Pop Lola

TAGUBILIN AT HABILIN
Text by Jose F. Lacaba


Mabuhay ka, kaibigan!

Iyan ang una't huli kong
Tagubilin at habilin: Mabuhay ka!

Sa edad kong ito, marami akong maibibigay na payo.
Mayaman ako sa payo.

Maghugas ka ng kamay bago kumain.
Maghugas ka ng kamay pagkatapos kumain.
Pero huwag kang maghuhugas ng kamay para lang makaiwas sa sisi.
Huwag kang maghuhugas ng kamay kung may inaapi
Na kaya mong tulungan.

Paupuin sa bus ang matatanda at ang mga may kalong na sanggol.
Magpasalamat sa nagmamagandang-loob.
Matuto sa karanasan ng matatanda
Pero huwag magpatali sa kaisipang makaluma.

Huwag piliting matulog kung ayaw kang dalawin ng antok.
Huwag pag-aksayahan ng panahon ang walang utang na loob.
Huwag makipagtalo sa bobo at baka ka mapagkamalang bobo.
Huwag bubulong-bulong sa mga panahong kailangang sumigaw.

Huwag kang manalig sa bulung-bulungan.
Huwag kang papatay-patay sa ilalim ng pabitin.
Huwag kang tutulog-tulog sa pansitan.

Umawit ka kung nag-iisa sa banyo.
Umawit ka sa piling ng barkada.
Umawit ka kung nalulungkot.
Umawit ka kung masaya.

Ingat lang.

Huwag kang aawit ng "My Way" sa videoke bar at baka ka mabaril.
Huwag kang magsindi ng sigarilyo sa gasolinahan.
Dahan-dahan sa matatarik na landas.
Dahan-dahan sa malulubak na daan.

Higit sa lahat, inuulit ko: Mabuhay ka!

Maraming bagay sa mundo na nakakadismaya.
Mabuhay ka.
Maraming problema ang mundo na wala na yatang lunas.
Mabuhay ka.

Sa hirap ng panahon, sa harap ng kabiguan,
Kung minsan ay gusto mo nang mamatay.
Gusto mong maglaslas ng pulso kung sawi sa pag-ibig.
Gusto mong uminom ng lason kung wala nang makain.
Gusto mong magbigti kung napakabigat ng mga pasanin.
Gusto mong pasabugin ang bungo mo kung maraming gumugulo sa utak.

Huwag kang patatalo. Huwag kang susuko.

Narinig mo ang sinasabi ng awitin:
"Gising at magbangon sa pagkagupiling,
Sa pagkakatulog na lubhang mahimbing."
Gumising ka kung hinaharana ka ng pag-ibig.
Bumangon ka kung nananawagan ang kapuspalad.

Ang sabi ng iba: "Ang matapang ay walang-takot lumaban."
Ang sabi ko naman: Ang tunay na matapang ay lumalaban
Kahit natatakot.

Lumaban ka kung inginungodngod ang nguso mo sa putik.
Bumalikwas ka kung tinatapak-tapakan ka.
Buong-tapang mong ipaglaban ang iyong mga prinsipyo
Kahit hindi ka sigurado na agad-agad kang mananalo.

Mabuhay ka, kaibigan.
Mabuhay ka.

---

I got this piece from Plaridel Papers, which is said to be influenced by Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen). "Tagubilin" also reminds me of Desiderata. The piece is essentially spoken word with music in the background, and it made me interested to get Armida Siguion Reyna's album Pop Lola. It includes her rendition of Michael V's "Sinaktan Mo ang Puso ko," which includes lines like "sinaktan mo ang puso ko/ pinukpok ng martilyo/ tinaktakan ng Ajinomoto/ ipinakain sa aso." Something like that. My brother had that Michael V album with the English versions of songs Mr V did on Bubble Gang. And now a version from the venerable Ms Siguion Reyna. That should be a riot. Hopefully, the album should be fun, unlike her recent movie. Filipinas is so intent in making sense and having this "family as microcosm of Filipino society" blah and with Richard Gomez and everyone else shouting, I wanted to pull the plug and the rug from them. That film gave me a monstrous headache.

Not Tim Burton, no!


You're TIM BURTON. ooooh... nice one. 'that's so
dark' no but seriously, the guy's my favourite
director :) think "Edward
Scissorhands" and "Beetlejuice"


*** which film director are you? ***
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh well, it's there already. What else can I do. I grew up watching a lot of Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder and Mars Attacks! I thought I was going to grow up like David Lynch and a few hairlines away from Stanley Kubrick or something. Or something.

Paano na ang Pasko kung walang Peyups?

Peyups.com is closed for the holidays.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family. See you all next year.

Man, what a bummer. Hay naku. Addict kasi eh.

Pasko na naman**

Pasko na naman
O the days are so fast
The last Christmas isn't it like when only?
Today is Christmas let us all go singing
Today is Christmas let us all become Santa.

Christmas! Christmas!
Christmas it is again!
This is the only day we've been making mithi
Christmas! Christmas!
Christmas it is again,
Love is da only king!

**Original music and lyrics by Felipe de Leon and Levi Celerio. What you read above is the barok kantogirl version.

Hirit ka pa ulit

You open your doors and you find sheets of paper on the floor, all crowded with hastily scrawled notes all apologizing creatively for submitting late. Unfortunately, most of them were not for me. It's for the roommate. One note read:

"Dear Mam:
Sorry for submitting late. I researched and wrote the paper late into the night last night. I actually got to finish my paper early. But then I went to simbang gabi and fell asleep after. I woke up just this afternoon. Hope you get this on time."

Right. One time, I'll do something like that. Sorry class, the dog ate our classwork. Hehehe.

affirmation?***


You're an Indie Pop Kid. You like songs about
relationships and the prettiness of nature.
You're sentimental, but not certainly not emo.
Oh, and if you aren't an English Major, you
should be.


You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, I've always thought that maybe I wasn't indie enough for anything. Saka at least I have affirmation na English major ako. Although I don't really know what good that will do for the world. What the hell do English majors do after graduation? People who'll answer "Eh di magtrabaho sa call center" will get an extra bonk on the head.

***Have you noticed how I so love question marks these days????

Bala sa canon?

If I can't beat or join them, then maybe I'll get them to write me in them novels. Wannabe like Nick but can't whack it? Convinced that you are that gurl with the dalawang pusod because you have 2 navel rings? Then be Connie without changing your name and sweatening it! Presenting Customized classics! Lolo Nick writes it specially for you. You can be Jessel with the two navel rings, tapos happy ending. Or wanna change the ending to X and Juliet? We all drink the poison and everyone dies. Write yourself into Jessel in Wonderland and then massacre that annoying Queen. Everyone dies. Merry Christmas yes?

geek alert


You are Julia Kristeva! You were a student of
Roland Barthes, and came up with such important
notions as intertextuality and abjection. You
are a semiotician, psychoanalyst, scholar of
literature, and dozens more things. You are not
dead.


What 20th Century Theorist are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The last part is the best part. I have no desire to make like god right now. Is all good.

days of being (un)wild

I found someone I had a super major school girl crush on--the kind that involves blushing and wringing your hands, and replying in monosyllables and I can't help but think, duh I was so stupid then--in Friendster. Kaya lang wala siyang picture. Drat. Should I friend the person? Parang ayoko baka kasi isipin niya ini-stalk ko siya. But isn't that what Friendster is for? Hmm.. Must sit on my hands before I do something utterly stupid again. Feh.

Headless in Hollow is not a romantic comedy.

Going to the Executive House is like walking down Sleepy Hollow. So dark, not too many cars, all those creepy trees. Whatever possessed me to think that it's just a stone's throw away from the UP Press must be exorcised. Katakot ha. Feeling ko the Headless Horseman will show up with his horse breathing down my neck. Ugh. Well at least that's one exciting part from last night.

no sleep still

Well, I still didn't get a break. I couldn't sleep Thursday night and well into Friday morning. Kept staring at the ceiling cracks, and the wood is starting to warp at the corner where it meets the wall.

But I still dragged myself out of bed and psyched myself to get excited about class. I kept myself steady on the train and actually made it to school with some time to spare to walk leisurely from office to the CNB (aww, baka daw SP Lopez Hall and not WCapili Hall, awww..)

Then I noticed there weren't too many people going to the building. Everyone was like going to the opposite direction. When I got to my classroom, it was empty. It's not a game of making the teacher dedma, yes?

So I went back and tried to find someone I could ask. Good thing Mary Ann was there. Why is everyone leaving, clueless me asked. Apparently, the students have to consult themselves on who the next student regent should be. Right.

I went to school so I can go the faculty lounge to have late breakfast that's actually lunch, and make tsismis on the secret life of Shakespeare, who's actually Christopher Marlowe, and the pretty boy of Wriothesley who might just be the guy who started all this Marlowe-Shakespeare conspiracy thingie.

Then I ran some errands at the Shopping Center, then ran some more to SM North and waited it out at the Smart Center for an hour, and their customer counter got stuck to "Counter 04 now serving 1108," and it stayed there until people complained. Then I finally got my chance to talk with some smart representative, only to have her tell me to go to the Nokia center down the hall. Crap. The line at the Nokia Care counter was shorter--there's just two of us, and the reps were more accomodating, until she told me that she needs an official receipt before she can look at my phone. I handed her the manual and the sim card form for the PUK_PIN thing. That's all that's left of my phone, the rest got flooded over. Are you still going to not look at it? She took it in. Minutes later she comes back with the motherboard and tells me that they found traces of water, and it's basically a dead phone and I really should bury it. More crap.

I don't think I want to get a phone line anymore because Smart is giving me the run around, and their promos really aren't what they put on the newspapers. The promos work better if you're a switcher, and hell to the new subscriber. For that, baka prepaid forever na lang ako. I'll just get me a new phone somewhere.

Dear kantogirl,

Do you feel a little under the weather? It is quite possible, considering all the emotional turmoil you've been through lately. It takes time to recover from those storms. As you know, the work itself is not what gets you down, but rather your worries about the future that drain your energy. Today, give yourself a break. Take some time for rest and recuperation.

Love,
Your astrologer x_x

Dear astrologer,

I would have wanted to go, as in right now, but I can't. If I could I would. I just hope the bus is still there for when I actually, finally decide to go.

accidental finds

Found this wonderful database of lit, art & medicine (medicine? yeah, weird I know) with annotations! Plus there are some poems there which include readings by the author. Merong "We Real Cool," kaya lang it's in RealAudio pero keri na rin di ba?

After reading "Batorsag and Szerelem"

Okay, I'm not even going to attempt to be proper and literary and be all CWish here. I'm just going to blurt this out loud:

Shyet, ang lupit ni Ethan Canin!

Now lang ako ulit na-amaze at nagreact ng ganito to a short story that I read. I really wanted to scream "wtf?!" but it's way past midnight na. There's a surprise twist, and it kept me guessing till the end, although I suppose in the back of my mind I was already trying to put my finger on it but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was odd about the situation.

"Batogsag and Szerelem*" is a novella from The Palace Thief, and you got a boy and his older, hippie math genius brother. Kuya has a girlfriend whom he hides in a refrigerator box in their basement, and she's supposedly his lover. Kuya is speaking in a strange language with his best friend. Kuya's girlfriend makes a pass on Lil Brother.

And it's all very intriguing because the blurb at the back of Granta 45 asks this: "Ethan Canin--JD Salinger's heir apparent?" A family of geniuses? Of course I just had to read it. I read one of his stories before, also from a Granta issue on young American Novelists. He didn't particularly make an impression on me then kasi si Jeffrey Eugenides (pre-Virgin Suicides) ang wow worthy sa akin nun. But now, I *heart* Granta 45. May Nick Hornby na, good novella by Ethan Canin pa. A real find, at least for me.

Wow. Yun lang.

---

*I'm still trying to find out what the words actually mean. I tried searching for it, but I can't understand a word because everything is in Hungarian or something. All I know is "Servoos!"

Pps. Okay, now I know: it means "love and courage." Aww.

no music, no life

But I do have music. Mostly in the form of albums burned for me by friends: Kylie and Dido, John Mayer. Lately, I've noticed that I always make stops at Tower or Music One and hang around with headphones on.

Then it occurred to me that I haven't checked out the Sunday Magazine section of the NYTimes for nearly a month now since school started. That's what I miss: reading that hasn't anything to do with school. Oh I read this Nick Hornby essay in Granta about being fourteen and up and it made me laugh because it's all so true. That's just about it.

I've been scouring all sorts of book shops and living in front of my computer to do class preps. And while things are taking on a better shape than before, it's still all things happening at the same time.

And yeah, parang bawal nang magkaroon ng grammatical errors ngayon. Harsh naman ng life. So saklap. Feh.