house art

IN THIS CORNER...

...you will find the things and people I adore: crafts, plants, books, family, the works.

Trivia: the two hanging pieces were bought in Tiendesitas, Pasig, when I went home in December 07 - handcaried all the way from Manila to Tokyo, Tokyo to DC, DC to Miami, while at the same time telling the diariong pambalot and straw strings, please, don't give up on me now.

Pretty, ey?

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

ALL FOR THE SAKE OF ARRIVING WITH YOU

First, who is the "you" referred to in the song?: A lover? The inner self? Some hope? Some expectation?

Whatever, this is a terrific song.

"What You Thought You Need"
by: Jack Johnson

I can't give you everything you want
But I could give you what you thought you need.
A map to keep beneath your seat, you've been to me in time I'll get you there.
I fold it up so we don't find our way back soon, nobody knows we're here.

We can park the van and walk to town
Find the cheapest bottle of wine that we could find
And talk about the road behind how getting lost is not a waste of time.

Le Boise d' amour will take us home in the moment we will sing as the forest sleeps.

Well it's all for the sake of arriving with you
Well it's all .. for the sake of arriving with you

Well, I will make the table into a bed
The candle is burning down its time to rest.
I can't take back things already gone, but I could give you promises for keeps.

And I would only take them back if they become your own and you give them to me .

And it's all for the sake of arriving with you.
Well it's all for the sake of arriving with you.

We could make this into anything
We could make this into more than words we speak.
This could make us into anything
It could make us grow and become what we'll be.

Mmmmmm...
How and we really know
It's just like it feels.

LOOKING BACK: ON WRITING SEX

Blogkadahan, a hugely popular group of Filipino bloggers from around the world, once invited me to guestwrite for its blog, Rebels Without Because, some years back. The topic or theme I was asked to participate in was SEX, and so as it was I wrote for them. During a subsequent revisit to RWB site, I noticed that the "Sex Topic" wasn't there anymore, as well as most other topics that used to occupy its Archives Section. In my interest to find out what I wrote (or what I was thinking for writing what I wrote - no matter how self-damning it may be) I searched my own files and folders like someone attempting to retrieve a lost diary.

What I found was a manuscript of the first draft, not exactly what I sent to the then moderator - the sexy Sachiko - but not totally different either.

Anyway, here's what I wrote, grammatical error and all -

*****

Nimbus: For all indications I have no relation to this Lord Chesterfield who scoffed at sex by saying that its pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable. To mollify my rankling at this putrid opinion, here's a politically incorrect joke for you, Oh my Lord C: Q. Why do Canadians prefer to do it from behind? A. So that both can watch hockey at the same time.
-------

Fact

I was still an adolescent and getting by with sub-rudimentary things of this world when I discovered my interest in 2 things: writing and sex. Writing and sex happened to be the twin pillars of my emotional build-up with their prodigious similarities - both have strong connection to imagination, style, and spelling (actually, one has to do with spilling.) And so in my earnest desire to make my mark in both interests at the same time like a horny Canadian couple, I decided, in my raw and rueful mind, to be...a sex writer.

As an emerging sex writer I had the tools of the trade. I was wet between the ears, wetter even between the legs, and if you went to an all-boys Catholic high school like me where in the highest degree of sexual heat the closest woman on sight happened to be the religion teacher who resembled the devil - and still procured an erection - those tools get to be polished even more. And so with the blessings of my classmate-friends, my future was cast in stone - a sex writer whose phallic symbol was the sexual pen.

One day a classmate who had this awesome talent in sketching asked me to write explicit dialogue to his sexually graphic drawings, and so I did the text that were base and gross to the bone, jumba-jumba-jumba, and we came up with a composite of words and figures that displayed different clichés of movements inside and out (inside and out, inside and out). Our sex cartoons became a daily staple in school – at the canteen, under our desks, in comfort rooms, or just about everywhere but the principal’s office. In one strip, we introduced a young boy who feuded with his Visayan nanny who, in turn, offered to reconcile: Sigi na naman buy, bate na tayu. The boy acceded and the rest was anatomical history.

But my writing and thinking was an incriminating evidence of my state of unlay. A miserable hand other than mine had not touched me and in the process my outlook on sex was of the narrowest, shallowest, kind. But of course in due time things changed, and when they did, thinking and writings changed, too. As the saying goes, adulthood is a good opportunity to grow up (and rise, in any form or place), and so in this sexual transformation, I deserve howsoever you may judge me.
--------

Fiction

My dear Sweetheart,

I’m battling off this insomnia in my concern not to wake you up. You seem to be dreaming your solemn dream and I can tell, from the unique forging of your smile, that you are having fun at my expense. Right now I am sitting upright, my back against the headboard that – like you - seemed to have acknowledged my contour. It is 4:00 in the morning and I still can't find sleep so I just took this chance, to while away the time, of looking at you closely without my ear getting licky wet from the persistent character of your tongue.

Up close I’m in awe even more at the shape of your head. Yours is a thinker's head, a massive reservoir of exceptional thoughts with a pretty arch at the top rounding off the flow of impeccably glorious crown. And I’m enamored by your smile. It has as much mystery as meaning, and every little twitch gives me that sense of thrill, that sense of interest. What are you thinking now? What are you dreaming of now? What are you smiling about now while your hand firmly gropes at this stiffness underneath my side of the satin? Are you thinking about last night? Margaret Atwood beckons me -

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

You must be tired. I can tell from the "pfffing" of your lips, which emanate that sweet breath, that you are tired. How could you not be tired from the thousand little things we did last night? (And how could you possibly have that sweet breath at this time of the day?) Last night was as sweet as your breath, us sitting on the carpet in front of the fireplace and listening to Yo-yo Ma interpret Vivaldi’s Winter and J. Massenet’s Meditation from Thais, reading to each other passages from the book we held, sharing moments of silence when the cracklings of fire competed with the beatings of our hearts.

Do you remember that one moment of silence when my hand tried to find its way between our legs in search of your inner sanctum but was having difficulty because our legs were cradled one on top of the other, your leg, my leg, your leg, my leg - like logs awaiting the culmination of bonfire - and you pinched my naughty arm and asked in laughter, What are you doing? By coincidence I was reading that part from Nabokov's Speak, Memory which served as my curt reply: The arms of consciousness reach out and grope, and the longer they are, the better. Tentacles, not wings, are Apollo’s natural members? And to end that episode you in turn shared your understanding of Elizabeth Bishop's Sonnet to me -

I am in need of music that would flow
over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips
with melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow

Finger tips, trembling lips, liquid slow. Exactly!

I don't know how much further now I can hold on to looking at you without kissing that smooth neck, without feeling the pattern of those shapely breasts, without sharing the warmth of those hands (discovering hands as I call them after you gave me a massage and came across the funny sixth bone in my spine; discovering hands that right now know where and what to explore) which I can’t do lest I wake you up. I should probably just pretend a dreamy sleep too and further ruminate in Atwood’s verse –

I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only, I would like to be that unnoticed and necessary.

Wherefore sleep your dreamy sleep, my dear. In that other world I’ll give your silky tummy a dose of my own nose rub, and then I'll see you in the morning to replicate this loveliness many times over. Stay sweet forever, my dainty flower; stay potent forever, my charming Viagra. I love you more than the god of numbers will even care to know.

From your light and strength.

c

C ON SENOR C

JM Coetzee's latest opus Diary of A Bad Year zeroes in on the lead character's (Senor C's) political thoughts - referred to simply as "strong opinions". Senor C's thoughts, obviously, represent Coetzee's own personal thoughts (same way that he was indeed Elizabeth Costello in the book of the same title), and for which, I must say in my own strong opinion (whether or not I agree in some of his) that this Nobel Laureate from South Africa is, truly, the world's greatest living writer.

TAG (HIRAP) : THE FINAL CUT

eto na po ang final playlist; gawa na ang final cd (sinunog na). tinatapos ko na lang po ang write-up liner notes chuvachuchu para kahit man lang yung sinulat ko e magustuhan nyo (o malamang yun ang talagang susunugin nyo). ayon sa inampalan eto ang aking final answer:

1. Niall Toibin's Everything is Going to be Alright - read by Derek Mahon (Voices & Poetry of Ireland)
2. Gatekeeper - Feist (Let it Die)
3. What You Thought You Need - Jack Johnson (Sleep Through the Static)
4. Stay - U2 (Zooropa)
5. Never Give Up - Ron Sexsmith (Time Being)
6. Mr. Jones (live, acoustic version) - Counting Crows (Across a Wire)
7. House of Cards - Radiohead (In Rainbows)
8. Senorita in a Necklace of Tears - Paul Simon (You're the One)
9. Oh - Dave Matthews (Some Devil)
10. Huwag Kang Mangako ng Kailanpaman - Gary Granada (Samu't Saring Gary Granada)
11. Under Heaven Skies (acoustic version) - Collective Soul (From the Ground Up)
12. Tu Guardian - Juanes (Mi Sangre)
13. Someday We'll Find Love - Shawn Mullins (9th Ward Pickin' Parlor)
14. 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten - Lucinda Willimas (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road)
15. Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee (Amos Lee)
16. Blade of Grass - Ron Sexsmith (Rarities)
17. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead (The Bends)
18. Harvest Moon - Neil Young (Greatest Hits)
19. Interlude - India Arie (Acoustic Soul)

ayannnn. maaari nyo pong madampot yan sa pinakamalapit na minahan.

public service: cha, yung para kay belle at jobert na kopya sa iyo ko na lang imemail, hane'...

TAG

Here is my playlist, ignited by a tag from Jet. From this I will do a cd of 7 copies, 1 for Jet, one for myself, and 1 each for 5 people who wanted them. There are 2 simple conditions if you do: you have to email me your address, and you have to consider yourself tagged. The rules are simple: make a playlist of 19 songs, put them in a cd, tag 5 people and send them a copy each, and send a copy to the one who tagged you.

Again in case you do, you have one less responsibility to worry about - I did not really tag you, which means you don't have to send me your own playlist cd (unless you insist, and thus I won't anymore play maarte).

Without further ado, here's my playlist; go ahead, music lover, critique me...

1. Gatekeeper - Feist
2. House of Cards - Radiohead
3. Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee
4. Someday We'll Find Love - Shawn Mullins
5. Mrs. Jones (live, acoustic version) - Counting Crows
6. Something Beautiful - Jars of Clay
7. The Dangling Conversation - Simon & Garfunkel
8. Harvest Moon - Neil Young
9. Circle Game - Joni Mitchell
10. Tu Guardian - Juanes
11. Spirit Voices - Paul Simon
12. Sutu Kun - Vieux Diop
13. No Surprises - Radiohead
14. Never Give Up - Ron Sexsmith
15. Collide (acoustic version) - Howie Day
16. Human Hands - Sondra Lerchen
17. Huwag Kang Mangako ng Kailanpaman - Gary Granada
18. Sister Rossetta Goes Before Us - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
19. Running To Stand Still - U2

SONY ERICSSON OPEN: ADVANTAGE, cbs

Dateline: Key Biscayne
March 29, 2008

Wala pang 9:00am bumabyahe na kami ni bunsong utol patungo rito sa Village of Key Biscayne para sa annual tournament na tinaguriang 5th grand slam. Papasok pa lang kami sa Rickenbacker Causeway traffic na, parang Quiapo minus the talampunay vendors na naglipana sa kalye.

"Anong court ba ang pagtutuunan natin ng pansin?", tanong ko kay utol, habang pababa na kami ng tulay at nagmamasid sa mga naliligong tao't aso sa Biscayne Bay. Tinutukoy ko yung iba't-ibang courts sa Crandon Park kung saan ginagawa ang Sony Errickson (double r ba o double s? Care ko ba!) dahil sabay-sabay ang laro laluna pag opening weekend at nasa early rounds pa lang ang torneo. Kung simultaneous ang schedule na laro ng dalawang idolo mo sa magkaibang courts, kailangan maging bampira ka, tapos kailangan may mata din yung lower half mo.

"Sa Court 1 ang Bryan Brothers vs. Nadal/Robredo", sabi ni utol, "kaso di maguumpisa ang laro before 3 pm". "E di tambay muna tayo sa ibang courts", sabi ko, gusto ko kasi mapanood si Tipsarevic dahil yung running/hopping backhand na inimbento yata ni Safin e madalas gawin ni Tipsa. E tipo kong gayahin kaya ivivideo ko, tas nun irereplay ko ng slo mo pag-uwi sa bahay. Brilliant!

May time kaming manood sa Grandstand bago manood sa Court 1 kaso gusto ni Utol bago mag-alas tres e nakapila na kami sa Court 1. Tanong ko nga -

Ba't naman?
E syempre tiyak andaming tao dun, kelangan makauna tayo ng upuan.
Mga anong oras bale?
Mga ala una.
lol. Alas tres ang aabangan natin, gusto mo ala-una andun na tayo? Pilipino ka ba?
Engot, syempre me larong iba bago sina Rafa.
Sino maglalaro?
Si Chakvetadze.
Si Chakvewhat?!
Chakvetadze. Maganda yun. Malamlam ang mata, parang umiiyak-iyak.
Ako man, iiyak din pag ang pangalan ko Chakvetadze.
Tado, apelyido yun. Pangalan nya Ana.
Nakow, mas lalo ako iiyak kung ipinangalan sa akin ni Ama e Anna.
Gago ka talaga!
*******

Maaga kami nakarating sa Crandon Park. Andaming tao, tas sa gate may lumapit na chiching na parang supermodel.

Parang supermodel: Can I take your picture, please?
Ako: As long as I can take yours, too, sure.
Parang supermodel: Ahaha (pilit na tawa). This is a promo for Fila. C'mon, guys, stand over there, that's a nice background.
Ako at si Kumag: mmmmm (pilit na smile)

(break-in news: natanggap ko ang email ng picture. gusto nyo makita? wag na lang, muka kaming tanga.)
******

Maaga pa kaya dumeretso muna kami sa practice courts. May open restaurant sa harap at masarap magnilay-nilay ng omelette habang nakikita mo silang naghahatawan (yung mga players, hindi yung omelette). Natumbok ng pananaw ni utol si Vaidisova, papalabas na ng court. Nayko, ang taas nya, 6 footer siguro. Tayo ako sabay lapit para kunan ng litrato. Nakow, inisnab ako. May lumapit na batang nagpapapirma, binale-wala, ginawang engot (ang actual tally e dalawa kaming ginawang engot.)
*****

Hayup ang Tipsarevic/Verdasco match. Hayup din sa init ang araw. Nagkutis magsasaka na naman ako...

(to the tune of magtanim ay di biro:

manood ng tennis ay di biro
maghapong nakaupo
di naman makatayo
may aagaw kasi ng upuan mo!)
*****

Matapos naming kumain sa Market Place (open tent restaurant, grilled mahi-mahi sa akin, fish n' chips kay utol, actually ako umubos ng chips nya, nya-a-a, at tig-isang malaking baso ng heineken) deretso na kami sa court 1. Ang haba ng pila. Sa likod ko, narinig ko may nagtatagalog na babae. "Mommy, mapapanood ko si Rafa, ayyy!!" Gagaguhin ko sana, Miss, sa court 2 ang laro ni Rafa, hindi dito - kaso naisip ko ang karma kaya sa halip ay lumingon na lang ako ng patay-malisya sabay ngiti, pero di pa man ako nagsasalita sabi niya agad, "Kuya, napanood mo na ba si Rafa"? Bat ganun, tanong ko sa sarili, alam nya agad na Tagalog ako, tas alam din nya na mas matanda ako sa kanya. Sasagot ko sana, Manang Biday Ilukat Mo Man, Takitaem toy kinayawan?!)
*****

Nung nasa loob na kami ng court 1 at kampanteng nakaupo sa unang row, palakpakan ang mga tao pagpasok ng dalawang babaeng players. Nauuna si Chakvetadze. Wahaw cutie pie, kilala ko nga sya sa mukha, sabi ko kay utol. Maganda nga sya, pensive eyes, gaya nung isang babaeng hanube...Tas mayamaya dumating yung opponent nya, teka, teka, kilala ko to, sabi ko kay utol.

Utol: Tamira Paszek, ayun, nakasulat sa scoreboard.
Ako: Tamira...Syet, kilala ko yan!!! napanood ko sa tv last year, semis yata yun, kalaban ata si Peer!!! Yeheeyyy!!! Panalooooooooooooooo!!!

********

Pasado alas-tres. Una munang pumasok si Rafa, hiyawan ang tao.

Kagulo nung pumasok ang Bryan Brothers. Sabi ko kay utol, kanino ba tayo? Parehong sinakop ang Pilipinas ng Espanya at Amerika, kaya di malaan ng Pinoy kung kanino talaga sya panig. Kay Paszek na lang ako, kahit mejo malaki ang tyan nya, wehehe...

Bawat play, hiyawan ang mga tao. Parang Davis Cup ang ambience. May isang rally na sobrang haba, tas yung tira ni Mike Bryan tingin ko out pero di tinawagan ng linesman. "That's out" sabi ni Rafa, sabay turo kung saan bumagsak ang bola. Lapit si Mike, sabi nya, "It's good!". Sagot si Rafa, "it's good. But it's out!"

Analysis: magiging magaling na doubles player si Nadal kung pagtutuunan nya ito ng pansin. Malupit yun, ano? Yung maging #1 sa singles tsaka sa doubles, parang si McEnroe.
*******

Nung nasa Grandstand na kami, bandang alas sais at nag-aantay sa Andy Murray vs Mario Ancic na laban, finlash na talo si Vaidisova. Ayos, sabi ko kay utol, tumatalab na ang mga pangarap.
*****

Alas dyes pasado, andun pa rin lami sa Grandstand, front row, nanonood ng David Ferrer/Thomas Johansson match. Grabe sa intensity ang laro. Tas nung parteng pinaghahampas ni Ferrer yung raketa nya sa konkreto, nakuhanan ko ng video. Tas sigaw sya ng sigaw, "Atras! Atras!", sagot naman ng mga tao "Abante! Abante!".
*****

Haynako. Love 40 talaga ako sa Miami.

F MARKS THE SPOT: SOME NOTES ON FRIENDSHIP and FURNITURE

This is my cocktail table. Unlike an ordinary cocktail table that serves no more than hold a stinking ashtray or pair of tired feet, my furniture has multiple functions over and above its inherent duty of balancing things up between sofa and loveseat. The 1st picture shows it's prime function: library annex. See that book on the right? That's "Principles of Uncertainty" which I got from Jet David last Christmas. The green book, standing 3rd from left, is my favorite anthology of essays, all winners of the prestigious Pushcart Prize. The red book, standing 3rd from the right, is a compilation of Nobel Lectures - acceptance speeches of Nobel Prize winners in Literature - from 1986 to 2004.




The 2nd photo depicts my furniture's more utilitarian essence: as emergency dining table for somebody hungry for food and yearning for tv. I'm sure your eyes are drawn to the steaming bowl of soup. That's corned beef sinigang, a dish I learned from food guru Toni Tiu.

These pictures show, among others, that in my abode, I am always within my friends' presence.

STIMULUS

Beginning May 2008, US taxpayers (persons filing their income tax returns this year individually or jointly) will be receiving a minimum of $300.00, max of $1200.00, as part of the government's stimulus package to stir the dwindling economy.

That's a sad thing?

Depends on who you ask.

Some are sad because the "emergency" act may further cause the devaluation of the dollar.

Some believe that the recession is currently happening, and any future aid will be too little, too late.

Some still are of the opinion that the package will not fulfill its purpose for being because of their belief that consumers will rather save their "stimulus" money, rather than spend it on anything. If that happens, the stimulus package will simply be a failed project.
-----

One of the biggest indexes of a strong economy is the willingness and ability of people to buy. Just like during the holidays when there are long lines to cashiers in malls, when reservations to theaters go months in advance, and restaurants are standing-room-only even outside break-periods, people putting money in circulation is the best way to oil the economic wheel. When people buy, capitalists maintain their employees, pay their taxes, and invest some more in future ventures. If people stop buying, they in turn will lay off their employees, or worse, close their businesses. When that happens, not only will the governmentl not earn revenue out of the taxes they and their employees would pay, but worse, the laid-off employees will become burdens to the state.

Arming the consumers with money to buy is therefore the rationale for the stimulus package.

------

Some wise ass said that if the government's true intent, or hope, is for the taxpayers to throw their money into the economic wheel, it would have been right on the mark if they just send the money directly to businessmen. This guy, of course, reminds me of a politician in the then municipality of Makati, in the Philippines. The municipal councilor, in an effort to curb the flood crisis in Manila, introduced a bill to the council which said that the entire municiplaity should be repaved to such a tilting angle so that all rainwater will flow to neighboring Manila.

stimulus (part 3)

Everyone knows the law of supply and demand: when demand is greater than the supply, the price goes up (the scarcer the product, the stiffer the tag); and on the reverse side, when supply overwhelms the demand, the price goes down, sometimes at giveaway rate.

The market has a mind of its own. When the price is upped, the demand gets lower; when price is lowered, consumers scamper for the product and the demand meets the supply head on. In effect, the reaction on both sides is the market's own way to correct discrepancy.

But sometimes, despite this built-in tendency for the market to find the "common" niche between supply and demand, some entrepreneurs are not enterprising enough to realize the will of the market. This is called greed and as all greeds go, the result is often ugly.

80's Philippines is a case in point. There was a time when a brilliant baker came up with a special oven that did great hot-pandesal. The demand was overwhelming and consequently, the price of the bread went up. The demand went even higher and capitalist copycats decided to join the bandwagon. They set up their own hot pan-de sal stalls and in due time, every corner was a veritable hot pan de salan. As a result, the industry which was bread and butter for legitimate longtime bakers, became a fallen industry, ironically, despite the natural power of yeast to raise the dough.

Then came lechon manok, and it was a part 2 of the hot pan de sal phenomenon.

And as I'll discuss later, people never seem to learn.

(to be continued...)

STIMULUS (CONT.)

What goes up must come down. The cliche, of course, does not merely refer to a spinning wheel but also to some intangible things not otherwise affected by physics or gravity. Take the case of the dot-com balloon which went up so fast, nobody seemed surprised by its sudden plunge.

I heard this at a party, like some chronicle of a dot-com geek's own spinning wheel during the early stages of this millennium:

4 years ago I lived in my parents' garage
3 years ago I founded a dot-com company
2 years ago I owned a plane and a yacht
A year ago I downsized my dot-com company
Today I live in my parents' garage

to be continued...

stimulus stimularum

There was a comic strip I read a while back in The Herald called Pearls Before Swine which, as I recall, goes like this:

A duck is standing on a box when his friend Pig comes and asks, What are you doing, duck?, to which he replies, I'm standing on the crate of sadness.

But why?, the pig asks further. Because my girlfriend flew over a year ago and never came back, the duck answers forlornly.

The pig is intrigued and so he asks even further, So why are you standing on the crate of sadness?, and the duck's curt reply is a simple, Because this is where you stand when your dreams are not fulfilled.

On the strip's final frame, all the animal characters of the strip including the pig are standing on the crate of sadness.

That particular strip did not make me laugh; rather, it made me think. Not only was it so full of irony, it was also timely in the light of the current economic setting, so timely in fact that to a lot of people, the crate of sadness might as well be renamed America.

- to be continued