tomorrow is our permanent address

‘All right,’ said Susan. ‘I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable.’

REALLY? AS IF IT WERE SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

‘Tooth Fairies? Hogfathers? Little-’

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

‘So we can believe the big ones?’

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT KIND OF THING.

‘They're not the same at all!’

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET- Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

‘Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point-’

MY POINT EXACTLY.

---

Not real birthday, of course not real birthday, everyone knows that part of the deal. I'll say Felicidades, crack anyway. Merry Christmas to you if you celebrate it. If not, then I hope you have a wonderful day.

As per usual, I am late. That's okay. By this time the parties will have been over and the noche buena leftovers already reheated to serve as today's lunch, and the most I can do is say that even if I mentioned it late, I wish you all well this holiday season, and of course thereafter. And if you're thinking about your weight or schoolwork or anything that means stress-

- really. It's a day (twelve days, however long you like) a year. Live it. Belated happy Christmases, all.



I want more applesauce. I want more seats reserved for heroes.

New Year's Eve in Manila means noise, smoke, firecrackers, making sure you don't get hit by stray firecrackers, reminding people to either get drunk or set off firecrackers but not both at the same time, countdowns, late late dinners, dogs hiding under chairs due to the noise, and obsessive hand-washing courtesy of setting off firecrackers earlier. it's also like nothing else in the world.

Happy New Year, all, and enjoy the fireworks. After all, who needs ten fingers? XD

Today we drove for eleven hours, were lost for two, and circled around Legazpi for half of one. If I don't see a volcano go kaboom I will be very disappointed.

---

When I grow up and have enough time and resources I am going on a road trip of the Philippines on a motorcycle. Pero sige, kahit kotse, okay lang. This isn't an empty teenage wish that will be forgotten in a month. I mean it. XD

"You know you're not supposed to do this sort of thing, master. You know what happened last time."

THE HOGFATHER CAN DO IT, THOUGH.

"But... little match girls dying in the snow is part of what the Hogswatch spirit is all about, master," said Albert desperately. "I mean, people hear about it and say, 'We may be poorer than a disabled banana and only have mud and old boots to eat, but at least we're better off than the poor little match girl', master. It makes them feel happy and grateful for what they've got, see."

I KNOW WHAT THE SPIRIT OF HOGSWATCH IS, ALBERT.

"Sorry, master. But look, it's all right, anyway, because she wakes up and it's all bright and shining and tinkling music and there's angels, master."

Death stopped.

AH. THEY TURN UP AT THE LAST MINUTE WITH WARM CLOTHES AND A HOT DRINK?

Oh dear, thought Albert. The master's really in one of his funny moods now.

"Er. No. Not exactly at the last minute, master. Not as such."

WELL?

"More of just after the last minute." Albert coughed nervously.

YOU MEAN AFTER SHE'S-

"Yes. That's how the story goes, master, 's not my fault."

WHY NOT TURN UP BEFORE? AN ANGEL HAS QUITE A LARGE CARRYING CAPACITY.

"Couldn't say, master. I suppose people think it's more... satisfying the other way..." Albert hesitated, then frowned. "You know, now that I come to tell someone..."

Death looked down at the shape under the falling snow. Then he set the lifetimer on the air and touched it with a finger. A spark flashed across.

"You ain't really allowed to do that," said Albert, feeling wretched.

THE HOGFATHER CAN. THE HOGFATHER GIVES PRESENTS. THERE'S NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE.

Well, I have my two front teeth. Maybe two solid inches of height would work?

( Because the "Christmas is for kids" mentality strikes me as more immature than, well, this, apparently. )

They say Diliman lanterns aren't Christmas lanterns as much as they are yet another excuse for activist activities. That isn't why I think our lanterns were better. Our lanterns just looked nicer, that's all, because yes, you can make a balance with a papier-mache corpse on one side and  a waving GMA on the other side look nice, or at any rate not rely on how funny people would find GMA to not look like a monstrosity.

That wasn't what I was going to say when I started writing this, but what the hell. What I was going to say was that if the Diliman lanterns were more activist-themed than Christmas-themed then I wonder what the Pokemon and the dragon and the large white elephant meant, though I can take a guess at the large white elephant.

Also, the presence of a large glowing papier-mache Manny Pacquiao is a mystery to me. Even more so was his being followed by an equally large glowing papier-mache Nanay Dionisia.

---

Why is it that no one has noticed I hung a frog skeleton on our Christmas tree?

Well, this is the one day of the year you get to blow stuff up, legally. Sulitin nyo na.

After all, who needs ten fingers?*



For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot



---

*Manu hath corrected me. He said he needed ten fingers for typing and gaming. Toes, then, for the people who cannot afford to lose a few fingers. I don't suppose you'd notice if you lost a few toes.

I feel like I owe this thing an anniversary post. Never mind that itll be cross-posted to the Multiply site. After all, it has managed to withstand two years of madness, random chattering, classmate stories, and STR. And that has to count for something.

Anyway, this is cheating, since it technically hasnt been two years yet, though no one will nitpick about a difference of four hours or so. (I hope.) I doubt wyvernstars owes it to me to have a relaxed pre-midnight-mass evening for once, seeing as I owe it an account of the second-to-the-last hell week, the Mu-Gi-Oh, and my three weeks of field bio. But still.

Merry Christmas, all. Read, be good, eat well, sleep at three in the morning like everyone else, and enjoy your presents. I wish you all the best.