geek – Bookmarked!

I’ve had “Train Man” on my shelf for a while now, and finally cracked open the plastic this weekend. Mainly out of desperation: I was in sore need of grown-up conversation after spending an entire day with a seven-year old (I like kids well enough, but how do moms do it?!?) and got some blessed reading time while the kiddo was still happily occupied by the paint markers I had laid out on the table.

So, anywayyyy… Purported to be based on a true story on the Japanese message board 2channel, “Train Man” by Nakano Hitori features a painfully shy otaku (Train Man) whose life takes on a different turn when a young woman sends him a thank you gift for saving her from a drunken pervert on the train.

Continue reading “Train Man”

Geek Fighting is Manila’s latest sport. What’s a book geek to do? :D

(First published in Manila Bulletin, Students and Campuses Section)

The trivia culture has invaded Manila!

Pub quizzes, the quaint British tradition of publicly matching wits and exchanging useless information over drinks and bar chow, have been a great addition to the social scene around the city. On any given week, you’re bound to find one or two trivia showdowns in bars around the metro, and for geeks such as myself, the glory of being the geekiest of them all proves to be difficult to resist.

I’d heard about Geek Fight for some time now, and I’d always intended to join, as I’ve never been known to back down from any geeky challenge. So when I chanced upon the Facebook page calling for an all-Pinoy Geek Fight Friday of last week, I was determined to give it a good try.

On Friday night, the ragtag team I assembled met up at the Quantum Café in Makati for what (save for two of the members) was our first foray into Geek Fight: me, my cousin Dianne, our book club friends Czar and Marie (a writer and a geodetic engineer), my office’s finance officer Ate Chi, my lawyer friend Ryan (also a political science teacher), my long-time friend Joseph (who works in advertising), and his pal Norman (a banker).

Continue reading “Geek Fight!”