Pounding The Keyboard

       One of my few close encounters with birds includes the time when we brought home a parrot. The poor bird was doing well until a jerk of a cousin (an adopted son of an auntie) played with it with a stick, accidentally hitting one of its eyes, damaging it. The poor bird’s health deteriorated after that, until it died. Another close encounter of mine with birds was when we got a pair of lovebirds as pets. The poor sweethearts were doing well, unabashedly doing PDA all the time in front of us, making us envious, until a clumsy nephew damaged the cage, allowing the pair to fly free.      Last night, I don’t know why because I wasn’t even thinking of the birds we lost, but I dreamt of birds. I dreamt I was in front of my computer, logged on to my Facebook account, repeatedly changing my cover photo with photos of, yeah, birds—of different species. I looked for its meaning, and they say that dreaming about birds means happiness and success in the future, like you’re going to achiev

       I finally gave in to the hype and watched Squid Game , an ultra-violent and bloody and savage new Korean series from Netflix. The extremely popular series is on its way to being the most-watched show on Netflix. The show’s premise (powerful, wealthy but nameless people deriving fun and entertainment from helpless, hapless poor people) has been tackled in other movies but Squid Game presented it differently. It is exciting, thrilling, definitely campy and caricaturish in an entertaining way.       In the series, four hundred plus individuals join a deadly game where the winner will receive billions of won. A little downside for me: I love gore and violence in movies but only when it’s done to cruel and scheming villains. Watching poor, innocent people whose only crime is being a loser in life being toyed with, manipulated and brutally killed can be painful and distressing.      Another downside: The presentation of the powerful nameless people somehow cheapens the series, i

       Few weeks ago, I wrote here about a dream of mine where I saw myself standing outside an apartment building. The building exists IRL and is just a few meters away from our house. It is occupied by mostly Chinese/Filipino-Chinese. In my dream, I remember gazing at the top floor of the building (which was the only visible part from my position as there was a high wall in front of the building), and as I stood waiting (for I didn’t know what), some of its tenants went out of the gate and stood beside me. And then, a van stopped in front of us and I went inside it, leaving the tenants in front of the building.      This afternoon, at around 1 PM, a fire erupted at the top floor of that apartment building (see photo above).     Luckily, the fire didn’t reach our house as firemen quickly arrived to put it out. No one was hurt. But it got me thinking, did my dream sort of send me hints of the incoming fire. Can I predict the future now through my dreams? Do I have superpowers now

       Placeholder, this word is almost omnipresent on my News Feed these past few days. A politician filing a certificate of candidacy for president, or vice president, then waiting for someone to substitute for him or replace him is a placeholder.   It is panakip-butas in Tagalog. In a romantic relationship, panakip-butas means someone choosing you because the one they really love can’t be with them, and they’re probably getting old or are being pressured to be in a relationship so they look around and see who’s available and quite presentable— and they see you.      Come here, baby, they will tell you, it’s a relationship with you or bust. My true love can’t leave his millionaire wife and I can’t wait anymore so I have no choice but to be with someone free. You will do.      And if you’re someone who’s really in love and doesn’t really care much about dignity, you’ll accept them.      Of course, they will leave you as soon as the one to whom their hearts beat for is free

       The deal breaker or the breaking point or the saturation point for him, let's call him Mr. Random Commenter or RC, as some of them referred (in that sad, funny little Facebook thread) to the point or the thing or the incident that made them give up on pursuing somebody they loved was when the girl he was wooing posted a Facebook status that declared her love for someone who was seemingly in a relationship with another girl and her regret that he didn't meet her first. She even listed all the things they could do together complete with crying emojis.      “Wow! Just wow!” RC claimed exclaiming after reading her post. Needless to say, it was a downright affront to those who were courting her. The guy she was referring to was probably even cuddling with his girlfriend or having kinky sex with his wife at the time she posted that status. That status, according to him, also probably just made her the constant verbal pulutan whenever that in-a-relationship guy got into d