noel alanguilan

its the place where they cross going to or from either side of the ether. most of these gates look like obvious passages—appearing as doors or real gates. some are almost unnoticeable being hidden as trees or large rocks. but all the gates have one thing in common—they always have two “pillars” with symbols and inscriptions written in an aged, almost forgotten language.

most of these gates have their own guardians who keep track of who or what comes and goes. they’re also responsible for keeping the gates hidden away from prying eyes which should be easier these days. many people have forgotten how to see beyond what their sight shows them.

it was just my luck that my nana was one of those keepers. i often would help her clean up at the end of the day and in exchange she would tell me stories of the people she has met and the places that she’s set foot on. her stories always held me in fascination.

i was with her one summer solstice night several years ago when naala arrived through the gate. there were only a handful of folks who crossed that day and she as the last to arrive. as soon as she saw me she gave me an angry, piercing stare like i wasn’t suppose to exist.

she just stopped long enough to acknowledge my nana with a nod and then she was gone.

my nana looked at me, “what did you do? she looked angry at you.”

“nothing. i didn’t do anything.” and i looked back at where she was standing last.

nana just said, “mmmmm…” and went back to cooking the rice.

if you’re following the world cup then you might have heard of the vuvuzela. its a traditional horn made of plastic and when you blow on it, it blares a sound similar to a buzzing elephant. it is also annoying the heck out of a lot of the world cup tv viewers. some networks have tried to cancel out the sound from their broadcasts with good results.

youtube, on the other hand, wants you to experience this unique world cup noise on demand. as you can see from this screenshot, there’s this new “soccer” button. clicking it would turn on and off the vuvuzela sound irregardless if your playing a video or not. its not present in all the videos though.

if you want to hear what a vuvuzela sounds like i’ve embedded the video here from shaheenjay. its not my video. fair warning: turn down your sound to a level next to zero and then slowy bring it up. you’ve been warned.

the solstice is almost here. the old waypoints are becoming clearer and the signs are beginning to appear one by one.

the passes will open soon.

its not difficult to see the solstice signals especially if you’re seeking them out. they don’t really make any effort hide themselves. most of the time you’ll see it in and around the lakes—especially at the big lake. sometimes the surface of the water almost becomes like a looking glass and you can’t see anything below. its as if you’re looking up from below the surface of the water.

from the appearance of the first sign the visit preparations starts. most of them usually pack light going for a quick look just to see what’s it like on the other side of the mirror and they go back before the moon sets. some only have short visits sharing only a meal or two with very old friends or family. less than a handful stay until the next solstice.

he pauses and stops to look at his day’s handiwork and at the lake he loves.

“you are clean again,” he whispers to himself.

he breathes the lake’s fresh breath and affords himself a faint smile as if he was just kissed.

with a sack full of twigs, leaves and litter on his back he takes his leave of the lake and trudges off toward his hut not more than a stone’s throw away from shore.

as he prepares the night’s meal he thinks of tomorrow and he happily smiles to himself.

he will take the paths around the lake again picking up twigs, leaves and litter as he goes. he will whistle the lake’s favorite notes and tell her the stories again.

for now, its rest and sleep beside his beloved lake.

the past two days… and not necessarily in this order.

38° yesterday (i heard). i think we were watching …

shrek 4 at the time. fortunately.

enrolled robin in high school. and it was just last week that we enrolled him in grade school. sigh.

took a ‘walk’ along king street in toronto. interesting. not too many people on the streets. or maybe its the wrong/right time of the day. i really have to try tim horton’s coffee once.

adopted a kitten and named her/him ‘wasabi’. thank guys. we saw it on the street. eyes still closed. screaming at the top of its tiny lungs, “meow! meow!” what can we do?

found out that aang, the last airbender is not really asian. bummer.

finished with ‘light’ penetration testing.

started learning a bit of hungarian. no plans of going to budapest. yet.

woke up to the sisters of mercy (the band). i wonder what it will do to my psyche today.

been thinking more about grass. not cannabis.

heard the a good friend of mine is finally ‘free’. congratulations dude!

my practice rides have been becoming regular lately—almost every other day for about 30 minutes. getting back on a bike is one of my targets for this year.

i had to temporarily change to a mountain bike because i can lower the seat so that my feet easily reaches the ground. and i’ve replaced the knobbies with commuting slicks so the ride is much, much smoother on pavement.

it was a slow process but i wanted to get my body used to balancing a bike properly again and i wanted to improve the reaction time of my legs to keep me upright when i need to stop quickly. i feel i am making very good progress and i can finally see myself doing longer rides. yey!

today i made 1 kilometer. that is not much by my normal standards but from where i’m coming from, this kilometer is far enough from my 100- or 300-meter practice runs.

i know i can go farther. one kilometer will become two then that will become four. i’ll get there.

yosi
san miguel, manila

part of the lost rolls

i used to smoke. i stopped two years ago today. i stopped cold turkey—i just didn’t smoke anymore. it wasn’t such a hard choice to make but it was a little late when i made that choice. it took me two years to regain most of what i lost and i have not fully recovered yet.

some say i was very lucky and that i got off easy. true. some life lessons are difficult and only learned after the avoidable mistake.

i used to smoke. i used to miss it but not anymore. its not worth missing.

i was wondering how fireworks would look like in black and white.

flowers flowers : the b&w fireworks series

twigs and leaves of light twigs and leaves of light : the b&w fireworks series

lipad lipad : the b&w fireworks series

looks like a walker looks like a walker

lightstrings lightstrings : the b&w fireworks series