So I went ahead and bought number 2 in my planner wishlist two days ago — This Journal Will Actually Change Your Life!!!”, and I must say that I’m pleased with my choice, and it’s not at all disappointing from what the website shows. :D Before the pictures, Let me take you through my grueling decision-making process:

Abby —> pretends to think about it —> goes to Powerbooks —> acquires planner

Okay, quite frankly it was a no-brainer for me. The fact that I couldn’t see any pics or talk of the Go Nuts planner made me think that it probably wasn’t all that, so I pretty much made a bee line for this planner haha.

Now, to add valuable content to the Great Intarweb we all know and love (and because I told Columbia I’d post pics) here you go!

Black white and brown, they got one of my favorite color schemes down. :D

Calendar.

A sad day for the world. But more interestingly (by no means more importantly) the day of Thomas Crapper — inventor of the toilet flush we take for granted now. That’s an unfortunate name, but anyway, let us all flush our crappers in unison on January 27.

And this made me feel even better about buying it. Kudos to them. :]

The facts inside are pretty interesting, but from what I remember the Go Nuts planner was sorta like this last year, unusual holidays and all. Now for the record, I did visit Go Nuts Donuts to check the planner. And, hmm… let’s just say that IMO it’s just right for Php270. Nothing special, but okay if you just want a food-brand planner. :P

I can feel my life changing already. Gasp!

And when I say everyone, I mean including me! I’m not the type of person who buys stuff expensive because of names (though to be fair, they tend to have good quality) but darn did I want that Starbucks planner. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem all that good from what I gather, and when I saw the picture from Pinoyfood, I was kinda relieved!

Believe it or not, I was contemplating treating my officemates to coffee just to get this, but for the cover design, not worth it for me (Hey, if you think it’s good, then whatever floats your boat. :D). The designs inside aren’t so bad, but Mary says it sucks so at that price, I’d rather not. Haha.

Now, that still doesn’t break my resolve to get a good planner. I saw the Belle De Jour ones and while I do get why they say they’re nice… not my thing I guess, and I can’t really tell why. You guys might find it pretty though, so clicky click if you want.

Now I have 2 options. No, not the Moleskine ones — I seriously do not get it. No really, someone please explain to me what the big deal is about Moleskines, I’m curious. Lulz. But anyway, being the cheap (lol) paper-loving person I am, my 2 options as of now are

1. The Go Nuts Disorganizer. I haven’t seen it yet, but I saw Columbia’s 2008 disorganizer was cute! If it’s anything like that, and please say it’s brown, I want.
2. This Journal Will Actually Change Your Life!!! 2009. Yes, that’s what it’s called. It’s from Free Speech Publications, and though it looks pretty decent on the website, I have yet to see the actual one. I’m gonna try looking for it, I hope it’s still in stock.

The best thing about those planners is — you can buy them! Wonder of wonders!

Quite frankly, when I use calendars for work I prefer ones printed out on paper or on a wall (preferably both), because they’re more accessible and you don’t have to flip pages to see them. This, in theory, would be for personal use rather than for work, buuuuuut I don’t really plan my weeks too much. I’m guessing I won’t be doing my future planner any justice.

But I like paper, so don’t judge me. :)

My first attempt at making a Plurk theme, hurrah! Of course, I didn’t do the CSS from scratch. Despite the many revisions I had to make to the timeline background, I still like how this one turned out. A dark theme with bright highlights, for the love of music, with a hint of oldschool.

For kicks, I’m sharing this theme here. You can see it in action on my own Plurk profile. Thanks to Columbia btw for the constructive criticism! :]

I’ve been wallowing in the sad thought that despite having credit cards, I can’t use them for online shopping. Why? Because they’re not really mine — “supplementary” is the new word for “haha you’re still mooching off your mom’s account”, so basically what I have are plastic cards.

Anyway, despite my wallowing, I still like to torture myself by looking at online shops and stuff, juuuust to toy with the slight possibility. I forgot how exactly, but looking around brought me to this here beauty.

Mmm, doesn’t it just make you want to grab a fork and knife and dig in? Or be sick, whichever. This is no victim of a crazy music-loving cook, apparently it’s art. Now I’ve never been one for art appreciation (beyond traditional and digital), because really, modern art confuses me. So if you can see the hidden beauty in this one, please help my poor art-ignorant eyes see it.

But now I’m thinking — this could probably still make a good gift. That’s how messed-up people are. Haha!

News you may or may not know — Osama Bin Laden recently ordered an attack “far greater than the 9/11 attacks” set for the near future, according to a supposed inside source. Al-Qaida’s second-in-command Al-Zawahri recently called Obama a “house negro” and “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans”.

While you (and that little voice in my head) may be thinking “so what?”, I’m gonna share something I think is interesting. I think that everyone’s still so euphoric about Obama’s victory, that none of this really matters. Obama is now Superman, the savior, the one who’ll make the boogeymen go away. Al-Zawahri’s statement is reduced to meaningless propaganda to mar Obama’s image. Osama bin Laden’s threat isn’t even making as many headlines as you’d normally expect. Nobody’s talking about it at work, but then again you’d sooner see a dozen paper planes flying across the room than hear people talk about politics there.

Anyway, I think people have counted the years since 9/11 as a sign that Osama bin Laden is no longer relevant, or perhaps just feel such a strong sense of security that what the news says must be an exaggeration. A strange figure of speech, a misinterpretation even.

But is it really? I don’t claim to know more than average about this topic, but I am wondering why the threat seems to be downplayed. These days, you can’t even say the word “bomb” in an airport, so this to me doesn’t add up.

What about Iran? Its continued refusal to cooperate with IAEA, arguing that they won’t “succumb to bullying” and insisting that they are acting according to their rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, blah blah you all know the story — so how can they honestly expect people to believe that they have nothing to hide? Well, the sanctions seem to be doing more harm than good without actual serious penalties for non-compliance. I mean, if it were true that they were doing something fishy, I don’t think trade sanctions would stop them now that they’ve gone this far.

And yet, I can’t blame the US for taking its stance. Ahmadinejad was right when he said a preemptive (or any) attack would be a stupid move, not to mention a pain to justify (based on our experience with the Iraq invasion), and yet with Israel’s scared out of its wits, there’s a lot of pressure to do something. Now, anyone who’s been following the news knows all this, but let me get to my point (finally!).

Despite pressure from Israel, it seems that given the current situation, the US will not initiate anything other than negotiations — “unconditional” ones at that. Even though it makes sense, I am convinced that something big is gonna happen in the very near future, and if the US isn’t going to start it, the other parties will. These things don’t just happen and die down on their own, now do they? This is very similar to the situation that drove the Iraq invasion — Al-Qaeda attacks, US can’t find the terrorist so they pick on someone else. Of course, it’s pretty clear that Obama is no Bush, but I’d say that makes it more interesting. ;)

So I recently got hooked on Plurk, in case that isn’t already evident. Safe to say that right now, Plurk is giving me what was apparently lacking in my Twitter experience. Lacking, you ask? Well, Twitter did a mighty fine job in the micro-blogging business, but that was just about it for me. On the other hand, Plurk manages to tip-toe up from the realm of micro-blogging to more of social networking, so I think a bit of assessment is in order.

For starters, Plurk gives you more credit for updating your profile information — the fact that they give you credit (see: karma) at all gives it a huge advantage. The feel seems more similar to Facebook feeds than it does to Twitter, because it’s more flexible with the type of content a user can “plurk”. Heck, it even seems more similar to a multiplayer game, what with the points and all. And ultimately, looking at the Plurk timeline actually makes you feel like you’re part of a social network, and non-linear replying seals the deal for me.

But what does Twitter have over Plurk? The blue bird. Let’s face it, save the yellow platypus thing, Plurk creatures are butt-ugly.

But seriously, I think Twitter does have some advantages over Plurk. The very thing that seems to have Twitter left behind is actually it’s strongest advantage to many people — simplicity. And I have a few of my own concerns. Though I’m certainly not at that point, what happens when you get hundreds of friends? Should you be forced to “un-follow” them to avoid a cluttered timeline? Does it end up using way more of a user’s time than what it’s worth? Will no 3rd party tool come to rescue it from the website?

It’s for these reasons that I’m not truly confident in Plurk’s shelf life. After all, from what I see, most if not all social networks reach their saturation point. After that they slowly fade away — or others take their place. I wonder what (or when) Plurk’s downfall is gonna be?

Click it.

I CAN REST (and chat more) NOW.

I’m not going to work tomorrow yay! Well technically I shouldn’t considering I just finished working from home and it’s 2:31 AM. I really must be insane.

Btw I’m joining NaNoWriMo! I know I’m late but I really really think I can do it. And SHOULD do it, for my sanity’s sake. I hope I finish! :]