Still Crazy After All These Years
(Also known as the cursory Christmas entry bloggers are wont to indulge in especially during the holidays)
And I mean that in a good way.
Not in the melancholy, maudlin sense expressed by Paul Simon when he wrote a song of the same title in an album which, by the way, is part of my CD collection (something that is becoming increasingly anachronistic).
In any case, as I said, I am still pixilated — yes, it means crazy — because I remain optimistic.
I remain grateful for my friends who have, in one way or the other, expressed support when I ran out of fuel, literally and figuratively, at various periods this year.
My gratitude goes to Barry G. and Art F. and others including Bernie L., Arvie V., Teddy R., Mads B., and Bing C. — individuals who may be uncomfortable about being mentioned in a website such as this one.
Thanks for the Christmas Eve invites, Barry and Art, but I just had to turn them down. I did seriously consider Barry’s offer to shack up with him, Maya, and Aemon at a fancy hotel in Ortigas. Reminded me of that time in Washington, DC five years ago at the Marriott Wardman Park.
Bing, thanks for sharing beers with me in Dumaguete in April. Let’s do that again.
Arnold Tenorio and Dennis Estopace also provided some humor and companionship even though I always shelled out more cash whenever the three of us went out for a drink. It’ll be your turn next time, I promise. Arnold and Dennis, thanks for staying sane, decent, and independent. Keep up the good work, or whatever it is you pretend to do.
Faye Ilogon deserves special mention for helping me out with logistics, broadly defined, and for always trying to cheer me up.
Paolo Manalo for the free books he willingly gave away and dropped off at a preset location — all at no cost to the recipient — before he went abroad to pursue studies further.
GMANews.TV colleagues and co-workers also deserve special mention for making my day every single working day, and here they are, in no particular order of importance — Raffy and Fidel J., Jon P., Karl K., AR S., Kim T., Aie S., Sophie D., Joseph U., Mark M., Jam S., Dreo C., Olmin L., Loloi G., and Jayme G.
Former colleagues also made their respective dents in my life such as Alex M., Abe C., Romy T., and Joe T.
Alan and Raissa Robles for lunch and more.
Thank you all and Happy Holidays.
Bottles of beer were opened, relished, and consumed in your individual honors.
Thank you Rapidshare for just being there, always tempting me to shell out cash for a premium account. But the thought of bills alone gives me pause.
Thank you, Julio Cortazar for writing Blow Up and Other Stories. I’m beginning to appreciate metafiction once again, fourteen years after I read this the first time around.
Thank you, twelve-inch PowerBook G4 for being my workhorse, continuing to function despite a case of kernel panic two years ago and a faulty C key that pops out occasionally.
Thank you, AlphaSmart Dana for allowing me to keep at it, enabling me to type in the unlikeliest of places (i.e., a congested waiting area of a bank in Quezon City) during the most unearthly hours (i.e., an hour and a half after Christmas, when everyone’s inebriated and I am — miraculously — drier than a martini.)
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From That Old Black Magic Department. As indicated, this whole document was produced and processed using technology that is roughly five years old. This document — typed on an AlphaSmart Dana — was then beamed via infrared to a Treo 650 from which the same file was transferred via Bluetooth to the PowerBook G4. Mrs. Santa Claus pic courtesy of ebaumsworld.com.
