Bubuyog and alimango
Picture taken last Wednesday at the Jollibee branch in Central.
I love Jollibee! Takot ako kay Ronald McDonald mula nang makita ko yun estatwa niya sa Sta. Mesa. He had vertical irises!!! Alagad ni Voldemort, ngiiii.
Anyways, the event was their OFW VIP Club launch, and Jollibee was there! We were served breakfast of daing na bangus, crisp bacon, scrambled eggs, corned beef and orange juice. Ang sarap ng daing na bangus, grabe. Bukas babangon ako ng maaga makapunta lang ulit sa Jollibee para mag-almusal.
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Am trolling the internet for story ideas for next issue, and it’s funny how I get excited at the idea of writing some article in such way that the readers of Hong Kong News (mostly domestic helpers) will like or find interesting.
I want to write a review of the Da Vinci Code book and movie; a feature the popular Pinoy bands in Lan Kwai Fong (they are so talented! Sobra); and a sor of critique on the best way to pack and prepare a balikbayan box.
We have a Kultura section now, and next to the Features section, it’s my favorite. When I was in the Philippine Collegian- oh, eons ago -I wrote for Feats but I secretly wanted to be part of Kult.
I’m halfway through ‘Kafka on the Shore’ and Murakami’s inventiveness never fails to amaze me. He is so gracefully skillful at weaving reality with thread of fantasy, and the result is seamless.
Imagine an old man who is capable of talking to cats. He conducts his conversations in such a regular, normal way, and his topics are so innocous the same way the cats are ordinary in breed and classification (the way some people are ordinary. Of course, some people, like some felines in Murakami’s tale, are more unusual and less ordinary) that you begin to believe that there actually are people who can communicate in catspeak.
Imagine Alice in Wonderland happening in downtown Tokyo.
I wish I had the time and the patience to walk up to the Midlevels and buy that beautiful second-hand copy of The Complete Chronicles of Narnia whose owner is selling on AsiaExpat. Sure I’ve read it, but my copy’s in Manila and there are days when I feel like rereading ‘The Silver Chair’ or ‘Prince Caspian’ again. Also, the edition I’m speaking of has color maps.
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The June Main edition of HK News is almost done, only the Local News section is yet to be completed. My friend reporter Chi turned to me an hour ago and asked, from out of the blue, " Ano ang mas malaki, alimasag o alimango, and what’s the difference?’
It was not only the questions I found funny (say ‘alimasag’ and ‘alimango’ a few times and they sound hilarious. At least to me they do Mababaw ang kaligayahan ko.This is one of the reasons why I said yes to my husband — he has a terrific sense of humor, and he makes me laugh), but how Chi asked them. He looked seriously befuddled, and his brow had a little crease in the middle.
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Journalists want protection, not guns
First posted 10:26am (Mla time) May 26, 2006, Inquirer
THE NATIONAL Union of Journalists of the Philippines has rejected the government’s suggestion that journalists and other media workers bear arms to protect themselves from assassins.
“We rejected it then, we reject it now. Such a suggestion is nothing but an abject admission that government is either unable or unwilling to protect us,” Jose Torres Jr., NUJP spokesperson, said in a statement e-mailed to media offices Thursday.
“We do not wish to add to the bloody mayhem that has claimed the lives of so many of our colleagues, of hundreds of activists and dissenters, of countless more ordinary citizens as government vainly seeks an explanation for a breakdown of law and order it has been unable to prevent or, as many are beginning to believe, actually abetted,” Torres said.
While acknowledging that citizens have a right to own and carry guns for self-defense, Torres said that arming journalists was not the solution to the continuing killings.
“We would like to point out that a number of our recently slain colleagues had, in fact, armed themselves, albeit in vain,” Torres said.
So ano, mag-armas na lang lahat ng kayang magdala ng armas? Essentially, the government is admitting that it is incapable of protecting journalists and going after those who have perpetrated the media murders.
Malamang naman kasi, mga nasa gobyerno din ang nasa likod ng mga pamamaslang. Local officials in cahoots with businessmen and the corrupt police and military.
Ang hindi ko lang maiwasang maisip ay ito: Tinutulak talaga ng gobyerno na mag-armas ang mamamayan. There is a civil war, after all.
