Noise

I’m baffled by the cacophony that is our everyday. When I wake up in the morning I like to read. The solitude of being the only one up in coherence w/ authors’ desires to transport me to other places, to made up moments. I place the kettle on the stove to warm my bath. Fifteen minutes to boil: enough to experience 1 good poem, or stroll thru 5 pedestrian ones at least. I never make it to minute-7; the dogs all excite, greeting the sun reaching its peak—they recognize time too: the warmth hints breakfast. I pat them to calm them down halfway thru my 2^nd poem. I love the dogs but nothing lyrical to their barking; Dreamweavers rudely upstaged. And just when they quiet, when I think I can commence in silence, the kettle whistles. My day in this world begins, w/ only minutes of escape when focus perseveres, like in the MRT, standing by the entrance, where early conversation is drowned, the hum of air-conditioning is comforting, & where I finish that second poem, probably the last I’ll read in hours, enough to pull me thru, till I’m alone in silence yet again, when all dogs go back to sleep.

* * *

FA Fest opening

I’ll call the opening of Quixote: The 2007 Ateneo Fine Arts Festival last Monday, January 14 a success; a considerable crowd attended the humble ceremony in front of De La Costa Hall—mostly Information Design majors as expected.

I stayed by the refreshments area where 5 bottles of wine stood; this might’ve clouded my judgment of the event.

Acting School of Humanities Dean Benilda Santos, PhD, FA Officer-in-Charge DM Reyes, the FA's Glenn Mas, Ali Figeroa, & Missy Maramara, as well as Marco Lopez of the Filipino Department all graced the event.

beLIEve launch

A lot of what was planned didn’t go well; our e-group is still filled w/ many emails about various concerns from the event, but a lot of people went so I’m calling it a success as well.

The launch of bieLIEve, an anthology of works by Ateneo Creative Writing seniors, was held at the swankier (less writerly) Mag:net Café in Bonifacio High Street, featuring P75 bottles of beer (yikes!).

Once I got over the initial shock, & got my hands on free beer stubs, & got over the fact that all those things in my production sheet were all crumbling down, & got over the fact that no one was going to help me get things back on track, I managed to enjoy a lot of the night.

Was pleased to see many cohorts in attendance: Marie La Vina, Audrey Trinidad (& beau Nikko), Panch Alvarez, & Pancho Villanueva.

Was pleased to see favorite, familiar, & not-so-familiar CW juniors in attendance as well: April Sescon, Sasha Martinez, Verne Ahyong, Trish Elamparo, & Aila Casauay, among others.

Doubly-pleased to see many of our friends from the faculty: Rica Bolipata Santos, Karla Delgado, Marco Lopez, Yol Jamendang, & Migoy Lizada.

Many thanks to those who ordered copies of the book. & to those who stole the sample proofs during the event: pls give them back!

National Artist graces FA Fest

Playwright Glenn Mas likes to jokingly boast of his 9 Palancas (vis-à-vis my 1) in class. Last Friday, during a performance of his Children of the Sea in Gonzaga Hall (directed by Marcee Lacap), Glenn looked as hesitant & humble as ever as National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose was in the audience w/ his wife.

Never did Glenn seem more uncomfortable when he had to ask for Jose’s autograph for other audience members.

Glenn had many funny anecdotes from his conversation w/ Jose:

“It was good, but it was only 45 minutes long,” commented the National Artist.

“Ah kasi, po, 1-act play lang siya,” Glenn replied hesitantly.

& as Jose commended him for the use of metaphor and allegory, Glenn supposedly just nodded in agreement & gratitude, unaware of all those things. (Hahaha!)

Congratulations to Glenn, Marcee, JJ Ignacio (actor, production design), & the rest for one hell of a production.

Especially proud of this one cuz of its distinct Antiqueño feel. Antique, for everyone’s information, is a small province in Panay Island where great people (if not overly-confident assholes) like Evelio Javier, Glenn Mas, & Martin Villanueva (wasak!) trace their families’ roots.

On a sadder note

My Tito Totong passed away this past week after a relatively short battle w/ cancer. He had been holding on for quite some time despite being in grave condition. More & more now we believe that he was only waiting for our lola to go home to see him. She eventually did last Monday; he passed away Wednesday.

While having dinner w/ April & Panch along Riverbanks last Friday, I ran into my cousin Cory. She seemed OK. My prayers go out to her and her Ate Nikki.

Dad, Mom, & Pope will be flying to Iloilo Thursday morning. I’ll be following on the first flight on Friday.