EASTER AWAY FROM HOME

GOOD FRIDAY



it's my first time to celebrate easter away from home. i have never felt so unreligious my entire life - letting Good Friday pass by at work and answering calls from the most irate Americans who couldn't care less aboutlent and are mor concerned about their financial woes in time when their economy is slowly crumbling down. it was utterly different from home. i'm not complaining but i would have loved to go home and climb Linabo Peak or join a procession. after work last Good Friday, two of my colleagues and I went to KFC for lunch. I had a two-piece chicken meal. I felt guilty after eating. Wsan't i supposed to be fasting? if i want to put it mildly, i couldve just settled with a piee of chicken drumstick. i'm not really religious but i value my traditions . i somehow feel it's a part of me. i felt it missing this year.

but wait! there's more......the Lord saved my Good Friday! after arriving at my dungeon, i change clothes and went to Colon to buy a sun card - i have to do my duties as a son to call my mom nd at least let her know i'm still alive. it's been over a week i haven't called home. the trip to Colon were full of surprises. first, i left my wallet and noticed i left it when i'm about to pay the card (the embarrassment, sigh). I had with me my coin purse with a few pennies just enough for fare back to my place. i wasn't able to buy the prepaid card. instead, i went to church in flip-flops and casual shorts. at the sto. nino basilica, i spent a few moments amongst the horde of people praying and, with the looks of their faces, trying to purge their sins. i said a small prayer and so hoped i could be a better Christian this year - i sincerely do. a busload of Koreans could be seen marvelling at how we worship. many were on their knees praying (not the Koreans of course, hehehe), others listening to a live telecast of 'siyete palabras' while some are just lounging inside the church - maybe feeling the need to be where most people are right now. the Koreans could be seen smiling and posing with their V-signs just about in every corner of the basilica. manang beside me was pissed, whimpered a few inaudible words and gave that what-the-heck-are-you-doing?-can't-you-see-the-Lord-is-dead look. i left the basilica at 3PM. the Lord has died.




i went to the nearby Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral - a block away from the Basilica. i found out the 'siyete palabras' was telecast live at the cathedral. Cardinal Vidal gave the last words of the series of pious speakers. i was glad i was able to make it to the last part - it was my first time to hear the cardinal. ( the controversial cardinal is leader of what Lozada mockingly described as 'Archdiocese of Malacanang') Cardinal Vidal also led the mass together with a couple of priests and a bunch of singing seminarians. It was my first mass this year - i couldn't believe it. I'm also not proud of it.Hmmm, it has always been church visits and I'm glad I was there. It was also my first communion this year.




************* I don't have the best photos but i sure do want to let you witness what i saw.

EASTER SUNDAY

after work, my workmates (5 of them) went to Ayala for a lechon feast. I'm pretty sure lechon is on almost ever table at the beach back home. it almost felt like home, only we were seeing people piling up to see 'Horton Hears a Who?' instead of soaking in the water.



On my way home,we passed by the Redemptorist Church. I took a few photos while stuck in traffic inside Sigrid's pick-up. the sun was setting then and we were worn out after over 5 hours of whining about our jobs. it's a favorite pastime - hahaha - and a stress-reliever. we know we can't fight it, so we whine and whine more. it's a good thing though that after each discussion, everyone agrees it's healthy practice....at least for us..

CAUGHT

I crossed the street when the walk sign turned green. I quickly hopped on a jeep when the lady in front of me grabbed my arm and pointed at a traffic enforcer blowing his whistle. I was boggled because from afar he appeared to be staring at me. i took off my earphones and checked if indeed he was eyeing at me. i was in a rufus wainwright trance and it pissed me thinking i was cut off by some lady who could very well be a snatcher for all i know. but she wasn't. i was told by the driver to step out of his jeep - i never felt so humiliated but i did. the traffic enforcer waved at me so i grabbed my bag of groceries - stiff, confused of what wrong i have done. i walked to his direction.

"Sa sunod gali dili ka mag ipod-ipod sa da'an (Cebuanos are too lazy to pronounce the letter L) aron kung tawgon ka dali ka makadungog", the man in CITOM shirt apprehended me. I asked why? Is this a new ordinance of the City of Cebu? Is Ipod now illegal in public places?...thoughts kept on racing.

"Unsa man, mubayad na lang ka'g singkwenta or paseminaron ta ka ug upat ka oras?", he asked. It felt like a threat. Like I didn't have a choice. And i didn't know what seminar he meant. People were looking at us and i could feel sweat running down my spine. I wanted to melt and become one with the asphalt road I was standing on. Paying the fine seemed the quicker alternative to get me out of such a very uncomfortable situation.

I asked why again. He gave me a ticket. I paid him 50 pesos. The ticket didn't bear my name.

For the first time, I was caught in Cebu City for 'UNLAWFUL EMBARKMENT'. It was also the first time I received a ticket for doing something illegal. I have always been a law-abiding citizen until that ticket came. I needed a seminar badly. I honestly didn't know it was illegal to hop on that jeep around that area of the avenues. I learned my lesson the hard way. Goodbye 50 bucks!



********the second time i'm caught, they will never know i'm a two-time offender. my name wasn't on the ticket and for sure there really isn't any way for them to know i guess. do i tell them? guess it will always be first time then.

MOVIES IN 10 DAYS

Movies I watched in a TEN DAYS (not in the order of viewing..hehe)





Of the movies, the most memorable is probably the Japanes movie, Nobody Knows, a story based of a tragic story of four siblings abandoned by their mom in a city where their existence is oblivious to anyone else. The real story happened in 1988 and became popularly known as the 'Affair of the Four Abandoned Children of Sugamo' . Though the real story that shocked Japan is far more grisly than the adaptation, the raw emotions of inexperienced child-actors playing their parts were amazing. In fact, the director, Hirokazu Koreeda, did not use any script to guide the child actors with their lines. Instead, they were only told what the scene was about and acted on their own and spoke their own lines. The result was an astonishing portrayal of how children are gradually grabbed with their innocence as they start to grapple and survive on their own while slowly coming into realization that in a metropolis where nobody knows them, there is no one they can rely on but their tiny bodies and their pieces of ideas they have of a world bordered only by a nearby park, a grocery store, the subway and the strip of sky airplanes conquer as viewed from the space they are forced to call home.

The story becomes even more heartbreaking if you learn the story the movie was based upon.

Yuya Yagira, who portrayed the role of the eldest child in the movie earned the Best Actor trophy at the Cannes Festival in 2004.



The movie is like witnessing fragile flowers in a desert slowly drying up while no one notices, simply because nobody knows of their existence but themselves - small kids slowly robbed of innocence and of hope with no witnesses but each other.
You don’t wanna put Big Brother’s teens in such self-reliance tests. The movie in fact is like watching Big brother’s house. Without the pastel paint that covers the house making it glossy and shiny. And it's definitely without the usual lachrymal and whiny drama.

windowshopping

i have been shunning the malls lately. saving has been a constant mantra that i'm coping with right now and the mall is one big lump of temptation - the reason why as much as possible i avoid the mall. but it's not too bad to do windowshopping when i'm already there with colleagues who, like me, sometimes go to the mall for the sake of going there and end up spending on food - lechon, shawarma, super jumbo iced tea etc.( who doesnt?) i'm beginning to realize unplanned trips to the mall costs more. and then off to windowshopping. it's a waste of time but at times i feel victorious when i visit the mall without spending a penny. it's like a triumph against my own urge to cave in to temptation, vanity etc.

silly but it helps to think that way sometimes....

taken outside the bennetton shop....sigh, their goods are worth a fortune...

circlin' the fuente osmena, uhmmm, circle...

Fuente Osmena Circle by night...a must-visit place when going to Cebu...

whoever said its cheap?...

Lenten Reminders

Lenten is back...once again we are reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made for mankind - offering His life for our salvation. Other than that uncomfortable feeling of seeing the Lord beaten again and nailed on the cross this year, i could already smell the sweet scent of binignit. (I will miss binignit for sure this year - sob!)

It seems like signs are following me everywhere I go... check how God's humor never stops surprising me with impossibly unnoticeable signs...

photo taken at the grotto of the Lady of Lourdes at the Cebu City Cathedral...



and the walang kamatayang Binignit... or is it benignet?...manang must be so confused making the sign...

TREKKING TO THE MUSEUM

We went to visit the Cebu Cathedral Museum which houses a great deal of old church artifacts coming from the different old stone churches of the Cebu province.it was unplanned so I didn’t expect anything which always works for me. There is a 50-peso entrance collected by the nuns who also happened to be the tour guides. It’s amazing seeing old sculptures done by Filipinos from the 17th century onwards. There was also a collection of images of Sto.Nino sculptures of different styles. Th museum itself used to be a convent housing the clergy of Cebu for centuries. For sure there were a lot of stories to tell about convent-turned-museum and the antique collection of old statues that it shelters. I was hoping somebody could tell us stories but the gentle nun was limited to a very short introduction of the altar on the ground floor. It was still a blast though because nobody else was there. I could've been running all over the place and nobody would've noticed. TSK TSK....





After roaming around and marveling at the grandiose of the church centuries back, we were invited to listen to a lecture sponsored by HAMILING BINILIN (HAMBIN, a group active in cultural heritage advocacy in Cebu,) with the History Dept. and Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos. Of the hundreds of possible topics, the lecture tackled the topic ‘Sexual Practices of the Visayas and Southeast Asia at Spanish Contact’. It was odd, I thought at first. The lecture was attended by members of the academe from the different universities of Cebu which was also weird because I have never surrounded myself with the likes, not to mention to listen with them about our ancestor’s sexual practices. From the lecture, I learned that we once were more promiscuous than Europe and all of America until the Spaniards came and whipped anyone who was wearing a penis ring. Yes, we invented the penis ring – well, not just Filipinos but people around South East Asia. In addition, said tools were used because our lolas’ lolas demanded them from our lolos. They wanted to be satisfied. The installing of the penis rings were said to be a manifestation that a boy had become a man so that any man who didn’t have it was mocked. If you ain't got it, you're so out. And the ladies took great pride of that shiny brass or gold hanging on their men’s well, tool. Later on, Islam introduced tuli to replace the metal as rights of passage to manhood.

It surpised me that our ancestors were so much ahead of their time. They practiced pre-marital sex with men. When they get married they become a one-woman man. On top of it, divorcing a man was pretty easy too. If a man went for battle and had not returned in 6 month’s time, the ladies could pick another and get hitched again. They were not the dalagang Filipna that we knew. Virginity wasn’t a treasure – it’s not even something they take pride of. They were said to have holy priests or shamans who did the breaking of the hymen. In short, if you ain't broken it yet, you're out. It’s the equivalent of tuli for women. Later on, getting an earring became the new tuli for the ladies which has no historical basis because I have always heard from my neighbors telling smaller girls “Wala pa man kay tuli”, referring of course to a hole for earrings on both earlobes. The amazing stories went on and it was fun. It was also ponted out that while specialty shops today secretly do their trade of sex gadgets and all, our hot lolos and lolas were out in the open letting 'em all hang out.


It was the Spaniards who curbed the trend so that the sexual practices were gradually shunned by our ancestors. What was so natural for lolo and lola now felt so dirty. I can't be so graphic here so I will spare how they install the rings, let alone the men killing their covetous wives with it during intercourse. Sigh....

After the lecture, we were showed with three short films – the winners of the SINULOG 2008 SHORT FILM FESTIVAL. It was great because I could never have seen those in any part of Cebu since they aren’t distributed commercially. Besides, its not something the pirates will take interest of. The films were in Cebuano. The filmmakers showed great promise which is good because it’s one venue Cebuano filmmakers can show what they’ve got.

The small group who attended the lecture were told that another one will take place on March 15 by a professor from UP-Cebu who also attended the event. I wasn’t able to write down the name and the topic but im pretty sure it will be something worth attending. I am hoping I could go if time permits. We went home right away because we didn’t know anyone at the event and a merienda was prepared. We also reckoned we weren't part of the budget. Still, it was fun and it’s a rare occasion to attend something educational like that.

It felt like I’m a student all over again. I wanna go back to school----again. Study something. Just about anything. Now, im thinkin’. Hmmmm....

TALKIN' 'BOUT A REVOLUTION

Feb. 29 – it’s leap year!



I woke up to the music of Tracy Chapman. I ‘ve always liked the song Talkin’ About a Revolution. It was 5:30 in the afternoon when I noticed that Chapman was singing to me from the speakers and not in real person in a dream. It’s weird how dreams sometimes blur into reality – like hearing a song in a dream and waking up hearing the song playing on a radio. Well, that’s what kinda happened. I wasn’t quite sure if it’s one of the galaxy’s cosmic jokes but a mass rally was taking place in Makati. I turned off my iPod switched on my TV and baaam, Lozada is again prophesying the fall of the president! He’s everywhere these days, I’m beginning to get sick seeing him. And no, I am definitely not a Gloria fan at all. Trapos are back in the main stage sneaking their own way to dance with the tune the masses in Manila are listening. Erap was there too, who by the waay was ousted by the same group of people who were there years ago. Thousands upon thousands went to the rally, Julius Babao said. Indeed, the Filipinos in Manila were again staging their outrage, their want to stop the corruption, their heed for the truth to come out, their call for the president to step down. What's new, I asked as if the television would rebutt. Meanwhile, the news progressed and Cebu was on the screen. This is fun, I thought. I turned the volume louder as if increasing it would make me absorb the news faster. The reporter said more than a thousand were participating in a rally at Fuente Osmena. The angle the video was shot as shown on prime time news seemed like there were more than just a thousand. Flags were waving, candles were lit and interminable cussing of the president could be slightly heard. Well, the Filipinos in Cebu must be really waking up, I reckoned. After that news, I slipped on my pants, wet my hair and splashed a little water on my face because I had to go to Ayala. Funny enough, Ayala is two rides away from where I live so I had to stop by Fuente. When I got there,I was surprised at what I saw. Television can really magnify things ten folds. There weren’t a thousand people demonstrating at Fuente, there were around two or three hundred of them– and that’s even a hefty approximation. They sang the famous revolutionary song Bayan Ko. I stood by for a few minutes watching the group. Looking around, people were passing by as if nothing was happening. People were jaywalking, taking advantage of the traffic the group caused. If an amateur singing contest was hosted at another corner of the Fuenete Osmena Circle(if you've ever heard of a corner of a circle), you would’ve guessed which group would gather a lot more audience. A few moments after the music ended, I took on my jeep that would take me to Ayala where more people were oblivious from the chaos there was in Fuente or Makati. People were busy shopping. The atms were lined up with yuppies. The fastfoods were packed and life went on for the Cebuano like an ordinary day. An ordinary day except it was payday and its extra happy shopping day for most.

Heading back home, I thought most Cebuanos do not share the same views of what we see on TV.We here dow south choose to be silent because we refuse to be part of a cycle that people in Manila are so obsessed with. It offends us that they go on with changing presidents single-handedly without the opinion of the rest of the country. We are Filipinos to, you know. It doesn’t mean we believe GMA is innocent. It’s just that the game imperial Manila is playing doesn’t suit us well. People down south can very well stage as large a protest as Manila can but what’s next? What’s in store for us? What difference would it make? Who will run this country?One of those boogie-dancing politicians? At the end of the day, we ask, what's new really? This whole hoopla happens evry EDSA anniversary, Labor Day, Women's Day, Rizal Day, AIDS Day. Meaning, it happens all day round we have acclimatized to it. Down here, it suits us better to remain silent and go our own way and entertaining ourselves with the drama of the politicians on TV who should be doing better by helping the people of Samar and Leyte who were hit by a typhoon than wasting their time marching the streets with nothing accomplished but gimmick and grandstanding. What I’m saying is, we here down south also have a story to tell. We are also part of weaving this country’s history. We may be silent but it doesn’t mean we don’t care – we simply refuse to be used.

I can vividly remember what exactly I was doing while people were trying to oust Gloria. I was with my teammates bumping cars.

BREAKFAST FOR LUNCH DURING MERIENDA..what was it again?

It’s one of those days. You feel burned out after work. The sun feels like needles pricking you all over. You’re so hungry the people you see look like walking fried chickens you wanna smack them. Yes, it was one of those days you can hardly muster a smile. How else would you end that aggravation but with a full plate of All Day Breakfast with Bacon and Egg!!

After an exhausting day at work, my teammates, my TL and I went for an afternoon breakfast. Yes, breakfast is available anytime of the day now. Looking for a place to eat has never been so hard, I thought. What with all the restaurants in Lahug closed by the mayor – I don’t know exactly the reason why since I’m really inactive with current events right now. My ears shutdown upon hearing the word politics. Ok, ok, I indulge sometimes. Tsk tsk…Later it got me guessing if some food poisoning happened along the avenue. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t pay their taxes. Whatever that was, it was an extra mile of walk we had to endure because all of them are taking their day off until further notice.




Well, we finally settled at ILA PUTI located at I2 in IT Park where call centers are thriving. There are a lot of restos in the area, I’m glad I don’t work near there. The place is nice. We were lucky we owned the place the entire time we were there. We ordered the All Day Breakfast with Bacon and Egg, extra rice and a pork something, I forgot what that was. The food was great I ate like I hadn’t eaten for days. It’s not all that cheap but hey, I don’t get to eat the best bacon everyday! I had a full meal. I was satisfied, I reckoned. I was ready to sleep then.





We decided however to chit-chat for a while over cigarettes. I sniffed second-hand smoke, enough to get me intoxicated.It went for hours so the chit-chat became stories, then tales, then tall tales. We figured the conversation is getting out of control, so we wrapped up and headed home.

I slept dreaming of bacon. It was just heaven.

UKAY-UKAY LANE

Somewhere down the ukay-ukay lane are the most hilarious signs you'll see....

CAN'T BURN ME DOWN..

This is what I did when my apartment almost got burned. Taken over a month ago, I cant imagine myself I still managed to take a pic of me in the middle of the chaos. Kaya mo yan? 50 houses were on the process of being reduced to smithereens and hey, I still managed to smile in the midst of all the chaos there was.

KURDAFYA

Bem bem is finally a dad to a beautiful daughter last Feb 21!! Yehey! Congrats Kang and Bem!



Initially, the baby girl was named Kurdafya. We are waiting for the dad to finally snap back to his senses...

SUPERHEROES and POLITICs

Come on, everybody’s crazy about Spiderman slinging his butt to save that train from a fiasco of unimaginable proportions! Superman too has enough crimes of his own to solve not to mention doing his own share of good deeds by well, stopping an airplane from crashing in a stadium during a baseball game – what a way for publicity! Even heroes have their own way of sneaking for a slot at primetime news. Now I’m thinking that if their nationality is Filipino they would be now in the Senate discussing the Lozada case. It would be interesting because they would be divulging instead each other's secrets we haven’t known so far - secrets not written on books and shown in movies yet. What with their powers on the roll there will be a lot of mind-reading, flying, slinging, power-grabbing and more. On top of them we will finally know if Superman is wearing an underwear under his tights as additional to the red overwear brief he flaunts. That is if some naughty mutant with see-through vision would divulge that million-dollar question over heated discussion with the Man of Steel. And then we can go ahead and confront him if that is for hygienic reasons or just for the security of his mojo when in very dangerous situations. Let’s just say our senate is for spilling guts.

It will be more than just our regular telenovela because our heroes are now playing errr, heroes! It’s easy for them to save a kitten from peril but can they save a country? This poses greater challenge which might have gotten our superheroes to politics. Maybe saving lives isn’t worth it anymore. Statistics are showing that there are more and more people being killed than superheroes actually saved. The movies about their good deeds splashed all over the movie theaters each week are not doing well to influence the people. People love all that saving that’s going on but hey, they don’t wanna be saved. Oddly, our superheroes also don’t launch themselves in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan or in our case, Basilan. They base in the metro, get a fancy job as a reporter for instance and save a few petty crimes ( so watch out, Mike Enriquez could be an alter-ego of some popular superhero disguised on that popular mask you see on TV). Alright, alright, saving the world from doom because some wicked lunatic is making a very huge and despicable-looking island is heroic but come on, can somebody really make a continent? Get real!

But then again, we don’t need superheroes to make the Senate a circus. It already is.

***************



I forgot to mention that we have our own share of superheroes on TV that are worthy of mentioning. Panday was popular before but his excalibur won’t do good against the guns and besides Panday can’t even fly, sling and cartwheel like Jackie Chan does in real person. Where would you put him in an era where sword-fighting is even considered a forgotten sport. And the outfit can’t be redesigned to keep up with the modern times because it wont be Panday anymore and Panday don’t wear skinny leather outfits. . No one can’t redo the Panday look that’s why we had to bury the hero with FPJ.

And there goes Darna who never chokes when she swallows that stone. I’m also at a loss where the stone goes inside her body when she swallows it. Does she purse it inside her lungs? Or does the stone dissolve into magma which then circulates with her blood which in turn causes an explosion of smoke and voila her costume has changed? Does the magma sloshing in her nerves make her fly? Everything must have a scientific explanation but somehow Filipino superheroes blame it all in some cosmic power only the albularyo in a turban can explain which by the way is an easy escape since we tend to blame things on the trees, the rocks, the engkantos and all. To hell with science. Darna, in summation might be actually a negative influence since children are watching such movies and swallowing rocks isn’t a good example at all. And when Darna’s saved the day, does she put her fingers in her mouth to let the stone out? Is Darna bulimic? Hmmmmm…

And then there is Captain Barbell. Can he not fly without those weights? It’s a good thing that he is teaching us to be physically fit but hello, you don’t get your powers from the barbell do you? And does he bring it all the time when not on call for duty? If so where is he keeping those humongous thing – in his pants' pockets? Too big, can’t be. Maybe under his house. But what if he needs to save a lady with such urgency and he is, say, 20 miles away from home? Does he ride a jeep to get to his secret weapon or just sprint home? I’m also wondering if Captain Barbell can do what gymnasts do while flying on the barbell – like swinging round and round on air and all that. Now we have a bet for the Beijing Olypmics. But what sport – gymnastics or weightlifting? How about wrestling?

I’m not really feeling fiction these days I have to pick on our superheroes.

***************

JUMPER




The reason why these things came across was because I recently watched JUMPER starring Hayden Christensen, the guy who played Anakin Skywalker in the last installment of Star Wars. Kristen Stewart was there too for errr, about 30 seconds. Yipee! Jumper was fun but useless. Our hero has the ability to teleport i.e. transport himself across space and distance instantly. He can’t go back in time though which is kinda disappointing since he could’ve changed history and become the most powerful man on earth. But that would be playing God and the writers must’ve thought giving him that extra power to travel across time is too much. Unlike our average superheroes, he is different because he steals millions from banks and cars and maybe his shaver. He is lazy – he teleports all over his house and do not consider walking an exercise at all. Still, he has the body women would die for which is an insult to those who walk for an exercise and spend their free time on the treadmill but can’t seem to get a pound off their weight. The movie is entertaining but that was it. He never used his power to save some kitten. He never saved a life in the movie except his girlfriend. It was more realistic though because I would’ve done the same if I had a similar ability – teleport to all the beautiful places in the world, eat the most delicious food among others. I noticed also that the main character was a bit poor in geography – he only visited a few famous spots again and again like the pyramids of Egypt, Hongkong, The Empire State Building, the Big Ben, the Colosseum among others. He forgot to visit the Great Wall, the Niagara, the Sydney Opera House, the Rio, The Eiffel, the Red Square etc. It was understandable because it was never mentioned that our hero graduated from college or high school after he left home and went to, where else, the Big Apple. Instead of saving people, he spends his time eluding Samuel Jackson who plays the villain,and almost ran amok looking for a place to teleport where he couldn’t be found. If he seriously doesn’t want to be found, next time he should consider going to Colon.

Poor boy, doesn’t know the Philippines is the best place to hide. Let’s just say he skipped geography class.

P.S. Hayden Christensen wil star in the movie "BEAST OF BATAAN", set in World War II during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.The movie though is on its pre-production stage yet so hold your horses. Click here fore more.