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.

Pizza Hut

Dear Kids, last night, after attending a book launch at Fully Booked, we took Kit and Boing home. While in the car you were singing "Gotta Go My Own Way" together. You guys were good.

Dy (Grand Dad) bought Pizzas for you before going home. All four of you shared the same table and talked the whole time we were there.

The other grown ups in the pizza joint did not reach for their ketchups while they listened to the four of you talk.

We all had nose bleeds (Dugo ilong naming lahat sa inyo).



Lolo Nonong (Grand Dy) is proud of you.

Happy GrandFather's Day, Dad!

Star Currency

Sabine and Sadie at the Hypermarket

Sabine dancing the Fandango sa Ilaw

Sabine's Collection of Stars (Academic Merits)

Dear Sabine, I think it was a week ago when we noticed that you came home with a lot of Cinderella stickers and soap bubble maker toy. When your Mom asked you who gave it to you, you said nobody. And that you BOUGHT it. We were puzzled because we don't give you money for baon. Not yet. Then you told us you bought it with your "Stars".

When we attended your dance presentation in your school, you showed us your star collection. It seems that you earn those merits by getting high scores or by behaving properly. Then you can use it as legal tender to buy stuff from your teacher.

It's a really cool idea.

When we saw the price equivalent of the stickers and other toy you bought, we calculated you spent 1,200 worth of your stars. But despite of this, you still have a lot of it left in your "OFFICE" (that's what you call your cubicle in school).

Palin and Paris

Dear Sadie, Last night we watched Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, downloaded from Youtube, while lying on the bed. You listened intently at first but later on you probably found it trite so you left my side to play with Ate Sabine. I'm sure when your time comes you will make speeches that are a lot better than his.

When I switched on the TV, that old twisted busterd from foxnews was talking his head off again. O'reilly was trying in vain to justify McCain's selection of Palin as VP.

If you read this blog you will notice that I tried to suggest that Obama throw a curve ball by choosing somebody like Powell as VP to distract McCain into botching his own VP choice.

Well, to borrow the royal language of wimbledon, McCain made an UNFORCED error.

In our vernacular: Powchah! Nagmukhang bangag si McCain.

Palin was chosen solely to lure the women's vote away from the democratic ticket. Simply because she is a woman like Hillary. How stupid can you be, Mac?

When the time comes, the only play the Democrats should make is to let the public see Palin as the quintessential, gun loving, oil screwing... errr... drilling Barbie doll and not a Hillary Clinton Protege. There is already a precedent for this. During the Quayle vs. Bentsen debates, the young Dan Quayle wanted to style himself as a Young achiever like Kennedy who became President in his early 40's. And he was stupid enough to compare himself to JFK during the debate.

Lloyd Bentsen simply shook his head and said, "Senator (Quayle), I know Jack Kennedy. Jack was my friend. Senator, YOU ARE NO JACK KENNEDY." Poor Dan Quayle suddenly looked like the bumbling Archie Andrews rather than a folk hero like JFK.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Palin is NO Hillary.

Palin is actually just 2 letters away from PARIS.


(Note: I just realized, the only problem in my analogy is that Dan Quayle did win as VP over Bentsen... Oh CRAP!)

Church Of Rock

"Upon This ROCK I will build my CHURCH..."
--Mathew 16:18

Dear Son, Bunso, it's sunday today. I remember the first time I stepped inside the hallowed ground of a church after I first saw you on the Ultrasound Screen. This song was ringing in my ear...

"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 yeahWith arms wide open..wide open..."
--With Arms Wide Open by Creed

It's sunday. Pray for me.

Sage's Digital Painting

Dear Sage, when I booted up the laptop, this painting greeted me. I asked Sabine who made this. She told me you did and said you even let her watch you do it this morning.

SUN

click here

http://dearsage.blogspot.com/2008/06/sun.html

Dear Son,

I accompanied your Mom to her OBGYN, Dra. Martinez, last Saturday. We were the first in the sonology room since it was 7am.

We're already quite familiar with the Hamburger sign, it's the ultrasound description of the female fetal genitalia. The counterpart of that is the "Turtle sign" (think of a turtle with a circular body and a short, protruding head) which sonologists use to describe the male fetal genitalia. The very first image that registered on the screen had the unmistakeable protruding head, and a neck with generous length and caliber protruding out of a circular body. Your Mom and I both knew you're a BOY but we still held our breath and didn't say a word. Both of us were looking for any congenital problems. The OBGYN guided the probe to look for any problems in your spinal column, deformities in the skull, face, we counted the chambers of your heart (4) the blood in the right atrium still flows to the left via a temporary defect that will close once you are breathing outside your Mom's tummy, we counted your fingers and toes. When Dra. Martinez concluded that you are grossly normal, we were so happy.

Thank GOD you are healthy. A Healthy Boy!

I have a giant tummy!!! love,
daddy