This bird has flown

© Joselito Briones

Just as Eric's representation of a perfect world can be found in a Mall, an SM Mall to be specific (he observed that it's the one chain-mall consistently well-maintained), I suspect partly because his current buying power in these places sufficiently compensates for all the times he felt underprevileged in the past, Itay’s is his caged birds.

What Itay (literally, Filipino for "father") is trying to compensate with, I can only guess. Let's see, he's the head of a big family with a lot of male members, and he's aging. He's even made a request (albeit jokingly) on how he wants his funeral to be when he dies. It's getting more and more difficult for him to show power and insist his will on others. Gone is the time when his word meant the law to everybody else. I think it started with Norie, in California. She's the eldest among my siblings, and most willful too. He must've felt rather powerless when it came to dealing with her, and as a result they were always at odds with each other. Now that he's gone back to the Philippines, it's the same show-of-will game, only now it's with his grandchildren. Hit hardest are Joie, who's gone so far as to now avoid going to the family house altogether, and Jaycee, who recently snobbed the family Christmas party. If only my dad would realize that he's respected no matter what, and that he doesn't need to show his power anymore, the atmosphere within the family would be a lot more peaceful. But maybe boring, too. I say let the man be who he is.

Oh yeah, the birds... they're always happy and singing as long as you feed them, and they don't care that they're kept in a cage.


XXX

P.S.



Today is Jose Rizal day - the day of his execution by the Spanish who occupied Philippines during that time, and against whom the revolution started 110 years ago today. Dr. Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines.

© Joselito Briones

I flew to Hong Kong today. The photo above shows the view from the window of the plane. The body of water shown is the Pasig river, one that prominently featured in Jose Rizal's novel, "Noli Me Tangere".

XXX

Christmas

© Joselito Briones

Having distributed all the gifts last night, we took it easy today. It was the exact opposite of the frantic house-to-house trek of the kids, collecting money from relatives and Ninangs.

We decided to treat my parents to lunch today. We went to Tony Roma's in Alabang Town Center with Kuya Toto, and thankfully so. After several misses on restaurant choices, at least this one, albeit still formulaic chain restaurant fare, delivered the goods, at least with the baby back ribs. We ended up bringing back two extra racks, one for Kuya Toto and one for Ate Julie. My mom wanted to see if she can produce the same texture, if not the taste, so we passed by Makati Supermart to buy some frozen ribs, but the grocery was close today.


XXX

P.S.
The image on top is actually a movie, a trial if it's worth putting flash movies here. It's probably too big a file if you're on a slow connection, but if you're using broadband, it should load smoothly.

XXX

Tagaytay

© Joselito Briones

Less than an hour's drive from the house is this town called "Tagaytay", with a fantastic view of Taal volcano and the lake surrounding it.

My mom said she wanted to come here to try Josephine's, a traditional Filipino restaurant. So Josephine's we went, with Chris, Irma's eldest. The view from the deck is just awesome, and in itself worth the trip - and fortunately so, because this is all Josephine's has to offer. Although the receptionists were very courteous and friendly, the waiter assigned to us was downright rude. The food wasn't something to recommend to anybody else either. The only dish passable in quality among the ones we ordered is the char-grilled stuffed calamares. The sizzling gambas has this sickly red coloring that screams "artificial!". The "Kare Kare" was of unidentifiable slabs of beef fat and skin. The boneless "Inihaw na Bangus" was tough, and, in what ought to be classified as a crime, the "Kinilaw na Talaba" was a sheer waste of good oysters, which was indiscriminately drowned in nothing but vinegar.

Lesson learned: if you want to go to Tagaytay for the view, and your best option is Josephine's (I'm sure there are other places to see the spectacular view from), go straight to the coffee bar for a capuccino, then to the viewing deck. Skip the food.


XXX

Free of Duty

© Joselito Briones

It’s sooo hot today. Even with the car airconditioning in full blast, driving through south expressway, we could still feel the heat from outside. We went to duty free shopping, mainly to get my Inay a new blender. The place, located close to the airport, was chaotic. And of course they had to impose this mess to everyone, by limiting the route of shoppers to one where everyone has to go through every section and every shop in the whole building. We also bought some whiskey for my Itay, his preferred alcohol.

I guess this frees us from our main christmas present requirements. The rest is a cinch. It's a good thing that the family politics is still well and alive. You take care of those high up in the pecking order, they take care of the rest. It's something so obviously still in place even with the kids. The younger ones listen to and look up to the older ones. With so many kids in the family, it's a relief that everything and everyone has, and knows, his own place, and responsibility is something left to trickle down the hierarchical chain. The danger, of course, if someone breaks the chain at any point.

© Joselito Briones

The pictures, top and above, are of the family house where we're staying.


XXX

In passing...

© Joselito Briones

We are loved and at times lucky that we, too, love... We share a part of ourselves to those we are with, to those we'll eventually leave behind, until they, too, make their own transit. It's a wonderful cycle that, luckily, we all have to go through.

It's a sad day... I learned that a good friend's father passed away recently.


XXX

Thanksgiving

© Joselito Briones

It's that hokey time of the year again... when you're supposed to think of all the positive things that has happened in your life, or things that you have, and express gratitude. Naturally, I do not want to think THAT hard. I do think it's appropriate to be thankful to have had "Bed Day", yesterday.

I phoned Norie in California to wish her happy thanksgiving. Turns out they had an early dinner, with her Kevin and Dave, my two brothers Noel and Cesar, and Uding and Little Kevin. Since this holiday calls specifically for enormous dead birds, she decided to (gasp!) order, from the place where she usually gets her honey-roasted ham, a (gasp!) deep-fried turkey. She's adventurous that way, you'll have to give her that. She was already doing the dishes though, by the time I called, and was getting ready for her nap.


XXX

A Little Lesson in Filipino

© Joselito Briones

I challenged one of my nephews, DanMark (yes, same as the country, German spelling), "Big Mac" to some of us, "Kuya Makky" to some of his cousins, to tell me something, so I can tell you about it.

Here's what he came up with (with my attempt at understanding the relatively new Filipino shorthand, and a translation):

sori poh sa late reply heheheh
d poh ako nkapag log in ng 2 days hehehehe
dto poh ang bago d2 nagtitinda cla lola ng fishball at halo2 un ang bago d2
hmmpp c kuya magkakaroon na ng panganay ewan ko lng poh kung kelan ang due date ni ate lanie ^_^
bkit yaw nyo poh pagandahin profiles nyo??.

-
Sorry for the late reply ("poh" is "po", a Filipino word to indicate some sort of respect, the way one would say "no, sir" to an older relative)
I wasn't able to log in for 2 days hehehehe
Here, what's new is that Gramma ("Oma" in Germany, "Inay" to me) is now selling fishballs and "halo halo" (a typical Filipino treat of sweets in ice and milk). That's what's new here.
Hmmpp... Don Don ("kuya" is brother, usually how all the siblings call the eldest brother, as "ate", sister, is used to address the eldest sister - older brother or sister other than the eldest is addressed as "kuya" or "ate" with the name attached to it) will have a firstborn already, I just don't know when Ate Lanie (Don's wife) is due. (a smiley)
Why don't you make your profile (referring to my friendster.com profile) look better?
-

You know how nothing ever happens to me when I ask my nephews to provide content to my letters to you.

The picture above is a composite, of course, the background is Times Square, in New York, while Mark's picture was taken in the Philippines.


XXX

Jane

© Joselito Briones

I dug out this photo of JL's when I was looking for my nephews' photo. This was taken 1999, her debutante's party. Now she's got Sey and Yuri.

I went to Nuremberg to exchange the chordless German keyboard for a, ehrm, chorded one. Also got a mighty mouse. Also chorded. On the way back to Erlangen I went shopping for the kids in the Philippines, as Christmas presents. Mostly t-shirts. And a very cute red skirt for Sey. And a tiny shirt for Yuri. And a hat for Mark. Not sure what their sizes are now, so I just bought different t-shirt sizes. I hope they fit. And most importantly, I hope this Balikbayan box that I'm sending makes it there on time for Christmas.


XXX

Roll Call

© Joselito Briones

I found out today that most of my 12 nephews and 5 nieces are now online, so I've put a link to their homepages... I looked at their profiles and my jaws just dropped. I haven't seen them for sometime, and the last time I saw them, they all pretty much spend all their time playing video games. Now in their profile - "status: taken". "10 Golden Rules in Drinking" Huh? I guess no matter how old they are, they'll always be these small kids in this picture to me. The boys: Don Don, Kevin K., Mac(second from right), Gio, Kevin B.(second from left), Louie, Neil, Chris, Gil, JC (right), Cez, Omar(left). The girls: JL (the eldest, married, with two babies of her own, Yuri and Sey), Joie, Jaja, Janelle, and Krisi.

XXX

A reunion of some sort

©Eric Olivarez

Oi Jimbo, I thought I'd share this with you, an email from Eric, after he and Cyntch (also a dear old friend) visited my mom in Carmona:

"finally squeezed this one to my sked..and im glad i did it with cyntch around...it felt like we're back in lsei days when we used to hang out in ur crib, except this time it's a bigger, better and more modern haus u have i almost felt like im in a resort of sorts ...took us a while to pinpoint d precise location, haus # has changed from d original 049 to something like 111xx...

©Eric Olivarez

so many changes in the neighborhood and yet ur mom has managed to stay all the same, still very accomodating and nice to talk with, i dont remember talking to her with much substance as now it made me feel really mature (translation: matanda na) now...felt a lil disappointed that she turns out to be mildly allergic to photo shoot, hehehe! anyways, here are a few pics we took of her and ur haus...definitely not as good angles as u would have done but i hope u like it even just for the effort, lolz! pls say thanks to ur mom again next time u talk...."

©Eric Olivarez

Isn't he just the greatest? He's the one in green polo shirt, Cyntch is the one in white t-shirt, and the one in "USA" t-shirt is my eldest brother, Kuya Toto, and that's our house in Carmona, in the bottom picture.





XXX

All-American

© Joselito Briones

As the California roadside landscape - some commanding one's full attention, some satisfied on providing a backdrop to one's thoughts, but all beautiful - pan through the car window, I realized something disturbing. Norie's voice was different. Her attitude too. She's more serious, and gone is her usual playfulness. I'd have normally attributed it to (dare I say it?) getting older, but I thought most probably it's caused by her adjusting to her only child, Kevin, moving out (Do moms ever get over it?). It turned out that even as Kevin was a part of it, there was something else. A revelation, to which I made a vow not to repeat to anyone, has been on her mind. It didn't feel right, that I have been sucking all the luck from the people around me. I've had it easy, more or less, on most anything, most of my life. But the things some members of my family are going through, it scares me.

© Joselito Briones

We went to Carmel today. Dave, Norie's husband, drove (as has become the usual when there's a family outing), with Norie next to him (photo, above). Noel and Itay sat at the third row, at the back. We all fitted in the Chevy Tahoe. There was nothing we could do to persuade Kevin Karl (Ate Uding's son) to join us, much as we hated to leave him alone in the house. The other Kevin, Norie's, wasn't even interested at all to venture out of his apartment. Both Kevins were never expected to be in the same city at some length of time, hence their moms thought it OK to give them the same name. Kevin Karl (little Kevin to us), I guess, was expected to stay in the Philippines.

I might have had been a bit selfish throughout the drive. I enjoyed the view from my seat and kept mostly to myself: plains, hills, valleys; the colors - alternating greens and ochres, punctuated by beetroot reds and shades of gold; and objects - bright yellow artesian well in the middle of a field dominated by crouching trees, surrendering total authority to the wind, a car from a few decades back (a "roach", to Norie's Kevin), parked next to massive tractor, and drums upon drums of I don't know what. We reached our destination in less than a couple of hours.

© Joselito Briones

The place was beautiful, albeit not what I expected. I foresaw something more rural, dry, dust blown by the wind. Small town. Their claim to fame, after all, before being beautiful, was having Clint Eastwood as their mayor for several years. Norie and Dave always referred to it as "Mount Carmel", so I was expecting a western town like in the movies. Clint Eastwood movies to be precise. What I saw was a beautifully manicured town, who afforded to provide every nook and any visible crevices the most beautiful blooms that grow in the region. The more accurate name of the place is "Carmel-by-the-Sea". Instead of a mountain, I found myself looking at the Pacific Ocean.

We had lunch at "Flaherty's". The food, save the calamaris, wasn't worth the long wait for a table.

© Joselito Briones

Another All-American classic? Outlet shops. We went to Gilroy Premium Outlets, on the way back from Carmel-by-the-Sea. The place is big, with shops divided into three long buildings. After being spoiled for choices by New York's Century21 though, this place was just not very interesting at all.

To cap the day with yet another All-American classic, we did a drive-through at "In N' Out". Any hot-blooded meat-loving American knows this is the best quickie hamburger there is, no question about it. Too bad it's only available in the west coast. We all had a double-double. I had mine with roasted onions.

XXX

Windows to the Past

© Joselito Briones

I'm loving the picture windows in the new apartment. They're like ultra HD tv's and you can pan the picture by moving about in the room. The one in the bedroom frames this really tall tree behind the building. I lie in bed and look at it, I see the leaves swaying, I hear the rustling sound, and I get transported back to the Philippines of my childhood when, after a heavy lunch, playing in the sun, and getting forced to bathe by grown-ups who are against the smell of the sun on my skin ("amoy araw ka na", they'd say), I'd just lay on a bamboo mattress under a mango tree and take a nap, until it's time to have merienda and run around the neighborhood again.

Sigh...

The cow was a present from Nico.


XXX

It's the (good) witch's birthday today

© Joselito Briones

72 years ago today, a girl with magical powers was born. Her parents christened her Lea. She grew up to be the prettiest (and coolest) girl in the land. She fell in love with a fervent admirer. They got married and brought into this world eight loving kids.

Had the first seven kids not known that Lea loved them all just as much, they would have been jealous of the youngest, a boy, as Lea seemed to have shown him so much love and attention. This was not lost in the youngest, who grew up very close to her.

He remembers all the times she performed magic, like those times when he was ill and all she had to do was give him the gentlest kiss on the forehead and everything was suddenly alright. He also remembers the time she made him realize that he was totally capable of doing something selfless. And how could he possibly forget the earliest childhood recollection he had (at age 3!), a moment of clarity, when she explained to him the meaning of being considerate and kind, and he completely understood?

For this child, she remains, the prettiest (and coolest) person in the world.


XXX

P.S.
She now lives in California, but she's presently in Carmona to celebrate her birthday. I spoke with her on the phone and she said she's having her bingo pals over, and Toto is roasting a pig for her party. She sends her regards.


XXX