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.

Like A Virgin, so overwhelmed with my First-Ever Art Exhibit

"Panoynoy" 1x1 (excluding the frame) WV on Paper
-my first ever exhibited artwork! :)
Photo Credit: Raisa Joy G. (for Gorgeous) Castel

There's always a first time for everything. And last 2012 had been a year of firsts for me. One of the things I never imagined that I'll have a first time with is an art exhibit. But I was lucky enough to be invited by one of my friends, Don Demetita, to submit an artwork for the Children's Month Celebration last October 5, 2012 to the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Art Gallery.

Silver Linings Playbook and another Sunday lover

I've just watched Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and I love it! The movie is just so awesome and wonderful and refreshing and every other positive adjective that an honest movie critic can give! It's just amazing!

Precariously vicarious

It's 2013! So, happy new year!!! It's also Dinagyang today, so, happy Dinagyang, as well!

There's not that much that has happened so far this January. Except maybe that I have been reading a lot of books and watched a lot of movies lately to satiate my need to be thrown into lives that aren't my own because I can't find the time and resources (yet) to make mine less boring. In other words, I haven't really created (i.e. written or drawn or painted) anything myself lately. Guilty, puppy-eyed look with bottom lip quivering.

Accreditation as I see it

Dali,
manghabol kita ka ramig kag tun-og kang bag-ong bun-ag nga adlaw.

This is a late post of my personal snapshots taken of the fuzz that is called AACUP Level 1 Accreditation. These photos are the sights that I rose up to one morning (December 10th, if I'm not mistaken) when we stayed overnight at school to prepare for it:

 The fog makes the oval behind the mango trees look as if a hundred invisible sprinters has started an early run on it, and disappeared in a cloud of dust. This is just outside the School of Education building.

An Appallingly Forgetful Geek

I've been rooting to attend the first-ever Iloilo Comic Con (Robinson's Place, December 1, 2012) ever since Nong Donne posted about it a couple months back. I think I even scribbled it on my organizer and put an entry on my cellphone's calendar.

But I forgot.

Amazing moments that transpired so far on my 27th year

Amazed.

 Alternate title: My first semester as a part-time instructor in a college situated in a non-urban environment

Also: How life has been so far, for the first whole year (it’s not actually a year but I feel like it has been) that I spent in a non-urban environment

I know I do this all the time. I come to you and delight in you and then I leave you because I become too busy with my life. But remember this, you’re always in my mind.

Blurry Sunsets

Because words escape me often nowadays.

Dorano, Dorano, you made me weep

It's the first of those days in a month and I'm feeling wonderfully weepy. Random things are making me shed tears of inexplicable origin. Among those things is this sidebar story I read while researching about the Olympics on Encarta Encyclopedia:

****

Italian marathon runner Dorando Pietri became one of the most famous Olympic athletes in 1908 for the manner in which he lost the marathon event. British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, described Pietri’s final few agonizing yards in this account. American runner John Hayes, who crossed the finish line second, was awarded the gold medal.

Thank you, Lord!

My birthday face! I painted this yesterday on my birthday --this is how colorful my life has become!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for birthday gifts that you have given, both great and small! Thank you for all the people and experiences that have helped shaped my entire 27 years.

Love,

Your child, Maia

"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!" -Psalm 16:8

Prayers for my birthday

"Lord, always, always, always guide me. Show me the way. Light up my birthday candles and show me the proper path to follow when my cellphone battery goes out and I find myself in darkness."  -the short, silly version

I just got this pic from Google. But count the candles, there's really 27 of them!

Today, I am celebrating my 27^th year of being born into this amazing world. I wanted to write about some 27 things that I am grateful for on my birthday, or 27 wishes or prayers.I thought about it and realized that I have more than 27 things to be thankful for (although I may come up with the 27 most important later today. *wink2x* Who knows? I might I just surprise you). I also realized that for the wishes/prayers, I actually just have a few important ones.

If I were a rock star, I would be very, very afraid now

Morbid thoughts on becoming (Forever) 27

 

If I were a rock star, and not just any rock star but a superstitious rock star, I would be a shivering, nervous piece of wreck by now. My thoughts would be plagued by the inevitable tragedy (becoming part of the special group called Forever 27 Club) that's going to befall me any day from two days to 365 days from now --my 27th year in this world, an age when most rock stars who are true to their music choose to die, with tragic as their preferred approach to dying.

My gratitude list

Just for today

I know I haven't done the other list yet, but this just cannot wait. Otherwise, I'll completely forget all about it. And this is a pretty important list, mind you. It's my gratitude list. Just for today, because after today, there will still be a lot to be grateful for.

So here they are -- the things that I am thankful to God for:

• Family
• Friends
• Wonderful nephews and nieces
• Inspiring people – writers, artists, teachers, celebrities
• TV shows to watch, movies to watch, books to read
• My love for drawing/painting rekindled
• My love and zest for writing rekindled
• A hope that I’ll get that part-time teaching job in (secret for now)
• Showing me that announcement in the school's website by accident 
• Showing me the way to follow, and making sure I follow it even if it's too foggy still to see the road-- which is to be of benefit to others 
• Brewing in me a sense of responsibility that I have never felt before—please Lord, make this “tuloy-tuloy” na.
• Again, finally able to write/ discover that I indeed have a potential to help people as a writer, but first of course, I need to become a better one 
•  Making me love you more and more and not letting go of me – meaning, I’m happy that I know you more deeply now as compared before 
•  Letting me discover the best in everyone instead of their worst 
•  Giving me strength in times when I am tested by conflict, negative emotions, etc. 
•  Again, a time to write, a peace of mind to write, a clearer, more headstrong, and purpose-driven attitude to write 
•  A surge of ideas to write about! Thank you! 
•  Reminding me always that nothing is impossible in you!

 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.    -Psalm 118:1 

Things have become new

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
-2 Corinthians 5:17

 It's June and it has been long time since I wrote in this blog --this blog which, if you look at it, seemed to be a lost blog --and that is exactly what I had been --lost, very lost.

June may be the sixth month in a year, but for me, it represents a new beginning. It's just aptly so, for somebody like me who is bound to be a teacher, because June represents the start of a new school year here in the Philippines. And this is my June now--new life, new opportunities.

I wanted to simply delete this blog, but then decided to leave it as it is-- with all my unorganized, unclassified, infrequently updated posts intact for everybody who comes across my blog to see, and for me to be reminded of just how 'lost' I had been.

Right now, for me, this is just a beginning of my true journey to become the best person that God created me to be. I may not be 'there' yet, in fact, the truth is I believe, I am just starting out like a newly sprouted seed, but with the help of our Lord, with prayers from family and friends, I will grow.

Wake me, Supermoon

The moon has been and will always be one of my favorite things. Everytime I travel at night, like when I'd be late in going home from the city, the sight of the moon right outside the FilCab (commuter van service in our town) window makes my heart miss a beat. I can truly attest that the full moon indeed is force that stirs powerful desires from the hearts of women. It drove me to full blown impassioned writing in the middle of the night during high school. It inspired me to create poems about love found and lost. Staring at the moon transported my mind out my room and into the night.

Almost a year ago, on March 19, 2011, the moon came closest to the earth on its elliptical orbit and many lucky people, and luckier photographers, all over the world were able to witness, and capture (in the case of the photographers) Luna at her full grandeur.

I missed seeing this rare phenomenon last year although I remember seeing this on the news. Either that, or I read about it on Facebook. Anyway, March 19,  I knew I was out at Jesther's (one of my former creative writing students) 18th birthday party at El Dorado. A few days before, I guess you could say I was already feeling the supermoon's pull because I was out, or rather in(doors) with a werewolf.

And so since I missed blogging about this uber-duper-extra-supermoon, let me do so now. Hmm.. Come to think of it, this topic wasn't even included among the list of things I should have blogged about the past year. I also haven't really thought about the moon the way I once regarded it for a long, long time now and along with that lost devotion/belief went a bit of my ability to dream, my ability to soar into the unknown. So this post is just proper.

Enough of the intro, here's the actual body of my post-- ten of the 50 awe-inspiring pictures of the supermoon taken by amateur and professional photographers, as featured in Buzzfeed.com:

1. Williamstown, Australia
 
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2. Upstate New York
 
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3. Miami, Florida
 
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4. Portugal
  
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5. Athens, Greece

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 6. The Netherlands
 
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7. Mexico City

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8. Colorado
 
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9. Bangalore, India
 
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10. Germany
 
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These are my choicest picks of the 50 photographs featured. I hope they've re-inspired you as they did me. To view the rest of these amazing supermoon photos, click here.