a balancing act

This artwork from Studio Mela reminds me of a haiku that I once wrote about birds balancing on telephone wires. They look like they're having so much fun perched all the way up there, I started to imagine what their conversations are like. Are they talking about the weather? Are they wondering why us humans spend so much of our time working and worrying about paying the bills? Do they even care? :)

Would love to hear about your imagined conversations.

red and gray

I am in love with this color combo right now. Don't know why. I just bought this red coat on a super discounted price and I'm looking for ways to mix and match it with other colors. How about a pair of gray boots or opaque gray tights? What do you think? =)

Hmmm...I may have been reading too much of The Sartorialist lately. How else will I explain why I've been thinking on what to wear while taking pictures around my neighborhood? And oh, don't you just love how the reflection of that gray car somehow ended up in the picture above? I never even noticed it before. Haha.

P.S. The Sartorialist is actually a fashion blog that features what people are wearing on city streets like NY, Paris, and Milan. Check it out, you'll get so many ideas from this site, though I must warn you that it is very addicting!

the end of things

Photo by yosigoo!!! on Flickr

I just learned today via sfgirlbybay that Polaroid is closing its doors on instant film. What a sad, sad news. I suppose its inevitable in this era of digital cameras but Polaroids are special. They give you instant gratification. They have a unique quality that's exclusively Polaroid. The kids that I work with thinks they're the coolest thing in the world, how am I gonna tell them that their favorite "prize" will be gone soon?

I guess I should start hoarding Polaroid films now. :(

meanwhile

"All I really need is a pen and a paper. And the ocean in front of me." (Journal entry; November 2, 2007).

I remember this day, it was one of those postcard-perfect afternoons in Half Moon Bay. I wanted to write a poem but I ended up spending hours staring at the water, taking a couple of pictures, flipping the blank pages of my journal every now and then, burying my feet in the sand, spying on seagulls - I hadn't written anything, but it was the possibility of words in those empty pages that made me happy just to be there.

These days, it's not as easy anymore. I even wanted to start this entry with an apology for not writing in weeks, for being such an absentee blogger. Truth is, the time that I spent home in the Philippines shook me more than I ever thought. It was certainly hard coming back, not only because I didn't want to leave my family, but more so because I was so disconnected with everything. I felt like I was "between worlds" or places, if you will, not really belonging here nor there. For awhile, I even flirted with the idea of moving to another city again.

I don't really know. Its seems premature to make decisions when I still can't figure out what I really want to do. But I am hopeful. I know everything will fall into place somehow. Just like I am hopeful that one of these days I will start writing again, when my muse will come and take me to that place in my heart that desires to write. Ah, to write.

In the meantime, I find comfort in this poem by Mary Oliver:

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.