Luth and Onack celebrated their birthday last April 17, 2009!
(click on thumbnails to enlarge pictures)
Apr 182009
Dec 182008
I’d like to thank the people who made the CIS Reunion Lunch For A Cause happen last Saturday, Dec. 13.
- Shasel Arbues
- Jenny Ayroso
- Bing Lorenzo
- Knox Lorenzo
- Lourdes Nuestro
- Nadie Tayag
And of course the event would not have been succesful if not for the people who attended and those who could not make it but who supported the event nonetheless.
Despite the Christmas rush to go to malls and parties, friends from happier days came and made it a special Saturday. Well actually I have realized that friends from happier days are also the friends in the not-so-happy days. And because they ARE, then the not-so-happy days turn into happy days.
Here’s a pic courtesy of Pat Te Seng:
If you want the rest of the pictures, you can view them at: http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=770888982&k=36B52VU4T63MYFFCX1W2Q
Aug 212007
17 years ago, Benigno Aquino Jr was killed at NAIA. I thought it happened around 6PM on a rainy Saturday evening. But turning back my PC’s calendar to 1983 shows that it was actually a Sunday. So now I’m not sure about the time. I do remember feeling depressed, then angry. For me, Ninoy represented the hope of a better future for my country, my loved ones, and myself.
I have vague memories of watching Ninoy on TV on the 60s and early 70s. I didn’t really understand what he stood for or what he was. As a toddler, I remembered Ninoy as the guy on TV who looked like my Ninong Melding. As a young kid studying in San Beda along Mendiola, I knew all about the demonstrations and the activists. I liked them because classes were always suspended when they were around. But I never really understood why activists were always shouting and angry.
I soon learned the truth when I transferred to UP High School. It wasn’t anymore John, Judy, Jean and Spot. It was about “Oli Impan” and “The World Is An Apple” and realizing my government had serious shortcomings. And finally, I came across an old tattered book in the library entitled “I See Red In a Circle”. I remember it had a lot of pictures taken during the 1st Quarter storm of 1970. There was this gory picture of someone who got hit by a pillbox on the head. And it had the characters chanting: “Marcos – hitler, diktador, tuta!”. So this was what the shouting and anger was all about.
Ninoy was one of those quickly incarcerated by Marcos soon after he declared Martial Law in 1972. Later in 1978 Marcos allowed Ninoy to join the upcoming elections for the Batasang Pambansa. From his cell, Ninoy formed the opposition party Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN). He would later be allowed a single TV interview – which I saw and for the first time understood what Ninoy was and what he meant to all of us. So much so that although I wasn’t old enough to vote, I joined some of my classmates and a couple of teachers on a LABAN march from Diliman all the way to Liwasan Bonifacio. And of course, a really cute 7-year old Kris Aquino provided all the affirmation needed as she stood and campaigned for her dad.
So I sat stunned as I watched the man in white lying across the tarmac. I felt all numb. But as the days and the weeks and the months passed by, I soon realized Ninoy was still pretty much around. This time though, he was no longer just a personality on the boob tube and on the dailies. He was now in all of us. He raged in all of us. And he led us all the way to EDSA.
***
21 years after EDSA, a lot of my idealism has been replaced by the pragmatism of adulthood and family life. Yet a lot of the same issues and problems that plagued us then still remain. Heck we still do not know who ordered Ninoy killed. Yes the guy who pulled the trigger is probably in jail. But he was a soldier – following the chain of command. Butz Aquino says we can close the issue because everybody knows who did it. Well I don’t! So Butz, please tell me – who gave the order?
Yes, Marcos the dictator is long dead and gone. And 4 other Presidents later, we find that a lot of our leaders have forgotten what it was like to be oppressed, abused, and to be taken advantage of.
Keep the fire burning. Let us continue to be vigilant and remember that we still owe Ninoy what he paid for with his life. LABAN!
Feb 142007
I belong to an organization called the UPIS Kabalikat Foundation. It’s a group of fathers who have or who’ve had kids in the UP Cub Scouts (called locally as KABs – Kabataan Alay sa Bayan), Boy Scouts, or Senior Scouts. The group helps out with funding and also manning scout activities. The main scout activity for each year is the summer camp. There’s the Father and Son Camp for KABs, the Boy Scout camp, and the Senior Scout camp.
Each scouting group has a corresponding supporting Kabalikat committee. This year I’m with the Troop committee – for the Boy Scouts. I actually have two sons in scouting in UP – One’s a senior scout and another one’s a boy scout. I have a Kab scout in Ateneo – but I don’t think they have such a group as the Kabalikat.
Anyhow, the Boy Scout camp should take 4 days. And this year they had it scheduled at the same time with the Seniors. In the previous companies I worked for, I could take a four-day leave easily – but with the current one, it seemed the most I could hope for was two days (raised eyebrows included). At the last minute the Boy Scout camp got cancelled, and I was relieved that I didn’t have to ask for the leaves. The thought did cross my mind that I should go with the Seniors instead. But I knew there were enough Dads there – nothing to worry about.
When I picked up my 14 year old after the camp, I immediately felt something different. It was like he’d aged a year or two in 4 days. A young man now sat beside me. He excitedly told me about about racing bangkas, and about how they cooked goose and had roast pig. My wife freaked at the thought of one of her boys slitting open some poor fowl’s neck. I guess that’s as different as Pududoys will be from Pudadays.
Sigh. I wish I’d been there.
Noel’s pictures tell it all.
Thank you guys!
Diego still has 3 more years as a Senior Scout. Nicco has all of 4 years and another year as a Boy Scout. The good news is that next year, it will be a joint Boy Scout & Senior Scout camp. I will be there. And succeeding camps.
The choice should have been a no-brainer. I should be worrying why there was a choice at all. Don’t ask. I’m too busy worrying why work won at all.
Feb 182006
I’ve transferred to another IT company.
So once again I have to go through the nasty phase of fitting in, getting in-sync, remembering names and faces, and lunching solo.
But once again the excitement is there. Something new. New hopes. Something to look forward to.
I’m smiling again.
Oct 102005
The infamous Art Bell hate mail to Pinoys refuses to die.
I don’t recall exactly when, but I think it has already been more than five years since I first received that Art Bell Pinoy hate email. The email asserts that Art Bell had an anti-Pinoy broadcast in one of his radio shows. Of course, the broadcast never happened and Art Bell never said any of those things. But for some strange reason, the email keeps getting circulated.
I just got another version last week from one of my egroups. This time it had another attachment supposedly answering Art’s supposed tirade, and another attachment cheering on Pinoys. And this time it was forwarded by a 70-year old guy. The poor man was probably so upset about it – he said something like, “up to you to do something about it.” Normally the guy forwarded Chicken Soup stuff… now this.
I really, really hate getting this kind of email, and I would normally react strongly to getting one, but because of the sender and the egroup – I tried my best to say a straightforward … uh-this-is-a-hoax-false-did-not-happen-please-stop-forwarding. I do that in the hope of minimizing the epidemic – so I do hope the ‘forwarders’ also forward the hoax warning.
The email comes back every year or so. And I’m really curious as to the path it takes. Do these emails follow a seasonal pattern like migratory birds? Who keeps tapping the ball? And why can’t people learn to be more skeptical of ‘sensational’ email? Or was PT Barnum correct after all – that there’s one born every minute? And oh for whatever it’s worth this site claims PT Barnum didn’t say it. Check here.
Hahaha… I think I just answered my own questions.
Sep 162005
Last Sunday, over lunch, our 10-year old suddenly asked: “Ma? Ano ba yung mid-life crisis?” I almost choked. Boy, are their teachers asking them to observe their parents?
Luckily, the question wasn’t addressed to me and I kinda rolled my eyes over to my wife. She gave a factual answer – that there comes a point in life that people sometimes realize that they are not doing what they want to do, and that some adults have a difficult time dealing with it.
I asked him where he heard the term. He told me that he heard it from the Rugrats – that Tommy’s grandpa was having a mid-life crisis. But being the smart aleck that my son is, he said that it’s silly of course, because the old man was way beyond mid-life.
Whew.
We soon set off the kids to wash-up and my wife and I had a quick exchange.
“Were you ever aware of mid-life crises when you were a kid?”
“No. I don’t think they had a term for that then. ”
“People just went bonkers.”
“And families simply disintegrated because they couldn’t understand what was going on.”
“Sa tingin mo it’s good for them to know about these things?”
“Oo naman.”
Sep 082005
Katrina and the Waves remains a favorite 80s band because of Walking on Sunshine. But with the disaster in New Orleans, I can’t help but feel sorry that the band’s name is suddenly in bad taste.
Well, according to Katrina Leskanich, she will be launching her solo album on October 2005. I do hope she doesn’t get affected by the bad vibes brought on by her namesake.
Although New Orleans is halfway around the globe from here, I can’t help but be bothered by the profundity of it all. In a matter of days, everything that you thought mattered didn’t really matter. That 2-year overdue IT project? That new car you’re itching to buy? The school bully that always stole your lunch? The credit card payments due next week. The hot rod ten-million gigahertz pc downstairs. Angelina Jolie.
Suddenly none of them mattered. In the end all you cared about was you and your loved ones. Or just your loved ones. Or worse.
We are humbled.
Aug 312005
In the Philippines, the official start of the holiday season begins December 16, the first day for dawn masses. But we are known to be a crazy bunch, and to most people here September 1 is the start of the count-up to Christmas Day. September is the first of the -ber months, leading up to Decembrrr.
Oh my. I will start to hear Michael Jackson’s Give Love On Christmas Day – in the malls and on the car radio. Well honestly, the song gives me good, good memories of Christmases as a kid, but by November when every mall and radio station plays it as a staple, I know I will start cursing the jury.
It is always good to think good thoughts and to think about spreading love and cheer. But there are just too many things weighing me down these days. Ho. ho. ho.
Aug 302005
Mid 90s?
Like most Gaiman fans, I first ‘met’ the man through the Sandman series. I’d been hooked on Stephen King for the longest time and after a while, I just wanted more. Then I found Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Right about that time I started to notice the Sandman graphic novels because of the artwork. The name Neil Gaiman as the author to the Sandman series stuck to my mind. But I could not bring myself to get a copy because the graphic novels cost more than paperbacks and I thought there was no way I could justify the purchase to the wifey.
Between Luth and I, it had been established that all King releases were to be purchased, as were all Tom Clancy books, and that I had some leeway with Clive Barker. And Neil wasn’t on the list.
Fast-forward to 2004.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The paperback stared back. By then I was on my sabbatical with Stephen King because he had decided to write about a couple of ‘feminine’ books, and was way overdue with The Dark Tower. Clive Barker lost me after Weaveworld. And I couldn’t find any other Poppy Brite books. What the hey… let’s try Neil.
American Gods started out well for me, but I had a little difficulty going through the ‘ancient god flashbacks’. Linda bothered me as well. And the gypsies. But I thought Shadow and Wednesday were great characters. After finishing the book, I wasn’t sure if I wanted read some more Gaiman.
Sometime in March this year, I found myself again in a bookstore and I needed to buy a book so that I wouldn’t look stupid sitting alone in Starbucks. This time Neverwhere stared back at me. The blurb on the cover said it was set underneath London. I had managed to spend a weekend in London the previous year, and I’d been intrigued by the city and the underground . So I got Neverwhere.
Neverwhere did it for me. I felt like a child again… I lost myself in the book… lost in everything but the book. I think I finished it in a weekend.
Soon after, I picked-up a copy of The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes – much more expensive now than it was years ago. The next 7 Sandman volumes, and Smoke and Mirrors soon followed – made frantic with the news that Neil was coming to Manila.
I loved Seasons of Mist and I’m looking forward to completing the series. But so far, I like Smoke and Mirrors best because it comes across very honestly – no frills, just good storytelling. S & M also feels more personal.
A rereading of American Gods is certainly high on my list of things to do. That is, if I can stop myself from grabbing Anansi Boys as soon as it comes out here. And oh, Neil is now on the buy-anything-with-his-name-on-it list.