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Today is Chinese New Year

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       So, Today is Chinese New Year, it’s a holiday so it must be big deal. And we had tikoy for breakfast this morning. Lol. Filipinos hate Chinese (re West Philippine Sea issue), critics say, but ironically, they love many Chinese things, especially their New Year. I don’t know, but what most Filipinos hate is the Chinese government, not the Chinese people per se. Like me, I hate what the Chinese government is doing on West Philippine Sea but I don’t hate Chinese people or their products. My phone is China-made, and so is the all-in-one PC I am currently using. Many of my favorite foods are Chinese influenced, like siopao, pancit, lumpia, mami, hopia, taho, and tikoy, of course, and we love eating in Chinse restaurants (Din Tai Fung is a favorite). And our next-door neighbors are Chinese, and they're sort of nice because they are quiet and they mind their own business, unlike the other neighbors. Lol.      So, most Filipinos don’t hate Chinese. In...
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I Swear

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       You know that joke that whenever you hit your little toe on something hard, you learn a new language, or more succinctly, you learn some swear words in a new language? It’s true. Lol. Two weeks ago, I hit my baby toe on the foot of a table really hard, and I thought I cursed in German, I think, something like  Ich liebe Dich ! Nope, I don’t think that’s a German curse.      And then, just hours ago, that same baby toe, which was almost healed, hit the door as I was going out of my room, and I thought I cursed in French, something like  Je t’aime! Nope, I don’t think that’s a French curse word. Lol.      Anyway, hitting your little toe onto something hard or getting yourself hurt physically are not the only reasons you curse in a foreign language. You also do it whenever you read some political bad news, or tragic news like some dastardly murder or other crimes being committed, or when you hear some cruelty being don...
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Affairs and an Argument

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When I call you up, your line’s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won’t see me…          I’ve liked a few Beatles pages on Facebook, so every now and then, posts about the Beatles would appear on my News Feed. This morning, somebody asked about their favorite songs on Rubber Soul . Great songs abound in that album, of course, but the first song that came into my mind was “Norwegian Wood,” and then, “You Won’t See Me.”      “Norwegian Wood,” known for its Indian-influences and evoked by John’s multiple affairs, is about a man who thought he was about to experience a wonderful one-night stand, but nothing happened. The girl instead let him sleep in the bathroom—he got his revenge by setting her house on fire.      “You Won’t See Me,” thoroughly melodic and inspired by an argument that occurred between Paul and his then-girlfriend Jan...
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Notebooks

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       Every January, a sister of mine (who works in a printing press) would bring home complimentary copies of things they had printed: calendars, diaries, planners, notebooks, you know, the kinds you buy whenever the year changes, so you could organize and fix your life. Just a few hours ago, she handed me some of these. They are mostly of high quality. Sometimes, she’d bring home quite a lot that we’d give away some of them, and the ones we kept, we would sometimes still not be able to use all of them.      I still have some planners here that dates back to 2023 and 2024. I don’t plan my life so I don’t use them. LOL. I also still have a few unused notebooks.      But years ago, I would often go to malls to buy a notebook, sometimes, I’d buy two, as I used it to store my story ideas or premises or even anecdotes. During the times when I was really active writing, I would always place a notebook (and a pen) beside me because ideas ...
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The Dog That Finally Conquered A Stair

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       Last New Year’s Eve, at the height of revelry and the explosion of firecrackers, scared of all the noises around him and looking for a safe place to hide, our dog, a beagle, who had never ascended our stair to the second floor (except when we'd carry him) all his life (he’s now four years old), finally climbed it and conquered it and went to the second floor. We couldn’t blame him for being scared before because our stair is quite steep and there’s the danger of slipping and falling between steps; he would usually just take a step or two and then retreat. We cheered for him, of course, for he just showed that with determination and belief in yourself (and threats to your safety, lol), you can do anything.      He needed to sniff and search every nook and cranny of our second floor for hours before he calmed down. It took him another day to learn how to descend, and now, he’s an expert in climbing and descending stairs. Our stair, at least. Now...
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January

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  January, sick and tired You’ve been hanging on me You make me sad with your eyes You’re telling me lies Don't go, don't go...        It’s January, and as usual, like a lot of people, I don’t feel well: my nose is clogged, I have a cough and slight fever and a headache. Cold weather and allergies really are a terrible combination. Additional major culprit, I think, is the electric fan I need to keep on (which I point at my lower half body) because of the mosquitos. If you want to kill me or at least thoroughly incapacitate me, you just have to direct an electric fan straight to my face all night.      Last year, I was almost sick the whole January, even failing to attend a meeting crucial to my livelihood. Lol. I don’t lack vitamins and supplements, it’s just that my body is inexplicably susceptible to sickness every first month of the year. I don’t know, maybe my guardian angel is always hungover from too much revelry during Christma...
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Firecrackers and Hackers

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       Lots of people were already lighting firecrackers even weeks before Christmas, and one thing was already noticeable then: those firecrackers are louder, thus more dangerous. And it is even more alarming when you see that majority of peeps exploding them are kids (12-16 years old). So it was sort of inevitable that you’d hear somebody dying from it. And just yesterday, news of a boy dying and another one being critically injured after a firecracker exploded on them hit social media. Centuries ago, when I was a lot younger, we’d hoard firecrackers (the loudest ones) inside our house days before Christmas (they’d get expensive as New Year comes near), never caring that they were fire hazards, but decades ago, as I mature, I saw the pointlessness of it—and so we ditched firecrackers and just drank and ate during New Year’s eve.      This morning, Facebook warned me that somebody from Mindanao logged on to my Facebook. I live in Manila. Was it me ?...
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