Imagine a world class violinist, a genius who cobbled together his first musical instrument at the age of 4, posing as a street musician in a subway stop during rush hour. Would anyone recognize him? Would anyone recognize the music? Would anyone care? Beauty comes in many forms but in all its guises it is supposedly arresting, something so ( Read more... )

Last Saturday I watched Barbs deliver a talk to the incoming Lit Majors and their parents. It was quite a speech actually! Along with organization and development, it was insightful without being esoteric and conversational without being folksy. What further floored me was the effortless delivery, no written speech but simply talking points in a ( Read more... )

I have a lot of weird theories to explain a lot of the weird things I see. Most efforts to squeeze sense from the world involve pattern recognition. For instance, a bunch of colors in an arc isn't proof that God is a vandal, it's a rainbow. Gibberish is a pattern of letters out of order. Attraction is looking at someone and thinking the two of you ( Read more... )

Many years back I began a scuba certification course I never finished. Although every year we usually go to Cebu for the holidays without fail, something (ie laziness) would stop me from completing the course. So long ago was this that if I resumed the training, I would have to start the lessons from step one all over again. However the thought of ( Read more... )

Kudos to my brother who is shortlisted in the short story category of Fully Booked's 2nd Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards! The winner will be announced on Sunday but hopefully even the runners-up will see their stories printed. We're already loading a backpack of all the Gaiman stuff lying around the house as he will be meeting them and doing the ( Read more... )

It is only petty men who seem normal.

Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

One of my electives this semester is geared towards providing students with real world legal experience. Thus we are allowed to handle pro bono cases accepted by the Ateneo Legal Aid Center, and all the work associated with that - drafting pleadings and motions, interviewing clients and the like. Depending on which court or tribunal is handling the ( Read more... )

The user picture for this blog is of the salt lamp I keep in my room. I originally got it because of its supposed therapeutic effects in warding off allergies with its negative ions. While I still have my allergies, I have grown quite fond of the thing as it looks in person as if it has a face. It’s an orange chunk of rock vaguely reminiscent of an ( Read more... )

You know you’re old when you can’t remember how old you are ( Read more... )

The title says it all, the following entry will be purely random bits of what has been happening to me these days. There will be no attempt at unity, coherence, cohesion or all the other things English teachers harp about as hallmarks of a good essay. Ordinarily I would be loath to post such (narcissistic) drivel but I haven’t posted anything for ( Read more... )