arrivals and departures

I've been thinking about new places I've been to and found out I’ve never been to a whole lot. Sure, I spent summer breaks in the province when I was a kid just like everybody else, run away from home twice, ended up living in shabby hotels for a week, and even went to a couple of these touristy places that I could hardly afford.

Nothing extraordinary, though. No Facebook status updates like "Bali was great. This ancient guy told my fortune and said my business empire will fall in a few years.” Or “Boracay was awesome until I discovered a diaper floating in the water.”

But there is an implied premise here, that in this age of rapid globalization, crossing geographical boundaries has been made a ready and viable option—for leisure, for business, or to look for a job. For those who have money (Gloria Arroyo and Ramona Revilla), or who are desperate enough (the unemployed and the underpaid), the border that separates home from the rest of the world has become a very thin line.

There is a brilliant short story** by Salman Rushdie that furthers this train of thought: “‘Home’ has become a scattered, damaged, various concept in our present travails. There is so much to yearn for.” The speaker and main character refers to how Dorothy’s legendary magical footwear can possibly transport anyone home if “home” has become such a vague word that can stand for almost anything.

I wonder how Apple's Siri would respond to that. I mean, when you ask her how you could get “home”—probably something witty and entirely useless.

As for me, this blog would be something where I can keep track of certain “arrivals” and “departures,” to remind me of three things:

  • That places aren't the only things we can leave and/or return to.
  • That I must not lose sight of the people I must always return to, no matter what; and
  • That, alternatively, I must not forget the things that I must always have with me wherever I go--an ample supply of reasonable optimism and humorous self-deprecation, among many other things.

It's a cheesy, flimsy, funny idea. But it works for me.


* Image is from the movie Garden State (2004)
** At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers, from the collection East, West (1995)

20 comments:

  1. You write really good. Keep it up. ;p

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  2. It's been a dream of mine to travel to different places in and out of the country and it's a good idea to have an outlet such as blogging for you to keep a record of all the places you've been to. One day in the future you'll look back and probably be amazed by how many places you've seen just by visiting your blog.

    Keep this up! : )

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  3. This blog looks promising, will make it a point to check back on yer arrivals and departures.

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  4. You have a flair for writing. Hmm, I think I know who you are. :)

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  5. Thanks for dropping by, Mach. Do remember to return!

    Erwin, I do look forward to the day I'd look back to all this, but I knew I wouldn't be probably amazed or anything like that. I would laugh at myself. LOL. Which is not so bad. :)

    I sure hope I can keep this up and deliver the goods, Ayla. Hehe. Thanks for visiting!

    Ate Kikit, I was confident you would know. Not the "flair for writing" part, because you're just really nice, but the part about you knowing who I am. Anyway. Thank you for following me here. :)

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  6. Welcome to the blogsphere. Seems you're not really new here, but, just in case.

    Funny you talk of arrivals and departures on your first post. Much of it makes sense. That fragmented notion of home, for instance. Also, your references, your shifts.

    That bit about those you must return to — is a version of yourself included? Cause if I were to make my own list, I'd take in a younger me.

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  7. It's the real reason why I wanted desperately to have this blog. I wanted something that would help me always remember (and return to) who I should be. Jesse's idea of "my best self"?

    And by the way, Manech, if I weren't new, why would a warm welcome then be unnecessary? LOL.

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  8. hey, hey, pretty cool stuff here! i love the fact that you ran away from home twice. i wish i can be as daring as that! you know, i am just exploring the joys of traveling myself and i have yet to go to another country but i can proudly say inside my head i have been to the moon and maybe even further. cheers to us buddy! :)

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  9. What an interesting concept. It's a pleasure to witness your arrivals and departures.

    Welcome (or welcome back) to this side of the blogosphere. :)

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  10. it works for me, to0, Bitch! ahahahahaha welcome back my friend!

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  11. PM, sometimes, I surprise myself with my occasional boldness. I'm just not sure whether that's representative of the real me. Or if it was just an isolated moment. Thanks for dropping by!

    Thank you, Citybuoy, and sorry for tricking you into confusion. Hehe.

    YJ, thanks! :)

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  12. armchair turista, the best way to travel!

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  13. Isn't it, LOF? It costs nearly nothing and you don't have to worry about jetlag and other air travel-induced horrors.

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  14. oi. new experiment. cant wait to see your next flight sched.

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  15. Because I'm antagonistic to the oldies Bien. Haha. Just kidding. I dig the whole concept though. And welcome back. ;]

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  16. LOF, honestly, I never thought about air plane carbon emissions. Is it as bad as cars?

    Hello, ahmer, I will schedule "flights" more often. Or at least, I will try to. :)

    Wait. Did you just say "oldies," Manech? LOL.

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  17. I hate traveling. Haha I've never been to places outside Mindanao, so I don't have much of that assessment yet on my sense of home.

    But really, how can 'home' become a scattered concept when it's actually (always) our reference point? Wherever we go, the ways of our map will tell us how far/long we've traveled from home.

    I don't know. I believe life is all about returning, be it people, places, or little things. We return to them, because clearly we remember.

    Am I making sense? Haha Welcome! I don't remember you. Had you visited my blog before you made this blog?

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  18. By the way, I've been looking for a copy of Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. If some day you decide you want to visit Davao, can you lend me your copy? Until then :)

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  19. i love the positivity of those three things.
    btw, i'm also a reader of your two other blogs =)

    -xion

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  20. Thank you, Arian. I believe I have visited your blog before. Yes, and I remember you had a different blog theme then.

    As to how "home" can be a fragmented concept, I meant that it can represent nearly almost anything to anyone, that we can "go home" in so many varied ways. :)

    I wanted to start this blog on a positive note, xion. I'm glad it turned out exactly that. At least to you. :)

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