While everyone's swooning over Rihanna and Chris Brown's concert slated to be staged on the 15th of November, my friend Maphene and I are going ga-ga over the arrival of ABBA and their concert in PICC plenary on November 21.
ABBA? Who listens to ABBA these days?
"if you change your mind, im next in line... honey im still free take a chance on me..."
"you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life..."
"i can still recall, our last summer..."
most of the songs i have sung numerous times in then 5-peso-per-song karaoke, and now in our office's magic sing without even glancing to check the lyrics because i know their songs like the back of my hand, so they say.
while my classmates back in gradeschool were singing "larger than life"," oh baby baby baby from meteor garden" and "oops I did it again by Spears, I was singing ABBA or the Carpenters.
So could you just imagine, how a fanatic would let this chance pass by? It's like sleeping on a warm bed in a noisy turn of the Millennium eve...
whatever.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saving the Fish from Dying
For 6 months now, I have been taking care of two goldfish which I bought from Walter Mart in Pasong Tamo. The shop has closed now and was replaced by a dance studio. 6 months ago, on a payday, I decided that I wanted to take care of a pet just so we have something alive inside the house (of course, except us.).
That night, I brought home 2 chubby fantail goldfish which I named Yin and Yang. I could tell them apart because Yang's fantail was kind of separated, making it seemingly two tails, while Yin only had one. Both of them had really fat tummies. Shiny scaly fat tummies.
For the longest time, the fish had eased off my everyday stress, seeing them eat and swim and eat and swim and eat and...well, after all they're goldfish, that's what they do. In my previous Multiply account, I even kided that I was starting to teach them some literary criticisms so they could do some other things besides eating and swimming. :)
They weren't demanding and sensitive fish. There was one time when Makati had a terrible city-wide blackout so there was no electricity to sustain the aerator but they had means of surviving by swimming and breathing at the top of the tank. They're clever for goldfish who's not being trained at all.
But one time, arriving from a very long day at work, I did the unthinkable. There were only three sockets on that part of our house where the aerator, exhaust fan and the electric fan was plugged. Since it was about 40 degrees hot, I couldn't give up the electric and exhaust fan so I had to unplug the aerator to charge my other fone which I wasn't really bringing with me. And then I slept. The next thing I knew, my mom was shouting that the other fish has already died. That was Yang.
I said sorry to Yang. Had I not been too selfish, he/she could still have been here.
I had to look for another fish to accompany Yin one weekend. Together with my colleagues from work, we went to Megamall, Trinoma, SM North and Glorietta to find a similar fish but I couldn't find one. I didn't want the goldfish they were selling as they looked like the bangus or dalagang bukid that they were selling in the Public Market. So I had to stick with just one fish in the globe tank.
Two weeks or so after, when Yin was all alone in the globe aquarium, I came home unsually early and saw the blurry aquarium water. I decided to change the water instead. Unusual, because my mom usually does it. She has her way of taking out the filter from the narrow tank opening. So after taking out Yin off the tank, I had to get the filter next and in a split second I just heard glass breaking. I just broke the glass tank. I swear I did not forcefully take out the filter but yeah, who cares, I broke it anyway.
Armed with guilt and a few hundred bucks in my purse, I had to go to Cartimar, the pet haven, to find a replacement tank. At around 6:30 am, not all the stalls were opened so I had to wait till 7am so I could shop. Eventually, instead of just buying a new fishtank, I ended up buying 4 really small goldfish and a big one.
When my mom and I set it up, it was very apparent how Yin stood out from the rest. He/She was a GOLD fish--the rest of the Cartimar hailed fish were not gold--but orange. I didn't come up with names for the 5 new ones because they were all the same. I couldn't tell them apart.
Two days later, Yin was swimming differently. Somersaulting, if there was a better way to describe it. My mom was even amused seeing it because it was something new for her.
The next day, Yin was floating and swimming on its back. It was still breathing, struggling at least. And that was when I tried reviving her. I sccoped her out of the fishtank and placed her in what I called Intensive Care Unit--a makeshift microwaveable container with aerator. There I had to feed her using a toothpick because she could no longer swim properly and get food for herself. I was then ready for her to leave. Seeing her in tattered fins and tail made me, ok this is exaggeration but yeah, cry. For some reasons, the fish I got from Cartimar, although really cheap compared to that from Bio were no less than Piranhas. He/She was brutally assaulted.
Yin lasted for more than 24 hours in that state. And during entire time, I was praying that Yin would stay alive because I knew he/she still wanted to. While Yin was in my makeshift ICU, I played the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, Asin and some Enya tracks. I prayed until I accepted that fact that 6 months was a long time for goldfish to live. And maybe, just maybe, it was her/his Tao to go. The Fish God maybe thinks that same way, too.
I saw Yin's last breath. Time of death: 12:55pm.
That night, I brought home 2 chubby fantail goldfish which I named Yin and Yang. I could tell them apart because Yang's fantail was kind of separated, making it seemingly two tails, while Yin only had one. Both of them had really fat tummies. Shiny scaly fat tummies.
For the longest time, the fish had eased off my everyday stress, seeing them eat and swim and eat and swim and eat and...well, after all they're goldfish, that's what they do. In my previous Multiply account, I even kided that I was starting to teach them some literary criticisms so they could do some other things besides eating and swimming. :)
They weren't demanding and sensitive fish. There was one time when Makati had a terrible city-wide blackout so there was no electricity to sustain the aerator but they had means of surviving by swimming and breathing at the top of the tank. They're clever for goldfish who's not being trained at all.
But one time, arriving from a very long day at work, I did the unthinkable. There were only three sockets on that part of our house where the aerator, exhaust fan and the electric fan was plugged. Since it was about 40 degrees hot, I couldn't give up the electric and exhaust fan so I had to unplug the aerator to charge my other fone which I wasn't really bringing with me. And then I slept. The next thing I knew, my mom was shouting that the other fish has already died. That was Yang.
I said sorry to Yang. Had I not been too selfish, he/she could still have been here.
I had to look for another fish to accompany Yin one weekend. Together with my colleagues from work, we went to Megamall, Trinoma, SM North and Glorietta to find a similar fish but I couldn't find one. I didn't want the goldfish they were selling as they looked like the bangus or dalagang bukid that they were selling in the Public Market. So I had to stick with just one fish in the globe tank.
Two weeks or so after, when Yin was all alone in the globe aquarium, I came home unsually early and saw the blurry aquarium water. I decided to change the water instead. Unusual, because my mom usually does it. She has her way of taking out the filter from the narrow tank opening. So after taking out Yin off the tank, I had to get the filter next and in a split second I just heard glass breaking. I just broke the glass tank. I swear I did not forcefully take out the filter but yeah, who cares, I broke it anyway.
Armed with guilt and a few hundred bucks in my purse, I had to go to Cartimar, the pet haven, to find a replacement tank. At around 6:30 am, not all the stalls were opened so I had to wait till 7am so I could shop. Eventually, instead of just buying a new fishtank, I ended up buying 4 really small goldfish and a big one.
When my mom and I set it up, it was very apparent how Yin stood out from the rest. He/She was a GOLD fish--the rest of the Cartimar hailed fish were not gold--but orange. I didn't come up with names for the 5 new ones because they were all the same. I couldn't tell them apart.
Two days later, Yin was swimming differently. Somersaulting, if there was a better way to describe it. My mom was even amused seeing it because it was something new for her.
The next day, Yin was floating and swimming on its back. It was still breathing, struggling at least. And that was when I tried reviving her. I sccoped her out of the fishtank and placed her in what I called Intensive Care Unit--a makeshift microwaveable container with aerator. There I had to feed her using a toothpick because she could no longer swim properly and get food for herself. I was then ready for her to leave. Seeing her in tattered fins and tail made me, ok this is exaggeration but yeah, cry. For some reasons, the fish I got from Cartimar, although really cheap compared to that from Bio were no less than Piranhas. He/She was brutally assaulted.
Yin lasted for more than 24 hours in that state. And during entire time, I was praying that Yin would stay alive because I knew he/she still wanted to. While Yin was in my makeshift ICU, I played the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, Asin and some Enya tracks. I prayed until I accepted that fact that 6 months was a long time for goldfish to live. And maybe, just maybe, it was her/his Tao to go. The Fish God maybe thinks that same way, too.
I saw Yin's last breath. Time of death: 12:55pm.
Starting Off
this blog I wrote back in my multiply site...
I am struggling to keep all of my thoughts in one place. or at least try to keep them from being posted from one site to another because I am now having a hard time remembering user ids and passwords.
I would like to come up with a hundred things about myself. so sooner or later, I may have to update the things I wrote here.
to constantly remind me how things change, and how one person can assume another personality over a period of time. and why a person is never the same person you know back in gradeschool.
yeah, I'll try doing that.
if i have the time and the right proxy... :)
meantime, i'll stick to this.
- the infamous jojo veloso is her tiyo. her dad's brother. (if you still can't recall him, go check your old showbiz mags back in the 90's; he's the man behind the then super known Face of the Year for Men and Women; if it still doens't ring a bell, these keywords might help: Joebert Sucaldito, Angelica Jones, Mukha tapes, Hans Montenegro, Senate Hearing and the list goes on...)
- she writes by her left hand. actually, her left hand does most of the chores.
- GREEN is her favorite color-- but she owns more things in pink than green stuff.
- she bites her fingernails and if you will notice, you won't see her spitting it. (ewww.)
- she flunked math 11 (algebra) in college;
- she knows (and practically memorize) any yoyoy villame song you can think of. try asking her.
- she doesn't pick up coins in the streets; she believes it might be cursed and later on when harry potter existed, she worries that these might be portkeys to some another dimensions.
- up to this day, she still can't see the letter "A" in the Ayala logo; what she sees is the number "4" slanted.
- she doesn't eat siopao. she still believes it's made of cat's meat.
- she's always the last to drink in a softdrink 2litre pet bottle. so she can shake its contents. she likes Coke in it's singaw stage.
- some of the dreams she had since she was a kid (some of them still on her mind as an "adult"): to become a firefighter/firewoman, to be a teacher, senator, writer and a mermaid.
- she's a true blue girl scout. check her closet, she has all the uniforms: from twinkler to the adult scout-- get this, she was also a "boy scout". yes, she used to train young boys as assistant outift advisor in BSP.
- she sings during impromptu singing competition in young writers conferences. her perpetual piece? we're all alone, zsa zsa padilla version.
- she was a big fan of TGIS back in the 90's. dig this. in her old hello kitty wallet, she still has the fan club id inserted in it.
- most of the things she owns are from the mall's kid's section: her faves, hellokitty, spongebob, buttercup of powerpuff girls, hi hi puffy ami yumi
- she has a box full of newspaper clippings of loren legarda. one time, in 1998, when loren legarda first ran for senatorial elections, she went all the way from manila to the lpl towers in makati just to get a loren legarda pen and a poster. when she got there, she saw tony leviste instead. the poster, as of this writing is still posted in her room in biliran.
- she watched almost all star cinema films. and memorized some of its lines too!
- she actually witnessed someone being gunned down right before her very eyes. if you happen to read her short story "Echague", it's actually her's.
- UP is her dream school. back in her senior year in high school, she did not take any other entrance exams for college. just UPCAT.
- she wanted to take up Broadcasting. everyone expected her to venture that course. She landed in Literature, which later on she found out that was her field really.
- she's never been to Fort Santiago.
- she can talk 24 hours straight as long as there are still people listening to her stories, ranging from activism, world drama, latin american writing to the regions and languages of the philipppines to the local showbiz news.
- she knows every morning show cartoons and educational shows shown in the 90's. on better days, she could even sing the theme song for you.
- she gets starstruck easily. whenever she is at a public place and she sees a "laos na artista" or a director, theatre, literature or visual arts luminaries, she'll approach him/or her and say "excuse me sir/mam, i'm a big fan. can I have a picture taken with you?". that's her constant spiel.
- she only makes "papicture" to laos na artistas. it's her way of making them feel good. she believes that by doing so, she boosts the morale of these laos na artistas by making them feel that others still know them, even after losing the limelight.
- she hates gaisano tacloban. she often gets to be mistaken as a sales girl and peoplewould ask new stocks from her.
- if you happen to check her phone, you'll notice these things: most of the phonebook entires are not by their real names, she has code names for most of her entries and all of her phonebook entries are encoded in big and small letters. read this: if you have an alias, it only means you're special to her, for two reasons: (1) she exerted the effort to choose a codename for you, related to your personality or you as a person; (2) whenever you'll call of text her, it's gonna be an extra effort on her end to recall who was "mycoffeestory" calling.and if by chance you see your name and last name as it is, as in not even changing the font size, in her fone, it's either you're nothin to her or she hates you more than she hates GMA.
- before, she knows 75% of her phonebook entries and could recite them to you. the other 25%, she doesn't memorize but she is very familiar with whose number was that. I dont know if she still has this up to now.
that's all for now. check this blog entry for more updates.
I am struggling to keep all of my thoughts in one place. or at least try to keep them from being posted from one site to another because I am now having a hard time remembering user ids and passwords.
I would like to come up with a hundred things about myself. so sooner or later, I may have to update the things I wrote here.
to constantly remind me how things change, and how one person can assume another personality over a period of time. and why a person is never the same person you know back in gradeschool.
yeah, I'll try doing that.
if i have the time and the right proxy... :)
meantime, i'll stick to this.
- the infamous jojo veloso is her tiyo. her dad's brother. (if you still can't recall him, go check your old showbiz mags back in the 90's; he's the man behind the then super known Face of the Year for Men and Women; if it still doens't ring a bell, these keywords might help: Joebert Sucaldito, Angelica Jones, Mukha tapes, Hans Montenegro, Senate Hearing and the list goes on...)
- she writes by her left hand. actually, her left hand does most of the chores.
- GREEN is her favorite color-- but she owns more things in pink than green stuff.
- she bites her fingernails and if you will notice, you won't see her spitting it. (ewww.)
- she flunked math 11 (algebra) in college;
- she knows (and practically memorize) any yoyoy villame song you can think of. try asking her.
- she doesn't pick up coins in the streets; she believes it might be cursed and later on when harry potter existed, she worries that these might be portkeys to some another dimensions.
- up to this day, she still can't see the letter "A" in the Ayala logo; what she sees is the number "4" slanted.
- she doesn't eat siopao. she still believes it's made of cat's meat.
- she's always the last to drink in a softdrink 2litre pet bottle. so she can shake its contents. she likes Coke in it's singaw stage.
- some of the dreams she had since she was a kid (some of them still on her mind as an "adult"): to become a firefighter/firewoman, to be a teacher, senator, writer and a mermaid.
- she's a true blue girl scout. check her closet, she has all the uniforms: from twinkler to the adult scout-- get this, she was also a "boy scout". yes, she used to train young boys as assistant outift advisor in BSP.
- she sings during impromptu singing competition in young writers conferences. her perpetual piece? we're all alone, zsa zsa padilla version.
- she was a big fan of TGIS back in the 90's. dig this. in her old hello kitty wallet, she still has the fan club id inserted in it.
- most of the things she owns are from the mall's kid's section: her faves, hellokitty, spongebob, buttercup of powerpuff girls, hi hi puffy ami yumi
- she has a box full of newspaper clippings of loren legarda. one time, in 1998, when loren legarda first ran for senatorial elections, she went all the way from manila to the lpl towers in makati just to get a loren legarda pen and a poster. when she got there, she saw tony leviste instead. the poster, as of this writing is still posted in her room in biliran.
- she watched almost all star cinema films. and memorized some of its lines too!
- she actually witnessed someone being gunned down right before her very eyes. if you happen to read her short story "Echague", it's actually her's.
- UP is her dream school. back in her senior year in high school, she did not take any other entrance exams for college. just UPCAT.
- she wanted to take up Broadcasting. everyone expected her to venture that course. She landed in Literature, which later on she found out that was her field really.
- she's never been to Fort Santiago.
- she can talk 24 hours straight as long as there are still people listening to her stories, ranging from activism, world drama, latin american writing to the regions and languages of the philipppines to the local showbiz news.
- she knows every morning show cartoons and educational shows shown in the 90's. on better days, she could even sing the theme song for you.
- she gets starstruck easily. whenever she is at a public place and she sees a "laos na artista" or a director, theatre, literature or visual arts luminaries, she'll approach him/or her and say "excuse me sir/mam, i'm a big fan. can I have a picture taken with you?". that's her constant spiel.
- she only makes "papicture" to laos na artistas. it's her way of making them feel good. she believes that by doing so, she boosts the morale of these laos na artistas by making them feel that others still know them, even after losing the limelight.
- she hates gaisano tacloban. she often gets to be mistaken as a sales girl and peoplewould ask new stocks from her.
- if you happen to check her phone, you'll notice these things: most of the phonebook entires are not by their real names, she has code names for most of her entries and all of her phonebook entries are encoded in big and small letters. read this: if you have an alias, it only means you're special to her, for two reasons: (1) she exerted the effort to choose a codename for you, related to your personality or you as a person; (2) whenever you'll call of text her, it's gonna be an extra effort on her end to recall who was "mycoffeestory" calling.and if by chance you see your name and last name as it is, as in not even changing the font size, in her fone, it's either you're nothin to her or she hates you more than she hates GMA.
- before, she knows 75% of her phonebook entries and could recite them to you. the other 25%, she doesn't memorize but she is very familiar with whose number was that. I dont know if she still has this up to now.
that's all for now. check this blog entry for more updates.
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