Today, I Cursed Some Generations

Practices That Merit Malevolent Curses

1. Trying to flag down a jeepney in the middle of the night.  Especially when you aren't sure which could get you home.  You are new at work and haven't gotten your commute down pat yet.  You are new at work, but have already been asked to render overtime.  So much for having some time to smell the flowers after you punch out from the daily grind.  The only flowers you smell are those outside houses mourning their dead, reminding you of what could happen to you at this hour, if you don't get a jeep.
2. Getting into a jeep and then discovering that the driver has selective hearing.  Asked if his jeep passes by the Taft MRT station, (twice) the driver says yes.  30 minutes later, he takes it back, saying, I thought you meant MRT, Quezon Avenue.  Those stations don't sound alike to me.  Imagine that.
3. Having to get off a jeep in yet another new, unfamiliar stop, because of said driver's selective hearing.
4. Finding the right jeep, but having to get off again, because a couple of minutes after the driver has taken you in, he realizes that no, he isn't going to Baclaran tonight after all.
5. Finding yourself in an unrecognizable place that looks straight out of a Carlo Caparas rape movie because the driver has decided to ask you to go flag a new jeep right as he was driving through it.

The Process of Malevolent Cursing

1. Rant: Not everyone has a sense of direction, you know. It isn't a goddamned bucket of rose petals, ending up lost and bargaining with God in the middle of the night. I know it isn't the driver's problem, but what does a girl have to do to get some assistance around here?
2. Curse the jeep drivers, with their sins of ommission and their sudden decisions to drop you off in places that could really use more lights.  
3. Curse their children, too—that they may lose all sense of direction until they are unfit to become drivers of even toddler carts, so that they would be unable to carry on the bwiset practices of their fathers. 
4. Realize that you have cursed a hell of a lot of children.  And we're only talking about one night.

Missing My Students

The CEO and CTO of the online school where I used to teach will be flying in from Japan to throw a Christmas gathering for their tutors.  Sincerely, I want to come, and not only for the possibility of free food.

When I got the e-mail inviting tutors from Diliman, LB, Davao and Iloilo to meet up with them, my first reaction was, Ano 'to, mall tour?  But then I realized that I wanted to come, to say that hey, your tech support team in Japan is really nice, your processes are so efficient, your clients are all so polite and warm.  Drat.  I resigned months ago.

Suddenly I missed my students who regularly book my classes and actually tell me how the day went.  I wondered how they were doing, and wanted to give them lessons again. Hmm hmm hmm.

Maybe I should just settle for sending a bunch of ecards sometime before Christmas. :)

Here's My Body. Take Any Part You Will

Something that I dug up and pieced together again:

The soft recesses of our mouths—they will one day wait for someone, and when that someone does not come, desire makes makes the soft recesses feel dry to our own tongues.
The spot between the neck and the bone of the shoulder—it will one day be forever at the ready for the weight of someone else's head.
The arms—they  will seem to grow as long as they do to wrap completely around somebody.  Or at least hope that if they happen to be short, somebody still ends up fitting inside the circle that they make.
The stubborn softness of our bellies and the swell of our own bodies—they will stay to keep hurting those we wrap around and roll with.
Sharp, protuding bones—they resist pads of fat, because there will always be those willing to hurt a bit when skinny people reach out for a hug.

Of all the shapes bodies become, whether through eating, working, or just letting be, isn't it delicious to think that somebody, someday will want and fit with that body of yours?

Sneaky and Seemingly Safe

Please give me an Edward Gorey book for Christmas.  Although preferably not this one, because i've read this already.

Notes to Self While Getting Lost on the Way Home (Again)

I dislike long roads in cities, not because I easily get tired, but because I easily get lost.  Who would think it possible to get disoriented along an avenue?  The path is straight; still I lose my way, because of the derelict houses and dark shops that seem to shift and move ominously as I move forward. I am always compelled to pause, turn the inevitably wrong way, and forget what jeep or bus I should be boarding next.  Five nights of wrong buses and lanes, each one a testimony to strengths I lack.

Once, it was dark when I took the wrong bus. I got off and grasped, as an adult, the fear of the dark for the first time.  I think it feels the same as hearing words from that mouth, and not believing that that beloved mouth can mouth words that sharp and strong.  It can't be, I think, feeling like a child pushed into a van hurtling in the dark, with drivers unknown, no parent to hold my hand.

In moments like these, I want a map, to tell me what bus to board, what word to say, which place holds monsters. Or a promise that eventually I would be found, if I keep feeling my way home.

On Becoming an Adult

A grown-up is a child with layers on, someone said once. I just forget who. Oh, (s)he is so, so right.

Building Verbs with Suffixes and Prefixes

This note is for one of my students. Happy reading!

AFFIXES (Suffixes and Prefixes) are needed to build new English words. To see how affixes work, look at the following examples:

Prefixes to reverse verb meaning (動詞意味を逆転させる接頭辞) :


dis-
examples: disappear = 消えなさい
root word: appear or 現われなさい
disconnect = 接続解除
root word: connect or 接続しなさい



un-
examples: unbend = まっすぐにしなさい
root word: bend or くねり
unfasten = 外しなさい
root word: fasten or 留めなさい



de-
examples: deselect = 選択解除しなさい
root word: select or 選り抜き
deform = 変形させなさい
root word: form or 形態



Here are the most common affixes for verbs, and their meanings:

re-	again or back	ex: restructure OR rebuild = to build again
dis-	reverses the meaning of the verb	ex: disallow = to take back permission
over-	too much	ex: overwork = to work too much
un-	reverses the meaning of the verb	ex: undo = to take back action
mis-	badly or wrongly	ex: misinform = to give wrong knowledge
out-	more or better than others	ex: outdo = to beat, to do better than
be-	make or cause	ex: belittle = to make someone feel small
co-	together	ex: co-own = to own jointly
de-	do the opposite of	ex: deport = to take someone/something outside of a country
fore-	earlier, before	ex: foresee = to predict, to say what will happen before it actually happens
inter-	between	ex: interact = to migle with other people
pre-	before	ex: pretest = before a test
sub-	under/below	ex: substandard = poor quality, below passing
trans-	across, over	ex: transplant = to take from one place to another
under-	not enough	ex: underfund = to give a poor budget for something

here are the URL's of the pages I used to make these notes:

http://www.uefap.com/vocab/build/building.htm
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt