09.01.08
What Is Your Hobby?
“I collect my thoughts,” I answered.
Despite the many things I wanted to write about in August, last month’s blog calendar has been uneventful. After an in-depth blognosis of myself, I worried about becoming a trifle too blogmental and feared the thought of becoming a bloggadocio… but oh how I missed blogging! Therefore, as a new month begins, I cannot help but note a few things about the month that came before.
☼
On the opening day of the Olympics an unbelievable number of contacts wrote about the date 08/08/08 or used it as a title for their posts. It was entertaining to observe who would do it next. However, that is not the segment of Olympic history which occupied my thoughts. I was amazed to read of a
certain period in the earlier part of the century where athletes were also
required to perform art during the Olympics. Medals were also bestowed for feats in architecture, painting, sculpting, literature, and music. Wow, talk about merged physical and intellectual abilities! Perhaps the idea of me crushing on an athlete would not have been so far-fetched then. [I have never been attracted to muscled men, but a brainy muscled man is a different story. (Kidding!) =P]
☼
The Ambibo experience. Ambibo is a website founded
by Mr. Armand Frasco for the purpose of bridging resident and overseas
Zanorteans (people of Zamboanga del Norte). When Mr. Frasco proposed the idea of my participation, I thought that they could always find better “models”. It is quite ironic that I, whose face usually prefers to be cropped out or partly concealed in artistic photos, should be featured in Ambibo’s “Faces”. Brand me autistic or insecure, but it is a fact that I often avoid eye-contact with the camera’s lens in my solo photos. Being admittedly un-photogenic with my heavy and imbalanced brows which I forbade anyone to “fix” during the photo shoot, I admit I was not being an easy subject. “No foundation, no eye-liner, and no make-up if possible,” I begged – and it was not for the reason that I believed I was already picture-perfect that I did not need any of those; it is because I always wish to look as natural as possible. This project which I honestly described as “no biggie” initially, turned out to be a significant event when I realized it was more than just posing for the camera. If my few days of provincial fame could promote the benefits of home-schooling and encourage young people of our province to engage in music and art instead of other coarser delights of the senses, then perhaps I’ve done a small contribution to our youth.
☼
My little brother has been sleeping in my room during weeknights and being the
semi-spinster that I am, it is a little awkward to wake up in the middle of the
night to find little arms embracing me, or a little head snuggling under my
armpit, or wake up to those two beautiful pair of eyes and be reminded that
they belong to the most brilliant child I’ve ever known… and that soon he will
grow up to be a man and another woman will wake up to the same pair of eyes… so I will hold on to this while I can. It might be awkward at times, but it is the sweetest thing.
Thus ends a
simple collection of thoughts. After all, isn’t that what writing is all about? A Multiply contact recently marked how John Locke called his four-volume work, “an essay”. Just as life on earth is a collection of thoughts, is it not a mere essay in the grander scale of eternal life?
