Karma

Dear Tristan, more than once I came across people who, after learning that I have three daughters, always call them my “pambayad utang.” And they always add that I should not fool around because my daughters are the ones who will suffer the consequence of KARMA. The fact that those stupid fools are still breathing is proof that anger management does work.

Let me get this straight- There is no such thing as Karma.

Karma is an illusion.

Nature may have a mechanism to seek balance in Physics, in Chemistry, in Biology. But the laws of men and human relationship are inherently unfair-- Always have, always will.

Injustice rules. Equality is an exception. How else can you explain the good fortune of Erap. How else can you explain the fact that the world is still mourning the death of a singer while glossing over the passing of Walter Cronkite or the fact that it is not outraged by the death of that Iranian girl, Neda, in the brutal hands of a totalitarian state.

Even if I go whoring, my daughters will not suffer because of Karma. Simply because:

KARMA DOES NOT EXIST. GODDAMNIT!

It was not fear of Karma that’s why I chose not go whoring. It was Choice.

I chose to go against the norm. I chose to recognize the fact that chicks need dignity and decency to live. Just like me, they need to realize their real worth. Just like me they should not let any man look down on them. Just like when I chose not to smoke because I knew that halitosis will not endear me to chicks, or when I chose not to love drinking alcoholic beverages (because there is no other drug more satisfying than sex) it was borne out of simple CHOICE.

Karma has no scientific basis. That is why in human relationships it is HARDER to choose what is right. It is harder to let go, to walk away to let yourself be wounded rather than see her in tears. That is why we need strength from God. This means, every time we make the right choice…

it is nothing short of a Miracle.

JULY 19 and JULY 20

Yesterday, July 19, we went to church at CTK (thank God JJ wasn't around because the mass was for late morning). In the pew just infront of us was a baby around 6 months old in the arms of her Mom. Sadie, you and Ate Sabine played peekaboo with her. You made her laugh and giggle. You also sang twinkle twinkle little star for her. later I had to take you and Ate Sabine outside. There is a series of small puddles which you guys used like a hopscotch board.

Today, July 20, looking at the picture reminds me of the famous line first uttered 40 years ago today by Neil Armstrong...

"That's one small step for (a) man,
One giant leap for mankind."


itutuloy

after JULY 4... Dad, Noey and Whatshername

Taken two weeks ago in Baguio. Soiree right after 4th of July. With a President named Hussein Obama and a hip Ambassador like her, I don't see how Ka Satur or Ka Teddy can sustain their crusade against what Iran's Dictators call the Great... You know who.

JULY 18

Im Test driving the video capture capability of Ayheen's Nokia 5800. We just got it today. GRand Dy was with us at the Megamall and he spent the weekend here too. He wasn't in the frame when the shot was taken though.

The Kids are watching Discovery Channel (Evolution of dinosaurs.) Later Sage asked me "how did they know there were scorpions 1 meter long and that they feed on fish?", "how did they know that the fish is our ancestor?"

I wanted to say that it's because of the fossil record. but come to think of it, everything that they've seen in that discovery channel special is just scientific guess work, Sage. Maybe one of you guys will look at the fossil records someday and say, "You got it WRONG discovery channel. This is what really happened during the pre-cambrian period..."

b4 JULY

Taken during the PCP convention at MOA-SMX.


You both skate better than me.


I love this shot.


Sadie is too young to try Ice skating so we rode the carousel instead.


I don't know when this was taken. last month I guess. You guys are starting to learn to kick some ass.


Sabine's first few days in Miriam.


Sleepy head. but you perked up after.


Taken last week. we bought new furniture at Mandaue's storage building. They will be delivered tomorrow.

JULY 15

Dear Tristan, yesterday was your 7th Month. You are a quiet kid who regards people and you smile indiscriminately. Every morning when your sisters wake up, the first thing they do is pat you in the pate or gently rub your head and say "aaahhh, you are so cute." You are still breastfed but your Mom started weaning you. We were not around when you had your first taste of cerelac a couple of weeks ago. We were in our bedroom because we had to undergo quarantine. Ate Sage took pictures though. once I learned how to transfer those pictures from her DSi to this Laptop, I'll try to post them ASAP.

JULY 14

QUATORZE JUILLET

Bukas, Bastille Day!

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!

"One day to a new beginning
Raise the flag of freedom high!
Every man will be a king
Every man will be a king
There's a new world for the winning
There's a new world to be won
Do you hear the people sing?
My place is here, I fight with you!


Tomorrow is the judgement day
Tomorrow we'll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store!

One more dawn
One more day
One day more!" -- from Les Miz

JULY 6

July 6-14. Feast of San Fermin


"A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición" -- Prayer before the Run

Dear Kids, every second week of July and just before the French Bastille Day, the Feast of San Fermin is celebrated in Pamplona, Spain. They celebrate by running with the bulls in the streets of that city until reaching the arena. I still wish I could run with the bulls someday- Because when I was a kid your age now, Sage, I dreamed of becoming a Bullfighter. Running with the bulls of pamplona is my way of making a piece of that dream come true.

But as for the four of you, I do not want you to dream of becoming a bullfighter, so that you do not have to dream of running with the bulls someday.

Be TriAthletes instead. TriAthlon is more challenging.

_____________________________________________________________

Here's my final word on that deceased pop singer. I've received a lot of flak, very polite criticisms actually, for saying that I really couldn't care less about the death of the deceased popstar who has been accused in court of being a pedophile. I also didn't like him for making a mockery of marriage and the women he married (especially that Nurse, Debbie Rowe who doesn't even have visitation rights to HER OWN children)

Sorry people.
I should not have even opened my mouth about him.
I should have emulated President Barack Obama.

Read the full CNN story about OBAMA DISTANCING HIMSELF FROM JACKSON click here

Sabi ko na ngaba e. BA-ROCK music is better than POP music.

Sadie's Favorite... at the moment.

The song is from the movie "Transformers 2"

When we watched the movie last week, Sadie, you kept on going up and down the stairs of the movie house. Sometimes you ask me to sit with you on the stairs. Then you ask me to take you outside to get drinks... Then you ask to be taken back inside. this happened a few times.

Thank God I wasn't really keen on watching that movie. And you started asking to go outside the theater only after this scene flashed on the screen...

Pachelbel on the Rocks

Dear Tristan, Pachelbel's Canon in D was the first classical music you ever heard in your life. I was playing it in our laptop when we were still in the hospital.

This anonymous musician below gave it a twist by shredding his electric guitar with the tune from that classic.

Dude, whoever you are, you Rock.

Apocalypse

Dear Tristan, last sunday we were supposed to watch Transformers the Movie. But the crowd was so thick we decided not to line up for it. Instead, your Mom and I just watched Nick Cage's "Knowing" at home. It's a movie of the "end of the world" genre.

Watching it made me wonder, How exactly will everything end? Experts used to say that the universe will implode someday. Eons from now, it will stop expanding. Then slowly it will gather speed and instead of expanding it will contract. Everything will race towards the point in Space-Time where the Big Bang occurred. Everything will Collide. In short, the universe will crash and burn.

Recently, though, the consensus is that it will continue expanding. the galaxies will forever race away from each other. This expansion will continue even at the level of the building blocks of matter: the atoms, leptons, quarks. Everything will dissipate into nothingness, darkness. In the end there will be nothing but endless space full of matter that are no bigger than atoms; no more stars, no galaxies, no planets... no people. The small spark of Life in all the worlds will have been extinguished long before the universe meets its end. No one will be there to see how the darkness slowly smothers everything. The universe will not crash and burn. It will just fade away.

Depressing, isn't it?

That's what your Mom told me last week after watching the world end... again... in a disaster movie. It's healthy to reflect on our mortality once in a while. But don't let it distract you from thinking about the Here and Now. There are more interesting things to think about: How to make friends, how to make out, how to make a buck (not necessarily in that order.)

There is beauty and grandeur in God's laws that govern this universe, but don't think too much about the end to the point of neglecting the present-- even if you decide to be the hunkiest cosmologist alive. Remember that we love you all so much with all our heart and soul.

The human soul is not made up of atoms.

The human soul will definitely out-live even the end of the Universe itself.

The Last AirBender

Sage can't wait to see this movie...

BAKUNA

Dear Kids, you guys received flu vaccine this morning. You didn't cry too much. It was your Mom who gave the vaccine to you. Tristan had two vaccines, Pentaxim and Flu. After she vaccinated you all, including me, I had to give the vaccine to your Mom. Then she also administered the vaccine to your Ate Yaya.

itutuloy...

Dear God

Thank You Very Much!

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2009 (JUNE 21)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO US, DAD!

Woof!

Overheard while taking them to school last wednesday morning.

ATE JANINE: Hey, have you seen the trailer of New Moon
KAY : Yes, Jacob looks so CUUUTE!
SAGE : YEAH, is he a Siberian Husky?
KAY : I think he is a German Husky.

Lady of Shalott

He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."-Alfred Lord Tennyson








For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Mall Of Asia

Dear Sadie, We had Pizza for dinner tonight (June 10) at the MOA. It's your Ninang Joy and Ninong Edsel's wedding anniversary. Yellow Cab had small tables but they can be moved closer together to accomodate big groups of clients. The other occupant of the table just beside ours was a smaller group with a baby who is probably just a year old.

Sadie, you made her laugh so hard while we were there. You played Peek a Boo with her. And you always say "I love You!" She was a complete stranger but after dinner you proudly told me "Dad, I have new friend."

itutuloy...

D-Day

Dear Kids, history commemorates June 6 as D-Day, the allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. To your Mom and Lola Letty, and by extension, to Me and All of Us, this date has a personal significance. Your Mom's sister, Your Tita Adeline "Adhey", passed away due to Diabetic Ketoacidosis. I think she was 18 at that time. That was exactly 20 years ago today.

What made it very painful to your Mom and Lola is that she passed away exactly 40 days after the untimely demise of Your Lolo Loni who was an expat in the US (he had to go away as an OFW to support the expensive medicines your Tita Adhey needed as a diabetic patient.)

Your Mommy and Your Lola Letty. They have been through a lot. They are very tough women. I really do not know how they survived that, how they triumphed despite of the loss of your Lolo and Tita Adhey.

Both are Women of Substance.

To the Goddess of Democracy

The massacre of Students in Tian-an-men Square happened exactly 20 years ago today. The central committee of the Chinese Communist Party authorized the PLA to kill unarmed students and to destroy the Goddess of Democracy. TO their eternal shame, the world will always remember.

We can never forgive what we can never forget...

New Moon Coming

The only reason why I'm gonna watch it is because I want to find out what makes this cullen guy stupid enough to leave Bella unprotected in the middle of the woods. what a blood sucking moron.

This Too Will Pass Away

I really don't know you. I remember my mother-in-law watching you in one of those mediocre teledramas and I always tell her: She's beautiful AND she can act; so what the hell is she doing in that crappy TV series?

Be Strong. Be Strong...




She faced the hardest times you can imagine
And many times her eyes fall back the tears
And when her youthful world was about to fall in
Each time her slender shoulders
For the weight of all her tears
And a sorrow no one hears
Still rings in midnight silence in her ears

Chorus:
Let her cry
for she's a lady
Let her dream
for she's a child
Let the rain fall down upon her
She's a free and gentle flower growing wild...

...Be careful how you touch her for she'll awaken
And sleep's the only freedom that she knows

And when you look into her eyes you won't believe
For the way she's always paying for a debt she never owed

And a silent wind still blows that she can only hear
So she goes...-- WILD FLOWER

Graduation Speeches

Dear Kids, I just read about Obama's wisecrack during the ASU graduation rites:

"Now, before I begin, I'd like to clear the air about that little controversy everyone was talking about a few weeks back... I think we all learned an important lesson. I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket. And your university President and Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS."

Bwahahaha! That last line was so cute. Immediately after delivering that punchline he smiled at them like a naughty gangsta as if saying "Chill, Dudes. I'm just messing with you." Reminds me of JFK's American University speech where he began by teasing his old friend, Bob Byrd:

"...distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes..."

Incidentally, since Dick Chenney, that ugly old goat, is hogging the headlines again, pontificating about the use of Torture and the virtue of pissing on the bill of rights, he would do well if he reads that JFK speech where he said that...

"what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave."

Up yours, Chenney. That was the kind of peace you and your neocon colleagues tried to ram down our throats when you were in power. The kind of peace bought by waterboarding and torturing detainees in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib. Just so you know that we will never forget, that kind of policy did not result in peace but in more than

3,000 AMERICAN SOLDIER'S DEATHS UNDER YOUR WATCH.

I really do not like him and his neocon comrades who are still talking their heads off in FOX news network. But before I fantasize about pushing the button to unleash the nuclear bomb on them, I should remind myself that in the American University speech of JFK, he gave a compelling reason why we shouldn't hate our enemies too much to the point of wishing to rain down thermo-nuclear warheads on their asses:

"For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal. "

ASTIG

Dear Sadie, I took you and your sisters to the last day of the 39th PCP convention yesterday. For a little while I left you in the play area to listen to the Forum on H1N1 conducted by WHO representatives.

When I came back to fetch you guys, your yaya told me that you made a boy cry by hitting him with the plastic ball he was trying to steal from you. Sage said the boy was a typical brat and she did not hit back when he kicked her. He was smaller than her and younger.

But the boy is older than you, Sadie, and bigger. Your Yaya Ning wanted to apologize to the boy's yaya but she told her "makulit talaga yan, buti nga sa kanya."

Your sisters were smiling from ear to ear when they were recounting the story to me. I told them if this happens again you should ask the teacher or any grown up to stop the bully. I didn't condone it.

But we started calling you my "Junior."

One Ring

"One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all

and in the darkness bind them"


Dear Tristan, IN the Philippines of my generation, the ring that rules has Four corners. Good or ill it is capable of forging a common bond between us Filipinos.

Tomorrow I shall be watching, with your Ninong El and Grand Dy, within the Darkness of a movie theater the Fight between Pacquiao and Hatton. In a previous post when he faced DelaHoya I said that it would be the last time I shall be rooting and giving my prayers to Manny since I thought he was going to lose. The Odds against him beating DelaHoya was staggering. That's why even though I really don't like Pacquiao, I wanted him to win.

Itutuloy...