songer-guitarers

galeng kagabi, enjoy ako na nag-gitara si k-anne, kumanta si che at gumitara't kumanta si dburns.

sona

sona mob na naman, tulad nung nakaraang taon, next year uli, kitakits na lang.

hard core poetry

coming back from nepal, i kept thinking if i gave a satisfactory answer to why human rights organizations in the philippines do not document human rights violations by both government and the maoists.

at first i could not understand why they had a problem with the 'mouse' in nepal until i got accustomed with how english sounded there. but i digress, i still want to know if i am still enamored with 'the revolution' to think that we have better maoists here, real genuine true blue maoists in fact, serve-the-people-never-take-a-single-strand-of-thread-from-the-masses maoists.

or maybe i just need to think that way of my dad.

when i was still in pre-school he used to have these bulky eight track cartridges that he played in the living room on a car stereo connected to what i remember to be turntable speakers. we lived in the visayas then, when he still worked as a medical detailman (now called med reps) for united laboratories.

i would know dad was home when chicago's colour my world would drip from the make-shift stereo system to wherever i was playing in what seemed as an endless stream of houses we moved in and out of then. i get vague recollections of distant corridors, hazy rooms, stuffy closets, forgotten hiding places and sepia toned playgrounds whenever daniel is leaving at night on a plane and the red tail lights are heading for spain and one can see him waving goodbye.

coming back from nepal, and thinking about the end of relationships, my friends' and mine, my dad's eight track stereo again comes to mind. i didn't know emily dickinson then nor read robert frost, but it sang to me then...and I only kiss your shadow, i cannot feel your hand, you're a stranger now unto me...lost in the dangling conversation, and the superficial sighs, in the borders of our lives.

the maoists ain't so bad if they have people with so much music in their hearts. to my dad who would now like to encircle the cities from the countryside i hum hardcore poetry.

'coz there's music in the city
if your ear is to the ground
only non-believers never hear a single sound
this is a song not necessarily sweet
i pass it on to folks i never will meet
and if my words don't make history
just call it hard core poetry

xty at dburns

kathmandu you

i'll be in nepal on sunday. this is what the lonely planet has to say about the place:

Warning

Nepal has plunged into a constitutional crisis following the dissolution of the Nepalese government by King Gyanendra. Long-standing tensions between government forces loyal to the King and Maoist rebels have resulted in sporadic violence across the country.

While the safety of travellers isn't directly under threat, the tense environment could deteriorate rapidly and leave visitors stranded. A recent state of emergency saw the King invoke eergency powers including complete censorship of the media and the suspension of civil rights. Some travel advisories are urging travellers to avoid going to Nepal until the political situation is resolved, however, tourist numbers are on the rise.

A Maoist 'people's war' was declared in 1996 in response to government corruption. A ceasefire temporarily halted hostilities, but negotiations faltered and on August 27, 2003, the ceasefire was called off. Bombings, including several on the same day, have hit Kathmandu and the surrounding valley.Maoists have threatened tourist facilities throughout Nepal, and Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai warned travellers that they could be 'caught in the crossfire of the contending armies', while perversely encouraging them to visit anyway. Travellers to Nepal are urged to remain vigilant, keep a low profile and avoid demonstrations.

Check travel advisories for possible bandhs (strikes) that may be called at short notice. If a bandh is called, do not travel during it and keep an extra low profile until it is over.

Official curfews can be declared at short notice, in the capital and towns throughout the Kathmandu valley. Soldiers loyal to the King have the authority to shoot those disobeying curfew. Army and police checkpoints can make travel slow, and there are reports that rebels threatening violence - and bandits posing as rebels using actual violence - are sporadically targeting travellers for revenue-raising purposes. The districts of Banke, Dang, Syangja, Surkhet, Rukum, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Rolpa, Salyan and Gorkha are considered especially dangerous.

spank it!

what you could do for peace.
what you could do with your phone.
what to do at home.
what they do.
what to call what you do girl.
what to call what you do man.
what you do could kill you.

sorry

when i was still small, i thought i was a kind kid. now i remember throwing sand at the face of this new kid who tried to talk to me while i was making sand castles in a playground sandlot in one of the thousand places we lived in that time.

whoever you were, wide eyed kid with straight hair and a kind face, i'm very very sorry.

monkey versus penguin

just thought you'd like to see the screen saver of my phone, voila! penguin didn't stand a chance, tsk tsk tsk.

sige pakasal ka

just the other day i read sa amnesty international egroup newsletter that canada became the 3rd country to allow same sex marriages. great news, but still, nagulat ako that canada was still just the 3rd pa lang after netherlands and belgium.

isip ko ang bagal naman ng gulong ng sibilisasyon, tapos this morning nabasa ko as inquirer "Spain's parliament approves gay marriage". i went like...ha? hanep! spain? ang nagdala ng katolisismo sa pilipinas? asteeg!!