That Dinagyang Weekend

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

--T.S. Eliot.

2014 is shaping up to be a wild year. For starters, climbed my first real mountain (see upcoming post).

NEWS: Have another poem accepted for publication. "After Wall Street," inspired by Martin Scorsese's latest piece of genius, "The Wolf of Wall Street," with Leonardo DiCaprio in a performance that should win him the Oscar in a just world, will appear in the April issue of UK-based Popshot Magazine.

SUNRISE AT THE ILOILO RIVER ESPLANADE I

CRAZY: Last weekend, went to Dinagyang for the first time in almost/probably a decade. Was with T and J, two Tagalog-speaking virgins of the festival. Everything's changed. It's... massive. A real world-class festival. On Sunday morning, streets were clogged with people, so unlike the chill, rustic Dinagyang of childhood. Also, met E and had a pretty crazy Saturday involving lots of pastry, some alcohol, and vomit (not mine). 

TRAGIC: Some of you might have heard. A fire ravaged Iloilo City's Chinatown. Ten business establishments wiped out, including ours. The backstory is so ludicrous (it involves bureaucracy, the ineptitude of firemen, and fucking Mainlanders), it still makes my blood boil. But whatever, kismet. Entire place, mostly wood and older than my 60-year-old father, was already falling apart, and I've always said it's only a matter of time before *things* happen. People back home are coping, thankfully, and the outpouring of love and support from the close-knit community is heartwarming. Business as usual (the hows and whys are too intricate to detail here). Life goes on, or as Sondheim would say, "Stop worrying where you're going. Move on."
 

SUNRISE AT THE ILOILO RIVER ESPLANADE II

 

Goodbye, for now.