inglorious wanderer

Behind Beng is the Puget Sound. A sound, when it pertains to geography, is a body of water flowing from the ocean into a low lying inland. Puget Sound which is said to be under a glacier before global warming settled in,  is found on the shores of Tacoma, Bellevue and Seattle. Beng waves to former colleagues. It's been 11 years since Beng and I left the Institute for Labor Studies. This is the third time I am meeting Beng in her neck of the woods. SeaTac airport has been a favorite destination.  It rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in the state of Washington where the Puget Sound is. Beng warned me beforehand and I came geared. We defied the drizzle and loitered around the park. We posed for Beng's cellphone which is set on timer. For the Institute! The giant bullet mounted on concrete near the Japanese garden was a remnant from the battleship U.S.S. Maine. The ship exploded and sank in Cuba's Havana Harbor in 1898. Launch in 1889, the battleship was armed ...

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie   is a favorite movie because of the traveling gnome. Djeline's "da gnome" idea was grabbed but since I've always defied conservative  thoughts, da gnome  which sounds like "danum", the Ilocano term for water, just sounded so neutral like its pH. Da gnome-mad follows how I complicated the FOB (fresh off the boat, that is!) representation of myself as an immigrant. I have always thought of myself as a nomad. If not for the cheap airfares offered by Expedia, I never would have set foot into Boise, pronounced as boy see, not how a Filipino pronounce voice. Boise is the capital of  Idaho. Idaho is kind of  the potato capital of U.S.A! More than eight hours enroute to Seattle from San Diego by plane is about how long it takes to get to San Francisco by Amtrak from LA Union station. Patience pays. I never would have a glimpse of seeing the summit of a mountain  above the clouds.  Mount Adams looms above the ...

Ever since the beloved president talked about building beautiful walls in the southern border, I have often wondered if beautiful walls are also being built on the northern border. I have now come to think that the beloved president as a borderline character when it comes to borders. The inscription on the Peace Arch Moniment says "children of a common mother". The monument stands on borderless borderline towns of Blaine, WA and Surrey, BC. The landmark reminds me of the Friendship Park at the southwestmost portion of Imperial Beach, CA against the fancy double steel fence that separates Baja California from the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in San Diego county. What a contrast! What a double standard! I tried hard to look for border fence or a border as the Amtrak Cascades went past the border checkpoint. I didn't find anything that resembled a wall or a fence  near Surrey and Blaine. I'm sorry to disappoint you, D.But I'm happy for the childr...

Inspired by Amélie, Da Gnome Mad starts off to the role of lost glorious holy Shi Tzu.  Da gnome mad it is! Naming contest is won by da Djel whose birthday is being marked by protesters demanding for the beloved president to release his tax returns. Gnomes are legendary creatures usually resembling misshapen old men said to love in the depths of the earth guarding buried treasures. I am reminded of Seuk Doo Kim, the South Korean hiker I met at Mount Baldy who finally went thru-hiking to the other side early this week. I wonder if he ever reached his goal of hiking Mount Baldy 1,000 times. Maybe, God wrote him off.       one of a species of legendary creatures, usually resembling small misshapen old men, said to live in the depths of the earth and guard buried treasure. the statue of a gnome, esp in a garden. a very small or ugly person.