Well it's finally happened. choosing video games over mother nature has become my undoing. Well not really, but you know what I mean. I havent experienced a hurricane worth worrying about since Andrew in '92. After going to Home Deopt and waiting in line, we were told theres no more plywood. Luckily I had only been waiting 10 minutes. We went to a different one and got 8 sheets. When my dad and I tried to board our windows, we couldn't get holes very deep into the wall with the power drill, so we partially boarded a small window and called it quits... I'm not overly worried, though. If you go out into the stores at times like this, you really begin to notice how worried people are. At Home Depot I saw a lady with a baby and a child buying lots of lumber, and I know one sheet of plywood is heavy.... mainly the women with babies and children who are out getting supplies on their own, I feel bad for those women with children who have no husbands who have to board up their house themselves and do everything themselves. I live in Broward county which is Near Miami for those of you who are tracking the storm! Oh well. Let's hope I dont die! BTW, I DO have a teddy bear named Hostess. I also have one named Stouffer and a stuffed mouse named Butterball.

Chef's Log: August 29, 2004 6:27 PM. Am I lazy or what? I haven't update for a week. Anyways, my internet connection has been flickering. And as I type this, my wireless keyboard is going on the fritz. Am I doomed to suck when it comes to computers? In other news, Ive defeated Tales of Symphonia and already began playing it again, and when you do that it lets you enable options such as increased experience and relationship changes that can change the storyline! Also, I went to 3 different stores looking for Mega Man X: Command Mission, only to find out it hasnt been released yet. I reserved a copy at Gamestop, and disappointed, I began walking out somberly. Suddenly, something caught my eye right as i walked out the door: Skies of Arcadia: Legends. At 19.99 for a new copy, I was skeptical that it would suck, but surprisingly, it doesn't! The only bad thing is that the graphics are pretty sub-par in my opinion. I would prefer cel-shading. But the introduvtion of this new game brings a new dilemma. Im so addicted to the game, Im tempted to not watch the news to see if Hurricane Frances, the Atlantic Underdog, will totally kill me and my memory card. I took a chance with Hurrican Charley and Tales of Symphonia, and I lucked out and it missed me. Dare I take the chance again? DAREI? DARE I??? That's right. Skies of Arcadia wins over natural disastercs. Besides, Skies of Ardcadia is about Air pirates that fly through the sky, so it kind of covers the hurricane doesnt it? Doesnt it? Anyways, in today's comic you'll notice that I finally got around to giving photoshop the once-over. Expect me to run it into the ground until I end up using lens flares for pastries. Yes, THATS how much Ill run it into the gorund.

Chef's Log: August 22, 2004 7:58 PM. I finally realized i was doing stupid. Whenever i updated the site, i never put the most recent comic on the front page. Figures. Anyways, There are no more mangoes left on the tree. Who won the fruit war? I don't know, really. I had some mango, so i guess that makes ME a winner :-). But classes start next week for me, and I know that most of you are already in school. Anyways, let me get to today's comic. You'll notice that I'm beginning to get the hang of photoshop. In later comics you'll see how much my photoshop improves :-). regardless, Today's comic actually picks up after a short skirmish and the good guys aren't winning. Are bran based bombs a plausible weapon? Don't know. Doesn't matter really. But i suppose that muffin based robot masters would be lacking in the weapons dept. otherwise. BTW, you're listening to 'The Sukiyaki song'. I like it personally.

Chef's Log: August 16, 2004 8:51 AM. Welcome to my world of UPDATES!! I finally got around to hauling my rear out of Disc two of 'Tales of Symphonia' and updated the site.there are about 15 more comics up. I forfeited the little commentary and the bottom of each in favor of more timely updates. Now for the Mango news. The Mango thief has been relentless as of late. It has become a competition between this phantom fruit jacker and my mom between who gets the mangoes off of her own tree. It has become a contest, even an art. Which mango do you pick? Is it ripe? Is it worth gambling one more day to get it even riper and bigger? ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK THAT THE OTHER WON'T TAKE THE MANGO FIRST?? Ha! And I thought the Olympics would be more intense. It's gotten down to the last 3 mangoes of the season. The Fruit Bandit has already stolen one more, so now there's only two left. But this brings a new issue to light... our OTHER fruit trees. I just recently realized our banana tree wont be producing fruit for a while because I dont even see any blossoms. We have 4 palm trees which produce coconuts, and two of them got struck by lightning a week ago, prior to Hurricane Charley. Isn't that just peachy? I'm not overly worried about the coconuts though. It seems that only Filipinos are able to break thruogh the coconuts' outer husk. The ones you see in the market with the brown fur has had the husk removed already i believe, and mine have a ridiculously think green outer husk. My dad and every other Filipino dad I know possess the skill and knowledge to hack through the coconut. With a Machete. IN THE DARK(seriously). With no fear. Me? I'd be scared to hold a machete. Isn't it amazing how much culture is lost over ONE generation?

Chef's Log: August 8th, 2004; 12:07 AM. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it. I was converting all my comics into .png files to preserve the quality, then burning them onto a CD so I could put it on the laptop becasue my PC could not access angelfire. While uploading the files onto angelfire from my kitchen, I was keeping a strict eye out for my mother's mango tree just outside the window. A Fruit Bandit hand been stealing mangoes from the tree outside for some time now. The culprit has had a random pattern, so the only thing left to do was to stake it out. I guard the mango tree diligintly, despite the fact it's pitch black outside and anyone could take the mango tree itself and I would never notice. but still, I watch. The thief is obviously knowledgeable of the mango fruit, because he steals on the largest and ripest mangoes, and only one at a time as to not arouse suspicion. But the Fruit Bandit doesn't know my mother... She noticed that a SINGLE one was missing and became worried. After a second one was stolen, she resorted to labeling the mangoes still on the tree, that way if one was stolen she would know for sure because the numbers would be out of sync. Mangoes are still disappearing. I fear that if the problem is not resolved soon, the Fruit Bandit will begin to eyeball my banana trees...

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