the tug of mosaic

Indian Summer

it was a very humid, hot walk. i'm no longer complaining after the fact.

30 days

in September. a depleting September. I'm not really good with events. I'd rather stay at home and read. But circumstances happen and we have to abide. Maybe next month it's going to be cozy.

listening to bombo radyo

I tuned in to Bombo Radyo Bacolod at like two pm, it was an hour before midnight in the Philippines. Masskara will start Monday. That's our city's festival. There would be street dancing competitions, parades, beauty pageants and all sorts of activities. Our city comes to life every October.

I don't speak Ilonggo every day. Just to hear the language, is refreshing.

re-styling blogs

i actually clicked a change of templates this afternoon. dynamic views with blogger is truly pleasing to the eyes.
my blog would have looked amazing. but i thought about my side bars and the time and effort i spent to customise the templates. so, maybe next time.

but i could insert my chosen blogger blogs in the box and witness them spark in mosaic form.

my friend Joy's in Maryland:





to Ryan's prolific page:





to my tita one's artistic output:





while my mosaic is discouraging.




the photos became invincible.

the snapshot preview commenced from an older post. the newer ones are missing.




i'll re-design eventually. i'll get the timing right.

what do you mean by networking ?

i love, love the social network. i know i sound like venus raj (major, major). i feel sad for the eduardo saverin (andrew garfield) character. liberties were taken by aaron sorkin who penned the screenplay. fiction when it is based on real life, laced with caustic aphorism becomes an inexorable truth. this is my favourite david fincher film. however i haven't seen Seven, which is tragic in the scheme of the universe because i don't like brad pitt, ever.

jesse eisenberg is brilliant. the kid does good work. i'll check the amazing spiderman with andrew garfield when it finally opens in cinema.

i like the geeks, the nerds who continue to innovate. because what are we going to do without Facebook in our lives? 

seeing, observing

i like the idea of travel, it's an act of broadening our scope and outlook. we see the stunning views. we learn. in thessaloniki, i like the furnitures in cafes, bars and restaurants. the city has a great eye for interior design. the locals are helpful. the ambiance is friendly. we could have stayed longer and done more exploring. but time is of the essence, to excavate a tiring cliche from its hiding place.

the eurozone is cheyne-stoking as it says in the news and greece is at the forefront of its ailments. when is the bailout going to happen? what is the eurozone decision? a country as efficient as germany is dilly-dallying. in other aspects, the euro is a good idea. in factors like how each nation behave and handle their money, it gets lost in translation.

indeed, with the cliches.

to decode the show off

i'm not smart enough for Christopher Nolan's majestic films. despite the glorious special effects and the imaginative plot, i tend to fall asleep and scream, enough already! yeah, romcom all the way!

in Inception, there a lot of distractions -- di caprio, tom hardy, cillian murphy, what makes the ellen page character special (?), or is it alright for michael caine to play a babysitter (?), marion cotillard's accent.

the main themes of espionage, dreams, mind-numbing graphics are further enhanced by all the talk and explanations for the purpose of dialogue (?). just in case, the movie goer gets confused with the actions and sequences.

but it's virtually enjoyable, whether it's a dream within a dream or an alternate universe of good looking people who emote and infiltrate dreams for a living.

struggle to breath

unlike my lovely mother, i find it hard to cope in a social situation. i'd rather channel surf and read the papers than go party. unless it's going to be with kindred spirits.

a friend.
a friend with her friends?
sometimes awkward.
my tongue gets tied.
unless she's utterly cool.

what is cool?
nice. pleasant. charming.
most of my closest friends are nice to me. that is why i attend their parties despite the situation being so compromising with their other friends.

janette would like a copy

jan's creamy cupcakes.

let's look for metaphors

there was no time to think during the past week. it was that busy and i'm not done. my surroundings are a mess as usual. i haven't tackled any computer work or finish my book. but i heard it's going to go back to summer in the coming days. a consolation for the coming October.

two cents

it has been a week since the emmy's. no live coverage in this part of the globe as usual. the highlights shown on some far flung channel were devoid of genuine chuckles. not that Jane Lynch wasn't entertaining, she was good. definitely much much better than Ryan Seacrest. but the presenters and winners' speeches were a bit of a dud. except for Ty Burrell's best supporting actor winning speech for Modern Family. that was really funny.

it was a win for Jim Parsons for best actor in a comedy series for The Big Bang Theory. i love Sheldon Cooper character. geeks should inherit the earth and no else's. not even Michael Scott of The Office. i find dry humour dull. i peek at The US Office once in a while. for Steve Carell fans, he's a huge movie star. he doesn't need a tv award to validate his status in the industry.

Julianna Margulies, my favourite George Clooney's love interest and the only ER actor to have won an Emmy, nabbed best actress in a drama series. i may not like Alicia's choices. but i'm quite happy with this latest The Good Wife triumph. Archie Panjabi may have not won but Margo Martindale's recognition is definitely Justified.

no sense of direction

goodness me. i got lost in London Bridge station this morning. i was in heels, in agony and i got lost. it's even more ironic now that Ry is easing his way out of this depot. but here i am manifesting my abstract failings. next time, hopefully i won't be this daft.

idea of fun

during the riots, as reported in the newsreel, almost all the shops in Clapham were smashed and looted. except for one. Waterstone's, the ephemeral bookstore, remained untouched, standing tall one Tuesday morning.

books are not as desired as a new pair of trainers or a new mobile phone. but i practically know someone who is into reading. i'm not sure if it's showing off her credentials or she really loves to decipher the pages upon pages of paragraphs. i'm sure it's the latter. but you know sometimes reading a big book in public is akin to the ostentatious display of a new gear from JD Sports or the priceless Chanel purse.

i don't see any of my intimate friends read a book in the train. i have to find out if it's such a dorky activity for them. but i see a lot of Londoners poking their heads into a scintilla of paperbacks in the tube. that means less noise in the carriage. and in the bigger picture, peace on earth? maybe.

ask

I'm yawning at this point. It's almost midnight. I still have textile in the laundry machine. I have an early day mane. That is if I can manage an early day. Hoovering is not that enticing.

Gasp, another yawn.

Those crackers (pictured above) served in a bar in Greece may have tasted bland. But it's a freebie, comes with the drinks.

reconstruct

it's not going to lose me any weight, these horizontal activities. doing nothing is kind of sad honestly. i'll mend my ways.

White Tower

let's read.
about history.
northern Macedonia.
Alexander the Great.

so what are you writing?

is this rest day or what? after a week of work (day and night shifts) airport strolling, flying, navigating Thessaloniki in Greece in above 30 degree heat without an umbrella, watching a different breed of a sports event (more on that later) at Toumba Stadium, trying to read Greek, reading Stephen Fry, stopover in Milan, scouring the traveling crowd for a Carrie Bradshaw doppelgänger, praying for the flight not to be delayed, getting home before 2am, sleep for three hours, work for twelve hours, sleep, finish the documentation audits after I reach 10 posts or thereafter (leaving the house, taking the tube) I still have loads in my to-do list.

I better get to the bath. It's almost 11 am.

fine, you're bored

It's a good thing I was never a fan of the premise and catch this in cinema. Because from my perspective, Eat, Pray and Love is painful to watch. Billy Crudup is  reduced to ugly and spiteful. I mean, hey casting director. Billy Crudup is a hottie.  How daring of you.  This review is correct. Whine, Whine, Whine should have been the proper title.

I don't get the protagonist Liz' (Julia Roberts) complaints. It could have just been getting divorce and embarking on new adventures, writing and getting paid for it. Unlike us working ants.

I know too well the lure of travel, to engage in speaking fluent Italian, to soak up a new culture and achieve enlightenment.

Mostly it's for the rich and privilege.  Those of us who have to work for food can't afford a gap year.

losing a post

our flight back home to London from Malpensa Airport in Milan was delayed so I blogged and it got lost. was it the shit wi-fi? or just a stroke of  annoying fingers? anyway i was just talking about cliques yet again. totally nonsense.

downtown

the flag, not quite obscured.

silence

silence. peace. quiet. serenity.
if only i could have had a few hours to myself in the past week. all i seem to be doing is work, part and parcel of the process of living. they're not extra hours. that's just the schedule.
c'est la vie.
now i'm making a list. work later.

from jan's lens

there are many cool photos from r and g's do. this one is from the lovely janette. we had to trawl through the maze of soho in heels to find the reception's venue. but the event, with the confetti of tears and all the trimmings is truly well worth my ordeal. best wishes to the happy couple.

live blogging

at ryan's do, wedding.
all the best, dude!

sugar sweet

marriage should be a merger of intellect. ideally. that is why we crave for our beloved to read books. or indulge in the discussion of in-depth and relevant topics of the psyche and the times.

it's also sweet. like the cup of sugar used for maja blanca (above). my bloke prepared maja blanca for me, from scratch. it's like an episode of young love, sweet love. what does an English guy know about desserts containing coconuts? or the intricacies of making adobo? should be nothing. again, the power of love.

bring on the rain