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Life and Lemons

Life and Lemons

Art in the Park 2016

I think my friend Hazel and I are getting into the habit of creating traditions, one out of two thus far is making a date of Art in the Park. Art in the Park is an annual spread of relatively affordable creations scattered around Jaime Velasquez Park in Makati, from paintings to sculptures and various knickknacks, to books, clothes and shoes. There’s music blaring out of speakers, swapped with live performances once the sun goes down. There’s wine and beer, fish balls and dirty ice cream, and of course there’s the steady stream of people, all willing to endure the summer heat for a day of art appreciation and acquisition.

I’ve forgotten the origin story of why we went there last year for the first time. I think Hazel was on a mission to spruce up the bare walls of her office and her bedroom. Unlike her I didn’t have blank, decorate-able space, but I like staring at strange, beautiful things created by people. So I came along. This year, we were driven by the same motivations, and we came out of it with the same sentiments (well, at least I did)—the sun wasn’t any kinder, but it’s always a great high being surrounded by these wonderful and wonderfully weird, manmade things. Half a day spent there is never going to be enough. Let’s make it a whole day affair next year? I want to be there when the fairy lights mark the perimeter of the tents and burst through the low canopies of trees. Continue Reading

Life and Lemons Writing Now

The Year I Didn’t Turn 30

I realize this is my second 2015 year-end post, and there will be some overlapping highlights. I guess the double-post of sorts is testament to how remarkable last year had been.

And I did turn 30, technically. But going into 2015 I thought that’s all this year will be: the one when I turned another decade, wherein I would embark in a more serious hunt for anti-aging implements that worked, and I would solemnly swear that I’d watch what I eat, and that I would figure out if I like my day job enough. But I think it’s that fear exactly, of aging, of a bucket list I can’t keep up with, of being more than ever required to be an adult, that pushed me to take the leap on things I’ve only dreamed about. This year, I looked at some of those dreams in the face, and went ahead and grabbed them by their slippery tendrils. Continue Reading

Life and Lemons Writing Now

2015 – The Bookish Year That Was

2015—at least the latter part of it—was the year I came out of my writing closet. I closed my eyes, jumped, and found a lot of things waiting for me after the fall. It was awesome. When I decided to take note of these things, I found a surprisingly long list. Apparently since July this year, I was able to: Continue Reading

Life and Lemons

2014 – The Blogging Year That Was

2014 was the year of passport stamps, career pirouettes and sweet tastes of liberation from the ever-looming paternal shadow (i.e. weekday condo living away from my kind yet quite naggy mother). I am very grateful. Nonetheless, the year was also naught with deficiencies, such as my lack of attendance in any musical event, and likewise the less than satisfactory number of blog posts I should have written. 2014 was an I-should-have-blogged-more year. Despite of that, my beloved WordPress.com stats helper monkeys are showing much improved numbers for this humble blog, an impressive leap from previous year’s 11,000 views to 25,000. To this I say: Boo-yah.

Thus, I offer my sincerest thanks to those of you who stumbled upon this tiny piece of the interweb and proceeded to click and read. I offer my commitment to provide more daydreams, etc for your perusal. Cheers to 2015!

Here’s an excerpt of my 2014 annual report, all thanks to you:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 25,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Life and Lemons

Tale of Two Clearances: Getting your Police and NBI Clearance

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Nothing rains over the parade of a brand new spanking job more than the curse of getting government clearances. In my case (and I think with almost everyone else’s nowadays), my new employer is requiring two – police clearance and NBI clearance. Now in this day and age of free information (GMG everything), I wasn’t going to visit my neighborhood government offices unprepared. At least I would like to know how many books I need to bring to bear the wait, and I assume you would too. Below are things you need to know, gathered from a lot of Googling and from my own recent experience: Continue Reading

Life and Lemons

2013 – The Blogging Year That Was

Perfectly punctual as usual, herein is my blog’s 2013 annual report as meticulously prepared by WordPress.com stats helper monkeys. I would like to meet them one day, but for now I would just like them to know that I am quite pleased with their services. This is my 3rd annual report which I suppose is testament to 3 years of written blabbering. If you chanced upon this blog by mistake, my improved stats would like to thank you for that error.

Happy new year, monkeys and humans! 🙂

Excerpt!!

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Boom.

Click here to see the complete report.