The Fat Man Today

And now here’s a vignette. Enjoy, folks. FLIGHT by Kilawinguwak   She stepped into her room, peeled off her orange jacket, and slammed the door. There wasn’t much inside, neither her jacket nor her room, to speak of. The furnishings were bare; a simple wooden bed with a thin cushion, thin white sheets, and a pillow. A table with a chair on one side, with a cheap plastic lamp in one corner of the tabletop. Which was dusty, as if it hadn’t been used in weeks, but the bed was creased, as if she’d been lying on it just recently. A thin layer of dust could be seen on the small headboard. She pulled out her chair, and eased herself into it. There was hardly a creak when she sat. She was very, very light. From a small purse hanging from the back of the chair, she pulled out a notebook and a pen, and started writing. From outside her second floor window, she looked like she was studying. She looked like a college kid, a freshman, and she hunched over her notebook as if it were a term...

Back when I was in (and out, and in again) of college, there was this little TV channel that made the circuit in and amongst the universities in Metro Manila. The channel was UnTV31, and one of the more impressive shows was a (possibly) doobie-induced reality documentary called Strangebrew . If you watched TV (and/or drank as much as I did) back in those days, you probably know of this show, and of the characters Tado, Erning (both of ‘em), and the occasional diwata by the name of Ramon Bautista. Now that I think about it, if it weren’t for the downright questionable nature of some of the segments, this show’d be a great tool to get jarheads and lazyboy students to actually learn something, because the vehicular wavelength of the show was something that they could relate to. But yeah, the shows were really out of whack sometimes, and I only realized today that watching an episode of Strangebrew was a good way of unwinding after a long day at work. Not to mention the fact th...

There are very, very few things I find interesting in American baseball, being the Filipino that I am. This is one of them. Taken from the Youtube description: Boyfriend chooses the better part of valor and ducks a foul ball, which strikes his girlfriend, earning him the nickname "Bailer" HOUSTON -- A young female Astros fan got a painful lesson in chivalry Monday night at Minute Maid Park. The woman, identified only as Sarah, was struck on the right arm by a foul ball off the bat of Chris Johnson in the fourth inning while sitting down the left-field line -- a ball that she didn't see coming because her boyfriend ducked out of the way at the last second. "As soon as we got here and I saw where we were sitting, I said 'Baby, we're going to get hit,'" the woman said when interviewed during the game. "He said, 'No, I'll catch it if you do. We just had this conversation and sure enough, the ball comes at me. He j...

Some time ago, I had a Sting / The Police phase, and it all began witn “Seven Days”. I was trying to date this girl via long distance at the time, and the song resonated with me. Not that I had a rival who was a neanderthal, because I only know of one caveman in my life, and he deserves another post altogether. “Seven Days” was originally given to me by a friend I used to jam with back in the days. Being a drummer, he’d given me a record that featured Vinnie Colaiuta, and that more or less started my love interest in the drums, and the Sting-Colaiuta pair-up. See, the thing about Sting is that he’s such a talented man. I don’t think you often see an artist of his calibre. I’ve only ever heard another voice like his (that’s Steve Conte, fyi), and the fact that he can play the bass at varying time signatures while singing boggles my mind. I don’t know about other bass players, but singing the main vocal piece of a title while following the rhythm and the beat is difficult, and I...

Wow. I can’t believe I finished the entire Chuck series in a month. For those of you who have yet to see even an episode of it, check it out. It is pure geek hilarity. And of course, the reason why I started watching Chuck ? Adam Baldwin, a.k.a. John Casey. Seriously. Fun.

Oh man, somebody’s going to kill me for that post title. Anyway. I haven’t written anything in a while. Life’s busy catching up to me. Who’d have thought that 27 would be so hectic? Anyway, I am currently dressed and ready to head out to work, so I’ll keep this short: I am disappointed by The Last Airbender . M. Night, you have failed me. I haven’t gone out to see any of my close friends for a little r&r for nearly three months. Somebody I know is having a pink week. Much to her chagrin. I am drowning in (paper)work. That’s pretty much it. Let’s hope the month picks up from this point on! And just between ourselves, here’s to hoping that modern science soon develops a LEGITIMATE drug that can give coffee a run for its money. Seriously. I dropped to sleep at the office right after finishing a cup of 3 in 1. Either the sugar’s not helping me any, or I have developed an immunity to coffee. Either way, I wish there were a cheap coffee place in the area I work ...

A huge part of my childhood was spent watching cartoons on the TV. Some of the more memorable shows include The Uncanny X-Men, Batman: The Animated Series, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Voltron, and of course, The Visionaries. Who could forget the Visionaries? But I digress. One of the best parts of growing up during the 80’s and the 90’s was the fact that quality cartoons were produced during that era (some of them were even developed here in the Philippines!). I don’t know what my generation’d be like if we didn’t have the regular Friday and Saturday morning shows to look forward to. Back then, we kids didn’t have access to cable and Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon was only a two-hour slot on (I think) RPN 9. We didn’t have the luxury of wall-to-wall cartoons, and we had to content ourselves with what we got. And, truth be told, we were generally pretty happy with what we did get. Ain’t that right, fellow 80’s kids? Nighthood’s a gem that very few Filipinos know (or ...

Spent it in bed. Sick. Watched Chuck. Will now go to a meeting in a little bit. At nearly ten pm. It’s a Friday. I should be watching my shows, with a couple of beers with me. Or playing Runes of Magic. Instead, because of this bug, I had to stay home from work. Curses! In other news, I think I may be pushing the bar on microblogging.

Let’s list the things that happened on my birthday (or thereabouts): I became a bit (!) richer. We ate a 20”……pizza. With four different flavors. A new president was elected. Said new president received his first impeachment complaint. Former president lodged a campaign for charter change. Somebody died / killed herself in Shangri-la. Nina bought me a cake.

I remember back when Ondoy was happening. I remember the aftermath. I know people who were affected by that natural disaster, and there’s no way that Metro Manila can take another Ondoy in 2010.     The problem is, you look out in the streets, and very few things seem to be different. There’s still trash out in the streets, the Manila drainage system still sucks, and we’re still very much the hotbed of humanity that we used to be. Needless to say, the government and the people of the metro have done very few things to address the very problems that caused Ondoy to happen in the first place. The only differences? - In Manila proper, there are now waste receptacles in almost every corner. That’s saying a lot. - Whenever it rains, people tend to get paranoid. For myself, I can say that every time I look out from the back of a jeep and see puddles on the ground, I can’t help but wonder whether I should head to Nina’s house, or not. That’s pretty much it. Which leads...

If you think about it: 1. I am connected to Manuel Legarda by two degrees (me >son of> mom >teacher of> Manuel). 2. In the same token, I am connected to Mimi Gates (Bill’s mother, yes) via my sister (me >brother of> ate >friend of> Mimi). 3. And (this blew my mind away) I am connected to Queen’s Brian May by seven degrees (me >related to> my sister / my niece >studies/ student of> St. Scholastica’s College >school of> Cory Aquino >wife of> Benigno Aquino Jr. >topic of director> Robert Markowitz >hired as musical director> Brian May). Brian May is cool. Seriously. And it’s amazing what the mind can think of when it is sleep-deprived.

Yesterday, I was kept from leaving the house because of the fact that my lower back hurt like a bitch in heat, which cemented my decision to keep away from sit-ups, and stick to crunches. As a result, I had to stay and work from home - which I have begun to mind, because my home time is when I work on my stories and watch the multitudes of media I gather, since I am sans television. I'd rather work in an environment like the office, where the air is made of nothing other than work, and serves as a cocoon from the reality of the world. Fortunately for me, Lia was more than understanding, and let me conduct my homework (so to speak) at peace. I was going to go to work today, to make up for the lost day yesterday. Unfortunately, sometime this morning, a series of rather unfortunate events happened that I will now relate. So there I was, sitting at the only chair in my house, typing away and trying as hard as I could (and utterly failing) to keep myself seated upright without damaging ...

If half of life and living occurs in the sidelines, then the same holds true for blogs. The main blog window is just half of the action. The rest of it is in the sideboard. If that's the truth, then hell, I'm missing out on about half of my blogging life. I'm usually too lazy to answer questions, greetings, and queries in tagboards since emails make for more privacy, more intimacy, and more nostalgia (in the same manner, snail mail makes reading and replying more special since it takes time and effort). I've promised several times to keep in touch with people via tagboards and utterly failed after several half-hearted attempts. For some reason, tagboard hi and helloes don't really interest me very much. Not that I'm snobbish or anything (although I am, a bit). I call it the goldfish phenomenon. I can't concentrate on short-term things. I lose interest quickly. So here's a proposition. If you're going to greet me via the tagboard, turn the greeting in...

Well, maybe no it isn’t. Anyway. Hello world. My name is Martin Cruz. Some of you may know me as Kilawinguwak. If you’ve wandered over to this site from the zeppelin of burning dreams, then yes. You most definitely will know me as Kilawinguwak. Other people call me arsehole. Different folks, different strokes I guess. I just recently transferred here from Tabulas. Why transfer? Because I can. Because the voices that be willed me to. And mostly because Blogger is becoming a fad, and I like to keep trendy whenever I can. It isn’t like Tabulas has slowly declined in its user-friendliness and ease of use. To this date, it remains to be one of the best blog engines in the web. I just wanted more room to maneouver, and bare-bones site design isn’t exactly one of my strong points. So what can you expect from this spot? Well, blog posts. Mostly about my life, mostly about nothing. Updates, too, on many things related to my interests. And believe me, I have a lot of interests. I’ll be keeping m...