This is a song for the brokenhearted

Pain throws your heart to the ground,
Love turns the whole thing around...
No, it won't all go the way it should,
But I know the heart of life is good.

A beautiful song that I can't embed here from YouTube, so I embedded the instrumental by a certain Christopher Ramos.  Just as beautiful, except without John Mayer's beautiful voice.  But the melody is magic enough, and the words are magic enough, just as his voice is magic enough, to each stand alone.


♥

Who am I?

Who am I?
It's our choices that make us who we are.
What is equality?
I believe in equal chances and unequal circumstances.
How big is the universe?
As big as we make it.  Centered on you.
What is a soul?
The absence of light is darkness.

from members.fortunecity.com

He's got wheels

The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side

Magnetic Fields

Andy would bicycle across town 

In the rain to bring you candy 

And John would buy the gown 

For you to wear to the prom 

With Tom the astronomer 

Who'd name a star for you

But I'm the luckiest guy on the Lower East Side 

Because I've got wheels and you want to go for a ride

Harry is the one I think you'll marry 

But it's Chris that you kissed after school 

I'm a fool, there's no doubt 

But when the sun comes out 

And only when the sun comes out . . . 

The day is beautiful and so are you 

My car is ugly but then I'm ugly too 

I know you'd never give me a second glance 

But when the weather's nice 

All the other guys don't stand a chance 

I know Professor Blumen makes you feel like a woman 

But when the wind is in your hair 

You laugh like a little girl 

So you share secrets with Lou 

But we've got secrets too 

Well, one: I only keep this heap for you 

Because I'm the ugliest guy on the Lower East Side 

But I've got wheels and you want to go for a ride

Want to go for a ride? 

Love Reblog

kissssing: "'The first symptom of love in a young man is shyness; the first symptom in a woman, it's boldness.' -- Victor Hugo"

By Dr. Zeuss

From woodstown.org

Today I saw a pretty guy

Was sort of cute--but that's a lie:

He's REALLY cute

And that's the truth.

Today I saw a pretty guy.

No traces in the sea...

Photo by Anton Santiago.  Holy Week 2009 :D:D teehee.

I still thank the Santiagos a million for adopting my best friend and me

on that superfun two-night stay in Anilao. :) Bonfires, shooting stars, bbq-d fish,

the full moon, music, rocky beach walks, the "expedition" to the

great big rock, jumping into the water and all the exotic fishies...

Out of Town April 13, 2009

Saltwater on rocks

The sun in the sky

Stars fall, and all

Thoughts pass by

We don’t leave our footprints

We’ve no traces in the sea

But the waves that stroke the seashore leave

Their fingerprints on me

Tribute to one of my favorite places on earth

Photo from http://www.hotelsphilippines.org

Intramuros March 26, 2009

Pretty moss-grown archways from four centuries ago

Blooms blow across the entrance to where time is always slow

And atop the old stone walls stand the trees who watch us pass:

Those who linger and who walk away on the pavement and the grass

Every breeze and every sunbeam, every yellowed leaf that falls

And every drop of blood shed’s in the memories of the walls

All the scenes of forty decades in every stone there is a trace

And once I walk past these walls, they will not forget my face

One sunset, all was lonely and the stones were all ears

Just as silent and alive as they had been all the long years

The day was dying once again, and on a stone ledge by a tree

A patch of sunlight shone, breathing in the nearby sea

And in the secret twilight, the stars stare down quietly

What do you want to do today?

Whatever, it's evening, and the day's over and slightly wasted.  But I shall wait for the weekend to do two things that're on my mind right now:
1. Bake a rainbow cake.
2. Bleach and rip up (in a nice way) my trusty old [but now sadly misfit] jeans.

I found a pretty nice recipe for a rainbow cake here, and I googled denim-bleaching too.  And so I won't lose the link I'll just put it here, too...  Yes I put the link in the dots.  Yes I know it's stupid.

  For now, I'll just daydream of my rainbow-y rainbow cake that will be disguised under a chocolate frosting. ♥♥

A Gasping and a Groaning

A Gasping and a Groaning Nov. 4, 2008

There is a gasping and a groaning,

And the grinning of the cats

Can be seen from a mile away

There’s a rhythm to the rainbows

That take turns in the sky

Every other sunny day.

The gasping and the groaning

Comes from underneath our feet

And is heard from above the ground

And the pattering sweet patterns

Of the rain upon the grass

Heals this constant and terrible sound.

M.C.Estanislao™

Selena and Jacinto

Victor Florence Pollet, 'Endymion and Selene'

Selena and Jacinto Summer 2008

Selena and Jacinto have sworn to count the stars,

Sworn to watch the sky each night forever.

Selena and Jacinto will count the stars till death,

For each star is one eternity together:

For Selena and Jacinto.

M.C.E.™

The One-woman Rooftop Patrol

November 13, 2010: An ultimately boring Saturday.  Nothing to do, nowhere to go.  This place, by the way, is the rooftop of our cluster in the condo (SFG).  It was discovered by some friends some time ago (we used to go up the rooftops of the other clusters, but this is the best so far.  There are only six clusters so I wonder why we never discovered this place years ago).

Anyway, if you aren't afraid of heights (and don't be!) a rooftop is a wonderful place to go.  The rooftop of the preschool department when I was in gradeschool; the roofdeck of our high school building (not that nice a place, but it just feels good); this rooftop of our condo.  My college friends and I tried to go up the rooftop of our school (the SDA building) during the first sem, but a guard sort of thwarted us at once.

On looking at a high wall, or a ladder, or a door or path leading somewhere you can't see: don't ever let your curiosity die inside, even if you can't go up, or forward, or inside.

Do you believe in magic?  Make a wish

There's a lot to be seen from these rooftops.  This is my messy city!

2010 = 3/3

It's the third third of 2010!  The ber months have come upon us.
  Ba't ba laging umuulan?  Akala ko ba malamig na dapat ngayon?
  Tapos ang init-init minsan.  Pero fine, sige.  At least lumalamig na yung hangin.  And lumilipad na lagi mga paru-paro.
  Yeah, butterflies.  'Di niyo ba napapansin?  Simula ng late August to September, ang dami nang butterflies.  Kahit dito sa Manila, yes they survive, aba malay ko ba kung paano nila nagagawa yon.  Ah well.
  Hum.  Hindi nagpapatalo ang buhay.  Even the icky mosses try their best to grow where nothing else can.
  Really, I'm going out today, so can the weather not be a bitch and cooperate?  It was a gloriously sunny morning.  Hot in the sun and cool in the shade.  It's noon now and it's growing steadily cooler.  Judging by the weather for the past few days (or weeks, even), it'll be pouring in a few hours.
  Oh, great!  SUNLIGHT!  Okay, don't get too excited... damn, the weather can be such a tease.  Not that I have anything against rain.  I love it, in fact.  I just don't like struggling through wet, muddy streets, getting my feet sticky with black water.  That couldn't rightly be called water anymore.  And I'd have to dodge deep puddles, and potholes, and breathe in all the vehicle exhaust crap.  The city just spoils everything.
  But things get warm when the air gets cool.  Okay, I don't wanna get started on Christmas just now.
  Well I really need to get a move on if I want to go out and explore before the world gets muddied up.

Here, there be dragons.

Here there be dragons.  And here there be heroes.
  My sister and I, some years ago, saw an online personality test.  I don't remember anything about it anymore, except for one question: If you were in Heaven waiting to be born, and were asked to pick a life, what kind of life would you pick?
  The choices were, a life full of challenges, a peaceful contented life, and others.  My sister went for the peaceful, contented one.  I picked the "life full of challenges."  I was sort of surprised.  Don't I want a peaceful, contented life, too?  Well, I do, yeah, as much as everyone else does.  But my answer remains the same.
  Maybe, back before I was born, I was asked that question for real.  And surely I'd have answered the same: even more readily, perhaps, because I didn't know what life was like yet.  And so when troubles come along, I'd inevitably think, Well, I wanted this.
  New things, new places, and new obstacles.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger; when the going gets tough... yeah, all that.  A flaming ring is a flaming ring.  But the lion who's jumped through it, and is now roaring in triumph, is definitely not the same lion she was before she leaped.
  This world, this life, this storm... this is war!  And we brandish our weapons and we conquer and we sing and eat and yell at the skies and love.  The Powerpuff Girls weren't born because of Chemical X.  They were born with their ultrasuperpowers to kick all the enemies' asses.  And Superman fell to Earth for the same reason (though, you know, I've thought the villains come to Smallville because he's there).
  What dragons were you born to vanquish?

Where the dragons come roaring, heroes are born.

The First Entry

In which I will explain my blog URL and do a book review


wanderlust.blogspot has already been taken.  And I don't want to use my standard username/URL either.  Naming stuff can be such a dilemma.  Even "monogatari" and "amemonogatari" were taken.  "Monogatari" is japanese for "Tale" or "Story" and "Ame" is Japanese for "Rain."  "Ame" could also be a bit of an adulteration of my real name, too: Camille.  And I love rain.
  It's mcemonogatari.blogspot.com now, my initials being MCE.


I'm being all Japanice mostly because the book I'm reading right now is The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) by a Heian lady, whose pen name is Murasaki Shikibu.  The English translation, of course, by Royall Tyler.  It's a heavy book, in every sense of the word.  I've had it for weeks and weeks; usually I eat a book up in a day or two.  A week or two at most, if it's really long and I'm really busy.
  It needs time and concentration to read, and I'm a lot less than halfway through, but it's fascinating.  Genji is a miraculously, amazingly handsome boy; a minor prince in Japan.  And against the backdrop of moonlit nights and all other poetic scenes, he goes on all sorts of rendezvous--all the while maintaining his stainless reputation--looking for love.  The kind of love that would be a final comfort for him, to ease his heart, because he can't have the woman he loves the most.  The book sorts of goes through all these women and everything else that happens to the perfect, lonely playboy that Genji is.
  Behind all the formalities evident in the story and the constant need to look at the necessary footnotes, Genji's life really is deeply colorful.  Mostly all the humor and sensuality are, well, implied and not stated.  At least not in plain English.

What's in a name?  A blog called by any other name would be as sweet.  Not an empty one, though.  An empty one feels as if it should at least have a nice name to compensate for being so... new.  Oh, whatever.

You don't know me... and I don't know you.  Okay?