Pistahan Sa Mdeo Essay Example for Free

Pistahan Sa Mdeo Essay It has been Montessori De Oro’s tradition to celebrate Buwan ng Wika annually. Last August, we once again celebrate it with the theme â€Å"Tatag ng Wikang Filipino, Lakas ng Pagka-Pilipino.† Students worked hand in hand with the faculty and staff in coming up with an exciting event. Hence, Poster Making and Essay Writing Contests were held. Students from different year levels were encouraged to showcase their artistic views and informative ideas. The best posters were chosen according to the relevance of the theme, neatness and creativity. While the best essays were chosen on how the ideas were arranged, concretized and expounded. Thus, the winners for the Poster Making Contest starting up with the Lower Division were; 1st place- Klient Aà ±over and Charles Enriquez both from Silver Team and Danica Antigua from the Gold Team. 2nd place- Ann Ross Fernandez from Green Team, Alexandra Femielle Santander from Silver Team and Angelica Olarte from Silver Team. And 3rd place- Nichole Solon from Silver Team. And for the Upper Division winners we have; 1st place – Paola Angelika Agpawa from Silver Team and Kim Zalsos from Green Team. 2nd place- Sherina Ann Afdal, Cara Antigua and Krishna Louise Valdehueza all from Gold Team and 3rd place- Alden Acdal Jr. from Green Team. And for the winners of the Essay Writing Contest in the Lower Division we have 1st place – Ann Ross Fernandez from Green Team. 2nd place- Nichole Solon from the Silver Team, and 3rd place- Alexandra Femielle Santander and Famela Clarice Paghasian both from Silver Team and Danica Antigua from Gold Team. And for the Upper Division, the winners were; 1st place- Paola Angelika Agpawa from the Silver Team, Nie Coleen Ebajay from the Gold Team and Hasmin Pascasio from the Green Team. 2nd place- Mari Chelsi Rey from the Gold Team and 3rd place- Krishna Louise Valdehueza and Minette Cheska Rey both from the Gold Team. The highlight of the festivities was the â€Å"Tagisan ng Talino†. It is composed of chosen students from 1st year to 4th year and were grouped according to their school spirit color- the Green, the Silver and the Gold. Thus, the Representatives for the Green Team were Loulanie Grace Bello from 4th Year, Hasmin Pascasio from 3rd Year, Ann Ross Fernandez from 2nd Year and Mary Margareth Gonzalez from the 1st Year. For the Silver Team, the representatives were Paola Angelika Agpawa from the 4th Year, Kayra Andrea Salcedo from the 3rd Year, Nichole Solon from the 2nd  Year and Famela Clarice Paghasian from the 1st Year. And lastly the representatives of the Gold Team were Mari Chelsi Rey from the 4th Year, Minette Cheska Rey from the 3rd Year, Danica Antigua from the 2nd Year and Tristan Tuazon from the 1st Year. All of the contestants did their best to answer the questions correctly despite the time pressure. Finally, the Silver Team garnered 21 pts and won 1st place, followed by the Green Team with 20pts that made them in the 2nd place and lastly the Gold Team in 3rd place with 18 pts. For the contestants, it was truly a remarkable experience for they were challenged on how far have they learned the Filipino subject. Right after the â€Å"Tagisan ng Talino†, all year levels presented a song and dance number. The 1st year Emerald gracefully performed Kuratsa (a Waray dance). Also, some students from the same section prepared a verse choir speech entitled â€Å"Ako’y Pilipino† which was written by Isabel Empimo Mendoza. A remix of popular Filipino dance songs such as Kapayapaan, Matinik and Bebot were presented by the 2nd year Diamond. The 3rd Year Pearl sang and danced their hearts out with the song â€Å"Wikang Filipino†. And lastly the 4th Year Amethyst danced in the tune of â€Å"Choose Philippines† in katutubo costumes. They also prepared a song number entitled â€Å"Ligaya† by the iconic band Eraserheads. But the celebration didn’t end there yet. On the following day, the Senior students prepared Mga Palarong-Pinoy. These were encouraged to instill the Filipino Culture within the students. Such games were patintero, dancing ball, takyan, luksong lubid and many more. Despite the blazing sun, everyone still managed to play the games with beaming smiles. Right after the Palarong-Pinoy was the much awaited- Kakaning Pinoy. Different varieties of Filipino delicacies were presented and shared among the students and teachers including the faculty and staff members. It also lifted everyone’s festive spirit since the act of sharing and giving were observed during the said event. Everyone was indeed thrilled for the fun-filled activities that happened during the celebration. For us Seniors, Montessori De Oro is a school were students are developed through showcasing their talents and skills in the field of performing, playing sports, writing, drawing and many more. We are not only taught to grasp the knowledge and information we get from our daily encounter with the surroundings but also exposed us to recreational activities that can hone our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual development. For we  believed, that in Montessori De Oro, every student will soar up high!

Electronic Music Origin And Effects Music Essay

Electronic Music Origin And Effects Music Essay In Bernard Wiletss discovering electronic music, Bernard states, We live in an age of technology in which machines touch every part of our lives; it is not surprising that music has also been influenced by technology. (Bernard). The sound of music has undergone massive changes since the dawn of the synthesizer. When once a band relied solely on the instruments its members could play in order to forge their thoughts into sound, they now can purchase a piece of hardware or software to add an array of instruments to their music. However, due to this technological advance many argue that talent is no longer required to be a musician and that synthesizer programmers are lazy hacks but I beg to differ. To understand exactly what it takes to be an electronic musician and or synth programmer you must first understand electronic music and its components. Wilets describes the production of sounds by means of conventional instruments, using a string bass as an example as When a string on a string bass is made to vibrate or oscillate a sound is produced. By changing the length of the oscillating strings with the left hand, the instrument produces different pitches. (Wilets). If the sound created was displayed visually, it would look like what is called a wave pattern. The electronic sound synthesizer or synth for short is a device designed to create or manipulate sounds. A synthesizer is composed of many ways to create and manipulate sounds. Depending on the synth the options range from filtering out certain frequencys and distorting sounds to pitching them higher than any know instrument can achieve. However, there is one component of design of which all the others build upon, the oscil lators. The oscillators or Oscs for short, produce sound electronically. Each oscillator produces a unique sound and waveform. Common waveforms found on most synthesizers are the square; saw tooth, sine, and triangle waveforms. These four waveforms serve as the basic building blocks for most conventional instruments. Often instruments are grouped together depending on their similarities in sound and technique. Instruments such as flutes, piccolos, and ocarinas fall under the category of wind instruments. Wind instruments are grouped together because they rely on air to create sound. Instruments that share the same means of sound production often share an audible similarity as well. This similarity extends to each instruments waveform. By modifying one of the four basic waveforms, a synthesizer could recreate virtually any known instrument, making it massively appealing. Although the idea of electronic instruments and electronically produced music has been around since the 1800s it was not until around the 1940s that the concept was fully realized. Although inventions such as the musical telegraph and theremin served as a testament to the future of electronically produced music, the idea still needed to be refined. It wasnt until the invention of the Moog synthesizer, invented by Robert Moog and Don Buchla, did the synthesizer begin its musical takeover. The very first Moog synthesizers were massive and resembled machines seen in old science fiction movies before the computer age. They were extremely expensive, extremely hard to program and used mostly in film scoring and music houses. After refining his invention however, Moog compressed the massive instrument into a portable and affordable device thus making the synthesizer something anyone could afford. This innovation would eventually go on to change the face of music forever. . While most still used the synthesizer as a means to replicate existing instruments others saw the deeper potential it held. Based on simplistic waveforms that required modification to attain certain sounds, the synthesizer held limitless sonic capabilities. Bands such as the Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake and Palmer were among the first to use the synthesizer to achieve more abstract sounds. Their sonic creativity would lead others to do the same and eventually synthesized sounds began to serenade all types of music. Due to the demand to create unique sounds and music, companies wishing to cash in on this new device made many types of synthesizers. Due to copyright, other companies had to veer away from the subtractive analog synthesis used in Moog synthesizers. They had to create their own synthesizers thus creating new ways to approach sound synthesis. Over time, a slew of ways to approach sound synthesis came about. Synthesizers based on additive synthesis, frequency modulation, granular synthesis and phase distortion to name a few began to hit music stores. While the design became seemingly more small and simplistic, the ways to manipulate and create sound became vast. Programming each of these types of synth required knowledge in the specific form of synthesis it implored. When once a synth programmer had to simultaneously play keys, pull and plug cords into various inputs and outputs he can now do the same thing by simplistic digital means, which often only require the flicking of a switch. This advance in technology is what people claim to be the reason why talent is no longer required. Of course holding down a single key and playing an entire riff or ensemble may seem lazy in practice. People forget that that entire riff started as dull waveforms. In order to produce something like that an electronic musician must have vast knowledge in not only music, in order to achieve a good sounding riff, he must also know how to program his synthesizer. Take for example the arpeggiated synth lines heard in most trance songs. In order to create these sounds the synth programmer must first create the sound he wishes to arpeggiate. This process can be as simple as combining three saw tooth waveforms, pitching one in a high octave, another in a lower and the last one in an extremely almost un-audible low octave. Then filtering most of the high frequencies out, adding a low frequency osc after filtering and adjusting the way in which the sound is unleashed, sustained and how it decays, to linking the frequencys cutoff to the low frequency osc, running it through another filter and programming the sound to continually morph its velocity to a prerecorded pattern. After that, the programmer must then use an arpeggiator, arpeggiator range from simplistic preset patterns to possessing the ability to adjust its velocity one hundred times during the course of the sounds procession. This process is known as tweaking the sound. After programming his arpeggiated synth patch the electronic musician might go on to program a synth to stand in for bass sounds and then another for keyboard which all are as complicated as making an arpeggiated sound. After the electronic music has finished all the synth parts of his songs, he must then turn his focus to the percussion. Although a synthesizer is capable of producing drum sounds, the sounds created often had a synthetic sound to them that most electronic musicians did not find appealing. Most electronic musicians then would turn to another piece of equipment or software known as a drum machine. A drum machine is a sound module that specializes in the production of percussive timbres. Drum machines followed a similar path to synthesizers, first being complicated large pieces of machinery to becoming hand held devices. Programming these are equally complicated. As drum machines involved they began to be capable to record sounds and edit them to programmers wishes thus making things like heartbeats the kick drum of many songs. These two pieces of hardware or software became the instruments of choice to most electronic music producers, whether they are in the form of hardware or software. Now programming a riff or drum pattern was hard enough the programmer also has to humanize his track or else it would sound too robotic. By humanizing, I mean the process in which they make the drumbeat sound as if someone was actually playing a drum kit. This implies varying velocity, panning the sounds to encompass the space drums demand, and adding digital effects, the same thing implies to the synth. So in order to produce electronic music, the electronic musician must know all of the things I discussed as well as music theory and how instruments work. For example, you could not create an organ synth sound and play it like guitar it just would not work. So that being said I think the electronic musician if far from lazy and that, the simplification of electronic instruments only makes their capabilities greater as they do not have to worry about attaching cybernetic arms to their body in order to fiddle with more cords. Alot of people however say that anyone could become an electronic musician. That the style can be taught and is not heartfelt. That electronic musicians lack the talent of other muscians. This is what an electronic musician credits his inspiration to Im a very curious person, and I tend to find new obsessions every few years. I love the energy that lives on the border of human ingenuity, the edge where scientific curiosity, spiritual wonder, and technological invention meet in explosions of beauty and truth. I love to celebrate those people whose spark ignites at that juncture. As I seek new musical inspiration, (sometimes I do run dry for periods) I look for energetic examples in other fields besides music. I often find them in the realms of physics, poetry, architecture, biology, history anywhere actually. I guess Im a bit insatiable, and I want to explore the best that humanity has created, and echo it as well as I can in my own work. That statement, to me, is what music is all a bout. Holmes, Thomas B. Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. MOOG [a Film by Hans Fjellestad]. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2010. . Moog. Dir. Hans Fjellestad. Perf. Robert Moog. ZU33, 2004. DVD. Shapiro, Peter, and Iara Lee. Modulations: a History of Electronic Music : Throbbing Words on Sound. New York: Caipirinha Productions, 2000. Print. Â  YouTube Discovering Electronic Music Part 1. YouTube Broadcast Yourself. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. . Rich, Robert. Robert Rich Interview -. Synthesizer Music and Electronics | Join the Electronic Music Revolution NOW! Web. 28 Nov. 2010. .

Analysis of Baxters Gryphon Essay -- Charles Baxter

In â€Å"Gryphon† by Charles Baxter, a class of fourth grade students gets a substitute teacher. She is very eccentric but knowledgeable and tells the whole class a lot of myths and facts. It is up to the class to decide what is true or not. In â€Å"Gryphon,† Miss Ferenczi specifically calls her wronged math answer a â€Å"substitute fact† but also tells the class many other things and myths that are true. For example, she tells the class a great deal about Egypt and that â€Å"features of the Constitution of the United States are notable for their Egyptian ideas.† (145) Her whole lecture was complete fact about Egypt, a country she had a passion for. However, it left the kids wondering if what she said was false, for she misled them earlier that day. Although the kids argued about her, this leaves the grea...

Temperamental Contributions to the Development of Social Behavior :: Jerome Kagan

The comprehensive research conducted by Jerome Kagan was very interesting but extremely complex regarding the temperamental concepts that contributed to the development of social behavior. I was surprised to learn that based on Freud’s psychoanalysis minds were turned â€Å"away from a temperamental category of person who was especially vulnerable to acquiring a symptom to a category of environment that produced systems. The adjective fearful became a continuous dimension on which any person could be placed† (p.377). Moreover, I strongly disagreed with the Thomas-Chess temperamental dimensions that were obtained from questionnaires by parents or other adults, as it related to their child. The information obtained could bias the study or research. However, I strongly agree with the descriptive perspective of observation to define temperament. In addition, I strongly agreed with how Kagan viewed the two profiles of inhibited and uninhibited temperaments: â€Å"Qualitative, defined by behavioral observations, influenced by genetic Factors and leading to distinctly different psychological outcomes with growth† (p.379). On the other hand, infant reactivity was complex and unclear relative to inhibited and uninhibited temperaments of infants. Are high reactive infants inhibited? Are low reactive infants uninhibited? What about the remaining infants in the research who had high motor arousal with low irritability or low motor arousal with high irritability? In addition, I strongly agreed with Kagan’s concept that inhibited and uninhibited behaviors are heritable. The study by Matheny regarding identical and fraternal twins as it related to inhibited and uninhibited behavior was very informative and clear.

PCI Compliance Essay -- PCI DSS Credit Card Fraud Security

What is PCI Compliance? PCI Compliance is maintaining adherence to the PCI DSS standard that was developed by major credit card companies as a â€Å"guideline to help prevent credit card fraud† ("PCI DSS"). Credit card fraud has taken the spotlight in the past several years due to the massive growth of e-commerce and online transaction processing. With the proliferation of e-businesses, it has become easier than ever to commit fraud over the internet. Major credit card issuers such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and JCB International joined together to create a standard known as PCI DSS or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. In order to process credit card payments merchants and vendors are required to be compliant with the standard based on the Merchant Level of the organization. This standard was created in response to a dramatic rise in credit card data breaches at many high-profile organizations. This standard defines a set of twelve requirements for compliance. In order to validate a company is in compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard, large organizations are audited by external auditors that are PCI Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs). Smaller companies that process less than 80,000 transactions per year are allowed to perform a self-assessment questionnaire, which determines if the merchant is within compliance. Who owns the PCI Data Security Standard? In June of 2005, these five major credit card issues came together and founded the PCI Security Council. The main purpose of the PCI Security Council was to create, own, and manage the PCI Data Security Standard for credit card data. However, the PCI Security Council is not a policing organization and does not enforce PCI... ...g merchant account is PCI DSS compliant? Is sensitive information being stored? How safe is your data? Works Cited "An Introduction to PCI Compliance." PCIComplianceGuide.org. 2008. PCI Compliance Guide.org. 17 Apr 2008 . McCarthy, Caroline. "T.J. Maxx parent company sued in credit card hack probe." CNET News. 21 Mar 2007. CNETNews.com. 17 Apr 2008 . "PCI DSS." Wikipedia. 5 Apr 2008. Wikipedia. 5 Apr 2008 . Vijayan, Jaikumar. "Minnesota becomes first state to make core PCI requirement a law." ComputerWorld.org. 23 May 2007. Computer World.org. 4 Apr 2008 .

Apple Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to produce the response from its target market. Price, product, place and promotion are the 4 P's that make up a marketing mix. Apple 1. Product – Apple’s key products are the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac line of personal computers. Steve Jobs has always maintained that first and foremost Apple is an industrial manufacturing firm with a mission to create innovative and compelling products that are unmatched in their visual appeal and intuitive nature.For apple, this is the most important P as they have the most of a product can offer and then the three other P’s simply fall after in their place. 2. Price – Apple has always been more worried about their product than their price, but they do have the advantage with its competitors with their previous successes with the iPad and iPhone.They have the leverage in materials, such as touch screens and flash memory, to help them keep the price staying low er than its competitors and it is obvious that Apple won’t be threatened any time soon. 3. Promotion – Apple’s commercials are instantly recognizable as they stick to the simplicity of their design which the layout of their product is featured on a white background, with catchy music playing in the background. Everything is visual, and visually plentiful, but not overpowering as some ads can be.Even their walk-in stores have the same simple design featuring nothing but their products and their own features. 4. Place – Apple has expanded its company to nearly all regions both big and small. Their iPods, iPads, and iPhones are just about any store that sells electronics these days. From hundreds of retail outlets to a great e-commerce website to even an app on their own, Apple’s products are just about as easy to buy as a pair of jeans.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Suitors After enduring a reasonable amount of bitterness from the crew over using his position to make a move on the girl in the parking lot, Tommy was able to persuade them to get back to work. Simon, Drew, and Jeff performed some mechanical magic on the meat case with a hammer, some jumper cables, and a can of Bondo, and by morning everything was running as if greased by the gods. Tommy met the manager at the front door with a smile and a report that his first night had gone great. The best crew he had ever seen, he said. He rode to Chinatown with Troy Lee. They found a parking place a few blocks from Tommy's room and walked the rest of the way. The sun was up only an hour, but already the merchants were open and the sidewalks crowded. Delivery trucks blocked the streets as they dropped off their loads of fresh fish, meat, and vegetables. Walking through Chinatown with Troy Lee at his side, Tommy felt as if he were carrying a secret weapon. â€Å"What's that stuff?† Tommy asked, pointing to a stack of celerylike stuff on a produce table. â€Å"Bok choy – Chinese cabbage.† â€Å"And that?† â€Å"Ginseng root. They say it's good for the wood.† Tommy stopped and pointed in the window of a herbalist. â€Å"That looks like hunks of deer antler.† â€Å"It is,† Troy said. â€Å"It's used to make medicine.† As they passed the fish market Tommy pointed to the huge spiny turtles trying to escape their milk crates. â€Å"Do people eat those?† â€Å"Sure, people who can afford them.† â€Å"This is like a foreign country.† â€Å"It is,† Troy said. â€Å"Chinatown is a very closed community. I can't believe you live here. I'm Chinese and I've never even lived here.† â€Å"This is it,† Tommy said, stopping at the door. â€Å"So you want me to ask them about the flowers, and what else?† â€Å"Well, about vampires.† â€Å"Give me a break.† â€Å"No, this guy I met, the Emperor, he said it could be vampires.† Tommy led the way up the steps. â€Å"He's bullshitting you, Tommy.† â€Å"He was the one that told me about the job at your store, and that turned out to be true.† Tommy opened the door and the five Wongs looked up from their bunks. â€Å"Bye-bye,† they said. â€Å"Bye-bye,† Tommy said. â€Å"Nice place,† Troy said. â€Å"I'll bet the rent is a killer.† â€Å"Fifty bucks a week,† Tommy said. â€Å"Fifty bucks,† the five Wongs said. Troy motioned Tommy out of the room. â€Å"Give me a minute here.† Troy closed the door. Tommy waited in the hall, listening to the nasal, banjo sounds of the conversation between Troy and the five Wongs. After a few minutes Troy emerged from the room and motioned for Tommy to follow him back down to the street. â€Å"What goes?† Tommy asked when they reached the sidewalk. Troy turned to him; he seemed as if he was trying to keep from laughing. â€Å"These guys are just off the boat, man. It was kind of hard to understand them, they speak some regional dialect.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, they're here illegally, smuggled over by pirates. They owe the pirates like thirty grand for the trip, and if they get caught and sent back to China, they still owe the money. That's like twenty years' wages in the provinces.† â€Å"So?† Tommy asked. â€Å"What's that got to do with the flowers?† Troy snickered. â€Å"I'm getting to that. You see, they want to be citizens. If they become citizens, they can get better jobs and pay off the pirates faster. And they can't be sent back.† â€Å"And the flowers?† â€Å"The Wongs are leaving the flowers. They're courting you.† â€Å"What!† â€Å"They heard somewhere that in San Francisco men marry men. They figure that if they can get you to marry them, then they can be citizens and stay here. You've got secret admirers, dude.† Tommy was indignant. â€Å"They think I'm gay?† â€Å"They don't know. I really don't think they care. They asked me to ask you for your hand in marriage.† Troy finally lost control and started laughing. â€Å"What did you tell them?† â€Å"I told them I'd ask.† â€Å"You fucker.† â€Å"Well, I didn't want to tell them no without asking you. They said that they'd take good care of you.† â€Å"Go tell them I said no.† â€Å"You got something against Asians? Too good for us?† â€Å"No, it's not that. I – â€Å" â€Å"I'll tell them that you'll think about it. Look, I've got to get home and get some sleep. I'll see you at work tonight.† Troy walked away. â€Å"You're cleaning garbage cans tonight, Troy. I'm in charge, you know? You better not tell Simon and the guys.† â€Å"Whatever you say, Fearless Leader,† Troy called over his shoulder. Tommy stood on the sidewalk trying to think of a better threat. A half block away Troy turned and yelled, â€Å"Hey, Tommy!† â€Å"What?† â€Å"You'll make a lovely bride.† Tommy, murder in his eyes, broke into a run after Troy Lee. Sunset. Consciousness hit Jody like a bucket of cold water. She thought, I miss waking up groggy and waiting for the coffee to brew. Waking up with your worries already in full stride just sucks. What was I thinking? Giving myself only a half hour to get ready for a date? I have nothing to wear. I can't show up in a sweatshirt and jeans and ask this guy to move in with me. I don't even know anything about him. What if he's a drunk, or a woman beater, or a psycho killer? Don't those guys always work nights in grocery stores? The neighbors always say that: â€Å"He worked nights and kept to himself. Who would have thought that he stir-fried the paperboy?† He did say I was beautiful, though, and everybody has their faults. Who am I to judge? I'm a†¦ She didn't want to think about what she was. Jody had thrown on her jeans and was furiously trying to put on what little make-up she had with her. She thought, I can read small print in the dark, I can see heat coming off a hiding rat from a hundred yards, and I still can't put on mascara without poking myself in the eye. She stepped back from the mirror and tried to fight the self-criticism – tried to look at herself objectively. I look like a late-night TV plea for the fashion-impaired, she thought. This won't work. She broke away from the mirror, then took one last look and primped her hair, then started out the door, then took one last look, then started out the door, then paused for a last look†¦ â€Å"No!† she said aloud. She ran out the door, down the steps, and to the bus stop on the corner, where she bounced from foot to foot as if waiting for the bathroom at a beer-drinking contest. Tommy had spent the day trying to avoid the five Wongs. He watched the room until he was sure they had all left, then he sneaked in and grabbed some clean clothes, showered, dressed, and sneaked out. He took a bus to Levis Plaza, where he napped on a park bench while pigeons and seagulls scavenged around him. Late afternoon brought a cold wind off the bay that chilled him awake. He walked up Sansome toward North Beach, trying to rub the crease out of the back of his head left by the bench slats. As he passed a group of teenagers who were posturing and panhandling at the curb, one pudgy boy shouted, â€Å"Sir, can you spare a quarter for some eyeliner?† Tommy dug in the pocket of his jeans and handed the kid all of his change. No one had ever called him ;sir; before. â€Å"Oh, thank you, sir!† the kid gushed in a high feminine voice. He held the fistful of change up to the others as if he had just been handed the cure for cancer. Tommy smiled and walked on. He figured that panhandlers had cost him about ten dollars a day since he had come to the City – ten dollars that he really couldn't afford. He didn't seem to be able to look away and walk on like everyone else. Maybe it was something you developed after a while. Maybe the constant assault of despair callused your compassion. A plea for money for food always made his stomach growl, and a quarter was a small price to pay to quiet it. The plea for eyeliner appealed to the writer part of him, the part that believed that creative thought was worth something. Yesterday he had heard a tourist tell a homeless man to get a job. â€Å"Pushing a shopping cart up and down these hills is a fucking job,† the homeless guy had said. Tommy gave him a buck. It was still light when Tommy reached Enrico's on Broadway. He paused momentarily and looked over the few customers who were eating on the patio by the street. Jody wasn't there. He stopped at the host's station and reserved a table outside for a half hour later. â€Å"Is there a bookstore around here?† he asked. The host, a thin, bearded man in his forties, with perfect anchorman-gray hair, raised an eyebrow, and with that small gesture made Tommy feel like scum. â€Å"City Lights is one block up on the corner of Columbus,† the host said. â€Å"Oh, that's right,† Tommy said, batting himself on the forehead as if he'd just remembered. â€Å"I'll be back.† â€Å"We are giddy with anticipation,† the host said. He spun curtly on one heel and walked away. Tommy turned and started up Broadway until he was accosted by a barker outside a strip joint, a man in a red tailcoat with a top hat. â€Å"Tits, slits, and clits. Come on in, sir. The show starts in five minutes.† â€Å"No, thanks. I have a dinner date in a few minutes.† â€Å"Bring the little lady back with you. This show can turn a maybe into a sure thing, son. We'll have her sitting in a puddle before you leave.† Tommy squirmed. â€Å"Maybe,† he said. He hurried along until the barker two doors up, this one a buxom woman wearing leather and a ring in her nose, stopped him. â€Å"The most beautiful girls in town, sir. All nude. All hot. Come on in.† â€Å"No, thanks. I have a dinner date in a few minutes.† â€Å"Bring her – â€Å" â€Å"Maybe,† Tommy said, walking on. He was stopped three more times before he reached the end of the block, and each time he declined politely. He noticed that he was the only one who stopped. The other pedestrians just walked on, ignoring the barkers. Back home, he thought, it's impolite to ignore someone who is speaking to you, especially if they call you â€Å"sir.† I guess I'm going to have to learn City manners. She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to meet Tommy at Enrico's. Allowing for another bus ride and a short walk, she had about seven minutes to find an outfit. She walked into the Gap on the corner of Van Ness and Vallejo with a stack of hundred-dollar bills in her hand and announced, â€Å"I need help. Now!† Ten salespeople, all young, all dressed in generic cotton casual, looked up from their conversations, spotted the money in her hand, and simultaneously stopped breathing – their brains shutting down bodily functions and rerouting the needed energy to calculate the projected commissions contained in Jody's cash. One by one they resumed breathing and marched toward her, a look of dazed hunger in their eyes: a pack of zombies from the perky, youthful version of The Night of the Living Dead. â€Å"I wear a size four and I've got a date in fifteen minutes,† Jody said. â€Å"Dress me.† They descended on her like an evil khaki wave. Tommy sat at a patio table with only a low brick planter box between him and the sidewalk. To avoid the titty bar barkers, he had crossed the street eight times in the half block from City Lights Bookstore to Enrico's and he was a little jangled from dodging traffic. He ordered a cappuccino from a waiter who fawned over him like a mother hen, then stared in amazement when the waiter returned with a cup the size of a large soup bowl and a plate of brown crystalline cubes. â€Å"These are raw sugar cubes, honey. So much better for you than that white poison.† Tommy picked up the soup spoon and reached for a sugar cube. â€Å"No, no, no,† the waiter scolded. â€Å"We use our demitasse spoon for our cappuccino.† He pointed to a tiny spoon that rested in the saucer. â€Å"Demitasse,† Tommy repeated, feeling reckless. In Indiana the use of the word ;demitasse; was tantamount to leaping out of the closet in scandalous flames. San Francisco was a great city! A great place to be a writer! And gay guys seemed like pretty nice people, once you got past their seeming obsession with Barbra Streisand music. Tommy smiled at the waiter. â€Å"Thanks, I may need a little help with the forks.† â€Å"Is she special?† the waiter asked. â€Å"I think she's going to break my heart.† â€Å"How exciting!† the waiter gushed. â€Å"Then we'll make you look marvelous. Just remember, use from the outside first on the forks. The big spoon is for winding pasta. Is this your first date?† Tommy nodded. â€Å"Then order the raviolis – bite-size – no muss, no fuss. You'll look good eating them. And order for her, the rosemary chicken with roasted bell peppers and wild mushrooms in cream sauce – a beautiful dish. Tastes horrid, but on a first date she won't eat it anyway. You don't have time to run home and change, do you?† The waiter looked at Tommy's flannel shirt as if it were a foul, dead animal. â€Å"No, this is all I have clean.† â€Å"Oh well, it does have a certain Mr. Green Jeans charm, I guess.† Tommy caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Jody walking into the cafe. The waiter followed his gaze. â€Å"Is that her?† â€Å"Yes,† Tommy said, waving to catch her attention. She spotted him, smiled, and approached the table. Jody was dressed in a khaki skirt, a light-blue chambray blouse, light-blue leggings, and tan suede flats. She wore a woven leather belt, a green tartan scarf tied around her shoulders, silver earrings, bracelet, and necklace, and carried a suede backpack in place of her airline flight bag. The waiter, keeping his gaze fixed on Jody, bent and whispered in Tommy's ear, â€Å"The flannel is fine, honey. I haven't seen anyone that over-accessorized since Batman.† He stood and pulled the chair out for Jody. â€Å"Hi, we've been waiting for you.† Jody sat. â€Å"My name is Frederick,† the waiter said with a slight bow. â€Å"I'll be serving you this evening.† He pinched the fabric of Jody's scarf. â€Å"Lovely tartan, dear. Sets off your eyes. I'll be back with some menus.† â€Å"Hi,† Jody said to Tommy. â€Å"Have you been waiting long?† â€Å"A little while, I wasn't sure of the time. I brought you something.† He reached under the table and pulled a book out of a City Lights bag. â€Å"It's an almanac. You said you needed one.† â€Å"That's very sweet.† Tommy looked down and mimed an â€Å"Aw, shucks, it was nothing.† â€Å"So, do you live around here?† Jody asked. â€Å"I'm sort of looking for a place.† â€Å"Really? Have you been in town long?† â€Å"Less than a week. I came here to write. The grocery store is just a†¦ just a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Job,† Jody finished for him. â€Å"Right, just a job. What do you do?† â€Å"I used to be a claims clerk at Transamerica. I'm looking for something else, now.† Frederick appeared at the table and opened two menus in front of them. â€Å"If you don't mind me saying,† he said, â€Å"you two are just darling together. There's a Raggedy-Ann-and-Andy energy going between you two that is simply electric.† Frederick walked away. Jody eyed Tommy over the menu. â€Å"Have we just been insulted?† â€Å"I hear the rosemary chicken breast is wonderful,† Tommy said.