Me, again

In remembrance of Ninang Gilda's birthday anniversary on June 4 (she would have been 93), I want to write something about one of my dear friends in life really. She was the age of my parents but she was so youthful-minded and me so stubborn and self-absorbed, we clicked! I felt lucky I got to know her up close. She was one of those authoritative, iconic figures who was actually very approachable and warm, it's disarming. When we were studying English in high school, we actually got to read a short story by her that I couldn't forget but also couldn't fully remember now. It had something to do with a runaway panty and I simply remember it being original. I told my teacher I actually knew the writer as she was a close family friend. The teacher just ignored me. She was the wife of one of daddy's schoolmates in UP LAW Class of '52. In retirement, my father's "barkada" or friends and their wives had a round-robin method of treating each other out for l...

Dear FutureMe, Hello you! Two nights ago last year, you celebrated your 59th birthday hosted by a former classmate, a true blue Theresian named after the month of May wherein both of you were born, in a function room in the high-end, high-class Shangri-La condo Horizon Homes located in a posh district of Manila in BGC which you seldom go to. Like every joyful celebration, birthday or otherwise, it would be a fleeting moment that you wish could have been longer. Well, you made it a vow to make your days on earth a celebration of sorts anyway, whether by eating out alone, having your mall walks and window-shopping also by yourself, etcetera etcetera. To make happy moments longer that can even last forever. Your philosophy in life is if you don't appreciate your own company, nobody else will and you wear this like a badge of honor. So maybe these solitary days are just a launchpad for even happier days ahead when you can spend them with a few good friends that mirror your soul. On you...

It’s almost ludicrous just listening to the daily news…like Today with the rattling urgency to regulate AI before the technology gets humanly uncontrollable, to the  1.5 degrees   of global warming as tipping point for worldwide catastrophe in a few years’ time. Ludicrous! As it is, I am a self-employed freelance artist not bound to the confines and confining 9-5 office job unlike both my parents in their lifetime and all my siblings today (and all the news reporters apparently). I work from home, practically on my own (with no boss to answer to except my classmate clients and collaborators). I have little money in my bank account and try to make plenty out of little. For example, I have plenty of imagination to fuel my mind out of tormenting mundane situations and that may be sufficient to keep me content, inspired, on top of my game and sane . I don’t possess a sports car like maybe an Alpine which is what I would like for myself or live in a well-secured and sprawling ga...

It’s starting to rain now and we all need our umbrellas when moving about but this woman is holding a parasol or a sunshade and not a parapluie, just fyi. When this Monet painting caught my eye (while surfing for various images with no intention of doing anything special with them really), I thought maybe I can do this one easily in soft pastels. And so with surprising results, here it is and  I was right! Lastly, a thought occurred to me while applying the gamut of colors for the field alone: that these Impressionist pioneers really knew how to have fun with their style of art, which may be why it’s the favoured style for the local pastel artists to do their various creations in quick time , even .

 ...all I have to do is take a look at who? then I'm not so blue.

  I'm so Advanced! 😄😃😀 Advanced Jedi Master I am.