A concert, an encounter and dinner

• Watching the Philippine Madrigal Singers' Christmas concert last night at the CCP with Joel who so kindly drove us over--a four-hour drive thanks to traffic!--and was so accommodating considering my still-unmended broken elbow.
• Hearing Joel relate how he ran into his ex-girlfriend in the lobby during the intermission (which, not wanting to have people run into my broken elbow, I sat out in my seat). His ex-girlfriend asks, "Sinong kasama mo?" Joel replies without thinking, "Si ate Marge." Questioning look from ex. "She's been our pianist for the longest time." Still a questioning look from ex. "Since high school." Brief pause from ex before she says, "Okay."
• Have dinner with Joel at Sizzling Pepper Steak at the CCP complex.

Wonderment, a countdown and an intruder

• You're so beautiful. / Wherever did you come from, / dagger in my heart?
• Ticking the days off, / wond'ring which day is the last / I will see of you.
• A caterpillar / sprinting across the tiled floor. / Phantom itching strikes!

Data, adrenaline and encouragement

• Presenting my boss with the data she requested; she seemed surprised that I was able to obtain the data so quickly. (My staff coincidentally got the data a month ago for some other purpose.)
• Strangely feeling exhilarated in the afternoon after I am done writing letter requesting for authority to fill-up a position in my unit. Must be the Monday madness adrenaline...
• Receiving some words of encouragement from the bear who dropped by the office in the morning to give me a CD of music he had promised and explains why he couldn't send me any SMS lately. Later in the afternoon, I finally get to listen to some of the music he gave and thank him via SMS. After revealing that he'll be going on his pre-residency starting next week--implying that he and I won't see each other for the two weeks he'll be away--he says, "Keep your head up. Ingat na rin!"

Our scribe's sonnet

• I reprogram cantatas.
• Piano, art, grace, smart.
• All sacred; veto mojo! Gee...
• To evade major colleges.
• Manila doc jeered goat.
• Good! A male reject.

* Current obsession

Equinox haiku, iPod Touch wish and silence.

• Longer nights ahead / --only 'til Winter Solstice. / Something to look to!
• Having a sudden urge to buy myself a 4th generation iPod Touch despite knowing that I have no need for one; I must be depressed...
• My cellphone has been silent for five days now. Where are you when I need you, my bear?!

A day with a rebel tummy

• Still not completely out of the woods with this mild food poisoning case since last Sunday. Sigh...
• Trying to calm the chaos in my stomach with iced tea and plain salt crackers. So far, so good...
• Eep! Extremely moody stomach seems to have gotten rid of every bit of the McDonald's breakfast I had this morning.
• Reluctant to go and talk to people I'm supposed to talk to in case I suddenly have to run and "go".

Instant exam, inverted email and three weeks early

• Coming up with an exam for my discrete math class in one and half hours in the wee hours of this morning.
• Exchanging email messages written in reverse with the bear. He had requested me to invert the logo/monogram I made for him so that the letters won't be that obvious. I complied and, in sending him back the modified logo, wrote my email message with the letters of the words in reverse order to echo what I did to his logo/monogram. The bear replied in the same manner. What fun!
• Receiving news to the effect that I might be driving a Honda Jazz three weeks earlier than expected!

MacBook chat, surfing in bed, and two little words

• Finally getting to voice chat with my sister using my MacBook Pro (via Yahoo! Messenger). She marvels at the clarity of the sound and it gets even better when I demonstrated using iSight.
• Finally figuring out where best to place/locate our WiFi router so that I get a strong signal in my bedroom downstairs. Feels great to be able to surf in bed--finally!
• Finally (again!) having the courage to say those "two little words" to the bear via message on Facebook in my reply to his heartwarming words of encouragement. ("two little words" = "three little words" minus one)

Photo session, logo envy, and back to normal diet

• Spending nearly half of Saturday afternoon sitting on the floor of the front porch taking photos of the bouquet of mums, daisies and roses that my mom received for her birthday. Posted two of my favorite photos on my Flickr account.
• Churning out more wallpapers using the logo/monogram I made for the bear. So many possibilities! I'm beginning to hate the logo/monogram I made for myself (so boring!) and wish the bear's logo/monogram were mine instead.
• Recovering from an unpleasant case of food poisoning and being able to eat a normal--read: fatty and delicious--diet once again. (Now, who isn't glad about that?)

The White Hat, Jazz and a late night chat

• Eating the most delicious frozen yogurt I have ever tasted: The White Hat Italian frozen yogurt over at the mall. Tasted perfect with strawberries in syrup. Yum! Rather pricey for a small cup but definitely worth it!
• Looking forward to driving a Honda Jazz about a month from now!
• Being awakened at 10:40 by a text message from the bear who wanted to chat with me online. He then breaks the news that he''s decided to no longer undergo the "freaking" pre-res for his internal medicine residency and will instead take his chances in securing a fellowship for a residency in nuclear medicine which was what he had wanted all along.

Missed lunch, dinner, and consolation

• The bear sadly became too busy--"bogged down by students"--to have lunch with me. But that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we instead had an early dinner which turned out to be better because then we could sit back and relax and not worry about hurrying back to our classes.
• The bear and I finally got to eat at Bonitos, recalling the first time he asked me out to lunch: Two years ago when we received some cash as a gift of appreciation from Class 1958 for playing/singing during their Thanksgiving Mass, the bear was visibly delighted and told me, "Kain tayo sa Bonitos!" We didn't get to that time because it was pouring cats and dogs but we eventually started eating lunch together about three weeks after that.
• The bear thanked me for the Daily Survival Kit I gave him saying (via SMS): "I really needed that." Then when I told him, "I'll miss you," he consoled me with, "Just remember that this is no goodbye..."

Umbrella, early goodbye, and a perfect fit

• Today I gave the bear an umbrella to replace the old one he had been using all this time and which was slowly falling apart. He had to select from two that I bought and to my delight he chose the one with blue/black pin stripes that I picked out for him. (The other had a plaid pattern and was what my mom picked out.)
• The bear broke the news that his pre-res will start next week rather than the Sunday after next. What a shock!
• The 5.75" x 5.75" x 3.5" gift box turned out to be a perfect fit for the survival kit I am putting toger as a farewell and thank you gift for the bear.

New outlets

It's been a long while since I've played the piano, let alone play as accompanist during Holy Mass. While I find it sometimes painful to think back to those good ol' times, I've been fascinated by how I have been able to find other ways to express myself. Now I'm back to playing around with Adobe Photoshop making wallpapers for my brand new MacBook Pro and have ended up writing two poems--my first in probably thirty years!--and a short story--or whatever you might call all that nonsense I've written.

Minutes, lunch and another chance meeting

• Getting two sets of minutes of meeting finally done and approved by my boss. Phew!
• Finally having lunch with Joel who excused himself for not being around earlier in the week because of a bad case of the flu!
• Running into Joel again on my way back from paying our cable/Internet bill. We have a brief chat where he tells me he had just come from picking up his mom's gowns from the dry cleaner.

Rambutan, my opinion and pizza

• Bringing rambutan (from our tree here at home) to Joel at his office at 3pm and then finding out that he hasn't had lunch because he was rushing to get something done. He thanks me later on via Yahoo! Messenger for the rambutan.
• Joel catching me by surprise by asking, "If I get a job that pays me P80,00o a month, puwede na ba akong hindi mag-residency?" because I never thought my opinion mattered that much to him.
• Eating pizza during a late afternoon meeting. (Like Joel, I myself didn't get to eat lunch either because I was rushing some papers.) The pizzas were topped with cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella, but no matter; I was too hungry to care.

Three haikus

• It's been a bad day. / I am not in a hurry / to go home and weep.
• That previous haiku / came to me while driving home / in the pouring rain.
• Something's happening. / My poor brain must be crazy. / Three haikus today!

Diamond

I had been toying with this idea for a poem for months now but for some reason was finally compelled to sit down and tap out these verses in the wee hours of this morning.

To JCM, who art perfect in thy perfection

Diamond

From the moment

I first beheld thee, thou hast

bewitched me with the brilliance of thy soul:

What blazing fire, what forces, what skilledHands

did fashion thee to peerless perfection, my beloved Jewel?

Thou art the reason for the enraptured song in my tormented soul,

inflamed by the Radiance made resplendent through thy manifold facets!

Yet thou art the reason for unspeakable agony, for did I not bear witness whilst

thou didst endure the needless scourge that shattered thee and compelled thee to tears?

Although Fate hath with Its unfathomed reason deigned to confide to me one flaw

within thy depths, long transformed by time and thy defiance of the Dark,

Thou shalt remain my most cherished and rarest of treasures,

mounted for eternity upon the fading crown of my being,

And above all be missed when in all certitude

I shall be bereft of thy light

by Another.

An iPhone in hand, music on the road and a chance meeting

• Handling an iPhone --not mine, just a friend's--and using the awesome touchscreen. Drool! It's definitely going onto my wish list--and will probably stay there forever.
• Not minding getting stuck in traffic while listening to soothing classical music being played over the radio.
• Running into Joel after running errands after office hours. He's sitting in his Revo parked at the Admin Building parking lot cooling off --he had the engine running to keep the aircon on!--and invites me in for a chat. We end up talking for nearly an hour.

Restful day, more sheet music and Josh's sublime rendition

• Joel sends a text message most unexpectedly to say he hopes I have a restful day because I deserve it.
• I finally find a copy of the piano solo arrangements of John Williams' movie score for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban--which I finally scratch off my wish list. Can't wait to try them out.
• Listening to Josh Groban's sublime rendition of You Raise Me Up after hearing Christian Bautista sing the same song at today's Presidential Inauguration. The latter performance simply pales in comparison to the former.

At work with a stuffy nose

Some notes I took in the course of another day at work:

• Hating myself for not remembering whether or not I had already taken my cold medicine.
• Having breakfast at my desk with a stuffy nose ain't fun. But at least the bread pudding from the COOP tasted divine.
• My nose seems to be clearing up a bit. So maybe I DID take that decongestant tablet.
• But then again, maybe not. Sigh!
• Conducting a meeting with a stuffy nose ain't fun. And it ain't funny either.

Another accompaniment

Another item has been scratched off my wish list: sheet music of Morten Lauridsen's Dirait On. Of course, I promptly trooped down to our basement and spent the next hour or two learning the accompaniment at my trusty Yamaha P-80. I even managed to make a digital recording of my playing and posted it on my Sound Cloud account.

Confined

My "baby" has finally gone to "hospital" for "reconstructive facial surgery." I'll be missing it while it will be there for approximately a week. Sniff! Of course, I'm referring to my 1999 Honda City which got bumped over a month ago and sustained minor damage on the front passenger's side bumper, fender and headlight.

A real royal visit

Such a delightful sight to see Britain's Queen Elizabeth II having a brief visit with Andy Murray and Jarkko Nieminen right after their second round match in Centre Court in Wimbledon. I couldn't help but smile as I watched that moment play out on television tonight. Both Murray and Nieminen must be beside themselves with having been accorded this extraordinary privilege.

Forced break

Today, am considering using my PC only when necessary. My wrist(s) is aching again so operating the mouse can sometimes be excruciating. And thankfully, there are only handful of papers to go through and sign, registration finally being over. Good excuse to sit back here at my desk and read a book for a change, huh?

Marathon match

It's already the fourth day of Wimbledon, half of the men's draw have played their second round matches and yet the first round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut has not ended. (The match was suspended due to darkness for the second time at 59-all in the fifth set!) I must admit I was totally floored when I found out about this while scanning news headlines on the Internet this morning. You've got to feel both admiration and pity for the poor fellows in this epic battle of wills.

Toronto earthquake

While chatting with my sister via Yahoo! Messenger earlier, she didn't reply for quite a while only to finally pop up nearly half an hour later to say that they had to evacuate their office building because there had been an earthquake. Turned out to be quite a strong earthquake--and a rare one in that part of the world.

Late lunch together, iced tea and lightning

• Having Joel offer to wait for me to be done with my 12nn-1pm lecture class so that we can still have lunch together. ('Twas awfully considerate of him, don't you think?)
• Bottomless iced tea at Sulyaw, of course.
• Watching another of nature's spectacular light show on the drive home, courtesy of a thundercloud hovering over the northern part of town.

A wedding, streaming video and a waltz

• Looking forward to singing and/or playing the piano during a wedding this October. Joel had sent a text message this morning asking if I'd be interested. Although the date had not been set, I naturally agree to do so.
• Watching streaming live video of the finals match at Halle, Germany between Federer and Hewitt (even if Federer lost).
• Hearing Alexandre Desplat's Benjamin and Daisy from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A most delicate wistful waltz. I can imagine Benjamin and Daisy lightly tripping in time to it.

Grace before meals, white flowers and book in bed

• Being surprised by Joel when he initiates praying grace before meals at lunchtime yesterday. He had not done so for such a long time.
• Taking photos of the shrub by the garage in bloom. The tiny white flowers that bloom in clusters of three are simply delightful.
• Relaxing in bed in the late afternoon light, reading Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Lab manual, mooncakes and cross connections

• Joel shows me his brand new copy (they had just received their order from the publisher) of the laboratory manual he revised over the summer.
• Joel buys a package of four mini mooncakes for dessert at lunchtime and shares them with me.
• The cross connections among the VoIP phones in our office resulting in hilarious mix-ups.

Stranded, joking with Joel and level three

• Being stranded with Joel at the mall during an unexpected downpour after lunchtime (both of us late for our respective meetings!) ...
• ... and then later, when the rain had abated slightly, walking with him back to our offices all the while joking how he can remove his shoes and socks, wring his socks dry in front of his colleagues at the meeting and putt up his feet at the conference table to dry ("Oh, so sorry. You won't mind, would you?").
• Clearing a second board on Alchemy for the first time--and after not playing it for several years at that!

Reunion, over and done with and online games

• Spending the past two days attending the faculty conference with Joel, exchanging notes and stories after having not seen each other for nearly two weeks.
• Getting the minutes of all six executive committee meetings held in the past month over and done with. Phew!
• Rediscovering my favorite online games (Jumble, Dinotopia, Fowl Words and Alchemy) after some six years of not playing them.

The sound of rain, a new lab manual and serve breaks

• Although I can't see a thing through the frosted glass of the windows at my office, I can hear the welcome pattering of raindrops.
• Having Joel tell me (via text messaging as usual) that he'll show me the lab manual he's currently revising once it gets printed.
  
• Watching a tight fourth round tennis match at Roland Garros between No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal and No. 24 seed and fellow lefty Thomaz Belluci. As expected Nadal breaks Bellucci's serve on not a few occasions. But what is surprising is that Bellucci immediately breaks back nearly all the time. Some fighter that Bellucci!
  

A dictionary, veggie loaf and an extension

• I finally find a dictionary to use with my Mobipocket reader. It sure feels cool to be able to look up the definitions of unfamiliar words.
• Eating a slice or two of Goldilock's Veggie Loaf which tastes great alone. No need to add a slice of cheese or some sandwich spread.
• Seeing that my countdown for "until Joel leaves the university" is down to a little more than 20 hours. And then realizing that, since he decided to stay for at least one more semester, I get to reset it to 31 October--an extension of at least five months!

New black t-shirt, 95 wpm and nai cha

• Wearing for the first time the black baby tee I bought last month and being relieved that it still fits!
• Discovering that I can type at a speed of 95 wpm with 100% typing accuracy. I guess it pays to play piano and know how to sight read.
• Drinking nai cha at Chowking to go along with my early dinner.

Rising moon, cool air, and Rakot's G2

• Driving home yesterday, a beautiful sight met my eyes: the rising full moon just above a mist-covered Mt. Banahaw.
• For the first time in so many weeks, refreshingly rain-cooled air wafts in through the doorway in our basement.
• Downloaded and installed Rakot's G2 theme for Symbian s60 3rd edition in my Nokia E51. It's one of those rare elegant themes with an icon for all but a few apps.

Sleeping chickens

It is a habit of my staff here at the office to take a 30-minute nap during lunch break. For some strange reason, the sight of them dozing away in their chairs in their respective cubicles in semi-darkness (the lights in the office are usually turned off at that time) reminds me that of brooding hens sleeping in their nests.

Cupcake or flapjack?

My souvenir cupcake from this morning's wedding turned out to be quite an athlete. It took a dive off the saucer I was using to transport it from my office to my car for a photo session at home, hitting its head at the edge of the saucer (a la Greg Louganis once upon a time). Notwithstanding that minor mishap, it managed to perform a spectacular double somersault before landing with a soft albeit fatal thud on my office's linoleum floor, thereby sustaining grievous injury to its erstwhile artfully decorated head. :(

Another long chat

This morning, I attended a colleague's wedding where most of the guests visibly got restless as the "Christian ceremony" dragged on. As for me, I ended up having another long chat with Joel via text messaging about his plans to enroll as a non-degree student, among others. Our "conversation" in fact continued after the wedding (and the luncheon reception afterwards) and lasted until just after the end of the workday.

Oldie but goldie

Have just installed the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary in my cellphone. Despite being obviously outdated--I love how it defines a 'computer' as 'one who computes'--it should still prove useful for quick look-ups.

Someone to watch over him

Just after midnight this morning, the goat sent me a text message to thank me for last Saturday's dinner. He also asked me to watch over the bear whenever he would be out of town. Naturally, I responded by promising that I would watch over the bear.

Health hazard

Appointments to administrative positions here should include a warning:

Holding an administrative position is hazardous to your health. It means having to attend lots of meetings. Lots of meetings means sitting down for hours and being served unhealthy food snacks. And lots of unhealthy food means helloooo borderline high blood cholesterol levels.

Scapegoats

Since I typically eat veggies and generally eschew fatty stuff--save dark chocolate--junk food and pop, may I blame the four silvanas last Friday, breakfast at McDonald's last Sunday and yesterday's pizza for my high blood cholesterol level in this morning's blood chem results? Please, please, please...?

I take it back...

Eep! Just got back the results of my blood chem. Everything's fine except for--surprise!--my blood cholesterol level. All of a sudden, I've lost interest in baking cakes and other goodies...

Cheese, more cheese and a lighter load

• Eating pandesal with white cheese.
• Eating a slice of super supreme stuffed-crust pizza from Pizza Hut, a treat from one of our committee's members as a thank you for waiting two yours 'til she got all her unit's papers together. (As the pizza's crust was stuffed with mozzarella cheese, it seems I got my fill of cheese today!)
• The sight of the trunk of my car finally emptied of all the papers and books I constantly ferried between home and office last school term.

Vacation blues

Am realizing it was a bad idea to look up a recipe for silvanas. Now am itching to bake something--anything!--before things pick up again at the office in a week. Perhaps that good ol' banana bread or maybe Hershey's Black Magic cake. Or cheesecake, oatmeal cookies or Food for the Gods even if it isn't Christmas? Sigh! But our oven is still on the blink! Time to go shopping for a new oven... else it's back to no-bake cookies.

Today's blessings

Today am thankful for the following:

• That today was finally over and done with. This was the day that all of us at the office worked for these past few nightmarish weeks. Having seen to it that the commencement exercises went without a major hitch, we all can now breathe a sigh of relief, pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, sit back, relax and enjoy the relative calm before the cycle starts all over again.
• That Joel even thought of me despite this being his "anniversary": he asked me via text message how I was doing and hoped that I was feeling better. Then he even admonished me to get some rest to help speed up my recovery from tonsillitis and pharyngitis (probably a result of the past nightmarish weeks).

Falling victim to Murphy's Law

First I get a cough. Then I get diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis the other day. To top it off, my car got bumped by another yesterday morning right after Sunday Mass: the driver claimed didn't see me at all as he backed out of his parking spot! Pretty much shaken, I reported all this this morning via text message to Joel who reacted with, "OMG! Murphy's Law!" accompanied by a sad emoticon, a reversal of roles of sorts after my having to comfort him after that terribly ordeal three weeks ago.

P.S. It turns out Murphy's Law ain't done with me yet: my father just got diagnosed with shingles. Sigh!

Transmission through crying

Down with viral conjunctivitis (and an upper respiratory tract infection), said to be spread through contact with tears of an infected individual. And the only person I remember crying in my presence recently is my dear friend. And what's more is I held his hand while he wept. And he also kissed me... Ha, ha, ha... just kidding, my dear bear.

Still haunting...

Sigh! It's been more than a week. I've lost 2-3 lbs from the stress, pain and misery. And I still can't get the image of my dear friend weeping out of anger and pain out of my mind... Ah well, it's Lent anyway.

A glimmer of light

Finally! The very first smile from the bear during these past few days of misery. It was just a smiley/emoticon sent through text message. Still, it was a genuine smile.

A good friend

This morning my dear friend came to see me at my office and nearly cried again. I had to comfort him all over again. But he also saw that I was worried about him so he in turn tried to reassure me that he was going to be all right. Before he left to face the world again, I kissed him on the cheek to wish him good luck. He kissed me back and said, "You're a good friend."

A haunting memory

There is rarely a more heartbreaking scene than that of a dear friend weeping, persecuted for the wrong reasons, his sincerely noble intentions mocked, his spirits crushed and the joy in him replaced by bitterness and disillusionment. It simply cuts to the quick and the memory of it remains with you forever...

Promises to the bear

Promise me that you won't get into trouble like you did years ago. Yes. Yes, I know what you did in the spring of 2004. I've known about it for nearly two years now. But I promise you I won't tell a soul about it. And I promise you that no matter what you have done in the past and no matter what you will do, I will always be your friend.

Nearing the end of an era

With the prospect of my dear friend--my self-proclaimed promoter and a "passionate and excellent instructor"-- leaving by the end of the term, I will have to start looking into filing away all my sacred and liturgical sheet music into long-term storage. Sigh! It was indeed all just too good to last.

Ego booster

I just did some ego surfing and came across this that made me laugh: "I miss the centennial outstanding prof sa physical science na nagbigay sa akin ng pinaka mababang grade nun 2nd sem,... 2.25... HR lng tuloy ako nun... The best ka Ma'am..." I wonder if that student ever imagined that I would read that passage in her blog.

My new two eyes

I consulted an opthamologist the other Friday and was prescribed a pair of glasses for my presbyopia. Then today, my good friend who trained to be a medical doctor saw me for the first time wearing them. His response upon learning that I was using progressive lenses was, "Ate, you're getting old!"

No Sunday rest

It's been an anguish attending Sunday Mass. It has been ... since October. I thought it would get better over time. But it has been extremely difficult ... Oh, Thou who has made me, have mercy on me!

Conspiracy

Having merienda at the office nearly everyday. Probably part of a conspiracy to fatten me up? No problem. As long as I continue to contribute to the office's merienda fun, everybody gets fat--or fatter--along with me. He, he, he...