To live 90+ years of life, it's indeed an occasion to celebrate!
My lola--that's "grandmother" in Pilipino--celebrates her birthday on July 31. I lost count a few years ago, but I think she's turned 95 this year.
Can you imagine what it would be like to live beyond 90 years?
When my lola was born, the Philippines was at the height of American colonial rule. I never knew much of her life before the War, except that she only finished grade school.
What fascinates me, though, are the stories of the "war." I've always been interested in World War II history, so I reveled in the family stories my lola and the aunties would share. Lola gave birth to my dad on eve of World War II (he was born in August, and the Japanese invaded in December, 1941). With an infant son in her arms and young children in tow, she fled to the mountains when the Japanese invaded Panay island. The family buried its important treasures, a few family heirlooms and a sewing machine up in a mountain for safe keeping. My lolo (my grandfather and namesake, Alfredo) was aiding the resistence, so she was left to care for the family on her own.
After the liberation and eventual Filipino independence from the US, she had several more children, but would lose my lolo, who died young. She struggled as a single mother, yet she emerged a very strong willed and clever businesswoman who bought property and invested wisely. She also was blessed with a gift to heal, having the knowledge of herbs and various plants that could cure or alieve most any ailment.
When I was a kid, my parents would ship me overseas to spend summers in the Philippines. The highlight of my vacation was my lola's birthday party. For weeks ahead, the aunties would grocery shop and prepare the house for the flood of visitors. On the special day, I would wait in anxiety until the delivery men came with the lechon (the roasted pig). Lola would order the biggest pig, weeks in advance, and made sure it was well fattened. It would take teams of men to guide the pig-on-a-pole into the house, and though I felt it was large enough to feed the entire province, she'd complain that it was just too small. One of the uncles would take charge in chopping it all up, saving the head for paksiw (a vinegar stew) for later.
The aunties would prepare soups, stews, noodles, and a special rice dish called Arroz Valenciana (which is the Filipino-Spanish version of paella). Lola would prepare her signature dish, dinuguan. If you really have to know, it's a pork blood stew, which would come out as black as night.
It was at one of Lola's birthday parties that I first got drunk. I was 11 and I kept drinking this awesome punch that my auntie made. It was supposed to be a pineapple punch, but if memory serves me right, it was a gin and rum punch with a some pineapple. It didn't matter I was drunk; we all were, including my much younger cousins. The women and kids stuck to the punch, and the men gathered together for shots of rum, whiskey, and of course, San Miguel beer. (I may have had my first shot then, but I have no obvious recollection.)
For years, that's how Lola celebrated her special day, and even after she sold the house in Bulacan, it continued in the home province, Antique. In 1994, the last party I attended, the party went on as scheduled even after a typhoon forced us to evacuate to safer ground. The party went on with high energy and excitement!
Today, I'm not sure how they celebrate. After my Lolo Domingo and Auntie Myr died in 2004, she never really wanted to celebrate again. She's slowly getting back into it, though, and this year is cause for special celebration.
My dad left for the Philippines last week to spend a month-long vacation. Lola didn't know about the plans, so I'm sure it was great surprise. The coolest thing is that Dad is staying long enough to celebrate his birthday there too, on Aug. 14.
I'm sure they're partyin' up right now in the barrio by the river!
30 July, 2007
29 July, 2007
Summer Spirituality
My daily life this summer has been nothing extraordinary as of lately, and it's been pretty much mundane. Like the weather these days across Florida, I've been experiencing my own drought... a spiritual one.
Some GS youth and I have been going to Sunday mass at St. Eugene Chapel, which has been the only exception to feeding my spiritual hunger these days.
When I'm mass at St. Eugene's, it's clear to me that it's about the community coming together to celebrate the Eucharist. The congregation sings from the heart and conveys the strong energy of Christ's warmth and love. It's small, yet everyone appears to have an active role in the community.
It's not that my own parish lacks any of that, but it's just different at St. Eugene. It's just a tale of two parishes, who share a common faith, yet are opposites in many ways.
St. Eugene represents to me what the Catholic Church is all about, a faith that extends beyond the human boundaries of culture and language. St. Eugene's community is predominantly African-American and their worship is a rich blend of old black gospel roots peppered with African and Hispanic culture. There's also an occasional hint of contemporary Christian worship. This is what the modern Catholic Church should be about--uniting cultures in worship together!
As I continue to battle this drought, I'm comforted by the rich diversity my faith has to offer. I wish that more Catholics--and all Christians alike--would realize that if you put Christ in the center of all things, we have the power to overcome any cultural or language barrier.
Some GS youth and I have been going to Sunday mass at St. Eugene Chapel, which has been the only exception to feeding my spiritual hunger these days.
When I'm mass at St. Eugene's, it's clear to me that it's about the community coming together to celebrate the Eucharist. The congregation sings from the heart and conveys the strong energy of Christ's warmth and love. It's small, yet everyone appears to have an active role in the community.
It's not that my own parish lacks any of that, but it's just different at St. Eugene. It's just a tale of two parishes, who share a common faith, yet are opposites in many ways.
St. Eugene represents to me what the Catholic Church is all about, a faith that extends beyond the human boundaries of culture and language. St. Eugene's community is predominantly African-American and their worship is a rich blend of old black gospel roots peppered with African and Hispanic culture. There's also an occasional hint of contemporary Christian worship. This is what the modern Catholic Church should be about--uniting cultures in worship together!
As I continue to battle this drought, I'm comforted by the rich diversity my faith has to offer. I wish that more Catholics--and all Christians alike--would realize that if you put Christ in the center of all things, we have the power to overcome any cultural or language barrier.
14 July, 2007
Techno-Burnout
With the technology we have today and the many different networking websites available, I'm finding so much easier to keep in touch with friends.
I've come a long way since my college days when I got my first true exposure to high speed access. Before then, I remember the days of dial-up to AOL from the house and the five minutes it took to log on and another 10 for my e-mail to load. But when I got to college, I became a full-fledged e-mail junkie and discovered the world of the internet outside AOL's chat rooms and news.
Then, I dabbled into web page development, which was relatively new for college students. I had a site on Geocities, which they broke down pages into "neighborhood streets" with address numbers. I think I was 7896 South Beach.
That was then, and now I'm suffering from what I call techno-burnout. I'm sure some of you have the same symptoms:
* You have multiple e-mail addresses that you try to juggle and keep them all up. You can't get rid of them, no matter how hard you try, because you have friends who haven't changed your contact info; you're clinging to the off-chance that an old flame will drop a line; or you're still waiting to find out if you won that Olive Garden gift card you're promised once you sent the chain e-mail to 30 of your best friends. For the record, I keep up with four e-mail addresses: one work e-mail, one active personal account, and two inactive personal accounts. For the record, my AOL accounts are inactive.
* You spend an hour a day going through e-mails, and just as much time in regret for having signed up for a free sample tea bag from the Republic of Tea because now you get spam from every tea and coffee warehouse on Earth.
* You're made to carry a leash, er... Blackberry, for work. Having one enables you to carry work wherever you go-- and now wherever I go tends to be where I work. Even if you're sitting in Chili's, enjoying a two-for-one mango margarita and a call comes in. One day, I'm going to call in to staff meeting from my bathroom and flush the toilet. They call it a Crackberry for a reason; once you get one, it becomes an addiction.
* You are Linked In, have MySpace, and your life is plastered in Facebook and you juggle everyone of 'em because most of your friends have one or the other, but not both. Those who swear by Facebook hate MySpace, and vice versa. As for me, I have 'em all now, but Facebook looks like it will emerge the winner.
* You have a blog that you wonder if it's worth keeping because it's only some pervert who reads it, but you have it anyway bedause it's the technological equivalent to talking to a wall.
* You can no longer keep tabs on who e-mailed who last. I think I've lost so many friends because I've ignored 'em all!
Anyway, as much as I complain, I could see some benefit to it all. E-mails are great because I can shoot 'em out quickly without playing phone tag and I could do it during my prime thinking time (10 pm - 2 am) without a bother. As for MySpace and Facebook, I could easily keep up with my friends at my own leisure by looking at their sites and I post pics and stuff for them to keep up on my life (as dull as it may be). Plus, both sites have enabled to re-connect with long lost friends.
And so, techno-burnout will be one of those diseases I will have to cope with as I see no cure in sight. In the meantime, I'll take it out on otheres through Facebook and hurl hot dogs and haggis in the great food fight.
I've come a long way since my college days when I got my first true exposure to high speed access. Before then, I remember the days of dial-up to AOL from the house and the five minutes it took to log on and another 10 for my e-mail to load. But when I got to college, I became a full-fledged e-mail junkie and discovered the world of the internet outside AOL's chat rooms and news.
Then, I dabbled into web page development, which was relatively new for college students. I had a site on Geocities, which they broke down pages into "neighborhood streets" with address numbers. I think I was 7896 South Beach.
That was then, and now I'm suffering from what I call techno-burnout. I'm sure some of you have the same symptoms:
* You have multiple e-mail addresses that you try to juggle and keep them all up. You can't get rid of them, no matter how hard you try, because you have friends who haven't changed your contact info; you're clinging to the off-chance that an old flame will drop a line; or you're still waiting to find out if you won that Olive Garden gift card you're promised once you sent the chain e-mail to 30 of your best friends. For the record, I keep up with four e-mail addresses: one work e-mail, one active personal account, and two inactive personal accounts. For the record, my AOL accounts are inactive.
* You spend an hour a day going through e-mails, and just as much time in regret for having signed up for a free sample tea bag from the Republic of Tea because now you get spam from every tea and coffee warehouse on Earth.
* You're made to carry a leash, er... Blackberry, for work. Having one enables you to carry work wherever you go-- and now wherever I go tends to be where I work. Even if you're sitting in Chili's, enjoying a two-for-one mango margarita and a call comes in. One day, I'm going to call in to staff meeting from my bathroom and flush the toilet. They call it a Crackberry for a reason; once you get one, it becomes an addiction.
* You are Linked In, have MySpace, and your life is plastered in Facebook and you juggle everyone of 'em because most of your friends have one or the other, but not both. Those who swear by Facebook hate MySpace, and vice versa. As for me, I have 'em all now, but Facebook looks like it will emerge the winner.
* You have a blog that you wonder if it's worth keeping because it's only some pervert who reads it, but you have it anyway bedause it's the technological equivalent to talking to a wall.
* You can no longer keep tabs on who e-mailed who last. I think I've lost so many friends because I've ignored 'em all!
Anyway, as much as I complain, I could see some benefit to it all. E-mails are great because I can shoot 'em out quickly without playing phone tag and I could do it during my prime thinking time (10 pm - 2 am) without a bother. As for MySpace and Facebook, I could easily keep up with my friends at my own leisure by looking at their sites and I post pics and stuff for them to keep up on my life (as dull as it may be). Plus, both sites have enabled to re-connect with long lost friends.
And so, techno-burnout will be one of those diseases I will have to cope with as I see no cure in sight. In the meantime, I'll take it out on otheres through Facebook and hurl hot dogs and haggis in the great food fight.
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