Self-Portrait Again

Finished in 6 hours using line art and vector. More calls are coming in, no laid out schedules yet but I think it's going to be a very busy summer.


Portrait Update by ~ilongga70 on deviantART

dr manhattan vs. dense women

I had a very long week and I felt I needed to put a period to my long week. So after my last meeting Saturday, my gal pal and I headed for the mall to watch movies. One guy and one chick flick.

Watchmen. Um, so ... I didn't get it - bwahaha! My older and younger brothers were comic buffs. I wasn't but I did get to read the stuff they would bring home. Graphic novels- they call it. I think I remember Watchmen somewhere between all the Captain America, Justice League and X-men lying around or hidden in boxes. So I thought that watching the movie would be very much appreciated. Right? NOT! For the life of me, I don't get it. Halfway through it, I wanted to walk out and ask for my 85 pesos back. Maybe it's just for the comic enthusiasts? Maybe it was really bad acting? And equally bad costumes (Did they really look that 1985 when I read them?) The effects were kind cool though but can't quite make-up for how I was counting the minutes until it was over. I wasn't amused by the gore. Or the sexy scenes. Or the blue penis. Yup, parents, there is a penis in there somewhere so maybe you should see it before you let your kids watch it. So had a text conversation with my baby brother who was a Watchmen fan:

me: What were you thinking? (He recommended it!)
him: What do you mean?
me: I don't get it and I'm halfway through.
him: It's not supposed to make sense until the end. There's a latin phrase that sums up the whole story. Quis Custode Ipsos Custodiet. It means, who watches the watchmen.

Leave it to my brother to remember a Latin phrase from a comic book. So duh, I felt really dumb. The elaborate plan was just to stop the two world powers from wiping each other out from the face of the earth. So ... what? Hahaha! No, I didn't like it.




He's just that not into you. Perfect end to a long week. Good thing it was the 2nd movie we watched. We needed to recover from Watchmen. The plot was simple, it was just stating the obvious. The gist: If the guy in interested in a girl, he would do something about it. Not rocket science. Not quantum physics nor the hullabaloo of psycho-spiritual ek-ek. The statement is repeated in the movie several times. Maybe women just need to hear it over and over again? Hahaha. Had a good laugh. I especially liked the reference to Watts and Eric Stolz. And the myspace Drew Barrymore phone call was just hilarious.

So here's a question to the guys reading this blog: How would a girl know that you are just not into them? Any signs? Any advice?

Sometimes I think more like a guy. I blame it on the Crow. I think he completely changed the way I see men - hahaha. Quoting Gloria Steinem again - Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry. Hehehe. AH Men!

Virtual Reality

This is soooo cool!

World Builder



There are no limits to imagination. But it is best illuminated with emotion.

I love artists, in whatever medium they illuminate passion :)

The Man Who Can't Be Moved

Was watching TV today and they played a video of the UAAP Games with this song as background. Fell in-love with the song. And now I can't get it off my head. Love it. Love it. Love it. From the band called "The Script", listen to The Man Who Can't be Moved (you tube video on link).

The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

Going back to the corner where I first saw you,
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I'm not gonna move,
Got some words on cardboard got your picture in my hand,
Saying if you see this girl can you tell her where I am,
Some try to hand me money they don't understand,
I'm not...broke I'm just a broken hearted man,
I know it makes no sense, but what else can I do,
How can I move on when I'm still in love with you...

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

Policeman says son you can't stay here,
I said there's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year,
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows,
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go.

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

People talk about the guy
Who's waiting on a girl...
Oohoohwoo
There are no holes in his shoes
But a big hole in his world...
Hmmmm

and maybe I'll get famous as man who can't be moved,
And maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news,
And you'll come running to the corner...
Cos you'll know it's just for you

I'm the man who can't be moved
I'm the man who can't be moved...

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.
[Repeat in background]

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

Going back to the corner where I first saw you,
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag not I'm not gonna move.

Found inspiration in Gloria Steinem

Saw her in Oprah today and just had to google her. Been reading her work and I like her a lot. Some quotes from her:

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.

If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?

The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.

We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.

We know that we can do what men can do, but we still don't know that men can do what women can do. That's absolutely crucial. We can't go on doing two jobs.

I don't breed well in captivity.

Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.

Most women are one man away from welfare.

A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.

Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.

Someone asked me why women don't gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don't have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.

Happy or unhappy, families are all mysterious. We have only to imagine how differently we would be described -- and will be, after our deaths -- by each of the family members who believe they know us.

A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.

Planning ahead is a measure of class. The rich and even the middle class plan for future generations, but the poor can plan ahead only a few weeks or days.

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.

The only thing I can't stand is discomfort.

Evil is obvious only in retrospect.

Spectacles

Went to SM Delgado on my lunch hour yesterday to pay for my Globe Plan. On the way back, I dropped by the department store and stopped at the men's eyewear section. I like buying those cheap plastic prescription glasses they have there. Plastics are lighter to wear than wire-rimmed ones. And since they are cheap, I buy two or three to match with clothes - haha. Fashionista Wanna be! Who knew?

Anyway, saw this BYJ eyeglasses I wanted (so called because I saw him wear something like it several times) but they didn't have one with my prescription. I saw a cute brown one with weird stripes which I like that has my prescription. But decided against buying it because I really wanted the BYJ glasses.



So headed back to work with my old eyeglasses habitually perched on my hair like a headband. When I crossed the street, I decided to open my umbrella because it was super hot, and hit my head, and dropped the old eyeglasses. A passing jeepney crushed it to pieces. Sigh. I favored that pair pa naman.

But I now have an excuse to buy those stripped brown eyeglasses again :) Teehee! Wonder where I can get those BYJ glasses with my prescription on it. Hmmmm.

Sometimes, I'm so babaw, I amaze myself - hahaha.

So I'm back at work

And I'm bored. It is one of those days I guess. I find it hard to concentrate on the routinary. I can't focus on the obvious. I need something to happen.

Restless. That's the word.
And I don't know what to do about it.
I desperately need a challenge.
Inspiration.
Something to move me.
Something to work for.
A goal perhaps.

I know why I'm restless.
I can't talk about it but it is constantly on my mind.
I can describe it but words probably won't do any justice.

There will be days like this.
I close my eyes and cling to the hope that this restlessness will soon subside or at least, find relief.

Yup, there will always be days like today.

Back to normal doubt

Well, maybe not normal ... but the semblance of normalcy. The past week has been ... taxing and probably the most unproductive week ever. It was almost like going back to the days after Baguio Frank. Almost. But not quite. Maybe if I'm no longer tired, or mad, I can tell you about it.

But that's over.
Survived. Endured. Moving on.

Lesson learned this week: It is harder to take care of aging parents than young kids. Kids obey. Parents ... don't.

The Viking quoted something to me yesterday. I think it goes:

Old people BELIEVE everything.
Middle-aged people DOUBT everything.
Young people KNOW everything.

I doubt that. LOL.

-----------------------------------

Discovered twitter :) And I have plurk account, too. There is no end.

Tough Love

There is such a thing as tough love.
Probably the hardest lesson to learn and the hardest kind of love to give.
But it is also out of love that it is given.
And also out of love that it is deemed necessary.

My heart is breaking for all the right reasons.
I am stressed, tired and depressed.
And I really hate it.

But a warning must be learned,
a habit must be broken,
and a compromise must be reached.

We will be suffering the consequences of tough love for a few days.
Right now, I'm just too tired to think or do anything.
Until the message has been understood, we can do very little.

There is one thing I can do though.
I can be stubborn.
If you feel you are right, stand by it.
That much I learned from my father.

On Marriage ... to a job

I never thought of myself as a business woman. I always thought I'd suck at it. My former and favorite Brit boss used to advise me about making a business out of my "hobbies". To go full time. I told him I was afraid I might actually succeed. He didn't understand what I meant. I'm not sure I did either. But I had this eureka moment this morning. I realized what I was really afraid of. I was afraid that if I do succeed, the business would control my life. It would be like being married ... but to a job.

After meeting with an accountant, i was given a low-down of how to start a business. The first year, she says, you will be looking for your own clients. On the second year, you will be getting referrals. On the third year, clients would start looking for you and you will be having regular clients.

I'm on my third year. I made a 50% profit margin from 2007 to 2008 and tripled my job orders. And yes, I've started to believe that I am indeed succeeding.

Does this make me happy? Hell, yeah.
Does this scare me? A helluvah lot!

It's now time to make this business legit. The accountant says that once you start a business, there will be no turning back. There will be customer expectations. You can't just drop off from the face of the earth whenever you want to. They call it "client responsibility". It's like having a husband and kids ... but it's a job.

When I started earning for my "hobbies", the goal was quite clear. I even stated it in a business plan. The primary reason of DWG is to enjoy the opportunity to create, for it to be an outlet for my weirdness, a product of learning ... and make a profit while doing it to be able to sustain that joy. It is supposed to be fun. It still is. For now.

I turned to experts and here's what they say:

Arthur Golden: "A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory."

Albert Schweitzer: "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

Albert Einstein: "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

And for our very own wabbit wisdom, there's Bugs Bunny: "I don't ask questions. I just have fun! Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive!"

I processed my DTI registration a few days ago. Next week I will be getting my mayor's permit. And then I will be applying for legit documents and receipts. For the life of me, I can no longer avoid this. It's like getting pregnant and realizing that you have very little options and a whole lot of obligations. I AM marrying this job.

Does this make me happy? You want the truth?
I am not so sure. I want the outlet. I like earning for myself. But I still don't want to be married ... even to a job. I love my freedom way too much.

OMG I'm related to this guy!

Would you believe? This is my 18 year old nephew singing at his mom's high school reunion. Shucks. I'm sooooo proud. Hahaha.

Paolo singing Jason Mraz I'm Yours

Paolo singing September by Earth Wind and Fire

Sigh. How they grow up soooo fast. Hikbi hikbi.