15 Jan 2012
by angkuletin MOMents Tags: friendship, Lia, MOMents
Lia is making me very emotional tonight.
To answer the question, “Where is Papa?” I had to say, “Papa is not here. You know he doesn’t live in Lolo’s house. Papa lives in Papa’s house.”
While hanging out in the balcony, where she chose to join me after seeing me sitting in the dark on a little step and after putting on her favorite pair of shoes from the shoe rack that now holds almost all of her shoes and almost ALL of mine, she looked up at the sky, held her arms over her head and said, “It’s raining on a starry night.”
Looking at her shoes, and remembering mine, I am reminded of what her Papa said this morning, as he was packing my shoes in a big box, “You’re bringing all of these shoes? Now, you don’t have any shoes here.” I said I still have about six to eight pairs of footwear in the shoe rack. He said, “But these are the shoes that you don’t wear anymore.”
Lia went up to me, holding a little doll dressed in pink that she found in my sister’s bedroom’s display cabinet and that she fondly calls Princess, asking me, “Where are her shoes?” I said, “I don’t know. She doesn’t have any shoes.” Then she picked up another doll, a doll from my childhood, a United Nations costume doll from Denmark, and looked at its feet. Seeing that the Danish doll is also barefoot, she told me, “Her shoes are also missing.”
A few minutes later, she came back to me, holding a little black piece of something that upon closer inspection was revealed to be a tiny shoe. “Look mama, it’s a shoe.” And she tried to fit it onto the Danish doll’s foot and lo and behold, it fit! I heard her exclaim, “Yaaan!”
Coming back to Princess and her bare feet, Lia held it up and said, “Her shoes are missing. I’ll go and find it?” To which I could only nod. Speechless.
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11 Jan 2012
by angkuletin MOMents Tags: Bicol, Camarines Sur, Caramoan, Manlawi, MOMents, more fun in the Philippines, travel
So I was busy being a mother and doing my “home-based business” in call center mode today when I check in to my Facebook and voila!
My friend and STS (Science, Technology and Society) favorite seat mate Miapurple tagged me in a post, saying, “See what I found circulating on facebook! This looks very familiar”
And lo and behold!
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06 Jan 2012
by angkuletin Musings Tags: new year, resolutions
It is the first week of January 2012 and I find myself sitting on a stool, typing away on my laptop which sits atop a plain white wooden table, glancing every once in a while at three other big monitors on tables on my left and right in front of me, music playing, while people walk up and down the wooden steps of this urban minimalist office I happened to have found myself in this Londony afternoon (read: umbrellas) - contemplating on some statements slash accusations hurled at me on the phone by some Neanderthal (oops livin high and yu-uh, takin it easy). Strangely enough, this office reminds me of some bar called S. Yes, bright white lights and walls and bookcases (real or imagined) always remind me of offices. Maybe that is the reason why I wouldn’t want to hang out at Bar S. Who wants to hang out at the end of a work day and still feel like you’re still at the office? Regardless of who owns this bar or that bar, I have a predisposition for dim lights.
A predisposition to never be that exposed, but maybe only by a tad? A desire to not be too seen, to be there, but not really be there, a choice to be social or anti, aloof or otherwise. Yes, dim lights.
What am I doing here, really? I’m here because the beach is here. The beach is calling me (cue in: All Saints’ Pure Shores). Arriving at the grand terminal two nights ago, with the weather comparable to that of windy, rainy, minus snowy, Chicago in February, with my evergreen everbright big backpack heavier than mine and Lia’s combined weight and an overnight bag packed with all that I might ever need, including cottonbuds, I asked myself that question. What am I doing here really?
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29 Nov 2011
by angkuletin MOMents Tags: Lia, milestones, MOMents, pre-school
At least once a week, Lia and I go out for a day – just the two of us. We’d take public transportation and just enjoy ourselves. She loves pedicabs and tricycles. She loves looking out of the bus window, with her hair blowing in her face. She also loves to take off her footwear and get on an utterly “relaxing” ride.
We usually hang out at various stores. The local department stores are so fun. They have a lot of cheap stuff that Lia and I just adore. We go home with either nothing or just about the weirdest stuff, like a big orange strainer that she insisted on putting on my head, like a hat, and a salt shaker.
We’d walk down the streets hand in hand, buying little trinkets and munching on fruits and other food bought from sidewalk vendors. Sometimes its maruya or puto bucayo and sometimes its lollipop or gummy bears or popsicles.
Yesterday we went for a little walk in Naga and passed by a preschool. I have long thought about taking Lia to school but could not find one that accepted toddlers her age. She saw the slide and see-saw and insisted on coming in. I grabbed the opportunity to inquire at the office since we were already there. Lia would be spending half her time in Manila and half her time in the province so I needed to know the possible arrangements, and of course, costs.
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28 Nov 2011
by angkuletin Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Photography Tags: Bicol, churches, culture, history, pre-war, religion, Spanish
I saw this post on Facebook from Planet Naga about four months ago. I had been too busy though to post it on my blog (or post anything actually). Today I am taking the time to share these beautiful photos. Much thanks for all these.
Pre-war Bicol. Bicol Region is known as one of the strongest bulwarks of the Catholic Faith since Hispanic times. In fact, during its inception, the prelate of Manila was under the Diocese of the Nueva Caceres. in This album, we shall explore the different Catholic churches all over the region, their different architectures and physical structure before war invaded Bicol in 1942.
BUHI, CAMARINES SUR - 1941
LABO, CAMARINES NORTE - 1941
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18 Oct 2011
by angkuletin Poetry Tags: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, poetry
If for an instant God were to forget that I am rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life,
possibly I wouldn’t say all that I think,
but rather I would think of all that I say.
I would value things,
not for their worth but for what they mean.
I would sleep little, dream more,
understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.
I would walk when others hold back.
I would wake when others sleep.
I would listen when others talk,
and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream!
If God were to give me a piece of life,
I would dress simply,
throw myself face first into the sun,
baring not only my body but also my soul.
My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice,
and wait for the sun to show.
Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem,
and a Serrat song would be the serenade I’d offer to the moon.
With my tears I would water roses,
to feel the pain of their thorns,
and the red kiss of their petals.
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10 Oct 2011
by angkuletin Travel Factor Tags: aloha board sports, art exhibit, exhibit, surf & music festival, surf and music festival, surf culture, surfing, Travel Factor
Calling all photographers and artists. Now is your chance to Shine.
Have a shot that embodies the free flow of the Surfing Lifestyle? Here is your opportunity to show off your work and be recognized.
The Surf & Music Festival brought to you by Aloha Boardsports and Travel Factor will host an artist exhibit brought to you by Havaianas.
The scope of the exhibit entails any work that you feel best embodies the Surf Culture. This can be action images, lifestyle images, beach landscapes, abstract images, music/concert imagery etc. It’s not limited to photographs only.
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09 Oct 2011
by angkuletin Music and Arts Tags: art, culture, Nick Olanka, TED, TEDx
My beloved boss, though learned late of the event, managed to get me a ticket but due to the rains, I was not able to make it.
Nick Olanka goes to post this on Facebook, and darn it, this makes me wish I took the bus last night!
Theme: How Art and Culture Can Change Our World
Quezon City, Philippines
October 8th, 2011
About this event
One artist recently put it to us that “Hope starts when people work on changing how we think. This is why art is important. Art is the expression of the ideas and aspirations of people, and they form the foundation of culture.”
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08 Oct 2011
by angkuletin Musings Tags: boots, musings
The only bus at the terminal when I walked in at four in the morning was a Florencia line with a sign to Nato Port – Sagnay. I boarded it with a smile and thought how nice it would be to actually get off at the port. I told the conductor I was getting off in the town of Pili, some fifteen kilometers and thirty minutes away, and paid the fare of P15. Oh how I long for the beach, I thought as I closed my eyes.
I woke up to peer through the stained glass windows and the pelting rain into the dark of what looked like vast expanses of watery rice fields and I knew instantly I had slept too long. I checked the time – five o’clock. Sleepy and not knowing where exactly was I, I decided it was best that I get off in the town proper, whatever town that happened to be.
I entertained the thought of getting off at the port but I looked at my boys and decided, maybe next time.
I got off the town proper, still not knowing what town, and walked under the eaves of the line of sari-sari stores shut at five past on a rainy Saturday morning until I found a sign. It read:
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07 Oct 2011
by angkuletin Travel Factor Tags: Jason Mraz, music, surf & music festival, surfing, Travel Factor, zoobic safari
I have a lot of choices for this upcoming long weekend.
a. I can organize a Halloween Party at the Wharf Galley Rock Cafe. Why not?!
b. The family can go to Subic for the weekend, and have lots of fun with Lia, the kids of H’s college friends at the Zoobic Safari.
c. H and I can go on a 5th anniversary date to Jason Mraz’s concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum
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