an odd curl

I’m rediscovering small joys in Manila after being...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:18:00 +0800

I’m rediscovering small joys in Manila after being slightly depressed from the short Singapore trip (travel aftermath when you’ve grown attached to a place). I got to taste a little piece of ‘autumn’ today: walked down a street in our side of the city with leaves falling and tree branches swaying to the wind. Rustling was in full volume but the tone was gentle. I looked up and the silhouettes of the branches were stark and clear against the white sky, and extraordinarily pretty. It felt like nature was simply reminding me that I am home.

(And this song was playing in my head as I walked along. :)

Praise God for His glory revealed in the smallest things. There is beauty in everything.

"We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and..."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:34:03 +0800

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

- C.S. Lewis

I am back in Singapore again and this time the experience is different, besides the fact that I am...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:45:00 +0800

I am back in Singapore again and this time the experience is different, besides the fact that I am far from home while still in the process of recovering from a bad case of LPR. Hoping to wrap this trip up with a lengthy update, for a change.

More Day 1 photos here: http://ihardlyknowher.com/claudrod.

Kim and Claudine and Mandarin

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:40:18 +0800

Kim and Claudine and Mandarin:

My officemate Kim and I started a ‘learn log’ on Tumblr to keep track of our progress in (re)learning Mandarin. We’re a bit desperate.

Pardon the blog title. I think I’m a bit obsessed with rhyming.

"If you don’t love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel...."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:19:00 +0800

“If you don’t love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve. I didn’t love God because I didn’t know God.”

- Donald Miller (from Blue Like Jazz; still reading!)

Mr #JamesJean drew on my planner. (Yep, still hungover.) (Taken...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:22:00 +0800

Mr #JamesJean drew on my planner. (Yep, still hungover.) (Taken with instagram)

Such a disgrace (I think) for taking a bad photo of this...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:34:00 +0800

Such a disgrace (I think) for taking a bad photo of this important moment in my life! :P

This is Mr. James Jean, friends. I have no words for this man, but I can definitely say that he is one of the reasons why I’m never giving up on my ability to draw (the very little I have of it).

In this, you can see him drawing on the cover of a Muji notebook I recently purchased. I am converting it into a planner by manually writing/decoupaging dividers and numbers. This is one of my personal DIY (tactile, non-digital) projects for this year, to add me some boost of uhh creativity. It feels like a high school project but that can be the point of the whole thing. I need a breather from all the grown-up worries/To Dos I have for the year. #goodexcuses

I’d have no problem using the first week of January to define my direction for the year. It was all about creating, organizing, and new experiences. All full of (he)art!

2011 was the year of coffee for me. I started seriously drinking...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:35:00 +0800

2011 was the year of coffee for me. I started seriously drinking coffee (by seriously, I mean just like the grown-ups: no cream, no sugar, just plain black coffee) when a good friend gave me a can of it from Toast Box Singapore for brewing. It was then when I discovered for myself that there’s more to coffee than just its well-loved ice-blended form. I now love my basic coffee.

Because of that I decided to keep track of my coffee intake using Daytum, just for fun.

Here’s to being perpetually awake. :P

PS: I’m letting the occasional latte/cappucino slide. As long as it is hot, it’s counted as half a cup = 0.5. Hardeehar.

"You’re cheating yourself out of today. Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but..."

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:58:00 +0800

“You’re cheating yourself out of today. Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on tomorrow, and today trickles away like water down a drain. You wake up the next morning and that today you wasted is gone forever. It’s now yesterday. Some of those moments may have had wonderful things in store for you , but now you’ll never know.”

- Jerry Spinelli (Just stumbled upon this quote. I should start reading Love, Stargirl.)

"I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by..."

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:39:10 +0800

“I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last. A waltz which you can like only when you are waltzing is a bad waltz.”

- C.S. Lewis

“You’ve Ruined Me” - Norah Jones (Live at...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:36:27 +0800

“You’ve Ruined Me” - Norah Jones (Live at Ancienne Belgium 2010)

Nothing short of perfection, Norah. What a song.

I think I can easily sum up how the year’s been for me...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:35:00 +0800

I think I can easily sum up how the year’s been for me with just a glance at this photo.

(January’s was posted here.)

Just thought of documenting this rare moment where the desk...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:42:00 +0800

Just thought of documenting this rare moment where the desk seems to be in order and things don’t seem to be part of a bigger mess. Now meet the cast of my newly cleaned-up desk.

From left to right: My 7-year old VW New Beetle model in blue (the only one that survived, the rest just… melted), my new penholders (ceramic glasses from Ikea!), Totoro doll from a good friend (one of my favorite things in the world, lovingly handcrafted by this girl named Sharon See), Gingy the Happy Meal toy (who once starred in one of the videos I made), partly-seen potion (aka juice) tumbler from Far Far Away Land (aka Universal Studios, SG), a KLM miniature ceramic house from one of my sister-in-law’s trips to the UK, and that red Google mug I won from a contest two years ago (which receives my default dump of coins, loose buttons, pins, etc). :P

In the background: a part of my beer bottle collection (contributors, anyone?) and some cans from Singapore, which I plan to convert into plant holders soon.

Not in photo: Mr. P Jr., my very fat indoor plant. I let him out for some un-walled sunlight when this picture was taken.

Disclaimer: I am not a huge Shrek fan nor am I an alcoholic.

(via twistedfork) Insert Trash to Play…SAVE THE UNIVERSE The BGC (Bonifacio Global City)...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:17:00 +0800

(via twistedfork)

Insert Trash to Play…
SAVE THE UNIVERSE

The BGC (Bonifacio Global City) commissioned me and 3 other illustrators to dress up their new trash bins. This is one of the two trash bins I designed for them. I’ll post the other one once it’s installed. :)

Yey!

—
Photos by Claudine Rodriguez

And of course, Dan Matutina does it again.

I found this trash repository of brilliance (Or should it be: brilliant repository of trash? Haha!) along 28th corner 9th street, near the Honda showroom at Fort Bonifacio. I love walking around and finding things like this that brighten up a place. Simple idea, big effect.

We went fangirl-ing over the Stomp show tonight at the CCP. All...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:10:00 +0800

We went fangirl-ing over the Stomp show tonight at the CCP. All I can say is go watch it. It will never be close to anything (else) you’ll see in your life. Unless you actually attempt to try to do what they do, of course.

(Well, though you’d probably think it’s almost close to the ordinary, the brilliance in the creativity behind this show makes all the difference. The cast members are all masters of precision in these seemingly mundane things. It’s the combination of it all. It’s science making music, I tell you. Plus the slapstick comedic element for laughs. You will be floored.)

So go watch it.

—-

One of my favorite (the only melodic number in their repertoire if I remember correctly) numbers is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBht9zxW5eI&feature=related.

—-

Can I just say how blessed I feel to have seen two of probably the best shows playing now in Asia (if not in the world)? I’d like to thank a good friend for taking me to see the Lion King when we were in Singapore. The whole mix of things in that experience of a show (including having to see it in the Marina Bay Sands theater with that breathtaking lobby) was nothing short of magical.

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life...."

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:02:51 +0800

““That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.””

- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

(Bishan Interchange mural by...

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:42:00 +0800

(Bishan Interchange mural by www.gardensilly.com)

——-

Just came from Singapore yesterday. It was supposed to be ~~a ‘primer’ for~~ the highlight of my 24th birthday but the trip didn’t feel that way.

There is more to be said of this. I just need time to gather my thoughts. And feelings. They’re just all over the place. Hah.

"One of my role models is Bob Dylan. As I grew up, I learned the lyrics to all his songs and watched..."

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:30:12 +0800

“One of my role models is Bob Dylan. As I grew up, I learned the lyrics to all his songs and watched him never stand still. If you look at the artists, if they get really good, it always occurs to them at some point that they can do this one thing for the rest of their lives, and they can be really successful to the outside world but not really be successful to themselves. That’s the moment that an artist really decides who he or she is. If they keep on risking failure, they’re still artists. Dylan and Picasso were always risking failure. This Apple thing is that way for me. I don’t want to fail, of course. But even though I didn’t know how bad things really were, I still had a lot to think about before I said yes. I had to consider the implications for Pixar, for my family, for my reputation. I decided that I didn’t really care, because this is what I want to do. If I try my best and fail, well, I’ve tried my best.”

- Steve Jobs (CNNMoney/Fortune, November 9, 1998)

Someone had been using my old toothbrush for months. Found out about it when someone else replaced...

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:58:00 +0800

Someone had been using my old toothbrush for months. Found out about it when someone else replaced the said toothbrush. But no, not for me.

It is pointless to defend its ownership. No matter how much you insist or keep proving that the toothbrush is actually yours because you bought it yourself (and its bristles have turned into a crazy opposite-mohawk because you brush really, really hard and for that it sticks out of the rest in the communal container), you still lose. After all the detective work, the clearest of truths is that you’ve shared spit with someone else for almost every single day of the past month or so.

I no longer feel secure in my own home. Ha ha ha.

——-

For your reference, I’ve included below a photo of an old toothbrush. I am quite obsessed with having to intensely brush my choppers. A friend even told me that brushing the teeth is actually a mechanical process, not a chemical one. Makes sense. And no one else in our household does the same thing. No one!

A lesson

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:19:00 +0800

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you
I’ve never had a selfless thought since I was born
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through
I want God, you, all friends merely to serve my turn

Peace, reassurance, pleasure are the goals I seek
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin
I talk of love, a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek
but, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin

Only that now you have taught me,
but how late my lack, I see the chasm
and everything you are was making my heart
into a bridge, by which I might get back from
exile and grow man…
and now the bridge is breaking

For this I bless you as the ruin falls
the pains you give me are more precious than
all other gains.

(“As the Ruin Falls” by C. S. Lewis)