The Meaning of Life...As Given by Myron

(Inspired by the The Meaning of Life issue of Esquire this January, I came up with my own list.)

The best gift you can give your kids is your time. Education comes in at a very close second, but you have to make them pay a part of their college tuition.

If I can do anything for the rest of my life, it would be to travel the world. And I don't mean just going to tourist spots. Sure, that's the first off anyone's list, but I don't want to leave the countries I visit still feeling like a tourist. It's all about immersing yourself in the way of life. You don't have to work or pay mortgage or shit like that, but every once in a while, go out and get to know the cute girl that's serving you coffee, or talk to the painter next door.

Even if you say you don't care about it, put a lot of thought in your personal style. You wouldn't believe how far it would take you. Screw those who still go by the mantra that “men aren't fashionable by nature.” In the world of first impressions and outside appearances, style is god.

That said, I think every man should own at least one single- or double-breasted military-style overcoat. There's something about the stiffness and the pin-point construction of the overcoat that screams “I'm a man.”

Loving someone should be close to effortless. That's how you know it's true love.

Your dream job—the one you'd kill for, is usually the one that comes with the most number of gut-wrenching and ego-breaking challenges. But it's also the one where you're in the cloudest of Cloud 9 when you've accomplished the task at hand. I worked for 3 years in Men's Health and it's the best years of my working life, but it also was the hardest in so many aspects.

There will always be someone better than you. I have a friend who's better than me at video games, another a sharper dresser, and yet one more that's wittier and funnier—and that's perfectly fine. Stop trying to be great at everything. Perfection is boring. Imperfection is living.

At the end of it all, remember what Abraham Lincoln said: “It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.” But you may grieve for those who passed away before their time. That's life's curveball.

Age is just a number. The people I hang out with now are 3, 4, even 5 years younger than me, but really, who cares? They're all amazing people, and that's all that ever mattered.

At least once in your life, you're gonna have to sleep in the airport's departure area or the train station. Keep one eye open for motherfuckers who will steal your stuff, but also savor how incredibly different the place is once evening rolls by.

Stop and smell the roses. Or at the very least, go out and breathe the fresh air, even if you have to book a weekend escape at a destination spa to be able to inhale something that isn't full of carcinogens. Funny how sometimes we tend to forget that our world is beautiful. Remember the Discovery Channel jingle: “I love the whole world, it's just an awesome place.”

The List: Ten Coolest Street Fighter Characters of All Time

6. Gill (first appearance: Street Fighter III: New Generation)
Look, say what you want about Gill—he's cheap, he wears a white thong, and he has a serious case of Messiah complex—but he's every bit worthy of being SFIII's final boss. A first in 2D Street Fighter, Gill actually has two sets of sprites, depending on which side of the screen he's facing. Reportedly done to showcase the CPS-3 board, he uses the fire aspect when he's the 1st player, and the water/cold aspect when Gill assumes the 2nd player. Plus he has the most bad-ass Super Art in the game: the Seraphic Wing. This Super Art has him growing six wings reminiscent of the Seraphim in the bible, floating to the center of the screen, uttering “Let me be the one to bless all souls,” before proceeding to shower you with burst of energy. It takes off 75 percent of your life if it hits solo (because of the damage modifier, this can go down to just 30 percent when used in conjunction with a combo), or takes off 20 percent when blocked. (You can't parry it, so don't even try.) That's bad-ass.

On a side note, his secretary, Kolin also has two sprites. Notice her hair is only parted on one side, and this doesn't change.

Image from www.fightersgeneration.com

The List: Ten Coolest Street Fighter Characters of All Time

10. T. Hawk (first appearance: Super Street Fighter II)
Next to the ansatsuken fighters, I've a special affinity for the grapplers. (Or should I say, pre-Super Street Fighter II, grappler [singular].) I never did like Zangief because he was so cheap and freaky-looking. When SSFII was introduced, we got T. Hawk, leader of the Thunderfoot tribe in Mexico. He only has one signature throw, but it's one that's equally as memorable as the Russian's Spinning Piledriver: the Storm Hammer. It's way cooler in terms of animation, too. Whereas Zangief needs two hands to spin his opponent around and slam hard on the ground, T. Hawk requires only one hand.

9. Juni (first appearance: Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Not to be Americanized in pronunciation: Her name is pronounced “Yuni.”

She's not as popular as Cammy, nor as buxom as her partner, Juli, but Juni has one thing that sets her apart from the other two: a 360-degree directional throw that deals major damage and establishes Juni as a hybrid melee fighter and grappler. (She has Cammy's Hooligan combination as well.) She also appears to have a stronger control of the psycho power—the same machine that doubles M. Bison's power—being able to use the Mach Slide (a forward teleport) at will.

8. Vega (first appearance: Street Fighter II)
How can you not like a player with a dual personality? By day, Vega is a noble matador, by night, a sadistic, blood thirsty (sometimes, literally—he's been shown to lick his claw clean of the blood of his enemy) murderer.

Perhaps Vega is best known to be the only Street Fighter character to ever wield a weapon, and he's not one shy of slicing and dicing using it. That, and the fact that he wears an iron mask, not because he's working at lengths to conceal his identity, but because he takes great care not to damage his beautiful face.

With his speed and agility matched by no one but Chun-Li, Vega is the character to choose for keepaway games that rely on quick, damaging pokes as opposed to multi-string combos. Whenever he jumps to the upper corners of the screen ready to attack, get ready!

Or he may just be faking, and that's completely part of his game.

Images: T. Hawk from tokenminorities.files.wordpress.com, Juni from Street Fighter Gallery, Vega from Wikimedia.org

Adventure Begins One Footstep at a Time

I've been walking for as long as I can remember. I don't really know why or what exactly triggered that I favor being on my two feet over taking public transportation or even bringing my own vehicle, but for as long as I can remember, I've always taken it upon myself to walk to wherever it is I need to be.

Now, mind you, this is easier said than done, especially when you're in the very humid, very polluted, very muggy streets of the Philippines. Five minutes walking on the streets is enough to reduce me to a dirty, filthy, sweaty mess—and for someone like me who likes that I remain clean and fresh (never know when I'd meet the girl of my dreams, after all) throughout the day, the idea of walking is torture.

However, there's something very human, very real about experiencing lives of others as they happen on the street. In my walks, I've witnessed a couple beating each other senseless (and the woman's the one giving the harder blows!), two women fighting over one man (he's not around, but it was clear that that's the reason they were whacking each other), a real tall female model trip (too bad I didn't catch her), a drunk college guy passing out, and hordes of other funny, if not memorable, events.

I guess one of the reasons I enjoy New York City and Philadelphia so much is this fact: You're encouraged to walk, because everyone else does the same thing. Sure, they both have very efficient subway systems (NYC's is just so intricate I'm in awe), but they serve merely as complementary to the people walking. I mean I like walking, but I'd be crazy to walk from uptown to midtown, and finally downtown. Way too tiring and way too time-consuming. It's a little difficult nowadays because it can get rather freezer-cold in the mornings, and in the summer can get very humid (but nothing, and I mean nothing, rivals the humidity in the Philippines), but for the most part, it's fantastic to just wander around on foot.

I will never forget this one time when my legs practically gave up after close to 7 hours of walking non-stop around Manhattan (the only times I got to sit down were the subway rides and the meetings I had to attend). As I was readying myself to board the bus home, I literally felt my legs shake and my feet just surrender as if to say “I can't freaking walk anymore!”

Thankfully, I did get to the bus on time, and I was able to walk all the way back to my bed and just rest, but it came back to bite me the next day, when I couldn't as much go to the bathroom and pee. I had to take a day off work because of it.

That was many months ago, and I still do not mind at all missing the subway stops—simply because I would rather walk.

On a side note, maybe this is the exact reason why I get to maintain my weight. Because I unconsciously burn lots and lots of them in an exercise I didn't even sign up for.

Image by Sam of SXC.hu

Holi-dazed?

I'm pretty sure the lot of you are feeling exactly what I'm feeling these past couple of days: Overwhelmed at what is supposedly a joyous occasion. Whenever you turn on the TV, you see ads of department stores and retail firms going on their "most massive holiday sale ever," enticing you to spend, spend, spend for gifts. (On a side note, going out and spending actually does the economy a lot of good—America derives a good percentage of its GNP from retail sales.) 

Don't get me wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating the holidays. As a matter of fact, it's the time of the year I myself look forward to—it's just that sometimes we tend to forget why we're celebrating it in the first place. Sure, the season is also about the gifts—it's a reminder that one is loved and remembered by someone else; but doesn't it also follow that acts of altruism shouldn't stop when the time stores put down the "Sale!" signs and homes set aside decorations to gather dust for another 300 or so days? 

So while I am also joining the hundreds of people in America who'd hit the nearest mall in the early morning (open at 6AM? I'm there!), I also would be the first to reflect on the year that was. It was challenging—and for some, extremely rough—for the most part, but the fact that we're still here and still among the living already is something to be thankful for, right? 

I for one can't wait for 2008 to be over, and allow 2009 to roll in with new hopes, new opportunities, and new promises. But until I'm counting down the last few seconds of December 31st, I'm definitely going to enjoy the chilly weather, the fact that I have friends who have been nothing but amazing, and the presents that I'm going to get in 2 weeks' time. 

Kids are Adorable

They really are...and they're making quite a sensation in YouTube. Gotta love the British accent on them!

Updated Street Fighter IV Review

Head on to my Street Fighter IV review and check out the new photos and commentary!

Images screencapped from various YouTube videos.

I'm a sucker for freebies, but this one just pissed me off.

I got this in the mail today. I know, I'm getting myself ready to get bombarded with shitty spam mail.Enthused, but not really excited (supposed "free" gifts usually follow a gift-with-purchase scheme), I opened the envelope.

Lo and behold, I got this. And I couldn't be more in-fucking-sulted at how crappy this free gift is. People, I get magazine subscriptions, electric razors, cookies, body washes, pretty much things that I have good, measurable use for on a regular basis. And you fucking give me this handy pocket calendar? What the fuck?

I think I've never hated a freebie in my life until I got this. Pissed off, I tore off the entire mail and ran it in the shredder. Yes, including this handy, wallet-size calendar that's their FREE gift to me.

After it, though, I felt a whole lot better.

Anyone Up for a Smoke?

While on the street today, minding my own business, this lady stops me dead on my tracks. (She was huge!) I thought for a second that I'm gonna get mugged (she was huge!) but was a little surprised when she said to me “Can I have a cigarette?”

It's funny—I don't smoke (never have) and there's nothing in my gestures that say that I'm a smoker. I was merely puffing frost breath in funny ways on a cold, damp New York day.

Then again, that's probably what got her to thinking that I did smoke. At any rate, I shrugged and said that I don't have any with me and proceeded to walk faster than usual. Hell, what if she went after me and actually carried out with the mugging? That would suck.

Kinda reminds me of beggars in the Philippines when kids would actually ask for a specific amount of money as their alm. “Kuya, pengeng sampu,” they would say. (It means “Sir, can you give me 10 pesos?”) Isn't the act of almsgiving supposed to be left to the discretion of the giver?

Meh.