ENOUGH!

the fact that i havent written for over a month now is already bordering on selfish. so nuff! time to sit down, take time out and write.

the past days and weeks have been packed with a lot of worthwhile experiences and adventures. and the best part of it is that it's still getting better as we speak.

over the past month or so, i've been able to see a few movies, musicals and shows. got to see la cage aux folles, which is a revival of a tony award-winning musical based on the movie birdcage. managed to see stomp too which was fabulous. amazing what imagination people have in creating music. managed to see the world-reknown martha graham dance group too. not really my cup of tea but was good to see how some people could really be dedicated to the art of dance (plus it helped too that the tickets were free). got to see some really good movies too, mostly of the non-traditional hollywood type (although of course i did see harold and kumar's lame lame movie). got to see palindromes, an ironically disturbingly funny movie. got to see hotel rwanda which was good of course (minus the talkative commentator er filipina beside me, haha). and got to see two fabulous documentaries--those that are great coz you're just driven to do something positive after watching them. first was born into brothels, the best foreign film in the last oscars. a new york photographer goes to a red light district in india. lives there and teaches photography to the children of prostitutes. and the documentary revolves around the children's photos and ultimately their lives and view of the world. the other, which i just saw a few hours ago is another magnificent one, peace one day. this revolves around one man's journey in convincing the UN to declare september 21st as day of peace and world ceasefire. he travels the world, meets with the dalai lama, koffi annan, world leaders, etc.. and gets their blessing. the day of peace was approved by the UN but challenge though is that the implementation of the world ceasefire has yet to happen. and convincing each country to participate has been an important next step. i had managed to talk to the director after the screening and he gave me the only copy of the film he had on him and i promised to do my part in spreading it to the philippines (fr. nebres, president of the ateneo, one of the more influential universities in manila, is here may 2nd and i will talk to him on what we can do)... also, will be seeing a couple of tribeca film festival features (for free) before the week ends.

over the past month or so, been able to do a little bit of travelling too both within the city and around. got to visit a friend in washington DC for a weekend. instead of seeing the usual tourist spots, we chose to visit alexandria, this old town in virginia. it was great to see all the cobble stone streets, brick stone buildings, mom and pop shops. it was great to be exposed to a small town old town feel (although of course the gap and starbucks and a few jaguar cars had already sprouted there). friends and family were over here too in the city so managed to see some of the more touristy parts of the city again (which us been-there-done-that new yorkers usually avoid, haha). got to see ground zero, wall street, SOHO, chinatown, of course times square, central park, etc.

been able to sample some good food too over the past month or so. got to eat at saigon grill which id been planning to do coz ive heard a lot about their affordable and huge serving fare. also, discovered an hole in the wall burger joint which is strangely located in the ground floor of an hotel (note the use of "an", im trying to imitate em british blokes, ha). ate with friends at my favorite new york pizza cafe, complete with bringing my own bottle of red wine (which was fine coz the place is a BYOB, bring your own booze. thank god for google for that definition.). got to chill with those same friends at my ever-favorite luca lounge enjoying a nice pitcher of sangria (too bad the dutch luca lounge chillin' buddy is back in rainy amsterdam most probably having too much fun in one of those coffee shops, haha!). discovered a new bar/lounge uptown too, zanzibar. also finally got to eat in flushing, queens and eat authentic taiwanese food in a really small local store. they had fried siopao and fried dumplings which were heavenly (thank god i was with taiwanese folks otherwise i would not have known how to order chingchungcheechow style). also, had a barbecue in the old apartment in queens last week. nothing like shared self-cooked meals among friends (although of course it helped a lot that the food though a bit on the over-well-done side was really really tasty). oh and not to forget the ever-favorite cannoli and new york cheesecake at that italian desert cafe, veniero's.

been able to do sports regularly again too. been swimming often again. been jogging again, when it's warm enough, in central park even. been biking a lot again. even got to convince old roommates to buy their own bikes. the best part about it is that now i dont see physical activity so much as "exercise" but instead as really a necessary part of ones lifestyle. did i mention that im going bowling with officemates tomorrow (how corporate america is that?)? and also there's a 42-mile (60+ km) bike tour of new york this sunday which im joining (hopefully it's something i get out alive of but im sure the experience should be unforgettable either way).

been able to enjoy the springtime weather too. been addicted to filling the balcony with all sorts of plants. you should all come and visit and ill cook a nice meal with herbs fresh from the garden for you. hopefully by then those plants i started out from seeds would already be flowering. and ill also take you to my favorite union square farmer's market on saturdays--where they serve the best free fresh samples of cheese and jam and bratwurst. and where they have the greatest homemade cookies (all organic of course).

aside from gardening and the occasional photography, i've set out to pursue a new hobby--playing the guitar. bought myself a pretty good acoustic guitar (the martin dx1) which is set to arrive within the week. with that much of a lifetime investment on a nice piece of carved wood, id be killing myself if i dont end up learning. (now if only i could get myself into the hobby of cleaning the house, doing my laundry, throwing the trash out and washing dishes...) ive been reading some good books too (in the middle of cutting edge advertising and extremely loud and incredibly close) although havent been progressing much of late coz ive never really been much of a reader (although id love to read a whole new mind after).

on the career-side (which though necessary is NOT the most important thing in the world), things are going pretty good. of late, hasnt been as busy (hence all the online purchases, uhoh) as the past weeks (where overtiming was quite often). but the best part of it is that the executive creative director and creative director have already spoken to me and told me of their "plans" for me. im getting promoted effective july (dont tell the world though coz its supposed to be the creative director and i's "little secret"). ill be senior (corporate scum) art director by then (and though they didnt say the amount, ive been told that they've put in a significant salary increase, er whatever significant means).. been also taking a more active role in the office obviously. was in a photo/video shoot a couple of weeks back. felt really good being the art director helping pick out which models to use and telling the photographer and duo of swiss director and cameraman how you'd like the shot to be. felt pretty good being in a situation where you'd imagined once being in (of course added features to the dreamcometrue like nature of it were the mountains of free sandwiches and bottles of sparkling water). speaking of dream come true, im now part of the art directors club, an international club of umm art directors and creatives mostly in advertising and design.

of course, though the stories seem to sound as though all is bright and sunny, of course not. ive battled with meeting the tax filing deadline, with the annoying mcdonalds cashierperson who refused to smile (apparently orders no longer come with smiles there), with this grrrrrr chinese woman that sat beside me on the bus to DC whom i would have stabbed with my pen were it not good friday, with waiting ages for a friend for dinner (with owen wilson just jogging by and entering the same resto while i waited) who arrived an hour and a half late and a few minutes after id already gone ahead (you guessed it, a filipino), with the exposure to abused teens who would speak of their wishes of having been born to a different set of parents instead, with growing another year older but not necessarily wiser (advnced thanks for your belated happy birthdays!).

but anyway, enough blabber. just thought id post something here before i end up drowning in all the unshared worthwhile experiences.

do pray that i do finish sunday's bike tour alive. but do pray doubly hard that people would donate a significant amount for it (im biking to raise funds for sibol-hesus school, an organization in the philippines which helps public high school students). most importantly, do enjoy life! dont wait til your 50 to do so. in fact dont even wait til the weekend to do so. a million things out there to do and learn and explore and see and taste and feel and hear.

oops, enough of this sermon. you're old enough to know all that shit. besides, coming from one who doesnt even remember the last sermon he's heard, it might not sound that believable.. ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

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story about that chinese woman i wouldve stabbed with a pen sometime soon. id already written it just havent typed it.