Of course, here lies the cultural difference. To most Pinoys, a middle name is the surname of their mother. Of course to my co-author, what he gave as his middle name was actually a second name for a Pinoy, like “Jose Maria” has “Maria” as a second name.

Just thought it was striking how different the concept of names for people around the world. I remember reading somewhere that in Iceland, it is customary to add “sson” (or “son”) to your own name as a given name for your son. For example, if you are a man, and your name is Kristoffer, then your son could be named Kristoffersson.

Of course, there are also traditions within families where boys are given names according to a line of fathers/grandfathers. For instance, Jose Sr., Jose Jr., Jose II, Jose III, and so on. My father is a Jose Jr.

* * * * * *

So in my head started other thoughts about names and their context on circumstances and places. And the main thing that fluttered to my brain was about women changing surnames after marriage.

When I was in Manila, I was occasionally referred to as Mrs Jorge. Which isn’t surprising seeing as I had just married, and my husband’s surname is Jorge. Of course, I am still officially going by my maiden name.

Back in Sydney, there is no confusion, as I remained a Ms Reyes. It made sense too, as my citations for papers up until now have me published as Reyes. When Ajay and I married in Sydney, I was asked if I was changing surnames, and I had chosen not to, for it entailed some steps that we didn’t have time to do at that point.

Again, back to Manila. I had met a lawyer in La Salle one time during a seminar, and we had a chit-chat about brides taking their husband’s surname after they marry. It isn’t necessary, and indeed it takes a fair bit of fiddling with documents and such. Not that this bothered me. I had told Ajay that when we are wed, I would be more likely not to take his name. When we have children, it might be easier at that point to do so, so we can all travel together under the same surname. But then again, you can present travel documents along with a marriage certificate, and you’re good to go.

And so there it is, out in the open. I have had several people asking me why I haven’t changed my surname, as they can see plain as day that I still go by Reyes in my networks. I just didn’t change it.

The roman number VIIIXXXMMVIII keeps on popping up. Is that supposed to mean 8302008?

Watch out.

It’s mostly an electronics shop with all the merch I can look and handle all day. Today I hovered over PSP games, DVDs, CDs, earphones, headphones, desktops and laptops.

PSP games
I had no intention of buying anything in this shop, especially NOT PSP games. Ridiculous prices at 80 dollars a title!!!??? With 5 titles I can already get an ASUS EEE (more on this later). But anyways, I found some titles I heard talked about in The Totally Rad Show (podcast that Ajay got me watching since last year) and some that I thought were interstng. There’s Prince of Persia, SIMS pets, Need for speed, Shinobi-something (not Shinobi, this one I can’t remember the title of has a lady protagonist) and Loco Roco. I was tempted to buy Loco Roco coz it was on sale for 30 dollars. But damn that, I can probably get it someplace else…

Other consoles
Holy crap, I didn’t know the DS Lite was so much more cheaper than the PSP! I never bothered to compare prices. (Long overdue thank you to AJ for the gift!) Anyway, I must say, there are sooo much more DS merch in Sydney. Come on people… seriously? Isn’t the graphics sucky in the DS? Oh well, I guess the games are fun. You gotta admit, playing on the Wii is really fun, and those graphics aren’t as fancy either. But come on.. really? Games on Sony consoles look so much prettier.

DVDs
The DVDs here were plenty, but not as comprehensive as the shop in Singapore (what was it called AJ?). What they did have that was impressive was a classics section. I gotta get one of those Rodgers and Hammerstein DVD boxes!

Audio/CDs
They had Beatles records! And I mean the old phonograph records! So awesome. They were having a sale of old CDs too, but none were really interesting. I looked at the new titles, sure enough Coldplay and Radiohead are in the recommended titles. I held them in my hands for a while to have a feel. It’s really different to actually see the album covers printed. I purchased In Rainbows online (hey, that I can afford coz they didnt put a price on it: guess how much?) as I’m sure a lot of others did (even AJ). Was cool to see it there in the store. While the new Coldplay album I have yet to hear, I loved the Radiohead album.

Computers
The desktops are quite cheap, but I don’t really need a new machine. But it was interesting to check the specs. The desktops are pushing 4GB RAM with quadcores now. The laptops are a minimum 1GB. I hovered for a while in the Apple section (as I always do, coz they’re so pretty). I hear a lot of reverence and obsession on Macs most espcially when the Air came out. Well, I’ve had my share of using Macs in Canberra, and I don’t really see what the hullaballoo is about. I’ve had a desktop crash on me many times. Yeah it’s sleek and Unix-based. I would love to own one (when I get to afford one). But at the moment, while I admit I am green with envy to Mac-owners coz of the prettiness factor, it’s not something I gotta have. In fact, I was more interested with the ASUS EEE. The updated notebook is now 12GB in HDD memory, and expandable to 2GB (I think, I forget if it was 1GB) RAM. It doesnt have an optical drive like the MacAir, but it has a webcam and an ethernet card (both missing from the MacAir). And the best part is that it is small and light at less than a kg. Sure, the Air is pretty, but the A$500 price beats the A$2500+ for the Air. From what I understand the EEE is built on Xandros Linux, but is also compatible with WinXP.

Etc
I looked at different earphones coz the ones I have are wearing out (and seeing how white gets dirty so quickly, I am often the one sporting the shabbiest earphones). But I didnt buy any, coz all they had were fancy ones of Sennheiser, Panasonic and Sony. The cheap China ones are really crap (sorry to offend anyone, but they are, I’ve tried and they sound awful). I just wanted a standard symmetric kind which I couldnt find. Looks like it’s time to give those ipod earphones a break-in.

Would be cool to be able to tick the list in this book:

A poochie I stared the entire time at, on the bus to Central, Eddy Av.

Deskspace at home.

Guitar dude in Pitt St Mall. Excellent work!

Quite interesting to see the social networking sites we use according to our demographics. Friendster still tops the SouthEast Asia market which includes the Philippines. Multiply doesn’t show in the list though I thought it is gaining momentum due to the ease of picture sharing and music sharing. MySpace still tops the list closely followed by FaceBook.

• Play God of War 2 PS2
• Watch movies – Flags of our Father
• RV
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Eragon
• Rocky Balboa
• Casino Royale
• Blood Diamond
• Babel
• Talladega Nights

Whew.

I don’t know if we have to watch the Passion of the Christ again or 10 Commandments or Jesus Christ Superstar. These movies are hot commodity during these times. As long as I’m just in our home, it’s fine with me. Country temperature is so high that going outdoors will make me burst.

I also plan to do some room cleaning and arrange my things. But doing so will require much effort hence uber perspiration will commence. If all else fail, I may end up browsing George Lindemann Jr over the weekend.

With all that said, I’m very much looking forward to a healthy rest and relaxation. I may have no time like this in the near future. *wink*

Today was a lovely day. On several points too:

1. Productive day. I did my usual lab report today, and it turned out well. No, actually, it went very well. That must be the most fruitful meeting I’ve had in months. The great thing about successful meetings is that it gives you a boost of confidence on things you want to do, and gives you that extra mileage to take things further than you expect. One thing that I notice is that I am starting to get used to the work I am doing for this degree, that it is almost a job. But I don’t mean that in any negative way at all, but rather, it actually feels like a job I like. I can’t imagine doing anything else and feel this amount of satisfaction. If only this is how work can be every single time. I wonder…

2. I’m raving about a flattering hint I received on possibly finishing my degree a year (or maybe even 1.5 years) earlier. Isn’t that nuts??!! But I know (for sure) they won’t let me do that, since I have to stay for at least three. Still, that being told is quite a thing, isn’t it? I scare myself sometimes. It is both thrilling and fulfilling to see yourself and your work progress as time passes. What’s sad about it though is that it has to end sometime. And at this rate, I feel like I would be leaving soon, and it is really really sad. When you put so much effort on something and get attached to it, it’s gets too hard to let go. I know I’m being too sentimental too early, but I sure am going to miss this place when that time comes.

3. Another source of positive energy for today came from meeting Mark’s wife Penny, and their son Felix. Mark had been speaking about them since I arrived last year, and it is indeed a delight to finally meet them after 6 months [wow, has it reeeeeally been that long??!]. It was an obvious opening line “So whereabouts did Pen originate? Oh yeah, my wife’s name is Pen too, well Penelope.” It was funny to hear stories about each other for a time and then suddenly meeting like that. You finally get to match the face and voice with the stories and images. The same went for Jane, Fabio’s partner. It took four months before I met her as well.

4. Felix is a darling! He has to qualify as an item on this list on his own. In my opinion he looks nothing like Mark, and took more from Penny. He’s a lovely 2-year-old who is so unbelievably polite! And he was prancing around just having fun with his dad in the office… oh I couldn’t get enough of such a beautiful scene. I kept cursing myself under my breath for not bringing the camera! I’d have to wait to take photos of Felix when I get invited to their place one time. [Penny said, "You should just come home with Mark sometime. I'm inviting you over." Wouldn't that be the weirdest thing, to go home with your supervisor after a long day of scientific bickering?]

5. I received word that my application to one of the University projects I was interested in was approved today, another good thing. People in the lab seem to be excited about it as well, because it’s one of those exposure programs that improve visibility of our research topics. I’m honoured to somehow be representing the group.

I can go on and on… but my eyes are tired now. Ooops, that’s a bad thing I know. I’m starting to have trouble with vision, but I hope it is just me being tired. Last weekend I spent zero time on work. Not unusual, but it was extremely tiring this time around given that I had nonstop plans since Saturday til Sunday. Doesn’t sound like much, but walking in the streets in Mardi Gras one day and then hiking up and down the mountainside in Katoomba is a NASTY LOT to do in sequence. So up until now, I can still feel an aching in my legs that I’m sure is because of last weekend’s trips out. So this coming weekend, I will pass on the plans for now. I need rest. I had been physically tired the past days, coupled with a lack of sleep, it is exhausting I tell you. I found out that I can go for days with little sleep, especially when I am thinking really hard about work-stuff. But not this week. The brain and body can only take so much beating.

===============RANDOM THING==================
My brother is an air traffic controller, and I bet he would like to see this.
============================================

I remember Johnny Delgado at this time too, ‘coz he’s the first person I heard of who has a birthday on the 29th of February. Poor guy, he only gets a birthday 25% of the time.

click to hear a pathetic attempt on a favorite song (635 kB; wav)

Happy weekend everyone!