Everyone knows that love is

a terrible thing to waste.

And yet lovers still run away

leaving their partners empty as a burst lung.

They’ll leave someone they love

for another who, without prejudice, also knows how to love,

only differently from how they were loved.

But often these lovers realize only after

that the love they discover

isn’t the one they thought they sought after.

Then they are left feeling empty as their abandoned partners,

They reminisce about that golden opportunity—

how close they were to it before,

and how far they are from it now.

They’ll never know about the times

when you cried in the bedroom;

About the times

when you cried in the bathroom;

About the times

when you cried away your broken heart.

Maybe it wasn’t meant to be,

or maybe he didn’t try hard enough to see

how much you thought

it was meant to be.

But at least you know

you always thought 

with your heart.

But it’s different when you have friends who sometimes just want to go have a beer after work or something. The sober guy is always going to have this air of arrogance or self-righteousness, but it’s not my intention. I just knew that if I drank, I’d have a drinking problem.

I need to loosen up and stop thinking too much.

When I started having a couple of beers and loosening up, I realized how many moments I had wasted going back home alone when I could have gone and just had a beer or two with my friends.

It’s like how you should just go to church with your parents, even if you’re not into church…

I came home from a really late lunch today to find a newspaper clipping on my bed from my dad on the new Noli Me Tángere. This new edition is special because it is the first bilingual edition of the novel. It features text from the original manuscript and the 1912 Charles Derbyshire English translation. There is really nothing like reading a text in its original form. And to have the original text side by side with the English translation, the reader can now appreciate the novel to its fullest.

And for those who are interested in learning Spanish, this is a good place to start.

Hopefully more and more bilingual editions will come out because there is still so much of Philippine Literature (not to mention our roots) to (re)discover.

Rome is hot! When we got off the plane we were greeted by the heat! Hello Mediterranean sun! Being from the tropics, it’s nothing new. We have this kind of heat almost all year round.

Rome reminds me a lot of Spain because, well, aside from its location and the weather and the people, the place is old. It is interesting to see places like that, seeing how they’re still somewhat the way they were hundreds of years ago. I’m not sure I like it anymore though. It can get gloomy and a bit claustrophobic. The streets are sometimes tiny and sun doesn’t always get through because of the buildings around it. In any case, it’s still picturesque. Kind of like Intramuros or Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar (which I have to make a post about by the way).

On to the pictures!

Today was a very awesome day. We got to go around Champs Élysées where we had lunch and, well, bought a few things (I only bought a sweater but Mike went a little crazy). Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked up the damn thing. I lost count of the number of steps up but by the time I got to the top my legs felt like jelly. The view was worth it though! I got a 360 degree glimpse of the city and beautiful pictures. The drawback: we had to walk back down.

After that we got back on the bus and went back to Notre Dame where we had a great merienda/dinner at one Café Richard. I had a really good caramel and banana crêpe with café au lait (lit.: coffee with milk or white coffee), which was great, but not as yummy as the hot chocolate everyone else ordered. Still, I’ll have coffee over chocolate milk any day.

Until today, I wasn’t so impressed with French food. Today changed that. I also got to taste a really good ham and cheese sandwich (not pictured) that Mike, my brother-in-law, ordered.

Now enough talk. On to the pictures!

I don’t quite remember what else happened after that except that later on in the night I bought some really good roast chicken for dinner. Sadly I wasn’t in a picture-taking mood that day.

The next day (today) we went back to our L’Open Tour plans (the double decker bus tour). This time it arrived and we finally got to go around the city. Although I always prefer walking around on my own instead of the tour, the bus gave us an opportunity to see what the city had to offer. So tomorrow, when we do go off on our own, we’ll more or less know where to go.

And yes, tomorrow there are plans of checking out the museums. I also plan on getting lost along Boulevard de Clichy–the same street as The Moulin Rouge.

Today was rather tiring but I was able to take a lot of pictures (almost 100). Here they are:

Walked around and discovered some really cool stuff: bookstore, postcards, really cool (and “very modern”)  stores. Had to hold back too. Almost blew all my money away.

Here’s a small gallery of my first day in Paris. Streets, a few sites and family.

BANG

“Anak, slow down, the road here is very bad.”

The son doesn’t respond but has been making a conscious effort to drive as smoothly as possible, but the empty side of the double-lane road is very bad. He switches back to the smoother but slower lane.

He is very much aware that his mother has never found his driving to be good. His father, on the other hand, is just happy he’s not the one driving.

“Dad, Our Father,” the mother motions to the father.

“I think it’s your turn mama,” the father replies.

Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The son wonders why they don’t just talk and catch up instead of pray. He hasn’t seen his parents in awhile and wants to say something about how bad the road here has become since he was last on it.

The son doesn’t live with his parents. He lives in an apartment in the city where he stays with his sister and her family. But tonight he is staying at his parents’ house where his brother usually stays.

His brother recently took a job in the city and has to go to work early tomorrow. The son would’ve wanted to stay home but didn’t like the idea of his father driving late at night.

They had just returned from a day-trip at his hometown of Nueva Ecija with some friends and are very tired.

BANG

“Anak, please slow down. There are barriers on the road because of some construction,” the mother retorts.

“I’m aware, ma,” the son patiently assures her.

“Dad,” she gestures to the father to continue the prayer.

“I think it’s your turn, mama,” he replies.

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The father yawns. The son is trying his best not to but yawns too. He is feeling a bit sleepy and the monotonous sound of his parents’ voice praying the rosary isn’t helping. Two more Stations to go and they’re only just about halfway home.

Jeepneys are slowing down the flow of traffic and some cars seem as keen to getting to their destinations as he is. He tries his best to remain patient but can’t help himself. He switches to the bad side of the road again where it is uneven and filled with many potholes. He will try his best to avoid them and hopes his mother won’t say anything.

Glory be…

Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The father yawns again. The son is now thinking about how his situation can be an interesting short story. He starts to think about how it will start:

Family drives up to Antipolo. Religious father and mother pray while agnostic son is at the wheel and wonders why his parents would rather pray than take this time to talk. The mother, being the backstreet driver that she is, stops from time-to-time to tell her son to drive more carefully while the father minds his own and continues to pray. In-between each narrative, the prayers will be quoted. The son tries to drive as best as he can, all this time remaining silent. He then shifts his thoughts to a possible story he can write—a story about a family driving up to Antipolo. He is now thinking about how to end it when a cat jumps in the middle of the road.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

BANG

David has just woken up and is preparing some coffee the way he always liked it—black, no sugar or cream—just black. It is the first day of his new job and he is a bit nervous. He’s woken up earlier than everyone, which doesn’t happen very often. He walks to the master bedroom where his parents stay when they are here and turns on the TV to distract himself.

He rubs his neck, as if to rub away the sleep. Last night he dreamt he fell inside a well and was left there for what seemed like an eternity—a bad dream, to say the least.

He switches between channels, until he settles on the local news channel.

“Not another goddamn accident…”

Revisiting old tunes. Jesse Lacey is a great lyricist…