ROMI'S SECRET SCHOOL PROJECT

The bicycle was off key.  The handlebars sliced into two, or should I say cut in half.  The wheels were turning.  Early grey morning. Well, just a few things I recall from slumber.

Romi is from Pakistan.  She's studying Architecture.  She's at her third year in college.  The first thing she asked me was "Are you an architect?" What am I suppose to say?  Am I suppose to say yes, no, not really, I don't know?  You tell me.  It was not long until she sent me her drawings, autocad drawings.  She needed someone to assist here with her plates. She needed it done in 3d.  She says she's jealous of her classmates' work.  She says she had not learned 3d software yet like Sketch Up. She says she can ask help from an architect.  She says her teacher said so.  And so the drawings kept coming.  Mosque, another mosque, a house.  It was fine.  I asked for food, money, compensation.  Haha.  What do you expect from a student?  

And then came the bigger project.  The Sports Complex.  She asked for assistance again.  I tried my best.  I flooded her with links, downloadables, pdfs and what else.  Now she needed me to draw everything in 3d.  Oh God,help me.  So here we are.  Foootball Stadium, Basketball Stadium, Swimming Pool, Multi Purpose Building, Cricket Ground...and what else..Gym, Tennis Courts, Hockey Stadium, Restaurants, Hostels, .... What the heck.  Something's wrong.  Your teacher is a jerk Romi.  Haha.

ARE YOU EVEN AT THE RIGHT ZONE?

Somewhere there's a construction going on.  I know for sure that there is something going on.  I've seen it from above.  And it's sort of or would seem unnecessary for some.  Somehow I am brought to this intuition.  And in no way you could erase the thought from my mind.  There's a school being built beside CENTRAL PARK SUBDIVISION. 

You can always drive me or swerve me from the site.  Take me to roads away from its vicinity, use the DIVERSION ROAD instead.  You don't wanna see it or we don't wanna see you hanging around but hey, come on.  Why's the matter with you?  Haha.  The site sits on a lot that's beside a residential zone.  Just like how it was before.  

Ateneo de Davao University, Matina Campus sits on a residential zone as well.  And the new one being constructed as I'm writing right now also sits on a residential zone.   And one would tell me or anyone yet again, "Why are you saying that just now?" "Why just now? When you had a lot of time talking about it before?"  Hahaha  Because it pisses you off?  Haha

Ateneo de Davao University, Senior High, Bangkal Davao City.  I think that's how it'll be known in the future.  And while there's a Coastal Road being constructed with it, rushing through the seashores, discouraging beach goers, preparing maybe for an LRT or MRT in the future hence, I still would like to point out that there are more areas where this school should have sat in.

Consider the places where it's almost inhabited.  Why do we have to add to the traffic if we were complaining about it?  That's how or  why we need URBAN PLANNERS.  And isn't this one of the best schools in the country?  Is this the best you can come up with?  The old one was and is beside JUNA SUBDIVISION and this new one is beside CENTRAL PARK SUBDIVISION. 

Care to comment?  Haha.

EHS EMEX DISHWASHING PASTE

I was suppose to go to my friend at 4 PM first before we decide to attend another event at SMX, NORTH mall.  Too far from where I reside.  Too far to walk, run, bicycle or even to vehicle or plane to...haha  But I slept and rested for awhile, still lingering from the effects of alcohol from another drinking spree, from another gathering with college class mates.  There and then again drooling from another siesta and figuring that it was late, I find myself going to Rolling Hills.  And realized a pang of regret as I asked the taxidriver the time.  Found out that it was just 3 PM.  So I was an hour early, not surprising since that's how we always try to be without us really noticing.  We have become one-hour advanced people.  It happens.  It only happens with people like us who live so far away from the city.  We always or we got used to go an hour early.  Traffic reasons? I don't know,  I don't why either.  It's better that way than be late, right?  But, hey...don't worry...I just had to get away from the house.  I realized my friend wasn't at home yet so I found another way to pass time.  There, as the taxidriver suggested, two folks drinking light beer at the store.  And so I sat near them, drank the same beer and eventually joined their chatting. It was like FB chatroom but better.  Because we get to move our mouths, see each other personally and hold our own beers.  It wasn't that hard to join them, we eventually had our topics sound more interesting since we were all in a party mood I suppose.  In high spirits still, remnants from Christmas parties?  Well, Doctor had to leave and I'm left with the judge's driver.  Yes, he says he works for the judge.  He drives the judge to and fro where the judge pleases.  It's his job.  And because of this, I got to ask him about the law, about lawyering.  The topic came up since it wasn't that long ago that a big case was summed up, right?  Or was it?  Well, we had a few more bottles of beer until it reached 4PM.  

And so my friend arrived just as how we talked about.  The look on his face as he saw me at the store just a few meters from his house. Smiling as he drove me to the SMX to attend a big reunion event.  Atenistas were everywhere.  Familiar and the not too familiar.   Watching bands perform, rock concert.  Wow.  Beer, brandy, scotch and beef...sashimi...and more.  Loud music and half forgotten friends.  It was a big night.   Hey where's my glasses?  Hahahaha

VIDEOKE ADDICTS, PIZZA & ALCOHOLIC RANTS

Last year was 2018.  It was last year that I was invited to my High School Reunion.  Something that wasn't really hailed to be that much favorable to attend to from here.  Of course, considering the proximity, the cost and the silliness of said event.  But there it is on the chatbox, former classmates chatting with each other, talking about who's who and what's what.  Sharing a meme or two, jokes here and there.  It was like from when you were younger in a silly place called school, in a classroom.  It didn't take long for the class president and her assistant to start asking money for the tickets of the said event.  There's also the T-Shirts where they had to prepare for printing for the said reunion event.  I really wasn't keen on attending so I just pretended and played along.  Who knows, I might just come.   Remarks were thrown, here and there, unnecessary, irrelevant messages flooded the chatbox.  I sent music video links which annoyed everyone and what else?  And so I ended up not going anyway.  

Another school also invited me and again I wasn't able to attend.  I really didn't have to go and it really is going to be awkward to be there.  Since in High School, I attended three schools and that pretty much explains why.  I was more interested in attending reunion events with work friends and colleagues.  It feels more right to connect with present work friends than past acquaintances. 

But Christmas Season 2019 came along once more and I was invited by my work/school friend/architect to go to our gathering.  I can recall how he even tried to have me lead the preparation for this which amounted to nothing.  As soon as I woke up from post-Christmas party siesta, nursing a hangover, I found myself half-asleep with somebody calling my name outside. 

There, my friend waiting for me.  Told me to dress up quickly, everyone's waiting for the both of us.  And so, still half to quarter asleep, I managed to find my pair of shoes and told him.  "Okay, let's go."

There, right on the dot, we arrived at the event.  Work friends and school classmates from Architecture school, singing our hearts out.  Beers, food and what else?  Hahahaha

EARTHQUAKES, TREMORS, SHIFTING TURNING, SPINNING MOVEMENTS

It has been months since, now I write again.  I have been trying to look, watch, read and listen some more.  Or just trying to hear, see, unhear and unsee if possible.  The things that happens, occurs, happened and occurred.  I have been trying to analyze, understand, investigate, explore, and discover.  I have been trying to crack my own codes..  I am trying to find meaning through it all.  I am trying to shield and attack if need be.  The things that bother me, the things that could hurt or mess or fuck up this life in and around everywhere.  Environmentally, physically, emotionally, metaphorically, mentally, spiritually and digitally.

I'm trying to hold on architecturally as well.  Internet-actively taking my mind to places where it wants to get lost to and find myself back home again.  I sometimes find myself sleep too late or wake up too early that I find myself stare into space longer than usual.  Time sometimes goes too slow and sometimes it flies so very fast.  I also find myself consuming too much thinking that I have drained too much energy.  And I get tired easily than ever before, catching up from too much waking hours, I find myself sleeping more than usual.  I get to drink more water than ever before considering my immobility. 

And it seems it's been that way to a lot of people around me as well.

Earthquakes happen more than usual just as the leaders were trying to build more.  Just the other day, it reached to a magnitude scale of 6.9.  Aftershocks happen afterwards.  Tremors.  It almost happens once every week or every other week.  I'm starting to believe that it wasn't just any ordinary seismic activity.  I started to imagine gigantic creatures, maybe a dragon or a snake, slithering underground from the depths of whatever hell they're trudging about.  Shifting from one place to another.  I'm trying to look for cracks in the walls, finding none made it feel safer.     

Are we OK?

FREE KITTENS

The ceiling.  There's a part , a corner of the kitchen ceiling that we needed to saw off.  A dead cat was up there months ago.  It really smelled bad.  Yes, a dead cat, its remains off to the garbage.  Days ago, just a day before yesterday, kittens were up that hole that part we sawed off, an opening like a cave.  Newborn kittens.  Baby cats, felines, kittens.  Two fell off the day before yesterday.  And three plopped to the floor yesterday. 

Hey, why are cats falling from the ceiling one by one?  I put the three kittens inside a box.  I  started to name them wondering when and until the mother cat arrives to fetch them  I started to name the three, Nine, Eleven and Nineteen.  But just this morning just as my brother told me to leave them outside, they're all gone and fetched away to my amusement.

JULY 6TH,

It's the sixth of July.  If you write the date in numbers, it would be seven six two zero one nine or 7 6 2 0 1 9. And if you prefer to put the day first before the month, then it would be 6 7 2 0 1 9, whichever you prefer.  I know I'd get what you mean right away since I live on the same day as it is today, which happens to be the present or the now. 

The only take away is, is that somehow when it is daytime down here, somewhere else it would be night time. And it is but easy to recognize and emphasize that it just means that we do not live on the same time and date in other parts of the globe.  

And because it happens to be this way, then we could safely say that numbers do not really matter anymore, yeah at some point, if you insist.  But that's how we can safely say that it is all mixed up everywhere anyway so why keep bothering ourselves with numbers?  It's just a number, it numbs out every part of us, so what, right?

DIZZY SPELLS, FACEBOOK JAILBIRDS, TATTOOED FIENDS, THE PRESENCE OF GOD, THE THEORIES OF THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN THE HOUSEHOLD AND UNDERSTANDING BIRTH SEQUENCES PERSONALITIES

We have always thought that we were doing it well.  Teachers, like out of the box parents, made us do so.  They are like obscure aunts and uncles that had to live somewhere outside our premises. But the trouble is, there had to be two sides of it. Our father's side and our mother's side. Our grandmothers and your grandfathers sure could make the whole thing feel grand.  And our cousins could go unnecessarily close. 

But it wasn't done out of envy.  No, not from vengeful jealousy.  It wasn't about the left and the right wing. It was just and is so.  Like doing the right thing instead of the other way around.  Schools and churches of  goodwill has made it easy and possible.  It just so happens that we were in a way, good or better in doing it well.  And comes the reactions and overreactions of the people around us.  We won't know however anymore if we were bothered when we were honored.  Were we honored to be retarded?  Our growth distracted. To keep us calmer, we had to be distinguished.  Our progress being analyzed and kind of investigated, traced, followed, put into crosshairs, magnified, or even microscoped.  Like they're not being  put into the picture themselves.  And we would be considered freaks, creeps, or maybe just plainly brighter than any other age group.  Most of us excelled and some of those  who knew better stayed put.  And were we still doing the right thing anyway however, whenever as long as we are home?  We better be home than anywhere else if you need to think straight, and get dizzy after a while, and onwards to rest our heads back home again.  Your ideas and concepts of home. They would differ, probably will and your televisions or television networks might just set the trend on how you have to live your lives.  And cool kids we might be, never had the time anymore indeed.

PARASITES, BANDITS, IDIOTS, SHOWOFFS, RISKTAKERS, INFLUENCERS & CELEBRITIES

Call it the Power of Negative Thinking or whatever.  But I'd say that it'll protect you from useless events, occurrences.  If you are that inept and observant, you'd spot them right away, even for meters away.  But of course if you've been trained and taught well enough, you wouldn't really care or get confused.  You'd immediately know how and when to say Yes or when to say No and I don't know.  With due respect, even for the most disrespectful ones, you'd need to know how.  Or you'd get to be abused and used.  You should learn to know when to refuse or when to be tolerable and when to stop.

Like a test for a structure, for a vehicle, for a domicile.  Before any kind of use.  Like befriending a machine before making it your constant companion.  To test it's integrity, durability, efficiency. A sort of by pass.  Right, a test.

WATCH OUT

Watch out.  They might creep in without you even noticing a thing.  They can steal your roles, your character, your demeanor.  Your identities resolved taken and assumed. Just like people on TV.  The schizophrenic actors and actresses portraying roles to the extreme.  Your noontime shows, your soap operas, Netflix, Cable TV, telenobelas, satellite TV, the radio and the internet superhighway. The networks and their engineers, lawyers, the media, the politicians. 

It's business as usual so they say.  Apparently if you got the problem, they got the solution.  You have no problem, they'd give you some. If you were ill, they'd cure you.  If you were healthy, they'd make you sick.  That's how it is.  Apparently, if you feel sad, they'd make you happy.  If you are happy, they'd make you sad.  They always find ways against every little move.  And sometimes they would lock you up, or set you free before you find yourself lost again somehow in your own maze. 

They can, am telling you they can.  They even take shifts.  The dayshift and the nightshift, and the inbetweens.  Now you can decide to play along. Learn the latest app, the latest software, and be the most avid user, player.  An admirable, money-eating venture.  Give in to the latest hardware upgrade.  Join in friends and folks. They got everything you wanted to play the game. Pick a side, make up your mind.  Make a choice. You are under their commands, their program, their control. They'd find every little thing they can to find fault in you.  They would ask too many questions, investigate, pry, stalk, prey, creep, tempt and keep you asking for more.

Eventually, they would slowly start confessing to you their sins. God, you'd feel betrayed.  And you ask them, "How rude of you, how sick of you to do so? What ever happened to you for you to do this to me?" The men and women you most admired now becomes the people you most despised.  You lost respect over them, in turn you find yourself lost along the way.  What the hell!    

You will have to keep fighting my friend.  This is unacceptable. This is not who we are.  This is not what and how it should be.   Things are getting messy.  Is it the economy?  But you find yourself driving yourself amazed at your own wit. Down and up with the troubling, shifting skies, messy clouds ahead.

And they will have to remind you  "Don't forget to feed yourself, don't forget to sleep, catch your breath and smell the flowers, breathe in, breathe out.  Damn it! We're still alive"