Today, One Quote

"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."

Tonight, One Quote

"... that while a man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do. But you can, with precision, say what an average man will do. Individuals vary, percentages remain constant. So says the statistician. I am not an average man."

Hey buddy,

Whatsup mothafucka? It's almost eleven at night over here at my place. I just got back from walking out ya know. It's a nice thing to do, I thought. Was planning to grab a can of beer on the walk back to my place but the fucking liquor ban raced me through it tonight and won. I got a can of Coke in behalf. It kind of sucked, I know. My stomach's a bit in disagreement of why I got it even. It feels! Anyway, I thought it cool to write to you once in a while. I'm startin' to feel a bit lonely here. More lonelier than last month, honestly. Even more lonelier than I've ever been before, ya know. It's a feeling of loneliness that's still unfamiliar to me, and to my body. I believe I cope by eating, or I don't know coz I'm not really sure. I've been eating A LOT really these past few days. I can't be left unfed for more than four hours. Or else, I'd think that I'd better die than starve. I'm getting the feeling of starvation more frequently than any man along this Katipunan Avenue has ever been. I feel for the African nation now. ... My music pausing intermittently. It's making my focus loose. Wait a sec...

Hi. I went to pee. It's all the cola I just drank. Finally it went out of my system. Anyway, what was I gonna say again? Yeah, I got some exams coming. Major exams, and some papers to write, too. Wait a sec again, sorry... Sorry, hey. It was my best friend from high school. He just sent me a link to pornsite. I don't why, or I don't know what got to him tonight ha ha but this is unexpected. I know I hoped for quite a time already he'd actually send me these kinds of stuff, coz ya know that'll make me say we share this more brotherly bond, but I never expected he'd actually be able to do it. Ha ha! Clap clap bro, clap clap. Okay, anyway, where was I again? Sorry, I think I have this short-term memory loss thing going on in me now. It just started a few weeks ago, or so I just noticed. Also, I think my eyes got bad just recently. Probably because of all the readings I've been doing for my literature classes and for my personal thing, too. But I don't wanna to put much priority to them now. I got major exams coming, remember? Wait, sorry, brb in a sec again... Okay, sorry about that again. This site called reddit.com my best friend told me about is just funny. They got some cool stuff to read actually. 

So, anyway, I guess I'll end writing to you here for tonight. I am yet to find more things to talk about and more words to represent them to you, my buddy. Yeah? Alright, I'll write to you soon definitely. 'til next time!

Your buddy

Tonight, One Poem

Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there was Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling to Devon;
One said he stayed there and then there were Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was One.

One little soldier boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself

And then there were None.

                                                                 Frank Green, 1869

William Shakespeare's sonnet "17"

An analysis of William Shakespeare’s sonnet

 17

By Isaiah Cabanero

Who will believe my verse in time to come

If it were filled with your most high deserts?

Who will indeed? Who people will believe his verse in time? People dream so much, sometimes even too much. They are the only beings known to this world that can, and are deemed to be the only ones that are capable to, dream and think of highly incredible things and overly far-fetched ideas. Re-running through the already long history of people’s time, just take for example the three precise dessert pyramids in Egypt; or the laid out great wall up along mountain ranges in China; the climactic revolution that shook the French monarch in France; the complete abolishment of slavery in America; the nuclear bombings that wiped out Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan; or the erection of the two colossal skyscraping towers in World Trade Center in New York. ...

To continue reading the article, click here.

 

"To walk in the rain is probably one of the most peaceful thing to do. To walk in those moments in just a little bit of rain, and be able to think boundlessly by yourself, unnoticed by other people, hurrying to get under some roof, like mice scurrying to get into their little holes. The rain falling and curtaining you as you walk through and think of bigger thoughts in your head, like you just got the whole world to be your private personal shower; and you control yourself at best not to burst aloud to sing."

Trek to Taal Crater Lake

It was a journey to a (crater) lake in a volcano... in a lake... in a volcano. Ta-al!

Brief introduction: Taal Volcano is the smallest active volcano in the world. Its unexplained shape and location on an island within a lake within an island, makes it a unique geologic wonder, enthralling thousands of tourists and geologists yearly. (more information at http://www.taalvolcano.org/information.htm)

Most entertaining and exciting boat ride!

Early morning, from a permitted docking point at the shore of the Taal Lake, a sturdy motor boat big enough to sail eight people, including the boatman, took me a level closer to the X that marks the spot. By the way, if one is lucky enough, there is a special motor boat that exists at the docking point where I went to that offers free entertainment and booming musical background while sailing the calm heavy fresh waters of the lake. I got more than lucky enough, you see. It was one of the most fun and most exciting boat ride I'd ever had!

A few minutes to almost half an hour later, I reached the very foot of the volcano (within the lake I just sailed in). Some little communities of people have surprisingly, for me, settled there already and welcomed trekkers with plain civility. No grand pa-fiesta hooray!, nor any talking. Just a blank.. silent.. long stare at "foreigners" coming to land.

Anyway, moving on! The path of the trek is as easy to follow as walking a paved path in a park. Don't get me wrong though, the trek path isn't paved. The path is overlaid with black sand for fast recognition and swift instruction, I think. It's a prolonged period of flat terrain walk at the start of the trek. No climb or slide on steep slopes yet. Reaching the end of the first part of the trek though, there'll be this quite high climb to do and by the top, a magnificent and relieving sight of the crater lake would first show up. It assured me I was trekking the right thing when I first caught sight of it. Swear, it was breathtaking. 

View of the crater lake from atop

I was on top, off some height, right? So, of course, to get down to the crater lake for much closer proximity, I made my descent to the crater of the volcano. This descent shall be fun. I suppose that if I had actually pushed myself to just go slide down one of quite a number of descending slopes back there, than had descended like a person slowly going down a contorted-ly arranged set of steps of a staircase, I would have had more fun and more adrenaline excreted. But it's fine. The manner I did it was still fun enough.

So, okay. Then the crater lake... The crater lake, I tell you, is a beauty! It's a beauty to behold. I'd just let some of the photos that I took of the crater lake from its shore convince you:

Green grass and white cows

I grabbed the two club sandwiches I brought to eat. That's my lunch, plus a 5-gallon supply of distilled water to rehydrate me from time to time. I took my good time there quite seriously; took some rest and some quiet time to myself. 

Also, I did not miss to take home a bit (a rugged Obsidian) of the crater lake for myself on my way "out", or on my back to the foot of the volcano. I took this different path back, passing a plain of grazing white cows and lava rocks, for more adventure. I was just hoping to not get real lost the whole time, and get trapped in the island volcano. I can't take being an actual Survivor, that's just not for a television show, trapped somewhere.

I got home so satisfied with the adventure and the experience. You can check out more of the photos of the trek to the crater lake here.

Tonight, One Poem

Because I Could Not Stop For Death, 
by Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the feilds of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling on the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Tonight, One Short Story

Two Minutes Past Midnight

By Isaiah Cabañero

 

TWO MINUTES past midnight:

My eyes opened up in the cold dark room of my apartment. The air-conditioning has just dozed off on timer.

I got up; my head up off my pillow. I was double-wrapped by my blanket and my bed’s sheets. What to do? I thought.

I thought of sitting up by my writing desk.  Perhaps I could write some stories. No, just some notes. Stories would be too ambitious at the moment.

The exposed red brick wall behind my desk appears weirdly illuminated by the moonlight in my room. Or was it the light from the outside of my room that is still on?

I sat up on my chair. It creaked a bit as it swiveled upon my weight. What to do? I thought. What to write then? I thought.

A few pages of blank paper lie on top of my desk. Plus some smaller pieces of ones that I use as papers for reminders to pin on my corkboard that rested at an angle between the desk and the window pane. It fell off the wall a few days ago and I had not had time to mount it back again. I had to buy yet another roll of mounting tape from the bookstore.

What to write? I thought.

To change the world, what do I do? I started to think.

I shall build a new civilization. Rebuild, or build a new one. ...

To read on, click here.