Litratista

A few years ago, I found this dirty ugly kitten on the street who was meowing like crazy, probably hungry out of his wits. I adopted him and named him Mang-mang. He’s now a grown up cat who has a live-in partner (lives with us). I named her Keng-keng. Filipinos have a fondness for repeating syllables and turning them into names. Also, I admit I don’t have the talent when it comes to naming my pets hehe... 

Mang-mang and Keng-keng just had a child who’s scrawny but looks cute nonetheless – I named him Ting-ting. She likes sleeping outdoors on top of anything she can reach. Silly cat!

Here are their photos. From the left to right: Keng-keng (she loves to sit on my lap), Mang-mang (super lazy, always sleeping) and the scrawnily cute Ting-ting.

I had a dog once but she was run over by a car when she suddenly ran outside our gate. I went home from school and she was lying dead on our doorstep. A neighbor found her on the street. I was seven years old then and it was such a sad traumatic experience. From then on I decided to have cats as pets instead.

Cats are more independent, more agile. My friend’s cat fell from the 8^th floor of her condo and walked away without any broken bones. It takes less effort to take care of cats. We once went off to vacation for one week and forgot to leave food for our cats – well they were still alive when we returned. I wondered what they managed to eat. Then we heard complains from our neighbors that pieces of their fried fish vanished from their tables. Our cats stole them lol!

What's your musical horoscope?  (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
Inspired by Stephanie.  

1. The Winner Takes It All - Abba
2. The Search Is Over - Survivor
3. Stolen Car - Beth Orton (Charmed Soundtrack)
4. 5 Candles - Jars of Clay
5. Fortress Around your Heart - Sting
6. Breakout - Swing Out Sister
7. Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails
8. Det er derfor eg synge - Vamp
9. An American Dream - Dirt Band and Linda Rondstandt
10.Last Chance - M.Y.M.P.

What do you think? How does my future look like? :-)

What's one of your favorite quotes? 
Submitted by Georgie-boy. 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

All fired up! World Pyro Olympics.

I just got home from watching the World Pyro Olympics. Its one of the most amazing things to watch this year - with the year just beginning.

We headed out to the Palisades at the Mall of Asia but upon seeing the sea of people walking in EDSA, as if it was People Power all over again, we retreated and decided to watch the fireworks at Baywalk instead. There you can still watch the fireworks from afar. The sound is delayed for about less than a second but hey there are fewer people there and going home is easier. And so we waited and finally it started.

Baywalk is a very busy place with the bands playing and children running around. Countless groups of students were there and, of course, the families  with their pots of food as their "baon". Imagine the noise generated by these people, also add the vehicles that endlessly honked their horns. Baywalk afterall is in Roxas Boulevard, one of the main roads in Manila.

Then suddenly the fireworks started.

All you can hear are the oohs and aahs of the people. Children watched in amazement. Adults stared in wonderment. Ah the wonder of fireworks! The joy it brings cannot be explained. I will not be surprised if it can unify the Opposition and Administration parties haha!

And me - I felt like I was a child again as I stared with my mouth wide open. Its as if all my adult responsibilities took off and exploded with them fireworks haha! A wonderful feeling, I tell you.

Do you have any phobias?
Submitted by Amirul B Ruslan.

Elevators -- I'm claustrophobic.

I have difficulty breathing when I get on elevators specially when I'm alone. Humming a favorite tune helps.
The scariest is getting trapped in one during a power interruption. O gosh!

Manila Bay: Calm, originally uploaded by Litratista.

Slow down. Find yourself. Appreciate the things that are essential. Be whole.

Design team

They call us telecommuters. We wake up, eat breakfast and punch in. We work at home, most of the time in our pajamas haha! Our main equipment: a computer with a high-speed internet connection. Most of our communication is through e-mails, chats and sms. Yup! No annoying daily commutes, no pushing just to get on the train, no sucking up of regular pollutants and no MSG on lunch food.

It took a while for me to adjust to this kind of setup. The fact that there are no IT personnel to help me set up the softwares. Setting up shop is a very complicated thing. They tell you its easy but, really, it not haha! Anyway, I finally got settled hardware/software-speaking and now I have to deal with another major thing -- the medium shift.

Let me explain. Medium as in medium of communication. I was a graphic designer before. Graphic design deal with CMYK inks, printing press, paper stock, color separation, crop marks, etc. Now I shifted to web design and I deal with HTML, CSS, javascript, bandwidth, optimization, tags, etc. Its on the same field, its just a different medium. (I admit this is boring stuff. I'm amazed you're still reading this haha...)

The best thing about this - no annoying and gossipping officemates lurking! Yay!