Saturday, October 30, 2004

My generation's music

While dining at Louis' at Fisherman's Wharf in SF last night, I kep hearing the music of my generation being played. That's right, the music of the 1980's. The fiancee said that it meant that my generation now has money and can influence people. Whoopee! No more disrespect from store employees! No more guards following me!

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Philippine music

I have finally learned how to burn CDs. Yipee! I have started to burn the jazz section and the classical. Next up tonight is the Pinay and Tagalog section. I am excited to be able to finally listen to music at work.

Last night, I planned on buying the Bose headphones. No, not the $300 ones. Just the $150 ones. But when i got to the Apple store, guess what! They ran out! Well, off to Magnolia I go. Magnolia does not sell ice cream. They sell really high end audio stuff. I was so excited to get my hands on the Bose headphones that my knees were knocking together. But as fate would have it, nope, they did not have it either. So off to the Good Guys I go. Trudge, trudge. Actually, drive, drive. I go to the store but they also don't have it. I took this as a sign that I am not supposed to buy the Bose headphones.

On the way home, I realize that I could go by t
Philippine music

I have finally learned how to burn CDs. Yipee! I have started to burn the jazz section and the classical. Next up tonight is the Pinay and Tagalog section. I am excited to be able to finally listen to music at work.

Last night, I planned on buying the Bose headphones. No, not the $300 ones. Just the $150 ones. But when i got to the Apple store, guess what! They ran out! Well, off to Magnolia I go. Magnolia does not sell ice cream. They sell really high end audio stuff. I was so excited to get my hands on the Bose headphones that my knees were knocking together. But as fate would have it, nope, they did not have it either. So off to the Good Guys I go. Trudge, trudge. Actually, drive, drive. I go to the store but they also don't have it. I took this as a sign that I am not supposed to buy the Bose headphones.

On the way home, I realize that I could go by Best Buy and shop around. There in the hallowed halls of Best Buy, I found the Bose Trifoil Headphones. It was gleaming in the flourescent light of the store. But, I guess I exhausted my energy because then, I just did not want to spend $150 for headphones when I could get some for $20.

Yup, yup this is how I control my spending habits. I try to buy the material, and hope that it is out of stock.

By the way, does anyone out there have recommendations for Pinay singers who sing in Tagalog? I have some CDs here by Belinda Cuervo, Carol Banawa, and Roselle. They are great and I want some more.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Freedom from Death

I am thirty-five years old. According to statistics, I have a chance of reaching seventy years old. As the years pass by, I am suddenly becoming aware of the passing of people. Relatives who surprised me with their vigor at the age of seventy now seem so vulnerable at the age of eighty.

My father passed away when I was sixteeen, and my mother entered the beyond when I was twenty-nine years old. A friend of mine at work talked to me when my mother passed away. He mentioned how he felt that he was truly alone in this world when his father passed. When you lose both of your parents, it is as if you join a club of loners.

My teacher told us a story that happened to him when his mother passed away. As he was sitting in the crowd, an older woman was laughing, whispering to another woman and pointing to him. When he asked why she was laughing, the woman replied, "You are free." My teacher was taken aback. He did not understand what the old woman said. The woman just kept repeating to him "You are free."

Years later, my teacher would tell us about that day in his life. He had come to realize that the freedom is real. He is free to lead his life, to follow his own counsel and to create a world for his own without having to ask permission or approval from his parents.

In the death of parents, I have seen many people cry and be sad. I only hope that in the end, they will see that their life is their own now. That it is okay to feel sad for a little bit of time. But that after that sadness, they must choose to be happy. They must choose to live a life and not think of what might have been and what could have been.

This one is for Uncle Pablo Ruiz who passed away this month. A World War II veteran. A marcher in the Bataan Death March. A father, grandfather and great-grandfather. An anonymous veteran from whom much is owed by this generation.

Friday, October 22, 2004

New beginnings

Next week, I go to the new building for the company. Goodbye comfortable office. Hello cubicle hell. Actually, it should not be that bad. I am going to get me headphones.

The memorial this Wednesday for Helen had a tremendous turnout. I'm thinking about two-hundred people. Maybe shooting up to three hundred. Unlike the SO, I don't know as many people there. But, the Pin@y food was tremendous. The organizers thought they might run out of food. Ha! There was food from heaven. The SO cooked kaldereta and it was delicious falling off the bone kaldereta. I had to advertise to the other guys that the "kaldereta will blow your mind."

New beginnings

Next week, I go to the new building for the company. Goodbye comfortable office. Hello cubicle hell. Actually, it should not be that bad. I am going to get me headphones.

The memorial this Wednesday for Helen had a tremendous turnout. I'm thinking about two-hundred people. Maybe shooting up to three hundred. Unlike the SO, I don't know as many people there. But, the Pin@y food was tremendous. The organizers thought they might run out of food. Ha! There was food from heaven. The SO cooked kaldereta and it was delicious falling off the bone kaldereta. I had to advertise to the other guys that the "kaldereta will blow your mind."

Monday, October 18, 2004

Helen the Pin@y

Helen Toribio passed away over the weekend. I try to find perspective in the death of friends and acquaintances. I rationalize their death as the completion of their journey on this earth. As with Ace, Helen had already filled her quota on accomplishments in this world. Helen had reached that pinnacle of personal tolerance in which she could say nothing but nice things about most people.

Over this past spring, Abe and Helen celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. At the time, every person in the household had to introduce themselves. My comment was about how the SO and I were planning to get married and how if our marriage was as one-fifth as successful as that of Abe and Helen, then our marriage would be a success.

I am saddened by the passing. I miss the jokes and side comments. But all those things are inside of me. People do live on inside of those who remember.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Filipino-American History Month

It is October once more and we gaze our eyes towards the past by celebrating Pin@y-American history month. If you would like to read a Pin@y who is doing something to open the minds of the younger Pin@ys, check out San Francisco State's finest,Professor Ben Vergara's blog (aka Sunny to those of us who used to roam the wild, wild soc.culture.filipino newsgroup of yore).

As a side note, while at a gig in the Philippine consulate on October 1, I thought I saw Sunny. Instead, I realized that this person was gay and probably thought that I was trying to pick him up because of my face-splitting smile. I almost made introduction until I realized that Sunny would never have enough panache to pull off wearing a black sweater with a big A as a necklace pendant.

So, there I was at the Philippine consulate. I had to swallow my fear of driving in San Francisco to get there. I suppose I should get real. It's not like it is worse than Los Angeles. And after having found the beauty of valet parking, what the hell? I can pay for parking now. I have a job. At any rate, love is far stronger than fear. And so I made it to the Philippine consulate about thirty minutes late.

This is one of those Philippine Filipino rules kind of affairs. What does that mean? There is a schedule, the schedule will be late, everyone will be there, and it will be a good night if one of the World War II veterans do not die from the length of the affair. The first time I heard about the affair, I thougth it was a reading. But, the writers didn't really have time to read from their book. Instead, they made speeches to promote their books.

Part of the affair was a tribute to Wilfredo Nolledo who is one of the seminal Pin@y-American writers. He passed away this year. If there should be required reading for Pin@ys, it should be his novel "But for the Lovers." Go to Amazon and buy it.

There were several bright spots to the affair. For one, the singer who performed after the affair was excellent. I believe his name is William Morin.. The second bright star of the night was the artist Mel Vera Cruz. He is following the tradition of Santiago Bose with respect to his vision. Lots of anger and chaos in the work. It's not something I would put in my living room. The third was seeing the WW II veteran walk around. Inspiring to think that they are still with us.

As for the affair's negative sides, well, how about trying not to get so stuck on the schedule? At the end of the affair, people began schmoozing and talking to each other. But, the consulate still had to show one commercial made by 21 singers from the Philippines. The host for the evening actually tried to get people to pay attention and get off the stage and try to look at the advertisement. Sometimes, people have to know when to let go of the situation. Another negative is what I alreay mentioned. Writers don't need speeches. They need to be able to read their poems or excerpts of their novels.


Friday, October 01, 2004

DVD, work, time

The SO has created a mah-velous DVD of the pamanhikan. The best thing about the DVD is that she managed to edit beautifully between two angles. I don't even think I have the patience to do that. So now, for those friends who never saw it, we can show them what the pamanhikan was like.

The company will be moving out of our current location into the building across from us. From a view of the parking lot, I will get to see a view of a wider parking lot. Yipee! Seriously, so long as a janitor can clean out the trash everyday and I don't have to think about what I dump in the trashcan, I will be happy. The previous job only had the janitor come in twice a week. That company is still limping along although they are now going to do their manufacturing in the third world.

Time has flown. A friend of mine from the post-doc years got a job in SSF. I was asked to be a reference and when I looked when I knew her, it was something like 1999. Talk about a while ago. Five years ago. Ten years ago, I was still a graduate student. Now, I hear that the last post-doc from my grad school lab is leaving to take an academic position. He is leaving a cadre of undergraduates. The second-in-command of that lab retired this past April. Twenty-two years ago, I came to the land of growth hormone laced milk and antibiotic fortified cattle. In two more years, it will be my twentieth reunion for high school.

And I heard last night that my uncle who was one of the people who picked us up from the airport passed away. He lived to the mighty tune of 88 years old. Here is to a good life. May each one of use lead one.