Sleep Tight

I woke up rather late today. I reached over the bedside table to switch my phone off. The first message I received froze my yawn. Both my Tita Val and Tita Vilma texted me that my cousin Cheryl's baby boy George died.

George was born at just 26 weeks old to my cousin Cheryl and her husband George on December 2. His twin sister Cherlize was born on December 1 and weighed 1 lb. and 5 oz. George weighed 1 lb. and 8.9 oz. According to my cousin, they were critical but stable.

About two weeks later, Cheryl texted again that baby George's bowel was leaking so they had to do surgery to fix the problem. Again, we took everything up to God that he allow my newest nephew to survive.

However, this text contained sad news for us all. Apparently, the doctor tried to separate baby George's fingers because they were stuck together but he bled. It was difficult for us and I could just imagine how much more difficult it was for my cousin and her husband when I know they have always wanted children. I remember what my mom told me when we first received the news that Cheryl was having problems during her pregnancy. She surmised that some people try so hard to have children while others are so desperate to get rid of them that they either get aborted or are abandoned immediately after birth. Such a sad, sad situation this is.

To Cheryl and George...heaven is great at taking care of children. They will fully experience all of the beauty of life up there whereas we can only get a taste of it. We can only do so much for them but when God calls them home even after a brief stint on Earth, we have no other choice but to say "Go."

Zhu Ni Shengri Kuai Le, Ni Bei Lei

Our youngest friend Anna Banana turned 20 (yah, just 20) last December 9. A late but hearty birthday dinner followed at the Superbowl in the Megastrip!

That's the birthday girl!


Em looks a bit pale, don't you think?


Sarah's missing...would've been a great shot!

Guess Who's Home for Christmas

One of my friends who's the daughter of a neurosurgeon once told me that the reason why people tend to forget memories of so long ago is that our brain loses a certain amount of neurons per day. Goodbye neurons, goodbye memories of yore. Perhaps I have been losing more than the usual number of neurons coz I can't even remember how much of these brain cells spontaneously combust per day.

About an hour and a half ago, I had one of my most memorable experiences of this year and I fear that if I put off writing about it tomorrow, I might not be able to mirror the same feelings of excitement and happiness that are enough to act as stimulants to keep my brain from going zzzzzz. Gosh if I could do this every night, my caffeine would dramatically drop to extraordinary levels. Then again, my savings would plummet to an all time low.

So what the heck am I talking about? In two words - Lea Salonga.

I know, I know, I wrote about her just a few entries ago when I watched the musical "Baby." But, as my sister calls it, I am an "aswang ni Lea." I have unshamefully declared that I am a huge fan and a great admirer or her work. If she were a rock star, I'd be more than a groupie probably. Perhaps my dream job after wanting to become a lawyer would be becoming her child's nanny...not that she's pregnant.

Anyway, tonight was her Christmas concert. The first time I laid my eyes on that humongous tarpaulin strategically positioned in EDSA-Guadalupe, I knew I HAD to watch it. This Christmas concert was going to be the first time Lea would perform in Araneta Coliseum - the BIG DOME as they call it. A performance in the Big Dome is an important point in any concert artist's career. It stands as living proof of an artist's command, talent and standing in show business. One of the greatest challenges is filling the coliseum.

I wanted to be one of those people present on the night Lea sings for the first time in concert at the Big Dome. Sure she has lit up different stages from London to New York and even LA but it is always good to receive the same accolade in the home court. Her previous concerts in the PICC have always been brimming with people but the image evoked by an Araneta Coliseum concert is more universal and withstanding. Of course, she wouldn't be able to single me out from the crowd but I simply wanted to be one of those in the audience who would make her realize her dream. So off I went to my mother, dropping hints here and there...some subtle, others blatant. How happy is when she finally bought me and my sister tickets..but of course declaring beforehand that this was to become my Christmas present. No objection here!

My sister and I got to Araneta at around 6:30. We were pretty early...actually, very early. There were no people yet inside although the rafters and upper boxes (free seating areas) were already full of people. My sister kept on whispering to me "Manang, I don't think Lea can fill this." I gave her my darting dagger look and stuck my tongue out. The coliseum was huge and I actually got kind of nervous. What if the turn out was poor? How would she feel then? I know I'd feel bad.

So my sister and I entertained ourselves by looking at the people around us, above us, below us. When we got bored, we'd call our mother (thank Heavens for Sun!)...which we did...several times, as a matter of fact.

After less than 10 minutes of sitting down, we saw Ligaya Salonga, Lea's mother, walking near the stage. We called up mom to tell her that she and Ligaya had the same pink-almost-peach shawl. As my sister talked to my mom on the phone, my eyes began wandering again. It went up to the rafters, down to the lower box, crossed to the stage, settled on the first three rows of seats near the stage, back to the upper box then...ooooh! My eyes darted back to the stage. I sat back for a moment, forehead furrowing and eyebrows meeting. That...that couldn't be...can it? I moved my head forward a bit, eyes still focused on what I was seeing. My eyes must be crazy...but no, they're not. I leaned back and elbowed my sister. With my finger pointing to a three people huddled near the stage I said, "Is it just me or is that person Robert Chien?" My sister followed my gaze and she was murmuring "Of course not...it's not him...wait, can it be? Is it Robert Chien?" My sister and I sat there, still as tigers waiting to pounce on their prey. Then the bespectackled guy we were looking at pushed his eyeglasses up his nose and my sister and I gasped and said in hushed yet excited tones "Oh my goodness, it's him!" Ladies and gentlemen, we have just gotten a first look at Lea's husband!

Sorry if this may seem like such an anticlimactic moment but my sister and I found it pretty wortwhile looking at him. I never expected to see him there. I remember watching their wedding and bawling so hard. As I slowly stacked a miniature Barad-dur of wet tissue beside me, I mumbled as tears flowed from my eyes "Robert Chien, you are so darn lucky for marrying Lea Salonga."

He was fair and looked every inch the Japanese-Chinese that he was. His hair was longer than it was during their wedding. He was dressed simply in jeans and a white collared shirt and looked like he lost a bit of weight...or the shirt was just good in making him look that way. He actually was pretty cute...no wonder Lea fell for him. The glasses looked pretty good on him too.

Until the concert started, my sister and I entertained ourselves by playing optical volleyball between Lea's mom and husband. Or if I wasn't doing that, I would channel Ligaya Salonga's spirit and play the part of the nervous mother, looking around with anxiety at the empty seats. When the orchestra started shuffling in at around quarter to 9, I knew the concert was about to start. I looked around and I gasped since the seats which looked like gaping mouths before now had squishy butts squeezed into them. I silently cheered "She's done it...she's filled the Big Dome!" as if it were a war cry.

The orchestra started with the usual overture after which Lea emerged from the top of a giant staircase. She looked elegant in a sparkly top, black slacks and heels and began singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Sure I have seen several times but I found myself screaming to no end. The opening number was actually a combination of both "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and a fast-paced version of "Jingle Bells."

All of Lea's numbers were breathtaking. I have been to several concerts and most of them bank on special effects and amazing choreography to keep the momentum going. Lea had none of this. All she had as weapons were a magnificent backing from the orchestra and her crystal clear voice and these got us soaring till the end of the show.

Her guests included The CompanY, Ogie Alcasid, Eric Santos and Christian Bautista. The CompanY sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with Lea after which Lea left for a costume change. The CompanY did a classy (acapella) version of the Viva Hotbabes song "Kikay" which got everybody in stitches. Lea's friends from the musical Baby also sung a couple of songs with her such as "Sasakyan Kita" by Gladys and the Boxers, "Jumbo Hotdog" of the Masculados and of course the pitted "Ocho ocho" and "Ispageti."

Christian Bautista, I have to say, caught me by surprise. I am not alien to his amazing voice but I was floored by the fact that he looked very attractive in person although he was too thin that he looked like a scarecrow. He and Lea sang "We Could Be In Love" which was originally a duet Lea did with Aladdin co-star Brad Kane. Their voices blended beautifully and I found myself turning into a Christian Bautista fan inch by inch. I finally saw the reason why thousands of teenage girls from Indonesia and South Korea were hoarding this Filipino guy's album. He was dubbed as the Filipino version of Josh Groban and he did sound good.

After Christian, Eric Santos took the stage. Probably I was just expecting too much from the Star in a Million Grand Champion or I still had Christian-itis. Whatever the reason was, I was greatly disappointed by Eric's performance. It felt so bland to me and his voice, in stark contrast to Christian's, sounded muddled and scraped. It was like eating banana with the peeling still stuck to it. Lea joined him onstage to sing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin and as Lea began to introduce the song, I gripped my armrests as if my life depended on it. Oh no, Eric was about to murder one of my ultimate favorite duets. When they did, I wanted to scream "Stop in the name of all that is beautiful." But then someone from the bleachers screamed "I lab yu Eric!" I changed my mind. I wanted to live long enough to see the rest of the show.

Ogie Alcasid was the most entertaining of all of Lea's guests. Aside from the fact that he kept on promoting his chain of hotdog stands which I believe were called "Ogie Doggies," he and Lea began pitting their schools against each other. Lea was dressed in blue while Ogie had a green tie on. Anywhere you go, the Archers and the Eagles always get into a fight. My sister, an Archer, leaned over to me and whispered "Too bad, no Dragons." I glared at her and said "When the Dragon joins the battle, we'll be having fried Eagle and barbecued Archer for dinner." Just a digression, if you Reader don't know who the Dragons are, shame on you!

Ogie also sang an alphabet of Christmas songs which started with songs beginning in "A" ("Ang pasko ay sumapit...") until the letter "Z" ("Zilver bells..."). He and Lea also sang Jim Brickman's "The Gift" which Lea originally did with her Korean ex-boyfriend Michael Lee.

But then, the best part of the show, undoubtedly, was when Lea sang her wedding song "Two Words" to her brother and musical director Gerard and his fiancee violinist DJ Francisco. Before Lea sang "Two Words," she actually first sang George Canseco's "Ikaw." In the last line of the song, Lea crooned with her eyes closed. Rob, who was sitting on the front row, immediately bounded out of his seat and dashed to the backstage. My sister grabbed my arm and muttered "Is he singing?" Oooohhh I got excited!

Lea sang the first verse and the chorus. When the second verse came, Rob entered the stage and sang. Lea looked on with surprise and the entire coliseum roared. I was frozen on my seat, trying to capture everything on my camera phone. I didn't get anything visually but I could hear everything clearly. I had always known Rob had a good voice but I still enjoyed their number very much. As I looked at my childhood idol and her husband sing to each other, I just felt so happy that she had finally found the man she was created for. Call it severe autism but I was simply happy for her.

Lea during her wedding early this year (left) and singing "Two Words" with Rob during the concert.

The entire Christmas concert was worth the price and the waiting. I had rarely thoroughly enjoy myself in a concert but this one never had any dull moments. Lea certainly made my Christmas worth it and when she thanked the crowd for making her Araneta dream come true, I was truly glad.

N.B. I wandered into another blog (http://alex-a.blogdrive.com) which is where I found the concert pictures. Just giving credit where it is due.

Summer in November

My friends Anna and Em planed in from Manila for a visit during the sem break. Anna carried with her a list of things to do. One of the items she failed to write down was to go to Boracay. Naturally, we could not let them pass up an opportunity to go to one of the hottest beaches in the world! Thus we donned our swimsuits in November and pretended we were soaking up the summer sun. There really was not much difference - it was pretty hot in Boracay!

Feeling photographer: One of the first shots I took upon our arrival.

When I was there, I started drawing up my own list: What's Crazy and Crappy about Boracay.

What's Crazy:

Tattoos

Anna and Em got temporary henna tattoos on their ankles. The tattoo artists usually charge a hundred pesos for a tattoo but Anna and Em got them for only half the price. Anna had to have hers redone about twice since she kept on messing it up. By the time she was done with her second retouch, the tattoo artist was asking for her name.

I also wanted to get a tattoo on my nape. I was browsing through their catalogue and found a dolphin design I wanted. I later on decided against it. I might be barred from the school entrance gates when the new semester begins.

There is this one place in Station 1 where they have glitter tattoos done although they cost much more and last for a lesser period of time than henna tattoos.

Dressing Down

In normal circumstances, when you go out of the house to go somewhere, you have to put on newer clothes. In Boracay, I brought mostly old shirts and shorts and no one cared whether I looked like I had just gotten out of bed or what. On our second day in Boracay, we went swimming at 9. By lunchtime, I just put on my high school jersey over my bathing spot and tied my soggy hair in place with a scrunchie. I waddled around the place, visiting shops and sitting by the beach, in the same getup and no one seemed to mind.

Nothing beats lying on a hammock by the beach at 10 PM.

Banana Boat Ride

Banana Boat Rides in Boracay cost 200 pesos per person. The ride lasts for 15 minutes. It's not cheap but the money seems pretty worth the adventure, especially since when you get in the middle of the water, the drivers can turn over the banana boat so that everyone gets dumped into the water. However Doi, Anna and Em were not particularly keen about that even if we were wearing life jackets. So we pretty much stayed 40% dry during the ride.

While we were being pulled around during the ride, another banana boat was out in the open with us. I could only watch with envy as the riders of that banana boat screamed their lungs out when they fell into the water. I promised myself that when I go back, I'll try the Flying Fish although it costs a little bit more at 500 pesos per person. Just add a little bit more and I get two Kitche Nadal CDs.

Sand castles

At night, Doi, Anna, Em and I would go out for a walk along the beach. We spotted sand castles and other sand art created by children no more than 10 years old. I was pretty envious. I could not make a simple sand castle myself and second graders could create structures like these!

Anna, Doi and I with the really cool sandcastles.

While I was looking at the sand castles, I suddenlt had an image of Chen Ling and Qi Luo walking down a beach, hand in hand, after they both had built a huge sand castle. Qi Luo told Ling that when the tide came, the sea would have washed the sand castle away. Ling then compared sand castles to dreams. Dreams get shattered once in a while but like sand castles, they can always be rebuilt and the new ones are always different from their predecessors. And like sand castles, dreams become much more fun and memorable when they are built with another person.

The kids who worked on the sand castles usually did so in pairs. Maybe as they toiled under the heat of the sun, I'd like to think they had other things in mind that they believed they could shape into anything they wanted, just like the sand on their hands.

Swimming

This has got to be a no-brainer. After all, Boracay is an island. Who can resist the feeling of fine, white sand between their toes? Or the smell of the sea? And most especially a refreshing dunk in cool, crystal clear water?

How can you say no to this? Doi herself has difficulty doing so!

I have never been alien to the beach since I've always lived near the coast but Boracay has always been a favorite hideaway. As my mom whispered when we got there "I've been here in several occasions but Boracay never fails to leave me at awe every time." I was half-listening to her words since I myself was caught in my thoughts. I was restraining myself not to just jump over the side of the boat. The water seemed to whisper, siren-like "Come to me!"

After seeing this pic, my mom once more contemplated how she would look like in a bikini.

When we did get to swim, the feeling was unexplainable. The last time I had taken a dip in the waters of Boracay was the day after my senior prom in high school. Lately, most of the swimming I have been doing has been pool-related. Swimming in one of the best tropical beaches in the world was something I sorely missed. I missed getting tossed by the waves. I missed licking my lips after a dive and getting bits of salt and sand. I missed feeling sticky. I missed looking around and seeing miles and miles of water.

Trying to pass ourselves off as Japanese tourists.

On our second day we went boating. My mom requested the boat driver to stop in the middle of the sea so that we could jump off and swim around. I dove into the water sans my life jacket and it was the most exhilarating feeling ever! My friends joined me, including Anna who was pretty scared of the water simply because she declared she sucked at swimming.

See Anna? It ain't too late for swimming lessons!

What's Crappy:

Food

Boracay is not particularly well known for its food. I have tasted better cuisine somewhere else. If I remember correctly, the only gastronomic delight I particularly enDoied there was balut.

Dollar rate

Staying in Boracay would cost a lot. Buy junk food and softdrinks in mini marts found in the Caticlan terminal because it is cheaper there.

Escort service

The second time I went to Boracay was when I was around six years old. I was with my grandmother and my older cousins. One of the things I distinctly remember was the sight of about four or five Caucasian women roasting themselves with the sun's ultraviolet rays dressed...er...lesser than usual. Now this apparently has been banned in Boracay much to my relief.

However one thing which has not changed is the escort service offered by some Filipinas to foreign guests. It was not a rare sight to see a tall white man between 50 to 60 years with older with his arms draped around a small, sun-kissed Filipina or, in some cases, Filipinas. Whenever we would see things like this, Doi and I would look at each other with eyes narrowed, surmising how foreigners now have a new name to associate with Filipinas. By the time we left Boracay, Doi and I had agreed one of the things that these foreigners had lost was the power of discernment. These words mean more than what they seem to convey.

Here's a little story: One morning when I woke up, my mom told me that during the night, something happened in a house near the one we slept in. Fighting eruped between a couple. The girl was Filipino and the guy was obviously foreign. By the sound of the yelling, the screaming and the crashing, a fight had erupted characterized by both verbal and physical blows. The girl received most of it.

The way I see it, prostitution in Boracay should be examined by the Aklan LGUs. If this should go on unguarded, the reputation of the Filipina would suffer greatly. We raised up in arms when a dictionary associated the word "Filipina" with "maid." I do not want to see a time wherein we would have to bellow because we Filipinas are to be made synonymous with the flesh trade. As I saw one scantily clad Filipina after another walk side by side with a foreign patron in Boracay, I was filled with absolute rage and utter helplessness. I felt angry because the Filipina's dignity was of very little worth. I felt helpless because their main reason for doing so is persistent, permeating and seemingly infinite. The reason of lack, however, is never enough justification for degradation of character, morality and respect. I may be hit for being idealistic or self-righteous but I would want to walk down the street and know that every person I meet respects me, and every Filipina they encounter. Believe me or not but I do know what I'm talking about.

My dad and sister were pretty jealous when they saw these pics of mom and me.


I'm sorry if you're jealous. That wasn't my intention.

A Little Bit Overdue

As much as possible, there should be no category when it comes to friends. This idea is utopic in the sense that it really cannot be helped. You get to meet a lot of people in your life and some of them may remain mere acquaintances while others become more than that. Others get to be so close to you that being friends sometimes is not enough to describe the relationship.

One of my best friends is Doi. In one of my previous entries, I mentioned that in the previous summer, she spent more time hatching shrimp than with me and our other friends. Doi is pretty much like any other person. She enjoys a good laugh and enjoys eating, despite her small frame. Music, movies and TV are a given for her. She does not walk sideways and has a pretty close relationship with her mother (what an understatement).

However Doi is not just any other person. Doi stays clear of coffee and counts on numerous glasses of water to keep her awake. She sleeps with a pillow or blanket on top of her head. She likes to wear black. Her radio is always tuned to NU107. One word which can never be used to describe her would be "cute" and one word which would fit her well would be "sarcastic." The speed of her eyeball movement is unbroken. She's a frustrated guitarist. She's quiet only when she's mad. She's highly opinionated and irrepressible. She's smart in all aspects - from the classroom down to the basic rules of the street. And most of all, she is the strongest person I know.

I'm not going to lie and say that the first time I met her, we immediately clicked and bonded that in a matter of days we knew all the slumbook details about each other and even formulated some sort of secret handshake. We actually did not get along at first. Just call it a classic Physics phenomenon of "like poles repel." Perhaps one of the greatest miracles is how we became friends. In high school we did our thesis together along with our friend Sue. During discussions, our arguments would rival Miriam Defensor's temperament that our thesis adviser once told us "Could you three please talk outside? You're giving me a heart attack."

The key to Doi's strength is that she has experienced the rudiments of life at an early age. In one of those nights wherein we sat at the dinner table and just chatted about the mundane and the sublime, the trivial and the profound, we concluded that if her life (even just at 21) would be the subject of such dramatic shows such as "Maalalaala Mo Kaya" or "Magpakailanman," the actress portraying her would have won an acting award. But what makes her amazing is the fact that she accepts and moves on. You may think "What is so amazing about that?" Well when you count the number of people all over the world who have either entered a mental asylum or committed suicide, I think I've made my point. Doi is driven by her faith, her love for her mother and her desire to become someone better. For all these reasons and more, I'm glad that she's my friend and I'm proud of what she has achieved.

Last September, Doi passed the Chemistry Licensure Exam. I have seen for myself how hard she worked for this examination. As the old saying goes "God helps those who help themselves." Once I was driving my Lola to thoe hospital and we passed by her school. I almost hit the car in front of me coz I was too busy pointing the banner out to my Lola.

Doi on the day we learned she passed the board exam.