On Paper
Adulthood is overwhelming, It is a spiral of bills that have to be paid, work that needs to be done, and just everything else in between. While I cope well enough to keep the roof over my head, it is overwhelming and it’s tempting to succumb to succumb to darker thoughts. I need to learn to temper them.
So for 2016, I will learn to be a little more grateful. It won’t change the situation I’m in now, it won’t mend a lot of the damage past or dent the debts I have, but it can make me look at the bigger picture.
A good friend and a longtime student of mine gifted me with a Midori MD notebook. At this point in time as a hobbyist letterer and calligrapher, Midori paper intimidates me. It’s on the pricey side and definitely not for idle doodling, but the cream-colored paper is crisp and smooth to the nib’s touch. It took a few weeks to realize that I had to do something with it, or the dust will destroy it. I’ve decided to make it a prayer and gratitude journal. My favorite pen to write with it is a Pilot Cocoon Fine Nib with Sailor Jentle Ink Magenta.
Tita Vicky, who I have the best conversations with, gifted me with a Q&A a day notebook. It contains 365 questions meant to last over five years, so you can easily look back on how far you’ve come along. It’s less intrusive than Facebook Memories, and a lot more intimate.
Questions Answered So Far: “The best part of today?”, “What was the last restaurant you went to”, and “Today was tough because ____”
Will this change me? I can’t say. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. But for the change I want to make, I have to figure out how to get there.
I’ll start by putting it to paper.
What journals and pens are you using for 2016?
Convict Cake: Bilibid’s Nameless Bakeshop and the Inmates Who Run It
Originally published on Marci 6, 2014 on Pepper. Words by me, photos and text editing with additional reporting by Lars Roxas. Photo editing by Mylene Chung.
It started with a joke. At least, I thought it was a joke.
I was late for a good friend’s party. I had missed the singing of the birthday song and the blowing out of the candles, but there was still a lot of cake. My friend cheerfully offered me a slice. “Would you like cake from Bilibid?” she asked. I didn’t believe her, being used to bouts of irreverence from my friends, but I did accept the cake.
She sliced me a piece from the spongy golden cake, its sticky yellow icing glistening under the flourescent light in their dining room. I was surprised at how fluffy it was. If she hadn’t said anything, I would have thought they’d bought it from a direct order baker. “No, really,” she insisted, “Bilibid.”
“How did you get this cake from there?” I asked. Little did I know that the answer would lead me from the comforts of their home to the Maximum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison.
Continue reading “Convict Cake: Bilibid’s Nameless Bakeshop and the Inmates Who Run It”
The start of something new
It took me over ten years to finally agree to have domain in my name. For the longest time, I resisted. I felt that I wasn’t worthy. My name is catchy enough, but I have no glittering awards to it (yet). It was only in the last year with a few key milestones in my teaching career that I finally gave in. I needed to be less of a ditz online. The ones who have told me that they read my blog were parents of students and editors. I need to cater to more to that.
So here we go: new year, new page, as I don’t believe in a “new me”. A new year doesn’t mean a chance to start over, it’s a chance to learn from the year before.
For one thing, I need to update this more often!
What You’ll Find in miamarci.co:
-Casual lettering and calligraphy projects
-Thoughts
-Maybe some personal creative writing
-Information on my copywriting and workshop services
Close the Gap
Earlier today, I got on my usual jeep from banking errands to home. There were about four people other on board. I took the seat closest to the door, more out of convenience than anything else. There was a girl who was already on board, in the space ahead of me.
As the jeep drove on, I couldn’t scoot up to the driver. I asked other passengers there to pass on my fare. They politely ignored me. With a little more urging in my tone, I asked the girl next to me to pass my fare. She seemed to give me a withering look, and scooted towards the front, complaining, “Ang layo ha.” – this is far.
I wouldn’t have bothered her if she were, letsay, asleep on the road. I would have understood her irritation a little more if she were to get down at the next stop or before me, but she didn’t. I got down first, the girl stayed on.
In that one instance, I saw the problem on our level. We may not be at fault with the key problems we have as a city, and as a country even. But there are too many of us who refuse to pass on what we need to pass on. There are too many of us who refuse to close the gap between us, even if it just made simple sense to do so, even if the gap is a mere feet apart from where one sits or stands.
You Do What You Gotta Do
Passion works for some people. I feel like passion is like some kind of trust fund, it’s the kind that will somehow never run out. It’s the high-paying stock, the portfolio, the bank interest that you can pay for your for the rest of your life. Passion for me was like the money I saved since high school, when the inflation rate wasn’t quite the reality. Passion was my favorite lamp with the faulty wiring. Sometimes it set things on fire. Other times, the light dimmed when I needed it the most.
So what do you do when your favorite lamp goes out, but you can’t bear to replace it?
You fix it. You work on it.
Continue reading “You Do What You Gotta Do”