UNjollybee

Dear Sage, Last night while you were watching TV I took a nap. It did not last. Few minutes later I heard you cry out in pain. That was unusual. You cry when you have tantrums but when you are in pain you hardly do so because I noticed that your tolerance is quite high. (Your Mom and I realized that when we give you your vaccination shots. You actually look forward to them. When you had an infection instead of giving you medicines to drink, you preferred that they be given as injections into your thighs)

Anyway, at first your Lola and I were confused. You held up your hand and on the lateral aspect of your Left middle finger we thought there was a small, linear laceration. Although it was not bleeding the line had a dark color. We thought it was caused by a rodent but you insisted that it was an insect. We put ice on your hand. That calmed you down a bit when you felt its coolness. I looked for the insect under the bed. At first I couldn't figure out what it was because it was about a yard away from the edge. All I could see was that it had moving legs. When I used the broom to push it from the dark belly of the bed into the light, I saw that it was just a small bee with vestiges of wings sprouting out of it's back. No wonder it caused you so much pain. And the linear bite mark? it turned out to be the sting. I had to remove it with a pair of tweezers.

I crushed the bee underneath the rug. Well, it was dying anyway.

Explaining judas

Dear Sage, I saw the Nat Geo special on this subject last night. It was obviously a spoof written by wisecracks more than a millenia ago. I think it proves one thing: There are people back in the 2nd century who could've been great scriptwriters of "South Park" and "Saturday Night Live" had they lived in the 20th and 21st centuries.

I can imagine second century christians shaking their heads and smiling as they read those manuscripts the way we laugh at Michael V.'s corniness.

It actually reminded me of this medical advice spoof. Just like the judas "Gospel" no one would take this one seriously too. But I couldn't stop laughing when I first read it.

Medical advice
>>
>> Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is
this
>>true?
>>
>>A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't
>>waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up
>>your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can
>>extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live
longer?
>>Take a nap.
>>
>>Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
>>
>> A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay
>>and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more
>>than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system.
>>Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass
>>(green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your
>>recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
>>
>>Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
>>
>> A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled
wine,
>>that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even
>>more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain.
Bottoms
>>up!
>>
>>Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
>>
>> A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to
>>one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.
>>
>>Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular
>>exercise program?
>>
>> A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No
>>Pain...Good!
>>
>>Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
>>
>> A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!!... Foods are fried these days in
vegetable
>>oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more
vegetables
>>be bad for you?
>>
>>Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the
>>middle?
>>
>> A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You
>>should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
>>
>>Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
>>
>>A: Are you crazy? HELLO . Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the
>>best feel-good food around!
>>
>>Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
>>
>> A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
>>
>>Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
>>
>> A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!
>>
>>Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had
>>about food and diets.

LET'S WATCH DA VINCI MOVIE

Dear Kids, I wish I could watch the TOM HANKS movie with you someday. I heard the adaptation was faithful to the book. I read the book last year and wasn't able to put it down (practically) until I've read through it. Just remember this...

It's just fiction.

He IS Risen!

Dear Kids, Happy Easter! Ate Sage just finished with the Easter Egg hunt. She woke up at 4:30 and didn't want to sleep anymore. When we got back you guys played with the Rabbits. You let them loose in the living room downstairs. But we had to put them right back their cages because Sabine keeps on picking them up by their necks, we're worried she might drop them. Sabine cried but not a lot. Fortunately a Taho vendor passed by just in time to pacify her with a cup. Right now you are enjoying a sing-a-long of disney tunes with your friends, JM and Bianca. You guys don't seem to mind that the microphone isn't working. Sadie was downstairs with baby Brian (Bianca's brother). Your Mommy just brought her upstairs and put her in her crib. I think she loves seeing your faces around her. But the day isn't over yet! Ate Sage is looking forward to the Egg Painting contest this afternoon at 2:00 PM with JM.

Years from now, with the advent of gnostic thoughts and secular snobbery of Easter, philosophers (also called "stand up comics") might ask you guys what proof you have that Christ rose from the dead. Just smile at them. People only ask those weird questions because they have forgotten the lovely time they spent with their friends and loved ones so many Easters ago. But if they insist, tell them the answer lies within. And remind them that FAITH, unlike Science, requires NO PROOF. Because if you do have physical proof, it's no longer faith.

Christ IS Risen! Thank you Dear God for your Love and Mercy.

Metaphor

Dear Sage, The following prose is a metaphor, no doubt an imperfect one, of the first Good Friday...

"There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. Upon leaving its nest, it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And dying it rises above its own agony to out carol the lark and the nightingale. One superaltive song- existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen. And God in his heaven smiles. For the best is bought only at the cost of great pain... or so, says the legend." -- The Thorn Birds

It was the first page of the book you guys almost ripped apart.

Gospel According to John (McCain)

Dear Sage, I was supposed to make a blog entry against those who are lambasting the National Geographic's decision to broadcast its episode on the "judas gospel." But I decided to be a little charitable. It must be the season.

Through the years, I've learned that the best way to defend your faith is through ACTION- not words of Fear and Hate. Those people who are speaking against National Geographic and Harry Potter in that kind of framework are doing a big disservice to the Lord's Gospel.

There will always be someone whose interpretation of the bible and the events of 2000 years ago will be different from what your pastor or priest is teaching you. But if you want to defend your faith against them, the best course of action you can take is the way of humility and friendship. The best example I can give is the Vietcong mentioned by John McCain in his speech in Virginia Beach back in 2000...

"Many years ago, a scared American prisoner of war in Vietnam was tied in torture robes by his tormenters and left alone in an empty room to suffer through the night. Later in the evening, a guard he had never spoken to entered the room and silently loosened the ropes to relieve his suffering. Just before morning, that same guard came back and re-tightened the ropes before his less humanitarian comrades returned.

He never said a word to the grateful prisoner, but some months later on a Christmas morning as the prisoner stood alone in the prison courtyard, the same Good Samaritan walked up to him and stood next to him for a few moments. Then with his sandal, the guard drew a cross in the dirt. Both prisoner and guard stood wordlessly there for a minute or two venerating the cross until the guard rubbed it out and walked away.

This is my faith, the faith that unites and never divides, the faith that bridges unbridgeable gaps in humanity. That is my religious faith ... It is the faith that we are all equal and endowed by our creator with unalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is the faith I would die to defend..."

To be continued...

Yummy

Dear Sadie, You and all your sisters were purely breast fed for atleast 6 months. Even when your Mom is away, what you drink from your bottle is breast milk (thawed from its temporary storage from the freezer.) Wherever your Mom goes, she brings with her that ever reliable breast pump so she can pump out the milk which she stores in a plastic bottle liner inside her coleman. Tonight while she's feeding you she sang barney's song

I love you, you love me
where a happy family
with a great big hug
and a kiss from me to you
won't you say you love me too

When your Ate Sage heard her, she joined your mom in serenading you. I followed their lead. I think you enjoyed it since you were smiling and you looked very alert. I think you were trying to figure out through the haze of your 2 month old eyes who we were. Anyway, Ate Sabine was also drinking her milk formula while we were singing (for some reason she has lost the taste for breast milk. Every time we tease her by offering mommy's milk to her she just shakes her head and smiles naughtily)

Your Ate Sabine loves to drink her milk while lying down beside your Mom. She cries "Mimi" when she wants Milk. I can't explain why, but she likes to slip her free hand into your Mom's shirt while holding her milk bottle with the other.

When your Ate Sage was Ate Sabine's age (2 Years old), I remember she was also no longer breast fed. But whenever she likes to drink she doesn't say "Mimi" but the more conventional "Didi". Then she adds the unconventional demand "HOLD IT." meaning she wants to hold your Mom's bossom while she's drinking from a milk bottle. I guess even though they no longer drink breast milk, those are their unique ways of trying to sublimate their need to cling to Mommy Ayheen's milk...

.TK

www.thekidney.tk

Torn Birds

Dear Sage and Sabine, First and last time I went to visit our Lola Rosa in SF was 21 years ago (1985) While Dy and I were in her apartment she noticed that I was rifling through one of her favorite books- Colleen McCullough’s “The Thorn Birds.” Right there and then she gave the pocket book to me as a gift. About a week ago, right after I got back, I started flipping through it again. It’s already old and weathered. Each page is the color of dark parchment stained by twenty years or so of exposure to the elements. The book is really endearing because of all the Non-Medical books I’ve read, it is the only one I underlined words that were not yet part of my vocabulary. I’m dazzled by my discovery of the book that introduced me to an encyclopedia of words; from something as simple as “ilk” to a “maelstrom” of polysyllabic ones. It is the only Non-Medical book where I made notes along the margins and in some empty spaces between chapters. While reading them I remember that the reason why I have strong ANTI-MALE CHAUVINIST views now is because the author was so good she actually made me sympathize not just with Meggie’s character but with all women. She is one author YOU THREE GIRLS (and your mom Ayheen) have to thank for your Dad’s right attitude.

Tonight, when I came home, I noticed that you guys may have been playing with it the whole day. One of you ripped the last two pages off the book. I’m sure it’s just an accident. But I almost went ballistic. Almost.

So when you guys grow up please remember that even though I sometimes act like a tyrant, I am, at heart, a benevolent dictator who knows how to forgive his kids even when they do the darndest things. Sometimes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Dear Sage, Today, 6 years ago, you came into our lives.

You have only very simple requests for your birthday: a pet and a movie. Last Sunday we already gave you a pair of rabbits. We are lucky you understand that we have yet to put in our budget your first wish (very expensive puppies like what your cousin Kay owns. Pomereinian and shih-tzu.)

I guess we partially made it up to you by taking you to a movie about a dog (Tim Allen's "The Shaggy Dog") It was the first time Sabine watched a movie with us. Both of you enjoyed it. We all did. Including your Lola Letty. Only Sadie was not with us in the movie house. Then afterwards we ate pizza. NY style.

Go Veggie!

Dear Sabine, I remember crying my eye sockets out when I was a kid because your Lola Helen wanted me to eat bean sprouts (TOGUE.) I'm not much of a vegetarian but I did learn to love TOGUE, but then again that happened only after I became a teenager. Atleast I can say I'm much better than George Bush, Sr. who never learned to eat brocolli. He even tried to ban it once in the white house during his SINGLE TERM.

Anyway, I'm so proud when I saw you choose veggies over meat. You eat vegetables and pick them off your plate like hor's d'ouevre. I know your Lola Helen is very proud of you.

Why Gambling Sucks

Dear Sage, Once in a while you'd probably see LOTTO tickets in my personal effects when you grow up. I do bet on LOTTO sometimes but no matter how Large the potential winnings are (which could be as high as $5 Million) I make sure that I bet only 20 cents. I figured that I can afford to lose 20 cents a month on lottery. Years ago, my high school teacher computed the odds for me. Whether I bet 200 dollars or 20 cents on lottery does not really matter. The Chances of LOSING your 20 cents is as high as losing your 200 dollars. That's why, in the lingo of 21st century, "hindi ko kina career" ang LOTTO. The risk of losing money is TOO HIGH. Since I can afford to lose 20 cents, I have as much fun in checking if it wins anything but IF I bet too much (more than 20 cents) I don't think it will still be fun if I lose.

There are some risks in life that you should take. And there are some risks that are not worth taking. Examples of the former are legitimate Biz enterprizes, Bungee Jumping (Just make sure it's in Six Flags), and falling in love. Examples of the latter are ALL LEGAL AND ILLEGAL FORMS OF GAMBLING.

The more money you pour into these quagmires, the more money you will lose in the long run. There is a reason why big, money hungry corporations are not betting huge amounts of their revenues into Jueteng, Lotto, and Cock fighting even though the promise of ROI is theoretically 100 million times the original amount- It's because they are sure to lose HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY if they gamble it away.

A lot of gamblers have been seduced by the Catholic school dogma saying that "you should not gamble because it is... IMMORAL" which is like equating gambling to sex, drums and rock n roll. HOGWASH!

LOSING MONEY IS IMMORAL! That's why gambling really, really sucks.

I read a quote once that says "to equalize the money rich and poor people have, the poor should not be permitted to gamble away their monies while the rich should be permitted to do nothing except gamble in the casinos"

The current political leaders are copping out of their duty to protect the people from gambling by legalizing its most virulent form in the Philippines: Jueteng. By doing this they let people believe what the jueteng lords want the people to believe: that it is a "VICTIMLESS" crime.

IT ISN'T.

The victims of Jueteng are not the stockholders of SMART and GLOBE who can afford to lose spare change. The victims are those who subsist on less than 2 dollars a day. The victims are those who can't afford to lose money.

That's why the Poor should HATE THE JUETENG LORDS more than they HATE trapos. The Jueteng Lords take away MOST of their money but to bait them on these criminals give them back SOME of their money as "jueteng winnings" If you bet and lose 1,000 pesos of your hard earned money every month and you win ONLY an average of 500 pesos, you still lose. Unfortunately our people forget that when they add up the loose change (25 centavo coins) they and their community give to the JUETENG LORDS, they forget that it is much BIGGER than the JUETENG WINNINGS that the greedy jueteng lords permit them to win once in a while.

I'm sure that jueteng will still be a problem in your generation. But I hope that this blog entry will make you and your sisters realize why you should be as smart as PLDT, ABS CBN, and San Miguel Corp. when it comes to investing your money.

St. Patrick's

Dear Sage, Sabine and Sadie, may your hearts be warmed by this collection of Irish Blessings:

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,

may good luck pursue you each morning and night.

May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out.

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in
the wrong direction.

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.
May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.

May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you, and heaven accept you.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night,and the road downhill all the way to your door.

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, and may good luck pursue you each morning and night.
May your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

May you live a long life, full of gladness and health. With a pocket full of gold, as the least of your wealth.

May the dreams you hold dearest, be those which come true. The kindness you spread, keep returning to you.

May the friendships you make, be those which endure; and all of your grey clouds, be small ones for sure.

And trusting in Him, to Whom we all pray; May a song fill your heart, every step of the way.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S (March 17, Friday)

Belated BDays.

Dear Sage, a couple of days ago I chatted with a friendly Pinoy expat who is visiting the Philippines after so many years. I guess she was glad to find a sympathetic ear because she was very frustrated for missing her Birthday (it was on March 14, when she left LA airport on March 13, she crossed the International Dateline from east to west hence when she arrived in Manila it was already March 15). Years ago, those who cross the imaginary line get a certificate like the one above.

Well, if it's any consolation, atleast she shares the same birthdate with Albert Einstein. And he knows a lot about the concept of TIME.

I think I was a small kid of 11 when in 1979 I read an article marking the centennial birth of Herr Einstein. The words were profound. It went on to say that Albert was one of the very few men who "with sheer force of intellect, rolled back the darkness of the surrounding universe."

His most famous Theories described Time, Space and Gravity the way classical physicists could barely understand. How could you possibly make Newton himself believe that Gravity is just a function of geometry, a curvature of space distorted by a great mass. Something I have given up trying to understand after 38 years of existence. It was at first thought to be heretical in the intellectual circles of the post victorian era. There was a poem that illustrates how his theories brought more chaos than understanding of the universe. It goes something like this...

"Nature and natures laws lay hid in night
God said, 'Let NEWTON Be!'
and all was Light

It did not last.

The Devil howling
'HO! Let EINSTEIN Be!'
restored the status quo."

Some ideas are so revolutionary that we should check in our prejudices at the entrance before entering the door of science. Einstein also was compromised by his prejudice. He was the last classical (deterministic) physicist of his generation. It was a bad thing. He opposed the idea of quantum mechanics. Today it is an established theory and a bedrock of modern science. I often wonder how far we would have advanced in the 1930's had Einstein embraced Quantum theory instead of being its Number One critic.

He is not as smart as I once thought. But that too is not a bad thought. It makes him as human as you and me when we think that he is prone to foibles you and I make.

The advice below, though it came from a flawed and very human poet, should be heeded by all including Herr Albert.

"Free your mind, and your ass will follow" -Bono


PS. belated happy bday to Jen of NY also celebrating on March 14, Moi of Manille also March 14, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Maida of Manhattan (March 16) Reymond of CICG and my GrandFather, Pitong, who would've been 102 summers young today had he not passed away

DJ

Dear Kids, There's always a first time for everything. This afternoon I just helped DJ ryan here set up his own Blog

www.ryanorlanda.blogspot.com

So remember when the blog becomes famous, and Ryan becomes filthy rich, your old man helped introduce him to the world of blogging.

Sadie's First Month

Dear Sadie, You just turned one month today.

And what a day it's been. The current government got a very, very close call. Events of twenty years ago almost repeated itself before our very eyes. I guess there is no guarantee that what happened today will not happen again, twenty years into the future. The political Heroes of today could be the villains of tomorrow. And Vice versa. So in the future, when Trillanes is already a senator, when Ronald Lumbao finally becomes partylist representative of the Masa, and Allan Paguia assumes the seat of supreme court chief justice, remember this...

when forced to choose sides between two EVILS who are lunging at each other's throat with machetes, the only moral choice is: NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Juan Luna's Blood Compact

Dear Kids, Tonight while gazing at this original painting, something really fantastic happened. I saw somebody walk up the stairs towards where the Juan Luna was hanging. It took me a few seconds to realize it but it hit me- Tonight I get to meet one of my "idols". Ok, he's not exactly american idol material but heck, who cares. I finally met Larry Henares.

In my own pantheon of "greats" he ranks second only to the late Ka Louie Beltran. I may not always agree with him with his stand against Liberal trade, his tirades against Bernie Villegas, The Opus Dei, and how he drools about TinTin DeLosReyes-Cojuangco (he said he slept with her...because when they were infants, their parents used to lay them side by side on the same bed) but he surely made my day so many many times.

Hey Larry, just in case you are reading this, I've always wanted to ask you one thing. Back in the 60's when you ran for the senate, when the liberals where meeting with party leaders in the barrios, you related once that when you felt the urge to smoke you asked a lanky party leader to buy you a cigarette. Ninoy was stunned by this. He said you just turned Bernabe Buscayno into your own personal assistant. Is this story true or is it one of your magnificent bovine eschatologies?

The Good EDSA

Dear Sage, The Americans refer to the second world war as the Last GOOD WAR. They believe that US and its allies (including the Philippines) fought on the side of absolute GOOD. The battle lines were very clear. Good and Evil are distinguishable. It is something that can't be said about the Korean, Vietnam, Afghan, and Both Gulf Wars.

For us Filipinos, The first EDSA that happened almost 20 years ago, was the GOOD EDSA. Before historians make the mistake of rewriting the events of two decades ago to please the (military) party in power I would like to tell you guys now what really happened in very simple terms:

The Filipino People rose as one to shield its own soldiers from annihilation. With our own warm bodies we PROTECTED the armed soldiers who lauched a failed coup attempt against its own commander in chief. By law they should all have been court martialled and summarily executed. BUT MY GENERATION DID NOT LET THAT HAPPEN.

The Filipino People were the Knights in shining armor who protected the not-so-virtuous Damsel called the ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES.

It was NEVER the other way around.

First Picture

Dear Sadie, This is your first picture with your Grand Dy. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. "
Schenck v. United States (249 U.S. 47)March 3, 1919

Dear Sage, Yesterday, February 4, 2006, a stampede cost the lives of almost a hundred Filipinos. A crowd of 25,000 was encouraged by the producers of a TV game show to line up in the streets outside a stadium, with a capacity of only 15,000 seats, for almost a week. Some say the panic was started by somebody who shouted “may bomba! May Bomba!” (There’s a bomb! There’s a bomb!) It was a believable, plausible and PREDICTABLE threat considering that the Philippines has had more than its share of Terrorist Attacks.

Freedom of Speech does not include the right to shout “FIRE” in a crowded theater. That’s the reason why I decided not to post a controversial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a Terrorist. It was very disappointing to see those members of the Moslem Faith reacting the way they did to the Danish Newspaper’s decision to exercise its journalistic freedom. So far radical arabs, who claim to be followers of Islam, have attacked or burned down Danish embassies in some parts of the middle east.

Our Islamic brothers must learn from the mistakes of those of us who practice the Judaeo-Christian Faith. The period called “dark ages” was marked by the absolute power of religious leaders, demonization of rationalism, and absence of separation between science and religion. It was an age where ignorance triumphed over reason- Ignorance waving the Bible and Papal encyclicals.

Fortunately, members of Islam have yet to equal the brutality/barbarity of our “Missionaries” who were responsible for the “Christianization” of the world. Christianity has a Dark history. It also has a Dark underbelly. There are Christians who believe with conviction that it is better to be good “Amway” Sales Representatives rather than good neighbors. What’s worse, there are still “Christians” who are more brutal and murderous than Usama Bin Laden. If Our Muslim brothers do not start to recognize the need to liberate themselves from the petty TYRANTS in their midst, they might end up like the ones they hate most: Slaves of religion forever in bondage to ignorance like that “Christian,” Brother Eli Soriano.

I wish Someday, when you are old enough to read and understand the entries in this blog, our Moslem brothers will see God not just in the Islamic mosques, but also in the eyes of non-Moslems who respect their rights to their beliefs as well as civil liberties.

And someday, sana naman wala ng kinakailangang magtiyagang pumila sa mga game shows tulad ng eat bulaga at wowowee. AT sana naman hind maging senator si willie revillame (reputedly a misogynist pig)

Ate Sabine

Dear Sabine, We were kinda worried you might get jealous with the attention that the new baby was getting from Mom and Me. But you know what? Whenever you hear the baby cry, you give me a worried look and say, "Dad, Dad!...Bibi..." while pointing at your sister. Then you hold my hand and push it to the direction of the crib and say "Get, get!"

One time when you saw that Sadie was about to cry, you placed a towelette on my shoulder- the same one you see me use whenever I burp her. Even though she has taken your place beside Mom, everytime you wake up at night you say, "Bibi" then pat her gently on the head, and fall asleep.

Ate ka na nga talaga anaki.

Nung araw...

Dear kids, years from now, when I start pontificating about "the good old days," or how good I was, you're gonna love reading what your Ninang Jaycee sent me via email:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .. uphill BOTH ways . through year 'round blizzards. Carrying their younger siblings on their backs ... to their one-room schoolhouse, where they maintained a Straight-A average, despite their full- time, after-school job at the local textile mill .... where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but
you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves,
in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a Pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and fast er and faster until you died! ... Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or someold broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up ... we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that!
If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot. That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.
You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

I guess what I want you guys to remember is that no matter how hard my childhood was, our Lolo's and Lola's generation, and generations before us, deserve much, much more respect. And if I forget that, you can show this blog entry to me. I promise, no spanking (Scout's honor.)

BTW, Jaycee, ask your Boo kung pwede syang Ninong ni Sadie.

Dear Sadie

Happy 1st Week! Ate Sage chose this smiley for you.

Welcoming A Star

Dear Sage, When you look at the night sky you can already identify Orion's belt. The first two stars, you've named them "SAGE" and "SABINE." Yesterday, January 26, 2006, the third star finally got its name: "SADIE"

Sadie Ann D. Galvez arrived in our lives at 7:59 AM- just two hours after your Mom experienced the pangs of labor. She's quite heavy at 3.2kg.

Today we welcomed her here at home. Pictures will be coming soon.

PS. Welcome back, Pacman.

A Class Act

Dear Sage, Yesterday (Jan. 22, 2006) the earth's axis tilted a little because every Filipino around the world jumped up and down when Manny Pacquiao beat Erik Morales (Pictured in the right) in the 10th round of their Non-title bout. I decided not to put Manny's face in your blog. I would like to honor what Mr. Morales did when he was beaten by Pacquiao: He (Morales) embraced him (Manny)and gallantly smiled despite of a broken nose, and a shattered personal legend. That is what sportsmanship is all about. Morales, even in defeat, stood taller than the politicos riding on the coattails of Manny. Kudos to his Mexican supporters too who burst into spontaneous, respectful applause for Manny after his victory was formally announced.

"You are my adversary,
but you are not my enemy.
For your resistance gives me strength.
Your will gives me courage.
Your spirit ennobles me.
And though I aim to defeat you, should I succeed,
I will not humiliate you.
Instead, I will honour you.
For without you, I am a lesser man."

— “Opponent”, from Celebrate

PS. a year ago I honored Manny when he himself was defeated. His proud but battered countenance graced the other website I made. Beneath it were the words from the poem "INVICTUS." It was a time when Manny's head was "Bloody but Unbowed."