ping

[ping]

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

How true. Whoever first thought of this definitely discovered a gem of a notion. Though no precise ascription can be had at this time (meaning, it cannot be fully ascribed to somebody specific, or at least not yet as of this writing after some research), it belongs to the list of quotes that can be said reflects something universal, which can be viewed as something that already exists that humans just stumbled upon.

(That's just me, I guess, seeing things the way I am.)

[ping]

A round thingy for the new year

I didn't want to get up. But I did get out of bed, tied my long, black hair in a bun and slowly made my way to the kitchen. I stooped down to one of the cabinets to open its door and get the interior of an old rice cooker then got a spoon from the dish dryer. I was now set.

I greeted the new year banging hard on a trusty thin piece of metal, one that continues to cook certain dishes including paksiw on certain days (I wonder where its exterior shell is, it being where one steamed rice during its heyday).

This sort of reflected my usual "non-grandiose" way of welcoming another calendar year. I paired my greeting with some snacks, eating a couple of mini-Snickers I was happily gifted with by dear relatives and some torta from a neighboring island and leftover puto flan (from a family clan gathering several hours earlier), then a gulp of calamansi juice courtesy of my husband's cold glass. Come to think of it, I'm glad that he joined me for my past-midnight snack after he turned on a car in the garage, honked the horn and let its radio blare out very loud music (our son had gone out to the neighbors'--relatives'--house to also join them earlier in the merry noise-making). It sort of removed the little guilt I had for not making biko, ham, and other goodies usually associated with Media Noche.

So, new year. Hello, 2018 and goodbye, 2017. Here's to another roller coaster ride. Hope my meager welcome party will still make the days ahead full of prosperity, joy and all the good stuff despite also not having apples, grapes, oranges and other round-looking fruits on the table that supposedly bring luck in the coming new year.

The bottom of the pot I frantically banged on was round. It still counts, right?

[ping]

Double Purpose Posting

Breathes There the Man with Soul so Dead By Sir Walter Scott (from the Lay of the Last Minstrel) Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own my native land! Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned As home his footsteps he hath turned From wandering on a foreign land? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures well; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim Despite those titles, power and pelf, The wretch, concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored and unsung.