A Full Saturday

Waking up at 730 in the morning on a Saturday has its upsides.
Aside, of course, from the fact that I had a terrible night battling with a bug in the gut all the hell in the bathroom that comes with it.
So here's how it goes:
Prepared breakfast. (Great to do when you actually have time to do it. Therapeutic. Almost gives you the sense that one wills oneself to live teh day. ok ok so mejo OA, when all it comes down to is really just scrambling a few eggs and opening a can of sauseges. Still..... hehe)
Off to the gym. Where thankfully on Saturday mornings it's practically empty leaving one no reason not to skip those hellish squats.
Then on a whim, I decide to sit-in Oca's Class Text and Textuality. which turns out to be the best gut-move i've done in months (at least with regards to making some actual progress on my thesis.) Great discussions on Saussure and Levi-Strauss (no not the jeans). And the beginning discussions on Bakhtin. Polyglossia. Carnivalesque. all coming back to me! And a quick snuck-in-between talk with Mam Lulu who prods me into continuing my work on Dumdum, and the Unconscious (and to forego, for now, my other, grander, close to impossible projects). Dumdum, laughter, polyglossia, the multiplicity of the poetic voice, political satire as laughter. You get the drift. And I, finally, finally got some wind on the actual possibilitiy (yes) of writing this paper.
Later in the afternoon, I decided to drop by a dentist's office to have my toothache checked. No cavities. but unfortunately, an impacted wisdom tooth that's come back to haunt me. Suggested surgery. Which was expensive. But since she knew I was a teacher she said her husband might lower the price for me. Wow, It's the first time anyone's ever really took pity on my financial state as a teacher. hehe I know I should have been insulted. But I also quickly realized I was in no position to be insulted: not when I'm lying with my mouth open, biting some machine that would give me an x-ray look into my gums. Not a pretty sight. Although all the smoke stains don't even show on an x-ray.
After this, I passed by some salon to get a haircut. Even asked my stylist (yes, I have a stylist haha) what the best hair cut was for balding men. Not much to style here anyway. Nothing I could not have gotten in a barber shop. Although the appeal of an actually clean place to get one's hair cut is something I'll always go back for.
That night, I end up watching Bad Education. So so good. I don't even want to start because I just might end up writing some paper about it in the process. Needless to say: an amazing story. Nothing gets me more than complexity complexity complexity. And the scene with the huge faces in the Museum of Giants.
Movie ends, and I'm back to the TV where I catch the pivotal scene in "Silence of the Lambs" where Jodie Foster's talking about her childhood memories (screams of the lambs). Never fully realized until then how powerful this movie is. If anyone has a DVD copy of this pls tell me.
Switching channels, I hit the BBC special on concert pianists. Passion. Dedication. Love for art. Hay. Ended up texting people about it (althoguh only one probably replied. hehe ) oh well, solitary pleasures then since no one ever gets high on BBc specials anyway (hahay).
And so I end the night by calling a friend.
Much to do, when one's left by oneself to map the day.
And this time to actually travel.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Here's how my holidays went:
Traditional christmas party on the 22nd with family friends.
Dinner at Tides on the 23rd. (Had plates and plates of tahong the size of fists, salmon as pink as.... ,)
A non-event Christmas eve, where the whole house was dark by 10 pm. (Yes. We are THAT kind of family.)
After dinner drinks at the house on the 26th with old college friends. (where I felt both so young and so old.)

The week after Christmas was spent meeting up with old friends. Trying to do some work so I wouldn't feel harrassed on the first week of classes (to no avail). And reading reading reading a biography of Ted Hughes.

A few days before the New year, I went to TOPS for the first time. Spent a great night with good friend Anna (best friend of mine these holidays). Did some ritual that surprisingly turned out really light ( I mean funny light, and yes, light light. As in Candles light. With background music light. And the lights of the whole cebu looking up at us.) the view was amazing. I had waited for it all my life. Literally. And it had to take a Manila girl to take me there.

New Year's day I spent cleaning my room. Found a red robe from when I was seven. Socks from when I was four. The first ruler that I ever ever used. I realized it has never been in my nature to throw things away.

I plan to change that this year.
And this makes me happy for now. Even if it's just a thought.
I don't miss 2005. ONe bit.