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Incidences of the word “Filipino” in recent American literature:

In Patricia Marx’s novel Him Her Him Again The End of Him, the romantic interest’s name is Eugene Obello and the unnamed heroine’s friend says “obello” is a Filipino word for machete. I don’t know which Filipino dialect or language is referred to. Marx’s novel is hilarious until the halfway point, when it begins to resemble a Daily Show segment that’s gone on too long. Yes, smart women do stupid things for love, we got it in the first ten pages. Marx was a former writer on the Harvard Lampoon and Saturday Night Live–if she’d written for The Simpsons she’d have the same career track as Conan O’Brien.

In Tobias Wolff’s story Benefit Of The Doubt, the protagonist takes the bus in Rome and notes that most of the passengers are Filipino. Benefit Of The Doubt is one of the new stories in Our Story Begins, my favorite story collection of the year even if half its contents appeared in his earlier books.

In The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rich, the Dominican character Alvaro has an affair with a Filipino nurse named Betty. Just started reading the book. Someone else is obsessed with Jan Morris’s book about Trieste!

Big Bird, Ernie, Grungella, and Big Bird’s Non-Imaginary Friend had dessert and coffee at a newish restaurant. Big Bird tried the apple pie. His friends awaited his opinion.

“Hmm,” he said portentously. “Um. . .urhm. . .the crust is good.”

“That’s it?” Ernie asked. “Good crust?”

Big Bird pushed the uneaten slice around his plate. “And look, the china is beautiful. Such detail.”

“This is a new school of criticism,” Grungella declared. “We only say positive things–”

“And you read between the lines!” Ernie said. “Note the decor: subtle baroque.”

“I didn’t even think that was possible,” Grungella said. “This restaurant brings oxymorons to life!”

“What about the food?” BB’s NIF pointed out.

“For maximum enjoyment,” Ernie replied, “Be sure to sit under a chandelier!”

“More chandeliers per square meter than other restaurants in this mall!” Grungella added.

They had started a new movement.

Cats, originally uploaded by 160507.

Behavior that is unattractive in humans but endearing in felines:

Koosi ignores me when I play with her, but when I’m not paying attention she walks over and bites my toes. She likes to hide behind curtains and under furniture, and launch stealth attacks on the other cats. She turns up her nose at most kinds of food, fresh fish included, and says “Eww” by pawing the floor next to the bowl.  She will only eat if I’m not watching. Lately she’s taken to being called O Mighty Goddess Bast.

Saffy will look up when I call her name, look me up and down, and not come near me. However when I call Koosi and Mat, she comes running. She does not like it when I pay attention to the other cats, and expresses it by trying to bite me. Sometimes she will attack a book I am reading. Her favorite spot for naps is the keyboard of my Mac–while I’m working on it. She likes to chew on wool and on certain types of plastic such as Fully Booked bags. We have lots of bookstore bags “embossed” with her fangs.

Mat will eat from his own bowl at breakfast, but the rest of the day he sneaks snacks from Koosi’s and Saffy’s bowls. He acts like he’s afraid of heights, but sometimes when I get home he’s on top of a shelf, invading Koosi’s territory. When we go out he refuses to walk on his own, preferring to be carried at all times. He ignores cat toys, but is fascinated with pens. He is too hoity-toity to bury his own poop in the litter box; instead he starts clawing at the side of the toilet bowl as if he were trying to flush.

When I bring them new toys, they ignore the toys and play with the wrappers or boxes.

James Reyes, originally uploaded by 160507.

This is James Reyes’s mood board for his Fashion Watch Quartet collection, showing May 20 and 22, 4pm teatime at the Shangri-la Makati.

“The collection was inspired by music and images from the early 80’s. It was the time when music dictated fashion and MTV was our fashion magazine. It was the time when we dressed up like our favorite singers and Manila became seasonless (winter wear in the middle of summer). This was also the time when Japanese designers ruled the fashion world and clothes were brooding, conceptual and emotive. This was the time my interest in fashion and style was solidified.

“This collection is a visual journal of who I am as a designer. Since this is my first solo show, I’m treating it as sort of a re-introduction of my design sensibilities. It will show my design influences and the direction my fashion is going. What will be evident in my collection is my graphic design background. After years of working in an ad agency, graphic design never left my system. I will be showing black, white and gray pieces which for me, covers an entire spectrum of color. Working with these colors give me a sense of freedom to create new shapes and surface tensions. My interest in architecture will be seen in the streamlined shapes and forms I used in the patterns but still respecting the human form. Music is a big influence in all my collections. This time, New Wave music of the early 80’s gave me visions of a concrete metropolis filled with people rushing about in cold weather, the wind blowing their coats and scarves about, a huge rush hour crowd in black layers, steel structures of modern buildings, twinkling windows of skyscrapers instead of stars, fog, smog and urban decay.

“If this collection had a title, I’d probably call it Metropolis.”

A group has filed suit against the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Among other doomsday scenarios, they cite the possibility that when the LHC is turned on, it will create black holes that will swallow up matter and suck up the earth.

This reminds me of our third-year science project at Pisay. My groupmates did all the work because it was a continuation of their second-year  project. It was a prototype for a machine that would harness energy from water, and it looked like a small windmill. Or it may have been a small hadron collider–I wasn’t paying attention, and now I regret it.

Some teachers came round to grade the projects. One teacher listened to the presentation with great interest, then asked, “But if you generate all that heat from the ocean, won’t the ocean freeze over?” This was the same teacher, by the way, who posed this question on an exam: China is opposite the US on the globe. If the entire population of China were to jump a foot in the air at the exact same instant, will the impact of their landing propel the population of the US into outer space? I’m sorry that I wasn’t in his physics class.

Ayyy! Did you see Rafael Nadal’s feet when he was treated for blisters at the Rome Open? The pain! And yet he went on playing even if he had good reason to quit. That’s quality. He does not taint the opponent’s victory by claiming injury or illness–even when it’s obvious. (Remember Pete Sampras at the US Open, throwing up during the match against Corretja? Oh right, he won that one.) Unlike certain players: dust rising from clay causing breathing problems, ha! (Federer fans, I know what you’re thinking because I’m thinking the same thing but let’s not say anything until it comes to pass.)

Shouldn’t Rafa’s shoe sponsor Nike design footwear specifically for his requirements? He does more running and jumping than nearly everyone else, more sliding on clay. Obviously his feet need more cushioning and friction protection than most. Blister-proof socks? Then again Rafa himself pointed out that the tour schedule is insane.

Update. See? Just by saying “Don’t say it” you jinx it. Fortunately that’s not what I was thinking. The illogic of superstition, very Heisenberg. Is it possible to serve and volley to victory on clay? Can the fastest game win on the slowest court, can impatience win on the surface that requires patience? Radek Stepanek (wasn’t he engaged to Martina Hingis?) thinks so. In the 90s Patrick Rafter served and volleyed his way to the semis at the French. Then he lost to a grinder, Bruguera, and then Guga won the final. I miss Guga.