sweet summer '05

my summer was a bit more interesting than i had expected. yes, i FINALLY went home to tacloban to take a quick break from city life. it was there where i did practically nothing but stay in bed for two whole days, an impossible concept here in manila.

this summer i did some things i didn't want to do. i didn't do some things that i wanted to do. some things happened the way i didn't want them to happen. and finally, some things things i never thought would happen happened. realizing this, though, has put things into perspective... that i don't control the world, nor do i control people's lives.

let me explain. who thought i'd ever try my hand at movie sciptwriting?? not me. but kuya joey like approached me and gave me the offer, although he presented it as an "extra challenge". the stint was short, yeah, but i guess it's not excatly on my to-do list everyday.

i also got to play the violin more often: tutorials. whenever i do, i feel like... rejuvinated. (i used to play first violin back in saudi arabia, although i think i kinda grew out of it as soon as i came here.)

i've also moved into a NEW HOUSE! it's much better, more spacious, two stories... and the rent's cheap. i'll post pictures of it in "the hall" soon.

schoolyear annotated

SCHOOL'S DONE! it's vacation time and i'm hitting the beach, taking a quick detour to the hills of rizal along the way. college life, i've discovered, is actually fun if u let it be... although temptation to waste money, time, and resources lurks everywhere. i'm not sure whether i got promoted to the full scholarship at lyceum or retained my partial crap. anyways it's free money so who am i to complain. i'm still teaching koreans! gosh i can't believe i'm still alive!

despite the high-pressure tension building up in east asia, and the proposed charter change modifying the philippine constitution for the eighth freakin time, and the continuing rise of prices....

life's still okay :)

tutoring who?!

this january i've started tutoring a couple of korean friends who are learning the english language. the actual teaching is, for me, rather simple: basic english, around 15 hours a week. the only thing is the culture factor. i'm (guiltily) so used to the filipino & anglo-american cultures that i can't really reach out to them in a real sense. my plight's so terrible that when invited to eat lunch with them, i had to interrupt the meal and ask for a spoon and fork since i was hopeless with chopsticks. i was even on the brink of fainting to discover that after driving for hundreds and hundreds of miles on the road, we'd stop to dine korean style as usual, but this time cooking instant noodles on a portable stove.... that should be my new year's resolution: adapt.

mewy wishmash evryone!

it's christmas time again...

i dunno, but it seems like christmas this year isn't as *christmasey* as it was before... is it because i'm missing the thrill of celebrating the yuletide season under a shari'a government that bans all open practices of christmas, or is it just because i'm older? maybe it's because i hear more of the sexbomb girls et alii seasonal jingles blasting away at me as i pass by the novaliches plaza everyday on my way home. call me old fashioned, but i still prefer "Pasko na Sinta Ko" to Bayani's "Mag-ocho Pasko Na!". i do miss the song with the line "I'm dreaming of a white christmas..." altho the song's kinda invalid now since nothing's really white here in the Philippines at christmastime. but it's all good.

i recently played a couple of caroling songs on the violin at a recital somewhere in sta. mesa, i'v attended tons of parties (and i'v still yet to attend tons more - like tonight with the fellas at cornerstone), i'v given out some gifts already, i'v received some for myself (yesterday: a cute red schoolbag - thanx tita vangie :) , the FOOD's plenty and it's not even noche buena yet, the air's crisp and cold, and i'm with my family. heck, despite the jobsearching and the "simbang gabi traffic" and everything else, my sleep's gonna be sound tonight. and nope, i haven't fogotten at all the true reason for the season.

merry christmas...

a weekend in Pangasinan

late november found me in a rather isolated corner of the philippine map. the reason of going there: evangelism. we'd spend the afternoons and nights 'fellowshipping' with the Cabungan church's young people. on the first night and last day, we had hilarious yet bonding games which got the visitors and visited acquainted with each other in no time... one afternoon, both worked as teams in sharing Jesus to the people of barangay Cabungan (around a hundred responded!), which was one enriching experience for me, to say the least... later on some played basketball evangelism, while others taught the kids... i functioned as the DAKILANG EXTRA, you know, the guy holding the props... a few hours back we attended a funeral service, and honestly i had a hard time maintaining a solemn face, what with the beach just 20 feet away and all... probably the best experience was the Tondol beach experience... IT'S THE BEACH! need i say more? and on the way home, we played "The Amazing [G]Race" with all of us running around frantically trying to catch the Cubao-bound bus, and hey, the feeling was delicious! i even had to play the flight attendant on the bus for a while; don't ask how or why... the entire trip was really cool, and i'd just like to thank CCBC, Kya Joey, Mam Vicky, Kya Joel, and Kya Joven for their efforts and supervision. to the AndaBoys and Girls: Isaiah, Kurt, Alain, Nimrod, Te Baggy, Agnes, Marjie, Bethel, Keren, Felynn... thank u...one thing i learned: JESUS is the same in Anda, Pangasinan as He is ANYWHERE! Thank you SO MUCH JESUS!

fun english factoids

i picked this cool post from friendster...

* There is no egg in eggplant, no ham in hamburger, and neither pine or apple in the pineapple.

* English muffins were not invented in England, and French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take english for granted but if we examine its paradoxes we find that:

* Quicksand takes you down slowly

* Boxing rings are square

* Guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor a pig.

* If writers write, how come fingers don't fing?

* If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth?

* If the teacher taught, why didn't the preacher praught?

* If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what the heck do humanitarians eat?

* Why do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language where a house can burn up as it burns down and in which you fill in a form by filling it out (or fill out a form by filling it in!). English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which of course is not a race).

*That is why when the stars are out, they are visible; but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

* Do infants enjoy infancy as much asadults enjoy adultery?

* If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

* Why is the man who invests all his money a broker?

* Why is a person who plays the piano a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

* Why are wise men and wise guys opposite?

* If horrific means horrible, doesn't terrific mean to make terrible?

* Why isn't 11 pronounced as onety-one?

* If lawyers are disbarred and clergy men defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and drycleaners depressed?

* Why is it that when someone tells you there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them but when someone tells you wet paint, you needto touch it to be sure?

* If people from Poland are Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

* And why is it that when I wind up a watch it starts but when i wind up this story, it ends?

colonial christmas??

there's something totally ironic i saw yesterday while reading a magazine, you know, one of them Good Housekeeping Philippines types. CAN YOU IMAGINE their christmas theme is NOTHING BUT THE CHRISTMAS STUFF YOU'D FIND IN THE STATES?!?! candy canes? stockings? eggnog? mistletoe??? IS THERE EVEN ANY MISTLETOE IN THE PHILIPPINES?!

the publishers didn't even care about HINTING the REAL filipino christmas! what about noche buena? firecrackers? paroles?? nilagang baboy? queso de bola? nope. not even a syllable. i don't know what's happening to the philippine pub industry but i think they've gotta have the word NATIONALISM drilled into their heads.

i thought we're supposed to modernize, not westernize...