It's probably the closest I can be to living out my childhood ambitions. When I have time, spare parts, and a good idea, I like to build and of course wear superhero costumes.

My parents started it, they use to let me prance around dressed as an astronaut, or Batman, or a Ninja Turtle. My parents worked in Philippine showbiz so it was a positive environment for being artistic.

Iron Man is one of my all time favorite heroes. He's also my favorite to create because, there has been hundreds of variations of the invincible iron mans armor. There is no such thing as an inaccurate Iron Man. He allows artists to experiment.

When I was in my early 20s, without realizing it, I had somewhat gone down the Tony Stark road. I was a genius with a knack for drinking and a popular yet impenetrable personality.

Only difference was no money and no chicks.

I remember it was September of 2006, and I was contemplating my costume. After browsing through an entertainment earth catalog, I saw a face screaming out to me. It was an Iron Man helmet. I pictured myself wearing it and crafting a costume with my bare hands.

I'll never forget the day I bought it. It was an all day workshop retreat at a hotel. I decided to buy the helmet some time that morning. During the afternoon, I was surfing the free wifi on my laptop. Ironically the session was about possible layoffs but I said what the hell and typed my credit card number in. $65 and a week later, there it was at my front door, a life size replica of Iron Man’s noggin.

It took me about 2 days, I used a sick day. I built my costume out of football gear. Luckily I had yellow Under Armour and football pants. I wrapped my shoulder pads with shiny red gift-wrap, and I strapped on a tap light. Voila! There it is my very own Iron Man suit.

I've never looked back since. I kept my helmet on display in my cube, occasionally partying while wearing it.

I've even gone as far as doing my laundry in it. This was my zany mom’s idea. I filmed my Iron Man chores all by myself one morning.

I’ve attempted two follow up versions. Since I sit in the Blackhole for Oakland Raiders games, I figured I built enough street-cred to wear a costume

Since Iron Mans best friend forever War Machine is silver, I made my custom War Machine for Raider games. But we all know how bad the Raiders are so I stopped wearing it at some point.

I repainted some of the parts and built a new and improved suit. Though I didn’t place in Halloween last year, it was still a pretty awesome suit.

It's always fun to put the helmet on when I take picture with guys who are also called "Iron (fill in the blanks)" or other masked men like the Jabbawockeez.

I sometimes like to don the helmet every now and then to random places, most recently, Wondercon, where I also got many compliments for my helmet alone. I also had the opportunity to compliment other fine works of art.

I attended a costume-making workshop and learned some techniques for future suits. I’ve been contemplating several heroes. I’ll be buying my own Wonderflex soon so I can build my next costume.

Though I've done a bucn of other costumes throughout my life, I don't have too many pictures. My Cyclops costume looked good in some pics, but in person, it was blah. I'm considering building another Superhero costume, possibly Thor, for this upcoming Halloween. 

Everyday, I'm pretty much dressed like Clark Kent, and in fact, I sometimes wear a Superman shirt under my suit.

I will definitely apply what I learned at the workshop when I become the Mighty Thor, or any other hero I randomly choose.

I'm not one as hardcore, nor a techie, but in my own little world, I have superheroes in my closet.