Pinoy Blog Machine (Beta)

Today found me in the middle of what's got to be the most quiet cafeteria I've ever been to. My deaf friend teaches at SAID (Southeast Asian Institute for the Deaf), and she had asked me over for lunch. We hadn't met up in a while, so even though the time I had for lunch between classes was pretty tight, I said yes. I'm trying to follow the example of my friend Jay, and say yes more, so there I was.

I've been to the school before. I've taught deaf children and gone to the ice cream socials in Sacramento, so I'm pretty comfortable with being around deaf people. Still, as a hearing person, I never get used to it. Certain things surprise me about it every time.

It always seems to me that the Deaf are more intimate in their conversations than we are. Sign language is immediate. It's personal. With any spoken language you can distance yourself from the words. Sign language is a lot more tactile. You can't tell a sad story without reenacting it, using not just your hands but your facial expressions and posture to add emotion to the words. With sign language there's no disparity between what you're saying and how you're saying it; signs and emotions should flow into each other into one coherent story.

The Deaf are also much less anal about personal space. When a deaf person has his back turned to you, there's really no way to catch his attention than to come up behind him and tap him. Even during group conversations there's a great deal of touching between them for emphasis or to express a desire to sign.

I really should start meeting my deaf friends regularly. Today during lunch (which, by the way, took forever to finish - how can you eat while you're using your hands to sign?) I felt like I'd unlearned a lot of the signs I've learned before, but then that's my own fault for not practicing. I do pretty well when they slow down their signs for me (the equivalent of enunciating words), but when they're talking amongst themselves and signing one-handed and including some local slang, I'm still lost - especially when they're having a go at me and purposely speeding up their already lightning-fast hands. Even their fingerspelling went by way too quickly for me to pick out more than a few letters.

"Don't try to pick out the letters," a deaf person once told me, laughing. "Just pay attention to the shape." Right. Of course. The shape.

I'm also still having a bit of a problem because I learned American Sign Language, and over here they use Filipino Sign Language. FSL is similar to ASL, true, but there are still a lot of local signs to learn and replace my ASL ones with.

Still, I love it. There's something about learning (relatively) esoteric languages that really gives me a rush. Why I'm an Economics major is beyond me.

I definitely enjoyed my lunch out, as rushed as it was. Ruth (the teacher) and I made plans to meet up more regularly so we can get me up to my old signing ability again before the prom.

Yes, the prom. I was asked by one of Ruth's students to be his date for the prom, and in the vein of saying yes more, I said yes (with Rob's approval, of course). My first deaf prom - with dancing and music and everything. This should prove to be interesting.

So I finally decided to give blogging a try...

Wait, I own several blogs! But I mostly write for myself. This time, I'm gonna take blogging a bit seriously.

Let's see where this takes me.

Let me tell you a short story.

It was my sister's birthday.


We decided to have dinner at Gumbo, Mall of Asia.



We waited

from sunset

til nightfall.

The food came.

It was okay, but not memorable. Not nasty but not exceptional as well.

We watched the fireworks

which was the exact same shit I saw last week when I had mango crepe at Cafe Breton.

Made our way to Chocolat for dessert. I had the mandatory Bailey's Deep Dark Chocolate cake.

All this left The Topdog a happy and sane man.

Lost: Flash drive

It's the start of the term and I'm already unlucky. I just discovered that my dear flash drive was lost. She may only be 128 MB but she punches like a Terabyte.

I just do not know why she needs to run away. Did I not take care of her well? Certainly not! I may not have shown her much appreciation, but I was hoping she knows how I treasure her deeply. I always carefully place her in the deepest pocket of my messenger. I thought she felt safe that way. But maybe she felt suffocated.

She was a real beauty. And probably the sexiest I've ever met. When my friends see her, they always gasp at how small she was.

I will miss the way she swivels into life. I will miss how she gladly welcomes stranger ports and even hugs them without qualms.

Mademoiselle Flash drive, please come back to me. From time to time I may have mistreated you but I promise to take better care of you. We've been through a lot already. From keeping me awake during Dr. Cruz's class to seeing me bullied by Bryan during Cocirla. I've always trusted you, I've always thought you will be here for me always. I just did not expect to see you go away especially now that I need you for Mr. Francisco's class. Please come back Mademoiselle. I am not closing my door on you.


Go Kimmy!

So my dear Kim Clijsters served a couple of bagels to her poor opponent.



You were a bit unforgiving and ruthless. You could have sprayed a few balls outside for her to at least score a game. I was expecting it. You were always like this, unnecessarily serving bagels early in the tournament. Despite that, I still love you.