Where I Went

A number of people who read this blog have been asking me where I've gone. I can't blame them. I've been absent from this blog for more than a year, after all. Though I have the usual futile excuses, I believe my absence is still beyond excuse. 

In my absence, I found Instagram, a simple social medium which allowed me to post my photos and thoughts. I like Instagram because it allows me to create a social post very fast. I can also edit photos, or apply filters before posting them. Sharing IG posts across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Tumblr is also very easy. Instagram is like Twitter with followers, or Facebook status updates with photos. My Instagram affair began in June, after I finished a week of hosting Pelikan's #beingPelikan project. Now that I am going back to blogging, I feel it's only fitting that I share with you all some of the well-received photos in my Instagram account.

June 30, 2014. Lamy Al Star Ocean Blue and J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean.
This was my first attempt at italic calligraphy in a looooong time. But my followers liked it! 90 likes.

July 2, 2014. Lamy Al Star Silver Green and Rohrer and Klingner Alt Goldgrun.
I've always been a Neruda fan, and I so love his Sonnet XVII. Who doesn't? 69 likes.

July 7, 2014. Lamy Al Star Silver Green and Rohrer and Klingner Alt Goldgrun.
I received a lot of positive comments from my previous posts, and around this date, friends were looking forward to my 'doodle' posts. I tried uncial calligraphy and broke away from the usual italic. This is from a book given to me by my boss a few Christmases ago. 66 likes.

July 8, 2014. Lamy Safari Blue (Diamine Turquoise), Lamy Safari Green (Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown), and Lamy Al Star Ruby Red (J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune). A mix of Gabriel Garcia Marquez quotations, and a mix of different ink colors. Lovely turquoise ink! But the quote in Poussiere de Lune is even lovelier. Deliberately used Instagram's Valencia filter on this one. 105 likes.  

July 10, 2014. Lamy Safari Creme Orange and Diamine Orange.
'Araw Gabi' (Day and Night) is a Filipino love song by Nonoy Zuniga. I heard this song over the radio and it stayed with me for a while so I doodled a part of it. What's surprising is that a lot of my non-Filipino IG followers liked this one! 76 likes. 

July 13, 2014. I used two Lamy Safari pens in this mix, but forgot the other one.
Inks are Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown and Diamine Crimson. I did a Marquez mix, why not a Haruki Murakami mix, right? Quotes from two of my favorite Murakami books. 78 likes. 

July 15, 2014. Lamy Safari and Diamine Orange, Sheaffer No Nonsense and Diamine Meadow.
This is the 'Glenda' doodle. On the night Glenda (Rammasun) was building up in Laguna, I was working on this doodle. We lost electricity later that night, and my calligraphy doodles came to a halt for 18 days as we languished in darkness. 88 likes.

July 30, 2014. Lamy Safari and Diamine Orange.
A friend called me 'emo' (emotional) after seeing this on Facebook. On July 30, we still didn't have power at home, which also meant no internet, no cable TV, no air conditioning, no refrigerator, no cold drinks, no lights at night!!! Who wouldn't be emotional with that?!? 101 likes. 

August 1, 2014. Pelikan M205 Duo and Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-gao.
Because the nights were quiter and darker, the sky became a discotheque of blinking lights. I remembered this Calvin and Hobbes quote, shared by a friend a few years back. Very, very apt. 80 likes.  

August 4, 2014. Pelikan M400 Grun and Noodler's Blue.
It was Monday and electricity was restored only a day ago. It felt like Christmas morning! Then I got introduced to the music by Brandi Carlile. Got this song on repeat for like, the whole week? 79 likes.

August 23, 2014. Platinum 3776 and J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir.
I was shooting some photos for this pen's review, and came across this wise reminder from the wise man himself. He's right, right? 88 likes.  

September 5, 2014. Pelikan M200 Cognac and Pelikan Edelstein Amber. I got a new Pelikan fountain pen and I can't get enough of it! Been using it a lot, even to wish everyone a Happy Weekend. 96 likes. 

September 9, 2014. Fountain pen inks mixed: J. Herbin Gris Nuage, Diamine Midnight, Diamine Majestic Blue, J. Herbin Bleu Ocean. I call this one my 'life event' piece. It was my first time to mix colors, and I received some excellent comments. It also became my application/screening piece for an art event in November. Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a favorite Russian author, and I will not forget this one from Crime and Punishment. 98 likes.

September 14, 2014. 'Green pens on a cloudy, gloomy, rainy, sick Sunday morning.'
Another thing I love about Instagram is it allows you to write about a topic and use a photo about an entirely different subject. Works all the time. 107 likes.

July 25, 2014. 'Updated Lamy box-fie, July 2014.'
My Lamy fountain pen collection. Two pens were added to the box and I had to do a box-fie. Thank God for 3G, this photo was uploaded to IG. Bestseller at 123 likes.

September 12, 2014. It was a Friday, and I just received some exciting news the night before.
Bliss was an understatement for all the happiness, excitement, and giddiness I felt that morning, but it seemed like the perfect word to sum it all.

So there. I went away for a while, and now I'm back. Watch this blog for new reviews and more products soon! And if you want to see my Instagram posts that did not reach this page, you can check my account at: http://instagram.com/clemdionglay. 

Lovely November (and My Birthday Loot)

So I wasn’t able to NaNo. Again. Sadly. Well, there are excuses, and there are reasons, and I have several of both. But to protect the sanctity of my sanity, I choose not to elaborate on these things. There’s another NaNo next year, and I’d like to look at it as my chance to make-up for all the years I missed NaNoWriMo. But so much for NaNo.

A lot of beautiful things happened in November. Tatay’s birthday came around during the first week, and we had a different kind of celebration this year. Nothing grand, nothing fancy, just a simple dinner at home for the family, yet it felt special.

And then last weekend, it was my turn to celebrate as I turned 35. Yee-ha! We feasted on traditional birthday foods: spaghetti, pancit, puto Biñan, and sweet chocolate cake from Mer-Nels. Yes, I got to have my own cake!!! What a treat. It was an adult children’s birthday party, as someone aptly called it. And with my three nieces around, it was indeed a riot!

My birthday cake's candles...

For my birthday loot, here in pictures are some lovely stuff from someone even Lovelier. Wink.*

Books. I got two Murakami books! Yay!

Pens. I got two Schneiders, a green XTRA and another blue Zippi, a black 0.7 Uni-Ball Signo Gelstick, and two blue Inoxcroms: a Kukuxumusu and an Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

And before these, during early November, I got the two bottles of Private Reserve inks that Sir Butch Dalisay bought for me during his US trip, a green Avocado and a brown/sepia Copper Burst.

My Weekend Loot

Now here's my Monday morning show and tell: my weekend loot. *Grin.*

Just because I really, really, really love Haruki Murakami and I was left wanting for more after finishing Norwegian Wood, I rushed to the nearest NBS last Saturday and got myself The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Later in the day, my B sent me this SMS: I got Kafka, which meant she has found me Kafka on the Shore which was unfortunately unavailable at the first NBS we went to.


Then a good friend who came home from a Holland trip brought me these beauties: two EFFEN vodka shotglasses. These shotglasses are the fourth addition to my collection with liquor design.

Lastly, someone has kindly donated this beautiful and precious elephant from India, taking it out of her display rack, forgetting about who gave it to her (who is somebody important) and lovingly added it to my display shelf. Can't thank you enough, B.

So Long

So long, Toru... And even if you did not ask me, I will never forget you. Who could?

I can never forget you or Naoko, or Midori, or Reiko. I won't. I can’t. For you all taught me so much in death as in life in the two and a half months we spent together.

From you Toru, I learned so much about loving, giving, and taking, losing, and loving again. And what else? Hm. A lot. And that includes courage, integrity, responsibility, and hard work. From you, I also learned to deal with pain, and loss, and death.

I felt your pain when you knew Naoko was thinking of Kizuki while she was holding on to you. I understood your confusion when Midori kissed you in the rain, and felt your longing when you made it with Reiko after Naoko’s death. I cried with you when you cried because Naoko is dead.

You put death in an entirely different perspective for me when you said that death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life. How profound.

And just as I am saying farewell, I want you know that these are the most unforgettable lines I got from you:

No truth can cure the sadness we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness, can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see that sadness through to the end and learn something from it. ~ Toru Watanabe, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

But tell me, Toru, if we meet, if we ever meet, would you talk to me like you talk to Reiko? Would you write to me as you wrote to Naoko? Would you leave me too as you left Midori?

Despite your flaws and little imperfections, you are who you are, and there are only a few men in this world like you, Toru Watanabe. And your flaws and imperfections only make you humanely perfect and endearing to the many women in your life: Naoko, Midori, and Reiko.

A New Addiction

After Sputnik Sweetheart comes Norwegian Wood, a gift from H. And while Sputnik Sweetheart will always remind me of someone else, it's good to know I read By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept in between the two Murakamis.

In my despair and loneliness, it's kinda surprising that I turn to literature for comfort and solace. What's more surprising is the fact that I find comfort in reading these books now. Well, I also watch Deathnote's complete animated collections and Six Feet Under, so go figure how I am getting by.

Gracias, Murakami

Thank you for Sumire and Miu... And for K.

A Dream Come True