sugar and spice

          Last weekend, while I was in Davao, my family and I watched The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest as a family bonding activity.  I was seated with my two brothers Arthur (who is 22 years old) and Abdul (who will be turning 20 this year) while my youngest brother Alec (5 years old turning 6 this year) was seated between my parents in the row in front of us.  As was usually the case when neither the kuyas’s nor I was seated with Alec, I began to worry.  I believed that movie viewing for kids his age should be properly guided and I don’t exactly trust my mom to do that because usually she doesn’t understand the context (especially fantasy or the like genre i.e.  X-Men, the Lod of the Rings, etc.) either.  I think this is because of a bit of generation gap and my mom doesn’t read stuff like that.  However, as my dad was there too, I relaxed a little and proceeded to enjoy the movie.

On our way home, the expected happened.  My mom complained that she didn’t understand the movie much. 

Reasons:

“Was it because I didn’t watch the first movie?”, she asked.

“No, it’s really a bit hard to understand because, Jack Sparrow likes to confuse his men with his logic to a point that he ends up confusing the audience as well” according to Papa.  He was referring to Johnny Depp’s character’s penchance for long winded reasoning that he (Depp/Sparrow) contradicts as soon as his men asks questions to clarify. 

“Mama, because it’s in Chinese.” quips Alec.

Obviously, the last statement blew me away.  It confirmed my worse fears.  My brother didn’t understand anything.  He probably was overwhelmed by the action scenes and the visual effects that he didn’t realize that the Pirate was speaking English.  He mistook the Pirate’s heavily accented English as being another language (well, sometimes it almost is anyway, so I can’t really blame him).  I wondered what sort of reasoning processes he must have gone through to get to that conclusion.  Or maybe for kids it doesn’t really matter.  All that’s important is his own interpretation of the movie and whether or not he enjoyed it.

I still maintain that kids should be supervised by a knowledgeable adult in watching movies though. So that somebody can explain the story and it’s context whether or not the kid asks questions.

*copied from cd egroup post

hi guys!

yes, i’m back in manila (due to consistent public
demand …despite strong family objections)… i
think they thought of it sort of like emotional
blackmail…baka ma-depress ako if they don’t let
me… (i wonder where they get their ideas… too much
tv probably) anyway, issue din naman yata sa kanila
what i’m gonna do if i don’t go back to school… (i
could work din naman you know but circumstances being
as they are…i dont think they considered that)

i’m ok, i think (hindi yon medical opinion) and i’m
keeping myself busy to keep my mind off things…yung
nga lang some people wonder at my choice of
"distractions" but no pressure… m just here for the
education… hehe

having fun pa naman…kulit ng mga proff at
blockmates… which reminds me, does leonen have
anything against our college? kasi ilang beses nya
nahiritan when he took over our class… (quote: you
are entering a hostile environment…this is not the
college of social work :endquote … where students
sit in a circle with the professors playing ice
breakers all day) aminin medyo totoo naman pero what’s
with that?

anyway, i’m still in a state of elevated adiposity
(that’s a new term i learned from one of my tita’s
psych readings…)but m losing the weight (i think) so
baka makilala nyo na ako next time makita nyo ako
around. mwahaha

incidentally, i do want to keep in touch with you
guys… lalo na m in UP most of the time… (sa lib na
nakatira… exciting life ko dba?… at least hindi na
hospital) but my phone got stolen a few weeks ago so i
lost everyone’s number… my new number is
915849205… and i’m online a lot ym: kix_sarenas.

sorry ngayon lang kwento, i dont get to write much
kaya kahit blog ko not updated.  my current rule
kasi…IF YOUR NOT READING, AT LEAST GET SOME SLEEP.
=>

cheska

ps. thanks uli dun sa mga nag-arrange ng bday dinner
at mga bumati… kahit wala akong phone! ang galing
nyo talaga.

i just got in from manila today

naiwan ko phone ko sa davao so d ko na kayo na-inform na i was in town…sorry

i attended yung college recognition rites pero hindi na yung university grad…madami kasi masyadong tao…

nag-best integ kami! =)

at least sulit yung pinagpaguran…

…

m painting again =)

watercolors parin… still have a lot to learn but its an interesting medium…

…

i’m sorry kung medyo out of touch…

got sucked into a blackhole of sorts… no signal, no internet, no cable… yes, m staying sa grande sa bahay nina lola sa baba… that’s why i cannot be reached… for emergencies…you guys know the drill…call the office or call mama…hahaha

…

i’ll try to compose my blogs beforehand so i’ll have something to post… dami na akong kwento actually pero d lang ako nakakasulat… something about that house..er must be the room i’m staying in lang…sana… i’ve got so many ideas…

binigyan na ako ng room…pero i’m having it redecorated pa kaya d pa ako makalipat…d daw kc pwedeng ako mismo gumawa…kaso lagi naman napu-pull out yung mga tao dito kaya hindi matapos tapos.

…

hay! miss ko na kayo! sayang onti lang nakita kong friends this trip…hindi din naman ako physically up to it when i was there so… plus kasama ko pa si alec…sobrang kulit…

kelan kaya ako babalik ng manila?

tapos na lahat ng papers… so officially wala na akong school work… for undergrad forever!

its almost dawn wala pa akong tulog… hyper pa.

kahapon pa ako hyper… lilay slept over… we over slept… had breakfast… she left while i was waiting for tito bowie…

the whole family had lunch at joey’s… graduation/bday treat etc… dumaan kme ng UP on our way to filinvest para kunin yung paper ko kay sir jun… we stayed at joeys till about 5?… uwi… watched the buzz for a bit then went to church… uwi uli pero decided to go out again for dinner… tamad magluto?

got home again just in time for the start of the CSI sunday supreme… watched a couple of episodes then decided to work on the paper for sir jun which is due before lunch today… kaso got distracted by the claudine raymart special for a few minutes pa then decided to take a really long bath… so it was way past midnight when i finally started on the paper…

buti nalang nasa mood ako gumawa ng paper… anyway, ayon…tapos na yung paper… na email na din… ang tanong bat gising pa ako?

so goodnight er goodmorning…

ps.

pano kung d ako magising at hindi makarating sa UP before lunch…eeek!

we submitted the integ kanina… dumaan kami sa college kahit gabi na to leave the integ sa guard kaso since nandun si sir tex d ko na kinausap yung guard… hindi kasi si ate ruby… hindi din naman nas sink in sakin yung sinabi ni dan na… cheska sayo ba ‘to?  apparently may iniwan pala si sir jun for me… kailangan ko tuloy dumaan sa UP tom… hay!

we had dinner din sa aioli… ferdz liked the place… sobrang pang date talaga… quiet, nice ambiance, good food… the price is… the price you have to pay i guess…hehe… not expensive naman… not cheap either.

m running out of time… m almost fully booked… hehe

m leaving in a few days and have already committed to some dinners and lunches so if you plan on seeing me before i leave… call now! hahaha

m not sure if m going to be back for graduation… but i’ve payed my dues and even ordered a sablay…

whether i’ll be back in june for law school… well, that still remains to be seen…

m not sure if i want to, if i’m ready or if they’ll let me… basta, it’s complicated… hehe

so all in all, m not sure of my plans except that i’m leaving on wednesday afternoon… m not sure when i’ll be back, if i’ll be back at all…

keep in touch, visit me in davao

ps.

sagot ko food at bahay… =>

wow! its been a while…

so what’s been happening to me?

monday last week… oh yeah! i had my first radio interview… oh dba sikat? I guested in this am program in dwss i forgot na the frequency or the name of the radio program for that matter… actually dun sa actual interview hindi ko rin naalala yung pangalan nung program which was medyo stupid or funny depending on how you look at it… anyway, they called me to guest in their show because they wanted to talk to somebody who was graduating about future plans etc… i know, i know… it’s true i’m finally graduating but i dont really have future plans to speak of… anyway, i winged it… said i was lucky to have a supportive family behind me etc etc… which was pretty different from the sob story they featured before me (the other guest was a scholar from a leprosarium who is raised by a single mother and has to work immediately to support her family…blah blah…how do you beat that?)…

anyway, it was a pretty funny experience all over… i was scared of bursting in English (tama ba term?) in the middle of a serious statement… i do that sometimes when i’m nervous… so i ended up speaking in deeper tagalog that i usually would…which in turn had van and dek (the only two people aside from my family at home who heard the broadcast) in stitches laughing at my deep tagalog and i guess everything else i was saying…

…

a few days after that, we had classes and i felt so pressured by the approaching deadlines plus the fact that i had to be in the hospital… so medyo nag freeze ang brain ayaw mag work at nag panic na…

nalagpasan naman ang exam… one exam lang the whole sem… ayaw pa kasi kaming pagbigyan…

nalagpasan din yung mob… thank you guys for coming… it was a success kahit short notice… 3 days lang ang prep… justice for nicole! sana uno na yon… tapos na din namin yung paper… not related…pero paper na bahala na si batman lol. =>

patapos na yung papers… pag natapos namin tomorrow… dinner sa aioli tapos conspiracy kami after… yey!

ok back to the paper na para maka-gimmick bukas.

Lost in translation…

I really have a hard time writing in Tagalog… er Filipino…whatever.  Imagine the nightmare I am in right now having to write a whole integration paper in the language.  We are talking possibly hundreds of pages here (that is wishful thinking, of course… but it is possible).  Aside from the fact that details have to be written in a manner that will facilitate ease of reading, small nuances also have to be placed creatively to make it a more meaningful read.

How do you even begin to translate this?

The elderly is an invaluable asset of the community. They embody the wisdom of experience, the fountain of knowledge, the grace and blessing of living a full existence.

Ang mga nakakatanda ay isang hindi maitatanging yaman ng komunidad.  Kinakatawan nila ang karunungan ng karanasan, bukal ng kaalaman at ang grasya at biyaya ng pagsasabuhay ng isang buong—- *&^%$!@#$%^

I don’t even know what existence is in Tagalog…

Plus most of the material we are using is of course in English…and word autocorrects…there’s no spell check let alone grammar check… my brain also processes in English so there’s a slight delay every time I have to translate…hay!

I’m thinking…I need to get an English-Tagalog Dictionary… one with really old words so it’s more poetic… also I’m working with the elderly so it kinda fits the mood more.

This reminds me of the time Wes was practicing… he actually got one of those travelers/tourist translations…dictionary thingies… and we, poor cousins, ended up at the receiving end of lines like…

            “Kika, may kasama ka ba?”

            In case it also slipped past you (as it initially did me) that was supposedly a pick-up line…the Tagalog translation of the classic, “Are you with someone?”   Of course, the context has a lot to do with us understanding a line as A LINE, something the book was not really clear on…

Reading on, we also came across lines like…

            “Maari ba tayong maglakad sa dalampasigan?”

            …another line that I think isn’t going to work unless the other person is on a different kind of trip and gets a kick out of hearing outdated stuff.  One could argue of course, that in the province people still talk like that.  Do they really?  Personally, I think those provinces only exists in the imagination of people who prefer to think there are still places untouched by modern technology and communications…and the minds of radio play and soap opera script writers.

Tomorrow I’m going to Batangas…I’m thinking maybe the change in environment will help…yes, and the fact that I have Tagalog speaking grandparents there is a big plus…*grin*

i-edited some of my december posts… from carols and reflections, friday nights at xaymaca and heaven n eggs… pictures lang naman ang dinagdag ko… ngayon lang kc naka-ipload from the phone… sobrang tagal na nh?

more pictures…

i saw old friends when i got back from davao this year… uhm… earlier this year basta nung galing christmas break not the february trip…uwi kc ng uwi eh…

anyway, had dinner with some of my college roomies… the ones i lived with the longest…hehe

grace, rhea, moi and roan

miss you guys!

so i finally read the catcher in the rye by jd salinger…

why?n

i’ve been meaning to read it…it was there in my list of "will read that someday" books mainly because its so famous (i think an elementary or high school required reading in some places) and i have no idea what’s it about… it’s a classic… well, a contemporary classic… and i like to read so most of the classics are on my list anyway so why not, right?

so i finally got around to reading it after reading veronika decides to die (it was reviewed as a cross between catcher in the rye and girl interupted, i’ve read neither) and the curious incided about a dog at midnight - a book i enjoyed, was also compared to it (catcher).  so i figured, what the heck…now that i finally have time to read all those stuff i’ve always planned on reading and tita chel conveniently has a copy around the house…

weird book… fascinating, but still weird…

it made me wonder if it was supposed to have a point… or was it so deep i was in over my head? i don’t like over reading anyway (meaning looking for hidden meanings and messages from the author when sometimes there just isn’t…some things have to be taken at face value)…i enjoyed the experience…that is what reading is to me after all… an experience…but…maybe i was just not in the right frame of mind…

veronika and the curious incident however, were also weird books… but i could say they both touched me…in different ways… it made me reflective… catcher on the other hand… m still not sure.

I woke up really early today…like at the crack of dawn yata or before pa… basta around 4:30 nag decide na ako to move kc mukhang hopeless na may try to go back to sleep besides medyo nagpapanic na ako…iniisip ko na kasi yung integs…

So as usual dahil hindi ako maka-work in a messy environment, I had to fix the room first…sobrang nadisturb ko nga yata sleep ni mama…she kept asking what I was looking for…(wala naman talaga…nagliligpit lang) - medyo she kinda took over my room na  kasi…ang gulo na ng lahat ng stuff… kinda reminds me of when wes was staying in my room…yung tipong stuff on the floor and on my table etc (peace wes! –you’re still welcome here anytime)… the difference was…I was staying in the room with her and since she was doing most of everything for me…I didn’t want to mess up her “order” of the room.

Anyway, when the room had some semblance of order (to me at least)…I started working on our outline…ang hirap! Kasi medyo breakthrough yung integ last sem so medyo comprehensive yung analysis…hindi tuloy naming alam pano na papasok ngayon…or saan…tapos parang ang daming kailangang data na hindi ko alam kung meron kami or kung kaya pa bang kunin…basta, at around 7am I had done all I could do on the outline.  It felt good… and the day was just starting. J

Had my blended fruits… then breakfast…listened to the morning rush…its been a while kasi and hazel was asking how I manage to start my days without chico and del…nakakatuwa yung daily top ten nila…deep tagalong words and their meanings… I even managed to pick up a couple…baka magamit ko sa integ. Hehe.

ANANIMO – peace of mind

SAPANTAHA – idea or point of view

Cool words dba?

Read a pocket book during the stretch then went down to work on the profiles…

Kahapon ko pa gusto lumabas…for coffee and/or egg tarts kaso si mama medyo nawiwili dun sa current project nya (yung crazy patch quilt na pillowcases)…tinatamad lumabas.  Tapos after lunch biglang gusto uli mag-carolinas…sa megamall…(bell rings!) “mall? cge, tapos mag our tribe na din tayo pati happy feet…”

Mula kasi ng lumabas uli yung happy feet she’s been saying she wants to buy me a pair but we never got around to it…apparently she AND papa both wore happy feet in the 70’s and muhkang happy talaga yung feet nya so gusto nya pati feet ko happy. J

So off to megamall we went…found Carolinas…mama went a bit crazy…she says she can spend a whole day in there…bought lots of ribbons…buti super nice nung attendant namin… basta I liked her.

Tapos we went to OUR TRIBE…bought sandals for mama, papa and me…then just as we were about to leave…she (mama) saw this really cute pouch bag and just like that…without thinking twice…went back to the counter and bought it. Now, she doesn’t have to keep borrowing MY pouch bags and she has a cute bag that I can borrow.

Next stop, my happy feet.  Both cinderella and the department didn’t have much in my size… parehong red lang ang meron and I didn’t think it looked too good on my feet.  So dahil hindi happy ang feet ko, hindi na ako nagpabili… saka nalang siguro kung happy na ang feet ko.

Pauwi na kami but we decided to eat and make a few quick stops first… we’re expecting uncle jun to drop by the house tonight kasi.

French baker for dinner (haven’t been here for dinner in a loooooong time)

Dippin’ dots ice cream (banana split!) –hey! This was on my list *grin*

National bookstore

Uy! Breadtalk…tapos they had what we wanted…egg tarts, naan and berries and cream

DMC craftstore

Booksale –didn’t get anything here

EGG –I haven’t been there for a while…got a bag for the wires of my laptop (pouch lang of sorts)

Uwi na!

Its been a long day and I’m still blogging…

11pm na! Matulog na kaya ako bukas na uli ang work…

GOOD NIGHT!!!