Q: I lost faith in the opposite gender.

Now that one paper is out of the way, I can talk about anime. People are curious about what I am currently watching and I can definitely tell you that nothing is new in the crib. Mostly second seasons and perhaps one new anime, I think. Wait, allow me to gather the list here for you.

Season 2: Freezing Vibration, Kuroko no Basuke, Magi, Valvrave, White Album

Season 3: Yozakura Quartet

Ongoing: Hunter X Hunter

New: Kyoukai no Kanata

Beat that,
Vonnie S.

Q: I remember that tragedy...

So the battle with phlegm tribe continues and has been hitting a plateau, hardly showing signs of letting up. I am not satisfied, not happy at all. But, I’ll put up with it as usual. In one hour, I’ll be actively job hunting for the sake of completing a class assignment. The resume needs more work too, and once I get that settled, I can submit it for revision.

On cold days such as today, I crave roasted chestnuts. They are not readily available here, and so I’ll put up with it. I tell my stomach that we’re going to have butter chicken with spaghetti tonight. I tell my body that gaining weight is now an option, though not a preferable one. I tell my mind to focus on completing this semester. Already I hear this loud protesting going on…

A way out?
Vonnie S.

Q: Whose tears are these?

My last piece of herbal candy and my throat has yet to heal completely. The phlegm is still there and I’d glare that this abomination if my eyeballs allow me access to it. Go home sucker, you know that other people will welcome you. Time to pack your bags and go! I need to write two critiques by tonight and while I appreciate your company, all this coughing has been driving me nuts! Sigh.

Team swim,
Vonnie S.

Q: Do you know that I'm the only one in this whole wide world who would put up with that?

Credits to skritek-zaneta (c) Salt

Follow the yellow brick road, they say and you will get your wish. I have been on that path for a while now, yet to see anything but fog and the occasional forest friends. Some would walk by my side for a bit, some would ask for food, and most would show up during fair weather singing songs of spring; then leave to do their bid.

“Life is short,” they said and disappeared soon after.

Magical message,
Vonnie S.

Q: You love to eat, but hate to cook…

When one speaks of God, you’d expected a Christian. A goody-two shoe that even your fight-flight response approves because you let your guard down in its presence, and just a little, your muscle tone relaxes rapidly. You may perhaps willingly share your space, throw in a smile or two and within a split second, watch this person return it effortlessly. Her eyes gracing your presence with utmost attention, without so much as turning around to see the bookworms buried in their readings or the one little boy who has been running between bookshelves. You then find yourself talking about your life and how it came to be, what is at stake and who you love; many of those may have been locked up before friends and family, yet permeate without difficulty as though the barriers are all gone. Except she is not a Christian; an atheist would better suit her religious identity.

“You see, I don’t believe in God. What an irony, because I so happen to major in religion. I’ve read the Upanishads, the Koran, the Bible, all those holy sacred books. If you can name more, chances are I’ve covered them front to back. But I simply can’t. Do you want to know why I don’t believe in God?”

I nodded, partially because it was impolite not to follow through with a conversation and the other portion was simply out of curiosity. No cats involved I swear. 

Part I,
Vonnie S.

Q: You love to talk, but hate to listen…

It’s pretty official. After all, we’re talking about a seven-year long relationship that has been consistently growing stronger with each passing night. I sold half of my pillow space without much persuasion, feeling that it is only the right thing to do for my sleep buddy. No gender, no name, no pulsing heart; but its mere presence strikes melodious lullaby to my ears. What I found myself looking forward to after a rough day outside is some cuddling time with my bolster. And often times it takes me to places, people and adventures I never possibly could have these days. I probably shouldn’t spare it too much attention for its innards have been shifting to polar opposites, and for that it has gotten more capable of doing the whole touch-your-toe regime.  Despite the stress of material aging and rough-housing, it continually stays in place as though it too may have deemed that it is the right thing to do. Barely holding on to fabric, thread by thread, it watched with silent eyes as I pace back and forth in my tiny studio bedroom, sometimes in anger, sometimes in tears. It identified with its owner, her bipolar-like swings from stress of chasing deadlines and trying to meet expectations, yet loyal to the program and life goals. Take with you this idea if you will, that these two stubborn existences will see that their time in Baltimore end on a good note, one that perhaps promises many more nights of serenity, preferably on a softer pillow.

Cotton wool,
Vonnie S.

Q: Is it a golf country?

I hate that the living system us humans created after countless centuries of development came down to money worshipping. I, as any sensible living being would perhaps since birth, conformed to this system, learning and experiencing it firsthand day in day out.

One cannot eat without money. That goes the same direction for the clothes we wear and the shelter we sleep in; these two other basic necessities we cannot survive without. But greed takes us further, for we weigh the price of love, kindness, guilt, and other abstract qualities that build human relationships by its monetary value. As though we were all come preprogrammed with some sort of appraisal skills, many fell into the bracket of putting price tags on nontangible items. I wish I can talk further, but time holds a strict leash on me.

I hate to admit it, but I am guilty as charged, and if I was ever placed on trial, I’d blame “circumstance” as the main perpetrator. I would have done so in a heartbeat. Had society not mandated money as God,  had religion not forsaken science, and had human beings be just as satisfied today, as had they live in caves with just two pairs of apparels and daily rations of food, I wonder if we’d be more or less materialistic in the present.

Small cycle,
Vonnie S.