Ivler's mother and some unimportant 'me-news'

Pumasok ako sa opisina ngayong umaga. Natulog ako sa bus ng papunta. Walang pakialam kung naghuhumampas ang aking mga kamay sa ere sa bilis ng patakbo ni uncle driver. Antok na antok, na tila pagod na pagod. Lumampas ang sinasakyan ko sa aking ‘usual stop’. Sinadya ko ito, nang maiba naman. Naglakad ako mula Raffles Hotel, nagpumilit makipag patintero sa mga sasakyan, napaalalahanang walang ikabubuti ang pag gamit ng ‘short cut’. Dumaan sa McDonald’s para sa 2.50 dollars na McMuffin with coffee (good deal ito, pramis) ‘for take away’. Nagtaka kung bakit halos walang tao sa opisina. Kumain ng umagahan sa mesa. Nag bukas ng talapindutan (computer, bagong kaalaman, o-ha), nang lotus notes at mozilla.

Sabay galing sa email ni Emma (Williams. Sorry, it had to rhyme eh): Schmap Barcelona Ninth Edition: Photo Inclusion .

http://www.schmap.com/barcelona/activities_guided/p=83143/i=83143_119.jpg

Aba. Sino ang mag-aakala?

Magandang umaga.

--00--

In other news, ang nanay ni Jason Ivler ay masyadong paimportante. Sa kanyang palagay, na set-up daw ang anak nya, dahil sa kanyang sinulat na libro (‘Warrior of Heaven’) kung saan binabatikos nya ang Amerika at ang kanilang “killing machine”. Hindi ito matarok ng aking pag iisip, na parang gusto kong paulit ulitin ang Singaporean small talk phrase na “ Reee-li? How come ah? Sure or not?” Hindi ako magtataka kung sa huwebes man ideklara na magugunaw na ang mundo, aaminin ni Ginang Ivler (na kapatid ni Ka Freddie Aguilar, at Marlene Aguilar sa totoong buhay) na modus operandi lang ito, para takutin sya, at the expense of the whole world.

Now, about that nose…

According to her website, she’s a very accomplished arts publisher and literary icon of some sort, garnering praises from well known people. Lookatdat!

Mega Crush is back.

and he's got two movies to make us happy. haay.

This one comes out on Christmas.

And this... just in time for my birthday (well, next year)

God rest ‘ye Merry Woman

My LSS (last song syndrome, for you non-acronym loving reader) for the past few weeks has been this Mariah Carey (I know. Heh) version of “God bless ‘ye merry gentlemen”. The song gets to me like mad, and not that I detest it, I actually find it comforting and –er exciting. With how things are looking up these days (or maybe age is a factor), Christmas for me has suddenly turned stressful and non-episodic. There good Lord, I said it. Non-episodic in a sense that it no longer brings out this excitement usually felt by kids, probably in anticipation to presents they’ll be receiving or I dunno—just the simple joy of knowing its Christmas. What I know now is that Christmas day is a celebration of someone’s birthday—a friend’s birthday. And while it’s not yet due, and I have A LOT of things to attend to (new office hours, meetings by default, deadlines until the 24^th), I’m just carrying on like it’s a normal day, until ‘I get there’. And I realized, just this morning, that this has to stop. But where and when do I stop? So far, the only thing that ignites the Christmas spirit in me is this song.

Upon googling the ‘correct’ lyrics of the song, I got to know more than just lyrics. According to wikipedia (don’t we all), it was referred to in Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’:

"...at the first sound of — "God bless you merry, gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!"— Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost."

Now, I have read that book when I was eight, and there’s a back-story in it. It starred a small girl who was given this book and one more (Beauty and the Beast, not the Disney version--as far as she can recall) almost twenty years ago, and that time, it took her a year to take interest in each book and read. Each book was lengthy and had scary pictures (well, the beast and Scrooge’s ghost friends, on a non-Disney packaging are dead-on). When she finally decided to read Dickens, it took her almost forever again, to finish it, as she’ll read from the beginning then forget where she ended up, then re read from the start—for how many times. You need to know that that girl lost her mother one month after Christmas, and we wouldn’t remember whether she did finish the book even before her mom passed away, or a year after that. But she did finish reading it. It was a troubling story for her, because it was not a normal kid’s story. It bespoke of all these adult-sy things like being ‘human’ and greed. Most of all, it featured death undeserving characters in the story, and on a Christmas day. However, this story taught the girl the power of a person to change for the better, and how powerfully magical Christmas can be in this process of change.

I have no idea how to wrap up this entry, but perhaps writing this just made me realize one thing I’ve always promised myself to do, which is to seize the day like a kid anticipating for Christmas morning. Do it for yourself and those people around you. Remember—Scrooge did so, in the end of the story. When we age, our priorities will change, and so do our temperament. But that does not impair us from being like our ‘old, younger selves’, only wiser and with waay more baggage. Haha.

May peace of mind and a kid’s sense of anticipation dawn upon all of us this holiday Season.

God rest you merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our Saviour

Was born upon this day,

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray:

O tidings of comfort and joy,

comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

Comfort and Joy. Just what I need.

About Barcelona

Casa Batlo's resident ass display-er. :)

You do know that we've contemplated about moving to Barcelona, right? Surprised? We've seen looks of people shift from pleasant to 'wtf??', some even retorting 'ay, baket?' or 'Talaga? I didn't like it there, mukhang madumi eh'. Well, we loved Barcelona. Of all the places we've been to in our Euro trip (well, Mediterranean trip, plus Paris to be geographically correct), it's where we felt at home. Para bang walang ka-hassle hassle. I mean yeah--Las Ramblas was packed with tourists, also Gaudi's Parc Guell. Pero for some reason we haven't really figured out yet, it felt like a place you can call yours. Well, ours. A friend of ours supposed "Ano, familiar yung mga lugar? May Echague ba, o Avenida Asturias?" Yeah, she's referring to our streets in old Manila. Can it be the reason we felt more 'at home' there? Hindi siguro. Yes, there were very familiar names (for one, the surname Castaneda, with an enye felt so much in place in that enye-abundant country. hehe) and words (napalaban ako ng espanyol sa taxi, aba siningil kami ng extra. Well, okay--that's pushing the term 'napalaban' too far. hehe. Pinaliwanag kasi nung driver na may tarifa. Edi napa "Tarifa? Para?" ang lola mo (yun lang, pota. hahaha). Edi paliwanag si Senor...kasi daw nga galing kami ng cruise center. "Bueno" sabi ng lola mong halos bumagsak sa Spanish 101 at Advanced Spanish in college, even if she sings Enrique Iglesia's 'Solo en ti', with matching voicing to save her life. )

shooting Barcelona (from Tibidabo).

yes, this aeroplane ride overlooks that view from above picture.

Casa Mila (La Pedriera)

Mabalik tayo. Barca is not the cleanest city in the world, nor is it the safest. But it's so alive, and I don't even mean 'night club or bars' alive. It's got lots of things going on in it--very diverse and active arts scene, interest groups for every erm interests (hehe), it's got this very cool 'by-cing' (bikes you can rent from the side walk) atmosphere, different sorts of people and personalities, it's got a monastery carved out from a mountain (Montserrat), scenic places from each end of the city, one of which even has an 'antigo' theme park in it, just below a small cathedral , a bustling port, effective transport, ZARA everywhere, and an omg chica airport. Pramis, chica ang airport nila, that when my husband walk through it, he looked like he was ready to cry. Barca strikes me as a place na walang ka kiyeme kiyeme sa buhay. Hindi insecure, and things were just happening naturally.

And art is soo accesible. Below is a "metro art". Actually, lahat ng stations eh ginawang playground ng artists. Para bang naisipan lang nila, while deliberating all these na gumawa ng 'call for tender or collaboration among these artsy people". Hanef.

best metro art ever. Was soo inspired from looking at this that when I get a room to vandalise, I'll do something inspired by this quirky tiled mural. aww.

somewhere in la boquiera...

check out those legs. hehe.

you know pare--that's sagrada. you know. :)

pictures pa dito o!

Oh, have I told about the Mussels (tahong)--the best and freshest I've ever tasted. At ang Bacalao?? Josko. Seafood heaven. Even their goodies for desayuno (breakfast)--salami, queso and jamon were unforgettable. And the people? Mababait. Very informal.

Oh yes, we're soo coming back. :)

p.s. Syempre, dahil Pinoy tayo, and we can be found anywhere in the world (kahit sa antartica, according to reports, haha)--madami ding Pinoy sa Barca. Most of those we've come across are families, as in mga Ilocano couples na may kids, plus the lola and lola. Sabi nga nila, there's this huge probability that the person preparing your paella is Pinoy. They seem to have integrated very well, some of them are even Spanish citizens na. I was really glad to hear about this, kasi their stories are not of the 'paiyak' varieties. Very empowered and proud. Wala lang, i had to put this down, kasi ang galing eh. :)