Heroes - The David Bowie song

Heroes 

CHORUS:
 I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day.

And you, you can be mean

And I, I'll drink all the time

Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact

Yes, we're lovers, and that is that

Though nothing, will keep us together

We could steal time, just for one day

We can be heroes, forever and ever

What'd you say?

I, I wish I could swin

Like dolphins, like dolphins can swim

Though nothing, nothing will keep us together

We can beat them, forever and ever

Oh we can be heroes, just for one day

[Chorus]






I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame , was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day.


We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
Just for one day
We can be heroes

[Break]


We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day.

What makes this song that special to deserve a post in my blog?

 It is a story about two lovers who weren't meant for each other. Yet despite the odds, they managed to see each other ("standing by the wall").

David Bowie wrote this song about two lovers separated by the Berlin Wall.

Sounds so familiar, although for us, the Berlin Wall is purely figurative.

Gone is the Last of the Old Guard

Brownjack (2001-June 14, 2014)

I couldn't cry anymore, even if I wanted to. I have long accepted the fact that Brownjack would sooner or later join Blackjack and Hersheys in Doggie Heaven, but not like this.

Brownjack is your typical Askal - medium built, straight ears, thick light brown fur, a curly tail, and alert eyes. Together with Blackjack, he stood guard over our property for 13 years. While Blackjack was playful and always wanted to get my attention, Brownjack would rather stay on the background.  Blackjack loved pan-de-sal and sweets (like Hersheys), Brownjack preferred to eat rice, meat or fish. Blackjack somehow managed to stay free of fleas. Brownjack was a flea magnet.

A lot of people had bad intentions for Brownjack. Because he was chubby, several tambays on our neighborhood wanted to make him pulutan. There were several attempts to poison him, but to no avail. Brownjack would eat only the food we gave him - he ignore the food given by strangers. He would only eat the food on his plate. He refused to eat the food if it was served on another plate.

So it was a cause for worry when he refused to eat four days ago. But he still drank his water. A case of indigestion, I thought. But this Saturday morning I was already alarmed. Brownjack lay on his kennel, breathing laboriously and too weak to move. I gave him a dose of antibiotics (SMP) and forced fed him with dextrose. After about an hour Brownjack seemed to recover. His eyes regained its sparkle, and he managed to rise to his feet to drink water again.

I returned to his kennel at 3:00pm to find him dead - his body still warm. Cause of death? I don't know.

I called Obet (our neighbor who is quite famous as the community dog gravedigger) to once more dig another grave. Brownjack has finally joined Blackjack and Hersheys in Doggie Heaven.

Our yard now has two empty kennels. Our remaining dog Smarties A.K.A. Butotoy remains inside the house. I don't know if I will raise another dog - I still haven't gotten over the loss of Blackjack and Hersheys. Maybe in a few months. Maybe never.

Goodbye Brownjack. Like Blackjack and Hersheys, you made our lives bright. I will miss the hours spent bathing you (because I had to remove all your fleas), the nighttime strolls, the times I stroked your back and your head cuddling my lap, seeing you sit alert and running whenever I called your name.

This morning, Miami lost the NBA title to San Antonio - despite the presence of their Big Three. Our family has also lost its Big Three in a span of three months. But we fervently believe that with each loss comes a greater gain.

Goodbye Brownjack. We love you.

Changing of the Guard

Another guard left to join her creator in Doggie Heaven.

Last April 25 Hersheys, our only bitch among the four pets (Blackjack, Brownjack, and Smarties AKA Bututoy are all males) breathed her last.

By the way, Hersheys is the dog in my profile picture.


She refused to eat last April 11, just before Holy Week. For 10 days, I forced-fed her but she just refused to swallow. Thursday night, she was so weak that all she did was to wag her tail as a greeting when I arrived home.

Goodbye Hersheys. For nine years she was the joy of our household. Never had I had a pet so kind, gentle and obedient. Her favorite spot was between my knees, crooning with satisfaction as I stroked her head. Her favorite food was pandesal. Every Saturday and Sunday she would wait expectantly at the street corner, waiting for me as I bought pandesal, and escort me all the way home.

Goodbye Hersheys. I know you know that I was also a good master to you, feeding you the food we ate, bathing you once a week using doggie soap and my Gard shampoo, making sure you were free from fleas and ticks, taking care of you during the two months that you had hip dysplasia and you couldn't walk, making sure you had your vitamins. The only thing I could not allow you was to bear puppies, because your hind legs could not support the weight of the male dogs.

With both Blackjack and Hersheys gone, only Brownjack and Smarties remain. While Brownjack has slowly gotten used to being alone on the yard, Smarties is basking at being the center of attraction in the house.

And getting abusive too. This morning, after allowing him a few minutes of freedom inside the house, he bit my fingers as I tried to tie him to his chain. I had to go to Medical City for emergency dog bite treatment - good thing it was shouldered by my HMO card. Nevertheless, I had my anti-rabies shot.  And it cost me a good P4,000.00.

What a way to start the week.

Moving On

Even in death, life goes on.

Last February 22, I lost my friend and pet for 12 years. Blackjack, a mongrel with a strong resemblance to a Police Dog, succumbed to old age. Together with his partner Brownjack, he helped secure our property - scaring away many would-be intruders with his ferocious looks and deep barks. He was friendly, playful, obedient, and most of all, fiercely loyal to us.

Goodbye Blackjack. We miss you. We love you. Like your predecessor Jingle, you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Brownjack is all alone now. Like Blackjack, he is also 12 years old, but still quit strong and active. At exactly 2:00 o'clock every morning, he will mournfully howl like a wolf, to the annoyance of the neighbors who are sound asleep. Most probably due to loneliness, or maybe he has this canine instinct that says his days are numbered, and eventually he will join his partner Blackjack in Doggie Heaven.

Last March 7, another good friend, mentor, boss and confidante left us to join our Creator. Abdiel Glinoga succumbed to a brain tumor after a gallant one-year fight.

Abdiel joined URC last January 2012 as our Corporate Maintenance Manager. In his 11 month stay with us, he instituted a wide range of reforms, changes and initiatives, and left a very HUGE mark in all of us.

Abdiel was one of a kind. He had this infectious personally that made him blend well with workers and managers. It was so easy to relate with him, whether while working, having lunch, during trips, we were always at ease with him.

But that's life. Some pass away ahead of us. We who are left behind will just have to move on, bringing memories and hoping that someday, when its our turn to step into the Great Beyond, we will leave behind also memories and legacies worth leaving, and remembering.

Sir Abdiel, we miss you, we love you, and we thank you for who you are.

Baguio - Revisited. Adieu.

Baguio. 

I first went here last 1988. I was part of a group of young people on a Church mission. I had my first picture on the Lion's head. Also on that picture was a lady who would later become my wife. 

The next trip was a few months later. Our group stayed on the home of a Baguio resident who would later become a very close friend, and more than twenty years later, become more than just a close friend.

I had several trips later on over the years, mostly during summer (one happened during Christmas), including some work related seminars, but these were not as memorable as the first two trips.

Two years ago I had another seminar, and for the first time my close friend gave me a tour of the city. It was one of the happiest moments of my life - cut short by inclement weather that forced me to return to the lowlands ahead of schedule. 

Last week I was back again, but this time with mixed feelings. I had another picture at the Lion's Head. When I texted my wife about it, I commented about our first picture 25 years ago. We intend to go back here and have a picture, just the two of us (or even with the kids) for old times sake. 

But why mixed feelings? One week before this last trip, I texted my close friend about my upcoming trip. The messages were alright, and I was looking forward to meeting her again. But one day before the trip, her phone number suddenly went dead. I had no idea as to why.

The stay in Baguio was pure heartache. I know her address, but I couldn't go there. I didn't know where she worked because she wouldn't tell me. And worst of all, she deleted her FB account

The trip back to Manila two years ago was bittersweet. Now it is simply bitter. The weather in Manila is warm, but for me it is still Baguio weather - wet, dreary and cold. 

Baguio. This is a place full of memories. But maybe the lyrics of the Barbra Streisand song are just so prominent in my mind. "Some good things never last."

Baguio. Adieu.

DAY OFF

Last weekend, my family and my in-laws went to a beach resort in Morong, Bataan.

This is the life.
I enjoyed the sand, sea, and swim.
I enjoyed the scenery and serenity. The sun and the sunset.
I was able to catch up with my sleep and socials.
I shook off the stress and strain of everyday work.

I wish I could do this 363 days a year.

Unfortunately...

Back to reality. Back to work. 

Is it really hot?

People nowadays keep complaining about how hot it is - the weather, that is. Most blame it to "climate change", whatever that is.

But just how hot is "hot"?

Let's look at some statistics. The temperature range these days is about 33 to 36deg C in various locations in the Philippines, except for Baguio. During the last ten years it was more or less the same.

Historically, the hottest day in the Philippines happened almost one hundred years ago, when the temperature reached 40deg C in Aparri, Cagayan. Now there was no such thing as climate change during that time.

So how come we hear nothing but complains about how hot it is? It's hot news at the TV primetime news, where the newsreaders try their best to make some sense of what PAGASA is monitoring. But I think that all they make is a fuss about nothing.

I have a feeling that "feeling hot" is not really on how high the reading in the thermometer is, but on a person's capacity to respond to an increase in temperature. We have read stories of temperatures reaching 41deg C in the center court of Roland Garros stadium during the French Open, but does it affect the quality of play of the tennis players? Absolutely not. In fact, they seem to play even better.

During my high school days (that was during the 1970's), I worked weekends in the ricefields - planting rice, plowing the fields, building dikes and irrigation canals, harvesting rice, threshing it by foot, or carrying sacks of palay on my shoulders from the middle of the fields to the roadside. Temperatures can rise as much as 35deg C in the middle of the fields, and if you are planting rice, the heat combined with humidity (from water evaporating in the fields) makes you feel as if you are in a sauna bath - without its comforts. But hey, that was normal. If you won't work, you'll go hungry.

So what I am saying is that I think today's generation has just grown too accustomed to the comforts of modern-day living that their bodies can no longer tolerate climates that are normal to our country.  And I think the main culpit is our penchant for airconditioning - it seems that we just can't get away with it.

Example, instead of riding in jeepneys, the preferred means of transport is now an airconditioned FX or bus. Shopping malls are airconditioned, and people are flocking to it instead of the open-air parks. Offices are airconditioned too, and chances are, if you are an employer without an airconditioned office, you don't have any employees.

The sad thing about this is that some Filipinos think that we are in a temperate country and not in the tropics. Or is it nowadays a change in our way of living? Or is it that not having to sweat is the in-thing? Today, the obsession is to have fair skin and less-than-black hair. Just look at the boom in the salon or parlor business and you will know what I mean. The trend today is Glutathione - in soap, capsules, creams, etc. And don't forget astringents and facial wash, which carry outlandish claims of a fairer skin after a few days of continued use. 

To sum it up, Filipinos nowadays don't want to feel hot. Period.


Two weeks ago on what was said to be the hottest day of the year, when temperatures soared to about 37deg C, I took a walk from our office to a warehouse. It was a 400 meter walk under the scorching sun. And my companions literally wilted from the heat.

And what did I think of it? I just smiled. Nothing compared to what I endured in the ricefields 35 years ago.