On Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 7-9pm, Ani32 (Global Pinoy Issue) will launch at the Conspiracy Garden Cafe on Visayas Ave., Quezon City. A project of The Cultural Center of the Philippines Literary Arts Division and the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing, it features poems and prose by 48 Filipino writers and one of these is Batjay of the kWeNtOnG tAmBaY fame, no less.
So if you have the time and are looking for a gig on Tuesday night, this is the place to go. There will be performances by Gary Granada and Noel Cabangon and excerpts from the featured writers' works will be read while you dine and booze. It's going to be a great night!
I hope I can say see you there but naaah, some people can't be as lucky.
If that exchange happened while you were taking your shower, early in the day while you were getting ready for work...
and you find everything that was going on in your head stop...
the materials you have to read up on for the orientation, the baby you were taking care of yesterday, making a mental note to stop by the unit during lunch for a visit just to take a peek on her because she might have been discharged by the time you get back on Monday, what to wear cause you have to remember it's not scrubs for today, keep a mental picture of your road so you don't have to make the same driving mistakes you made yesterday, the things you have to do over the weekend and none of them is actually fun...
tons of things!
So anyway, if you find all of these stuff come to a halt and what comes to the fore is that you have somebody to have this exchange with in the middle of all these on such a time of day...
and after 15 years it's still the same somebody...
and this exchange still weighs so much it puts everything else in the background...
that it makes you want to stop and pray, 'Thank You.'
I don't know what to call that. I just know it warms my heart so beautifully on a colder-than-usual autumn morning.
And if you find yourself blogging about this 15 minutes before taking off for work...
I was on my morning walk, down the strip of road that led to a dead end. This even-steven road with no tricky twists and turns came after two uphill climbs and a downhill run in between, so this is where I had like a resting-strut before a final climb and a final downhill run after which I headed back home.
This morning, on this road, just before I turned right at the corner, the sprinklers came off and I saw my rainbow. Well it wasn't really a rainbow. It was an arch of colors caught in the prism between the water and the sunlight. Nobody else could see it because it was just at that spot and I was the only one there at that exact minute. So I claimed it as mine. I watched it a while, wondering if I'd catch it on film.
After a few minutes, I went on my way. Now, down this road too, the pavement would often be littered with the curled-up, stiff bodies of little earthworms. The sight of these things didn't really bother me, I didn't find them icky at all. But this morning, for the first time since I started taking these morning walks, I saw one little worm crawling towards me. I stopped and squatted to watch it for a while, I would even have petted it if I didn't abhor slime. Yup, definitely a non-dead, non-curled-up, non-stiff, crawling little worm.
Just like the birds that keep on flying Just like the wind that keeps on blowing I see a wave of oceans rolling on and on Just like the sun, these gifts are here for everyone
Just like the trees that keep on giving Just like the grass that keeps on growing I hear the sound of children singing on and on Just like the sun, these gifts are here for everyone
Just like the flowers that keep on blowing Just like the leaves that keep on turning I feel the change of seasons going on and on Just like the sun, these gifts are here for everyone
Just like the moon that keeps on shining Just like the stars that keep on twinkling I know the world of wonder playing on and on Just like the sun, these gifts are here for everyone
It's almost a year ago... no, let me correct the sentiment in this statement.
It has only been a year ago when Pyro was diagnosed with cancer... a year that feels like ages past, and since then, he's been in and out of the hospital for stuff no child his age should ever have to go through. But he's been brave and he has been battling every single snag thrown at him, up to this very moment.
Remarkable, isn't it, for one so young. What's even more remarkable is that through it all, he hasn't forgotten how it is to be a kid... to play, and sing, to have heroes, and to wish.
He has seen Batista (yes, the wrestler) on TV and he wishes to see him in person too. Unfortunately he can't go to the malls like the other kids to grab at that once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity cause he has to be in the hospital.
So if by some 'fat' chance you are Batista and you are reading this, please know that you are this kid's sun right now. What say you shine your rays on him and make his day one of these days? I'll owe you one big time.
If you're reading this and you are not Batista but you have a means of making this kid's dream come true, why not try and make it? I'll owe you one big time too.
Now, if you are reading this and you are not Batista nor can you make this dream come true but you have a blog, you're welcome to blog about it and hope with us that in some godsent way, your blog will be read by someone who can channel the request to the right people. I will owe you one nonetheless.
And if you are reading this and you are not Batista, and you don't have the means to make this dream come true nor are you maintaining a blog, please join us and pray that somebody, somewhere, somehow will be able to do something and yes, I will owe you one too.
AND WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE TO SIT IT OUT OR DANCE... I HOPE YOU DANCE
I was on my way back from the Lab for another set of blood draw, still part of my pre-employment physical. Let me try and paint the picture as accurately as I can and maybe help you get a glimpse of what I felt with what I saw.
Out on the terrace, there was a man, standing beside a boy of about 10 or 12. From where I was looking, the man wanted to gather the boy in his arms but he seemed almost afraid to. There was a lady who was more forward in helping out the boy. She appeared to be a hospital staff but was in plain clothes.
And there was the boy, struggling to take off his sunglasses like it was the most complicated thing he had to do at that very minute. He was staggering back, leaving it up to his backside to find a chair where he could pile the lump that was himself. He had his hand over his eyes. He was in tears.
It has been a while, a very long while, since I've had to care about a stranger, well... if I may be pragmatic, they're all strangers... going through something like this. One may grow rusty from lack of practice but you know, it's not something that one grows out of. One time or another, you realize that it's been always there. Dormant, maybe, but still there.
Seeing what I saw, I felt myself drawn to the boy, wanting to offer some comfort. But of course I couldn't cause it wasn't my business and the 'proper authority' was there to see to that. Well, in a little while, I too, will be 'proper authority.' Until then, all I could do was whisper a prayer for him and wish that he finds comfort for whatever was making him sad.
The work is called nursing. The job though, is really called compassion.
Something like this happens and I tell you, you won't know what to say cause there are a million things you want to say all at once and you get lost in the midst of all the feelings, and ideas and questions. And did I say feelings? Yes, I guess that's how I would properly call them, collectively... cause right now, I've got no name for each and everyone of them... I know I'm proud, and happy, and hopeful and awed and many, many more!
But don't stay here reading this crap! Go and get your copy over at the World Trade Center where they have the The 27th Manila International Book Fair and you have to hurry cause today is the last day! Go!
And while you're at it, I'm gonna hover over to where the author is cause he's got some explaining to do... coming up with something like this and not telling me about it until the last minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah... you wanted it to be a surprise. I hear you! But still... why only now???
"It's in the simplest existence,in the humblest company and in the emptiest moments that I learned to appreciate what I had... and find happiness right where I was. I didn't have to reach far and dream big. One can only be as big as one sees oneself. The world will always be bigger still... and God, even more."
