Destination Unknown

I’ve
seen blogs that are so good and blogs that are so bad. Both of them
can almost make me cry. The latter also make me
want to bang my head on every brick of the Great Wall of China.

Now,
I do respect people’s blogs. They’re, after all, the electronic
equivalent of diaries or journals. Whatever people choose to post is
their business. Some people want to go en route to Anne Frank,
others walk the road of Song-hits (cheap
lyrics periodicals, for those not in the know). Who am I to tell them
what not to do?

What
I’m not comfortable with is the criteria where a feature blog is
measured. Feature blogs are those promoted by blog accounts’
moderators, i.e. Friendster, Myspace, Blogspot, etc. Now, I’ll be the
first to admit that I’m not a big fan of feature blogs, and that I
find it criminal how Sam Oh’s isn’t in it (unless I’m mistaken). But
after I had promenaded into Chronicles of a Headcase (whose
link I won’t post to save the author some dignity), Friendster blog
has to me lost all its credibility!

Chronicles
of a Headcase is, simply put, the most pointless and the vaguest blog
I’ve ever read. Bar none. Not even phrases like "oil cola" or "jeepney’s keyboard" or "elephant’s feathers" or "garter
satellite" or "Chinese democracy" or "Peace in Middle East"
or "crystalline bra" make as little sense. Heck, "qwertyasdfasasdf" is a better sentence than anything you’d see
on that blog! It’s so bad, you can use [parts of] the title as a
derogatory remark! "Just how low can he get?", said Ian. "As
low," retorted Mark, "as a headcase."

Ahem.
Excuse me for a minute while I contain my hate. As a break, here’s a
sample post from that blog, for your edification:

————————————

Monologue
to a Reflection

Do you count
yourself among them? the countless tales to tell and dream forth
about. Look at you… isn’t that what makes you special? Forgive me
for being mean but its just another way of letting you know you are
still alive. Though it must take much more to move the warmth that
had been smothered off your chest from all the years of vermin and
leeches of the world. I realize the shock that such a fabled soul to
be released into the wilderness of reality would be quite traumatic,
but how does one live without breathing and if you breathe than you
must exhale… if you exhale then you must taste the air in which you
live and it is the same air that all of us breathe. So don’t pretend
that you are larger than this life at any point of your life… come
back down to earth before you fall so hard that you become grounded
to the dirt. Where the vermin will walk all over you, and leeches
suck out whats left of your rooted carcass. In other words, only you
can save yourself when it counts… there won’t always be someone
coming to help rescue you from your whim. Think about it, don’t let
anyone feed it to you.

————————————

Let
me tell you what that was about. Frankly, nothing. It used copious
amount of polysyllabic dictions to wax rhetorics that make no sense
whatsoever (figuratively, what the hell IS a vermin and leeches of
the world?) Have you ever heard a drunk man speak? Probably. Now
imagine that same guy meta-lecturing on Philosophy while he lies
semi-unconscious on a railroad track, thinking this is how to wait for
a train.

Ok, so the blog actually had a theme: self-reflection. Why then did
the author use such a circumlocutory language instead of using a
straightforward one? Why did he choose to say "So don’t pretend
that you are larger than this life at any point of your life… come
back down to earth before you fall so hard that you become grounded
to the dirt." Why couldn’t he instead say "Be down to earth"? End of story, in four words!

To
even compound the absurdity of it all, this is actually one of his
better entries! I’ve seen worse, like "Idleness of the Ideal", "A
Stage for the Strange" and "Escape Case" whose writing were as
pretentious and crappy as the titles implied. It’s so funny how his "personal entries" become infinitely more comprehensible; they
are more direct, even though he hasn’t the foggiest on how to shorten
a sentence. Like this. Or maybe he’d "embellish" the previous
sentence to "Synonymous to the entity that is within the presence
of the tandem of articulation."

Of
course, you can say that I have biases: I don’t know about you, but I can’t
stand preachy blogs. Doubly so if they mingle with too much obscure
philosophy and psychology. How about we amplify those with poor
syntaxes, bad punctuations and vague rhetorics? I’m not the best
writer in the world, but his blog is just plain dumb. What the hell is an
"Idleness of an Ideal"? What a "thought-provoking" title that
is! What’s a "headcase" anyway? Is it the skull? Or as the
author would put it, "The achromatic infrastructure that
encapsulates the nut-patterned mass of synapses that manipulates the
entirety of humankind’s anatomy"?

"Nutcase" is a more appopriate name!

Some
people try too hard to exude an illusion of brilliance. I can only
think that this author is of this ilk; only, he does it so poorly.
Even worse, he receives tons of comment from some equally obnoxious
people who engage in intellectual masturbations by posting "intelligent disquisitions" (and people say sincerity is a lost
virtue). And to think that friendster had to feature this blog! [Note to
friendster: send this guy a dictionary, sign him up for writing
lessons, and confiscate his thesaurus.]

All
this may make you curious as to how the rest of his entries read
like. But no, I don’t want your involvement in it. There’s nothing to
see. Beyond all those flowery words, the contents of all his
"articulations" are as insipid as an instant noodle without the
seasoning. I can think of other things I’d rather do than read his
blog. I’d rather slit my wrists in a bathtub filled with Mercury while I drop a toaster into the liquid, upon which the bathtub
would be on a catapult throwing me directly onto a spiked wall 20
feet away. Score: 0 out of 5.

And
as I conclude this post, let me tell you that philosophy can be
written in a forthright manner. How about we post an example from
another author:

———————————

Tao’s take on Suicide

Literally,
what is “Tao”? In English, it means “Way”. Naturally, there
is a way to doing everything, therefore there’s a Tao to everything.
However, since Taoist teachings abide by the duality principle a.k.a.
Yin and Yang, this means they do not approve of suicide. How?

As
a summary, Taoists think that in living, there should be a compromise
of mind and body; and most importantly, both of them should find
contentment.

————————–

I’ve got
a confession to make.

I’ve
become such an audio whore; and this month is, by far, the one when I
received the most amount of new music CD’s, ever. That’s not even
accounting the number of newly acquired music I’ve transferred to my
month-old iPod (I now have thousands of tracks). No other times in my
life has ever come remotely close.

My
brother came back from Taiwan at the start of the month. Knowing that
I’m such a jazz aficionado, and being a fanatic of black
music himself, he bought me 3 albums as gifts. First, because I was
so frothing-in-the-mouth elated to Bill Evans’ Waltz For Debby,
my brother gave me a Sunday at Village Vanguard. Then he also
gave me Billie Holiday’s Lady Day – The Best of Billie Holiday.
Finally, he also included Duke Ellington’s Live at Newport to
the kerprizes.

Seriously,
I’d review them if there were any critiques to be given, but why
bother? They’re all perfect! Plus, I’m too busy ravaging my hard
drive with new AAC-converted songs! I’ll say one thing though: Duke
Ellington is beyond taking the "A" train. He’s too great to be
rated, as you can hear from his performance on this album. His
Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue nearly created a riot from a
crowd of Jazz aficionados, who are normally staid. He was also
nominated for Pulitzer Prize (but he turned it down). Need I say more?

After my
brother left for Taiwan, I was left to contend with the fact that
it’s very hard to find quality Jazz CD’s in the Philippines (unlike
in Taiwan). At least when it comes to the oldies, it’s near
impossible to find a real definitive album. In the local record
stores, in most cases, you’d only find plenty of half-baked Verve
compilations. The nerve of Verve! Still, I’m famished for aural
pleasure, so I settled for something much modern and went right ahead
to purchasing Chris Botti’s To Love Again. Although he hasn’t
reached the level of Miles Davis (even though their styles are
similar), he’s not half-bad. No, in fact, he’s good. I see a lot of
potential in him. To Chris: go tell the world that trumpet is not a
dead instrument!

Later
this month, a friend of mine took me to a place which I call an
underground record store, named Phoenix. Honestly, it’s a sad state
of affairs when I have to resort to going underground just to have
any ghost of a chance of finding Jazz greats (and it’s not like this
place has ALL of them either). Boo, hiss! But anyway, this store is
located somewhere in Kamuning, Quezon City. Frankly, it’s VERY far
from my place, but they do have some of the stuffs I was looking for.
That makes the trip worthy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do sales, but
only recordings. And worse yet, its services, although quite
inexpensive, takes days to complete. Bah! Still, I availed for a copy
of Frank Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me and Miles Davis’ Bitches
Brew. I’m about to get them this weekend when I finally have the
time to revisit. Who knows, I might even avail to record another
album.

That
same friend of mine recorded a copy of Corea-Hancock album. I had
been able to burn his copy of the double-CD set, but upon reaching
home, I was horrified to find that the burn process wasn’t done very
well. This Corea-Hancock album was transferred from a vinyl-record to
a CD. Now, taking the aforementioned Billie Holiday album as example,
I’d say I don’t mind the underlying simmer-y and popcorn-y sound of
record players. It actually makes the classic album sound antiquated
in an artsy way. But this burned CD’s quality is unforgivable! It
got chunks of pauses that ruined La Fiesta and Maiden Voyage, two of
Corea’s and Hancock’s (respectively) definitive standards. Too bad,
because the album was already converting me to a Corea listener. I
think I’ll just buy the album instead, but at least I’ve previewed
it.

The same
friend also lent me his Bong Penera’s Batucada sa Calesa album.
It’s a refreshing change of scenery, actually, because Bong Penera is
a Filipino Jazz artist. He was at his prime during the Marcos period
when artists like Chick Corea still held concerts in CCP auditoriums.
Why must good things come to an end? (I don’t mean Martial Law, by the way, but rather the time when Jazz was still hit among our airwaves) I like Bong Penera’s style. He’s
what I would describe as the mix of Chick Corea’s piano-playing plus Joao
Gilberto’s singing. Suffice to say, I liked this album enough that I
made a copy of it.

It has
been an arduous search, but I was able to obtain Joao Gilberto’s
Amoroso/Brasil. I’ve reviewed it in my previous entry, so I don’t
want to prolong discussions.

Lastly, while doing today’s after-work leisurely stroll, I found
Nina Simone’s High Priestess of Soul. Right now the jewel case, still
teal-looking, sits on my side. I’ve not yet started listening to the
album itself, but I’m a big fan of Nina Simone. I’ve yet to see
another artists whose passion equal, if not surpass, hers. Just one
read from the liner notes was enough to get me excited. Nina said,
"Share with me feelings of love and disappointment, walk with me
along the road of life that is filled with blues but celebrate also
with me those few and treasured moments that make life almost
bearable; but do not turn from me when the chips are down, for this
is life also."

"For
as an artist, I must give myself wholly and completely to the
expression of that which is within."

Yes!

[Are you
enjoying the picture gallery so far?]

I really
could go on for hours about my iPod’s new tracks; however, I don’t
listen to music while I write, and now I’m starting to feel sorry for
my ears. Lame alibis aside, it gladdens me to say that I’ve never
enjoyed music so much in my life before. Now, I can’t imagine a life
lived without music, that’s considering that two years ago I’ve said
the complete opposite.

As Sonny
Rollins said in his 9/11 benefit concert, "Music is one of the better
things in life". Can you blame me if I endeavor to pursue this
pleasure, especially when I just realized how ecstatic it could make me feel?

This is
the end of an audiophile’s log. Is there any wonder that it shares
the first two letter with the month that’s just about to end? Yes,
I’ve never had another August like this. Why? Because great music
came, making life almost bearable.

There’s Joao Gilberto, and there’s the rest of Bossa Nova. The difference: Joao
Gilberto = excellence; the rest = elevator music. Joking aside, Joao is the
forefront of that particular genre, before it suffered overexposure and chronic
decline. Who doesn’t love Joao, especially the way he uses guitar as both the
percussion and the harmony, and the way he sings with his baritone, whispering,
and vibrato-free voice? There are even books centered on how to play guitar
like Joao Gilberto. So besides his reclusive character, what’s not to like of
him? Nothing, of course! He’s the Brazil’s Brilliant!

Amoroso/Brasil combines
two of Bossa’s post overexposure-age Joao’s LPs. In Amoroso
he gives interpretation to Tom Jobim’s standards, such as Wave. He also sang Gershwin’s S’Wonderful, and while his English
sounds "choo" peculiar, it still is
splendid and heartwarming. In Brasil,
Joao teams with other artists (such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso), and
together they sing songs that centralizes on Brazil, while I state the painfully obvious facts. Duh! There’s also a
Brazilian interpretation of All of Me,
a jazz standard that works perfectly well. Joao
showcases his talent not only for guitar, but also for [scat] singing. It’s
Joao; it’s very good Joao. I like some of the tracks so much that, in fact, I
was crazy enough to print out the lyrics of some of his songs. Consider this: I
don’t even know how to speak Portuguese, and I can’t sing! Coração!

The album is extremely hard to find, so be very prepared to
get your feet wet. Or Amazon it, dammit! Also, those accustomed to his Getz/Gilberto endeavor may find that the songs here are
significantly longer, and some of them not as lively (although Tin Tin Por Tin Tin is very upbeat). But
while it may not be as revolutionary as Getz/Gilberto,
and may lack its variety, this album can hold its own, and comes VERY recommended.
It’s not only for Gilberto fans, but for anyone who wants to listen to great Bossa Nova music. That probably covers everyone. Clean your ear from all that buzz,
and throw away all those Bossa album with fashion magazine-esque jewel case. Get
this, and get Getz. In other words,
get both. Score: 4.5 out of 5

Favorite tracks: Tin
Tin Por Tin Tin, Wave, All of Me, S’Wonderful

P.S. This is just an assignment from one of my self-induced writing trainings. Please pardon the sub-par syntaxes.

“Tall and thin and young and lovely,

The girl from Ipanema goes walking,

And when she passes each one she passes goes ‘ahh’ "

You may have heard of this song, The Girl from Ipanema.
Where exactly, I don’t know. Any Bossa Nova aficionado would’ve heard the Astrud
Gilberto’s one. But if you’ve only just discovered this genre by listening
to Sitti Navarro’s Café Bossa album, then it’s her version you’ve heard.

Sitti attempts to popularize a genre from a country
where Rock and RnB are preferred. In the Philippines, there’s only 1 out of 100
people who claims to like jazz (where Bossa Nova is argued a subgenre). And there’s
probably only 1 (like me) out of 1,000,000 who actually listens to real Jazz
(something like Miles Davis or Duke Ellington). So, in a way, Sitti’s road was
paved with good intentions. The question comes: does her rendition of The
Girl from Ipanema live up to the greatness of the original from four
of Bossa Nova’s most influential figures?

You’ve read it right: four. Antonio Carlos Jobim, the
innovator of Bossa Nova, composed the original. Joao Gilberto and Stan
Getz collaborated to please listeners with their deft handling of guitar
and saxophone, respectively. Finally, for a greater part of the song, the
then-wedded couple Joao and Astrud sang in a natural and intimate tone. When the song left the recording studio, it received so
much kudos, that this style of music (Bossa Nova) become a craze that would
last for generations. It also introduced Astrud to the industry, while the
remaining three retains their position as the greatest musicians of that time.

When I first heard the original The Girl from Ipanema,
I wasn’t exactly struck with awe. However, I thought it was very catchy, the
type that would be hummed along all day. To me, the beauty is in its balance.
For a song with collaboration from the greats, there wasn’t somebody trying to
outdo another. Instead, we hear Joao who softly played a guitar and built a
standard Bossa tempo. He also briefly sang in Portuguese. Then, Astrud Gilberto
followed it. She not only literally translated Joao’s lyrics, but also
attributed more feminism to the song by giving it her own, naïve-sounding,
vocals. Afterwards, Stan Getz blew the sax, giving the song an even more
sensual, and relaxing, ambience. The tandem, while gimmicky, was excellent. In
the end, the song becomes a perfect manifestation of a mysterious, distant,
hard-to-get, and sophisticated lady of Ipanema.

It’s no understatement to say that Sitti’s bold move was the
proverbial "challenge to the gods". This popped out of my mind when I first saw
her album. But I had an open mind. After all, I want nothing more than to hear Jazz become appreciated amongst our countrymen. So I put on the headset and pressed play. It was
then that I was taken aback, not with awe, but with disgust. "What is this?" I
pejoratively remarked.

As it turns out, Sitti is no god. Nor a goddess, though
pubescent males may say she looks like one.

I was not pleased, at all, with her The Girl from
Ipanema. The problem was that her voice was so all over the place. No instruments mattered, and I strongly doubt it was authentic
and non-synthesized. With Sitti’s dubiously hasty tempo, the feel from the original
version was gone. I didn’t feel any intimacy, any sensuality, or that it was about a mysterious girl. I felt that it was about a girl
singing in the shower.

For a moment, though, I was going to look past that awful
rendition. Her Tattooed in My Mind wasn’t any significantly different to
D’Sounds’. It therefore made me question where the presence of the
"Bossa" was. She also had a Lost in Space which was equally
unmemorable. Then there are other covers like I didn’t Know I Was Looking For Love, and even a nausea-inducing Close to You. Bossa Blah-blah.

With what could be the inception of Bossa Nova in the
Philippine Music Industry, Sitti’s selections were disappointingly forgetful.
Most of what she did was cover some recent popular song. Though, goodness, she
also had a Wave, which was also composed by Jobim! No doubt she has talent. She, however, falls short in showing aptitude for Bossa Nova, by not
elucidating its nuances. She didn’t convert the popular songs to Bossa Nova in any meaningful way, and her rendition of Bossa standards are terribly lackluster. Her choices of background instruments wasn’t all that
good either.  And do we really need a cacophonous alto-saxophone in
some of her songs? It only puts her in the same reins as Kenny G, the height of
elevator music. The importance of good instrumentation cannot
ever be overemphasized - more so for Jazz or its close kin. Wait, did she actually ever hear of the award-winning Getz/Gilberto album?

While her release was quite successful, it only resulted to a finer delineation between the tastes of the rich and the
poor. Her music brings out an air of pseudo-sophistication, the type that the
supercilious elite-poseurs would be at home with. In the end, it’s all style.
All buzz. All gimmick, no substance. This is the kind of music that
gets played in the Powerbooks, Podium, and Rockwell, but ultimately becomes
forgotten once you’re done pretending to be rich. On a much grander scale, it
doesn’t give a vivid imagery of Brazil, or a beach, or anything resembling a
place where Bossa originated.

Too bad, because I was almost elated to see that Pinoys would finally
appreciate Jazz music. If this is the kind that would end up being
contemporary, count me out. In the meantime, I have some suggestions to
Sitti: please try to understand the true essence of Jazz (if she do desires, I’ll even send her some albums). And consider getting a few lessons from the Gilbertos. After all, they’re still alive.

Score: 2 out of 5

It’s been a while since I actually took pains to update my blog. All of the recent entries are just ramblings, nothing worth discussing at all.

Admittedly, I haven’t had a very enjoyable time since brother left. Three weeks ago, he came back to the Philippines to pay me a visit. Since he left, life has been pretty boring, and it has kind of slowed down to a halt. I haven’t done many productive things beside working in the office, and I haven’t been studying anything at all. It’s bad. I feel so lazy. But I think it’s about time for me to start with my endeavors again. Why, because I don’t want to be like this guy, whom I will refer to as Crom (pseudonym)

Almost every Saturday, Crom, a post-midlifer, would come to our house to visit my dad. Then he would join our entire family in going to a place where we attend life-changing seminars. Going out of topic a little bit, I have to tell all readers that I have attended so many life-changing seminars in this lifetime, yet I never, ever try to blog preachy stuffs about life. In fact, I don’t read them on other blogs either. I want people to discover life on their own, and would only be generous enough to share experiences, probably being a guide. Like anybody, I hold no authority of telling people what to do exactly, so I don’t want bloggers to tell me how life is so short (ugh! The platitude of it!). The question is: so what?

Crom is the quintessential lifeless, boring and morose adult. Every time he opens his mouth it’s always about the same thing; and they’re not even some interesting topics to begin with, least of all a happy one. All he ever talks about are the processes of Bureau of Immigration, and sometimes he’ll digress to Philippine Government corruption disqusitions before going back to talking about I-Card. I swear, he shows no other knowledge.

You know, I’ve alluded to the same criticisms about other adults before, right? Quite frankly, in comparison talking to them is like attending a fiesta! I just don’t get it - Crom worked in Taiwan for half a decade. It’s been two years since he came back, facing lay-offs due to not having valid permits. After 2 years, isn’t it about time to move on instead of being pensive about such ordeals? What does a jobless guy like him do at home anyway? Spend all the time watching news, and/or just flat-out staring at the clouds not doing anything productive?

In fact, I’ve heard enough of his whining about the Philippine Immigration Policies that I could puke anything he makes another discussion of it. In the duration of our travel to the venue of the life-changing seminar, my father and Crom would converse. It’s always about the same thing, because mind you my dad is trying his best to be accomodating. I, however, am quite not as dexterous and sympathetic; I don’t respect anyone who watches News 24/7 to feed on depression. I put on my earphones, then turn my mp3 player to max volume. Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue may be bad for the ear when played in full blast; that’s at least infinitely preferable to the alternative, being that it’s bad for the heart.

Adults.

"Le Sigh. C’est La Vie!"

Lately, these words, or their translation, keep repeating on
my head. Mind you I don’t speak French. These phrases, however, have reached
the apex of commonality such that I already know what they mean, despite being
foreign and relatively obscure in origin.

I don’t even know where to start. See, I just gave a
schoolmarm lecture on a few word from a language I don’t have any prior
backgrounds to. Starting there, it’s evident that my thoughts just don’t
organize themselves very well these days. Everything’s just messy! To give you
an overview, I’ve not been in the best mental condition lately. It seems as
though my creative juices have dried, and nothing, just nothing, ever seems to
become a good idea for my blog. Why?

Partly because I’m under the worst circumstances I’ve been
since March. At any point I won’t be disclosing detail by detail what the hell
is happening, but all I can say is that in the past week I’ve encountered
smorgasbord of snafus. I wish I could say more, but being elusive is the most graceful
choice of action in this case.

Damn, I really don’t like being elusive in a blog. I feel as
though if I don’t feel like disclosing itsy-bitsy of details of my accounts,
then I don’t write about it at all. At least, that’s what I normally think.
That’s also why I tend to stay away from elusive blogs.

See, because I’m doing things I normally detest, I am further convinced that I’m on a
slump with my creative instincts. What do they call this, "writer’s block"? I
sure hope so. And I sure hope it’s fleeting.

What you’re reading now is the most unpremeditated entry I’ve
written. Everything’s just twaddle. Nothing makes sense. I don’t like it. At any rate, I hope
things get better next week. Life just doesn’t seem to be in very friendly
terms with me lately. Let’s hope by next week we’ll find rapprochement.

Message:
1.whose picture is it that you keep in ur
wallet? -
– i’m too lazy to look.

2.wat time do you go to bed?
– sometimes early like 10 PM, sometimes really late like 3 PM

3.wat was the last thing you did before
filling this survey?
– worked. My work hour’s finished. I’m just waiting for something.

4.who’s the one you always meet the
most?
– Most of the time it’s Randolph, as he’s the friend who lives nearest to me, and also one of the greatest friends I ever have.

5.who’s the person you’re gonna call if
you need help?.
– I don’t usually seek help from people. I try to figure things on my own. But at desperate times, I can’t be choosy either. So there isn’t anyone in particular.

6.what’s on your mind just now?
– That girl… I answered that just so someone will raise an eyebrow. :p

7.kissed a complete stranger?
– Why should I?

8.with whom do you wanna be to have fun?
– Definitely not with my enemies. :p

9.what’s the latest movie you saw?
– pirates of carribean 2 <– ditto. I’d called it: "Dead Meh’s Chest"

10.when was the last time you went out?
– Last Sunday. Then I’ve just been lazing around.

11.what do you hate the most for now?
– It’s private. I’d tell you if you ask. But I’m not going to say it loud in a bulletin board.

12.when was the FIRST time you slept
alone?
– Whoa! Do you really want to go all the way back?!

13.what things you want to do now?
– Finish reading Watchmen.

14.what do you do everyday besides eat
and sleep?
– None in particular. Anything I’d do everyday would’ve been something really boring.

16. colors that make you happy
– heh. funny question. It’s as if I see a color and go "wee!"

17.most fave thing in your room?
– pc

18.what was the last thing you bought for
ur room?
– i’m not the one who adorns my room, honestly

19.instruments that make you crazy?
– piano is a given, since I play it (but i’m not that great). Then there’s saxophone. Bass guitar too, but only in the hands of a very skilled bassist. Then of course guitar strums and riffs from the likes of Grant Green, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell.

20.any instruments in your room
– there’s a piano in my sister’s room. It still plays, but it seriously needs to be tuned.

21.instruments that u play?
– the triangle? just kidding. I can play the piano. And also the bamboo flute, but simply because bamboo flute is very easy to play.

22.miss someone?
– Miss everyone!

23.are you a coffee addict?
– No. I am nuts for the great tasting ones, but overall I can live without it.

24.are you satisfied with your life now?
– Not very.

25.would you share a glass of water with a
friend?
–Why wouldn’t I?

26.when was the last time you ate seafoods?
– never

27.ever had a food fight?
– that sounds so immature. ech!

28.what do you usually eat for breakfast?
– bread

29.Lost a friendship over something
– it happened before.

30.Been really depressed before?
– yeah.

31.what’s your favorite fast food chain?
– bodhi

32.cried in front of your classmates?
– last time was in my high school days. then I’ve not shed a tear in front of anyone (outside my own family) since then.

33.Can you remember what you did on
the first day of your school in college?
– yes i remember. now what was it again?

34.who’s on ur mind?
– myself? now don’t call "narcissism", only whacked up people don’t think of themselves.

35.did u ever cheat during exam?
– yup

36.Is kissing normal for our age?
– since when has it not been normal?

37.are you childish?
– childlike yes. i try not to be childish though.

38.first boyband that made you go gago?
– none.

39.how’s your heart lately?
– nothing much happening there.

40.worst gift you had ever received?
– would you believe i actually received a dollhouse before? and a really ugly one?

41.Reminds you of ur 1st love?…….
– Ipanema.

Of course i’m just kidding.

42.ever had a crush on a teacher?
– nope.

43.things u need everyday?
–just a mental awareness.

44.favorite person na kulitin?
– no one in particular. meaning = everyone. haha!

45.two persons that comes to ur mind now?
– NOBODY! PLEASE STOP ASKING SOME PEOPLE QUESTION! YOU’RE TOTALLY FREAKING ME OUT!

46.3 college friends u want, to see ryt
now?
– DID YOU READ NUMBER 45? well in fairness there are tons of college friends I want to see.

47.highschool friends u like to see?
– PUH-LEAZE!

48. Have you ever fallen asleep in class?
– I’m ashamed to admit it happened too many times in my Data Communication class.

49. Have you ever fallen asleep after a drink?
– Nope.

50. Song that reminds you of your barkada?
– You know, now that I think of it, I’ve never been much of a barkada person.

I’ve been neglecting my blog for a while. The reason for this is that last week, I was busy accomodating my brother, who was on a vacation here from Taiwan.

Today, he went back to Taiwan. And then I recall some entries in my older, dead blog account, where I narrated how dreaded I feel whenever my siblings go back to where they work, i.e. away from Philippines, away from our apartment’s doorsteps.

Back then, however, it was easy to move on. I did have thesis, OJT, and job interview that serve as a challenge that, however onerous, were enough to propel moving on and not missing my siblings too much. Admittedly, this time my brother’s vacation was short-lived, and not at all that memorable, but after he left I’m now alone in the room we used to share, craving for someone to converse with. Craving for a person who can comprehend my geekiness, my corniness and my fastidiousness.

Worse still, every tomorrow would all appear the same. I would be tackling projects that isn’t so much challenging as it is tedious. And someone in the office is annoying the hell out of me. There’s nothing much to look forward to - at least not anything in the near future, which makes it all the more depressing.

So, I hope it’s not so rude to ask, but does anybody want to go out with me?