Footprints: Day 1

I'm welcoming the new year by starting this photo journal named Footprints. The rules are simple. Everyday, I will be posting a photograph (preferably taken by me) of something that would make me remember that particular day. I may choose to write a little about it or just let the photo speak for itself.

This doesn't mean that Delicious Ambiguity is now turning into a photo blog, I just want to add a little something to keep things interesting around here. I believe this will be a good practice on mindfulness and just being aware of God's grace and provision throughout the year. Plus, I think that this will be a good way for me to hone my photography skills (as if meron haha), and to just exercise my creative muscles on a daily basis.

Even as I'm still on my way to my first post I'm already excited to revisit the whole thing come 2014! Now let me start things off with this:

The first of January is always celebrated with the extended family. This is one tradition I hope to keep even as my siblings and I have our own families. I am so thankful that this year's celebration was made extra special because we got to spend it with lola for the first time since she has been living in the US for the last couple of years. Here's wishing everyone a year filled with love and joy! x

Good Reads | The Referendum

"The Referendum is a phenomenon typical of (but not limited to) midlife, whereby people, increasingly aware of the finiteness of their time in the world, the limitations placed on them by their choices so far, and the narrowing options remaining to them, start judging their peers’ differing choices with reactions ranging from envy to contempt. The Referendum can subtly poison formerly close and uncomplicated relationships, creating tensions between the married and the single, the childless and parents, careerists and the stay-at-home. It’s exacerbated by the far greater diversity of options available to us now than a few decades ago, when everyone had to follow the same drill. We’re all anxiously sizing up how everyone else’s decisions have worked out to reassure ourselves that our own are vindicated — that we are, in some sense, winning."

...

"Yes: the Referendum gets unattractively self-righteous and judgmental. Quite a lot of what passes itself off as a dialogue about our society consists of people trying to justify their own choices as the only right or natural ones by denouncing others’ as selfish or pathological or wrong. So it’s easy to overlook that hidden beneath all this smug certainty is a poignant insecurity, and the naked 3 A.M. terror of regret." 

The New York Times Opinionator: The Referendum

There you go, finally a word for that thing I've been feeling.

Book to Film Adaptations I Want to See

"Which is better, the book or film?' may be a pointless question for some, but nevertheless still begs to be asked every time a book to film adaptation is made. Answering that question becomes even more relevant when the adaptation is of a book that's loved by many or when it holds prime real estate on your bookshelf like some of the titles below surely are. Here are seven of those book to film adaptations I can't wait to see on the big screen.

Cloud Atlas


I highly recommend reading the book first or whenever you get the time. It's not an easy read (I got a serious case of vocabulary envy early into the book, heck Mitchell even created his own futuristic English), but it is completely worthwhile; like getting six stylistically varied yet all well-written short stories (Robert Forbisher's letters being my favorite) in one seamless compilation. It will be interesting to see how the Wachowskis (of The Matrix Trilogy fame) and Tom Tykwer adapted the different time frames and storylines of the novel into the film version. In the book, the narrative begins by following a chronological sequence from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future from where, it then proceeds in a reverse chronology, so that the book begins and ends in the 19th century. This worked beautifully in the book, even managing to emphasize the common thread running through each of the six stories, but I can imagine how messy that narrative pattern will be when translated into a movie. Imagine having to traverse through six different climaxes and resolutions (hmm on second thought..). So big props to the screenwriters and directors if ever they pull this one off, actually, for even attempting this ambitious film adaptation. 

Perks of Being a Wallflower


Ok, here's the deal. Young Adult books have that special place in my heart, which basically means every film adaptation from the YA genre gets measured by a very personal yardstick. It's not just about, "hey, does this stack up against my imagination?", like how I'd pit most stories to, but to a great extent is about putting it up against my own stories or experiences of getting comfortable in my own skin, trying to fit in, dealing with the highs and the torment of first love and first heartbreak. It's just that, basing on the trailer, I have major qualms about the movie. Casting-wise, I feel that the only thing they got right is that guy from 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', Ezra Miller, as Patrick. The characters of Sam, Patrick, and Charlie are people you've met at one point in your life, they could even have been you in your younger years, but Watson's and Lerhman's portrayals look foreign, as if someone played with your world and inhabited it with people you don't recognize. On the plus side though, Stephen Chbosky, the author of Perks, got to write the screenplay and direct the movie, so we can at least hope for some fidelity with the novel.

Les Miserables

So far this has been Anne Hathaway's year. After giving us the best Catwoman who has ever graced the screen, in the box office hit The Dark Knight Rises, she returns with one of the most vied for roles in theater, that of the girl with glorious locks and perfect teeth, Fantine. I'm less than halfway through the book and have never seen it on stage, so really there's no point of comparison for me. Is it bad that my first taste of a Les Mis production will be on the big screen?  But, but I've looked through all the actors who've played Jean Valjean and none of them is as smokin' as Hugh Jackman. And what about that Eddie Redmayne guy? whooo. Trumps all your "I am so culturally superior" arguments. 

Anna Karenina


Keira Knightley is one of my favorite actresses. I promise to read the novel before the movie comes out. 

The Great Gatsby

I haven't read this one, but the trailer showed what promises to be an over the top production ala Moulin Rouge. If that's the case, then, good. It doesn't hurt that Leo Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan are in the cast too.

The Hobbit

I never bothered to finish any of the LOTR movies, although the cinematography was undoubtedly breathtaking. Tolkien's prose was too much for me (I was bored to death).  Needless to say i'm not exactly a fan of the Jackson/Tolkien tandem, but we'll see. After all, The Hobbit is the only Tolkien book I've finished and relished. I'd dare say it has everything to do with that hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

Great Expectations

I don't think you can ever go wrong doing a film adaptation of Dickens' works. His propensity for detail is known far and wide, so it doesn't surprise me one bit that everything on the trailer is also exactly what I had in mind. You know how they made a wrong call with the kid they cast in 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" and it just ruined the whole thing? Well I'm glad to tell you that young Pip here is exactly how anyone would think him to be.


How about you? Do you have anything to add to this list? Or maybe a book you would like to see made into a film?

Good Reads | The Beatings of a Second Heart

This post over at The Rumpus came to me less than a year ago at a time when I had almost given up on a dream, no, THE dream, and since then I have constantly returned to it to anchor me through the massive waves of doubts and indecision  that almost always seem to accompany any ambitious pursuit. It is thanks to this piece that I have come to name that, which has troubled me on so many sleepless nights. That relentless, almost maddening, internal plea to create, to fashion something out of the tangled mess that my thoughts always seem to be in, that, which Cheryl Strayed (the person behind the Dear Sugar columns) refers to here as the second heart. 

I sat like that too. Thinking of only one thing. One thing that was actually two things pressed together, like the back-to-back quotes on my chalkboard: how much I missed my mother and how the only way I could bear to live without her was to write a book. My book. The one that I’d known was in me since way before I knew people like me could have books inside of them. The one I felt pulsing in my chest like a second heart, formless and unimaginable until my mother died, and there it was, the plot revealed, the story I couldn’t live without telling. My debut.

Sure it was several months in the making, but just recently, after much time spent traipsing between being overwhelmed with zeal and being paralyzed with fear, I finally got myself to sit still, pen touching paper, in what I can only hope to be the first steps in a dance that will be carried on to great length, with deep thought and candidness of feeling.  My every stroke keeping in time with the second heart and its beating.

The fear still persists though, presenting itself in short bouts of doubt and writer’s envy, things that can, and had in the past, all too easily stopped me on my tracks.  But there is no escaping the second heart, as Ms. Strayed clearly points out – there is no other way but to meet its call with courage, willingness to put in work, and complete surrender.

But I was wrong. The second heart inside me beat ever stronger, but nothing miraculously became a book. As my 30^th birthday approached, I realized that if I truly wanted to write the story I had to tell, I would have to gather everything within me to make it happen. I would have to sit and think of only one thing longer and harder than I thought possible. I would have to suffer. By which I mean work.

At the time, I believed that I’d wasted my twenties by not having come out of them with a finished book and I bitterly lambasted myself for that. I thought a lot of the same things about myself that you do, Elissa Bassist. That I was lazy and lame. That even though I had the story in me, I didn’t have it in me to see it to fruition, to actually get it out of my body and onto the page, to write, as you say, with “intelligence and heart and lengthiness.” But I’d finally reached a point where the prospect of not writing a book was more awful than the one of writing a book that sucked. And so at last, I got to serious work on the book.

I’d finally been able to give it because I’d let go of all the grandiose ideas I’d once had about myself and my writing—so talented! so young! I’d stopped being grandiose. I’d lowered myself to the notion that the absolute only thing that mattered was getting that extra beating heart out of my chest. Which meant I had to write my book. My very possibly mediocre book. My very possibly never-going-to-be-published book. My absolutely no-where-in-league-with-the-writers-I’d-admired-so-much-that-I-practically-memorized-their-sentences book. It was only then, when I humbly surrendered, that I was able to do the work I needed to do.

My work is far from complete, and I know that for as long as it takes to finish my book I may also have to keep on returning to this post, if only to soothe me, shake me, remind me. In that same vein, I share this with everyone, regardless of whether it is writing he/she seeks to do or something else, but who like me also happens to be plagued by the urgings of a second heart. 

The Rumpus | Dear Sugar, The Rumpus Advice Column #48 Write Like a Motherfucker

Happy Birthday Kobe!

(via Chapter )

Kobe Bryant, to those who have faintly heard about his feats from all over the world; the Black Mamba, to us who have witnessed and followed his prowess on the court. Thirty four years ago, this man was born. Today, we still celebrate him.

Happy birthday, Kobe Bryant.

Good Reads | Second Love

The second time you fall in love with someone, you’re going to feel so relieved. When you get your heart broken for the first time, you can’t imagine loving someone else again or having someone else love you. You worry about your ex finding love before you do, you worry about being damaged goods. And then it happens. Someone else loves you and you can sleep well at night.

The second time you fall in love with someone, you’ll be a more sane person. Your first love is when you get all of your insanity out. You behave like an insane monster because your mind is freaking out about all these new powerful feelings. By the second time, however, you have an idea of what works and what doesn’t. It’s by no means perfect. The insanity will make a cameo at some point. “Peek a boo. I’m here! Hope you didn’t forget about me!” But you can usually shoo it away after awhile.

Thought Catalog: The Second Time You Fall In Love With Someone

Even if sometimes, that someone else can be just you, finally learning to love yourself. x

My Lakers Will Be So Awesome! (with fingers crossed)

When news of the Dwight Howard trade broke out last week, the jubilation felt by many Lakers fans was not without caution. After all Howard is still rehabbing after undergoing surgery for a back condition that left him unable to play during the playoffs and the recently concluded Olympics.  This was such a concern for fans during the months leading up to the trade that for most people the focal question was, "Do we trade Bynum's knees for Howard's back?".

Well, we all know by now that the Lakers have already decided to put their franchise's future on the latter, which should easily put to rest those fears. You do know they would've consulted with medical experts first before pushing through with the deal right? But if you're like me, you'd still want to know the truth behind Howard's condition and what we can expect now that he has a surgically repaired back.

For that here's a repost from a Lakers forum summarizing an interview with the chief of orthopedic surgery at Cedar Sinai regarding Dwight Howard's back.

Just listened to Dr. Robert Klapper, chief of orthopedic surgery at Cedar Sinai and ESPN 710's resident expert.

Some highlights:

1. From an orthopedic surgery standpoint he would much rather have Dwight's back than Andrew's knees.

2. The knees have a much more "chronic injury" issue than Dwight's back which is an "acute injury" that can be repaired with very little sequelae.

3. After surgery, you can't play basketball and engage in any heavy physical activity for 4 months.

Why?

Because the injury is a disc herniation: a small amount of the nucleus pulposus or the "shock absorber" of the disc got squeezed out. It is a VERY SMALL amount. You get rid of the "squirted out" material with a 1 inch incision under a microscope.

There is a 5-10 percent chance that returning to physical activity too early could herniate more material. That's obviously not good because you've reherniated the disc and have to remove more of the extruded disc.

Bear in mind that Dwight was fully recovered, pain free, and ready to work out probably a few weeks after surgery (it is only 1 inch incision after all). BUT returning to physical activity too early gets you that 5-10 percent chance. Keep in mind that means there is a 90 to 95% chance that if he came back after only a month or so he would be fine.

But he is Dwight Howard and so they are being super, super cautious.

4. He had surgery 04/20/2012 which means he should be able to resume training, weights, basketball activity, etc around 08/20/2012 if everything goes according to schedule and he feels no pain, etc.

5. Per Dr. Klapper, based on that schedule Dwight should be ready for opening night (10/30/2012). He'll have 2 months to get his conditioning back. Again assuming he recovers as expected and at his age and conditioning there should be NO REASON for any setbacks.

6. Dwight will ALWAYS know he had surgery, he'll ALWAYS feel just a little different. That's unavoidable. BUT that feeling doesn't affect his ability to do what he needs to do. Per Dr. Klapper as fans we should be able to tell NO DIFFERENCE in the way he plays. He should have essentially NO difference in his skills, athleticism, etc.

7. By way, reading some medical papers addressing the effects of laminectomy on NBA athletes, those papers support Dr. Klapper's assertion that Dwight should be back as good as new.

8. That should answer the question why teams are still willing to kill themselves to get Dwight Howard despite this "back injury" issue. It's a non-issue moving forward. Also why he and his agent are very comfortable not extending and waiting for the end of the season to sign a new max contract. They know, all-world BEAST 3x DPOY Howard is coming back this year. With Stephen A interview, Dwight pointed out that he absolutely felt he could have won a 4th straight DPOY if he had been fully healthy. He's ready to come back and remind everyone who he is on the basketball floor. Trust me, he may be smiling but this whole Dwightmare did affect him and he's going to playing with an edge, especially on defense.

The most dominant defensive force in the NBA basically feels disrespected and the league has NO IDEA what is coming down on them from the 5 slot.


Summary: If everything goes according to schedule, we should hear something by the end of August that Dwight is starting to work out again on the court, lifting, running etc.

Chances are good that he'll be ready for the start of the season.

Chances overwhelmingly good that there will be no lasting effect from this particular injury.


Final point: He played with a lot of pain and discomfort when the incompetent, dumbass Magic medical staff misdiagnosed with "back spasms." He said it was more pain than he had ever experienced since he was in the league.

That's why the thing that hurt him personally the most in the media was that he was faking an injury and quitting on his team. He put up All-Star numbers last year playing with a herniated disc.

When I think of Bynum taking plays and games off and openly admitting it while Dwight is still putting up the numbers he did with an injury that ultimately required surgery and in a toxic, destructive environment . . . I think there is no doubt the sort of heart and work ethic Dwight is going to bring to our team.

Hope all of this is a bit reassuring.  

via dfchang813

Two things straight off the bat, this interview did take place and the contents have been verified by a lot of people who've heard the interview as well, BUT Dr. Klapper is not Howard's doctor nor is he affiliated with the Lakers. That shouldn't take away from his statements though because spinal disc herniation is a fairly common condition and can be easily assessed by any doctor, what more the chief of orthopedic surgery!

Medical opinion notwithstanding, the full effects of Howard's back surgery on his game can only really be seen once he's out there on the court, which is still a good 2-3 months from now.

So for now, I say we Lakers fans continue with the "my Lakers is so awesome" memes and posts, while keeping our fingers crossed, you know, just in case.