Para Sa Iyo, Jennie.

Naiinis ako kasi di ka na naman
kumain sa tamang oras
Di ka na naman naligo–sabi mo malamig.
Di ka na naman nag-ayos
ng kwarto, ng kama at ng sarili.

Noodles lang ang kinain mo ngayong araw.
Eh, di ba, nag-noodles ka rin kahapon?
Bukas bumili ka na sa karinderya diyan sa tabi,
huwag noodles ang bilhin mo ha?

Maglaba ka na ng mga damit mo,
gatambak na sila.
Paboritong tahanan ng ipis at daga.
Maglaba ka na, habang may araw pa.

Magsulat ka ng tula
Magaling ka diyan, sayang naman.
Di ba may balak kang gumawa ng libro balang araw?
Magsulat ka; damihan mo ha?

At basahin mo sakin pagbalik ko diyan
Sabay tayong tumawa sa iyong husay at galing.
Sabay tayong manood ng pelikula, serye at iba pa,
habang kumakain ng noodles sa hapunan.

[I made this for Jennie during one of those days that I was at home and she was left at our boarding house in Cebu. Guess I missed her. :D]

That Girl From The Big House

She looked so beautiful
That girl from the big house.
I was as boys casually shot her admiring glances
as they passed by.

Some of them are from distant towns,
bringing her chocolates, flowers and cards
Some of them are neighbors wishing her a “Maayong aga, gwapa”
before a day’s work at the fields.

She never once came down
That girl from the big house.
Always she looked out her window
with her hands clasped tight.

She looked to me worried and afraid
as if each day is a petal
slowly falling from a pretty flower
on a windy day.

I often wondered what she is thinking
That girl from the big house.
She did not appear at her window
one sad morning

I wondered why
as I put down my pastels and pencils
I guess this day would not be productive
for an artist such as myself,

As I looked at my beautiful canvasses
of that girl from the big house.

The Rural Life

The soft purr of the cat sleeping by the gumamelas,
disturbed my reverie.

I did not realize I was staring at the rippling circles
created by little catfishes in our swamp.

So dazed was I that when I looked down,
my dog was barking madly at me.

As I wondered why,
I felt a tingling sensation on my toes.

I stomped wildly
as little red ants took big bites

I danced with no music,
no coordination, no grace.

The day has started.

The Home That Is Iloilo <3

When I am at home, I feel different. The positive different.

Unlike when I am in Cebu or Manila where work calls me to be up and awake all the time, Iloilo is like a pillow-blanket-mosquito net combination. The place enables me to laze around all day and be happy in a world full of anything but rules and needs.

When I am at home, I have time to think. About me, my life and the people who surround me. I can think about them and space out for hours. Only my mother’s calls of the three most wonderful time of the day can break the spell.

Iloilo makes me lazy. While Cebu and Manila demands of me to clean my room or wash my clothes, Iloilo encases my being and makes me a bum. My mother would bark the list of chores that needed to be done, and I would pause for a moment and think that these is one of the best music undiscovered by men.

This is the only place where I feel most comfortable even when I have not taken a bath for days. All I seem to do all day is open the refrigerator and plug in something in the socket.

When I am in Iloilo, I can be very productive in the ideal sense. I have time for stimulating thoughts—not the ones filled with memos, attendance and office rules.

I lavish at the thought of leaving this place to go back to the workroom. Because it is only during that moment that I look forward to the day I can go home to Iloilo once more.

Miss Understood :)

I met Wila a few days ago. She looked prettier than ever.

She is a sophomore law student from the University of San Agustin. I met her during our freshman year, when she and I were just stepping foot in UP. I cannot remember how we stuck together. But when four years saw me and her (along with a few others) through college, I knew she had become one of my best friends.

No dirty thoughts there, matey.

She likes Japanese anime and fastfood. She and I would order Kenny’s and aaaalways, she found it hard to finish her chicken.

I miss her girly sing-song voice. It is something really unique about her. A lot of people mistook it for Wila being a snob, but she never took them all badly. She is the type who does not care about what people think of her.

I often see her as a fragile person, a girl who needs to be taken care of. But she is strong. Millions of barbels away from me.

My other friends and I would often mimic the way she speaks and make it sound worse to annoy her. We would also mimic the way she moves, reacts and smiles. I realized it was one of the fun things we did a lot in college.

I remember my elementary days when I felt proud to have a pretty friend. My reasons for befriending pretty people were superficial before. Now, it got worse. KIDDING.

I miss Wila. I hope we can hang out again soon.

Have a break.

A good friend and I exchanged SMS yesterday. She told me that she gets guilty over opening websites that are not work-related.

I told her that I do the same, sometimes. Hihihihi. (Who doesn’t?) Getting your mind off of work for less than 5 minutes is healthy for: you, the non-work related websites, and your work as well.

We laugh at the idea that to function more effectively for the rest of the day and to put those websites away from your mind for the next hours are definitely NOT at the cost of your own job. As long as you complete your tasks for the day, that is.

Then she told me about two co-workers of hers who do not open “extra-curricular” websites at all during office hours.

I could not do that, I said. Unless I had someone to talk to while doing my work. Then again, you cannot just talk to the same person for a straight week and not run out of topics. Unless you are: the chatty type, talking with your soulmate, talking with good friends, talking for a living.

But even those who talk for a living need a “shut-mouth” sometimes.

Working people need to unload sometimes. This is something I have learned while I am studying. This is also something which I sometimes *ubo ubo* abuse, but I enjoyed abusing it, nevertheless.

The thing about being workaholic is, it is sometimes not healthy. So that we could function better and normally for the next hours, we need to get blank for a few seconds. This is not a liability for a company. It should, in fact, be made mandatory.

The New Dog

Name: Lex
Breed: Maltese-Terrier
Likes: cold water, meaty treats, biting foot and fingers, gnawing on electrical cords and slippers, barking at curtains and cats
Dislike: being unattended to

My cousin bought Lex from his friend who lives in Miagao, Iloilo. She has been here for three weeks already.

The other dogs, especially Lyla, do not really like newbies. I think this is because only she and Lex are pure-bred. The rest of the dogs are Lyla’s children with different male dogs (Shhhh…) So Lex played by herself most of the time.

Anyway, all of us at home are certified dog lovers so when cousin Remy is not at home, we make sure to feed Lex and change her water container regularly.

And yeah, she poops a lot inside the house.

It is really more fun here in the Philippines!

The Department of Tourism has recently released the newest tourism slogan for the Philippines. This is in partnership with BBDO Guerrero, one of the top advertising firms in the country.

Honestly, I liked the first one, Pilipinas Kay Ganda. It is very Filipino. It is humble, simple and direct to the point. However, it has SEO problems (people will be looking for Philippines, not Pilipinas) and many people said it looked like a rip-off from a in Poland.

This one is more simple and direct. It has more substance than Wow! Philippines and Pilipinas Kay Ganda put together. It makes one think less hard about why he is putting off his vacation in the Philippines. True, it has yet to be catchy like Malaysia’s. But for sure, the Department of Tourism and BBDO Guerrero put in a lot of effort in ensuring that the next logo is scandal-free. It has no SEO problems and is purely original.

Yes, it is!

I have met Sec. Mon Jimenez in person and from what I saw and heard during that one-hour session with the Tourism and Heritage Information NetworK in Cebu City, he is a man of dignity and substance. He wants only the best for the Philippines and will do everything in his power to carve this country in the “world tourism map”.

Kudos to all the effort of the DOT for the Philippines! Let us critique constructively to help our country move forward.

BOOM! New Year na.

Every year, my brother, Shaun, and cousin Remy (below photo) would spend thousands of pesos on firecrackers. They would scour Jaro Plaza for good firecracker discounts. They would look for the ones which “shook the Earth” like the pitcher-sized one (the name escapes me) which is illegal.

This year with my brother at sea, only my cousin went to the city. He told us he was not able to buy the pitcher-sized firecracker. These are just some of these which he was able to buy.

His role would also include igniting them and running away as fast as he can while ours would be to cover our ears and cringe. The dogs would be under the beds or in cracks far away from where the BOOM happens.

We hope to have more firecrackers next year. Yes, the illegal ones included .:D

Hello 2012. No signs of being useful yet.

It is the start of 2012 and much as I wanted to feel happy with the rest of the world, my selfish self has confined me to a small corner of our house where only 3 things can be found on my table: laptop, a bottle of water and a pack of delicious muffins.

The muffins? They’re for 20 pesos per pack. Each pack contains 4 palm-sized muffins baked into perfection. For bulk orders, drop by the Iloilo City PUJ Terminal (found in Super) near Robinson’s Mall.

P.S. I heard they taste better than JD’s. XD

I chose to be this miserable. I am not entirely happy. My happiness fluctuates depending on the hour of the day and on my activities lined up for that day.

Sometimes, much as I want to give our garden plants a drink, I am too rationalized to stay in front of my laptop and do nothing. I can help my mother do the chores but I do not. Oftentimes, when she passes by me watching House Season 4 or any Western movie, I would notice that my expression is so immersed. Like I do not want to be disturbed. Like whatever I am doing is so important than making sure that we have heated viands for lunch.

I am utterly useless when I am at home. That’s why I need a new job. XD