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A day before their WBO junior flyweight title bout, Velasquez Jr. was over himself and rattling Donaire, even flipping back Donaire's cap. Donaire countered by jostling the Perto Rican boxer's hat. Even their spouses had some things to yell at each other.
This incident made Donaire's split decision win over Velasquez doubly sweet; now the Puerto Rican must be hurting twice badly. First he ate his words that he'd beat the crap out of the Filipino Flash, and secondly, he was floored twice by Donaire. Enough of this bully.
The fight that followed was that of Carpio vs. Chavez Jr. which Chavez won amid the punches and counter punches that left both boxers bloodied.
Before the fight, I was shopping at Rustan's at Shangrila Mandaluyong. I remember the last time I was at Shang - to watch an Italian movie festival.
I felt like a tourist at this mall, not being familiar with its stores the way I am familiar with Megamall's.
In Toronto, I frequent mostly the Fairview Mall at Sheppard, and the Yorkdale Mall. I know their shops and restaurants. In between big shopping days, I'd go to the nearby East York shopping centre for a quick bank transaction or to do my grocery, or at the Don Mills Centre, at Lawrence and Don Mills, which had been transformed from an average mall to an upscale, boutiqued mall.
I miss shopping at Don Mill's Bailey's, where I used to buy affordable stuff, mostly hardware items. Now, Bailey's moved outside the mall proper and became smaller.
When I was new in Canada, I remember shopping at a store called Woolco, which had been purchased by Walmart (the area is now occupied by Zeller's at the East York shopping centre). There was also a KMart store which I loved going to in North York, but which closed shop in Canada. KMart stores are still open in the U.S.A.
The food selection in Rustan's was quite varied. I was able to buy Canadian bacon, and before that, we ate in the in-house diner and I was quite happy with my lunch of mini-morcon and white rice and guinatan halo-halo.
Even before this, we sauntered into a hardware store called Value and I was quite happy with my purchase of mostly items for the dog, Yabi.
Yabi will be wham-med later on. She'd be leashed at the back because of late, she'd been destroying plants and potters. She's on a heat.
RIGHT, Sam and Suzie, the new parakeets of the house.
I abandoned regular blogging months ago. I got basically lazy. I had Manila weather to blame it on. Why?
With the warm Manila weather, everything else could wait.
First order of a day would be either getting up so early or so late. I prefer the former. I am usually up at five in the morning, and having coffee and toast bread.
If ever I go to the 6 am mass, I'd be in front of the computer at around 7:30 and having a formal and bigger breakfast at 9 am. Then the lazing around bit continues after lunch. If I have any appointments, or chores to do outside the house, it'll be done in the mid-afternoon.
With the sun streaking through the house, the laid back existence is easy to do all day - going through the papers, doing crossword puzzle, surfing the Net, reading , doing social networking and calling people, and blogging takes a back seat.
But if ever I wake up early (which is more the norm), I make it a point to do the yard before I hit the laptop. My dog Shadee, and now the parakeets, get my early attention and care.
If I were in Toronto these days ,with the winter in full blast, I'd be camped at home and blogging more. It seems that with a cold weather, I need to internalize my energy and let it out by writing.
Not with a warm weather; the energy is spent sweating out by doing even the minutest and easiest of things. So blogging becomes laborious to do. Even leisure activities take so much energy.
Relatives can be a boon or a bust. It's like the economy; there are the lean and then there are the fat years.
In Filipino families, the extension goes into second and third degree relations. You start with your own parents, their siblings and your grand parents and your grand uncles and grand aunts, and their cousins. Then you have your own siblings, and your cousins. Then there are your children, your nephews and nieces, your in-laws, and your grandchildren, and your grandchildren's children.
The fertility of members of the families no longer determine the size of extended families; today, the size of families are dictated by economics.
Two or three children per couple is more the norm today. That way, the quality of life is better. There will be more food on the table, there'd be more money for education.
In my generation, the average family numbers to about ten. You have the parents and then 7 - 8 children.
In the mid sixties and during the Martial Law years of the Marcos presidency, the migration of Filipinos as overseas workers started, and the Filipino families started to shrink in numbers.
But the population still grew, not because there were more births, but more because Pinoys started to live longer. There was better medical intervention.
My own mother died at the ripe old age of almost 91. My father died when he was 79. Three surviving aunts are in their late and early nineties.
Serafin Cuevas, the lead defense attorney of CJ Corona and presiding officer Senator J. Ponce-Enrile in the Corona impeachment trial, are in their 80's, but both are still sharp physically and mentally. Which is to say that despite the mass availability of unhealthy food products of the present generation (Starbucks, McDonalds, etc), people are still sensible enough to stay the course of healthy living.
While in the Philippines, I tend to consume more carbs and sugar, thanks to Filipino delicacies such as kalamay, puto, turon and pan de sal. I also consume more red meat and fat-rich food, such as liempo, itlog na pula, matamis na bao, bagoong, and utak ng baka and lechon.
My extra ordinary feat is limiting my rice intake to one serving a day.
For want of anything good to see on TV, we've been watching the impeachment trial of CJ R. Corona lately. On its first day, I tuned it to cable TV 24 (GMA) wherein the guest analysts were former Dean of Law R. Pangalangan and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban.
The legal duo's analysis of the proceedings were superb; both were able to expound on the trial/process in a way a layman could relate to, even though both used English and a smattering of Tagalog in the discussion.
Yesterday's hearing was a waste of time; no witness and evidence were presented and accepted. But points were raised by the prosecution and Senator-Judges Defensor-Santiago and Peter A. Cayetano.
From what I understood about it, the prosecution wanted the Presiding Officer to be more liberal in its rulings, e.g (specifically regarding the Defense's objection that the "ill gotten wealth" charge be dismissed from the articles of impeachment). Prosecutor Tupaz pointed out that the impeachment trial is unique, it is not a criminal nor a civil trial, and the rules in these two types of cased must not apply to an impeachment proceeding.
Defensor-Santiago, despite her own catering to television, made a good point when she said that the more evidence presented and accepted, the better the trial and outcome would be, since the people would be given everything it ought to know. She even made comparison to the impeachment trial of Estrada wherein the second envelope was concealed by the senator-judges which led to prosecution walk-out and the ultimate EDSA 2 and ouster of Erap.
Defensor-Santiago said that if evidence would be suppressed, the people might think that Corona is hiding something, much like what happened in the Erap impeachment.
Cayetano, likewise, seconded the opinion of Santiago for the acceptance of more evidences.
Enrile was chided by the prosecution and asked to be more liberal in its rulings, whence the presiding officer went into a soft tirade, asking Tupaz, "would you like me to allow misleading questions, etc?" and asked his fellow senator-judges to tell him how liberal they would want him to be.
Villar came to Enrile's defense, and said he was happy with Enrile's performance as presiding officer.
I agree with the clamor to use more Tagalog in this impeachment proceedings, so that more people would understand what's going on. We expect that English would be used more, but then the prosecutors, defense and judges should exert more effort to interject the use of Tagalog.
Better yet, there should be a split-screen coverage wherein the proceeding would be translated into Tagalog in "real time," so that whatever is being said will be seen on screen in the vernacular. It would be akin to a sign language being used simultaneously during a televised mass.
If Tagalog were utilized, more Filipinos would become interested in following the impeachment trial.
Binuksan ang drawer, kay daming balat ng kendi,
May chewing gum na putol,
May butil ng mani,
May tsokolateng tunaw,
May tulo ng ballpen,
At may singaw ng luma.
Kay raming basura, kung ano ano lang naman,
Dapat itapon lahat ora-orada,
Ngunit next week lang din sangkaterba na naman,
Kahit bulsa ng pantalong nakasabit
Dumpster din ang dating.
Kay raming kahon, at mga plastic bin,
Punong puno ng kable, extension cord at USB,
Sa bodega sa dulo may mga maleta naman
Punong puno ng polo shirt, kurbata at mga mittens.
Basura itapon na bakit iniipon pa?
Ang marami dito alaala lang ng kahapon,
Dinadala at binobodega
Pinipilit isalba,
Daan kasi ng lumipas nagdala sa ngayon na.
Oo, mahilig mag ipon ng mga lumang memorya
Pero di ba ito ang basehan ng ating ligaya?
Kahit talo o panalo dala nito ang sentro,
Ang maraming taon, ang mga nilamon ng panahon.
Kahit ang MMDA nag aanunsyo ng recycling
Iligtas daw ang kalikasan at kapaligiran,
Magandang patnubay sa damdamin at buhay
I-recycle ang nuon at matuto sa ngayon.
Basu-basura lang
Wala daw silbi,
Ugat pa ng away at matinding kalungkutan,
Pero sa tingin ko basura ng buhay nabulok man at umamoy
Naging sanga ng buhay,
Naging pamantayan.
I remember my very first job in New York: a temp at a city government agency which tracked down abuses within families, and placed abused kids in foster homes.
I was there for about three months.
On my first week, I was already looking for a permanent job. So what I did was during my lunch break, I'd go to employment agencies and register, or I'd call employers using the phone in the hallway.
I got lucky on my third month. An employment agency told me a big law firm had an opening. I applied and got the job and stayed there for four years before I moved to Canada.
My years in Manhattan were happy. Although I didn't have family there except for a cousin and in laws of my sister, I never really got bored nor lonely.
Yes, New York city never sleeps, and it offers a vast array of pleasures - from its huge public library to museums, theatres, department stores, parks, restaurants, and the many different colors of its populace.
One time I hailed a cab to get me to Park Avenue for a doctor's appointment and the driver was a Pinoy. Another time, I bought donuts at Mr. Donut's and was offered free timbits by a Pinoy. (Note: timbits were day old small donuts so they were being unloaded from the counter).
I used to enjoy my lunches on the streets. There were food carts that offered various cuisines - Chinese, Greek, and the famous New York hot dogs. Or I'd go to this take out counter/salad bar where your food will be weighed. Another favorite was a pizza parlor.
After my food purchase, I'd just sit in a corner or a step or simply walk while eating. Or I'd walk to Macy's to make a quick purchase and run back for the afternoon shift.
When I had overtime which was quite often, the office provided free dinner and a free ride. It was not just a ride, but a limo ride.
Working a temp job made my move to New Jersey from Ohio easy. The temp job provided quick money while I was looking for regular, permanent work.
A temp job can be likened to a temporary personal relationship, or an un-committed liaison. It satisfies a need.
Shifting to a permanent job again is akin to a relationship. If you go for a permanent relationship, then commitment is expected of you.
When you get tired of a permanent job, or you get burned out, you could take the easy way out and resign. But in personal relationships, before you jump ship, you have to weigh in the pros and cons.
In the Philippines where there is no divorce , it becomes doubly hard to opt out of marriages. But even without legal separation, there are many couples who choose to live apart permanently and take on new relationships.
Many families now rely on two breadwinners. And with the new found financial independence, many wives, instead of holding on to marriages, become easy proponents of separation.
Whatever the reasons for spousal discords, many couples nowadays find themselves veering more and more away from the traditional Filipino marriage, the one we knew from our parents, the one we thought to be "till death do us part."
Being apart from each other for so long, which is the case for many married overseas Filipino workers, is one of the many reasons for separation. It's common to hear the phrase, " we outgrew each other, we no longer share the same interests, we've grown apart in likes, in tastes, in outlook.
It could be easier to hold on to a temporary relationship; there are no expectations in the first place.
Sometimes I miss my temp job.
Sis from Seattle makes it a point to call immediately whenever she and hubby arrive at whatever destination they're headed to. Calls are made to relatives they've just left behind.
I remember an instance when I visited my sister in Ohio, and when I left and reached Toronto, I immediately went to sleep, being tired from the 6 - 7 hours' long drive. Then the phone rang, and sis was both mad and worried that I didn't bother to call her to advise her that I reached home safely.
Keeping people you love in the dark as to your condition and whereabouts is the most cruel and insensitive thing to do.
Another sis told me that there was this time when her family flew to Puerto Galera, and left behind my mother at home with the maid because she'd rather watch TV than suffer from motion sickness. So my sister, her kids and hubby enjoyed their vacation and forgot or didn't bother to call home. Mother worried to death, and began calling her other children and grandchildren. My sister's excuse - the cellphones didn't have enough battery charge, so they didn't phone home, and after all they knew themselves that they were okay.
Since that time that my elder sister castigated me back in Toronto, I have made it a habit to call anytime I fly away from home or leave a sibling's house I'd just visited. It made perfect sense - this security and familial set up.
We grown ups and most especially kids today, despite the preponderance of crimes around us, sometimes forget this basic rule of sanity. That is, to phone home and let family know where we are, where we're headed to, what our condition is.
To the person being worried about, s/he may not care about phoning home, either because s/he doesn't realize the commotion s/he's caused, or s/he doesn't understand the fuss since s/he's safe where s/he is after all. S/he could even blurt out, " I don't get it."
Family members could sometimes be indifferent and uncaring without even knowing it. Or sometimes, simply acting out of passion and carelessness, without intending to cause undue stress and vexation.
ET, the well-beloved extraterrestrial phoned home when he got left by his party and co-aliens. He worried enough that his loved ones and friends were worried and looking for him.
ET acted, after all, like human. Sharing the basic human instinct of concern and love for the loved ones.
But sometimes we, real humans, dwell to much on our emotions, or forget others' emotions.
Human beings do it all the time. That's human error.
I did.
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