RANT: Kings of Convenience

Yep, they are coming to Manila. Yep, they will perform at the NBC Tent, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on Wednesday, March 31st. Yep, tickets are available at certain stores all over the metropolis, one of which is Kate Torralba's. Yep, I so damn want to see them perform live because they may not come back to this country again. Yep, I don't have work, since our schedule was moved to an earlier time, making it possible for me to watch them. Yep, I will move time and space just to get a ticket. Yep, I should be buying tickets now.

Nope, I've got other obligations to settle.

Damn.

Not so Strange Dog

A few months ago my office mate and I were taking a cab home. I took the cab with her since she passes along my route. On our way out of Araneta Center going to EDSA she then told me of a dog that usually trots by the sidewalk between 12 midnight to 2 a.m. I didn't find that odd since there were so many stray dogs scattered all over the metropolis. Then she mentioned that she always sees the dog during that exact period, as if it had a precise ritual to be in the same spot in the wee hours of night. I told her that she might be mistaken. It might be a different dog she saw passing by the spot. She believed it was the same dog - its left hind foot was strangely cut so it had to limp walking along the sidewalk. It was white, and not the hairy type as most stray dogs in the metropolis are.

The following day I went home at around 1 a.m. The cab I rode, like most cabs, had clear windows. I was looking at some people who were trying to cross the highway when a dog suddenly appeared from a corner street and limped its way to an old light post. It was white, not much hair on its body, and its left hind foot looked as if it was sliced clean from its limb. This is the dog my friend was talking about. It rummaged over the pile of garbage bags left at the light post, and started chewing the black plastic. I wondered if that was the reason why it was a frequent visitor of that spot. Stray dogs are peripatetic creatures, and they probably haunt a certain place if there is something for them that would support their survival. Leftovers are welcome treats. Dogs are seldom choosy. My cab continued to speed over EDSA. Inside I kept reminding myself to share my thoughts on why the dog visits that same spot. Nourishment is always a good reason.

I glanced back at the old light post to check on the dog one more time. I saw another tail wagging behind the garbage bags. I thought it would be cheesy to add this information too, but then there shouldn't be any use deleting certain information even if it may sound like it's fabricated.

Poem

I recently wrote a poem that targets teenagers. It's quite mediocre, but mediocrity is where I'm currently swimming nowadays :-)


Rollercoaster

We ride in pair
I'm glad you're there
just beside me -
I hope you'd be.

It's nice to know
you're here with me
to hold my hand
and calm my fear.

It looks immense
from where we are
this roller-coaster
chain of box cars.

You crack a joke
to make me calm -
hope you won't mind
my sweaty palm.

The cars go up
the iron rails
up to the top -
might as well dream:

when it goes down
and turn around
the loop we feel
like upside down

might as well scream

spell "aggravate"

Yesterday a friend of mine asked me while he was taking a call how to spell the word aggravate. You see in our business words have to be spelled correctly and every word should be typed or enunciated verbatim. I looked at his computer screen and contemplated at his spelling:

aggrievate

If history was tweaked differently this word would have found itself in Merriam-Webster or Oxford, the marriage of aggrieve and aggravate. I researched the etymology of both words in Merriam-Webster. I found out that aggrieve is derived either from middle English agreven, from Anglo-French agrever, and from Latin aggravare, meaning "to make heavier". As for aggravate, it is derived from the Latin aggravatus, which is the past participle of aggravare.

So as not to burden my friend with the period of waiting for my response, I advised him that the correct spelling was aggravate. I cannot blame my friend. Aggrieve and aggravate sounds very similar, being that both share the same ancestor word aggravare. It is quite interesting to learn that we might sometimes unconsciously misspell a word and if little research is done it actually makes sense why the word is misspelled.

Pantoum - Carousel

In the middle of the fairground
the carousel turns 'round and 'round
Around and 'round and 'round and 'round
in the middle of the fairground

The carousel turns 'round and 'round
Boys and girls on wooden horses
in the middle of the fairground
galloping in measured paces

Boys and girls on wooden horses
parents wondering why oh why
galloping in measured paces
restless time swiftly passing by

Parents wondering why oh why
must little children grow up soon?
Restless time swiftly passing by
morning must turn to afternoon

Must little children grow up soon?
The world is like a carousel
morning must turn to afternoon
time pirouettes in its own shell

The world is like a carousel
in the middle of the fairground
time pirouettes in its own shell
around and 'round and 'round and 'round