While all is calm…or is it?

Today marks the beginning of my 3rd week in Manila. Its hot, humid, polluted, crowded, traffic, crazy, just the way I remember and like it.

Been having disturbing dreams lately.

Last night, after a friend’s son’s birthday (as well as the adult’s afterparty that took place in Malate til 12mn), i went home to watch Harry Potter 6 on DVD. I could barely keep my eyes open to the flickering pirated pixels on screen. Was the flickering part of the movie? Or was I already dreaming?

In my dream, I was on a lounge chair by a pool, watching the same harry potter movie on a projector screen above the pool. There were loungechairs all around the pool. I had been sitting there until people started coming to lay down. My sister laid down beside me. I felt something under my back and pulled out black and white earphones.

“AHEM” someone said behind me

“YES?” i answered.

“YOURE IN MY CHAIR” he said not too pissed, but not too kindly either, the way most yuppie californians are, since they are always in a hurry.

Somewhere in the dream he explains that each tenant is allowed one chair for the viewing and since my sister was in my chair, and perhaps that apartment in my dream was her apartment, there was none left for me to sit on.

I felt a little pissed when I woke up, as if my feelings of being inconvenienced lately had bunched up into a ball and manifested itself into a crappy feeling dream.

***

I’m in Manila for another 3 weeks! While I love seeing my old friends, I miss my hubs terribly. I feel like I should not be going out as much as I am. Part of it is I dont feel like going out, because it’s too hot and humid, and most places are too far/traffic.

***

Tonight I plan to review all the works that had been trickling in slowly for the REMIX SANTIAGO BOSE show and catalog. Wondering whether I should still submit a literary work interpreting my dad’s anting-anting drawings. I’m not all that good with words, but I still have THAT and WEBSITE to work on. Good Lord! Am I really supposed to proofread/edit-shorten all the writers work? That’s my sister’s job – she’s the writer!

But unfortunately, the folks are all out. Again.

How to Recycle Food

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Being practical during the US recession leaves everyone finding ways to save money, save food and resources and recycling. I was kind of surprised not a lot of people do this, I had mentioned this to my sister that my husband and I sauté/rebake our food and add more stuff to the previous night’s dish, to change the taste completely. She and her boyfriend were thoughtful, saying, hmmm good idea.

These “good ideas” constantly amazed the hubs and myself whenever we successfully create a dish that is both easy and tastes almost gourmet. We are not your average take-out people; we like to experiment with stir fry dishes and cooking our specialty Filipino dishes because :
1) theyre expensive at the filipino restaurants …
2) and they may taste so-so, sometimes disgusting
3) you dont know how much salt and msg* they put in there

Last sunday, hubs and i did our grocery shopping before dinner and opted to get roasted turkey breast. That is already delicious by itself, however, hubs wanted to do something else.

1st version- sunday
hubs slapped some pico de gallo (cilantro + chopped tomatoes and onion) an pesto and popped it in the oven for 15-20mins. We ate this with some rice. Heaven!

2nd version – monday
we decided to make pasta. hubs got some leftover turkey meat, sauteed it with onions, pesto, some more spices… i found an online recipe for pesto alfredo which called for some heavy cream (which i had a lot of, thanks to my baking frenzy last year). it looked like green curry, but when we bit into it, mannnn. Almost gourmet! And this comes from someone who normally detests white sauce pasta!

We skipped recycling last night and cooked a mean sinigang**, however there’s still some leftover turkey so I’m pretty sure we’ll rehash that as well soon.

I wonder what we’ll come up with next?

* While most people shy away from MSG, a study was conducted that a little MSG is harmless, in fact, almost healthy and was only black propaganda vs Chinese MSG makers. A new study is now linking salt intake with hypertension, and that people who are susceptible to getting high blood pressure should watch their sodium intake.
**sinigang – popular Filipino stew

Emperor’s New Art

You can call a spade a spade, you can say it is what it is, but if it’s bullshit, i WILL call it bullshit. If its trash backed up by intellectual psychobabble, it would still be bullshit.

Nothing annoys me more than encountering a bullshitting artist. There is a reason I am not an artist, i know that first i need loads of skill. When I was little, I was inspired by a homemade book I found in our Baguio home. It was made by a friend of my dad’s, who got people to trace their hands and draw around them with objects representing them. The book had many artists, poets, writers, educators, travellers who had something to draw, something to say. The ballet dancer drew dancing nymphs on hers. The musician had beers and guitars. It was not the art or individual skill that blew me away, but the concept and collective wittiness of all works combined made me love that book so much. You know how you listen to a CD for the first time, not really picking out a favorite song, but liking all of the songs enough for it to make it one of your favorite CDs of all time? That was how I felt about the book.

I traced my hand and drew objects in it. I put an elephant, a timer, a chessboard, water drops. I was proud it was artfully done with fine lines and minimal erasures. I showed it to my dad, who took one look at it and said “Put some more color in it” and then went back to minding his own business.

For him, it was not enough to be called art, or something to be praised. I have no hang-ups about this, I draw on occasion but nothing like my father who is considered an artist’s artist and well-regarded by his artist peers all around the world and who has made his life into art. He encouraged us to delve into other art programs, I, being skilled in music, my elder sister in writing and the eldest in dancing. Having him as a father gave us a certain standard when it comes to appreciating art and even absorbing a well-framed piece of shit.

I am not so judgemental to the point that whatever is ugly is trash, no, that is not how i discriminate art at all. I just know that whatever piece that does not require skill, or effort, or idea should not be called art. Maybe mediocre art.

There are already plenty mediocre artists out there..including mediocre artists who starve to make it big. Or yuppies with plenty of money buying the fanciest cameras and calling themselves photographers. Or pretty girls who squeal and chant and call themselves singers?

What’s worse though is meeting an artist who will make a performance art out of breathing. seriously. My feces make curly tails that look more artistic than that.

Yeah, sure, maybe I’m bitter. But we live in a world that is so transparent and varied. Why make art using everyday life when you can fuse, deconstruct, objects and ideas and concepts into endless possibilities into a multitude of color palettes and images?

Because art shouldn’t be about bullshit. it should be honest and it is what it should be. But don’t try peddling me your sketches for $500. I can come up with something similar AND i know you can do better than that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009 was a good year for me! Some highlights:
1. Vietnam- Cambodia w/ mom & lille.
2. NancyDrool album launch
3. Baguio
4. Eheads w lille des glenz
5. MARRYING MARK
6. parties galore
7. Zachy 2x (mke and la)
8. First Coachella , with cousins and sis!
9. Learning to bake and expt w food
10. Pico

This year i promise to:
1. be more patient, esp w hubs
2. be more proactive, esp w job hunting & projects
3. be more dedicated, esp to exercise
4. be more in control, esp w food
5. be more assertive, esp w kanos

i will exercise more (at least 30min in the elliptical) eat less, talk when necessary, buy when necessary, and get a freakin job! by feb hopefully.

Some goals for the year also include organizing the santi bose remix exhibit, pumped up site for dad, edit old vids.

Here’s to a productive one to all of us!

How to Toilet Train your cat to use your toilet

WANNA SAVE ON KITTY LITTER? READ HOW TO DO IT HERE