Spring Back

The blue and white budgie, Ugly Bets, seems to be coming out of her depression; her feathers are growing back.

Ugly Bets, the budgie previously known as JLo, became depressed about two years ago, when I separated her from the male budgie, Afleck. Why did I do this? Afleck was bullying UglyBets, sending her to scamper around the cage, into the bottom floor, and at one time, causing a very bad fall which broke the female's wing. Soon, UglyBets became ill from the fall and would create a cry that pierced the heart of any human. I had to put her in a cage all by herself, and moved her into a dark and warm area of the house to nurse her back to health. And she did! From then on, I called Ugly Bets a survivor; she even outlived some of the healthier canaries.

To lessen the pain of the separation from Afleck, I placed the two budgies' cages side by side so that they still saw each other. But then, later on, the male budgie died, and that's when Ugly Bets started to get depressed. She started to lose her hair/feathers, and became reclusive. She would spend her days sitting mostly at the bottom of the cage, underneath the paper lining and on top of the soft bedding/discards from the seeds, hatching her imaginary eggs. Oftentimes, in order to bring her back to the top, I would tap the outside bottom of the cage, and then, she would come out of hiding.

When Afleck died, Ugly Bets turned her attention to the other male budgie, Tommy Boy. Now, Tommy had been originally hand-fed, so he's naturally, very human-friendly. His day starts when I lift the cage cover and he would bite my fingers lightly as I put his daily dose of water, seed, millet, and Romain lettuce, and lately bok choy. He would run around the cage following my movement, and would wait for the music to be turned on. These birds love the classics of Mozart and Bach.

As Ugly Bets eyed Tommy from afar - Tommy's cage was hanging, and Ugly Bets' was near the canaries', Tommy never responded. He was a total snob. So, poor Ugly Bets went back to the bottom of the cage, to her days of dreaming alone. She became thinner and lost hair/feather to 2/3 of her body.

As spring was arriving, I decided to bring together Ugly Bets and Tommy into one cage. Would it work, I asked myself. Tommy the natural dancer, and Ugly Bets, the recluse?

It's been more than two weeks since the two have been joined together. At first, Tommy ignored Ugly Bets; I said, maybe because of Ugly Bets' feather-loss, Tommy didn't think it was a budgie. And then one hour passed. Slowly, Ugly Bets moved into Tommy's perch. Tommy backed away, Ugly Bets followed. And then it happened. The two budgies touched beaks!

Yesterday when I examined Ugly Bets, I saw very fine "hair" growing back to her body top. Soon, she will be lovely again.

Tenant or Owner

In today's global economic slump, one sector which had been greatly affected is the real estate industry. In the U.S. , the mortgage industry which fuelled the boom in the housing sector actually started the economic nosedive. Thousands of houses have been foreclosed and are now being sold for prices well below their original value.

Ontario's housing market is also experiencing such a slowdown. In Windsor, for instance, one newspaper reported that you can buy a house for the same price as a car. Also, in Metro Toronto, apartment buildings have a growing vacancy rate and mortgage rates have gone down.


When I came here in the early nineties, finding an apartment was hard; vacancies were rare. And because a new wave of immigration was just taking shape, landlords were wary of newcomers knocking at their doors. Nowadays, you see apartment rentals adding incentives such as a free flat TV or one month free rent, into their leases.

In today's inflationary times, if you are a homeowner, renting out a room or the basement of the house makes good business sense. This can especially be ideal for the single or for the divorced who may not like living alone; at times, the added income pays for the single lifestyle or for paying out alimony to the ex-spouse. But the more common landlords, next to the corporate aparment owners, are those working familes with big finished basements; oftentimes the income from the rental pays for the family's monthly mortgage. To rent out a basement of a house, though, one needs to get approval from City Hall; too many basement apartments have already been found out to be illegal.

When I was still living in the U.S. , I remember that apartment subleting was a very common thing; so was having room mates. Like any Pinoy, I used to live with relatives when I first landed, then rented a room in an old lady's apartment, then rented another one in a house of a Fil family, then finally getting my own apartment in Jersey City, then in Sayreville.

Party Line

For those who grew up in the 60's and early '70s in the Philippines, having a direct (single) telephone line was a luxury. Back then, if you had a landline ( it was the only type), chances are, you shared it with a party line.

Our family got its first telephone line back in the late 60's; it was provided by the lone Philippine telephone company, PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company). The machine was colored black and it was a rotary telephone. Me, my brother and sisters were all in heaven when the technician installed it in the living room.

But like most people we knew, we had a party line. This meant we could only make calls when the party line was off the hook. And it also meant having some of your conversations listened to.

In our case, we knew who our party line was; they lived a block away from our house. This made telephoning a little bit uncomfortable because you could not really be sure who was listening : your mother or your neighbour.

Even in the United States, having a party line was common in the 50's and 60's. I remember watching recently on the TBS channel, a movie that starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson, in which they were party line to each other.

Having a telephone when you are an adolescent also meant having phone pals (today this is known as having text mates). So me and my siblings used to have all sorts of phone pals, some funny and some weird characters of our teenage years.

In a household of eight children and a father who was a busy lawyer, the phrase "umuusok ang telepono" (the phone is never off the hook, the phone is "burning") was an understatement. On summer mornings or vacation time, before nine, my father was the principal user of the phone, but once he got out of the house, me, my siblings and the party line ruled the airwaves.

So these days that almost every household has access to a landline and additionally to several cell phones, how do I react to the telephone? I only use it for very important calls.

I am not thrilled with it at all. I suspect, more and more people react to the telephone the way I do. If not, why then do we have countless telephone features such as the "call display" and even the answering machine, which basically answers first, before the human owner. This goes to show that we only want to have a conversation if we really needed to, and of course, to shield us from the telemarketers which are the modern door-to-door salesmen of the 50's and 60's.

The telephone of my youth has long been dead. I could no longer feel my finger circling its way into the dial, sometimes deliberately prolonging the dialling time while one thought of a good opening line to tell a secret phone pal. In place now is the smallish cell phone, cold and square.

That Bed

Usually, after a long Holiday far from one's home, we humans long for our own bed. We just cannot wait to hit the hay - to hug our own pillow, cover our face with our own blanket (if it is cold) and generally, to want to feel the freshness of our own bed sheet caressing our skin. Even if we've checked into nice hotel(s) for that vacation, one's own bed is priceless.

But what about another bed, that bed? That bed is the hospital bed; I guess, no one wants to be in that bed. But what can we do if we get sick and the doctor orders a confinement?

Getting a bed at a hospital should be no problem. If you have been taken into an emergency unit, complaining of a severe stomach ache, then told you've got inflammed gall bladder, and need to stay, then you should be checked into a room/ward, presto! But as what's happened to one family, this is easier said than done; getting a bed in some hospitals has become a problem.

Here in Canada, where health care is universal, we Canadians are lucky to have access to world-class hospitals. But depending on which government is sitting (Liberal, Tory-conservative, or the NDP - democrats), our health care system's features and benefits could change with them.

For the latest developments in Ontario health care system, please check this:

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090315/OTT_caplan_health_090315/20090315/?hub=OttawaHome

For instance, previously funded services such as chiropractics, physiotherapy and eye exams have been delisted; but on the upside, there's availability of more radiation therapy units in hospitals. I remember one friend who, years ago, had to drive to Buffalo, New York every weekend to get radiation/chemotheraphy. Of course, another development, is that nowadays, we have to pay a yearly premium (costing from some $600 - 900 per individual ) for our health insurance.


In the Philippines, getting a bed in some hospitals is a real problem. This is the sad story mentioned above. It's been happening in government-owned hospitals, where there is limited resources, for the longest time; but now, it's been happening in private hospitals, too.

My daughter who resides in Manila had to wait one full day to get her own bed, and this took place in a big, prestigious hospital in Manila. Imagine being in great pain and becoming further distressed by not having a room or a bed. Does this mean that there are many people getting sick over there? Or are hospitals getting leaner by cutting down on fatty operational costs? Or are those mid-sized hospitals closing down, leaving a few to absorb the growing population, the last count of which was 70 million?

Whatever. If you get to be hospitalized, there better be a bed readily available for you.

Cole Porter-ing

The Grand Old Santa Ana Cabaret
Here's my crude Tagalog translation of Mr. Cole Porter’s

Night and Day
Night and day, you are the one
Araw gabi, ikaw lamang

Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Naka-siksik sa isip sa gitna ng lansangan

Whether near to me, or far
Malayo o kalapit

It's no matter darling where you are
Pareho ang degree ng init

I think of you
Nais kita

Day and night, night and day, why is it so
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw, bakit

That this longing for you follows wherever I go
Ang pananabik ay walang haplit

In the roaring traffic's boom
Sa init ng …Edsa

In the silence of my lonely room
O sa lamig ng Greenbelt

I think of you
Kapiling ka

Day and night, night and day
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw

Under the hide of me
May kilig sa liig

There's an oh such a hungry yearning burniang inside of me
May nagbabagang sabik

And this torment won't be through
Ang yamot na ito sa dibdib,

Until you let me spend my life making love to you
Di yata kakawala… kundi ka kaniig

Day and night, night and day
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw

Reading Novels

I wish I were an avid reader of classic novels. Really, I both admire and marvel at those people who can spend hours reading books.

Let me put it this way, I love to read. But I love to read non-fiction; books, magazines and newspapers. And when I read non-fiction, I prefer mystery novels by Scott Turrow and Tom Clancy.

Lately, I'd been avidly following a blog by a Filipino writer, at http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/ and from it, soon discovered the great many novels available out there, which I've missed in my younger days. I must admit that I got embarassed by my lack of literary finesse.

So last week, I took out my old library card and headed to the public library to check out a few books. I started with two Ernest Hemingway novels, "For Whom the Bells Toll and Farewell to Arms." I reserved also the "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D.Salinger.

In North America, especially Canada and the USA, people love to read. This habit of reading is usually taken up at an early age, derived from exposure to books at daycare centres and having been given reading assignments early at the public schools.

Here in Canada, it is so ordinary to see people of all ages reading books while waiting for or inside the bus or train, while having lunch or coffee, and sometimes, even when crossing the street. You also see Canadians and Americans reading their books while getting their tans at the beach or while simply enjoying the sun at the park.

Last Sunday, for instance, when we watched a musical, the person beside me was reading a book before the start of the show and during the intermission. It must have been a very good book.

I have no excuse for not having acquired the reading bug; I grew up in a household where my mother and two aunts and older siblings loved to read. I remember seeing books scattered in our living room, the Perry Mason books of Erle Stanley Gardner and the romance novels of Emily Loring and also the Mills & Boon-types, read by my teenaged sisters. My father, too, loved to read, but like me, he preferred non-fiction.

My early English reading consisted of the daily Philippine broadsheet, The Manila Times, and the weekly magazine, Philippine Graphics. Later on, in high school, I got exposed to both American and English Literature, and then in college, to the Filipino English writings.

Queen

Yesterday's weather, about 6 degrees celsius was perfect for a drive to downtown Toronto's Panasonic Theatre to watch the Musical " We Will Rock You. "

It was a blast! No wonder both baby boomers and babies (young people) were in attendance.

The musical which won world acclaim is also a favorite among Toronto's musical lovers. It is based on songs written variously by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.

Especially loved the ending pieces, We Will Rock You and We are the Champions.

Managing a March Break

Here we come! The school kids and university-types are delirious of the impending March break which starts next week, March 18th. And this would include their teachers and professors.

What do people do on their March break, really?
I know that university students rush to Florida, gulp their beer, plunge into the pool and do things their mothers won't approve them doing. Younger people on the other hand, trek to Disney, and those with enough money, fly to the Caribbean with their doting parents, for a swim in the ocean and a lot of buffet eating.

For those with less money, going local is the sane thing do. Here in Toronto, March break is often replete with shows in the area near City Hall, or in what used to be Mel Lastman square up in Yonge street. There would be fun activities all throughout the city - special events in museums, in skating rinks, even in malls.

I keep wondering why there is even a March break; it is supposed to be a break from winter. But why? Spring is just right after it.

I guess those planners who initiated the March Break meant it as a bridge not a break; an occasion to bridge the winter season to the spring. It is a preparation for the season to come (spring) and a goodbye to winter.


Whoever invented March Break must have come from the business family/sector. Why? Because families are forced to spend. Vacation get aways, new vacation clothes, hotels, car rentals, food, drinks, souvenirs all spell out money.


This morning as I drove out, the streets were not as busy and the parking lots , not as full. Then, the news in the radio blurted out that people were already headed out for their March break.


I suppose all parents would love to take their kids on a grand March break, but unfortunately for a lot of families, especially during this recessive times, that is quite impossible to do. And if both parents are working and you're not going away for this special week, you will be left with kids who will be at home for the duration of the break, so you would need to get a baby sitter, or one parent would take a week off to care for the school-age children.


To a lot of people, March break is a welcome respite from the cold and a nice, refreshing way to greet spring. But alas to many, it is also another reminder of the good things being missed out because of lack of resources.


March Break is unknown in many parts of the world, especially in countries where there is no winter. For instance, in the Philippines, March is the start of summer and a signal to the forthcoming end of classes, so it is an especially busy month wherein school exams are taking place, thus no break can be had.


March is also the month in which Lent is usually observed and with it, many special Christian rituals take place. And because Lent leads to Easter, the Easter weekend becomes the March Break in countries such as the Philippines; a joyous event marked by visit to one's original province, seeing relatives and old friends, partaking of fiesta-like food and because it is summertime, taking a dip in the cold river or sea nearby.

And for those moneyed-class, the Holy week and Easter weekend/cum March Break means a trek to the mountain resorts of the North such as Baguio or to the Southern tourist-islands such as Palawan.

The Dentist

I had an officemate many years ago - a good-looking guy married to an attractive woman, who refused to go the dentist. How did I know? His teeth were rotten. He survived the daily grind, 8 am to 5 pm work, without smiling. When he really needed to, he would twist his lips to create a small grin.

In our family, we have an aunt who is a dentist. So whenever there's was a tooth aching, my mother would send us running to her Santa Ana dental clinic.

Trips to a dentist can be an unnerving journey to a lot of people, especially in the olden days of my youth when dentists did'nt use yet or spray you with an anesthetic before piercing your gum with the real anesthetic needle. Then, the next dread was when you begin to feel your whole mouth becoming heavy, and the dentist would ask you if you felt numb already, and you had to answer, " nyess."

Having your teeth cleaned was not as awful as getting your tooth extracted. For extraction, the dentist pulled your tooth, sometimes meandering over the area surrounding it, circling his/her hand, and you could actually feel the boring and pulling, even when fully anesthesized.

At school, your elementary teacher told you to go the dentist twice a year and to brush your teeth three times a day. But to many, a visit to a dentist is still a very costly endeavor. Yes, some public schools and some local governments provide dental services but this is not yet a national priority. Even in the advanced nations such as Canada, where there is universal heatlh care, dental health/services are not yet fully covered.

In Toronto, you will be amazed at the number of Filipino dentists having a practise. Filipino newspapers are full of their ads - their smiling faces including those of their staff. Dentists here and in the U.S. make a very good living and are not as prone to malpractise suits as surgeons or family physicians.

Dentists in the Philippines are making a comeback, I guess; this, judging on some print advertisements I've seen lately, enticing Fil-Canadians to get their "dentals" done in Manila when they go there for their holidays or vacations. The ads say it's much cheaper to get tooth implants, or dentures in Manila.

Having a dentist in one's family cannot really resolve the cost of dental services. If your daughter is a dentist, for instance, and she works for a dental clinic, you as her relative would still be paying for the service, although at a discounted rate, perhaps. In the olden days, a dentist, upon graduation from college and passing the dental board exams, would immediately install a dental chair behind the house or in a spare room in the house, hang a billboard outside, and start seeing patients. Now, it is more getting employed by another established practitioner.

In Canada, particularly in the Ontario Province, foreign-trained or internationally-trained dentists have to undergo some years of study, and take the board exams, before qualifying as a dentist. And with a new regulation recently approved, dentists would have competition from those who have been allowed to do some dental services, such as cleaning, even without the dentist designation.

The following are some information regarding licensing of internationally-trained dentists, taken from the website of Citizenship and Immigration of Ontario:

"Canada and the United States operate according to a mutually recognized system of accreditation of dental training. If your dental training was outside of Canada or the United States you are considered to be “internationally trained” and you will be required to successfully complete a full-time, two-year qualifying program. This is the only means by which you can become eligible to take the Canadian national examination administered by the National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB) and this requirement must be completed before you can proceed with making an application to the RCDSO."

These two-year qualifying programs are known by several names, including
degree completion or advanced standing programs,
Internationally Trained Dentists Program, or
International Dentist Advanced Placement program.

For accurate information on how to be licensed as a dentist in Ontario, please go to

http://www.rcdso.org/

If ever I see my former colleague again, I would probably advise him to see a dentist, if he had not already done so. Those days, it was a bit embarassing to talk about grooming or oral health, but nowadays , when even males get botox treatment, telling a friend to go see a dentist, will be a piece of cake.

Shrek-ie in 3D!

At long last. I've waited almost three months to see 3D movies in my television. I got hooked into the idea upon reading experiences from 3D enthusiasts, mostly gamers.

I delayed buying an HD TV due to the fact that I wanted one prepared for 3D viewing. So, finally I got a Samsung 7 Series and a new PC.

Tridef, distributed by DDD, is the only software available that allows for 3D conversion of 2D DVDs. At the onset, I had major problems making the software work with my Sammie: codecs were conflicting ( my Vista's codecs don't work with Tridef), so when I installed Tridef, it asked for a compatible video decoder. That's when I installed WIN DVD 9. Voila! I saw 3D video but there was no audio. I asked for tech support from Tridef and they said it is a conflict in codecs. I then read in one blog of a similar experience: he had WIN DVD and did not have also audio; he solved it by installing AC3 filter. When I downloaded and installed this filter, I ended up having audio but no video when playing DVDs. WIN DVD crashed.

I was ready to give up. Tridef tech support said: conlflict with codecs, again? I then tried to download the free audio codec from MPA. Note: I tried to download both video and audio codecs, MPV and MPA, before, but it gave me error messages.

On this fresh attempt with MPA, I had more luck. It downloaded and installed successfully. With Vista system, when you download the MPA and MPV, you have to decompress the files from the Release Unicode (very important).

So, voila! I have both video and audio. The first 3D I watched was the Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I rented the 2D version from Blockbuster, and wore the special glasses from Tridef. It was not impressive. It is because I've seen this movie in 3D in its regular theatre run.

Next, I bought the 3D Polar Express, a Christmas story of a non-Santa-believer boy. I tried watching this movie on the Tridef Player and a regular DVD player. With the regular DVD Player, I just wore the paper glasses which came with the package. And on the Tridef player, I wore the special 3D glasses. I was impressed with the Polar Express. The scenes really came out of the TV set, and into my living room.

Next, I saw the 3d version of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, and the 3D scenes were quite fascinating, too.

My Shrek 3D DVD arrived in my mail yesterday and I have yet to see it. Although, based on some reviews I've read, they say this 3D is really a blast.

I went back to my 2D- DVD collection and watched and re-discovered March of the Penguins, Shrek 2 and Hulk 1 in 3D. March of the Penguins was especially AWESOME in 3D!

For those with 3D ready TV - Samsung, Hyundai and Mitsubishi are the three available 3D sets in the market - you may want to BETA TEST it first before buying the 3D software . There is a free download of the Tridef at http://www.tridef.com/ , so you can check if your display will support 3D viewing. There is also a good website to learn how to do the proper connections at: http://www.3dflightsim.com/

I give a word of caution. Unless you are comfortable with computers, do not invest money yet on the 3D software or any PC upgrades . Setting it up is a little complicated ( there are minimum and recommended PC requirements. You need a high-resolution TV set; There could be codec conflicts, sound card problems).

This being so, I now understand why there are not so many movies yet coming out as 3D.

In the meantime, let me continue to enjoy my new-found toy.

Canuck-ing

How can you tell if a Pinoy (Filipino) is also a Canuck (slang for Canadian), while he is visiting the Philippines? Eh?

First of, the Fil-Can or FlipCan would be uttering the famous Canuck word, "Eh" pretty often. In the US, the equivalent of this is the word " Huh," as in, " That movie is pretty gross, huh?" Now, often, when said by a Fil-Canadian would sound as " of TEN." S/he will also be heard saying the word , again as in ... " a GEYN."

Next, the Fil-Can will be spotted wearing those colorful souvenir t-shirt with signs such as " Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Manitoba, emblazoned at the front.

Third, the Fil-Can will be spotted wearing those Roots or Gap t-shirts or hoodies while browsing in the malls, or while bringing the whole family (tribu) to dinner.

He may also be wearing a baseball cap; s/he, getting a manicure and pedicure, as often as s/he can; and having liver spots and wrinkles removed at a famous dermatological-aesthetic spa/clinic. S/he may also see a dentist to have a denture replaced.

The wife will be shopping for gold jewelry and the husband for a LaCoste t-shirt and DVDs (Di-vi-di, di-vi-di) at Virra Mall.

A visit to the old American Air Base, Clark, will be in the agenda; beautiful Boracay or enchanting Palawan perhaps, if there's no tyhoon in the horizon.

If relatives are tagging along, the next destination could be just Baguio, which is pretty affordable if relatives number to be about thirty.

Then, there's the much written-about Divisoria, where the Fil-Can can splurge on the bargains, to bring back as pasalubongs to relatives and friends in Canada.

The Fil-Canuck may also visit the Old Intramuros for a mass or a short prayer at the old Spanish Cathedral.

A side trip to Fort Santiago, even a half-hour stay at the ancient fortress, could be enough to bring back old, sweet memories of one's youthful glee.

The Fil-Canuck will regal friends with tales of TTC (subway) rides, snow flurries from November to March, minus thirty degree temps, having watched all the Filipino shows via the TFC or the GMA cable, and his/her new Cherokee Jeep or Lexus.

S/he may also tell sad stories of working even on Christmas eve ( for some nannies) or working the graveyard shift during winter ( for some assembly and health care workers).

The Fil-Canuck will also tell jokes? or true stories of how humiliated s/he was when s/he was new in Canada: repeatedly asking a clerk where the men's/women's PANTS are located, and not being understood. "Oh, you mean, p_aen_tss, " the sales clerk said.

Or how one Fil guy repeatedly asked a TTC bus driver for direction, only to be pointed towards the coin/fare box near the driver's seat. The Fil-Canuck, then lowered his head towards the box, and asked, " where is Wellesley Street," thinking that the box was a microphone. A friend swore this really happened to one guy.

Of course, the Fil-Canuck will inhabit all the malls, from the SM's, Trinoma's, Greenbelt's and Mall of Asia, and go on an eating binge ( adobong hito, sinigang na baka, paksiw na ayungin, pritong biya, bibingka at puto bumbong, hopia sa Echague, pastillas de leche, tall glasses of halo-halo at SM, etc).

If one has many barkadas, inuman, will always be a part of a visit to the Philippines. The Fil-Canuck will have brought several bottles of whiskeys, and several cartons of Marlboro, for these particular neigbourhood parties.

If the true blue Canadian loves kayak-ing, the true blue Fil-Canuck loves karaoke-ing; s/he would gladly add a Celine Dion to his/her repertoire.

Author's Note: This article is not intended to insult nor denigrate anyone. It is mostly based on author's experience and observations.