The Spider's Parlor

© Jane Guevarra

Remember I told you that Jane, my good friend in New York, said she's finally done with her living room? Well, she's sent a photo of it, so I thought I'd show it to you. She's naturally very proud of it, she took more than the usual effort in making it look good... The sofa and the table are new, so's the carpet... the eames chair on the left was from me, and the curtain and the fortune plant are also new (or at least new since I was last there, March this year)


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"Bed Day"

© Joselito Briones

Have you heard of this holiday before? We don't have school today here in Germany (or maybe it's just Bavaria) because this is supposed to be the day in the middle of the week when you're supposed to just lounge around in bed all day. Am not shitting you, it's true!

Oh well, I might have spent all day in my pj's, but in front of my computer. I edited some pictures, for the brochure. I also did a new version of this photo that I took of Carrie a couple of years ago in New York. I wanted to experiment in high-key desaturated colors.


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The Siemens Sun Also Rises

© Joselito Briones

It's always nice that the Schlaffgutzimmer is filled with sunlight every morning, it's one of the things I like most about this apartment. Sometimes though, it gets confusing when, after leaving the sunlight-filled bedroom (photo, above), in the east side of the apartment, I see that the sun is shining just as brightly in the kitchen and dining area, west of the apartment (photo, middle).

© Joselito Briones

I've got Siemens to thank for it, of course, as the westerly sunlight in the morning is a reflection in their tallest building (photo, bottom).

© Joselito Briones

In the afternoon, it hailed. I was planning to go to Frankenlabor, I decided to just stay in. Goodbye golden October. Hello cold!


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Meet T-Bo and Yumi

© Joselito Briones

My feet were in so much pain from so much walking that I didn't really want to get up so early today, only I really had to go to my German class because I've been absent the past couple of days. Right after lunch I went back to Frankenlabor to pick up T-Bo and Yumi's pictures, including this one (left).

Frau Mueller came in again today to help us with cleaning the apartment (okay, fine, she did all the work). And surprise! She brought us some spring rolls (lumpiang shanghai) ready to fry! Eheheheh, nice. She prefers to be called Cathy Rose. Which reminds me. It was Cathe's birthday yesterday... wonder how she's doing.


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What kinda hellish comedy is that?

Publicity photo for "The Breakup"

Sunday night Roxy night again last night.

So yeah, so I got to see "The Break-Up", you know, the one withJennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Jen looked gorgeous. She should give the movie's lighting guy a bonus.

Anyway, the movie's really funny, I liked it a lot, until of course, when, close to the end, it got too close to home. I mean, come on! They might as well have recorded our conversations in the apartment and used them verbatim. So not funny. Damn fools.


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Floren's flowers

© Joselito Briones

I guess he's happy.


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Let there be light

© Joselito Briones

It looks like we're gonna go ahead with our small lighting-above-dining-table project after all... I stayed late last night trying to configure in AutoCAD a random-look in hanging the paper lamps without them bumping into each other (we have 27 of them in different sizes).

Of course I could've just waited until the frame is ready and adjust and cut the cables while they're installed, but that would leave too many unknowns. Like, what total length of electric cable is needed, would they constantly need readjusting so they won't bump into each other (the 3d simulation is not realistic image-wise, but accurate geometry-wise), etc.

Photo above, random weeds I pass by while walking around, belongs to the "Everywhere Objects" series.


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Another dose of red

© Joselito Briones

I know I'm sure by now you've seen plenty photos of the building where I live, but here's another one anyway. I photoshopped the sky so that it's flat and cool grey in tone to make the whole image look more like color swatches.

Got back early this morning (or late last night) from Amsterdam. That was a good trip, even the bus ride back wasn't so bad, I managed to get some sleep.

Can't wait to see how the pictures I took came out.


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Jens' Paintings on the wall

© Joselito Briones

I guess I'm just tired of having to lift them up whenever I vacuum the floor, else I've finally decided to end the procrastinating, I finally hang Jens' paintings on the wall, in the living room. Let's see if they stay there.

There's plenty more pictures and paintings to hang and place, you're welcome to do the hammering for us if you want.


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A reunion of some sort

©Eric Olivarez

Oi Jimbo, I thought I'd share this with you, an email from Eric, after he and Cyntch (also a dear old friend) visited my mom in Carmona:

"finally squeezed this one to my sked..and im glad i did it with cyntch around...it felt like we're back in lsei days when we used to hang out in ur crib, except this time it's a bigger, better and more modern haus u have i almost felt like im in a resort of sorts ...took us a while to pinpoint d precise location, haus # has changed from d original 049 to something like 111xx...

©Eric Olivarez

so many changes in the neighborhood and yet ur mom has managed to stay all the same, still very accomodating and nice to talk with, i dont remember talking to her with much substance as now it made me feel really mature (translation: matanda na) now...felt a lil disappointed that she turns out to be mildly allergic to photo shoot, hehehe! anyways, here are a few pics we took of her and ur haus...definitely not as good angles as u would have done but i hope u like it even just for the effort, lolz! pls say thanks to ur mom again next time u talk...."

©Eric Olivarez

Isn't he just the greatest? He's the one in green polo shirt, Cyntch is the one in white t-shirt, and the one in "USA" t-shirt is my eldest brother, Kuya Toto, and that's our house in Carmona, in the bottom picture.





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Wanted: Kansas

© Joselito Briones

If it's true, what everybody says about home being where one's heart is, then I'm currently, officially, homeless.


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The Day I Realized It's Not Much Fun Being...

© Joselito Briones

... Antisocial Here in Erlangen Where I Don't Know Anyone, As It Was in New York Where There Was All These People in The City Whom I Could've Been With and Interact With But Chose Not To, Nor Answer Any Phone Calls Even If My Closest Friends Were Calling and Scared Shit That Something Bad's Happened to Me And Who Are We Kidding They're My Closest Friends So They Forgive Me Eventually

Hmmm... all of the above was supposed to go to the title, I don't know why there's a limitation on the number of characters.


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A Day with the Girls

Promotional photo for "The Gilmore Girls"

I spent the whole day watching reruns of Gilmore Girls.





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Pet peeves

© Joselito Briones

It's whine time!

I guess by now you already know, no matter how satisfied I am with something, I'd always find a part of it to complain about. Take this apartment for example. As much as I've learned to really like it here, there are still things that annoy me whenever I come into contact with it..

First is the front door lock. Simple - check. Clean - check. Very nice to look at - check. Secure - check. What pisses me off, though, is that the darned thing can't be opened by one hand. Normally, one can use a hand to fish out the key from a pocket, unlock the door, put back the key to the pocket, and then turn the knob with the same hand. This one's different. You'll have to turn the knob with one hand while turning the key with the other. Whenever I come home carrying bags upon bags of grocery, I always end up putting everything down to open the door, pick the things back up, carry them to the kitchen and then go back to the front door to close it. (To put them down again in the entrance hall while closing the door is just too stupid already). So much for German efficiency.

© Joselito Briones

Another one is the shower control. It's nice and simple, fine. Looks clean, perfect. Easy to turn on, check. Problem is, it's just as easy to shut off. Imagine yourself taking a shower in a not-so-spacious cubicle. You spend some time adjusting the water temperature, until you get it perfect, exactly the way you want it (it's very important for me, I'm very sensitive to temperature). Then you shower, soap yourself, wiggle, wiggle. Then invariably, a part of your body bumps into the control and shuts it off, or worse, turns it so that the water becomes freezing cold. Then you end up fumbling for the controls to adjust it again, while soap gets in your eyes. Really annoying.

Okay, that's it for now, I'm sure there'd be more in the future.


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The Mpemba Affection

© Joselito Briones

I'm sure you've heard of it, the Mpemba effect I mean, smart as you are, but don't you think it odd?

I wonder if it applies to people. I mean, when you're excited about something, your sensors are all hyperactive, any negative input can be easily devastating and put you in the very bottom of depression. If, on the other hand, you're indifferent, preoccupied with something else, any input, negative or otherwise, is more likely to be ignored just as much, and you pretty much stay in the same emotional state. Just a thought.

The photo above has got nothing to do with it, of course. It's just my aluminum chair in the balcony. Except it's the same aluminum chair I was so looking forward to enjoy my ice-cold watermelon drink in during lunch (I've shredded the melon pulp, checked that there's plenty of ice cubes, and made syrup out of water, honey, and vanilla) had the Mpemba effect not decide to intrude.

If it's perfectly OK for these physicists to put hot things in their freezers in the name of science, shouldn't it be alright for me to do the same (put the still warm syrup in the freezer to cool it down faster) for the sake of having the simple pleasure of drinking a home-made version of one of my favorite childhood drinks? What do you think? Oh well.


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trouble in paradise

© Joselito Briones

silence
rain. no, stay.
it's just resentment,
manifesting itself.
i know. you can't stay.
see?
you're ignoring it again.



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A Bleh Day

© Joselito Briones

Yep. Nothing special today. I put up my Interfit 3200W studio halogen light in one corner of the dining area and hang the rescue-mission plant on it. I'm always trimming the plant so much I think it needs rescuing from me now.

For dinner I roasted a whole chicken, with butter, bacon, and thyme stuffing, potatoes on the side. I didn't like it much, I should've baked it on lower temperature and longer. Oh well, next time. At least the leftover should make good chicken stock, bits and all.


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Windows to the Past

© Joselito Briones

I'm loving the picture windows in the new apartment. They're like ultra HD tv's and you can pan the picture by moving about in the room. The one in the bedroom frames this really tall tree behind the building. I lie in bed and look at it, I see the leaves swaying, I hear the rustling sound, and I get transported back to the Philippines of my childhood when, after a heavy lunch, playing in the sun, and getting forced to bathe by grown-ups who are against the smell of the sun on my skin ("amoy araw ka na", they'd say), I'd just lay on a bamboo mattress under a mango tree and take a nap, until it's time to have merienda and run around the neighborhood again.

Sigh...

The cow was a present from Nico.


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Something fishy

© Joselito Briones

I've finally found the place to get fresh fish. It was a good thing that it's today that I walked around the area, because it turns out they only have fresh fish on Wednesdays. It's right around the corner from the Thai grocery that sells pea-sized egg plants, baby egg plants, pomelo, and sweet basil, among the numerous other food items they have in a very cramped small space.

When I was packing the food contents of our London kitchen, I made sure to at least buy and stock up on Asian canned and bottled foods because I wasn't sure if there'd by any Asian groceries here in Erlangen. After a week of walking around, I've found four such groceries so far.

Tonight we had steamed seabass in ginger, Chinese key, galangal, and chili sauce.


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Woke up this morning to the best window view one could ever have...

© Joselito Briones

Shoe shops proclaiming "FINAL SALE" on their windows. Of course there's no point going to those stores again, as I've gone through them several times already, during "SALE", "FURTHER REDUCTION SALE", "UP TO 70% OFF SALE", and of course this week. Liquidation totale. I've gone through the sale bins each step of the price reduction. This is the best part of living right on Neal Street. I hope when we move to Nürnberg in two month's time that we can find an apartment in the shoeshop district of that city.


© Joselito Briones

Have you been to Union Square recently? I miss the times I spent there sitting along the long steps, looking up at that DSW store level where they sell men's shoes. If you sit right in the middle of the steps you can see the shelves that hold most of the Prada, Helmut Lang, and Miu Miu shoes, the goodies.


© Joselito Briones

I know, I'll be there next month, but I probably won't have time to go shopping. I'll be there on a very limited time, and I have plenty to do already. We'll see...


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