the original entry and readers' comments, click here.

What's with the Name?

I have always thought of starting my own blog when I leave the Philippines, thinking that I'll have more time for myself, but to my dismay, it's the other way around. I don't know why but it feels like time flies so fast here in Singapore and weekends just whiz past you. You wake up and realize that it's Monday again. So here I am, almost 7 months later, and I finally found a few minutes to set this thing up. As my first post, I'll explain the name I chose for this blog:

The Lorong of Dodong

Lorong is the Indonesian for alleyway which simply stands for a narrow street in a city (source here). It is commonly used in street names in Singapore and it rhymes with my nickname so the whole phrase has a nice ring to the ears (mine, at least).

This blog will be an account of whatever comes to my thoughts - ideas (bright, crazy, or stupid), happenings, opinions, plans, observations, emotions... anything - and reading this will be like taking a stroll in the alleyways of my mind. You'll get to know more of what goes on behind my timid, quiet, and serious façade.

So that's it, I hope you'll enjoy your time in the Lorong of Dodong. I will be happy to read your comments.

This post was cloned from the author's former blog. To see the original entry and readers' comments, click here.