The Upper Blog

9/29/2026 ‒

I hadn't thought about Gay for a while. For many, many years, actually.

It's not like I haven't been seeing her on my social media feeds. She's now settled in Australia; I often see her striking poses. Yes, I know I haven't been making an effort to reach out to my elementary school classmates - there's this niggling feeling that I never really shared anything in common with them decades on, so why bother with the discomfort? - so when I see her posts I just notice them for a split-second and move on.

That makes this a little weird. It's not like we're the closest of friends - who was I closest to in elementary, though? - but we did talk a fair bit, especially during lunch breaks, especially when she would have sardines with egg. I almost always asked her for some.

9/28/2026 ‒

Imminent death

I've got myself a new air conditioning unit over the weekend.

It was a long overdue purchase, one that had been in the works for years. The old one I had was a hand-me-down - it was a unit my parents didn't use much, and why waste it if it's still working perfectly? But then, that one is really old, and therefore not as power-efficient as the units currently on sale. (Like, a whole new technology more efficient.) And also, it's perhaps a matter of time before it dies.

A couple of weeks back my mother raised that idea again. "Buy a new aircon," she said, upon learning that I didn't have anything specific I wanted to buy with my possible yearend bonuses.

9/19/2026 ‒

The shoulder lock, twenty years on

Clearly I haven't forgotten about Kevin's "shoulder lock" theory. I still remember the day I heard him talk about it with some classmates - and I definitely remember that I was just listening in to that conversation, rather than being part of it from the start.

And I remember what the whole thing is all about. If you like someone, he says, your body will somehow face them, even if you're doing something else entirely. Like, I'm writing on my laptop, and my head is looking at the laptop, but my whole body is turned towards someone else, unknowingly.

I don't know why I remember this in particular, but this does come to mind when I find myself attracted to someone. I get self-conscious, and I think of Kevin, and the shoulder lock, and whether I'm doing it. Yes? No? You're definitely overthinking, but she is attractive.

8/31/2026 ‒

Put them back in the freezer

Now, it's been a miserable August.

Not for me personally, no. I've been busy, but busy isn't necessarily miserable. But, objectively, it's been a miserable August, even if you weren't directly affected by all this rain. If you have a hint of humanity in you, you'd feel a little bad at some point, and then you'll understand - yes, it's been a miserable August.

The thing is, tomorrow there will be a sudden gear shift. The first day of September marks the beginning of the Philippine Christmas season, after all. Yeah, sure, it's more of a marketing thing than an actual sentiment - I don't think we felt that festive in the last four months of last year - but collectively we all know that the end is in sight, so to speak, and when midnight of 25 December rolls along we, or at least most of us, should be in the presence of our loved ones, stuffing ourselves with more food than usual. And that anticipation rumbles in by August, when our social media feeds start to fill with images of Jose Mari Chan and Mariah Carey in ice cubes, being thawed.

8/29/2026 ‒

The exposed midriff

A woman wearing a crop top entered the café, and I stared at her intently. But not because of the exposed midriff.

Okay, it is because of the exposed midriff. But also because the rain got stronger the moment she entered, and I couldn't help but think of her thought process when she chose what she would wear before she went to the café.

And no, I'm pretty sure this is not me policing a woman's choices. But I really couldn't help but think. It's been gloomy all day. It's been raining hard last night. Wouldn't wearing a crop top make you too cold? And it's not like she had a jacket, too.

Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog. Subscribe to this blog, follow him on Twitter, or check out Nicksy Once Monthly, his monthly (for now) music newsletter.

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