Dear Santa: I deserve an iMac

For days, it had been nagging me like a girlfriend dropping subtle, but resolute, hints that she wants a Prada Craquele Tote for Christmas. Apple’s iTunes, each time I ran it, would remind me that there was this wonderful, new version of itself now available – and that it would be in my best interest to download it.

Thinking it was just one of those minuscule, insignificant tweaks with changes I’d pay mind to like an office memo about a mid-morning fire drill,  I kept ignoring it.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Apple sent out an e-mail announcing to the whole world that the latest iterations of the iMac and Macbook were out. That got me excited in a way that only a new episode of 30 Rock could.  It got me excited enough to make me want to grab a piece of paper and write this letter to Santa:

The Big Four-Oh

I turned 40 today. Life begins at 40, right? Truth is, it doesn’t.

For most of us, turning 40 is like crossing that mid-point in a marathon and finding ourselves still at the tail-end of a sweating, panting mob. We know that even if we get a sudden rush of adrenaline and an inspiration to run faster, there’s no way we’ll end up at the top 100.

So, we just putter along, hoping to finish the race with a “respectable” time, maybe land in 101st place, consoling ourselves with the thought that it’s not about whether we win or not, but how we run the race.

And that’s the truth. When we reach 40, we gain enough sobriety to know that it’s no longer about winning. It’s about summoning those last, remaining ounces of desire left in us to push on and keep on living, even as our bodies begin to age and the life processes that animate our cells slowly decay.

Forty is when we start to just let life flow.

He gave up his life to save so many

Blogger’s Note: The Singapore Straits Times is running this wire report on Sept 29. A genuine source of great pride for Filipinos here in Singapore.

MANILA — Teenager Muelmar Magallanes braved

rampaging floods to save more than 30 people, but

ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a

baby girl who was being swept away on a styrofoam

box.

Yesterday, family members and the people saved by the

18-year-old construction worker hailed him as a hero,

as his body lay in a coffin at a makeshift evacuation

centre near their destroyed Manila riverside village.

“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar. He gave

his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice,” said

Ms Menchie Penalosa, the mother of the six-month-old

girl he carried to safety before being swept away

himself.

Magallanes was at home last Saturday with his family

when tropical storm Ketsana unleashed the heaviest

rains in more than 40 years on the Philippine capital and

surrounding areas.

At first the family, long used to heavy rains, paid little

attention to the storm.

But Magallanes and his father decided to evacuate the

family once they realised the river 800m away had burst

its banks.

With the help of an older brother, Magallanes tied a

string around his waist and attached it one-by-one to

his three younger siblings, whom he took to higher

ground. Then he came back for his parents.

But Magallanes, a strong swimmer, decided to go back

for his neighbours who where trapped on rooftops.

He ended up making many trips, and eventually saved

more than 30 people from drowning, witnesses and

survivors said.

Tired and shivering, Magallanes was back on higher

ground with his family when he heard Ms Penalosa

screaming as she and her baby were being swept away

on the polystyrene box they were using in an attempt to

cross the swift currents.

He dived back in after the mother and daughter, who

were already a few metres away and bobbing

precariously among the debris floating on the brown

water.

“I didn’t know that the current was so strong. In an

instant, I was under water. We were going to die,” said

Ms Penalosa, her eyes welling with tears and voice

choking with emotion.

“Then this man came from nowhere and grabbed us.

He took us to where the other neighbours were, and

then he was gone,” said Ms Penalosa.

She and other witnesses said an exhausted Magallanes

was simply washed away amid the torrent of water.

Neighbours found his body on Sunday, along with those

of 28 others who perished in Manila’s worst flooding in

decades.

Standing next to his coffin, Magallanes’ parents paid

tribute to their son.

“He always had a good heart,” said his father, Samuel.

“We had already been saved. But he decided to go back

one last time for the girl.”

His mother, Maria Luz, wept as she described her

MANILA: Teenager Muelmar Magallanes braved rampaging floods to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl who was being swept away on a styrofoam box.

Yesterday, family members and the people saved by the 18-year-old construction worker hailed him as a hero, as his body lay in a coffin at a makeshift evacuation centre near their destroyed Manila riverside village.

“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar. He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice,” said Ms Menchie Penalosa, the mother of the six-month-old girl he carried to safety before being swept away himself.

President Brother Mike o Brother President Mike?

Haleyluya! Prez da Lord! Hey-men! Sa wakas, dumating na ang mesayah ng ating pulitika: si – drumroll at matapos n’un ay entrada si Judy Garland na kinakanta ang:  The clown, with his pants falling down… Tralala, tra-lala-la-la-la… That’s entertainment! –  Brother Mike V!

Sa wakas, yayaman na ang bawat Pilipino – sa kabilang buhay, kung ‘di man sa buhay na ito.

Kapag si Brother Mike na ang ating naging pangulo, tiyak na sisipa ang per capita income ng bawat Pilipino – ‘yung mga mapupunta sa langit, ha – at aabot sa nakakalulang 1 million Diyoskopo points!  Pwede nang ipagsigawan ng bawat Pilipino – ‘yung mga namatay na, ha – sa mga syota nila na iniwan sila o sa mga supermodel at porn star na pinagnasaan nila habang nagbabawas sa banyo: I may be dead, but I’m rich, biatch!

Ruins

There’s this very special place I always take my kids to whenever I go back home, a “when-I-was-young-my-dad-used-to- take-me-there” kind of place.  It’s called Ruins, a burned-down warehouse straddling the gates of BF Homes in Parañaque that now houses hundreds of stalls that sell everything counterfeit: Blu-Ray discs, DVDs, Playstation games, MP3s, trading cards, action figures.  Anything but the original.

It is open only at night, as it was intended to be a night market – it’s formal name is the Good Shepherd Bazaar, but only mapmakers and guys at the Yellow Pages call it that nowadays.   It’s not a very comfortable place.  It’s very hot and humid, even when it’s raining, in which case, it is also flooded. Still, people flock to it like bees to honey.

Ruins wasn’t meant to be the south’s equivalent of Quiapo as a pirate’s mecca, but then God works in mysterious ways.  It is popular and has been very successful because it fills up a need, a deep longing, in us. In this case, the need to be evil.

Underground River a ‘7 Wonders’ finalist

Blogger’s Note: Rewritten from a New York Times article.

Puerto Princesa’s Underground River will go head-to-head with the Grand Canyon, the Amazon rainforest and 25 other places to be named the “New 7 Wonders of Nature”, based on a global online poll.  

The finalists, which were announced on July 21 in Zurich, include well-known destinations like Matterhorn and Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as more obscure spots like the Mud Volcanoes in Azerbaijan and Milford Sound in New Zealand. To vote for own ‘Wonder of Nature’, go to http://www.new7wonders.com/

Names

I was scrolling through my phone’s contact list, and I was surprised to find at least 12 names there that I don’t recognise. I absolutely have no idea how they got there and who those people are and how they figured into my life.

There’s this name, Rommel Bolesa, for instance, who I can only guess must’ve been a driver from a car rental firm my old employer once hired for an out-of-town gig or a contact person in a provincial office somewhere.

I guess most of these unrecognisable names are like condoms or napkins: very valuable but are really “for one-time use” only. They were very important in a particular moment in my life, but are now essentially useless.

Yet, somehow, I can’t bring myself to delete them. There’s this nagging thought that one day, maybe by some cruel trick of fate, having these names in my cell phone will save me from some desperate, tragic situation on a boring, Sunday afternoon.

Thousands march against charter change

A bank employee throws confetti over a crowd gathering at a busy intersection in Makati’s central business district on June 10, 2009 for a rally against moves by the legislature to amend the Philippine Constitution. Various religious and left-leaning groups organised the massive protest against charter change, seen as a ploy to prolong President Gloria Arroyo’s stay in power. Reuters

Liham mula sa isang ginahasa

Noong Hunyo 2, sa kadiliman ng gabi, ginahasa ako ng mahigit 150 na kalalakihan. Kinaladkad nila ako sa isang malaking silid sa isang magarang gusali sa Quezon City at doon pinagpasa-pasahan at nilapastangan na parang isang kinatay na baboy.

Hinubaran nila ako ng damit hanggang walang natira ni isang saplot at kahihiyan sa aking katawan.  Inihiga nila ako sa isang malapad at malamig na lamesa na mistulang altar at itinali ang mga kamay at paa ko sa apat na sulok nito.

Pinilit ko na maging matapang, na magmanhid na lamang ang katawan at pagkatao. Nagmakaawa ako. Nagsumamo. Humagulgol.  Subalit tila mga wala silang marinig. Tila wala sila sa sarili nila, wala sila sa matuwid na pagiisip o talagang bulag lang sa kanilang kasamaan.

‘Ang issue dito ay pang-aabuso sa kababaihan’

Blogger’s Note: Katrina Halili’s opening statement during a Senate committee hearing on the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili video scandal.
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“Artista po ako. Trabaho ko ang maghatid ng tuwa. Pantasya ng telebisyon at pelikula. Pero tulad ng iba may pribado ring buhay din ako gaya ng lahat. Sa pagkakataong ito. dangal ko at dangal ng pamilya ang pinag uusapan dito.

Minahal ko si Hayden. bata ako kaya madaling nalagyan ng piring ang aking mga mata para isisping ako lang ang nagmamay ari ng puso niya. pero gaya ng lahat ng relasyong nagsimula sa kasinunagalingan wala itong pinatunguhan. Wala akong malay na ang bawat yakap at halik ay scripted. Buong-buo kong binigay yung puso at ang kaluluwa ko sa isang lalaking gumagawa pala ng sariling pelikula. Ang tanga ko. Imbes na doktor, direktor pala.