Blog Archives


After Nine Months

Judging from my last post on this blog, I’ve let nine months of 2026 pass me by. Only now have I started to pick things up and put them back together, enough to think of writing and making stuff again. While it hasn’t been a complete waste of time, I have to admit that I lost the groove I was on in 2025, and I now have to work on getting my mojo back for the rest of the year.

All is not lost as I’ve stayed busy throughout the year. I lost 20 pounds since late last year, and I’m now healthier than I’ve been for the past fifteen years. I worked a ton of wrestling shows, although I still see plenty of room for improvement. I also learned quite a few things in the meantime, and I may pull the trigger on pursuing an unconventional goal.

There are also a few life things I need to take care of. In the meantime, I’d like to sort out this blog and get back to writing.

Should I Keep the Reviews?

They’re sporadic, I’ve mostly stopped doing them since I stopped writing for money, and I never really knew what I was doing anyway. I’ve always thought of it as writing exercises rather than serious reviews. I can still write reviews, but perhaps I can get rid of the old WordPress plugin for the scores I paid $30 for many years ago since it doesn’t get updates anymore.

The one thing that will stick with me is how I defined every score out of ten, from 10 being sublime; the difference between 9, 8, and 7 as degrees of goodness; the difference between ‘fair’ and ‘mediocre’ between 6 and 5; 4 being ‘disappointing’; the difference between 3, 2, and 1 in degrees of badness; and 0 being a score for absolutely nothing.

I refused to use decimals because in my pursuit of creating an “objective” scoring system, I wanted every point to be specifically defined and the whole thing to be limited to ten points. What’s in between ‘fair’ and ‘mediocre’? What’s the gradient between ‘amazing’, ‘great’, and ‘good’? What’s the gradient between ‘bad’, ‘trash’, and ‘dogshit’?

Maybe someone out there has a better idea. I don’t — I’m confused enough as is.

The blog has become a repository of personal essays and compilations of stuff I’ve been learning for the past few years. I’d like to keep going with that, so I may have to completely decouple it from its former identity as a geek blog. Let’s see how it goes. Maybe someday, I’ll learn how to write like a big boy.

The Avoider Manifesto

Avoiderdragon Logo 2022

This little hobby website of mine has changed as I’ve changed over the years. Before, I wrote about games, anime, and films like any other geek pop culture website. Nowadays, as I’m in my late 30s, I don’t play games and consume fiction enough as I read and watch more real world stuff. For most, it’s doomscrolling; for me, it’s engaging. I’ve been writing more posts on life and philosophy these days, so the vision for this blog has changed. (more…)

Doing Pointless Things is the Ultimate Freedom

Doing Pointless Things is the Ultimate Freedom

The American sports writer and video producer Jon Bois recently put out another episode of his Pretty Good series titled ‘God Hates a Coward’. It’s about the human race’s love affair with pointlessness, illustrated by a weird historical moment involving a minor league baseball catcher trying to break a world record by catching a baseball dropped from a blimp. Yeah, seems challenging and intense, but why? What’s the point?

Exactly. There is no real point other than doing the thing itself. You ask why, but why not ask ‘Why not?’ It just seemed like a good idea at the time. (more…)

There is No Such Thing as Passive Good

This is a part of a big piece I’ve been working on for the past few months. It’s an idea that requires more research compared to my recent Pillars piece, so I’m taking my time. I’d like to put something out to gauge interest and perhaps even get some feedback. Hopefully, I finish the piece within 2025 and make something bigger out of it. It’s about the eternal question of what good and evil are. There have been tons of answers and interpretations throughout history, and my contribution may be derivative or even pointless. However, I’ll posit here a point that I think is worth thinking about. (more…)

I Got Pulled In by a Japanese Film Called Blue

Blue (2002)

I’ve been watching a lot of Japanese films recently. I went through a Takeshi Kitano phase in my late teens, and I went through a Kinji Fukusaku phase in my mid-20s. I’ve been rewatching them because I wanted to learn more about cinematography. I’ve been buying cameras and I don’t want to waste them. (more…)

Shooting Vertical Video Is Not Lazy

Vertical Video

In our thoroughly TikTok-ified, Instagram Reel-ified, and YouTube Short-ified world of 2025, vertical video has established itself as a mainstream video format, much to the chagrin of oldheads who think it’s a stupid and lazy way to shoot and watch video. Not everything is cinema — much of everyday life is about the individual getting by in spite of the world around them, not because of it. For telling such stories, it may not be best to shoot ultrawide. (more…)

Action and Emotion Are One in Action Movies and Pro Wrestling

In my opinion, what made BuyBust forgettable was that because of the director’s choice to focus mostly on the characters’ emotions and human motivations outside of their job instead of focusing more on the action. It made them not connect that well with the audience as an action movie. When you really think about it, as operators, they spend most of their lives training and honing their craft. Why wouldn’t they be able to express their motivations through combat? (more…)

Getting Into 3D Printing

Getting Into 3D Printing

Near the 2023 Holiday Season, I finally decided to pull the trigger and get a 3D printer. I would obtain an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro to enter the nerd-filled world of 3D printing. I had been putting together a workshop in the other room in my place as an act of taking more control of my life as  a grown-ass man, and it has been looking good so far (if I stop being lazy and clean up). Do note that such additional capability also comes with additional costs, responsibilities, and space restrictions. Let’s get into 3D printing, which I’ll be preoccupied with in 2024. (more…)

Manila Central Post Office Fire Almost Cost Me $155

Manila Central Post Office After the Fire

On the eve of Monday, 22 May 2023, smoke billowed from the basement of the Manila Central Post Office in Lawton, Manila. Shortly after, the flame that made the smoke became fire. The fire then spread and crawled its way up the building. Paper, wood, and other materials in the post office served as kindling to feed the fire, which grew it into a roaring blaze. For the next 30 hours, one of Manila’s great landmarks stayed alight, to the horror of eyewitnesses and the citizens of Manila. (more…)

I Had Cellulitis, Here’s What I Learned

Cellulitis

The thing about existing in this universe while housed in these squidgy mortal vessels is that illness can come at you when you least expect it. You could be born to go on as an invincible hobo who subsists on moonshine and sewer rats, or you could be born as a Habsburg. While modern medicine can help extend your lifespan, that depends on the affliction. But the x-factor when it comes to the wonders of modern medicine is that it’s hella expensive. I was reminded of that recently, adding to my regret that I haven’t gotten proper health insurance yet (I’ve been planning to get one sometime in 2023). (more…)

Killing My First Bosses in Elden Ring

Elden Ring: Margit the Fell Omen

Let me preface this by admitting to not being any good at games like this. As I’ve mentioned in my first blog post on Elden Ring, this is the first game by FromSoftware that I actually got into (that is not Ninja Blade). But since this is such a big event in my life, finally being able to appreciate a game in this franchise, I wanted to express how much I appreciate the best open-world game I’ve played since Skyrim by detailing how I got through my first few bosses. (more…)

My Problems with NVIDIA Broadcast

NVIDIA Broadcast

NVIDIA Broadcast is great, for the most part. You can remove noise from your microphone and speakers like magic and remove the background on your webcam like you’re living in a green screen void. But now that I actually have an RTX card to use it with, I’ve been somewhat disappointed with it. It’s good at what it does, but perhaps it’s too good. Let me explain. (more…)