P360 - Day 004

'Love WIns'

Earlier today, it was a momentous event for our brothers and sisters in the United States of America. The Supreme Court of their land declared that banning same sex marriage is illegal and unconstitutional, thereby saying that anyone, straight, gay, lesbian, anyone can be married. Because marriage is not about procreation, it's about love.

There's a case filed in our very own Supreme Court asking it to declare our country's Family Code, the very same code that declares marriage is only between a man and a woman, for the interest of procreation, as illegal and unconstitutional. If this happens, then it will open up the field for sweeping changes in favor of the LGBT community that until now, is asking our government to pass a law that criminalize discrimination against us. Currently, there's no law that protects us. Just morals and common respect.

The fight is far from over, but we are making strides.  Ultimately, everyone knows, love always win.

Papers and Projects

Sorry about the ruckus yesterday. There was just some things that you have to get out your chest for you're afraid that keeping it in any longer could result to a serious explosion. But, enough of that. Let's go back to the regular programming.

o·ri·ga·mi (ôrəˈɡämē/)

n - the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures.

My love for origami started with my dad.

When I was a kid, I was very envious of those kids flying paper kites. I would always bug my dad to make me one to which he will always drunkenly reply "go do it yourself". It's funny how dad can be sometimes. So, I grew up not knowing how to make one. It's sad, I know.  What's sadder still, is that I never flew one. Not even to this day. Something that I will remedy before the year ends.

Now even though that my dad didn't teach me how to make a kite or even fly one, he did teach me how to make paper airplanes. He showed me three different ways in making them and more ways in making them fly. He even taught me how to make a plane drop a "bomb". Those were good times. That's why whenever I can, I make paper airplanes and make them fly. It's a reminder of the very few moments in my short childhood that I can call "happy".

Which brings me back to the topic of my post today.

From paper airplanes to dragons. How time flies. I guess you can say that my very first origami was the paper airplanes that I made growing up. Add to that, the paper boats my brother and I crafted so they can float in the flood that usually occupies our living room during rainy seasons. I wish I could've saved all those paper planes and boats. What memories and stories they could have told. Alas, we can only move forward. And so onward we go.

Daso, The Dragon

I followed the instruction of Jo Nakashima in his YouTube video to make this creation. It was tough but it was very enjoyable. The background image is a wallpaper that I got from here, I then placed the origami in front of my laptop screen to create the image.

 

One of the things that I mentioned in my previous post are the projects that I intended to start in this blog. This is one of them. "Origami Tuesday". I know, it's no longer Tuesday. I had to push this post to this day to accommodate my ranting. Hopefully, this is the start of a continuous project that I can do in a weekly basis, at least until the end of the year.

The other thing that I wanted to start is Project 360. It's a concept I first learned during my Flickr days. One picture that represents your day, every day, for a whole year. I've tried and failed numerous times in making this project come to life. This is my fifth and final stab on this pie. Hopefully, this too, I can finish until June 2016.

Day 001 - Wear and Tear

Descriptions were frown upon because the picture and the caption should be more than enough to express what you went through that day. However, since this is not Flickr and I don't really give a shit if they do frown or not, I will add descriptions or if I can, a little story, to my daily pictures. But not today. Maybe tomorrow. After all, tomorrow's another day.

Father's Day Blues

I don't have any kids or any people that I consider as my children so I'm definitely not a dad. I'm not a priest either so nobody calls me 'father'. But what I lack in certain aspects, I more than make up for in my appearance. Because even though I am not a literal 'daddy', I do look like one.

I guess it was inevitable. I am almost thirty three years old anyway. Most of my batch mates in college are now parents. All of my childhood friends are married, except for the one who's currently in a cruise as a waiter. He's a little 'special' so he doesn't count. Add to that that I am not good with kids. Probably because I do not like them.

Yes, I do not like kids. Don't get me wrong, I do get swooned just like any regular guy when I see a baby smile or hear them laugh. It's a feeling that I can't even compare to anything yet. However, I do not like to hear crying babies in a public area, or at home, or anywhere in particular. I do not like unruly kids. That's probably the reason why kids doesn't like me back. I don't care. As long as they stay away from me, I'm happy. But I digress.

Anyway, back to the topic. Yes, I am not a dad and probably will never be one. But I do look like a dad already. I have a 'dad bod' as people nowadays would like to call it. I also wear wire rimmed glasses that probably adds to the 'fatherly look'. That's why when someone asks my age, I always answer with a disclaimer - 'I'm 32 but I know I look like 42' and then smile at them.

Here's a funny story. This happened back in 2008 (I guess even then, I do look like an old guy!) I was at Krispy Kreme on a lazy Sunday, enjoying my hot cup of tea, while reading the morning papers, when suddenly, this crew gal came from nowhere, approached me, and said, "sir, happy father's day po!" and proceeded with giving me a free donut. I was surprised but just smiled and took the free desert (yes, I'm evil, I know). 

The following year, I went out for lunch with my childhood buddies at El Polo Loco in MegaMall. When we arrived, I barked my usual orders to my friends to secure a seat for us and to grab some utensils, then I went to the cashier to place our order. Yup, you guess that right! She told me I'll be getting half a chicken for free since it's father's day, and then greeted me with her smile. I smiled back and asked her how did she know. She told me that I was with my kids. MY KIDS! Fine, I'm the oldest in the group but I'm just two years their senior. I was aghast but of course, I took the free chicken. Payment for my bruised ego. LOL.

So there you have it. And to all the dads out there, who deserve to have a free donut or free half a chicken, thank  you, thank you, thank you!

M's the Word

It started like any other day, then whammed! I got hit with a one-two combination from my mom.

My mom has this special powers of making my life stressful. Whenever I go home, I had to endure her non stop talk about everything single problem in our family, our neighbors' family, the village people's family, and whoever the family of the person that's on TV. And if you happen to drop by our house by any chance, you could probably hear her saying something like...

"... anong ginagawa mo sa buhay mo? Kumustahin mo nga kapatid mo. Alam mo ba na bayaran na ng bills bukas? Bakit hindi mo kausapin ung kapitbahay natin? Alamin mo bakit namatay ung halaman nila. Tapos tawagan mo kapatid mo at kausapin mo. Bakit nga ba wala ka pang asawa? ano nga ba ginagawa mo sa buhay mo? Papasok ka din ba sa politika? Aba maganda yan, tumakbo kang kapitan para tumigil na sa kakatapon ng basura sa kanto natin ang mga kapitbahay natin na pasaway..."

and it will just continue on until I shut the door of my room and lock myself in.

But today is a different day. It seems like her superpowers is drawing it's strength from the super moon outside and I was the pariah that will receive all her jabs...

"... malapit na pala birthday mo. Ilan taon ka na? 32 ka na this year? Aba matanda ka na bakit hindi ka pa nagaasawa? Yung kapitbahay natin may anak na magandang dalaga. Tanda mo ba yun? Kaklase mo ata yun nung kindergarten. Kausapin mo. Dalan mo ng prutas. Bukas magluluto ako ng meryenda aayain ko dito para magusap kayo. Tiyak ko magkakagustuhan kayo agad. Kung ayaw mo naman sa kanya, yung may tindahan sa dulo, ung anak nun laging pagala-gala dyan pag gabi. Tutal mukhang wala ka naman ginagawa sa bahay samahan mo mag gala. O ano mag aasawa ka na? Gusto ko na ng apo. Aba ang tanda mo na! Nyahaha..."

I froze. I didn't know what to say. I would like to respond but that might invite her to prolong the conversation.

Instead, I gave her a quaterturn and walked away.

Yup, that's my mom alright. She carries the world on her shoulders and I love her for it. She's the best. OK, maybe she's not the coolest, or the richest, or the smartest, but she's mine, and that's all that matters. I love you mom!