The Carver's House

Cambodian cuts off penis to feed spirits PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian man cut off his penis when he said he was visited by four hungry spirits in a dream and he had no chicken or duck to offer them. According to police, 33-year-old Soun Ney told the spirits to go away when they first appeared to ask for food, and waved his penis at them in defiance. "Devils, I don't have any chicken or duck for you," he was quoted as saying by local police chief Phoeung Vat. "If you want to eat anything, you can eat my penis." Soun Ney said the spirits agreed to eat his penis. He was rushed to a hospital near the capital Phnom Penh after he castrated himself with a butcher's knife. "He is lucky to be alive," Phoeung Vat told Reuters. Villagers in the deeply impoverished southeast Asian traditionally offer chicken, duck or cake to the spirits of the dead to ward off bad luck. From Reuters

What I Wanted To Be But Didn’t As a kid, I had ambitions of becoming a priest (!), or a chef. I remember enjoying my mom’s recipe books (pronouncing “two tsp.” as “two tisps”), and even asking her to try out a recipe I haphazardly invented. Interests changed down the line, and when I reached college, I wanted to work for a large corporation. One of the staple questions given to fresh graduates during their first job interviews involved foresight: What would you be doing five years from now? Ten years? And more often I’d answer with, “I want to start a business.” A decade has passed with no business to boast, signifying that I’ve innocently deceived my past employers. For who could really tell what could happen over such a long duration? I graduated with a degree in Marketing Management with a GPA a few tenths short of honors, and had my sights set on pursuing a career in marketing. From the start, I didn’t want to earn from my art. But look what happened… I became a unive...

Professional Spook I spent time at the office last Friday till past midnight. It's one of those things ordinary staff go through, to finish up as much as possible over extended hours because of a looming deadline. So there I was, alone at the office, alternating phone calls between two clients and making sensitive corrections on a document. During most the time, the only sounds one could hear were the clicking of the keyboard and my light breathing, then the occasional ringing of the phone. In past situations I would've had the radio on, but I guess I was too engrossed in getting things done to even bother. I was a bit on edge for I had heard the stories about the bumps-in-the-night, and though I had "shut off" that extra sense a while back, I couldn't help but be a tad paranoid. I closed shop at 1:30 in the morning. In the mid-90s, I was working for a telecom company, with offices situated in relatively old building along Ayala Avenue. Now this building wa...

Blog Truths A friend of mine was recently accepted in a local radio station as a newscaster, despite her having absolutely no experience in the industry. She is currently undergoing training this week, and she’s already been given her own radio show, apart from numerous voice-over opportunities. The radio show, a new one for the station, would be about relationships, which wickedly coincides with her recent episode when she and her boyfriend split up. While she’s very much gung-ho about the whole deal, she can’t help but feel nervous. How can you figure objectively in a discussion about that aspect of your life that’s just suffered a major blow? Which brings me to blogging. I’ve hinted so much in the past about the ordeal I went through with my own relationship struggle, but never had the guts to put it all down here in detail. Not that I’m obliged to, since this blog was never meant to be my Ultimate Diary. But in the occasional absence of something to write about, there has...

Biologically Gay This bit was posted in the high school barkada mailing list. "Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine have confirmed that a male sheep's preference for same-sex partners has biological underpinnings. A study published in the February issue of the journal Endocrinology demonstrates that not only are certain groups of cells different between genders in a part of the sheep brain controlling sexual behavior, but brain anatomy and hormone production may determine whether adult rams prefer other rams over ewes. "This particular study, along with others, strongly suggests that sexual preference is biologically determined in animals, and possibly in humans," said the study's lead author, Charles E. Roselli, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, OHSU School of Medicine. "The hope is that the study of these brain differences will provide clues to the processes involved in...

I'm tipsy. Teeeeepsy. And I only had one and a quarter bottle of beer. Pathetic. To think I could drink four or five in the past. Now, it's freakin' less than two bottles. So I wuz talkin' up a storm, gesticulating like anything, no-holds barred... is that where you're supposed to put the hyphen? No holds-barred? No-holds-barred? My sister talked about the ghosts at her office. The restroom at her office used to be a morgue... Oh, and she's beginning to see white earth spirits, too... Outkast is playing. Nice song... heeeey-yaaaahhh...heeeeh-yaaaah... they desreve their Grammy... Should I edit that? "desreve"...naaaahhh... There's another song playing in my head. Some pop girlie song from the early 90s... about being crazy ... "don't you know we're crazy..." somehitng like that... Why am I teeepseeee? It's I don't know. Just decided to try a few drinks with the friend. Relationship crisis on her part. Had t...

A Fabulous McDo Party Friday night began with a friend’s birthday party, held at McDonald’s Greenbelt. Yes, folks, it was a kiddie party with no kids. As is customary with such parties, we had the games and prizes, the McDonald’s meals for dinner, and a special visit from Birdie. What made the event more interesting was the fact that 90% of those in attendance were at least half in attendance were non-straight. So there we were, desecrating the innocence of the McDonald’s kiddie party with off-the-wall commentary. It’s an experience I’m sure the resident party host won’t fail to forget. And I paraphrase a quote from her, “Sir, kapag humingi pa kayo ng Chickenjoy, ipapupulis ko na kayo.” Precious. Another kiddie party – the genuine sort – was going on in the room adjacent, leading me to wonder what the poor souls were thinking about our celebration. But our celebrant was happy, and that’s what counts. Happy birthday, Benigno!