The Otherness of Things

I found the time to silence the thoughts in my head and I realized, my family is safe, and in a rush the tears came. I can be selfish this one moment and just be happy that my parents, my sister and our dog are okay. I haven’t been thankful of anything this much in a really long time.

One more thing to be thankful for, the floods have subsided according to some FB posts and tweets but it’s started raining again. Hopefully, it won’t be as damaging as what happened in the past 2 days.

I have been staring at this page for a while now, wondering what to say and how to say it.

Around 7pm tonight, my dad called up to tell me about the floods in Davao that have killed 25 people. 15 are still missing and I’m dreading that the numbers are still going to go up. 13,000 families have been displaced.

I was in a bit of shock because I didn’t see anything about it online, which is where I get all my news. Even when I searched for it after my dad’s call, it was hard to find anything much about it.

Sadly, if it’s not in Manila, not a lot of people care. Honestly, I do feel that way. I remember how during my Orientation Seminar in college in Manila, one of my blockmates asked me, “May tubig ba sa inyo?” (Is there water from where you are?) I felt so small then, coming from a place that others didn’t even think had water but I remembered how beautiful my city is. I feel that a lot of people in the capital don’t really feel the need to care about the other places in the country. I’m sure it’s not all and I have good friends to prove this. This is just probably my sadness talking.

The scary thing is, in all my years of living in Davao, and I have lived there for most of my life, I have never seen or heard anything like the floods that happened recently. Was I really that sheltered? Wasn’t I always proud of the fact that storms didn’t hit us? Or is this the effect of what we’ve done to our world?

I am filled with so much emotion now that I can’t even figure out what I’m feeling. I’m angry, confused, sad and at the same time, hopeful. Davao is a beautiful place and I know that it will still be beautiful after this. I just hope that my fellow Davaoenos are safe now and that those whose lives have gone did not go through too much pain when they went.

It would be very much appreciated if you spared a second of your time to send a prayer for Davao City. Thank you very much.

As soon as my eyes spotted these wonderfully offensive shoelaces, I immediately grabbed them. Not a lot of people appreciate neon colors and even I used to hate them but there’s just something about them now that I can’t resist.

It’s a definite plus that I get to walk around with sunshine on my feet.

Also in orange and green!

FEEDBACK: Hand in hand, the boyfriend and I were blinded a couple of times as we looked down to avoid the sun’s glare because of my neon yellow shoelaces. There was no escape. Look up and the sun would burn our eyes, look down and we saw nothing but a miracle waiting to happen (but sadly never did).

The past week has been rainy here in the Philippines because of Tropical Storm Falcon and with it came the baking muse. I still had some leftover ingredients from my last baking experiment so I decided to use them, along with some new ingredients.

I absolutely love carrot cake so it was a no-brainer to decide on making carrot cupcakes this time but I wanted a twist. The boyfriend mentioned bananas so I got the idea of mixing the two core ingredients. Lucky for me, it’s been done by others who have actual know-how on baking. I looked for a recipe online and found this. I basically followed the recipe there but added and subtracted here and there.

I was planning to bake this batch with a dallop of Nutella in the middle of each cupcake or as Elsie (the boyfriend’s sister and a yummy baker) suggested, Nutella frosting, but my brother requested against it since he’s experiencing a bit of a cough.

The original recipe called for baking powder but I forgot to buy some so I just went ahead and mixed the batter without it. I figure the cupcakes would have come out fluffier if I added the baking powder but they had no problem with rising.

The cupcakes came out dense and less moist than preferred but they taste really good. They’re not too sweet, which is just the way I like it. The walnuts also add an additional layer to the texture of the cupcake since both the carrots and bananas are fairly soft and mushy.

Have a happy and tummy-filling Sunday everyone!

So, I spent the latter half of the afternoon baking cupcakes. Will be posting pictures and the recipe later. ^_^

The house smells like cinnamon.

Let me just open this blog post with a disclaimer that I don’t think everyone is like this and that these are observations based on a few people I’ve come to know over the years.

The boyfriend and I were talking about how it’s easy to get a following these days because of online platforms such as Tumblr and Twitter. It’s also really easy to showcase your talents and skills because of the same reason and because many have achieved success early in their lives this way, some tend to relish in the comfort of their success and stay there. This is something that we’ve observed in a lot of young people today.

The relishing part isn’t a big problem because you should be proud of your successes because that means you’re able to communicate and relate to other people, that there are people (other than your mother and father) who think what you’re sharing is beautiful, but it’s the staying in that comfort zone that creates a problem.

Whether it’s because of pride and ego or fear, some people just don’t take enough risks any more. Is it because you think you’ve already developed all the skills you’ll ever need? Is it because you feel that you’re already successful anyway so it doesn’t matter whether you learn more or not? Is it because you’re scared that if you push it too hard, people won’t like your stuff anymore?

Risking doesn’t mean that you’ll have to endanger your life because it can be as simple as saying something more with your chosen medium of expression than you already are. Tell a story with pictures, be passionate with words, be open to different methods (especially the atypical ones), surprise people. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope, learn something new, think outside the box and just challenge yourself.

We can always make excuses of how hard it is to do all of these things, that these are easier said than done but why can’t we even just try to do it?

“You’re only as good as your last creation.”

I think that’s something that all artists need to think about.

I’m really excited to meet this year’s batch of InTACT freshmen. Until now, I still don’t know how to properly explain what InTACT is to non-Ateneans but I’m hoping, that this year, I find my own explanation for it.

My first batch will always be special to me because they’re always going to be my first but I didn’t really feel that I was very good at what I was doing or very good at making a connection. I’m actually worried that I won’t be able to do a good job at making a connection again this year because the courses of the blocks that I’ll be handling this year are quite badass: BS CH-MSE (Chemistry and Materials Science Engineering), BS CS (Computer Science) and BS COE (Computer Engineering). These are courses that I never even looked at when I was applying for the ACET.

But, like with every new thing that happens to me, there’s an equal amount of happy excitement mixed in with nervous butterflies in my stomach. I’m going to cling on to the excitement to help me make this fresh opportunity to make new friends. I’m also hoping that I do a good job this year, that even if I don’t make such a difference in their lives, I’d still leave a positive mark at the very least.

One more week!