Proud 2 B a Dread

Oct

Absurd

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Family Stuff and hUmoR :P

I can only handle so much absurdity, and this election is giving me more than my mind can chew. So I’d like to dispose some of the more mundane ones that’s occupying my brain. Call it mental diarrhea.

-=-=-

Note, though, that the people depicted herein are from people “we know” - Lian just threatened me in not so subtle terms that should I write about her here, I should think about going back to my mom’s womb. So again, these are of a certain couple that “we know”.

-=-=-

It’s dusk, but the windows are still open. Late fall weather has come early this year, and it is getting colder outside. Girl is starting to feel cold, but boy wears a jacket so he didn’t notice. And then, out of nowhere, a zinger:

“[Boy's name], magtanggal ka nga ng jacket, malamig na!”

-=-=-

“It’s been a while now, don’t you think? Can you?”

“No!”

“Oh, c’mon! What’s marriage for but moments like these?”

“No! I’m not in the mood.”

“But it should only take a few minutes, minimal effort on your part.”

“Extra $10 for my allowance.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Ten dollars. Or nothing.”

“Dang! So our marriage has come to this?”

“No, but I’m not in the mood but you are persistent.”

“Fine. Lucky you I can’t get anyone else to do it for me.”

“Hey, you spend way more than I do, so I think it’s fair.”

“Fine.”

“Fine. Remove your shirt and let’s get it done and over with.”

Boy removes shirt, sits very close to girl. Girl starts to do what boy asked him to. Boy thinks, “For $10, this is the best back scratch I can ever get. Not bad!”

Oct

As American as apple pie

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Current Affairs
Tags: Politics

See, that wasn’t so bad! Not bad at all.

Contrary to what you might think (if you know me well), I wasn’t disappointed that Palin did a good job in her debate. I actually wanted her to do good, because seriously, her actions in the last few weeks aren’t funny anymore - just painful! I actually pitied her in the Couric interview. I accept her partymate’s explanations - we’ve all been in that position when no matter how much your rack up your brain, you just can’t get to the answer. But I don’t accept it as an excuse - we are not running for VP. So I guess having vindicated herself, she’ll just fade into the background, and let the two men at the top of the tickets duel it out. Good for her.

-=-=-

I’ve always been intrigued by American elections. Until I got here in the US, I just cared who won, I wasn’t really into the election process. But having now seen the whole process first hand, and as an outsider looking in, I have learned a few important things about American politics:

You can say “black voters”, but I think they don’t prefer saying white voters. When they say “blue-collar, middle-class” voters, you just nod your head and say oookkkaaayyyyyy….
If you are Caucasian, you can be a populist - you know, be a bit angry tell the “middle class” what they want to hear - sound bites like “Wall St. is greedy! It’s time to take back the government”. But if you are black, do that and they’d call you a radical.
Be a Harvard graduate, be editor of their law publication, be a 12-year constitution professor, be an excellent community organizer, be an 8-year senator in your state and then 4 years in the national senate, and you’d probably still be naive. See Russia from your window, and you’re an expert on Russian politics. I’m no astrophysicist nor an astronaut, but I sure can see the moon when I look out my window.
Raised by your white grandparents in Hawaii? You’d still probably be “exotic, different” for mainstream America. Skin a moose and eat them for breakfast, yeah, you’re All-American.
If you have been married for 19 years to the same woman, and raise 2 beautiful daughters, even attend Christian churches, you’re still not a real Christian, no! Not a name like yours! But, if you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a true Christian.
A lot of Americans seem to dislike smarter people. They want their leaders to be “just like one of them”. But me, I prefer them smarter than me. I wouldn’t trust myself to handle my kids in one whole day, much less a nuclear bomb trigger.
After Palin, YES, ANY ONE CAN BE PRESIDENT. A N Y O N E - as long as you come from “blue-collar middle-class” America.

See, this tells me there may be hope yet for the Philippines.

Oct

To the dogs

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Current Affairs
Tags: World Affairs

Yes, after days of frantic defect-fixing and fix-testing, I again find myself having some idle time. Such are the ways of IT - ebbs and tides of activity and idleness. So, in the spirit of not giving Satan his workshop, I turn to writing.

-=-=-

New York.

Currently listening to David Cook’s Always Be My Baby and Carly Smithson’s Here You Come again - the two songs I think that stood out from the last AI.

-=-

Tonight I’m sure to cringe many times and maybe forced to put the TV in mute as many times - it’s Palin’s debate night! But I admit every one of those cringes I make will make my heart happy. More than pushing O’s momentum, I can only imagine the kind of ammunition this debate will give to Tina Fey (love what she said at the Emmys: “I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5. So if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me.“), Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Ok, at this point I really miss Comedy Central.

-=-

There’s a saying never bite the hand that feeds you, but I feel guilty having a teeny bit of schadenfreude with what is happening to the US financially. It’s not the fact that people are having a hard time - I am never that cruel. It’s the fact that inch by inch, average Americans are having the chance to feel just a tiny bit of what 90% of the rest of the world have to deal with. The average American’s worst day is a dream day for any one of these poor people, and I happen to know quite a lot of them. Losing a house? Yeah, it’s painful, but imagine losing your family, your relatives, your tribe. Can’t get enough cash? How about just finding clean drinking water? Can’t take living on food stamps? How about living without food? So I guess you see where I am coming from. When Americans say they are afraid of recession, I feel they are only afraid of giving up their lifestyle. I read somewhere that it would take resources equal to five earths if we want each person in the world live the American lifestyle. The Chinese symbol/character for crisis is the same as opportunity - I guess this is an opportunity for America to reconsider what they really hold dear, and maybe that’s the small step which the 90% of humanity needs to finally, finally get up (cue David Archuleta’s Imagine).

-=-

Ok, too much mushy American Idol stuff, maybe. I say bring on Amy Winehouse.

Sep

Third

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Family Stuff

Sweet!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Justine!

Cliche, but it does just seem like yesterday when I was at Manila Doctor’s anxiously awaiting for news outside the delivery room. And then when Doktora finally came out and congratulated me. And the staff letting me hold “Baby Girl Bergancia”, who was so small at that time I was afraid to hold her. And Justine being such a strong baby that when she cried and kciked while I held her, I thought I almost dropped her. And me in the striped brown shirt posing with Justine for our first picture together. And me realizing at that point that somebody just entered my life - somebody monumentally more important to me than me. I have just become a father.

Sep

Four more years

By Herbert 6 Comments

Categories: Current Affairs and Family Stuff
Tags: Politics

That’s how much time we still have left on this earth. If you believe the Mayan Calendar, that is. I was able to watch a feature from History International (I think) discussing the various end of days predictions from different cultures, and a lot of them arrive at the same conclusion: 2012. Mayans even have a date: December 21, 2012. If that happens, it would be a bummer for my mom - another day and it would have been her 60th.

If you have been following the news, it does seem like it, no? Not sure if I am just being extra-sensitive to news about natural disasters, but it seems big earthquakes happen a lot more right now. There are also stronger storms/hurricanes, although it is probably more because of global warming. Financial systems are collapsing (BIG BIG news here in US), and McCain running neck and neck with Obama. McCain might even win! Scary, scary times ahead.

But I am safe because I am Catholic - I can always buy salvation. Right, Padre Damaso?

.-.-.-.

Speaking of the election, when I resumed blogging, I wanted to avoid issues about politics, as much as I can. I was hoping to write about it only when (not if!) Obama clinches it. But this is on a more personal level. What prompted this was just some off topic discussions I had with my parents. My dad is a US citizen, but he’s now staying in Manila. During one of my regular calls to them, my Mom asked how was the politics over here. I said I try not to care too much, because I can’t vote anyway. But, since it is a very critical election, I can’t help but. She said Obama is in danger of losing - my dad in the background says “Oo! Di yan mananalo!“. I should probably note at this point that my mom supports (or should I say SUPPORTS) GMA, and my dad is a Republican. My dad says America is not ready for a black president (or something to that effect - this is already the sanitized version).

And that made me think - did my parents ever had some form of youthful idealism? I can understand if they did not - my mom and her family can barely survive, and my dad was probably too busy earning his keep to care. Still, were they totally mired in life’s daily grind to not care? I still vaguely remember some scenes in the kitchen back when Marcos called for a snap election, but it was more of whether they will vote Yes or No. No word about the excesses of Martial law or the Marcos regime in general. To be fair, they probably discussed it while we were busy playing patintero outside. They didn’t join EDSA - probably and understandably because they have young kids. I can’t say for sure, but I would have gone because I have young kids. During presidential elections, they voted for winnable candidates, even when the best choices are staring them in the face. They opted for FVR (instead of Salonga), Mitra (I think, instead of their kababayan Roco), and, of course, GMA (again, instead of Roco).

I am not sure about this, but I also think that their generation (of Filipinos) have been so ingrained with stereotypes and prejudices that it takes a lot of mental exercise for them to overcome the fact that, for instance, an American of African descent could be president of the US. They can easily say generalizations based on race - if you were a child of the 80’s, you’d probably be also afraid of the Bumbay coming to kidnap you. However, it also makes me think: they are the generation that brought feminism, and “equality and justice for all”. So where did my parents stand during those social upheavals?

I can only wonder.

This is not really a castigation of my parents - heaven knows they are the best parents in the world! I am just wondering if their horizons stretched beyond the concerns of their homes. And they did produce kids that do not lack for awareness on social issues - I can easily discuss these things with my other two sisters, and we all would probably agree on a lot of things. I guess we have to make up for what they lacked. And isn’t it always the case with the world - children pay their parents’ debts and sow what their parents planted?

Sep

Julia.

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Family Stuff
Tags: Julia, kids

Now Julia is an altogether different story.

There’s a saying I’ve read somewhere that a child with many names is well-loved. So we (only Lian and Me can do this, ok?) call her so many names, I think at 19 months she might already be having an identity crisis. You want a sample? Justine christened her with Juju, we call her Buling/Bulingling, Juling, Churung (ask Lian how she came up with that). I even call her Viveka. Hahahaha! Now, there’s a backstory to this name. I used to called her Baby Ju, then Babi Ju, then Viveka Babaju - remember one of the characters in the infamous MMFF scandal? Hahahaha!

Julia Pretty, too.

Although Julia can’t speak a lot yet, she’s still funny in her own way. She still breastfeeds from Lian, maybe that’s why she still acts like a baby. If she can breastfeed 24 hours a day, I think she’d be the happiest kid in the world.

.-.-.-.

One of the first things she learned was to say “Aaarrrr!” when we say “Julia Monster!!”. When we ask her what’s her name, she’ll say “Ate!”. She can say everybody’s names (Daddy, Mommy, Ate, Lolo, Lola), but however much we try, she just won’t even try to say “Julia”. Sometimes, when we try to teach her words, I express my worries to Lian.

“Julia, this is an owl.”

“Aww..”

“Where’s the owl?”

Julia points to the owl.

“Who’s this?”, with me pointing to Bambi.

“Bibam!”

“Ok, where’s the owl?”

She points to Bibam. And on and on it goes.

I tell Lian, mukhang meron mauuntog sa blackboard paglaki…

.-.-.-.

Julia knows what she wants in life - and she’s very good at letting us know about it. She likes Pringles (I know!! So, don’t say a word anymore), and if other kids hug their favorite dolls to sleep, Julia hugs her tall, red cylinder.

She’s very good at saying “Mommy/Daddy, more!” when pointing to something that she wants more of (which, oftentimes, are those tall, red cylinders). She’s a very good eater, di mapili. She even tasted her mom’s slippers once.

.-.-.-.

Julia can also be very frustrating sometimes, especially if she’s in one of her moods. When that happens, she only wants to be near her mom, and doesn’t want to be touched by anybody else. These mood swings can last up to a whole day, and she’s just there snuggled up against Lian. Lian can’t do any other things when that happens, so I cook, work, feed Justine, play with Justine. I don’t very much enjoy working from home during those days. Those days are also the days when I think the office cube is very inviting.

But when she does snap out of it, she can be really malambing, and she’s just so pretty and so good na magpaawa that I just don’t have any counterspells against it. Hmmm… so young yet so manipulative.

But above it all, Julia, I still think, is just the perfect bunso. My perfect bunsoy.

Sep

Justine.

By Herbert 2 Comments

Categories: Family Stuff
Tags: Justine, kids

I think what really woke me up from my blogging slumber was Roger finally setting the world right again. Or maybe just a coincidence in timing. Whatever, what’s important is I am able to write again.

I won’t try to comment on a lot of the things that happened between today and my last post - there’s a LOT! So I’ll just try to remember some of them along the way. Right now, my time’s pretty much taken up by my kids, some new gadgets, and smidgens of work here and there… haha!

.-.-.

Justine Pretty

So Justine is now able to converse with us, and no matter how we try to ask her to speak in Filipino, her first language - I think, sadly - is now English. As my mom said, baka nasa hangin ng Amerika yan. You can’t argue with that. And whenever we succeed in getting her to speak Filipino, THE twang is already there!

“Justine, sabihin mo ‘mabango ako’.”

“I’m bang-go.” Sounds like mango - with accent on the first syllable, as with almost all of her words.

“Sabihin mo ‘maganda ako’.”

“Ganda ako.” But to my Filipino ears, it sounded like “Gen-da akew.”

Note this though - I will try harder to make her speak perfect Filipino - not those Sam Milby-type Pinoys (kuno) whose sound grates my ears whenever I hear them say “Mahal ko kayew!!!” God forbid.

.-.-.

Another note on Justine: as I said, she’s is now conversant. And a lot of times these days you’ll find me and Lian just look at each other with wide eyes. A few months ago while visiting some friends in NJ, upon waking up, here’s our conversation:

“Daddy, say please.”

“Please…”

“Please what ??”

Or this:

“Daddy, say Ate.”

“Ate.”

“Yeeeesssss?”

I don’t know where she comes up with those. And she has a lot of expressions that’s just funny to hear, like “Oh! My! Goodness!” or “Perfect!”, or “That’s awesome, Daddy!”. She’s always nice though, saying “Thank You” and “No, thank you” when needed, and her “Yes” has been replaced with “Sure!”. But the sweetest sounds of them all? She hugs me out of nowhere, saying things like “I miss you, Daddy” or “Happy Bestfriend, Daddy”, or “You’re a good friend”, or the best of them all: “I love you Daddy..”

-=-=-=-

Upate 20080912: Tita Ces, I tried. I asked to say “Tita Ces”. She said “Tita Zuz”.

Jan

tAgGed !

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

This is the second time Chie has tagged me, and I haven’t done her first.

So here goes…

Here’s the rule: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your
personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8-10
people in your list (as per maeyo’s post, bahala kayo how many you want
to tag) hehe, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in
their chat box that he/she has been tagged.) Whoever does the tag will
have blessings from all.

1. At what age do you wish to marry? Before 1998, I never thought I’d be married at all. I married at the age of 26. Not a bad decision at all.

2. What color do you like most? Used to be blue, then became green. Now, anything but white. Please rescue me from all this whiteness.

3. Worst memory that, once you remember it, makes you still squirm in shame? Nag-drama ako sa speech ko sa morning assembly nung high school (andun lahat ng HS students ha!) to plead for goods for our Christmas Drive. Sobrang OA. Haha!

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most? Manila! din

5. Which part of you that you hate the most? If I were in a presidential debate, I would say my heart - because I just can’t stop it from caring too much for other people’s sorry a$$ - I mean, plight.

6. When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do? Drown myself in music. Shut out the world!!!

7. What are you afraid to lose the most? My kids. (Tanggap na ni Lian ‘to.)

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do? Invest 3/4, use 1/4 to splurge. (Sorry Chie, di ko kaya tapatan ang pagiging philanthropist mo.) Tapos quit na sa job, tennis, bowling at badminton na lang forever.

9. What’s your wish for the year ahead? More relaxing sleep. Earn doing nothing. And of course, world peace. *Wave*

10. How did you celebrate the New Year? Jumping with a (plastic) glass of champagne in my right hand. Oh, and a daughter in the left hand.

11. Which type of person do you hate the most? GMA-and-her-minions types.

12. What is your ambition? To be a Swiss-born professional tennis player earning oodles and oodles of cash residing in Basel, Switzerland but having a summer residence in Dubai, with a last name of Federer and a first name of Roger - minus the girl named Mirka Vavrinec.

13. If you had one wish what would you wish for? To be able to read other people’s thoughts. Scared yet?

14. Name one of your body part your wife or girlfriend tells you he adores. Ala nang mga *ahem ahem* eh. Brains na lang.

15. What is the best gift you can give someone this year? Money. Hmmm… Aminin!!! Kayong mga bibigyan ko ng gifts, tama o mali?

16. List two of your Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions. 1. Patience 2. Patience

17. What do you need to do this year in order for you to be happier in life? Earn more money? Aminin ulit!!!

18. What do you want to achieve this year or what are your goals for 2008? Just to get through the year sane and intact would be good enough.

19. What are the Top 2 things that you are most thankful for the
year 2007 that made you even more happier for 2008? Julia and Justine. (again, tanggap na ni Lian ‘to).

Happy New Year!! Hehehe…

Tagging … you!

Jan

bAd YeAr ? ? ?

By Herbert 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

So just a few days into 2008, and already there’s already a constant string of very depressing events.

Dollar’s nearing the P30 level, the Clintons, Heath Ledger dead, the Arctic ice will be gone next year, Justine and Julia starting off the year being sick.

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, Justine AND Roger lost in the AUSSIE!!!!!!! NOT EVEN IN THE FINALS !!!!!

I think it’s time for my confession, buy black candles, bring out the LaSallian rosary (6 decades, instead of the usual 5! Top that.), put ash on my head, and wail. Maybe the world really ends on December 21, 2012.

Dang.

-=-=-=

Obsessions

By Herbert 1 Comment

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy New Year, people! It’s been quite some time since I’ve made updates to this blog - free time, these days, is at a premium. And here I am, listing my current obsessions:

Politics

Yes, I am closely following the primaries here in the US. Actually, if you are in the US, you can’t help but be swamped by news about this. But I feel this election, together with the last presidential election, are two of the most important ones the US will ever have. More than just being concerned with domestic issues, the US president, whether we like it or not, is a global leader. So his/her actions certainly will ripple across the globe. Look at the US’ current unwillingness to sign Kyoto, officially admit that global warming is man-made, increase fuel efficiency, nor engage in any major environmentally protective action - larger storms, fiercer droughts, melting ice caps. I mean, there is virtually no more arctic ice cap!

I am rooting for Barack. I have to say, the US seems to be on the way to make a major headway in its fight against racism. And when a black man finally won a primary (in Iowa - a very white state), his first words were gorgeous: “They say it cannot be done.” It can point to critics during his first months of campaign saying he (or anyone for that matter) just cannot beat the Clinton juggernaut. But I’d like to think he was speaking of that something that is more profound. As a minority in the US, there is a natural tendency for me to connect with Barack. But that is just a very small portion of why I root for him. I root for him because of what he represents - (much as I hate saying these words now, they ARE over-used:) fundamental change, youth, and hope. And indeed, these days something is stirring in the wind.

Music

She had me at the first line from her album - “They tried to make me go to rehab, but I say ‘No, no, no’ “. My first thought was how could they fit so many black divas into this tiny white woman? And when you hear her music from afar, you’d think the music is one from the 20’s or 30’s, I guess. That’s the era I think of when I hear her music. But listen closely and you’d be jarringly brought back to 2008. Who won’t be, with lyrics like “What f#ckery is this” ? Delicious. The warning on the cover (the black label that says Warning, explicit lyrics) should have, well, warned me. But when you meet me somewhere listening to my iPod, you’d probably be right when you think it’s Amy Winehouse.

Other notables I am listening to right now are Feist, Joss Stone, the album Raising Sand (I was never a big fan of Alison Krauss until this), and Edu Manzano’s World’s Greatest Dance Steps - only because Justine couldn’t get enough of Papaya dancing.

Sports

I never thought I’d ever warm up to them, but with Boston’s performance, I am now following baseball and American football! Go Pats!! On to Super Bowl!!

And the Australian Open is just around the corner. But more than the Aussie Open, I hope Roger fills his life with clay. Sleep on clay. Spread clay on his apartment, no matter how Mirka protests. Fill the tennis bag with clay. Shower with clay. Eat clay. No matter what, but just be obsessed with winning the French Open, for heaven’s sake!

And of course Wii Sports - the only good workout I’ve had in a long time. I think I am already at Pro levels in bowling, tennis and baseball. I won’t dream of reaching the Pro level in boxing, lest I can live with sore arms and shoulders everyday.

Family

Lately we’ve had our roughest times yet. I won’t deny there were times when I thought I should have lived the single life (haha!), but that only lasts for a few minutes. Justine and Julia are driving us nuts!! Probably because at least one of us have been sick since Christmas, but their conastant wailing really drives me crazy! If Justine is with Lian, just give it a few minutes and Julia will notice it, so she starts to cry until Lian gets her. Then Justine will cry, so we just distract Julia until she plays with the toys scattered on the floor (this, while Justine is crying in the background). Once she starts to play, Justine will now have her mom to herself, until Julia again notices. And so the wailing concert goes on and on. So I have decided to wear my iron glove from today. No more Mr. Nice Guy with those two monsterettes. As long as they don’t go and hug me and kiss me with those puppy faces. Then just as sure as GMA is evil, I will melt.

Proud 2 B a Dread

Absurd

As American as apple pie

To the dogs

Third

Four more years

Julia.

Justine.

tAgGed !

bAd YeAr ? ? ?

Obsessions

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