Ok it was more like he drowned it. And this is how it went down.

About a month ago, I discovered a leak in our kitchen ceiling so I did the sane and logical thing to do. Call a plumber…(Ok, it was the strata property’s plumber, coz we live in a condo). Anyway, dude comes over, renovates our kitchen with a new skylight (that’s what I call the gaping hole he cut in the ceiling) and does a “temporary” fix coz it was a Friday night and I guess he couldn’t wait to get his weekend started. So he comes back the next Tuesday, and I think “finally! This whole mess can be fixed”. He starts working away, while I mind my own business and watch TV. Next thing I know, I see this strong spurt of water come down from the ceiling. First thing that came to mind was  that maybe it’s just some left over water in the pipes or something. A few seconds pass, but instead of stopping, that water spurt becomes a waterfall. I go rushing into the kitchen and instinctively grab a bucket and start catching the downpour, at which point I discover, “great, it’s hot water”. Plumber guy, initially reeling and dumbfounded from the torrent of hot water gushing down, goes to look for the building water supply shut off. Therefore, leaving me all alone to fend off the horde of hot water rapidly converting the kitchen into some makeshift spa bath. That waterfall was coming down for a good 15 minutes before that dumbass plumber figured he could grab a stopper from his toolkit and plug the damn thing! Why did all this happen? He cut the WRONG pipe! Anyway, the downpour was so bad, the water seeped into our adjacent neighbours’ units AND gushed down into the parkade and out into the street. Oh, and in the process of transporting water from point A (kitchen waterfall) to point B (bath tub), coz the kitchen sink just wasn’t draining fast enough, I slipped and fell hard on the tiled flooring. In the aftermath, I’m left pondering as to which was more painful to bear: a cracked rib, a sprained wrist, a devastated kitchen, or a drowned computer. Thaaat’s right, the computer was in the vicinity of the downpour. Thankfully, I didn’t have much demo reel stuff in there yet, otherwise that plumber would be the first casualty in all this. But still, EVERYTHING was in there…pictures, music, videos, current and past school work and assignments. All that stuff is practically irreplaceable!!! Hmmm, maybe I should’ve made a casualty out of that plumber after all. And not to mention, we couldn’t even stay at our place for over a week since the restoration company had to dry out the place and test it for asbestos. AND I missed a week of school due to my injury. For that first week, it had hurt to walk, inhale, cough, laugh, burp, or basically do anything for that matter. Being behind on all the assignments since I had to redo a majority of them IS a bit on the crappy side as well. At least my instructors were understanding about it.

And all that’s left now are the remnant pains in my rib, and the even more painful experience of dealing with the most helpful people of all, insurance companies. To sum it all up, it has NOT been a good month so far.

This post is totally unrelated to all my usual rantings and weekly nonsense. This actually has some sort of valid content. Really.

Anyway, during the long and surprisingly interesting process of researching my demo reel idea, I came across this poem a few days ago. Just to give you some background on it, it was written by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, who was known for his literary works which spoke against Spanish injustice towards the Filipino people in the 19th century (the Spanish regime spanned over 300 years). This poem was originally untitled, but later referred to as “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell). It was written on December 29, 1896, between 12 to 5 am, on the eve of his execution.

 

“Mi Ultimo Adios”/My Last Farewell (by Jose Rizal, translation adapted from one by Edwin Lozada)

Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun,
Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our vanquished Eden!
To you I gladly surrender this melancholy life;
And were it brighter, fresher, gaudier,
Even then I’d give it to you, to you alone would then I give.

In fields of battle, deliriously fighting,
Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret;
Where there’s cypress, laurel or lily,
On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom,
If the home or country asks, it’s all the same–it matters not.

I die when I see the sky unfurls its colors
And at last after a cloak of darkness announces the day;
If you need scarlet to tint your dawn,
Paint with my blood, pour it as the moment comes,
And may it be gilded by a reflection of the heaven’s new-born light.

My dreams, even as a child,
My dreams, when a young man in the prime of life,
Were to see you one day, jewel of the eastern seas,
Dry those dark eyes, raise that forehead high,
Without frown, without wrinkle, without stain of shame.

My lifelong dream, my deep burning desire,
Is for this soul that will soon depart to cry out: Salud!
To your health! Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight,
To die to give you life, to rest under your sky,
And in your enchanted land forever sleep.

If upon my grave one day you may behold,
Amidst the dense grass, a simple lowly flower,
Place it upon your lips, and my soul you’ll kiss,
And on my brow may I feel, under the cold tomb,
The tenderness of your touch, the warmth of your breath.

Let the moon see me in soft and tranquil light,
Let the dawn burst forth its fleeting radiance,
Let the wind moan with its gentle murmur,
And should a bird descend and rest on my cross,
Let it sing its canticle of peace.

Let the burning sun evaporate the rain,
And with the struggle behind, towards the sky may they turn pure;
Let a friend mourn my early demise,
And in the serene afternoon, when someone prays for me,
O Country, pray that God will also grant me rest!

Pray for all the unfortunate ones who died,
For all who suffered torment unequaled,
For grieving mothers who in bitterness cry,
For orphans and widows, for prisoners in torture,
And for yourself to see your redemption at last.

And when the burial ground is shrouded in dark night,
And there alone, only the departed remain in vigil,
Disturb not their rest, nor their secrets,
And should you hear chords from a zither or harp,
‘Tis I, O land beloved, ’tis I, to you I sing !

And when my grave, then by all forgotten,
has not a cross nor stone to mark its place,
Let men plow and with a spade disperse it,
And before my ashes return to nothing,
May they be the dust that carpets your fields.

Then nothing matters, cast me in oblivion.
Your air, your space, your valleys I will cross.
I will be vibrant music to your ears,
Aroma, light, colors, murmur, moan, and song,
Ever echoing the essence of my faith.

Land that I love, sorrow of my sorrows,
Adored Filipinas, hear my last good-bye.
There I leave you all, my parents, my beloved.
I go where there are no slaves, hangmen nor oppressors,
Where faith does not kill, where the one who reigns is God.

Goodbye, dear parents, brother and sisters, fragments of my soul,
Childhood friends in the home now gone,
Give thanks that I rest from this wearisome day;
Goodbye, sweet stranger, my friend, my joy;
Farewell, loved ones. To die is to rest.

I can’t believe it’s more than halfway through spring break already. Why the hell does time move so fast here in Canada even though you’re just chillin out. If I was vacationing in my hometown of Cebu right now, time would be slowing down to a crawl. No kidding, it really does! And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Ah, island life… damn how I miss it. I dunno, lately I’ve been really homesick. It seems like everything reminds me of Cebu. Been listening to a lot of tunes that remind me of all my past trips there. I’ve even been looking through photos of last year’s trip, which just makes it worse (and pathetic at the same time). Yeah, it’s only been a year since I last saw the homeland, and I’m already crazy homesick. And the fact that a lot of my Vancouverite friends are actually there in Cebu right now to attend our buddy’s wedding rubs in the homesickness like salt on a wound. They must be having so much drunken fun right now…damn them all!!! Man, I need a real vacation. A week off from school to stay home and do homework just doesn’t cut it, if ya know what I mean. A nice lil’ trip after I finish school, or next year, is definitely on the agenda.

To fuel my homesickness, I tend to surf the internet for Philippine music charts to check out what’s new and bangin’ over on the Flip side of the world. In one of my recent visits to the www.y101fm.com Top 20 chart (btw, Y101 is arguably the most popular radio station in Cebu), I came across an ill, speaker-rippin’ track called “Memory Kill”. From the limited information I could find, the band that performed this track doesn’t have an official name yet. What I do know is that the members come from some of the more prominent bands in Cebu. Vocalist Franco comes from the band Frank. Gabby (guitars) and Janjan (drums) are from Urbandub (one of the most popular bands to rep the Philippine southside). Not quite sure which bands Eight and Buwi are from though. Bottom line is, this is one killer track. Damn catchy right from the start. And it’s more melodic than heavy, which is how I prefer to rock. The fact that they rep my hometown of Cebu makes me damn proud of my roots too, and how the indie rock capital of the Philippines continues to crank out some quality tunes. All biased opinions aside, give it a listen and judge for yourself.

Damn, I am so freakin’ tired…and have been for the past week. That last Production assignment absolutely killed me. And I haven’t even finished the damn thing yet! Yeah, it’s STILL rendering as we speak. It’s way overdue and of course my marks are automatically deducted a lovely 30%…30% off…sounds more like some boxing day sale to me. But fair enuff I guess, coz it is late. I gave up on getting decent marks for this anyway the moment I discovered halfway through the render that the stupid animation in my scene was jumping around like crazy, so I literally had to restart my whole damn render. There’s somethin’ seriously eff’d up with my scene. Hell, it takes me more than 20 minutes to even get 1 frame in the render view.  That’s just sad. I’ll never look at an underwater scene the same way again. Damn you caustics, environment fog, fish, ocean shader, and everything else to do with that underwater scene!…With all this “toned down” profanity, you can obviously tell how frustrated I am with this. Well, at least I learned my lesson the hard way. EARLY. Let’s just hope the lesson sticks. Knowing my memory capacity though, it looks doubtful.

Anyway, I’ve always wanted to talk about the anime series, Basilisk. This is by far, one of my favourite anime series of all time. It’s a 24-part series based on the novel “The Kouga Ninja Scrolls” published in the 1950’s (btw, it’s the same inspiration for the feature film “Ninja Scroll”). It’s about the story of two lovers from rival ninja clans. Just before their wedding, the long-standing peace treaty between the Kouga and Iga clans is broken by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the reigning shogun. Ieyasu meets with the elders from each clan and orders them to pit the ten best warriors of each clan in a battle to decide which of his two sons would succeed him in power. Yeah, it’s kinda cruel, but the clans are actually up to the task since they’ve been loathing that peace treaty and have wanted to get at each others’ throats for the longest time anyway.

This series is best enjoyed for its elaborate action scenes. Gonzo (the production company) has always been putting out consistent, high production, feature film quality animation, and they definitely came with it on this one. That’s the great thing about this series: every single episode is consistently beautiful, fast-paced, and just plain fun to watch. Unlike other shows, where they have so much filler crap, and clean up their animation only on the major episodes (That’s right I’m talking to you, Naruto!!!). The story itself is pretty engaging as well. All I can say is, my wife was in tears by the end of the 24^th episode. We’ve watched the whole series twice so far. She cried both times. If you see it or have seen it already, you’ll know what I mean.

Here are a couple of clips. The first is the trailer. The second is a clip of one of the best scenes in the series, so it contains spoilers. View at own risk.

Yes, I just now recovered from a nice little hangover caused by an open bar raid at my friend’s wedding last night. Ah, my downfall: the open bar. Luckily for me, my wife, volunteered to be the designated driver for the night (isn’t she sweet). But I guess could’ve also contributed to my liberated sense of drinking spree. That’s okay. I held it all down though, if you know what I mean. Needless to say, it was a fun evening and a deserved break from all the school work these last 6 months (my how time flies). I almost wasn’t even gonna go to the wedding. But I knew if I bailed, I would most likely have to stop referring to my friend as a “friend”. That, and she’d probably kill me after we’d RSVP’d and assured her many, many times that we would go. Anyway, congrats Brenda and Aman! And welcome to the club! Hehe.

Of course, because I attended the wedding I’m now facing the consequences in terms of school work. Which is why I’m typing this entry at 2AM Monday morning, various other homework pending. That’s my way of saying, “This is gonna be a short blog entry”. Hey, at least I’m being honest. I really dropped the time management ball this time.

Anyway, my wife and I just viewed the anime feature film Tokyo Godfathers last week and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a tale of three homeless people: Gin – a grumpy middle-aged hobo, Hana – a transvestite, and Miyuki – a runaway teenage girl, who stumble upon an abandoned baby while searching in some trash. They then embark on what turns out to be an adventurous journey to find the child’s parents. The story is apparently somewhat based on an earlier western film, 3 Godfathers. Anyway, this is one of those kinda feel-good movies, which surprisingly didn’t come out cheesy at all. It’s also a fresh change from director Satoshi Kon’s usual abstract storytelling (see Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Paprika). And animation is done by Madhouse Studios, so it’s gotta be good. Go check it out!

And since I’m such in “need of a vacation” mode right now, music pick for this week is Bonnie Bailey’s “Ever After (Eric’s Beach Mix)”. Before you view the Youtube video, gotta first picture yourself on some vast expanse of white sand beach, chillin’ under some palm trees, Corona in hand, staring off into that infinite ocean, setting sun right in your eyes, and just wishing that every day of your life was just like this…mmmmm…then, hit play.

Damn that’s a nice song. This is practically the anthem for the beach resort islands of Cebu and Boracay, Philippines. Hell, the whole country probably knows this song. It’s no surprise. This is just one of those tunes that you really would have to be in an island surrounded by beaches to fully appreciate.

Chill. Like how I do.