So what is this all about?

About Patrick

about-patrick

I am a 25 year old Filipino guy born and raised in Quezon City, Philippines. I lived here all my life and have never been out of the country.

I got my bachelor’s degree in Information Technology at MIT (the one in Makati City not Massachusetts :P ). Didn’t get an IT job after graduation but instead ventured into the callcenter industry for almost 2 years. Later, I had brief stints in a smallish development house then in a telecom company.

Before all of these, I was an anime addict playing the role of a webmaster for a number of sites: Cardcaptors Syaoran and Sakura (2002-2006), Sakura Unlimited (2003-2006) and CapturedWings.net (2005-2008), just to name a few. I’ve been playing with websites long before I got into my first professional IT project. You can probably say that I owe my humble beginnings in IT to my obsession with an anime series.

During those webmaster days, I also maintained personal blogs but I had quit and restarted blogging more times than I can truly remember. This one you’re reading now is my first serious attempt.

Random Facts About Me:

  • I am a devout Catholic. I firmly believe the Truth taught in Catholicism. The truths about the world and humanity God revealed (and continues to reveal) through the Church throughout the centuries never ceases to amaze me.
  • I used to be proud of my diverse taste in music. Now, I’m more prudent in my listening habits.
  • I don’t play Facebook games and I still dislike texting/SMS.
  • I dreamed of becoming an astronaut as a small kid, a priest as a young boy, a DJ as a teenager and currently dreaming of becoming something-I-can’t-tell-you-right-now-and-which-I’m-not-sure-of-even as a bachelor.
  • I fell in love with computers because of the Web so I don’t see myself ever getting excited about work in the local/client-side area.
  • I dream of the death of the laptop touchpad. Trackpoints rule!
  • I love to read.

About the Domain

the-domain

Syaoran Li is a character in the anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura (and then later Tsubasa : RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE). I was known under the screen name “Little Wolf” during my days as a fansite webmaster. Syaoran translates to little wolf in English, or so I read.

SYAORAN.net was registered March 21, 2003. It is my second domain name (after cardcaptors-syaoranandsakura.com which is already dead…  :cry: ). This domain used to be a hosting network. Sakura Unlimited forums, Sakura.Syaoran.net topsites, a few fansites and blogs were hosted here in the past. Now I just use it as a personal domain. It’s also now the home of my book blog – The Bookish Pinoy.

The Geeky Stuff

the-geeky-stuff

SYAORAN.net is powered by the amazing CMS platform WordPress. The current design is a child theme for the powerful theme framework Thematic. This is actually my first ever truly customized WordPress theme. Been using WordPress for years but never really created my own theme for it until now so I consider this design a personal achievement. Oh, and the name of this theme is “discursive”. I’ll let you figure out why.

So what’s the inspiration for this blog’s design? I really want to say it was something euraka-ish like: “One afternoon I was walking in the park, noticed a fish frolicking in the pond, caught the attention of this girl…” but that of course would be a lie. The boring truth: I simply closed my eyes, pictured in my mind my favorite color with some boxes and gradients mixed in then fired up Photoshop!

I use Adobe Photoshop for the graphics, NetBeans and Notepad++ for the code, Firefox/Opera/Chrome/IE/Safari for tests and foobar2000 with an iTunes-inspired layout for my music. I used Windows Vista before and was one of the few who saw the great things about it. I’m now a Windows 7 guy and loving every bit of it!

Expectations?

You know how they always ask this question to anyone new to something? Well I’m gonna ask this same thing to myself and to you who’s still reading this now which I’m really grateful for by the way because this page has almost 800 words!

The rationale: I blog to share my knowledge, experiences and insights. My hope is that readers will feel richer mentally, emotionally or even spiritually when they leave the site. (I can dream, right?)

I opened up comments for this page to welcome any expectations you might have. Or you can just tell me how uninspired this blog design is or how unnecessarily long this About page has become. I do think I can handle pretty much anything thrown at me.

page last updated: 11-18-2011

 

  1. brader, ur site is insightful (ugh, lame..not good playing with words)… strain forward and i fervently hope that u get to be successful in whatever endeavor u find urself in. ciao!

    dnerdmode on July 9th, 2011 at 12:20 am #
    Reply

    • Thanks bro. Don’t get a lot of feedback so you can imagine how much I appreciate rare moments like this. So thanks for the encouragement. (I may be too wordy but I do mean what I write here, like in this comment. :wink: )

      Patrick on July 9th, 2011 at 1:26 am #
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  2. Hello Mr Patrick. :) I saw your comment at Fr. Jboy Gonzales SJ’s article and it was interesting to find that you’re not a journ or a law student/graduate. I have the same sentiments too. :)

    By the way, I kinda went over your movie reviews and scanned a bit. I must say that you write good reviews especially when you gave a critique to “The Social Network” with the POV of a programmer. (*I’m a film major myself and I can’t help but to commend such a nice movie review.)

    Kudos! :)

    Ara on May 24th, 2011 at 11:18 am #
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    • Thank you Ms. Ara!

      If I hadn’t been a programmer, I would have pursued a career in journalism. Hehe. Well what can I say… I love to write. :wink:

      Patrick on May 24th, 2011 at 6:45 pm #
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      • Same here. I took film as my major because I like to write (but it became more than that since filmmaking is so fun in itself). Now I’m into post-production and some techie stuff. Nice theme you got here. :D

        Ara on May 25th, 2011 at 11:44 am #

      • Oh filmmaking… I used to fancy myself as a music video director in my “anime days”. haha! There’s something incredibly amazing about being able to evoke emotions through the use of moving pictures.
        Good luck with your work! Maybe someday I’ll find myself doing work like that too… *wishful thinking* :D

        Patrick on May 26th, 2011 at 12:26 am #

      • Speaking of music videos, I just finished my internship with Parokya ni Edgar’s upcoming mv as one of the editors. Our current project is Yeng Constantino’s song. :-) I hope you catch them on MYX or Youtube on their release.
        Maybe we’ll bump into each other at work if you decide on this field. :D See you around QC. :wink:

        Ara on May 29th, 2011 at 12:58 pm #

  3. Hello. I am a graduating student from UP Manila and blog hopping led me here. :) I was wondering if you could answer a survey I made regarding Filipino bloggers. This is for my thesis and answering will only take you a couple of minutes.

    http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HLEKII_31745bbc

    Confidentiality will be of utmost priority. Answering my survey will be very much appreciated. Thanks! :)

    Tiff on December 27th, 2010 at 5:27 am #
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    • Hi Tiff! I just answered your survey. I like doing stuff like this as it makes me reflect on my own personality too. Hope it’s not a little too late though. :(

      Patrick on January 2nd, 2011 at 6:46 am #
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  4. I like your blog and its nice to see someone whos favorite is still ccs after all these years and all those new flashy anime that have been coming out. ccs was my first and favorite anime too.^^ i just thought i’d say hi, as another subscriber from the non-philippines. ( i’m from maine in the us^^) and i look forward to more posts^^, hmm, :D i’ll start my own blog… :wink:

    Jenni-Li on December 12th, 2010 at 7:19 am #
    Reply

    • Well thank you for dropping by! It’s nice to have a subscriber outside my country for a change.

      Just a few days ago, I reminisced the height of my CCS days by watching some fan music videos, including my own favorite “This I Promise You” which of course I made myself. Hehe! Someone uploaded it on Youtube but Sony was really kind enough to block it (an act which is really like an adult taking a candy from a baby) so unfortunately I don’t have a link to share. :(

      Patrick on December 15th, 2010 at 1:28 am #
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      • whats funny is i have actually seen it. i frequented your fan site and that video about 3 years ago. ( the video’s fantastic^^ it made me cry^^) i didn’t know you made them until about 2 hours after i subscribed^^ just to let you know though, its back on youtube again. i saw it yesterday. it was credited to you though…

        Jenni-Li on December 15th, 2010 at 1:38 am #

      • Wow! I still can’t believe it when I meet people who know me through CCS&S. It makes me feel happy to know that it really had visitors during its time but it also kinda makes me feel guilty for leaving it. :(

        Anyway, the only video of This I Promise You I added to my favorites is this one and it’s still blocked here in the Philippines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujjpa-DIHzE

        Patrick on December 15th, 2010 at 6:49 am #

      • this is the one i found… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roxd0jBgktE&feature=fvsr

        yup i was a regular to your site back then^^ in fact it was the first time i downloaded Syaoran’s theme song^^ i like to go back and look at my old favorite sites now and then. to my surprise you were the one who made that video and “at the beginning”, another favorite of mine^^ i watched your video to learn that song for a chorus performance^^ :-)

        Jenni-Li on December 15th, 2010 at 6:56 am #

      • ha^^ i found my original comment from 3 years ago^^
        “sakuras0star
        3 years ago
        which episode had the pictures with sakura and li and those triangle type leves? awsome vid! i cried!”
        :lol: – gosh i was such a noob^^

        Jenni-Li on December 15th, 2010 at 7:00 am #

      • Hi again Jenn! I didn’t make the At The Beginning video. It is my favorite CCS AMV so I just couldn’t help but share it in the fansite. Also the reason why I even made a sing-along karaoke video of that AMV. But I’m glad to know that the vids helped you with your performance back then. ;)

        Patrick on January 2nd, 2011 at 6:45 am #

  5. im so impress bcoz u make a website for syaoran li u know what i really admire him coz he is so handsome :oops: thankz!!!!!!!! :mrgreen:

    joan on May 10th, 2010 at 5:45 pm #
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  6. Hey Patrick, got here through ctc… the Percy Jackson link. wondering, what’s your webhost? is this site difficult to put up? (incidentally, i have an assignment – just grabbing the opportunity because you seem a techie.epistaxis.lol) Thanks.

    ej on February 23rd, 2010 at 8:55 am #
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    • Hi ej! Currently this site is being hosted by marvinsweb.net. Is it difficult to put up? Not really. Uploading the WordPress files was easy but doing this custom design took quite a lot of my time. I wanted to make my own design to stand out from the crowd. I didn’t like using one of the free WordPress themes out there. Assignment? I’ll reply back to your email. :D

      Patrick on February 25th, 2010 at 9:15 am #
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  7. tama ka excellent ka nga sa English. Di ako mahilig magbasa ng nobelang ganito. Pero sa mga sinasabi mo, ewan ko, naho-hook ako, nabasa ko tuloy lahat, hehehe. Di masakit sa mata. Di ako nahihilo, hehehe :) Sa malayong tingin, may pagkakahawig ka kay Bhong Navarro ah… Actually dun nagstart ung pagbabasa ko eh, nung dumating na ko sa site na to para ma-catch closer ung face mo, eh mata na lang pinakita mo… Pero un nga, i kept on reading kasi di mahirap basahin ung insights mo. Para syang coffemate… “Makes sense to me” Basta maganda talaga… sana ganito lahat ng bloggers! More power sa u Bhong! Este Patrick! I really like it :-)

    cai on January 26th, 2010 at 12:42 pm #
    Reply

    • Vhong Navarro? Wow! Wala pang nakapag-halintulad sa akin sa kanya sa tanang buhay ko. O ayan, masubukan naman mag-Tagalog paminsan. Hehe!

      Nobela? Yeah, I talk a lot in real life so I guess that reflects in my writings too. But I’ve been trying to be concise lately so I don’t bore people with my endless ramblings. :P

      But really, thanks cai for reading my posts. It makes me all warm and fuzzy knowing that there’s another person who can see some sense in all of these. :lol:

      Patrick on January 26th, 2010 at 10:59 pm #
      Reply

  8. Nice… It’s a pleasure stubling upon your blog. I guess i’ll be visiting more often. Your feedback on AVATAR in IMAX helped me a lot. Hope you continue blogging. :D

    Vlad on December 30th, 2009 at 1:55 pm #
    Reply

    • Hi Vlad! Thanks! I’m glad the AVATAR articles helped you. Yeah, I’ll keep on blogging. That’s actually one of my new year resolutions for 2010. Write more! :D

      Patrick on December 30th, 2009 at 4:45 pm #
      Reply
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