tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:00:38 +0000c'est la viebuhay-kulturawritingbooksfictionpulitikolmemepowerbookbrokenhistorical markersoptical drive bustsmoking gunSmog-Free. Shiny-White. Clean Lungs.http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Etchie)Blogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-8526095371041509360Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +00002010-01-18T00:10:53.983-05:00an excerpt from a short fiction i'm currently stuck at writing:<!--StartFragment--> That night he dreamt of her. In the dream they were in an argument. She said she was leaving. At first, he believed her. But there were qualms in his head needed to be quelled. Whatever that was bothering him, it didn’t materialize. It was just there, trapped in the black hole of sleep. He was merely http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/like-endless-rain-into-paper-cup.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-5369946168811621065Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:39:00 +00002009-12-29T20:57:26.492-05:00five posts a year was not exactly what i intended to do with a blog i started close to seven years ago. at that time, i was an idealist---thinking i could somehow chronicle my experiences on a daily basis---and a some sort of outlet blossomed on the nook and cranny of the cyberspace. it was a blog that i had to delete and redo. a reconstruction that came, coincidentally, with my own. a few posts http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/keeping-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-5703157870460690462Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:02:00 +00002009-10-29T17:44:31.908-05:00for whatever reason, i did not notice that the graphic header of my blog suddenly disappeared. i assumed it was caused by a browser upgrade (really. that was the only thing that factored in, since i could not recall doing anything [except maybe for the permissions verification/repair, but that would not in anyway, cause a CSS error]).as i grappled on the aftereffects of a nasty flu, i decidedly http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/something-wicked-this-way-comes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-4306767790202200512Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:44:00 +00002009-10-13T17:45:18.679-05:00sitting at "the end of the world", he said. but i smiled and he flinched. and an automatic response to a hackneyed query. "i'm good." you know, the mechanics of American goodwill starts with the obligatory phrase. soon, you would not realize the exact reason for doing so, except it was contagious. that it would become a staple in a language you would be constrained to inculcate. "then why are youhttp://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/particle-of-happiness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-3729026388201481888Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +00002009-10-06T13:00:42.577-05:00c'est la viewritingone of my weaknesses is expressing myself in English. verbally. perhaps it can be attributed to my lack of social skill. or anything anthropological. a deficiency I must have acquired after i mushroomed into this world, and derailed a certain aspect of my development.they say that personal growth is complemented by his/her environs. whatever the society would rear into who you become, it still http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/sur-langlais-auf-englisch-on-english.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-775562986357892357Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +00002009-10-06T11:19:27.339-05:00<!--StartFragment--> note: I wrote this as a supposed introduction to a series I was planning to do based on my current experiences working for an airline company. originally, i intended it as a mere catharsis in times of unexpected occupational burnouts, but at the end it became a personal imposition to blog it. hence, the result. For whatever reason, people drop twenty points of their IQ http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/intro-we-can-be-nice-sometimes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-2843547827448318841Sun, 31 May 2009 04:57:00 +00002009-05-31T10:54:34.699-05:00there is this nagging feeling to gloat over the Orlando Magic's victory against the heavily-favored, media-hyped, and overpraised greatness of LeBron James (well, he is that great, and yeah, sometimes it becomes increasingly unnerving to hear the incessant remarks at ESPN saying we all are witnesses---heck, we know and it doesn't help a bit if it is kept on shoving up our frenzied heads) and the http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/magic-act.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1054788432177165212Tue, 12 May 2009 02:24:00 +00002009-05-11T22:16:12.087-05:00alright, so i finished a vignette on an idea that came up a week ago. it was one of those rare occurrences that i managed to end a story i started---most merely simmer in the hard drive on an endless wait for the right kind of muse to drop by and remove the leash to its culmination. to work on a vignette for more than a couple of days in excruciating, let alone the sci-fi short that i've been http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/potpourri-v1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1349278503687334588Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:28:00 +00002009-03-21T17:52:58.042-05:00Popping the 2009 with a meme. Of course. (stolen from Dodo's blog)Two months late. But punctuality is never a trait. What is your idea of perfect happiness?happiness is the syringe-full of corticosteroid on a flared-up gout. What is your greatest fear?biting the dust never seeing the grandkids. skydiving with and without a chute. eight-legged freaks.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/2009-without-bang-just-that-and-hey.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1022264531532608290Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:52:00 +00002008-11-07T01:33:59.688-05:00recently, i got a set of 52mm close-up filters as an alternative for macro lens. i haven't shot macro before, well, except for a futile attempt that ended up not exactly the way i intended it to be.  the close-up filters, as i said, are a cheaper option than those three-hundred-buck 60mm or 100mm lenses used for photomicrography. however i shoot RAW and cropping the images for internet http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/c-u.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1987887475187258791Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:12:00 +00002008-09-17T20:04:50.852-05:00the dreaded place for a book to be.it is simply meant an exile. the st. helena or the honolulu for a deposed emperor or a dictator. the Goodwill or the Salvation Army for a thing that has no significant use (or was used before, but was rapidly replaced by something more appealing or advanced or brand-spanking-new). like a vacant space for anything that is junk. once a book relegated to that http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/lit-in-john.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-6768864394674865323Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:17:00 +00002008-09-14T22:25:13.755-05:00the sound of rain enhances one's creativity.well, at least to me, that is.there is something magical about rain. something about the continuous clatter of water on the roof. something that is inexplicably mind-numbing. something that, for no reason at all, hollers to the muses to come out.i love watching the raindrops fall. it prompts the creative juices to flow like the stream of water that http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/rhythm-of-rain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-6472851591118835599Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:57:00 +00002008-09-11T11:46:01.642-05:00the evening seems like shallow surf where one wades, but could not get his feet wet. a scramble to view yet like a blind on Braille, barely scratching the surface. just listening to Coltrane, melancholic and inevitable. the grit on the instrument, on the rough edges of brass, whispers in the twilight with tranquility in constant orbit. in someway, i thought, of both the eternal sadness and joy, http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/playing-in-dreams.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-4556461466108804220Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:26:00 +00002008-09-04T21:49:24.728-05:00everytime Hannah Montana's dad hands her his trademark concoction, loco hot cocoa, it gives his daughter bouts of chocolate-induced nightmares---ranging from maternal hallucinations (which, somehow, vaguely explains the Stewart family's lack of a mother figure) to a reversal of popularity (with Jackson assuming the equally-doubled-life of Bucky Kentucky). with Brianne, i concocted a similar http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/chocolateeh.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-5763599098712787329Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:53:00 +00002008-09-04T17:35:39.932-05:00okay, so i got itchy playing with Lightbox (albeit, i am still in the process of tinkering with it) and i'll be posting what's left of the Sacramento/San Francisco trip we had last July. most, i'll be putting without the usual PS post-process, except for maybe, a level/curve adjustment here and there; the usual watermark and image resizing. however, there will be a few that i did some heavy http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/ca-etc.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1262832960938256959Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:12:00 +00002008-09-03T20:27:47.256-05:00click on the image to zoom; left/right arrow keys to scroll through the imagesa month ago, we flew to Sacramento to visit friends (and relatives, as well---although the trip was somehow a bit short due to work commitments [i admit that it will take a full week before you can say that you've made the most of it]). the second day, they drove us two hours to San Francisco. here are some the http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/sfo_03.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-2147723986222180755Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:31:00 +00002008-08-14T16:17:20.350-05:00c'est la viewritingRommel recently emailed me a story he wrote. He said he wanted me to read it and comment on it, constructively---grammatical and logical, he added.  It would be his response to a call for submission for crime fiction a Philippine publication had quietly announced a few months ago. While Rommel's story is sitting simmering in my harddrive, I still have not started on my own. Ideas flew and left, http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/stuck.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1089927381585073312Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:18:00 +00002008-08-14T15:31:29.134-05:00today is Sas' birthday.almost a week ago was mine. and it somehow made me think that in 359 days I'll be crossing the realm of the 30. in any case I'll be old.right.and another more year, and it'll be the last before my age get bumped out of the calendar.well, at least it would still be on the Lotto.http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/2931.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-6896224515928260980Mon, 05 May 2008 00:50:00 +00002008-11-13T03:37:41.254-05:00sleep. well, just because i was too pooped out when i got here. i debated whether i'd get a cab and make a quick sightseeing tour of downtown denver forty minutes away, or kiss the bedsheets and save whatever's energy left for tomorrow. i guess it's quite obvious that i decided on the latter.  this is my second time in denver. and the baptism to the mile high city is just too fucking chilly. http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/things-to-do-in-denver-when-youre-bored.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-7899271877462153207Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:36:00 +00002008-02-20T02:50:25.686-05:00yet would have been thirty today.and still it pains me to think of that day in september, close to ten years ago. ...there were a lot of gimiks that you had missed. the car that i promised before we were shooed at the SM City Carpark. those. and some others. we all have discerning definitions of life. maybe you saw it differently than we did. you may have hollered. we may have been too oblivious.http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/look-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-184776447926089124Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:17:00 +00002007-12-24T19:29:30.226-05:00 yuletide smells firecrackers in chimney. cliches on sink flushed dishwater and throwaways. it doesn't have to be this way. my christmas flatten heavy if Indy Jones ran over by the rock. love and understanding, chewbacca-style, gift-wrapped with a bowcaster. sigh. merry christmas, then. http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/all-i-want-for-christmas-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-3705027535738437426Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:09:00 +00002007-12-16T23:23:59.331-05:00buhay-kulturathe subject of a recent lighthearted familial squabble was that esoterically-mushy Rupert Holmes song "Terminal"---which, for no reason at all, started after I announced the fresh news of Dan Fogelberg's death (something that Yahoo! inexplicably never fails to deliver--celebrity obituaries like drive-thru to-go's for the biz news famished). with a split-second plunge on the keyboard, came the http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/dunit-didwhat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-2679997378482139566Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:14:00 +00002008-11-13T03:37:41.439-05:00tagged by Dodo.impending repair meant a drastic clean-up. docs and files in backup. icons in the trashbin. the porn on CDs. not much of a wallpaper freak, 'cept for the occasional itch for eyecandies. and my desktop proclivities depend on moods -- lately for monochrome. lightning never strikes twice, they say, but brain flicker is difficult to come by these days, hence the image. i was also a http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/flicker.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-2576294811833407334Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:11:00 +00002007-11-02T14:13:58.770-05:00c'est la viei have a really weird feeling that something's amiss.not because my tummy's stuffed with glucose-fest funnel cake that i overindulged earlier when we went to a parish carnival. but with metaphysical manifestations that Tobe Hooper would gladly jump at the gun if given an opportunity.i might be wrong then--the mind's eye is bigger than it seems, they say. i don't know if it will suffice and http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/others.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7194538.post-1866061219447094140Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:09:00 +00002007-10-04T22:59:15.517-05:00buhay-kulturac'est la viepulitikolokay. so i'm not jumping into the racist slur brouhaha of Desperate Housewives, though I'd just like to point out the flurry of mixed reactions that came from Filipinos both in the native land and overseas. first of all, i don't watch the show. for no particular reason, i just don't. well, i did adore teri hatcher when she was doing those string-strapped calisthenics backriding with dean cain. http://etchieblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/disparate-home-fries.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Etchie)0