Entry 595, November 30, 2150, by Yugto dela Cruz

Is this working? *click*

So I’m trying out this thing I found in my basement. Let’s see if this works.

This is an old timey audio recording contraption, attached to what I think was called a laptop… maybe, over a hundred years old? I can’t be sure, but I think I’ve seen something like it in a museum or a documentary.

I’m in Pampanga, the province my grandparents are from. They have this ancient house here— some 2 or 3 century old thing—mostly renovated, except for parts of the basement. Yeah, they actually have a basement, which is amazing considering how much it floods here. I found this baul—parts were a bit rotten, but a lot of the wood was pretty solid, and inside was all this old tech.

I’ve made a bit of a project of it to see if I could make some of it work. It took some research and I had to print a few of the parts since they don’t make most of them anymore. So far, successful, I guess? It seems to be running.

Another incredible thing here are the files! Old audio files, can you imagine that! Since we’re all the way out here in the province, I’m guessing these have been untouched for a hundred years… what secrets could be here? Let’s see.

 

Listen to the rest of The Baul Archive here…

Read the full transcript of the story here (PDF format).

 

Glossary of Terms

baul – Tagalog (n.) clothes chest; locker; trunk

barangay – Tagalog (n.) the smallest unit of government; a neighborhood; barrio

desaparecidos – Spanish/ Tagalog (n.) a person who has disappeared, presumed killed

gunita – Tagalog (n.) memory; recollection; reminiscence; phantasm

kilusan – Tagalog (n.) campaign; movement; activity; crusade

malaya – Tagalog (adj.) free

silakbo – Tagalog (n.) outburst, eruption; spasm; surge

tatay – Tagalog (n.) father

yugto – Tagalog (n.) a fundamental transition or development of a story or phenomenon