Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

11:51 Everything feels like brand new this week: new house, new job, new commuting route, new clothes. I feel scared. #

11:58 Also, this week, my sister's and my birthday is coming up. (SVA: Is! because we share the same birthday) so that's like new year for us too. #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

Notes augmented

We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!

Product tweaks and bug kill

1. In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
2. If you sign up to get notifications of the Writer's Block question of the day, you'll now see the daily question in the email notification, so you'll have a little extra time to ponder before you post. You can subscribe to Writers Block notifications here
3. The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
4. If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
5. If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded
6. Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)

New FCK fixes rich text editor!

1. We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
2. When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
3. RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
4. An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
5. The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers

LiveJournal Cares

We’re pleased to introduce you to lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.

In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.

Papered in postcards

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.

Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!

Photos of the week

We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.

You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

01:08 it's that time of the month again when I feel ugleh and insecure. meh meh meh, #BangonPinoy #

02:30 SCORPIO! Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut! RT @existentializzy: Today is Kurt Vonnegut's birthday. He would have been 87 years old. So it goes. #

04:15 10 Reasons Why You Should Date Alex: Prior to this entry, I wrote about 5 reasons not to date me. Elaine posted.. bit.ly/2hc72n #

17:32 Starting Monday, I shall be a frequent fixture of Emerald Avenue. #BangonPinoy #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

EDIT@08:16 UTC/GMT. Wow. That was ugly. I expected it to go for 30 minutes and have maybe 1 minute of broken connectivity. Instead it lasted over 4 hours and we had 10 minutes of downtime directly related to the load balancer upgrades and then another 5-10 minutes of downtime when our primary Pingback database server crashed and the secondary couldn't take over; which could have been indirectly caused by the network upgrade missing a self-VIP.

Anyways, we're up, we're working, the load balancers are barely breaking a sweat right now and I need some food and a shot of whiskey. I don't even *like* whiskey!!

Thanks mhwest and dnewhall for helping out!

---

On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

Prior to this entry, I wrote about 5 reasons not to date me. Elaine posted her 5 Reasons to date her, so I might as well follow mine with something similar. But instead of doing just 5, let me do 10 because let me be conceited this time of month that I am feeling insecure and ugleh. (DUNDUNDUN).

1. I am not bad looking. I am not saying I am cute or pretty, but it would not shame you to be seen with someone who looks like me. (Now I shall insert a nice-looking picture of me to try to prove the point. Harharhar)
   
   



2. I have a good command of the English language, especially the cases of pronouns. I love pronouns. I am not too bad with Algebra too!
3. I am geographically versed: I am Dora the Explorer when she grows up, do you know that? I can get by with a simple direction to get from point A to point B.
4. I can be one of your boys too: eat too much, drink, smoke, talk about sex, play your videogames (though I would lose most likely), etc.
5. I am not demanding when it comes to you not answering text messages. I do not get antsy when you do not reply to me immediately. (read: i am not very needy this way)
6. If I find you interesting, I can hold a decent conversation with you that does not end in "Ahh.. Okay" or dead air. I like making people talk, I like talking as well.
7. I HAS BOOBS.
8. I am a Scorpio. (That is a reason in itself, people who are interested in the zodiacs/ horoscopes would understand what I am talking about)
9. I have a cool, intelligent family, which makes me cool and intelligent by association.
10. Though most of the time, I am high-maintenance when it comes to food, I know where to eat good inexpensive food that is not limited to fast food joints and seafood-on-a-stick.

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

15:20 I was going to give up on Battle Studies but when i heard the last minute of heartbreak warfare, i am willing to give it another chance. #

16:29 Us too!! RT: Has not worn jeans in forever. Makes my laundy so much easier to do. (via @existentializzy) #

16:39 Walked my way from Santolan station to Roosevelt street in Greenhills. I feel exercised. #

23:26 @boniisjr hindi lulubog. :) #

23:28 agh. why did i even try. RT @hilarion: Holy shit. RT @theSilverpixie his first paranormal experience in photog: tinyurl.com/y9rl59c #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

I have yet to meet an Aries I didn't like. I stay away from Aquarius. Gemini boys must be avoided. I believe my soulmate is a Cancer.
No, that is not the number of boys I have dated. No, that is not the number of boys I have kissed. No, that is not the number of boys I have been in a relationship with. That is just the number of people who (1) I have been "more-than-the-average" attracted to, (2) I actually remember the birthdays/sign of.

Let me first qualify, I had a certain degree of crush on them that I actually even committed their birthdays to memory; These are the people I liked for more than a month without hating their guts while I am at it; People who I have had major crushes on.

Despite the fact that I have liked more than twelve people (this number is particularly important as there are twelve signs on the zodiac), I seem to naturally gravitate to only some of them.

I have this tendency to stereotype people based on their signs (shallow, I know) and form an assumption of their personalities based on the traits of those who came before them.

I have yet to meet an Aries I did not like.

My first boyfriend is an Aries. We were together officially for two weeks. That is because he had a girlfriend when we became "official;" Long story. Most Arieses I met are hard-headed and have a tendency to be a little narcissistic and spoiled. I like that trait about them. They have a certain rudeness and brusque in them which are sharp and attractive.

I do not seem to meet a lot of Virgos, though.

Virgos are familiar. I like how they can be so grounded and gentle with their words. They feel safe and comfortable to have around. They, however, can not seem to keep my attention for long.

Aquarius and Gemini are my least favorite experience.

Gemini boys are crazy and unpredictable--in a bad way. They can choose to ignore you one moment and then show you that you are the center of their universe. My least favorite ex is a Gemini. He is to never be included in a discussion of my life. I ran away from both of the Geminis in my life. I just chose to magically disappear and erased all traces of existence where they could find me. Unless of course they feeli like googling my name.

Aquarius boys are a different story on why I hate them. In fact, it deserved a whole other entry. My attraction for Aquarius begins in a very favorable manner, only to leave a sour taste in the mouth. (Forgive the bad metaphor) It is like eating candy with a rotten middle, you will never know how bad the insides are until you eat through the sweet coating.

I have a special affinity for Scorpios--boys or girls.

I like their air of mystery. I like that I can not seem to get them completely. I like how they can be so guarded. I like how they can be occasionally rude and jealous and sweet at the same time. Considering, though, that I am a Scorpio, a relationship with another Scorpio is said to be bad for my health.

Cancers seem to be my favorite.

I have only liked two cancers in my life. I have liked both of them for more than three years. My soulmate is a Cancer.

Too little to form an opinion: Libra and Pisces.

The only Libra that I like is this boy who reads good literature, with bad hair and bad teeth. The only Pisces I liked had a girlfriend who turns to be my college roommate.

I have never had a crush on a Taurus, a Leo, a Sagittarius or a Capricorn. Perhaps, they are just not my type. I have yet to be convinced about this though.

Oh, hey, my birthday is coming up next week. Make me happy, this is my wishlist.

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

01:19 i forgot that I only slept for two point five hours since friday night. wtf system, what's wrong with you. #

11:12 Birthday ni @brevity ngayon! ~*~*~*~*Party*~*~*~*~ HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY!!! #

14:12 #BangonPinoy *KILIG* #

14:13 plans for the future number 1 :): Breakfast Meals are perhaps the only thing worth mentioning in Jollibee and M.. bit.ly/3BbeA9 #

17:37 Not celebrating this year's #birthday. Guess I just have to stay 23 for another year then. :) I have to deal with other things. #

18:11 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Date Alex: Taking the cue from harajuko_girl's recent post, I guess it means these.. bit.ly/4iGUeH #

19:24 Dear student, please do not blame me for your lack of comprehension skills. #workrelated #

23:50 @brevity happy 18th! :) mrhrhrhrhr she knows you just turned 32, don't worry. :) mrhrhrhr #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

Taking the cue from harajuko_girl's recent post, I guess it means these are things that make you less "desirable" for dates or love affairs, a disclaimer of some sort.

These are 5 reasons why you should not date me.

1. Unless I love you, you can't take me to some cheap restaurant. I am high maintenance when it comes to food. Unless I love you, don't even suggest going to one.
2. I do not charge my phone too much. Similarly, I do not reply to messages immediately, sometimes it takes me days or weeks to get back to your simple, "how are you?!" message.
3. I do not comb my hair. If you're so bothered by my uncombed disposition, get a straight-haired mannequin. (My hair is impossibly manageable. I could use soap and I'd have my hair bouncing happily to softness when it dries.)
4. I refuse to spend too much on anything except technology, food, bookstore stuff and books. Spending for everything else should be kept to a minimum. So don't expect me to be fashionable or spend on clothes.
5. I make silly poses when you take my photo. If it were still analog, it would take a whole reel of film just to get a decent shot of me. I am a blur movement by myself.

Proof of Retarded Photo.

Also, this is my most current photo. See, uncombed hair!

Breakfast Meals are perhaps the only thing worth mentioning in Jollibee and McDonald's--save for Jollibee spaghetti and McDonald's cheeseburger. For me, it is the most comforting meal you would take for the day. Breakfast meals should be served all day, if you ask me.

So I guess one of the things that I am looking forward to doing very soon is to go to a Jollibee early morning in my house clothes and eating my favorite Jollibee Corned beef breakfast meal.



I know it does not sound exciting for some but I have always lived in a place where we had to actually dress up just to go out. Very soon, I shall be able to walk to a 7-11 at 2 in the morning. Very soon.

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

06:12 Good Morning, #BangonPinoy #

06:25 @marcodelatorre Good news! #BangonPinoy twitter campaign extended until Nov15! 1 tweet=P30! ow.ly/Atfa yeah, apparently so. #

14:30 Alex naman, matuto ka naman magcharge ng phone at least twice a week. Hindi weekly basis ang charging ng phone, anokaba. #

17:09 @nicklelove squatters don't have to pay taxes too much because they hardly earn anything. #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

01:10 Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street? : For three days now, I have been greeted with a Sesame Street cha.. bit.ly/3NDUSH #

03:11 Lessons to a Retarded Photo: Even if you say it is not true or that you don't want to belong to a statistic, wh.. bit.ly/3EFegL #

14:33 wow, it's the weekend and the traffic situation in cubao is horrible still. #trafficmanila i wish there was a way to solve this problem. #

14:39 i thought of a good inexpensive #dateidea! Go house or apartment hunting. You just need to have transportation though. -via isip.ph #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

Even if you say it is not true or that you don't want to belong to a statistic, whatever primary photo you have in facebook tells something about you. And because you put it there, I want to assume that is how you want the world to see you.

Most of the people from the High School I attended, or perhaps half of my facebook friends, can be classified to the following categories of facebook photos (according to me):

01. Damn, I am hot/cute/sexy in this photo
While this sounds like a general category, what immediately puts you in this classification is that half of the picture is your face without anything descriptive or expressive of your character. You are there strictly smiling. I get it: you think you look nice.

02. I have a boyfriend/girlfriend photo
This classification wants to tell the world that: I AM REALLY HAPPY WITH THIS PERSON I AM WITH IN THIS PICTURE.

03. A cartoon character
Uhm, yeah.

04. Weird angled photos
Look at number 1, but this one should be in another category because I am bound to think that people who post pictures with this angle do not have a good photo of them, except this one.

05. Your (sweaty) party photos with your beer/cigarette in hand.
You are a party animal and that you are a fun person to hang out with/be with.


While there is nothing entirely wrong with photos from the above mentioned classifications, I would not remember your character too much for those photos. Except that maybe you are conceited, dependent on somebody else for happiness, immature, extroverted and shallow. (This may be a mean generalization but as much you would like to think that you are not classified in a box, people will do it for you.)

Me, I would like people to remember me like this:




Nevermind that I look retarded. Nevermind that people will think of me as somebody with bad photoshop skills, I think I look happy and real and expressive. I would like to think that my photo/s tell you a story about me, a story more interesting than yours.

For three days now, I have been greeted with a Sesame Street character on my Google homepage.

I didn't really grow up on Sesame Street so the fondness I have for Cookie Monster is not rooted on the show but with the toy that I have.





( This is Cookie and Bearry )

So I have been told that I post serious things. I do not think the intention is to put it off as a bad thing but I understand that some people tend to veer away from serious things. Serious things are harder to swallow. I know, too, that the serious things are the things that you shove to the side and label "not now."

Sometimes I do dislike the fact that I write like this, l do not always like having my "seriousness" spill all over the page with all its pensiveness.

So here ye, resolutions: I shall try to write about funny things too. :)

I think my twitter's funny though? If you're looking for my funny side: follow me on twitter. Hey, isn't that a good way to plug my twitter account? :)

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

13:32 ME DUH! RT @hey_DK: C2 Classic Cuisine -Greenhills Grand Buffet and Launch on 11November. cocktails start at 6pm. who to invite? #

13:39 Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? :) Cookie is my favorite character. bit.ly/1RyBUP #

17:15 Today's traffic situation is made of epic failure. #trafficmanila #traffic #

20:21 Wala na ang Chicken Parmigiana sa menu ng The Old Spaghetti House. Sad day for #food today. I am mourning. #

20:30 May Dora na naka Santa Claus costume sa galleria, ang cute cute. #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

Yes, there I said it. I think I like my job. I like the flexi-time, I like the free lunches. I like the small boutique hotels, I like the school,  like the restaurants, and most of all I like the people I work with. Small as the company may be, I still like it.

Why I Like This Job More Than My Last

• It is more intelligent than the last.
• This one does not force me to wake-up at unholy hours of the morning unlike the previous ones where I have to go to work at 7am.
• This one provides us free lunches.
• This one has a higher ratio of more intelligent people. The previous one perhaps can be said to have a higher ratio of stupid people as it is a very big company. I am not saying that the people there are unintelligent--quite the contrary as my friends from the previous company are all very, very smart.
• I can steal fondant from the kitchen--that's a plus, yo!

Why am I Scared of this Job

• My fear in this company is rooted in the fact that there are times when I feel useless and inadequate as this is a real-job as opposed to my previous job which could easily just kick you out when they feel like it.
• I am new to this kind of thing. I used to work as a ghost writer in my previous company.
• I have to deal with more people.
• I have to do marketing--which I am not used to as I am a literature major.

Why I am Desperate Now

• I know completely nothing about inviting people to go to events. 
• I know completely nothing about sponsored advertisements.
• I know very little from the blogging community.
• I need people who blog about food and I need to invite them to the opening of one of our restaurant outlets.

Next time, I will go discussing about the way the company is structured. (team CHAMP and the Cravings Group and all that) kthxbai

Here are the things that I have to say over twitter today:

03:17 wow. nagsulitxt15 ako para makatipid pero 4texts lang ang nagawa ko tapos nagexpire na yung load. #mlia Note to self: text more people. #

13:25 @bevsbarsabal ganda mo sa twitter pic mo! :) #

15:19 lumindol daw sa davao ng sobrang lakas at sobrang tagal. Is there a confirmation to this? #

17:11 Last Requests: Before anything else, I have to keep a note to myself that I drew something/two people conversin.. bit.ly/zd19Y #

18:09 You know what, #BangonPinoy, I want scrambled eggs. with cream cheese and shallots. #

18:47 LOL on Kimmel's comment: Manny being Future President of the Phils RT @peterjuan: Pacquiao recycles pumpkins. ow.ly/z7UB #BangonPinoy #

19:14 @forkynikki ang cute cute ninyo ni @fckingboyfriend ang cutecutecutecute #

21:09 101 word fictions: The Sky Is A Landfill: News said that the sky will fall down tomorrow and the world-as-we-kn.. bit.ly/3Y5xXQ #

21:47 This year, I am not going to get the #StarbucksPlanner, because I feel guilty spending on expensive coffee while others starve. #BangonPinoy #

22:01 Alone again, naturally. #BangonPinoy #songlyrics #

23:30 alex: internetz, can I please has my brainz back. kkz. Internet: uhm, no. #BangonPinoy #

23:34 This is the only Passion Pit Song that I like. Sorry, #indie #hipsters. ♫ blip.fm/~furhg #

23:34 because your puppy is a diva! RT @thexaris: my puppy doesn't walk. she either glides, prances, or hops. weird puppy. #

This is an automatic update; via LoudTwitter.

News said that the sky will fall down tomorrow and the world-as-we-know-it will end. I asked my mother if this were true and she confirmed it.

“This time,” she said almost matter-of-factly, “the sky will cave in like a collapsible tent. We are not standing on a sphere, those scientists lied to us. This world is actually a dome. We cannot do anything about it.”

I cannot do anything about it. So i waited the night to hear the world shatter. I wondered if I would hear onomatopoeic creaks and bangs.

The world ended but I did not hear a sound.