field*notes

31 march 2021 || AWAY messageHappy Easter!
Get on a bike and ride far far away.
May I suggest a big helping of reef-freindly sunblock + aloe vera.Tschuss. MD

24 may/aug 2020 || an excerptA poem tentatively called creatures of habit.Missing both the sea and the freedom of movement.

...perhaps its the subway's morning rumble
that forces one's conscious
to float between stops.but before you know it
you're crossing the expanse of broad channel
the train cars hovering
just above the glassy bay below,
a particularly magical sight
as the sun makes its way over from europe,
peeking over the atlantic,
where it’ll meet new york city’s towering steel.
man and machine chasing natures call.alas i'm just in time.
after lugging that bag nearly 10 miles out
one hour, thirty minutes
after stepping out of the front door.
I take my deepest breath of the day
on the timber boardwalk
the salty smell of the ocean
mixing with the jetstreams
of red eye flights as the jumbojets set their sights on JFKfinally in my wetsuit, bombproof
and all other perks of its military-grade technology,
making sure I dont die
a painful cold death on shore.
my board unfurled and out of its sleeve.
strapped on to my ankle and off to the sea.but here's a secret.
i came to this new hobby
not realizing how fearful
i truly was of dying or drowning.
or that combination in particular...

21 april 2020 || dreams of the kashmir valleyReflecting on this telegram my grandfather sent to the Philippines Military during the earlier part of his studies at the National Defence College in New Delhi.

September of 1983, Kashmir ValleyOne of the most unforgettable sights one could have is the view (from the air or vantage point on ground) of the majestic mountains of the Himalayas with their perpetual snow caps and bare steep rock/granite sides.The airport at Leh (Laddakh) is reportedly the highest airport in the world at 10,000 feet. Here, the 3rd Div brought us to a frontier picket facing China at 18,000 feet. At this height, the world is different, no vegetation, air rarefied, no noise, no wildlife only bare rocks, sand, and snow. At night temperature goes down to -40 C and specialized clothing is worn all the time. For the new comer, aclimatization is a problem or could be fatal to some with weak hearts. As we approached 16,000 feet, I felt a slight difficulty in breathing and felt heavy.At the pass, I could not move around much and when I do, I got tired so quickly I have to sit down. Soon I get dizziness and slight headache but cleared the following day. Most of my classmates takes oxygen every few minutes.

4 january 2020 || tourist w.o guidesi often wonder what it is like for outsiders to come to cebu. those with no immediate link to the city. say someone without friends and here for pure pleasure and adventure. how do they see the city?i wonder how they find the language, the people. are we truly accomodating and hospitable? to pure strangers, do we really offer that level of comfort to all.

4 december 2019 || eiffelthe best view of the eiffel tower is not from the ground. it reminds of an airport; nor is it from the trocadero or the champ marsactually its from pont de bir hakim, a bridge between the passy and bir hakim station. at dusk while the sunsets on the city, or during rush hour on the crowded metro.

25 june 2018 || borderscapesThink about driving through coastal roads where rocks are the natural and only barrier between your rental and the Aegean. Or weaving through hairpin turns sculpted by olive tree-lined groves. These are landscapes which Victor Gruen describes as.."the successful marriage of nature and human endeavor, a surrounding in which man made and nature made elements cooperate to the highest enjoyment."But it is the walls we’ve built or created within landscape that are most intriguing to me. This is the borderscape and in Lesvos, the most defining of which are as much the waters patrolled by the EU’s border and coastal guard than the fences dividing Tsamakia beach into three distinct sections. A small fee gets you into a corralled beach area with music blasting and beach chairs. Skip the fee and you are left with an open dock, two shower heads, and a single changing booth. Yet, essentially you share the same waters.There are the man made barrier gates isolating the refugee camps of Moria, Kara Tepe from the rest of the island, or the mountains that make for an off-road trek to the lifejacket graveyard.What does it mean to be located in/out of those lines? What are we containing and why are we fighting so hard to contain it? Full story on medium.