a horoscope

(freewill astrology originally found via teenybooks)

i half-believe in horoscopes. while the daily predictions don't really hold any water for me, i can't deny that i do demonstrate a lot of the traits ascribed to my sign: scorpio. this horoscope, on the other hand, hit the proverbial nail on the head. while i won't be investing in tarot cards anytime soon, i may just peep in on this site regularly.

What do you tend to do when you're squeezed between the demands of authority and the healthy need to rebel? How do you respond when the past and future are at odds? What resources do you draw on when the person you have always been starts to evolve into an interesting new form that you don't recognize? You've come to a fork in the road, Scorpio, when you will be asked to deal with these questions on a larger scale than before. My advice? Study your past so thoroughly that you'll be able to keep it from repeating itself, and open your mind to possibilities you've rarely considered.

it's true

we grow up, but we stay -- essentially -- the same people we were when we were 7.

quasi-family reunion 2008:

cheers to the elitist washington media

heaven... or paradise?

my mom just presented me the choice...

Boracay

-or-

Palawan?

oh mother-daughter bonding in the motherland....it's good to be B right about now

countdown to the philippines

...3 days (!)

"Witness to whence I came, where I am. Witness to what I've seen and the possibilities that I think I see."

go tell it...

"Jimmy was a combination of coquette, preacher boy and arrant wit all in one -- in other words, a cunt."
Frank Corsaro

"Please don't mind or be embarassed by any of my more hysterical outbursts. I'm like that on the top sometimes, but I'm very sound at bottom."
James Baldin

i've been stuck on this james baldwin biography for a while, partly because i haven't been reading as regularly as i'd like, but also because it just ain't easy reading. it's quite thorough, which is good, and much attention is paid to the minutiae of his life. while this is illuminating, it does mean one can't simply run through the pages.

what i have appreciated most about the book, however, has been the dominance of baldwin's voice throughout. baldwin's ability to perceive the people and the times he lived in has always left me in awe, so i'm quite happy to stumble upon more of insights, particularly in regard to the tumult of the '60s.

moreover, what i've found especially interesting are how particular insights, specific to his times and his life, are so applicable to the present. a couple that i found particularly striking --

"Despair is a sin. I believe that. It is easy to be bleak about the human race, but there are people who have proved to me that we can be better than we are."

"For everything is changing, from our notion of politics to our notion of ourselves, and we are certain, as we being history's strangest metamorphosis, to undergo the torment of being forced to surrender more than we ever realized we had accepted."

"Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have."

from baldwin's own words, it's clear that "bearing witness" dominated his outlook on writing. there was a definite social consciousness to it -- strongest and best expressed in his essays, but also in his novels and plays. he understood, perhaps as much as anyone else would ever be capable of understanding, that intricate kinship between the personal and the political.

he once said that he wanted to be an honest man and a good writer -- in that order. humble as those goals may sound, his words stand as testament to the power of the two.

everyday occasions

i'm a bit of an epicurean when it comes to new clothes.

in my mind, i want to prolong the enjoyment, the feeling of "newness," to delay the gratification and -- to some degree -- fake a certain nonchalance by not trotting them out at first go. there are also flimsy thoughts of propriety: to save the perfect outfit for it's equivalent occasion. but i never do. i (nearly) always bust it out on the first go -- shoes, jewelry, shirts, purses, dresses, you name it. it's not a desire to show off, nor even to revel in their newness. it's because i can't wait for that perfect event or date in order to feel that good -- who's to say that such a day would ever come? because everyday is an occasion worth dressing up (or down, or which-so-ever-way you please) for.

exhibit a: hamming it up for a college fashion show circa winter 2007. here, you see my affinity for hoop earrings, grey, and uhm...cocktail dresses that resemble cupcakes.

inspiration information

found this lovely blog via tumblr the other day, and this particular picture inspired the short post below. i also have to credit her for pointing me towards fredflare, which is a veritable candyland of goodies. i mean, can we touch and agree?

i am hopeful
i wish i could sing like aretha, if just for a day
i love what i've been given
i dance best alone and in my underwear
i sing to the peril of those around me
i think out loud
i really believe basil is underutilized
i need to drink more water
i should stop biting my nails
i can shake it like a polaroid picture
i like it like that
i make really good scrambled eggs
i keep good company and good faith
i always sneeze twice