monreale, sicily (just 15 minutes by bus from palermo)

cefalu, sicily (by the tyrhennian sea)

the walls of lucca (the first time in my life i see autumn colors and i'm blown away)

on the grand canal, venice (who needs a gondola when you get the same view from a vaporetto at 1/20 the price?)

it's 4:20 by official time here. in 10 minutes i leave. actually i could have gone home half an hour ago (brain stopped working around then) - but i felt guilty and felt i needed to put in a show for the staff that i was working haha.

i just read a review by pico iyer of alice munro's new book. in it, iyer distills 10 principles of good writing. one i love is this: "don't eschew the simple." and keeping this in mind, i figured i'd tell a little story:

i was going back to the office from the bank. this was about two weeks ago. it was one in the afternoon. on the street right outside my building, a crowd was gathered. they were huddled around a taxi cab. an accident? i thought. didn't see another car though. so i asked the security guard what happened. turns out the driver of the cab suddenly started convulsing, and he died of a heart attack. right there. just like that.

and that's my story. and it's 4:25. i'm off. 

the UP Board of Regents today approved the tuition fee hike.

with today's heightened protests (forcing the cancellation of the lantern parade, because of security concerns because yes, these protesters have become violent) i felt that - as a UP student for 23 years (even before many of the protesters were born), and a member of the faculty for 8 - it was time i said what i thought about the matter.

it's something i've been saying in my classroom for a long time now... 

do i think the tuition should be raised?

you're gaddam right i do. 

finally, after earmarking days for going there and reading reviews and looking at a map of makati for directions, we got to eat at the fairly acclaimed indian restaurant, swagat.

the reviews were mainly praising its authentic taste and reasonable prices. they were certainly right on both counts. prices were easily 30-50% lower than bollywood's and the menu was much more extensive (and more vegetarian friendly).

we had shrimps curry, biryana fish, aloo wada (like potato dumplings), roti and naan for less than P600. "spicy po or mild?" they asked. why would we go to an indian place for mild stuff? spicy it was and man, did that clear my nasal passages. great, great stuff! was it truly more authentic? well, i've never been to india so i can't say for sure - but the food in swagat tasted more like the indian dishes in cambodia. the spices are more satisfying.

the place itself is nothing fancy. but it's cool and clean and shows bollywood videos. really, what more to ask for? hehe.

i had the yogurt drink, didn't finish it... that may be an acquired taste. but the food? go... treat yourself. swagat, along rada street, makati. 

finally got piglet upgraded - from a 20gb hard disk to a 60 gigger. felt it was time when i realized i only had 5gb of space left... and i guess it was better to upgrade to a new one instead of just waiting for the old one to die. it has been 3 1/2 years after all. so now piglet is.... super piglet!

on the way to the shop, was listening to holla back girl by gwen stefani. i am still mystified why it didn't win song of the year at the grammy's. it's the exact same feeling i get when i think that gwyneth paltrow in that shakespeare flick actually beat cate blanchett's elizabeth for the oscar...