Sa'yo nagsimula ang lahat.
Mahal kita kahit/dahil diva ka. :)
30 August 2011
20 August 2011
Manila is special because Rizal is my hero
Written for J195:
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As part of the country’s celebration of the national hero’s sesquicentennial birth anniversary this year, over 200 participants tasted some of Jose Rizal’s known favourite foods and revisited some of the most historically significant landmarks in Metro Manila.
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As part of the country’s celebration of the national hero’s sesquicentennial birth anniversary this year, over 200 participants tasted some of Jose Rizal’s known favourite foods and revisited some of the most historically significant landmarks in Metro Manila.
On the morning of May 20, the Department of Tourism launched the tourism campaign honoring Jose Rizal. It featured a heritage trail to the places in the Philippines where he had set foot on, as well as a special breakfast capturing the tastes from more than a century ago. The itinerary was not fancy, but the places were memorable because they have stood witness to the significant moments of our history.
The program of the heritage trail launch and the pasaporte for Lakbay Rizal @ 150
The most obvious landmark is of course the dutifully-guarded Rizal monument at the Luneta Park, visited not only by Filipinos but even by foreign tourists as well. That morning, a bunch of Koreans were huddled in front of the Park. There was also the improved Rizal Lights and Sound Museum that aimed to bring to life the last moments of Rizal with life-size statues.
For a Filipino who hasn’t visited the Rizal Shrine at Fort Bonifacio, the Hispanic-themed museum was by far the most interesting. The Shrine houses some of the most treasured Rizaliana relics such as some of the clothes he wore displayed in glass cases and permanently stained with time. The walls and the floors were filled with his writings—both from his personal letters and journals, and from his published literary masterpieces.
Probably what caused the most “oohs” from the visiting crowd was the display of a spinal bone of Rizal which a bullet from the firing squad pierced through. It was to me, a concrete and physiological evidence that the national hero was, indeed, a human like all of us—extraordinary, yes, but human.
Unlike other thematic tours, the Lakbay Rizal @150 offers gastronomical treat to the participants with a special buffet of the national hero’s favourite food. As the tour guide explained the bases for selecting a dish to be included in the menu, everybody experienced the tastes Rizal favoured himself during his time. There was the starchy but flavorful pancit miki Maria Clara and Tiya Isabel from Noli me Tangere prepared for Ibarra. There was also the famous tinola with papaya that aggravated Padre Damaso after he was purposedly served with the scrawny neck part of the chicken in El Filibusterismo. There were also sardenas seca tuyo, itlog na pula, and adobo Rizal spoke of in his letters to his family.
To cap the sumptuous meal was a cup of hot rich and bittersweet tsokolate e. As opposed to the bland tsokolate a (with “a” standing for “agua”), tsokolate e was described in Noli as a drink served only for important people, mostly the friars.
The tour also included a visit to Intamuros, particularly to the Rizaliana sites such as the original location of the Ateneo where Rizal studied and the location of the court where he was tried and sentenced. Ultimately, the last place to be visited was the circular Paco Park where Rizal was unceremoniously buried after he was executed by the firing squad.
The thematic tour all over the Philippines includes a total of around 25 spots. I like history as much as discovering new things, and tracing Rizal’s steps from Laguna to Pampanga to Zamboanga seems like a great adventure waiting to be had.
19 August 2011
'How I miss yesterday, how I let it fade away...'*
Sometimes I wonder why I cling onto the bits and pieces of daily life, and the stories and the people I encounter.
I keep instructing my brain to remember a line from a book, a conversation, a scenery, a tiny detail that would probably never mean anything.
"The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten," says a graffiti written on a desk in a class room. Does it, I wonder? If we don't know what we've lost, we'll never know how much we should or might have had.
Despite this, and as much as possible still, I try to remember.
*from Memories by Panic! At The Disco
I keep instructing my brain to remember a line from a book, a conversation, a scenery, a tiny detail that would probably never mean anything.
"The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten," says a graffiti written on a desk in a class room. Does it, I wonder? If we don't know what we've lost, we'll never know how much we should or might have had.
Despite this, and as much as possible still, I try to remember.
*from Memories by Panic! At The Disco
14 August 2011
The Mighty Mouse for threeee!
Jimmy Alapag won the 2010-2011 Most Valuable Player Award of the PBA! If I were in Araneta Coliseum today and have witnessed the ceremony, I would have been crying right now or teary-eyed at least. I have been a fan for more than 6 years already, and I certainly believe he deserves the recognition.
I am probably one of the last persons you can expect to be a basketball fan. I was never a sports enthusiast. I hated those nights when my father watches a game and I can't tune in to my favorite primetime programs. And no matter how much I bargained with him, I couldn't win. A basketball game's "last 20 minutes" can go on for an hour, and when my father says, "only two minutes left," I know I have missed another full episode of the program I wanted to watch.
I was in sophomore year in high school when things changed. My seatmate back then was a Barangay Ginebra Kings fan since birth (he said so himself), and because we were always bantering I decided to root for the team BGK was against during the finals series of that time. It was Talk n Text. I watched the games, and even if Talk n Text did not win that championship, the little point guard of the team wearing jersey number 3 won my heart. HAHAHA.
I was not familiar with the rules of the game, nor the people in it, nor the roles they have to play. I simply watched the little guy who shoots from the rainbow county, makes great passes to defend the ball, and subtly assists his teammates to score field goals. I remember his "partnership" back then with Willie Miller, the two of them scoring and creating fastbreak plays for the team. It was really a delight watching them, Willie being a rather comic fellow. It was really a letdown when Willie was traded of to Alaska. But Jimmy stayed, and in the team, his role grew bigger as Talk n Text (like all the teams in the PBA) cope up with changes in the line-up, coaching staff, and rules.
I think my "fondness" for Jimmy (for lack of better word) is an example of how obsessive I can be when I like something or see a special worth in someone. I remember not missing a single game of the team, even if only just by watching on TV, competing with the rest of the family who didn't quite understand how I became a basketball fan overnight. I remember voicing out opinions through the mailing list under his name, cutting out and keeping pictures and news articles about him. I remember my how my high school classmates showed and gave me magazine articles and photos on Jimmy despite constantly chiding me for my unprecedented crush over a "short" basketball player. I even talked about him and the games in my letters to my friends, about how annoying the team lost, or how happy I am that he was (as always then) the player of the game. (I really want to read those letters again and laugh at myself, haha.)
In due time, though, I found other interests. But I always root for the team whenever it reaches the finals, or whenever I could catch a game on TV. I haven't memorized the names of the players (of all the teams) now, the way I used to. I actually miss the time when Jimmy's team was the underdog. I liked it better when the teams of the moguls financing the league is up against my Talk n Text that didn't seem to have a solid coaching staff, whose ace players were being traded-off, and so on.
The tables have turned now. Talk n Text seems to have one of the strongest line-ups in the league, and just two wins away from securing a grand slam legacy. Through the years, it was Jimmy (and okay, Coach Chot but Coach was not with TnT from the start so...) that kept the team together, mentored the new and younger players as they step up in their games.
Game by game, conference by conference, I think Jimmy had developed to be a dependable leader and Talk n Text wouldn't be Talk n Text without him. A player's worth isn't simply measured by the points he scored, or statistics in general after all.
The Mighty Mouse has always been the league's most valuable player for me, and this year's award is just another feather on his cap, though it's undoubtedly the brightest. Hihi.
I think I sound so much like a teenage girl romanticizing her crush... which I am (except for the former part</3). Haha.
I am probably one of the last persons you can expect to be a basketball fan. I was never a sports enthusiast. I hated those nights when my father watches a game and I can't tune in to my favorite primetime programs. And no matter how much I bargained with him, I couldn't win. A basketball game's "last 20 minutes" can go on for an hour, and when my father says, "only two minutes left," I know I have missed another full episode of the program I wanted to watch.
I was in sophomore year in high school when things changed. My seatmate back then was a Barangay Ginebra Kings fan since birth (he said so himself), and because we were always bantering I decided to root for the team BGK was against during the finals series of that time. It was Talk n Text. I watched the games, and even if Talk n Text did not win that championship, the little point guard of the team wearing jersey number 3 won my heart. HAHAHA.
I was not familiar with the rules of the game, nor the people in it, nor the roles they have to play. I simply watched the little guy who shoots from the rainbow county, makes great passes to defend the ball, and subtly assists his teammates to score field goals. I remember his "partnership" back then with Willie Miller, the two of them scoring and creating fastbreak plays for the team. It was really a delight watching them, Willie being a rather comic fellow. It was really a letdown when Willie was traded of to Alaska. But Jimmy stayed, and in the team, his role grew bigger as Talk n Text (like all the teams in the PBA) cope up with changes in the line-up, coaching staff, and rules.
I think my "fondness" for Jimmy (for lack of better word) is an example of how obsessive I can be when I like something or see a special worth in someone. I remember not missing a single game of the team, even if only just by watching on TV, competing with the rest of the family who didn't quite understand how I became a basketball fan overnight. I remember voicing out opinions through the mailing list under his name, cutting out and keeping pictures and news articles about him. I remember my how my high school classmates showed and gave me magazine articles and photos on Jimmy despite constantly chiding me for my unprecedented crush over a "short" basketball player. I even talked about him and the games in my letters to my friends, about how annoying the team lost, or how happy I am that he was (as always then) the player of the game. (I really want to read those letters again and laugh at myself, haha.)
In due time, though, I found other interests. But I always root for the team whenever it reaches the finals, or whenever I could catch a game on TV. I haven't memorized the names of the players (of all the teams) now, the way I used to. I actually miss the time when Jimmy's team was the underdog. I liked it better when the teams of the moguls financing the league is up against my Talk n Text that didn't seem to have a solid coaching staff, whose ace players were being traded-off, and so on.
The tables have turned now. Talk n Text seems to have one of the strongest line-ups in the league, and just two wins away from securing a grand slam legacy. Through the years, it was Jimmy (and okay, Coach Chot but Coach was not with TnT from the start so...) that kept the team together, mentored the new and younger players as they step up in their games.
Game by game, conference by conference, I think Jimmy had developed to be a dependable leader and Talk n Text wouldn't be Talk n Text without him. A player's worth isn't simply measured by the points he scored, or statistics in general after all.
The Mighty Mouse has always been the league's most valuable player for me, and this year's award is just another feather on his cap, though it's undoubtedly the brightest. Hihi.
I think I sound so much like a teenage girl romanticizing her crush... which I am (except for the former part</3). Haha.
08 August 2011
'Maaari bang makausap ka kahit na sandali?'
Sabihin sa'kin ang layunin
Ng pagtitig niya.
Tila ako ay nahihila
Ng kanyang mga mata...
Bukod sa ganda ng musika at titik, tinig pa ng isang kaibigan ang umaawit. Isa ito sa mga paborito kong kanta sa ngayon, mula sa Cyrano: Isang Sarswela, ang dulang pinanood namin noong Pebrero.
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