Rejuvenated. Reinvented. Reconnected. Re-engaged.

Isn’t it so? To start writing again in a brand newfound voice? Like being out of that dark deep well I fell into when I lost my lust to flirt with words with the world.

Been out of the blog scene for 6 months, traveling stopped, so does my writing, got nothing else to write, too much censorship on my mind, I can’t tell much, people involvement was too much.

Things have been a little, ok, it's been a lot of really crazy and random things that I did since I got out of work, I didn't even went to work during my last day, I was in a terminal at midnight, going to Malolos, Bulacan, and then I went to Manila to watch a pageant, and then drink with a couple of random people at Taft Ave.

It's been slow this past few months, I deactivated my Facebook account for 2 months so that I could start writing music and lyrics again. And it did work, I have 12 new demo songs but haven't recorded it. I was planning to release a Christmas love song (awwww) as a gift to whoever is listening to my songs. Listen to a few here: 

                                     http://www.youtube.com/user/bumpymusicphilippine

As for my personal hiatus in blogging, I have no excuse for it. I ran out of words, lost the tongue of my hands, but everyone needs a break right? For me, forcing to continue something you used to love is like still believing to win a match where the announcer just said you lost. I wasn't happy writing blogs that time, what the hell would I say? What more to say? Nothing, I was burned.

It’s been 4 years (I think) since I’ve started to speak these jailed thoughts of mine. Four years and so much has changed but one in this life.

Mine’s still a bumpy journey. 

A room, a bummer, and a whole lot of junk

Last two days I woke up, did the same things a bummer in me would do every morning. Go out of the room, look for something to drink, may it be water, juice, or alkaline water (something mom was introducing to me, she says it removes the acid in the body, but people, alkaline water is like tasteless water) or even soft drinks.

After that I'd always come back to my room and lie again, but I guess that day, on that day, a spark of energy in me, perseverance to clean my room, I guess so. After I saw this:

A messed up room.

It was a mess, I couldn't move much in my room, old files, papers, junk food, all kind of stuffs are all over, I didn't know where to put all the stuff I bought and have been keeping. So I said to myself "Eff this, I'm cleaning this shit." And so I did, I didn't plan on anything, I just made decisions on the trash and other things, where to put it, what to do with it, as I clean along.

I was taking my time cleaning my room, especially when I see things I thought were lost, and some memorable pieces, like old test papers, old photos, gifts, more old photos and some works of my friends I asked for like old print ad campaigns.

Then I saw old 8x10 prints of my project in my class in Photojournalism. It was eating a lot of space and I thought, why not display it on the walls of my room, together with my no-good-but-nonetheless-I'm-proud-of-it-paintings. So I stopped, looked at my wall, visualized, held the masking tape in my hand, and started putting it all up.

Room's still a mess, you can see that the Print Campaigns I asked from my friends are making their way on my wall.

One big problem in my room is the small space it has to offer, three persons would suffocate in my room! It wasn't using its "full space potential," A look from above the bed gave me the answer - I had two study tables! But I couldn't move out one because no one would take it and I needed the two to keep stuff.

Wanting my room to be a space-efficient-with-a-gallery-look universe, I separated the tables and designated the one on the left as my work-related table and the the one on the right as my hobby-related table (where I will do my photography, painting and music writing stuff)

Throwing old stuff has been always hard for me because I'm such a sucker for old things and the memories with it that I treasure. But some things really have to go away, and as I put papers, cards, junk into the garbage bag, I took a one last look at everything I was throwing away, smiled at it, laughed at it, and sometimes regretted the memories it came with the stuff.

Separated table gave me more space.

What was really hard was choosing the photos to put up on my wall. I wanted to show my best works, but, the sad truth is, all my works were a nod, an "ok" and some "hmm..yeah that's good" ones. But nevertheless, I chose, took me 2 hours to choose and probably 4 hours to finish putting it all up.

The cheapest collection I bought. The 7-11's "7-Elections" for PHP20! (less than $1)

The next hard thing was mopping the floor, because I've never done that, and that's probably why I'm blogging about this is that I did so many new things while cleaning, like cleaning the wall, the window, removing dirty spots and mopping the floor!

The 12 photos of the main wall of my room.

After cleaning my room, I took a bath for an hour, literally an hour! I loved every drop of cold water, it was like love all over me, haha! Well, then I rested for a while and I didn't know we were going to have a send-off party for my Auntie that night, so what a coincidence, I got to show off the new look of my room!

For the first time, in my life, and I'm not exaggerating, I wanted people to be in my room, to look at it, my room was the extension of me, I think people will get me if they took time to look at my room.

The paintings I did, except the last one, it was made by a friend for me. See, I'm no Picasso.

My cousins actually said it had a different look, a different feel, "more breathing space" said one of them. Yes! Now they can hang-out! I actually felt improvement of the air-flow in my room.

My two cousins, this is the view from the door looking into the room. They painted for me, now I'm looking for space to put it up.

Cleaning my room took two days to finish and now, I'm actually kind of satisfied with what I did. And to top it off, my return to blogging is today. 12-12-12.

Cheers! I'll be blogging more soon about my past travels that no one knew and the best moments of my 2012!

Urban Wandering - Manila and its lessons in life.

Ever had a time when you looked at you camera and shoes? And it was all dirty and dusty, it lacked care and love? Then you realize that you haven't traveled for a long time? So you grabbed your camera and shoes, cleaned it up but also realized you had not much money?

Yes, again and again it usually happens to me, most of the time it kills me to stay inside the house and watch National Geographic and let them explain the world to me. I always say to myself: "No! I have to be there! Anywhere!" - I miss wandering around.

A kid on his Battleship floating around Pasig River.

For me, it's best to wander around if you have these things ready. Of course you wouldn't just go out with a few cash in hand, you have to be ready too for everything, remember that you're going wherever your feet takes you. Or is it just me?

1. Camera - Any camera will do, as long as the quality of the photo is good. It will later serve as your photo memory. 

2. Cash and Cash in Card - I usually have a initial PhP300.00 ($6) budget for the day, then if I had to spend more that's when I withdraw my extra stash. ATMs are all over Manila City so don't worry. When I didn't have a card before, I used to hide my money in 3 different parts of my body - In my Wallet, inside my shoes and in the pocket of my Boxer Shorts.  

3. Extra Clothes - I prefer to travel with a backpack with clothes in it, you'll never know when the sky decides to be emotional. But please, don't dress to kill while you're wandering Manila, you'll end up being a target of not-so-friendly elements present in each urban city in the world.

4. Music Player/Ipod - Music while walking around really takes away the feeling of getting tired. I listen heavily to the Beatles, Coldplay, Lights, Up Dharma Down, and Michael Jackson - but be sure to be more alert while crossing the streets of busy Manila.

5. Water, water, water -  When in Manila, you'll perspire like a dog's mouth so be sure to drink at least 2-3 liters of water while traveling.

Feast of the Black Nazarene, I was on top of a waiting shed. 

Why do you want to wander around? - This is the most asked question thrown to me, and my answer is simple: Because I want to think about life. The thought of seeing different things and experiencing it makes my life a bit more sensitive to others and realize that most of the time, people don't have what I have and I don't have what they have.

I realize that sometimes, the best isn't really the best out there, it's the right things for you that come into play. Wandering around made me realize that my life didn't suck as much as I think it is. I see people living in cartons and card boards with no clean clothes. I've seen a lot of things I thought I would never experience in life, one is being chased by a scavenger I tried taking a photo off, man I ran like I was The Flash.

Then there's things that make you feel how selfish you've been so far in your life. Children in the streets carrying their baby siblings asking for silver coins in hopes of surviving another day in Manila. They're merely SURVIVING, not LIVING. These things make me sit down for a while and just stare at them. Manila made me more sensitive to the truth of living in its city.

An old man in Quiapo begging for food.

But sometimes things are just plain fun and random, you feel you could do anything, like lie and relax under the shade of the trees. I'm a slow wanderer, taking each meaningful step and sometimes I sit for hours just watching people, couples - young and old, running people trying to make it on time in their workplaces, vendors, the local chess players in the park, and self proclaimed prophets.

Here's me at LRT Tayuman Station at 3:30AM, experiencing Manila in a whole new perspective.

Locals riding out in their 4-wheel Kalesa-Slash-Pedicab. I was stunned when I saw this it almost got away from my camera.

Manila is everything stuffed in one city, that's how it is, it brings you drama, love, comedy, suspense, and sometimes "What the Fuck?" moments in life. I did my wandering around this Dirty-Smelly-But-wouldn't-be-beautiful-without-it-horse-dung-included city and here's my story, what's yours?