Tag: journal

Book Tag #2: Of Friday plans and reader confessions

Jolens2 Comments

I have no plans tonight. R invited me to “his thing” but I already made up my mind: I hate social interactions on Friday nights. Sorry, R. Happy birthday.

Weather Network predicts a high of 13’ today (Celsius, not Freedom). I will be visiting another open yard site for work; I hope I don’t freeze. The last few days have been unusually warm for October, but I don’t want to jinx it. Oh god let’s not jinx it.

Maybe I should go to the gym tonight. Yes, that could be the plan. Go to the gym after work, go home, and eat cake. There should still be some beer in the fridge. Perfect.

I did another book tag I found on The Reading Hobbit. Fun, fun.

Have you ever damaged a book?

Yes, totally. And I don’t really care so long as the pages remain intact and the words remain legible. I’ve long abandoned this banal sentimentality towards physical books; nobody is any less of a reader just because their books look “used.”

Have you ever damaged a borrowed book?

Essie lent me (or gave me, haha) her copy of Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao about 10 years ago. I’ve read it so many times and now the back cover is almost torn off. Sorry, Essie, for never giving it back.

How long does it take you to read a book?

It depends on how busy I am and how “heavy” the book is, literally and figuratively.

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Sunday Currently #1

Jolens9 Comments

Today’s a Monday, I know, but this is my blog, so let’s follow my rules. (And I’m sure the creator of this tag wouldn’t mind? Or at least I hope they don’t).

Anyhoo, I am currently

reading America Is Not The Heart by Elaine Castillo, and it’s hitting way too close to home;

writing this post and a thinkpiece (charot) on OPM and migration. The second one doesn’t seem to be taking shape though — I just don’t have the discipline to do research, prfft;

listening to Eraserheads’ “Sino Sa Atin” off the under-appreciated “diket-diket” album Natin99;

thinking that I really do like Natin99. Legit, beh. Enjoying this album comes with age, I think; I just never cared for it when I was younger. But now? Dude. “Kahit Ano” is the barkada anthem. “Tama Ka,” “Maselang Bahaghari,” “Pop Machine,” “May Sumasayaw” — damn solid bangers, I’m telling ya;

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Of speeding tickets and music habits

Jolens6 Comments

It’s been a long day.

I left the house a few minutes before 7:30. My goal was to be at the new work site by 8 am, and according to Google I still had enough wiggle room to get there right on schedule. I was cruising through 118 taking my sweet-ass time when I sensed a bright, white flash — a speeding ticket!

I couldn’t understand why I got flashed. I was only going a little above 60 — definitely under 65 — so, what did I do wrong? Maybe this was a 50 road, I told myself, but I wasn’t even a block away when I saw another flash. Wait — was I ticketed twice? Was there another hidden camera? Why would they set up two speeding flags so close to each other anyway?

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Ngayong Gabi

Jolens19 Comments

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Magpapaskil ako ng mga litrato bilang pananda sa nagdaang linggo. Maraming mga munting pighati ngunit marami ring munting tagumpay. Natutunan kong kaya ko namang kaligtaan (kahit panandalian) ang pag-inda sa mga problemang wala sa kamay ko ang solusyon. Naging mas maunawain din ako sa ibang tao, at lalo na sarili ko. Matagal ko nang ikinukumpisal ang mga pagkukulang at pagkakamali — panahon na upang patawarin ang sarili. Kaya ngayong gabi, hihinga ako. Magpapahinga ako. Kaya ko ‘to. #

Sinulat ko ‘to kagabi, Biernes. Pero Sabado na. Tapos na ang pahinga. Balik na ulit sa pag-aaral ugh ‘tang ina.

Conversations

Jolens8 Comments

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I was reading G’s novel the other day and there was a ‘very minor’ (Sasot, 2017) detail that left me oddly unsettled: at one point in the story, the call center agent bida had not engaged in “any real conversation in a month.”

The line triggered a barrage of questions in my head, and they all stemmed from this: what exactly makes a conversation real?

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Song Challenge

Jolens26 Comments

1. The last song you listened to: 3 A.m. — Gregory Alan Isakov
2. Last song you purchased: Smokers In Love — The Lucksmiths
3. Song you discovered on YouTube/tumblr: Take Me Somewhere Nice — Mogwai
4. Favourite Soundtrack piece: Adagio in D Minor — John Murphy (“Kaneda’s Death”)
5. Favourite Band: Eraserheads
6. Favourite Solo Artist: Joni Mitchell
7. Favourite Album: Blue by Joni Mitchell
8. Best Live Gig OR Act you want to see live: I would love to see UDD again.
9. Guilty Pleasure Song: No Touch — Juan de la Cruz Band
10. Song you used to hate but you now like: Lush Life — Zara Larsson
11. Song you used to love but now can’t stand: Kissin U — Miranda Cosgrove
12. Group you wish had never split: Narda
13. Favourite song from a video game: —
14. Favourite song from a film: Two of Us — Aimee Mann and Michael Penn (Beatles Cover)
15. Favourite song from an advert: —
16. Song you grew up with: Pretty Little Baby — Sexbomb Girls
17. First song/album you ever bought: Color It Red’s The Best of Color It Red
18. Album you found accidentally and love: Hoodie Allen’s All American
19. Favourite foreign language song: Rindu — Everybody Loves Irene
20. A song from the year you were born: —
21. Song from your favourite music genre: In Undertow — Alvvays
22. Most Over-rated song: —
23. Song you would recommend to everyone: Sili Song — Fatal Posporos
24. Song that reminds you of a specific event: Bathala — Talahib
25. Song you can’t help but sing along to: Kahimanawari — Pan
26. Favourite parody song: —
27. Favourite slow song: Indak — Up Dharma Down
28. Favourite fast song: BYOB — System of a Down
29. Favourite song at the moment: Rescue Song (RAC Remix) — Mr. Little Jeans
30. All time favourite song: A Case of You — Joni Mitchell

I’ve done this before, here, and the list was lifted from Angel’s blog.

A few things of note:

  1. Some things change, some don’t. “Favourite” is such a capricious concept ‘no, which is weird because the word implies certainty? Hm, maybe I’m just indecisive.
  2. I still don’t know a lot of new OPM.
  3. The Sexbomb Girls are a big part of my childhood. I remember an interview in Startalk — home to the hottest meta-okrayan segment “T the Tigbak Authority” — in which Rochelle or Jopay or one of them said something like, “Mas gusto ko ang ‘Sexbomb Girls‘ kaysa ‘Sexbomb Dancers’ kasi hindi lang naman kami dancers — mga babae kami.” Strong, ‘teh.
  4. I’ve been listening to a lot of Pan and Fatal Posporos recently. I used to wish I was born a decade earlier so I could be a 90’s teen instead of a 90’s kid. Pinoy rock had its moments in the 2000s though, so it’s all good.
  5. I still love “A Case of You” big time. Damn all the lines, man, and especially these: I could drink a case of you, darling, and I would still be on my feet. Sheght. ❤

On friendships and wavelengths

Jolens14 Comments

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I just read the phrase “same wavelength” on Facebook — on a post about Atom Araullo’s supposed ideal girl — and a gust of nostalgia threw me off my otherwise mindless scrolling.

I last uttered those words back in high school, back when I wasn’t as discreet about my hipsterly arrogance. I’m still pretentious, keri, but I was a million times snootier as a b00bless teenager (still got no boobies, but let’s not talk teats tonight).

Everyone in my high school had a high-and-mighty attitude. Only in college would I realize that we knew jackshit, that we were actually the “the cream of the cream of the crap.” Suddenly I was surrounded by kids who were way better writers than I could ever be. And eventually I learned how to temper my distaste for people whose minds were out of phase with mine.

But humility and inclusivity considered, don’t we all naturally gravitate towards peeps whose tastes, principles, and moral codes generally overlap with ours?

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