New Over Old

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong."
-Arthur C. Clarke

The natural cycle of everything to move forward is to improve with the new. Old blood always fades away. It's the new, young and fresh that drives evolution, growth, and longevity. This is as true in societies as in nature. This particular entry of Seth Godin struck me after I read it, and it made me look internally in the "societies" I belong to.

The Filipino mentality is stuck on old blood. Please don't take this against me but it's true. People just a few year my senior, say 15 & above, are on a power-trip and they're making everything stuck. I'm not discounting the fact that those people have significantly contributed something to whatever tribe they belong to but in order for things to move on and up, take the risk and bank on US.

We're the new blood, we've got grand ideas of our own. Don't stifle, don't suffocate. We're too young to wither and die. You're not. I'm not saying die now, we still need your guidance. We're not so arrogant to think we can do this by ourselves, but you can't think of us as simple corporada slaves and information farmers. We perfected powerpoint presentations and excel forms years ago. Let's move on to listening to our stance. It's highly likely that we're more tech-savvy than you, more connected to your target market. And we can move faster 'cause we have zero symptoms of rheumatism.

I know this sounds like an angry blog, and it slightly is. I'm not talking about any one society in particular. I'm talking about everything! Governance, business, education, even the home! And it's tiring. We're stuck. Here's a simple solution: listen to what we have to say. Seriously. Don't fake it with TV ads that only reel in sponsorship cash for you. Not with quickie "GAs" that hardly disseminate information and leave 3 minutes for Q&A. Trust that this new blood is smarter, just as smart as you once were when you were the new blood.

To say "out with the old and in with the new" may be harsh. But it's true.

3 nights of 4 AM

Friday was extended all the way to Saturday 4:00 AM.

Kept a friend company in her store because they were requested to stay open til the wee hours for an event. Sold stuff as the night wore on, and met a few interesting personalities. But night one made me realize I'm getting older. The event was a "rave"... I have no idea what a "rave" is, but from what I heard (read as: noise), it's not my thing. No to strobe lights too.

Saturday was then extended all the way to Sunday 4:00 AM.

Had a dinner party at the house 'cause a great friend from high school is home for two short weeks and we wanted to get the very first opportunity to hang out with her. There was an overflow of food! I cooked too much pasta, my friends loved the tofu dish our yaya made, there were two giant rounds of pizza, delicious barbeque, and two cakes! Whew! Oh, and let's not forget 4 bottles of wine shared between 7 girls and 2 boys. Needless to say, people went home tipsy. Not advisable. :))

Sunday was stressful and restless.

Because of Belle's rushed operation. I spent the afternoon at the vet, waiting for her surgery to finish. Missed a good basketball game, which my team won. I guess its a good thing I'm not so that into sports. But when we had to leave behind Belle at the vet after her operation, I was more than uneasy. I knew she was fine and all but... I guess I just worry too much. What can I say, I love her to bits. I could barely sleep last night, so I eventually ended up getting out of bed at 4:00 AM, to write the blog entry previous this one.

Needless to say, it was one jam-packed weekend. Would you believe I was still able to run for a good 30 minutes somewhere in there? Hopefully next weekend will be a little lighter. Need to catch up on some beauty sleep. :)

BELLE

Belle has been with me for 5 years. She's my life and I can only hope to love her half as unconditionally as she loves our whole family.

She's a beautiful black lab, with a bit of golden in her blood. When we got her from a kennel in Sta. Rita, Bulacan back in 2005, she was a wee baby of about 1.5 months. I only saw her mom once, on the day we took Belle home, and Belle's mom is a gorgeous retriever. She's the real split of a black lab and a golden retriever. Long, curly hair all over a huge black dog.

Belle, I remember, wasn't the most rambunctious in her litter. Her siblings were a mix of yellow and black puppies, and there were a few other cutie pies who were more energetic and lively in the cage they were housed in, but there was something about Belle that made me fall in love at first sight.

Belle is a strange, silly baby. She's super paranoid and does not like loud noises. Unfortunately we live on one of the loudest streets of Metro Manila. With every truck that passes by the house, she goes on the alert. She loves her toys more than food. She gets separation anxiety when we're away, so she takes every opportunity to be with us. Like, riding in the car whenever she can just so she's not away from Mommy too long. Riding in the car gets her dizzy, and she farts when she's dizzy. Her fart smells like fish. My mom loves her so much, she calls Belle "anak." She has this real bad habit of hiding her toys from us, which forced me to hunt every single toy down and keep them all together in one place. She's very sweet and careful. My pamangkin, Miguelito, was once her bestest friend in the world, and he would put her tail and her hair and feed her "toxic" chocolate, but she'd still love him. They slept beside each other when he was here for an overnighter. It was an adorable sight.

She sleeps right under my bed, too. She's there every night except tonight.

Belle had to go thru a semi-emergency operation a few hours ago. We went to her vet because the lump on her tummy suddenly got engorged and I didn't know what to do anymore. She's had that lump for about a year now. Her doctor said it was caused by an infection she got from flea and tick bites. I would drain the lump by massaging her tummy and extracting blood thru her nipple with a hot compress. She hates our little massage sessions but she knows it good for her.

But this week, no amount of massaging could make the lump smaller, it just kept getting bigger. We brought her to Animal House where Dra. Luy, the best vet in the world, looked her over and said she needs to be operated on.

Belle went under the knife at 3:30 pm, Sunday afternoon. I waited in the clinic for the procedure to finish, crying my eyes out practically the entire time. She was brought out at 6:00 pm, groggy, tongue lolled out, tummy bandaged up, but lump-free. The procedure went well. Belle was fighting the anesthesia though, so she wasn't really asleep during the whole thing, but she didn't feel any pain. There were a lot of vessels in the way so she lot quite a bit of blood, according to Doktora, so Belle will be needing iron supplements, but other than that, she's fine.

Doktora suggested though, that we let her stay the night in the clinic. So she's there right now, sleeping for the first time away from home and in a cage, with a swero attached to her left front leg. Now we both have scars on our tummies: mine because of my appendectomy, her for her mastectomy. We have twin scars.

I swear I wouldn't know what to do if anything bad happened to her. Just glad the whole thing went well and that she'll be home tomorrow.

King Of Anything

You know how some songs just call out to you for no apparent reason?

This did exactly that to me today. Thank you, Sara Bareilles for a wonderful single. :)
---------------------------------------------------------

Keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table
While I look outside
So many things I’d say if only I were able
But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by

You’ve got opinions, man
We’re all entitled to ‘em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time, and try not to waste anymore of mine
And get out of here fast

I hate to break it to you babe, but I’m not drowning
There’s no one here to save

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

You sound so innocent, all full of good intent
Swear you know best
But you expect me to jump up on board with you
And ride off into your delusional sunset

I’m not the one who’s lost with no direction
But you’ll never see
You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps
You got the talking down, just not the listening

And who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Let me hold your crown, babe.

Small doses of happy

I love it when a show I'm handling gets positive reviews from our audience. They're now arguing over who among the two supporting men would go better with the lead girl. Names are mentioned and the debate has ensued! Love it!

I get to hang out with "mah gurls" tomorrow night! Hopefully there will be good music around, too. If not, we'll lock ourselves in Skitzo and watch How To Train Your Dragon. And hopefully sell one or two wigs. Haha!

One of my best friends from High School is visiting and we get to spend Day 1 with her. Party in QC! Let's magic mic the night away.

I'm still coughing like an old man but the fever has officially gone away. Happiness is me without a backache.

All these small doses lump up to a big one! I've got an excellent weekend to look forward to and I can't wait for it to get here.

Close Encounters With the Nosebleed Kind

It was drizzling as I waited for Papa to get me from in front of PhilAm tower today, and I was standing beside this poor little white girl with no umbrella. She asked if I was waiting for a cab, too. I said no.

I wanted to ask her if she'd like to share my pretty pink payong with me to get away from the slight rain, but the right English words escaped me and all I could do was gesture. Sadness. Sign language anyone?!?!

Of course, English eventually found me, I'm not that inept, and I advised against hailing a cab from our spot. I think I said something like vacant cabs here are few and far between but it sounds smarter here on text than how it sounded out loud earlier. But I suppose she understood because she took my advice, called someone up and arranged for a driver to get her.

I'm just surprised at myself, how strange I reacted when put in unexpected situations like that, how I'm caught wordless and dumbfounded. Hello! Me, wordless?!?! Brain says it does not compute. See how smarty-pantsy my words are now that I have enough time to think. Standing in front of white girl earlier, I could barely piece a proper sentence together.

Seriously though, a smart little lass like me should be able to deal with these unforeseen episodes better. Maybe there are lessons in proper sentence construction that must be taken. Proper sentence construction under high pressure situations. Haha! That would be one heck of an English course.

Learned my lesson today, will be better prepared next time. I'll brush up on my sign language and pretend to be deaf. :)

Sick day in

So, this morning, I finally admitted to myself that I need a day off. Yesterday was hell at work for me... it was cold, I was dizzy as hell, I couldn't use the restroom my bum is accustomed to because its in a conference room where board meetings were being held and on any other day that would've been fine but NOT ON SICK DAY!

(breathe)

But today is good. I am home alone. Mama was keeping me company but she had to eventually get out of the house to do her work. So here I am, typing away on the living area couch... Brandy sleeping beside me. She's such a pretty blonde. (Brandy is my dad's yellow lab. Heller.)

Calling in sick has its ups. The downs we know well enough to not talk about anymore, and me trying to get self healthy, I shall act as the eternal optimist. Ups of sick days in are...

1) I get to catch whatever I want on TV, with no interruption. No one trying to tune into the latest sports scene, no anime gunk, no nothing. Just me and my Martha... or Chef at Home... or Everyday Italian... or Sugar... or Criminal Minds... Please don't try to figure me out with what I watch on TV. You'll dub me complicated if you do that...

2) I get to pig out! Like last night, I helped myself to a tupperware-full of kettle cooked popcorn. Yum! Then this morning, after a hearty longganisa breakfast, I had a party bag of Oishi Sponge! Ok, so I didn't get to finish the whole bag... I'll just have more of it later. Then in a bit, after this blog entry most likely, I'll be cooking up my paperbowl of Jjampong! (Don't you dare point out the down of this up. Don't you dare!)

I can run it off when I'm well.

3) I get some serious me time. And it's a comforting thought, that I can be by myself like this and not go crazy. (Although I'm sure others would beg to differ.) I didn't need a book to keep me company, didn't need to net, or facebook, or gmail... well... until a few minutes ago when I got the itch to type these thoughts down. Of course I logged on to the social networks, how can I not, I'm already online afterall.

Those are just a few good ups of sick days in. They're different from regular weekends or off-work days. 'Cause when you're sick... people let you be. :) Don't worry, I won't be getting used to any of this, can't afford it. But once in a while, its nice to treat yourself to a sick day in. It could be just the escape you need.

No A-Game

I've forgotten what it's like to be sick.

Came home after a long day of running and chismax-ing with my friends feeling unbelievably tired and worn out. I was sneezing like crazy all afternoon and I think the sudden jolts rattled my brain one too many times.

Was practically glued to my blanket all of Sunday, head spinning with fever. Gah. Being sick is NOT FUN! I tried to read but my head couldn't process the lengthy descriptions of the Street Lawyer. Tried to watch TV but my family was too tuned in to the AdU/UST game... I didn't dare change the channel lest I be beaten to further ineptitude.

Now in the office, spreading my disease. Haha! I think I'll be absent tomorrow...

Beautiful Music

Fantasia (circa 1940) was just aired on the Disney Channel, and I'm glad I caught it.

It brings back happy "laserdisk" days for me. Fifteen or so years ago, we would rent a copy of Fantasia from the neighborhood video store and I would repeatedly watch two tracks: The Nutcracker Suite and The Pastoral Symphony.

The Nutcracker Suite had me at the Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy, and the fancy goldfish. The Pastoral Symphony I think started my long-term relationship with the whimsical.

Tonight's recap, however, allowed me to appreciate the other tracks featured in Disney's third full-length animated production. I won't go into detail of all 8 interpretations, you can look that up in wikipedia, just to my interpretation of the final mash up of the orchestra.

The last track is a long play of (1st) Night on Bald Mountain and (2nd) Ave Maria was, and as a kid back then, it was the most (1st) scary and (2nd) most boring for me. I would always skip this last track and repeat from the Nutcracker Suite. I guess I didn't fully understand the message the Disney Cartoonists wanted to put across. I was too young, likely with no concrete experience of good and evil, to understand. I suppose that's one of the great advantages of aging, appreciating art better. The narrator put it as simply as possible in his introduction to the track: "A comparison of the profane and sacred" and even though in the artistic terms of today, the visual could be seen as too literal, I still think it was perfectly executed.

Night on Bald Mountain eeriely illustrates how evil envelopes the earth in the dark of night. The dancing demons can still give me nightmares. But the horrors were quickly replaced by calm and serenity when Ave Maria started to intervene. The music of the Philidelphia Orchestra (as directed by Leopold Stokowski) along with the fervently prayerful artistry of the Disney cartoonists more than tipped the balance for the side of good.

Tonight, Ave Maria gave me a sense of peace, a feeling that even though there are truly real evils in this world, simple acts of kindness and small prayers swing back the scale to love. Nothing grand or majestic need be done. Because the smallest of gestures of good have profound effects on the world.

I'm so happy I was able to watch Fantasia again tonight. It's an absolutely beloved classic. If you have children, or pamangkins, I highly recommend this feature. :)

Snippet :)

This is how me and my friend talk on YM.

Mau: 4 - 27 December
Mau: :)
Me: OMG OMG OMG
Me: totoo na ito!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: wooooohoooo
Mau: =))
Me: we birthday with you
Mau: just waiting for approval
Me: WOOOHOOOOOO
Me: dont worry, we will not have too much fun
Mau: when?
Me: when you here para di mahirap ang pag larga mo pabalik ng irishland
Mau: i doubt
Me: hahahaha
Me: korak
Mau: we always have fun
Me: we must plot out plans
Me: i want LU
Me: i want photo op in UP
Mau: ahm yaya
Me: i want... what?
Mau: mukhang i'll pass the malayong byahe
Mau: :(
Mau: :(
Me: oki oki
Me: no LU
Mau: just nearby
Mau: the cityscapes
Me: photo op in UP?
Mau: sure sure
Me: YEY!
Mau: i need the noise of the city and the pollution
Me: ok, foine. probinsya nga pala yan
Me: samantalang kami dito kating kati ng mawalay sa siyudad
Mau: or we could go swimee at a nearby condo?
Mau: meron ba tayong ganun?
Me: radisons ulit
Me: :))
Mau: ay di ko pa un alam
Me: yung sa tita ni chaw
Me: we're planning to have the niknik get together there
Mau: uy cge
Mau: perstym itoh
Mau: waw
Me: perstaym?!?!
Me: parang beergin
Mau: uu, touched for the beri perstym
Me: MALI! tatsd por da berri purs taym
Mau: haha
Mau: soreh soreh
Me: YAYA!
Me: i'm excited
Me: this year is a good year, ya?
Mau: aye!
Me: you and nikki come home
Mau: yis
Mau: and then the next yr ulet
Mau: haha
Mau: pero not dec sguro
Mau: in time for summah lovin
Me: summah luvin!?!?!?!
Me: mclovin
Mau: hahaha
Me: summah mclovin!
Mau: i lurve these pointless conversations
Me: koraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak
Mau: luv ko toh
Mau: pa pa ra pa paaaaaaaah
Me: hahahahahahahah
Me: shet
Me: ang layo layo na lang talaga
Me: we're so labo yaya
Mau: oh well
Mau: dat is the thing with us
Mau: we never run out of the abnormalities

Can't argue with that. Love you, Yaya! See ya for Christmas! *Cyber HUG*

What's in a name?

Since the "publishing" of this blog on Facebook, I've been getting a bit of grief on my chosen title.

INSIGHTS FROM THE MOVIES was originally planned to be as simple as that, and it sometimes still is, especially if I've just watched something I feel is worth writing about, such as Notting Hill a few moments ago... we'll get to that later.

When I started writing here last May (2010), I was on a cinematic semi-rampage. I was watching these Hollywood-made movies left and right, and I, being the critic I am, wanted a way to get my perspective out to the world. No, I did not start this blog to compete against Rotten Tomatoes. And, after going thru a few more theater dates, I also realized that one doesn't get much insight from the cinematic industry.

So, I switched gears. I now write about anything that strikes me as funny, strange, smart, weird, cool, uncool, etc. In other words, anything that makes an impact on me.

I guess you could say this is an odd mix of a cat and viral blog. Cat blog because it mostly centers around vain me, and my whatnot thoughts. Viral because (bangko, bangko, bangko) there are ideas in here that could amount to something!

So, to those of you who wandered in thinking you'd get the latest blockbuster reviews, I'm so sorry to disappoint. Look around though, you never know what you just might pick up. No, I'm not changing the name to something else. Life, for me, is one big movie anyway.

You know...

... it's time to turn up your iPod when the LSS in your head is that idiotic Lal-lal-laah-lala song from Surf.

... the program you're monitoring ain't doing so well when competition's AMR% is higher than your SHR. Maybe we should look into new timeslots.

... you need to get away when you just want to scream along to "Beach life! City livin' drives me crazy." (I *heart* Beach Head)

Today...

overall... was a good day.

Volunteered for a feeding program sponsored by the Focolare Group today at Sulyap ng Pag-Asa Center, Brgy. Bagong Silang. There were about a hundred kids who benefitted from today's feeding, with ages ranging from 4 to 12.

Of course, feeding the kids wasn't the only item on the agenda. The main objective of the volunteer group today was to start a tracking system of the kids' health. They wanted to be able to get all 100 kids registered into the feeding program for better efficiency, to get all of them to weigh in so the volunteers can track their progress, and to do a bit of catechism. There was a lot that needed to be done, and a lot of kids to be "babysat" and entertained.

I broke my sneakers in the process. Haha! Amazing how my shoes fall apart on the worst possible times. Again, the soles (take note, that's in plural form) decided they wanted to be separate from the rest of the shoes. First time I became soleless was in AdMU, running a lap around campus. So this incident was strike 2! Different pair, of course. Why I didn't just wear the ones I had fixed recently, I don't know... let's not dwell...

So, there I was, soles flapping around with each step I took. I was slightly embarrassed. At first, I was trying to hide the mishap from the other volunteers. I mean, hello, a grown woman like me can't afford decent shoes? What is this? So I was trying to hide the flappyness by taking careful steps. But when you're trying to run after 5 year olds with minds dead set on "Let's play!", small, careful steps don't really work.

Imagine me, all over the place, trying my darndest to keep the kids smiling and happy and cooperative, while my shoes were doing otherwise. But then I thought... How ironic it was that I was bothered by something as trivial as a broken pair of sneakers when I was among little people who had practically everything broken before them.

Brgy. Bagong Silang was one of the worst hit areas when Ondoy drowned Metro Manila in September last year. Those houses swept away in the flash floods that flowed out to Marikina River, caught on video and uploaded on youtube, likely came from there. Families were separated, lives were lost, homes were broken, people suffered. And Ondoy knew no age, no social status, no nothing. Not everyone in Brgy. Bagong Silang was impoverished before. There were 2-storey homes that housed pretty "okay" families. Not everyone was the poorest of the poor, but when Ondoy came... she brought them all down to zero.

It's almost a year later, the community slowly but surely getting their lives back. Outreach groups like the Focolare are essential in that march to normalcy. There's a long way to go, but with all the love pouring in, things will just keep getting better with time.

My friend who recruited me into the program kept saying, "these kids are not starved for anything other than attention." Feeding them was one way to give something concrete but what they benefit most from is the interaction with the new found "ates" and "kuyas" who volunteer. Just the fact that we call them individually by name has a positive effect on them. The fact that for that one morning, before we serve them lunch, they have our total, undivided attention... we weren't just feeding today, we were changing lives. For the better.

I'm lucky to be part of this. This experience only makes me thirst for more. This is the kind of cause I'm talking about. If we're not the ones who have the money to give, we can give something else... time, attention, love...

Today was a very good day. It's solidified in me that, even though there are real evils in the world, there's also a real and great good. And it's closer than you realize.

SALT: mixed reviews

(headline: I am finally blogging thru MiNi Me! Huray!)

Saw SALT last night with a few friends from college and, I must say my main takeaway is that I chose the right person to have a girl crush on.

Not what you were expecting? Me, too! Well, actually, before going into the theater, I had barely an inkling of an idea of the plot of SALT was. All I knew was it somehow involved government espionage, betrayal undercover, all that "I'm innocent" crap... I guess what I thought was going to be a simple cat-and-mouse game turned into, how do I say this without ruining it too much... something COMPLICATED!

It had one too many turns for my liking, and although the production was done smoothly (read as: not too gory), the story just kept upping the game. And up and up the storyline went, until it went for a bad crash of an ending.

Okay, it wasn't that bad. I guess I just think that it would've been cooler if they just let her... (too much of a spoiler. I'll be quiet now).

But going back to Angie Jolie. I swear, if I were a guy, Brad Pitt would have run for his money. She is friggin H-O-T! Especially loved the short do on her, brought me back to Foxfire days, when Angie played a psychotic lesbo and I fell in love with her the very first time. Yes, that movie was pre-Gia. Ergo elementary years for me. Hahaha! Ya see, told you I'm crazy.

(But I'm damn straight. Except for Angelina Jolie...)

Overall, it was an okay movie. Don't expect to think a lot, like in Inception (or so I hear). Just go to be entertained by the wild turns.

She's here! And she's perfect?

World Wide Web, meet MiNi Me. She's the one on the left. The one on the right is Li'l Ole Faithful. I've had a good (more or less) 4 years with Li'l Ole Faithful and it's high time I gave her a rest. That is, rest when I've figured how to transfer contacts and messages and everything else to MiNi Me.

I'm happy MiNi Me is here and all, and so pretty in PINK, but... ah yes, as in all great relationships, there is always a but... I dunno if I'm doing something wrong, which likely I am but I can't connect right on the internet.

Was trying to log on to FB using the handy app already installed on the C3 but it just wouldn't connect. Was also trying to blog thru it, imagine how cute a title "Bloggin' thru MiNi Me" would've been, but it kept giving this strange error message that my untechy brain just couldn't handle. Gah. Frustrating, but hey... it's only day one. Things will get better. They'd better or I'm... crying! Haha!

OH-EM-GEE! I can't believe I just got myself a new phone! Hahaha! Shout out of thank you to all of the new phone campaign supporters. I couldn't have done this without you. Continuous feedback on MiNi Me shall happen, and hopefully I'll be able to blog thru it soon enough.

Obsessed

This is not good...
I am seriously obsessing over this new phone! It's the Nokia C3, one of the Finnish company's latest releases and it's PERFECT... for me that is.

I haven't bought one yet, but I've reserved my unit already and I will hopefully get to bring it home tonight. EGADS! I have to be super careful going home with it! Then I have to break the news to my family. "Ma, Pa... I splurged on myself today" will not be the most welcome information but HECK I seldom do this! I need this phone! My über old Nokia 6680 is conking out on me.

But anyway... why do I want this phone so bad?

1. It's got (obviously) a qwerty keypad. Yiiiiii! So sleek! I've always wanted a qwerty phone. To think I was even considering other brands just to own a qwerty phone. Ugh!

2. It's a Nokia. I'm a loyal user. I don't care what other people say about them. I started my mobile phone adventure with a Nokia (5110!) and it's the interface I am most comfortable with. I know that if I get lost somewhere on a Nokia phone, I'll be able to figure my way out. Nokia is the brand for techy dum-dums like me.

3. It's wifi capable! I can now surf the net from the privacy of my room! (Hahahaha! Wait... that doesn't sound right...) So, fine, I can do that with my laptop, but this I can surf while lying down! (Still not right!) And I won't have to lug around my laptop everywhere anymore. Okay, I say lug just because I'm lazy. My laptop is perfect already.

4. It's cheap! I'm getting it for PhP 7,280.00, credit card payment payable in 6 months at ZERO INTEREST. It's a frikkin STEAL!

5. It comes in PINK! Lovely, lovely, wonderfully girly PINK! YIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've never been this excited about new technology. I think I only get like this with things I seriously like and seriously can afford to have. AND I SERIOUSLY LIKE AND CAN AFFORD THIS!

I can't wait for 18:00:00H! Pretty pink phone, you will be mine tonight.

What's your cause?

Have you ever seen this video...

It's by Daughtry. Yes. American Idol runner-up Chris Daughtry and his co-named band.

No, I'm not a Daughtry fan, but I am a fan of whoever produced this video. I think I first saw it... oh, I dunno, years ago; likely a few months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I cried after watching it the first time. It's so moving, heartbreaking, unnerving. It's makes you think about... what do I stand for?

What's my cause? I don't have one. Yet. I thought my cause would be to run races that supported issues I believed in, but I don't think that's enough. As an able-bodied member of the human society, I have a responsibility to be a good steward of... something: another person, another life, a movement to save the planet, a movement to stop excessive waste, anything.

Seth Godin once said "If you're reading this (post of his) thru a laptop, smartphone, or an e-Reader, it means you're likely to be better off than others. Now, what are you going to do with that advantage?" Granted he was talking about being a linchpin, I think this came from the introduction of his "The Insubordinate" e-book, but he could very well have been talking about social responsibility.

It's not an excuse to say we're only trying to make ends meet at this point, because with all the millions of things that need to be done, money isn't the issue anymore. Sometimes, those in need just need a good support system, someone with time in their hands, someone who'll volunteer freely and unconditionally, someone who'll listen, someone who'll just be there.

I'm taking my stand. Instead of running this Saturday at U.P., I am choosing to attend this:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=138212016210037
I'm not yet sure who this group is, I was invited to be part of the feeding program only by a former colleague but I can learn more about it on Saturday.

You know that empty feeling you sometimes get... you can fill it up by giving back. Find your cause. It'll be a worthy search.

So, how'd you spend your weekend?

Quezo de Talle for Mama.

Lasagna for Marty.

Did my two favorite chores for the house: 1) Shopped for Sunday Lunch and 2) made Sunday Lunch. Of course, a family of 6 can't eat all of these in one sitting so we're having QDT and Lasagna all week long. So, how'd you spend your weekend?

Stories

My mama and papa are storytellers. They have stories on everything: the perfect tocino, childhood in Bangkok, italian-chandelier hardsellers, concerts of Jose Marie Chan in Padre Faura, how the AdMU-San Beda rivalry turned to Admu-La Salle; you name it, they'll have something interesting to say about it.

I grew up listening to these little stories, sometimes told over breakfast, lunch or dinner, sometimes when I'm trying to teach one of them how to operate YM, sometimes while scouring Daiso for the perfect squeaky toy. But it's always on the weekend, when we get to spend the most time together.

As Papa was telling his story of the perfect tocino this morning over brewed coffee, I couldn't help but think, these two deserve to have grandchildren. It would be the most beautiful thing in the world to behold: my parents telling their stories to their grand kids. Ha! I'm actually getting teary-eyed with the thought.

My brother's five kids live with him and his wife's family in Canada. Mama and Papa have only met and interacted with their five real grandchildren twice, and I think because of that limited connection, there's just this wellspring of love in them that spills over to us, the 3 adult offspring still living with them here in the Philippines. Maybe it's why, even if I try my darndest to act like an adult, they still treat me like a high schooler.

Today's realization opened a window in my mind. I've never been the daughter inclined to having children of my own. In fact, I've been very vocal about my being childless. Forever. But today... I think my mama's and papa's stories deserve to be told and heard. I dunno if I'll be the one to give them their new audience, but say if I do, I don't think it'll be so bad. My mental picture is Mama and Papa, on the couch surrounded by awe-struck kids, telling the stories I've come to memorize. It'll be beautiful.

I love you, Mama. I love you, Papa.