Mongkok

Ordered stuffed tofu for lunch, beef tenderloin, seafood roll and yangchow fried rice. That’s supposed to be sufficient for dinner as well. Cook went marketing.

Verdict: the stuffing of the tofu was perched atop it. It consisted of cornstarch with some minced or finely ground pork that has the color of pork spareribs. Blah.

Beef tenderloin – the sauce is different. too sweet and rich.

Seafood roll – I was almost sure when the girl on the telephone suggested it that I had tried this before and didn’t like it. Darn. My opinion hasn’t changed.

Yangchow fried rice was ok.

Tonight I intend to order the tinapang dory from Mag:net. I hope it will make up for my wrong choices during lunch.

Clones

Vary rarely, they surpass the original in terms of quality and taste. A lot of the time they don’t.

Today son ordered the clone of Pepper Lunch’s beef pepper lunch because the clone has a branch near where we live. Take out.

So I tried one slice of the meat and it tasted burnt. Son said its accompanying sauce seemed to be like its marinade. Not the honey and garlic sauces PL provides when one orders takeout. (And they don’t carry a curry variant.)

Pepper Lunch forever. Tagal pa ng weekend.

(There’s a negative comment re PL Shang below, however. Sad…)

Michael Jackson

Everybody has said his piece on Michael Jackson, I spoke to a friend via long distance from Bacolod and she said she shed a few tears for his passing. Poor Farrah Fawcett, her death was all but obliterated by MJ’s own.

Michael Jackson – the first song that came to mind when I heard of his death was BEN. Then the Christmas song that goes “People making lists, buying special gifts…” And finally, Thriller.

I liked MJ’s music and his dancing. Pity that his life was colored by scandals and that appearance of his in the balcony with his baby – that really floored me.

Rest in peace, Michael, and as many people have done, I’d like to do too. Say, “Thank you for the music.”

GMA’s forthcoming shows

The one I’m most excited about is Rosalinda. Yes, partly to see Delia Razon’s granddaughter (I like Delia Razon, such a lady) and Geoff Eigenmann, but also because of the presence of Ariel Rivera and Roderick Paulate. I Like AR’s intensity as an actor and RP’s fun, a lot of fun when he does comedy. He did a telenovela for GMA before and sadly, the effort he put into it was too evident to be effective.

I think Gelli de Belen is in All of My Life along with Zoren. They’re okay but I cannot stand Kris Bernal. So I’m not watching that.

I’m looking forward to watching the nth remake of Darna, at least once because Marian Rivera seems very adept in executing her stunts. She appears very well coordinated, her moves are sharp. Even husband noticed that.

*********

This pm, contrary to what I wrote above, I watched All of my Life. Gelli was a gem, so was Lani. And the three children. Now whether I’ll watch the show when the children grow up is another matter. Oh, and Manilyn was great.

Gerry Esquivel’s Address to the Graduating Batch (2009) of the College of Architecture of UP

+
amdg

Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.

Nuong 4th year ako, may back-subject akong watercolor. Isang umaga, pinatawag ako ni Professor Chico, sabi niya….”Esquivel? Halika rito sa harapan…” So proud naman akong lumapit at pinagmalaki ang aking gawang watercolor.

At habang hawak ko ang aking pinag-yayabang na nilikha, proud din naman si Professor Chico’ng sinabi…..” Class, eto na yata ang pinakapangit na watercolor painting na-sinubmit sa akin ngayong semester!!!!!!”

“Mam! Bakit naman?”

“Esquivel, ang assignment ninyo ay magwatercolor ng bukid, ng pilapil, ng tanim na palay…. Shades of green and blue… bakit naman may napakalaking poste ng Meralco dito sa gitna ng drawing mo? Napaka-itim pa!”

“ Mam progress di ba? 5 years from now, subdivision nayan!” Binigyan niya ako ng TRES!

Hindi ko maalala pero parang na-flat yata yung kotse ni Professor Chico sa parking lot ng Melchor one week after.

Kung nagtuturo pa siguro si Mam, marahil tutulan niya si Dean Danny na pagsalitain ako ngayong umaga.

3 weeks ago, I went to the Library and looked for my old thesis. The title was “Balanga Housing Project.” After going through it, I requested the Librarian to let me check out the more recent thesis materials. She gave me a bound presentation entitled, “The New Philippine Stock Exchange- subtitled Merging Architecture for an Emerging Market.”  WOW!  Haneeeep! Gusto kong magmura!

Nakita ko rin yung mga scale models ninyo. Ang ganda-ganda. Impressive. Professional.  Halatang hindi kayo ang gumawa. Sa loob – loob ko, kung ngayon ko ipagtatanggol yung thesis namin, malamang di ako gagraduate.

I visited campus because I was trying to get a feel of what’s new in college and what stayed the same. The Blue Book is made of the same paper; banana Q is still sold inside campus. And that ROTC and Spanish are no longer requirements.

Some things change. Some things stay the same.

But as I was skimming through my 1982 thesis and comparing it to the more recent ones, I found it quite soothing that all our thesis introductions, both old and new had exactly the same acknowledgements.  Ang dati at ngayon, parehong nagpapasalamat sa Panginoon at sa ating mga magulang.

And while your presentations appear to be more sophisticated than ours, what clearly remains timeless is our gratitude to God and our parents who loved and sacrificed a lot for us to be here today.

Sa mga magulang……. araw din ninyo ito ngayon. Malaking Congratulations.

Kadalasan ang graduation speeches ay tungkol sa pagiging bayani.  Leadership. Vision. Inspiring stories about career achievements and professional victories. Magaganda ang lahat ng ito.  But today; I will not talk about grand and mega things. None of that. Wala naman akong puedeng sabihin sa inyo na di pa ninyo alam. Magkekwento na lang ako ngayong umaga ng mga ibat-ibang kababawan,  mga simpleng at ordinaryong pangyayari ng aking buhay.

Story no 1. UP vs Ateneo

Tuwing UAAP basketball game ng Ateneo at UP ay lagi akong nalilito kung ano ang isusuot kong T-Shirt para sa Araneta. Mag-mamaroon ba ako? O Asul?  Sinabihan na nga ako ng Vice- President ng Ateneo, “Oh come on Gerry…… make up your mind?”

Nakakalito. Yan sana ang gusto kong pag-usapan. Confusion.

Ano ba talaga ang gusto nating gawin for the rest of our life? After several years of studying architecture, what are our opitons? Kapag tinanong ninyo ang anak ko sa Grade 7, maliwanag at matining ang kanyang isasagot. “ I want to be rich Tatay, I want to be like Oprah.”

Minsan mas maliwanag pa nga sa mga bata ang nais nila sa mundo kaysa sa ating may mas-mataas na pinag-aralan.

Alam ninyo, hindi ko naman talaga gustong mag- Architecture. Si Tatay lang ang nag-udyok sa akin. High school pa ay ginusto ko nang mag-pari. Kayat pagkatapos ng Board Exam ay pumasok ako sa Arvisu House. Nagsubok mag- Heswita. Nalito.

The wiser among say that to be successful, you must be focused and hard-working.  I agree.  But for many years, I was neither focused; and definitely not hard-working.

What I was, was confused.

Because after almost 2 years as a pre-novice, and finally knowing that priesthood was not for me, I was so defeated that I wandered around aimlessly searching for what I would do.

Then one beautiful morning, I accidentally met Beng. I fell in love. And after getting married, I was no longer confused because everyday, everyday of my life,  she tells me what to do!

So, sa mga lalaki dito na di alam ang gagawin sa buhay? Mag-asawa na kayo!

Sa aming 1982 batch may mga nag-practice ng architecture at landscape, may naging construction managers, contractors, may naging animation and graphics professionals. Halo- halo. May nag-tanim din ng orchids.

But I don’t want to share about the options that you all can pursue after graduation. Different areas of expertise and specialization.  Further studies maybe or working overseas? Ang dami talagang options.  Nakakalito.

But today, I want to tell you about another type of confusion.

Our internal confusion to do good against bad. And to do better against good. And to do best over better.

When you look around us today, you will be so disappointed that our leaders can’t seem to figure out the simplest of battle. Good against evil. Stealing against giving. Lying against truth. Corruption against service. Loyalty against betrayal. Daig pa sila ng anak kong Grade 7! Diretso! “I want to be rich Tatay! Like Oprah, because I want to help!” Maliwanag. Simple.

In my journey both as a businessman and as an ordinary mortal, I have come across some very confusing times. Moments when everything can appear real but not really so. Moments when even wrong and right can be muddled together to present itself as grey. Not as bad as pitch black. Not unreachably white. But conveniently grey.

Sandali na lang at kayo ay kikita na ng sarili ninyong pera.  Para sa iba, limpak limpak na pera ang bubulaga sa inyong harapan. Maganda ito.
Pero darating ang panahon na dadalawin sana, SANA kayo na pagkalito. When you will be so overwhelmed by your success and achievements and wonder… “Para sa akin ba lahat ito?  Is this all for me?

O di kaya naman, kapag malapit ng marating ang tagumpay, when everything is just within easy reach….. When we have been so focused, and determined to achieve, sana, SANA dalawin tayo muli ng pagkalito …..Tama ba itong ginagawa ko? Is this good?

Confusion is good. It grounds us. It reminds us. It silences us. It allows us to dig deeper than the world normally offers. And when confusion stares at us squarely in our face, don’t reject it. But more so embrace it.

Story no 2. Ang saranggola ni Tatay

February of this year, my 9 year old son Ian, and I attended a kite flying activity in Ateneo.

Napaka-loko nitong bunso ko. Dahil nahirapan kaming paliparin ang saranggola ay linayasan akong bigla. Tumakbo at hiniram ang tangang lubid ng lumilipad na saranggola ng kanyang kaibigan. Nainip. Tinamad. Ginusto ni Ian na maramdaman agad-agad ang sarap at laya ng may-tangang matayog na saranggola na parang inuuyayi ng hangin.

My father too dreamt of flying his own kite. Mahirap na tao lang ang Tatay ko. Isang probinsyano galing Nueva Ecija. Tapos maaga pa siyang naulila.

Wala rin siyang naipon na kayamanan. Liban sa asawang minahal ng mahigit limampung taon. Wala napundar na magarang bahay o lupaing puedeng ipamahagi sa aming magkakapatid. Tanging yaman ay ang dalang tungkod, UE diploma, ala-ala ng Inay, at anim na anak.

Magtatatpos kayo ngayong araw. Magulo ang mundo. Mahirap mangarap. Mahirap isipin na may hanging malayang bibitbit sa inyong saranggola para ilayo ito sa lupa. Mahirap umasa. Ganyan din siguro ang inisip ng Tatay ko noon. Ganyan din ang inisip ko noon. Siguro iniisip din ninyo ito ngayon.

But don’t worry too much, my dear graduates, relax, smile, chill, laugh out loud,…… the world awaits you today. The world is ready to be tamed by you. By your ideas. By your vision. By your passion.

And if you must dream? Dream Big! If you must dream? Dream now! Your kites will soar to places you can never ever imagine. There must be no boundaries to your dreams. The sky is open and the winds can take your paper toy so far your eyes can barely see their dance.

I am so excited for you. Your professors. Your parents. We all are.

But let me just remind you my dear graduates, that while the world awaits to be tamed by bright, young and creative minds like yours….. By new architects, engineers, landscape designers, Your beautiful ideas of curtain walls, and skyscrapers, intelligent and green buildings, while this we all wait for……  and are excited to see….

The world yearns, and aches for men and women of kindness, compassion, gentleness, love for God’s poor.  Men and women who continue to value honor, respect, and integrity at all cost.

Today the world no longer needs the minds of degree holders alone, but in many ways the heart of ordinary souls that have the simplest of joy, the purity of heart, and basic desire to serve humanity. The heart of farmers, teachers, soldiers, doctor volunteers.  Hearts stripped of selfish ambition and greed.

Huwag naman kayong sumali agad-agad sa Red Cross at magpa-assign sa Basilan. Our hearts are so infinitely expandable it can accommodate both personal gain and service. Yakapin ninyo pareho.

Balikan ko lang sandali ang kwento ng saranggola. Dito na ako magtatapos. Ang tanong ngayon umaga ay….Papano ba masisiguro na lilipad ng matayog ang bitbit natin mga saranggola? Papano ba mangarap? Subukan kong sagutin.

Una.  Huwag Mangarap para sa sarili. Ang pangarap ay para sa marami. Ang pangarap ay para sa ikabubuti ng ating mga mahal sa buhay. Kapag nakita ninyo si Tatay ay iisipin ninyo na wala naman siyang nakamit na pangarap. Na walang narating ang bitbit niyang saranggola. Pareho lang dati. Walang laman ang pitaka at tagabukid pa rin ang gayak.

Pero sigurado ako, na di naman niya pinangarap na yumaman ng labis- labis. Gusto lang niyang makatapos ng kolehiyo at sana palaring magkapamilya ng buo at mapag-aral ang mga anak upang magkaroon ng kabuhayang higit sa kanyang narating.

Pangalawa. Ang pangarap ay may sariling buhay. Dahan- dahan. Hinay -hinay. Etong anak kong bunso. Mainipin. Hinatak ang saranggola ng iba. Pagkatapos ay inaplasan din. Kasi naman hindi niya pinaghirapan. Hindi niya inalagaan. Hindi niya sinamahan.

Walang shortcut sa pag-papalipad ng saranggola. Lahat nag-uumpisa sa lupa. Hinay- hinay. Dahan- dahan.

Pangatlo. Ang busilak na pangarap ay pangarap ng marami. Ang tunay na pangarap ay pagtutulungan ng marami. Share your dreams with your parents, relatives and friends Chart your dreams together. Ask them what they think about your plans. Tell them stories of where you want to go and what you desire to achieve.

Pang-apat. At sa tingin ko ay pinakamahalaga. Kaibiganin natin ang Hangin. Befriend the winds that will carry our kites soaring to places we can never imagine to see. Because no matter how skillful we all are, no matter how much hard work we do, no matter how much study we put into flying our kites, their destiny, our destiny is up to the gentle caress and mercy of the winds.

Kausapin ninyo ang Amang Hangin. Makinig sa Kanyang huni. Lagi. Lagi. May sinasabi Siya sa inyo. May pinararamdam. At kapag di maliwanag kung sino na ang nagpapalipad ng tangan niyong saranggola, ang matitipuno ninyong bisig o kaya ang Hanging nagmamahal, ay duon lang mga anak, duon lang nating masasabing lalalaya ito ng pagkataas-taas, pagkatayog-tayog, pagkasarap-sarap. Walang hangganan ang langit.

I crammed this speech last night after several drafts. There is just so much to tell you. 5 years in UP. Amazing experiences and friendships I take forever.

I wanted to tell you about my business. How I started with nothing; my very first job that earned me 400 pesos a month erasing smudge marks in an architectural office.

How excited I was when I bagged my first project as a contractor; a kitchen cabinet for a friend. How I dreamt of buying my own car.  How things just fell into place and has grown many times over from where it started.

I thought that my business story might inspire you. How a very confused man, a distracted and not so hardworking architect could have put together a construction company that continues to expand. If I can do it, so can you!

But then I realized that while this seeming business fairy tale can move you and challenge you to reach for your dreams; It may also mislead you, and distract you from what is true and real. That giving is more than receiving. That reaching out is more than achieving. And that sharing is more than taking.

Sabi ng iba…. “Gerry, don’t talk about God.” Hindi ka naman Pare. Besides…. UP ito, walang Theology.”

Ang sabi ko sa kanila….” Hindi, hindi naman siguro maari! Kasi lahat ng anumang meron tayong tagumpay ngayon ay utang natin sa Kanya. At anumang meron tayo ngayon. Ay dapat nating ibalik sa Kanya!”

I have been listening to this song everyday for the last 2 months. Bingi na nga ang driver ko. Pati ring tone, pinaprogram ko.

It’s called Nella Fantasia. In my fantasy.

“In my fantasy, I see a fair world. Where everyone lives in peace and honesty. I dream of a place to live that is always free. In my fantasy, I see a bright world, where each night there is less darkness. I dream of spirits that are always free. In my fantasy.”

My dear graduates, I enjoin you today, I invite you. And with guns blazing, armed only with your dreams, lets try, lets all try to live by this beautiful fantasy.

Malaking congratulations sa inyo muli. Maraming salamat sa inyong pakikinig.

Now filming: David and Gloriath

Starring: Randy David and GMA

Last week, the Philippine Daily Inquirer carried a huge photo of RD riding a Ducati, scarf wound around his head, shades, moustache. And the story that came with it was his thinking of running for Congress against GMA in the second district of Pampanga in 2010 because he felt, “sobra na to”.

A few minutes ago, when Mr. David was being interviewed over the phone by Arnold Clavio, I turned on the TV loud so my son who was in the bathroom would hear him. When he came out I said “O, si Randy David.” He said “he’s running out of principle, not to win, no?”

Philippine politics is so exhausting because it seems to stymie progress. People with good intentions are trampled upon by the powerful trapos. The statesmen, they don’t win. Will Randy David?

There’s only one way to find out. First, he should march forward with his slingshot and take on GMA. Will he?

The news article from PDI:

UNO vows support for UP prof Randy David
By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:28:00 06/26/2009

Filed Under: Elections, Politics, Eleksyon 2010

MANILA, Philippines—The United Opposition on Friday vowed to support the bid of University of the Philippines professor Randy David if he decides to run for Congress in Pampanga.

David, who is also a Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, claimed he would seriously consider opposing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s reported bid for a congressional seat in their hometown.

“Randy David will be fighting a tough battle, but his is a principled one, and we will support him. We will support Randy David or any other like-minded citizens of Pampanga,” said UNO president Jejomar Binay.

The opposition leader has claimed that the President’s numerous recent visits to Pampanga showed that she was eyeing a seat in Congress, to eventually become prime minister once the government shifts to a parliamentary system.

“Ms Arroyo appears convinced that she will get the congressional seat on a silver platter. From there, the post of Prime Minister under a parliamentary system is hers. But we believe that there are many concerned citizens like Randy David who are willing to fight an uphill battle rather than let Ms Arroyo have her way,” Binay said in a statement.

Malacañang, he stressed, should not question the intentions of David, a known critic of the Arroyo administration.

“Randy David proceeds from the purest of intentions, while Mrs. Arroyo is driven solely by her desire to hold on to power beyond 2010,” he said.

Binay, however, warned Arroyo not to be complacent as she may face a repeat of the 2007 gubernatorial election where her candidate lost to a new face—Fr. “Among Ed” Panlilio.

“I am certain that many Kapampangans are looking forward to new leadership in 2010. That will not happen if Ms Arroyo succeeds in getting herself elected to Congress and becomes prime minister under a parliamentary system of government,” he said.

Random Pickings/Finds/Discoveries

A year or so ago, a cousin gave my husband Fujichrome film for slide for his Lomo camera. Husband used the film but hasn’t had it processed yet because inquiries in regular stalls like Kodak Express have yielded the answer that they don’t do it. He called Fuji in Sto. Domingo and was told he could bring it to any Fuji stall but he kept forgetting. And when he asked in SM North’s Fuji store, they were clueless. SO I called cousin despite husband’s protestations and she had one simple answer: go to Digiprint, any branch. They process and will have LBC deliver it two days later.

Now I’ve seen Digiprint stalls in Shang, Greenhills and I think, in Power Plant. So off we went to Shang. Charge is as follows: for the first roll with delivery and transferred to a CD the cost is P155. Every additional roll up to 5 rolls total would mean plus 30 per roll. Convenient, no? Today is the moment of truth. Will they delivered as scheduled?

RIIR bags. Or Rags to Riches bags designed by Rajo Laurel. I’ve read about it but have never seen it till yesterday at Eastwood Mall. It’s made of katsa and has a handle woven like a banig using retaso. Thing rags sold in supermarkets at P50 each or so, but sold in the streets at 3 for P100, I think. I should have taken pictures. They are recyclable bags that are like those one can get for P120 in Rustan’s (that will double one’s rewards points if used when shopping for groceries) except that buying the RIIR bags will be equivalent to helping out worthwhile causes. If I recall correctly, one of them is the Philippine National Red Cross. Wanted to get one but couldn’t think of whom to give it for a present. Hopefully, once I have decided it will still be available in Eastwood Mall, ground floor.

Also at the ground floor of EM yesterday was a photo exhibit. Mostly or all environment related.

Let me stop for now, Jan Nieto and Harry Santos are in Unang Hirit… yes, I am a fan. Ay, their singing was cut short. Inis. If they were the type with the artistic/artiste temperament,  they would have a fit. Why do TV shows, live ones, do that? Cut their guests short while performing? They are shortchanging not only these professional singers but us, the audience. All because of commercials scheduled? Where’s the courtesy there? I’m peeved. UH does this a lot, SIS too. I can’t say about Channel 2 shows because I don’t watch them. Paging GMA 7. Arrgh… I wonder if they apologize to these artists or warn them beforehand. Just because they’re contract singers of the station doesn’t mean they should not be extended the courtesy of finishing their act. Again, inis.

Speaking of TV. I find it amusing when newscasters and even Kris and Boy stand on the set and then while delivering their spiels move to another position. What’s that about? One time, the irrepressible Kris was walking toward Boy and said “Boy, I’m going there.” Possibly, Boy missed his cue and didn’t soon enough or as scheduled, so Kris just had to say it out loud. I noticed Boy smile. Perhaps he is so used to Kris that he didn’t seem offended by the outright instruction. Kris could just actually have moved beside him without saying anything, and maybe, Boy would have moved? Anyway, that’s Kris Aquino for you.

Check out this site

Found the link to this site in my inbox and checked it out: http://www.wmn.ph/

Very interesting posts ranging from food, to fashion, to health, etc.

Check it out.

Susan Sontag

I’m not sure I’ve blogged about her before but some time ago I bought her book At the Same Time (Essays and Speeches) for two reasons:

a) The quote from her on the back cover that went “A writer is first of all a reader. It is from reading that I derive the standards by which I measure my own work and according to which I fall lamentably short. It is from reading, even before writing, that I became part of a community — the community of literature– which includes more dead than living writers.” [In a sense, I guess I wanted to be reminded that I should read and read more.]

b) One of the essays in the volume was on photography and my son was so into it when I bought the book I thought he might like to read it.

Soon after buying the book, I began to read it but the words used by Ms. Sontag and her son, David Reiff, in the foreword were such that I needed to use a dictionary a lot. To my consternation, the Collins Dictionary I used didn’t have some of the words in the essays, words for which I needed to look up definitions.

Resolutely, an hour or so ago, I decided to start reading the book again. And of course, I experienced the same problem of not finding some words in the dictionary I was using. Hence this post — I had to look up some words in my Mac’s dictionary, or barring their being in it, then online. So I had to open my laptop.

So far, so good. The words not in my dictionary are in the Mac dictionary, to wit: adventitious, exculpatory, reification, craquelure, perdure. So, I didn’t have to go online.

Perhaps, some of these words are known to you offhand, they weren’t to me. Just in case, here they are again alongside their definitions:

adventitious – happening by chance rather than by design

exculpatory – not guilty of wrongdoing

reification – make something abstract more real

craquelure – a network of fine cracks on the paint or varnish of a painting

perdure – endure

Another quotation, this time on Susan Sontag by Hilary Mantel of the Los Angeles Times Book Review goes:

“What ultimately matters about Sontag…is what she has defended: the life of the mind adn the necessity for reading and writing as `a way of being fully human.’”

Eastwood Mall, the nth time around

Had lunch at CYMA, second floor of EM. When you exit the sliding glass doors, go to the left side. It is past Crisostomo.

The resto was full inside but outside in the open air were tables for the taking. But at 1:30 pm, it’s hardly comfortable out there. So we peeked inside and lo and behold, the guy who used to sport a ponytail in CYMA Shang was there, and he was the manager. He came out to greet us and said we’d just have to wait between 5 to 10 minutes. Actually it was longer because my being in a wheelchair meant waiting for a table that wouldn’t make the resto too crowded given the bulk of my wheelchair.

At around 2 pm, once inside the resto, we placed our orders: swordfish kebab for son, chicken gyro for husband, moussaka for me and the rice in pepper (the name is Greek and I can’t recall what it’s called).

Some 15 minutes or so later, the orders of my husband and son came. But not mine. Those of the other table’s came too and I looked longingly even as I took a cube of the kebab, a potato slice each from husband and son. Earlier I had asked if they wanted salad or appetizer. they said no so I waited, and waited, and waited.

Around 2:30 I was told my order would come in 2 minutes but that was an understatement. It came in maybe 10 minutes. Sigh. I was peeved, of course and asked if they had forgotten about it. I had been following up and was reassured. I noticed that one of the female food servers seemed wary about passing our table – I think she knew I’d ask again.

Our male server said the moussaka had been ready but didn’t look nice so it was cooked again. It had collapsed, he said. Okay, that wasn’t the word he used, but that was the impression I got from his description.

Before the moussaka came, the rice did. Two pepper wholes stuffed with rice that had pine nuts and sultanas. In the dish were also two potato wedges. Delicious. I ate a little of that as I waited for the moussaka.

The moussaka was great tasting when it finally came. Well worth the wait but a shorter wait would have been preferable. Soon after the manager dropped by our table to apologize. He also said he’d give us skolatina to make up for their remissness. He said there was a confusion in the kitchen in terms of the order at which orders were prepared or something. Earlier, I had asked the lady server if I could just cancel my orders and have salad instead.

We had ordered baklava earlier and we had that after we were done with the main course. So good. Pistachio nuts crushed to bits between phyllo pastry. The skolatina is heavenly. The cake was chewy, the chocolate that oozed out of the cake was thick and fudgy. I didn’t need the vanilla ice cream, the cake was superb.

Some insights: I think it was very nice of the manager to come and apologize. Even without the skolatina peace offering, he’d have been forgiven because some managers would just look the other way or even hide if they knew they were at fault. But not he. Pacino, I think his name is? I’ll ask my son later.

As we left the resto, the manager was outside working on one table. He bade us goodbye but while I had forgiven the wait, I still couldn’t muster enough graciousness to say thank you warmly. Maybe next time.

*********

It being a Sunday, we didn’t have much time to linger in EM because son has badminton at 4. But we did manage to squeeze in a visit to A. Shop across and Office Warehouse. The A. Shop EM is similar to that in Podium, while OW is bigger in EM than in Power Plant. Its goods are better stacked than similar ones are in National Bookstore. Perhaps because it is focused on supplies, it has more kinds of envelopes, for example. It also had shoe boxes that are breathable. made of plastic, a set of 3 costs P195 and has tiny holes in them to let the shoes breathe and avoid icky bacteria from forming and flourishing. Shop closes at 10 everyday except Saturday when it closes at 11. How convenient.

Food Cravings, but where are they now?

Just now, son got a tetra pack of  Rocky Road Selecta milk from the fridge. Then he said “wala na talaga ang Vanilla Selecta milk”. That was his supreme favorite, so why was it phased out? Was he its only fan?

Other food I wish to see back on the grocery shelves again:

Cracker Milk – Was it a Nestle brand?

Milady toffee – My mother would buy this in cans that had cross-stitched designs on them. We ate it ever so sparingly that before we knew it, they had gone soft sometimes.

Cafe blanco ice cream – Magnolia

Rainbow pineapple ice cream – Magnolia

Silver Bell neapolitan ice cream

Magnolia ice cream sandwich

Roli’s sate babi’s end chunk of meat – pork fat

Inasal that tastes like the inasal of my youth

Strawberry Fruitella that tastes like the one in my youth

*********

What kind of food do you wish would make a comeback?

JUST HITCHING

I wish women would stop hitching rides with married men by themselves and vice versa. Their doing so can cause utmost damage to a marriage. I know of at least three such cases where hitching women have tarnished marriages. It is difficult to move on, one said, after one discovers the “infidelity” even if the consenting parties to the arrangement (hitching) declare “it’s just hitching.

Case A: The husband and the habitual hitcher ended up dating until husband confessed to wife and promised to stop. (hitcher was single) A relative of the husband’s had seen the husband and the hitcher together during one of those dates.

Case B: The wife saw the husband with the habitual hitcher and confronted him, he promised to stop.

Case C: The wife received a letter telling her about her husband and a habitual hitcher. She talked to the hitcher who reasoned “but it’s just hitching”. Husband who said the same promised to stop. (hitcher is a married woman. Asked if her husband knew, she said yes and said he also believed it was “just hitching”. Maybe he doesn’t care about her and their marriage.)

Things could have turned out worse. Families could have been broken. And all because the parties reasoned “but it’s just hitching.” Note that all three cases involved co-workers. And someone once said such arrangements have a bigger tendency to proceed to an illicit one because of the frequency of contact. Parties are more susceptible.

And imagine this? What if Husband A hadn’t thought to confess? What if Wife B hadn’t caught Husband B? What if no one had written that letter to Wife C? Then the hitching would have gone on and on and on and then led to heaven knows where – Araneta Avenue? Pasig? Pasay? or a 5-star hotel?

SM Annex, SM North EDSA

I’m beginning to like the place. Yesterday, we went to SM North explicitly to go to Camera Haus for a lens. We parked in the annex building parking lot after two attempts to park at the disabled parking at the back of the old building and at parking in The Block’s parking building. We’d have had space in the latter except that it was “full” so that no one was let in. If it was fully, why did we want to park there? There were two slots for disabled parking but we couldn’t get through/past the cars in front of us. So off we went to the Annex.

First level was full, so we went to the next, more or less. Please keep this info in mind. From the parking lot, I saw stairs and was wondering why there was a disabled sign on the parking slot. Guess what, there was an elevator that led us to the floor where Krispy Kreme was. We had asked the elevator girl what floor the tube was leading to the main building. She said “ano yun?” Lucky for us, a curious young man was eavesdropping (I do that a lot) and answered “second”. Bear thsi info in mind too. We clean forgot later.

It was the first time I ever saw a Krispy Kreme outlet that wasn’t too full and the aroma was enticing. The outlet in Serendra intimidates me by its sheer size. So we stepped in and looked at the choices. Then I asked husband if we should eat. That was around 3:30. He said okay. Ordered New York cheescake, he had oreo. He ordered cappucino, I had cold, cold water (how refreshing) served in paper cups. Wow, this reminded me of PAL flights when water and juice and anything liquid were served in paper cups. I digress. After a satisfying merienda with very friendly food servers, we left for the tube. Oh, and by the way, I took 3 sips of my husband’s black cappucino. I’m not a coffee drinker but the sweetness of the donut somehow made the coffee palatable, just right even.

TO the tube. As we wheeled, I saw this young man, maybe in his early 20s, in front of us. Maybe a meter or so away. His eyes looked strange, no not physiologically, not something inborn, but maybe, drugged? And his eyes were looking at me and he had this smile that didnt’ seem quite right. I thought he was after my bag or something so I hugged my bag tight. Then before I knew it, he touched my head. Uggghhhhhh. I felt so violated. To be touched by a stranger who looked like that. I inclined my head to shake his hand off. Husband didn’t say anything.

Later, when I looked back, a couple were looking back at the man and the girl was saying “hinawakan niya ang ulo.” I wonder now if he thought he was a healer? I didn’t feel healed. He looked not at all holy, so… I wanted to report him to the guard but my husband wasn’t saying anything and I felt too stunned to take it up with the guard myself. Scary really.

At SM North we went to Camera Haus  and got the lens. Then we went back to the annex, this time taking a different route. We went through the alley that had food stalls.

The first stall had tokneneng and kwekkwek. Also day old chicks. All fried, deep fried in orange batter. If I am not mistaken, the tokneneng was the balut, the kwekkwek the balut. But it may be the other way around. I didn’t try that.

We moved on to the next stall and got RL Lapid’s chicharon laman. A bit pricy at P170 for 200 grams. But as usual, very tasty. Yum. HAd that at home.

Moving farther, we saw Marina. What grabbed my interest was that it said “Iloilo” and offered pancit molo. I suddenly felt nostalgic and asked if we could have another merienda. He agreed and so we went in. The waiter enticing people outside was from Iloilo.

The waiter inside wasn’t too helpful. When I asked what was good, all he suggested was the seafood soup. When I asked if the pancit molo was good, he was hesitant to say anything — about the pancit molo and everything else.

But I was determined, so I ordered the pancit molo. I also saw dinuguan and puto. Husband ordered lumpia sariwa. I asked what were in it (it might have cabbage or togue which is bad for husband) but the waiter couldn’t answer us. So I just prayed.

Verdict: pancit molo was okay, it had shrimps in the broth. Not bad at all, but it was not the pancit molo I knew. The dinuguan had generous portions of pork and entrails. The sauce was the type that one would say “gumuguhit” so that I almost coughed. But it was okay too. Not the dinuguan of my youth, but better than Red Ribbon’s in terms of quantity of meat. Taste wise, though, RR’s is better. The lumpia was swimming in sauce. Think infinity pool. Think surface tension.

Minus sides aside from the waiter – flies, at least one huge one.

Plus sides – it was peopled so perhaps we just didn’t ordered the right dishes? The next table had crab. I think they ordered the soup. And Mike Guevara, the saxophonist of Boy Katindig was there with his family. No gig that early, I assume. No day job either?

After the second merienda, I resolved not to eat dinner. We went around the annex. Fifth floor – computer shops galore. Stand alone stores of Acer, Toshiba, Power Mac, Sony Vaio, etc. Even MSI I think. Villman was there too, PC Depot, etc. And some stalls that sold Golla type products for cell phones and laptops. A lot cheaper – same designs and structure. Trust Filipinos. A cellphone older that sells for almost 600 for Golla, only P175 there.

On the fourth floor there were cell phone stores, a lot of them. And there were a Globe outlet, a Fuji Film outlet, etc. In one of the two floors there was a gaming center – mostly peopled by men playing NBA Live, boxing games, etc. A Canon store too. The lady who attended to us was very gracious. Tall and fair. Such a contrast to the people in Fuji. Husband was asking about processing for Fuji chrome. They said they didn’t know. And to think that months back, he called their outlet in Sto. Domingo and was told he could just bring it to anywhere Fuji. But he got shakes of the head from the girls. My husband was insistent. They said to wait for the manager who was chatting away on the phone. When she finally finished, she gave the same answer anyway.

In another store, I forgot which, the guy who could answer us was also on the phone. What’s with the people working in the Annex? Is business so slack that they just yak away on the phones?

Third floor – there was a salon, some dress shops. Was it here I saw LOALDE? That’s owned by an Aldeguer in Bacolod and I went in because my sister has been raving about it. But I was not in the mood to buy clothing yesterday so I just looked. Also went to Collezione but thee aren’t too many choices in the sense that most shirts now have PHilippine maps: hoodies, dresses, shirts. One of these days, I’ll get a hoodie yet. Haha, feeling young.

Then we decided time to go home after going to Krispy kreme for donuts for the son. The food servers remembered us and they were smiling. From there we proceeded to the elevator outside recalling that that was the elevator we had used to get in. Okay, so we had gone up to get to the mall. So now we had to go down.

UG, the elevator man suggested. We stepped out at UG. No car. Oops, was our car napped again? Greenhills 1994 our old Galant was. When the elevator passed, we rode. LG. Oops, this didn’t look quite like it. We saw grocery carts.

Then the man said “baka sa 2M”. Oh yes, I remembered, we’d seen a 2M. And voila, the car was there.

What an experience.

Father’s Day at NINYO

I clean forgot how special our Father’s Day lunch was last Sunday because of NINYO in Esteban Abada. We chose the resto as son had to go back home asap to study for a test. At Ninyo, we ordered our usual favorites: dory for son, salpicao for husband, and all together now, hanging tender blade for me. As usual they served two kinds of bread with herbed butter: French bread and sweetish pimiento bread (my absolute favorite). Then their fried oyster in wasabe coating (I don’t know it’s exact name: it’s like corn dog with a pancake batter around it, except that instead the batter has some wasabe and instead of a dog, there’s oyster.) The chef’s mother was gracious as usual, giving my husband mocha panna cotta with cashew – heavenly, with Happy Father’s Day “painted” on the plate using chocolate icing. Before we left, she gave my husband a paper bag by way of wishing him the same. When we got home, husband saw a coffee thingy and ground coffee. The coffee thingy is a cup with a strainer.

Ugh, sorry, I’m not a coffee drinker so I am not knowledgeable on things coffee.

PS I forgot, they offered free massage service for fathers that day. My husband not wishing one, son took over and enjoyed the massage in the open air, in one of the gazebos.

Fathering

As I type this, I am watching The Sweet Life. Shortly before I began typing, Rico Puno was on the line, talking about his son and his being a good father. He said something to the effect that he may not be a good husband, but he is a good father.

I wondered about that because I recall a line in a booklet I read in high school. I think it was by or on Karina Garcia, daughter of Ermin Garcia, father of Charisse Garcia Chuidian and Ermin Garcia Jr. Karina drowned in her youth but she had this booklet on or by her. And if I recall correctly, one line in that work struck me and has stayed on with me for almost 40 years. The line goes, “The best way for a man to love his children is for him to love their mother.”

I guess the operative word there is BEST. To his credit, Rico J. Puno did not claim to be THE BEST FATHER. So I guess he was being honest when he said he is a GOOD father. That’s two degrees lower than best.

How I wish, though, that men, or specifically fathers, strove to be the BEST FATHER by loving the MOTHER of their children.

Oops, now that raises another question in the sense that a man can have children by several women, and all of them will be mothers of his children.

But then again, I guess, Karina meant that in loving his children best a man should love their mother by loving her and her alone.

There, that sounds less conflicting.

Neither here nor there

Item 1:

For the past so many days, the U-turn slots along Katipunan Avenue have been a touch and go situation. And the traffic has reacted accordingly. When they moved the U-turn slot from across Maryknoll to Shell, traffic was a mess. Irate motorists called up the Ateneo to complain, one mother told me. The following day, BF was in Katipunan at 9 a.m. possibly a bit late to witness the goings on, the reality of traffic on a regular school day. The following day, the U-turn slot was reinstated in front of Miriam. Traffic improved. By the pm, they closed that slot again, and so the rigodon went, we thought. Well this morning, husband drove close to the island to make a U-turn near Gate 2.5 in Ateneo. Lo and behold, there were concrete barriers there. So he had to drive to the right from the center. How frustrating. Where does one stay if one wants to make a U-turn when one cannot be sure where it is for that day? Or rather for that moment? In one day last week, they changed the U-turn slots at least twice. Heavens!

Item 2: Pelham 123. last night, bumped into friends who had just watched it so today, after lunch at Ninyo we proceeded to Power Plant, husband and I. Pelham 123 I liked because it was a normal movie – not Star Trek or some such. It had real people in it and so gems of wisdom or lessons or insights – whatever one wants to call them. Two stood out for me: the mayor who was being maligned for having an affair was asked by his aide at one point after he complained that after one single incident he was being condemned if it was well worth it – and guess what, the mayor brusquely answered “Yes, it was.” I wanted to laugh out loud. A philandering husband is like a child – he doesn’t couch the truth in platitudes. He tells it straight, yes I guess, not to his wife, but to a fellow male. Hubris? Bravado? Whatever.

Another thing, as Garber was about to board the helicopter to  meet up with Ryder in the subway, he called his wife to tell her he was doing it. The wife, near tears, scared for her husband’s life, had a corny request but a very wifely one, I guess to make light of the situation, her way of extracting a promise – that he’d come back after the harrowing mission: to bring home a gallon of milk for their child. Garber repeated her request several times, I guess incredulous at such a mundane chore. After 30 minutes of chases and dialogues, he goes home, the gallon of milk in hand. Again, I wanted to laugh at the irony of it. Some husbands forget their wives requests for less stressful reasons. I need not elaborate. I almost wanted to conclude that Pelham 123 is a Utopian movie, a fairy tale even.

Item 3: We went to Shell near Blue Ridge to gas up. Choices were: Velocity, diesel and super unleaded. Gasoline hand said all 3 hat E10 in them – bioethanol which is for fuel-injected engines, no carburetors, he said. My husband was aghast. All along, he thought that Velocity of Shell could be used in our Revo, all 5 years old of it. The boy said it could. All their customers, he said, gassed up to any and all types of gasoline and so far, no one had complained about any engine problems.

Husband was not to be convinced. So we drove off to Petron in Katipunan to get Blaze which the station hand assured us did not have bioethanol. The super unleaded, he said has bioethanol. Oh yes, the Shell gasoline boy also said that bioethanol was a requirement of law. Fine, how nice to be law-abiding, but what about us who have cars that are 5 years old and beyond? What do we use in our cars? Water? UNFAIR. Inconsiderate. Paging unlawyer. Care to enlighten me and other similarly situated motorists?

Podium after a hiatus of months

It’s been some time since we last went to Podium and we were in for some surprises.

For the second time, security on B2 led us to the disabled parking space, he was apparently waiting for us because possibly, the guard holding a mirror under the car or the guard beside the one issuing tickets saw the wheelchair. What a thoughtful mall.

But some of the surprises weren’t happy ones. Our suki, Mobile 1 was no longer around. And worst of all, food at Terry’s on B1 wasn’t as good. Happily the mixed platter of cheeses and cold cuts was still tops. The ham and cheese croquette had taken on a different shape – oblong and longer as opposed to spherical. But the taste was still tops. The gambas al ajillo was swimming in garlic and oil. I didn’t detect the spiciness at all. Almejas (the clams) ran out. The chistorrado looked different – it had parsley on top and less cheese. The hue wasn’t a bright orange but a dull one. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the chistorrado of yore. Oh well.

Aside from Mobile 1, stores no longer around included SM Appliance, British India, Kamiseta, among others. Power Station too. We thought Astro Plus had gone too but it had moved to the 3rd floor as did Hobbes and Landes.

Oops, have to end here. People are going to sleep already. Darn, I’m not sleepy yet….

Before I was rudely interrupted by the need to sleep last night I was about to write why we found ourselves in Podium yesterday. We left the house with one purposeful intent: to go to Dita Sandico Ong to have the blouse I had made altered – it wouldn’t fit. As we drove to our destination, I asked the men in the car, where do you want to have dinner. Their answer would determine our destination after DSO. I proposed the following: Greenhills, Podium, Shang or Power Plant. Neither man answered me. So I kept my peace.

Son turned on the radio and after a while, the lady in 106.7 said “Watch the performance of Boy Katindig at 6 at the Podium.” By our clock in the car, it was 6:15 but that clock is never right. We were then near Meralco, past Corinthian Hills. The matter of deciding had been taken out of our collective hands – Podium after DSO. I told son we could drop him off at the Podium but he said DSO might be closed by the time husband and I reached the place. I suggested, why don’t we drop you off at Galleria so you could walk to the Podium? Practice walking, think as though you’re in France already.

He agreed while I mulled over the fact that hey, what if something happened to him? Okay my son is 19 but I’m his mother, right? And I will be till forever, so I worry. We dropped him off on the side of Ortigas Avenue near the break for pedestrians and I watched anxiously as he crossed the street. Then we drove to DSO in Wilson Street. We were so quick I thought we’d see him walking still, but before we reached the point where we dropped him off, he texted that he was at the Podium. It had taken him 13 minutes to walk. Husband measured the distance on our trip back and it was 0.9 km. A bit slow, no? Leisurely walking. But as we passed the ADB to Podium, I noted how safe it looked there with some guards and railings along the way. Whew.

Reached Podium and joined son on the second floor. Boy, were Boy K and his band good. None of the pieces were familiar except for one which he said he had composed. Was sung at weddings, he said, but he still wasn’t rich though it did flatter him. Boy K speaks very well and perpetually thanked Poncy Quirino. He even asked PQ to dance onstage but Poncy chose to move a little on the ground while asking Dingdong (?) Eduque to join him. That jazz afficionados were around could be seen in the hands that tapped thighs to the beat of the music, and heads bobbing up and down, still to the beat of the music. What an experience that was. There were two vocal soloists, one of them a lady and another, a gentleman from Midlife Crisis. He looked too young to be in midlife crisis, literally, but I guess he just looked young? Also in the audience was Ronnie Henares but he didn’t finish the show.

Tonight Coke Bolipata and his orchestra from Pundaquit will perform. I’m not sure we’ll go back, though.

Saw some friends at the Podium and even a sister and her family. There were just so many people in Podium last night, what more tonight, it being Father’s Day?

Happy Father’s Day to any father reading this post!

Unang Hirit’s Father’s Day Celebration, 19 June 2009

Tristan Encarnacion’s message to his dad, Jun Encarnacion, made me cry. He unabashedly shed tears in the taped video and while watching it too. In true Drew fashion, Drew tried to make light of it and succeeded. But one just knew that Drew wasn’t making fun of Tristan’s tears. (But Tristan, why didn’t your crispy kangkong have a dip?)

I like Suzie and Paolo Abrera. The love between them is so palpable, like Gelli’s and Ariel’s. They show this without going overboard. It isn’t annoying watching them kiss each other or embrace because one just knows it isn’t for show.

I like Lyn Ching’s dress now. It’s so comfy and girlie.

Gelli de Belen and Douglas Quijano’s talents

Yesterday, Monday 15 June 2009, Douglas Quijano’s wards guested in Sis. At the studio manning the fort were Janice de Belen and Iza Calzado. In Heritage Park were Gelli, Wendell Ramos, Joe Marie Yllana, Ryan Yllana and Joey Marquez. Douglas Quijano was apparently a well respected talent manager who was not noisy but got the job done.

I liked the way Gelli conducted her part of the show, not probing further if her guest seemed about to cry or was moving the mike away, as did Wendell and Ryan. Good for Gelli. There are hosts from both channels (7 and 2) who sometimes push it and are bent on getting their guests to speak between sobs and tears. Gelli wasn’t like that. Not at all. And in my book, that makes her a sensitive host, capable too. But she can be forthright, like when Joe Marie Yllana said about being late “minsan hindi talaga maiiwasan” and Gelli said in a gentle but sarcastic tone “hindi ba talaga maiiwasan?” Apparently, Gelli values the time of people and is, gauging by her remark, a stickler for promptness. Good for her.

Meanwhile, Janice expressed her gratitude to DQ for respecting her decisions and moves. I have a sneaking suspicion this had to do with her quarrel with John Estrada, who was a ward of DQ. Good for DQ. Apparently he wasn’t all showbiz but respected the person of Janice, her moves and decisions – whatever they were.

Philippine showbiz mourns the loss of DQ who was in a class all his own. Farewell, Mr. Quijano.

teleserve and birth certificates

Tuesday last week, I called up Teleserve (737 1111) to “order” birth certificates: my husband’s, my son’s and mine. No, we’re not hoarding birth certificates (you might begin to think that after seeing the so many posts I’ve had on BCs). Thing is, to apply for a student visa in Europe, one needs a birth certificated authenticated by the NSO. While one might conclude a SECPA (NSO issued) birth certificate would suffice, not so, said someone to my son. That person insisted the birth certificate should have a receipt attached to it. Thing is, I had thrown away the receipt. Arrgh.

So, I called Teleserve, all the while apprehensive that as my birth certificate and that of my son’s had corrections, they’d tell me to go straight to NSO in East Avenue. last year that was what I was told. If you want a corrected version of your birth certificate, go to NSO. But tenacious and curious being my second names, I called to ask, and believe it or not, the policy has changed (or maybe the one who took my call was more enlightened?). The voice told me that provided I had obtained a corrected birth certificate from NSO, then they too could deliver a similar version to me.

I paid for the birth certificates in Metro Bank on Wednesday. This time I knew better. I asked that individual receipts be issued per birth certificate, ergo each had to have a corresponding deposit slip and reference number. More tedious, yes, but at least… Each birth certificate cost P330 (as opposed to P140 if one goes to NSO straight). The voice who took my call said if there were any problems, they’d get in touch with me. They noted the corrections in my BC and that of my son. In the pm of Tuesday, husband ordered his BC which was without corrections. we were told it would take 4 working days for our BCs to come. Friday being the 12th and a holiday, we expected our BCs to come Tuesday this week.

Friday my husband’s BCs arrived. Initial reaction: why did his come first, I had ordered my son’s and mine in the a.m., my husband had called in the p.m. Before I could dial teleserve’s number, it dawned on me that possibly, husband’s BCs came first because it had no corrections. Okay, I settled down.

Saturday, my son texted me while I was out that our BCs had come. I asked him to check if these were corrected versions. He said YES. I wanted to embrace TEleserve in gratitude and relief. How absolutely efficient.

Congratulations, Teleserve. C, our experience substantiates your own positive one.

ITHACA by Constantine Cavafy

Some time back, I first came across the poem, Ithaca, in the site of a friend of my son. Last night, as I read it again in the Prentice Hall Literature book (Grade 9), along with the notes that came with it, I felt that I just had to share it.

Following are the poem’s translations, the first taken from http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/C/CavafyConsta/Ithaca.htm)

ITHACA by Constantine P. Cavafy

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon — do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber, and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca on your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what these Ithacas mean.

and the second translation from http://jade.ccccd.edu/jmiller/Ithaca_Cavafy.htm

ITHACA

When you set out for Ithaka

Ask that your way be long,

Full of adventure, full of instruction.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

Angry Poseidon — do not fear them;

Such as these you will never find

As long as your thought is lofty,

As long as a rare emotion

Touch your spirit and your body.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

Angry Poseidon — you will not meet them

Unless you carry them in your soul,

Unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long,

At many a summer dawn to enter –

With what gratitude, what joy!

Ports seen for the first time;

To stop at Phoenician trading centers,

And to buy good merchandise.

Mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

And sensuous perfumes of every kind.

Buy as many sensuous perfumes as you can,

Visit many Egyptian cities

To learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaka fixed in your mind;

Your arrival there is what you are destined for.

But do not in the least hurry the journey.

Better that it last for years

So that when you reach the island you are old,

Rich with all that you have gained on the way,

Not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.

Ithaka has given you the splendid voyage.

Without her you would never have set out,

But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor,

Ithaka has not deceived you.

So wise have you become, of such experience,

That already you will have understood

What these Ithakas mean.

C. P. Cavafy

---

Konstantinus Kafavis (1863-1933), also known as Cavafis (or Constantine P. Cavafy), 1863-1933, one of the greatest modern Greek poets, lived in Alexandria for all but a few of his seventy years.

This Greek poet published only about 200 privately printed poems. Cavafy has come in recent years to be regarded as a the greatest Mediterranean poet of modern times.

Cavafy was born in Alexandria, Egypt, into a wealthy merchant family. After his father’s death in 1872, he was taken to Liverpool, England, for five years. Apart from three years in Istanbul (1882-85), he spent the rest of his life in Alexandria, where he worked 34 years intermittently as journalist, broker, and civil servant of Egyptian government. His first book was published when he was 41 and reissued five years later with an additional seven poems. He published no further works during his lifetime.

As a writer Cavafy was perfectionis. That is, he printed his poems by himself and delivered them only to close friends. Main themes in his works revealed Cavafy’s interests in homosexual love, art, and politics.

Cavafy’s poems were first published without dates before World War II and reprinted in 1949. In his works, Cavafy mixed the demonic and pure Greek, called Katharevusa, and used his wide knowledge of the history of East Roman and Byzantine empires as the basis of his themes.

Note: Cavafy become also known as the ‘poet of the city’ (Alexandria).

Source: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafavis.htm

Here too is Sir Sean Connery’s recording of it from youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n3n2Ox4Yfk Neither seems to be the exact version of Sir Sean Connery’s recitation.

Essentially, the notes in the book suggest that the journey more than the destination is to be valued, a thought that reminds me of Einstein’s own that “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” These thoughts also remind me of the suggestion that we should take time out to smell the flowers.

(Per the book, Lestrygonians were the cannibals who destroyed all of the ships of Odysseus except his own. They also killed the crews.)

Compromised Yahoo account

This a.m., I was able to check my yahoo account via my mobile phone. Hours later, I got the message that my account had been compromised and I should change my password using my computer.

Not being tech savvy, I thought it must have been a bug or something. I tried checking my account again using my mobile phone, still the same message haunted me.

So I did as instructed and voila! Wow, I had become a vamp/femme fatale with the name ***** ****. The first name is that of the female lead in West Side Story, the last name is the equivalent of kahoy in English. And “I” was making all sorts of sexual innuendos per my status, comments etc. I was distressed to say the least, alarmed, too. Actually, I had been seeing “my” profile picture for some time now on the side margin of my yahoo account but I dismissed it as an ad or something and I’d always say “ang bastos naman nito”. Yuck, it was supposed to have been me all along. I hope no one I know saw it, or that if anyone did, they would know me well enough to know I had been spammed or something and had nothing to do with that ghastly photo and profile.

No one raised the white flag so I take consolation in the fact (and I hope rightly so) that possibly, no one chanced upon it.

Do check your profile. You may have been inadvertently spammed/compromised too!

Thank you, Google, for honoring my country with this

Hits and Misses

I had been reading about Mickey’s in Jupiter Street, Makati and was wishing to go there when, today, the opportunity presented itself. So off we went to the resto at nearly 2 pm for lunch. The place was full but there were tables available.  We noticed that it was like Terry’s Delicatessen in some respects.

So we ordered the mixed platter of cheese and cold cuts and a basket of bread. The platter wasn’t cheap but we were excited, because it is one of our favorites in Terry’s. The bread wasn’t expensive: P95 for a basket of several kinds, 3 pieces per kind, we were told. We also ordered the Nuremburg sausage (6 pieces) that came with a choice of German potato salad or sauerkraut. We opted for the former as husband has gout and cannot have cabbage.  There was a line in the menu that read: pilaf, french fries, buttered vegetables 110. we thought all three together would cost P110. But alas, one choice cost that much.

Verdict: the platter consisted of maybe 6 different kinds of cold cuts but only 1 kind of cheese. The only cold cut I liked was the ham, the cheese was so-so. The bread was a bit tough (baguette) and was served with liver spread (liverwurst?) and butter. Rice was okay although expensive. It had some sausage slices. The Nuremburg sausages were okay except that they weren’t that big. The potato salad that came with it didn’t have the usual mayo, I guess, Germans don’t eat mayo? But the salad’s a tad blandness complemented the sausage, so I’m not complaining. Oh, the cold cuts came with mustard.

I nearly forgot. We also ordered crispy pig knuckles because we like the dish as served in Mingoy’s and Cafe Adriatico. We were told it was German style. I asked what the sauce would be and the lady who served us said “brown sauce”. I didn’t want to sound “backward” so I just smiled but, somewhere along the way, as we began to enjoy the tender pork bits and crispy skin of the knuckles, we just had to have the traditional Filipino sawsawan of vinegar, toyo, onions and pepper. Tossing pretentiousness  to the winds, we asked for such and were given the sawsawan. Heaven. Yes the crispy pig knuckles entree was very good but the resto should give the option of what sauce one wants. The sawsawan took a long time coming and husband was a bit put out because by then he had eaten a lot of the knuckles accompanied by the brown sauce. He’d have wanted the sawsawan.

Overall: Mickey’s is so-so. Lots of people like it but I’m not sure we’re going back, not even if the foreigner who welcomed us was very nice. Unsolicited advice – there was this lady server whose uniform had gingham prints. Square neckline. When she bent to better hear me, I saw her undergarment and whatever else. I was discomfited, Change costume, please? Unless it’s okay with her and the rest of mankind. Me, I’m unabashedly conservative.

*********

Hied off to S & R. As we lined up to pay, I saw the lady in front of us with a sealed plastic bag containing chicken. I glanced at the counter to our left and the lady there had the same. Then I recalled reading that S&R’s cooked chicken is very good. I asked the lady in front of us for confirmation and she said yes, it was good. So I sent son looking for one, he came back. The lady saw it and said to change it because it was a tad too brown. She said “baka sabihin mo, hindi naman pala masarap.” So son got a replacement and when we came home, woooooooowwwwwwwwwwww. Tender, juicy chicken. I couldn’t eat as much as I would have wanted because of our late lunch and ice cream at S&R.

Some quick notes: bought the Three Musketeers Mint minis. Yummy. Tastes like the 8 o’clock thins! And happily, I saw the male employee of S&R who has polio smiling happily at customers. Yes, he whom I saw years back remains employed by the place. Congratulations, S&R for not discriminating against the differently abled.

Sunshine Dizon and Olen Lim

She is so like a breath of fresh air in Unang Hirit. She looks so much better slimmer and her personality radiates. I’m so happy to discover this side of her. And I think this was something about her that GMA executives saw which we televiewers didn’t: she’s a genial person. In the past, I must admit, I always wondered why she never ran out of projects. I found her looking so negative before. But now she looks genuinely pleasant and happy. Way to go, Sunshine. ( She seems to be well brought up too. One time my son was watching with me and he said “Ang bait ni Sunshine” after he heard her say about something “dapat huwag maingay” and stuff. Considerate might be a good word. May breeding.) So Sunshine, sorry for the negative thoughts I had about you before. Maybe you were such a good actress I thought you were as bad as the people you portrayed?

Sunshine unabashedly admitted that she had long wanted to meet Olen and gushed a little when she did. Olen is such a lady, again always smiling. Not smiling like a fool, mind you, but smiling genuinely. What  a smile does to one’s countenance -looking at Olen, and now Sunshine, tells you easily.

Odds and ends

The lazy mites have bitten me, hence the absence of any new post for some time, meaning a few days? That’s some time where I am concerned because generally, I enjoy writing. Then Perfect Pitch gave me reason to write.

After sales service seems to be unheard of in their part of the world. Whereas the likes of Marks and Spencer would go the extra mile and call other outlets if you like an article in their store for which your size is unavailable, PP refused to do anything of the sort despite my having purchased a keyboard which is nowhere near cheap when I asked if they could have the adaptor for it sent to their Megamall outlet which is nearer my residence, from their head office in Makati. See, the adaptor (adapter) is but an accessory and they’d have to prepare a request, etc. etc. It’s sad that they don’t bother. Perfect Pitch sucks when it comes to after sales service but not when they’re trying to sell you something. then they’ll even take the MRT to get the stock from heaven knows where, as they did when I bought a Gibson guitar years back, or so they said. Arrgh.

On a brighter note, we were in Heat in EDSA Shangrila Hotel for husband’s birthday the other night. After the 630 pm mass in our parish, we drove to nowhere when husband said he wanted to go to Mandarin in Makati. He asked, “what’s the restaurant there?” I said “TIvoli, Tin Hau.” I wasn’t too enthusiastic because we hadn’t eaten there for a while and wasn’t sure we could afford it. But it was his birthday so I kept quiet.

But the traffic refused to cooperate with us. So somewhere along EDSA, we turned right to a side street and went to EDSA Shang, to our son’s relief. He likes HEAT – the cheeses, the breads, etc. There was this waiter (will someone please advise me what the politically correct way is of referring to them), Michael, who was very attentive to us. WHen he saw us leaving our table to go to the spread and choose, he said to just tell him what we wanted. We asked what he thought would be good and he said “lobster and prawns in lemon butter sauce”. So we agreed and he got that for us. Then I asked if they had the Peking duck wrapped in tortilla and he said yes and he got that too. Then some time later, without our asking, he gave us a platter of oranges, melons and papaya. Now that, Perfect Pitch, is what you call service. With a smile at that.

For our post-prandial activity, we went to Fully Booked in the hotel. Along the way I was looking for the Lobby Shop, in the direction I last saw it. Failing to find it, I asked the lady guard what happened. She pointed to the dark stall it had become, no walls, no doors, no lights. According to her, the shop closes at 8 but if I wanted anything, she could call the duty manager, no problem. That Perfect Pitch, is SerVICE.

Fully Booked in the hotel exuded the same nice smell it does wherever. The staff here was friendly and had a welcoming smile for everyone. We didn’t get anything though, even if a notebook that had a lavender cover had the words “beautiful mind” on it attracted me.

***********

Saturday, had a meeting for a foundation and had pancit and sandwich. After the meeting, decided to check out Cafe Azul in Moro Lorenzo for some Mongolian Grill. The place is operated by Sweet Inspirations but one can get smaller bowls of the Mongolian barbecue and thus pay less. Nice thing here is that you can add more meat, as much as you want and just pay the adjusted price depending on the weight of your order. Good idea. Some people like a lot of meat in their barbecue. I for one do.

The waiters here are very quiet but very helpful. It was raining when we exited the restaurant and one of them helped as I was carried into the car, carrying the umbrella throughout so my husband and I wouldn’t get wet in the rain.

**********

Power Plant on Sunday meant a lot of things. We heard mass at the chapel. The priest was very scholarly, a Theology teacher, my son thinks, because he had a very academic homily. Imagine an hour-long Theology class. Okay, I exaggerate. Just a third of an hour. Thing is, I guess this priest was a shy person. He barely glanced from his notes at the mass goers. I saw Teddy Boy Locsin leave the chapel at some point and saw him gesturing to someone to take his seat. I saw Siegfrid  (oops, how do you spell that) Fortun and his wife too. If the chapel weren’t comfortably cool, people would have been restless. Another place, another time, more of what the priest was saying would have been appreciated. Maybe a different audience too.

Had lunch at Myron’s. No more foie gras for me with my Paolo’s. The price has gone up. My sister barely touched her spicy chorizo pasta. I tried it, it was a tad salty. Husband enjoyed the baby back ribs, son his cheeseburger whose veggies they didn’t forget to set on a different plate.

Saw retired Gen. Montano in Mercury. Looking at the open shelves with vitamins. He didn’t seem to have a bodyguard. I’ve seen him more than once and he seems likeable and simple.

Watching Teleradyo

Unan surrounded by pillows – are they different from each other? Someone, enlighten me, quick. (CC on bed weather)

Citibank does it again!

Way back when I opened a time deposit in Citibank Savings, attendant to it I had to open a power savings account so that the interest earned by the time deposit would go to the savings account. Ergo, there was no minimum deposit required for the Power Savings account. Fine, I was happy.

A few months ago, I got mail from CS that the minimum amount for PS would be raised to P100k. Alarmed, I called the officer in the Katipunan branch who handled the account and she assured me my PS would not be affected because it was opened for the purpose I mentioned earlier.

This pm, after talking to HSBC Savings and ending up disappointed by the transaction fee for withdrawals abroad, I called CS to verify whether they imposed similar charges or not. Among other things, I asked the CS personnel who took my call because the new manager was busy about the Power Savings account and the instructions I had re the time deposit which I gave months ago to the one handling my account. The latter had resigned, I was surprised to find out. And while she did leave instructions re the TD, the PS account would have to changed to other products of CS. In other words, a minimum amount had to be deposited to avoid being penalized.

The products offered were hardly attractive. I forget which name corresponds to what but from what I recall, these are the features.

Product A – minimum of P20k, no interest.

Product B – minimum of P50k, only twice a month withdrawals allowed otherwise you will be charged P100 per transaction in excess of 2

Product C – minimum of P100k with interest. I forgot its other features.

Product D – minimum of P300k, the P100k will not earn interest.

One of the above products has an interest rate of 0.5% which is the interest rate given by BDO for a deposit that has a minimum maintaining balance of P5k or less. The others have interest rates of 4.75% etc.

Sadly, the TD I have is locked in for 2 years. Ergo, I should have one savings account no matter how mad I am at CS for reneging on the promise made by the person I had transacted with. What does this tell you?

Never mind if it’s an officer promising you something, it doesn’t follow that CS will abide by that officer’s word.

At CS, it’s a matter of take it or leave it. If I leave, I bear the brunt of losing interest on the TD locked in till 2010. If I stay, I’ll have to open a savings account and live with CS’s new provisions to my disgust.

This pm I told the person I spoke with this: for a savings bank you are not very welcoming of small depositors. She said something to the effect that theirs is a savings bank so as to meet the lower requirements of Central Bank but in fact they are adopting CItibank N.A.’s standards. Darn, darn, darn.

Citibank, in whatever permutation, Savings, N.A., etc. after November 2010 you will never have my patronage ever. oops, I have credit cards from Citibank. Hmmm, I should give that up then or sooner, in keeping with my infuriated state of mind where the said institution is concerned.

I am really disappointed, Citibank.

Is Mercury or some planet in retrograde? This is my third angry post today. Ang puso.

Citibank Savings vis-a-vis HSBC Savings

Citibank never ceases to alarm me after I or a relative opens an account there when the minimum balance required is reasonable only to find out after some time that they’ve upped the minimum thereby necessitating that I or that relative up and leave and go elsewhere.

HSBC Savings made for a very pleasant experience c/o Ava who was very gentle and patient, giving me welcome gifts to boot. For a minimum total relationship balance, once can get a credit card, a checking account, a Euro account, a dollar account, a savings account, a time deposit account. They call this product Power Vantage. I was so happy.

Then this pm, I thought of opening a euro account with 50 euros, no more no less. I thought that doing so would mean savings in the long run in the sense that when my son is in Europe, wow, he has a euro account he can access easily, although Ava did tell me I could just have a peso account and it would churn out euros anyway if a withdrawal is made in Europe.

Now the catch: while withdrawing and depositing in Citibank ATM machines abroad will not require having to pay any fees if one has a Citibank Savings account, doing the same in HSBC branches abroad if one has an HSBC savings account means paying P100 per withdrawal.

Another thing: When one has a euro account here in the PHilippines and one either deposits or withdraws from said account, one has to pay a fee of 0.25 percent. Miniscule, I guess in that a 50 euro deposit will set you back by P7+ in fees just as withdrawing that will mean an equivalent amount. So offhand, if 50 euros is 3,000 pesos, one loses P15 more or less by depositing and then eventually withdrawing the amount. One is penalized for transacting in euros. Does that make sense? It doesn’t to me.

So I had the deposit reversed and am getting back my 50 euros intact. Now if only Citibank had a branch in the town where my son is headed, then I would close my HSBC Savings account. Thing is, Citibank doesn’t have a presence in the said town, ergo, suffer the P100 transaction cost each time. Darn.

Manila Water and Septic Tanks

Years back, my sister told me that MW conducted a campaign in their subdivision whereby their septic tanks would be cleaned for free. I was envious to say the least because having the procedure done by Malabanan sets one back by thousands of pesos.

A few weeks ago, Nora, from the barangay, came with a flyer from Manila Water and asked if we were interested. Who wouldn’t be? We said yes and they said they’d be back.

Last week, Mang Temy of the barangay checked where our septic tank was located and saw the mess around it – bodega like with lots of formerly useful/usable things a lot of which had rusted, been gnawed at by termites, etc.  Yes, termites, which meant addressing yet another problem on the side.

While waiting for Manila Water to do the septic tank, I called Thomas Cowan and Sentricon. I had had a quotation made c/o Sentricon the year before and for so many linear meters, they were charging me P37k, follow up good for a year. Though years back TC had come and done the termite thing for us, they no longer had our record on hand and had to come to measure and check the premises. Cost estimate for the service was P31k with follow-ups up to 3 years. So of course I chose TC.

Yesterday they came, doing the area under the roof, parts of the perimeter, the kitchen the sala. If it were an essay, their style lacked for an outline, a definite direction. Would have gotten a D from a teacher. Because aren’t we taught that when describing, one follows one direction, i.e., top to bottom, inside out, etc.? Regardless, they’re back today doing one room with lots of stuff. I know, soon I’ll have to evacuate my comfort zone, my bed, for possibly the sala, while they do the room. Or maybe they’ll do this tomorrow? Whatever.

Anyway, while waiting for them (TC) to come early this a.m., the doorbell rang and it was MW. Yes, MW. Yippee. And they did what they had to do except that before they were done, their tank was full. They said they’d be back in two hours after depositing what they had collected in Montalban. They did come back as promised and now they are completely done.

Per my husband, the truck of MW is clean and “sophisticated”. He also learned that in Montalban, there is this place where waste is segregated, some of it converted to fertilizer. Wow. Galing a. The thing is World Bank-funded.

Does MW earn from performing this service? Whether they do or not is beside the point. For homeowners it is very reassuring to avail of such for free at that.

Living in the Philippines isn’t all that bad, you know.

Shakey’s Delivers or it’s free

Darn, darn, darn. At 10:25 a.m., I called Shakey’s, the inclement weather notwithstanding, leaving enough time for them to deliver my orders at most an hour after even if they say 45 minutes max.

An hour later, my orders hadn’t come. It did 1 hour 20 minutes later. I called thrice in between, was reassured the order was coming but didn’t. I asked if I would still have to pay, they couldn’t answer me. Shakey’s Loyola would call me, they said. Three calls to 77777 later, to ask if I would have to pay because the order finally came and they still couldn’t answer me as they were trying to get in touch with Loyola. Three promises, none kept.

And guess what, the delivered goods had problems:

no Coke with ice:  I have a shakey’s card that requires I order coke so I get 1 pizza free. And the cheesy garlic bread I ordered because it’s new came in the form of penne with bacon and cheese sauce. I called and asked the guy who answered me what I had ordered. He said “cheesy garlic bread”. I asked is that pasta or bread? I just wanted to be sure. I might be getting senile, after all. He said “bread”.

hay naku. The rider came back with the Coke and ice, no bread. They were attributing the problem to the weather, but for heaven’s sake, the place has a roof, right? Does that have anything to do with the wrong things sent, the rains, I mean?

Just spoke to the delivery coordinator who finally called and said we don’t have to pay, sorry for the mistakes and the delay. Earlier, my son asked me who’d pay if we weren’t charged, the rider? As a rule, I don’t like people paying for something I eat which they deliver tardily, so I asked the coordinator too because I wanted to answer my son. He said it’s not the delivery people who pay, the branch does. Whew.

Conscience clear, I’ll now eat. My husband is through, my son just about. I just had to vent via this blog. So, so peeved.

Katie Couric’s Commence Address in Princeton (2009)

This morning I gave the Class Day address at Princeton — I was selected by the students and it was quite an honor, although slightly daunting to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jerry Seinfeld. At the precise moment I got up to walk to the podium after being introduced by Neil Chen, Class Vice-President, a hawk dropped its half-eaten lunch (a dead bird) in front of me — it landed with a thud. I didn’t know whether it was a thoughtful gift or a weird omen — paging Tippi Hedren! The student speakers were incredible. Jackie Bello and Jason Gilbert had the crowd eating from the palms of their hands and were a tough act to follow. My producer Tony Maciulis cried. President Shirley Tilghman and the other speakers were great, too…this generation came of age during 9/11 and are entering the world at a very difficult time, but I have no doubt their intelligence and ambition will see them through. Good luck to all of them — and please excuse some of the racier jokes — I was encouraged to be saucy and sassy!

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Neil, for the kind introduction, and thank you for inviting me today, Madame President, Deans, and most of all Graduating Class of 2009. It’s a tremendous honor to be part of your Class Day. When Princeton called to invite me I was thrilled. It also gave me a perfect excuse for turning down Harvard and Yale – my safety schools! And since I’ve been called a cougar lately in the tabloid press – today I’m very happy to be an honorary tiger! Coming here was a real no brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house! But a funny thing happened on my way to Class Day… I was pregaming in the Slums when there was a “noise complaint” and P-Safe busted me and took my Prox. Luckily I wasn’t McCoshed, so I headed to the Street, where I tried to complete a Prospect 10…but was sidetracked playing ROBO at T-I. Very savage! Then I headed to Hoagie Haven and enjoyed a Fat Lady…and polished it off with a donut from the WA. Boy, you Princetonians really know how to live! But, actually, I do have a bone to pick with you. I have discovered I am the first female Class Day speaker in Princeton’s history. OMG, WTF [Thanks for the LOL] All these years, and only one woman? Now, I understand this isn’t Lilith Fair and there are plenty of great men out there…… but you actually asked Bradley Whitford of the West Wing BEFORE you had a woman? I understand the concept of casting a wide net…but great women like Madeline Albright, Sally Ride, Mother Teresa, Ellen Degeneres all bested by a fake political advisor to a fake president!? And then you had Stephen Colbert, a fake TV anchor? Actually, Stephen could be a REAL anchor…with just a little more product in his hair! I must say, I’m shocked you didn’t invite Doogie Howser this year, a fake doctor and graduate of Princeton Class of 83. Or maybe you did, but he was too busy on the set of “How I Met your Mother.” Or as we call it, My Favorite MILF. So, I’d like to officially welcome Princeton to the 21st Century. You’ve embraced the female gender at the perfect time…because it’s been quite a year for women. After all, a Latina has just been nominated to the Supreme Court…only the third woman in history. And I heard she graduated summa cum laude from a little school in New Jersey! Hillary Clinton was the first serious female presidential candidate and made 18 million cracks in the ultimate glass ceiling. And then of course, there’s Carrie Prejean, Miss California. No one has done more to motivate gay rights activists since Anita Bryant. [Your parents know who she is.] In any event, it is an honor to be here and I am moved to be sharing this special moment with parents and professors who may have woken up to me on the Today show….and with students who MAY wake up in time for the CBS Evening News. Although based on the average age of our viewers, I think you’re probably watching “Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” instead. But seriously, thanks for inviting me, and congratulations to you on your graduation….or, more appropriately, your commencement….because the fun is just beginning. I’m sure you don’t need a newsflash that getting a job is no stroll down Nassau Street. I read a study recently that said only 20 percent of graduates who’ve applied for jobs have one right now. That’s down from 51 percent in 2007. In this economic climate, graduates of the Wilson School might actually have to get a job in Government! There may be some opportunities in the Republican Party. They’re still looking for an effective spokesman, and the only person they can find so far is Rush Limbaugh….and he won’t take the job because he doesn’t want to give up his prescription plan. But as you head out into this daunting job market, at least you have many illustrious alumni lighting the way. Like The First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. She was class of 1985, and now she’s wowing them in Washington. Or…Queen Noor of Jordan, who has traveled so far and done so much in the name of humanitarian causes since her days here on this campus. The prolific and brilliant writer, Joyce Carol Oates, now a Princeton Professor. Wendy Kopp – Princeton ‘89 – founder of Teach for America, who has placed 20,000 teachers who have impacted the lives of more than 3 million students in this country. And for 200 please Alex – who is Larissa Kelly? The third all-time jeopardy winner – Class of 2002! There are a few noteworthy men who were proud to go to Princeton as well…a list that reads like a who’s who of American History. James Madison, John Foster Dulles, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Malcolm Forbes, James Baker….and Lyle Menendez, who’s currently serving a life sentence at the Mule Creek State Prison in California. Hey, you can’t win ‘em all! I would also like to salute notable Princeton grad…Mayor McDaniels…of South Park. An impressive number of technology giants have also graduated from Princeton. From the father of modern computing, Alan Turing, to Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, to EBay founder Meg Whitman. And I understand Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is offering to replace the Firestone Library with a Kindle. It really makes you wonder why they even built Stanford! Also doing his part to advance Princeton’s impressive technology footprint–Class of 82’s David Duchovny, who is single-handedly supporting a major segment of the on-line industry. Apparently, these days Agent Mulder is really into the Triple X Files. And topping off the list, there’s former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Given his status as client number nine, it seems particularly fitting that he’s a graduate of “Woody Woo.” Yesterday you heard from another impressive graduate… General David Petraeus who earned his PhD here in 1987. He’s the architect of the U.S. counter-insurgency strategy and has had a brilliant career in the US military. And I understand Class of 54’s Donald Rumsfeld has been charged with guarding the Big Cannon. I don’t want to say he’s taking his job too far, but he’s reportedly been telling President Obama there are Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden at Rutgers. There certainly ARE many successful graduates of Princeton. And now…it’s your turn. More than ever in my lifetime, this nation needs some big, bold thinkers. We need innovators. We need people who look beyond a paycheck and see possibilities. You’ve got your degree. NOW, you’re about to enroll in a new kind of learning experience. There are plenty of lessons along the way…if you keep your heart and your mind open on the journey. First, success only knocks on your door if you win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. All the rest of us have to work for it…hard. There’s that old joke…How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. That’s a major point Malcolm Gladwell makes in his book “Outliers.” He writes that to truly master something, you need to spend at least 10-thousand hours doing it. Take Bill Gates, for example. He dropped out of Harvard and he still became Bill Gates…by devoting his every waking moment to building and understanding computer codes. The Beatles might have seemed like an overnight sensation, but they played together more than a thousand times before that famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. For them, it really was a hard day’s night…night after night after night…for four years! I’m no Beatle or Bill Gates, but I’ve learned the importance of hard work, as well. I was a desk assistant at ABC News in Washington where my major responsibilities were Xeroxing (hey, it was the dark ages!) and making coffee. When I moved to what my network colleagues referred to as Chicken Noodle News in 1980, I finally got a chance to do some reporting…and the President of CNN said he never wanted to see me on air again. It could have been demoralizing; instead I found it motivating! And rather than let the turkeys get me down… I just kept practicing. And I actually got better. Even today I spend hours preparing for interviews that sometimes are edited down to only a few minutes. It takes a lot of effort…to make things appear effortless. This year I had the privilege of interviewing Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the man who successfully landed a flight on the Hudson River after birds knocked out both engines. He saved all 155 lives onboard. While his story is about heroism, it’s also about experience and hard work. He said to me: “For 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education, and training. And on January 15th, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a sudden large withdrawal.” In other words, practice, practice, practice. It always pays off. Next, don’t be a hater. Princeton has taught you to think critically, to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism…and that’s a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. But you really must guard against the cynicism and nastiness that are so pervasive today, particularly on the internet. It can be a wonderful, powerful and equalizing tool, but it’s also populated by haters and trolls. People think they can say or do anything online under the cloak of anonymity. Don’t get sucked in…In his book, entitled “Snark”, David Denby writes, “Snark often functions as an enforcer of mediocrity and conformity. In its cozy knowingness, snark flatters you in assuming that you get the contemptuous joke. You’ve been admitted or re-admitted to a club, but it may be a club of the second rate.” Rise above the collegial nastiness and instead….celebrate excellence. The joy of reveling in someone else’s success is much sweeter than the bitter vitriol of sites like Juicy Campus. By the way, Juicy Campus RIP. Shutting that website down, in my view, was a huge victory for civility. Third, I have a message particularly for all you young women here today…or as Beyonce might say, all the single ladies. John Lennon, once wrote “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I’m sure you are all graduating with big career goals. You may also have a dream of being married and having a family, and at some point the career may take a backseat. There is no more challenging, rewarding or important job than being a mom. I just want to say this–sometimes dreams of domestic bliss are interrupted by reality. People get divorced. People die. You need to protect yourself. I was very happily married to a wonderful man. He was diagnosed with colon cancer and nine months later, he was gone. I was a single mom with two very young children. This was not part of the plan. Luckily, I had a career and therefore the financial independence to support my children. Many women in my situation are not nearly as fortunate. And while I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, I want you all to be prepared for the unexpected and approach some of the big life decisions you’ll be making with your eyes wide open. And another thing you probably need to realize: It’s not all about you. As you venture out into this big bad world, I hope you each find a way to make it better. As anchor of the Evening News, I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan. I was there for a matter of days…not months or years. No matter what your opinion may be about the wars this nation is fighting, the men and women of the military are making sacrifices every day…and deserve our respect and support when they’re deployed…and when they come home. But there are many ways to serve. When my husband Jay died, I felt I needed to do something. I needed to educate Americans about colon cancer, the second leading cancer killer of men and women in this country…I needed to help them understand that this cancer can often be prevented entirely if people get screened. I didn’t want others to experience the pain my family had endured. So, I did what any self-respecting journalist with a built in bully pulpit would do…I had a colonoscopy on national television. At one point, loopy on anesthesia, I believe I told the world that I had a pretty little colon. I was fortunate to be able to reach a large audience, and colonoscopy screenings increased by 20 percent. Researchers called it “The Couric Effect.” I think it’s the Katie and Jay effect. There are people I may never meet who are now living healthier lives…with emphasis on LIVING…simply because I helped bring colon cancer out of the closet. And I was so gratified to be part of a team that helped organize Stand Up 2 Cancer, which raised over 100 million dollars to fund the unsung heroes of this countries…scientists who work day in a day out…without fame or big checks so many more people can live with cancer and not die from it. There are smaller, quieter ways to serve…that are just as important. I recently interviewed two adorable sisters for a series we’re doing called “Children of the Recession.” They are nine and five…their parents both lost their jobs and the girls ended up walking the streets and riding the trains of Chicago with their mother. Then an organization called “Safe Families” stepped in and now they’re being taken care of by a wonderful couple until their parents can get back on their feet. I met many families who opened their homes and hearts to kids in distress. THAT…is service. So is tutoring a child. Working at a soup kitchen. Driving an elderly neighbor to the grocery store. Never underestimate the contribution you can make. Its been said: “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” So give something back. After all, you’re graduating from Princeton! You are so lucky. And do me a favor…thank your parents or whoever helped you achieve this goal. Then, transform your gratitude into action…and give back to a world that has already given you so much. When President Obama announced he was choosing Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court it was a reminder that the American Dream is alive and well…that a young Puerto Rican girl who grew up in a housing project in the Bronx could earn a seat in the highest court in the land. She congratulated the single mother who raised her to be a judge and her brother to be a doctor. Parents, your children, too, can achieve anything because you gave them strong shoulders to stand on and the tools they’ll need to succeed. Remind yourselves of this when they ask if they can come home and live with you while they look for work! But maybe the silver lining of these tough economic times is that it may be the wake up call helps recalibrate our values. The eighties — thank GOD — are long over. Luckily none of you remember them. Gordon Gecko from the movie “Wall Street” was wrong…greed is not good. We can finally burn the bumper sticker that says: “he who dies with the most toys wins.” The truth is closer to the old Italian Proverb that says: “At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.” What really matters in the end is how you’ve played the game of life…that you’ve lived it with honor, integrity and character… old fashioned qualities that never go out of style…whether you’re a fan of Ella Fitzgerald or Lady Gaga. Finally, take some chances. Get out of your comfort zone, even if that’s extremely uncomfortable. Mark Twain once wrote, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” When I left the safe confines of NBC News, a friend wrote me a note that said, “Boats are always safe in the harbor. But that’s not what boats are built for.” So sail away, even if the waters are choppy and the territory uncharted…you’ll be amazed at what you learn about the world and about yourself…and through it all, cherish the handful of people you can always depend on to throw you a life preserver when you need it the most. And don’t forget to wear sunscreen. To the Class of 2009…congratulations, safe travels…and good luck. I can’t wait to feature you in the future on the CBS Evening News. Thank you.

Photo: Denise Applewhite, Princeton University

Sis and Harassment

My laptop defines harassment as “repeated, small-scale attacks.”

Today at Sis, the topic was on harassment, the main premise being the making public of HK’s videos. (If you don’t know who HK is…).

So initially the topic focused on videos and pictures taken by strangers of artistas, for example. Then the questions went on to ask about the office setting whereby someone in the office, presumably a boss, asks his underling to do things not in the job description like picking up the boss’s child from school, etc. I know of a specific example of this myself, where the boss is a good friend. I was taken aback when I found out she did this, but well, perhaps the underling volunteered or that day I found out, she was indisposed? Regardless, Pauleen Luna who was a guest of SIS interjected that she wouldn’t call the act harassment but “abuso.” Bulls eye! That would be the better word for it.

Good for you Pauleen. Your sense of judgment, your level of intellect always pleases me. You are obviously a beauty with brains. You speak your mind, besides.

Way to go, Pauleen. Sana there’s more of you in the showbiz firmament…