John 18-19

I was chatting with Clair the other night, and we talked about our blog problems and a little bit of fire poi (which we both dream of doing). Then our conversation drifted to where we were going or what we were going to do this Holy Week. I told her I'd be staying at home to perform in Teatro San Jose's annual dramatization of the Good Friday gospel. We both found it weird that I perform for a Catholic theater group despite my beliefs regarding organized religion. Live and let live, I always say. Much like Juned, I take long walks when I disagree with the ramblings of the officiating priest. Anyway, I've been a part of Teatro San Jose (TSJ ) for 7 years already and we've done this gospel dramatization many times. The most common interpretation we have is the straightforward re-enactment of the events up front near the altar. Last year we deviated from this by staging a "radio play" at the side of the church where we were hidden from the view of churchgoers by black curtains. This year we went visual, but hidden from view this time by white curtains. We did a "shadow play" and all they could see were silhouettes. I'm particularly proud of John19:32-34 when the soldier pierced the Christ Jesus' side with a spear, though some people said we could have elevated the crucified Christ a bit more so that he wasn't on the same height as the other actors. Oh well, there's always next year.

Flickr photo links below:
1. gospel07, 2. gospel04, 3. gospel05, 4. gospel02,
5. gospel11, 6. gospel08, 7. practice05, 8. gospel14,
9. gospel13, 10. practice06, 11. gospel15, 12. gospel17,
13. gospel01, 14. practice08, 15. gospel03, 16. practice04,
17. practice01, 18. practice07, 19. gospel10, 20. gospel09,
21. gospel12, 22. gospel06, 23. gospel16, 24. practice02

Stations of the Cross, St. Joseph

Stations of the Cross St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church

Stations of the Cross, St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church

Teatro San Jose, Good Friday Gospel

John19:32-34 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. - Teatro San Jose Rehearsal, Good Friday Gospel Reading, St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church

Last year we did the Gospel Interpretation for Good Friday in the form of sounds like a radio play. This year we decided to make it visual, but to be different from the usual drama presentation we decided to utilize silhouettes. Teatro San Jose Rehearsal, Good Friday Gospel Reading, St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church

Gorillapods

Link
Eimee (SuperEmang) talks about Gorillapods. :D

Dang and Baby Emma

With Dang and Babby Emma at Allan's House, April 3, 2007.

Gorillas in My Midst

Over the years I've amassed a small collection of monkeys, all stuffed toys mostly given to me by friends. Why gorillas? A bit of history, when I first became a net regular, the name igor was already taken in most email and web addresses, so I had to choose another screen name.

My solution: move the "i" in "igor" to the end and add "-lla". The result: "Gorilla". At about that time the anime "Slam Dunk" was being shown locally on Channel 5 and "Gori", short for "gorilla", was the nickname of Akagi, the team captain. Some people assumed that that was the reason for my name, but it wasn't. Until today, some of my friends call me Gori. So, I introduce to you my gorilla family... Yes, gorillas are in my midst.

One of my very first gorillas was this multi-colored huggable from my then girlfriend Jocelyn a little more than 10 years ago. It got lost one time, our maid took it home, thinking I wouldn't miss it. But I raised so much hell that it reappeared the next day. It meant that much to me.

A couple of years later, when I was working for Questor, the Uy brothers (DJ and Bryan) gave me this Mojo Jojo for my birthday.

Two years ago, for my birthday, I met the Questor / CV5 / P3 guys (Bambi, Olan, Cherry, Cecil, Bebert, Nick and Kenneth) for a night out. That day, the biggest member of my gorilla family "ILLA" came home with me.

In March last year, I bought a whole bunch of these clingy monkeys. Some of them found their way to my nephew Enzo's pram. I kept one of them for some monkey love.

This one I love a lot. This is "ILYA", a gorilla puppet given to me last Christmas 2006 by Bambi and Olan. He has since seen action in a puppet show during Enzo's birthday.

See him in action. Isn't he adorable?

Another gift gorilla, this one was given to me by Nick. I named him "NOGNOG". It's a shrieking gorilla doll.

Yup, he does sound like that when you push down on his tummy.

Just last Saurday, I passed by Vente, a Php20 store in Glorietta. I found these multi-colored orangutangs. I didn't let them go. They're the newest additions to my growing gorilla family.

So that's my Gorilla Family, and rest asssured it will keep on growing and growing. Thanks for looking.

Crossposted: http://gokitomo.com, http://gorilla.multiply.com and http://gorilla.vox.com

Gorilla vs Snakey Part 5

Word of warning, this post contains pics of a dead snake.

Had to dispose of my fifth snake last night. It's about a year since the last gorilla vs snakey, the one in Bambi's house. (I had a post about that.) This one wasn't as big as that one. This only measured 14 to 16 inches and was as fat as a cricket lighter. Adrenaline rush and dump wasn't as high but it was still there. The snake had a bulge in the tummy like Bambi's snake, I presume it ate a mouse.

I did the usual drill: jam neck then crush head then fully decapitate. I used my old wooden bokken to jam the neck and the samurai katana-inspired hunting knife to crush and cut. Yup, seems both serve some use other than just being part of my weapons collection.

I've disposed of 3 snakes with this knife already: this 14-16 inch one, the 8-12 inch one in my toilet while I was reading and a 6 inch baby snake. (Add to this another not so baby 8 inch snake and Bambi's 3 1/2 foot snake makes 5 snakeys.) I'm naming this knife the serpent killer. Every time I use it the thin edge at the tip always gets bent. And I always re-straighten it with pliers. I'll straighten it today.

Things I've learned through the years so far about dealing with snakes?

1. Be fully aware and focused. But it is important not to panic.
2. The younger ones slither away faster.
3. Move away but know where the snake is at all times.
4. Heat or rain tends to make them go indoors.
5. They appear in places which used to have talahibans, especially here in the south.
6. As much as possible don't dispose of it alone, have someone to help you.
7. For larger snakes, a group disposal would be in order with each person having different roles: shooers, jammers, crushers / decapitators.
8. Snakes are a bit slower after eating.
9. A severed snake head supposedly can still bite you and inject venom.
10. For even larger snakes, call the fire department! This tip courtesy of Chameng.

Crossposted: http://gokitomo.com, http://gorilla.multiply.com and http://gorilla.vox.com

At Choco Kiss with Old Friends

I got a call from Rolly that one of our college friends was in town. Dang is here on vacation from Canada. She brought along Baby Emma. Dang suggested we have an early dinner at Chocolate Kiss at the UP Alumni Center this Sunday. UP has always been home base for us since we all went to school there.

Chocolate Kiss at UP Alumni Center


Dang and Baby Emma


Dang and Baby Emma

At the gathering were for Dang and Baby Emma were Rolly, me, Anj and Cerwin, Ate Elvie, Enteng and Luchi. Including Petite and Allan, we're the only ones left here. Everyone else is abroad. (Note: seems Chocolate Kiss is open at the upper floors on weekdays, but on weekends the ground floor is the only one open. Heck, I only knew that now.)

Anj and Cerwin


Luchi and Enteng

We used to have one very big barkada at the UP Institute of Library Science (now the UP Institute of Library and Information Science). Imagine 15 to 20 guys and girls going out to eat during lunch at Beach House, Green House or CASAA. Small college, big barkada. As we got older the group started to include girlfriends, boyfriends and, eventually, spouses. The peeps abroad are Dang and Allan, Bam and Veegee, Jeanette and Troy, John and Abie, Bebs and Arnold, Zyrel and Jho, Abet and Nigel.

Dang and Baby Emma with Rolly


Dang and Baby Emma


Ate Elvie

We started the meal, as per barkada tradition, with a prayer. Usually it's Anj or Bam, and sometimes Jeanette or Ate Elvie, who leads the prayer. Weird as it may seem, a barkada like ours with a wide variety (or absence) of religious beliefs can actually sit down and pray. This time it was Anj who took the reins. Hehehe, she's probably the only one who could actually make us drop forks and say grace. Jeez, you could just imagine the religious discussions we had in college. They weren't pretty. (Yes, we've been called pagans a couple of times.)

Dang and Baby Emma with Rolly


Anj and Cerwin


Dang and Baby Emma

We didn't really miss Allan, who was left in Canada, since Baby Emma looks so much like him. :D

Kuyukots


Kuyukots again

One sad note, though. Anj, Cerwin and the kids are bound for New Zealand within the year, further decimating the ranks of the kuyukots (yes, that's the name of our barkada mailing list... hey, everything else was taken...). :( I also hang out with the hardbound (another barkada mailing list) peeps and the pattern is also starting there as well... :(

Dang and Anj... What do they have in common? Answer: Caesarian births.
They probably scared the hell out of Luchi with their pregnancy stories.

Dang and Baby Emma with Anj

Crossposted: http://gokitomo.com, http://gorilla.multiply.com and http://gorilla.vox.com

Slam! Whiplash!

Yup, got into a minor accident last Thursday on my way to work. It's been 17 years since my last car accident so I'm kinda new at this again.

I was in Sta. Mesa on my way to Ortigas when I was rear-ended. The car behind me lost its brakes and slammed into me. The force was strong enough that I rear-ended the car in front. It's minor, not really a debilitating / car-crumpling accident. It's just annoying, though... Repairs and time and all that jazz. The result: broken bumper, broken luggage compartment post, misaligned luggage compartment, dinged / scratched and misaligned hood.

One worry everyone had was if I sustained whiplash. I think the bump was strong enough to jolt me but not enough to do damage. Anyway, I could describe the impact as two to three times the force of riding those Wild River or Log Jam water rides when you hit the water after a drop. Definitely stronger than a roller coaster, but not as strong as the force of the side-on collision I had in 1990. That one crumpled the whole front of the old red 1978 Lancer and broke the front axle. For this accident I couldn't help but feel that I got the raw end of the deal. Heck! I was sandwiched between a Honda City up front and a Nissan Sentra at back. The Mitsubishi Lancer received damage on both sides!

As the guy in front of me and I got out of our cars, all we could do was look to the guy at the back of the line in disbelief. All I could mutter was "Ang lakas nun!" No one lost their cool. We were all civil about it. The guy in the Sentra was apologetic and said he'd pay for the damages, he admitted that he lost his brakes. We all exchanged cards and contact info.

Yesterday, Saturday, our family friend Jun, who sold us the car saw the damage. He also has a talyer. I thought that he could do the repair work since I know the car will be in good hands and that the paint job will match. I brought the Lancer to his shop that same day. Conservative estimate: around PhP7,500. Estimated completion: Wednesday. So I'm without a car for half a week.

I have this ritual when it comes to car repairs. When the car is going to stay long at any shop in Las Pinas, meaning a whole afternoon or overnight, I pack a knapsack, a Gatorade and take the long walk home from the shop. It's exercise. It's zen. Makes me think things through and appreciate the fact that it wasn't any worse. This walk took about 40 minutes in the noon day sun since the shop was in Lopez, on the other side of BF (I actually crossed the Parañaque / Las Piñas border).

Crossposted: http://gokitomo.com, http://gorilla.multiply.com and http://gorilla.vox.com

Gokitomo and Nopperabo Go Retro

Ever wondered what happened to this?

And this?

Well... Since I've been asked a couple of times by a number of people...
The content of the old gokitomo.com and nopperabo.com Questor Manga websites can now be accessed via http://gokitomo.com/archive/.

The Nopperabo Manga Website Archives can also be accessed directly at http://gokitomo.com/archive/nopperabo/


The Gokitomo Manga Website Archives can also be accessed directly at http://gokitomo.com/archive/gokitomo/