Monthly Archives: November 2002

1979

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Don’t let me drift too far,
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed.
And that which you’ve given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you.

i believe in you, from the great Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming album. what made this lp great? wala lang – si bob dylan lang naman at si mark knopfler ang gumawa ng album. naalala ko pa nung unang lumabas ito… 14 years old pa lang ako. binili ko ang cassete na ito sa halagang 18 pesos sa isang record bar sa santiago, isabela. ang daddy ko kasi ay na-assign sa isang radio station sa norte at lumipat kami doon ng isang taon.

ang taon ay 1979, to be exact.

1979…mother theresa wins the nobel peace prize, margaret thatcher becomes new prime minister, john wayne dies, apocalypse now is shown on movie theaters, stephen king comes out with The Dead Zone and the world population reaches 4.3 billion people.

“1979”…di lang ito kanta ng SMASHING PUMPKINS (sample lyrics for epeks…”And we don’t know Just where our bones will rest, To dust I guess, Forgotten and absorbed, into the earth below”).

1979 was a great year of music.

1979 was the year dire straits released their 2nd album – Communiqué – “They wanna get a statement for Jesus sake, It’s like talking to the wall, He’s incommunicado no comment to make, He’s saying nothing at all…”

1979 was the year The Atlanta Rhythm Section released their “underdog” lp, ang paborito ng bayan ay ang kantang “do it or die”: “don’t let your troubles make you cry, don’t waste a moment wondering why, when everything goes wrong, you have to on and do it or die…”

1979 was the year Supertramp came out with their best lp called “Breakfast in America”… and of course the best song was…what else: “The Logical Song”

When I was young,
it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees,
well they’d be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.

But then they send me away
to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world
where I could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical…

this was my song – my Logical Song… 1979 was the end of the innocence…

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin’ by
But “happily ever after” fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

1979 was the year my daddy had to fly… ang galing ano? 14 years old pa lang ay full of music na, kaya lang nga eh walang daddy.

PRANING

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on the closing of the australian embassy in manila…i.e., the PDI article: Islamic radicals seen behind Australian embassy threat – Nov. 28, 2002

sobra naman ang australia sa pagkapraning… di ba ang australian embassy sa pilipinas nasa taas ng building sa makati? eh ang higpit na nga ng security sa mga building natin eh. di ko naman sinasabing walang threat sa kanila – pero, to close it down, i think, is admitting na sumuko na sila sa mga terrorist. kaya tuloy inaalaska sila ni doctor mahatir ng malaysia eh. last week sabi niya – “australia has to decide whether it wants to become a part of asia or become a puppet of the united states”.

sabagay di ako magtataka – pati nga singapore, binigyan nila ng security notice.

mahigpit ngayon dito pero subtle lang ang dating… especially sa mga airport. marami ngayong sundalo na nagpapatrol sa loob ng mga terminal na may mga assault weapon na hightech. marami ring biniling mga bagong machines to scan for chemicals, metals, etc. pati na rin ang mga container terminal sa singapore ay equipped na rin ng mga on-line analyzers para pwedeng mag scan ng mga container van during the loading sa mga barko. ang kagandahan lang eh – di mo ito masyadong mapapansin. for example, sa airport nakatago sa mga basement ang mga machines at di mo makikita na may scanning na nangyayari.

sa mga kalye na maraming puti – temporarily closed ang mga ito. especially around holland avenue and the boat quay areas na kung saan maraming tambay na mga foreigners na umiinom at kumakain. so kung pupunta ka rito, park ka sa malayo o kaya mas pinaka the best – mag taxi ka na lang or bus.

ewan ko – better to be prudent than to be sorry siguro. i guess they have a reason to be extra careful. problema lang ay minsan too extreme ang mga measures that it becomes a pain.

15 days na lang.

MARIA CLARA GETS MARRIED

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naalala ko tuloy yung kwento tungkol sa isang dalagang pilipina (eto classic old bastos joke)…

isang taga maynilang lalaki ang umuwi sa kanilang probinsya para maghanap ng asawa. gusto niya kasi ay yung conservative na walang alam sa kamunduhan. ayaw niya yung city girl na bad girl – ibig sabihin, in short, gusto niyang maging asawa ay yung innocent in the ways of the art of kama sutra. hehehe… anyway, so may nakilala nga siyang babae. maganda ang hitsura, matangkad, matalino, may pedigree ang pamiilya, maykaya at HIGIT sa LAHAT – sa kilos, salita at gawa niya’y sobrang Maria Clara.

para patunayan na talagang walang alam sa kamunduhan at sex si maria clara ay gumawa siya ng 2 mga pagsubok…

Unang Pagsubok – may umiihi na batang lalaki sa kalsada (in english big brother, there was this child pissing in the wind) biglang tinuro ni lalaki kay maria clara ang batang jumi-jingle (in particular tinuro niya yung toto ng bata) at sinabi: “Yan, ano yan?” sagot ni maria clara na namumula ang mukha: “Sili!”

PASADO si maria clara!!!!

Ikalawang Pagsubok – nanood sila ng pangit na pelikula sa sine sa may plaza. kinuha pa niya ay balcony seat para pwede silang mag labing labing ng kaunti. habang nakaupo na sila at nanonood ng pelikula, biglang hinugot ni lalaki ang kamay ni maria clara at isinilid sa loob ng kanyang pantalon at pinahawak ang kanyang nota at sinabing… ETO, ANO ITO??? namula na naman si maria clara (na parang si kuya bong at si reddy leongson kaya lang di natin ito makikita dahil madilim sa loob ng sinehan) at sinabing…”OKRA!” aba, PASADO sa ikalawang pagsubok.

PAKAKASALAN KO NA SIYA!!!!

to make my long digressing story short… kinasal na nga si maria clara at si manila boy. engrande at maraming bisita. ang style sa kasal nila ay mayron pang sasakyan na karitela na parang ginamit sa kasal ni princess diana… and so everybody happy. pagkatapos ng kasal sa simbahan ay sakay si manila boy at maria clara sa kalesa habang nakatingin ang lahat ng mga bisita.

pasakaky na si maria clara nang makita niya yung kabayo sa kalesa. nilapitan niya ito, yumuko at pinagmasdan ng matagal ang kabayo at biglang sumigaw (with feelings)…

“YAAAAN!!!! YAAAAAAAN!!!!! YAN ANG TITI!”

BLUEJAY

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handle ko ay “bluejay” – medyo baduy, then freddie coco suggested i change it to “jd transit”. hehehe… i was in rj around 1987 when it was still in the j&t bldg at santa mesa. around that time, i was still studying engineering at mapua (4th year).

after school (around 8:30 pm), i’d board a bus in front of the manila city hall and reach j&t around 9:30. i still had 30 minutes to get my cassetes (wala pang cd nung araw) and chat with “the red rooster” who had the 8-10 om slot (sadly, the red rooster died a couple of years ago – a pity, we was a great guy…) i got on board at 10:00 pm and finished at 2:00 AM. afterwards, i had to commute home in a jeep with the rest of the graveyard shift people – drunks, drug addicts, snatchers and hospitality girls.

it was great to work at the tower, especially in the late evenings. you’d see manila by night from up there and it was really beautiful. the city lights and the great music more than paid for my meager “allowance”. wala kasi akong suweldo eh… hehehe.

doubleA was the station manager, dante was the chief announcer, there was freddie coco, bob magoo, monster radio’s the gaucho (i forgot his name, damn – hehehe).

i spent a semester at rj – they fired me afterwards, hehehe… actually, they changed their format again and they fired everybody except dante.

in that short stint, i lost around 30 pounds becuase of the late nights every night except sunday. not to mention, the school work in the afternoon and evening. my grades started getting bad and it was time to make a career move. i chose engineering and left radio to my dad and brother.

APPENDECTOMY FROM HELL

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eto true story na nangyari sa office-mate ko na si henry.

last saturday, tinakbo siya sa clinic dahil masakit ang tiyan. sabi ng doctor baka ulcer – binigyan siya ng referral at tumakbo sila sa Singapore National University Hospital. pasok sila ng ER ng 9:00am, inadmit sa ospital ng 4:00 PM. hehehe… ambilis ng service ano?

diagnosis ng doctor – kailangan tanggalin ang appendix (ano ang plural ng appendix – appendice? pag mas plural – appendices?). naalala ko tuloy yung joke: Did you hear about the medical student who got in trouble for performing an operation? He removed the appendix from his medical textbook. mwa-haw-haw (TV canned laughter). asan na ba ako… a ok. let me proceed.

eh di kailangan nga niya ng appendectomy. before the operation, may isang doctor na pumunta at sinabi ang procedure ng operation: gagawa raw ng tatlong maliliit na incisions (hiwa) na pencil size para matanggal ang appendix niya. sabi niya ok lang.

after a while, may ibang doctor na lumapit sa kanya at sinabi ang procedure ng operation (ibang version): gagawa raw siya ng isang malaking hiwa sa tiyan niya para matanggal ang appendix niya. eh di sabi niya – ok.

the day of the operation, sa may operating room – nagkita yung dalawang doctor (i.e. yung 3 hole pencil size incision doctor at yung 1 long hiwa na doctor). yung nurse na attending sa kanya, di raw alam kung ano ang gagawin at kung sino ang susundin. hehehehe… yung pagkalito ng nurse ang last na naalala niya bago siya nawalan ng malay.

nagising siya ay tapos na ang operation. una niyang ginawa ay silipin ang tiyan niya: ang nakita niya ay…mayroon siyang tatlong pencil size na incision at isang mahabang hiwa.

di ko alam kung ganito talaga ang appendectomy or bobo ang mga doctor dito. pero ikinuwento ko kay Jet kagabi, tawa siya ng tawa.

GANESH

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i just got back from a 2 week swing that brought me to china and indonesia. back in singapore and trying to rest my tired bones. when i was in indonesia – i jumped from jakarta to surabaya back to jakarta then home to singapore. mahirap talagang maging biyahero. hehehe…

i got a few souvenirs… a bust of a java princess and three masks. additional pieces to a growing number of “artifacts” from my travels. i have a luck wooden frog from thailand that croaks when you drum its scales…bone sculptures from china… and three ganesh statues from india. anesh of course is the cute and beloved hindu god with the head of an elephant. ganesh holding a book is installed in our book case, a ganesh na nakahiga at ang favorite ko – ganesh na sandal wood piece that we have in front of our pc.

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SHOPPING SA CHINA

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kuya bong! si jet ang nag-shopping ng husto… ubos nga yung dala naming pera eh. hehehe… mahirap pala pag maraming mga asawa ng companya ang nagsama-sama, panay shopping ang gusto. hehehe. ako, nakakulong sa conference room habang namimili at namamasyal ang mga misis.

binili ni jet ay puro pang-regalo pag uwi sa pilipinas. masarap mamili sa china. lahat mura! kaya lang karamihan at peke. hehehe… pero magaling ang mga copya nila, di mo malalaman kung ano ang original. kanina nag-punta kami sa tiangge nila, napabili tuloy ako ng bag at jacket. mahirap palang mamili sa china. pag nagtanong ka ng presyo, di ka nila titigilan hanggang bumili ka. sarap ngang tumawad eh – original price na 450, makukuha mo ng 100. hehehe…

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