Daster Diaries (Maiden Post)

Different stories a méyacuá king lélé-lélé: sa Tagalog, king Capampangan and in English – as well!

Sálángí cayú! Mabuhay and Welcome.

This is DASTER DIARIES, where you will discover and hear stories from the skin-deep down to the underneath of this society. Sa totoo lang, I don’t really know what stories will I tell you or how will I pass them on to you. Nevertheless, now you’re here, reading my pasináyâ.

Writing stories, proses and poetries have been a part of myself since I was in high school. Médiu mété niá mû iniang migumpisá ná cung magóbra — for eight years now, my goodness. It was a dream, a hobby, a favor or a frustration all combined. I’ve been writing a lot since studying; some I still keep and remember, and sadly, some were already lost in my mind, thrown deep down my oblivion of fading memories. I’ve written many poems and paragraphs for my classmates and friends, yung iba pang-assignment nila sa Filipino subject, o kaya pag nanliligaw sila (yes, during our time, úsú la pa ring súsúlat love letters). I’ve also written some latí-latîng works for various individuals and institutions, both secular and church-related stuffs. Naandun nang sumulat ako ng gozo for a tandem patron saints sa isang parokya sa Malabon, I also co-edited some official patronal hymns, yung isa pa nga, kinanta during a Marian image’s canonical coronation somewhere sa Pobla. On my own, nagsusulat talaga ako. But during my working years sa dalawang simbahang di ko na babanggitin, nagsasalin na lang ako ng mga bagay na naisulat na, most of which, puro mga kanta pa. Pero yung nagbalak ako makapag-publish ng libro, I haven’t achieve that, yet. Gusto ko, pero saka na. Dito muna tayo. So let’s start from here.

Now, what to expect from this stack? Well… I’m still figuring it out, pero expect this: I’ll be writing simultaneously (“code-switch” and “code-mix” as how we call it in the linguistics’ jargon) in three languages I know — English, Capampangan and Tagalog. So if you do not know any Capampangan or Tagalog words and terms, you’ll learn that in the process soon (if you’re really willing to). At my whim too, I may also write here full stories in any of the languages mentioned, so you’ve been told already, ha? Translation of them can be requested — at an added rate, noh? You may also be asking what tone of language you’ll be expecting: well again, expect the unexpected. LOL! I can be both wholesome and tactless. Then, what kind of stories now? Let’s see again the title of this post:

DASTER DIARIES.

Nu’ng una talaga, the thought just came into me na gawin siyang title ng binabalak kong TikTok vlog while I and my boss were waiting for a friend to come back inside the car. Yet I suddenly remembered, masiádu nóng cabaragbag ding TikTok influencers ngéni kéti, susmaryosep! King pámagcasákit da nang títípun followers, pótang cáyi, mípapaté la pa. Íla íla, mipángalálú la. That’s why I thought I’ll stick to my old school approach, tutal matuá na cu. And that’s also the reason why I chose this kind of platform, where your readers are those who will choose this kind of platform and subscribe to your mindset, too. And yeah, going back, it’s DASTER. It’s a staple attire for Filipino mothers, and those in the Southeast Asia, as well. It may just be simple yet it’s a colorful dress, humble yet fabulous, unsung yet a hero so courageous.

There’s already a lot of toxicity around. Definitely, you need a dose of contemporary literature — like this one. Writing proses and poetries is already a dying art in our society. In a world of memes and short clips, where people’s attention span gets shorter and shorter every single day, it is hardly believable that people will waste a luxury of their time for old-fashioned, starving daily wage writers like us. Maybe there’s still some of us, and I hope é cami mangaguísan agad. I do really hope.

So thank you for passing by, and see you on my next stack!

And remember,

…ALWAYS WEAR YOUR DASTER!