revisitant cébu

BONNES FETES A TOUS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! this is the greeting that i would use during this time of the year. it respects the beliefs of other people what ever the case that maybe. it does not presume that another is christian like when people would say MERRY CHRISTMAS which alienates and ultimately demeans non christian people and their own beliefs. NOT EVERYONE IS CHRISTIAN. jews celebrate the festival of lights and moslems celebrate the end of ramadan. many people are ignorant including myself about religious holidays of other religions. another greeting which i found to be very acceptable is PEACE BE WITH YOU. although its been used by catholics during their mass service, it has a solid secular quality about it. and so .. je dois dire .. que la paix soit avec toi mon ami ..

four months. i find myself boarding the plane back to cebu. i am excited to see the city that i have considered home for almost 5 years. i longed for the fresh air, the relaxed atmosphere, being away from it all, which is how i wanted to spend the holidays. over the past couple of days, i have been swamped with programming work. i wanted to get away from it just for a while.

i was also hoping id get some hard earned dough but i suppose that has to wait as well. there was a slight complication. i was furious but i also know that i need only to be more patient. mother was furious when she heard.

i have not been away that long but ive noticed some changes while i was away. there are new office buildings. mall extensions. new arrangments at the supermarket. new restaurants (fastfood) and apartments. cebu is clearly and rapidly developing.

i had lunch with some old friends. a reunion. it was nice to be them reminiscing about "the good old days". we are only given this brief moment yet again. this makes it rather special. compounded with having to deal with saying goodbye all over again. and it did feel like goodbye.

er .. max?? breathe ..

my visit was not just about reunions and feeling down and empty after. i did need to bring back some books, a computer monitor, and some clothing i managed to leave behind last time i was here. i slept in my old room. it felt strange. it felt like i was home. i was a ghost come back to haunt the place i frequented in while i was alive. it irks me that there is no going back except in my mind. and its vague. everything is vague. i could have just imagined it all. encore une fois, tu me manques bien mon ami .. tu me manques toujours. (sigh)

fortunately for ghis who happened to need someone to deliver an airplane ticket, i was happy to take the errand. she left for france and will be back next year. whenever i am with her and her friends (who are italians) i can't help but feel inferior and different. i told ghis about it. i think she understood what i was talking about. she doesn't understand why i felt that way. neither do i. am i less of a human being? this is a pinoy mentality we are so familiar with, something i need to unlearn. or this is something more personal. a mental sickness of feeling constantly inadequate.

le baptême d'éthan

évidemment, parce que ma famille sont catholique. c'est sans surprise que mon plus nouveau neveu étais baptisé ce matin, comme un catholique. san son accord. mais pourquoi? je les ai demandé. j'ai essayé d'expliquer que ce n'est plus nécessaire parce que selon le pape catholique (ex-nazi)- tous les enfants sont né dans l'état de grace (sauf peut-être les enfants qui sont juifs?). que ils sont sans péché originel. bien sur, ils ne me croient pas.

see how it works. over the centuries they scare you into joining the church. baptise your children or they go to hell! .. until the time when its become a tradition. just simply reverse the original ruling. but dont make this a headline. people might get the idea that the church is not truly necessary.

i have finally watched the movie golden compass. i was very disappointed with the movie. although it was faithful to the general plot, it failed to convey the same level of excitement and dread that it had in the book. to put it mildly .. it lacked soul. if the story had been human, the movie would have been someone who had lost its daemon. by this time i believe most people would have heard about it. or have watched it themselves. so it would be okey if i mention the parts which went missing in it.

1. first, the magisterium was heavily watered down into a regular bad guy. for those who havent read the books. the magisterium is controled by the vatican. even if it did maintain its primary intent, that is to control mankind (his thoughts. his dreams. his life). the change of face made it less of a threat and therefore it was less intriguing. i felt that this was very unfortunate that prof. richard dawkins is once again right in his thesis. why is religion immune to scrutiny. but that is that another story. (another forum for that matter)

2. in the book i felt scared and utterly shocked at the discovery of the ghostly kid who lost his daemon. it was downplayed in the film. i couldnt feel any dread. but instead it felt like a walk in the park on a sunday afternoon where you ignore everything around you. in the book, the boy died. in the movie, they hinted on getting the daemon back. again this couldnt work. the enemy and what it was doing became an inconvenience rather than something to be afraid of. it took away the intensity of the scene. loosing your soul is suppose to be a very big deal. and yet the people just stood there as if the kid just lost a pet.

3. more later .. about the panserbjorne ..

parolado

itong dalawang artista yung dumalo sa bahay. irma daw yung pangalan ng babae at ronnie lazaro yung lalaki. kilala ko yung lalaki sa tv. madalas na inaapi yung role niya.

c'est quoi? ang isang parolado ay taong galing bilanguan na nakalaya na. nuong jueves may kumatok sa pinto namin at ang sabi ay galing daw sila sa department of justice. nagpaalam sila na gagawa sila ng isang palabas na ang tema ay tungkol sa parolado. napili nila ang bahay namin sa laguna bilang background para sa dokumentaryo. marahil dahil mukha itong gusgusin. kung baga lower middle class na tao ang nakatira dito. ordinaryong pilipino. pero naisip ko din na baka dahil sa maliwanag at malawak ang espasyo sa labas. may maliit na garaje at jardin sa katabi.

pag dating ng linggo. dumating na ang crew. ang dami palang tao sa akala namin maliit na produksyon. siguro sobra sa bente ang mga tao. nakita ko yung director. di ko kilala. pero kamukha niya si woody allen. mukhang matalino. balak ko sanang manuod ng golden compass sa bagong gawang SM Muntinlupa (malapit sa amin) pero di na ako nakapunta dahil nanuod na lang ako nung filming.

di ako mahilig manuod ng mga palabas sa tv. lalo na kung pilipino. pero mahilig ang mga kasama ko sa bahay. kaya nakikinuod na lang ako sa kanila. yung dumalo na artista ay may kasikatan na din. si ronnie lazaro (?). kilala ko siya dahil siya yung gumanap na tatay nung palabas na pinapanuod ni mama tuwing gabi. yung ibang artista na marahil asawa at anak ni ronnie ay magada pero di ko din kilala. tinanong ko kapatid ko kung kilala niya. nakikita niya din daw sa tv yung mga yun.

mahiyain kasi kaming magpamilya kaya sa loob lang kami ng kwarto nanatili habang tinapos nila ang filming sa kusina. na kung akong tatanungin ay talaga naman mukhang skwatter ang dating ng kusina namin kaya siguro napili nila. héhé ..