happy easter!

just click it!

score board

so far, `eto ang tally ng mga nakabinbin kong serye

dalawa ang aprubado na tapos 4 ang di ko pa nasisimulan as in kahit na isang kataga, wala pa talaga! yaay!

naka-isa na ako, pero di ko pa alam kung tanggap o hindi kasi kanina ko lang pinasa, hehe... trilogy lang 'to so 2 na lang ang utang ko

wala pa talaga, konsepto pa lang... kahit nga concept paper di ko pa nasa-submit sa PHR...tinatantiya ko pa kasi kung kaya ko siyang gawin... nakaka-drain magsulat ng seryoso eh :(

my gazillion $ question now is this:

Kelan ko kaya sila matatapos lahat???

by a recently found long lost friend

Beed of Rouses
Rowena Rose M. Lee

My roommate, my adamant I-will-remain-a-virgin-until-I-got-married roommate apologized to me for a minor fault, and said as a way of explanation, "Na-libog ako eh." Ahhhhh, her horniness got in the way of rational thinking. What joy! What utter joy!

Only here in Mindanao do I hear these things. I do not know if this is a case of my Manila-born idiocy bubbling out or I just plain don't get it. Someone tells me, 'Uy, taas na yung buhok mo." And I smooth down the top of my head thinking that I must look like a troll with my hair up high.

I keep telling the people I talk to here that I am not Jude, or Lagi or Gani or Gilok, but that doesn't stop them from calling me that anyway. I'm beginning to think that perhaps these appellations are part of a ritual name calling. You know, Japanese style of name calling like Koji-san or Sakura-san. In my case, its Weng-Jude. I know that the Filipino term 'Lagi' means always. But what is a Gani or Gilok. Is it alive? Is it a mammal? Is it an alien from the deepest reaches of planetary existence? And why the heck am I being associated with it?

Often too, people here seem to mistake me for some other Chinese person. Sometimes they tell me, (especially when I do something nice for them, "Si Weng Uy", and I tell them that I am not Weng Uy, but Weng Lee. I swear to myself that one day, one friggin' day, I will get to meet this Weng Uy, and set the world right.

Okay, okay, so I may be exaggerating things to a hilt. But it just seems more like a language shock rather than a culture shock to hear all this things from someone else's lips.

I confine the term culture shock to little innocuous things that many Mindanaoans take for granted. For the life of me, I have never seen cows and carabaos and horses and goats and pigs co-mingling freely with people. I have never seen mosquitoes the size of butterflies before "... na baby pa lang yun." I have never heard people speaking like a flock of mayas taking group baths. Oh, by the way, people correct me here when I call the mayas just that. They are langgam pari, they tell me - and a whole new debate issue arises.

Now I know why the dorm security guard and the house parent of the dorm looked mighty surprised when I complained that "Maraming langgam sa kuwarto ko."

"Paano makakapasok yung langgam, may screen naman?" They asked me.

I was like, "Duh? Kasya kaya sila sa butas ng screen? Heller?"

They went into my room and looked at the ceiling. I pointed them to my walls and my tables and my floors. They laughed and they laughed. "Ah, amigas!" They said.

Good Lord! What have I gotten into? The dorm security guard and the house parent had ant friends they call "amigas?" In my part of sanity, my mother would introduce a close female friend as, "Eto ang amiga kong si ..." I tried to hide the fact that in one corner of my dorm room, I had swept about a hundred of their friend's carcasses unceremoniously.

There is too, the husband and wife tandem Boogie and Prunset. I seem to be always riding with them on the public utility jeepneys. The 'konduktor' or jeepney conductor would slam the vehicle's sides and thump on the roof while yelling for Boogie. "Si Boogie, si Boogie ..." they yelled and I wanted to yell on my own, "Putragis! Hoy, Boogie, bumaba ka na kasi... Galit na nga sila sa iyo, ayaw mo pang bumaba!"

But wallowing in this soup of confusion, I find that all is not lost for me. I am happy to report that I finally met Prunset. She is an elderly lady that smells like a fish vendor from Mintal wet market. When she hails the jeep, everyone just yells, "Nay Prunset! Nanay Prunset!" I almost jumped for joy. Finally, I have a face to go with the name. Nanay Prunset must be one very popular lady, though. Even when I don't see her on the jeep, people still call out her name. One time, this 'conductor' tells me, "Miss Prunset!" And I'm thinking, he must've mistaken me for Nanay Prunset's daughter.

Really, this article is stretching for any form of reason. It's very difficult actually to concentrate on finding the differences in language. I am honestly, not very well versed in speaking or in the nuances of the English language. But when I go ride on the jeep down the length of Mintal Street and I see a side car with a tail sign that says, "Beed of Rouses" and stall signs that announce, "For Sale Honey Bee," I desperately searched my brain, not for reason, but for some semblance of sanity.

defending our ideals

Ragazza's post as I understood it.
(published with consent)

I want to flee the hands of those who have enslaved me, to secretly escape and to find a life rich with love and happiness, but inexorably my dreams blew with the wind, deserting me. It is very difficult to find an opening that will lead me towards you and to a new life.

By now he has done all he could... Alone he lay in his cell, breathing in that sickening stench. And somehow I find myself tethered to him with cords just as sickening. Through a small window I can see the light of day. It illuminates my face. I try to go near it, to breathe pure air but the cords rubbing my skin deters me. Harder still I try until my skin breaks. Amidst the burning pain, I am overwhelmed with hatred;
hatred so compelling I gnash my teeth with great force.

Such nightmare. I ask myself: what's the point of life if I can't live it? Wouldn't it be better to put an end to everything so I could forget the suffering? Why go on hoping
that the days and nights will pass calmly by? Oh the unjustness of it! I am condemned by a crime that I have not committed, a crime that I must pay with my own life.

I hear a voice inside my head answer. "A lot of people live a life of Calvary. The secret is in not giving in. Others lose hope, but others live with the wisdom that the world will change for the better. They hold on to this thought till the end..."

And so I ask myself further: what then should I do? Should I continue defending my ideals of love and happiness or do I allow death to conquer me? I thought about this for days even though I already knew I would be executed soon and my death would be without dignity.

I thought and thought until it was too late for thoughts. He was near. He was covered in dark fabric. Death. He opened my cell door, cut my cords loose and carried me towards the liberation of my life...

Translation made possible by freetranslation.com

payo ng kaibigan

dont think about other people's expectations. just write whenevr you feel like it and enjoy. kasi kapag nawala ang enjoyment sa writing, it becomes a job. and a job, without enjoyment is just a paycheck.

cry baby

I met this person once, she's an avid PHR reader. Pinky ang pangalan niya at siya ang nagpakilala sa akin sa panulat ni Angela del Mar. As in para lang mabasa ko eh ibinili pa niya talaga ako ng kopya ng libro ng author na ito. Unfortunately, hindi ko na mahagilap yung libro ngayon. Marahil may nanghiram sa akin at hindi pa naibabalik kaya hindi ko masabi ang title. I'm like that, mahina ang memorya ko sa pangalan, mukha, at titles. Ang natatandaan ko lang ay kaunting eksena mula sa kuwento at syempre na nagustuhan ko siya.

Kahapon, dahil nasa area na rin lang ako ay sumaglit ako sa Precious Pages sa SM Manila. Doon ay nakakita ulit ako ng libro ni Angela del Mar, ang title ay "Ikaw Lang". Twenty pesos ko lang siya nabili kasi naka sale na siya. Back-issue na kasi, early last year pa yata na-release.

Kagabi binasa ko yung libro at muli, sobrang naiyak na naman ako. I've only read three books from this author at lahat ng mga iyon ay pinaiyak ako. Ganoon siya gumawa ng kuwento, nakakaiyak talaga. Kanina nga, binabalik-balikan kong basahin ang mga eksenang naantig ang puso ko. Ganyan ako kapag nagustuhan ko ang isang libro.

The story is about not settling for less than your dreams which by the way is my personal philosophy. Sobrang mahal kasi ni Diandra ang nobyo niya kaya kahit labag sa kagustuhan ng ina niya ay nakipag-live in siya dito. Only to find that months later, hindi din pala niya kayang siya lang parati ang nagbibigay. Alam niyang mahal siya ni lalaki kaya lang hindi sapat ang pag-ibig lang. She wanted kids and she wanted a wedding ring. Mga bagay na hindi kayang ibigay sa kanya ni Ethan. And so, she left him.

Ang pangyayaring ito ang gumising kay Ethan. Noon lang niya na-realize kung gaano siya naging unfair kay Diandra. Noon lang din niya na-realize na hindi pala niya kaya ang wala si Diandra sa buhay niya.

Mahirap gumawa ng kuwento na single point of view lang. Hindi mo kasi maipahiwatig ng mabuti ang nararamdaman ng hero, parating side lang ng heroine. Pero sa kuwentong ito, kahit single point of view siya ay damang-dama ko ang pangungulila ni Ethan para kaya Diandra. Sabi niya sa ending, "Nasubukan ko na ang buhay nang wala ka. Isang bangungot iyon. Hindi ko kaya, Di, ang wala ka sa buhay ko. Hindi ko kaya." *sniff*

lukso ng dugo nga!

Ayaw nilang maniwala. Sabi ko na nga ba Pinay si Melinda Lira eh. Well, at least she's part Pinay anyway.

I just can't get my hands on any substantial link to prove the claim, but I swear I saw a news piece about her and her being part Filipina on ANC.

Also, there are rumors going around that Amanda Avila is also Pinay.

But come to think of it, what does it matter anyway?

mental picture

In front of me is a calendar. You know how it is when every month a different place is featured. Last month it was Cebu; this month, it's Surigao. Incidentally, that's the reason why the yacht my hero and heroine are frolicking in right now is called Siargao Princess.

Going back to the calendar, there are four pictures arranged to fit a frame. Of the four, three are shots taken of beaches. In one such shot, the horizon is clearly defined.

This made me think of the tsunami. I remembered hearing somebody on TV, a survivor, recount her experience. She said she saw the water draw as faaaar back as the horizon.

Picture couresy of www.surigao-city.de

Picture it, from the shoreline to the horizon, nothing but the ocean floor... from the shoreline to the horizon, that's how massive the wave was.

I shudder.

isang patalastas

Bi-bi Food Products, a fast growing food processing company is looking for (2) two licensed Food Technologists.

Successful candidates will be tasked to take charge of the over-all operations of the Bi-bi Food Products plant located in Project 7, Quezon City.

Those interested may get in touch with Ms. Jinky Esio at 4105887 / 0917-8278829 or you may email your resumes to switrose_29@yahoo.com

Would appreciate it much if you pass this message on. Thank you.