can questions make you think?

Could the world change in one moment?

Can fans suck air in rather than blow air out?

Are stars really light bulbs so far away in the universe that we see them as tiny lights twinkling in the distance?

Could all the lovers and friends that you have known come back in a flash and all be waiting for you downstairs for tea?

Can time stand still when we slowly take back the words we don’t want to say but still do and wish we hadn’t?

Will roads move into the sky as cars become airplanes?

Can a man write or sing without the fear of being put down by other people around him for their lack of initiative and not doing anything productive or surprising?

Can we avoid not correcting what we once wrote?

Could anger and pain and fear and everything else just be words and not felt?

Can fame touch me in the fifteenth minute of the fifteenth day of the fifteenth-month?

Can the year have 20 months?

Can you not laugh and think this is unwanted?

Is there one huge soundtrack for life?

Can phone calls ring inside your head?

Can lunch be had for dinner?

Can Mondays not be called Mondays?

Can people have a good and bad meter?

When the bad meter reaches a limit and then good takes over?

Can orphans all over the world be called a family?

Can music be played in outer space?

Can sound be heard with a smile?

Can I come back and continue rambling?

Can magic happen?

Can animal be used to describe a person who’s more civilized than a human?

Can we touch sound?

Can water be an intoxicant?

Can pants be reinvented to look more like jeans?

Can lies be detected by loud beep with a red light on the top of your head?

Can kids have their own planet?

Can there be fewer questions?

And more answers?

Can the highway run through the office?

Can raindrops be an aphrodisiac?

Can cancer be a cold that goes away?

Can miracles come in through the post?

Can a question end with an answer?

Is a kid an adult shrunk to fit?

Are dogs nicer people because they have a shorter lifespan?

Why do people fight?

If you were homeless and hungry would you look at the homeless and hungry differently?

Can flowers grow into the sky?

Have you ever heard the sky complain?

Is the sea a place where all your dreams are wet?

In heaven will angels play the blues or rock n’ roll?

Is forever a long time?

Can a reason be no reason at all?

Do animals know they’re naked?

Can you write a long story and throw it away before anyone else reads it?

What if everyone was running to work?

Will tomorrow make a difference?

Is madness a place were people have cable connections but no remote?

Are words parallel universes?

Will you ever read this to someone on a rainy may morning?

Will you buy me a beer once this is done?

Can people be paid for sleeping?

Why are floors cold?

Can you not try to answer that scientifically?

Are beaches portals to other planets?

Did anyone ever reply to that mail you sent?

Did you return that call?

Did Jesus ever do push-ups?

Is anger a joke gone out of control?

Will you publish my book?

Do sad people make funny faces by themselves?

Have you ever wished so hard for something you never got?

Is love the reason we’re here?

Do elephants wear jogging shoes?

Do you need reservations to go to heaven?

Will the parking be full there?

Are all people inherently nice?

Are people with beards bored of shaving?

Do birds take the bus home from work?

Is this boring you?

When the wind whispers in your ear do you listen quietly?

Where do lost things go?

Do they have a heaven?

Wouldn’t everyone on this planet have lost something or the other?

Can paperclips be the answer?

Does never ever come?

Is someone making the world spin?

Is he getting dizzy?

What takes you to the point of no more?

Can dancing give you hope?

Are you trying to be clever?

If it’s the human race then why aren’t you running?

Is the end of a paragraph the start of a new one?

Is stupidity profound if you look at it the right way?

Is temporary a place where nothing stays the same?

Has God commissioned a writer to script out your life?

Is crazy a word that can be used in a sane world?

Do you believe in magic?

Can you be frank without changing your name?

Is patience something that takes a long time to get?

Will a group of people who disagree on everything jointly agree on dis agreeing?

Doesn’t anyone use full stops anymore?

Do animals listen to music and talk to their friends about it?

Do roads really go anywhere?

Can you walk to the edge of the universe and not fall off?

Do plants ever go green with envy?

Will the questions ever stop?

But why should they?

Does anyone really care?

Is this the place where dreams come true?

Can you answer my questions?

Can we share the world that we have?

Are children the ones with the answers?

Why am I like this?

Do I need help?

Are theses words places where thoughts can hide?

Can I go on like this?

Is love dead?

Is love alive?

Is love the reason why we’re here?

Can I stay here?

Can I love again?

Am I in love now?

Are you reading this?

Or have you gone to sleep?

Are you dreaming?

Are angels watching over you?

Have you forgotten to do something today?

Will you do it tomorrow?

Or the day after?

Will you remember to do it?

Or should I remind you?

Did you brush your teeth in the morning?

Did I?

Why can’t we brush our teeth in the middle of the night?

Or not brush our teeth at all?

Can I keep writing to fill up this page?

Would you really care?

Have you paid money to read this?

Will this whole thing look better if it’s set in a bigger typeface?

Is this the day before tomorrow?

Why do people dream?

Do dogs dream?

Why do we eat food?

Why do we become greedy?

Why are people biased?

Is work the wrong way to live?

Will you ever save the world if you’re stuck in a meeting?

Is money everything?

Are our hands actually legs?

If dreams are sweet why can’t we taste them?

Can you hands be used for walking?

Wouldn’t it be great if all people were blind and deaf and dumb?

Would we help each other then?

Would we lead each other?

Has God dug that ditch we’ll fall into?

Are God and the Devil in cahoots?

Is a spelling mistake really a mistake?

What if the correct spelling's a mistake too?

Don’t you just love the sound of the acoustic?

Why are we so close to other humans?

Are you looking out the window?

What happened to my childhood?

Is it still there?

Can you please bring it back for me?

Is Tull any good?

Do you like the stuff they do?

Is there a copyright on love?

Why don’t people smile at other people?

Would they do it if they got paid for it?

Can people be paid to sleep at work?

Can you imagine an entire office sleeping at work?

Would I be hard work?

Why are all pigs painted pink I cartoons?

What is a movie?

Is it s subconscious attempt at reason in a world filled with none?

Is this the sentence to give faith to all other sentences in a world of unconnected sentences?

Would you start a sentence with and?

And why would you do that?

Isn’t it a crime?

Where is God?

Is he here?

Or here?

And why do you always start His name in capital?

Does He have a Wife?

Are we their kids?

Do you have family pictures?

Can I learn all the chords on the fret board?

Is a new day the start of something new?

What if I woke up early on a Sunday?

Are you drinking enough water?

Would this make one boring book?

Why do people keep secrets from each other?

Do I have to keep speaking to myself?

Are these questions answers in disguise?

Can I have one more chance?

Why do you want to let it go?

Do wishes come true?

Is there love on the other side of the river?

Is there a river on the other side?

Is there another side to the river?

Is there love there?

Is there someone inside you asking you a question?

Can you ignore that question for much longer?

What is it asking you?

Why is there so much air?

Why isn’t anyone breathing?

Why do I feel sleepy all the time?

Do you think I could go on like this?

Am I really any good at this?

What am I good at?

Are empty pages masterpieces that we have to unfill?

Is this already written in the stars?

Did they really land on the moon?

Why am I so lazy?

Is laughter the best medicine?

Have you had it today?

Does a poet really need the pain?

Can’t he have an aspirin instead?

Is purpose a word with ambition?

Is ambition a word with purpose?

Is life an interruption to living?

Is ha a funny word?

Or is ha ha funnier?

Can you?

Seriously?

What?

Do you think this is a waste of time?

Or is it worthwhile?

Why do we try to outsmart each other?

Is a habit?

Is a friend of mine reading this?

Is he or she recommending this to someone else?

Can someone tell me where I am?

Does anyone know where they are?

Do you think I should stop?

Who do you think you are anyway?

Should I write this down or type it out straight away?

Do they have animal police?

Is never a place we’ll never see?

Does a candle lit in one part of the world give light to another part of the world?

Are sleep clouds that walk?

Do dogs talk to each other about taking their masters for a walk?

Do birds play in a band in the evening?

Is magic a reversal of reality?

Can you run around in circles and not fall down?

Are my Parents Gods in disguise?

Is love a drug?

Are all creatures hooked onto to it?

Do cars complain to the roads about going on long drives?

Are cows really jazz musicians?

Would you like to take a walk while I keep writing?

Are they more questions out there?

Do you really think so?

Is wasting time really a waste of time?

Do barbers cut their own hair?

If they do, how do they cut the hair at the back?

Do you irritate people by creaking your chair over and over again?

What if a star fell down into your loo?

Would you flush it away, frame it or sell it to a museum?

If water is running where does it go?

Do you remember all those things you learned in school?

Do you remember the sunlight on your way to the football field?

Do you remember your friends?

Do you wish you where there again?

Do you colour inside or outside the lines?

Do you dance all by yourself?

Is music everywhere?

Are we not really listening?

Should I leave the rest of this page empty?

Can I tap into my subconscious more often?

Do you have the answers?

Can you send them to me?

Can you keep a secret?

Where will you keep it?

Do you think about your old love?

And the promises you made?

What ever happened to those promises?

Where is fame?

Is it around the corner?

How does it look?

Will I know it if it hits me in the face?

Do you need to be lucky to have luck?

Or will plain luck do?

Where are the angels they promised?

Is one sitting next to me?

Is God invisible?

Can I see God if I try hard?

Do fish dream of a dry day?

Do butterflies every cry?

Does the earth know that humans are going nuts?

Is evolution and extinction the way the cycle moves?

Can it be changed with a little thought and understanding?

How many hours do you sleep?

Do you dream of childhood days?

Aren’t they great dreams?

Why do people screw up other people’s trips?

Do they really have to that?

Why do you always think you’re smarter than the person next to you?

Has it become a habit?

Will I ever finish this book?

Are there any answers hidden in the middle of all these questions?

Aren’t jokes really funny things?

Have you heard the one about the horse and the priest?

Why do people fight?

Why do birds fly?

Does that answer you question?

Does heaven have a pub?

Is there a sea in heaven?

Do people live in clouds there?

What are you thinking of right now?

Why can’t pencils come with built in ideas?

Where do rubbers go when they die?

Are they erased?

Why do you always think so much?

Have you ever stopped to listen at the blind man singing on the road?

Do frogs listen to hip hop?

Do flowers change colour after they inhale the factory fumes?

Why is man the dumbest animal of them all?

What if you’re one of the characters in the video game played by some kid sitting in a video game parlour with a running nose?

Do bats play cricket?

Do crickets know how to bat?

Are sparrows trained fighter pilots in disguise?

Do you really think God has a plan for you?

What if it a re-run?

What if it’s one long joke?

Can I end this question with an answer?

Did you see that?

Does love stay in a lonely hotel room down the road?

What if love and hate are really good friends?

Why can’t words be pictures?

Or are they pictures that are painted in your mind?

Does your name have to be the same everyday?

What if you’re really a child wearing grown up clothes?

Do dreams come for a reason?

Or are they just entertainment?

Can God really help us out?

I think it’s been a while?

How about now?

Will night turn into day and vice-versa forever?

Why does that happen everyday?

What if the sun shone at night for a change?

Do dogs ever disco?

Why are you laughing?

What if we could pick the life we wanted to live from a library?

Have your ever tried sleeping on the wall?

Do you know how to pick a lock?

What if it rained right now?

Wouldn’t it be great?

Have you ever fixed a drink by holding your glass up to the sky when it’s raining?

If you knew the answer to life would you share it with me?

If you had enough to eat would you give you food to someone else?

Is five minutes on earth five hundred years on another planet?

Do you have five minutes to spare?

Is your memory always that good?

Why do we make so many mistakes?

Have we ever learned from any of them?

Must have been a good mistake huh?

Did summer ever spring a surprise on you?

Or was it autumn?

What if God called when you were in the loo?

Would he call you back?

What is this whole thing about?

:-)

bookstore love

i was driving to the mall the other day and berating myself for signing up again for 4 nights of 12 hours work in a row when i remembered that it is going to be on christmas week. meaning, i will be at the hospital christmas eve and christmas night and will be spending christmas day sleeping in my pajamas because there's really no point of celebrating it because christmas for me is being with family and my family is nowhere near me right now. sad, i know.

anyways, i was at borders this afternoon and that kinda cheered me up. i looove bookstores! in fact i love them so much that i'm thinking of working in one or (if retirement money permits) have my own bookstore when i retire. ha ha, i wish!

i don't know, bookstores have this atmosphere that keeps me at ease. they're diffrent from libraries. libraries are constricting, bookstores aren't. i noticed that everytime something is bothering me or if i am getting restless with life in particular, browsing through the racks and shelves of books calms me and relieves my stress. this was even when i was still in pinas. when i have a misunderstanding with a co-worker or with my mom or whatever was bothering me before, it's always national bookstore to the rescue.

when i was in pinas, a mall trip for me is incomplete without a stop at national bookstore or even a second hand bookstore such as booksale or was it bookshop? when i meet up with my friends or with my sister after work, the meeting place would always be at a national bookstore. i don't know why? we probably thought it was less painful waiting up for someone who is an hour late if you're distracted by the books... he he.

i've always thought that i would stop buying books when my bookshelves wouldn't have room left in them. wrong! my books are now piling up on my bedroom floor and i still went home today with a copy of neil gaiman's anansi boys from borders. go figure. when i came here three years ago, i practiced as much restraint not to bring all my books along with me. of course my sister was the happiest because i had to leave most of them to her. she made up for it though because when i came home a year after, i brought most of her books with filipino authors back with me to the states.

i don't know if i'll ever get tired of reading. i guess i won't. but lately my schedule has been so terrible that reading a chapter or two in one sitting is out of the question. damn i miss my books!

sailing...takes me away... to where i've always heard it could be

after so much procrastination and getting distracted by a lot of things, here is my post about THE CRUISE. the cruise which is a first for me but isn't going to be the last. the cruise which i could only summarize in three words: FUN, FOOD and FRIENDS.


i have to thank a lot of people who made my first cruise a memorable one for me (naks! parang nanalo ng award!).

Joyce, who made it possible for us to book a cruise with the help of the Liberty travel person, you're the best! thanks for putting up with me and hannie.

Hannie who was a delight to be on a cruise with despite her having symptoms of ADHD whenever we are thinking on what to do next (he he he!). swak talaga ugali natin dalawa.

all the folks we dined with on table number 178 of the imagination dining room, you guys were very nice!

the filipino band who plays every night in romeo and juliet who gamely lent us their instruments just so we could have a feel of how it is to be rockstars, mga kuya... all of you rock!

to the kuya who served us drinks and gave us discounts and freebies every time, ha ha... hindi mo kami nalasing!

to the guys who made our beds and cleaned our room everyday and gave us a reason to smile by creating animals and stuff out of towels, we thank you. george gives you an extra hug too because you gave him company on the times when the three of us were out on the deck or exploring the ship.

to the old lady from new jersey who gave us encouragement on our very first attempt on snorkeling...waah! i still wanna be able to snorkel when i get to your age.

to the regulars of the karaoke bar... grandpas johnny, jr and i forgot the other guy's name, thank you for giving us entertainment on the nights that we were there. you rock too... in your own geriatric way he he he.

to the kayak guide for being very patient with joyce and hannie on their first kayak stint, you taught them well. now their looking forward to another kayak adventure..he he.

to the people who were kind enough to agree to become our photographer on some of our shots, thank you. without you there wouldn't be a trio in our pictures.

to all the pinoy staff of the ship, ang galing nyo! excellent service, keep it up!

and to all the characters and faces we met during the cruise... si friend who is fond of dancing with choreography, the african-americans who dominated the dancing floor and the karaoke bar most of the time and the numerous drunken people who amused us every night... one big thank you for making the experience memorable.

now if you don't wanna read my ramblings and my thank you's to people and just wanna get to the good stuff, you can go HERE and i'll let the pictures tell you all about it.

bed weather

harsh winds gusting to about 50 miles per hour are howling outside my bedroom window, autumn leaves are scattered all over main street and i still refuse to turn my heater on because i am still in denial of the fact that summer is over. meanwhile i freeze my ass off as i ponder on what to do now that i have 12 precious hours free to be idle. i got cancelled from work tonight and i am praying hard that the phone wouldn't ring and i wouldn't be summoned to go to work in the middle of the night at this nasty weather.

i have a love hate relationship with the days that i'm not working. i love it because i wouldn't have to think about hospital stuff and i could just bum around at home. i hate it because i tend to eat a lot when i'm at home and when i say a lot... i mean a lot! i would be watching tv or reading and i would think about what's good to eat. a few seconds later i'm raiding our fridge and heating things up in the microwave. this is so bad it kills me! here is an example... a pandan pancake that i made at 5 in the morning because i had nothing to do but tinker in the kitchen while waiting for the laundry room to open. that's just me... eating pancakes when i should be thinking about how i'm going to fit in my clothes for the coming cruise.


anyways, let me be random and tell you about some stuff.

*i got my flu shot the other day, finally. after days of not being able to make it to the flu shot stations by the hospital lobby i can finally brave the flu season. the weird thing is that two days after the shot i am battling it out with the cold. so now my nasal passages are filled with snot and i feel bad for my major contribution to the killing of trees by using loads and loads of tissues.


*yesterday i drove joyce to her examination venue and showed her how easily irritated i can be. i feel sorry for joyce because she had to be a witness to my bad temper, i'm really sorry. however i wouldn't own up to all the fault. (start of vent)it was also magellan's (the navigator) mistake. if i weren't too dependent on him i would've yanked him off the windshield and thrown him off in the middle of I-195 in between the big ass trailer trucks with drivers who would give jeepney drivers in edsa a run for their money. i mean, i'm ok with being lost so long as were lost on a leisurely drive complete with beautiful scenery around, but i sure as hell have a problem with being lost in the middle of the interstate with those maniac trailer truck drivers threatening to claim my life. hayup na drivers kayo, napapamura ako sa inyo! good thing joyce was with me so i had to restrain my mouth, otherwise i would've been cursing like a pirate. so magellan, the next time we go on a road trip again, don't tell me to keep left when i'm not supposed to because i might just throw you in the middle of the freakin' road. (end of vent)

this is magellan, the culprit who's a pain in the ass at times but without him i would have no direction.

*9 days to go and we well be on our way to our very first carribean cruise. woohoo! happiness na ito!!!

brrr...it's cold in here

the walk home today was freezing. the grass on the lawn in front of the church that i pass by every morning was covered entirely with frost. my breath was coming out in a form of mist. god it's so cold it might as well have been winter. i looked at my car parked in between the honda pilot and the big blue lexus suv and wondered if i should rev and warm up the engine. it's been 2 days since i last used cuervo. part of me wanted to go ahead and start the engine up while my lazy ass was all against it. needless to say my lazy ass won.

i waited for the elevator at the lobby and realized today is a sunday when i saw the old man who ushers for the church mass every sunday. he greeted me a good morning and i warned him about the nasty weather outside.

as the elevator was taking me up to the fifth floor, i wondered what the hell happened to autumn?

here come's the sun

work is one freaking pain in the ass!

it's not the physical aspect of work that makes it a bitch but the people i work with that doesn't make it all worth it. but i guess i'm half thankful it is how it is, at least i don't get paranoid. you see i'm like that. when everything's nice and peachy and it seems that nothing can go wrong, believe me...something will go wrong (based on my experience). yep, there goes the proverbial murphy's law trying to screw with my mind. so i'd take things like this just to keep life interesting. sometimes life here get's too boring it lulls me to sleep.

but as they say, such is life. sometimes you're there up in the stratosphere... next thing you know, you're down in the dumps that no amount of zoloft can pull you out from. gosh, i'm talking about depression and it's not even winter yet! what is wrong with me? this is the reason why there are things called carribean cruises so that people like me would have something to look forward to and would stop whining about being so bored.

so in 4 weeks, we'd be out there enjoying the warm sunshine while the rest of the east coast is preparing to bundle up.

new york, films and weddings

i have a lot of things going on in my mind right now. oh yes i do! you'd think that in between my job and the bore that is my life here in suburbia, i wouldn't have time to think about things... you're in for a big surprise.

i actually think about things a lot. before going to bed, while taking a shower, during a caloric burning session on the treadmill... i think about things a lot it's not even funny.

on a totally unrelated matter, have you guys ever tried sitting through my bestfriend's wedding and when harry met sally back to back? i tell you, it is not for the faint of heart. if your hydration status is not something you'd be proud of, do not... i repeat, do not attempt this feat because dehydration usually follows after crying your eyes out like a chinese mourner. but of course, i exaggerate.

i watched those two films just recently for the bazillionth time and it never fails to put me in a bleak mood. through the years of watching these films, i found that i've been rooting for julia roberts' character all the more and that i've envied sally albright (meg ryan's character) for the longest time for finding harry burns.

anyways, i've been in the city again a few days ago and i realized that going to new york somehow recharges my suburban batteries. as usual in typical new york fashion, we did a lot of walking again and guess who decided to grace us with her presence on the sidewalk while we were on our way to central park?

me and joyce posing with american idol fantasia barrino

despite the proximity of jersey to the big apple, we still consider ourselves tourists in new york and did what else but take pictures!

joyce and i walked a whole length of central park just to get to strawberry fields and see the famous imagine mosaic.



this baby's mom had a hard time taking the picture because the baby wouldn't look at her camera and was instead looking on our direction. in the end she had to ask somebody to take both their picture on the same spot i was sitting on.

this is what "the mall" looks like post summer pre autumn time. this is where they shot maid in manhattan and joyce and i were wondering which of those benches jlo sat on during the shoot.

the pond

this is bethesda fountain where we stopped for some ice cream just in time for an impromptu set from these indie artists who played classical jazz. they were really good and sounded like a soundtrack of our own manhattan movie. i swear, it really felt like a scene out of a feel good movie, except that our feet were killing us.



after the leisurely walk in central park, we hurried back to times square to catch the 7pm show of the wedding singer. yes the movie is now in broadway and it is 10 times more fun seeing it on the stage. the music is fun and upbeat and the cast was not a letdown. they did quite a bit of change on the end part though but it wasn't bad. instead of the real billy idol on the plane, they had a group of impersonators (channeling billy idol, mr. t, tina turner, cindy lauper and imelda marcos!) witness julia and robbie's vegas wedding. i really enjoyed it. it's one of those broadway plays that i wouldn't mind seeing over and over again.

here's something i found on youtube. nope i'm not the one singing but i wish i was that good.

Grow Old With You

I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you.
I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches.
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growin old with you.
I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold.
Need you, feed you, and even let you hold the remote control.
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink.
Oh I could be the man who grows old with you.

ROBBIE & JULIA
I'll miss you, kiss you, take your shoes off and rub your feet.
Need you, feed you, and when we play checkers i'll let you cheat.
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink.
Oh I could be the one who grows old with you.
I wanna grow old with you.

happy...happy... joy... joy!

summer is almost over and things are finally looking up. in fact things are finally looking better on the home front. no more of that inconsequential crap that kid's stuff are made of.

moving on to other things. how is it that that a lot more plans are being made for fun things now that fall is on it's way? like the concert in mohegan sun that joyce, gina, me and a couple of morristown girls are scheduled to go to. i'm sure it's gonna be a blast, add to that the plans of a broadway show in new york or maybe the us open. it's all gonna be good.

speaking of the us open, joyce and i enjoyed watching a really exciting game early this afternoon, courtesy of rafael nadal and luis horna and as i am wont to do, i rooted for the underdog horna even if i knew nadal had the game in the bag. needless to say nadal won in the fourth set but not without a fight from horna who had the spectators do a standing ovation on one of the awesome rallies of the game. now if only i could find time to watch roger federer and james blake do their thing on the court, i would die a happy woman... he he he.

now let me talk to you about movies because i haven't seen any good movies lately. that's right, i've never been inside a cinema for the last three months. lately i've become the stingy lady who would haul quite a number of dvds from the public library's collection because it doesn't cost a thing (just a few cents worth of gas). but i came upon a trailer of the movie stranger than fiction and boy oh boy! did it look promising. it has a very strong all star cast that includes will ferell, emma thompson, dustin hoffman and maggie gyllenhaal among others. i'm just curious because i know chuck palahniuk (author of fight club, invisible monsters) wrote a non fiction book of the same title and i'm not sure if there would be any problems regarding intellectual property rights and stuff.

anyway, here's a preview of the movie:



it's gonna be released in november, so that is something i'm gonna be looking forward to this fall.