I was drinking the other night and in between gulps of beer and shots of tequila, I realized that I still had not blogged about my birthday. I turned 26 last Tuesday. I have been busy. Yes, I quit my full-time job two months ago. Yes, I stay at home, in front of my laptop…
Three years is a long time. In three years, a mahogany seedling could be a fully grown tree. An entry-level employee could become a supervisor or a manager, or he could resign, if he’s lucky. A graduate school enrollee could finish a degree with thesis. A celebrity could rise to fame and spiral back down…
The other week, my self-esteem was crushed by a small piece of paper. I was fixing my bag outside a convenience store in Tagaytay City when somebody gave me a piece of paper with a short note on it. Without looking at the stranger and the paper, I pocketed the note and expected the guy to leave me alone. Unfortunately for me, he was there for business. “Massage, sir? I can massage you, sir, while you’re here in Tagaytay,” the stranger said. “No, thanks,” I declined. “I’m on my way back to Manila.” I was still busy trying to put…
Mystery solved. I intentionally left several P5 coins on the side table in my room, pretended to be asleep, and kept half an eye on them. For months now, I had always found myself looking for missing coins around the house. I entertained the idea that an unseen, paranormal force hiding inside our house’s walls was responsible for the coins that seemed to disappear from where I left them. I even considered seeing a doctor because I thought my usually reliable memory was failing me. But that all changed when I decided to set up a trap to catch the…
I was 10 when I heard it for the very first time. No one would look after me at home so my mother brought me along with her across the street to a neighbor’s. My mom offered a crying shoulder and a helping hand to the family. As she did some chores in our neighbor’s…
I don’t own a car. To get from one point to another, I use public transportation, usually MRT and tricycle. Sometimes, I take a cab and when I do, I take the passenger seat. It has been a habit to engage the driver in a conversation for two reasons — so I won’t get sleepy…
“What’s wrong with me?” cried Celine, a friend and colleague. Moments earlier, she mastered the art of using all the functional muscles on her face to signal that there was a hot, goodlooking male behind me. Drowning in excitement and a deadly sin, she watched the guy behind me like she was ready to mate. “Yeah,…
I realized just how difficult it was to hold back a cringe when a cousin’s friend told me how she despised local films and television shows in general. I asked her why and all she could say was a very specific, “They’re just so bad.” I admit that many of our movies and TV shows are disappointing and some are downright disgusting. But I believe that we still have a lot of quality shows. I asked her which TV shows in particular she found unsatisfactory. She replied, “Our teleseryes are pretty bad.” “Which teleseryes?” I was curious. “Our teleseryes. All…
