From my hiding place - catalog 1

I discovered Reb Fountain

Now I want to write

Her music pushes me to write

Her voice is just perfect for extended stay in the in-between space

Keeping me company in the dark while I catalog each little silly small stuff that I happen to notice

My ink will be stardust

My paper will be the walls and the floor maybe the ceiling too

It is going to be a long long night

Journey Essentials (dos) ---> Correspondence box

My dear friends,

I am posting an open letter to you today so in case you are wondering what gift to give me this Christmas you need not do intensive research anymore (just assuming you will go that far! Hahaha!!) Anyways, I will not prolong your suffering and will go straight to the point. I am deeply, madly in love right now. And of course, as good friends you will help me any way possible to keep me feeling this way. Such sweet friends you really are <3  The source of my affection is this box below. I named it Correspondence Box. I have been in love with it since last week, so please be kind.

My sweet correspondence box

Correspondence box is not just any ordinary box, of course it is not. It contains all my stationeries, my colorful stickers, glue, envelopes of different sizes, post cards (oh my, can't help having goosebumps as I typed its contents) pens, craypas, little colored papers and the little wonderful things that are heavenly. Oh my, did I mention I am sooo in love?! So dear friends, if you want to make me swoon this Christmas, please help me add more content to my sweet Correspondence Box (my pet name for it is Corbie). You can get anything from stationery sets to postcards to specialty papers or stamps, anything that will make my Corbie fuller.

Swoon . . . 

Anyway, last Saturday I got a joyful surprise from the mailbox. Yes, you guessed it right! I had a little mail from Germany (insert an excited giggle). Do you know that feeling of lightness when you open an envelope which contains the excited greeting of a new friend? It is a most wonderful feeling to wake up to such a treat! Here it is ------------------------------------- > 

My friends, thank you for taking time to read this. And please remember to look at the stationeries section when you do your Christmas shopping!

Lots of love,

Joyce

One Rainy Morning

Memories come back whenever the morning feels so misty and cool. I am having a comfortable and easy morning today, the kind where you just want to get a book and curl up in your bed. I am reminded of those childish dreams that we all want to come true forever, a hard bound book of my favorite author under the Christmas tree, waking up with boxes of chocolates at the foot of my bed, a warm cup of creamy chocolate while it's drizzling outside, different color sets of pens and diaries as a birthday gift or maybe the scent of freshly picked flowers at the living room mixing with the aroma of mom's newly baked macaroni pasta in tomatoes and rosemary. Mmmm, heaven! 

Now aside from the above mentioned pleasures, please let me share you one of the finest poems that I ever read. It was also adapted into movie, Turn Left, Turn Right. 

Love at First Sight

by Wislawa Szymborska

Both are convinced
that a sudden surge of emotion bound them together.
Beautiful is such a certainty,
but uncertainty is more beautiful.


Because they didn't know each other earlier, they suppose that
nothing was happening between them.
What of the streets, stairways and corridors
where they could have passed each other long ago?


I'd like to ask them
whether they remember-- perhaps in a revolving door
ever being face to face?
an "excuse me" in a crowd
or a voice "wrong number" in the receiver.
But I know their answer:
no, they don't remember.


They'd be greatly astonished
to learn that for a long time
chance had been playing with them.


Not yet wholly ready
to transform into fate for them
it approached them, then backed off,
stood in their way
and, suppressing a giggle,
jumped to the side.


There were signs, signals:
but what of it if they were illegible.
Perhaps three years ago,
or last Tuesday
did a certain leaflet fly
from shoulder to shoulder?
There was something lost and picked up.
Who knows but what it was a ball
in the bushes of childhood.


There were doorknobs and bells
on which earlier
touch piled on touch.
Bags beside each other in the luggage room.
Perhaps they had the same dream on a certain night,
suddenly erased after waking.


Every beginning
is but a continuation,
and the book of events
is never more than half open.

-translated by Walter Whipple 

Journey Essentials (una): The Diary

Today I am going to talk about my favorite object in life: diary. Some might call it journal or notebook, but I prefer to call it diary.

We all know that a serious journal keeper writes on her/his diary every single day or every other day. This is very true for all of us who want to keep memories, doodle daydreams, plan goals or express our feelings. It  really takes discipline to write journal because sometimes we feel lazy or sleepy to even open our diaries more so begin jotting down notes or emotions, but for the likes of us, we conquer those challenges to preserve and document what is special to us. If we feel strongly about an experience or we want to express an emotion we cannot say out loud to the person, we write it down and keep it in safe treasured pages of our diaries. This way, we can be more creative in tackling a challenging situation or in dissecting an emotion that can be very overwhelming at first.

Now we move to the nitty-gritty part, how to choose a diary. Allow me readers to reveal some important things to consider in choosing a diary.

A) Cover of the diary. Before we put into paper our ideas, plans, feelings we should first choose the diary that is fit for us. Usually people go for the color of the cover or the design of the cover of the diary. Some prefer just plain cover colors some likes the creative drawing in front cover. I usually go for minimalist or plain covers. When I was in college I used to go to book binding stall and give them 200 blank pages of bond paper. I will then ask them to bind it using green cover (hard bound) and silver letters for the title of my diary. Since this is the age of customization, be creative in putting titles to your diary. It should reflect your personality.

B) Diary pages. Usually I go for white blank pages. You can use specialty papers or just the common bond paper as long as it is thicker than usual. The thicker it is the better for ink of your pen especially if you use gel ink pens or chalk pens. Lined pages is also ok but I prefer blank pages since I usually draw or doodle after some paragraphs.

C) Creative juices. Sometimes when I am in the mood, I paste images or other objects in my diary. It can be anything from pictures of reunion, pay toilet ticket, boarding pass tickets, postcards, movie tickets, concerts, play, my crush's doodles, so on . . . Not only that it evokes feelings it also reminds me of the places I've been to or the people I shared my time with.

So dear friends, as we journey on in our lives, make it more meaningful by keeping diaries. Not only that we tap our imagination as we try to be creative with our journals, we also give our heart and soul the chance to express their deepest concerns or wishes through the power of writing.

Of friends, washing clothes and vitamin string quartet

Would you have yourself inked by a 90-year-old Kalinga lady?
This question haunts me all night because of my friend Lauren who paid me a visit yesterday. I was all so shocked with the lizard tattoo on her left arm! Lauren, my good friend from old film days, the one who dresses in post modern Gothic-est flair with a flowing feminine long skirt and rainbow colored scarf to complete her unique modern goddess twist that she mastered through the years. Now imagine her with a tattoo. Only Lauren can pull that off, in a graceful way I might say.

The tattoo is more valuable because of this Kalinga lady who inked her. She is a 90 year old lady who used pomelo spine to ink her clients, she is a rare national jewel as she is famous for traditional way of tattooing (Kalinga tribal art) and she alone knows how to do it. There is this worry about not passing the valuable art to younger generation because she has no kids, but good thing she is training some folks around the area. There was also this anecdote about her refusing to ink non-Filipinos before.

Anyways, I am going to hurry up to prepare for lunch. I spent hours washing clothes yesterday and it made me feel very productive. I should start doing this routinely. Getting a high from listening to Here Comes the Sun by Vitamin String Quartet, very lovely.