This Side of Heaven... where angels love to tread!

The Regis Dance Company held their dance concert for 2007 last February 17th. My daughter, Karrol, had a good time this year even though she only had one number(a hip-hop dance number to the tune of Missy Elliot's "We Run This"). She wanted to do more dances but since her glee club is also in constant practice in preparation for their trip to Portugal this March 9th, she couldn't possiblye devote more time to it.

We did have a good time watching the girls do their thing and I am happy that Karrol has taken our advise to make the most of her college life by being proactive not only in her academics but also in her extra-curricular activities.

I believe that it is heartwarming to watch your children perform or do something creative in their lives. I notice that during the performance, there were girls(or ladies, I should say) who were really great dancers. Others were better as choreographers than performers and still some who were just there for the fun of it.

My husband and I applaud the effort and the time that these women had spent for such a memorable event in their lives. This is one chapter in their lives that would be worth sharing to the future generation.

Break a leg, ladies!!!

Corinne Bailey Rae's hit song "Put Your Records On" is one song you'd like to listen to again and again. Her song and style of music brings a freshness and pure quality lacking from other singers of her generation. It's time that we listen to soulful music once again.

Corinne's playlist: "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star".

The day before Valentine's day, my husband surprised me with a dozen red roses and a box of chocolate. It's been awhile since I've gotten roses/flowers from him not because he's not a romantic guy but because the last time he bought me roses (yellow) on my birthday years ago he was heckled by 2 old ladies behind him on the checkout counter. One of the ladies said to the other, "Uh oh! what did he do this time?" My husband politely told them that he didn't do any thing wrong and was just buyimg flowers because it was my birthday and the old ladies started to tease him again, even getting a big kick out of it.

Flowers or no flowers, chocolate or none, dinner date or no date, one gets to a certain point in their lives where happiness is just being with their loved ones and having a good time no matter where they are or what they are doing.

The photo below is also another way my husband shows me that he cares. This was taken the day after the Valentine's day snowstorm and he did a good job of getting rid of the snow from the driveway by himself(as he always does).

Today, Valentine's Day, while my husband had to shovel snow (this is the first significant snow storm this winter), I spent my late afternoon watching a very nice "indie" movie entitled "Sabah". Though the movie's plot is a common storyline the perspective shown here is from the Arab culture.

To summarize, Sabah just turned 40 yrs. old but is very unfulfilled because though living in a Western country, Canada, the family still practices their strict culture especially under the control of her brother, Majid. Unbeknownst to Majid, his birthday gift(an old and forgotten photograph of Sabah as a young girl with her Dad on the beach) would kindle and revive her passion for swimming. When Sabah finally summoned the courage to go swimming in the local public pool, she met Stephen, who would turn her world upside down.

What I really found cute in this movie was that with the obsession for western standards of beauty, though Sabah finally relented to dying her hair, wearing red lipstick and provocative dresses when meeting with Stephen, she never pluck her "eyebrows". But nevertheless, Stephen, look past into that and loved her for who she is.

A very insightful review of the movie is given by Angela Hawkey and you can read it here.

Watch the movie if you can and hopeless romantics will be rewarded with a movie that was done with intelligence, heart, soul and humour.

• 

This week I chose Barry White for my artist because he has always been synonymous with love and other amorous pursuits what with that deep, deep voice serenading you in the background. I need not say anything more since a lot of websites out there would do more justice in giving Barry the tribute he deserves. His songs speak volumes and are now considered a classic.





Barry White's Playlist:

• You're the First, My Last, My Everything
• Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby
• I'll Do For You Anything You Want Me To
• I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby
• Just The Way You Are
• Never, Never Gonna Give You Up
• Now I'm Gonna Make Love to You
• Walkin' in the Rain With The One I Love
  
• You Turned My Whole World Around
• Your Sweetness is My Weakness
  

This article first came out a few years ago and was published I believe in the Philippine Inquirer. The author, Mathew Sutherland, one might say really captured the essence of a true Filipino in his writings. I don't think that we Filipinos would be insulted with his observations. In fact, I believe that his article brought insight to us Filipinos that sometimes we fail to acknowledge or even observe among us because it is what makes our culture unique. And so, once again, here are the 2 articles that Mathew Sutherland wrote about the Filipinos. Thanks to our friend Hanneli David for sending this to me.

Matter of Taste
By : Matthew Sutherland


I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.



The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg.

It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is. It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines . If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls,
or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines :


Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK , I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!").

This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great!

In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.


Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each
successive mouthful.



I also share one key Pinoy trait --- a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!

It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE"
(I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS.

Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA , which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.



Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.

And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet.

"What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"

Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum,yum. Bon appetit.


WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it.

Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding , and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding -Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping . None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.

Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.

Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where come from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent!!!

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.

More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.

That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila -- taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ). I'm glad I'm not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith . How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and
exoticism rule the world of names.

Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the
world could that really be true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines !

Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

A young woman was filling out an application for college when she
came across the question: Are you a leader? She thought she had
better be brutally honest, so she answered, "No." She was convinced
when she sent the application in that she'd never hear from them
because of that answer.

But she received a letter back from the school that read: "We have
reviewed numerous applications and, to date, there will be some 1,452
new leaders attending school next year. We have decided to accept
your application because we felt it was imperative that they have at
least one follower."

One man bought a sign and put it on his office door. The sign read:
"I'm the boss." The next day he came to work he noticed that someone
had put a post-it on his sign that said, "Your wife called. She wants
her sign back."

We can't all be the boss. And what good are leaders without
followers? In actuality, we need to be both.

Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. We lead by example, but we
still follow role models. We lead by sharing our expertise, but we
remain open to the wisdom of others.

There are numerous courses and lessons on leadership. Yet the best
leaders are also excellent followers. They know how to listen, they
respect and follow great ideas from those around them, and they are
humble enough to seek help when it's needed.

You may be the boss, but do you know how to follow? This world could
use a few good followers.


****************************************************************************
*Cartoon courtesy of http://www.minerva.unito.it/Humor/Boss.htm

Lily Allen debuted her first USA performance last Saturday (February 3, 2007) at SNL (Saturday Night Live's). With the proliferaion of new female singers in the music industry, she is one who can attract a good following later on. Funny though, 2 of her songs sound like tropical island music (Smile and LDN) but the lyrics are downright trodden. Is this a way to tell us that we can still be happy in our misery?

She wore a nice black baby doll cocktail dress with her hair in an updo style. From what I've seen so far of her photos, she likes to wear these baby doll style dresses, almost like summer clothes, too. I wonder if this trend is making a comeback now? Lucky me!!!! I like wearing babydoll dresses. It's so comfortable and most of all, it hides the tummy.




Songlist for this week from Lily Allen are the following:

• Smile
• LDN
• Littlest Things

************************************************************
http://omiru.com/index.php/2006/05/11/trendscape-the-babydoll-is-back/

Saw this first at the Kapamilya One site. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it... this is so hilarious. The guy (Pooh) is a natural. Sorry only for Tagalog speakers... if you also know how to speak Cebuano or Bisaya, the better.

Oh no, he didn't...

This time Christine has another video blogger, Nalts, (short for Kevin Nalty) be a part of her latest video. Christine credits him for being her role model in starting her own video blog. When I checked his site, though, he had impressive credentials. Ummmm! I'll check his videos when I have the time.

I first heard KT Tunstall on the 93.5 FM, the River, singing "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. I thought at first that it was a strange title for a song. However, who am I to question the artist's choice of song titles or lyrics. Songs, like any other kind of art, most likely are always a form of self-expression. No wonder, once an artist starts to give in to what others think they should be doing and not follow their instincts loses their soul and their music. I just hope that these new batch of talented and upcoming artists wouldn't succumb to such pressures from recording companies, fashion and the general entertainment industry.

Songs included in this week's playlist are:

1. Suddenly I See
2. Black Horse and a Cherry Tree
3. Another Place to Fall
4. Other Side of the World
5. Under the Weather
   

This is just a quick shoutout to a former student and now a good friend, Jhun Soriano and family on the addition of a new member, a second boy. I don't know his name yet but I'm sure that he is the life of the family. Congratulations!!!

My music artist for this week is Regina Spektor whom I first heard on the radio when my husband and I were driving our daughter, Dominique, back to school at Smith College two weeks ago. Of course, when your daughter tells you of a new artist, you got to listen. Makes us cool parents to be in the know with the latest music and artists. This morning, while watching CBS's Sunday Morning, she was featured in the show. You can get more information about her from her website and from wikipedia

Songs included here are:

• Fidelity
• On the Radio
• Samson
  

I've been wanting to blog about Happy Slip Productions since I've seen her video from ituloy ang sulong's blog last November. However, since it got too hectic for me and what with the holidays also taking my attention, I really didn't have the time and the energy to do some blogging. Today, however, I just got me a message (I'm a subscriber, mind you of her site) that she has a new video out and I thought that it is high time that I blog about her.

For you who haven't had the opportunity to discover her site yet, Happy Slip Productions, Christine is a one woman wonder (I suppose) where she video blogs about her Filipino family and tries to showcase her acting talent by creating scenarios (soap operas, comedic situations, etc...) and now with the latest video, she also showed us that she can sing and play the piano too.

I think I like Christine better than that other girl blogger (#$@^&*& at 15 or something) because "lonelygirl 15" seemed creepy to me. Besides she didn't look 15 to me and then after awhile a lot of people made comments how it looked all fake. And surely enough, she finally came out of the video closet and admitted that she's an actress and her blog was created all along by professionals. I only viewed that blog once and I didn't bother going back to her so-called continuing saga of teen-age angst. The latest I've heard is that AI idol finalist, Katherine McPhee is even guesting on her video blog so it seems that they're still at it...

With Happy Slip however, you get a lot of laughs and even her boo-boos (technical stuff) on screen are taken into account so you'll know that she doesn't have any professional help at all.

Her videos were also given a review by YT Reviews(an unofficial review) and you can watch it here.



And here is the very first video that I've watched from her titled "Morning Meest". This is hilarious, I get a kick out of it everytime I watch it. Enjoy!!!

Did you know that you are like a pencil? Here's how:

1. Like a pencil, you can correct your mistakes. You can't
change the past, but you can rectify it. And though you
can't erase history, you can erase guilt and anger with
forgiveness.

2. Like a pencil, painful sharpening can serve to make you
better. Your difficult times can actually sharpen your
skills or shape you into the person you were meant to be.

3. Like a pencil, you can do great things when you allow
yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

4. Like a pencil, you can leave your mark whenever possible.
That is what you're here for -- to leave your mark. It may
be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people you have
touched or nurtured, but you must leave something good
behind whenever you can.

5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters.
Whether it is understanding or intolerance, love or
bitterness, peace or unrest, kindness or self-centeredness,
hope or despair, courage or fear, what is on the inside
matters most.

Next time you use a pencil, pause and think about that little writing
tool. It teaches some great lessons about living.

from Steve Goodier's Life Support System
__________________________________________________________________
*Cute pencil photo from smugmug

Unedited Chicago Tribune News Video. Original News Video: Jan. 7, 2007 Chicago Tribune Update: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0701070086jan07,0,4335491.story?track=mostemailedlink or: http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2007/jan/m09-002.shtml Jan. 8, 2008 Chicago Tribune Update: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/columnists/chi-0701080118jan08,0,4296728.column?track=mostemailedlink or: http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2007/jan/m09-003.shtml O'Hare Airport UFO Eyewitness Report (Jan.10, 2007): http://ufos.about.com/b/a/256841.htm "Around 16:30 hours, a pilot made a comment on the radio about a circle or disc shaped object hovering over gate C-17 at the C concourse in Chicago." First original report on NUFORC, Nov.13 2006: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/053/s53392.html

WHO KNEW? Who knew that we'd all make it to the cover of Time Magazine's yearly pick for "Person of the Year". For the year 2006, the magazine decided to honor each and everyone of us who are involved and are active participants in the world of web information. These explosion of web activities has given all of us a voice and a venue to express our once voiceless selves. Nowadays, information can be obtained from anywhere in the world from the naive to the highly sophisticated. Everyone has a story to tell and surely captive readers as well.

I found out that it is highly therapeutic and most of all a way to reach out to others, known and unknown... familiar and unfamiliar. Let's give ourselves a pat in back for being part of the revolution.

Don't forget to get your copy of Time Magazine. I'm going to get mine now...

Hello All!!!!

It's been awhile since I've done anything new on my blog. My youngest daughter already complained to me recently that I haven't made any updates. This is the only way she can get more updates from us back home aside from the phone calls. Well, honestly speaking, the cold weather usually makes me want to cuddle more with a blankie and just do nothing at all but seat on the couch, watch TV, eat and sleep... Hey, don't be judging me now. Most of the animal kingdom are in hibernation at this time of the year, so why can't we humans do the same thing?


Visit one of the best source of information on nature, the Public Broadcasting Systems or PBS.org and you will learn more. And who knew that bears lose weight during hibernation. Hah! no sweat talaga. That's one exercise program that I'd like to join.

Anyways, I've found 2 cute youtube animations one to the tune of "Run, run Rudolph" by Chuck Berry and the second one is a parody of the Beach Boys "Kokomo". Hope you haven't seen these 2 yet and get to enjoy it...



Run, run Rudolph



Santa's Goin' to Kokomo

I apologized to Joy-Joy for taking me sometime to respond. The past week was kinda hectic what with "Thanksgiving" holiday celebrated here in the US and my 2 college kids were back home for a few days. But anyways, here's my response to Joy-Joy's tag:

"It is not you that is mortal, but only your body. For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself; the spirit is the true self..." (Cicero)

- Exploring the Unexplained: The World's Greatest Marvels, Mysteries and Myths (Time Inc. Specials)