Inadequate Skill

I've been fooling around with my father's tools for quite some time now, but I still have much to learn about handling. Today I learned about the difference between the "tool" and "weapon" mentality. You realize this when you're holding something that could effectively injure or end a man's life when it was made to be used for entirely different purposes.

This was one of the last blades that my father ordered from the blacksmith. Made of steel from a truck's shock spring, the tool itself is supposed to be pretty sturdy. It doesn't actually have a pointed end, but its head is also made to be a bladed edge. Instead of a slash, this one inflicts a smash-cut. This is because of the heavy head, intentionally designed to emulate the ability of an ax to add force through its weight.

I wasn't able to do regular maintenance on this one and its fellow tools recently, so the rust is starting to form a new layer over the steel.

Today I managed to damage both myself and the tool. I was trying to cut down some weeds when the blade hit a small shrub's base and bounced off, making its way to my unarmored right foot.

Good thing the head only grazed the skin. It's more of a bruise instead of a cut. 

This incident further proves the need to be able to control the tool while using a great amount of force for application. I was swinging about like an idiot and I didn't expect something to deflect the blade. You'd think I already learned the lesson of the day. Nope.

The poor thing got smashed against  the face of an unseen boulder and a portion of the blade was chipped. I wasn't able to find the separated metal since the place was still weed infested. Serves me right for bringing along an incompatible tool for a specific job. I'll try to have this tool repaired or have another larger one forged (not as replacement). I'm gonna need to gather supplies before I start doing tool maintenance again.

State of Affairs

It's now August, and I'm months into my delayed after-grad rest period. I use that term, but it's basically glorified unemployment. As of this year's second quarter, I'm still semi-freeloading off of my family. My savings have almost been used up by now because of the occasional trips to Cagayan de Oro City. Despite being technically a NEET, I've actually been assigned some work on encoding data input. I'm still trying to gain momentum on this task.

I've been trying to keep myself distracted with books the past few months, but my biggest time sinks would be computer-related. First thing in the morning and last thing in the morning after, I sit in front of my poor, overworked laptop doing the most senseless of things. Sometimes I even run out of things to do on the internet despite having a lot of bookmarked webcomics and web articles.

The most recent distraction came in the form of another MMO, Dragon Nest. The game is quite fun, but maybe that's because everybody in the house plays it. I find it amusing how we willingly jumped into the MMO train once again after vowing to never excessively spend time and money on another endless grindfest. I have miraculously pulled away from the game (even if it's just for now) when I realized how we were starting to regress into the old college-day-gaming-binge period of our lives. I'm not going to really quit the game, but I'll try to spend less time on it while I work on real-life training (which has also been neglected).

Messy Weather

I usually don't mind  gloomy days, and I actually find the occasional rain somewhat relaxing. Despite that, there's something about this week's weather that makes me uneasy. Maybe it's because I'm not used to storms, having lived in a region where the occurrence of one is pretty rare.

It's been like this for almost a week now. The weather can't seem to stay in a single state for one whole day. The clothes we're trying to dry barely get enough exposure to warm weather. Power fluctuations occur regularly throughout the day. These outages are usually accompanied by water line shutdown.

It seems like the rain comes in waves, alternating between calm gloom and severe hosing. So far we caught the worst of it early this morning at about 3:00 am. The downpour was so intense that I could barely hear anything aside from my own voice. We managed to go to bed earlier than planned because the morning rain session caused another power outage.

I hope the northern areas are okay. Compared to what others may be experiencing, our town is actually quite fortunate. Another severe disaster like Sendong would further complicate the state of things in this very troubled country.

Endrin 1

The adventurer's footsteps were heavy and slow. "Dragging my feet along like this seems inappropriate for my image." He was a well-built young man. Tall and somewhat severe-looking, he had a strong air of confidence that was never mistaken as arrogance. He found a quiet place to sit under the shade of the town's largest tree. Thoughts raced around his troubled mind, adding to the confusion caused by what happened just a few hours ago.

The young keeper's voice still resounded in his head. "The gray legion has been sent far to the north. They won't be able to march back to the capital in time. By the time they arrive there, Gi would be long gone, leaving nothing but blood and fire in his wake." She would be more attractive if her voice wasn't so haunting.

Contemplating on what this implied, he started inhaling his lunch. The city has been left completely defenseless with the army sent to intercept the bulk of Gi's forces. He thought of everything that was left vulnerable. Women, children, even his favorite pub. He was surprised at how bitter his sandwich tasted.

Endrin liked to think of himself as a freelancer. He took pride in the thought of not being on some leash. But he was smart enough to know the truth. Somebody as powerful as him would need to be monitored, if not downright controlled. The kingdom lets him run around freely, and he lends them a hand whenever it was needed. "Fair enough.", He thought out loud. "At least they don't keep me in an arcane prison like Gi."

Gi wasn't as agreeable as Endrin was. He wasn't too keen on how they were being marked by the kingdom. He wanted to be completely free, but he was sealed away instead. "The irony of the situation may have provided him grim amusement; it would go along well with his seething hatred." Endrin would tell himself.

He never got to fight Gi seriously before. Maybe because both of them tried not to add too much craters to the countryside. He got up and slowly made his way back to the keeper's hall. "I have to hear that soothing voice of hers before I get this thing rolling."