Bohol, Manila , and the Two Faces of Nature

September 26: The day started with the unmistakeable conclusion that we were unlucky. Chemae, my girlfriend, and I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, still groggy from drinks we had the night before with friends. An airplane headed for the beautiful province of Bohol was waiting for us at the airport, ready to fly [...]

When Care Becomes the Fad

Genuine care for others — I think that’s one of the things people must really have to be more prepared for another disaster like Typhoon Ondoy.
The headline on a local newspaper yesterday said that donations for typhoon victims are overwhelming. That’s great. That’s awesome. That is perfectly how it should be. Many of [...]

I Love the Everyday Stuff

When you’re young and you’re fiery and you have tanks full of excess energy, you can’t help but be idealistic. Especially if you come from a prestigious university, you are automatically led to think that you have a great background and you have a great mission before you. Everything you see is great [...]

A Sound Infrastructure of Friendship

Without friends, we won’t have any identity. But more importantly, without friends, we cannot be someone good, let alone great.
I wouldn’t call myself a good friend. Burning bridges has been so easy to me that you could probably call me a social arsonist. Lately however, I’ve learned to rediscover the value of bonding with [...]

Could Be Dialectics in Action

  I sorely miss my blog.
Due to an unfortunate circumstance caused by the misfortune and bitterness of other people, I don’t have free access to my blog anymore from the office. I am currently using a proxy site to get to my tiny freedom space here.
So what’s been happening? Well, like all [...]

The Time Traveler’s Girlfriend

A couple of minutes after watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” at the cinema, Chemae and I were walking outside the mall. She was saying she kinda liked the film but it really annoyed her as much as it annoyed Clare that Henry was always disappearing.
It was already dark, my arm was over her shoulder and [...]

Beyond the White Wall

It starts slowly and we know we’re gonna be
Savages
Tonight.
I drink
The thousand wells of your mouth;
You’ll be slithering in me — slippery, sucking, suddenly biting,
Marking me with bright red blood,
Sending me into convulsions. Teeth gnashing, I try painfully
Not to tear the soft flesh
Off
your damp lips.
Oh, I’ll swallow you for keeps
Stick every strand of my hair into [...]

Random Thoughts on Life and Death on the Eve of My Birthday

It’s the eve of my birthday. I was just 6 months old when I was born. Had I been born normally, my birthday would be on November instead of August. I wouldn’t have been Leo. Maybe I wouldn’t have that lion pride in me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been Marvin. Maybe…
Whatever.

The Strange Adventures of a Bored Mind in the Office (or Writing Without Really Writing Anything)

How strange is this?
As this massive ball of earth and water spins in the seemingly infinite space of the universe, and as random people talk about new worries and problems in their lives, like random amateur photographers talking about how to score the newest, costliest DSLR camera, I am here in front of the computer [...]

The Loneliness in Writing

Writing has a way of releasing your emotions but it also has a way of eating you up.
When I was in college, I would write uncontrollably. I wrote notes or short poems during classes, I wrote when I was alone in the library, in an empty classroom, under a tree, in the Sunken Garden, in [...]