so this is christmas

photos everywhere. but i won't be posting any, not right now. not that my christmas was unpleasant. on the contrary, 2008 christmas week was one of, if not the best i had. that is, until last night to this afternoon.

an itty bitty bit of information reached me last night. did it do enough damage to my hapee holidays? somewhat. not much. good thing someone had a better head, and let it pass. me, i'm not good at letting things pass. my friends know how hot-blooded i am, facing/forcing an issue or an asshole head-on, but the past few months i've been learning to control myself, and i realized it also feels good to keep a wise silence, to let things be, to walk away.

good thing my friends aren't like me. thanks for calming me down guys, you know who you are.

as for the details, rather not put 'em down here. let's just say i hope it doesn't happen again. if it does happen again, well, to hell with the miserable entity who'll cause it. this really is getting so tiring. (i could hear our friend writer-picture taker-wushu master glenn atanacio--->present saying at this point, "ano pare, upakan na natin?" hahaha. the cholo and the martin would most probably agree, isn't that how sweet the glenn is?)

okay, enough of the negative energy! here's something christmasy: lotsa thanks to susa for the dvd. i did act surprised! :) you have to come by the house sometime with martin for our pizza afternoon. there's domino's just across the subdivision. (and bibingka, and kfc, and lechon manok, and burger machine...)

i did say this was probably the best christmas ever. i'd like to say the phrase "months in the making" but that wouldn't ring true. some of the time perhaps. the first day of my christmas fell on an ordinary day in september. i wrote a wishlist then too. i've looked forward to a better christmas since october. a taste of christmas fell on a november thursday. since then i've been celebrating little christmases every week. santa gave me a special present a few days before christmas--i'm relieved that he thinks i've been more nice than naughty this year. (eh?)

santa's gift was the only 'early' present that i really disciplined myself not to open until christmas. after midnight mass, the moment we got home, i rushed to the package and immediately felt like a cat with a new toy: ecstatically wide-eyed with curiosity, with excitedly playful paws. it didn't register right away what it was when i first saw it. when the lights finally flicked on in my head, i became dizzy. i realized it was because i'd stopped breathing, and just stared.

and recalled some things. chuckled.
realized. oh, so that's why... i even grew bold enough to think "(blah blah blah blah) after all."

after that frozen moment i ate my sopas and hamon smiling like an idiot. i thanked santa. then i received a message from santa saying that he, too, liked the 'note' i gave him. i'm glad he did. it was the only way i could show him how i felt, without looking so much like a stalking, screaming fan. (eh? again)

["(because if you can't say it on christmas when can you eh?)"]

a better christmas. yep. last year it was painful when i had my hair cut. my neck which was supposed to hold my head in place as the hairdresser pulled at my hair was very, very uhm...'newly-massaged' by a human garrote the previous night. it was painful to even turn to the side. today, i had another session with the same hairdresser, but this time i didn't wince.

blabber blabber blabber. the day after christmas i fixed my things, sorted out trash, gave away some stuff, made some much-needed space for books and cameras (two "new" ones for christmas!). now i'm at my desk--i have a desk! wow. and i found objects. some of these made it to the trash. i'd like to think i've grown wiser this year and have carefully chosen the things i want to remember when i grow old. none of the foolish sentimentality that came with the (turbulent) past relationships (spanning the years 2000-2008, hahaha). come on. i had to throw away some stuff so i can start again. throw. no more looking for it; i've learned from it. discard. it has served its purpose. let('s) go.

since

blogposts are historical documents, i'm making this wishlist public just for the sake of reference. that, on this particular day in this particular year, these are the things i thought would be nice to receive this particular christmas. and yeah, susa did say we've started on my wishlist some months ago (september if i remember correctly), and now, well, i've had more time to actually think. haha. plus i don't know where i put my notebook that contains the list (hint, hint).


so, for the sake of listing (i love lists), here goes my [attainable] material stuff wishlist (emphasis on 'attainable material'):

1. a lomo lc-a+ camera (wide angle baby! there are available 'colored' ones, and i'd like the orange or blue-green one. hehehe)


2. notebooks - without lines, or if lined, the not-so darkly-lined ones (i never fill 'em up and i change notebooks as the 'emotional need' arises)


3. writing materials (ballpoint, pencil, gel, markers...)


4. 35mm & 120mm film (color slides & negs, b&w)


5. a good all-weather jacket (doesn't have to be green; i have five green jackets already!)


6. a sturdy, long-lasting foldable umbrella (provided i don't lose it or leave it in the fx/bus/jeep)


7. music (we never stop learning)


8. additional memory for my laptop (so i can reinstall a cs3)


9. non-mainstream movies, / indie films, documentaries, tv specials, concerts


10. backpack (my five-year-old army green bobcat is starting to say goodbye)


11. loose white cotton shirts for fieldwork


12. earphones for the mp3 player (i always lose/yank to death my earphones)


13. an external hard drive (320 gig is great; it will last me 'til post-grad studies. hahaha)


14. a panasonic lumix wide-angle cam, preferably with a minimum 8 mp (uh, still thinking if this is attainable--i've read good reviews on the lx3 model; however price-wise, this is still a bit 'out')


15. an artwork (open interpretation)

and that's it. as for the non-material ones, there's always world peace and love, good health for all especially my family and friends, peace of mind, happy pets, insatiable curiosity and wonder (may we never fail to dream!) and thursdays.

i sound like the sixties.

no this isn't a wish. i just want to show that i'm getting better and better at making rally-style posters and placards. hahaha.

now it's starting to look a lot like Christmas

hell workweek's finally over! just a few stuff to finish before the year ends (liquidations, photo sorting, blah).

done half of my christmas shopping, thanks in part to the sunday lung center market, our weekly source of ilocos empanada and bulacan tinumis. i got myself an early christmas gift, a very lucky find--it has my name written all over it, and i just can't help but think it was sitting there for me to 'find' it. hahaha. destiny!

i'm too "bubbly" as of the moment to write anything longer than three paragaraphs (i enjoyed doing someone's christmas gift so much my hands are still itching for more). i can however put five photographs in this post. hahaha.

eliza the elliefant (she was the only one of her kind--a 'toy' speaker that connects to any mp3 player/ipod--in that stuffed toy pile; i was even doubting if her headphones/speakers worked. imagine my extreme happiness when they did!)

i didn't know what to name her, so i asked for help. eliza raw, kasi parang di tumatanda. and well, since she is a musical toy, i also remembered eliza doolittle, one of my favorite broadway musical characters (from "my fair lady"). so there, eliza the elliefant.

eliza the elliefant with mr. kite the iguana: sharing the music

she flops! (her tag reads: "iflops. share the tunes!") did a quick research and it turns out that they're called 'i flops Stereo Pets' and sold for almost ten dollars. lemme see. i got her for uh, four dollars? hahaha. merry christmas to me!

miel had a photoshoot yesterday for her birthday invitations. in this photo she looks like one of king mongkut's kids in the (yul brynner) production of "the king and i". her first birthday will be on january 6; the party would be (if i am not mistaken) on january 11. and of course, saving the best for last:

this photo is proof that miel takes after me.

because

Filipino Deaf Visual Art Group at Sigwada

In celebration of its 8th year, the Filipino Deaf Visual Art Group or FDVAG is proud to hold its painting exhibit titled “Natural Nudes” on December 8-18, 2008 at the Sigwada Gallery in Tayuman.

FDVAG is a group of Deaf artists established in November 2001 and affiliated with the Philippine Federation of the Deaf, a national Deaf people’s organization.

FDVAG has held annual exhibitions at the University of the Philippines Church of the Risen Lord since 2001. They have also exhibited at the Tomlinson Gallery, PhilFirst Building, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, SAMU’T SARI, and Pan Pacific Manila. Members’ works (greeting cards, etc.) have been sold in the Philippines and overseas to Japan, U.K., and the U.S. Most of their members have participated in the prestigious nationwide competitions of the DOW Chemical, Metrobank, Shell, Philip Morris, Faber-Castell, and AAP (Art Association of the Philippines), and garnered awards and recognition for their works.

The Natural Nudes exhibit is comprised of the works of the following FDVAG members:

Rommel L. Agravante
Amelito C. Regalado
Gil P. De Guzman, Jr.
Manuel V. Adonis

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The exhibit opens on December 8, 2008 at 6:00PM at the Sigwada Gallery, 1921 Oroquieta cor. Tayuman Sts., Sta. Cruz, Manila.