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In the final and longest story in the compendium, “Extant”, a character plays a video game called Calvary X. A Borgesian story of multiple doors and forking paths. The number of possible combinations of doors is 360 x 359 x 358. A blend of supernatural, obsession, and mystery. Reminds me of the films of Kurosawa Kiyoshi.

“Tungkol sa Nawawalang Isla ng Sangkabayagan” (About the Lost Island of Manosphere): Not sure how to translate that last word in the title. “Patriarchy”? “Manhood”? “World of Men”? “Men-kind”? It literally means “kingdom of testicles”.
A group of military men defended a palace from egg-throwers. There’s a wordplay in the story about bayag (manhood) and bayan (nationhood). A fabulous fable on toxic masculinity.

“Pagkatapos Nito” (After This):

Earlier, “Summertime” by Sarah Vaughan. Now, “Cry Me a River” by Julie London. The theme songs of the compendium are dope.

In “Tala” (Star): What happens when a fortune teller falls in love and, while searching for answers and the object of love, spontaneously combusts?

Story 9 of 13: “Silid II” (Room 2) is the sequel of “Silid I” (Room 1). Understatement of the year.

"Seismometer" is surprisingly absent from the book's table of contents. But did I just read the story? Did we just have an earthquake? In 1999, we were all waiting intently for the apocalypse that we felt disappointed when it didn't arrive.

It's the last of four-story translation sampler from the book. The sampler is a work of art (see image below):

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"[S]he had no need for happiness. ... Happiness – what would I even do with it, is it spare change I can put in my pockets, is it stain I can wipe off my face, is it a song I can hum?" (tr. Soleil David).

"Mandelbrot Set" is the story of a woman encountering a stranger, a double or a "repetition" of her husband. Life, she finds, is not as tidy as the mathematically perfect pattern of embroidery in a tablecloth.

Story 6 out of 13, "Pares-Pares" (Pairs) is told in brief snatches. The details create an adulterous atmosphere.

In "Bugtong" (Riddle): What riddle is it where the answer is the human heart?

Another surreal (love) story.

In "Aparador" (Cabinet): A third-person narrator meditates on the existence of a cabinet, among other objects.

"Is it enough to be a thing, to persist ... ? ... When the owner arrives, once the key opens the lock, all of these turn into fiction."

Is it just me, or is this story a comment on capitalism and materialism?

From "Tongue" (tr. Soleil David): Along with the vomitus was the bile from her guts, but also she threw up diamonds and pearls, their heft tinkling and pinging against the restaurant's tiled floor. ... and all around her the rush and stampede ... where it wasn't just her co-workers who dropped to their knees and scrambled ...

Surreal imagery in "Salita" (Speech): the violin, like two cats exchanging opinions about the sharpness of their claws.

From “Room 1” (tr. Soleil David):

“I need your most effective lock, so that even I couldn’t get out, and if I lost my keys there would be no way to get back in.”

Later:

I can’t open it, I can’t.