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PARALLEL BLOGS

One site leads to another. Such is the Song of the Web. It is as unhurried at times when you are ruminating on a piece, or browsing through jpeg pictures and drawings, or taking your sweet time with reading all of a guestbook's entries.

So too can the tempo rise, fingers, clickers, keys, eyes, mind all focus leaving the rest of the body to sit as it may, achieving a balance, with or without posture. Such is the song of the web for those harassed to find links, solve html riddles, skip and scan search results with the netcard or netcafe in steady pursuit. The fevered pitch. We run the course until it all grinds to a halt. Call-waiting wasn't disabled, or sister picked up the phone unmindful of your frenzied state, or the cafe-owner has been sweeping near your place for so long because she doesn't have the heart to tell you that the shop will close in fifteen minutes.

Here, time is gold. And the songs of webwriters are sung at times like the harassed nursery rhymes of a nervous child in her recitation. My "colleagues" write as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Here, I find other writers. I call them parallel because I imagine (and conjure) some sort of symmetry in all of this. As if in the randomness of the net, in the hodge-podge of several fragmentary orders, there exists some grand web design. It is my conceit though that I array myself alongside their creations.

My links include my most adorable bunso pair. I call them both Kat (in memory of the one that had to go away?) and I think they're braving the net like lone felines, always graceful, never caught off-guard. They are so different, almost bipolar. The younger calls herself a princess and the older finds herself a prisoner. When I was their age my idea of a hobby was to climb trees for aratiles!

Then there's this great pair of writers in Filipino. Ate Sienna freely uses the food metaphor in her pansitan. She is probably more justified in doing so! Like the pansit, her site is so filling that it precludes multiple courses. Just have a softdrink by your side and read on! Her site even offers a discussion board (come join the fun!) where you can discuss with noodles and all still in your mouth with the perfect strangers watching the same thing!

The next one is a gem I've always looked for and I never thought I'd find. Guniguni flows from the mind of a twenty or so year-old bent on monolingual expression. That is not as easy as it sounds. Believe you me, I've tried! She probably has a very healthy mind, judging from what I've read. Fertile and lush. Her "delusions" are enchanting. I've been caught in her web. I've been drawn and now I shall be rooted like those unfortunate Greek mortals turned into trees.

One thing they both have is "humor." It is my greatest handicap. You can't find it here when I write. Sometimes, not even when I drink. The poets call it "wit" and we call it "siste." Ate Sienna was right in quoting that guy who said humor is man's great genius. In their own netways, their individual brilliant characters are unmistakeable. More power to the people I just mentioned without permission!

Ria, one day you'll just find out that you're not blogging to yourself. Whether you like it or not.

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KAY JEROME, PARA SA LAHAT

Muli, sa mga nakakakilala sa akin, alam n'yo na hindi ako ganito kabigay-todo magbenta (pero OK talaga sila ha!!!) kahit na napahanga talaga ako. Alam nyong may nangyayari sa akin ngayon. Hindi kayo nagakakamali. Nagkamali lang kayo dahil naging kaibigan ko kayo at ngayon dapat nyo akong daluhan ayon sa nakaatas sa mga alituntuning gumagabay sa mga magkakatoto. Huwag kayong mag-alala, lahat kayo, walang dapat gawin. Tinanggal ko na sa inyo ang anumang responsibilidad. Huwag na rin kayo mag-guilt-trip!

Maliban sa iyo Jerome! Kasama kita 'tol, haharapin natin ito maya-maya! (Limang oras na lang, alas singko na ng umaga tol, alas diyes tayo magsisimulang makikipagtuos sa kapalaran) Kita-kita na lang tayo. Kung ito ang huli kong blag, ibibigay ko sa iyo ang mga pasword, sabihin mo na lang sa kanila para sa akin kumbakit namamaalam ako.

At sabihin mo na rin sa kanilang lahat na wala akong ipambabalato!!! Hehe. (",)

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Tama ba naman ito? Ngayon pa inilathala ng Peyups? Maagang paValentine ba? Ewan ko ba. Pasasalamat ko kasi iyan sa kaibigan kong hindi ko mapangalanan. Kung gusto ninyong malaman ang isang mahalagang pinag-ugatan ng blog (at blogger na ito) basahin ninyo ito. Pakiusap lang, laitin nyo na ako at pagtawanan pero kailangan kong ilabas iyan.

Ganyan lang talaga ang buhay. Pero ganyan nga ba dapat?