On my way home tonight

While riding the FX on my way home tonight, the oppressiveness of the city seeped into me, as did the weary faces of the other commuters. Faces drained from work, from family, from problems, from long hours in traffic, from our collective history. Here was a multitude of life stories, yet only the sounds of car horns and vehicles traveling along uneven roads punctuated the silence between strangers.

To get home to you in our tiny apartment, to share stories and laughs together over dinner -- this helped to wash some of that dreariness away.

Jo
083012

creature comforts

Your photo reminded me of a certain irony I saw, tucked inside a room in the UP Main Library museum. During an event where dozens of mannequins are exhibited wearing various Filipiniana dresses, a few of their lot are left alone, naked in what seems to be a video presentation room with no audience.

jordan
082112

*main libe museum mannequins at a video presentation room, turned storage.

Cold Comfort

Quite often when I take pictures, I am moved by what I see and by the people who I meet. I keep thinking about the stories, about the environment, about the implications, and about what I can possibly do. Now and then, I wish I could tune it all out and switch off my thoughts and emotions, and I have been able to do that at times. Yet, I've also experienced having to put a camera to my face and take pictures just to hide my tears. But that's who I am and that's why some of my photos, even the street photography, are important to me in a way that's not always easily explained or quantified, regardless of what others might think of them.

Jo
082012

*Along a flooded street in Barangay Landayan, San Pedro, Laguna

comfort

And we took comfort in those waitings. The in-between moments where there was longing, but assurances, too, that someone's correspondence will come soon, and for the meantime we must live our lives.

Nowadays, we take comfort in instantaneous things. And for those things instantaneous, there is a mascot for you to hold onto.

jordan
081412

*man holding on Jollibee's hands for comfort during the past storm with no name.

We used to wait

Now our lives are changing fast/ Hope that something pure can last*

I know that you needed time to reply. Much has happened lately, and there's much to reflect upon. There's also something to be said about resisting the instantaneous and the so-called ease of modern communication. Taking the time to think, to write, and to just be. Waiting, like we used to in the past, for the letters that we wrote to each other. Letters, not text messages, that I still remember and cherish many years later.

Jo
080612

*Lyrics by Arcade Fire

waiting

Thanks for waiting by the way. In a world where things are posted on the internet like there is no tomorrow, my (lack of) actions could be considered so yesterday.

jordan
080112

*mother and daughter waiting in the midst of an SM City North Edsa sale.