Tickling Ivory

Just a mere five days after her 92nd Birthday, my Grandmother, Lola Meding, passed away. At such a ripe old age, she would get compliments from everyone who marvels at how strong and alert she still was, compared to her frail contemporaries. More often than not, she would just laugh her funny little chuckle (Oh-hmm-hmm) and beam with a half-proud “Thank you”.


Now that she has moved on, it’s probably best to share her secret to longevity with the rest of the world. In fact, this is so secret that she probably didn’t even know about it herself. But, as most everyone who knew her would agree, this secret sustained her throughout her glorious and wonderful life – Lola Meding loved to tickle Ivory.

She specially loved to run her fingers down two main kinds of Ivory: The Mahjong tiles and the Piano keys.

Playing Mahjong was Lola Meding’s forte. She had the grace of a Jedi Master when she’d touch the tiles. Just like any Mahjong expert, she did not even have to see the face of her tile to know what it was. She would just feel it with the tips of her fingers, very much like a Braille specialist, then keep or throw the tile depending on her strategy, all within 5 seconds. When shuffling the mahjong tiles and building her wall, she would go into some kind of a meditative trance, most probably to prepare herself and her strategy for the next game. Maybe out of respect or fear, none of her children nor us, her grandchildren, could beat her in mahjong. She considered playing with her amigas at the Casino Espanol her perfect form of entertainment, raving about it wherever she is in the world. In fact, she always looked forward to it---she’d be dressed and ready to go a good hour before her mahjong session starts. She would always dress her best during these thrice weekly “tournaments” at the Casino Espanol because she knew she’d win handily over them most of the time.

Playing mahjong gave Lola Meding her relaxing daily exercise, and this also kept her brain alert and sharp. It was her expertise in this Chinese table game, and her wizardry on the piano keys that sustained Lola throughout the challenges in her life.

Lola Meding had the power of the Pied Piper when she’d be on the Piano. Her musical charm could soothe frayed nerves and calm anybody down. When she plays her favorite tunes, the whole house would literally be drawn to her. We would come up from the basement or down from the second floor just to listen to her tickling the keyboard with songs such as “The Music Box Dancer”, “Romanza de Amor” or Cebuano classics such as “Rosas Pandan” and “Usahay”. Waking up to Lola’s piano playing ensured a perfect day for us! She played the piano with the skill of a virtuoso and her music brought everyone together in peace.

Above all, Lola Meding’s secret to her wonderful life was catalyzed by a very powerful ingredient. She loved all of us, her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, and she did so very much. That’s why it was very easy for us to love her back. Whether she’s here in Cebu, or with us in Manila, or with my cousins in New Jersey, she was always generous with her affection and always ready with her trademark greeting, “Halloo”, tickling our fancy like she would the mahjong tiles and the piano keys!

But no matter how well cared for, keyboards and tiles discolor and weather. Pianos lose their tune, and one can only play mahjong in so many games or alais, as how she would benchmark her games. In the end, the player must call it a day, but not without the satisfaction of a grand performance.

We have long been heaping praises at Lola Meding for her love and for everything she has done for us---her patience, her sacrifices, her funny little chuckle, her little quirks, her stories, her leche flan, her sweet tooth which we willingly shared, the cute little dresses she’d sew for the girls in the family, her faith and her legacy. Now, through these eulogies, we give her a standing ovation for her grand performance in life. Today, her concert hall is filled to the rafters with loving relatives, friends and strangers she has given the satisfaction of knowing her, whether for 92 years or just 5 seconds. Now, we proudly say to her, “Bravo, bravo, bravo, Lola Meding!”

Clash of the Titans

And after the long period of stagnancy and immobility, I'm back with some thing to share and to write. I just got home from Robinson's Ermita where we watched CLASH OF THE TITANS and here's what I have to say about it:

• Ok I might sound a bit biased because I enjoy movies on Greek Mythology, but this movie was excellent. It has everything in moderation -- Fights/Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Comic Insertions and yes, even a bit of a love story angle.
• Fights were more realistic than fantastic, which would make the general viewing public more interested. However, there are cases where you'd have to say "This can never happen in real life". but then again, Perseus is not just a man.
• Adventure seekers will enjoy the travelling bits, especially because the scenes don't revolve around only one kind of terrain. Generally, it's a mix of Lord of the rings travelling with a Percy Jackson (hmm) plot.
• Being a story on Greek Mythology, a significant amount of fantasy was employed, although as with other recent mythological movies (Troy, Percy Jackson, Etc) as much realism as possible was used.
• Just as we do with food, we enjoy a mix of flavors. We especially love how the SWEET element mixes with everything. Which is why I'd have to say, though generally not a comedy, CLASH's comic insertions are timed just right, preventing too much of one taste. Though some people just refuse to smile until they get what they came for. (hint, hint)
• Ah and yes, love. I like how the "love/romance" element is only the cherry on top of the sundae. Actually it's more like the nuts on the sundae, or sesame seeds on a bun. Seemingly insignificant but they add a tickly yummy feeling.

But don't take my word for it. Can't please everyone, so I'm sure you'll have your own take on this epic movie.

Avgolemono Soup

First time I saw the recipe online, I was curious as to its taste. Having never tried it before, and having very little experience with Greek food (much less Greek soups), I was excited to give this brew a try.

I was a bit hesitant at first, as it required delicate mixing (eggs may cook), but I gave it a go anyway.

Ingredients:

1.5 Liters Chicken broth/stock
1/4 cup uncooked rice
3 eggs (separate whites and yolk, but both will be used)
2 lemons, juiced
1 Tbsp. cold water
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pour broth into a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Add rice, cook for 5 mins.

in a separate bowl:
3. Whip egg whites until fluffy/stiff.
4. Add lemon juice to eggwhites, mix.
5. Add yolk to combination, mix.
6. Add 1 tbsp. of cold water, mix.
7. Take one ladle full of stock/broth and slowly stir into the mix. *** Be careful not to scramble the eggs***
8. Add one or two more ladles of stock to the mix.
9. Turn off the heat of the saucepan and transfer the mix into the saucepan *** do not transfer if still boiling, as this may curdle.
10. Slowly stir to mix, ready to serve.

New Year Munchies

Happy New Year.

This being a new year and all, I took the time to post something new in my blog after a short absence. Since Maiks is sick, I let out the old druid in me and concocted a batch of potato soup for her, despite never having made the said brew.

Here's what I prepared:

Ingredients:
1 kilo marble potatoes
1 whole red bell pepper (diced)
2 bulbs green onion (diced)
some parsley
1 liter stock
salt n pepper (to taste)

1. Let the marble potatoes boil in water for about 20-30 mins (with skin)
2. Sautee onions and bell peppers together til onions turn light brown.
3. Let the stock boil on low heat while mixing in the onions and bell peppers.
4. let sit for about 5 mins then add the potatoes in the mix. ( some of the potato water may be added for volume)
5. Mash the potatoes while in the mix.
6. Transfer soup mix into a blender and puree.
7. Add parsley leaves for garnish and blend in.
8. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

No need to add cream or starch, as blended potatoes are thick enough. We had these with Bread Pan bites as croutons. Yummy.

I wasnt able to take a picture because we finished the soup before I wrote this entry.

Try it and let me know how yours goes.

Harold & Kumar's Enlightenment

There are a few short words that are usually associated with the tandem of Harold and Kumar. Silly. Nonsense. Marijuana. They are the Cheech and Chongs of the new millenium. Some might even say that watching the movie may make you dumber than when you came in.

However, there were a few isolated moments when characters were philosophical and to a certain extent, enlightening enough to redeem the rest of the film.

CASE # 1 : Dubya the Wise

May sound like an oxymoron of the highest degree, but the actor who played the ex-President said (through his role) something that may be applicable not just to Americans, but to anyone.

"You don't have to believe in your government to be a good American,

you just have to believe in your country"

Hearing that, especially from Dubya himself, is enough to kill the strongest buzz from anything, but he makes absolute sense. As I said, this applies to all, not just Americans. We complain a lot about how the Government and the system sucks, yet we don't do anything for ourselves. These coming elections are not a lost cause, because our country will choose its rightful leader. Should cheating occur, people will not just take it lying down.

CASE # 2 : The Square Root of 3

Apparently, the poem was written by someone called David Feinberg, and not Kumar Patel as the movie suggests. However, the spirit of the poem is universal and applies to any case. Reading the words to the poem, I found the language very moving that I just had to post it.

It has a number of major elements : Musicality, Meter, Imagery... all types of brushes to paint the poem itself. The poem goes:

I’m sure that I will always be

A lonely number like root three,

The three is all that’s good and right,

Why must my three keep out of sight

Beneath the vicious square root sign,

I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,

with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321

Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,

Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,

Together now we multiply

To form a number we prefer,

Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds

With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued

Your love for me has been renewed

The language barrier seeks not to exclude the writer from the world, but include him in the language of love. Sure, this may sound geeky with all the mathematical terms but they fit. They provide the syntax that makes the poem itself a conundrum...a "square root of three". And yet, looking into the essence of the poem, one can slowly unfold its meaning in a few simple words: Despite being weird and different, one can still find Love.

In this case, it appeals to the Nerdy-types that dabble in technical mathematical terms and conquers the barrier and stereotype that literature is only for the artsy free-spirit. They can now simplify their "square root of three"-ness by co-waltzing with the other "square root of three" to remove the square root sign that so obviously delimits and thus reveal a perfect number 3.

The Last Day of Sanity

What perfect timing it is that the day for Final Exams is the same day as the deadline for filing Certificates of Candidacy (CoCs) for the May 2010 Presidential Elections! More quaint still is the fact that Ambassador Villa had us answering questions that were geared toward the subject of the Presidency. The long and short of it, I (together with most of the class, if I may generalize) assessed PGMA's Foreign Relations poorly. I gave the future President my two cents worth on certain Foreign Relations Issues and I wrote against actively promoting a policy on Overseas Employment.

However, what I really wanted to do is speak my mind about the Millenium Development Goals(MDG) reported about in the last discussion and see how they can be addressed, in my point of view. So, after a quick stop at Verde Spa for an after-test pampering, here I am, home and nerdox again.

Below are 3 of the 8 MDG's that to me are the most important and are the keys to the Philippines becoming a progressive giant, should they be properly addressed.

MDG # 1 : Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Immediately I noticed the word "extreme" and remembered the scene in Jesus Christ Superstar when they sing Everything's Alright and say: "Surely you're not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot, There will be poor always, pathetically struggling look at the good things you've got".

Though this may be a tad pessimistic, it may actually be very close to the truth. Poverty in itself will be extremely difficult, if not impossible to eradicate. The goal here is not necessarily to eradicate poverty just like that (though it would be nice), but to bridge the gap between rich and poor. The next president should be able to find a way to provide at least the basic goods and security to each household so that they can learn to fend for themselves without having to worry about the minor inconveniences that add upp to be great nuisances. I believe this is what Gang Badoy's RockEd is doing, together with the White Band Movement.

MDG # 2 : Achieve Universal Primary Education

Back in class, we were having a little argument on the definition of "Primary Education". Where I presented and perceived it to be the whole span of elementary education, I was contrasted with a definition that explained only the first few grade levels (1-4) to be included. So to be sure, I have consulted wikipedia which said that "Primary education is the first stage of compulsory education. It is preceded by pre-school or nursery education and is followed by secondary education. In North America this stage of education is usually known as elementary education.". Thus, my initial assessment on the coverage of such was correct.

Moving on, I believe this is a two-pronged process that the President-to-come must fully understand. He must develop the commitment and desire in Teachers, while enhancing the will and interest of the students to enroll and stay in school. As usual, the President cannot, despite all herculean effort, do this alone.

MDG # 7 : Ensure Environmental Sustainability

I think this is the goal which needs no further explanation. Basically, if you have no home in which to live, HOW CAN YOU LIVE?

The Philippines prides itself with all these "wonders of nature" such as Tubataha Reef, the Underground River, The Banaue Rice Terraces and such, and yet we more often take these things for granted. We would much rather go for what's convenient and profitable (i.e. plastic bags) over what's enviro-friendly (i.e. paper bags/cardboard)

What the future President obviously has to do is STRICTLY implement these green productivity practices beginning with Metro Manila. The MMDA is just wasting their time catching coding violators when they can turn their efforts to anti-smoke belching and broken mufflers.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

When I was younger (much like a lot of kids my age, then) I wanted to be Superman. Sure, I didn't look like Clark Kent, much less have his perm-a-curl, but I wanted to fight bad guys and fly. I remember jumping on Lola's springy bed and let my body drop and bounce on the bed just feel that split second of flight.

The photo seen above is the official photo in hard copy then taken by digital camera, so, yes, it is a bit fuzzy and grainy.

We went to Tagaytay this morning just to be able to fly. We left at around 7a.m. to avoid any traffic that may be built up on SLEX during rush hour, so we arrived Tagaytay pretty early. Since the skies weren't too friendly, we decided to head to the Picnic Grove before we got drenched. When we did, we bought the two way trip so we could fly twice! Zoom-zoom!

Obviously we got the photo (see above).

Twice, above the ravine we flew, like I did not weigh over 200lbs, like I had the power of flight. I was Superman, despite being heavy as steel. Feeling the wind of my face and seeing the ground below me, the 20 or so seconds was more than enough to transport me back to the days of jumping on Lola's springy bed and happy as a child again.

I didn't mind driving that far. I flew didn't I? Ha. :p Also, we had Leslie's for lunch and Mr. Moo's for dessert.

If # 0005

IF you could have lived through any war in history (without actually fighting in it), which would it be?

Honestly, I would rather not be in any actual war, though there's a certain part of me that feels as if it could have been a soldier given a different...body. However, just to satisfy my own curiosity (as well as the question at hand), I think I would have wanted to live through the Trojan War.

I would like to have been the one to document and romanticize the actual event, maybe casting my own set of characters alone with it, and leaving my thumbprint in literary history with my own set of Epics. To this day I find it hard to believe that a blind man such as Homer could be the source of "documentation" of the said war. I know that his accounts were masterpieces of Literature, as these are among the classics, however, I would have wanted to give a more detailed, more historical version of the same. My version would probably be more specific (i.e. How the armor and uniforms looked, how the Trojan Horse was designed and built, etc.).

I could also probably give a detailed account as to how Troy looked. Given that Troy was most probably located near Turkey, this battle could also have been reflective of the never-ending conflict between East and West in that general area of the world (Crusades, Greco-Persian wars, Trojan war, Desert Storm).

Subliminal Stupidity

Sir Leigh Teabing, from the world-renowned Dan Brown blockbuster and best seller, the Da Vinci Code, calls our ignorance or the womanly figure in Da Vinci's classic "Last Supper" a kind of Scotoma where the mind sees what it wants to see.

Itching to get the closest definition of scotoma to the common man, I though of digging it up at Wikipedia. My efforts have delivered thus:

A scotoma (Greek for darkness; plural: "scotomas" or "scotomata") is an area or island of loss or impairment of visual acuity surrounded by a field of normal or relatively well-preserved vision.

The way I see it, this is what happens when a bright flash of light temporarily blinds us in a certain visual spot, or when a certain image is "burned" into our field of vision temporarily by light and opacity.

What then caused this guy to come up with these crazy, far-fetched "subliminal" messages apparently found in Disney Films? Take this video for example:




So he says Disney puts a lot of subliminal words such as "SEX" and "LIE" and what not. Honestly, I think this guy must be sexually repressed or something. Most of the words can't even be made out until he draws them with his "funny handwriting". Even when he does point them out, they are not definite. Other words such as SET, SEW and others can be argued to be the more visible representations.

Some of them "appear" for less than half of a second. Too little time to even be absorbed by even the greatest minds.

Another claim he has is that disney characters often flash diablo or horned beast signs, as popularized by rock icons such as Ronnie James Dio. He even flashes comparative photos of real life people flashing similar signs. Obviously, he does not know that the hand signal for "I LOVE YOU" is very much similar to that, with a minor difference: the thumb is not curled up with the middle and ring fingers.

Sure, there may have been slips such as the Little Mermaid erection scene, and we still don't know why that scene was there in the first place, but a lot of his claims are really just so far-fetched that you stop and ask: Does this guy ever leave his room?

If # 0004

IF you could physically transport yourself to any place in the world at this moment, where would you go?

At this particular moment I would want to be transported about ten feet away from me --- to my bed. Ha. The bed is a magical place. It's a realm where dreams and fantasies become realities. I now understand the symbolism behind a magic carpet, if only in comparison to a bed.

My bed is deformed and uncomfortable, though. It does not... Zzzz....

(connection with real world terminated)