Let me get this out of the way: I freakin’ hate social networking sites. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t get a grip on how these sites became so massively popular. In my entire internet life I maintained 2 accounts: Friendster and MySpace. Friendster because it’s the social network of choice for most Filipinos and all my high school and college friends are there. MySpace because, well, it’s MySpace. I rarely check those 2 accounts unless I receive a notice on my inbox that I have a new something. I refuse to sign-up to any more as countless invitations arrive on my mailbox goes directly to the trash or the spam folder. Then came Virb.

I first heard about Virb while listening to a recent episode of MacBreak Weekly. I became curious and decided to check it out. The homepage alone shows that it’s a “cool” site, with featured prominent artists and a nicely-designed layout. Signing up is a breeze and I’m creating my profile in no time.

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I haven’t been updating this blog that much because I’m still looking for my “blogger identity”. I mean, I’ve been blogging for more than 3 years now but that’s just mostly about my personal life and that was my teenage angst writing. Now that I’m planning to make this sort of like my portfolio site, I don’t think it’s appropriate to write personal stuff anymore. That’s it, I’m not writing personal stuff anymore. I don’t want people to know what I’m up to.

Having said that, I just created my very own Twitter account. Since I don’t want people to know what I’m up to, I don’t want them to visit this link.

I wanna go home. Badly. A lot of people are saying how lucky I am to be here while they are working their fresh college graduate ass off. I want to be one of them. I want to work again and at the very least have a purpose in life. I’m not really sure what to do though and I’m a bit worried that I already forgot how to write a single line of code.

I hate living far from the city. I guess I wouldn’t hate it that much if only I had a car. I guess people here haven’t gone out and actually walk to somewhere instead of driving. Some of them drive to the next block to order a Big Mac at the drive thru at McDonald’s and be obese. It wouldn’t be the case if I’m staying in San Francisco as people there actually walk and take public transportation.

I hate that I look like a 15-year old kid here. Guys my age are all tall and buff and looking all good in college while I’m short (5′7″ actually and that’s kinda short here) and skinny and have to ask for an XS size shirt whenever I go shopping. The only benefit I get from looking like a kid is I pay the youth fare on the bus which is almost a dollar less than adult.

What’s keeping me from actually hopping on a plane back to Manila is I know that I’m gonna miss all of this when I get home and we’re going to Disneyland on May. Don’t wanna miss it.

If I were a contestant on the Amazing Race, I would probably be eliminated early if we ever have to board buses. Why is that? Read on.

For those who didn’t know, city buses here in the US (and other countries as well) work differently than buses in the Philippines. In Manila, we’re used to just telling the driver if we want to board off the bus and he will gladly stop, even in the middle of the road, not minding the other cars and the bright pink bus waiting sheds. Buses here are organized and efficient but really inconvenient for us not used to it.

I wanted to watch Night at the Museum today and the only nice theater here in our area is Century 25 in Union City. Everyone I can ask to take me there went off to work so I’m left with no other option but to take the bus.

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Today, I’m launching the new markBlog with tons of new stuffs and a fresh new look. I don’t want to bore you with details so let me get to my first post.

I’m here in my uncle’s place in Newark, CA, taking a rest after an uncomfortable flight from Manila to San Francisco. My head is pretty much beaten up, having not been able to sleep and breathing recycled air for more than 10 hours.

Having planned this trip for months, I was so more than looking forward to spending time here. We took Eva Air and I got to say their service is somewhat nice considering how low their ticket prices were compared to other airlines. There were no personal screens on economy seats which made the flight almost unbearable and all they show on on board screens are crappy movies (Step Up?). What made the flight more horrible is because my mom and I got the window and middle seat while a creepy stranger is on the aisle. Two hours into the flight after eating our meals, I started feeling that I wanted to pee and the guy on the aisle is pretty much sleeping comfortably. I lost count on how many times I tried to excuse myself but he just wouldn’t wake up. I ended up holding it for 6 hours, that is when he decided to wake up, thinking the flight attendants were already serving meals.

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