the Earth-bound adventures of the Lost and Found

lost and found by Jeneen R. Garcia to be published on December 31, 2005       My father puts down his glasses and finally rolls up the calendar. After hours of concentration, he has finished recording at the back pages of the 2005 calendar what he ate for the last meals of the year. It is something he has done for a couple of years now, listing every single thing he eats in a little notebook until he has more time to transfer everything to The Calendar.   And it’s not just what he eats that he lists down. Every single purchase he makes, the content of every text message he sends and receives, probably even every place he goes to each day--everything finds its way into a little notebook.   It’s for keeping track of what’s happened, he says. As one grows older, the years blur into each other as life flies by faster. Knowing what you ate exactly a year ago, or two years ago, perhaps gives you a better handle on all your other memories. How the kitchen smelled when ...

december 24, 2005 Davao City so there i was out in the garden at half past midnight, with only a towel on and the animal-print rain boots that my mother had given me. as i emptied the shovel into ashley's homemade litter box for the third time, i thought to myself: if this isn't love, i don't know what is. (no, this is not a fantasy or an allegory. i actually do stupid things like this. later that day, by the way, ashley almost died. but, of course, God was watching over my baby and saved her from the dogs) merry christmas everyone! can't post that much that often because i only have dial-up here. till next year! happy holidays and God bless you richly in the coming year =)

Okay, okay, so I'm obsessed. But isn't she ADORABLE? Photos taken December 15 and 16 at the office =) (i've taken to bringing her up to my desk in the afternoons because our big, gay office cat always eats up her food if i leave it downstairs). Have videos of ashley playing, too, but can't upload videos on Multiply anymore =( I LOVE MY CAT pin courtesy of cris , from the I Love You Store, where i got my oktomat =)

December 15, 2005. Another night out with the housemates, this time for the occasion of (surprise!) Christmas. First Christmas dinner together in our two years at 11-EE, and probably our last Christmas together.... We had it at Aranos, the secret Spanish restaurant in Guadalupe. Incidentally, it was also a full moon, and there was a luna festival at Handuraw again. But we decided this time to go for paella, gambas, malasugui, and crema de mangga. MMM! (nope not as hungry as the last time , but as usual, we forgot to take pictures of the food until it was all gone. tummies first!).

Start:      Dec 10, '05 7:30p Location:      Church of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila "And the noise will fade; weary hearts will find themselves at ease..." Featuring old favorites and new additions to HANGAD's Christmas repertoire. Free Admission!

November 23 to 27, 2005. photos to complement my journal entry on ashley's first flight .

(an excerpt from my real paper journal, with some additions)   December 7, 2005 3:30 PM, My Room   perhaps this is an inordinately long break i’m taking from answering my scholarship forms. but look at this gray rain! and i suddenly miss the earthy music and dancing. even just tapping my fingers on my bamboo flute stirs up something in me.   it must be partly my cold, too, that as usual makes what is essential in this world more stark to my senses. whatever it is, i have totally forgotten my “real” life. i’m dreaming again, the way i always do when i’m under my acacia tree.   all i can think of is the smell of the rain, and how i used to sit up in bed, too, in Davao , in this same half-light, on days when only the rain mattered.   i suppose growing up had something to do with the loss of those rainy days. i’ve had to think of other people, how they need me, how i should be making myself available to them. selfishness has always been one of my great flaws.  ...

December 6, 2005 9:55 pm, Fine Cuisine   i woke up at dusk after a long nap, and for the first time, i didn’t feel the loneliness and vulnerability that i’ve always felt at dusk ever since i was a child. instead, i welcomed the solitude and the coming darkness. have i, perhaps, finally grown up? or am i just numb today?   just last night, i was feeling sick, partly caused, i believe, by some inexplicable emotional turmoil. but anyway, when i’m physically out of sorts, i become even more emotionally/ physically vulnerable. it’s like i lose all my energy to do anything by myself and long for a warm body to make me feel safe [so, ana, i ALMOST didn’t make it to the movie because you’d gone ahead to ayala]. good thing lots of water and prayers made it disappear by the time i woke up, and now i just have a cold.   right now i’m supposed to be doing my scholarship application, but i’m just missing ashley =( she’s been kicked out of the house. just yesterday, new house rules wer...

November 23 to 27, 2005. Had a General Assembly with othe legal resource NGOs at Makiling Highlands, one of the resorts in the famed hot springs town of Calamba, Laguna. On Friday night, we had our second solidarity night and shower party for one of our partners. And this is what happened.

...as cris said. so here are the post-birthday presents that still made it in november, in order of arrival: 1) from jemi - a Jude Deveraux book (about three women who have the same birthday and travel back in time to change their lives =), reminiscent of high school and the classic A Knight in Shining Armor) and a Maya Angelou card 2) from mama (who likes to give in excess) - aside from a balikbayan box of clothes that actually fit me, gummy candy, the november angel , and some other stuff that came in september, plus the bill for my birthday dinner , this package arrived last sunday: a denim jacket, a black purse, clinique lip gloss, birthday candles, other little things, and food (which you can no longer see in the picture) 3) from cris - flowers (with silver dust and beads of water to boot!) that arrived yesterday. the delivery guy even got lost because of a wrong address and started calling all the houses in our compound looking for me. sent from a cebu flower shop, t...

like all first-time mothers, i was a bit anxious about my baby's first plane ride. but as before, i was more anxious than she was. she was so behaved, and eventually treated her carrier (which again i had borrowed from ana , who bought it when she had to bring caesura from manila to cebu as a baby) as if it were her private bedroom. (gave her a warm bath the night before, with more neighborhood kids trying to help out). you can check out the photos in my album .                                                      and of course, everywhere i go, she's always a conversation-starter. i had to check her into the live animals section, and a mean man at the airport was saying, "gamay pa man ni. mabuhi kaha ni?". other popular questions...

DAY 3 and 4 in Davao - October 31-November 1, 2005. My apologies for this very overdue post. Anyway, brought my family along on this camping trip i'd been planning with my friend, fe-ritz, in samal, where she's from. Canibad is a sitio, a cove on the other side of the hill, facing Davao Oriental, so not a lot of tourists come here, because they usually stay on the Davao City side. Had to take a habal-habal, and then a short trek going down. It was really camping, because I didn't know there would be no electricity or running water. Or accommodations. Jo and Papa even took forever packing that morning because they kept arguing about what to bring and what not to bring. So here are the photos of the trip--by bus, ferry boat, and motorcycle. Have yet to write a feature on this. Coming up next: photos from my Zambales trip the other weekend (Feb 4-6). NOTE: the first part of this album was taken with a digital camera (when i firt got it), the second half with my manual SLR.

at church, in a jeep, at the office, at the beach...check out the Traveling Cat in my journal ;-)

with two cellphones, 16 seconds of expoure time, and a bottle of beer =)

here are the photos to match the birthday journal entry. i don't think i need to explain, but i think i should warn you about the graphic self-portraits =P really, the things you think of doing when you're alone with a tripod and a camera. i tried my best to post only the most decent ones. brace yourselves.

it's just been a week and a half since i found ashley, and wow, her teeth have really grown. and claws, too. the scars on my hands are proof of that, especially when she's really hungry. but we've adjusted to each other better, especially after our trip south for my birthday. surprisingly, she wasn't afraid of the waves, which were quite high last week because of a typhoon somewhere in surigao. she didn't mind the bus ride as much as i did, either. a summary of my birthday weekend: 17-18: took a leave from work to rent a cottage by the sea in south cebu. went snorkelling only three times because of the bad visibility the first two days.  and with a portable tripod and a digital camera with a self-timer, you can just imagine how i spent my time   moon was full, though cloudy. took some long exposures of it with my trusty manual camera and tripod. 19: woke up to catch the orange (this time) sunrise on my birthday  was supposed to go diving on the day itself, but so...

lost and found by Jeneen R. Garcia to be published on November 19, 2005     Because this is supposed to come out on my birthday, I had started writing about something else entirely. And then SHE walked my way.   So there I was, taking a stroll after a solitary dinner. I was supposed to be hurrying home to write this column, but I had deliberately gone round the long way, in the hope of bumping into someone I knew. Instead, I bumped into her. She was shrieking on the sidewalk, too tiny to feed on anything but milk. As I am wont to do in these situations, I picked up the filthy ball of fur to return her to wherever her mother was. Problem was, no mother was to be found. Someone had dropped her there, a man on the sidewalk said. She would just die if I didn’t take her home, he said. What else was I supposed to do?   After a quick stop at a convenience store to buy powdered milk, I carried her home, quite appropriately, on top of my “Poetry for the Earth”...

Start:      Nov 16, '05 1:00p End:      Nov 16, '05 5:00p Location:      Audio-Visual Room of the Medicine Building of Southwestern University, Villa Aznar, Urgello St., Cebu City On December 20 of this year, Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. will reach the mandatory retirement age of seventy years old. Davide’s retirement will pave the way for the appointment of his successor, the 21st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the appointment of a new associate justice to fill the seat he will vacate in the fifteen-member Supreme Court. In our country where the powers of government are allocated in three distinct branches – executive, legislative, and judiciary – the Chief Justice wields significant influence in settling controversies involving the people’s constitutional rights, and in determining if there has been a grave abuse of discretion or excess of jurisdiction in any of the branches of government. In the interest o...

Description: UP ICW ISSUES NEW GUIIDELINES FOR WRITERS' WORKSHOP LIKHAAN: The UP Institute of Creative Writing (UP ICW) recently announced that it is now accepting applications for the 45th UP National Writers Workshop to be held in Baguio for one week in the summer of 2006. UP ICW Director, Professor Vim Nadera, also announced that 12 fellowships are available and that these are open only to advanced writers. He explained that since there is a proliferation of creative writing workshops on both the national and local levels, beginning writers now have many other options. Said Nadera: In keeping with its mandate of taking the lead in the development of Philippine literature, the UP ICW has decided to re-conceptualize its annual workshop to address the changing needs of writers as well as constraints brought on by the current financial crisis. Nadera also announced the new Workshop Guidelines. Ingredients: QUALIFICATIONS To qualify, applicants: (1) must be writers in English or Fili...

DAY 5 in Davao - November 2, 2005. Went to visit my lola's grave at the cemetery up the hill from our house. Brought a camera for the first time. It was a perfect afternoon: sunlight golden, clouds gray with rain for the evening, and a wind blowing through the vines that had grown over the peacefulness in the past year.

november 9, 2005 11:45 PM   though it lasted nine days, that last vacation seemed shorter than usual, as if i hadn’t done anything at all. and to think i managed to stick to my resolve to not go on the internet and check my mail or turn on my computer for work that whole time.   but i suppose there were some noteworthy things about it, like:   1)       finally got my own digital camera! it’s a hand-me-down from my younger brother (so does that make it a hand-me-up?) 2)       spent two days watching kids and japanese practice aikido in loyal support of my youngest brother. i took a video of the whole exhibition, and now he wants to sell it. 3)       because taxis were few and far between (and because i thought it would be much more fun), took a motorized trisikad across town at 11pm to meet up with my father and relatives on my first night home. 4)       sped through the rai...

DAY 5 in Davao - November 2, 2005. After going to the cemetery, we go home and hear a puppy crying. But we don't HAVE a puppy. Turns out our most demure doggie, Aska, has given birth even though her tummy's still small. She just lies there as if unable to move, while her two puppies cry in different corners of our laundry area. I have to get them both, still wet from the placenta, and bring them near to her. Thirty minutes later, I hear another crying. A third puppy has popped out. It is a few inches away from Aska but it seems she has no plans of getting her baby. After the inital indifference, though (first-time mother, after all. she was probably dazed from the experience), she's been a dedicated mommy doggie, as you can see here. Meanwhile, the two other doggies, Hi-Ro and Shaira, Aska's half-siblings, have been getting jealous of the attention she's been getting from us. We have to tie them up because they'd just love to play with the puppies in their mout...

couldn't sleep again last night. could've been the humidity. could've been post-vacation stress. anyway, decided to start reading the neil gaiman picture book that cathy  lent me. The Wolves in the Walls--"when the wolves start coming out of the walls, it's all over. everybody knows that." love the art. it's a montage of watercolors (i think) and photos. great story, too, as probably only neil gaiman could conceive of. i mean, i've read some of his Sandman stories, as well as his novel Neverwhere, but i never thought he'd be great at writing children's stories, too. after, i still wasn't sleepy, so i thought i'd start a few chapters of the other neil gaiman book cathy lent, Coraline. of course, as usual, i ended up reading the whole thing, even though my eyes were already stinging a little from tiredness. this one i'd love to see as a movie. just like Neverwhere, it was about a parallel universe. and it was just as scary, even thoug...

at the market, at the mall, visiting relatives.... just random shots to match the journal entry =)

My first shower back at home, and I find our longest-surviving cat (must be five years old at least, but still looking young and pretty ;-) sitting in the bathroom window. So i go out and get my digital camera before closing the door.

DAY 1 in Davao - October 29, 2005. Papa and I are at MTS wacthing josrique practicing aikido with some visiting japanese. I finally get my hands on my hand-me-down digital camera! And so, first shots--papa practices his camera smile, while I try out the different settings.Now we can have perfect smiles. Thank God for digital cameras. After, I take some hazy self-potraits with josrique as we wait for dinner. And this is only the beginning...

DAY 1 in Davao - October 29, 2005. The moment I walk into the house, Belen says, "You have a phone call." Turns out it's my mother in New York who's asked to be alerted of my arrival in Davao. She asks, "What are you wearing right now?". And I say, "I'll show you." All photos taken by Josrique, whom I forced to be photographer.

October 10 to 13, 2005. Went on another trip to lipayran to give a training. Because we were bringing a lot of stuff, I decided to just bring my oktomat instead of my SLR. There were times I regretted not having a "real" camera, but hey, it's not always you see the islands through the eyes of a fly ;-) and as you can see, not even an oktomat can ruin a perfect sunset. the kids, of course, had the most fun, as i asked them to dance and do all sorts of things as i took their picture =) If you think this is fun, you haven't seen the movie versions yet! Go to www.lomohomes.com/neenerish, click on MiniMOvies, and click on any movie. You can even change the movie speed! Just experiment with the buttons. Enjoy!

  Unfortunately, I don't know who the author is. I've long been wanting to write an essay about not having a real language to call my own because I'm from davao (in manila i'm considered bisaya; in cebu i'm considered tagalog. that's why I write in English =P), but here's a piece that celebrates having ALL languages.   another typical davao conversation line na "bisaya" kuno (only cebuanos will realize what's wrong): moadto ka diri? mopalit man ko ug gulay sa palengke kay payat na kaayo ko.   and the funny thing is, people from other places who work or study in davao "bastardize" their own language and start talking the same way, too. Hahaha. It's infectious! (and don't forget the funny accent that comes with it that's neither tagalong nor bisaya =)   my thanks to cris for forwarding this. ka-sarap bitaw gyud magtira sa dabaw. lingaw gani masyado. worth it man talaga! mwehehehe    =============================   GALENGA ...

Went on an extended bonding with my housemates (started with shopping till past 11pm at GUAVA last thursday as soon as i arrived from bantayan, then continued with an expedition to Carbon late sunday afternoon for UK2x, DVDs, flowers, and my very own baby guitar--Carbon photos hopefully to be posted soon by Cathy , who brought her lomo along). It was the first time all of us in the house went out together since we moved (at different times) into our boarding house in the last two and a half years. We scheduled dinner Monday night (October 17) at Handuraw , because I had a free gift certificate (any pizza of our choice). It happened to be the night before Sharon's birthday, so she decided to pay for everything else we ate (chili chips, pizza sticks, three pasta dishes, another pizza...hey, we were hungry from work. ate everything in an hour. or 30 minutes ba, cath? ;-). There ALSO happened to be a Luna Festival, which is held every full moon, and we had the unexpected treat of watch...

lost and found by Jeneen R. Garcia Published in October 2005   As I lie in bed now, puddles on the roof, left over from this afternoon’s rain, trickle down to a gutter below, pounding gently but insistently on the heavy quiet. Outside my room, the lights are dim, padlocks clicked shut on all the other doors in the house. Everyone else has gone. I peek at the moon smiling its Cheshire-cat smile between the slats of my window. It is an extraordinary view that I take in again and again, since at this hour, I am usually still out at work, or at some appointment in a place where no one looks out at the sky. I am, in fact, supposed to be at choir practice right now. But nights of staying up late, and a work and home environment of sneezing people have forced me to get off the world and allow it to turn without me for awhile. And what a blessing this sickness is! Because I am legitimately excused from my responsibilities, nobody needs me, nobody misses me. Everybody else...

Start:      Oct 19, '05 End:      Oct 22, '05 Location:      Camotes Islands, Cebu All-in-One trip with trainings in Kayaking, SRT (i think this means rapelling/ rock climbing), Basic Mountaineering, Outdoor Photography and First Aid. Organized by Habagat, CAMP, USC Mountaineers, and MFPI. Instructors are: Buzy and Bernard Pena of Baruto Paddlers for kayaking, Eric Bontuyan of Speleo Phil. for SRT, Junks Muana for outdoor photography, MFPI for basic mountaineering, and Joel Carino for First Aid. P650 registartion covers shirt, socials, training courses, and transfer from Lake Danao to Esperanza Beach (i suppose for kayaking to Tulang Island, which is a dive spot. it's actually swimmable from the mainland). Sorry wasn't given any more details about other costs. Will post if i get more news.

motorcycles, jeeps and street scenes, my angsty but adorable adopted cats, myself, and yes, flies, too-- as seen through the eight lenses of my OKTOMAT . you can check out the animated version of some photos at my LomoHome (click on mini-movies).

September 18 and 19, 2005. Had a Basic Orientation Seminar at the University of San Agustin, then a meeting with other cluster members of the Alternative Law Groups in the Visayas. got to do a bit of sightseeing in jaro, videoke and ballroom dancing (this was our meeting break ;-) and eat, eat, eat! didn't bring my own camera so had to borrow a digital one =(