Saturday, December 19, 2009

Happy Anniversary!






Love and marriage, love and marriage/Go together like a horse and carriage!




Today marks the 29th wedding anniversary of my mom and dad.


These guys don’t really celebrate anniversaries. It’s no big deal, especially for Dad. I was bugging them a couple of years back if, instead of waiting for the 50th anniv, they can get remarried during their 25th. Getting re-married during the 50th anniversary is a Filipino tradition many couples do. Mom was amendable to the idea, but Dad was totally against it. He actually said he will not show up at the city cathedral, and Mom can get married all by herself.  :)


I would like to say that they rarely argue, but I noticed that they now do. When I was a kid, they rarely bicker, and I stated this fact once in my misfit-infested high school class, where a certain loser told me that I was being dishonest by saying that. But that was true. They were too busy working, and I think we, their four rambunctious, moody, talented, and lovable kids, were too much of a distraction. When we started flying out of the coop, though, and we would just visit them during the weekends, that’s when I noticed that they would argue more often. I guess that now that they're in their 50s, Mom and Dad finally realized that they’re married to each other. :)


In spite of this, this marriage is pretty good. I have friends with supremely jealous and needy husbands who constantly check on their wife’s whereabouts, which Dad never did. Mom and Dad leave each other to do whatever they want: Dad, to hang out with his friends and watch basketball the whole day, and Mom, to tend to the unending needs of her nephews, nieces, and siblings.


I also have a friend with a martyr-like mom, who always bowed to her macho husband’s bidding. This was never the dynamic in our household. Like many Pinoy families, Mom is the queen of the household, and Dad her pawn. Hahahaha!


Happy anniversary, guys! Here’s to the 30th. I hope we can have a Filipiniana-inspired wedding by then. 

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Pamasko, or the art of giving alms


Nothing beats spending Christmas in the Philippines. There’s something reassuring about spending the holidays with your family, and with old friends. New friends are great, of course. But nothing beats spending Christmas with old friends who love you at your meanest, bitchiest self—because they’re pretty mean and bitchy themselves.


What I don’t like about Pinoy Christmas is the practice of pamasko. Pamasko is the act of giving cash gifts during the holiday season. Usually, we Flips give it to our young relatives and godchildren. My dad noticed though that everybody—young, geriatric, unemployed, and gainfully employed—ask him for pamasko. My father, unlike yours truly, has earned a reputation in our community for being nice, generous, and cheerful. Christmas, therefore, is the season when countless folks—some of whom we can never identify and never even say hello to us the rest of the year—stretch out their hands to Dad and say, “Tito, namamasko po!” (Hard to translate into English, but it simply means they’re asking Dad for alms.) Once they get what they want, they leave our modest home, without saying thank you, and we never hear from them—until Christmas the following year.


Are gift cheques accepted?



Last year, I gave one of the kids Php150, around SGD6, but is a pretty big amount to kids here in the Philippines. That child said thank you, but her mother—a relative—has the guts to ask me, “That’s it?” This woman never gave me pamasko during my childhood years, and she has an irritating habit of asking me when I’m going to get married. I wanted to slap and strangle her then and there.


I held on to my patience and gave her a tight smile instead. Then, she, a woman with a stable job, asked me, “How about me? Where’s my pamasko?”


These people are hopeless.

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Warmth and appreciation, one word at a time

After weeks of thinking of what to give to my professors, I’m finally done with my shopping. I bought a couple of stuff in Singapore, and the rest here in Manila.


Several days ago, I suddenly thought that the gifts were a little too impersonal. I wanted to do something that would really show my appreciation, and tell these professors how much I’ve learned from them. So after attending a press conference, I went to the bookstore and bought these Christmas cards.



One more card and I'm done. 




As a child, I spent my allowance buying numerous Christmas cards for classmates, teachers, and friends. I’d just write “Dear ____, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sincerely, Rachel.” That was it. Back then, I didn’t know how to write well, and I was never the type who would say something sensitive or emotional. Showing my appreciation to people was simply too corny for me, an angst-ridden kid who grew up during the grunge era.   
Recently, however, I’ve been finding myself writing a lot of sensitive stuff here in my blog. I wrote about my mentor and a couple of friends. There’s really something special about this Christmas season that has made me appreciate people more, and it has made me more willing to say it to them. Maybe because I now spend part of my time living abroad, or maybe because I’m just getting older.
Last night, I wrote in these cards to tell these people how thankful I am for everything I’ve learned from them. I know I’m now a pretty good writer, and that I can express myself more eloquently in writing. I stutter when I speak, and I say some things which, while my intentions may be pure, end up being misinterpreted instead. I learned this the hard way last semester. One day I’ll write about it. But not today. 
I need another one more card though. One card was supposed to be meant for a professor who praised my writing to high heavens, but during the process of writing on the card, I found myself writing to a female professor instead, thanking her for her infinite patience when we acted like fools in class. I’ll buy that card for him soon. I just wish I can think of something more to write, something beyond the “Thanks for being supportive of my writing” line. He made the first semester a little more enjoyable. I think he deserves a little more ass-kissing from me.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Joan and Annalyn




If you’re one of the very few people who read this blog, you’d probably think that my YES! years were all hunky dory. I mean, I really love my job. There is something inspiring about being surrounded by so many brilliant people in showbiz, and nothing beats the rush of seeing your name in print.


But there were also days when I felt lost, frustrated, and upset. The daily grind of work often took its toll. What kept me sane during those years were heart-to-heart talks with Joan, and later, Annalyn.


I met Joan during my application interview, and that early, I knew we were kindred souls. We went through the same highs and the same shitty lows. Whatever I felt during those first two years, she did as well. We thought we weren’t good enough, and that writing, as much as we love it, can be tortuous and pure hell. To cope, we would go to the cinemas (our office was housed inside a mall) and watch movies together until midnight, then go back to the office to log out, thereby completing our required 10.5 hours for the day. Yes, we're two little she-devils who sometimes loved breaking the rules.



Joanie eating a bag of Tomi in NYC.




You can just imagine how difficult it was for me to navigate the succeeding years without Joan, who, after a year and a half, left Manila for New York. I’m glad though that Annalyn came along. If Joan was my partner-in-crime, Annalyn acted the part of the level-headed older sister, who gave the sanest advice in moments of sheer insanity. She patiently listened to my woes, and even more patiently when I talked about all the men (and I mean all!) that I’m obsessing about. I’m also friends with the other YES! girls, but there are some things that I can only talk to her, like the alienation I sometimes feel in NTU, and how hard for somebody like me, who never fit in, to be perfectly square in Singapore. Mother Annalyn tries to sort things out for me, me who’s always unhinged and confused.





Annalyn and I at the office pantry, the site of our many "sessions."




I’ve always been the type who finds it hard to make new friends. I need time, and enough drama to bond well with somebody.  That's why I find it hard to let go of old friends, because it took me so much effort to build my relationships with them. I have to accept that I will never work with Annalyn or Joan—ever—and that while we may be still friends, I have to make new friends and hope  that those relationships would be as good as the ones I had with these two girls.


For now, I would just have to content myself with my frequent visits to Manila to see Annalyn and the rest of the YES! girls. And Joan, I know, I feel, that I’ll be in New York soon. I’m working on it. We’ll raise hell in NYC. I promise.

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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

One Night at Changi

Budget airlines have the most interesting flight schedules. My flight out of the Lion City was at 6:30, which left me no choice but to camp out at Changi, or else I would have to pay more than SGD 50 for taxi fare. The airport was unbearably, numbingly cold, made colder by the fact that except for us Flips, there were very few people milling about.



Changi has some really interesting Christmas decor. Hmmm...



I spent the night reading a novel, and when that eventually bored me, I resorted to talking to one of the fellow Flip passengers from Darwin, Australia. Our conversation went like this:
Man: You should try working in Australia. You can end up being a PR.
Me: I prefer to work here though. Singaporeans are very nice. And you can also be a PR eventually.
Man: How much is the Singaporean dollars worth when you convert it to peso?
Me: SGD 1 to Php 32.
Man (a little arrogantly): Ah, the Australian dollar is worth a lot more.


By this time, I have a feeling the conversation is heading to dangerous territory.
Man: Are you single?
Me: Yeah. It’s very hard to leave your family behind just to study.
Man: Do you plan to go home and get married after this?


I looked at the man and thought, “Hell, no!” I did not leave my comfortable life in the Philippines, complete with maids, membership in a swanky gym, and a slew of weird, creative, and funny friends, to study in one of the toughest schools in Asia just to go home and get married after I’m done with it. But since I've lived in Singapore, I’ve learned to be nicer and be more patient. So I gave the man a sweet, bleary-eyed smile, and said, “No.”


Today's lucky number...13.

What is it about marriage that we Flips bring up the topic to people we’ve just met? Shortly before I left for school, I needed to get my insurance ID. There, I met a woman who had the temerity to tell me, “You’re 28, and still single?!” Yes. Is that a mortal sin?


What’s the big deal about being married? Is it that much fun? If it is, how come many of the married people I know (with the exception of magazine editor Frances Amper-Sales) end up looking like hell after only a couple of years of marriage?


And why do we Flips have this tendency to impose it on other people, especially to those who are so uninterested in it? As much as I love the Christmas season, I actually dread Christmas day itself. Christmas is the day when everybody—aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, people who pretend to be related to us even if we don’t share the same DNA—troop to our house and badger me, “So, when are you getting married?


I am not anti-marriage. If my parents weren’t married, I would not have existed—although I have a feeling they were doing the deed a few weeks before their wedding. Sorry, Ma.


But what is it about Filipinos and our culture that puts marriage on a pedestal, as if it’s the greatest achievement anybody can ever have?  And why is it that whenever somebody’s single, people think of that person as some sort of a freak, a weirdo, some circus attraction? Shouldn’t it be the other way around, considering we live in a world where very few marriages stay intact?


Can somebody please explain to me, ha?


The other day, I was telling my mom that my next homecoming might be around 2011, because I have plans of working in Singapore after I am, hopefully, done with school in 2010. I told her I plan to look for a job in Singapore, try to work my way up and maybe become a fashion editor of a magazine, because I honestly believe that I can’t make that happen here in Manila. The city’s social-climbing, status-seeking crowd will make it impossible for me.


My mom, that sweet, kid-loving, nagging lady, smiled at me and said, “Oh. I thought you were about to say you were getting married.”   

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Friday, December 4, 2009

Curtis

After 13 weeks of intense studying (how intense it was, I can't even describe), I am finally done with school. It feels strange, not reading any of my notes. My friend N sums it aptly, "What do we do now?"

What I did was, I met up with a friend whom I haven't seen for months: Curtis. She and I met around 4 years ago, at work. While it took as quite some time to polish our writing, she was already writing a storm as soon as she set foot in the office. Not a single soul doubts her talent.


Curtis went to a bar and forgot to wear her shorts.


She also has an amazing knowledge of The Beatles, and their music. Never make the mistake of asking Curtis about The Beatles, or else you'll be forced to listen to her--for hours-- mouthing off every Beatles trivia she knows. I've learned a lot about The Beatles and rock music from her. In a way, I think I owe my current musical taste to this irreverent soul.

I think the best things that I learned from her though is that you have to learn how to be tough and how to face  your problems squarely, right on its face, without blinking. I thought that there were times when I was treated unfairly, but Curtis had it worse, and she handled her problems as best as she could. I'm a pretty tough kid, but I look like a wimp next to her.

Merry Christmas, Curt. Here's my gift to you. Enjoy!





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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Censorship Dinner

After being postponed, we finally had dinner with Cherian and Prof. Ang!

These professors were our teachers in our Censorship class, the module which has proven to be one of the most challenging during the semester. There were so many stuff to read, the paper was really tough to write... but everything paid off in the end. The class was intellectually-challenging and fulfilling, just the kind that I've always wanted to take.

Like a lot of things, my current interest in the issue of censorship was borne out of my years in YES! My editors were staunch anti-censorship activists, and I had the opportunity to write a couple of articles about censorship. Since then, I found the subject fascinating, which was the reason why I opted to stay in this class in spite of the long, scary list of readings.

Cherian and Prof. Ang made the class interesting and entertaining. These two guys are two of the most brilliant profs I've had, but they're so down-to-earth! Prof. Ang for example, is so open to listening to views that may be contrary to his. And he's so cool. His one-liners are the best, my favorite of which is, "Four floors of whores!"


Prof. Ang talking to LJ about a Shanghainese resto. Or at least that's what I heard. I asked Prof. Ang, "What's your weekend like?" Shaking his head, he said, "It's terrible! I wake up, I shower, I have breakfast, then I go for a walk. I have lunch. I take a nap. Then I have dinner. It's terrible."



I used to pooh-pooh Singapore's political issues. But Cherian's passion for teaching has made me somehow interested in the subject. He has this really interesting, funny way of discussing it, that even a foreigner like me soon found myself reading current affairs blogs to know more about the country that I've developed a lot of respect for.


Terrence (left) said, "Next semester is just going to be as shitty as this one." He turns to Cherian and asks, only half-jokingly, "Why do you have so many readings? Isn't one enough to prove your point?"

These guys are the best. I just wish I'll get a good grade from them. If that happens, I'll worship them until kingdom come.


After a month of studying for the exams and stress eating, here I am, with two of my favorite profs, Cherian George (center) and Ang Peng Hwa. I just wish I had enough time to put on makeup. Ugh. Oiliness is next to ugliness.

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Rachel
Former showbiz reporter turned government employee turned postrad student, I'm taking things one step at a time.
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