Slip of the Pen

Last Tuesday was the most electric event I’ve ever been to.

January 8, 2008 marked the kick-off for the University of the Philippines’ Centennial Celebration. The event wasn’t grand — it was spectacular. One week has passed and I’m still euphoric, especially when browsing through my and other people’s photos and videos.

The following is my longest ever photo-essayish post at 36 pics. My inept photgraphy skills don’t do justice to the sights we witnessed. You had to be there to savor it. As always, click to enlarge the pictures.

My dear high school friend Minik met up with Ia and me at Sarah’s (of all places!) before proceeding to the Oblation plaza. Minik was taking a well-deserved home vacation after working the past months in Singapore.

Approaching the Oblation plaza, at around 4 P.M. The towering trees lining up the Academic Oval have always been a source of inspiration for me.

At this point, the excitement was very palpable in the air. Many people were chatting with voices slightly shaking in excitement, and laughs were in abundance. The UP Ang Galing Mo song blared through the loudspeakers, and the drums thundering to the tune of UP’s cherished school cheers spiked UP pride in everyone’s veins.

The UP Oblation. Too-much-information-ahead warning: I was just able to take this shot because I had to go to the loo in Quezon Hall.

My day shot of Quezon Hall. You can spot the Centennial Cauldron in the midst of the crowd; the flame would be lit up a few hours later.

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Yesterday was the closing day of the world’s largest floating book fair docked at Manila’s South Harbor — the MV Doulos. Having heard that this could be possibly the last time that Manila welcomes the Doulos (the ship is already a whopping 93 years old and will be retired in 2010), me and my friends set aside last Friday, January 21, as our “Recto-Doulos field trip day”.

Recto-Doulos? For the uninitiated, C.M. Recto Avenue is one of Manila’s main thoroughfares and a regular haunt of bargain book hunters. So Friday, in essence, was our “book buying field trip”. The ‘outing’ was a nice reward for ourselves for hurdling the LIRA Fellows’ Night, as well as a self-gift for Christmas.

Pau in white, yours truly with the new (and quite ungainly) short hair in black, Ia in blue, and JC in dark green. Thanks to Pau’s mom for the shot.

The book hunters were made up of my co-LIRA Fellows, JC and Pau (who brought along her very affable mom), Ia, and yours truly. Unfortunately, Kel wasn’t able to come. (Huy, na-miss ka namin! Hehe.)

We were lucky to arrive (around lunchtime) at a queue-free book fair. This drew a collective sigh of relief from us — we’ve seen some Doulos-at-Manila pics showing long lines snaking through the South Harbor.

We got a free ride by offering our unmatched greeting and ushering talents. Just kidding. No, seriously.

As can be expected, the ship’s crew/volunteers were mostly non-Filipino; when we were paying our Php 10 entrance fees, I blurted out “Dalawa po,” not realizing that a Caucasian was manning the booth.

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I still have a hangover from last Tuesday’s ‘celebration’. It was a celebration, all right — a fête to a dozen or so young poets who survived six months of one badass poetry clinic. (I mean that in a good way.) The night bore witness to free-flowing poetry, applause, Kodak moments, and of course, booze.

To say that I heaved a sigh of relief after the event would be an understatement; sigh is too small a word. Its Tagalog counterpart, buntong-hininga is more apt — a microcosm of rising expectations, of a build-up toward the climax, of keeping your breath in, then suddenly, a release.

Enough words. Enjoy these pictures of the LIRA Fellows’ Night 2007, courtesy of Fellows JC Sola and Karla Cachola, and the person most-referenced to in my blogs (hehe), Ia. It goes without saying: click to enlarge.

From left to right: Ia, batch president Pau Hernando, Christine Magpile practicing on the piano, and yours truly testing the mic. (And posing for a photo op as well.)

Conspiracy Bar’s hallowed stage, ready for another night of verses.

JC, Pau, and I preparing for the program. The small, in-your-face stage helped ease some of the jitters.
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Update 11/17/07: Airing will be on November 18 at 7 P.M.

Update: The airing has been postponed to November 18. And even that date is tentative. Sorry for this belated notice; their own notice to me was also belated.

If you have the time, catch me later on At Your Pleasure, Nancy hosted by Nancy Castiglione, airing at around 2-3 pm (basta hapon daw e) on the new Makisig Network (channel 76/82 at SkyCable/ HomeCable, ch. 84 if you have an analog box installed).

I think the weird lighting wreaked havoc on our faces. The two sides of my face don’t match. Heh.

The episode is about toys, and I will be sharing my experiences in amassing airplane collector’s models. It will mark the first time in over a decade that I’ll appear on TV. (For some reason, I don’t miss those days as a ‘budding child actor’. I guess I prefer staying at home and writing/reading books/playing video games. And blogging.)

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Some tidbits from the episode’s taping, which was held last October 30 (a few days after our Youthlinks radio guesting):
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Earlier this day, I got the chance to guest in a radio show along with two of my LIRA co-fellows, Pau Hernando and Guia de Leon. Nothing grand an event — there are thousands of people hosting a radio show around the globe at this very second, for example — but still a notable experience. Well, every first-time experience should be.

We came into the PIA Building expecting to zip in for around 15 minutes, promote our upcoming LIRA Fellows’ Night (more on that later), rattle off a few poems, and zip out. Instead, we found ourselves being the ‘main guests’ (is there such a term?) for today’s Youthlinks program at DZSR (918 Khz; the online streaming version can be found here). We stayed for the show’s full hour-long duration.

We felt at ease with the show’s great staff, which includes co-hosts Allan Elman, Rommel Brillantes, and Jacky Chan (yes that’s his first name; I failed to catch his surname). After talking a bit about our personal backgrounds, the LIRA fellowship process, and workshop details, each of us three was given the time to read two poems. I chose two “battle tested” (pinalihan, or dumaan sa palihan in LIRA-speak) works, namely Talà (”Star”) and Fast Food.

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My last post about Fischer backfired. Call me sentimental — my dog’s pic made me avoid this blog for some time. That, and every delinquent blogger’s pet excuse — “my day job!”

Well, save for the last post, all I’ve been recently babbling about in this blog are books and LIRA. One more article about both of them won’t hurt.

Sir Rio with some of the LIRA 2007 fellows. I’m the one in stripes and with the long hair. From L to R: (back row) JC Sola, to whom this and the next three photos belong to, Karla, Pau, Christa, Rhodge, (front row) Por, Daboi, Da Man, John, Daisy, Guia.

Last Saturday, Ia and I trooped to the much awaited 28th Manila International Book Fair to — what else? — buy a ton of bargain books, as well as attend the “Araw ni Virgilio Almario”, a tribute to the National Artist for Literature and director of the LIRA poetry workshop who’s also known as Rio Alma. The event was part of Pistang Panitik, a five-day literary festival within the Book Fair that was conceived by sir Vim Nadera.

Sirs Roger Mangahas, Bobby Añonuevo, Mike Coroza, and Tata Funilas, who provided comic relief by walking up to the stage wearing a Rio Alma mask, stunning sir Rio’s good friend Roger and distracting him from his talk.

Of course, the fellows of this year’s Palihan sa LIRA were out in full force to support sir Rio. We helped out in the usual chores — preparing the exhibits, ushering in the audience (”Bagay na bagay ang polo mo ah!”), giving out leaflets to Book Fair attendees (”O, mambugaw muna kayo ng ating event”), giving the loudest applause, and whatnot. The programme was good; the critics/presenters were the distinguished trio of Rogelio Mangahas, Roberto Añonuevo, and Michael Coroza. El Batch Presidente and UP Writers’ Club member Pau Hernando was the emcee.

Sirs Michael Coroza and Romulo Baquiran Jr. with Batch Sidhay. Notice the substantial loot I’m carrying; later that night, my left hand was sore.

The small Exhibit Room was jampacked, with many more Book Fair strollers peeping in from time to time. Unfortunately, some members of the audience, mostly students, weren’t paying attention to the talks. That’s respect for the country’s National Artists for you. Curiously, some of these short-attention-span gits were seen avidly lining up for sir Rio’s signature after the programme.

Ia and I having a not-so-sweet-but-sweet-enough moment. JC, thank you for this shot! Hehehe. Nagulat na lang ako noong nakita ko ‘to.

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With a dose of Trinoma thrown in, just for the fun of it.

I’m nearly halfway through the two-month “main course” of the LIRA poetry workshop, which began last June 2. Three corrections to my first LIRA post are in order:

1) Thirty fellows, not fourteen. I got the fourteen from the number of email recipients. Thirty…well, at least in the first day. By the third week, our ranks had thinned to…fourteen. Premonition?

2) The workshop will last for six months, not two. The first two is when the brutal, full-weekend manhandling of our works (and our preconceptions and misconceptions of Filipino literature) take place; the final four months are set aside for (hopefully) less demanding activities with no schedule yet.

3) “I’m not sure if [National Artist Virgilio Almario] will conduct more lectures after [the first talk].” Oh boy, was I dead wrong. Sir Rio has been a very doting (if a bit frank) professor to us fellows. He’s always there for every workshop (palihan in Filipino), and I’ve been humbled quite a few times by his words. What’s the feeling of having such a legendary figure teach you, admonish you, guide you, and casually converse with you? Very surreal.

Now, the LIRA experience would be a tad better if I weren’t splitting my body among three lives — the problogger and freelance writer who publishes 200+ blog posts a month (no kidding), the web projects (hey, we just soft-launched a new site, a definite biggie!) slash Netpreneurial spirit, and the literary Corsarius (hey, who’s this jerk?). With these three juggling for attention, the one week in between workshops is not enough to create poems worthy of Sir Rio’s praise.

To summarize, I’ve been learning and re-learning things as quickly as Manila’s streets flood during this rainy season, so fast that everything spills over and disrupts the ‘other lives’ (schizo!), causing much disorientation. The past three weeks were marred by low work productivity and numerous days’ worth of feeling physically sick, no doubt unleashed by fully-booked weekends and [insert other excuses here, so I can avoid admitting how sickly I am]. Oops.

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Ever since I became a work-from-home problogger and freelance writer, I’ve rarely endured weeks that totally sap the life-force out of my sickness-prone body. Those weeks were the fare in UP, where I was continually battered by exams, extra-curricular responsibilities, and part-time work (not to mention the arduous commute!).

Sadly, just one year after graduating from college, it seems I’ve lost my resistance to fatigue. As I write this, I’m recovering from five day’s worth of coughs, chills, wheezes, snot, and whatnot. You can thank the last week of March 2007 for those.

This blog post is my way of paying homage to that tortuous week.

The Essay Contest Prize

The first ‘activity’ of the week involved going to National Book Store’s headquarters at Mandaluyong to claim my prize for the If My Life Were a Book essay writing contest.

Located at Pioneer Street near EDSA, the giant bookstore chain’s HQ wasn’t a physically impressive structure from outside. I expected something grander, but heck, when I stepped in, I wasn’t also expecting to see one of the country’s most venerable figures — no other than Socorro Ramos, founder of NBS!

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Nighttime Metro Manila is more beautiful than the daytime one, I think.

It’s in these hours when you’ll really appreciate the urban setting around you. In the day, the metropolis is a choking cesspool of humanity, iron horses, and smog, but in the night, it’s far more civilized.

Back then, I was referring to the neon lights of Quezon Avenue’s famed whorehouses. Last night’s trip to the 2007 World Light Expo Philippines, both a few kilometers and an entire world removed from Q-Ave, gave a new meaning to the text.

(Thus goes the prelude to my first photo-centric post here, further proof of how unproductive I’ve become lit-wise. Enjoy the pics below, nonetheless. Don’t forget to click ‘em for the bigger versions.)

A month ago, Manila Bay was illumined by the spectacular World Pyro Olympics. The current attraction, found at the Roxas Boulevard and Coastal Road Junction (D. Macapagal Avenue) at Paranaque City, began just last Tuesday and will run up to April 22.

However, whereas the Pyrolympics drew thousands upon thousands of spectators, the Light Expo crowd was really, really thin — we only encountered less than forty visitors, who were like stars scattered across the galaxy given the sprawling Expo grounds. The Expo’s teen-aged, extra-courteous volunteers even outnumbered the visitors (I’m guessing they’re volunteers, as the Expo’s beneficiary is the Pangarap ng Lupa Foundation for children with sight impairments).

Quite sad, if you think about it. Many of the Foundation’s kids probably won’t be able to appreciate the grandeur we experienced at the Expo. That said, do drop by the World Light Expo. Yes, there’s an admission price (quite steep at Php 300 for adults and 200 for kids above three years of age, which might be one of the reasons behind the thin crowd), but I’m sure you’ll agree that you’ll be spending for a noble cause.

If that isn’t enough encouragement for you, I hope the smattering of images below does the trick!

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If the title strikes you as a bit something straight from a soap opera, then I’ve already succeeded in conveying my sentiments. I approached my recent trip to Boracay two weeks ago with the same melodrama attached to telenovelas — yearning, apprehension, suspense, jubilation, love. Granted, a beach is a beach, nothing more. But when that beach is part of your home province and was your regular haunt — was, because you haven’t visited it for an effing decade already — then a little melodrama is justifiable.

Yep, my family is from Aklan, proud mother of Boracay, and that is why in my childhood years I was able to enjoy the white sands almost every year. But somehow since I stepped into high school, I couldn’t find the time to visit my old love. My trips to Kalibo, capital of Aklan didn’t stop, which just made the yearning for the beach grow stronger — I often found myself just a two-hour ride and a short ferry trip away from Boracay!

So you could just imagine the almost surreal feeling I got when I disembarked from the rickety boat onto the fine, ivory sands dotted with…seaweed. Yeah, the whole (extended) family made the trip in Boracay’s off-season — the merry month of August when tourists are relatively scarcer, the winds are fierce, the suntan is a near impossibility, the rain is intermittent, the waters are choppy, and the waves are huge (you’ve got to experience being slammed back onto the shore after wading chin-high in the water just two seconds earlier!). At least, you’ve got the beach all to yourselves.

How was world-renowned Boracay from the perspective of someone who went AWOL for ten years? Great, as always — the beach was magnificent, the nightlife was crazy, and the food was sumptuous — though I took some time to absorb the changes that have marked Bora’s landscape since the last time I roamed it. Here’s a trifecta of them:

1) The small bamboo/nipa cottages have almost gone the way of the dodo. Most of them have been replaced by concrete inns and apartelles, not to mention the sprawling hotels (some of which have been developed by Koreans to accommodate…Koreans).

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