Every Vice Has A Price

O Bar, OrtigasStrange how stage lights and full-blast speakers take your life a little, and yet, when mixed with high doses of booze and unnumbered sticks of nicotine, they keep you going when smoke-screened nights become a bitter aftertaste.Do it again and again, and in no time your words will be laced with electronic dance music that speaks nothing but the emptiness that comes after a feel-good

Shelter Me From The Storm

Pinagkait man ng tahanang matutuluyan,sa piling ng mga rehas na bakalat malalamig na tubo ng Maynilad,doon ay natagpuan angpansamantalang taguan samarahas at mapagtaboy na lansangan.

Collateral Damage (First Part)

He could have been someone worth knowing. A friend, a confidant, a regular drinking buddy that I could one day introduce to the Encantos. Ours is a story like no other, even when our narrative ran like everyone's gay tale.A week ago, Mugen decides to once again taunt the self who still holds control of the body. One click of the mouse button, while floating above the blue skies of Planet Romeo,

Dog Days

To be rewarded with weekend rest days should be a cause for celebration. The last time I had my Sundays for leisure was ages ago, and to secure that one day, I had to make sacrifices and spend years having separated days off at work.But the expected switch was met with ambivalence, if not downright dismay. It is because it was announced by the director during the end of my work week, and that I

The Spinner

When Arrjae Puno and I were in our early twenties, our tireless selves used to be the poster boys of Orosa. At 1 am on a Saturday morning, we would walk the streets of Malate on our way to Bed. The scene then, littered with wasted, happy folks who want to be seen and get laid were hardly a distraction. We still yearn to get to our destination.After paying the 200 pesos cover charge, we would

The Clicktivist

I don't mind the hacktivists taking over government websites. After all, their intentions are clear. They are sending a message the netizens approve. There too, is a pattern to their incursions. They take over websites at past midnight, and the portals they assault - like the Bangko Sentral and the IPO hardly affect the lives of ordinary people. I am so amazed of their advocacy that I "liked"

Why Its Hard To Blog These Days?

1. Writing has become a drag. Why spend two to four hours conceiving an idea and putting it into words, when you can simply share your life on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook? 2. Twitter. It's dynamic, densely populated and it only takes 140 characters to send a thought or update across. And there's always a receptive audience who is ready to click the re-tweet and favorite buttons, or respond to

Anal-Probing Sotto

"Am I man enough to stand by my principles?" Sotto must have been musing before delivering his speech."Even when the educated middle and liberal upper class, who have access to social media pelt me with criticisms? Tell lies about my family? Write ugly stories for everyone to read? Discredit, not only my character but everything I believe?" The Senator finds himself in very deep shit."Even when

Baywalk

The squall that brought the city to its knees is no more. What lingers are the howling winds and rain showers, that remind the earth of the storm's monsoonal grip. The sun occasionally peeks between the marching clouds, bathing the moist ground of precious minutes of sunshine. But when the stubborn nimbus, always on the lookout for changing winds hover over the weary metropolis, darkness cast a

Drone

Jap Nishi asked why I was so affected when Myrtle, the PBB Teen housemate suddenly became a "princess" on Twitter's trending topic this afternoon. I replied as a jest that I cannot accept Myrtle's mom becoming the "queen" of the Philippines. But his question, like a dagger forced deep into my skin left still unanswered fundamental questions. Do I dislike Myrtle, the PBB Teen housemate because I

Crisis Intervention

A friendly reminder I found on Facebook this morning.Meanwhile, the body follows a pattern of sleep. Experts call it the Circadian Rhythm. We call it the proper bedtime. And since my work hours drastically move from the afternoon to the morning shift on Mondays, I am forced to change my bedtime pattern in a single day - every week. That leaves my two days in the morning difficult to manage. My

Submerging

And so begins the grind, a day ahead of the work week. We expect more overtime. Frustrating revisions may pop out unexpected, and maybe even a dress down from the director if we royally fuck-up this side project. We try not to be eaten alive by the pressure, but we can't help it. Time is of the essence.We will open the week, with the project three days behind schedule. And out of our desire to

Pain

Trees ready to be cut down in SM BaguioAsk not, why cities simmer; lowlands get flooded and why people die when mud tumbles down from the mountain. Whine as long as we want about the hellish weather or the insane monsoon, but the thing that keeps the ground cooled and the earth from churning is the very thing we cut down with impunity. The next time the planet strikes back, I'd embrace the pain

Bipolar

It was raining yesterdaywhile it was scorching hot the other day.The weather bureau said it was the hotteston record this year.Daybreaks are chillyHad to turn off the fan and cover myself with a blanket.And when I woke up a while ago,the sun was up. And it hints of another polarity again.So it is no surprise that a lot of people at work got sickAnd I too had a near miss.It's the weather, I saytoo

Trident Paths

If I would just pay attention to what the cosmos is telling lately. Maybe, just maybe, my place in the order of things might appear a little clearer.Initially I was thinking of asking you to come aboard as one of our staff but I realized that you are already part of the family I couldn't really waive your membership even if I wanted to because of issues with other members...---At present, I have

Killing Marquis De Sade

It was perversion of epic proportions.A young couple possessed with boundless lust had decided to videotape themselves in their moment of heat. For posterity perhaps, or even maybe to fulfill their juvenile fantasies of playing the role of adult entertainment celebrities. The setting is in the bathroom. The pretty lady faces sideways in front of the mirror as her lover, her knight in shining

Insensitive

Most certainly, the mood wouldn't be this festiveif the deluge happened in Imperial Manila.For the first time,I am beginning to question the leaderI voted into office.

Bricked

The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace.  Bhagavad GitaAll I ever wanted was to make all traces of its previous owner disappear: The one-hundred and one photos, the movies stolen from Torrent, even the text messages and mp3s that take so much space on the gadget's memory. The Apple is already mine. I can take a

Furion

Hushed voices tell of a place where all electronic gadgets forcibly taken away from their hosts are sold.There, pickpockets and robbers turn ambulant vendors. Their makeshift stalls line up a busy strip. It is where flies come together to inspect their wares; eager to get the best deal, knowing somehow, what are laid before them came from someone else.But such words are never spoken.This shitty

Sinking Feeling

Manila International Book FairSeptember 16, 2011I should have taken it as an ominous sign. It was a sunny late afternoon. I was pushing my mom's wheelchair towards the Shrine of Jesus the Way at the Mall of Asia when I caught glimpse of the bay. The azure expanse at the end of the road was a sight to behold. It was a well-spring of tranquility spilling over my gloom-afflicted shell.  As we neared