Aargh

it’s near christmas, and i’m in the mood to share.

saw this on a cd in megamall, powerbooks, tower records. the younger…(thinks of a kind word, can’t come up with one)…the younger creature reminds me of pugsley addams. these guys came up with a cd full of songs for their mother (see the picture they’re holding up? the lady posing as though she’s singing to the sky?) the songs aren’t even original works by them. they had to create their own record label just to release this cd, by the way. -shakes head- honestly.

christ! well, no, it’s not our lord and savior, it’s a freaky old man on the packet of green tea. it’s terrible. look at him. i hear "bring out the lee-kum-ki" in my head whenever i see this.

the picture quality isn’t that great, but this santa strikes me as unique. if you actually do see it, he’s got a slightly different costume on, not so much RED like all the others, and he’s fur-trimmed. i’ve got only two problems with him. 1) the violin’s off-kilter. 2) animal lovers will have this santa’s ass on a stick.

you think the philippines is the only country with a jolina magdangal? think again. found this on a chinese channel.

took this pic a long time ago, when i was bumming at a friend’s apartment. looked at all the little anime figurines he has and found this. cute little girls standing around and completely ignoring the crushing scene before them.

how macabre.

and that’s it from me. sorry this blog’s pic-heavy. at least i didnt ruin anyone’s dinner by including my face on the pic roster. belated happy halloween, all. >:)

another long weekend. now i know it’s nothing to complain about, but it’s still another long weekend. when i was still in school, i looked forward to ‘em, but now i kind of view them as a roadblock to training. this week marks the last time we trainees do tracing/clean up work. we move on to actual in-between animation exercises next week. yehey. ^__^

it’s weird how things turn out. ever since i got into toei, companies have been calling me, asking if i am interested in a graphic artist position. (which reminds me, i better update my profile or something) and i think my mom finally got an idea of how well-established (read: stable) toei is. here’s a summary of her dialogue with a very nice lady who called the other day.

lady: i’m from (mom didn’t catch the name), and we were wondering if your daughter would like to apply in our company.
mom: ah, she’s not home, she’s training in toei.
lady: i’m sorry, where?
mom: toei, the animation company in libis…
lady: oh, well, if that’s the case, let’s not bother her na lang, ma’am. that’s a very good company, she’s better off where she is na. (pause) of course, if she would like to still broaden her horizons, she can always give us a call.

*ROFL*

no, of course it’s no laughing matter that suddenly i’m being somewhat besieged by companies looking for graphic artists. it’s a good sign that at least students of my course in benilde can get a job. not just from my school, too, from any school that offers arts and design and all that. i find this convesation that my mom had just a wee bit amusing because 1) i think she finally believes that toei is a good company (she kept asking), and 2) well, if i did want to broaden my horizons, it’d be too bad because she didn’t get the name of the company O__o at LEAST the lady who called was very nice, and she even paid me an indirect compliment. (thank you very much, whoever you are ^_^ i hope your husband gets you something nice for your anniversary) i got a call from another company, a rather well-known, big one currently looking for graphic artists, too. i won’t put down the name of that company, because i’m still a bit decent, but this is how the conversation went:

woman: ah, hello, gerardine?
me: yes?
woman: this is -blah- from -BLAHBLAH-, you sent in your resume for the graphic artist position? will you be available for interview on -blah-?
me: oh, i’m sorry, but i’m already in training at toei animation phil.
woman: ah, ok, SIGE. -click-

well, excuuuse me.

i guess i really can’t blame her, it WAS nearing the end of the day and she probably wanted to go home. still, that was a bit weird.

anyway, that’s about it for now. i’m sleeeeepy. goodnight. ^_^

yesterday was the last day of my first week in Toei Animation Phil. Ace and I are having a ball. we know there’ll probably come a time when we’ll absolutely hate it when someone dumps a new folder or envelope onto our desks and says "deadline nyan ngayon, ha??" (of course, we won’t quit our jobs, we’ll just be tempted to strangle said person).
the IB (in-between) department is marginally insane. every so often somebody will start bird calls, owl calls, the ‘Kill Bill’ whistle, etc. i had to stop in the middle of tracing and snicker to my heart’s content when somebody started playing "tigyawat sa iloooong…pati na rin sa pisngiiiii…kakaisip sa yoooooooo…" and every so often, whenever somebody gets carried away and starts talking in a loud voice, a chorus of "ssssssst!" "sssst!" "sssssssssst!" "huy, maingay!" coupled with giggles and snickers will fill the air. let’s just say that it never gets too quiet in the IB section.

now that i’ve raved about toei…on to the good stuff!

i’ve noticed many things on my way to and from work. one of them is the number of badminton courts sprinkled across the metro. you’ll find them everywhere. they say that if you throw a rock in any random direction, you’re certain to hit a guitarist. i can say the same for badminton courts and most probably badminton fanatics. they’re becoming as ubiquitous as kris aquino billboards and megumi hayashibara (to those of you who have no idea who megumi hayashibara is, she’s a japanese voice actress with a battalion of anime shows under her belt, meaning she’s voiced a LOT of characters and sung a LOT of anime songs). if bj and nick are reading this, i regret to inform you guys that kris aquino has started to invade my side of the world. there is a huge billboard of her on the skyway. my only consolation is that it rained heavily the past few days and i’m hoping that something’s happened to it.
you’re probably wondering what the title of this stupid entry means. well, even if you aren’t, i’ll tell you anyway.
my mom is on a paranoia roll! i think she’s not used to the fact that i’m now working in another continent, and now that i have to spend lots of money on toll fees and gas and shit, she’s frantically thinking up ways to 1) save money 2) ensure my safety. the problem with both is that they often don’t go together. you can’t "ensure my safety" (since when did riding in a car ensure your safety anyway? you get more accidents at home than elsewhere, so why’s the car any different?) and save on money at the same time. at least, not the way she thinks it should be done.
sometimes, you just gotta let go.
yes, the title. i’m getting to that. one of our cars, the innova, has a sticker on it that says "baby in car". we got that sticker because my niece, mia, was here during the summer months, and we sometimes took her to the mall. now that she’s in china, the "baby in car" sticker probably applies to me.
don’t get me wrong, i never said i didn’t appreciate mom’s concern for me, but sometimes you’ve got to get realistic about it. konting tiis lang naman e. when i’m made a regular employee–and i DO mean when, not if–i can pitch in for gas and toll, and then we can all be happy little campers.

on a side note: to any of you who dream of becoming animators, i’m telling you now, it’s not the highest-paying job in the world. if you’re going to get into it, get into it because you love it, not because you want to get rich. that’s why they have call centers and business-related shit. but if you just want to draw something that will one day bring a smile to a little kid’s face (and even from the bigger kids, like you and me), then by all means. animation.

see ya.

"i still belong…don’t get me wrong…
and you can speak your mind, just not on my time.
i don’t need you to worry for me coz i’m all right
i don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home
i don’t care what you say anymore, this is MY LIFE
go ahead with your own life, leave me alone."
                                                –Billy Joel, "My Life"

got home from atc to find that the front of the house was getting repainted. normally, that doesn’t bother me, but my allergy rhinitis was acting up, and the fumes irritated my throat. i feel sick. it’s a good thing it takes something really bad to knock me down. unfortunately, i think that ’something bad’ was just a couple of zyrtec anti-allergy pills.

what’s happened lately? not much. because of a little miscommunication mish-mash, ace and i had quite a bit of free time this past monday, and we managed to take some…interesting…pictures.

uh-huh….

a picture book…>:)

forgive me for being green-minded. it kind of comes with the territory, so to speak. i did graduate from a school whose colors ARE green and white. apparently, there’s not much ‘white’ where i’m concerned. i’m a rather colorful sort of person. i’m sure you’ve noticed.

this, coming from somebody who just posted the lyrics to a very sentimental, meaningful song on this very same blog…ah, just goes to show there’s always two sides to a coin.

well, there really isn’t much else to blog about. mom and i went out and bought groceries. my aunt swung by and gave her some organic stuff. herbs and all that. organic stuff is the in thing, it seems. funny how it should have been the in thing all along, considering it IS natural.

anyway, i’m off. ^_^ bye.

decided to put something up here. i just came across this song today, and i like it. it’s got a very sweet, gentle melody. you can almost sense the longing here, and well, as its title implies, the hope. so here it is. ‘Fields of Hope’, from the anime Gundam Seed.

Fields of Hope

konna ni tsumetai tobari no fukaku de
anata wa hitori de nemutteru
inori ni utagoe sabishii nohara wo
chiisa na hikari ga terashiteta
       Beneath a veil so cold,
       You deeply sleep, all alone
       The melody of prayer; on the lonely fields,
       a little light shined

anata no yume wo miteta
kodomo no you ni waratteta
natsukashiku mada tooku
sore wa mirai no yakusoku
      I had a dream of you
      You were laughing like a child
      So dear, and yet so far -
      That is the promise of our future

itsuka midori no asa ni
itsuka tadoritsukeru to
fuyugareta kono sora wo
shinjiteiru kara
Fields of hope
        That one day, on a green morning,
        One day, we will make it there
        Because in this wintered sky
        We still believe
        Fields of hope

umarete kita hi ni dakishimete kureta
yasashii ano te wo sagashiteru
inori no utagoe hitotsu kiete
mata hajimaru tayorinaku setsunaku tsuzuku
       On the day we were born, we were embraced
       And now we search for those gentle hands again
       The melody of prayer; one vanishes;
       And all begins again; a powerless, painful continuation

itsuka midori no asa e
subete no yoru wo koete
sore wa tada hitori zutsu mitsukete yuku basho dakara
       One day, to that green morning,
       We’ll cross through all these nights
       Because that is the place each one of us searches for

ima wa tada kono mune de
anata wo atatametai
natsukashiku mada tooi
yasuragi no tame ni
Fields of hope
      Now, within my own heart,
      I want to keep you warm
      So dear, and yet so far -
      In the name of peace
      Fields of hope

natsukashiku mada tooi
yakusoku no nohara
Fields of hope
      So dear, and yet so far -
      The fields of promise
      Fields of hope

the translation may not be perfect, i think, but the meaning of the song is nice. it talks of the eternal struggle to find what you really want, to find peace, love, etc. etc. it counters every cynical and pessimistic view of the world. in spite of how bleak our situations are, like a dead world, maybe one day we’ll cross through the nights and find our fields of hope. and it also speaks of wanting to protect someone, letting that person know just how much you love her/him. it doesn’t even have to be a romantic kind of love. it can be the love of a mother for her child, the love of a friend for another, the love of a sister or brother.

reality can be difficult, and people can be cruel. but reality can also be beautiful, if the people who exist in it are beautiful. we’re in this world for a reason. you decide if you want to make that reason worthwhile.

maybe when we’ve figured out that we’re not here for ourselves and that we’re here for other people, we’ll find our fields of hope.