merienda (tea time)

tonE (9/26/2006 12:52:55 PM): why is the blue sky?
moi (9/26/2006 12:53:34 PM): because the sky flakes.

(blueskies and skyflakes are competing brands of crackers available in the philippines.)

remembering the rain

i gather that the saddest part of growing old is forgetting.

case in point: dancing in the rain. i wonder why it is only the kids do that dance.

when it rains, children run around and play in the rain. grown-ups run like mad for cover.
both run:
it's just that one group run towards it and the other away from it.

maybe it is because grown-ups know that getting yourself wet in the rain will bring illnesses of all sorts. floodwaters are plagued with diseases. or maybe because they know that the rainwater (yes, even those drops that haven't yet reached the ground -- just think smog, smog and more smog) is not a health drink.

i danced in the rain too. when i was around 8 till i was 12. i waited for the first rain of the year. which would, almost always, last a week. we lived in an apartment that had roof gutters. the heavy rainwater that accumulated on the roof would fall through these gutters like waterfalls. i loved going under them and i can still remember the feeling of concern and sheer bliss that my head would split open due to the force of the falling water. for 4 years, i danced and played and got soaked in the rain. each single time, for a week. and every single year, i always ended up with a bad case of influenza. but i would always await the coming of the first rain of the year to come. i was in kidapawan then.

high school was davao city. i don't know if it was high school or it was the city. but i stopped my annual rain dance. maybe i was preoccupied with wanting freedom but not getting it(which in retrospect, was a good thing --- i was so young i didn't know what freedom meant) maybe there were things i deemed more important and activities consumed my time. i hadn't been thinking much about dancing, but the rain would ever call out to me.

college called me into the biggest metropolis in the country: metro manila. it is here that i learned to shun the rain water. it is dirty. (i still think it is). the floodwaters are much worse, considering that the streets on which they flow (or stagnate) are not very hygienic.

however, my kinship with the rain grew only stronger. i remembered it rained when i boarded the airplane on my own for the first time. i always have this feeling that it rains whenever i would be in a moment that should be engraved in my memory.

still, i haven't danced in the longest time. and yes, it is sad when it rains: when i remember that i'd known once but have forgotten how.

surreal

if you're headed for fantansyville,
pay your bills.
nothing snaps you back to reality as fast.

proud to be pinoy

2 months back, during one of the usual sunday family meals, we talked about cars running on lpg. and we thought that it was not a very good idea, and decided that it was too dangerous to implement.. i could only imagine the cars exploding on collision (accidents are very usual in the metro)..

2 weeks ago, aboard a cab going to caloocan, lem and i passed by a long queue of taxi. our cab driver explained that they were queueing at the lpg refilling station. and immediately added, "buti na lang, meron kaming sariling karagahan.." the driver left me no time to react. the thought of the number of taxis queueing at an lpg refilling station already shocked me. but i was more alarmed to know the mge (the brand of the taxi we were in) has their own lpg refilling station. and yes, the cab we were in, has already been coverted to run on lpg. the cab driver might have sensed my alarm, he quipped, "may dalawang taxi na kaming tumaob, di naman sumabog.." hahaha, i didn't know whether to be relieved by the fact that lpg-fueled cars are safe or be more alarmed, now knowing that mge cabs are very capable of road accidents... hehehe

for 28 thousand pesos, a car may be modified to run on lpg. the owner will be saving, at least, 20 pesos per liter. our cab driver said "mas malakas ang hatak ng lpg kesa sa gasolina..". and he assured us that it is safe. the only price one has to pay is the trunk space, where the lpg tank will be placed.

i find solace in the number of cabs now running on lpg. and i feel proud of the filipino ingenuity -- we just know how to rise above difficult circumstances. i just hope that cars won't just explode when accidentaly hit another car in the near future.

incredulity

3 days ago, i was in for a ride.

started my day excited about a career change. after a 15-minute meeting, it had been decided (almost, it is only now that it is finally clear to me) that it wasn't for me. (i think it was i who decided it was not worth it) -- thank God for the luxury of choosing jobs.

went back to a previous workplace. good to see old friends. no qualms when i came face to face with tasks i once was doing. and i thought i would not be able to go back there without feeling uneasy. too many bad memories... were there really many? now i think the good ones outnumber the bad ones. i had a nice time.

my work day did not end so well. found out that for some people, money is more important than people. i cried. and somehow, i decided, next time, i would work just for money. hmm, am i ready to do that? i don't know.

came home, tired. defeated.

then, i heard that a friend has some serious health problems. then in the midst of the monsoon rains, fire trucks sirens disturbed the silence of the night. some people are fighting harder battles than i am.

i am one selfish brat.

late bloomer

who said old dogs never learn new tricks?

starcraft has been out in the market for the longest time (some 7 years back?). but it is only now that i started playing. really playing. yes, i had played it some 4 years back, but jayjay had been there babying me all throughout...

today, i'm no baby anymore. i play protoss. i read strategies. i learn. i understand. (i try very hard to, and fast!)

i'm neither a dog nor old so i guess its expected of me to keep on learning. :)

before sunrise

watched it yesterday.
love the poem.
thank you rosemarie for sharing this movie with me.

Daydream delusion
Limousine Eyelash
Oh, baby with your pretty face

Drop a tear in my wineglass
Look at those big eyes
See what you mean to me

Sweet cakes and milkshakes
I am a delusioned angel
I am a fantasy parade

I want you to know what I think
Don't want you to guess anymore

You have no idea where I came from
We have no idea where we're going
Launched in life
Like branches in the river
Flowing downstream
Caught in the current

I'll carry you
You'll carry me
That's how it could be

Don't you know me
Don't you know me by now

Delusion Angel by David Jewell

today, i learned...

that bird on the UP seal is a PARROT.

thanks for the info jayjay!

tender juicy moments

it is a good thing to have someone share your passion for something.

ivy, lem and i woke up a bit early today (yes on a saturday) because we went out to meet a mini-daschund breeder. i long wanted to have a dog i can call my own and ivy long wanted to have another dog in the house so yoko ono (a japanese chin, our dog for almost 3 years) would have a playmate. and lem has no objections to our desires.

when we got to the breeder's house, we were not so thrilled when we saw the puppy, because she looked so thin (considering she's a daschund, so she has a very long body!), but our hearts melted when the puppy warmed up with ivy and clung on to her not wanting to let go.

we then went home with the new pup. a very curious little one.

yoko ono seemed not to mind having a new housemate. we are hoping she will be the big sister for the new puppy.

i wanted her name to be "Avatar". ivy didn't agree, she said it's too geeky. then i suggested the name "Beatles", thinking it's definitely a good idea as it would blend perfectly with yoko ono's name. in the end, we named her "TJ", short for "tender juicy hotdog". hahahaha, nothing beats pinoy humor!

and the three of us, human housemates? you guess. here's the sample of the pictures lem took.

in deep thought

when so curious bout something, and keep on trying to find it out...

did i just miss the obvious?
am i waiting for the answer that i wanted?

... sometimes i wonder.

loving one's country

i learned a not-so-new thing at church yesterday.

we [Filipinos] have an overdeveloped sense of right and an underdevelop sense of duty. we are a shame-oriented people, not a guilt-oriented people.
- bishop efraim tendero

how true. in times of crisis, what we think about is our own safety, that it is our RIGHT to live in a peaceful country. but what are we doing FOR our country?

i guess the Philippines needs us now more than ever. let us do our DUTY, we can start by praying for this country we call our own.

eye candy

in this crazy, busy, full-of- activities, demanding, stressful phase of my life --- i found a refuge in the world of colorful beads.

my sister ivy bought her jewelry making kit late last year. i envied her having time to work on creative stuff. i wished i'd be able to make jewelry pieces too. but i didn't have the luxury of time. or so i thought.

conditions at work made me so desperate for an outlet to release stress. so two weeks ago, i have decided that i will engage myself in this creative activity. i chose to make earrings because i think they are the easiest things to make. and having been born in the "instant" generation, earrings proved to be instant gratification.

i am now basking myself in universe of colors. i find the spontaneity of the process liberating. no rigorous application of syntax and logic. colors have an unconditioned way of complementing each other. no matter if the colors seem to belong an unlikely crowd, when they are put next to each other, they just fit.

God is very wise. He said in this Word:

Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

i am learning to toil and then unwind.

impressions

while i was riding an fx(shuttle) to work today,some song was being played over the radio which prompted me to drift into a whimsical thought...

songs become popular for a time, dominate the airwaves and then they're gone to be remembered when the children who love them grow up and make remakes of them.

there are some songs, however, that are loved, despite their not making it to the mainstream.(or at least, i am unaware they were at some point in time) here's a story of one of these songs for me:

my aunt had a cassette tape of the Christopher Cross album, Back of my Mind. i was 9 or 10 years old at that time. i used to play the tape over and over, two songs stayed with me till now: Swept Away and I Will (Take You Forever).


in college, i found out lem digged Christopher Cross' Swept Away.

God brought us together and i believe this to be one of the very early signs.
childhood memories woven into our very lives in the present.

then suddenly i was back to the song that's fading in the background, and smiled, thinking, maybe, some little girl is listening to it the same time a little boy stumbles upon the music and makes it his own. then they meet, in the future...

reasons

joy: lem, buy mo ko ipod nano?
lem: ba't kailangan ipod?
joy: iriver n lng, hehehe
lem: are you going to use it for what is it, or for what it stands for?
joy: hmm, for what it... stands for?
lem: e di wag na!
joy: e for what it is na ren? *pacute*
lem: *deadma*

i guess now is not a good time to own one yet. tsk tsk tsk.

the moon and i

lem once gave me a card that says:

you and the moon
always changing
always wonderful

he never fails to warm my heart.

Do I Really Want To Do This?

Family and friends are becoming farther apart: space and time.
Stories still happen each new day.
Let's stay connected.


* create your own sand art: http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/