Yes, I also happen to be...

An emo boy. Obviously, I am a girl with many faces. Not necessarily a girl's face, too!

Great. So the list, yes, the Drey-is/Drey-is-not list keeps on growing. Here's what we have so far:

1. Drey is not Filipino-at-all;
2. Drey is a tomboy;
3. Drey is not a lesbian;
4. Drey could be a convincing lesbian; and the latest...
5. Drey is an emo boy.

Yup, you heard me right. Drey is NOT an emo girl. She is an emo boy. It started out with a conversation that went like this:

Me: K. has two [my sister's name here]s in her class and she thought the more groovy one was my sister--because of how I dress! Haha! Aren't I a shirt-and-jeans kinda gal?

Her: Well, you do dress a certain way, Drey. Actually, you dress like an emo boy.

Yahoo. Of course, a few days later, I was out for midnight smokes with L. and D. (at the 7Eleven, of all places) and another conversation went like this:

Me: I wish I weren't me today! (Face burried in hands in mock tears.)

L: That is such an emo boy thing to say!

Me: If I could draw, you know what I'd do? I'd make comic strip of this whole incident!

D: Yeah, that would be fun! Have somebody draw it for you!

L: Yeah, but the last panel's got to be that emo-boy moment: "I wish I weren't me today!" with your face in your hands.

(Laughter. Even I had to laugh. Even the guy eavesdropping to that conversation had to laugh.)

Yup, I guess the verdict is in. And guess what? I found this on the net. Knock yourself out.

*****

I was down with vertigo twice (yes, twice!) the last week. Another thing to add to my useless-vertigo-knowledge: Never trust a mild attack. A more vicious one is just around the corner.

Weirder thing about it, though, was this: Last night, just before drifting off, I started singing in my head this Yuzu song "Itsuka" which was the one song (except for the Voltes V theme, of course) I could sing in Japanese, and sing well in karaoke. Perhaps coupled with vertigo, this somehow triggered some part of my subconscious, because I ended up dreaming a long train ride with my Japanese professor, and we were speaking in Japanese the whole time! I never knew I could speak Japanese like that! I mean, I was conscious of using words like hypertext (God, what were we talking about?!) but I was saying it like "haipaatekisto" which is how they'd say it. It was unbelievable!

In the morning/noon, I was puttering around my sister's apartment (raiding her fridge, actually), when I saw some yakisoba and chopsticks, and wham! To misquote Celine Dion, It All Came Back To Me Then. I told my sisters, but they didn't seem to appreciate its significance. I mean, listen to this:

Me: (Gasp! as I was opening the fridge) I dreamt about Hor-sensei last night! Oh my God! It was so weird. We were on a train, and we were talking in Japanese the whole time! It was crazy!

Sister: Who's Hori-sensei?

Hori-sensei, hontou ni gomen!!! m(_ _)m

*****

Happy Mondays at Mag:net Katipunan

I'm currently trancscribing and editing this interview with an author for an online journal--and I just remembered he said something like this:

"Performance poetry is having a great time because it has immediate effects and... it's partying, really."

Right on. So see you tonight at Mag:net Katipunan, you guys. Let's eat, drink and read poetry. For tomorrow... is Tuesday. And c'mon, there's no gate for this one.
*****

The following poets will read their works!

1. Ramil Digal Gulle
A two-time Palanca-winning poet, Ramil is the author of Textual Relations, recently published by UP Press.

2. Jamie Wilson
Jamie is a professional actor in theater and indie films, nominated for numerous Aliw Awards as well as for best actor in last year's Urian Awards for the Cinemalaya film, Bigtime. He has been doing spoken word poetry since the mid '90s in Old, Bohemian Malate.

3. Ingrid Reynolds
Is an Australian poet currently in the the country for hectic work, sublime art, and meditative Yoga classes.

4. Johanna Fernandez
Started writing poetry back when she was in 3rd year high school at St. Paul's, Pasig. She is currently a sophomore in the Ateneo and has sung with the Nictynasty band gigs in Magnet.

5. Yanna Verbo Acosta
Works as a performance poet with the collaborative group Project Ganymede, and has performed with several musicians such as Punnu Wasu of Sing India, Oz Arcilla (violin), Silverfilter (electronica), and percussion group Sruvaleh. She is part of the Electric Underground Collective which regularly performs at Cesare Syjuco’s exhibit openings.

6. Mikael De Lara Co
Kael is an M.A. Literature in Filipino student in the Ateneo and a published poet who's been to various National Writers Workshops in the country. He also plays the mean lead guitars for Los Chupacabras.

7. Keith Cortez
Was a recipient of the UST Ustetika awards for his poetry and co-edited the most recent issue of Dapitan.

8. Yol Jamendang
Yol is a bayaw teacher in the Ateneo's Filipino Department as well as a former fellow of the Ateneo Writers Workshop.

9. Angelo Suarez
Is a two-time Palanca-winning wasak poet with two books of poetry and a third one close to publication. His book, The Nymph of MTV, won for him the National Book Award.

10. Arkaye Kierulf
Is one of the youngest and most promising poets in the country. He was the winner of the 2005 Meritage Poetry Prize and his poems have appeared in various literary publications.


Other expected readers include Ken Ishikawa, Cos Zicarelli, Kash Avena, Corin Arenas, Lope Cui, Jr., Khavn Dela Cruz, Kenneth Magadia, Pancho Villanueva, and John Torres. Rising indie band Tabloid Lite jams in between.

*****

"..." said the fish underwater.

*****

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot. But this is the last one, I promise--until next season, anyway. Bring out LeBroom--it was a sweep!

UAAP next. Hahaha. Go Ateneo!

A Plumb-Crazy Story

(From Sunset Slope Realty Corporation File No. 2007-JO3739)

Trancript of complaint filed by Andorea Tehran (Tenant 205-X) of Unit 205, Sunset Slope Homes 3+1, A. Ebada Street, Yoyola Valley, Quezon City regarding a leaking sink (and other matters).

===Start of Transcription===

SUMMARY
On 31 May 2007, Andorea Tehran (from here on referred to as the Tenant) filed a Job Order (see attached copy JO3739A) with the Management of Sunset Slope Homes (from here on the Management) to have her sink fixed and a deadbolt installed on her front door.

The Management assigned plumber Jhaysohn Kuku (Contractual Employee # CE502, from here on CE502) for said job.

Fixing of the sink and installation of deadbolt began on 01 June 2007 (3:00 PM to 7:00PM) and finished 02 June 2007 (10:30 AM to 2:00 PM).


CHARGES
(1) Sink
Cost of fixing the sink was charged to the Management to be taken from previous occupant's deposit. (JO3739A falls under Article V Section 2 of contract, Regarding Job Orders Filed within 2 Months of Moving In.)

(2)Miscellaneous
aaa(a) Deadbolt--provided by Tenant.
aaa(b) Installation--Php 150.00

(3) Total
Charge to Tenant-- Php 150.00


REMARKS/COMPLICATIONS
(1) Sink
Pipes were fine, but sink had to be re-tiled and re-grouted.

(2) Deadbolt
N/A--"Very satisfactory."

(3) Others
On 02 June 2007, the Tenant complained to the Management (see attached complaint form # CF2326A) that CE502 used information found on the Job Order (JO3739A), specifically the Tenant's cellular phone number, and used it to harrass her the night of 01 June 2007. The tenant claims that "five minutes after he was out the door" CE502 started sending her somewhere around ten text messages, ranging from popular forwards, chain-text, jokes--"even picture messages!"--to the usual "polite" messages (e.g., "Ingat U", "TY", "Gudnyt", etc.). When the Tenant did not reply to the aforementioned texts, CE502 sent her load worth Php 30.00 (SMARM Economy Autoload), "even apologizing that it was all he could afford". Tenant says she felt "a bit guilty" after that, so she sent one message in reply, only to say that CE502 "shouldn't have done that but thank you". Tenant admits that she herself "shouldn't have" replied at all, but insisted that she felt "guilty". She further claims that her reply was never meant to be in any way interpreted as a form of encouragement--she was simply "very polite to the point of stupidity".

CE502 "obviously did not share this opinion" as he continued to send her messages until late at night, and even called her five times in succession. She never answered any of his calls, and claims she was very embarrassed by all this, as she had put her celphone in her pants' back pocket, and she felt she was "walking around Kupitanan Avenue with [her] ass ringing". Furthermore, since the job wasn't finished on the same night, she worried about how to deal with CE502 the next day. She insisted that her fear was "very valid" as she believes CE502 is "very familiar around lead pipes".

The Management later on called CE502 to the Main Office at the Sunset Slope Homes 3+0 Building, and met with him regarding the complaint. When asked about the Tenant's accusations, CE502 said he "couldn't understand what her problem was." He admitted to copying her celphone number with the express purpose of texting her, but firmly stated that he was just trying to be friendly since she lived alone, and was "pretty, and seemed to be nice". He added that the Tenant "even gave [him] a cigarette when [he] asked for one". He reiterated that he meant no harm, and that the tenant was just "lucky" as he had just availed of the SMARM Unilimited Text promo, and only decided to text her as "she just happened to be a SMARM user as well". CE502 also asserted that this whole incident wouldn't have occurred--"nor this meeting"--if the Tenant had been "say, a GLOB user instead". When asked about the SMARM load he had sent her, he shrugged and said that he bought the load with the tip she gave him, "so it was her money, really". When the meeting was wrapping up, CE502 added that "on second thought, [the Tenant] wasn't that pretty" and that she was a "boring textmate, anyway".


RESOLUTION
On 02 June 2007, the Management reprimanded CE502 for bothering the Tenant. The Management also apologized to the Tenant for CE502's behavior. The Tenant decided not to pursue the complaint further, as she was very satisfied with her "very new, very shiny deadbolt.. and oh yeah, the sink, too".


NOTES
A few days later, CE502 was hired again to fill out another job order for another occupant (Tenant 313-B, see copy of file 2007-JO3845) in a different building and there were no problems.

(Incidentally, Tenant 313-B is a STAR Cellular user.)

===nothing follows===

===End of Transcript===