07.31.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:18 am by Miracle ♪♫
“My maja! Do not look at me anymore / For your eyes are lightning, / And with their burning passion, they destroy me,” * You seemed to say.
So I have shut my eyes ever since… and today, music came to me in its most fluid manner and I imbibed the flowing melody to quell the thirst of my soul. It lingered on my lips in place of a kiss, and trickled down a throat throttled with emotions. Sip by sip, I drank solitude, I drank eternity, and silenced the cacophony within.
This is not poetry. This is the aftermath of Asturiana. It has arrived. Along with five astral acclaims, consider this my review.
* Fernando Periquet’s lyrics from El mirar de la Maja (The Gaze of the Maja), featured in the Asturiana album of Kim Kashkashian (violist) & Robert Levin (pianist)
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07.27.08
Posted in 2008 Potpourri at 10:38 pm by Miracle ♪♫
After weeks
of cruising the azure waters from Aegina to Zakynthos, trekking Athens to
Zagoria, and gazing at the Grecian moon on the clearest evenings, I perched
myself on an ancient rock with a book, pen, and paper
(or was it a violin and bow?
or an easel and paintbrush?) to fulfill my artistic and Hellenic yearnings – oops!
No, that would have to be someone else. I
was only out in the downpour, and unfortunately every raindrop was a
stranger. July is turning its back as August comes rushing, and I am now in
my room with a cold, and Greece’s cerulean waters, indigo skies, and blue caves, are not exactly the same hue
of my cyanotic state of emotion.
Just as the
moon will momentarily eclipse the sun on the first of August, so can an
obstacle of inappropriate feelings shroud one’s happiness, and these feelings,
refusing to be ignored and neglected, have pursued me from the day I fell in
love up to the very period of this
sentence. But because there is always Joy, Hope, and that highest form of Love,
I will not allow this eclipse to last forever. I’ll follow the sun. Otherwise, August will be over and before I know
it, life becomes a mere “gypsy flurry of
too many notes too soon.” Where’s my espresso doppio and hug?
Moonrise at Cape Sounion, Greece
Credit & Copyright: Anthony Ayiomamitis
Looking forward to August’s
simple joys:
1. Kim Kashkashian’s Asturiana CD
is expected to arrive. =D
(Oh, by the way, although they are both of Armenian descent, she’s not to be confused with Kim Kardashian!)
2. I’ll try new recipes with the
“Italian kitchen”. =D
3. Candy is giving me a copy of
August Rush! =D
4. This month http://www.greeka.com/
is the website to be. 8)
5. New Pirastros, I hope.=)
6. PowerBooks!!!=D
7. Misha will nail his Mozart Concerto.=)
8. Pletnev’s arrangement of the Nutcracker
Suite is on its way. =)
9. Very soon I’ll be in Cebu to be with my
Twinnie Tonet and other dear
friends
who preferred to stay in Pinas.
[ Shame on
those who left. Grrr…
I miss you soooooo much! =( ]
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07.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:24 am by Miracle ♪♫
Meewa is currently out in the downpour waiting for familiar raindrops. She will return as soon as it abates - for the August rush, perhaps.
Greet her with espresso doppio and a hug. She’ll like that very much.
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07.20.08
Posted in Unauthored by Me at 7:09 am by Miracle ♪♫
by Rosario Castellanos
Because we were friends
and sometimes loved each other,
perhaps to add one more tie
to the many that already bound us,
we decided to play games of the mind.
We set up a board between us;
equally divided into pieces, values,
and possible moves.
We learned the rules, we swore to respect them,
and the match began.
We’ve been sitting here for centuries,
Meditating ferociously
How to deal the one last blow that will finally
Annihilate the other one forever.
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07.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:19 am by Miracle ♪♫
Because life seems to be a progression
of running and being still,
you have been running as I sat still.
Had you lingered in a breath,
had you dwelt until the silence diminished,
had you waited for my feet to gather courage,
you would have heard me plead,
“Be still, I’ll run to you.”
But you didn’t… and I remain still, still.
.
.
.
.
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07.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:19 pm by Miracle ♪♫
(Raison de l’écriture)
Dearest Sofia,
You might ask why I opted to write for a future daughter instead of a son. Well, a son could possibly get teased for stuff like these as he grows up. I am sparing him from the embarrassment. Another reason is because I already had the chance to teach and care for a marvelous baby boy; my own little brother, Misha. Therefore, minus the childbearing element, I already know what it is like. However, the first duty I must do for a future son is to see to it that whosoever I choose to marry will be man enough to have wise premeditations on how to cultivate a son. It would then be more sapient to address this man rather than the son. Oh, sweetie, little boys are just as amazing to have, but I tell you, they’re naturally into dirt, lizards, and bugs – not letters like these.
Concerning these letters, you may begin to wonder why I write them, and why I scribe them to you despite seeming a bit goofy. It should be clear to you at this point that these are not exclusively for you, but for me as well. These telic letters are not meant to express what a great deal I expect from you, but rather for the purpose of articulating what manner of mother I ought to be, so that if it be God’s will that He present you into my arms, I will be ready. These letters will serve as delicate mnemonics that will nudge me to become the kind of mother I primarily aimed on being despite whatever numerous unprecedented cares of life that may occur.
I have been blessed with the best mother one could ever deserve, thus I am aware of how mothers and daughters possess a special bond. There will always be an unequaled understanding between us that you will never have with anyone. Even if you turn out to be a daddy’s girl – which would be no problem for me at all, there will always be that nexus between us, and I can tell you, teach you, and make you feel things that no one else can, and in that very manner, you can tell me, teach me, and make me feel things that nobody else can, and these selfsame things are among the preeminent underpinnings to your culmination as a person. I write to you not only because we will be each other’s wings… but because we are going to be the best of friends, you’ll see.
To read all Letters to a Future Daughter,
Click Here.
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07.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:08 am by Miracle ♪♫
There are
the smiles that occur from day to day, smiles that uplift spirits or disperse
the gray away. There are the lives that touch and inspire in vast and candid
ways. There are
the laughs lively as fifes that ring melodies to a simple life. There are the
songs that cause one to swoon, cry, live, or die. There are the words, sweet,
sensible, profound… sigh.
Of
course, there are the smiles, there are the lives, there are the laughs, there
are the songs, there are the words – but not quite like yours.
When I miss
you, I can be corny, too.
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07.08.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:32 pm by Miracle ♪♫
(Finding the Perfect Fit)
Dear Sofia,
From unfathomable concerns to ordinary deeds, there are manifold things a dutiful mother does for a daughter, but nothing compares to the bliss of a mom picking out itty-bitty outfits for her little darling. Dainty dresses, tiny hats, baby mittens, small shoes… I can giggle in delight just by imagining these!
For the meantime, let me leap to the hour when you grow big enough to
choose your own pair of shoes, because Sweetie, love is like a perfect pair of shoes. They take you to places, you dance with them, walk through life with them, spring to the heavens with them, go ups and downs through different roads in them.
Trekking a long road in new shoes can become very painful and bring about troublesome blisters of inexperience, so remember to begin your journeys one step at a time. As you go and walk through time without rushing, you will realize one day that the new shoes have become a perfect fit, all snug and fashioned into your form, and you will not want to get rid of them despite the scars and scratches that the years have caused. Sometimes you are inevitably obliged to give them up, but you know that you will always look for the same kind of pair… and when you cannot find one just like it? You will miss it terribly. But what I am trying to tell you is this. Find a shoe unaffected by fashion fads, a comfortable classic, one that you can wear in any season and any terrain, one you can keep for 
ages - find irreplaceable love. It may be tempting to go barefoot sometimes, so when you feel that way, carry your shoes in your hands, you’ll still need them in the end. If there are moments when you feel that they are a size too big for you and that you don’t deserve them or you don’t fit in, it only means that you still have room to grow some more.
Do you want to know a secret?
Someday…
you will grow into the perfect fit.
To read all Letters to a Future Daughter, Click Here.
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07.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:48 pm by Miracle ♪♫
(A Dash of Love)
My Sofia,
The kitchen was a satisfying sanctuary for me this morning. I finally had the impetus to venture on two recipes that I’ve been planning to prepare for quite some time; Tuna Carpaccio and Espresso Barbecue. Your grandma blames Vinz, my “prodigal best friend,” for my redeemed enthusiasm in the kitchen. (He is the most wonderful man in and out of the kitchen – a tad hyperactive, but wonderful nonetheless. You’ll meet him one day…and yes, I impute my culinary recovery to him.) It’s not that I have not been minding the kitchen so much, because in fact, I spend a fair amount of time there daily, preparing not-so-special meals. It’s just that I almost forgot that cooking was one of my passions, I practically disregarded the memory that the prize money I received from NAMCYA was used to acquire a new oven, and back when I was 5 or 6 years old, the birthday gift I asked from my parents was for them to allow me to make something in the kitchen all by myself and without any help from a grownup. Papa had the chance to document that occasion with a couple of photographs which I’m enclosing in this letter.
…and sweetie, you will be taught to cook – from banana pancakes to espresso chocolate cake to espresso barbecue. You will not regret it. They say that men prefer women with knowledge in the kitchen – I don’t think so. Look at me, so un-preferred. Haha That should never be one of your motivations. Cook to improve yourself thoroughly. Life is so much like cooking. There will be trial and error, you never get it perfect the first time, but the procedure of trying is fulfilling – and if you are blessed more than enough, you will find someone to share your life – or recipes with. In cooking, or in life, just remember to make Love a major ingredient and I believe everything will be just fine.
Happy and successful cooking doesn’t rely only on
know-how; it comes from the heart…
~Georges Blanc~
…cooking done with
care is an act of love.
~Craig Claiborne~
Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at
all.
~Harriet Van Horne~
A cook is creative, marrying ingredients in the way a poet marries words.
~Roger Verge~
To read all Letters to a Future Daughter, Click Here.
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07.01.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:17 pm by Miracle ♪♫
Renascent feelings induce autumn in July
but I must detach myself from that branch -
that idée fixe,
and submerge as a whisper
into my own
umbrage.
I, fall. I fall.
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