Author: Dominic Dayta
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Buzzed In Dotonbori
Living alone in Nara can feel quite melancholic. The evenings are dark and quiet. The remoteness of my dormitory makes going out even just for a late night snack or soda an odyssey, plus everything pretty much closes after 9PM. It’s a far cry from the 24/7 hustle and bustle of Manila. So I’ve resolved…
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My Toru Watanabe Moment
I have now been two weeks here in Nara. By this time I’ve started to settle into my new environment, picking up on the habits and routine that will define the next three years of my life. Though the cherry blossoms had already long bloomed and started to fade before I arrived, I was lucky…
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Flying Out
In the words of Michael Scott, I am not superstitious… but I am a little stitious. I have kept quiet about my PhD application journey throughout last year as I was worried that talking about it might jinx it in some way, that it might put a curse upon me somehow that negated everything I…
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An Ode to the Subway
Anything involving trains is an instant like for me. There’s a story I tell all my friends from a time back in high school, when I discovered the LRT station near campus. I bought a ticket to the end of the line, and on the train just marveled at the expanse of residential areas, museums,…
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EIGASAI 2023
The Japan Foundation’s Japanese Film Festival has been a highlight of my annual viewing experience for a few years now. This is, after all, the festival that introduced me to long running favorites like If Cats Disappeared From The World (2016, dir. Akira Nagai) and Anthem of the Heart (2015, dir. Tatsuyuki Nagai), along with…
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Turning Into Snake Oil
There seems to be a cycle that’s taking shape around many modern technological milestones. First, a community (be it a company or a collection of disparate open source teams) create a genuine advancement in science, and then the marketing overhypes it as some kind of magic bullet that will bring salvation to us all. But…
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What A Year
I’ve been meaning to write this end-of-year post for quite a while now, actually since just before the end of the year. However, given the mess of things (challenges, blessings, what have you) that have happened in 2022, my mind is naturally in a similar state of disarray. All attempt to try and pin down…
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6/55 Magic
I was contacted by the research team for Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho for their upcoming segment this Sunday regarding the “unusual” results of the PCSO 6/55 Lotto last September 28. On the jackpot draw, a total of 433 bettors were selected to split the 236 million peso prize. Even more interesting was the winning combination,…
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Documents, Pink Slips, and Guy Montag
Because the family is moving to our new house in Bulacan, the last couple of weeks have been one of decluttering. In an attempt to minimize the cost of transporting so many items and personal effects from Caloocan (while coming at the cost of having to buy more new stuff), we’ve been picking from our…
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To Be Bourgeois and In Love
This week I discovered the “Screen Time” feature on my Apple devices, which not only tracks how long I use the devices themselves and the individual apps therein, but also allows me to set certain rules and limitations as to their usage. Let me tell you, what a confirmation it was to see the number…
Dominic Dayta 