It has been demonstrated, time and time again, that the human race is truly bad at estimating its own rate of consumption.  A friend recently emailed me an article about the rapid depletion of phosphates for fertilizers[1], something I truly did not care about before but which disturbs me deeply now. And it's the same story all around, with the ( Read more... )

I was on my way to Makati this morning for a 9am interview.  I don't usually go to Makati on weekday mornings (because I don't need to, and with the legendary rush hour traffic, who would want to?) but such was the situation I found myself in.

Let me just say that for a suburban girl such as myself, going to Makati in the morning is a daunting ( Read more... )

I find that reading the classic papers from a particular field gives me a quaint and vaguely disorienting feeling.  Take the 1974 Cerf and Kahn paper for example, describing what essentially became TCP/IP and the mammoth that is the Internet.  It could not be more different from the 1953 Watson and Crick paper proposing DNA as a double helix.  And ( Read more... )

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          When I say Cherie Gil, I bet you think, "You're nothing but a second-rate, trying hard, copycat!"  Furthermore, you imagine the abrupt tipping of the wine glass, and Sharon Cuneta's sodden, miserable face in Butuing Walang Ningning.

Maria Callas, on the other hand, is a reference that's a little more obscure to the younger set, ( Read more... )

(La Bohéme will have a limited run from October 3 to 5 at the CCP. Like the proverbial snowflake it is beautiful, unique and short-lived: only three performances. Suportahan po natin ang mga artistang Pilipino. For more information, and to order tickets, visit TicketWorld.)

Shall I caramelize sugar over aforementioned peach with my brand-new blowtorch?


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I am deciding whether it's the Christmas lights or my monthly dose of feminine hormones that's got me stuck in melancholica.  Whatever it is, it could be fodder for things I (forced myself that I) need to write, which include, but are not limited to:

~three short stories with a kickass theme for NCCA
~two kickass poems for a contest by Meritage
~ ( Read more... )

Forgive me if my words do not go

the distance-

we walk along the shore

night: your face in shadow

in the imprints we leave, dying

fish nestle, mouths opening

and closing in the cold

they gleam like silver

coins, the shore’s small

change, hurled back by the sea

Your shoulder beads with ocean spray

* * *

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Escapism by procrastination is my favorite vice.  I know I'd have to contend with my mountain of papers and my lack of powerpoint presentations soon, but it's really nice to pretend that I don't have anything to do ( Read more... )