№ 93. Empty Universes

I have wondered why, at most times, awkwardness
steal into conversations. Why little laughs dissolve
silences, but only momentarily. Things fall back into
an ordered, inane set-up.

It's a null set. After the green light, yellow.
Then red. A messy, predictable chaos. Even a fly
tires of its daily morsels. To the sooty, almost bitter taste
of grime, there's a sterile, neutral air.

Experiences can have polarities.
Dismal; sunny. Stale; novel.
The idea of variety must seem strange.
But it's the same can we fill with little details.

Empty universes filled with
orbiting infidels and stirred assassins.

1996.

№ 92. Orb Thoughts

Our non sequiturs
faze me at times.
We litter
conversations
with rehashed musings
about the news,
godly gaps, theories,
and in-betweens.
Tweets, they call it.
At a certain age,
one soon settles
with happy
razor thoughts.

1996 and 2012

Missed Connections NY. Dandy dog,
I say.

"Tree With Legs
-w4m (Prospect Park)

Nice pants. I'd like to see more of you...
BTW, your dog winked at me."

№ 91. Sunset

Slowly,
one
by
one,
the
sails
drown,
as
the
sun,
thirsty,
takes
a
sip
of
the
ocean.

20th of December 1996

From one of the benches of the exotic Spider House
Resort in Boracay

Bento Box:

The iPhone 5 is finally out. But my first generation is still running like the energizer bunny. What to do? I say no to planned obsolescence, for now.

Meanwhile, here's a theme (Nel cor piu non mi sento) from the opera La Molinara which Beethoven expanded into six piano variations. Now learning the 5th and moving, or rather, creeping with a little more confidence towards the clincher, 6th variation.

I need a recording of these gems. It's time to replenish tired playlists.

№ 90. Brunnen

The mountain beside me
takes its last light-glide
across the lake.

It is almost tentative,
but the day calls its end.
The light traces its last fingers.

The lake senses this as well,
like the mountain. It mirrors the sun
And, reluctantly, lets go.

1st of June 1999, 9 PM


Bento Box:

On a trip to Europe, we stayed in Brunnen en route to Italy. Unlike Manila, the resort town by the Lake Lucerne in Switzerland offered so much personal space. There were only a handful of people out and about that early evening. Yet I could sense the activities inside the houses because of the lights and the smell of steaming coffee and fresh bread.

Surprisingly, our tour guide said that Austria was more mountainous than Switzerland. Uhuh.

Incidentally, "most experts agree that yodeling was used in Alpine folk music in the Central Alps as a method of communication between herders and their stock or between Alpine villages, with the multi-pitched 'yelling' later becoming part of the region's traditional lore and musical expression. The calls may also have been endearments shepherds used to express affection to their herds. The earliest record of a yodel is in 1545, where it is described as 'the call of a cowherd from Appenzell'." (Yodel)

The stage felt and appeared too big for the
performance. I think the production realized this
so they installed big projection screens.
It was distracting and it felt more like a concert
than a stage play.

№ 89. The Beach Muffins

An overpriced muffin. An over-developed beach. Boracay needs a rehab. 

№ 88. The Roll of the Keys

After my first ever paycheck, not counting the ones from many on-the-job training or internships, this was my first blood: An old Royal typewriter.

I smile when I think it was both a symbolic and a prophetic purchase. More than a decade later, I still pound the keys.

Bento Box:

Incidentally, somebody claims that the machine used in the concert clip was a Royal Typewriter. It was probably not the Royal "Quiet" De Luxe.

Here's a bit of trivia, they say that the Royal is Hemingway's machine. Nice to know.

"The Royal Quiet DeLuxe puts you right in touch with literary history -- it was one of Ernest Hemingway's favorite machines. This was the first model in a series of the Royal Quiet DeLuxe line that outsold any other portables of the time. It was introduced just before World War II, but its production was suspended when Royal Typewriter Company, like other typewriter manufacturers in the United States at the time, was converted to an ordnance factory to produce weapons. When production resumed in 1946, the Royal Quiet DeLuxe continued to gain a following among on-the-go writers and journalists." (mytypewriter)

№ 87. Entablado

The theater is a window and a mirror.

First, one peers at some unfamiliar reality outside himself and immerses his next minutes exploring the wonderland. Second, he sees a reflection of some familiar bedfellow and risks pages of emotions and memories from the epiphany.

Theater can be hazardous.

№ 86. In the midst of winter....

Lies an invincible summer.....

I think Camus said it metaphysically. And, I say, it sounds much better:

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

Here's a sunny track to go with the visuals.