Durk-durk, Lern and Jajuhby: The New Adventures of the Lummoxes

February 19, 2007, 7:54
PM (CEM time, as opposed to say, Philam time)

Today is the first day of the year of the Pig. Joy read to me from somewhere that this is supposed to be a lucky year for Sheep people. I’m Sheep. And crossing my fingers…

I promised myself I would only start blogging again
if something significant happened in my life (because otherwise I just tend to blog about ahem, someone…) and something has. Just last week, Lern, Jaje and I moved into our home-away-from-home here in Makati. This is pretty significant for me because this is the first time I’ve really lived away from home, and very much on my own too ‘cause I --- we --- will really be fending for ourselves. Rent, utilities, laundry, etc. we’ll be paying on our own. It’s so grown-up! (haha, I sound so retarded) But see, in our family, childhood ends at the age of 30, if ever it really does, and while there is some comfort to be taken from knowing your folks have always got your back, I wanted to know what I was made of. In my head, if not marriage, that means moving out. Haaay. I am retarded. Bbbut, see there’s still something different about sharing bills at home and being in charge of your own bills… (retarded!)

Our place is Room 1803 B, the room with a BIEW…

When I got home to 1803 B last Friday, I was walking under my --- what is getting to be --- recurring cloud of depression (full cycle is about once every 3 days, I’m kidding!…) so God decided to send me a cheer-upper in the form of a little prince.

Me (to Lern via SMS): I just met one of our neighbors!

Lern: Ooh! Are they human? Or peacocks? J (for an understanding of what Peacocks are, review relevant X-files episode involving the Peacock family)

Me: It’s A Little Prince!

The little’s prince’s name is FiliBERTO! (insert mime here of that patent Italian hand-chop). At least, in my head the way the kid says it, sounds Italian (or well, foreign,
hehe). He and his mother came by the unit because they wanted to say hello to the previous tenants, who were unfortunately gone already. Apparently, the previous tenants (5 nurses) took care of 6-year-old Filiberto when he had been down with food poisoning. And Filiberto (yes, he doesn’t seem to have a nickname, or if he does I am not privy to it, since I am only the strange new neighbor) having gotten a new cellphone, wanted to give them his number. Poor boy, how disappointing that he only chanced upon tired, disheveled me, who had had to lug around 2 bond paper reams of PPP reports. (Yes, PPP for Panukat ng Pagkataong Pilipino.)

I call him Little Prince because like a prince he is good-looking, poised, and… authoritative...

Me (fumbling with the door keys): … this is confusing…

Little prince offers to open the door for me. And walks into the unit and lectures me…

Little Prince: When you are opening the door turn the key
only this way (makes clockwise gesture). Don’t turn it this way and this way (imitates my clockwise-counterwise confused motions), or you’ll end up locking-unlocking it.

Me (feeling every inch the stupid 27-year-old): … ehehehehe.

He is also an intriguing kid. His mother (whom we shall dub Queen, since well, he’s Little Prince) asked me if I was also studying and I said, yes, and she said, oh what course? And I said Developmental Psychology. And she says…

Queen (to Little Prince): That’s perfect! Didn’t you say you needed someone you could talk to about your hopes and dreams?

Me (to myself): …Hhhoookaaaay…

Anyway the whole encounter ended with Little Prince giving me his number, which I think is mostly out of the Queen’s politeness since Little Prince kind of just walked into our unit and proceeded to criticize liberally. But I enjoyed the whole odd encounter and
sent the Little Prince an SMS.

Me: Hi Filiberto! It was nice meeting you and your mom! Please tell her also J. This is Kathryn from room 1803 by the way.

Little Prince: ok

This is the most non-self-censoring blog I’ve ever posted. It’s fun. If you got confused by my writing, apologies, but this is pretty much how I think, which is why I’m usually quiet in groups. I already have a little group of my own inside my head (okay, not only am I retarded, I am also CRAZY.).

I hope you enjoyed the show! I just realized (again, but with pleasure!) that this is my form of humor: I make fun of myself a lot. I was never able to capture it in writing until now.

Happy New Year everyone!

Edit: I lied. I just went back and edited this piece. Not much though… just cleaned up a few grammatical and style problems (OC!!!).

Glimmer

Last night it finally happened.

I caught a glimpse. A glimmer of what I've been waiting for since starting the semester.

Respect. Maybe even awe.

Ok. Awe is too much. But respect, yeah.

And the dissatisfaction / unease is hopefully coming to a close.

Playuh-playuh

Yesterday, Louie asked, "Smart ka 'no?" I thought he meant the adjective so I respond with a noncommital "Mmmmm." And somebody in the background pipes up ("Ayaw sabihin o."). Louie repeats the question and my torpid brain finally catches on... "Ah. Uh, oo." Aaay, how slow. Now, if I were sharper I would've responded with a coy smile and a snappy, "Both!" I rrrreeallly should acquire verbal-riposte skills.


===


Marvin tells me I may be a player. Is that true? And do I somehow know it? Is that the reason I am typically aloof --- bordering on unfriendly --- because I don't want to be so?


Hahahahaha.


Sigh. Rotten-Woody feelings are still cropping up now and then.


===

I am rapidly, rapidly becoming a big Naruto fan. It's like Harry Potter, only BETTER! I swear! Well, if you were into martial arts and all that. I just love the characters. They grow on you... and I wish Sasuke could be saved. But the arc of his personal tragedy demands no less than an equally tragic ending. He will probably redeem himself, Vader-like, at the end, but it will cost him his life. It's so sad.

Ah, how I love my boys tragic.

===

Now, that's what's wrong with me right there.

===

Good things in my life right now: My UP friends, my siblings, Naruto and the occasional cheer-upper from school, work and living in the real world. Other good things I want: time for gym / dance classes / artsy stuff, finishing my masters and travelling to Europe.

One Last

I know I promised not to talk about this anymore, but I just need to get this off my chest.


I feel like a cast-off friend. Think Toy Story, except I'm not Woody. I mean Woody was precious and important and he rocked.


...

Hard to Port

Or in Filipino, biglang kabig sa kaliwa.

It starts today.

The life.

The fight.

The celebration.

And what this blog was supposed to be all about.

I've had enough of myself.

Betwixt and Between, Celebrations and Daring-do

I have a new favorite winning scene: Full Metal Panic TSR's last episode, when Sousuke delivers the final blow that just trounces the enemy. Loved the way the music and his words come together:


"I am a student of Tokyo Jindai Municipal High School. Second year, class four. Student number 41. I am in charge of taking out the garbage and recycling. And my name is SOUSUKE!"


Okay, it's not really obvious for the uninitiated why those lines are funny-great :) You simply have to have watched the series.

And I love how his team just stared, thunderstruck, at how he beat the enemy.


This is how it looked after. That trench behind that gray mecha? That used to be the bad guy.

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In other news, I'm enlisting in a neuropsychological assessment class. Continuing to expand my field of experience. Translation: I'm checking out if clinical work is for me. I need to know this. So, Jon Ray, looks like I'm going the stupid way and listening to my heart.


Let's see how it all turns out.


===

**** is offering me a post in the **. It's a strange coincidence. Best left talked about in person though. It seems a little insensitive to write it down for everyone to see.


===

This is the most disjointed blogpost ever, isn't it?

I'm Gonna Find Another You

... or not. (That's a John Mayer song title up there. Are you proud?)

...

... I don't know where to start.

There are days when I'm ok. And there are days when I am not. Today is one of the 'not days.'

I knew back then that quitting was the only thing about us I could control, so I went down that road. I was afraid that it would only end up in heartbreak for me to wait for you to make up your mind. So of course I end up heartbroken anyway and 5 months after that night, I'm still crying.

...

I'm such an idiot. How could you ever like a tanuki when you've always been surrounded by swans? And "carabaos"?

Sun, sand and a few earthquakes

Our recent trip to the beach...

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

The Thief

Remember the mental ice cream I bought? Well turns out the Newberry Honor book was great: Megan Whalen Turner's 'The Thief' series. The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. My heart has been stolen!

The setting is pseudo ancient Greece, in an alternate sort of planet Earth. There is no electricity, and the heliocentric theory is still fairly new, but watches and guns are already in use. The stories revolve around a boy (we don't know how old he is, at the start probably 14-16 years old) named Eugenides. The first book opens with him in prison, for boasting that he can steal anything... even the King's seal. For this, he is thrown in jail (both for the bragging and the actual stealing). And then one night, the king's adviser approaches him with an offer he can't possibly refuse.

And so the story unfolds, with Gen narrating from a first-person-point-of-view, and we are treated to his sharp-eyed observations, acerbic opinions, and often irreverent sense of humor about everything that goes on around him. He is a surprisingly engaging character; at first I had my doubts as to whether I would like the book, but I ended up finishing it a few hours after I got past the initial slowness of the first few pages. Because I was seeing events through Gen's eyes, and he's a very entertaining narrator.

In fact, Gen's narration is one of the more ingenious narrative devices I've come across in a long time. Although we read the story from a first-person-point-of-view, the author successfully skirts around the question of who Gen really is (oh drat, now I've blown the cover) without appearing to hide anything in particular. And so the final surprise, the final twist to the plot at the end is both wholly unsuspected and yet not wholly surprising either. We know there is something more to Gen; we just didn't know how much more.

So I suggest for those of you out there who like reading 'kids' books,' to read this one. The 1996 Newberry Honor award recipient: The Thief. And for sheer pleasure, move on to the two sequels: The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. The series doesn't look to be over; which is a good thing, except that I would probably have to wait another 4-6 years before I see the next story. The gap between books is about that long. Sigh.

Go! Go! Go! Read!

If It Would Hurt This Much...

... then why did we have to meet? --- Kagome, in tears

I thought Inuyasha and Kagome's romance had lost the power to reach me.


I guess not. Must be of a piece with everything else that's happened.


Maybe it's the feeling of being second-best. Maybe it's the feeling of never being enough. Maybe it's the knowing that no matter how much you might love someone, that you will never be first in their heart because that place is already taken...


Their story is simple, sweet, maybe even childish. But occasionally, I still find it wrenching.

"Someday I Will Love Somebody...

...who will not expect me to save the world..." --- Andrew Wiggin, THE Speaker for the Dead


Highlights of the week:


1. Monday: Worked like a horse.

2. Tuesday: Skipped class. To continue working like a horse.

3. Wednesday: Went home early. To work like a horse at home. But I couldn't solve my systems of equations. Boohoo.

4. Thursday: Mad scramble to finish the work I've been working like a horse on. We print a draft copy for the VP to see. I go off to class, with my unfinished homework. The prof kindly agrees to give an extension. Thank God for small miracles.

5. Friday: My outfit for the day was a hit. With a motley of comments ranging from: "Nakakamangha!" --- from Janet, to "Ang sexy naman!" --- from, well, various people, to "Lady'ng lady" --- from Mark, and the funniest, "Parang gusto kong pumalakpak!" --- from Rex.
On the other hand.... the work I cut class for? The VP basically didnt like how we (ahem, I, ako nga pala mostly ang responsible dun) had organized the report. But we submitted to the client anyway, and will probably be submitting another one more to the VP's liking.

So yeah, despite the dress comments, I'm broken-hearted.

Bought 2 pocketbooks (1 Newberry Honor book and its sequel), 'coz I couldn't get the pedicure I wanted. I needed some kind of mental ice cream.

6. Saturday: Attended an HRD seminar for the pet project. I'll blog about that separately, or not, depending on my mood. And I miss you. I'm depressed about the fact that I do. Lately I've been crying the tears I didn't cry the night I decided to quit you. I thought time and distance would dull the ache. It only seems to have poetically magnified it.

So yeah, I'm broken-hearted.

Bought another pocketbook (by Barbara Hambly). Trying to rekindle my love affair with books.



But I feel generally wan.

At least, ear-tweak has put up a scan of "A merciful heart."

"What a strange way in which to resemble his father."