22.02.09

He said he disliked the name "Sara"

Because it was his grandmother's name. When he was only nine, she almost (although he claimed it was her intention) had him killed when she shoved him from the top of the stairs and just looked on as he was crashing down. He had not been present at his grandmother's funeral. Not that he wanted to be there. That was just how his grandmother wished it to be, so said his mother.

His mother had been oblivious to this enmity between him and his grandmother. He told me she had even been worse than the gradmother. She dressed him in rags, fed him with canned goods she had collected from welfare institutions, raised him in a house wherein the wall's paint chipped while she earned $80, 000.00 annually as a special education therapist. She even had a teeth implant that cost $7 000.00, while he never recalled the last time he visited a dentist, if he ever did at all.

Mang Baldo's boys. Err.. girls. No, boys (at Immaculate Concepcion Ladies Hall, España, Manila)

I miss my dormmates. I remember our sleepless nights: staying up with the Fine Arts students Ika, Joyce, and Jhaye while they cram their plates due the next day. I also remember our Fudge cafe Thursdays. Late night movie marathon. Food trips. Shopping for groceries at SM San Lazaro. Shakey's dinner when we're in good shape (read: when there were less projects and when it's start of the week, allowance was still intact. hehe).

Falling asleep during the 5 am mass. The horrible food at the dorm's refectory. Playing soccer inside the room. Experiencing the flood in España. Cancelled classes. Endless boy talks. "Sis, J-ai has a new boy" talks. Putting our beds close together so we could huddle during typhoon days.

Guitar-playing nights with Ara and Ika. Room 211 in Lady Beaterio Bldg. was always open. Always, meaning, it was never closed even while we slept. To the great dismay of Dean Sister Alice a.k.a. Stiffy.

John Rzeznik, Goo Goo Dolls.
I imagine he is a kind of person who would fall more for his lover's faults than her achievements. I always turn to Goo Goo Dolls songs when I'm caving in. Maybe it's my favorite band.

photo: Internet-sourced

Talking about WATER? or GAS? This is a sticker by Shell, by the way. Gas is not cheap! Every drop is charged, indeed! Haha. =)

Inspired by streetgypsy

Bookshelf number - ? It's the most well-kept shelf I have since the books here are either the ones I have finished reading or are put aside in favor of  non-fiction.

 photo: Internet-sourced

Wait, I was wrong. It was not Hanukkah which Mord told me about. It was Sukkot. The information I have read on the latter accurately matches Mord's description of it. It was late August, and he expressed his worries on being stuck in his mother's house while the -- holiday was approaching. I asked him if he was referring to Christmas, and I later realized it was sort of stupid of me to ask that. He mentioned the name of the holiday once again, and desribed it as a feast when "Jewish people create booths or huts on their porches" or something of that sort.

The holiday lasts seven days, including Chol Hamoed and is immediately followed by another festive day known as Shemini Atzeret. The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of fragile dwellings in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Throughout the holiday the sukkah becomes the living area of the house, and all meals are eaten in it. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog, or Four species.

Jay is levitating!

photo by Vae Dadia