It's ten to four in the afternoon and traffic is already terrible along the South Luzon Expressway. "But of course," I mutter to myself. "There is no such thing as rush hour anymore." That, and trucks are plying the route, although there never really are a lot of trucks along this highway when the sun is up.
For some reason the car's audio cable wasn't around, but I was still winging it. I want to listen to a radio station that's not from where I am. So, off to Monocle 24 I go, my phone playing it out loud even if the results will never be as good, turning it up just as my copy of Mamamoo's Melting finished. (Okay, it's our copy. The first thing Shalla and I own together. It had to be a Korean pop album.)
Traffic had really slowed down now. Could it be the idiots blocking the entire highway just to exit to Bicutan? Or Sucat? It has happened before, many times - a regular occurrence, actually. Ah, well, at least the stream isn't dropping, although I'd really rather be sleeping now.
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3/30/2016
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3/28/2016
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A friend once suggested to me that, once people get to spend time with me and know me, they will like me.
Well, it's a nice thing to hear, but right now I'm having another one of those moments. Perhaps, apart from my girlfriend and a few others - mostly people who feel obligated to at least tolerate me - nobody really likes me.
Once again, I wonder if there's really something about me that people will never, ever like.
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Well, it's a nice thing to hear, but right now I'm having another one of those moments. Perhaps, apart from my girlfriend and a few others - mostly people who feel obligated to at least tolerate me - nobody really likes me.
Once again, I wonder if there's really something about me that people will never, ever like.
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3/25/2016
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Did you know that today is National Crucifixion Day?
Every Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ gave up His life on the cross for all of mankind, we mark National Crucifixion Day. This is when we let go of all that is bad in our lives - all that stresses us, all that angers us, all that disappoints us, all that irritates us - by crucifying them on a metaphorical cross. At the end of the day, we come out cleansed, absolved and refreshed, with a lighter load, ready to face the days ahead.
So, to mark this special day, who would you like to crucify, and why?
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Every Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ gave up His life on the cross for all of mankind, we mark National Crucifixion Day. This is when we let go of all that is bad in our lives - all that stresses us, all that angers us, all that disappoints us, all that irritates us - by crucifying them on a metaphorical cross. At the end of the day, we come out cleansed, absolved and refreshed, with a lighter load, ready to face the days ahead.
So, to mark this special day, who would you like to crucify, and why?
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3/23/2016
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Like any guy who's traveled more than usual in a given time period, I now feel like I'm an expert. I, therefore, have become an asshole like I think everybody else is.
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3/17/2016
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Once again I'm forcing myself to write something here. It's been seventeen days since the last time I wrote something - and that thing I wrote, I also forced out of myself.
Yep, looks like we're at that point.
I usually have a lot of things going on in my head. Now, not so. Arguably it's a good thing. But along with the dissipation (for now) of the self-loathing came the dissipation of all those concepts that would make for good essays. I guess I've been powering myself, for the past decade, with cynicism and frustration and all-too-frequent confusion that, when that got out of the way, I have nothing.
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Yep, looks like we're at that point.
I usually have a lot of things going on in my head. Now, not so. Arguably it's a good thing. But along with the dissipation (for now) of the self-loathing came the dissipation of all those concepts that would make for good essays. I guess I've been powering myself, for the past decade, with cynicism and frustration and all-too-frequent confusion that, when that got out of the way, I have nothing.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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Some photographs have been edited using post-production curves from Shalla Yu.
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