So amidst all these obligations from all sides, I have to make some “me time.”  I was feeling a bit tizzy as of late and I got to relax.  So I would watch youtube clips of Mad TV and of course made myself laugh with some camwhoring.

Here is how I will look at the point of event horizon:

I look like a Picasso painting, only worthless.

And for the tyrannical part…..

This is me looking like North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong Il:

After seeing this pic, I feel so….. ~glamorous~ I am so ready for my Vogue Cover.

Over the weekend, an unplanned meeting happened between Blas and the mysterious lady and myself. We three spoke of different things ranging from notes on having relations with men from different universities (Yes, we are all frustrated sluts) to the politics (How this so and so candidate is a political prostitute) to certain showbiz chismis (the mysterious lady is related to suicidal celebrity surgeon Hayden Kho!!!!).

Blas presented by the mysterious lady

I was supposed to meet with my Virtual Girlfriend Nemcy but that didn’t push through so with some text messages, a coven of cackling witches and bitches converged and dished.

I really appreciated this unplanned meeting considering that lately I have become insanely busy.  But in a good way.  So, I guess, my weekends are not really totally free for me to relax because I have so much to do.

But I am not spreading myself too thin to a point of mental exhaustion.  This is why it’s a good type of busy.

Some would snipe that this weekend was boring.  The marketed social life as indicated by mass media as cool and youthful never really blazed in me even when I was in my 20s.  I don’t really get a kick out of going to clubs all dressed up and sounding stupid, so, this meeting with hours worth of conversation at some pizza place is what I make time for.

Certain highlights of the weekend:

I was offered to be a best man.  ME!!!!  I want to be the flower girl, too!  Thing is, the guy that offered me Best Man has yet to find a wife, so I am not going to hold my breath.  But, man, that guy is so serious to make me a best man.  I am just happy to be asked.

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  I love it because Elias Koteas is there as a watchmaker.  And Cate Blanchett is so fine and talented she should be presented to aliens as humanity’s gift to the universe.  Brad Pitt was ok.

Bought some large bottles of acrylics which means I am obligated to paint.  Maybe later….

Dubai’s Sheik Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has just ordered the cancellation of all New Year Celebration events in his emirate.  This is to be in solidarity with the Palestinian people pummeled by Israel in Gaza.  So, thank goodness, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO)-Dubai decided to hold its New Year Party on the 30th.

It was opportunity for me to celebrate with the takas (escapees) or with the wards of the consulate.  These are women who “escaped” abuses from their households.  During Christmas time, the number of wards usually increases.  Tonight, there were 103 women without work and waiting for solutions at the POLO-Dubai.  Again, what better way to celebrate Christmas but with those who are marginalized?  And my good friend from college Ferdinand joined us and provided the night’s unexpected punchline.  

So, there I was taking photos.  I was the night’s official photographer and the wards were hamming it all up.  One yelled, “Kuya, pang-friendster ito ha?”  And of course, there is just a wealth of camwhoring and jologs poses, but what the hell, it was a night to ditch problems.  Even for just a few hours, these women forgot that some of them may have been slapped, hit with an iron, have not been paid for months, screamed at, worked from 4am to 11pm.

Tonight was about mirth albeit muted because the next door lady threatened to call the police if we make any noise.  Wow, a noiseless Pinoy Party?  It’s like Gloria Makapal Arayko without “Hello, Garci.”   Thankfully, the police was not summoned but an ambulance did arrive at the end of the party.

But first, a photo interlude taken on our way to the party:

I think I have seen Paris Hilton’s wedding gown:

But this is not skanky enough, no?  God, the fashion aesthetic of this part of the world is, I’m sorry, borderline circus kitsch even drag queens shudder to don.

I just love gender segregation that is abound in this side of the world:

Of course, Leadys and Gentlemen, be sure to know where you are going.

Ok, on with the party…..

But, we had to occasionally shush people, but there were still squeals.  The games were fun.  The ironic Trip to Jerusalem was fun because it almost went insane, ironic because we were in country that does not recognize the state of Israel.  The best was the one they had to do in pairs, wherein the MC had to say that one has to connect physically with her partner as indicated by the body parts like your nose to her eyelid.  Ferdinand whispered to my little sister Dang, “Kung ako ito, ililista ko ‘talampakan to mukha.’” (If it were up to me, I’d say “foot to face.”)

Ferdinand…*sigh*…..all these years and little has changed, really.

When dinner was served, I was taking photos of the queue to the buffet line.  I asked my sister where was Ferdinand.  She said he was at the bathroom.  More than ten minutes of taking pictures later, I checked up on my sister and Ferdinand.  He was still at the bathroom.  So, I still took photos.  I saw Ferdinand walking from the back looking exasperated.

“I was locked in,” Ferdinand wheezed.

What?!?!

So, Ferdinand recounted how he went to a bathroom to pee.  Apparently, the door was busted.  He was rattling the door knob for several minutes.  Nothing.  Since he cannot really go screaming for help while everyone was partying, he decided to climb out of the bathroom window.  So he scaled the bathroom wall and popped the window open.  There were some wards at the back eating and almost screamed when they saw Ferdinand climb out.  Ferdinand just said, “I’m locked in here so I will go out here.”

Some of the wards scrambled yelling not for him to jump.  One gave him instructions on how to open the door.  They told him not to jump because there was a gaping hole at the bottom and he might shoot straight through.  So Ferdinand gingerly dangled and hopped away to safety.

Here he is at the scene of his crime:

Whoever thought peeing could muster such frenetic activity?  Only Ferdinand can do it.  So, by the time the party was over, it slowly trickled around that Ferdinand is the “lalaking nakulong sa banyo.” (Guy trapped in the bathroom)

Dang could barely keep the food from coming out of her nose as Ferdinand recalled his ordeal.  Manang Padak was laughing mockingly to his face.  But Ferdinand just gobbled up the food.  I reminded him that this is just nothing compared to his former officemate who fell into an open manhole in a flood.  He was stuck inside neck-down and a burly lesbian was the one who had to pry him out as she scooped him from his chin.

It could be worse is my philosophy when it comes to Ferdinand’s foibles.

And something worse did happen.  Ferdinand went home.  As the party was winding down, an ambulance was called.  Some ward had high blood pressure.  I saw the medics and one guy looked really cute.  I wanted to take his photo but then again that would be weird as they attended to the ward who was propped into a wheelchair. I was just amazed at the equipment they had.  They have this portable monitor and their ambulance looks like the Philippines will have that just in time for the next millennium.

I was just walking around the complex and stumled into the garage.  I saw this:

These are the suitcases of the wards.  The office asked them to place their stuff here because there is simply no space.  I was just thinking of the process of them packing with their families back home, how there could have been tears but more hope as they left.  And I thought how haphazardly they packed as they escaped their situation, tears or lines of fright criscross their face compounding the failure and dashed dreams.

But that night, the sound of laughter outweighed the groan of these suitcases.  Because that is just the way most of us are, we think “It could be worse.”

As the ambulance sped away with the ward, some were worried but they returned to the task of stacking up the chairs.  I could hear some of them saying their night prayers.  I see some of them stashing their presents from tonight into their suitcases.  I see some lumber up to their very crowded temporary quarters.  This is not anybody’s ideal situation, but hey, it could be worse.

My health is not doing so good, but as I blog this, I am watching aliens zap out humans in War of the Worlds.  Yes, it could be worse.

So, we were told to keep our laughter down.  There will be no fireworks over Dubai as 2009 enters.  People are going insane from war and abject poverty in several parts of the world.  I am sure that there are hundreds of OFWs that will lose their jobs in Dubai alone.  No amount of new year resolutions will obliterate corruption from our political system. Doomsayers cry out that 2009 will be so difficult for the global economy.

So happy new year, everyone.  Life could be better.  It could also be worse.  But, new year or not, life is always just is.

One of the best things of the Obama campaign is the poster designed by Shepard Fairey.  His poster is a far cry from the traditional; the poster is almost a tongue in cheek amalgamation of street art stencils and formal Übermensch portraiture.  And now, you can be Obamafied!  Check these out: 

Do I look presidential?  Hahahaha

I love it.  I love it that the designer calls his work Propaganda Engineering.  Just where I belong, too.

I feel a bit iffy that I had to configure myself to American political iconography.  But what the hey, I love Obama because of Michelle Obama.  And I like this design beyond the sociopolitical global context…it’s just a fantastic piece of design.  None of those cheesy political posters I see in Philippine elections.

If I see Loren Legarda or Jojo Binay have posters like Obama’s it will just be like Christmas morning if they are brilliantly stupid.

You can Obamafy yourself by downloading this program.  This one is for Mac users.