..hiatus..

my past 2 weeks were extremely busy and the next week ahead is most likely as equal or even greater. im not sure when i will have free time so this is a post to let you know (and i thought i'll never say this..) i'll be on hiatus for a while.. i'll try my best to reply and visit your blogs but i apologize in advance if i wont be able to after this day.. i shall miss illo friday and all my online friends. you will be on my thoughts everyday..

now i leave you all with an old poem i wrote and a photo i took while traveling to southern manila..



Don't Close Your Eyes

as i hear the -
leaves crash to the wind
walls of echoes
paint my deserted room
the linen adrift
flying floating
as cold whispers
wrap my whole being

as i close my -
eyes in deep longing
i float more lighter
almost liquefying
swimming to that shadow
to drink the poison
of its undying spell
drowning my head in compassion

as i feel the -
whole world spinning
catch the waves tightly holding
take me to the other side
carry me.. carry me..
and let me continuously fly
as the breeze swallow me
in one big.. deep.. sigh


© 02.10.06

String: Blog Action Day 2008

Today marks the day of a special event in the history of the blogworld. The purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. Bloggers are asked to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue. Last year's topic was The Environment. This year we focus on the mammoth issue of global Poverty.

Growing up, we were taught that we live in a third world country. And there are limits to what we can do and what we can get. I've always been a big dreamer when I was young and I always wanted to prove the grown ups wrong that we can only do as much. I also used to be a strong believer with the statement Kung hindi ka kikilos ngayon, kelan pa? ("If you won't act now, then when?")

Here are the facts:

The map of the world with classifications:


First (blue), Second (red), and the Third World (green) countries during the Cold War era. Does not necessarily represent a current world view.

But according to the list of third world countries, the Philippines is not included in terms of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, Gross National Income (GNI), Human Development, Poverty and Press Freedom.

There are 50 countries listed in the United Nations comparative analysis of poverty, 34 African countries, 10 Asian countries, 5 Pacific Island Nations and one Caribbean nation.

The 10 Asian third world countries are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Yemen.

And just recently have I encountered the term fourth world, and these are nations without states. But that's another story.

I guess, now that I have passed the age of idealism, agitated adolescence with radical actions, adding that i went through a personal dark age of my life.. time killed the passion. I remain in support and still believe the causes of course, but not as active as before.

Now joining the blog action day reminds me that time is really an issue with the long battle against poverty and change. One random act of kindness per person, when accumulated, creates change.

So I leave a question for everyone, if we won't act now, when will you? When?


update: now i leave you with an old collage i made back in 2005.. "hidden places"
click the image to read the poem i wrote esp for this piece

illo friday: strings

and im floating with strings of thoughts and dreams..



back in 2004.. when i first started blogging.. here's one of the thoughts i randomly scribbled down.. half awake half intoxicated.. consumed in escaping and dreaming..

"I have a bad hobby. And its driving me nuts. When I do it, I think about impossible possibilities miles away beyond my reach. This is a sin and im not ashamed to look practically pathetic and plainly stupid. Im tired of writing sexual fantasies and sending them to the person most important to me. not because I wouldn’t like any in reality, but because the more I think about it, the more I desperately want to search for him. My bad hobby brought me to the end of my rope to leap into the shallowness of my mind. And without strings attached I jumped in and dove in deeper. Without thinking. Just feeling. Forcing myself further, with no assurance of my return. This bad hobby, as may be unsounded to others, brings me to satisfaction, intellectually, spiritually; and giving consent for my material body to be degraded. Stimulate me to the heights of the farthest corner of space and time. I know of no other refuge. I know of no other salvation. It’s a one sided mirror and a tango with one foot. Less than one. Less than half. I ask of no forgiveness for being too addicted. This is my obsession and my demise. Pages of thoughts left unsaid. I blend in into the white background. Not knowing, not being known. My entity once evolved me, now I create the silence of a thousand leaves. And I shape my mind to knowing, condition my body into feeling. My bad hobby I shall never take away.
Yes, I am a sinner. I am crazy…and you are my bad hobby."

but i know now of one reality.. and it's not fatale. and that is life.. that is YOU!

----
notes: ~ illo above is one of my light paintings. read my theory about lights and how to paint using light.
~ 2004 post here
~ what im currently listening to: "underneath the stars" - the cure

amazing friendships and love

here are more sugary sweetness for this week! below are two awards i received last week and i know its past my bedtime but i decided i cant let this day pass without updating this post.. not for one more day..


from the sweet and very creative yoon see
~ see the other amazing logos at her blog

and



from the amazing and adorable bella sinclair
and since this award should be passed on, i give this to seven friends who have been so sweet and amazing through these years..

1 - aravis ~ i so wanted to give her an award for "i love your art blog" last time but she was more on a novelist for me.. well that she writes about her life is simply amazing and her supportive and encouraging words to people are simply something that i love about her.

2 - angela ~ not only did art paved the way for us to cross paths, but so did youtube and myspace! (ha!) angela is very sweet and talented and she inspires me with her inner strength and beauty!

3 - floots ~ one of my oldest blog friends from way back when.. and never fail to amaze me with his inspiring poetry and photography..

4 - dennis villegas ~ its simply amazing how cyberspace can bring people together. his blog was an accidental click from one comment to another and when i realized, hey! he was my teacher in high school! and after more than a decade since we last saw each other, our blogs brought us closer than we had been then. thanks sir den, for being such an inspiration back then and now.

5 and 6 - neko and vina ~ i know this should count as one as they are synonymous to each other and although some friends may not be there always, if you think of such awards as these, special friends like them always have a place in my heart. coz not only that they share a love like no other but have something common with me and mine.

and the last and most special of all..

7 - ambres ~ of course! what more can i say? but if some people search for love, my advice is, he/she will come in the least expected but most perfect of time! i love you sweetie!

xoxo to you all!

If you would like to participate:

1.Put the logo on your blog.
2.Link to the person who gave you the award.
3.Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4.Put links to those on your blog.
5.Leave a message on those blogs.

illo friday: sugary

and of course what other place in the world would best suit a sugary sweet memory but in lovely Paris?

and this second attempt on watercolor is for my one and only.. my ambres!





happy moogie monthsary honey!



and above is the sugar-coated watercolor painting.. filled with cotton candy chewiness..

(well, ok ok its just enhanced thru picasa.. hehe)

----
sugary sweet paris
5" x 8" (orig.)
watercolor

paris.. sweet as cotton candy
5" x 8" (orig.)
watercolor, enhanced thru picasa