Calaidescope World

Season's Greetings!

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you find your Destiny and may the Universe conspire to grant you your heart's desire in 2005.

posted by Calai @ 1:46 AM 0 comments

Last Song Syndrome

"Coin Operated Boy" by the Dresden Dolls

coin operated boy
sitting on the shelf he is just a toy
but i turn him on and he comes to life
automatic joy
that is why i want a coin operated boy

made of plastic and elastic
he is rugged and long-lasting
who could ever ever ask for more
love without complications galore
many shapes and weights to choose from
i will never leave my bedroom
i will never cry at night again
wrap my arms around him and pretend....

coin operated boy
all the other real ones that i destroy
cannot hold a candle to my new boy and i'll
never let him go and i'll never be alone
not with my coin operated boy......

this bridge was written to make you feel smittener
with my sad picture of girl getting bitterer
can you extract me from my plastic fantasy
i didn't think so but im still convinceable
will you persist even after i bet you
a billion dollars that i'll never love you
will you persist even after i kiss you
goodbye for the last time
will you keep on trying to prove it?
i'm dying to lose it...
i want it
i want you
i want a coin operated boy.

and if i had a star to wish on
for my life i cant imagine
any flesh and blood could be his match
i can even take him in the bath

coin operated boy
he may not be real experienced with girls
but i know he feels like a boy should feel
isn't that the point that is why i want a
coin operated boy
with his pretty coin operated voice
saying that he loves me that he's thinking of me
straight and to the point
that is why i want
a coin operated boy.

copyright 2002 amanda palmer

posted by Calai @ 5:20 PM 0 comments

Vacation Mode

Today is my last working Monday of 2004. In fact, these are my last three working days of the year. My cousins, sisters, Mom, a few friends and I are going to Boracay on Friday. I'll return to work in January. But as far as my brain is concerned, I'm already on vacation. Sun, sand, sea, here we come!

posted by Calai @ 3:48 PM 0 comments

Mister Congeniality

Max and I attended the PCCI All Breeds Championship Dog Show last Saturday in Alabang Hills. No, I didn't sign him up to compete. We just wanted to watch. Well, he wanted to walk around and play with the other dogs.

I was surprised when an officer of the Labrador Retriever Owners Club of the Philippines asked me if I wanted to enter Max in the competition. I said, "No, he's not a show dog. Besides, he's too fat." Her reply was, "If your dog is fat, mine is obese." She has a retired champion chocolate labrador, very beautiful. "He has papers...you live nearby...you can take off his harness and put a collar...." Another labrador breeder came up to Max to check him out. She asked what "line" he came from and was quite impressed when I told her that Max's sire was a Sunshadow dog (one of the best labrador retriever show dogs in the country). In fact, I was the "happy and proud mother" when many people walked over to check my "son" out and hear them say he was good looking, of show quality (even if he was fat) and if he could stud. What I felt were the best compliments, however, were "Your dog is so well behaved!" and "He socializes very well". He didn't bark at the other dogs or fight with them. He was also very gentle with the kids who played with him.

There were other labrador retrievers that were of perfect show quality. One was a two-year old black lab, large build, shiny coat, best described as guapo. Really. Max is a good looking dog, but let's be realistic here, there's no way he's going to win a dog show against a gorgeous creature like that. The others were, well...Max looked MUCH better. There was a one-year old whose tail curled upward (labs' tails should point down at a angle). Minus points there. Cute as that dog may be, sorry to say, he just wasn't for show. The siberian huskies in competition were absoultely beautiful, too. And the boxers. The jack russell terriers were cute but really makulit.

Pet owners always think their pets are the best; the same way all parents adore their own children. Nothing and no one can be better. I love my dog even if he's fat, lazy and sometimes acts like a cat. Or pig. Or cow. Or frog. If anything, my sister said Max will win "Miss Congeniality" in a beauty contest. But having him as a companion is its own reward. This is the closest I will get to becoming a Stage Mother.

posted by Calai @ 9:41 AM 0 comments

The End of the Sleepover

Our house is old. We've had it for...what? 30 years? When typhoon Winnie hit, our roof started leaking in two places - one of which was my room. So I moved to B's side of the room (one of the few benefits of A moving out - hahaha!) while the roof was being sealed on the day typhoon Yoyong arrived. And it was sealed just in time! However, because we had a garage sale and I decided that I needed to "clean", to "prune", to "re-arrange" (I am SO my mother's daughter), I ended up staying in B's side for two weeks. It was like being in looong a slumber party.

The funny thing is that Max was confused. He's used to sleeping next to my bed. He didn't know where to sleep. He suddenly had all this space, but I wasn't there. And dogs have a rather interesting "confused look". Eventually, he settled in, but it was funny watching him walk in, look at my side of the room and then look at the other side, look back at my side of the room, and then slowly decide where he should place himself, turn around three times, then lie down.

Yesterday I moved back to my old space, and so did Max. I think he's happy to be back. B is happy that she has her space all to herself again. I'm happy to be surrounded by my junk. Alhtough I'm back to shouting across the wall to make kwento with my sister late at night. Mother will have a hard time sleeping again. Talkative sisters do that to their mothers, you know. Should we give her peace and have another sleepover?

posted by Calai @ 9:24 AM 0 comments

Words

"Words" by Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous ones we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can be good as fingers.
They can be trusty as the rock
you stick your bottom on.
But they can be both daisies and bruises.

Yet I am in love with words.
They are doves falling out of the ceiling.
They are six holy oranges sitting in my lap.
They are the trees, the legs of summer,
and the sun, its passionate face.

Yet often they fail me.
I have so much I want to say,
so many stories, images, proverbs, etc.
But the words aren't good enough,
the wrong ones kiss me.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
but with the wings of a wren.

But I try to take careand be gentle to them.
Words and eggs must be handled with care.
Once broken they are impossible
things to repair.

posted by Calai @ 2:00 PM 0 comments

Bazaaaaaaaar Baby!

I used to say, "What I don't like about Christmas is that it reminds me of how much money I DON'T have." Now, I say, "Oh, who cares? Let's go to the bazaar. I need retail therapy." Honestly, I go to almost every Enterprise Bazaar and Cuenca Park Bazaar even if I don't need to buy anything (as a friend of mine once said, "Why do we torture ourselves by being surrounded by things we want but don't need?"). But there really is something therapeutic about shopping. Even just window shopping. I can justify walking around the mall or tiangge (if you live north of the Pasig River)/bazaar (if you live in Makati and further south) as a form of exercise. Physical exercise as well as an exercise in restraint. I will never have enough cash to buy everything I want, everything I need, and everything I want to give to my family and friends. But I will always enjoy the act of trying to get all that. Didn't someone say that it's the thought that counts?

Post Script
Enter at your own risk: This coming Saturday and Sunday is the second weekend of the 13th St. James the Great Bazaar in Cuenca Park, Ayala Alabang Village. With over 450 stalls, it's the MOTHER of all Alabang bazaars! Look for SCENT RACK on the field. Lots of good, practical stuff =)

posted by Calai @ 7:00 PM 1 comments

The Slow and Painful Death of the Philippine Education System (Part One)

Tonight, one of the many ditzes who are surprisingly allowed to DJ on FM radio, announced to the listening public that "maybe a jugular vein popped in (her) brain somewhere". I pity her Biology teacher. "All the time, all the wasted time,...".

posted by Calai @ 6:49 PM 0 comments