"Senses" (11 July 2008)

I wrote "Senses" back in 2008. I had ended my UAAP track & field days, and was still sulking from the pain of losing. I was jobless and penniless, but I had loads of free time and tons of pent-up emotion. I did as much writing as I possibly can and was able to churn out a couple of [crappy] short stories.

Have you ever had the feeling in the morning of desperately wanting to go back to sleep, to grasp the final glimpses of a wonderful dream? I did. I always do. The boundaries between what was real and unreal seemed blurred within the confines of my mind. I usually wake up at the middle of the night, my mind hazy in thought. I would lie in bed motionless for minutes, sorting out those fantasies and accepting, in a sense, that they were nothing more than figments of the subconscious.

Alone within the four corners of my room, it was like any other Sunday. The streets were more silent, disrupted only by the occasional low hum of a passing car, or the vibrant noises of people going to the nearby Church. Each passing moment was punctuated by the pleasant chirping of unseen creatures. I tried to go back to sleep, but I simply could not.

I have always been the sentimental fool. For as long as I could remember, I actually enjoyed staring blankly at nowhere, as my mind drifted to some faraway place. Life and life's experiences, despite my young age, are a treasure trove of emotions both high and low. The worn-out, spiral bound notebook - my trusty, dog-eared journal - was my constant companion. It was a living record of the summits, plains, and canyons of my so-called life.

I've picked up the habit of writing as a toddler, according to my parents. I used to scribble incomprehensible marks in different parts of the house. The kitchen wall was one of my favorites. To curb these tendencies of vandalism, my mother gave me an entire stack of scratch paper, a fancy pen and a desk of my own.

I have written constantly since then.

Zombies in Miami?

I came across this disturbing clip from CBS Miami. Police officers shot to death a naked man chewing another naked man's face. Despite the sternest of warnings from the law enforcers, the man continued the gruesome act. Apparently struck by a bad case of LSD, the naked man growled at the responding officers. People afflicted with this condition experience unbearably high temperatures, causing them to take off their clothers, while exhibiting superhuman strength. 

Beastial behavior, cannibalistic tendencies, extremely high body temperatures and superhuman strength? It seems as if the incident came right out of a George Romero gore flick. Are we in the early stages of the zombie apocalypse everyone's been waiting for? I sure hope not! 

To the unitiated, it's time to watch Romero's "Living Dead" series. If you're into newer stuff, there are a bunch of remakes, and of course, "Zombieland" (for a comedic twist) and "The Walking Dead" (for a soapy drama twist). Now might be the perfect time to work on your cardio or hone your skills with your weapon of choice. Can't afford to buy The Walking Dead comic book series? Cracked has loads of superb, useful, and entertaining literature on zombies. 

As they say, it's better to be safe than sorry!

Market Situationer (21-25 May 2012)

Government Securities

The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) rejected all the bids for last Tuesday’s 15-year bond sale, as the market submitted relatively higher bids. Had the BTr awarded the re-issued paper in full, rates would have risen to 6.0825%, significantly higher than the 15-year PDST-R2 of 5.7545%. Market players posted high bids in light of the paper’s illiquid nature and persistent Euro zone fears, despite the release of a record-high budget surplus the day before. Total tenders totaled P7.56 billion.

Tired of all the financial terms? Click this link to learn more about this week's Track Beauty, Laura Ikauniece!

Secondary market yields reached its highest levels in about a month’s time last Monday. FXTN 20-17, with a tenor of 19-years and the most liquid security, traded at 6.10%. The market seemed to ignore the release of the fiscal data on Monday afternoon, as yields failed to react. The next day, however, secondary market rates inched lower, as the BTr rejected the high bids in the 15-year auction. FXTN 20-17 fell to 5.975%, while FXTN 25-8 dropped to 6.15% (from 6.25% the previous week).

Blog Ads... Finally!

I've been posting my thoughts online since the summer of 2004. Back then, I dabbled with my old Livejournal account (I shan't post the link. I'm too embarrassed). I migrated my stuff to Multiply, once it usurped the former in terms of popularity. Most of my stuff were sentimental musings or posts about my sporting experiences. 

My quixotic quest to balance a full-time job with an athletics career necessitated a reboot in my blogging activities. I started hurdler49 to chronicle my travails. After more than two years, I decided to call it quits to focus on far bigger things in life than hurdling. 

By then, I was maintaining three blogs: (1) a personal blog, (2) Superb Senora and, of course, (3) hurdler49. Hurdler49 has met some measure of success. In its two years of existence, it has amassed more than 200,000 unique page views (thanks to my weekly Track Beauty feature). My personal blog (3,800) and Superb Senora (11,900) have more humble stat sheets. I started the two other websites to capitalize on hurdler49's online footprint - and to hopefully earn some extra dough through ad placements.

Google AdSense was too tedious in its approval process. I tried to put Nuffnang ads, but it slowed down the loading times of my two other sites. Besides, Nuffnang seemed to display the most mundane of its default banners. The ads weren't even about products, for crying out loud! Hence, I scrapped the advertisement boxes. 

The past weeks have seen a resurgence in my blogging activity ( I have tons of free time since my retirement from athletics). I began to post more and more articles on Superb Senora and my personal blog. Then it hit me, why not put Nuffnang ads again? 

   

It's astounding to note that putting Nuffnang ads was even easier, with today's Javascript and Flash technology, than two years ago. Perhaps because of the maturity level of my two blogs, the Nuffnang ads now are more relevant! (The default ads are actually Cost per Click (CPC) campaigns by Nuffnang's sister company. I still have to wait 20 days to eligible for paid ad campaigns!)

With these ads, my blogs now load slower than usual. To the readers of my blogs, I'm terribly sorry. I gotta earn some extra cash, even if it comes at a trickle!

Robin Gibb: My Favorite Bee Gee

I first took notice of the Bee Gees back in 1997, when I saw the music video for "Alone." I hated the song. I used to teasingly mimic the signature Bee Gees falsetto just to irritate my brother. For some reason, the catchy line "So I play, I'll wait, cause I know that love takes time" stuck to my 12-year old ears. 

Fast forward to 2005, in the track & field team bus to our Baguio training camp. We were having an impromptu videoke sing-off. The machine was on random, and "I Started a Joke" began to play. Back then, I've already seen "Saturday Night Live," the 70's era movie that propelled the Isle of Man-born siblings to worldwide fame. Unbenknownst to my teammates, I was in the midst of a minor Bee Gees phase. I hid this musical affectation to save face, to preserve an aura of "cool."

I grabbed the microphone and belched out my favorite Bee Gees song -mimicking Robin Gibb's falsetto. And it rocked the bus! My teammates loved it (and hated it). 

In the countless times that I sang "Alone" and "I Started a Joke" during the my equally innumerable solo concerts in my room, I've developed a fondness for the way he sang (Jimmy Fallon's hilarious Barry Gibb pranks also played a major part). Perhaps I was drawn to the unassuming way he sang, in contrast to Barry's more ostentatous, high-shrilled tone. Among the Gibb brothers, Robin was the easiest to immitate for this videoke afficionado.

I was saddened by the news of Robin Gibb's death. Robin Gibb, by far, is my favorite Bee Gee. 

There's not better way to honor Robin, Maurice and Barry by proclaiming to the world that I adore their songs. I guess as we grow older in life, we tend throw away puerile pretenses of being "cool."

Brad Mehldau - When It Rains

I fell in love with Brad Mehldau's "When It Rains," the moment I first heard it a few years back from the movie, "The Lakehouse." The song has a comfortingly honest tune. It evokes images of a couple sharing an umbrella, taking shelter from an unexpected downpour.

I sometimes find the lyrics of a song distracting, especially when I'm writing something. The words that you write come from within. Sometimes, inaudible silence provides fertile ground for creativity. This song is one of my favorites.