3/31/2013 ‒
The things you do on Good Friday

You'd watch the television on Holy Wednesday and you'd be forgiven for thinking that all we do on Holy Week - or, well, technically, half of Holy Week, the four days, from Thursday to Sunday, when we all get a holiday - is go on holiday. The news cycle becomes slow, so the evening newscasts, with their substitute anchors, would talk in between live shots from the NLEX and the SLEX, and chat with reporters stationed at a bus terminal, or a ferry port, or maybe Boracay.

That guy in Boracay would probably be the showbiz reporter, and his beat would shift towards answering one question: what are our favorite celebrities doing this Lent? Siyempre, it's a time to contemplate. That's what they'd definitely answer, while wearing swimwear, only a little more modest - there's be a shirt where Derek Ramsey's abs would usually be, for instance - and, behind them, fellow beachgoers who are having so much fun they're oblivious to the fact that there's a camera near them. And it's pointed at Derek Ramsey.

My mother's grandmother (my grandmother's mother - or should I just say "my mother's mother's mother" and be done with it?) probably wouldn't like it. A chunk of my mom's childhood was spent at her grandmother's place in Bulacan, and whenever Holy Week would roll along - especially Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ died on the cross - she and her siblings would be forbidden to do anything. No work. Definitely no fun. My great grandmother would remind them every now and then that they aren't supposed to do anything, because, well, Jesus Christ just died on the cross.

Read more »

3/25/2013 ‒
Your patience is appreciated

As if to insult me, it took me a longer time to get out of the building for lunch today.

Now, this happens relatively commonly. An elevator would open, only to reveal that it's packed - a sad state of affairs for both those waiting outside, and those being transported inside. (I certainly had those thoughts a few times before. If the elevator knows it's crowded - and our building has those elevators that talk to you, like, "sorry, the elevator is crowded, your patience is appreciated" - then how come do you still open the doors for people who won't have a chance to get in anyway?) Sometimes we'd resort to taking an elevator up just so we're guaranteed a good spot when we go down. Cumbersome, and it can take forever, which is not helpful if you're really hungry.

Today, however, was different. As always, an elevator opened. As always, it's a full elevator - well, not that full, because my colleague and I figured there's enough space for two more. We stepped in, and the elevator talked.

Read more »

3/19/2013 ‒
A tale of two former colonies

The weather may be foggy, but it hasn't stopped this woman from taking a photo of Hong Kong Island's skyline.

I've always said that I want to go to Hong Kong a second time. The first time we went there - this was six, maybe seven years ago - we were first-timers to traveling overseas, and so in between the prerequisite city tours and the need to go to every tourist destination possible, we were pressed for time and did not have the chance to soak everything in.

Read more »

3/04/2013 ‒
For the peculiar kids

The view from the third floor, using a semi-crappy camera, because my iPhone was with Rainy, and my shittier camera was with my sister.

If I wanted to really rile up a bunch of book readers desperately waiting for a chance to meet their favorite author, I should've said something like this: "John Green is jologs."

Read more »