Overactive Friendster users who are teenage boys, mostly, have got it.

Today I asked my brother who's into hip-hop what the word swagger meant.

In his attempt to define, he used the words "cool" and "posture," and eventually ended with "mahirap i-explain eh..."

"...basta sa Tagalog, japorms."

Unfortunately, this is what typically comes to mind when I hear that word--

or this..

or worse, this:

That totally ruined it for me.

No no please don't grow up no!

The speakers were blasting Manu Chao all night and "Welcome to Tijuana" came on. While trying to sing in all the Spanish I could, I asked Kevin, my brother, "Baby, Tequila, Sex or Marijuana?"

"Sex," he said, without hesitation.

Es raro. Sigh.

Confessions of a sorry fan

Ask me the one thing I am most passionate about and I'll give you five, ten, maybe even two hundred different answers, depending on my mood. See, I was never a die-hard fan of anything in particular. I mean, I have likes and likes-a-lot, but normally I just go with the flow. Hardly the "Hey, have you heard about the new..." type.

Of everything I love-love, however, I make an almost conscious effort of omniscience; which is why it pains me so much not to have found out about this sooner. I am distraught, apologetic even, for not picking up last month's sold out issue of Esquire magazine. Guess who was featured?

NO LESS THAN THE HEMPTRESS HERSELF.

THE STUNNING MARY-LOUISE PARKER.

She's gorgeous.

And her note to all men:

To you, whom it may concern:

Manly creature, who smells good even when I don't, you wake up too slowly, with fuzzy, vertical hair and a slightly lost look on your face as though you are seven or seventy-five; you can fix my front door, my sink, and open most jars; you, who lose a cuff link and have to settle for a safety pin, you have promised to slay the unfortunate interlopers and dragons with your Phillips-head or Montblanc; to you, because you will notice a woman with a healthy chunk of years or pounds on her and let out a wolf whistle under your breath and mean it; because you think either rug will be fine, really it will; you seem to walk down the street a little taller than me, a little more aware but with a purpose still; to you who codifies, conjugates, slams a puck, baits a hook, builds a decent cabinet or the perfect sandwich; you who gives a twenty to the kids selling Hershey's bars and waits at baggage claim for three hours in your flannel shirt; you, sir, you take my order, my pulse, my bullshit; you who soaps me in the shower, soaks with me in the tub; to you, boy grown-up, the gentleman, soldier, professor, or caveman, the fancy man with initials on your towels and salt on your chocolates, to you and to that guy at the concession stand; thank you for the tour of the vineyard, the fire station, the sound booth, thank you for the kaleidoscope, the Horsehead Nebula, the painting, the truth; to you who carries me across the parking lot, up the stairs, to the ER, to rollaway or rice mat; to you who shows up every so often only to confuse and torment, and you who stays in orbit, always, to my left and steady, you stood up for me, I won't forget that; to you, the one who can't figure it out and never will, and you who lost the remote, the dog, or your way altogether; to you, wizard, you sang in my ear and brought me back from the dead, you tell me things, make me shiver; to the ones who destroyed me, even if for a minute, and to the ones who grew me, consumed me, gave me my heart back times ten; to most everything that deserves to call itself a man: How do I love thee, with your skill to light fires that keep me warm, light me up.

The girl can write.

I love her more now.

Going on a trip

Lately it seems I've been obsessing about the sky and the recent rain and well, sunsets, of course. For the past weeks, I have been marveling at the view of the city from the office's pantry window. It has become a habit to hit that place during the late afternoon because it can get extremely cold at that time and uh, yeah, I do like seeing Manila's afternoon skyline, pollution and all.

Anyway, I just couldn't resist this afternoon and so I took a picture of it with my phone. I've recently been listening to a lot of Phoenix too, so yeah, it's sort of "inspired."

Countdown unless you're juvenile let's go
God bless your miss somewhere
We're sick for the big sun
It doesn't matter what you did
and if you did it like you been told

True and everlasting that's what you want
True and everlasting that's what you want

Don't say no your breakfast tears are gone
Resist or let go, you're borderline withdrawn

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye

You're homeward-bound not because you left tonight, but because you are one more step closer to getting what you want.. what we want.

To the last stretch. Counting the days (yes, days, not years)!

Materialistic Me

Over lunch, I went gaga over Aldo's clearance sale online. Snagged 2 delicious pumps and 2 hobo bags. Woot!

Now, I can't concentrate at work because I'm too excited! My boyfriend is coming to Manila this August 8 for my birthday, and he's bringing all the stuff with him (since I had it shipped to his hotel to avoid evil courier charges).

I wonder, why can't brands like Aldo, Nine West, etc. carry the same styles at prices that reasonable? Why can't the Philippines be more fashion forward (pun intended) like HK, Singapore, or Malaysia even? Why do we have to settle for knock-offs or overruns when clearly, Filipinos are sale suckers too?

Anyhoo, at least I've got a personal assistant (just kidding!) to take care of S&H for my impulsive superficial needs. Maybe long distance relationships aren't so bad after all.

Open for occupancy

In a perfect world--well, in my perfect world:

-Cigarettes wouldn't cause health complications
-Lacuna (from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) existed
-Tap water would adjust to your body's temperature
-It would be safe from drunk and horny men who rape little girls and boys
-The perfect background music would play in every "real moment"
-Ice cream, chocolate and all that's gummy would contain 0 calories
-Teleportation would be readily available
-You wouldn't need a green thumb to grow pretty flowers
-No one would get into accidents
-And there would be no stupid motorcycle drivers
-Everyone would have a view of the sunset
-The government would fund everything fairly
-Or how about having no government at all (questionable factor..)
-Money could grow on trees
-People had the ability to stop time, go back, and make up for their mistakes
-There would be honest businessmen and lawyers
-Everyone knew how to dance
-Farts didn't have to smell that bad
-Elevators could "block" people from making it stop on their way up/down
-There would be no nappy curls, zits and scars
-Mary Poppins lived
-All forms of sexual expression and orientation were respected
-Lady Luck would be on everyone's side
-Religion and the origin of the universe could be explained literally in a book
-Young girls would be advised to take birth control
-You could buy X-Ray glasses or invisible paint or lotion
-Everything would contain a microchip with some ultra-magnetic force capability so that nothing would get lost
-Parents would be much cooler
-And the kids wouldn't grow up (Just like Holden Caulfield thought)

Which brings me to my final point--a quote actually, I picked up somewhere I can't quite remember:

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, and you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last 9 months floating... then you finish of as an orgasm!!!"

What's your perfect world like?