Look at me I'm 23, beautiful, a sight to see tonight

A little dress to draw the press
And I'll be leaving
All the rest behind

Well be pleased girl
If this is what you wanted
The whole world is watching you take the stage
What will you say

Aren't I lovely
And do you want me cause
I am hungry for something that will make me real
Can you see me and
Do you love me cause
I am desperately searching for something
Real

I close my eyes imagine time
Will not forget
My sacrifice

I numb the ache and decorate
My emptiness
Stand naked in the light

Well be pleased world
If this is what you wanted
This young girl is everything that you made
What will she say

Aren't I lovely
And do you want me cause
I am hungry for something that will make me real
Can you see me and
Do you love me cause
I am desperately searching for something
Real

The world goes home
The lights go down
My lipstick fades
Away

And do you want me cause
I am hungry for something that will make me real
Can you see me and
Do you love me cause
I am desperately searching for something
Real



--------

I've a snug feeling under all my soft belly fat. Now I can finally sing this song and mean it. Yes, including the beautiful part. But perhaps not much of the desperate. But maybe I am searching. And yes, for someone real. Happy snug feeling in mavsies tumtums. :)

Retaso Mo, Manikako!

I-raid na ang mga cabinet at ilabas na ang mga inaamag at di na usong t-shirt, puruntong at bacon briefs! Yang skinny jeans at slinky top na yan, never na yan magkakasya sa yo! At ang frilly top ay mawawala na sa uso! Ipamigay nalang sa Retaso Mo, Manikako! boxes sa Faculty Center ng UP Diliman or sa UP IS. Pwede ding sa Podium o sa RCBC Tower.

Sa ido-donate mong gamit, makakagawa ng maraming Manikako para ibenta para may moolah for free art workshops sa mga kids na kapus-palad. Matututo din silang gumawa ng Manikako!

Visit www.manikako.com for photos. At kung naexcite kang gumawa ng Manikako super cute, mag-volunteer na din sa website! Panoorin mo rin si Medyas, ang patapong medyas na nagbigay ngiti sa isang bata dahil sa pagiging Manikako niya!

Kaya, dali, baliktarin na yang cabinet na yan!

Retaso Mo, Manikako!

I-raid na ang mga cabinet at ilabas na ang mga inaamag at di na usong t-shirt, puruntong at bacon briefs! Yang skinny jeans at slinky top na yan, never na yan magkakasya sa yo! At ang frilly top ay mawawala na sa uso! Ipamigay nalang sa Retaso Mo, Manikako! boxes sa Faculty Center ng UP Diliman or sa UP IS. Pwede ding sa Podium o sa RCBC Tower.

Sa ido-donate mong gamit, makakagawa ng maraming Manikako para ibenta para may moolah for free art workshops sa mga kids na kapus-palad. Matututo din silang gumawa ng Manikako!

Visit www.manikako.com for photos. At kung naexcite kang gumawa ng Manikako super cute, mag-volunteer na din sa website! Panoorin mo rin si Medyas, ang patapong medyas na nagbigay ngiti sa isang bata dahil sa pagiging Manikako niya!

Kaya, dali, baliktarin na yang cabinet na yan!

Manikako

When I'm all excited about something, I can't quite start writing about it. Like now, I should just plunge in with my story but here I am rambling and not knowing where to start. So I'll just pull the first thought that comes in my mind and hope that you people can make some sense of it.
When Mt. Pinatubo erupted, our school, St. James College of QC, held donation drives. Hallways were lined with one-peso coins and nuns, or at least my memery telss me they were, would collect the coins in little sacks each afternoon.
In high school I transferred to Cotabato, where war refugees were a part of the demography, you had to wait for army tanks to pass by before you could cross, and your rich Chinese cousin gets kidnapped. It does sound bad but hey, my family and friends are there. I became head of a group called RYA for Religious Youth in Action and basically what we did was put up donation drives upon donation drives to help the deposed families of whatever calamity, and in that time there were quite a lot, that came by.
In college, I joined CYA, quite a coincidence really and a big part of the reason why I joined. It stood for Christ's Youth in Action and again I was out helping build a home with Habitat for Humanity, and teaching street kids basic lessons.
I am working now in a rather big advertising, I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping I'd do well enough to be regularized, but that's not the story here. The story is Manikako, a project my immediate higher-up is very much into. Manikako is the fund-raising arm of ArtHOC or House of Comfort Art Network. Check their very cool website at www.manikako.com. The goal is to raise enough money and materials to continue the free art workshops that ArtHOC hosts. The art workshops are for underpriviledged children, it aims to empower them through art. You might have heard about this or watched it on tv.
So, all this time I am wondering why I didn't take up social work. But maybe that's because you can always help no matter what you are. Can you imagine? Here I am, loving social work, loving art, loving dolls, loving children. And Manikako came along. Hah!
If you're interested, visit the website and sign-up as a volunteer. We sew dolls, talk to adorable children, ask for old clothes and sewing materials, have fun, laugh, and make other people and children laugh with us. So let's all make a brighter future, one doll at a time, one smile at a time.

100 Kwentong Peyups

As part of UP's 100th year celebration, we are putting together '100 KwentongPeyups', a series of columns which will appear in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Philippine Star throughout the year.
We invite all past students of any of the University of the Philippines' units to submit their stories.

Submissions should:

1. Be a maximum of 1,000 words
2. Be a personal experience and written in the 1st person
3. Emotionally engaging---funny, sad, scary, etc.
4. Make the connection between the story and a life lesson that serves you well today.
5. If possible, please include an old photo/scanned memento

Please include your name, College or Unit and Course, and year you entered UP as well as your email address. If you remember your Student Number, even better
Send your submissions to100kwentongpeyups@ campaignsandgrey.net. You will be notified via email if your story has been selected for publication or for use in other Centennial celebrations.

Submissions will be accepted starting January 1, 2008. Btw, pls. feel free to pass this on to other UP alumni. Thank you very much and we look forward to your "Kwentong Peyups".

Le Mort de Poissons

Last night I arrived at about 12mn, changed into house clothes and proceeded to toss and turn in bed. I woke up feeling like I slept for 10 hours and indeed it was already 8am, to late to be on time for work. Before leaving the house, I looked up to check on the aquariums on the second floor of the house. From the position of one of them, I concluded that it was dead. No fish swims upside down, at least not giant gouramies.
Months ago they almost died. Their veins were all shot and their eyes were protruding. I panicked, bought super expensive meds and they got better. A week ago they got sick again. And I got sick of them. They required changing of water once a week, feeding everyday and spending of my hard earned money on their meds and vitamins. And for what? A blip of a bubble? Do they greet me when I get home bone-tired? Are they even mine? No. They were my dad's. He left them in the house. That's his hobby, leaving his load in someone else's yoke. Well, next time he comes home all the aquariums will be clean.
Last night before I went to sleep I checked rooms and condos for rent around makati area. I'm planning to move out of the house, it was only the fishes that hindered me from moving out.
Next time he comes home the house will be empty.

Ode to Dog

This here is Buddles. Also known as Alpine to my mother who, when he was but a pup, fed him cooked rice soaked in Alpine evap. And as Jackie to her adoptive family of seven years.
Buddles is Sir Ed's graduation gift, I'm guessing she is because she was given right before we went off to college, to me. She has a sister, or a brother, never knew which, that was given to Erika. Little Buddles came in a dingy plastic bag, it was raining then and her fur clung to her body.
The little fluffball stole everyone's heart. I was allowed to have her sleep in my room, and I in turn, after her many yelps, allowed her to sleep in my bed. She had a favorite pillow, a Hetti Spaghetti head beany.
When it was time for me to leave for Manila, my mother, in an inexplicable surge of unusual goodwill, packed her up and managed her papers so she could travel with me. At the airport, it broke my heart when I saw her dizzy form emerge from the conveyor belt. Poor little Buddles didn't have enough oxygen back in the baggage compartment.
I couldn't take her to the dorm with me so my uncle, who lived right inside the campus, adopted her. There she was renamed Jackie.
Having a close friend named Jacqueline, I couldn't make myself call my dog, no matter how close we were, Jackie. So whenever I come over for a visit, I call her Buddles. And she never forgets.
She is now 7 and I am readying myself in case she decides to go to doggy heaven early. My little girl has grown up so fast and I am afraid I'd cry when at last she goes. Here's to you baby Buddles.