Sand Castles

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Lipat Bahay

This blog has been closed.

For more inanities by yours truly, please proceed to Muni Muni Corner.

Engkyu.

Baw.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Head 'em up, Move 'em out

I didn't fully realize, until a few weeks ago, that this blog's about 2 years old already.

I started this when I was still in college, working on my thesis. I will have to say that even after 48 months, being outside of school feels no different.

However, that is not to say that that changes haven't taken place since i started blogging. In fact, a lot has happened in the past 104 weeks.

And although these entries may not exactly articulate all those changes and events, some do stand out - ranging from the profound to the downright silly.

So as a finishing chapter to Sand Castles, here's a brief listing of posts I felt said the most about yours truly.

Feel free to browse anytime.

the first entry

job application. need i say more?

long winded. typically Charis.

lessons inane. but lessons nonetheless.
(it's another thing if it's of any use to anyone but yours truly.)

When something like cancer strikes someone you love, you pray for a miracle.
Sometimes, somehow, it comes in forms you least expect them in.

Pop quiz:
What does Jollibee, a flyswatter, Mutalisks and life have in common?
Answer:
Not necessarily found here, but then again, aren't you curious?

UN-characteristically short. but a sassy entry nonetheless.

I liked how this picture turned out. I hope you do, too.

This isn't as noteworthy until you realize what I did 8 months after...
(hint: check this blog's last entry - to which I will not post a link to. hehe.)

Obviously, something big happened to make me write this. If you want to know what, I'd be more than willing to share. But you'd have to ask.

There are those days when quirky things seem to come one right after another. This is one of them.
Wish I had a lot more of these...

I can't tell you exactly why I like this. But if I had to, I would have to honestly say I thought this was clever.
(Won't blame you if you think otherwise. Actually, it's more like I don't care.)

Of course, this begs the question:
"What IS typical Filipino middle class surburbia like?"
Frankly, I think it's all a matter of opinion. But then again, so is everything else.

These and other entries are all open game for consumption, evisceration or ridicule. It's not definitive nor authoritative. Heck, most of the time, it doesn't even make sense. But who's complaining?

I'm not.

Monday, December 26, 2005

"She did WHAT?!?!?!"

To those familiar with my convictions regarding the digital lifestyle, i.e. relying on digital gadgets and whatnots over being analog, my recent purchase would be cause for a lynch mob to take me to the streets, beat me up and hang my carcass up high for the carion to consume.

This is because I've ditched my paper-based organizer for a Palm TX.

'Nuff said.

Now, must hide.

Friday, December 23, 2005

On A December Daybreak

Being nearly legally blind has its advantages.

For one thing, the streets of Metro Manila don't look as crappy as it is when you don't wear your glasses.

This is what I learned when I took a ride in the car at 5:30 in the morning.

The Christmas lights from the night before where left on, and my myopic eyesight simply refused to focus making them look like bursts of lights everywhere.

Now I don't know how a junkie feels like after he gets his fix, but i did see a lotta stars that time.

And I'm not complaining.

I actually think it's something people with "normal" eyesight fail to appreciate given that that's all they see.

I, on the other hand, have been allowed to see things quite differently.

For that I guess I can say I'm sort of grateful.

Until I nearly crash into a pole.....

... but that's another story....

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Wish Ko Lang

'Tis the holiday season.

And while this is the season of giving. Methinks a little wishing is also allowed.

And so, without further ado...

This, my friends, is a french press.

No, it's not the French media. (and yes, i can hear you snort. I can even HEAR you roll your eyes, Anne.)

Anyway, as I was saying...

The french press is a simple contraption used (not just by the French) to make coffee or tea.

You put in the coffee grinds or loose tea leaves; pour in hot water and let the substances brew for a while.

Before drinking, press the disc to hold down the pesky grinds or leaves while you pour your choice of brew into your cup or mug.

Nifty gadget.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

What do the knick-knacks on my desk say about me?

Let me count the ways...

1. An empty can of Coke (the size meant to be served with airline food)

- So far, in my nearly 25 years of existence, I have only been on one round-trip flight. I know there should at least be 2 cans in there (one for each flight) but it took up too much space and was getting redundant.

2. A jar of old Philippine Peso coins (remnants of the 80's and 90's)

- kept out of sentimentality for the said decades as it dates my childhood and formative years.
- too lazy to take the coins to the bank before it was demonitized.

3. Unopened pack of hard candies shaped like a tray of sushi

- leave it to the Japs to come up with candy that looks like raw fish...
- refuses to open package because of fear that i'd forget the person who gave it to me.

4. Unopened sampler bottle of Absolut (with a Christmas 2003 gift tag still attached to it)

- i don't drink vodka (or alcohol for that matter).
- saving it on the off chance i might want to (out of heartbreak, anger or just plain "bwiset").

5. Set of pewter cocktail forks

- i eat cocktails with my hands and not with some wimpy-looking forks.
- keeps it for the same reasons stated in number 3.

6. Roll of developed 16mm film

- a reminder fading fast of of film school minor glories and major disasters.
- a remnant of solo editing stints on linear editing on rickety Cinemonta tables at the PIA.

...to be continued.

Friday, November 18, 2005

A Walk Through Typical Filipino Middle Class Suburbia

It takes me 8-12 minutes to walk from my house to the palengke (8 minutes in cross-trainers; 12 minutes in 2-inch pumps) and vice versa. I've been doing this ever since I started commuting to work, which was about 10 months ago.

And in those daily 8-12 minute periods, I've seen a good number of mundane (yet somwhat interesting, therefore, blog-worthy) things.

My top 3 favorites are:

# 3 - a manhole chronically stolen of makeshift covering materials ranging from rusty galvanized iron sheets to splintered plywood boards. Whoever's been stealing the cover must think,

"Uy! Yero! (Plywood! / Gulong! / Sandbag!) Sayang ito! Maayos pa naman ito eh. Mai-uwi nga..."

Needless to say, when there's a flood, it is wise to stay away from that area. (unless you're up for quick dip in a cocktail of sewage, garbage, canine, feline and rodent crap.)

# 2 - a wall perpetually vandalized with spray paint scrawlings of either "MG" (Midnyt Gangztas)or "TSG*". The catch is, one gang paints on the wall,
then the other gang paints over the other gang's,
which is then painted over again by the first one,
which is then painted over by the second,
which is then... well, you get the idea.

(*my guess this means Tandang Sora Gangztas, but I could be wrong...)

In the end, it's just a mess of paint blobs. But it's amazing how these kinds of kids place so much importance on spray paint markings. (And I thought only dogs and wild animals mark their territories.)

Then just recently, the wall's owner had it resurfaced and painted over with a nice terra cotta color. In my opinion, he should have left it as it was. Now that it's smooth and clean again, it's asking for yet another spellbinding round of

"let's-paint-over-the-rival-gang's-stupid-grafitti".

Whoopee.

and my # 1 favorite roadside attraction is:

a cat carcass.

For a period of no less than 2 months, I witnessed a decaying mush of entrails, fur and flesh transform into a petrified specimen of roadkill, with the cat's face in a perpetual pose of his final moments of pain.

My apologies to those who have just eaten.

It became such an anticipated feature to my daily route that when the garbage folks finally scooped it away, I actually felt a twinge of disappointment.

I suppose my point is:

If I had chosen not to walk those 8-12 minutes, I may have missed out on these things. These things, though by itself are inconsequential, once combined with speculation and imagination become the beginnings of ideas, stories and ideas for stories.

And so, short of a flood, methinks I'll find myself taking that 8-12 minute walk every chance I get.

And now, on to finishing my half-eaten siopao...

Friday, October 28, 2005

What's So Bad With the Undead?

Within a 60-day period, I have commercially consumed (i.e. actually paid cineplex theater rates) for 2 movies having to do with the undead.

Willingly.

Now that may not seem much. But if you consider how many "art films" I've seen within the same period and compare this to the 2 "commercial craps" I've actually paid for to see, you'd at least raise an eyebrow.

For the record, here's the tally:

Commercial Crap: 2

Art films: 0

Add to this the fact that CineManila was showing within this timeframe and one would probably ask "What da heck?!?!"

(which, when you think about it is more of an exasperated declaration, rather than a question... but i digress...)

Forget the fact that I have a degree in film and that I've written papers on Bergman, Eisenstein, Antonini, Lynch and whatnot.

If you look not too deeply, you'd find that I'm a profoundly shallow person.

I will confess, I have a certain distaste, nay, abhorence, for people who like parading around terms such as "existentialism", "deconstruction of iconography" and all kinds of cineaste-art-film-buff jargon as if that makes them certified "art film afficionados."

Personally, I think they're more like certified snobs.

So, okay, I like the occasional art film and I like to be able to enter a theater, experience a story told like no other person has and come out knowing even just a tad bit more about my world, or another person's world.

I will also admit I like to know a bit more than the common Juan and actually identify with the works of guys like Kurusawa, Goddard, Zhang, Wong Karwai and Fellini.

But honestly, I can do that with my "commercial crap" too.

Ever heard of Bartkowiak, Witt or Romero? What about Spielberg?

I'm not saying Doom should be called an art film, but in that same breath, I don't think anyone has the right to condemn any person who watches that movie and actually likes it.

My point is that, to those who dare label with "art" and "crap", keep your academic discussions, dissertations and all its alienating terminologies to yourselves and your little intellectual, coffee shop clique.

The movie I paid 130 pesos for may not "uplift" or "enlighten" me with a "deeper understanding" of the nature of man,

but hey, I got entertained.

And to me, that's as good as art.

Monday, October 24, 2005

OFF

2:35 pm logged in
2:36 pm logged out

2:47 pm logged in
2:49 pm logged out

2:54 pm logged in

crap, i don't have anything to say...

i know i do, but it just won't come out.

so this is what verbal constipation feels like.

frankly, i prefer verbal diarrhea.

but only if i had a choice.

3:02 pm publish blog

3:03 pm log off

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Trivial Discovery

Last night, went to walk walk my brother around the subdivision.

(yes, just like you would walk a pet.

without the leash of course.

although he would protest and say he was walking ME.

but we all know better...)

It was a new moon and there was a great big cookie right up there in the sky. just like those marie cookies that i used to be sent off to school with. they're round, yellow and tastes like, well... a cookie...

i guess i haven't noticed it before, but apparently, with a bright moon you can do cloud watching. Even at night.

So I did.

And I saw the face of a really hairy man with thick eyebrows and a large nose.

Then a long boot that was kicking a sneaker.

After that, it was pretty much just collective formations of water vapor.

Damn, I need to work on my cloud watching skills more...