It is welcome news that Arroyo at least made an effort to listen to the woes of the 55 Sumilao farmers who walk to Malacañang all the way from Mindanao. Whether she'll make the right decision about it is another thing, but her reception of the tired and weary farmers should boost their spirits not like the treatment they got from Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman. I wish the government can finally lay the farmers' arms (or feet) down and let them rest at last.
***
Why do students wear IDs even outside their campuses? I'm sure they are very proud of their respective schools and I can get why they would want to wear shirts that declare their alma mater in big, bold font (they're still shirts after all, and school merchandise usually are made of good materials). But IDs? It's not like the MMDA will send you to the disciplinary office if you got caught not wearing it around your neck, would they? The worse are those who loop their IDs around their wrists like bracelets. Talk about tackiness.
***
Yesterday, gay Boom (gB) finally met his life partner (LP). LP sat in the front passenger seat of the UP-Katipunan jeep and it was pure cosmic drama that gB was the last passenger to board and the only seat left is the space directly behind LP. Quiet and unassuming, LP has a boyish look that makes his vulnerability and meekness palpable even to the coldest of hearts. He moved with an uncaring awkwardness, oblivious to the gazes of gB that could melt all the coins in the jeepney driver's kahera. But gB wasn't contemplating on stealing the coins and selling molten tin although there was great temptation considering the season; he was wondering how warmer and merrier Christmas would be if his gaze met LP's. The holidays after all is better spent in the company of loved ones, if not lovers.
LP wore simple clothes; a combination of faded shirt and tattered pants, and flip-flops that have seen better days. He knows it is not about what we wears but what he does, and what he makes gB feels. Not like his flashy classmates, he took the blue ID from is bag just when he was about to get off the jeep and slipped it in his pocket as he crossed the blue footbridge to the blue school in the hills.
***
Yesterday, straight Boom (sB) met the love of his life (LL), the girl he will spend the rest of his life with. She sat across him, looking dazed at first, but quickly composed herself as soon as she noticed the loving stare from in front of her. LL exudes an aura of intimadating beauty; she was in fact, so beautiful it is hard not to ask how she manages to despite the heat and the dirt and dust of public transportation. You wouldn't dare ask not out of politeness or decorum but because of the way she looks at you, how her eyes tell you that there is no answer for she is the answer herself. Assured but graceful, she appeared both unmindful and yet keenly aware of the stares she draws with her soft, transluscent skin that show the narrow veins and capillaries beneath, her hazelnut brown eyes and narrow nose. Her hair glowed with the sun behind her, a bright halo of purity and feminine charm.
She was in a familiar form with a white blouse and deep green skirt which greatly diminished her charm. She is Medusa cloaked as a student, and all the mortal men and women froze like stone as she crossed the road to her sisters.
***
The year is drawing to a close but the remaining days don't look enough time for me to thank the people who deserve mine. Let me begin though by thanking the few friends I have who stuck with me this year. I know I can be very difficult to be with, so thanks for staying with me. And while I don't say and talk much, thank you for pushing me to talk a little because it feels so damned good to have someone to talk to. I just don't know why I keep myself from people who will listen. Thanks, thanks you all.
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A pet I would like to have for Christmas: a glow in the dark cat.
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My brother is finally hitting the bookstores. He's included in the short fiction anthology A Different Voice of the UST Press, edited by Vicente Garcia Groyon. Pao's piece is entitled "Hang-ups", things that I better get rid of if I want to live a little happier next year, or for the rest of my life for that matter.
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