Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Leave Me Alone!!

I prefer eating alone at work. I often wait for all the people to finish eating in our pantry before I take my turn to eat. I enjoy staying alone in the dim light of the pantry with nothing but the airconditioning humming in the background. Every once in a while people enter the pantry to do their dishes. While they are in there I chant in my head, "Please don't talk to me....Please don't talk to me....Please don't talk to me....Please don't talk to me." I sigh in relief if they don't utter a word. I don't like people asking what I am eating or commenting on what I am eating. It just ruins the moment. The moment I so patiently waited for to eat alone. I don't exactly know why, but I prefer it that way. When they ask me anything while I am eating, i just answer casually with the shortest answer i could give.The only time I really entertain a conversation is when I am with the people I am comfortable with.
When things get a bit rowdy (when more than one person enters the pantry and they decide to have a conversation and laugh....etc.) I chant to myself, "LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....LEAVE ME ALONE!....." until they eventually leave. Unknown to them they have ruined my lunch break. So, i finish up as fast as I can to avoid further disturbances. If I couldn't wait for the people in the pantry to finish, I just eat at my desk. Then again, even at my desk, people still bother me while eating.
I also chant, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" when i don't want to talk to anyone and they are constantly asking me questions about whether or not i ate already. I also want to be left alone when I watch my anime during lunch break. So please.....LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

When The Clock Stops Ticking

As the Mahogany trees shed their leaves, he bid farewell to the world of the living. he has finally come to rest after many years of pain. He fulfilled his purpose in this earth with utmost zealousness. I have never met anyone like him and i doubt i will ever again be able to meet anyone like him in this lifetime.
He is a popular artist in our hometown, inventor, craftsman, servant of God. A loving husband, good father, the best grandfather, a great friend. He was a genius. His level of intelligence i can only dream of attaining. His memory, so sharp, he rarely forgot anything. In spite of all these, he was a humble person. Everyone knew him as a gentle and jolly man - one who rarely gets angry. He believed that every conflict can be solved by kind words and earnest prayers.
When i was born, he was one of the happiest people to welcome me into existence. I can imagine the tears he shed when he heard me cry. Those tears were both tears of joy and sadness. Tears of joy for having a grandson, tears of sadness because i wasn’t normal - i had a gaping hole right under my left nostril. My parents cried for me because i might not be able to speak normally. Despite all the uncertainties, they had me fixed. During my operations i know he prayed for me.
As i returned home, he wasted no time teaching me to speak. He told everyone, "I will never stop until he speaks perfectly." He took care of me when my parents were at work. He taught me how to sing, he even made me memorize the cabinet members at that time. I grew up in his house with him as my mentor. He gave me toys that he himself made. Being the inventor that he was, this was no big task. He made those toys with things found around the house. I was so happy whenever he emerged from his shop holding a new gadget for me. Growing up in his house made me his favorite grandson.
He suffered a stroke when i was about to enter grade school. He never recovered from it. This, however, did not hinder him from his duties to the Lord. His mind was still as sharp as ever. I enjoyed talking to him more than playing my Nintendo Family Computer. He was ans still is my inspiration in attaining a higher level of intelligence, though i may not attain his level.
When he passed away, i knew my life would never be the same again. I had hoped to show him my achievements. I wanted to show him my future wife and i wanted him to hold his great grandson from me, but this is no longer possible for he has now gone to his rest. But this is not the end, i know for sure he will rise again on the second coming, for her is the most faithful man i have ever known. One who has experienced miracles in his life, and a lot of them for that matter. Like the mahogany tree that lost its leaves, i know new ones will sprout in its place..its just a matter of time.
I can proudly put him at par with the greatest minds this world has ever produced. But one thing he had more than them is his faith in God. His ideals in faith will live on in me. This will be my tribute to him. By God’s grace, i will do all i can to live as he showed me, and to pass his teachings to the generations that come after me.
"Daddy, I will see you soon on that bright morning when Jesus returns."
A tribute to the greatest man i have ever known - Otilio A. Manzano Sr.

Teleporter (Repost from my Friendster blog)

"Are you running away from someone?"
"Something"
"Your Past?"
"My present."
"Where are you going?"
"To the future."
"Why? What’s in the future?"
"I dont know. Thats why im going there..to find out."

Friday, June 19, 2009

Love Letters

We were watching TV last night when Da changed the channel to Arirang. For those of you who do not know, Arirang is a Korean channel. Da has been working with Koreans for quite a while now hence the influence on him. It the time, Arirang, was airing a music video with a guy writing a love letter to a girl. It was artistically made and placed in an envelope with a stamped wax seal. As the girl pulled the letter out, she just saw a blank piece of paper. She didn't know what to do with it at first until a drop of dew hit the paper, revealing part of the invisible message. Then the girl started crying for some reason, further dampening the letter and revealing the rest of the message as she cried her eyes out. Then, cut!!!!!!!
I was brought back to the time when I was enthusiastic about writing love letters. It was something I was proud of doing during my younger years. The last time I was enthusiastic with writing love letters was about 4 or 5 years ago. Little did I know, the love letters I made with all my heart was for the wrong person. Its weird what a few years can do to a person. After my realization that all those letters I wrote were for nothing, I lost the drive to write such things. It just stopped. Its as if I already wrote everything I could in a love letter that there is nothing new to write. Only empty promises and endless I love you's that fade away as the invisible ink on that love letter in the music video. I'm not quite sure, but I get scared sometimes to write the same words of love and devotion over and over again for someone just to find out in the end that it was all a lie. I will be careful in writing my next love letter. Maybe, hopefully, the next love letter I'll write will be read by my own lips....and spoken to the one I'll spend the rest of my life with.....on my wedding day.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The last laugh

Have you ever seen the Batman laugh? Most of us probably haven't seen the caped crusader laugh. You may say, Bruce Wayne laughs. Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same and different at the same time. Bruce Wayne is seen as a flamboyant, billionaire playboy, while the batman is dead serious and downright scary. If Bruce laughs its doesn't count as Batman's laugh.
There are only two instances i know of where the Batman, whether it be Bruce under the cowl or not, really had a good laugh. Do you know who made the batman laugh? I bet you do, but first, let me tell you a joke.
"See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moon light... stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see... Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea... He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!" B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says... He says "Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!"
Did you find the joke funny?
In most of the media where batman appears in, he doesn't laugh. The guy has no sense of humor. As Terry McGinnis puts it, "He wouldn't know a good joke if it bit him in the cape." Of course there is always a first time. If your answer as to who made the batman laugh is the Joker, how right you are. Who would be better at making the Batman laugh other than the Joke, right? I'm sure you found the joke above rather simple. Personally I didn't find it funny at all and to think a lame joke would make the batman laugh like a mad man, but the joker made the batman laugh with that joke. This is the first and only instance where Bruce Wayne as Batman laughed. You can read about this if you own the comic book, "The Killing Joke."
That's not the only instance The Batman laughed. I did mention a while back that i know of two instances where Batman laughed at the Joker. The 2nd one is Terry McGinnis as the Batman, when he laughed at the joker, not because he told a joke, but because Terry thought he was lame and pathetic. For those of you who don't know Terry, he is the new batman. Forty or so years in the future, Bruce Wayne got old and due to certain circumstances, a young boy named Terry McGinnis became Gotham's new protector. In this story, joker is long gone. Killed by an unstable Tim Drake (3rd robin, Jason Todd was the 2nd Robin, for a short time, and was killed by the Joker), after the joker captured and tortured him. Tim Drake was eventually helped back to sanity, but unknown to everyone, the joker implanted his consciousness in a microchip and placed it in Tim Drakes neck. This allowed the joker to occupy Tim Drakes body at will, even altering Tim Drake's appearance to look like the Joker's old self. As Batman (Terry) faces of with the Joker, occupying Tim Drake's body, one last time, Batman finds himself at the losing end. With Joker in Tim's body, he is able to fight the Batman with expert martial arts techniques. Its is here that Batman asks Bruce tips in fighting the joker. Bruce tells batman that the joker is vein and likes to talk and instructs him to block it all out and power on through. Instead of taking Bruce's advice, Batman starts talking to the joker which irritates the clown. Batman then gets a good laugh out of taunting the joker to the point of panic. "I'll laugh not because you're funny, but because i think you're kinda pathetic". Making the long story short, Batman was able to defeat the joker by destroying the chip on Tim's neck.
There you have it. The Joker made Batman laugh twice. First with Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, and second with Terry McGinnis, the new Batman.
By the way, if you've watched The Dark Knight, imagine Heath Ledger, as the Joker, telling the joke above to the Batman, Christian Bale. Do you think the Batman would laugh?

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I like the smell of Bleach

Beach is a very common household cleaning agent that's been around for a while now. People born before the mid 90's know it as Clorox. Now, however, it is now known by the name Zonrox. Both Clorox and Zonrox are actually brand names of bleach. The only use of bleach i know of from back in the day was for stain removal. It is harsh on the hands and leaves an indescribably unique smell. Back in the day when we didn't have washing machines, we had to touch the bleach in order to apply it to the stain. In some cases we leave the whites to soak in soap water with bleach for about a day to remove those stains that cannot be rubbed of by hand washing.
While surfing the internet a while back, i discovered another use for bleach. Apparently, it can be used to make designs in dark-dyed fabric. Since bleach is used to remove stains, imagine the dye on your black shirt as a stain. Apply bleach and your get a white spot. That's right! Bleach eats the dye of most cotton or cotton-blend fabrics around. Now, making a stencil, put it on the shirt, get a spray bottle, fill it with bleach, and spray on the stencil. The holes on the stencil will allow bleach to make contact with the fabric, leaving you with a bleached design literally tattooed on your shirt. You can never remove the design...not unless you bleach the whole shirt white.
I tried doing shirt designs with bleach, made a few mistakes here and there, but generally, the designs were works of art in their own right. This project of mine was put on hold until recently. Now, i think i will restart my bleach designs again. Seeing that clothes are a need of humans and of course, who wouldn't want a radical shirt that has a permanent design on it?
I have developed a bit of tolerance to the smell of bleach and I have come to know the unique smell of it. In the following weeks, i might post some of my shirts here. I will be putting my knives project on hold for a while since i lost most of my research on knives because my portable drive got busted.