Happy Holidays and lets welcome 2009

Jealousy and Envy.

Were the two mixed feelings I felt this Holidays when after I received a iTouch this Christmas, my officemates in the next few days upgraded theirs to an iPhone

Dont get me wrong. My iTouch now is my Siamese twin. And I still can't let go f my Nokia N80

But the annoying fact that I need to scavenge for wifi while my colleagues are connected to 3G anytime anywhere irks my envy nerve the most.

I love the fact that I can Sync now my iTouch with my office email

I hate the fact when i need he GPS system the most... I dont have wifi on the road to guide me

Unfortunately, I dont have the extra mullah to spend on an iPhone..worse on anew cellphone plan.

However there's the G1 ( Google Phone) I invested in, its not as fully savvy as an iPhone but it has its few pro's like the bar code scanner.

Other than that I had a great Holidays. I miss my family that’s a given. I called my dad, he sent me loads of presents. And G and me are doing good.

I have my friends here too, my new family. Basically just came back from a crazy bday party with Giant inflatables.

Im happy I'm having a good time and I still have my job

Yes I still miss LU.

I also tried Sype for the first time. I called my friend in Japan. Hahahaha he sent me the wrong number and my Nihongo was soo bad the other guy hang up on me.

But the service is really good.

Other than that, I'm keeping my green eyed mosnter away. Plus its baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad for the wallet.

I want to say Happy Holidays everyone. In a few days its gonna be 2009.

New years in the past 3 years left a bad taste for me but the bitterness is dying slowly. And please guys don’t “silently” break up with ur confused GF’s on January 1…masakit yun

Ohh Manuel R. Happy Birthday and Dittooooo!!!!

History and Sheer Luck

Being alive to take part in a change in History
Now that is something to brag about.

To have 2 pieces of History in your plate...one a Once in a lifetime chance
Now that's just luck overloaded.

24 Hour last minute, in the 24 hour watch of the Elections. My friend D called me up for a surprise
I was supposed to give some Physical and Moral support on a suuuuper killer fitness gym training.
But was in store for me was that my friend had a free ticket to a Madonna concert.
And my friends were like " Go for it!!!"

So I went with D. It was freaking cold. He still was mum on the who were we were gonna seat thing. Especially when I saw a mile long line at the stadium, I was getting a bit nervous.
Parking too was crazy. I busied myself with the Iphone. Im a Nokia Loyalist, but I will ride on anyone's uber cool cellphone if they let me, so i was youtubing away while we were walking to the stadium.


The good news was, the long line was for the ticket line.
We already have tickets so all we really had to do was SQUEEEZE our way to the crazy Madonna crowd, some dressed up like her 80's Like a Virgin self.

I was floored when I realized where we sat. We were not exactly front roow, becuase there was front row, then there was the floor seating.
Basically what we had was the front row BEFORE the front seating. A good 100 Meters from the stage. WAAAY better than being up the stands.
D was diddling in his iPhone and through the crowd he said

" Obama won"

I have a shriller voice... so when I sain " OMG Obama won!" a wave of
"What?!" was heard around us.
Second...literally seconds later people were making calls confirming what we just said. And the crowed roared. Obama won.

10 Minutes later, the lights dimmed and the queen of pop came out. She was first wearing her basic leather wear, some butt naked dancers...but the kicker was when she screamed out,

Thank You for Voting!!!

And Obama's picture was behind her.
She later came out with an Obama T-shirt that was selling a shirt and an arm at the souvenir stand.

It was a great night.
A week later though I got sick. Found myself in the hospital with the worst of luck. However, Im glad I was part of history :-)

Why we hate Call Centers.

The other night I was with some of my friends and G and we were resting at around 9 PM before we hit the road back to work ( yes I’m on call )


Suddenly we got a call from his cell phone and since I was the closest to the phone, I picked it up with my voice half groggy.


Naturally If I was a Call Center Agent who is calling a guy I would think that if a woman picked up a man's phone its either

1. That’s his wife
2. That’s his GF
3. That’s his daughter
4. That’s his secretary ( for business lines)


But this woman and she was from a call center in Makati, was just plain rude.
After saying " Hello" she went ahead to look for my friend. And I don't know if our local call center companies still do any type of etiquette training, but she had no tact at all.


I asked her who is this. She responded " This is Rachel, his friend. Where is he?" Naturally, I was taken aback by her sudden rashness. And glared at G as I passed the phone to him.


Basically it was a lie. The number in his cell phone was some weird 000055444 number.
Naturally, I acted all hissy. Its 9:00 PM, The woman has no manners at all and she demanded looking for G.
I passed the phone to G. We were all now looking at him half wondering if its really a sales call or if this " Rachel" does really exist.


3 minutes into the call, it was already confirmed that the woman was selling Vacation Time Shares. Vacations to Cancun and other islands around the world. off your with a hefty price.
He told her he was not interested. Not to mention he was getting burning stares from people around him. We can hear her high pitched voice over the phone.
She had a bad English accent.
Don't get me wrong, I have a bad one too. But when I went to my first job as a CCA we had a 4 month training in Customer Service. And 4 weeks in proper tonation and phone etiquette.

This woman chucked the book and burned it too. Would even go as far as flirting to a man she barely know just to get a sale.

I told G, " Hey, just say to take you off their list."
Unfortunately that rule does not apply. They would say they will. Not call you for 5 weeks, then pass off your number to another call center department.
In some countries, that type of business attitude is deemed illegal.


My suggestion to the Call Center Agencies out there.
I was a CC Agent since 2003. I have taken great pride in the training and experience that I received. I even went far as training other agents myself.
However, since when have you downgraded your business standards by being disrespectful to family members of the people you call?
Often being rude to people who can be their significant others, spouses, or even children.
There’s a difference between aggressive sales calling and just plain having no manners at all.


I mean, what ever happen to the " Hello, good evening." " Can, I call on a better time." speech that you use to teach? And arent Team Leads supposed to listen in on these calls to make sure they don’t make such mistakes.

And flirting is a nono. Especially when you are calling some one who may be married.
Lying is a no no either. Don't say that you are a friend when you are not. Don’t tell the Wife, the GF or the daughter a lie when you want to speak to the husband. Same goes if you are looking for a possible married woman and her significant other picks up.
Imagine the misunderstanding that will ensue later on.


Yes, I am soo pissed off. And within good reason.
This is why we hate call centers.
Not only because of the late night calls
Not because of them selling us time shares we could not even afford.
But it is because of their lying, scheming and abrasive selves. lack of tact and lack of professionalism that ticks us off.

Football and Hamburger

2 weeks ago my laptop gave me the BSOD ( Blue screen of death)
Being literally veined ( yes veined) to my PC, I was like a drug addict on rehab with withdrawal symptoms.

I realized how much I was too dependent on the Internet. Not the PC itself but the Internet.
I have been working here in California on my new job for nearly a month now.

Surprisingly there are a LOT of Filipino's here (Tagalog speaking too) so I felt relieved on having a small chika group during lunch.
The bad news is I work CLOSELY with the high level management.
The US Co prorate culture is a wee bit more cutthroat and unforgiving than the US one. California having the most meticulous of Office laws and compliance. Even something you say, mispelled or used a wrong adjective when telling a story can be grounds for Discrimination, sexual harassment and many other violations.
I found it very difficult to fit in because everyday I was walking on eggshells with the CFO, CEO and my own supervisor. I love my job by I can say the head cutting in my position is very certain with no mercy nor warning.

This weekend, I came to finally get some R and R after a rough week and anticipating a new one.
Its NFL Football season kick off.
On the street where I live the horns are honking as the local NFL team made a touchdown against the Panters.

I became totally a guy, I had a grill fired up, bought some coal, hamburger patties, mustard, lemon, tomatoes.
I spent nearly 50$, and that buying on a super cheap store.

I was busy cooking for my male friends who came buy. I knew them for a long time now. I was wearing a Tshirt and undies I wasnt ashamed since they have seen me naked and vice versa since we even began to walk. I was one of the boys, sorta. I was strutting outside just a few minutes ago with what Im wearing...Why, its a 70 degree weather, Id walk naked if it was legal or morally decent to do so. I was being baked either in my room, in my car or anywhere. Even at night its still FRAWKIN HOT!!!

And Unlike Philippine weather that is nearly 80 degrees hotter at least its like Hot Humid, not like here Desert HOT HOT

I finally got my weight down from 135-125lbs due to cardio and walking 2 miles every other day. Last Dec I was a 140. But I have to throw my Cardio out for a while to do some barbecuing.

Having my own homemade marinade of Worcestershire sauce, with garlic salt, pepper, soy sauce and lil ketsup, I slabbed it on the patties and did my magic on the grill.

It was good to finally get disconnected with the virtual world and enjoy the outdoors

YUMMMY.

Its still hot so Im chilling here now in my room.
Ohh yeah I miss RO and RB, terribly

I finally Got my PC back now, reformatted, erased of my files but Im not fretting. Its all good like new fresh start.

Olympics and sleep

Olympics and sleep do not mix.

Why? Number one. I'll marry Michael Phelps any day of the week ( Sorry G)
He's hot, he's cute, he's HOT
and yeah the possibly greatest olympian of all time.
Unfortunately watching Olympics live while traveling means watching him win all 8 world reocrds at 2-3:00 am in the morning.

Then there's Gymnastics. I did Gymnastics back in gradeschool. We had the balancing beam while the boys had the vault ( kiddy size). Too bad we didnt have a Philippine athlete to make it into the the finals. However it was a pain to see all the anomalies in the judging.

Ohh yeah, the opening ceremonies, who was said to be the vision of one man in China. 4 ours sitting in the living room of my friend who had her bday. I was sitting beside a Cuban who was cheering on his hometeam while all of us were painstakingly waiting for the Philippine team to take their turn on the parade of Nations. Too bad Pacman could not fight for the Olympics :-(

But finally I will get to have some sleep soon

Comic Con 2008 and a LOT of good luck

What a weekend I had

I was kinda down and out on luck. My budget was really getting strained and it was 3am in the morning on the 23^rd of July.

I was trying to make a deadline for this SDSU ( San Diego State University) Teen Camp seminar on Video Games. I was to talk about Work Ethics. To top that I had to again refuse a position from a video game test company due to the fact the location was REALLY FAR.

So there I was trying to revive most of my Power Point skills. I was at the end of my 7 page template on Do’s and Don’ts when working in a gaming company, importance of customer service, blah blah blah…all the important stuff. I was really in a bad mood. Budget down, I left being an RB Mod. I posted too that very risky article about how disappointed I was with the RB Mod Management.

The friend I had also was gloating the whole week about how she got Comic Con Tickets. Just so you know, Comic Con is one of the biggest pop culture and media convention. Big stars from film, comic and movie industry would go there and mingle with fans. This year they had Heroes as usual, people from the Iron Man movie, Kim Kardashi, Stan Lee, Keanu Reeves and many more. If you did not pre register yourself for the tickets, the tickets itself for the Saturday event would sell up to 200$ from its original 60$ value. Of course the fact she can go and I would be stuck at home made me extra miserable as is.

I then got a call from my ex. He’s here in California. I dated him during the time I was in Sony Playstation well actually after I left Sony then went back to work with them again hahaha. He had a free ticket to Comic Con on the Most Wanted day event. The Saturday event. But being stoned I was from staring at the laptop monitor for the last 5 hours, the realization of what LUCK I got didn’t hit me till the next morning.

The Gaming seminar followed smoothly. I spoke to some highschool kids. They were a quiet bunch. The topic should be boring but surprisingly, a lot participated in the discussion. I was happy about that. To top it off I got to speak with David Hernandez, a game animator who was the head of the Video Game camp. He was cuuuuuuttttteee. We got to speak about the Thor Movie and the new Xmen Origins and Comic Con.

The next day, I got a call from a company that I had previously interviewed for. I was put in conference call. This interviewed took WEEEKS before they got back to me on anything, I went through a lot with the final interview after being dissected by their company VP. In the end they made me a lucrative offer. I was sobbing on the phone. Miffling it really. What LUCK I am having. All I could think was, I have to get to church. I needed to pray. In addition, my weight has been going down constantly due to my Cardio. Im sooooo happy.

It was Pasalamat at our church. I was able to get to our Local at the right time. My friend James drove me there. He spent the night at the boarding house Im staying to save gas. At church, I was sobbing during the prayer. It was a tough year. And this was the first sign of good stuff that happened to me. However, my good luck meant bad for my friend who originally got Comic Con passes. Her own contact never came through for her, you can imagine how PISSED she was at me when I told her I finally had tickets. At that time I assumed she had hers and wanted to go together with her

It did not end there. I got to attend a Bridal Convention too. The entrance fee was really cheap. And I went there for the free cake tasting. I won a contest for a free banquet room at a local water hole. I still need to think HOW to use it.

Roll in Comic Con which I attended 2 days ago. I had to wait for Daniel to give out my pass. When he did, he wanted us to walk 3 blocks to the parking lot which I was swearing like mad because I was getting trampled by the cosplayers on our way. He then treated me to a REALLY posh Hotel Restaurant…man was I intimidated.

Then we finally headed off to the
Comic Con convention area. On our way there I didn’t know I bumped into Seth Green and guys from Adult swim. I was sooooooo annoyed that I wasn’t able to get a picture. But once we reached the main halls, the first place I jumped into was the Square Enix Booth. One guy wanted me to buy Aeriths Mana necklace…wahhh no budget yet. Then off to DC. Where I got a cool piture with the Batman team. I was really shy. But my eyes were locked on to Robin. He was cute. I said I wanted to take a picture with him. To his reply “ IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!”

It was really funny since if you see the pic all the rest of the DC crew were staring at him as he had my arms wrapped around him. My ex was pretty annoyed too. Dragging me out of the DC Booth. He blamed the flower on my head. He’s half Hawaiian, so I wore the flower on the side of my head that says Single…after that I REALLY got good pictures. ( Sorry Goenitz huhuhu)

I did pass by the Capcom section and bought my dear Goenitz a limited edition Capcon Hologram comic

My luck didn’t ended there. Remember that article I made? I never thought anyone would take notice. An RBer actually made a topic about it. I gained some good comments but I did had to clear some issues, just to make sure I don’t have animosity towards some of my ex managers. The article was deleted but I felt happy and really grateful on some of the supportive comments they gave me.

Its been a good week so far. And God is good. Bad things happened too, but that’s another story for now

Birthday week

Birthday week

I didnt realized how fast my bday was approaching until my laptop told me it was already the 15th.

Its still a few days short of the B-day but since budget has been tight, Ill just have a cupcake for my bday cake.

I'll be attending a Bridal bazaar on my bday too, I got a free pass ( sorta) so I'll get to sample some free wedding cakes. At least I have cakes ( damn you Goenitz where are u lately)

On the other hand, I have finally relinquished my Ragnaboards role as Moderator...sorta.

I always thought that, I would never have to be touched by the "political games" Level Up tends to play with its employees from time to time. I have my own share of horror stories, that I personally have witnessed from former co-workers and some even got a few hits and misses myself. If not for a few good friends in LU who knew of my naiveness that helped me out before

However, most of them are gone now.

I left being a Moderator in Ragnaboards for maaaany personal reasons

I RB more than I work, so yeah my IRL work sometimes gets affected however I never got caught :-)

I loose sleep on weekends just RBing

Ever since my PC downgraded, I cant play RO as much so I have limited knowledge of the game nowadays.

But the main reason perhaps that I also fail to admit to myself and everyone, is that I am losing motivation to manage RB. Being of what it has become. The rowdy people, disrespectful ( often idiotic players), but most of all the obvious rift between the mod team and me.

To make matters worse I think I left RB just in time. You see the rules in the boards? Thats about to change soon. I spoke to the manager handling RB about the " professionalism " issues we were having internally in the team.

When the manager told me that she doesnt care about the personal, team fighting issues as long as we do the job right, that statement hit a very sensitive chord. I told her that in LU and in Rb during my time, that wasnt how things run. Since you need team work to make everything run smoother and at least some level of reprimandation for those few mods who tend to lose their way ( that includes me).

The response she gave me was very disappointing. She told me since we mods are not being paid, its ok to do " whatever" we want in the boards as long as we do the job. Any personal issues, or fights, wala na sya don. Also she said " Iba yung dati, iba na yung ngayon: pertaining how LUG/RB was before to the now system. Frankly I dont like the Now system

The RB Mod team in the past few months has its shares of ups and downs. More downs than ups to be exact. We had a couple of rouge mods who basically said things that are NOT supposed to be said to players. We had internal issues in which a few mods would take leaves yet they still used the mod account to just chat ( The manager told me that NOW thats ok). I spoke to other former LU managers, they said that action is a bit irresponsible since a mod on leave should not use a property of LU for personal reasons, in case that mod makes a mistakes its LU who will get the negative hit.

We had mods who would NOT pass reports, and basically what just ticked me off in the end was the blatant disrespect and arrogance of some of them.

In my opinion, perhaps because we have a difference of what we think is morally correct is the one thing that divided us the most. Some of the mods have gained more preference from both LU and the public despite if what they do is right or wrong...basically, I got outnumbered and they have the public to back them up.

What I find wrong too is the amnesty they would give to their friends when they commit offenses or offensive remarks to other or to me. In some cases they too would chime in with the crudeness of the pack. And when you point it out the call you the one being " Unprofessional or childish"

Im not saying Im the perfect mod or GM either I have my mood swings. And lets face it, my grammar can even be beaten by a 3rd grader. Sometimes I often over reprimand a person in the forums, and my " Ate" attitude gets the best of me when reprimanding anyone younger than me.

Bottom line, I can make as much terrible mistakes as anyone. And no matter how much anger sometimes boils in my heart, in the end I really would rather would like to resolve things. That is the one thing many of the LU employees lack especially people in the mod team. Apologize doesnt seem to be an option

The last few days I had in RB were really sad. And in one instance some one used a very personal and uncalled for remark about my family member.

I'm tired of it, the politics, the corruption, all the red tape crap. And I am losing my pride to have once worked with Level Up after the way they have taken advantage of most of its employees, not just mods but good people in general . Everything I stand up for, defended and believed that RB was the one good place in Level Ups' bad rep, was shattered in an instant.

Worse is that I lost the people whom I thought were my friends.

Maybe Im being too emotional about all this. But only because, I always regarded my role in Level Up as one of the best Jobs I had in my life. The relationships I built were some of the strongest I still have. I cant say entirely for the mod team its the same. You cannot please people who do not want to be pleased.

I should have listened to my friend in LUG who told me, that I should play the politics game...too bad I never did. I don't entirely regret it, but at least maybe i could have made changes to prevent whats become of RB now...I dunno.

I do however feel that whatever contributions I did do for RB or LU were completely forgotten if not taken for granted. I sometimes even fear pointing them out due to the fact I dont want to be labeled as a person who thrives on attention or my "laurels"

Wouldnt matter anymore.

Ohhhh well Happy Bday then to me.

Anime Expo 2009

Anime Expo 2008. How did it go?

I would give the experience a 50/50 score.

The Los Angeles Convention Center was too big that everything in the convention was spread out. By walking from one event to another, takes time making us miss other core shows.

Our day started out slightly wrong. The video cam I bought for a cheap 20$ got broken right out of the store and needed an exchange.

We spent 50$ just for the gas going there. The car were in had no aircon, we needed to have our windows down on desert heat weather.

The good news is there was no line anymore on the badge claim section. And there were fewer Naruto cosplays. Not that I’m against Naruto however, most Naruto cosplays always ended up in disaster. There were fewer Deathnote cosplayers though.

The place was HUGE parking was 13$. And the cafeteria was too small for all the thousands of attendees. But there was some decent short ribs.

There was Japanese Traditional dancing and Japan paranormal panels both I missed because I got stuck in the cosplay exhibition.

But when I saw the Gravity station I basically stayed there as much as I could. There were to give away RO2 box sets. I didn’t win it though I got through the raffle. The Gravity exhibitioners were nice enough to tell me that the USA team for RWC were preparing for their server eliminations.

I do feel though there were fewer cosplays this year.

There were other kiosks too like Funimation, Manibogi games ( RO competion in Korea) Maple Story, Xbox, Viz media, lots of Lolita/Goth fashion stands and many more.

We skipped the 2^nd day fast and decided to enjoy the rest of LA by going to the beach. Santa Monica Beach ( Beverly Hills was too far).

The beach had a pier with a small theme park. The Jonas Brothers were there as well. They had roller coasters, a small beach memorial for the soldiers and victims who died in the Iraq war.

Back at the hotel was a slight disaster. We booked a semi posh hotel with a nice whirpool and soft beds. Like the one in the websites. Well websites are misleading. The hallway stinked of cigarettes, the pool was by the paring lot and the outdoor Jacuzzi had a smell.

The good news, we had a place to sleep and we had the pool to ourselves at night.

Next year though we may not anymore participate for the 09 Anime Expo but instead do the Comic Con instead. Depends if I have cash

Kaliwanagan Article

When it comes to popularity contests in the realm of the MMORPG icon

Ragnarok Online, there are very noted few that are mentioned not only based on their skills and greatness as a player.

But because of the mere impact and change that they have contributed to the game and its society, they themselves become the very core of its Online Soul.

To name a few: We have at first GM Preator and GM Joe who started it all.

Then there’s Goenitz, my good partner ( and sometimes headache) who strived the hard fight against the botting problem. Then we have GM Phage, well loved for her Charisma, Lilith too who did not only extends her charm in pRO but also in pROSE. And who can ever forget the name Carlo Ople aka Waukeen former WOE vet now LUG manager, GM Tristan and acquaintance of mine gamer turned gamer blogtologist Diwa de Leon.

I am sure that there are many more in both the community and the industry that have carved out their names in Philippine Online gaming history. However, if there is one dark

horse that his name has become a household impact and a sworn enemy of most anti-botting propagandas. Only one name comes to our mind.

KALIWANAGAN

I respect the person behind the name. Often a discussion between me and Goenitz, we found him as like many rumors come, as the founder and some even say the creator of Openkore itself.

However I begged to disagree on his general public portrayal as the connoisseur of the MMORPG sin as most players would view him as an arrogant if not mad scientist of sorts, and other rumor marveling mythos that can label him. Many who are pro-botters/botting see him as a god.

Yet I noticed that Kaliwanagan must have more than just the title of Bot Master than he is generally portrayed. I read Master Diwa's first interview with him. I even have the rough draft of the original interview. And though I would say my friend's article on him was groundbreaking I felt there is a lack explanation on other issues that surround his personal character, WHY he does his work and how Mr. Kali is a normal person. In my observation, (and G-man will hate me for this) He had a sense of humility and noble pride on what he does. He carries good knowledge as a consultant to

his craft ( Openkore) and like us GMs and mods of the game, try our best to help our customers. In some weird way we are both alike.

So I decided to go ahead and speak to him. I tried contacting him through his blog which unfortunately shut down the same time my mom passed away. The shutting down of his blog caused massive disarray of issues and rumors. Some even saying he was fired on his status on the Openkore team. But we were able to converse again mere days after my

Mother’s burial which Ill have to admit kept me alive emotionally while coping with the grief. He agreed to an interview to clear some mythos about him and the much despised if not coveted Bot Program Issue. I decided for months to keep this from Goenitz (though I know this for him is an act of betrayal on my part since I have never kept a secretfrom him) . Not to mention I actually enjoyed speaking to Kali as a person despite us being in the opposite sides of the fence.

You will find in this article an account of our conversations over the past weeks

The Interview

Kali I wanted to still know if you would still be interested in a interview or just doing comments on some stuff that you wanted to clarify. It would be of great help if you still would like to get some of your points across or clear your name in other misunderstandings the public eye has upon you. I thought that Diwa may have left out some stuff that could clear your name maybe a more in dept discussion between us can

give us a more clearer side.

One issue is the rumors circulating why you shut down your blog.

Kali: I'd love to do a commentary or interview, but I'm afraid I am hard-pressed for time right now. I am not sure about the incident you are talking about, but I took down the blog because botters are somehow twisting my words to make it seem as if I am their champion.
That, plus the fact that I barely have time to update it. Also I don't really want to create that much fanfare over my online personality.

The number one question now is that a lot of the Bot supporters and even anti-botters were taken aback after your sudden shut down of your blog and very vague announcement of it that you posted in a commentary section of a pRO players blog.

This sudden disappearance of yours speculated a lot of rumors, the number one was that you were " fired" in your role under the Openkore team.

Kali: The rumors, though untrue, are perfectly acceptable for me. I took down the blog because I'm unable to maintain it. I was afraid that if I let it stay up without any updates, people will use it as a rallying point for the wrong reasons. I don't intend to fan nor quench the rumors; remaining a mystery is just fine. Who knows, maybe someday

I'll spread a rumor that the persona "Kali" was actually many people taking up the name (ala Phantom) and that the current Kali is the successor of the previous one.

Tell me about your current position in the Openkore community and your teammates. Besides you, there are other major names in the Opnekore society. Three of them being Don, Heero and Chaotic good. And the VCL too. Are their roles similar to yours or better yet, what are their representation in the upper hierarchy in the Openkore organization?

Kali: You'd have to understand that this is a very informal project, not some formal corporation. As such, there really isn't any "hierarchy" in the strict sense of the word.

I'd describe it more as a meritocracy: the more you contribute, the more authority you assume. Don and Chaoticgood are one of the Administrators of the local support arm of OpenKore in the Philippines. Heero is a talented contributor who had been very generous in his contributions of bugfixes and features. As I've mentioned, the meritocracy in OpenKore propelled them to the authority they have now - since they have contributed more, they are respected more.

On the Openkore website VLC says that he is the Openkore project leader. But is he also one of the main developers? And the Myths that claim that Openkore was developed in the Philippines. Any clarifications you want to dispel about that?

Kali: It's VCL, and yes he's the project leader and one of the main developers too The Openkore website can answer that question.

Have you been conversing with any Level Up employees about what they can do to better do the anti bot issue? What has been the outcome so far?

Kali: Not including this one, nope not directly. The latest would be the blog (hope it woke up some people).

Waukeen has stated in his blog that the Gravity game developers themselves came down here now to address the Botting situation in Valhalla and Valkyrie server as well as the Dupe issue in all commercial servers. What is yours and your teams prognosis on Level Up/Gravity's action as of late?

Kali: I'll address a very serious misconception. We're not here to battle with LU - to us LU is just a simple franchisee of the Ragnarok game. That said, Gravity's design with Ragnarok is *really* sloppy to say the least, and it's about time they went ahead and fixed it. Fix the bot issue, and they'll fix the entry of third-party programs (and with that I mean crashers, duping scripts, force deal, exploits, etc.)

Like I mentioned before, bots are only the tip of the iceberg - you'd think the iceberg is huge based on what you see floating in the ocean, but if you chop away that symptom, you'll find out there is something even more huge that will surface.

Our manual MP catching techniques has its limits, depending on the situations. Any advice you can give on how to summon a player or catch difficult bots?

Kali: You are right, the RO client is very limited when it comes to those things. Unfortunately, the only way I can think of to easily summon characters is through a third-party program. Actually, one of the developers made a bot-catching plugin for OpenKore specifically made for GMs.

The GM-bot will teleport itself to different maps while in perfect hiding mode (the mode where even a bot will not know there is another character with it in the map) and creates a database of which characters were seen in which maps, whether it was moving or attacking or just sitting down, and how long has it been staying in the map. It's very effective in profiling a certain map - you can easily spot a botter through the patterns

Does your peers in the Openkore family share the same sentiments you have that you are willing to help out with the anti bot situation?

Some pRO players question your alliance and how does this affect your disposition with the openkore team.

Kali: Since we're a very diverse team with different ideals, I cannot say that we share the same sentiments regarding botting. On the other hand, we all share the same drive in making OpenKore the best AI for Ragnarok there is, and to continually improve it.

You also moderate the Darkmoon forums. How is it different from the Ragnaboards? I mean besides the basic support/ assistance and updates you give your forumers, what type of rule implementation do you do there?

Kali: I'm just a guest in the Darkmoon forums. It's just a local support arm of OpenKore anyway. I don't really have any business there, but I sometimes help out by trashing posts (my favourite job)

Is the Openkore team creating a Bot for RO2? 2. If no, do you know of any news that LUG should be ready for the possible Bot threats for RO2?

Kali: No.

What’s you’re comment on this website that are making claims that they are associated with you http://ragnarokfiles.blogspot.com/

Kali: Okay I have skimmed through the link you posted. It looks like a demolition job of Heero and RB. I think this person is just causing a lot of drama to stir up the whole community. It's happened in iRO. He might also be just twisting words. A person "participates" in an OpenSource project merely by using it - so if you replace

""nagpaparticipate sa" with "gumagamit ng" you have a perfectly acceptable statement. I control who receives write permission in OpenKore - having write permission means that you have the privileges to actually modify the program being downloaded by other people. Thus,write permissions are only offered to certain trustworthy and skilled
individuals, not just some 2005-2007 CS graduate. Besides, *very* few Filipinos are granted this privilege - most of the OpenKore dev team are from International countries.

If he were even part of the group to begin with, he would have already been kicked out long ago. He doesn't possess the professionalism we require (as well as basic English communication skills).

Kali: For one thing, I'm not that interested in vindicating myself - people have seen me as a bad guy, and rightly so because that is the persona I've taken up. Just like the DeathNote analogy, Light might be helping the world by killing criminals, but he's still committing murder. It all boils down to a moral question, and I'd like to keep it at that There is a thread in Ragnaboard thread before that claims the Bot programs is to blame for disappearance of items.

Kali: On the day that topic came up I have tried monitoring who else will be trolling on the boards. The safety of OpenKore is guaranteed by the fact that all the source code is freely available for anyone to view, inspect, and even modify. this is again another case of pRO players getting too big an ego and thinking that OpenKore was made for them. In fact, pRO is just small fry - the real target market is iRO and euRO.

It just so happens that Gravity (and LU) implements the same technologies throughout their licensees, so it's a safe bet that whatever anti-bot patches they put in the Asian servers, they will also be placing in the American and European servers (and they did). If there was rogue code in OpenKore, it should be affecting these bigger (and more tech-savvy population) servers.

I am not discounting the fact that some shenanigans have taken OpenKore and made modifications to it, and then disseminated such modified versions to the public. Oftentimes these modifications include a "kill-steal" capability (something we have taken great lengths to prevent.)

Or some hacking ability that we have not included in OpenKore, or a new version that will work with a new patch (mostly seen during server updates). However, these modified versions are usually compiled and thus nobody is unable to inspect the source code (there have been times that the modified kores have their source codes available - we have acted on those reports by proving that certain lines will cause the username and password to be sent to a certain address). These versions are not in our control, and we have always reminded people to only download OpenKore from official sources.

In my opinion, this is a simple demolition job against OpenKore to try and convince people not to use it.

Personal Question: Are you Married?

Kali: No I'm not married. Though I prefer girls who are spunky and not kikay; someone who can go on a mountain expedition date today with me while still being gorgeous in a backless gown for a date tomorrow night.

What kind of foods do you like

Kali: I like spicy foods (Bicol Express, Laing) and sweet foods (Ice Cream)

Hobbies that you enjoy? Like types of movies? Sport or things you do to relax?

Kali: I enjoy just sitting or walking around aimlessly. I don't really watch movies (but I liked Return of the Condor Heroes). When I want to relay

I just lie down and sleep :P

Tell me a funny joke : -) I know u have a sense of humor

Kali: Actually I don't :(

End Notes:

The plans of this article started on December 2007 and ended June 2008. In which I had a chance to get to know Kaliwanagan on a different level.

* I would like to thank him for the time and patience he had with me in the making of this article. We both had a busy schedules. The article would have been longer but there are better things left unsaid

I would not say that we are close but I have gained a new sense of respect for the man. Naturally he and my friend G and myself as well are on different sides of the war fence. Yet in some sense, the fact he finds a great purpose of what he does, gives him that “ Light” of nobility that perhaps is worthy of his name of Kaliwanangan.

This my dear friends is one of the last articles I will be doing for RB/ and RO. After this article I will be taking my leave being a Ragnaboard Moderator by early July.

1 Week , 2 Weeks, 3 Weeks

1 Week

1 week more till the Anime Convention on July 3-7. Im here already. So far I have a nasty nasty headache.
I stayed with a friends house. Rather than the old home over here we had. We had some plumbing problems and the tub was literally flooding with RAW sewage. However my friend has quite some quirks...hence my stay with her ( even though her home was luxurious) was a bit of a drag. She had a nasty temper tantrum, she smoked which added to my headache.

I was also on some time pressure with the Gaming Seminar, I needed additional materials for my Q&A speech. I decided to post a thread in RB to get players opinions about workplace ethics. Unfortunately the topic was shot down by my very own RB colleague Red. Calling it lame and senseless. Regardless if he thinks of my efforts of teaching kids as lame or it was his own personal distatse for me, I find it quite insulting that he rather make a posts through his mod account rather than YM me, since IM ALWAYS ONLINE.
- Perhaps Im acting childish by now posting this, but I rarely let out my feelings nowadays and Im really all bottled up. Besides no one reads my blogs much so if they read this is like WOW.

Im sorry my blood pressure is high. personal matters should be confronted in private matter. Just becuase LUG has now given mods the free reign doesnt mean people like you and some of your friends can continue using sarcasm to put people down. I dont treat you as low as some of you do. RESPECT is the key word here. People may not like me sometimes but as a team member LEARN TOLERATE things for the sake of work. That how humans learn to get along.

On a good side. At least I got to ride elephants the other day and perhaps will have a chance to do it again come Monday. 5$ to ride an Indian Elephant. That was once in a lifetime experience.

2 Week

Will be my dreaded birthday week. I hate my 2008 Birthday. This is the 1st time I'll be celebrating my birthday without my mom. Stuck in a country that I barely know anyone. Little budget an such.
I still need to prepare my self for our Pasalamat. My current faith now in God needs a lot of help. 2007 and 2008 hasnt been kind to me. I am gradually losing my cheerful disposition and I am increasing becoming more bitter as a person. My mood swings has taken a turn for the worse as well. And for some reason I am always.... ALWAYS surrounded by the worse type of people

Sarcastic, Cynical, Know it All, Mean Girl, Im better than you BRATS and Pricks. Ohh yeah lets not forget the Anal Retentive types who would even nitpick at my Filipino style handshake.

By this time I will be contemplating about my resignation from RB.No one will miss me, no one would care...

3 Week

The University Seminar on Gaming Ethics and Comic Con. I would be teaching American Kids/Preteens on how to act accordingly even though they could be hired on one of the greatests jobs in the world. And other career advancement options.
I still havent drafted my speech. I wanted to be a casual Q/A type of seminar.
Basically my end note in the whole seminar that fun as the job description would be

Its a Cutthroat environment.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Ive decided to resign as mod.

The plan came up after I had some sort of epiphany sometime in December. After my mom had passed away, I really really changed. Sad to say for the worst.

Being an only daughter and my step sibling so far away from me, I had a hard time coping with her death. Miserably. Then the pressure at my former work got to me. When my last company had financial problems, they had no choice but to lay people off. I was part of the list, regardless of my bosses objection. The dept needed me, but our budget could not afford me. Along with 30 more of our staff. I have to crunch the major financial troubles I knew I will be having

My mood soured a lot. Eventually my friend noticed how I would avoid meeting up with them. I lost motivation a lot. And being alone doesn’t really make it easy. even with the person i cared the most, I would pick fights with him, I could not help it nor neither wanted the me state I was in.

Im not trying to be emo. When I say alone. It means after my moms death I had to return to a house miles away from family, travel the world alone and try to go on with life. No friends to speak to, cook food by myself, LITERALLY LIVE ALONE. I hated the weekends sometimes, I had to stay indoors and do laundry and iron. My only other living companion, a cat.

No step brother ( where ever the hell he is) to support me, and all my friends were caught up with married life to even bother to comfort me. Ohh and there was that one old classmate I have who really, really gets TOOOO defensive in any criticism so basically were not in speaking terms until she Grows Up ( I pity your Husband sometimes too)

I did had one friend in the immediate area but she had BF problems like crazy and she picks fights as a hobby ( like I wanna beat up up type) so I try to stay away from her when she feels feisty. She also has a nasty tendency in trying to fight my battles unfortunately her tactics are often wrong. Involving cigarettes, anything that has to do with a cellphone, blog, email or sending herself or some one else in jail. NO THANK YOU I need not anymore drama

I tried to use my modding in RB as my sanctuary, but since my personality has changed a tune. I was close minded. Very, very hurt and always angry. You see, I blame myself for my mothers death.

But Murphys law was on my side. Everything was going wrong. Goenitz had to go away. Half our mods were on leave and I struggled to manage MP team and RB on my own from early February-April. In the end I asked LU to hire new mods. And on time, finally.

However my relationship with my own mod team soured. It’s a long story to state I'll post an update on this issue on another time

The only person who seemed to care was Goenitz.

Yeah G.

I finally decided to tell him. I have to resign. I cant do it anymore. If I stayed any longer in RB I’ll end up doing something I’ll regret. he's not to happy about it. But I told him he still has me.

RB already had its shares of horror stories about mods. I don’t need to add mine to the cauldron. I told G last. I told Rue ( aka Mod Megaman ) first. He said no.

I explained to him. I was time. Ive been with LU since 2003. My own older peers has moved on. Maybe I should to. Rue was very, very insistent that I should not leave. Though there were a few mods that In my heart would want me to leave, I wasn’t born yesterday…I had antennas for that type of unwelcome reception. Then there was that incident with Level Up IT, it’s a personal issue. They were just a messenger that told me something I need not know. My GM friend confirmed the news to me. That killed my week.

To add insult to injury, I got involved in a shoot out. Yes GUNS. It was definitely covered up by the media. That was traumatizing enough. My social skills hit a new low. I need healing I keep telling myself, else I’ll explode. Speaking of healing, my health has failed me too. My asthma has taken a bad turn on weekends. Plus there’s that other disease I have….yah the life threatening one. Again Im not being emo, Im just a magnet of bad luck.

It doesnt also help when you live in a world where everone becomes greedy selfish. Not the Greedy for money selfish. Just plain RUDE selfish " I dont Care if you die, BITCH because Im better than you" selfish. I wonder sometimes if their parents dropped them as a baby that they grew up that way?

The original talk I had with G was if I ever resign it was to state our marriage. But I had to leave the modship early. Sometime in July. Im waiting for K to help finish my final project in RB ( Dong Feng will have a field day with this one).

Don’t get me wrong. I love Ragnaboards. I Love my time in LUG. I would never have wanted to leave. Life just caught up, along with its spikes and sarcastic humor. I need a good break. Even when people said LU was this and that, I always, always look at the other cheek. I knew that CS were great people who try to work as hard as they could. I should know. I was once one of them. And that the LU managers are not as harsh as some claim them to be. Even the ones I don’t like. Same in mod team.

But the circumstances have now changed, Sad to say.

Ill be updating this topic as the weeks go by. Maybe my flight to the US will do me some good.

Anime Expo 2008 ( IM GOING TO LA!!!! )

Im Going to Los Angeles
YEY!!!!

To simply put Anime Expo 2008

Ill be there for 3 blissful days. Hopefully I can go there a few days before and see Little Tokyo and get myself a Kimono though I know its cheaper to get one in Narita Japan, but who cares. Tehehe Im spoiling myself on July 3-6. Buying my manga paraphernalia, seeing cosplays, and meeting with the different Console and MMORPG game developers.
If I'm lucky and still have some time maybe I can save up for a little Disneyland.
The original plan was Universal Studios Hollywood. But since the place sorta burned down... so scratch that.

Then there the Hotel issue. With limited budget and transportation options I need to find a Hotel under 150$ . My companions want a tub. Im not picky. I just want a bed. But they want the tub.

Teheheh But Im sure am Excited. Weeeeee!

* Just an additional note
I have a 70% to be a speaker for a Video game Seminar in one San Diego State University. They will be having a program on Video gaming careers and development and I was given an option to be a speaker. OMG!!!! I'll be working with people from Blizzard there YEY!!!

This Person

Grow up

Shape up

Stop acting childish

I GIVE UP!

These are the common rebuttals either you would throw to some one later down the line or either hear them directed at you.

Painful as it may seem, most of the times half of its meaning are true.

There’s a saying the dog that barks the loudest bites less.

Same supposedly goes for those who throw those types of comments.

that if they say

"You’re the immature one"

Its usually the other way around.

But there are sharp times that when you say that to someone, it really means that that some one is the one at the wrong. And its frustrating when they act like

" Ehh??" as if they didn’t know what the did wrong and sometimes they really are oblivious.

Cue in the Middle Man,the person who serves as the referee when the argument becomes too hot to handle. When friends fight, he/she will be that common friend that acts as a medium between the two. often known as the voice of reason. But in my case that I wasnt as lucky.

Rules of Engagement cites that the Middle Man MUST be neutral. To a certain point at least ( case to case basis)

Often he becomes the secret keeper. And if he needs to pass a particularly harsh message to the opposing party, the Middle Mans role would tone it down to avoid further complications if not withheld such information.

Then there’s that rule of "if it’s your mistake go figure it out yourself”.

Middle Men/women often use this line regularly when it comes to the point of the argument in which, they already KNEW of the source of the problems but rather have the ones involve go figure out themselves and not be the deciding factor of the resolve.

Reasons they use are:

1. Its not my fight to finish

2. Im just the middle man

3. Go figure it out yourself if you wanna improve

4. I dont really give a damn

and my most favorite

5. I just love seeing you go around in circles

Now here’s MY story

See I had a nasty, nasty misunderstanding with an acquaintance. I’ll call this person an a acquaintance because its rare now in my character to severe friendships as how "This Person" has pushed me to my limits.

Being younger "This Person" was than me, I heard from our Middle Man friend that "This Person" ooks up to me as some sort of mentor.

I'd be flattered by it by being there’s little in my short life worth appreciating...YET.

Being younger, "This Person" also has had a string of emotional outburst that mimics that of a 5 year old child. Often that needs coaxing in able to get "This Person" to warm up again to anyone. A VERY, VERY tiring process indeed.

Now me being older. I see things outside the box. I will admit I have my own mistakes. Lately being temperamental after the decline of my health and a very strong depression lapse after my mothers death. My mood swings which I often can hide so well would pop out every now and then often in an outburst of anger, clouding my judgments for the moment but non destructive YET to those around me.

When I once cited "This Persons" mistakes...or a mistake some one dear to "This Person" caused, you could imagine the barrage of insensitive phrases thrown at me.

I will admit perhaps somewhere along the line I may had said a touch a sensitive issue that affected "This Person" but automatically "This Person" set up their barrier so high that no logical reasoning and any form of compromise can break through.

It did not end there. After some sound advice from common acquaintances and friends they told me to leave the person be. However giving that me and "This Person" works into such close proximity it was hard to not notice when an antic or two comes up.

The latest was being part of a group effort in which "This Person" took a leave from. It was excusable for the moment. Giving the emotional distress, the drama the other little nitpicks of how sad life was and not being ready. We accepted that. But not everyone did.

As time passed "This Person" Became callous. More than often using the reason for its MIA status to excuse itself from certain responsibilities. While "That Person" on the other limelight of things, basked in the glory of other people's attention.

Not that its bad, but when your teammates are pulling strings to keep their project afloat, then that person becomes the insensitive one. And it was obvious to a few who rather keep mum on the situation.

The showdown commenced later on after "This Person" basically did not care anymore about the project. Threw tantrums after some administrative order was to be settled on a case of that did not involve "This Person" but another common acquaintance.

When asked for support "This Person" would simply say NO, or "I’m busy" or the overrated " Im not ready” excuse.

The line was finaly drawn when "This Person" DEMANDED I reveal a personal secret I have with G-man.

It was a very sensitive and personal secret given the status of friendship me a G have, spanning since 2003. That man (G that is) knows most of my darkest secrets and if there was anyone who could persuade me it would be him. But "This Person" after a polite decline (obviously) gave me the most shocking reaction

" Youve always put me down! You never saw me as a friend or as a person." And stomped off.

It happened so fast I couldn’t barely react.

How can I be mean after I refused to tell this person a secret I have with a friend that does not whatsoever concerns "This Person".

I tried to stay silent with the whole issue. Until hell came falling down on me on a Saturday weekend.

After a traumatic incident involving a encounter with a gang fight ( possible ballistics involved) and obviously in my opinion some media cover-up ( I wont disclose the location for this) I was left shaken up and was seriously considering some time off and counseling.

I opened up my email and low and behold, InRO merged with Ragnaboards. The forums cracked up to 2000 Online subscribers with very little mods to assist me.

There were other IRL issues need not mention too.

So when asked "This Person"to help out since now WE ALL GOT BIGGER problems, "This Person" has now evolved into a selfish child who was spoiled by the sunlight of attention, coaxing and having his/her way done in the months that I and maybe some other people put up with.

Just to make "This Person" happy.

The Pandora’s box was now open. I tried to nicely again explain my side, plus some add complaints Ive receive from others. That person does not care.

" Im simply not motivated" was the usual cold and nonchalant response. Giving the pity me puppy eyes. In my imagination a smug grin as "This Person" do as they pleased.

Then comes in Middle Man. After a long 4 hour conversation with him. I told him I was at my brink.

He later then told me in a LONG RIDDLE type explanation that he already knew the reason why "This Person" acts the way it does.

WHAT??!!. I begged Middle Man, a supposedly close friend of mine to tell me. I wrecked my brains trying to figure out, what was it soo cruel that i did that "This Person" became the person it became now.

Middle Man declined any support

" Figure it out yourself" he says.

Then after some coaxing he game me some Marshmallow tests. I was pissed, and tired. It was 2 am in the morning. And he opted to do more mind games and puzzles.

He had the answer. We could end the issue that evening. It was terribly frustrating that I was so close to ending this yet someone decides to play GOD infront of me

But I assume Middle man has subconsciously chosen his side. Not that Im asking his. However, after him playing with my emotions long enough.

Withholding from me pertinent information that involved me. And The Lies that "This Person" also has been apparently been spreading making me look like the fool. The big bad fox.

In the end he. Mr. Middle man, stood his ground. He knew I was really exhausted about the issue. It’s affecting us as a team. But in the end he would rather see me see me complicate, stumble and make more mistakes when he could have at least assisted in helping me end the long wary fight.

Basically from how he seems to say, he wants me to bend to "That Person’s" will. Be submissive even to "That Person’s" mistakes. He admits "That Person" has mistakes but just let it go, he suggested and yeah " go figure out what you did"

NO. I wont turn my back on the issue yet. Not this way at least.

You see. Right now……

I am VERY VERY UPSET

It wouldn’t be fair anymore. Not for me who once genuinely cared for "That Person" only to be used the way I was used. If I had my mistakes I would apologize to them but don’t create a scenario of lies and make yourself like some vulnerable child to grant sympathy. You will lose more friends that way.

Backstabbers are sisters of Traitors in my eyes.

For now I’m letting my temper reside as I write this.

But there’s a line so gravely drawn already, I pity the situation. I pity you...I know you wont read this. But may the fates help once you reap what you sow.