say it with me

You say 'maya,' I say 'bah-yah.' Wudderful.

pelikula at pundaquit

I found it, I found it! I thought I had lost my CD of Pelikula at Pundaquit by the Bolipata Brothers. Going over my PC installers earlier, I found it. The violin and cello here are simply maddening, playing out tunes of old Filipino movies with such sorrow and passion--ayayay, I'm lost for words. Now I just have to get back my San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra Tunes, and my OST playlist will be complete--well, almost. With composers and interpreters like John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini and Tan Dun on my list, some smashing George Canseco and Willy Cruz should make the mix just about right.

woohoo!

Mom passed the NCLEX! So proud!

Let's do the dance of joy (a la Larry and Balky):lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai-hai hai hai hai hai hai-yay!

*****

I don't like my poems anymore. Save for a couple of sentimental ones and my silly haikus, I would like to put them away. Oh dear muse, where are you? So in the absence of words of my own, we once again turn to...Ani Difranco.

willing to fight
Ani Difranco

the windows of my soul
are made of one way glass
don't bother looking into my eyes
if there's something you want to know,
just ask
i got a dead bolt stroll
where i'm going is clear
i won't wait for you to wonder
i'll just tell you why i'm here

'cause i know the biggest crime
is just to throw up your hands
say
this has nothing to do with me
i just want to live as comfortably as i can
you got to look outside your eyes
you got to think outside your brain
you got to walk outside you life
to where the neighborhood changes

tell me who is your boogieman
that's who i will be
you don't have to like me for who i am
but we'll see what you're made of
by what you make of me
i think that it's absurd
that you think i
am the derelict daughter
i fight fire with words
words are hotter than flames
words are wetter than water

i got friends all over this country
i got friends in other countries too
i got friends i haven't met yet
i got friends i never knew
i got lovers whose eyes
i've only seen at a glance
i got strangers for great grandchildren
i got strangers for ancestors

i was a long time coming
i'll be a long time gone
you've got your whole life to do something
and that's not very long
so why don't you give me a call
when you're willing to fight
for what you think is real
for what you think is right

doing it the fred flintstone way

An SMS from Julia: The taxi I'm riding has a hole on its floor, can watch the road between my two feet, great ventilation, hahaha, I hope we don't splash over any puddles.

Followed by: I could've stuck my foot through if the taxi stalled and run like Fred Flintstone.

I miss you, Juls.

silence and the sound

We celebrate Independence Day today. This morning, I padded downstairs and flipped on the television to see what festivities might be going on. The NBN channel was showing a parade of festivals from across the country, with people in brightly colored costumes prancing about and dancing before the people that amassed at Luneta for the Independence Day celebration. I imagine the President to be among those watching. Elsewhere, people are also amassing. Not to celebrate the 108th year of our country's independence, but to point out that as of today, we live in fear. Almost every week, one reads of killings of 'leftists' and 'subversives', gunmen in motorbikes felling activists one after the other. And the government keeps silent. Our country is brandished as the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, with Iraq being the close second. The majority of the 79 reported journalist slayings since 1985 have been committed during the term of our current president. And the government keeps silent.

All I can hear is the gratingly nasal intonations of our president, admonishing her constituents and the people she serves to please let her do her job.

googlism

I tried my French given name in googlism, and here are some of the wild results:
- marielle is a dutch form of mary (I didn't know this)
- marielle is a dark and mysterious lady in the service of ratitick (what is a ratitick?)
- marielle is now dancing professionally and her specialties are jazz (wow)
- marielle is determined to discover the truth (to...)
- marielle is there (yeah)
- marielle is available for travel if all expenses are paid (hahaha, true)
- marielle is featured on many modeling and acting websites (wahahaha)
- marielle is made to dance & display her shiny spikes (verry curious about the context of this)
- marielle is now learning about the lord
- marielle is a beautiful model based in stockholm (that explains it)
- marielle is my favorite heroin (adik!)

Doing my geisha walk in the rain

Saturday morning found me at the big development organization in Ortigas. Hunched over Joe's workstation, I caught up on hi-speed internet and tweaked layouts under the watchful care of the third occupant of the room, our bodyguard Eddie. Guarding Joy and I and a bag of Joe's surplus banana chips with his big-ass rifle, Eddie sat on the window sill, staring out into the empty rooms across the East Core (which resembles some reactor core, or a giant egg). That's his picture up there. With Eddie around, you're probably wondering what kind of projects I'd be working on in this development complex that demands you go through two x-rays for you and your baggage before reaching the lobby. Well. All I can say is--they have the best, cheapest chocolate cake in the cafeteria. Hahaha.

Yes. I had work on a Saturday morning (nothing new). Then an attempt at emceeing at the ArtPlay exhibit opening in Quezon City. Then a mini-meeting with Rhea back in Ortigas for the Idea!s planning sked. Then buying materials for the planning, and for cards for a friend. Then back home to Alabang. I don't know whatever possessed me to wear a very long denim skirt (the heavy kind that limits you stride). It rained that day (it rains pretty much everyday now), and so i got stuck hobbling around in the rain in a drenched and thus rather heavy skirt, sloshing through mini-rivers of rainwater.

Dragged myself home in a more sabog state than usual. Then it was off to Anilao the next day.