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An INFJ wrapped in INTP inside INTJ

Four cats in the yard

I’ve known since childhood that I’m an Aquarius, and I’ve read oh maybe a ton of trash descriptions about the “personality type” of Aquarius people. Obviously astrology is a pseudo-science, but I’ve had my grade-school fun with it. Then maybe 15 years ago, I dabbled playfully with the Chinese zodiac after someone gave me a Chinese-zodiac coffee mug for Christmas. So, most obviously, I also became familiar with the “personality type” of Fire Monkeys. That was an even better kind of fun.

Continue reading “An INFJ wrapped in INTP inside INTJ”
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Kangkong tips, literally

Miniature kangkong garden
CHINESE KANGKONG. Throwaway stems are revived in a miniature semi-aquatic environment made of recycled 1-liter plastic bottles.

When you buy a bunch of kangkong tops from the market, and prepare it in the kitchen for, say, sinigang or adobo, don’t throw away the thick and tough but still-green stems from which you pinched off the tender shoots and leaves. Continue reading “Kangkong tips, literally”

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Bamboo shoots

bamboo grove
Poems like this are like a bamboo grove, planted and nurtured by half-forgotten old folk, relentlessly tossed by the wind and rain, their foliage shed in the worst seasons of drought. But hopefully they’ll endure, for children to discover the ancient nooks and crannies where they will play and build their own dreams.

BAMBOO SHOOTS

Many years have carved these slopes.
It was around this time in March when
North Wind tarried on, defying summer thirst,
and a thousand shoots of green rejoiced.
They’d passed the test, and cried for joy, and raced uphill.
And we, who nurtured them, were about to shout
our wildest greetings when the thought struck us: Continue reading “Bamboo shoots”