go ahead make my day!

darn it! I slipped and fell at our office lobby with 20+ people shrieking like I wont make it there alive! ... and twice!

xxx

back in 1938

Manila pre-war.

There is a bridge on this video, called the Jones Bridge that has a sculpture that looked familiar to me. I'm not sure if the sculpture still exists, but as I saw it on this video I knew I've seen a similar sculpture somewhere. So, I searched through my photos and opened some that I took in New York a year ago and VIOLA!!!

Here's the photo I took outside the New York Library on May, 2008

and here's the part where I saw the "similar" sculpture ... Manila, 1938. That's pretty awesome isn't it?! ^^ Though there are variations, somehow it's odd to me that a naked man with hands on his face be a subject of a sculpture twice at different cities and different timelines. Anyway, let the video take you back in time. Enjoy!

perfectly imperfect

masculine lines eh?

I was lent a book by our Structural Engineer about writing. YUP! writing...besides being our senior struc. engineer, a family man, 'guy with lots of stories and advice to share about life, HE writes... and how I wish I could...because I'm not a writer per se, just like owning a guitar but doesn't really play it, I write. I write without knowing if I get my message across 'loud and clear! 'I know lots of other bloggers do, with beautiful-expressive words and that sort of made me ... "hey! wait-a-minute" myself ... because I'm nothing like that.

I don't usually wake up with days that's bursting with ideas on what to put on my blog and all will be brilliant and funny and witty... and how I wish I could. BUT nah-ah! like many contadictions in my life, I have plenty much skill but none that I master!

Like when I pick up a piece of paper and start doodling, I end up making quite a masterpriece as they say, with my hands working on lines that are too masculine, dark and heavy that no one would even suspect it's my work ... (damn! even line-strokes has gender!!!) BUT when I'm asked to do something for like an art contest or exhibit or something, I LOSE IT...I don't know where my hands had kept those "muscle-memory" for me to make all those strokes come out in a canvass! YUP, frustrating ... a lot of times that I had to deal with standing up in a room full of other "artsists" only to stare at my blank palette and brush untouched. I have dealt with a mentor who looked at me with huge disappointment like I had sank Titanic ... So NO. I'm not a true artist. Besides not being a good writer, I'm no artist. If having the attitude and moodiness of an artist counts, then yeah, I'm one.

... BUT before I make a complete realization of how my life is extraordinarily typical. I'll stop. I'm not perfect but I'm not too hard on myself either. If I can't do it like others can, I wont dwell on it, I'm probably bound to do other things, better things ... different, but that makes me, ME. So, I'm gonna do ME. Like what everyone should.

hi my name is what???...

my name is who? ...^^ Actually, call me MJ ... just "MJ" how hard can that be? ... But I was once asked to spell that out while at the airport, making Taxi arrangements ...

-You're making arrangements for who?

-mine, my name is MJ Badgley*, M-J B-A-D-G-L-E-Y.

-and how do you spell MJ?

-It's just M and J.

...When my receipt arrived, my name spelled EMJAY Badgley*! :) wow.

here's a few more:

I got Emjee (for people I know that comes from the South) ... yeah, the accent there is quite "tight". Emjee.

I have, "EM" for people who wants to cut the "J" out, 'cuz it's too much trouble for them.

Then I got the "J", for people who wants to cut the "M" out, 'cuz it's too much trouble for them.

I got "cookie" because my friend Che who likes the Green Tea flavoured gum, likes to call me cookie, 'cuz I once brought a cookie that's hard as a ROCK and she can't forget about it, she calls me Cookie everyday.

I got "ba" short for "daba" which means "love" from my husband.

Then I got "bebe" for my dad, who still calls me baby that's evolved into bebe.

Then I got "ate joei" (ate (ah-teh) , means big sister) (joei as in joey) for my brother who calls me that, 'cuz he wants to give me a cool name, like joey.

Then I got "Nity Joy" (Nity (nee-tee), is just because ... for no reason why!) for my sister.

Then I got "Tita Ninang" (tee-tah, Nee-nang, "nang" sounds like sang) Tita, means "aunt" ... "ninang" means godmother, for my niece because I'm both her aunt and godmother.

and finally, if there's no one else contributing to these names that all pertains to ME and that I happen to respond to...

There's "Mumu" for my brother-in-law, who still treats me like I'm 12!!! Mumu, is how kids call a ghost! I hate him...

-MJ
-Emjee
-eM
-J
-ba
-bebe
-mumu
-tita ninang
-ate joei
-nity joy
-cookie

all of the above are ME, I could perhaps register it as a trademark! ^^ I could even claim the "psst" and the "hey!" 'cuz I happen to respond to those calls too! ... aarrrgghh...

yeah. wait 'til you find out what Ramil, my husband gets for a name in his receipts ... ahaha!

That's next feature. (still gathering some evidences...)

Full Solar Eclipse

A friend of mine who's in Delhi, India is so fortunate to capture these photos and wrote a short account of it.

Photos by: Dona Diaz, July 22, 2009

"This morning I got a rare chance to witness a full solar eclipse here in Delhi. Said to be the longest eclipse of the century and only to happen again in the year 2132. I'll be dead by then.I'm extremely happy I took pictures, waking up so early was just so worth it..."

-Dona Diaz

Location: Delhi, India

---

click here for the full feature:

Solar eclipse shrouds Asia in daytime darkness

Source: Yahoo! News

ants and we

After seven [long] months of marriage, we are unearthing things about ourselves that has become quite an entertainment in our tiny-little city apartment. BIG time laughs like 12 comments worthy on my facebook status! Yeah, husbands ... they do some silly stuff that only a wife could love. He tried to kill/disorient the ants he saw with my cologne ... gee ... spraying it generously as if it's a real insecticide he's using!

... after smelling all that good! They'll pick up dates! He will never get rid of those ants that way! ^^

Going Organic

I'm chewing on a Green Tea mint Flavoured gum...with sooo much enthusiasm ... mm... this is goooood, it's so fresh, it's "earthy", tastes like chewing on a tea leaf ...now chewing with mouth open...mm ... tastes like jasmine flower now ^^... it actually iS beginning to taste like cheap perfume! ...yeah, I probably should get rid of it 'cuz I hate floral scents, I wonder why they ever invented this! It's ...so weird on my taste buds. BUT, apparently my friend here, enjoys it. She's chewing at it like there's no tomorrow... "hey stop!" haha she makes me laugh, I can never influence her! We're friends for so many reasons other than liking this green tea gum and that ... tea-leaf she's been driking that tastes like ... old, wooden cabinet ...

-ahaha! she laughs, have you eaten a cabinet before???

-Well, no but that's why you shouldn't eat that! We don't eat wooden cabinets and those cabinet-tasting things!

What a day ...

Anyway, we are going organic on a few things, taking it slow ...'cuz we're still learning more about it though we are pretty convinced that it's the healthier way, it's the sources that we are concerned about ... if we'll find an all organic market nearby here in the BIG city...'cuz I'm pretty sure in the province we have those. But here, it's quite a challenge! Sunday markets are held at the Metrotent in Ortigas but I think that is only by schedule, sooo ... YES! Finding the supplies is our latest goal!

We have another friend who's selling organic products like lotions and stuff, that I like so much 'cuz it smells very, very good that I want to lick it off my skin! It's made of fruit extracts and beeswax ... so imagine the smell of honey, yummm... maybe if I "accidentally" ingest it, it wouldn't hurt me ... ^^

'Let's go Green!