PLEASANT SURPRISES

I'll tell you what, I guess, I was really wrong posting on my Facebook wall that "life indeed is full of surprises, but never when you need one." As sour as that status was, it prompted one thing that I suppose holds true: The way we perceive something as surprising greatly depends on where we look at it from; what's surprising for you may not be for me, and vice versa. Which reminds me, aren't you surprised that DMC, a French brand of embroidery threads, can allow anyone to have an Amorsolo? No, not the real paintings, just the cross-stitch patterns.

The brand's only local distributor, Focus Global, Inc., partners with the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation for this project, which has turned eight Amorsolo paintings "that reflect Filipino culture at its best" into patterns: Planting Rice, Cooking the Noonday Meal, Winnowing Rice, Sunset: Return of the Fisherman, Girl with a Banga, Tinikling Dance, Lavandera, and Girl with Mangoes. (For further information, better check this out!)

This may seem like a free brand advertisement to you (and if it does, I'd be, in fact, glad), but for me this comes as something of a surprise, and pleasantly so. Not so long ago, in an entry here, I was just wishing to have one of the Master's works, but needless to say, how could I? Notwithstanding having only the chance to own its cross-stitch version, I now assume that having the real one is just within my grasp. But first things first: I gotta start that needlework now. Let me, fingers crossed, surprise you with my output, then.

THE HUNT FOR A POEM (revisited)

It is surprising to know that this blog's The Hunt for a Poem (supposedly a "series"), written a little over a year ago, gets the most number of hits (read: the counter on the right says so). Curious, I ran through the said entries and realized that I have had not "completed" the task. For that, I felt kind of sad and dissatisfied with my output for I know that most of these hits were scholastically related. "Did they find what they've been looking for? Was I able to help them with their 'assignment'?" I asked myself. Pfui to my so-called "ningas-kugon" attitude, you know that kind of I-really-am-setting-out-to-put-all-my-enthusiasm-into-this-at-first-but-loses-it-in-the-end-anyway approach of my ilk (pardon the excessive use of hyphen ). But most of all, I'm saddened by the implication of this on my working attitude: that I have the predilection for abandoning what I have started and for being swayed by "distractions."

Yet, the goals still stand: I need to look for "that poem" and record the ones on display in the commuter trains; even if not all, at least a little more than I already have here. So, be set for Part 3. ^_^

I JUST REALIZED...I CAN STILL DRAW!

The fish!:)