The No Excuses Netbook
Since the demise of Archangel, I’ve been in the market for a new laptop. I am a huge Mac fan, but the price is well out of my league for now. All I really needed was a machine to write with and give presentations on. After a few months of canvassing, I settled for the HP Mini 1000.
I got it barely-used from Zane who won it in a raffle. I settled for HP because of its keyboard. Since I’ll be using it for writing most of the time, I wasn’t keen on struggling with baby keys. I’ve tried two other netbooks before and found myself often frustrated with the keyboard size. I still need to get used to the HP Mini keyboard, but it isn’t as frustrating.
The HP1000 is the old model, hence limited battery (2 cel battery, allowing for 2-3 hours battery time) but it does the job just fine. Best of all, it fits in my daybag! I’ll be blogging a little bit more about the specs after I tinker with it for a little while longer.
February in Pictures
I faced a post-Ondoy raket rut last December, but February more than made up for that black hole. I took on a lot: 1 productions, 1 event, in addition to my regular teaching and writing load. It was actually manageable, though I had to lay off most of my social engagements. I was tired a lot, yes, but I knew that was part of the deal. Besides, The payoff’s worth it.
Aside from Romeo and Bernadette, I also helped stage manage the Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson concert. It’s amazing to hear Love Story Meets Livin La Vida by Coldplay live, and to meet and talk with some very talented musicians – and showmen! Thank you too to everyone for the amazing turn-out! Also, to my colleagues and friends at Pocketful of Kids for helping make it happen!
I also managed to sneak in a little time in the last week of Feb (the busiest week!) to attend a talk by Ronnie del Carmen, Story Supervisor and Art Director for Pixar Studios. Ronnie del Carmen is Filipino, and he got started by storyboarding for advertising. He used to work as an art director, while my Mom worked as associate creative director in the same team. Apparently, I used to crawl around their cubicles when I was a toddler.
Ronnie left for the states to work for Dreamworks, then moved to Pixar where he had a hand in movies such as Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Up. He sometimes come back to the Philippines to catch up with family, old friends, and give talks on the storymaking process for Pixar’s films. A little more on that in another entry, as soon as I get the transcript and DVD of the talk.
I have a month before another set of jobs come in. I intend to use the time to bond with my “Mini Mii” computer to catch up on writing and other creative projects. I love the work, and I made time for the work. But now’s the time to focus on my work.