adventures in neverland

it isn't really all that bad. the year that's about to end in a few days -- two thousand and thirteen. but no matter how hard i try to make it all sound good, i have to concede that this isn't really my year. mahatma gandah, but of course, the drama queen, is her usual exaggerated self when she mentioned in an interview with mademoiselle that two thousand thirteen happens to be her unlucky year. good thing that her alter ego, anna kirinina landifa is on hand to quickly dispute mahatma gandah 's claims. but seriously folks, unlike the previous years when everything comes easy, this year is a tad sad. first off, i have no regular paycheck. so that means controlling my spending. the good thing about it is that i learned how to live within my budget. something that was hard for me to do, especially during my university days when i usually spent my allowance for the whole month on the first week. bad! *********** anyway, enough said. let me share, if you care, the bea...

“ for we can still love the world, who find a famished kitten on the step, and know recesses for it from the fury of the street, or warm torn elbow coverts.”                from chaplinesque i don’t want to see anybody crying at my funeral. nor talking only good things about me, the great deeds that i have done, as if i were a saint. i was not. like my favourite artiste, who passed away recently, i knew i was no good. now, i felt like singing, which should come later. my mother, the frustrated dramatic actress, would probably shed a tear or two. she might even faint. let her be. i have seen it during the wake of her husband and then of her oldest son (so i heard. i wasn’t there). she cried hysterically in both funerals, like a mad woman. but i love her, so i gave her the license to showcase her flair for the dramatics that would put even her idol, nora aunor, to shame. it’s hy...

when i went home a few months ago, i was mostly at the beach or at the pool with my sisters' kids -- horsing around, getting drunk, feasting on whatever food we could bring (leftovers from the previous night's dinner), whatever our helps could cook or whatever we could order. i never had so much fun in my life. it was the first time in nearly 20 years that i had a long break from work and stayed at home, bonding with family and friends. while it was not all fun because of the usual fights, petty jealousies, small misdemeanors and what have you among family members, i would still count it as one of the best vacations that i ever have. we combed the far-flung areas of the visayan islands (as if!) in search for the least travelled places, but with the best beaches and swimming pools. we rode the bancas, tricycles, buses, vans, speed boats, helicopters and planes. actually, the kids did not mind even if we went to third-rate resorts with murky waters and ...