Jethy's Multiply Site

The moment I saw it on the Gucci catalog online, it hit me. It was love at fist sight. That's the bicycle I've been wishing I had. Not that it was Gucci, mind you, but I've always loved that classic cruiser design, and it was red. It looks and feels nostalgic as a radio flyer would. Of course the Gucci saddle bags looks really really great on it too. In the last couple of years being infatuated with this kind of bike, I've been trying to think-up the whole logistics of having one.. like taking it to work for example. Never a better time than now you see, now that I live much closer to work. The challenge was mostly concerning storage. Where to leave it while working? Can I take it up the apartment? How about on weekends when I go home to my folks? I would probably need a bike rack... and many other thoughts in those lines.

In passing by bike shops and looking through internet pages of cruiser photos, I also would stumble upon folding bikes. Going through the Dahon site (and other brands like Brompton) convinced me that I should probably consider folding bikes instead. Though the popular brands aren't common here, I have come across some generic china or japan made ones. Something that's definitely cheaper than known brands but sure to be slightly heavier and less advanced. Last week I found and purchased this bike at Toby's Sport Shop:

Kitkat (I so named after Kit of Knight Rider because it springs forth from the rear of my car when needed), is small at 16" wheels (typical folding utility bike size) and is single-speed only. On our first ride together from the office to my apartment, it felt like I needed to put a lot of effort on pedaling. When I got to the apartment, I thought I was going to faint on the elevator ride up! Biking didn't feel like this long ago and I realized how terribly unfit I've become.  That, or this bike really needed a reconfiguration. In the following days I just paced my pedaling and not overexert myself. Then on lunch and afternoon breaks I read-up on the technical aspects bicycle gearing and thought that maybe I should upgrade my chainring. That should give me more speed for the same cadence, I said. I was proven wrong when, upon the suggestion of my brother, I try out my Dad's mountain bike. After testing out different pairings of chainring and rear sprocket sizes, I realized that it isn't speed I need but ease of pedaling. So off to the nearest bike shop I went to have my rear sprocket upgraded. I had also planned for a change of handlebars, by the way, since it was too close to straight and short for me and I wanted to sit as upright as possible (Sobra ba OC?). And, voila! The end result is Kitkat 2.0.


Oh one more thing... one unplanned upgrade was the seat. While waiting for the replacement handlebar and sprocket to get installed, I caught sight of a pretty seat with silver design details. It perfectly matched Kitkat's black and silver color scheme.

Having Kitkat doesn't necessarily mean I give up all desires to own a cruiser bike someday. I think it's a classic piece to have, even if I don't have a practical use for it right now.

This is a sweet and funny little story I got from the Lion Brand newsletter for this week. Something to pick a lesson from, whether it's marriage or crochet.

A man and a woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000. He asked her about the contents.

"When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

"Honey," he said "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?"

"Oh, that?" she said. "That's the money I made from selling the dolls."

Patterns:
Amigurumi Crochet 'Shelly' Doll (left)
Amigurumi Crochet 'Bryan' Doll (right) 

we've been burglarized yesterday. here at our home, south of the city, sometime in the late afternoon towards the late evening. my mom lost a considerable amount of money and some jewelry. all the spare keys to all our vehicles are missing. the scaled-model evo 7 which i gave my brother MJ for his birthday last year was also taken, my brother CJ lost of his eyewear, my US-based aunt's costume jewelry which dates back from the 60's are gone, and lastly my dad lost his magic-sing karaoke microphone. so far i've not lost anything. nothing else is missing, fortunately (which i hope, remains that way). my 2 old canon film cameras were not stolen. the desktop computer, printer, the video players, they're still here.

last night, even if my body was tired and wanted to sleep, but my mind was racing from the anxiety of this incident, and i was actually up until about 03h00. in the 28 years we've lived here, we've always believed that these four walls we call our home was impenetrable. then this one incident will change things overnight. literally.

my mom heard from the neighbors that they think they saw a heavily tinted white car parked outside our house yesterday, and a taxi cab sometime last tuesday. our van usually parks outside on the street, but when my parents are out to work, our neighbor's van takes its place. on her return from grocery shopping last tuesday she noticed the cab parked there but doesn't seem to have any business being there. she actually asked to move. yesterday, another neighbor who just came home from work saw a man in the garage, starting up one of my brother's bikes. Since both bikes were there, the neighbor thought that my bro was already home and had a guest with him. CJ had a planned visit to some broadcasting company yesterday to checkout a casting call for martial artists, and decided not to bring a bike because it would be difficult for him to bring his costume and jianshu sword all the way out to QC on one.

these crooks seems to be pros who know how to scheme and pick out a target. who or what tipped them off? are they neighbors, former employees who were fired for stealing, the guy who sold us the property in silang (whom i heard squandered his family's money that was made from the sale), tricycle drivers who come in and out of the village, or people who just really scope out targets for a living? crimes of theft go up with the coming of the holidays. with the recent news of car theft on tv, we've all been a bit cautious about driving out on late nights. little did we know that we'd be targets in our own home. for us it doesn't stop there, because of the theft of our spare vehicle keys, all of our rides can be targets at any time of the day. it's upsetting, really. whilst house locks can all be easily replaced, for car locks and security systems it's going to be a little more difficult and costly. the keyless entry units will have to be replaced, for one. for CJ's bike #1, both primary and spare keys were stolen, so now we have no key at all for it. if i may play hero in my head, am really going to beat the lights out of these lowlife beings once i get my hands on them, but it is always best to leave this things to the authorities. the baranggay and municipal cops have been notified, btw. no sophisticated crime scene investigation going on tho. it's disheartening. right now we can only wait, wonder, and be vigilant.

i want to go to my regular wushu practice this afternoon, but i don't know if i should take my car. i could take the public transport, but am worried about leaving my personal and office computing devices at home. sure, no criminal will go back to the scene of the crime that soon, but who knows? i could just stay put, but with that last thought, maybe i shouldn't. i am in much confusion and i do really want to leave. to escape.

darn it.

pwede na rin 

in no particular order...

10 things you like:
1. chocolates
2. cooking, and watching my favorite cooking shows
3. walking barefoot and, ironically, shoes
4. playing a sonnata in my head
5. dogs
6. wikipedia
7. taking pictures
8. techy gadgets and playing computer games
9. reading and book shopping
10. soaking in warm water

3 things that make you happy:
1. sleeping all morning
2. hugs from The Beau Wonder
3. doing crafts

3 things that anger you:
1. rude drivers, especially those who take up more than one slot when they park, and practically all bus and taxi drivers.
2. rude cell-phone users, especially in theatres and in meetings
3. "gold-diggers" and social-climbers

10 things that you hate:
1. bad english (only for people who have been taught english at school) and fake twangs
2. people who WrITe LYk Dis
3. ampalaya, a.k.a. bitter gourd
4. vague people
5. doing laundry and ironing (tho i would rather iron than do laundry)
6. women who can't stop yappin about stupid things and sound like minnie mouse
7. the filthy rich who think money is the answer to everything
8. once-a-month paydays
9. offline ATMs
10. men with terrible or no manners

3 facts about your name:
1. my mom wanted Abegail and my dad wanted Jaqueline (or Jacklyn), and he won. when the doctor asked for my name on the day i was born, my dad changed it to my present name at the last minute.
2. my nickname growing up was (and to my relatives it still is) Dindin. Jeth is the nickname i adapted in college so that everybody would stop calling me Ge, Ging, or Gigi.
3. i have only one name unlike my brothers who both have two names

5 facts about yourself:
1. i am late most of the time
2. i play the violin
3. i am not the typical girly-girl
4. i am easily distracted (i think i may have ADD)
5. i am multilingual

2 things you expect (at least for now):
1. prosperity
2. contentment

4 random thoughts:
1. i should call my landlady that i'm going home to my parents tonght.
2. the next payday seems oh so far away.
3. how come when installing software in Mac OS X it seems like it's mounting the application like a drive.
4. i should get going.

song you're listening to (give singer):
sleeps with butterflies by tori amos

time:
18:55

10 people you'll tag this to:
i don't have 10. just anyone who's bored at the moment.

it would be nice if i could go to wushu class donned in a traditional wushu uniform just as my classmates do, instead of the usual sweatpants and T-shirt. just to make it look a lot more real. but instead of my classmates' maroon ensemble, i am going to follow my brother's footsteps in coming up with my own personal costume. my brother designed and created a black shaolin-style ensemble for himself, and for myself i thought of going blue (coz i don't think maroon suits me). the drawings at right are drawn by him according to my specifications.

the girl on the left wears a shaolin inspired piece, which is also inspired by maggie cheung's character "flying snow" in the movie "Hero." the robe-vest, sash, and bottoms will be made of a silk-like sheer fabric. the inner garment is a wrap-around blouse made out of a soft see-through fabric, which can be worn without the outer piece. i will also have a sash made out of the same fabric, apart from the blue one.

the girl on the left wears a cheongsam inspired piece although the top garment will be made out of white linen rather than a silk-like one for comfort reasons. this ensemble will be worn on the usual weekends when i'd like my outfit to be less theatrical. especially when the gym air-conditioning is not working properly and everyone starts to notice it after an hour of doing each of our forms.

 

Your brain: 60% interpersonal, 120% visual, 80% verbal,  and 140% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoydoing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers. Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes.  Still, I offer the following advice,  which I think is obvious: Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%. Don't have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 37% on interpersonal You scored higher than 61% on visual You scored higher than 54% on verbal You scored higher than 61% on mathematical

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on OkCupid Free Online Dating