Speckles n Spectrum

Hey, Pa. If I had a baby that year s/he will be 12 years old by now and probably graduating from elementary, might have been something to celebrate right? But no we're not that kind of teens in spite of not growing up with a complete family because you have to leave before we even get to truly understand the meaning of "life."

Life has been pretty tough since. It was a rocky road and I wish it was delicious as an ice cream haha but it wasn't. So you might ask what's up? Hmmm, nothing much. I'm still that kid who learned the word stubborn when I was in Grade 2 because it was written in red ink at the back of my report card. Sweet right? Haha

I still miss those days because you were the only one who can actually laugh with me and my mistakes. I can break things and take it as if it was nothing making me feel I'm more important than that piece of glassware. (I still have that scar in one of my fingers that reminds me how you've offered to continue washing the dishes after I was wounded by a broken glass.)

I'm not saying good things about you because you're already gone. You know I'm not that kind of person. I won't lie just because you're already dead. I'm not into a game of impressing the living so why would I do things to please the departed? Silly right?

We had bad times too. In fact I clearly remember that you rarely get angry. It was a once a year event at most and I'm the lucky one who always get to celebrate it with a few strokes of real leather belt on my behind. And we know if you're pissed when we hear the keyword "sinvergüenza" followed by few bicol curses. 

We even argue once because of that shirt you're wearing in this photo. I was 10 years old and growing to be boyish and starting to lend your shirts. I argue that it has pink on it so girls can wear it too. I won and I'm pretty sure not because you bought my argument  =)

But you know all of that and perhaps everything about us since probably you're up there watching us make a damn mess in this world. So really what's up with me finally writing about this dreaded topic? It's been years and you know what I guess I am finally free. I'm even surprise because this year it feels so good to be true.

Last year I wasn't able to think about it because we were all busy with the souvenir shop/cofitti and resto. I guess that's my gift from Virgen de Peñafrancia on her tercentenary year: peace of mind. I've been busy dealing with other stuff that I skipped the melancholy brought by September in 2010. I didn't have time to sit and day dream with a misty eye while listening to that Luther Vandross' song.

Quite the same thing happened this June on your death anniversary. I got busy with stuff and the next thing I knew I slept through the whole day. Then here's your birthday you're 57 by now, old man... haha

And you know what Pa? It's amazing to still be here after years of losing you and realizing that for this year it's going to be different from the rest for I finally let go. I no longer pray the same stuff. My litanies aren't wishful thinking and my day dreams are no longer the old what ifs. Finally I'm living in the present tense. I won't lie, I still cry when I think about you and I can't promise to keep my eyes dry whenever you pop in my head but it's now tears of joy, of remembering, and reliving the memories.

I can't still see the bigger picture of His decision of claiming you too early but I'm more optimistic and open to the idea that whatever His reasons might be something for the better.

But hey, stop right there. Do you all really think I'm that super duper mega stubborn that I needed to get through all these initiations to get pass life on earth? As if I wanted to go to your so called heaven haha

Life is a freak but well, sorry life for I am freakier than you. Gotcha!

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I got this song we loved to listen to during my grade school years. Sorry I lost the cassette tape I don't know why of all tapes Matt Monro's album is missing while Vina Morales and the Cha-Cha tapes are still here, shame.

I guess this song speaks a lot about you and the things that remind me of you. These are the stuff that made up my ideals too. Thanks for everything and sorry I'm not the type to make promises for I think promises are made to be broken and I'm forgetful and fickle which makes it more difficult. But I know for sure that's fine with you because you've always been very accepting of who we are.

So long Pa, I'm just here being myself. I know that's good enough. I don't need fireworks or anything to make you appreciate the rest of me. You've been with us for only a short span but you were able to give us what some people might take more than a lifetime to accomplish. You're not the teacher yet you've given us the most wonderful lessons without being aware that you did. You don't impose or force, you gave us freewill and had always asked, "Ano ang gusto mo nene?" You made us feel what love truly is, we don't need to sacrifice anything to earn it because you've given it for free and unconditionally.

Ma said you're the sosy type, you're spoiled and your hands were too soft for a man which in layman's term "lazy." (I do get the same comments about my hands (which I think is too shallow for people to conclude laziness by just basing on the softness of your hands because I too do household chores for am closer to being poor than being a princess) but I'd like to ask: Is loving household chores the sole basis of being industrious? If it was my, why did I wasted my time going to school if everyone just wanted us to perfect dish washing and doing the laundry? Ha ha, sorry stupid thoughts again. Well, I went to school so I can find something to do that doesn't involve scrubbing the tiles all the time. Though I wouldn't mind doing it once a year haha)

Seriously, I don't care I'm not blind and I know of course that every person has their negative traits but yours simply drowned in the long list of distinctive good things:

• you're the most down to earth person I've known
• you give the last of your centavo even to strangers who knock even on the wee hours
• you're a friend to all that even little kids admire you
• you're loyal and faithful that even if girls drool you simply tease your way out
• you're the easiest to please for your joys were of simple things

 and there's quite a list but I'm going to cut it here before you yell out your magic word =)

101 Truths About Me: #6 I love to cook.

I consider myself as an occasional cook because there's a part of me that's a wannabe chef... hehe

Hmmm... let me just copy+paste here what I wrote in my fb album with the same title:

Occasional Cook (wannabe SHIyfT!) 

I heart making ordinary days extra special in simple ways :) This is where I post my culinary mess. Occasional cook because I only cook when there's an occasion and when I feel like there is an occasion even during ordinary days and the rest don't ask me to do the cooking I'm simply incapable :)

As a child I've always been interested in cooking. I've learned to cook through my father whom I call Papa. Like me he was an occasional cook, meaning we cook only when there's a special occasion. (Sorry I got weird vocabulary and I have my own made-up dictionary... ha ha)

My father was a lavish party thrower and he loved food so much. I grew up exposed in his cooking. You can't make him cook when there's no happening or event but he likes to celebrate every occasion in our life be it a birthday, anniversary, winning a contest, getting awards or perfect a test, recognition day, and of course fiesta and holidays and yeah, I just have to add winning cockfights and mahjong.

He loved entertaining people and when you say feast, it meant feast. The most extravagant party I can remember was his birthday (I'm not really sure about the exact age maybe somewhere around 42) but he had turbo broiled the same number of native chickens with his age that time plus a whole Lechon and other main dishes which were all his favorites. And I never had a problem with those list of his fave food because everything is simply delicious but Mama isn't feeling the same way about it for they're all not on the cheap side and it's all bad for his health.

Main dish cooking background came from Papa and baking and desserts knowledge came from Mama. We sell the most expensive Ice Candy in our town when I was still in grade school. Avocado flavored, 1 piece is 5 pesos, regular Ice candy price that time would be 1 or 2 pesos but we do that only during summer. That's our way to consume our avocado supply coming from our vacant lot.

But still I am not a professional chef nor a cook. I cook when I want to and I'm never an expert. I'm actually hesitating in telling people that I've studied and have a certification in a 1-month 5-days a week Culinary Arts class in an organization rooted from Germany for its founder is Father Adolph Kolping hence the name  Kolping Society Philippines, Inc. because I don't want them to expect too much on my cooking.

It was a commercial cooking class and the menu were Filipino food and the main objective is how to commercialize it. I've learned from it a lot. It made the food cheaper in cost through quantity but not cheap when it comes to taste for it retains almost the same taste as the original recipes.

But I'm not into cooking Filipino food (not that I don't like it) but most of them are actually too tedious to make and so better if I just buy it since it's pretty available anywhere here. That's easier to do - just buy it, cheaper and even tastier than my cooking most probably... less hassle. Though I can cook some if ever I want to but only some of my fave like adobo.

My cooking mantra is affordability, quality and time-saving. So I prefer to cook meals that are easy to prepare and less hassle and now I just added healthier. I'm starting to get serious being vegan but not that hardcore. I'm just willing to give up meat for now. So expect vegan recipes from me from now on. I'm actually formulating my own recipe. Well I have to because I don't have much resources so I only cook things that are present in our fridge. I am combining the same ingredients over and over creating different one each time to satisfy my fickle taste-buds without spending a fortune.

I just had my midnight snack again after a long while not craving for anything to eat in these wee hours. I'm back being a nocturnal being again these past few days so this is like lunch for me now but I don't plan to do it on a regular basis. They say it's bad to eat at night for weight and health reasons but then how about those people who treat day as their night and vice versa? Anyhow I've no idea how to answer that.

While having my midnight snack I got a light bulb above my head and thought of posting a sort of nostalgic stuff. I actually got this idea from a fellow Pinoy blogger named NoBenta who post anything he loves about the 90s. But hey I actually have a category called Reminiscin' before I even got to read his blog and his Balik-Tanaw entries. Yet I've to say I'm still inspired by his blog so now maybe I'll try to have Saturday as my flashback day. But if I can't help it I'm going to go down memory lane any day I like or maybe not... Good idea or let's just stick to whatever is up in my mind at a certain moment... haha

Now can you still remember the good ol' pancit canton days?

I first got addicted to it when I was in high school. It was my sort of comfort food. I had it 3 or more times a day depending on the mood: breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks again, dinner, midnight snacks and of course for pulutan haha.

I especially prefer the spicy kind and I used to eat it with cheese and then Jufran sweet chili sauce for the crackers. How weird is that?

I was still addicted to it when I was already working in Makati but with chopsticks... hehe

I'm no longer addicted but still it is as delicious as before and having it once in a while is still that fulfilling...

Now I'm ok with this combo.

So have you been addicted to any kind of food that you want to eat it almost everyday? What is it and how'd it go? Do you still crave for it once awhile?

This is an exact replica of the post card sold then that we submitted as projects for Sibika and Kultura or Hekasi.

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda WAS my childhood hero next to my father. He had been an inspiration when it comes to my studies THEN. I think most kids back then admire him most because his portrait is in every classrooms and almost every school has a monument honoring him and his life was introduced and taught to kids as early as kindergarten (picture and name at least.)

I still remember when I was in 2nd Grade having a regular night time session of memorizing and learning 10 words from a specific letter in the alphabet. Let's say this Monday 10 words from letter A, tomorrow 10 from B, next 10 from C and so on. It was just my idea and my parents didn't even know about it. They were even wondering why I'm always with our bulky dictionary the whole time I'm at home even while watching TV.

But don't ask me now for I've never succeeded. Hay like reading all the books and learning a new language I gave up, I'm too young to waste my life racing with a polymath. I realized that when I reached high school so I wasted my time somewhere, on something different but I still love reading yet not so much that it had to be the center of my life.

Hey, this should be about Rizal not me. Sorry I forgot, got carried away on the nostalgia... haha.

So Rizal or "Pepe" as called by his family is the Philippines National Hero. (see wiki) The seventh child with 10 siblings, 9 of whom were girls. A son of Francisco Mercado Rizal, a farmer and Teodora Alonzo y Quintos both from distinguished families.

Indeed Rizal is a genius of his time, the Tagalog Hamlet. He can rival Shakespeare with his works and may be even more.

 "A versatile genius, he was an architect, artists, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist, opthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, and theologian."

(see Jose Rizal: A Biographical Sketch)


I was able to memorize his biography then because of the projects in grade school and it paved my way to reach the Regional Press-Conference as a feature writer just writing about him. Yep, we have a great team along with my favorite teacher/coach Mrs. Clavo. That's why I heart Rizal that much those times but then Andres Bonifacio life came in full blown in high school and gossips and controversies encircled Rizal's life in college. He's still my hero but only next to Andres...


Andres Tormes, haha joke that's my lolo's name. (Oops don't visit me now, just suddenly remember you Tatay. Name recall that's about it. Peace! P.S. When are you all going to fetch me? lol)




Additional readings: 


Genius has no country. It blossoms everywhere. Genius is like the light, the air. It is the heritage of all.


To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to struggle, a struggle not only with them but with oneself; with their passions, but also with one's own.


Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.


The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.


The world laughs at another man's pain.


He who would love much has also much to suffer.


I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors;


Where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God.

( see quotes by Jose Rizal)




I borrowed the title from this essay:

Rizal is the spirit of contradiction; a soul that dreads the revolution, although deep down desires it.

Miguel de Unamuno, philosopher-writer, in his essay "Rizal, the Tagalog Hamlet", in Rizal: Contrary Essays (1990)

By the way, Yo Lolo Jose, Happy 150th bday and in case you're still too busy up there you're a pretty cool icon now!

Here's another story from revisiting my Alma mater (see "Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time.")

I actually major in extra curricular activities, minor in bumming or loitering around... haha. I didn't choose my course and I rebel by venturing into other things that interest me more like organizations, sports and people. Although I had to balance things out just enough to maintain my partial scholarship or else I'll be out of school for lack of money to afford a decent education.

My having a very photographic memory then make it all possible for me to have an easy breezy student life. I think I'm more street smart than book smart for I seldom read my textbooks though I love to read anything except those. I solely rely in common sense, class discussions and actual teachers' lessons unless I've been absent for a while and I need to catch up but then there's always my classmates' notebooks hehe.

This is actually my fave spot but before there were piles of boxes and sacks of books cluttered here, that's why I got the whole space on my own. Plus a nice view...

But I am truly a bookworm, a lover of books. I love the smell of it and the texture. I love reading anything from newspaper, magazines, encyclopedia to billboards and signage or even vandals. I remember when I was seven years old any elder who's accompanying me walking downtown of Naga City was pestered that they have to wait for me because I was reading all the signage of the stores and all the written stuff in the street. But I don't think I've read enough. There's still a lot more to read... frustrating.

When I am alone in the school my hang out has always been the library. I went first at the second floor to read newspapers from back to cover (weird but I read newspapers backwards.) Then I stay for hours in a corner at the third floor of O'Brien Library reading books.




It was examination week and my class for that day starts at 9:00am but as usual I was super late because of I don't really know why my scooter fracked up almost always during important days. (It was a very old scooter I understand that. It's a Yamaha V50 bought by my father in 1992 just imagine that and I went in college in 2001 - 2005 so yeah very vintage. But during ordinary days it's all fine I even drove it to Mt. Isarog that's why I am raging when it has to stop during very important occasions.)

My late sister with our scooter in 1992.

Therefore as a result I am 30 minutes late but then I know my teacher hated me already for being late almost every session. I had my tuition receipt but then my teacher wanted a permit. I paid my tuition as early as possible when permits weren't release yet so was a receipt enough? No. Oh, ok.

I went back to the cashier and as usual I have to fall in line. I almost wanted to just go home. The buildings aren't that closed enough and my classroom was on the third floor and I have to wear a hot skirt uniform in a very hot day because it is required during exam week and therefore it came along with a high heeled shoes, darn.

Got my permit and I rushed back to the third floor and I only have 30 minutes left to finish the exam, wow! And the insult was I even finish faster than some of my classmates and I got the highest score. Shoot me now but I am not bluffing or saying this because I have a big head and boasting. It's the frakkin' truth. I was even surprise too, one mistake, not bad for a 30-minute time frame.

But I'm still disappointed because I miss the easiest question and it's all because I was absent the day it was discussed, darn!

How it actually happened? Photographic memory. When I am taking a test it's like I have a big manuscript or notebook all written in the board. I can actually remember where it was exactly written in the board when it was discussed or on what part of my classmates notebook or book I've read it. It's like I'm scanning things in my brain for stock memories. Besides for that particular exam the teacher used the same questions given in the previous quizzes and used a sort of code in the answers. That's why once I figured the pattern for the answers it's a lot easier to choose the correct answers.

I wish I still have that photographic memory now. My gadgets ruined it especially my laptop. I rely heavily to its memory rather than my own. I felt like a gadget too, thinking I've no more disk space and I have better things to fill my memories than educational facts. But somehow it still work with certain things that's why I stop watching scary and disgusting things because it gets stuck in my head like forever that sometimes I can't even manage to close my eyes even in the shower. Yeah, that's how bad I get scared though I like the suspense of horror movies yet it's the aftermath that I can't handle well.

Photographic memory + vivid imagination = disaster and paranoia

So better drop it.

I couldn't think of any better title than quoting Bertrand Russell's “Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time”  for my yesterday's happening. I was supposed to attend a NO TO MINING IN PLALAWAN Signature Campaign but alas! the booth hasn't been set-up and therefore nothing to do but waste time.

Instead of being upset and start grumbling like an eight-year old I manage to focus more on positive things. I think this is what I do best for most part of my life, seeing beauty midst the disappointments. Yeah that other quote too which is becoming one of my favorites:

 "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about learning to dance in the rain" --- anonymous

So I did dance in the rain except it wasn't really rain. It was easy for I'm now the type that if I were stuck, let's say in Afghanistan I'm going to go sightseeing and  take it as a photo op and maybe learn and investigate or write about how to live the terrorist way or the Bin Laden way... hehe or take it as a good time to catch up on my reading.

----------------------------------------------------
Am going to break this story in a few blog entries for there just too many things to talk about so here's the first installment. Yay, am like J.K. Rowling now wahahaha, there's part 1 and part 2 and so on... (you wish aby!)

The question is will I get the same enthusiasm to continue this after another day? No clue but hope so, crossing my fingers now.
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My visit wasn't really wasted for I am very much happy that at such a long time I'm back again in my Alma mater. This time I'm no longer camera shy so picture-taking it is! I've visited all my favorite places to hang out then. I was even amazed that a few people still remember me after six years of being a graduate, WOW! Yeah just Wow! I'm so amazed and grateful for that.

I'll share a few stories why oh why out of the thousands students who passes this gate years and years the guard has recognized me. Simply because I'm a frakkin' law breaker, oh ok don't be exagge just broken a few rules here and there... hehe.

I'm a notorious driver meaning I don't have a gate pass sticker yet I always manage to get in the campus with my scooter and off the speed limits. When I'm in the mood for some kicks I drive in places where scooters aren't supposed to be running. I used to park in a place where it isn't allowed (says who I've seen a few motorcycles parked there too?) and therefore my day almost always ends up in the guard house claiming my scooter that they've impounded. Then I won't do it for a few days then back to normal again after a few more days or I just managed to find another hiding place for my scooter but still inside the campus... bahaha.

Then there's the not in uniform days and wearing slippers almost all the time and the "I forgot my I.D." darn thing.

They say familiarity breeds contempt but it's the other way around for me. I get my way out of sticky situations because of regular encounters with these guys. Oops wait for dirty minds, everything was casual and  platonic (I was a tomboy then so we're all friends.) I didn't date or talk to anyone of them more than 30 minutes or so and the longest chit chat is still about me begging for them to let me off the hook for my no sticker, illegally parked scooter... hehe.


Then there's Tiya where I got my halo, rice with dinuguan toppings. Too bad she's not selling anything like that now because things are getting pricey and she couldn't afford to sell food that cheap now, according to her. But there's still dinuguan available and I had my taste of her lumpia once again and betamax in the next stall. Woohoo I felt like I'm college again. Too bad the sago drinks are no longer here too.

Somehow some things will never change like the warmth of people and the memories brought by everyone and the places we've been. But for the rest I guess...

... time really changes things and truly they just come and go.

It's all like a wheel, one day you're up, the next you're down.

Like a switch, one day you're on, the next you're off.

Like fame, one day you're in, the next you're out.

Like fashion, one day you're hip, the next you're sloppy.

Like movies, one day you're block buster, the next you're flop.

Like twitter, one day you're trending, the next who are you then?

Very inevitable.

Hay CHANGE, why is it the only constant thing is you?

I was bored maybe not really but I wanted to do something else rather than sit or stretch-out talking to my laptop and I happened to notice my favorite book decomposing in the little corner of my jungle, yeah I call my room that since it looks like a wild forest anyways. I was sorry to see that the back cover had been rip-out thanks to my sisters who just happened to eyed it for awhile (hmmm, they don't even like to read for pleasure they read things because they need it for school but then I did their papers and projects most of the time so I know for a fact that they haven't read one book from cover to cover) so maybe this book is really interesting that they both have to borrow it and carry it almost everyday for a week I guess, and showing it to their friends.

I'm glad that they love my book and are actually reading for pleasure you don't know how much I wish there's someone in my immediate family who share the same hobbies with me so we can exchange ideas and have time for philosophizing. Don't get me wrong my sisters are intelligent and excel in school (but they have very different interests compare to me) in fact they have way better grades than me (our youngest graduated Cum Laude and my late sis was almost into it missing only a few points) while I can't even get an A because of excessive absences and constantly showing up more than 30 minutes late if ever I am not absent for that day. But that's another story for me to tell maybe one day I'll write about the reasons behind it if I found the mood for it :) Well, I am still proud to say that we were all scholars for all the 4 years we stayed in college except my late sister who chose to drop out of her full scholarship for her 3rd year because she had changed her mind on what to major in (that only her can do, it's impractical and selfish given that my mom is raising us single-handedly and it was the same year when all the 3 of us were in the same University but I envy her because I've been wanting to do that too but was never allowed, sure favoritism runs in the family, you can actually say that but parents for all we know would always deny that fact even with all the evidence.)

My father loves to read newspapers and magazines and that's what we did everyday on his days in the hospital and I got the love for reading through him and his father Lolo Omat had been an inspiration too. He was a typist for the guerrilla during the Japanese time and worked as a notary public. He had a collection of Reader's Digest dated 1962 as far as I could remember and I used to spend my free time reading those when I was 6. After he died I was hoping to keep his Olympia typewriter and his book collections especially the digests but well I got the digests after the typhoon and the house were flooded  and my mom thought they're all garbage even if some of it were still readable and so I wasn't allowed to take them home but I've sneaked and kept some then it was thrown (maybe given away, I'm not sure) later on when we moved to a different town when she had discovered it along with my paintings.

My mother was a little odd, she's a professor and she taught us how to read and require us to read but now that I am all grown-up and I love reading and made it as a hobby I often hear her complain about it and about my spending money on books and yet she's not saying anything about my younger sister's splurge on clothes, and what about her fetish for bags and shoes, isn't it unusual? And yes she doesn't love to read like my 2 siblings. The four of us are opposites when it comes to reading. The 3 of them reads because it is required while I read because I just love reading but I actually love to read things that aren't school related or academic. I love learning but I'm not into studying.

As I was saying, my sisters had borrowed my book without permission but when I saw that they were bringing it to school I didn't say anything I'm fine with it: them reading my books but sure they could have asked first. Anyways, as careless as they were after a week or so I've seen my book dumped in a corner and yes dilapidated... arrgh! At that time I was such a neat-freak, I always take good care of my things especially my books because I wanted them to last but you can't seem to make it possible with untidy and careless people living in the same roof who just like getting things as if they own everything and dumps it whenever they're done with it.

I love this book so much because every time I read it  it makes me smile and it makes me think. It inspires me a lot even up to this day. This is the only book that I've read more than 20 times and I won't get tired reading it over and over and that comes from me who never read a book twice. I used to put this underneath my pillow because it's the first and last thing that I read everyday, it used to be The Bible but well, change of interests had caused it. As it says, enough of truth searching, it's time for a fantasy.


I've found this book in just the right time as it says in its title: I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth, and Am Now Looking for A Good Fantasy. Yes I was actually looking forward for the good things of the future and was done of searching for my truth so good one. (Actually it was my friend Cecile who found this while we were rummaging the pile of books on sale in Master Square (a used to be famous sort of like a mini-mall in our town until the big malls went into business here) and she gave it to me so I bought it for the cheapest price P25.00 and it was the best and most compensated peso I've ever spent. So I wasn't really splurging on books since I'm getting them through book-sale but when I was already working I had a membership with Powerbooks in Greenbelt and yeah, I've been a shopaholic and spent all my money for clothes, shoes and mostly books and women's magazines that my friends had borrowed and well never did returned and that's 2 stupid things again for me, all charge to experience.

I can relate much with the author: Ashleigh Brilliant was from a lower-middle class (just like me) but lives in London and California for the later part of his life. He's a professor and I was (I used to teach in a State College)  and he actually made me realized or put into words why I used to despise my real name.

 "as a child I hated Ashleigh Ellwood for some obscure and sensitive family reason. I was never called by either of these names, except in anger."  --- Ashleigh Brilliant

And I love this author for the most part because he inspires me a lot to think and to write more. I love quotations, idioms, poetry or anything that involves playing of words that's why I was also addicted to scrabble when I was a child. My first few weeks reading this book over and over left my mind running full time there were nights that I have to wake up in wee hours just to write a pot-shot. I've written tons and I've written most of it at twilight with me holding a flashlight so my mother won't notice that I was still up. But sad to say I don't know where were my pot-shots it may have been included on my things my mom burnt along with the trash, tsk,tsk.

Oh, I wasn't able to mention that this isn't some novel book, it is a graphical book sort of like a comic book. It is a collection of epigram and the author called it POT-SHOT. And these are the 2 important rules in composing it:

1. no Pot-shot may exceed 17 words
2. the words and expressions used must be understood as easily as possible, by the widest possible range of people, with no impediment (such as rhyme, puns, or idioms) to translation into other languages  

Here's a few of my favorite pot-shots:

I used to say this when someone touches my hair "you ruin my already ruined hair" coined from this.

Me 2006

As I was wondering why someone using myspace mobile ended up in my blog from a direct link when I haven't even visited myspace for a long time now so to check I reopen my account and found out that I've linked my twitter to it thus it's being updated through that. I noticed that a slideshow I made in 2006 consisting mostly my photos of my last year in college is still existing and working properly fine in the sidebar of my profile unlike in friendster it was a deadlink now. Excited to get a copy of that so I went to slide and I'm glad that I was able to open my account on it with a few tries guessing my email and password for it. And here it is now I thought it would be nice to have a copy of it in my blog. Bear with me with the photo quality most of these are taken through ancient webcam but that's totally new when we bought it worth P3000.00 in 2003 (of course) I haven't edited it this is how it was originally made, cute for a college but the pink bubbles are actually annoying me now, so tempting to edit it but Nah, it would defeat the purpose of it as a memento of how I was and what I was like those years. Now click to play :)