light years

Changes….. I was never a fan especially if I see ‘em happening in fast forward pace that my eyes and heart can’t keep up. But I guess there are certain facts in this world that we can’t do anything about. Changes go hand in hand with living. And if I find myself light years away from where I used to be, I’ll find comfort in the fact that most of the stars that were with me before have also drifted away from our cloud of origin. And this Eraserheads song suddenly assumed a whole new meaning for me….

Big dipper, North of nowhere

Outside the room, inside my mind

I look forward to tomorrow

But can’t leave yesterday behind

How it feels so strange

To have grown and change

Now its not the same

Coz time slips and slides into another place

And try as we might

To understand each other

Doesn’t really matter where you are

It always seems too very far

It’s like you’re light years away

You’re light years away from me

the search for a name

While I was browsing through old pictures, I came across this picture.


And using the cliché, a picture paints a thousand words. In this case, this picture is worth 301,100 words.

Two years ago, Tata recommended this book, Professor and the Madman. This is not a book review because I don’t really know how to make one. Anyway, just a little background, the book is about W.C. Minor who supposedly collaborated with Professor James Murray in creating the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). According to Wikipedia, the Oxford English Dictionary is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. So the OED lists W. C. Minor as one of its contributors. So Tata and I wanted to see for ourselves W. C. Minor’s name on the dictionary.

On October 14 2006, We had the perfect opportunity to look for a copy of the OED in the UP Main Library. It was a Saturday so the library was only open until 5pm. Since we were not students anymore, we cannot go inside the main library. We had to get a UP Alumni ID. Ala 24 the TV Series….I’m going to put time stamps from hereon.

3:30 pm
So at around 3pm, we ran from Beach House (home of the best barbecue in the campus) to the Bahay ng Alumni where the Alumni office is. The lady in the office just asked our name and course. She located our names in her amazing database of all graduates. Then, she gave us our Alumni IDs.

4:15 pm
We sprinted from the Bahay ng Alumni to the UP Main Library General Reference Section. We tried to go through the Engineering building shortcut, but the exit nearest the library was closed. So we had to go back to our initial point of ingress (just feel like using this word). We lost precious moments here.

4:25 pm
We finally got to the main library. We checked the OPAC, the library’s online database (yup no more card catalogs), and we found out that the OED copy was in the general reference section.

4:35 pm
We searched for the OED. And after about 10 minutes of searching, we found it. I forgot who found it first, Tata or me. Anyway, there were about ten volumes of the dictionary. I think we started with the last volume or was it the first?

Basta, we started flipping through the dusty pages of the OED. We heard the bell rang to signify that the library is about to close. For a moment, I felt like this was an Amazing Race task. And just in the nick of time, Voila! W. C. Minor's name....

true colors

Most informal settlers in Metro Manila are located in visible areas. Some may see them as eyesores but I think they’re just showing this city’s true colors. Unlike most of these areas which are very noticeable, my close encounter was in a lesser known part of Makati….It is carefully hidden behind a row of big houses and a concrete wall, a few blocks from where I temporarily reside. You won’t see it at first glance. More than a hundred houses occupy a very small strip of land. The average house is less than nine square meters. To maximize the space, some families built second and third levels. All of the houses are made of makeshift materials. Some walls are just made of flattened boxes.

Reach Youth Ministry allowed us to join them in their weekly rounds in this area. Ate Fe is the one in charge of the area. Almost all the kids know Ate Fe. She has been working with Reach Youth for several years. And I’m amazed by how comfortable the kids were with her.

Ate Fe gathers the kids twice a week for feeding both spiritually and physically. So one Saturday in January, we went house to house to invite the kids. We walked along the very dark narrow corridor which serves as the walkway for these houses. The corridor was so narrow that we had to stop when someone is coming from the other way. What made the walk more complicated, is that some residents were washing their clothes along the walkway.

The experience had quite an impact on me and it’s not because I have been sheltered and have only seen these harsh realities for the first time. . I’m aware of the poverty in our country. Aware..is an understatement. My parents are public school teachers and we were six in the family. So I know how it is not to have enough. We live in a community where most cannot afford to eat three square meals a day. Before I made this into a sob story, let me get back to my story.

The experience with Ate Fe had an impact on me. It makes me appreciate the little things…. I have taken for granted. I’ve just been detached for quite some time since I haven't been home for quite a while. As my boss would say although in a different context, sitting atop out ivory towers, we tend to forget how it is out there. But my experience with Reach Youth allowed me to re-acquaint myself with the world I know. And I’m thankful for such experience. But I hope the impact won’t be just short-lived and I would be able to do something about it.

Below are the kids, we shared food and stories with…….

age of innocence

Ate Fe in action

Reprising my role...bilang tagahawak ng aklat (not doing my job well...no hands)

----isms

In the most ordinary conversations, I get realizations of utmost relevance with mind-blowing implications in world affairs…NOT

1. You know you’re ready for a relationship when you’re ready to give up the remote control of the TV and also your life.
2. Highfalutin terms do not signify profundity.
3. You know you’re in the company of friends when it’s ok to have long comfortable silences without you worrying whether they are bored to death or having the time of their lives.
4. The grass isn’t really greener on the other side of the fence; it’s just a play of the light.

one couch at a time

Couchsurfing, in its website, describes itself as a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit. And it's not merely having a cheap place to crash. ...it's about connecting people to the place they're visiting aside from the usual tourist-y tour.

Helen introduced me to this wonderful project that aims to create a better world, one couch at a time. This project is not for everybody though. I can still remember how apprehensive I was on my first CS meeting. I was probably wary to be in the company of total strangers. Eventually, I loosened up and I realized my friends now were also total strangers to me before I met them.

I’m not really an active couchsurfer but the past few weeks I had several CS activities. And I’m really enjoying meeting travelers from all over. I love sharing the things our beautiful country has to offer. I also love hearing CS people’s stories and looking at their pictures of places in the Philippines I haven’t visited yet. While doing so, a fact is affirmed by these visitors….our country is blessed with a lot of beauty.

Here are some pictures with Couchsurfers from all over…..

My first CS hostess, Rhonda from HK

One of my first CS meet-up in Jordan Road, with a Canadian, Icelander and Pakistani

My first CS guests, Rhonda and Suey Po from HK

My second CS guests, Raquel and Shael from Toronto

My first CS Manila meet-up with CS guests from Israel, USA and Belgium

With a Smile

From Ely B. to whoever needs a smile today....

Lift your head, baby, don't be scared

Of the things that could go wrong along the way

You'll get by with a smile

You can't win at everything but you can try.

Baby, you don't have to worry

'Coz there ain't no need to hurry

No one ever said that there's an easy way

When they're closing all their doors

And they don't want you anymore

This sounds funny but I'll say it anyway.

Girl I'll stay through the bad times

Even if I have to fetch you everyday

You'll get by if you smile

You can never be too happy in this life.

In a world where everybody

hates a happy ending story

It's a wonder love can make the world go round

And don't let it bring you down

And turn your face into a frown

You'll get along with a little prayer and a song.

Let me hear you sing it

Lift your head, baby, don't be scared

Of the things that could go wrong along the way

You'll get by with a smile

Now it's time to kiss away those tears goodbye

a past revisited

Grace, Jaja and I visited Yakal last Saturday. Here are some of our pictures.

Grace, Jaja and I in front of Yakal dorm

Jaja and Grace in the lobby, my favorite shot

During our dorm days, there used to be long lines of dormers with angry stares directed on the dormer giggling on the handset....World War III. But with the advent of mobile phones, say bye to queues...

Hay, I miss dorm humor.....

crunch

Economics was not one of my favorite subjects in college. But right now, I think I should have listened more back then. With all the downward-pointing arrows I see now in the stock market and interest rates and my favorite crude prices….. have gone haywire, and the declaration of Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) of some of seemingly unsinkable companies. The panic button has been pressed and everybody’s paying attention (well, almost everybody). While some of us watch in the sidelines, the ripple effect can be felt in the pumps and the grocery shelves and in the jobs of our friends. But as much as I’d like to pretend I know a lot of what’s happening, for me, the best way is to break it down in very simple terms for me. Kahit sub-atomic levels…And by doing this, I will start to understand this very complex adult world which Peter Pan disliked but has to contend with.

So this crunch supposedly started when entities who lend money decided to do that, (loan money) to people who bought homes. These people however, lack the ability to pay or the banks lend more than what these borrowers are capable of paying (of course at higher interest rates). Thus, the word sub-prime…(not choiced cuts) So the result are a plethora (this is my favorite word of the week) …of bad debts. The borrowers weren’t able to pay what they’re supposed to pay and they ended up giving up their homes.

So the companies who loaned them the money were in deep…. deep trouble. Thus, these companies declared bankruptcy. Since most of these are banks are connected in this wonderful world of capitalism. The domino effect was felt all over NY- LON-KONG (Time magazine’s front page a few months ago).

Other schools of thought say the culprit of all these is……deregulation. When companies were given the free reins to run wild… within the boundaries of the law of course…that’s what started the fire they stay.

This is really getting too complicated for my Kindergarten mindset. In Neverland, we don’t get to worry about these things such as mortgages and jobs. But when you see your friends losing their jobs, you tend to worry…And with our finite human minds, we become anxious with all the things that are happening…And then a verse the Pastor mentioned yesterday struck me…

Matthew 6:24-34
25"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?

28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
34"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Of course that does mean we don't have to work like the birds in the air....but that's another story. ..

I won!

I won! I won!

It’s not major like one of those Reader’s Digest’s million dollar sweepstakes (but I must admit every time I get those cheques placed in big envelopes….I feel like I really have a good chance of winning that jackpot ) or a kitchen showcase from a noontime show.

One of the blogs I follow had a caption-making contest. I came up with something not-so-original. The slogan of M and M is “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.” My caption for the picture is “Melts in your mouth, not in your banana.” Yes, it's a rip-off.

Thanks Terry for choosing my caption. :-) Here’s the link to the blog.

http://terrylove.blogspot.com/2008/09/caption-contest.html

Philippians in Iberia

Grace, her friend Nino and I watched a Spanish film last Saturday. La Torre De Suso. Suso is the absentee bida (so technically he’s not the bida). We weren’t able to see Suso in the whole movie since he had died of drug overdose. But before he died, he left some weird drawings on his bedroom wall. There were a lot of sketches of what looks to me like power lines. Most of his family and friends thought the drawings, were just a junkie’s last-minute ruminations. Suso's best friend Cundo, who turned out to be the bida sa pelikula, thought there was a hidden message in the drawings. And he was right about the message, according to Suso’s confidant (I forgot the girl’s name) during his last days. It was revealed that there was a hidden message, Suso wanted his friends to build a 7-m tower so that they can see things from above.

Now, seeing things from above…. What does it mean to see things from above? This made me think of the dying man’s wish.

Maybe we always have this normal perspective of things, in our case only at eye-level. We always see things in a way we’re used to. But come to think of it, maybe we just have to change our perspective. See things from a different perspective.

Maybe what Suso had in mind is to allow his friends to see their surroundings in a different light. See things from above….. if we are so used to our own myopic perspective on our current situation. Like when we sometimes feel so discontented with our current situations (eye-level lang siguro) and we fail to see the many blessings that we have. We should start seeing things from above….

That trail of thought reminded me of a scene I saw in Luneta last week. While my sister and I were strolling around Luneta, we saw a father and his daughter eating on a bench. Based on the stuff they have with them, they seem to living on the streets. They were eating rice and their viand out of plastic bags. Even their water was placed in a small plastic bag. It was probably their first meal of the day (at 3pm!). What struck me in this scene was the disposition of the father and daughter (not the environmental impact of plastic bag use). They were eating heartily and with a big smile on his face, the father invited me and my sister to eat. A big smile of contentment in a seemingly hapless situation….. And I compare that smile on my not-so-jolly disposition on very trivial matters. So when I sometimes feel dissatisfied, I remember Paul’s words in Philippians 4:11, I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Whatever the circumstances... That is pretty difficult but that for me is seeing things from above…..

From Berlin to Saigon and from California to Cubao

This blog was inspired by my strange small-world encounters. It is fitting that I highlight stories of these kind every now and then. A few months ago, a friend of mine, Grace, met a Filipino photographer in Germany. The lens(wo)man took several pictures of my friend. Last week, Grace got an email from one of her Vietnamese classmates. The sister of Grace’s Vietnamese friend bought a magazine. While Grace’s classmate was flipping through the pages of the Vietnamese magazine, she saw Grace smiling face.
It turned out that the Pinay photographer’s shots of Grace got published in Vietnam. If the sister hadn’t bought the magazine and if Grace’s classmate didn’t read it, Grace wouldn’t have found out about her few pixels of fame.

This encounter reminds me of another story I heard from an American who was based here for two years. Most of his family's appliances have the name of his family placed on a strategic spot on the device. And they sold some of these old but still working appliances (in the States). So imagine his surprise when he saw their old blender in a shop in Cubao. The same blender their family used in California turned up in a shop, selling previously owned stuff, in a street corner in the heart of Manila.

Talk about a world that has become so small, I can see its edge across my 17-inch monitor.