Y.E.L.L.E.

Hahaha, natuwa ako dito. Bakit parang andami kong blog ngayong araw na ito. E ang heggard heggard ng panahon. Hmmm. As soon as I get over my 3 reports for my 2 classes tomorrow--haaaaaay.


This is my cyborg name. Hmmm. Ano kaya ang Ytterbium?

Microsoft Bintana

Access to Yahoo has been returned. Yahoo!

WTF???!!!!

National crises aside, some of us have problems of our own. My stint with the web-based e-messenger was short-lived. Everything Yahoo is blocked (yes, that includes my email, my yahoo groups, etc.). This is the unofficial declaration of virtual martial law. What about my 3,000++ unread messages in Yahoo??? What about my academic-socio-civic yahoo groups? Not to mention my let's-keep-in-touch yahoo groups??? Waaahhh.

I really don't understand. In international offices, they even use Yahoo Messenger to communicate internally, the way Joy and I used to do (in the days that YM wasn't yet banned). Filtering viruses and making a kickass firewall isn't that big a problem for them. And I would think these younger companies are more liberal when it comes to the internet (meaning they aren't as technophobic, meaning they're more adventurous when it comes to surfing, downloading, etc.). Grrr.

Ibabaw Cubao

The culprits: Dan, Dang and Yelle. The happy victim: Bern. With Paulo in absentia, we kidnapped Bern from her animation workshop (pero sakay kami sa kotse niyang siya ang nagda-drive), and headed for the Marikina Shoe Expo to check out the garage sale at Blacksoup Interactive. Dinner at Bellini's (tama si Dan, quatro fromage rocks) where we got entertained by a magician/social science teacher. We checked out the exhibit at Future Concepts (tama nga ba?) where we chanced upon a Roberto Chabet (Father of Philippine Conceptual Art) sighting. Whenever I see him at an exhibit, he's always seated on a chair, his cane resting on the side, with disciples seated on the floor around him. I wonder what they talk about. Feeling ko no matter how much I study theory, I will never understand their art. Pero mababaw lang ako, and just viewing and speculating about their pieces does quite a bit for me. Pang mass culture ang aesthetic sensibilities ko, hehehe. Sorry, Adorno.

Photos courtesy of Bern. Ayun, goofing around Vintage Pop.

Of Happy Thoughts and One Night Stands

"So is this what a one night stand feels like?" I joked, getting ready to head out the door to work.

My sister burst out laughing. "But you're not a boy!!!"

My flight attendant ate is in town for a 24-hour layover. Whenever these occasions arise, the whole family troops to the hotel to greet and eat, and those of us who have no problems falling asleep at anyplace at anytime sleep over. With Eleanor in the States, the sleep-overee would be me. Medyo nakakamiss, sharing a bed, confiding things in sisterly intimacy.

Of course I wouldn't elaborate on what we talked about, but I would like to say that I'm glad to see my ate this way. She seems more strong-willed and she knows what she wants. I'm happy for her, and I know fortune shall not delay for those who do not dilly-dally (like me).

She also hand-delivered this cute kitty postcard. Chinese Cats - Cat 5 by Cheng Dehong. I love postcards. Kung may lalabas ng bansa, ito ang ipasalubong niyo sa akin ha? Hehehe. May sulat man o wala. Pero siyempre mas gusto kong may sulat.

*****

Thank you Gladys for the happy thoughts. She sent me these:

• Waking up to the sound of a flowing river.
• Surviving a muddy and slippery hike.
• Native pigs eating grass (my favorite).

*****

AUGUST
Adrienne Rich

Two horses in yellow light
eating windfall apples under a tree

as summer tears apart milkweeds stagger
and grasses grow more ragged

They say there are ions in the sun
neutralizing magnetic fields on earth

Some way to explain
what this week has been, and the one before it!

If I am flesh sunning on rock
if I am brain burning in fluorescent light

if I am dream like a wire with fire
throbbing along it

if I am death to man
I have to know it

His mind is too simple, I cannot go on
sharing his nightmares

My own are becoming clearer, they open
into prehistory

which looks like a village lit with blood
where all the fathers are crying: My son is mine!

*****

Happy birthday, Tita Gang! *mwah*

Heto Pa

There's also the German Silent Film Festival featuring the films of Fritz Lang. Libre ito. Yahoo. Every Thursday of August, 8 PM, SM Megamall.

Schedule of Film screenings:
• August 4 - METROPOLIS, music by Rubber Inc
• August 11 - SPIES, music by The Sammy Asuncion Group
• August 18 - DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLEr, music by Tots Tolentinoand Buhay
• August 25 - DESTINY, music by Cynthia Alexander

There are also advanced screenings of Dekalog by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski. Pero sa SM Centerpoint at SM Manila lang. Malayo. Wahahahaaaa. Check out the 2005 Cinemanila website.

May I Plug

The Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK) Annual Exhibit is coming up! Entitled ANIMALAYA (wehehe), it was organized in coordination with Haribon Foundation, and will showcase various species of endangered animals rendered by Inkies within the context of different environmental issues. Opening is at 5:30 PM on August 23, 2005 at the Marikina Riverbanks Mall. May libreng pagkain!

During the meeting last Saturday, a bunch of interesting workshop schedules at the Raya School were also passed around. Here are a couple I'm quite interested in:

BOOKBINDING 101

Part 1 (Sept. 17, 1-4 PM, Workshop Fee: PhP1,100.00, inclusive of journaling kit)
Part 2 (Sept. 24, 1-4 PM, Workshop Fee: PhP1,100.00, inclusive of journaling kit)

This workshop introduces the participants to different media and techniques in bookbinding. Included are basic cover production and binding for ring bound journals, accordion card binding, and Japanese book binding techniques.

Production output: 1 mini journal (2" x 3") and 1 regular size journal (8.5" x 11") using the Japanese book binding technique, one ledger type journal, and 1 accordion-type card

ADVANCED BOOKBINDING

(October 1, 9-3 PM, Workshop Fee: PhP 850, inclusive of lunch)

This workshop introduces participants to different media and techniques in creating a hardbound journal using non-traditional materials.

Production output: 1 mini journal (2" x 3") and 1 regular size journal (8.5" x 11")

To find out more, check out Winnie D' Stitch Witch.

Colorful Socks

Peering into the gloomy room, my eyes were drawn to the little stripes of color at the far end. What colorful socks! The ones with little toes on the ends, no less! My cheery heart began to sink though when I began to notice that the socks were clinging to feet and legs that hardly filled them in. I looked at the children that lay there, and they stared back, not at me, but at the ceiling. Instead of the childish mirth one would expect from the excited and curious eyes of kids faced with a camera, theirs were blank. At least, the expressions on their faces were foreign to me. I couldn't tell if they were happy or annoyed. They just lay there. In a screened-in room filled with laughter, crying and garbled sounds of children trying to communicate, four children stricken with cerebral palsy silently lay there, their heads supported by the special cradles that held their bodies, their legs and feet dangling too-large, colorful socks in a futile attempt to dress up their sedentary lives.

Nahirapan akong kunan sila ng litrato. One thing I love about my job is that I get to take photographs of different people--youth, children, mothers, fathers, board members, organizers, and the different personalities that color the development sphere. Children are special. They are visions of happy thoughts that enthrall you one moment, and then splat you with baby food or worse in the next. Their energy and camera-hungry-pogi-poses leave me staring out into black holes in the galactic cosmos at the end of the day, mind-numbed and tired. But you take delight at having partaken of their mirth, and will go back again and again to capture what can be shared. It is terribly wrong to see children this way. Instead of seeing wonder in their faces, you see unchanging expressions of expectant monotony. Instead of life and liveliness, you begin to see what each day is like for them--still and silent.

The Yellow Paperclip with Bright Purple Spots

My dear tita moon-lover friend Kneekee (popularly known as Nikki) has a book! The Yellow Paperclip with Bright Purple Spots is this year's PBBY-Salanga winner. Her story chronicles the adventures of a unique little paperclip. The book is beatifully illustrated by May Ann Licudine, this year's PBBY-Alcala winner. It'll be launched next month at Powerbooks! Yiheee! Sikaaaaat! I'm so proud of you, Tita Kneekee! Congratulations!

Clarisse, you have a special mention here, as the flight attendant to whom our yellow paperclip (with bright purple spots) temporarily belonged to. Pati uniform mo, kuha! I'll get you a copy when it's launched. ;-) Yikeeeee.