Only God and I knows why I am very happy today!!! My general happy feeling can be described by my chosen song of the day. And I would like to greet a very Happy Birthday to the woman who sang this lovely song.
A shower of kisses to you and see in February here in Manila!
Maligayang bati sa bruha kong aydol! ‘Di lang ikaw ang hapi ngayon, AKO din…
A considerable amount of my time growing up during my pre and early teen years was spent by watching the original cartoon animation series The Superbook. It is an anime series that chronicled the events in the Bible’s Old and New Testament.
joy, chris and gizmo
The Bible in its written form can be so intensely deep and enormously ornate in words, idiolect and terminologies. Because of this, its thoughts, teachings and philosophies can be at times so difficult to understand. Because of this, The Superbook then was my early basis and reference on how to understand the stories and teachings of the Bible.
And from among all episodes of this valuable anime series during the 1980s (including its re-runs dubbed in Filipino language), never did I saw Christian, Joy and their toy robot Gizmo encounter an episode that being gay and falling in love with a person of the same sex or gender is a sin.
Maybe it is because the creators of The Superbook series knows that it does not take a person to read, know and understand the Bible to realize that falling in love is not a sin. I guess The Superbook creators knew that love is universal and that love is beautiful. I guess The Superbook knows that there’s no book on “how” and there’s no book on “who” when in comes to love.
The same thought that this music conveys…
Ay lab Superbuk! Ang kumontra, Chaka!
I grew up listening to her music. I grew up liking her ever changing image. I grew up idolizing this woman who ignited an entire generation to express themselves.
photo from madonna.com
Seeing a Madonna Concert is the only thing that is lacking of my being a die-hard fan. Click this LINK for you to know how big a fan I am of Madonna: https://neillangit.com/2008/08/17/a-fan-of-a-golden-girl/
To fulfil my self-imposed requirement, I seriously considered travelling to Tel Aviv, Israel in 2012 to watch the Sticky and Sweet World Tour. I chose Tel Aviv because that seem to be the nearest country where I can watch that concert. Also, being a Filipino I need not apply for a tourist visa in that country. But due to budget constraints I obviously was not able to go.
Then just about two weeks ago, my super friend Jesse who’s based in Sydney messaged me and invited me to see the Rebel Heart show in Australia. He sent me the link on how the purchase should go. This is despite the fact that Madonna performing in Manila is already becoming a big buzz. I was so close to buying the ticket! But for some weird reason, obviously I did not.
Until two days after chatting with Aussie Jesse, the big news was announced that Madonna for the first time will perform in Manila. I did not believe it still, until I personally checked the official Madonna website. And when I saw for myself that Madonna is indeed coming, I was like feeling so moved!!! I know I’m not religious, but I felt so moved, it made me wanna pray!!!
the only one in asia!!!
Then, 4 days prior to the official selling of tickets to public, I received a text message from Citibank informing me that I got the opportunity to buy Madonna tickets because of their pre-sale program. I of course did not let this chance go! I moved my ass and bought 2 ticket seats.
I need someone to accompany me during the concert so I bought 2 tickets. One for my dear sister Gaying. My sister during the event has been assigned to pinch my nose and slap me in the face to remind me that what I am about to see and experience is not a dream.
finally!
Now that I got myself her concert ticket, one of my life’s bucket list will finally become a realization. See you there…
Parating na ang sugo. Bili na ng tiket!
my dear sister on a fine powdery snow…
Me and my elder sister Gaying believes that there is a direct and positive correlation between the way a person looks and the number of flyers that person receives every time he or she is in a mall. We believe the more affluent-looking or rich-looking you are, the more flyers will be handed to you by Flyer Ladies and Flysheet Dudes inside a mall.
That is why when I and my elder sister Gaying would be together inside a mall for some shopping, we have some sort of a small competition. We would tally how many flyers would be handed over to each of us. The person who receives the most number of flyers at the end of shopping wins.
Scoring would actually depend on the type of flyer given to us. If the flyer would be about a luxury car, a posh condo unit or a high-born club membership that would mean high points. But if the flyer is about a missing pet, a launching of a new soy sauce brand or would be about a dishwashing liquid that would definitely trigger hilarious pang-aapi (verbal oppression) and riotous heckling towards the person who received it.
me and ate gaying love osaka!
And since it’s my Ate Gaying’s birthday today and though we did not go shopping today, let me concede and declare that today even without any flyer (just for today though) that she looks richer and more high-heeled than I am.
Sige dahil bertday mo, mas mukha kang mayaman ngayong araw kesa sa kin. Happy Birthday Ate!
It has always been my belief that entering a house of prayer or a religious temple for the first time goes with a lot of perks. I am with the faithful belief that you can ask for three wishes if it is your first time to enter a church. This of course is aside from the opulent opportunity to pray for your loved ones, express your heartfelt gratitude, catch-up with God and in a way save your soul.
simple yet powerful!
mystifying
But my first time visit to the church of Our Lady of Caysasay in Barangay Labac, Taal has more than what I expected. I only knew through a brochure write-up of the hotel were we stayed in Taal that pilgrims and visitors of this church as decreed by Vatican may actually receive the rare and priceless plenary indulgence. This means, if you visit and pray at Caysasay Shrine all your sins, wickedness and impiety will be washed away. Upon knowing this, and since my wickedness is already up to the brim, I made sure that I and my friends must go there.
Aside from washing away all my evilness, I also got to meet one remarkable kid in Taal. His name is Mark Vincent. I actually met him right inside the church. After saying a solemn prayer, this kid approached me and asked if I wanted to personally hold the image of Our Lady of Caysasay. I of course agreed. He then told me to follow him outside, led me to the back of the church and asked me to go up the stairs which leads me to the back of the high altar.
the angel and the wicked
our lady of caysasay
feeling blessed
When I reached the top floor, the main backdoor of the church was locked. Mark Vincent noticed that I could not get in so he hurried downstairs and told the church’s personnel to open the door for me and my friends. This is where the amazing and rare opportunity of touching the miraculous image, her vestment and even the hair of Our Lady of Caysasay happened. This beautiful experience was indeed sublime and mystifying.
When I told Mark Vincent that he is supposed to be in school that Wednesday morning, he told us that his teacher ordered them to report halfday after lunch because it’s the feast day of St John the Baptist. In Batangas province, part of its local tradition is to splash water to people passing by the streets from morning ‘til noontime during San Juan day. The teacher then, as I supposed, must not want her students reporting at school in the morning all drenched wet.
I was expecting Marc Vincent to ask money from us upon making sure we experience what we experienced. Usual Pinoy cunning and scheming kids would charge or ask tourists for money for the service they believe they’ve rendered. But what is so remarkable about this kid is that he never asked anything from us. He simply wanted us to have a deeper encounter with the Lady of Caysasay. This is the point when I surmised that Mark Vincent, the genteel and well-mannered kid, must be some angel sent by heaven. (I will write further about my encounter with this remarkable kid in the days to come…)
Sa wakas nahuhasan din. Grabe. Ang linis linis ko. Hahaha!
tatay joe
Last week before spending a short weekend escape in Baguio, I and my friends stopped over and heard a Holy Mass in the Shrine Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag in Pangasinan. And during this very Holy Mass only did I realize that every time the Offertory is about to begin the person that enters my mind is my father.
Offertory would always remind me of my childhood, my father and the numerous episodes of my family hearing Mass in Baclaran Church. When the choir starts singing to indicate the start of the Offertory, my father would automatically dig his hand in his pocket and would hand me and my siblings a couple of coins. These are the same coins that we would naively put inside the collection bag being reached out and brought around the church to collect cash donations.
This simple episode that constantly reactivates in my memory every offertory, I guess is the modest and humble symbolism that reminds me about my father being the family’s able provider and role model. This simple act (I guess) is the symbol which in a way developed in me the concept of charity, kindness and sharing.
Aside from enriching my soul and taking the opportunity to thank the Heavenly Father for all the blessings he showers me, attending the Holy Mass is also an avenue to remind myself that I actually had a “good” father.
Happy Father’s Day Tatay…
No thanks to social media, we Facebook users are bombarded with photos of our friends’ recent vacation. Gone are the days when we have to go to a friend’s house before we would be able to sit through his most recent vacation because we would be shown stacks and stacks of photo albums. But nowadays, we can never totally escape from our friends’ vacations.
water front promenade with the spectacular view of midtown manhattan skyline
this shot garnered lots of fb likes!
According to a researcher on human-computer interaction issues, posting photos of oneself on vacation is like “impression management”. These people tend to paint an impression of themselves to get the positive reaction they want. These are the people with narcissistic motivation who tends to provoke envy but in fact and in my personal assessment could actually be very annoying especially when photos posted has gone too excessive. It can already be considered a bunch of uninteresting excesses of the cyber world.
Well, the person the researcher on human-computer interaction issues is talking about is so me. That is so me and I freaking don’t care! Hahaha! Yes I am narcissistic but let me just modify the issue on provoking envy. I post my photos on the net particularly my blog not because I wish people to envy me. I post them to chronicle the treasures I had amassed. It is because I consider my travels and vacations as my treasure.
feeling rich!
a super nice shot by jo dela rosa…
I actually don’t care if people hate my photos or do not care at all about what I post. My photos chronicling my travels may not have some positive cosmological effect in the universe, but these are my treasures that can never be spent away or stolen from me.
And to further prove this adverse and unflattering trait, in this blog post are a bunch of photos of me and with some New York-based friends, whom I consider as another form of treasure. These “treasures” were taken by my friend Jo Dela Rosa (who surprisingly possesses some excellent photo skills) at Gantry Plaza State Park at Long Island City during my recent NY vacation.
striking a pose with charles, mark and jhong…
Oh diba? Ang yaman yaman ko, andami kong foto.
I don’t cook but if I am to give a TED talk, one possible topic that I would discuss would be the event when I cooked Adobo. A pork adobo for that matter. It is because this is the first time ever that I cooked such a Filipino dish and this happened not in the Philippines but no less than the high-end, well-heeled and sophisticated New York.
I would talk about the feelings of anxiety on how such ingredients would end up being edible and be fit for human consumption. I would talk about the various moods I felt when I was being instructed to the point of being obligated by my friend (Jhong) on what to do as well as the tips on how a perfect adobo would be like.
jhong at times square, my preferred venue in case my TED Talk talk will become a reality
Super Sid and the secret ingredient
me at jhong’s crib, the birthplace of “new york style pork adobo”
I would talk about the joys of learning how supportive another friend (Sid) became and gave a cooking-adjustment-advise during the duration of my cooking when the dish is turning to become salty and tough to the bite. I would talk about the pleasures of slow cooking and low-fire culinary technique as well as the innuendos of having to wash the dishes while waiting for this amazing dish to cook. I would talk about the thrill of discovering the secret ingredients that I learned so that the dish would be considered the best adobo ever.
hilaw pa
luto na. tadah!
new york style pork adobo
I would talk about the ecstasies, the bliss and the delight when friends considered my first time Adobo to be such a great adobo dish! We all finished it! Jhong even brought some to his office as a “baon” (packed lunch).
And by the way, I’ve tagged this adobo as the New York Style Pork Adobo. I’m pretty sure, I would gain standing ovations and be invited to various TED talk events and venues if I would talk about it. Even Mr. TED of TED talk, whoever he may be, for sure would love my pork adobo.
Naka-tsamba lang ng masarap na luto gusto na kagad mag-TED tok. Hahaha!
It is all over the news that 3 British teens tried to enter Syria for their alleged plan of joining the Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria. And according to news, prior to these 3 aspiring slaughterers there has been hundreds of young Britons lured, bewildered and mystified has gone to Syria.
These are my thoughts about it. I guess these British kids don’t actually realize how privileged they are for being born and to be living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. They don’t realize how lucky they are and how easy it is for them to live a life. These homo sapiens basically do not need to be worried about the basics of living a life because their government’s social services are much better if compared to the majority of the countries around the planet. The basic physiological, security and self-esteem needs of living a life are essentially prearranged before their birth and are actually given to them even before they start breathing.
Instead of joining Isis, I recommend these kids to try living for a month (no a week) to some poverty-stricken area here in Metro Manila. I suppose these kids don’t need to join a fatally flawed group of assassins to be able to realize what life is all about. At least here in Metro Manila, they will experience the hell which they seem to aspire and look for but without the need or the requirement of killing another human being.
Here in Metro Manila, they will experience the hell of traffic, the hell of human congestion, the hell of all sorts of pollution, the hell of public service and servants, the hell of riding the metro, the hell of dealing with perverse taxi drivers and a lot lot more. But what is good in experiencing these hells is that they would not entail to kill anyone. Given a month (no a week) here in Metro Manila, I suppose these kids would be able to realize how lucky and fortunate they are as human beings.
But in case these teens would really opt to join Isis and go to Syria, may I further suggest two things. First, these kids when they leave for Syria should be deprived of their British citizenship and should not have the option of returning due to threats in security. Second, the consulate of the United Kingdom here in Metro Manila should award the stripped citizenship of these would-be bandits to those human beings here in Metro Manila who aspire and dreams to live a peaceful and privileged life in UK. I for one would be the first in line when applying. I would love to live a colorful life in UK and have the opportunity to experience what a civilized, cultured and privileged Briton life would be.
Sige palit tayo. Dito kayo, dyan ako. Mga bobong bata ‘to!
One of the philosophies that I have long been observing is to maximize my existence and celebrate the gift of life no matter how simple life’s circumstances are. I call it my “glorious ordinary”.
But this maximization and celebration of a simple life should not in any way impede on achieving my big dreams and ambitious aspirations. No way would I “kick the bucket” and stop realizing my dreams or cease the fulfillment of my bucket list.
In the next couple of weeks, my “glorious ordinary” would have to temporarily be placed on halt because something big is about to happen to my life. My next adventure would definitely be a fulfillment of one item in my very long and very ambitious bucket list… .
I am actually now excited and is already looking forward to my next adventure… Expect lots of posts about this journey. For the meantime, here’s an Instagram post to announce where my next big adventure is going to be.
Sa Cubao lang ang peg…
Nengkoy 