Lightning will never hit the same place twice

Top: My Lola Mama, Auntie Jo, my Tito Nono's wife, mom of youngest apo and my cousin Noynoy, me with pink polka-dotted umbrella, mom.
Bottom: Inday, Tito Nono, Auntie Jo, Manoy Biboy, me, Manay Nic-Nic, Manay Virgie

These two pictures were taken on the same day that a terrible surge of lightning hit Mom and Dad's house and friend the electricity, the appliances and even the clothesline. This was like, if I was two years old here, more than 20 years ago. Nobody was home because I was visiting (remember I didn't live with them for like the first 18 years of my life?), and Noynoy Deoseph Barcelo Lamzon the cutest newborn was also in the house "sa takas" so picture2x sa "balay sa takas," and at the LIST amphitheater with Nono and Auntie Jo. Timay just went back to the house to get the camera daw when that lightning struck. It was crazy scary daw. 

So, ikaw? Did you duck down this afternoon when that terrible, terrible flash of lightning lit up the sky? Did you shriek when the thunder that followed scared the bejeezus out of you? Well, I did, too. 

And so did Mom and Dad and my nephew Toto Vince who were the only people at home when lightning hit the house again after 20+ years TODAY, as in this afternoon, and chunks of concrete flung into the "humba2x" where Dad or Mom would usually sit.

bBut this afternoon, Mom was sitting on the table with Toto Vince, who just came home from DELMES waiting for his Tatay to come get him, urging him to eat more food, and Dad was in the kitchen just a little bit away from the circuit breaker which exploded and blew apart and scattered the old toaster and some bottles which were in front of it. 

Mom said the flash was so bright she thought her coffee mug exploded and Dad said the thunder so loud that it was several times double a "granada" explosion (what's granada by the way, is it flashbomb or Molotov cocktail? I'm not sure). Toto Vince ducked under the table daw but then his cockiness soon resumed a few hours later when he asked Mom, "Ano, Mommy, kaagi si Daddy guro pangawat sang gamay na hay? Insa kilatan kita haw?" ("Mommy, I bet Daddy has stolen something when he was a kid, ano? Is that why lightning hit us?")

Hehe. :) When we're all home, Vince was super-duper enthusiastic in telling about his experience absorbing all of Mommy's "Abi ko mapatay dun kami!" ("I thought we were going to die!") exclamations. When Timay came, his greeting was "Mama Panen, kalag dun kami!" (Mama Panen, we're already ghosts!")

How scary yet surely unreal and unforgettable. How I wish I was there. Really. I'm sure it was like witnessing something that you're not supposed to see, like that weird broadcaster guy in the movie "2012" who went to the top of the mountain to welcome the end of the world, or maybe like when Thor hit the Earth when he fell from Asgard. Like Death. Cool.

My only thought this afternoon when that lightning hit and cut the school's power off was "Oh no, I can't print and photocopy my exam for my next class." Wow. Mom and Dad and my little nephew could have been embers now, thank you dear God for not letting that happen and for giving Toto Vince an experience that I hope he will never ever forget and that someday will fuel something creative from him. Yey!

#neversaynever #lightningandthunder #scary #cool #morbid #unforgettable #wishiwasthere

Mom, I bought the whole NBS! (Actually just Trese 5! And Manila Noir! Finally!)

WARNING: Brag post ala Princess Jeane (with an e) Napoles. Hehe.

"Look, Mom, I finally have Trese 5 and Manila Noir!" 

As if my mom would care. LOL. Well, she did. She told me, "Kon ginbakal mo dia ka Ken Follet, nalipay pa ko." (If you bought a Ken Follet, I'd be happier.) Hmf, as if I didn't catch her reading Trese. 

So, I have them naaaa. (Shivers) "Yehey! Thank you, Lord!" is all I can say when finally, finally, after much hoping and waiting and wishing, I found these two at National Book Store in SM City Iloilo last Friday. At last, Trese 5 and Manila Noir  - miiiine!!!

I was so happy I felt like I had drank some of Hank's coffee at the Diabolical and I forgot all about my pending payable-when-able loans from friends and bought these two babies immediately. Hehe. I promise the god of comics that I will pay you guys next pay day. Promise.

Speaking of pending, I still have many pending reviews to write about, not to mention some lit works that I really need to do (SanAg 2013). Tsk. I just can't seem to tease them out of my head, especially now that I have new welcome distraaaactions....! ^_^

So, there you go. Not all that glitters is a Louboutin shoe. Sometimes, it's just a moonlit leftover toe. 

Fish stories

I wish one day I can try to sit on a boat in a tranquil lake somewhere and then cast a fishing line out into the water, and discover what thoughts can swim into my brain as I wait for the fish to bite. 

My last student for tonight was a lawyer who likes to fish. He wanted to have a free conversation lesson, but didn't appear to be willing to make the effort of talking. Perhaps he was sleepy or tired. Well so was I. I slept at three in the morning this Sunday, and woken up at seven-thirty, because I had an 8 o'clock class. Now this student didn't really tell me a lot about himself so I just revolved around the topic of fishing. 

So we talked about Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea, which he said he's heard of but haven't read yet, a favorite foreign language indie film of mine, which was Japanese, but he hadn't seen (understandable- indie, remember?), Fish Story, and Hayao Miyasaki's Ponyo, an animated film about a fish-princess who fell in love with a human boy.

I was mostly the one talking during the 30-minute lesson, and I hoped I didn't bore him when I told him why he should read The Old Man and The Sea-- Hemingway's classic tale about the determination of one old man who was determined to finish a task he had vowed himself to do against all odds. 

As for Fish Story (フィッシュストーリー Fisshū Sutōrī), I saw this movie last 2011 (?) amid all the hype about the world ending on the 21st of December, 2012. This was what that movie was about - the end of the world, and how punk rock saved it. Superduper awesomest punk rock movie ever made, by director Yoshihiro Nakamura.

Ponyo he was familiar with. I guess Hayao Miyasaki was a household name in Japan. So. I told him I really liked the films of Hayao Miyasaki because they always send a positive message. He said he's kind of a pessimistic person, so he needs to watch these kinds of films more often to encourage him, although he didn't sound eager to be encouraged. Hmm, it was kind of ironic (and I told him this) for somebody who likes fishing to be a pessimist. "What, you're hoping for the fish not to bite?" I asked him.

In hearing/inferring on what he said about himself, an image of a man who sits on the grassy bank of the river, fishing rod cast out to the shore, unmoved both in spirit and body came into mind (I hope I can find a better avenue for this sudden image - poetry perhaps). And reflecting about it, I realized he has every right to be pessimistic, and I have no right to challenge that. I too, have my dark days.

I haven't fished in my life, who am I to know what thoughts flow through a man's stream of consciousness as he draws his fishing line and watches the current and waits for the fish? 

Homer Winslow's "Boy Fishing" 

Prayer check-- granted or still pending?

This year, my prayer is that may I soar and hunt and dive and kill (figuratively) like a great owl.
(c) Owl design on Landyacht longboard, by Andreas Preis

Last year, there were a handful of things that I prayed for. So, before the month of June ends, I want to look back and see whether God has been looking kindly at me this year.

I actually just had six things I prayed for last year - a desire to keep on growing, my teaching career, my writing career, being focused and fueled, loving others and proclaiming God's love. Let's see if my simple prayers had been answered...

Early birthday presents- The Demon Dungeon, Underpass, Artwork, Charles & Keith

Note: This is not a review of the books, just a brag post about newly acquired material possessions. Bwahahaha. The reviews are to follow. But read along if you shall.