Contemplathings IX

1. log-out time at work
2. to-do lists and their waning influence on me
3. Melane, Batangas
4. going back to school, Biology
5. to apply or not to apply for a promotion
6. Beren and Luthien (The Silmarillion)
7. hotdogs and instant pancit canton
8. Clean & Clear oil control films

I'm 10:02?

(link, courtesy of Kat, www.wonderdust.blogspot.com)

You are 10:02 a.m.

You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes.

Puerto Galera, dabbling in photography

Sometimes, I am a frustrated poet, but most of the time, I am a frustrated photographer. I love a poem's bare beauty, tightness. But I adore the wordless speech of pictures.

Last weekend, when I went to Puerto Galera with my office mates, I borrowed a camera from a family friend and dabbled in photography. Doing tricks with a different knife can be fun, I guess. I only hope not all my attempts were lame.

The resort where we went to goes by the name "White Beach," a misnomer, an advertising ruse, but the place was considerably clean and the water clear. There was no entrance fee. Beggars can't be choosers.

Not really white, but white enough

I know, I know, the horizon should be parallel with

the bottom edge of the photo. Will do better next time, hehe

Random shots. A river that runs to the sea and a... big... rocky cliff. LOL.

It's an understatement to say there are so many stray dogs
in Galera. Locals told me they used to belong to foreigners
who wittingly or unwittingly left without them. These two
on the photo were fierce and would not let me go any nearer

This one (above), however, appeared to have liked me so much

that all throughout the day, he followed me wherever I went.
When I left the next day, I looked for him and said good bye.
I forgot to ask him how old he is

I have a handful more photos but Blogger isn't Multiply (which I don't have), so I just uploaded the others in my Friendster albums: http://www.friendster.com/viewalbums.php?uid=6672482

A farm, a zoo, and TELUS

Yesterday, when jeep drivers and operators launched a nationwide strike, in protest against the refusal of Metro Manila mayors to initiate a single ticketing system, TELUS had this bright idea of offering shuttle service to us employees. Not that I would need it, since I only live 10 minutes away from our office, but when you know your company cares about you, it's not such a bad feeling at all.

Still, I hate to report that good employers can sometimes be bad at metaphors, most especially at times when a metaphor is hardly called for; the service shuttles all had signages plastered at their sides. They read: "TELUS Noah's Ark." TELUS commercials are ingenious, but animal analogy can only go as far.



I get the idea that the signage originally signified the company's willingness to help its flock. But I can't help thinking about the fact that Noah saved the animals so that after the Flood, they could procreate and replenish the earth with life again. From there, you could just as easily jump from comparing TELUS with a zoo to comparing TELUS with a farm. Mooooooooo!

And I am not sure but isn't there something replusive about being inside a van with a tarp shouting "Noah's Ark"?

Relearning surgery, knife-tricks

After many months, I was able to write a sudden short story, though by no means would I say it's well written. Well sometimes, when it's such a long time you have handled a knife, you tend forget the right grip.

I would like to believe that as with anything, surgery can be relearned. For the three faithful readers of this famous blog, I post my literary attempts at another blog:

http://www.trickswithaknife.blogspot.com/.

Contemplathings VIII

1. "falling right through the cracks"
2. nicotine
3. Abby
4. fraternity hazings
5. Larissa Mae Suarez, the next Philippine Collegian editor-in-chief
6. Baguio
7. Rodrigo Santoro and Laura Linney in Love Actually