Sunday, April 29, 2012
WANTED: SLAVE. IMMEDIATE HIRING
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Blue
I looked outside a window from a small office where I was sitting down. I was expecting to see blue skies sprawled above buildings upon buildings of Manila skyline, but I didn't find it there. Instead, i found gray clouds that matched an abandoned building.I looked further, hoping to find it in the water of Manila bay. It turned out to be an unsuccessful voyage. I saw two young girls, instead,tacking like skilled seafarer ready to brave all storm and navigate the world. Sailing boats of different sizes docked not too far from the shore. As the girls slowly disappear from my sight, I asked myself, do they live around here? Do they eat around here, Do they eat and swallow or eat and vomit?
My chest tightened as the thick air of stinking smell of rotten city filled my lungs. I let out a sigh of longing for a cool scent of ocean breeze before I turned away from my own vague reflection in the mud black water, glinting, floating along the empty plastic bottles and cigarette butts.
I was back at my seat, surrounded with white painted concrete and fully air conditioned room. I was scribbling for self indulgence and wonder how the word "blue" matters to me. I drown my thoughts with things I associate with it. And I told myself I would rather suffocate with my own carbon dioxide than come up with the most cliche meaning that blue is "PEACE" or "HEAVEN".
I paused, unaware that I was tapping my pen vigorously on the paper. I looked outside once again, but i found blue inside when I realized that the historical beauty and value of Manila could either only be found on books or at someone's old memory.
My chest tightened as the thick air of stinking smell of rotten city filled my lungs. I let out a sigh of longing for a cool scent of ocean breeze before I turned away from my own vague reflection in the mud black water, glinting, floating along the empty plastic bottles and cigarette butts.
I was back at my seat, surrounded with white painted concrete and fully air conditioned room. I was scribbling for self indulgence and wonder how the word "blue" matters to me. I drown my thoughts with things I associate with it. And I told myself I would rather suffocate with my own carbon dioxide than come up with the most cliche meaning that blue is "PEACE" or "HEAVEN".
I paused, unaware that I was tapping my pen vigorously on the paper. I looked outside once again, but i found blue inside when I realized that the historical beauty and value of Manila could either only be found on books or at someone's old memory.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
One Jazzy Night
The queue for taxicab was frustratingly long. The cars opposite Mindanao Avenue were barely moving. And even though the sun already set a couple of hours ago, the aftermath of its roasting heat was still palpable, and actually felt worse on my skin when blended with car fume. Impatient drivers blew horns and tried to overtake the cars before them, at least for a little mile of progress. In line, passengers were waiting patiently for their taxi, some furiously fanning to ease the stickiness of the situation; others relieved themselves by sipping ice cold Zagu black pearls. Few street children and sampaguita vendor were trying to make means for their nightly ends by approaching bystanders aside from the people waiting for their taxi, hoping that somebody would buy their stale forgotten goods. Inside Trinoma Mall were packs of shoppers, window shoppers and merely passersby, taking advantage of the free air condition as they went through direct connection to MRT station, which gave an absolute free ride going back and forth from first to last station. Footsteps seemed endless, mass of people walked to and fro. Some strode with quick steady pace; others sauntered in group and hand in hand like a walking block you need to maneuver around them because you couldn’t simply break them or walk through them. They literally take one step at a time on their own sweet tempo. I was standing among waiting passengers as I heard a bang in the sky. Above my head were bright green, red and gold displays of fireworks like a synchronized spectacle of heaven. They formed a small, sometimes big ball of sparkles. Some were swirling like eddies of fire. Others shoot like rocket before it burst hundreds of twinkling light of gem. I figured it was meant for the celebration of the Philippines’ 112th Independence Day. Yes, absolutely, Metro Manila is free, alive and alight.
My friend and I opted to have a night of Jazz adventure on this very night of freedom. We went to Ten 02 Café in Timog with a piece of paper in our hands bearing the club’s address that my friend got from the internet (a very handy way of knowing most about anything), excitement tight in our chest. Unfortunately, when we reached the place, a stocky looking guy, who I think was the owner told us that Jazz session was scheduled the night before and that Rock Metal band was scheduled to perform on that particular night. Being determined Jazz lover that we are, it didn’t dishearten us. We took another taxi ride, this time we didn’t have to get in line. We crossed Scout Ybardolazza Street and moved on to Greenhills, San Juan. It was actually the stocky looking guy who suggested us to go to this place and look for this jazz cafe. So that’s exactly what we did.
I thought the easiest way to find a place, other than map and GPS, is to ask around. But I guess it was either that Jazz clubs are not very popular in this country or I was just asking the wrong person that we had a tough time finding it. We walked from Greenhills Theater, stopped, asked a guard, walked pass a parking lot to Promenade, went back, stopped and asked again. My feet slightly sore as my friend and I walked opposite Mc Donald’s, then turned toward Greenhills Shopping Center.
“I’m sure we would be able to find the Jazz Club before sunrise, and I hope before my slippers shattered into pieces”, my friend said, yet still in high spirit.
I was still in fits of laughter when he saw a glowing neon blue bulb, skillfully bended in handwriting signature typeface - Boy Katindig Jazz Café.
“I knew I had an eye for Jazz”, he said meaning his eyes we’re trained to find Jazz Clubs.
We, indeed, made it before sunrise and his slippers were intact and in good condition. It was only 8pm when we arrived and the performers were expected to be on stage at 9:30pm. While we have to wait, we decided to hang around outside the café while we chatted endlessly accompanied with some bottles of SanMig lights and complimentary plate of chicharon. The heat eventually died down and breeze started to blow symphony in my ears and play strings with my hairs. Two huge speakers were set outside the café where Jazz medleys can be heard. The two of us sat under the eave; beside us are about five unoccupied tables and seats. Sometimes the Jazz medleys shifted to air supply hits and some silly love songs then shifted back to jazz.
I do not know a lot about Jazz, neither do I play any jazz or non-jazz instrument, but my aural perception of fine music is dependent to my earlier exposure to music and sounds. I grew up listening mostly from 70’s to 80’s songs and remembered that it was Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s Ebony and Ivory that I learned first to sing by heart. I didn’t care less whether it was Jazz or non-Jazz. I learned Sinatra’s later on and Ray Charles’ by hanging around with the oldies while they sang the videoke. Then, I was clueless whether these vocalists were crooning Jazz, but I remembered how the melody made me close my eyes and sway my body. “Misty”, for instance, might be a signature song of Johnny Mathis, however, it was the voice of Ella Fitzgerald that made me nostalgic. Sometimes I thought I was born in the wrong era because I was more interested with artists before my mother let me out into this world. Fitzgerald’s scat singing is terrific as it varies from performance to performance of the same piece of One Note Samba. Contemporary Jazz singers emerged. My admiration to Jazz musicians varied just as Jazz itself evolved and encompassed different eras like Swing, Bepop, cool jazz, Latin Jazz, Soul Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Smooth Jazz and many others. However, same magic put me to spell whenever I heard David Benoit thump his fingers on the piano, almost like hearing his entire body move while playing Freedom at Midnight, and I thought it would also be very timely if ever the band would play it that night. I am enthralled (so as my mom) with Michael Buble’s singular voice, a reminiscent of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles as he did his own rendition of their original songs.
The time finally came when the band congregated on the stage; took their rightful places with their assigned instruments to play. Rhythm filled the small café the moment they stood in front of the audience. It was like they had been ready for us. Perhaps the numerous nights of performance perfected their music and came out almost like their second nature. It was definitely relaxing. It drowned all the noises in the world and I, momentarily, forgotten the quagmire of daily tumult of Metro Manila. The band’s melodic improvisation came out naturally. It seeped even in the tiny holes of my skin going through my brain, exploded in harmony like the fireworks display I had witnessed earlier. They took the melodies from songs of James Taylor’s ‘I Don’t Want to be Lonely Tonight’, Dianne Reeve’s ‘Bridges’, and The Beatles' ‘Fool on the Hill’. Jazz is simply marvelous. It has traveled a long way from early 19th century, and up to now, Jazz still challenged the ears of both Jazz neophytes and experts. And the thing I like most about Jazz is that it is like a good story where you draw different meaning each time you read it. In jazz, the musician provides an “unprogrammed”, almost unpredictable melody, and not each one is repeated on performance, giving the audience the creative freedom of interpretation.
For me, that night was exhilarating. It was a night dedicated to be a source of aural beauty. And like I was told, “beauty is everywhere”. I just have to learn how to find it.
Friday, June 11, 2010
On Translation
Something about Sunlight
Something about sunlight -
Slanting behind trees
Streaming into windows
Glancing on walls
Dappling the peeling paint
Glinting on the steel railings
Gilding the new buildings
Dancing the dust eddies
As if calling out the name
Of everything it touches -
Reminds me
Of some childhood afternoon
When I was alone.
May Kung Ano sa Silahis ng Araw (Tagalog Translation)
May kung ano sa silahis ng araw -
Lumilihis sa likuran ng mga puno
Dumadaloy sa mga bintana
Dumadaplis sa mga dingding
Kinukulayan ang natatalop na pintura
Kumikinang sa mga bakal na barandilya
Ginigintuan ang mga bagong gusali
Umiindak sa mga ipu-ipong alabok
Animo'y pinupukaw ang ngalan
Ng lahat ng kanyang mahawakan -
Sa akin ay nagpapagunita
Ng ilang hapon ng aking kabataan
Noong ako'y nagiisa.
At Mt. Samat War Memorial
Into the bowel of Mt. Samat
my son and I descend,
into the caverned memory
of the war of my fathers:
Their pictures smile at us,
or stare in the distance,
their heavy feet stir
the dust of the Death March.
I muse on the noble causes
for which men go to war,
my son and admires the guns
that defended or killed them.
Sa Bantayog ng Bundok Samat (Tagalog Translation)
Sa kaibuturan ng Bundok Samat
ako at anak ko'y lumusong
sa yungib ng alaala
ng digmaan ng aming mga ama:
Kanilang mga larawan sa amin ay nakangiti
o nakatitig sa di kalayuan,
binubuhay muli ng kanilang mabibigat na hakbang
ang alabok ng Martsa ng Kamatayan.
Napagwari ko ang dakilang motibo
ng kalalakihang nagtungo sa digmaan,
anak ko'y humahanga sa mga armas
na sa kanila'y nagtanggol o kumitil.
Choosing a guinea pig for my Literary Translations project was not that hard. I just picked whose poet’s work is readily available in my personal library. It was actually last term when Dr. Marj Evasco gave us a view on how to read a poem that I first heard of Marne Kilates. His emailed reading of Dr. Evasco’s poem made the first introduction. It was casual and informal. I even mistaken him for a woman (somehow Marne sounds female to me), however his close reading of the poem sparkle to me like a gold with genuine worth of carat. I began to research more about him. I also bought his latest collection of poetry, Mostly in Monsoon Weather and wrote the date on the right corner of the first page - just a little habit of mine.
I decided to choose the required 5 poems as easy as picking flowers. I chose the ones that tickle my imagination, the one that left vivid images on my mind and which I could somehow relate with. “Something about Sunlight” was the first poem in the collection and the first among my choices. The mystic effect of the sunlight also brought me to reminiscence when the world looks bright and beautiful in my young eyes like how the speaker of the poem was reminded of his childhood afternoons.
The poignant and contemporary sound of Kilates’ poetry allures me more to continue on my venture of translation. I picked the rest of the poem relying only with my senses and not with a strict standard or category in my head. “At Mt. Samat War Memorial” for instance, was an experience I shared with the son in the poem. I have visited Mt. Samat and watched the showcased memorabilia. The remnants of war caught my interest and I was impressed by its antiquity and foreignness though I somehow missed its historical essence like the son in the poem, caught in the “what” and not “why” the guns were used during the war.
I translated the poem with faith that Robert Bly’s Eight Stages of Translation would guide me towards its closest meaning. I started rendering word per word and line per line using English–Tagalog Dictionary and the very handy medium of the internet. I laughed at the outcome and felt afraid at the same time that I might have undermined the original language of the poem by translating it wrongly. My attempt to transpose the language to a new tongue distorted the original. However, Kilates himself said, a translator is a traitor precisely because he is, by nature and function, betraying the “secrets” of one language. For instance, both Gujarati and Swahili are Greek to us so we need a translator to betray to us their secrets. He also said that if one language does not grow in the understanding of another language, if it does not reveal its secrets, it will die
As my translation activity started, reality of word flashed on the page. The Tagalog translation is richer in syllables though both languages gave me the same word count. After literal translation, choosing of words was my next task. I had a problem in the word “bowel” in the first line. Literally, it means intestine or inside. When I wrote it in Tagalog, the sense and the sound suffer. I knew I was about to make a great violence to the poem that could possibly lead to destruction. I spent many days on this single line before I settle to a word which I think sounded right. I sought to transport the word(s) to Tagalog by not merely focusing on the equivalent words but also its context.
The same challenge of word equivalence hit me again in line 9 /I muse on the noble causes/ which I believe is the thought of the whole poem. I translated it to /naisip ko ang sanhi/. My bowel churned in disagreement and my heart didn’t leap for the impact I felt in the original. I went back again and again on this line for several days as if coaxing the right words to come.
The next issue I work on was how to make it sound like a poem. Following Barbara Reynolds’ advised in Pleasure Craft, I tried to take care of the sense and let the sound take care of itself.
Neither the poem nor the voice is mine, I wasn’t sure whether my choice of words are the best, either for meaning or sound, but Marne Kilates said that there is one thing the translator is not. The translator is not a critic. His work is to help the author’s intention across the gulf between two languages, transpose it in the familiar habits of the translating language.
However, submission date is ought to come. I knew my last draft is not really the final. After all, translation is never really finished.
Something about sunlight -
Slanting behind trees
Streaming into windows
Glancing on walls
Dappling the peeling paint
Glinting on the steel railings
Gilding the new buildings
Dancing the dust eddies
As if calling out the name
Of everything it touches -
Reminds me
Of some childhood afternoon
When I was alone.
May Kung Ano sa Silahis ng Araw (Tagalog Translation)
May kung ano sa silahis ng araw -
Lumilihis sa likuran ng mga puno
Dumadaloy sa mga bintana
Dumadaplis sa mga dingding
Kinukulayan ang natatalop na pintura
Kumikinang sa mga bakal na barandilya
Ginigintuan ang mga bagong gusali
Umiindak sa mga ipu-ipong alabok
Animo'y pinupukaw ang ngalan
Ng lahat ng kanyang mahawakan -
Sa akin ay nagpapagunita
Ng ilang hapon ng aking kabataan
Noong ako'y nagiisa.
At Mt. Samat War Memorial
Into the bowel of Mt. Samat
my son and I descend,
into the caverned memory
of the war of my fathers:
Their pictures smile at us,
or stare in the distance,
their heavy feet stir
the dust of the Death March.
I muse on the noble causes
for which men go to war,
my son and admires the guns
that defended or killed them.
Sa Bantayog ng Bundok Samat (Tagalog Translation)
Sa kaibuturan ng Bundok Samat
ako at anak ko'y lumusong
sa yungib ng alaala
ng digmaan ng aming mga ama:
Kanilang mga larawan sa amin ay nakangiti
o nakatitig sa di kalayuan,
binubuhay muli ng kanilang mabibigat na hakbang
ang alabok ng Martsa ng Kamatayan.
Napagwari ko ang dakilang motibo
ng kalalakihang nagtungo sa digmaan,
anak ko'y humahanga sa mga armas
na sa kanila'y nagtanggol o kumitil.
Choosing a guinea pig for my Literary Translations project was not that hard. I just picked whose poet’s work is readily available in my personal library. It was actually last term when Dr. Marj Evasco gave us a view on how to read a poem that I first heard of Marne Kilates. His emailed reading of Dr. Evasco’s poem made the first introduction. It was casual and informal. I even mistaken him for a woman (somehow Marne sounds female to me), however his close reading of the poem sparkle to me like a gold with genuine worth of carat. I began to research more about him. I also bought his latest collection of poetry, Mostly in Monsoon Weather and wrote the date on the right corner of the first page - just a little habit of mine.
I decided to choose the required 5 poems as easy as picking flowers. I chose the ones that tickle my imagination, the one that left vivid images on my mind and which I could somehow relate with. “Something about Sunlight” was the first poem in the collection and the first among my choices. The mystic effect of the sunlight also brought me to reminiscence when the world looks bright and beautiful in my young eyes like how the speaker of the poem was reminded of his childhood afternoons.
The poignant and contemporary sound of Kilates’ poetry allures me more to continue on my venture of translation. I picked the rest of the poem relying only with my senses and not with a strict standard or category in my head. “At Mt. Samat War Memorial” for instance, was an experience I shared with the son in the poem. I have visited Mt. Samat and watched the showcased memorabilia. The remnants of war caught my interest and I was impressed by its antiquity and foreignness though I somehow missed its historical essence like the son in the poem, caught in the “what” and not “why” the guns were used during the war.
I translated the poem with faith that Robert Bly’s Eight Stages of Translation would guide me towards its closest meaning. I started rendering word per word and line per line using English–Tagalog Dictionary and the very handy medium of the internet. I laughed at the outcome and felt afraid at the same time that I might have undermined the original language of the poem by translating it wrongly. My attempt to transpose the language to a new tongue distorted the original. However, Kilates himself said, a translator is a traitor precisely because he is, by nature and function, betraying the “secrets” of one language. For instance, both Gujarati and Swahili are Greek to us so we need a translator to betray to us their secrets. He also said that if one language does not grow in the understanding of another language, if it does not reveal its secrets, it will die
As my translation activity started, reality of word flashed on the page. The Tagalog translation is richer in syllables though both languages gave me the same word count. After literal translation, choosing of words was my next task. I had a problem in the word “bowel” in the first line. Literally, it means intestine or inside. When I wrote it in Tagalog, the sense and the sound suffer. I knew I was about to make a great violence to the poem that could possibly lead to destruction. I spent many days on this single line before I settle to a word which I think sounded right. I sought to transport the word(s) to Tagalog by not merely focusing on the equivalent words but also its context.
The same challenge of word equivalence hit me again in line 9 /I muse on the noble causes/ which I believe is the thought of the whole poem. I translated it to /naisip ko ang sanhi/. My bowel churned in disagreement and my heart didn’t leap for the impact I felt in the original. I went back again and again on this line for several days as if coaxing the right words to come.
The next issue I work on was how to make it sound like a poem. Following Barbara Reynolds’ advised in Pleasure Craft, I tried to take care of the sense and let the sound take care of itself.
Neither the poem nor the voice is mine, I wasn’t sure whether my choice of words are the best, either for meaning or sound, but Marne Kilates said that there is one thing the translator is not. The translator is not a critic. His work is to help the author’s intention across the gulf between two languages, transpose it in the familiar habits of the translating language.
However, submission date is ought to come. I knew my last draft is not really the final. After all, translation is never really finished.
Friday, May 7, 2010
sample article
HOLKNER LAW OFFICE (140 words)
Holkner Law Office is a law firm based in Minnesota. Our practice highly specialized in Estate Planning and Asset Protection services. We solely engage in providing legal services including giving advice to our clients on the law and developing lawful strategies necessary to resolve client’s legal issues. Our expert lawyers are dedicated in helping individuals and families in keeping what is theirs and for their loved ones. Holkner Law Office’s efforts are geared towards the development of the law firm with solid expertise in the field of Estate Planning and Asset protection. With years of experience in legal practice, we ensure a positive resolution on every legal matter we handle as we continue to embark in providing dynamic and noble service to our clients. Because here at Holkner Law Office, we commit the best representation and legal service you deserve.
Help-Pack-n-Move (128 words)
Do not let the relocation process frustrate you. Whether you are moving a few boxes, an entire household, or a busy office, Help-Pack-n-Move - the moving expert - is all you need. Help-Pack-n-Move is a full range moving service located in Minnesota. We specialized in moving and storing personal goods to general cargo without the hassle. We provide a careful and responsible handling of your goods. We give the best services at the reasonable costs. We offer service from packing to moving of your supplies. Our highly-trained and experienced staff uses the modern facilities and equipment and quality packaging materials to ensure safe, efficient and dependable movement and storage of your belongings. We assure that your precious belongings reach safely in its proper destination and in perfect condition.
Budget Truck Rental (128 words)
Moving your goods and belongings to a new destination could be stressful. Budget Truck Rental makes it worry-free for you. Budget Truck Rental provides all kinds of truck rental services. The company offers from small to large fleet of service vehicles. We'll get you behind the wheel of a truck that will work for you. Budget Truck Rental has a vehicle to fit your needs and budget. We are one of the leading truck rentals where customers can rent a car, SUV, minivan, van truck or whatever kind of automobile you desire. We provide great solution for any vehicle requirements you may have. Our experienced driver will take you to your destination safely and conveniently. We are committed in meeting our customer’s expectation through successful and cost-efficient service.
Warm and Fuzzy Cat Boarding (126 words)
If you spoil your cat and want to continue to do so when you are away, Warm and Fuzzy Cat Boarding is a perfect place for them. Warm and Fuzzy is an exclusive cat only boarding facility located in Southern Montgomery County and serving Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia.
We designed a modern, spacious, luxurious and comfortable accommodation for your cats at a very affordable cost. All prices include food, grooming, playtime and a lot of TLC. We offer private rooms, enormous playroom, huge luxury suites, 24 hour care, sleeping baskets, baby blankets, soft lighting, nature sounds, cat sitter videos, bedtime treats, relaxing music, catnip toys, bedtime cuddling, laser light shows, natural pheromones and over all a stress free experience for you and your cat.
Route 66 Music (146 words)
Route 66 Music is your access to all your music products and services. We offer the finest musical instrument and equipment at a competitive price. We make the best deals on some of the biggest brand names in the industry.
Route 66 Music has evolved into country’s most renowned store. We cater to all your musical needs: drums, guitars, keyboards, and more with our instrument sales and catalogue borders. We are an expert in music accessories, band and orchestra instruments with all your needs for music. We carry both instruments and music lessons and a recording facility put all in one for all musicians and music lovers. We answer all inquiries about your music needs. We can make sure you are happy with what you have learned. Best of all, we assure you the same knowledgeable service Route 66 Music has given its customers ever since.
Holkner Law Office is a law firm based in Minnesota. Our practice highly specialized in Estate Planning and Asset Protection services. We solely engage in providing legal services including giving advice to our clients on the law and developing lawful strategies necessary to resolve client’s legal issues. Our expert lawyers are dedicated in helping individuals and families in keeping what is theirs and for their loved ones. Holkner Law Office’s efforts are geared towards the development of the law firm with solid expertise in the field of Estate Planning and Asset protection. With years of experience in legal practice, we ensure a positive resolution on every legal matter we handle as we continue to embark in providing dynamic and noble service to our clients. Because here at Holkner Law Office, we commit the best representation and legal service you deserve.
Help-Pack-n-Move (128 words)
Do not let the relocation process frustrate you. Whether you are moving a few boxes, an entire household, or a busy office, Help-Pack-n-Move - the moving expert - is all you need. Help-Pack-n-Move is a full range moving service located in Minnesota. We specialized in moving and storing personal goods to general cargo without the hassle. We provide a careful and responsible handling of your goods. We give the best services at the reasonable costs. We offer service from packing to moving of your supplies. Our highly-trained and experienced staff uses the modern facilities and equipment and quality packaging materials to ensure safe, efficient and dependable movement and storage of your belongings. We assure that your precious belongings reach safely in its proper destination and in perfect condition.
Budget Truck Rental (128 words)
Moving your goods and belongings to a new destination could be stressful. Budget Truck Rental makes it worry-free for you. Budget Truck Rental provides all kinds of truck rental services. The company offers from small to large fleet of service vehicles. We'll get you behind the wheel of a truck that will work for you. Budget Truck Rental has a vehicle to fit your needs and budget. We are one of the leading truck rentals where customers can rent a car, SUV, minivan, van truck or whatever kind of automobile you desire. We provide great solution for any vehicle requirements you may have. Our experienced driver will take you to your destination safely and conveniently. We are committed in meeting our customer’s expectation through successful and cost-efficient service.
Warm and Fuzzy Cat Boarding (126 words)
If you spoil your cat and want to continue to do so when you are away, Warm and Fuzzy Cat Boarding is a perfect place for them. Warm and Fuzzy is an exclusive cat only boarding facility located in Southern Montgomery County and serving Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia.
We designed a modern, spacious, luxurious and comfortable accommodation for your cats at a very affordable cost. All prices include food, grooming, playtime and a lot of TLC. We offer private rooms, enormous playroom, huge luxury suites, 24 hour care, sleeping baskets, baby blankets, soft lighting, nature sounds, cat sitter videos, bedtime treats, relaxing music, catnip toys, bedtime cuddling, laser light shows, natural pheromones and over all a stress free experience for you and your cat.
Route 66 Music (146 words)
Route 66 Music is your access to all your music products and services. We offer the finest musical instrument and equipment at a competitive price. We make the best deals on some of the biggest brand names in the industry.
Route 66 Music has evolved into country’s most renowned store. We cater to all your musical needs: drums, guitars, keyboards, and more with our instrument sales and catalogue borders. We are an expert in music accessories, band and orchestra instruments with all your needs for music. We carry both instruments and music lessons and a recording facility put all in one for all musicians and music lovers. We answer all inquiries about your music needs. We can make sure you are happy with what you have learned. Best of all, we assure you the same knowledgeable service Route 66 Music has given its customers ever since.
300 word sample article
Printer is a peripheral hardware which produces a hard copy of permanent readable text and/or graphics. It was on 1938 when the first dry printing called electrophotography was invented by Chester Carlson. The process is most commonly known as Xerox, which become the basis of the first laser printer developed in 1971 followed by the invention of the laser inkjet in 1976. The continuous technology in printing opens up a wide range of aspects in terms of speed, image/text quality, cost, even the noise it produces. These common features are the first thing the end users consider for when choosing a printer. Sometimes, choosing becomes complicated especially when you have little know-how about printers. It is in shrewd deliberation of features and specification that will help the user choose the best printer he needs. For instance, if a consumer wants excellent photo printers with topnotch print quality and image printing features, then he should go for the Canon Pixma iP3000. You will never go wrong with its direct photo printing feature. It conveniently prints your photos without a computer using the simple PictBridge compatible digital camera or DV camcorder. It is very light and user-friendly. Anyone at home or office will not have difficulty operating it.
Printers nowadays come in extensive price ranges. A Canon Pixma iP3000 is very affordable and helps the consumer saves time and ink. With its Full-photolitography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE), it produces an outstanding quality prints and better range of color printing at a high speed of 22ppm in Black and 15ppm in color plus it also only takes 36 second to produce a 4" x 6" borderless print. For a professional result of printing projects: business letter, birthday cards, invitations, or calling cards, without spending too much, this is the solid one might be looking for.
Printers nowadays come in extensive price ranges. A Canon Pixma iP3000 is very affordable and helps the consumer saves time and ink. With its Full-photolitography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE), it produces an outstanding quality prints and better range of color printing at a high speed of 22ppm in Black and 15ppm in color plus it also only takes 36 second to produce a 4" x 6" borderless print. For a professional result of printing projects: business letter, birthday cards, invitations, or calling cards, without spending too much, this is the solid one might be looking for.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Company Profile Assignment
KW Plumbing is the leading specialist in all plumbing system services. With 31 years of experience, it develops technologically advanced equipment that helps plumbers fix problems with no hassle. Many satisfied customers attest for the excellent service the company delivered.
We know plumbing system is an integral part of the home or business place and it plays a critical role in providing a safe, comfortable, and healthy environment for you and your family. Issues like a broken water pipe, clogged toilet, or leaky water heater are problems which require quick solution. Finding an emergency plumber is not the best situation to be in, however you can eliminate the problem by being a pro-active and finding professional before an issue occurs. One should never entrust their family’s welfare to anyone else. All plumbing systems deserve the same level of professional care with a touch of customer satisfaction - guaranteed. And that’s when KW Plumbing comes in wherein safety and quality is the top priority. It offers the best plumbing solution in widest range, from shower pump installation, tank replacement, and repair, sink clearing, to tap fitting and more. It caters from large to small scale projects from offices, schools, manufacturing plants, hotels, banks, residences and other establishments. Its highly trained plumbers help built the company’s good reputation and help them recognize to be the expert in all plumbing services without taking your money down the drain. Plumbing is a great way to improve the quality of life in your home or work place. KW Plumbing wants to make sure you are choosing the right plumber within your budget. They make it their personal service to provide dependable output at a reasonable price. So the best thing to handle all your plumbing problems is to trust the company backed up by years and years of quality service.
We know plumbing system is an integral part of the home or business place and it plays a critical role in providing a safe, comfortable, and healthy environment for you and your family. Issues like a broken water pipe, clogged toilet, or leaky water heater are problems which require quick solution. Finding an emergency plumber is not the best situation to be in, however you can eliminate the problem by being a pro-active and finding professional before an issue occurs. One should never entrust their family’s welfare to anyone else. All plumbing systems deserve the same level of professional care with a touch of customer satisfaction - guaranteed. And that’s when KW Plumbing comes in wherein safety and quality is the top priority. It offers the best plumbing solution in widest range, from shower pump installation, tank replacement, and repair, sink clearing, to tap fitting and more. It caters from large to small scale projects from offices, schools, manufacturing plants, hotels, banks, residences and other establishments. Its highly trained plumbers help built the company’s good reputation and help them recognize to be the expert in all plumbing services without taking your money down the drain. Plumbing is a great way to improve the quality of life in your home or work place. KW Plumbing wants to make sure you are choosing the right plumber within your budget. They make it their personal service to provide dependable output at a reasonable price. So the best thing to handle all your plumbing problems is to trust the company backed up by years and years of quality service.
Friday, January 22, 2010
What Constitutes a Masterpiece?
I would imagine even in a literary culture, determining the value of a masterpiece or any work of art could be as controversial as the 2010 presidential election. And those who are hoping to bring home the ‘masterpiece title’ would expectedly want to know the objective criteria and its various degree of importance. As a creative writing student, I also wonder how work of art can be quantified. Is it base on the time and effort of the craftsman spent creating his piece? Is it the amount of skill or technique he used, the rarity of material or the subject matter, the stage of development or his experience as the master of his own art? How about the art’s universal appeal, the recognition it acquires from respected guild, the art’s longevity?
What really makes an art masterpiece? Oxford Dictionary’s meaning of masterpiece is an “exceptionally good piece of creative work by a particular craftsman.” I am thinking Michaelangelo’s Pieta and the painting on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and James Joyce’s The Dead.. These and other masterpieces in various field of study, whether in architecture, painting or the written art, continue to impress me as it resonate up to the present time.
I was on my way to meet a client while baffling over this single question, what constitutes a masterpiece? And I had kept a mental picture of an ad of a stunningly beautiful woman with a set of flattering eyes, its color distinctly contrast her glossy jet black hair and smiling red lips. Her skin unbelievably flawless, whether naturally gifted or photoshopped. Her eyebrows were archly shaven and cheekbone protruded as she smiled, displaying a perfectly even set of teeth. The ad was hanging at the left, right and the whole stretch of EDSA, infuriatingly calling the attention of people passing by including myself. I was also mentally calculating, but almost one hundred percent certain that it undergone superior technical photo enhancement – cropping, polishing, slanting or tilting, editing, polishing again– before it became ready for public consumption. I admired it because it pretends to have been effortless, inviting me to linger and look closely as I began to get curious about the critical process it went through before an ad agency bought it and publicly posted it to every street pole available, announcing the whole archipelago about the latest technology in dandruff treatment or the cutting-edge in liposuction. I am hoping to lead my point to the same process of creating a piece of art, say a novel. French author, Andre Gide said, “Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor”. Michaelangelo spent four years painting the ceiling of Sistine Chapel which also impaired his eyesight. John Gardner, author of On Becoming a Novelist, labored with ferocious concentration on a single scene, polishing, revising and tearing out; rewriting, polishing and revising again. Even an old-timer writer like him experienced having to throw away two hundred pages like cutting off his own legs. But I guess he had learned to take the pains over time.
A master is a visionary capable of materializing his own vision while currently expanding our own. Artists learn their craft from their predecessor to a great extent, which Aristotle called “imitation”. They begin by conceiving of the possibilities open to them in terms of the achievements they are acquainted with. The true work of art adds to the tradition, opening new possibilities to their successors. It is through this master’s art that the great traditions of the novel came down to us. A masterpiece transcends its subject matter, expanding the viewer's concept of art, becoming a marker, a buoy, a reference point for the future masters of the art.
What really makes an art masterpiece? Oxford Dictionary’s meaning of masterpiece is an “exceptionally good piece of creative work by a particular craftsman.” I am thinking Michaelangelo’s Pieta and the painting on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and James Joyce’s The Dead.. These and other masterpieces in various field of study, whether in architecture, painting or the written art, continue to impress me as it resonate up to the present time.
I was on my way to meet a client while baffling over this single question, what constitutes a masterpiece? And I had kept a mental picture of an ad of a stunningly beautiful woman with a set of flattering eyes, its color distinctly contrast her glossy jet black hair and smiling red lips. Her skin unbelievably flawless, whether naturally gifted or photoshopped. Her eyebrows were archly shaven and cheekbone protruded as she smiled, displaying a perfectly even set of teeth. The ad was hanging at the left, right and the whole stretch of EDSA, infuriatingly calling the attention of people passing by including myself. I was also mentally calculating, but almost one hundred percent certain that it undergone superior technical photo enhancement – cropping, polishing, slanting or tilting, editing, polishing again– before it became ready for public consumption. I admired it because it pretends to have been effortless, inviting me to linger and look closely as I began to get curious about the critical process it went through before an ad agency bought it and publicly posted it to every street pole available, announcing the whole archipelago about the latest technology in dandruff treatment or the cutting-edge in liposuction. I am hoping to lead my point to the same process of creating a piece of art, say a novel. French author, Andre Gide said, “Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor”. Michaelangelo spent four years painting the ceiling of Sistine Chapel which also impaired his eyesight. John Gardner, author of On Becoming a Novelist, labored with ferocious concentration on a single scene, polishing, revising and tearing out; rewriting, polishing and revising again. Even an old-timer writer like him experienced having to throw away two hundred pages like cutting off his own legs. But I guess he had learned to take the pains over time.
A master is a visionary capable of materializing his own vision while currently expanding our own. Artists learn their craft from their predecessor to a great extent, which Aristotle called “imitation”. They begin by conceiving of the possibilities open to them in terms of the achievements they are acquainted with. The true work of art adds to the tradition, opening new possibilities to their successors. It is through this master’s art that the great traditions of the novel came down to us. A masterpiece transcends its subject matter, expanding the viewer's concept of art, becoming a marker, a buoy, a reference point for the future masters of the art.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Likhaan: The UP Institute of Creative Writing
Likhaan: The UP Institute of Creative Writing announces that it is now accepting submissions for possible inclusion in the third issue of Likhaan: the Journal of Contemporary Literature.
The guidelines follow:
1. For its third issue, Likhaan: the Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature 3, will accept submissions in the following genres, in both English and Filipino:
• Short stories ranging from about 12 to 30 pages double-spaced, in 11-12 points Times Roman, New York, Palatino, Book Antique, Arial or some such standard font. (A suite of short prose pieces will be considered.)
• A suite of four to seven poems, out of which the editors might choose three to five. (Long poems will be considered in lieu of a suite.)
Creative nonfiction (essays, memoirs, profiles, etc.), subject to the same length limitations as short stories (see above).
• Critical/scholarly essays, subject to the same length limitations as short stories (see above)
• Excerpts from graphic novels, or full short graphic stories, for reproduction in black and white on no more than 10 printed pages, 6” x 9.” (Excerpts should be accompanied by a synopsis of the full narrative.)
2. All submissions must be original, and previously unpublished.
3. All submissions must be accompanied by a biographical sketch (no more than one or two short paragraphs) of the author, including contact information (address, telephone number, e-mail address).
4. Submissions may be e-mailed to likhaanjournal@gmail.com, or posted to The Editors, Likhaan Journal, UP Institute of Creative Writing, Rizal Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101.
5. All submissions should be received (whether by e-mail or post) no later than May 31, 2009.
6. All submissions will undergo a strict pre-screening and blind refereeing process by the editors, and a panel of referees composed of eminent writers and critics from within and outside the University of the Philippines .
7. Writers whose work will be accepted for publication will receive a substantial cash payment and a copy of the published journal.
8. The editors reserve the right to edit any and all materials accepted for publication.
9. The editors may also solicit or commission special, non-refereed articles for publication outside of the aforementioned genres and categories to enhance the editorial content and balance of the journal.
10. Please direct any and all inquiries to the editors at likhaanjournal@gmail.com
The guidelines follow:
1. For its third issue, Likhaan: the Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature 3, will accept submissions in the following genres, in both English and Filipino:
• Short stories ranging from about 12 to 30 pages double-spaced, in 11-12 points Times Roman, New York, Palatino, Book Antique, Arial or some such standard font. (A suite of short prose pieces will be considered.)
• A suite of four to seven poems, out of which the editors might choose three to five. (Long poems will be considered in lieu of a suite.)
Creative nonfiction (essays, memoirs, profiles, etc.), subject to the same length limitations as short stories (see above).
• Critical/scholarly essays, subject to the same length limitations as short stories (see above)
• Excerpts from graphic novels, or full short graphic stories, for reproduction in black and white on no more than 10 printed pages, 6” x 9.” (Excerpts should be accompanied by a synopsis of the full narrative.)
2. All submissions must be original, and previously unpublished.
3. All submissions must be accompanied by a biographical sketch (no more than one or two short paragraphs) of the author, including contact information (address, telephone number, e-mail address).
4. Submissions may be e-mailed to likhaanjournal@gmail.com, or posted to The Editors, Likhaan Journal, UP Institute of Creative Writing, Rizal Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101.
5. All submissions should be received (whether by e-mail or post) no later than May 31, 2009.
6. All submissions will undergo a strict pre-screening and blind refereeing process by the editors, and a panel of referees composed of eminent writers and critics from within and outside the University of the Philippines .
7. Writers whose work will be accepted for publication will receive a substantial cash payment and a copy of the published journal.
8. The editors reserve the right to edit any and all materials accepted for publication.
9. The editors may also solicit or commission special, non-refereed articles for publication outside of the aforementioned genres and categories to enhance the editorial content and balance of the journal.
10. Please direct any and all inquiries to the editors at likhaanjournal@gmail.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
My Freedom
The first historical place I remembered visiting was Rizal’s house in Calamba, Laguna, and that was during a field trip in high school. I couldn’t remember my parents ever brought me to a children’s museum even to Luneta Park prior to that. I knew they were busy doing something else like working hard so as to send me to a better school; to learn about history and other things in books. I didn’t want their hard work to go in vain, so I read as if every word would equal every drib of sweat they make.
Every page turned was an answer to a faint cry of the universal perplexing question: “Who am I?” I was like a little girl returning to her bird pet, dead in the cage, leaning with her elbows on the windowsill, suddenly seeing herself as part of the complete story, or a young adult who found, for the first time, a teacher who awakens something and she begins to breathe as an individual, conscious of her strength. I became fascinated about knowing my country’s past; how Filipino fought for freedom, whichever weapon they used, and was amazed that pen proved to be the sharpest of all. I understood that freedom was an accomplishment that all Filipino acquired because they set their mind to that direction; and to love freedom is a tendency that I was born with.
After many years, no longer guided by teachers or parents on a school field trip, I had a chance to visit Fort Santiago in Intramuros; another historical place in my list that would substantiate the things I read in history books. It was a Saturday morning, a day off from work and I was not yet attending Creative Writing class. The pale sky was clear and the sun is generous of its radiance. Most sojourners were young Koreans and elementary Girl Scout students sweating on their green uniform, yellow kerchief tied under their starched collar - I wondered why I never had a trip like this in my elementary years. I also saw young white couple, leaning over the lagoon, a mile farther from the ticket booth. They chose to spend their date strolling under the heat of the sun rather than watch a movie or hold hands while walking along the air-conditioned mall.
In the pathway, the once active powder cañons that guarded the massive walls and surrounding broad squares, grand houses and churches was preserved; still like a sleeping beast– the remnants of war and oppression.
For admission fee of 15 Pesos (for student) and 40 Pesos (for adult), I had a concrete view of the rich accounts of the past. During the Japanese occupation in World War II, Fort Santiago was used as a headquarters for the occupying forces where hundreds of civilians and guerillas were imprisoned, tortured and executed. It was one of the oldest fortifications built in Manila.
Restoration & maintenance of the fort began in 1951 under the National Parks Development Committee. In 1992, management was turned over to the Intramuros Administration. Since then, the fort was made open to the public daily. There are guides donned in their 19th century military uniforms stationed throughout the grounds. Their plastic nametags and small radios though are probably not authentic.
The buildings that make up the Intramuros are not the original structures of the past centuries. Despite its aged looks with crumbling wall and battlements, cobblestone streets, and wrought iron balconies, many of the buildings are reconstructions of the originals, some rebuilt more than once. Three centuries of typhoons, floods, fires and earthquakes have also taken their toll. Numerous atrocities were committed in the fort including the deaths of over six hundred people crammed into subterranean cells who drowned during high tides and when Pasig River flooded the cells in February 1945.
What I like most among the many stories in regards to Philippine history connected with the fort is the account on Jose Rizal, the Filipino poet, patriot, and later a martyr for independence who was imprisoned here before his execution by firing squad in the nearby Luneta Park. Visitors can see the cell and literally walk in his final footsteps. Painted footprints trace his final walk from the cell to the fort's gate and his execution site. On his last night in his cell he composed his last and best known work. It was untitled originally but is now commonly known as “Mi Ultimo Adios" (My last Farewell). One of the buildings has been turned into a museum called Rizal Shrine in honor of his memory –you have to pay 10 Pesos to get in. The translation of Ultimo Adios to several languages -Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Tagalog to name a few - was displayed here. Inside was several stuff of Rizal like old business card, a little smaller than the size of a ¼ index card, rusty old medical tools, fencing sword and dumbbell. There were also several furniture pieces displayed as part of Rizaliana Collection. These furnishings were turned over to the Philippine government on 1948 by Trinidad Rizal, unmarried sister of Dr. Jose Rizal. The washbasin that Rizal used in his Hong Kong office was also showcased along with his ensemble of Americana and boots. The four post bed, including his bedpan, from their house in Laguna added an interesting piece in the museum. The three century old ‘lampara’ where Rizal hid the ‘Last Farewell’, before he was executed, was encased with a glass like a spectacle of precious gem in auction.
The great world war had come and gone. These featured artefacts were the only remains of it. Luckily, the world has been changed for me; I was not to survive it, but to preserve it and to make sure that I would keep the world changing for the next generation who would inherit it.
The pale sky has turned orange to vermilion when I left the fort. Pride was tight in my chest knowing that the free spirit of the Filipino persisted; it recurred, because it has never been successfully wiped out, by flood, earthquake, fire, or oppression.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Reading is like making love
I was reading An E.B. White Reader and came across a passage that tickled my sensuous mind. It stated that reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy. To understand the passage more, I pictured a more concrete image (one thing I learned in poetry).I envisioned a couple making love and conjured that intimate moment they shared in a dim lit room like there's no other world exists beyond it. And as in sexual experience, there are never more than two person present in the act of reading - the writer, who is the impregnator, and the reader who is the respondent.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
To Find the Metaphor
I was thinking of doing a collection of poetry that goes on the theme of taboo, in a way, giving it a voice of existence. It was actually suggested by Dr. Marj. during one of our workshop classes. It started by composing 'When Thunder Strikes' followed by 'Candlewick'. Now I have to find a new metaphor and do the crazy little thing called poetry. Where to find it? that I do not know. Maybe I'll walk (with someone) around Manila, just like what Reg did to rub off the 'cabin fever', and try to feed my senses with things; the cobblestone street, the iron balconies of Intramuros or the well maintained grasses of its golf course, the tee girls while holding up big umbrella, the 'mani' vendors, the non stop jeepneys along the road, or I could just watch the ennui of the sky (still with someone).
Now I'd better find that someone(besides two is always better than one), then it would be nicer to find the metaphor together.
Now I'd better find that someone(besides two is always better than one), then it would be nicer to find the metaphor together.
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Master Rapper Wrapped it up
Francis M. died of Leukemia at the age of 44.
I was in High School when his rap career was soaring high. I remember I made a book binder out of card board with his poster in the front cover.
I was in High School when his rap career was soaring high. I remember I made a book binder out of card board with his poster in the front cover.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Stolen Survey
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No, but unfortunately I have the most cliche name of all. darn!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
The other night. I just feel like crying.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
no, I like Dr. Marj's penmanship hahaha!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Salmon/blue marlin/steak
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
no but I like to have one.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Definitely. we'll be like sisters since I don't have one.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
all the time, especially to conceited type of person.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes, thank God.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
no dammit! I still want to get old and writing.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
no, I don't eat cereal
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I don't, I take it off with my other feet.
12. WHERE IS/ARE YOUR FAVORITE PLACE(S) TO VISIT?
Library, every Saturday
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
vanilla and Strawberry combine in Fruits in Ice Cream!
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Face features...clothes, lol...accent too...
15. RED OR PINK?
Red
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I'm shifty, impatient. (wish I'm not)
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Kuya Glenn,
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I'm not wearing pants or shoes now.
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
sound from the stand fan
20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Red
21. FAVORITE SMELLS?
fresh parchment, book pages, freshly mown grass.
22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Rangi Harris
23. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Tennis
24. HAIR COLOR?
black
25. EYE COLOR?
black
26. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
yes I have to or I'll be blind.
27. FAVORITE FOOD?
Spicy, sea food, pizza,
28. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
happy endings, but since Adam Sandler said happy endings doesn't happen in real life, I'll just shift to SCARY.
29. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED ON THEATER?
When I Met you (didn't like it much!)
30. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Sleeveless Striped black and gray with lace strap
31. SUMMER OR WINTER?
summer
32. HUGS OR KISSES?
both
33. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Ice cream with rock melon or any fruit on top.
34. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Reading Poetry (Millet), Passages (Jing P. Hidalgo)
35. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
i don't use one
36. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Tayong Dalawa
37. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?
sound from a kiss
38. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
I like both
39. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Australia
40. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can be stupid without even trying
41. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Paranaque City
42. WHAT IS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
Give up my apartment, quit my job
43. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
haven't met him.
No, but unfortunately I have the most cliche name of all. darn!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
The other night. I just feel like crying.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
no, I like Dr. Marj's penmanship hahaha!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Salmon/blue marlin/steak
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
no but I like to have one.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Definitely. we'll be like sisters since I don't have one.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
all the time, especially to conceited type of person.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes, thank God.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
no dammit! I still want to get old and writing.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
no, I don't eat cereal
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I don't, I take it off with my other feet.
12. WHERE IS/ARE YOUR FAVORITE PLACE(S) TO VISIT?
Library, every Saturday
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
vanilla and Strawberry combine in Fruits in Ice Cream!
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Face features...clothes, lol...accent too...
15. RED OR PINK?
Red
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I'm shifty, impatient. (wish I'm not)
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Kuya Glenn,
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I'm not wearing pants or shoes now.
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
sound from the stand fan
20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Red
21. FAVORITE SMELLS?
fresh parchment, book pages, freshly mown grass.
22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Rangi Harris
23. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Tennis
24. HAIR COLOR?
black
25. EYE COLOR?
black
26. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
yes I have to or I'll be blind.
27. FAVORITE FOOD?
Spicy, sea food, pizza,
28. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
happy endings, but since Adam Sandler said happy endings doesn't happen in real life, I'll just shift to SCARY.
29. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED ON THEATER?
When I Met you (didn't like it much!)
30. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Sleeveless Striped black and gray with lace strap
31. SUMMER OR WINTER?
summer
32. HUGS OR KISSES?
both
33. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Ice cream with rock melon or any fruit on top.
34. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Reading Poetry (Millet), Passages (Jing P. Hidalgo)
35. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
i don't use one
36. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Tayong Dalawa
37. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?
sound from a kiss
38. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
I like both
39. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Australia
40. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can be stupid without even trying
41. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Paranaque City
42. WHAT IS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
Give up my apartment, quit my job
43. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
haven't met him.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
not so good
I'm a scrabble addict, I play actual and online game. Lately, I played a lot online via lexulous application in facebook. I wouldn't say I'm good, neither I am bad. But, I make sure I played my best each time, to give my opponent a nice game. One time, my opponent was from UK. We chatted a little while playing. He asked me where I'm from and I told him. He said, "You are from the Philippines and you are this good?" I felt all my blood went to my head as I took it as an insult more than a compliment.
" I am good because I am from the Philippines", I told him. Then went on and finished the game. Maybe it was hard for him to believe that someone from the Philippines was good so he asked for a rematch. Walang kadala dala.
" I am good because I am from the Philippines", I told him. Then went on and finished the game. Maybe it was hard for him to believe that someone from the Philippines was good so he asked for a rematch. Walang kadala dala.
Monday, March 2, 2009
horror buff
My usual bonding moment with my brother happens every time we watch dvd, and it's a must that the movie is not only scary, but also disturbing with bloodcurdling scenes e.g. Wrong Turn, Saw I-IV, Mad House. This time, thank God, he chose a bit "tamer". It's a werewolf thriller, about 2 siblings bitten by werewolf and eventually acquired the sign of the beast (a 5 point end that reveals a star if you connect them) in the palm. I didn't find this kind of film amusing unless infused with some kind of romance or adventure, but my brother enjoyed it especially when he knew I'm watching. Aside from being a horror buff, I guess he's also a sort of a masochist, enjoying to see me miserable and disgusted over blood gushing through the victim's body. At the end, my indifference over horror film remained, but to see my brother engrossed and lost in this kind of world, I think, I might give it another chance. In fact, Underworld Evolution was the next dvd in line.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Finding my Place in Taboan
The melodic tribal sound of Kolintang, played by the students, seeped through the Bulwagang Rizal in UP Diliman as the Taboan Writer’s Festival was about to begin. I stood in the outermost corner of the hall, after I signed my name at the entrance. My eyes searched for friends who also want to witness and experience the first Philippine International Writers Conference. After all, it marked a significant event in the Philippines as the country celebrates the month of February as the National Arts Month. I didn’t come to do a speech or sign a newly published book, and definitely not an official participant (my professor said you have to write a book first to be one), so I didn’t get free bags, books and other freebies. My presence was made merely to be a silent spectator, who dreamed of making a difference in my country, but is yet to find her rightful place in the solitary world of writing,
I joined my friends who arrived earlier, a moment before the program began. We immediately spotted Dr. Marj Evasco who waved her hand to greet us. Beside her was the National Artist for Literature, Francisco Sionil Jose, who was wearing his signature hat; clutch purse tucked in his right arm, and a lacquer-finished cane between his legs matched his simple elegant look. We walked our way to where they were seated and Dr. Marj was quick to introduce him to us.
“Meet the national artist”
“They’re my students” Dr. Marj quickly added, turning her head to him.
My friends began to rummage for their digital cameras inside their bags, determined not to let this rare occasion passed without a picture with the famous author. I, who happened not to own one, was able to shake his hand first. On the spot, he asked me, “What do you write?”, I startled like a child caught playing instead of doing her homework, but I regained my composure and replied that I am now learning to write the art of lies and poetry. I moved on after I mastered “to do” and grocery lists. His eyes disappeared as he smiled and said everyone has to start somewhere.
Later, in his speech, Francisco Sionil Jose left a statement worth pondering about: "We are writers, but what impact do we have on our history? We do not make the decisions that alter the nation's destiny. And what can the solitary writer do now that will make a difference?... We must bear this duty, endure it, if we are to be true not just to the vocation we have chosen but to this land which sustains us, which gave us life and reason to be."
I started thinking, the world is in a bad situation, whether making an impact or changing one’s nation is overwhelming, others would think it’s impossible. Who would listen and honestly believed that writing was not only a diversion, but deliverance; not a temporary relief but a resolution? But John Steinback said, “A good writer always works at the impossible”. As a reader and as an aspiring writer, I have seen how writers served as a rescue for our tired, overcrowded planet by telling stories that connect readers to all the people on earth. To hear that the work you do inspires someone else to be creative, makes everything worth it. And to hear about it is a gift. Words are the most powerful tools at our disposal. With them, writers have saved lives and taken them, brought justice and confounded it, started wars and ended them. Writers can change the way we think and transform our definitions of right and wrong.
Whenever I write fiction or poetry, I tried to identify my own subject, thread the theme and the subject into the work without becoming didactic. My efforts at both scales are required to truly make a difference and I see my future as offering opportunities for continued growth at both. I did not see it as impossibility. To succeed, maybe, I need to read more and surf gracefully with the waves of life.
Franciso Sionil Jose’s speech ended, audience applauded. In Cebuano, Taboan means “meeting place”, and the festival was definitely a good place to be with the crowd of brilliant minds, ideas, and writers. Whether I was sitting down or standing up in the outermost corner of the hall, being a part of the event was worth enough. After all, I came to observe, listen and shake hands with literary talents whose works I have read and admired. And that would be all...for now.
I joined my friends who arrived earlier, a moment before the program began. We immediately spotted Dr. Marj Evasco who waved her hand to greet us. Beside her was the National Artist for Literature, Francisco Sionil Jose, who was wearing his signature hat; clutch purse tucked in his right arm, and a lacquer-finished cane between his legs matched his simple elegant look. We walked our way to where they were seated and Dr. Marj was quick to introduce him to us.
“Meet the national artist”
“They’re my students” Dr. Marj quickly added, turning her head to him.
My friends began to rummage for their digital cameras inside their bags, determined not to let this rare occasion passed without a picture with the famous author. I, who happened not to own one, was able to shake his hand first. On the spot, he asked me, “What do you write?”, I startled like a child caught playing instead of doing her homework, but I regained my composure and replied that I am now learning to write the art of lies and poetry. I moved on after I mastered “to do” and grocery lists. His eyes disappeared as he smiled and said everyone has to start somewhere.
Later, in his speech, Francisco Sionil Jose left a statement worth pondering about: "We are writers, but what impact do we have on our history? We do not make the decisions that alter the nation's destiny. And what can the solitary writer do now that will make a difference?... We must bear this duty, endure it, if we are to be true not just to the vocation we have chosen but to this land which sustains us, which gave us life and reason to be."
I started thinking, the world is in a bad situation, whether making an impact or changing one’s nation is overwhelming, others would think it’s impossible. Who would listen and honestly believed that writing was not only a diversion, but deliverance; not a temporary relief but a resolution? But John Steinback said, “A good writer always works at the impossible”. As a reader and as an aspiring writer, I have seen how writers served as a rescue for our tired, overcrowded planet by telling stories that connect readers to all the people on earth. To hear that the work you do inspires someone else to be creative, makes everything worth it. And to hear about it is a gift. Words are the most powerful tools at our disposal. With them, writers have saved lives and taken them, brought justice and confounded it, started wars and ended them. Writers can change the way we think and transform our definitions of right and wrong.
Whenever I write fiction or poetry, I tried to identify my own subject, thread the theme and the subject into the work without becoming didactic. My efforts at both scales are required to truly make a difference and I see my future as offering opportunities for continued growth at both. I did not see it as impossibility. To succeed, maybe, I need to read more and surf gracefully with the waves of life.
Franciso Sionil Jose’s speech ended, audience applauded. In Cebuano, Taboan means “meeting place”, and the festival was definitely a good place to be with the crowd of brilliant minds, ideas, and writers. Whether I was sitting down or standing up in the outermost corner of the hall, being a part of the event was worth enough. After all, I came to observe, listen and shake hands with literary talents whose works I have read and admired. And that would be all...for now.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
suggestions and ink
I didn't attend my last class today, but I joined my friends in Mc Donald's to eat, and later in Starbucks to bond and do our own little group of poetry workshop. Come to think of it, we also stayed there for 3 hours just like in normal workshop class.
I'm so thankful of their input on my poem. I especially like Eric's suggestion of restructuring the "Scrabble Game" into a real form of the game where words would read like in the actual board game. I know I still have to sweat a lot before it passed the more critical eye without crumbling, but now I'm just so excited. i think I'm gonna use Reg's Penman brown ink to write this one.
It so nice to have (literary) friends! hihi!
Friday, February 27, 2009
one word at a time
I'm happy I already finished the Tagalog poem, Rosas, I was working on, but I still have to finish commentaries for poetry workshop though. I submitted my event narrative sketch for CNF class, now moving on to literary account of a place.
I'm taking one step at a time... writing one word at a time.
I'm taking one step at a time... writing one word at a time.
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