I couldn't wait much longer for my lunch buddy today so I went down to the cafeteria to grab a bite. I figured we would see each other there eventually and share a table so I planned on saving an extra seat.
The cafeteria had the usual fair of semi-edible offerings laden with garnish to fool the hungry into thinking that if it looked great then it must be delicious. It was sausage day today and I figured it would be best to go with something tried and tested.
I picked a big fat spicy Hungarian (sausage, that is) with buttered mashed potatoes and gravy. I also tried the bottled fresh buko juice in the false hopes of counter-acting the amount of cholesterol i'm about to ingest.
My supposedly lunch date and I didn't meet. Instead, a gentleman took the seat across the table and proceeded to eat his lunch. On his tray was an all-Filipino meal of fish sinigang soup, pork bopis, vegetable lumpia (hubad) and polvoron. Judging from his ID, he must be British or Australian, but definitely not Filipino.
Our tastebuds must be foreign. ;p
Monday, July 14, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
kisapmata
unless you get a free pass through a wormhole or hop on to that elusive time machine, it's highly unlikely that you can regain the time that passed since you started reading this piece. what is left is a fleeting memory that may get lost amid the influx of stimuli that bombards you in a blink of an eye.
people write (or type), take pictures, record sound, bring back souvenirs and shoot movies to capture that moment and temporarily freeze time.
...because we want to remember.
...because we choose to treasure the experience and the people who mutually influenced us to be the person who stares back through the looking glass.
as for those that needed to be purged, there's selective amnesia, burned and deleted memorabilia.
i choose to remember what i could, while i could.
---
today is day 2 of my version of 365 days - a daily self-portrait project.
kisapmata (Filipino, Tagalog) n. blink of an eye
people write (or type), take pictures, record sound, bring back souvenirs and shoot movies to capture that moment and temporarily freeze time.
...because we want to remember.
...because we choose to treasure the experience and the people who mutually influenced us to be the person who stares back through the looking glass.
as for those that needed to be purged, there's selective amnesia, burned and deleted memorabilia.
i choose to remember what i could, while i could.
---
today is day 2 of my version of 365 days - a daily self-portrait project.
kisapmata (Filipino, Tagalog) n. blink of an eye
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Pasa load
Net and Dei recently wrote their views on the irony that is the Filipino urban poor. I couldn’t blame them both. For the most part, I fully agreed with what they wrote.
In particular, Dei starts ranting with:
This reminds me of what happened last Tuesday after work. I took the bus and traffic was hellish as usual along the length of Ortigas Avenue. I considered myself lucky to be seated after traversing 2km in 30 minutes. I was pre-occupied on the first 30 minutes with doing a balancing act among not falling over the persons standing before me, securing my things, and taking a peek at the on-board television every now and then. (Yes people, buses in Metro Manila are air-conditioned, have colored TV sets, and radios.) Alas, the TV lost its charm. Reception was bad and I couldn’t see Dyesebel and Fredo, it could have been just a radio feed. It was right then that I took out my trusty cellphone and played games.
I was on an aisle seat on a 3-seater with a student wearing a garishly orange skirt and a 50-ish lady. The student was hastily fiddling with her cellphone which is nothing unusual. I thought we were ok with minding each other’s business when the girl suddenly turned to the old lady and mumbled something. I wasn’t listening to her and it turned out that it was the old lady’s stop so she had to leave.
The girl then turned to me and spoke: “Ate, may load ka? Pa-pasa load naman. Babayaran na lang kita.” (Big sister, do you have phone credits? Could you send some over to my phone? I’ll just pay you instead.)
I said: “Wala” (None). [Liar liar pants on fire…] To which she countered while looking at me incredulously, “Wala kang load!?!?!? (You don’t have call credits???)
Wow. She had the gall to say that. Hooray for beggars with balls of lead!
Yup. I have a fancy phone but I don’t have call credits, none for you! There’s a convenience store 3 stops from here, go get your “load” there.
“Hindi pa ako sumusweldo eh,” I added later and then thought Pakialam mo? May nakapaskil ban a pasa-load sa noo ko? (What do you care? Do I have a sign on my forehead that says PASA LOAD?) She didn’t hear those last two lines from me. That would be too much drama.
Come on people. If you really got to have a cellphone (enter vice/addiction here), make sure you can sustain living with one. Yes, this includes buying call and text credits yourself and not harrassing others for it.
*Pasa load – a transaction where call or text credits are bought and sent to the phone electronically, either by another private phone subscriber or a call credits vendor.
In particular, Dei starts ranting with:
mahirap ang buhay pero ultimo tricycle drivers at street sweepers eh naka-cellphone. wag ka, modelo pa! well, mahirap nga naman buhay kasi wala silang pang-load...(Times are hard but even tricycle drivers and streetsweepers use mobile phones and the latest models at that! Well, times may be hard because they don’t have money to buy call/text cards.)
This reminds me of what happened last Tuesday after work. I took the bus and traffic was hellish as usual along the length of Ortigas Avenue. I considered myself lucky to be seated after traversing 2km in 30 minutes. I was pre-occupied on the first 30 minutes with doing a balancing act among not falling over the persons standing before me, securing my things, and taking a peek at the on-board television every now and then. (Yes people, buses in Metro Manila are air-conditioned, have colored TV sets, and radios.) Alas, the TV lost its charm. Reception was bad and I couldn’t see Dyesebel and Fredo, it could have been just a radio feed. It was right then that I took out my trusty cellphone and played games.
I was on an aisle seat on a 3-seater with a student wearing a garishly orange skirt and a 50-ish lady. The student was hastily fiddling with her cellphone which is nothing unusual. I thought we were ok with minding each other’s business when the girl suddenly turned to the old lady and mumbled something. I wasn’t listening to her and it turned out that it was the old lady’s stop so she had to leave.
The girl then turned to me and spoke: “Ate, may load ka? Pa-pasa load naman. Babayaran na lang kita.” (Big sister, do you have phone credits? Could you send some over to my phone? I’ll just pay you instead.)
I said: “Wala” (None). [Liar liar pants on fire…] To which she countered while looking at me incredulously, “Wala kang load!?!?!? (You don’t have call credits???)
Wow. She had the gall to say that. Hooray for beggars with balls of lead!
Yup. I have a fancy phone but I don’t have call credits, none for you! There’s a convenience store 3 stops from here, go get your “load” there.
“Hindi pa ako sumusweldo eh,” I added later and then thought Pakialam mo? May nakapaskil ban a pasa-load sa noo ko? (What do you care? Do I have a sign on my forehead that says PASA LOAD?) She didn’t hear those last two lines from me. That would be too much drama.
Come on people. If you really got to have a cellphone (enter vice/addiction here), make sure you can sustain living with one. Yes, this includes buying call and text credits yourself and not harrassing others for it.
*Pasa load – a transaction where call or text credits are bought and sent to the phone electronically, either by another private phone subscriber or a call credits vendor.
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