Any Given Sunday

Sometimes, just staying in is better than braving the hustle and bustle of Sunday date night in the city.

Being both homebodies, we were in our comfort zones just relaxing at home.

That's me finishing Stephen King's Firestarter while JR is busy sketching me. Color me flattered. :)

And he also did another angle. This time, I just finished my book. I had to pose for this one. 

Me: Are going to draw me wearing this? *points to an imaginary necklace* Wearing only this?

JR: Wearing that. And your clothes. *chuckles then kisses me* Now, don't move!

It actually looked like me so I had to erase the face. Haha!

It was really cool since be both draw. Making it one of our bonding activities.

We actually competed with each other afterwards on who can draw the best mermaid. (Yes, mermaid. There's nothing gay-er than a mermaid. LOL!)

JR did the classic Disney mermaid while I did the monster mermaid. Haha! I'll upload them later. You guys be the judge. :P

The Neighbors

Look at what the cat dragged in.. or slipped under my door.





I did not really expect to receive anything like this but when I saw this one morning, clearly slipped under my door, I felt the rush of discovering something coming from the left field.
It’s in Cebuano so I’ll do the best translation I could make.

HI Kuya Blak,
Pwede ako humingi ng favor? Kuwan… hihihi!  Pwede mo akong i-add sa FB? Matagal na sana kitang gustong i-ask tungkol dyan kaya lang nahihiya kasi ako. Then si Kim, hindi nya gusto na makipag-close ako sayo. Seloso kasi yun. Sinulat ko na lang kasi nahihiya ako sayo sa personal. Maiintindihan ko din kung hindi mo ako pwede i-add. Pasensya na rin ha kung maingay kami kasi palagi kaming nag-aaway.  (I don’t know how to translate the last sentence. It’s a Cebuano expression which means, Don’t get mad/offended/annoyed, or something to that effect. Hehee)

(insert his e-mail address here)

It was a little flattering but I just laughed it off. You see, my neighbors are a gay couple. Kim and Rik. Not that very discreet. Kim is the mature one, lates 20s,  and Rik, the one who sent me the letter, is the twinky one. They always fight with each other. One time, I heard Kim asking Rik why he was replying with a guy’s messages in FB. HAHA! So, no, I wouldn’t want to get dragged in one of their fights. None of them is worth getting dragged into marital war zones.
So, why the hell would Rik send me something like that? Well, I guess they pieced the clues together every time they see me bringing guys home and then coming out all sweaty-with-sex-hair after an hour. I just can’t seem to get the perfect timing when they are not around. Believe me, I’ve tried every possible time schedules but they’re just like flies that you can’t shake off around shit. I don’t think they even go to work or school or whatever. That’s really a great obstacle whenever I have “visitors”.
Also, the same day I got the letter, I noticed this above my door..


Really creeeeeepy! I got this twice. >_<

The Loss of Innocence

Before this turns into an Arts and Crafts blog, I’m gonna tell you a story about a guy I know.
This guy was truly an optimist. He prides himself of still being able to see the light no matter how many wounds his heart suffered. His heart was broken many times but he never gave up on love. He kept loving again and again like he’s never been hurt before.
Until he met J.
There was nothing really special about J except being his first boyfriend in Cebu. Just like all his relationships before, he gave it his all. Love, attention, faith and trust. In return, J introduced him to his parents and best friends. But also like his past relationships, all the good things came to an end.
The thing is, his love was too great that J couldn’t keep up. He said that he does not expect J to return the same amount he gives but that was really just a lie. Maybe he was too ashamed to admit it but he did expect it all back. And the thing about shame is that it blinds us from seeing our true selves.
Anyways, the breakup was bad, like it always is, but it did help him see things from another side of the field. I guess he figured that he was not really loving J or any of his exes, for that matter. He was just suffocating them. That his love was not great but possessive. He falls in love quickly to the persona he builds of someone and then suffers when their true self is in contrast to the fairytale he made up.
I know I did not describe it a lot in writing but the breakup with J was the hardest for him. And when we have been hurt so much, our hearts are more open to change. J was his romantic turning point.  I don’t really  know if he’s still an optimist or has become a pessimist when it comes to the matters of the heart but I do know that he has matured greatly and that his next relationship would be more beautiful than all the ones he had.
That’s if get past his newly acquired relationship phobia. Walls have been put up and doubts on people’s motives are barbed around him.

PS: J and Him happened on the last quarter of 2012. About six months when they broke up.

DIY: Upcycling

Upcycling is one of the new things that I learned this year. It’s basically an upgraded form of recycling. Upgrade. Recycling. See how it got it’s name? Anyways, upcycling is just giving unused items another chance to shine not by using them again but by turning them into something else. Kind of like reincarnation. Really cool huh? This one’s an example. Got it from the internet. Credit to the source. (I forgot the link. Sorry.)

Turn your unused light bulbs into hanging flower vases. Got the idea?

Well, I still haven’t made anything that fancy. All I did was just made up some other uses for my unused or could-probably-be-thrown-away garbage.

Remember what I did to my table last week? This is the book’s hard cover. I felt bad for destroying it so I made sure that every part of it won’t go to waste. I made it into a cutting board of some sort. And yes, I’m using a cutter to cut my tomatoes.

I really hate throwing away cups like this. It’s a waste only using something that can be clearly used again once.

KFC fries bucket for my ashtray / mini trash can

Sola bottle as my “alkansya”

I’m really a book murderer! This is my I-can-secretly-hide-stuff-here book. So far, all I ever hid here was my stash of condoms when I was still living with Pesky Roommate

See? You really don’t have to buy new things. Some of your garbage could just do the trick! Save money, save Mother Earth!

So, what things have you upcycled?

DIY Wednesday: Book Page Table

Having my own place now really made me care about how it looks. I never felt like this when I was still living in boarding houses. Well, maybe because I never saw them as my own.

Anyways, my new crib comes with this table. It used to be wrapped with a cheap gift wrapper (probably an excess from the last Christmas season) which I removed. After skinning the table alive, its true self was revealed. It was horrendous. I instinctively reached for the gift wrapper to try and put it back but I’ve already torn it into bits and pieces. 

 

Having nothing nice to cover it, I remembered the Book Page craft I read on the internet. I was thinking of doing that for my wall but this table needs an urgent make-over.

MATERIALS:

-Book/s (One that you probably don’t care about. I got mine from BookSale for P15.00)

-Scotch Tape or Glue or any adhesives

-Plastic Cover

-Scissors

-Push Pins or Thumb Tacks

What you’ll need to do? Just cover the table with the pages of the book. You’ll be tearing a book page by page that’s why I told you to use one that does not interest you. But, I guess, if you are a book lover, destroying a any book would always be like murder.

I made mine by overlapping the pages and doing both horizontal and vertical orientations. I suggest to let the pages on the edges to go a little over the so the sides will also be covered.

Then use the plastic cover. I used push pins to keep the edge of the paper and plastic cover underneath in place but you can use any adhesive you want.

Now, does it not look a thousand times better?

I can’t wait to do this on my wall!

Uptown Guy

Photo from “No Regret”

After the events of Sabado de Chorva, Pesky Roommate and I have been doing the silent war. I’m not talking with him because I’m afraid that questions about that incident would soon ensue and, after all the months that have passed, I still don’t know what to tell him. When I first met Pesky Roommate, telling him who I really am seemed so easy, and quite frankly, was planning to. But as I get to know him, I’m glad I didn’t. I didn’t nickname him Pesky Roommate for nothing. So, severing my ties with him was really a relief. Well, most of my ties. Sadly, we are officemates.

As much as it was a relief not minding him, it was really stressful living with someone whose presence you do not acknowledge. Yeah, I regret ever having agreed to rent the same room. But I did learn something. Living with someone other than your family should be carefully thought of. Even if you are close friends because you tend to see them in another light. Specifically bad light. This specially applies to boyfriends. So, I guess, no living together with my future special someone.

But it took me months to actually move out. I think I was afraid of the unknown. I realized that even though I am living independently from my parents, I was not living independently from others. I was always with roommates or just next door with someone I know. Living alone seemed scary. So I let my self get stressed out sharing a room with Pesky Roommate because it was familiar. This is exactly how all toxic relationships work. They stay because, even if they get hurt everyday, it’s something they know. Because leaving would mean that they have to sail the stormy seas of the unknown.

Anyways, like I said, it took me months to finally move-out and boy, it feels so f****ng great to have finally done it! I love my new crib. Same rent, same terms, it has a garden (I could finally put my itching green thumbs to  the test), safe and peaceful neighborhood and more importantly, the place is all my own. I can now do the overnight face mask! LOL!

The Army Navy Bribe

Photo from here

One good thing about dealing with contractors is that they sometimes tend to treat you to meals.

This time, it’s merienda at Army Navy. Now, I don’t usually give in to these kind of “bribes” but since the contractor’s representative is dashingly handsome, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It’s just too bad he has his colleague in tow. Besides, I’ve been wanting forever to sample, as they say, one of Cebu’s best burgers.

Anyways, the burger is good but not good enough for its steep price. P200.00 for their Double Burger. For those fond of the sweet Pinoy burgers, this is not for you. It’s pepper-spicy. Though, it could fill you up like a major meal but I wouldn’t be back there on my own will for a long time.

So back to the handsome contractor, he has been unusually generous that day. Offering to also giving me a ride and some smoke and some small talk. That was a good breather from our contractor-sub-contractor relationship which usually just circles around all things (and problems) regarding the completion of the project. Or maybe it was just a bribe so I’ll speed up my recommendation for their billing?

Oh well, he’s straight and has a girlfriend. I just wanted to relish that good deed that lead us to be locked alone in the comfort room of a restaurant. Details? This one’s for your wild imaginations.

Ghost

It's okay to be a ghost. It has its pleasures. You're light, you float, you slip in and out unseen, there's no love to lose or burden to bear. You have so little to hold you down. You are free.

But something has changed. Now, the ghost is scared. He cannot float. He's heavy. He's flesh and blood. He must open doors. He can't slip away unseen. The ghost is sad. All those years invisible haunt him now. Why didn't he try? Or care? Or be? The ghost is happy, he is found. He is held and he is seen. The ghost is seen.

But just like what he is, he cannot mingle with the living. The ghost is just a shadow of someone who was once warm, full of life, happiness, of hope and future. The ghost is sad but the life he lived before is what made him who he is now, dead. He cannot try. He cannot care or be. He cannot be seen.