post-modernist christmas carol

Just a shocking image for the Yuletide Season.

I wonder what would happen to you if these two people show up and present such beautiful award-winning acts in front of you.

I tell you, this is not your conventional Christmas Carol. At the least, the good thing here is, you will be able to get free -for the mean time- from those carolers' annoying voices (or screeches?). Just be sure these beings won't attack you after their performance.

Good luck.

_____________________________________________________

the birthday and the holiday

Surely, the easiest way to go ballistic for the night is to steer away from the norm; get out of the ordinary box and do stuff that no one seems to care.

And that we did that last night.

We ignited firecrackers that nearly went whirring to our neighbors’ houses, did the family tradition of “take-a-picture-of-me-doing-this”, exchanged gifts when all of the giftees were nowhere in sight having their own Christmas world out there, and drank and ate and chatted and vice versa until morning came (of which I excluded myself), to meet the 25th day of December when both hour and minute hand of the clock pointed to twelve.

Of course, it is Christmas! And not just any Christmas, it is also at the same time my mother’s day of birth! Christmas? Birthday? Mixed that and the family gathers around then the next thing you will know, the powerhouse of our home is at its peak, reaching to the highest notch.

I need to treasure this moment because one thing is, this is only the time when everyone, my mother and father(2), all seven of us brothers and sisters(7) plus their supporting partners(4), and finally with their children which are my nephews and nieces(11) would supposedly gather!

And this goes to the total whopping number of—drum roll please— twenty-three! And inside one house good for ten human beings and four stray cats?

But we never have celebrated the event completely; there are always some absences. Yet, the spirit of giving, contentment, and (this may not sound like me) love, are at all times present.

One word: thanks.

Happy Christmas everyone and Merry Birthday Mama.

sorry, not complete

click here for more pictures.
_______________________________________________________

eating christmas

The gift is wrapped in course paper,
in the color of overheated cinders.
Entwined with a red ribbon,
I opened it and I saw you.
Forcedly closing the lid down,
you escaped with so much ease.

There was nothing I can do,
so I let you.

You went to our dining room
and gluttony encounters our fruitcake and roast turkey.
You ate the crystals, spoons, and forks.

You grinned at every guest
and shredded the letters they brought.
You ate the envelopes.

You played with the children
and tricked them in every game.
You ate all the prizes.

You outran us outside when midnight came
and burned the variety of firecrackers we had.
You ate the falling ashes.

You hunched under the table
and ripped our presents open.
You ate the wrappers.

You shook our well-decorated tree
and broke all the lights.
You ate the glass balls.

You finally approached our house’s highlight
and threw the littlest figure away.
You ate the rest of the nativity scene.

Since there was nothing I can do,
I swallowed our mistletoe
then took a poinsettia for your casket.
_________________________________________________________

imposing a dark image

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

* * *

Bullfrogs! I turned out to be The Sun.

Anyways, I think this is much better than the one it presented to me yesterday. Imagine, it sorted me as The Devil! It is a good thing our internet connection got frizzy and I have to acquire again this time, of which it now described me as the Sun—no longer the being with large curving horns and a hideous toothy smile.

Hey, I am not a constituent of the dark legion.

Bwahahaha... Oops, sorry.

____________________________________________

if elmer could find them

Stretching outside the house this morning, a silly thought came into my mind. I took this picture in an instant after I saw the prominent subject busily clucking somewhere.

Just for the fun of it, I wonder if these two were Elmer’s long lost “should be” relatives. He better look for this bunch as soon as possible, Christmas is coming and lechon or anything that is roasted is everyone’s family treat here in our province.

Save them Elmer. Save them.
(Nah, I doubt it).

__________________________________________

going white before christmas

Definitely the common theme for this season is to go white. Through the years, this clean and perpetual motif changed; now there’s red, green, blue, and I even witnessed a violet version. Yet, when I got back here in my hometown my eyes witnessed a blast of holy whiteness all over the house! It seems that we go back to the basics (we had blue last Christmas). The curtains, the table covers, the artificial flowers, and many more went all pallid.

Honestly, the color white is indeed elegant. Just like our aged ancestral piano’s flat keys.

And to add to our list, two new items unexpectedly came into our midst. Yeah, they came. Believe me.

First came this minute creature -and of course white- about half the size of my thumb. Well, considering that this thumb of mine is not normal as what it should be, as other people had stated.

A little rodent appeared before my eyes; thanks to my nephew who brought it close to my face showing it off while I was intently watching a video. Actually, it was all of my nephew’s juvenile acts bringing along with him this creature from school. (I wonder where he got it).

Nope. I did not shriek. I just loved watching it. The thing comfortably slept in my wrinkled shirt when I placed it near my belly. Now that’s what you call confidence.

It played around the living room (got a hard time shooing away our keen trusty cats, remember Cloudy?), had its first pictorials, fed it up with food, and left it in his new home made more comfortable after my brother decided of placing it inside a wide-rimmed flower vase.

Here it is:





Another pearly whitey is (drumroll please, after two dull years of longing for it) our high school yearbook. Don’t get squirmy here but yes, this is the week that I had finally laid my hands on the book.

I conceptualized it from the front cover to its back, I did the lay-outs, and all the necessary things to make it visually arresting, and this is the product:




Now you can truly say that we are not supposed to judge a book by its cover. And I have my affirmation to that.

I wrote the “About the Cover” for this Erudite yearbook:

Erudite.

One who is marked by deep extensive learning.
One who still stands after enduring all the necessities and tests.

Like the flame, it brightens the dark corners of a room,
giving light to those who needed it and surpassing
the depressing blankness—though the flame stands alone.

With this flame that symbolically keeps burning in the spirit of a [GCS] student,
one manages to find the right way along its brilliant guidance,
trekking with uncertain danger and confronting all fears till the end,
to be distinguished as a deserving Erudite.

With this passion that we shall call the Blue Flame.

B L F R G

I personally love it even though the writing is high schoolish (pardon and allow me to use such word) and dumb, set aside that it is white, until I took a peek of its insides. It’s a failure.

Mistakes are all over!

Pictures mismatched, nicknames exchanged, pictures so scarce, and my valuable class prophecy lost its last paragraph! What in the h…What the f...

I don’t know what to say. It has been published and I have nothing to do—unless I go chasing those people who got the book and grab it then burn it at the same time project a loud hollow deep laughter (bwahaha!).

And for approximately two years in the making, the outcome is just a mediocre. Let us call this a lampoon issue.

It just turned out that white is not at all elegant for me this month.

_______________________________________________________

on page twenty-one

Page 1:
a blank
paper.
unwritten
and nothing
special
only
that the
deliverance
is something
surreal
to those
who were
involved
beforehand
in the
publication.


Page unknown:
chapters are
innumerable.
in such
short succession,
inkblots,
tears,
and creases
in every
other leaf
fill
the once
void space.
crisp,
luster,
and characters
may parch.


Page 21:
the plot
congeals.
both dysfunctional
and rational
blurbs
materialize
where a
commemorative
event goes
for the
open reading;
the conflict
shall intensify
or calm.
critical acclaims
await.
_______________________________________________________

what's next with sandals, shirts and etc?

Currently dazed after shockingly given what I wanted (well, just those simple earthly things) way before December has been sticking up in people’s minds, now my mindset is slowly shifting to another higher gear. And that is to achieve the goal of claiming these childish delights I am looting for—in my dreams.


1. Books, books, and more books of literature; both Filipino and foreign
2. The latest MacBook of Apple
3. Nintendo Wii (Xbox 360 and PlayStation Three are overly hyped)
4. Lincoln Navigator 2007 (spacious vehicles are the ones I loved the most)
5. Guess Apparel (hey... 30" waist, size S for shirts)
6. Levi's denim messenger bag (looks really great, especially the red one)
7. Lacoste pair of shoes [salivating]
8. United Colors of Benetton Cold perfume (the site indirectly says its unisex, my brother says it's great)
9. One large painting each from Mauro Malang and Ang Kiukok

10. At least a cum laude degree on the course I am taking (forever enclosed in Dream Treasure Trove)

Okay, go ahead. Give me the punch. Hey, that list may have made me look and feel like I am an arrogant, hypocrite bullfrog but as what I have mentioned earlier, this list is a Dream List.

Hello, dream?

And don’t be surprised the next time you see this list, another item is added. You know, things change constantly. So as my taste.

______________________________________________________

a holiday breather from the weekly warfare

In mornings, afternoons, evenings, and even dawns (though seldom nowadays), we know that we have been collectively gathered in an obscure close and mutual bond that I never had expected to experience. And that I am thankful to be in part with, this Weekly Sillimanian staff of school year 2006-2007.

And now that the month of stressful November had finally flipped its page and give way for December on our calendar, let me have a time reviewing certain people and their inimitable character that they brought along in the office.

To avoid any biases, I am going to present everyone in any order. Because if I do it in an Authority Order, meaning who’s the most powerful of the group goes on top of the line, probably I can be found in a trash someday. And I think I’m going to regret that in my whole life, hah!

Oh, the glorious ED BOARD. Obviously, first of the line is Michelle Eve de Guzman. Give her the unnecessary kick when it comes to serious businesses and you’ll receive the necessary punch right at your face.

If that happens, Kimberly Daphne Gari is always there to catch any falling debris. Well, being the trusted back-up, it is not unexpected.

Anthony Gerard Odtohan is the most unique animal of the highest intelligence. Just take a visit in our office if you want some cooling down, for you know, in these days it is really hot outside.

Need a tune up? Micah Stefan Dagaerag is available, a faithful, reverent servant—to the board. Just be careful with his corny jokes, they are all on its literal level: corn.

To complete the inevitable Ed Board, here’s Claudine Lim. Being the Witch (or should I change “W” with “B”?) of Finance who is irate on the smallest trash she could spot on the floor, this girl is smooth on the outside and nutty in the inside.

Yeah, this is the part where I am really excited: THE UNION. Nope, this is not grouped to form an alliance against the Ed Board, we just eventually congregate together after finding out that we have a lot of common perceptions.

Janseven Rodolfo Quijote shakes every corner of the office when the place goes placid.

And there’s Donna Ametyst Bernardo to shut him up. These first two people should have represented the monarchs of the gang but they usually ended up overshadowed by a creature of some sort:

Marianne Catherine Tapales and her whatamouth! No need for lengthy talks here.

Trailing behind the mouth-in-human-outward-appearance is Rodrigo Bolivar ll, passionate in Pinoy literature, more passionate in ice-cold beer.

Joining the drinking bandwagon is the one and only John Boaz Lee. Wait, you should meet Alice by the way.

Also, who would forget the eternally updated Paul Vincent Gatdula? He may be just the person who took a big awful bite on Marianne, but he is truly wonderful!

Going gong gongs? Maybe you have just caught a flu that Joseph Vicente Bañares is responsible for. A friendly warning, he’s sick in mind and body(?) eight days a week. Yup, eight!

Add this guy and we will know what time of the day Kris Aquino is going to let trim her nails or comb her hair. Niño Jose Gonzales is a walking compendium about that lady.

Recently graduated are Jeruel Ian Mondarte and Claro Cagulada. The first person did the overall artistry of the paper and the other did the crisp-and-cool shots for the weekly job. Unfortunately, they go poof!

Well, there are some people of lesser evil and these are THE SUB-UNIONS. Particularly difficult to identify with on which side they are on, if either they’re on the mutants or the mortals, these bunch is still crazy in their own right.

Leading the pack, the ever lost boy wonder of the century and replacing the past title holder Dirgy, is John Steve Lancin. Still the same bitaw.

Outnumbering her lessons memorized with her ballpens that she always carry around, Marie Rochelle Bacay’s only grievance is that she always fall for the Animal Beat.

Freshest of us all are Pearl Angelie Rada, Sesinando Quilao Jr., Marvin Luther Tan, and Aiken Emmanuel Quipot. Though the last guy is geared for treading on the Union Affiliations, the latter have blurred future on encompassing the wills and virtues of The Union. Juowk!

And finally, the person who manages to cower us all is our patient adviser, Prof. Gina Fontejon-Bonior.

Just for kind consideration, there are a few beings who wander in our midst.

The OCs or the OUTSPOKEN COLUMNISTS:
Robert Jed Malayang, Zara Marie Dy, Claudio Ramos II, Joyce Zerda, Springzeal Pherps Bacarro, Christy Ann Marie Cong, and Jan Alistair Villegas.

The LOST ONES:
Razcel Salvarita, Anna Espino, Galee San Pedro, Lyde Villanueva, Claire, Candace, Das, Ray Donn, Verna, Ren Ren, Nonito, Denver, Noel, Easter and a lot more. Wait, let us not disregard Manong & Manang Newspaper.

Phew, that’s a myriad! Imagine, those people going in and coming out, the place for sure is one madhouse to be called home. But I am glad to tell you, the staff would go bland and berserk without these guys who add the needed spice.

Happy Bullfrogish Christmas everyone!

calling all christmas couch potatoes!

As Christmas day draws nearer and nearer, relieve yourself from a low-spirited Christmas delirium. Here is a list of movies that would take you to, at the very least, Christmas nostalgia land.Top 1. A Christmas Carol (1951)Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst
Being first in the list, I tell you, this movie is really worth watching. Starring Alastair Sim as the greedy Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens’ famous ghosts of Christmas past, present and future will leave you bawling in tears as well as giggling with laughter. So get your own “greedy” friend and watch him or her experience a heartwarming and thought-provoking epiphany.

Top 2. Home Alone: Lost in New York (1992)
Directed by Chris Columbus
Who could forget the mischievous Kevin, the traps and tactics extraordinaire! Nostalgia kicks in as we recall how we all went berserk laughing outrageously when we first watched this movie. And this second installment of the Home Alone trilogy just feels more Christmasy than the others. Get the old barkada together! Start reminiscing and retracing those oh-so precious memories.

Top 3. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Directed by Tim Burton
Master of film surrealism, director Tim Burton offers his totally out-of-this-world rendition of “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Its playful inventiveness gives this movie an edge over other versions that tend to get clichéd after a while. You get to end wanting to hug all those adorably ghoulish creatures! Watch this with your 7-8 year old nephews and nieces to expose them to the real horrors of what may come ahead in their life.

Top 4. Love Actually (2003)
Directed by Richard Curtis
Not the usual lovey-dovey flick, this might just be the most charming, honest, daring, and irresistible romantic comedy to be set in December. Featuring an all-star cast involving Hugh Grant, Allan Rickman, and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), this movie is best for filling our Christmas season with stoked hearts and smiles. Yeah, you know who to watch it with.

Top 5. 9 Mornings (2002)
Directed by Jose Javier Reyes
The movie that starred Donita Rose and Piolo Pascual as a refreshing tandem, this film effectively uses as a plot the very Pinoy tradition that is Simbang Gabi. Moreover, it is not that seldom we find movies that tackle faith and religion, and truly it’s not the typical love story. And in 9 Mornings, it was able to deliver the right message but not on the extent of executing it like a sermon! To those purely Pinoy at heart, you can go have a crack on this.Top 6. A Christmas Story (1983)Directed by Bob Clark
The strongest point of this narrative movie is its effortless simplicity. Ralphie (played by Peter Billingsley) has always been yearning for a Christmas dinner, dreaming in front of the toy store windows. With these scenes, the film extraordinarily portrays the simplest joys of the human heart, and innocence in the season of merrymaking. Definitely a wellspring of love and joy for the family.

Top 7. Jack Frost (1998)
Directed by: Troy Miller
A boy and his reincarnated father as a snowman—it seems like the jumbled result of American and Indian folklore. Starring Michael Keaton, the movie Jack Frost in digital imagery, effectively renders the way to intimacy between father/snowman and son. This is one for our beloved fathers out there. You just might be itching to tell him things you can only say through this movie.

Top 8. Christmas With the Kranks (2004)
Directed by: Joe Roth
When the Kranks learned their daughter won’t be home for Christmas, they decided to forego their street’s Traditional Raising of Snowman in the Rooftop. A series of hilarious complications ensues when Luther and Nora Krank receive a call that Christmas will be at home after all. Now, they only have a few hours to put back the pieces of Christmas spirit they have left to give to the town. This is a fun learning experience for the madcap and silly at heart.

Top 9. Elf (2003)
Directed by: Jon Favreau
An alienated oversized elf trying to find his biological father in Manhattan, Buddy (Will Ferrell) also discovers what Christmas is like out of the North Pole where he had grown up. This comedy could make you realize just how lucky you are to be with a real family, with people that support you and guide you.

Top 10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Directed by Chuck JonesHere’s a Christmas-hater played brilliantly by funny-man Jim Carrey. The Grinch gets extremely annoyed when he senses, hears, and sees anything remotely related to Christmas in Whoville. After “stealing” Christmas, he eventually realizes that the season goes much deeper than toys and carols. Its dreamy and candy-colored visuals with underlying themes are great for the kids and adults alike.

A precaution: Just watch your wallet. You may just be surprised when it is already empty after numerous trips to the video shop. And I am not telling you to settle for the pirates, uh uh, that's bad!

great find

Unable to procrastinate more in our cold closed office yesterday, Dirg, Marianne, and I went on spending spree again. Our itch to reach for our wallets was just unbearable--especially if we were facing a whole stash of books that were ultimately slashed down to their lowest prices!

And here's one book that really got my attention that made me grab it before Dirg plans to add it up on his pile.

Really, I am a PEANUTS addict. I enjoyed reading it in 20 minutes. And wait, the one I got is a 50th Anniversary Edition while this one is the 40th (unfortunately, Google only has a crappy image of the 50th edition).

___________________________________________

on the court, the track, the beach?!

On the court, the track, the field/
Silliman our alma mater, Silliman beside the sea…

Loud and shrilly cheers have resounded. Colorful banners have proudly kissed the air. But now, we’re just keeping our sporty get-ups somewhere to later remember both the glorious and the not-so-glorious memories of (what else?) the intramurals.

Coined from the words intra “within” and murals “wall,” the downright acceptable meaning of intramurals is “within the walls.” The early days of intramurals started in the Armed Forces of the United States in the 1800s only as part of their training. They held this to further enhance the camaraderie between units. From there, the concept spread all over the world with its intent of promoting sportsmanship, friendship, and fair competition. And not only that, it brings good physical development for everyone who participated.

And here in this university, the intramurals in Silliman had indeed gone a long way to be what it is right now. Swimming was just even held in the boulevard in the 1960s!

In a tWS December 1, 2005 issue, former PE Athletic Director Ernesto Ravello commented on how the boulevard waterfront was not as dirty as it is today, so they set up platforms and a few swimming lanes.

What a long way we have gone, indeed. Energies were sky-high last week. But now we face further tests of our ingenuity and strength: the return of the assignments, projects, reports, and everything else in between.

We hold the intramurals every year because we had to live up to tradition, and at the very least, give our muscles the long-overdue exercise.

But then there are those that were not actually satisfied with what happened the past week—those that had only slightly felt the spirit of overly steered stamina, and those who, apparently, had no care at all.

Meet the new stratum of this season, the Anti-Intramuralists. From the plain passive types to the total theoretical kinds, they do have a mouthful.

“I hate intrams. It is a lot more stressful getting signatures for attendance slips than coping up with the usual academic demands,” related Cielo Navarro, a management sophomore.

Undeniably, most colleges have to require the whole population to attend and render support. The call for support in the past has now, for some reason(s), come to be defined as requirement.

“For me, I’d rather go to the beach. Why choose to watch a boring game when it’s great to enjoy the sand and sea?” said Mae Tejano, a physics freshman.

Some have even decided to just go back home, instead of witnessing the whole duration of the intramurals.

“I find the [intramurals] boring so I thought I’d better go back to my hometown,” stressed Faye Meja, a nursing junior.

Education junior Junevie Cadiz said, “Mingaw na kaayo ang intrams karon compared before. Daghan kayo nag-uli na mga students. There is less participation.”

“There are those colleges who think they have won even before the games have started, that is why I can say that the intramurals is an just exhibition of some sort,” stressed Niño Jose Gonzales, a third year accountancy student. “Now, it is not a venue for skills and talent, but for pride and showing off who’s who.”

So the question remains: What is intramurals really for? Well, we will have another year of contemplation before we face another season of games.

But to all who had ran, swam, dribbled and spiked, won or lost, cheered and wept, sprained an ankle or lost a voice, all in the name of sports an sportsmanship, kudos! Your being “within the walls” is already one game won.

write it up!

Hey!

We are opening opportunities for all
student writers to have their works
published in the literary folio that
uplifts and honors the Sillimanian
writing potential.

We would love to read your essays,
short stories, poems, and comic strips
or any literary entry that you have mind.
Please pass them on or (preferably)
before Friday, December 8 at the
Weekly Sillimanian Office
or look for Micah Dagaerag (0916-2893824)

or me!

Thanks!

The Sillimanian Magazine and the

Weekly Sillimanian staff 2006-2007

laughter: still the best medicine

Butterfly ako, brown lang ang wings.

-ipis

It comes in all forms: corny, sarcastic, puns. The hahahas and hehehes arrive in all accents, intonations, and timbre. It’s everywhere.

These days, people really have a lot to smile and laugh about. Sounds kinda cheesy, but we were quite cheered up when Pacquiao dealt a decisive left punch right on Morales’ face. We smile at the simple fact of our strengthening nation’s currency, and we are relieved that there’s no more additional news of killings in the community.

“People these days really have a good reason to laugh because life has much to offer,” said Ma. Nenita Daming, an english junior. “We just have to look at the brighter side of things.”

Ah, laughter. What do you think it is? The fastest way of straightening out a bowl of hopelessly jumbled up and tangled thoughts? A pressure easer? A pain reliever?

Actually, laughter helps clarify a person’s objective in social interaction and gives an emotional context to our conversation. It is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain. Now that explains why your friend or any companion would tell you to “just laugh about it” when a problem comes.

Have you noticed that laughter is contagious? It’s provocative. Just make sure you do have a good reason to laugh about, lest your friends think there’s something wrong with you.

According to Marshall Brain in his article “How Laughter Works”, he stated that all human beings love to laugh, and that the average adult laughs 17 times a day. Whoa! From absurd forwarded text messages, comics strips, late night comedy sitcoms, and your classmate’s tripping on the sidewalk, everything encompasses the Filipino humor and need for laughter.

Education sophomore Gino Lisondra said, “Aside from researches about the health benefits it gives, laughing makes humans human. It’s as simple as that.”

And here, I present a list of benefits derived from these spells of happiness which has been gaining popularity with Time magazine, Reader’s Digest, and on the internet.

1) Laughter establishes a unique kind of communication. Laugh as much as you want with your friends or anyone with you. This is a way of showing or letting them feel you’re real.

2) Laughter dissolves tension. As Ms. Evelyn Aldecoa mentioned in our Speech 23 class, a single joke in the opening line of your speech can lighten up the mood.

3) Laughter gives an extra kick in your everyday life. For me, it is to life what bagoong is to a fresh green mango!

4) In the book “Medical Physiology”, authored by Dr. Arthur Guyton and Dr. John Hall, laughter activates the ventromedial prefrontal cortex part of your brain. It produces endorphins—a certain substance that gives you a light and calm feeling.

5) Everybody just loves someone with a sense of humor. Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll just encounter a shoe propelled towards your face in an instant.

6) If embarrassing yourself is inevitable, you might as well do it right. People won’t make fun of you if they can sense that you can retaliate with a humiliation missile against them efficiently.

7) Laughter momentarily gives you breathing space for your problems. Though it can’t erase the trouble altogether, at the least you are able to come up and breathe the free air of sanity.

8) Laughter offers facial exercise!

9) Humor keeps the equilibrium necessary to balance everyday pressures and expectations.

10) Laughing has always been much easier than putting your feelings to words. It’s a mask that outdoes the best Halloween has to offer.

Who knows? Laughter could come in colorful capsules placed in airtight bottles or maybe even canned and they are sold in the pharmacy one day. No doubt they will be pricey, too.

imagine this

In www.personal-development.com, it suggests start renting comedy classics from video shops, borrowing funny books, watching comedies, and exchanging jokes with family, friends and coworkers.

So, the next time your friend trips on the street, don’t just laugh at him. The trick is to make you laugh with him.

dark horse

It grazes the field
like silenced steps
at the full of the moon
on a disregarded
ground that creates
small clouds of dirt.

It is among the herd
of common likes
representing a kind
of a cloven hoof mark
on the moistened soil,
on sharp streaks of grass.

It must have been
a thought that this horse
is as dark as its desires
but it is actually
as black as its
bereavement.

It halts in a moment,
then moves
all of a sudden
as if the mocking wind
had told the creature
to run away as fast as it could.

It is misunderstood
like an unwanted
browning leaf
trying to share
its color on the
lush sprawling greens.

It does not wait
for anyone to call
its attention for the
rest are brazenly foal
and the denouement,
it just won a race.
_________________________________________________________

into the blogosphere

It started with someone’s personal record of online websites he had visited—a mere list. It was boring.

Envisioned as an “online diary community” by Andrew Smales, a 29-year-old computer programmer in Toronto, Canada, he made his very own efficient and user-friendly software.

Then, a person in the name of John Barger, an American high school valedictorian who seriously specialized in math and science, first coined the term “weblog” (from the term “wee blog”). He made the first do-it-yourself “Pitas” blog tool in July 1999 after years of hardworking deliberations. At the moment, blog tool services are offered freely such as Live Journal, Word Press, Xanga, and Blogger of Pyra Labs, which is now under Google.

Blogging has now become a global phenomenon.

Truly, blogging is the hottest fad in cyberspace, presently taking the limelight over emails and chat rooms. Numerous innovations continually sprout each year from linking with other networking sites to CSS, with the sky as the limit. And to give some small samplings, here are some blogsite recommendations which you might find interesting.

Firstly, to treat the creative side of every artist, here’s a blog to satisfy their panache—Drawn! Yup, drawn! The site is for anybody who loves to draw. A multi-author blog purely devoted to paintings, various illustrations, and drawings, the blog aims to “inspire creativity by sharing links and resources [art].” Even if you’re not a Pablo Picasso or a Malang, you’ll surely enjoy checking or even contributing to those posted works.
For photography enthusiasts, Jake Verzosa’s blog, the Joyride, gives us a glimpse of a frustrated guitarist who now carries a camera. Featuring pictures of the miscellaneous category, this blog shows not only the stern-and-crisp side of photography, but also those simple scenes our inattentive eyes always manage to let pass.

Going for something less museum-y, there’s Jonas Diego’s The Blurb! He’s a close buddy of komiks genius Gerry Alanguilan (Wasted and the Elmer series), and he handles the Philippine Operations of Interactive Art Services. In his blog, there are some comic strip excerpts for all.

Nature lovers will become fascinated with this Greenpeace environmental blog. Check for the latest happenings onboard M/Y Esperanza as it goes around the world fighting pollution.

And for the literati group, a number of blogs can be enjoyed just like Dean Alfar’s Notes from the Peanut Gallery. A blog geared mostly for his literature rant-ons, occasional wandering thoughts, and tasks towards his “litcritters,” you’ll enjoy not only the posts but also its corresponding violent and colourful reactions.

Inside PCIJ gives you the heat. This blog explodes with the important issues from journalist killings to minimizing alcoholism among the youth, or tracing the roots of land reform in the Philippines, and the punching fists of Pacqiuao! Now you could know what gets into the head of a journalist!

If cooking is your flair, this distinctive Pinoy Cook blog offers a number of cooking tips, techniques, and sumptuous recipes that you can whip up. Handled by Connie Veneracion, she stated in her site that “this blog is about the meals I cook for the family.” She was greatly influenced by her grandmother and her father who cook delicious Chinese dishes.

If the tunes forming the soundtracks of our every day aren’t enough, amble onto cyberspace and take a visit to Kristine and Luis are Listening. You find just about everything from the latest music trends to upcoming concerts in the country.

Want something of the vintage kind? Nostalgia Manila is the best place to stumble into posts ranging from the Bataan power plant, vintage Nora Aunor movie posters, Voltes 5 end credits, and even to the forgotten wonders of PLDT’s Rotary Phone!

Techthisout is for those gadget-loving, game-playing members of our generation. If you’re one of the techies, explore this blog.

There’s also a blog for us who are interested in learning more about our very own country, the Filipino Librarian. This blog which is produced by a Filipino for the Filipinos, is as entertaining as it is informative.

And fittingly enough, we end with something close to home. Go to the blog para sa mga bisdak! Bisaya Bloggers is another networking site which also focuses on events, tourist attractions, and anything about the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

here's to you word nerd!

Our Filipino language with all its intricacies may have a very rich and deep cultural value within our nationalistic identity, yet it is hard to deny that English is certainly one of the richest in over 3,000 world languages.

Upon receiving my writing task for the week, Fate lightened my task when I stumbled upon a book that was gathering dust in an unheeded corner of my house—a little tattered yellowing book entitled “Oddities: In words, pictures, and figures.”

Some may say, “Huh! I am totally good in English since I can speak this and write that.” But actually a few of us can only manage to master only even a fraction of the mysteries the English language possesses. Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English poets whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, is considered a landmark on the development of the English literature, had only employed an amazing 8000 different words in all of his writings! And 200 years later, William Shakespeare had a astounding written vocabulary of 30,000 words! Who can match that?

Limited as we may be, I offer for our enjoyment a few games made by brilliant minds starting from the Greek poet Sotades of the 3rd century BC, to the writer of Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll, and so on.
AnagramsAnagrams are transpositions of the letters of a word or phrase to form a new word or phrase, or at its simplest form, a phrase or name that can be rearranged to form another. To add more of a kick to this word play, most anagram addicts require a sterner rule: “to explain or describe the word from which it is made.”

An example is the phrase “voices rant on,” which is an exact anagram of the word “conversation.” Also, “steaminess” is just a result of reshuffling the words “seen as mist.” Anagrams even played a critical role in The Da Vinci Code.

Antigrams
Antigrams, on the other hand, are simply the counterparts of anagrams. If the anagrams get into their synonymous meanings, antigrams get into their antonyms. They are anagrams in which the letters of a word are reorganized to form a word or phrase to mean the opposite of the original. “Evangelists,” for instance, can satirically be reformed into “evil’s agents.”
DoubletsThese doublets were quite a hit before. Even before crossword puzzles and the crazy Sudokus in the pages of newspapers and magazines, there were doublets! Lewis Caroll is also well renowned for his exceptional skill in composing these outrageous mind-bogglers.

The procedure is just to take two related words of the same length, such as ‘grass’ and ‘green,’ and to transform the first into the second by a series of one-letter changes, each of which must strictly form another word. Proper names are exempted and all words must appear in a standard dictionary. Victory is declared to the person who takes the fewest number of words to make the change.

And here’s one solution in proving that GRASS are really GREEN: GRASS, CRASS, CRESS, TRESS, TREES, FREES, FREED, GREED, GREEN.

Palindromes
This is the most exceptional, if not exhausting, word play among the rest. The aim is to produce the longest sentence in which it could be read the same backwards as they do forwards. Sounds challenging though, it could excrete all your analytical juices and sharpen your mind skills. If you want to make your world side-reversed, then you may delve into this activity.

Since a few in this century have been contemplating onto these palindromes, the idea is now slightly left to experts and diehard lovers of palindromes. Palindromic sentences have a long and distinguished history. It is said to be that the poet Sotades invented the palindromes, and in his honour, palindromes are sometimes called as “Sotadics.” And also, John Taylor is believed to be the first creator of an English palindrome. His famous masterpiece, which was acceptable by the spelling standards of his time, is: “Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel.” Reading the sentence from the left and from the right, you still get the same message. That is how palindromes work.

Tongue Twisters
And the most famous of them all, tongue twisters! Experts are still currently probing as to where and when these tongue twisters originated. A number of these tongue twisters are pretty sensible but mostly absurd, and what the rhymes are actually about is quite unclear.

Here are some examples to get your tongue looping around:

A bloke’s back brake-block broke
A dozen double damask dinner napkins
Stop chop shops selling chopped shop chops
A truly rural frugal ruler’s mural

And here are some more oddities to finish the day:

1) A reasonably common word which contains all vowels, each used once, and in their correct alphabetical order?

2) A word which contains the letters “tchphr” grouped together in the middle?

3) A word with more than 15 letters in which the only vowel is E?

4) A word which contains three pairs of identical letters, each pair coming directly after the one before?

5) The shortest common word to use each of the five vowels only once?

Let's see if you can answer these.

falling short

There are some stories that are not worth spending your time reading with and there are some that battle your malleable perceptions -- open that closed mind of yours. And here's one particular story that everyone ought to read for you to understand why I usually say:

"There's no such thing as F, we are just together."

http://www.fables.org/winter04/bullfrog.html

Thanks Anna.

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the two people they could have met in heaven

Three pairs. Six entrance tickets.

Lights glimmer amidst the backdrop of numerous multicolored wheering contraptions, a thousand clothes that wait in vain before it encounters the thousand-and-one hand, and a night that is filled with ubiquitous hourly chit-chats.

And there it is, busily spinning around with its post-metallic skeleton looking as aged as the looks of the handler’s smile and as fragile as the wallet of the nearby gambler.

The 3.2 megapixel camera is ready.

We had a holistic day last Saturday, November 18 2006. For the linguistic capabilities part, I became an instant quizmaster for a certain inter-high school competition in the morning of which I had given out science and tech questions and elaborately mouthed the perfect spelling words (a lot failed in this category)! The good deed of the day? We cleaned the tWS office! For sports, most of the tWS staffers went for a Kickball game that lasted for about an hour with our clothes looking like it was newly washed. For a cool memory enhancer, we reminisced high school IQ tests of which I fairly won over Dodong Jan Jan (ha ha). There’s only one thing that didn’t live up to what we had planned: we failed to watch a movie at night that we longed for a long time ago.

In order to cover up the unexpected and disappointing turn of events that night and to stretch our high spirits, we went to the all time Pinoy favorite, the Perya. Upon nearing the entrance, our smiles were so wide that I think I could have felt mine reaching both tips of my ears.

I was so glad that when I had entered the enclosed colorful niche within and the moment I had seen the first ride, my mindset was to get on it as soon as possible; no more decision-decisions, no more turning back. And when everyone agreed, we all went into the Ferris Wheel -- the one that had open carriages.

Dirg and Cloudy went together as the first pair (who obviously were the most excited in the group), I was left with Marianne since she had no partner too because the last two persons were now paired way before the idea of perya struck us; they are Dodong Jan Jan and Donna.

We seated snuggly into our open-air compartment – I even wriggled my toes in front of me and felt the cold 8:45 evening wind as the gears began to turn. I was happy. We were happy. But we never knew that this innocent ride could be sinister after a few minutes:

The wheel turned slowly.
I croaked merrily.
The whole ride stopped.
Our compartment was at the topmost part.
I grabbed my camera.
I looked for angles that encompass the whole joyous night.
I found the perfect angle.
I purposely held the camera behind us.
The whole carriage swung forward.
We nearly fell –
a near death experience.

In a matter of millimeters, our lives could have ended earlier than expected. Being a picture freak, I could not resist the clicking and flashing of the camera especially that we were at the top among the rest – the view was just superbly picturesque. But then the whole enthusiasm faltered in an instant when the pull of gravity was in front of us that made us to unpredictably lunged forward, sweated coldly, and spoke immediate words of wisdom. It is a good thing that our natural instincts got ahead of our numbed thinking very fast; we instantaneously sit upright in our seats frigid making the whole compartment stayed on its right balance. Phew. Mar, I am sorry.

If it couldn’t have happened that way, well surely I daresay there will be two people the heavens would welcome openly. Yeah heaven, not the other way around. And one more news, Dodong Jan Jan was also awestruck and mute for seconds after the ride, not because he was mesmerized but because his heart clogged his throat.

For short, that was close.
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under red blood skies

When freedom comes at the cost of life, and life at the cost of freedom, what is there left to do?

World War II ushered in one of the darkest moments in Silliman’s history. Death came with screams from blazing red planes in flashes of light and fire. Darkness loomed over Silliman University, with the Japanese rifle taking full reign, casting gloom and fear over the American-inhabited city beside the sea.

“Clouds By Day and Fire By Night: The Silliman Story” by Drs. Paul Lauby, Proceso Udarbe, and Jennifer Lauby, recounts the significant events that have conditioned this university into what we know today. From there we learn that upon arrival, the Japanese brought Silliman and Dumaguete into great degradation. And it is this suffering of innocent people that terribly fanned the flames of passionate faith and action.

People escaped to the hills and various barrios, such as Malabo several kilometres away from the city. The students and faculty hid in the most unthinkable areas, and they suffered from scarcity of food, shelter, medicines, and other basic necessities. Some even resorted to dwell in caves. But the Sillimanian commitment to care and to educate was never undermined, and they made a mission field out of the mountains and barrios.

There was even a time when Japanese troops found a barrio and burned it to the last nipa hut. But, fortunately, a spy aided the Silliman refugees to flee.

Mountain treks encompassed dangerous terrains towards the sea, seeking help from clandestine American submarines and ships waiting for them at shore. Though not everyone was saved from the Japanese atrocities, there were those who survived until the aliens finally fled—living on to tell their story.

Life seemed to only go uphill from there. But years later, the sky was yet again beset with horror and strife. On September 21, 1972, the whole country was declared under Martial Law.

Manila certainly had most of the publicity during the Marcos’ regime, with all the rambles and trend of unexplainable deaths. But Visayas and Mindanao suffered just as well under the Marcos manipulations, with Dumaguete’s renowned Silliman University given special attention in the Visayas region.

In the year 1972, four universities across the Philippines were closed, including Silliman University and University of the Philippines. The Weekly Sillimanian and the student government were forcibly closed as ordered. Dr. Nichol Elman was actually the last SG president before the body was closed.

On January 15, 1972, the Movement for a Democratic Philippines (MDP) led other affiliates like Kabataang Makabayan (KM), among others, to protest. Even women groups like Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA) called on all progressive women to join forces with the national movement in altering the cruel and unfair system the Philippines had.

Even the idea of a Silliman Cultural Center (which we now know as the Claire Isabel McGil Luce Auditorium) faced some controversies. One can imagine how, in those years, an innocent construction plan was regarded as a “treasonous act against national democracy.”

Even if Sillimanians were also hailed among the world’s most outstanding artists and performers, the university paper at that time linked Marcos, as well as the Silliman Cultural Center, to American imperialism, domestic feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, stating, “It is a project that will only become symbols of senseless extravagance in the midst of widespread poverty.”

Amidst the string of adversities, these ages of confusion and antagonism have shaped in the Silliman student’s mind the skills of responsible civic duty and loyalty. It is in times of war and conflict that the human spirit is at its worst, or at its finest. And those times have prompted us to adapt and live our lives not with fear, but with a Godly resolve to face and conquer them.

In a world that hates evil more than it loves good, a Sillimanian offers hope under blood red skies.

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