Forgiveness

College of the Immaculate Conception Alumni Homecoming

Sorry Y'all, I can't come. But Noel will be there and Ate is the PRO. Hope you all have fun!

Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
how did our eyes get so red?
And what the hell is on Joey’s head?

This is where I grew up
I think the present owner fixed it up
I never knew we ever went without
The second floor is hard for sneakin’ out

This is where I went to school
Most of the time had better things to do
Criminal record says I broke in twice
I must’ve done it half a dozen times

I wonder if it’s too late
Should I go back and try to graduate?
Life’s better now than it was back then
If I was them, I wouldn’t let me in
Oh oh oh
Oh god I, I

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It’s hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Goodbye

Remember the old arcade
Blew every dollar that we ever made
The cops see us hanging out
They said somebody went and burned it down

We used to listen to the radio
And sing along with every song we know
We said someday we’d find out how it feels
To sing to more than just the steering wheel

Kim's the first girl I kissed
I was so nervous that I nearly missed
She’s had a couple of kids since then
I haven’t seen her since God knows when
Oh oh oh
Oh god I, I

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on the bedroom floor
It’s hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

I miss that town
I miss the faces
You can't erase
You can't replace it
I miss it now
I can't believe it
So hard to stay
Too hard to leave it

If I could relive those days
I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It’s hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it
Time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
Every time I do it makes me...

Kite Flying Days (December 26-27)

Dear God

Thank you very much!

The ATEs

Dear Tristan

These are some of my wishes for you and your sisters:

May you be surrounded by overwhelming love all your life...
May you have every gift, especially length of years...

Tristan, May you see the breathtaking beauty in every woman's eyes.
and may you find the one who will keep you in her heart... as you
keep her safe in your arms, never let yourself hurt her.

WELCOME! TRISTAN IMMANUEL

DECEMBER 15, 2008 (3:50 P.M.)


"Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray.
Then tears of joy stream down my face.
With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything.
With arms wide open
With arms wide open
Well I don't know if I'm ready
To be the man I have to be
I'll take a breath,
I'll take her by my side
We stand in awe, we've created life.
With arms wide open,
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
Now everything has changed
I'll show you love
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
With arms wide open
I'll show you everything
...oh yeah
With arms wide open
..wide open..."

--With Arms Wide Open by Creed

Pacquiao: Against All Odds

"And you coming back to me
is against all odds
it's the chance I've got to take..."

Dear Kids, Who would have thought that he'd win the fight convincingly? Not me. I actually prayed that he won't get hurt too much. I figured Oscar can only lose if the businessman part of his brain clicks and he takes a fall to set up a rematch with a bigger purse. I must have over-prayed too much (I'm kidding).

I watched the fight on the silver screen with Dad and your Ninong Noey. I cautioned them not to get their hopes too high. Dad even said that we could be watching Manny's funeral. I figured, "what the heck, it's gonna be my first time to watch a fight with a crowd so I shouldn't let this opportunity pass."

While in the queue for a ticket, I noticed that everything in the cinema complex makes your testosterone level pump higher. The deodorant sponsors of the fight brought in skimpilly clad models distributing their products. Because of the macho atmosphere I felt like spoiling for a fight too when the burly guy in the snack counter asked for a smaller bill from me and made a snide remark that made my grip on the soda can really, really tight. I guess he noticed my grip and imagined it colliding with his face. so he just shut up and gave me my change which he counted carefully as he averted my murderous stare.

There are so many things going against Manny Pacquiao. I'll let the experts elaborate. He came into the fight as an underdog. That status didn't last long. Especially when we noticed Oscar closely talking to Pacquiao's gloves-- and nodding in agreement to whatever it is telling him. That was just the first round.

By the 7th round, when Manny caught the golden boy in the corner several times, I was already shouting "No mas, No mas!" in a vain attempt to stop the bloodbath (In the other welterweight title bout of my youth, I remember Roberto Duran shouting those same words when he decided to prematurely end his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard after getting out-classed for several rounds).

Nobody thought Pacquiao would win. Right after the match, I overheard the chick beside me and her boylet ruing the fact that they did not bet any money on Manny. And while making the beeline for the john, some guy was cheerfully talking with somebody on his phone telling him that he lost a thousand bucks because he placed his bet on Dela Hoya. That he was grinning from ear to ear was a clear sign that Manny's win made his being a stupid gambler forgiveable.

When the fight was over, Dela Hoya looked even uglier than king kong Manny. I couldn't help but say "Nice Job, Manny." It's one win for the Ugly Men of the world like me (and the ones reading this blog. umamin ka na Snglguy) against the Good looking golden boys who always get the girls. As I've said in the beginning of this entry, the place was full of Testosterone pumping decorations, but the organizers forgot one detail that was clearly, inappropriately present. When I looked up the ceiling I saw posters of the movie "Twilight" festooned all around the area-- It's A movie featuring a fictional character that will make the girls of all generations swoon. A character that no mortal guy could possibly compete against. Maybe Manny should forget about welterweight champion Hatton and concentrate instead on rearranging the face of that guy who played the lead character in Twilight: Edward Cullen.

Sweet Science

Dear Tristan, Today could be your Birthday, Son. But just in case You decide to choose a date later than Pearl Harbor day, your Mom and I will be spending the day watching the fight between Dela Hoya and Pacquiao.

Just in case Dela Hoya decides to give it his best, I just pray that Pacquiao doesn’t get a career ending injury. Because it’s obvious that Pacquiao can not possibly win without Oscar taking a fall or selling out the fight. Dela Hoya is a shrewd businessman. A rematch can earn them even bigger purses.

But I don’t think Oscar is cheap. He will be a handful. And Pacquiao is in for the fight of his life.

And despite of the fact that he is destined to lose, I will be cheering for him just like all the other suckers out there. Because he will be facing overwhelming odds. But after this fight, I’ll be rooting for Pacquiao's next opponents.

Connected

Dear Sabine, while Sadie and I were surfing YouTube for Chris Daughtry songs, you begged to listen to the Disney Song "Connected" from the Diamond Castle Movie. When the list of videos popped out, I was surprised when you didn't choose the ones with the cartoon characters on it but instead you pointed at the one with Katherine McPhee.

Windsurfing Moves

Dear Sabine, Yesterday, we went to the grocery. I noticed you hanging on to the side of the cart since you are too big to sit on the slot for toddlers. your daredevil moves reminded me of windsurfers.

Since it's December 1 today,  I made an attempt this morning to look like santa claus. I ended up looking like Hemingway instead.

Any Given Sunday

"Rain falling down
Ooh, it seems like it could last for years
Drowning me down
Drowning in a sea of tears
And little did I know
That someone set my soul... free!"-- TRUE FAITH

Dear Tristan, There's this movie called Any Given Sunday that starred Pacino as a PRO Football Coach. His byline was "Any given sunday, you either win or lose. But can you win or lose like a man?"

Son, I know what he means. But of all the lessons I could possibly teach you while growing up, that is one of the things that you have to learn on your own. Because the truth is, there have been sundays when I lost like a boy --not like a man. Someday too, there will be sundays when you will lose like a boy. But whether it's a ballgame, or a game of political chess, or in the matters of the heart, even when they defeat the boy in us, they can not break the man within who has the strength of someone with True Faith.

Even in defeat, even in tears, when you lose like a man with True Faith, you set your soul free so that next ballgame, next sunday, you can win... not just as a man

...but as a hero.

Sports Unlimited

Dear Sage, we treated your Tita Sweet to dinner tonight at the new AMICI's in the Atrium of Megamall. She planed in from the red state of Kentucky and missed Thanksgiving because she had to go home here. her Dad, Lolo Ben, passed away almost a month ago.

She bought you three littlest pet dogs housed in a pollypocket like carrier.

When we got home, just before going to bed, I found you guys watching Sports Unlimited. It was quite Odd because I haven't seen you interested in watching sports before. But your Mom told me you didn't object when she switched to that channel.

I sat with you for a while. Hoping to get you interested in sports I commented that the featured sport that night was amazing (it was a frisbee competition that had rules similar to football). Sage, you frowned at my comment. You said "Dad, catching frisbees is what dogs do."

smartass.

Anyway, the Island of Coron was featured in that program too. The shots were breathtakingly beautiful. It reminded Ayheen and moi of El Nido (where we spent our honeymoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Morning, November 28, 2008, was Sabine's Trade Fair in School. Sage asked her to buy something from the fair since she couldn't come with us. Sabine bought her colored pens and bubble toy maker.

Dad wasn't able to come too but we ate lunch with him. Thank You Lord for the gift of Health. and so much more!

anyway, I think yesterday was the last thursday of November in the continental US. It was thanksgiving. Belated Happy Thanksgiving to YOU All!

with the election of Obama as US president, Americans have something special to thank the Lord for. Obama is a Cool Change, compared to the clueless prick who presently occupies the whitehouse.

Grade 3 Family Day 2008

Dear Sage, yesterday, November 22, was your Grade 3 family day. This year's theme was Broadway. Your class, 3 Diamante, danced and acted the music from my favorite musical, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.



Anyway, after the Program we ate out. It was the first time in 5 Family Days that Lolo Nonong wasn't with us. He usually treat us to lunch. He had to rest at home so after eating we went to him and your cousins Kitkat and Boing.

And By The Way, I lent the mask of the Phantom that hangs in our car to your classmate who played the part of Eric. It gave the part more credibility.

Crazy News with Janine, Sage and K

Dear God

Most people die or become vegetables when they suffer from hemorrhagic stroke. Dad (Sage's Lolo) had one. The only deficit he has is a slight slurring of speech and very subtle fine movement control of his left leg.

Thank YOU po, for letting heaven wait, Dear God! Please let it wait longer... and wait... and wait some more. Amen.

TK on KT

Dear Kids, I used to read Reader's Digest, that right-wing magazinelet (I really don't know how to call it). I knew then that the ideology behind it was crap. But I love the fact that they condense the essence of large books into a few pages so that it would be easier and faster to read novels. I read from Reader's Digest the story of Kunta Kinte. He was an african kidnapped by slave traders and sold to an american family of the deep south. I remember details of the story like how he and other kidnapped africans danced and chanted african words while in shackles as they "entertained" their kidnappers.

"Tuobob Fa"

Roughly translated, it means "Screw You". Those old, white supremacist men actually thought the africans put up a great show... (they were Losers then like they are now.)

Kunta Kinte was the ancestor of the book's author, Alex Hailey. We can say that KunTa was the ancestor of ALL African Americans. Which now includes their newly elected president.

Barak first appeared on this blog as a vocabulary lesson. I tried to tell you kids the difference between "Chutzpah" (balls) and "Hubris".

That was way back in February 11, 2007

I talked about him in 7 other posts. Click here.

Actually, right after he won Iowa in the primaries, I congratulated him by posting a message in the left upper corner of this blog. Unfortunately, unlike regular posts that can be retrieved later on, side posts like my message to him can not be restored once deleted.

I think it said "Congratulations Brother! But let's face it... You Can't Win!" or something to that effect.

There are only a few times in our lives when we are thankful that we are wrong: When we tell cancer patients that they can't be cured and when we tell Kunta Kinte's sons that they live in the hopelessly bleak America of Republicans like Joseph McCarthy, Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon and David Duke (the grand wizard of Ku Klux Klan).

TO THE GALVEZ CLAN IN THE DEEP BLUE STATE OF NEW YORK: YOU DID GOOD IN TAKING BACK AMERICA FROM THESE REPUBLICANS AND GIVING IT BACK TO THE JOHN F. KENNEDYs, MARTIN LUTHER KINGs, AND OBAMAs.

Kunta Kinte's sons are now officially First Class Citizens of the United States. African Americans must take heed of the warning from a great Asian nationalist whose descendants have yet to capture the white house. TO paraphrase, he asked "What good is Freedom if the slaves of today are the tyrants of tomorrow?"

It is a question that must live on forever even after the sons and daughters of Rizal have earned the right to the oval office.

On the night of the elections '08, when the crowd of latinos, asians, African Americans outside the white house was celebrating the outcome, they sang in chorus this song popularized by SOUL MEN (Blacks):

"Na na na na,
na na na na,
hey hey hey,
goodbye."

It's a song for George W. Bush. (His ancestors used to be second class citizens of America too. When the British Gentry ruled the then 13 colonies,they thumbed their noses at Bush's Great Grand Daddies for being uncouth, uncultured, unwashed. ) George W. Bush, the man who gave the world Abu Ghraib, Gitmo's Camp Xray, and countless orphaned children in Iraq. He also gave America a Trillion Dollar deficit after inheriting roughly the same amount of SURPLUS MONEY from his predecessor. More tragically, his policies resulted in thousands of American armed service men coming home in flag- draped caskets... JUST LIKE DURING THEIR DEFEAT IN VIETNAM.

His alcohol addled brain may need help to translate what the song means. it means this, Mr. Lameduck President:

"TUOBOB FA!"

November 3... Happy Birthday Mom!

"Sorry, I never told you, all I wanted to say.
Now it's too late to hold you. '
Cause you've flown away, so far away."- One Sweet Day

Mom, I've lost count. I'm not sure how old you would've been today.

Happy Birthday!

I hope I could see you smile when you see Sage, Sabine and Sadie playing together with Myka, Dominic, Justine, Kitkat and Boing.

Trick Or Treat '08

Sabine's Early Birthday Celebration

Sabine's 5th Birthday is on October 30. But last week, October 21, she celebrated it with her classmates. Then this weekend we ate out, Sage and Sabine watched HSM3 while Sadie watched me bowl. Then we bummed around the mall and did our grocery.

Sabine Ayn, I heard you read the sign "MovieTime" before you watched the HSM3 movie... And the sign "Tom's World" outside Robinson's Galleria building facing the church. Soon you'll be reading 'Em signs like a PRO.

CAMP ROCK!

Dear Sadie, Everytime you get inside the car, you always ask me, "Dad, put go hom..." What you mean is you want to listen to Chris Daughtry's "Home"

and when you say "put talk to me" you want us to listen to his other song "Used To Be" with you guys around, like this afternoon, I really don't need rock music to put a smile on my face.

You three ROCK!

Blessed be the ROCK

"Hossanah! Blessed be the ROCK and may the God of my salvation be exalted!"

Dear Sage, It's sunday today. Your Glee club sang at the Maria Dela Strada Church in Katipunan. You were with Elysa, Perika, Chirbee, Evi and other classmates that I don't really know. At first you were in the second row but for some reason, in the middle of the mass, you teacher asked you to join the others in the front row.

After the mass we dropped off Elyza and Tito Ed at Ali Mall. then we went to Megamall to have lunch. I bowled 5 games. You didn't join me because your Lola said that she doesn't want you to get tired for your sunday afternoon review.

For the first time I saw you really ride the bike this afternoon. While we were away our help, Ate Ning, assisted you while you try to learn to balance yourself in a moving bike with two wheels. You know what's amazing? Your AteNing herself doesn't know how to ride.

We went to Raj, our village's local Jack Sparrow, to look for DVD's. Unfortunately he wasn't open for business. While you were in your bike, I was in my rubber shoes, running beside you.

Sleepless

"I got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere,
And here's a guy who says if the weather's clear,
can do, can do.This guy says the horse can do.
If he says the horse can do, can do.
Can do, can do, can do. "—from "Oh, God! part 2
(The song sung by a Dad after praying for his daughter's health)

First time this song appeared on this blog was back in 2006

click here

Tonight

"And every night I miss you, I can just look up
And know the stars are
Holding you, holding you, holding you
Tonight"

Gospel of Rock

And God said...
And there was LIGHT."-- Genesis, Chapter 1.



Dear Sage, We got your report Card last Friday. It was inside a transparent envelope where you keep your exam papers. in it You wrote a note: Fat Guy and Mommy, This is For YOU...

All your grades are OUTSTANDING. Except for Math, Science, Reading and Christian Living... They are VERY OUTSTANDING.

In Fact, you are one of only 3 other students in your class who will be taking advanced lessons in math.

Math is the language of natural science. It's definitely not my strongest suit. Thank God it's one of yours.

This week is historic in the annals of Science. Physicists in France and Switzerland started using the Large Hadron Collider. If they are lucky, the LHC may give us a glimpse of the first few, microseconds just after the BigBang. A time when the four fundamental forces of nature are still unified and when the largest particles in nature are even smaller than a Hadron. There was controversy over the use of LHC because some people wanted to stop these physicists from turning it on because they feared that the LHC will bring about the end of the world.

People who are not well-versed in science and Math are dangerous to Change and Progress.
When the technology called "X-Ray" was in its infancy, law makers in some parts of the US want it banned in theaters. Their reason? To protect the dignity of women. They falsely concluded that the x-ray will be used to take pictures of women's undergarments while still dressed in victorian corsets.

Ignorance. It hasn't changed its tactics: From those who want the xray banned to those who want to shut down the LHC. They fear what they can not understand.

Keep on studying and exploring so that you will learn to read God's word written in the Bible... and God's laws written in nature.

JJ IS MY FRIEND

JJ, tulad nung sabi ko sa mga daughters ko...

Never mistake foolishness for valor.
Always be careful.
Especially when you defy the gods.

Godspeed, man.