Dirty Ice Cream

P.S. I think I look stupid in this photo but Mr. Ice Cream Vendor is keeping it cool (",)

When i was eight. I used to spend all the coins i can dig from my pockets to buy dirty ice cream from around the corner near my school then. I remember always negotiating with the ice cream vendor to make my ice cream cone higher by adding more scoops. I was such a patron of his rolling tin cart of ice cream that eventually he told me a little secret. He told me that whenever someone would request for additional ice cream scoops, he would squeeze on his ice cream scooper and because it all happens too fast, the customer thinks a scoop is being added but actually he is scooping off the ice cream cone, therefore you end up with less scoops of ice cream than before you requested for additional scoops. Before we know it, we've been punked (",)

Last Sunday, I enjoyed a cone of dirty ice cream. I tell you i never fail to not remember what that vendor from back when i was still eight told me. (**,)

Prehistoric Incubator

This is an incubator. It is almost like an ordinary baby basket. I wouldn't know how to operate this, its not like i was here back then when cash was still mickey mouse money (read up on your history books). (",) Wow but this is great right? Imagine a premature baby relying on this piece of wooden invention. I wonder if this was made in the Philippines. This incubator is located in what seemed like a hall of fame or a museum full of memorabilias of Philippine health care in the old but definitely thriving Fe Del Mundo Hospital in Banawe, Quezon City.

Central Market

Central Market. I took these pictures weeks ago when i still had the time.

I walked around clicking my camera, almost gaping at every thing I saw. It was beautiful. I haven't seen a 'Bunot' since high school. Almost everything was shouting 'Native' "Indigenous' "Made in The Philippines'.

Life is too fast right now. I wonder if things like these will last for another century. I almost forgot they existed. It was fascinating. I grew up in the Philippines. I don't live far from here and yet i was standing there like Alice-in-wonderland, as if everything was either prehistoric or something new.

And then i realized these things are familiar yet wonderful not because I was born and raised in the Philippines but because it reflected a culture that is gradually fading into the background of the modern day. And that some how my subconscious knew. This is what we call cherish the moment. (",)

Shallow. Some may say. To appreciate such petty things..., but then again what is shallow? (",)

Do-It-Yourself-Doll

This is a doll that I made for my daughter. One afternoon, I decided I wanted to make her a doll and just went on to doing it. It took me 6 hours (non-stop. sorry I’m a slow worker (",) ), plus one of her pink-polka dotted panty, a ball of purple yarn, a beige night-sleeveless shirt, one of Czesca’s red shirt and a vintage brooch which I turned into the doll’s hat. My mom says it looks like a voodoo doll, but hey this is where we get to say it’s the thought that counts and be excused hahaha. Plus, this should make me a champ at Amateur DIY. You can see that I even cared to make the doll’s underwear, when I could have just left it without underwear. hahaha. =p. Made in the Philippines.

Advantage: I could sell these to witchdoctors.
Disadvantage: No one will buy.

Security Guard

Pats. Patino. This time I only know his surname. I have no idea what his name is. Anyway, he’s a security guard. Obviously we can see that in his uniform. He’s been around for more than 10 years already. He married a nanny in one of the floors in our building. (Not that I own it, no hehehe, I’m just saying... in the building where I’m residing.)

I guess I can say he is beloved already by most tenants in the building since he is courteous, friendly and we know he does his job. You can almost tell by the dark circles around his eyes. So we can now check that ‘safety and security’ level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He's got it covered. (",)

Sidecar-Pedicab Driver

This is Dudot, which is probably just his nickname. He’s a local in our area who resides at the squatter’s area. He earns a living by driving a pedicab or sidecar as it popularly known here. He has a bad leg. If I can remember correctly, it’s his right leg. The right leg is abnormally shorter and thinner than the other, a defect he said he got from having Polio as a child. People would say that his right leg is like that small right fin of NEMO which was often called bad fin in the animated movie “Finding Nemo”. It didn’t stop our little NEMO from swimming just as fine as any other fish with regular set of fins and helping others. Dudot here does the same, everyday he pedals his bike as if he has a perfect pair of strong legs and while one would have assumed this bad leg would be a weakness, Dudot makes a living out of it. This just proves to us that it is not about being able; it is sometimes about becoming able. As I always say, it is not about what life makes of you, it is what you make out of life.

The interiors are often filled with stickers, the exteriors wearing the names of their children, wife or whoever owns the bike. Sidecar. The ride costs a minimum of 20 pesos-30 pesos. They can take you to Divisoria and 168 mall for 40 pesos. They take me to Morayta for 50 pesos. I know I can take the jeepney since its cheaper, but I prefer the pedicab more often because then I could have privacy. I can go directly to a certain destination without having to stop for another passenger. At least that’s how it is in our area. I believe in other areas, the pay is per person (7-10 and even 20 pesos each) and yes, other passengers can take the ride with you, given that you are both going in the same direction.

Elevator Girl

She hid her face from the camera, laughing a little. (the picture doesnt seem like it, but she's laughing, she is not whispering anything to the wall. (",) hahaha )
Tonight I decided to ask her two things first “ Anong ginagawa mo pag walang tao sa elevator? Walang sumasakay? What do you do when there’s no one inside the elevator, no one’s riding the elevator?” She said “ Nagisip isip lang. Just thinking,daydreaming’
“Naghahagdan ka ba at nakapaghagdan ka na ba dito? Do you ever use the stairs and have you ever tried going up by climbing stairs here?”
She answered “ Oo pero hanggang third floor lang Yes but only up to the third floor”

Thanks to me i just gave her something more to think about while she's in there (I must have seemed weird..=p)
I was just wondering because everyday she sits on a chair inside the elevator, greeting us as we step in for a ride up or down, pushing the floor buttons for us. She does that for about 8 hours with a one hour break everyday. By now, she knows every building tenant by the floor that they live in that you don’t have to tell her anymore what floor button to push when you get in.

Sometimes sheis forced to helplessly listen to what random nonsense we want to say or release. For example, Last week when I bought plastic plants, I told her about it as she smiled at me; how I really intended to buy real plants but that I ended up buying plastic plants, how expensive the real plants were and how much more convenient to opt for the plastic plants. I’m sure that I am not the only tenant in our building that makes sudden small talks inside the elevator with her (please don’t let me be the only one ;p hahaha). Maybe it’s because you always see her that somehow you’ve developed a sense of feeling at ease with her which makes you feel comfortable talking to her at times. I’m not sure. There are times when you actually don’t notice her at all. But she’s there, pushing the buttons for your daughter who is coming home from school, for the elders coming home from a mahjong game and for many more. She’s in every tenant’s every day and yes, I don’t even know her name. ‘She’s just the elevator girl’ we tend to say. But everybody is a big person if she is in your every day.