#kalbongtiu
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Skyflakes and the Failed Rocket Scientist
It is common knowledge that there are 54 tiny holes in every single Skyflake cracker, 18 in each of the three piece bite size portion fused together into a single flake . Dont try to count it because I already did, 11 times. I am not a rocket scientist so as to how they come up with that number is beyond my understanding other than the fact that they were perforated intentionally in order to cook the individual dough evenly. They probably took into consideration the surface area of the cracker, the thickness of the dough and the heat and time required to bake each bite size into a crisp snack evenly . This is where it gets interesting though. How big is a bite size? Well, M.Y.San, the company that produces the cracker was apparently prepared for that. For an adult person, the average width of an open mouth is about two inches, exactly the same width of a single Skyflakes cracker. If this goes to show that you're still a child if you cant shove a single cracker, I wouldn't know. The three section definitely was designed for the women who, inspite of having the same mouth width with adult men, tends to modestly purse theirs a bit smaller when eating. (with the exemption of Julia Roberts, of course).
But did you know that there are also 64 red lines on the plastic tub of a standard 850 gram Skyflakes container, not counting the 8 printed on the lid? The red and white stripe design was adapted in 1935, the time the American influence were omniprescent in the country, as it was also the year that the product was launched. Skyflakes immediately became the staple food for the western culture-adapting Filipinos, especially after the war, and much of the credit goes stateside eventually. M.Y. San didn't cared much because he was already six feet under by then, in China!
This is where it gets a bit confusing. Who's who?
M.Y. San was a young Chinese immigrant when he came to the country at the turn of the century, partly to escape political persecution for being a nationalist, and with the help of a naturalized Filipino partner ventured into the food industry business, biscuit making specifically. By 1910, he went back to China and with the backing of a mere friend known as Chiang Kai Shek, established himself as one of the three major biscuit making company proprietor in that country, the other two being managed by his brother, M.K. San and a relation named M.P. San who also started their businesses first in the Philippines. M.Y. San's Philippine venture was eventually taken over by his partner who, along with his wife and children, manage to reorganize the company until 2001 when it was sold to the Monde's group billionaire Betty Ang. Yup, you read that right, the Nissin's Ramen conglomerate boss owned your 10pm midnight snacks, noodles, biscuits and all!
As for M.Y.San, his businesses in China sadly went bankrupt partly due to corporate infighting, innovative production line machinisation, fierce competition and the failure of his sugar milling venture. He died in Hongkong at a young age of 51. His epithapt reads Mar Y.S., Mar being his last name in Chinese and not San, which of course begins with an S. His brother M.P. San's company eventually relocated to Taiwan after the expulsion of the Nationalist in China in 1947 and is still one of the leading producers of baked goods and pastries in that country to date.
The expiry date of each batch of Skyflakes cracker however is digitally printed on the lid of the container and not inked inTaiwan, in very small letters. The reason for this is practicality because the company knew that as long as the cracker is not soggy, covered in molds or still crunchy inspite of being more that 6 months past expiry, we Filipinos will still consume it. So they added a small warning that says, ' Press all sides of the lid to ensure freshness.'. Poetic!
The capital D just above the expiry date means that the product is for domestic distribution only, coupled with a large print that specifically says 'For sale only in the Philippine market'. Skyflakes products sold internationally has a blue sticker that says it is not to be resold in our country. Don't ask me because I have no idea why but apparently this is worth investigating further. Does the other one taste a lot better or some ingredients were purposely switch to pass international standards? I couldn't possibly know since I'm still not a rocket scientist.
A Braille system of dots is also incorporated and stamped below each letter of the brand on their internationally distributed containers for the sight impared but none on domestic consumption packaging. The company probably thought it unimportant somehow since we usually keep the empty container afterwards to store anything from rice grains, chicken feed to sewing needles anyway. Or turn it into a beautiful flower pot, somehow.
Fita, another famous line product of the company however is a biscuit and not a cracker which is somehow fitting enough for it to be called as such rather than a cracker which it is not. Fita cracker sounds absurd as Skyflakes biscuit is and I dont know the reason why although Skyflakes really is a cracker and not a biscuit, like Fita. Or is it?
Well, you dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Just go directly to the nearest sari-sari store and buy a pack of Skyflakes cracker then face yourself in front of a mirror and measure your mouth. Forget counting the perforated holes because I already did, 11 times!
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Lucifer and the Rich Chinaman
'Tell me your name and I will tell you who you're ancestors were'.kbt.1220
Surnames were always a mess ever since the Spaniards tried to implement a random choice of irrelevant add-ins in the Filipino names, who, by the time they arrived in the pretext of proselytizing their faith to the natives, was nowhere near chaotic as it was before. Early Filipinos use a single local word name that envisage the nature of their birth or conception like Marilag if the parents had high hopes that the child would grow up to be beautiful or Batubalani if the mother was unsure who the father was. Cilapulapu's father probably was not a fish but a toughie who thought to pass his trade to his son but turns out to be unlucky when the latters minions accidentally whack the still inebriated Magellan in the thigh and became the hero. Sikat-(sa)-una's father's fall from grace was probably legendary so the local midwife gave his son the stigma of branding him for eternity although the later wisely managed to reverse the curse by becoming the first Filipino diplomatic attache when he successfully managed to drag the Spanish big boss Legaspi to a drinking party. Or was it Humabon, the guy who was born on the first day of the rainy season? Duhaylungsod may have been a lady's charmer and probably was also a crafty merchant for how was he able to live in two separate towns and get away with it? My first cousins are ashmatics, the Apat's had four of everything including wives and the Lumaads were purely natives, as the word suggest. I could go on forever.
As for the three sisters from the town of Buenavista, there was no mention of their names either so the youngest probably changed hers after the marriage and the eldest, the one that cried foul as the lyric goes in that old Boholano song, became a spinster. She probably had her name changed to Putli or Putri, the eternal virgin.
(🎶Sa lungsod sa Buenavista, may tulo ka mga dalaga🎶...)
Despite the fact that the real reason as to why the early inhabitants of the country were having single names was human migration and geographic in nature, the islands being swamped by singley-named, caste-classed Indo-Malayan people from the south bearing huge curved swords and trade language, there is little known reliable information about the ethnographical history of the native inhabitants beforehand. There was no written history either and if there may have been the Spaniards probably burned them all a long time ago to melt the wax in making the candles that they gave to the unwary natives during their baptism.
Although most of the common Filipino names were forcibly replaced during the Spanish administration, some native names remain due to their influence, wealth and social standing amongst the rest especially when it comes to the payment of taxes and their status in a certain jurisdiction. Village chief, land-owners, warriors and businessmen probably were exempted, so much as the people who were branded as bandits and revolutionaries by the establishment and those who never cared to register and chose to become mountaineers. Eventually, dialect-based surnames remains clustered mostly in remote areas far from the Spanish sphere of influence and until the advent of the American occupation remains indistinctively low-keyed and socio-economically curtailed and subjugated. If only Macario Sacay did made it through, he could have been the first non-Spanish surnamed president we've ever had.
Thus, people born three centuries later were usually named after a saint based on the day of their veneration, feast or consecration in the daily almanac and any other name thereof were considered inappropriate by the church authority. English names came later and somehow naming a child by combining both parents first name became trendy, much to the dismay and embarassment of a college friend whose parents were named Lucy and Ferdinand respectively. Numerics came like crazy later on, followed by misspelled and hard to pronounce double names to the consternation of the Church authority who may someday baptize somebody called LeBron Sony Eriksson Antolihaw, the seventh. Somehow Yaman Insik did made it through and is sitting right in front of me minding his own business.
So, what is the queeriest name of a friend you've ever met?
ps. Lucifer changed his name to Ferdinand Jr. by the time we were in 3rd year. I was one of the dis-interested person to sign his affidavit papers. As far as I know, OS Yaman Insik Pos..... never did.
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Merkadong Daan
Niadtong kanhiayng panahon ngadidto pa sa Anislag nagsugod hangtud sa atbang sa balay ni Dr. Sanchez ang espaltong dan sa lungsod, usa ra ka lugar ang di mawad-a'g tawo, ang merkado. Sajo pa sa buntag didto na nagtipun-og ang tanan, apil na'g mga tsismosa'g tsismoso ug mga lab-asera'g isda gikan sa Pantalan. Diha nay mga tiguwang nga nagdama sa barberohan ni Nong Inting ug mga palahubog nga nagsugod nag inom ubos sa atis sa tubaan ug palitanan ug tablija ni Nang Epe. Nangabot na ang mga kargador ug kopras nga nanggihukas sa tindahan ni Bua ug ang mga taw'ng nanglugsong gikan sa bukid. Daghan nang istambay sa bilyaran ni Tatay Datoy ug diha nay mga estudyanteng nangatang sa MB Liner sa eskena ila Kwan Yut. Nanimahung pan ug browa ang tindahan ni Ayut, nga namaligja pod ug kandila, bombilya ug lansang para sa atop, Sa kilid nagsugod na'g pangarga ug pan ang mga pahenante sa trak nga karaan kay ibyahe pa nila sa ubang kalungsuran. Daghang buwad nga kinahon ug kopras sa ilang Two Sisters nga tindahan, diin sa sulod nangumbitay pod ang mga lamas, nylon nga pisi ug tsinelas. Didto sa gawas namaypay na si Nong Menes nga nagpaniid ug kinsay makakurom ug madjong sa di pa mopalis. Ang mga biyaherong nakapamahaw nanutpik na gawas sa karenderya ni Nay Iyay samtang didto sa lujo, nagkaguliyang ang mga kusinera'g kusinero unsa na poy sunod lutoon para paniudto. Way kulba mokaon atong karenderyaha kay naa ra man sa tapad ang kang Fernandez nga botika.
Sa tindahan ug bugas ni Nong Tiago mag-ulos-ulos na ang mga tawo, di kay sa mopalit kundili moagi lang kay didto man ang latasanan paingon sa sulod sa merkado lagbas sa mga lamesa nga mapuno ra'g manggad ug paninda kada tabū sa Mierkoles ug panahon tali-abot ang fiesta. Ganahan ming mga bata nga mulatas atong tindahana kay sa lujo naa didto nagbundo ang mga kamay, bugas ug monggos nga among pagahakpon kun ganahan mi magluto ug binignit, kana bang libreng painit nga way palitpalit. Sa kadaghang taw nga mangagi, malipat intawon ang tiguwang ug tindera nga sa mga mamalitay nakig-abi-abi. Sa kilid nga barberohan ni Nong Vicente naglinya na'g namungko ang mga batang naghuwat nga tupihan, nagkumbayot pa intawon sa ilang mga inahan ang uban. Usa ray estilo sa tupi sa una, sinaw hangtud ibabaw sa dunggan ug ang nahibilin buhok sa pad sa kamot mahimo nang tabunan. Swerte tong mga batang mohilak nga gi-awtan, kay aron mohilum, palitan man dajun ug ice candy nga ang nagbaligja nagpungko didto kilid sa entrada adtong merkadong daan.
Ambot ngano nga maikag mi usahay nga manungtong atong timbangan nga puthaw nga sa puerta mayor sa merkado nakabutang bisan pa man ug masuko tong nagbantay labi nag kami masakpan. Didto ang mga manggad molukat ug tiket nga murag estampa, naay tag singko, tag jes ug naa poy tag peso ang usa, ang mabayran depende ra sa kadaghan sa baligja ug kadako sa pwesto nga maakupar sa paninda. Wa pod mi kahibaw asa paingon ang kita nga kwarta, sa munisipyo ba o sa bursa. Ang among kalaki sa una mamunit ra mi ug nilabay nga tiket nga buwis kay gamiton man to'g kwarta-kwarta kun tingduwa-duwa na.
Kilid sa puerto mayor sa merkado, nahimutang ang bugasan ni Manding Rose Chiu. Di mi kahakop ug kamay didto kay naa ra man sa atbang ang nagbantay nakapwesto. Sa tanang bajeng intsik nga tiguwang nga ahong nailhan, sija ra tong dili maldita ug maot ug batasan. Aw hinoon, adto man pod mi usahay mangutang.
Unahan gamay ila Manding Rose nahilaray ang tindahan sa Five Brothers, diin naka display sa samin nga mga estante ang ilang mga baligja, gikan sa kandado hangtud sa pabilo sa Petromax nga suga. Binugha nga kahoy ug uling sa ilang likod nagpatungpatong, inubanan pod sa mga bugas ug tahop nga gipangsulod sa kahoy nga kahon. Boutan tong intsik nga tag-ija, aw, kay kinugos man pod ang ahong maguwang nga baje nija. Syempre makautang pod mi didto kay amigo man sila sa ahong Papa.
Latas sa mga bakanteng lamesa ug espasyo nga lataran sa mga kamote, gabe ug kinampay nga ube, labi nag tali-abot na ang Pasko, ang mga naglarayng paninda ug utanon. Sa di pa ka makasulod sa inaptan nga estraktura nakapwesto si Nang Babeng, ang nag-inusarang tindahan nga namaligja ug saging, puro ra jud saging, gikan sa lakatan, tundan, seňorita ug hasta gani saging nga hilaw pa. Ganahan mi mobirig sa kilid atong tindahana kay kung naay saging nga hapit na malata, manghatag man sab to sija namong mga bata. Si Babing sapatero sa kilid nija nakapwesto, nagpunko nga nag-ajo sa mga sapatos ug tsinelas nga guba, ma panit man, goma o kahoy nga bakya. Adto pod mi nija mopalit ug Goodyear nga tsinelas nga nilaslas gikan sa ligid nga guba.
Nagpasag ang mga utanon ug lamas nga paninda dinhing dapita, naa tanan klaseng kamates, sibuyas, ajos ug luy-a. Suka ug patis, inubanan sa mantika nga gipangtakos sa tanang klaseng botelya. Sari-sari maoy among paboritong utangon kay kumpleto na man tanan sa utanon, tubig init ug rekados ray idugang, naa na mi masud-ang lamian. Labi nag subakan pa jud ug tinap-ang tulingan! Dinhing dapita mahimo pod kang moabang ug Bisaya, sa tag kinse sentabos ang abang. Kinahanglan pod noon iuli dajon aron di ka usob mapaninglan.
Inig latas sa utanonan naay na poy laing hawanan nga kun tabū gani nakahakyad ang mga banig nga paninda, sugnod nga binugha, uling bagow ug uban pa. Dinhing dapita makapalit ka ug sapyaw, nylon sa tirador ug pamana'g isda, inubanan sa kahoyng antipara nga ajuhong jud namo''g sukod kay kun masajop, malibat ka inig sa tubig na ka molublob. Kadtong mga tinaro'ng ginamos ug tinabal nga nagpasag sa hawanan di kaabtan ug udto kay hutdon man sa mga komprador nga taga laing espidno..
Daghang basket ug nigo nga ginama sa buli ang nangumbitay sab sa kilid, naay sug-angan nga hinulma sa juta ug klase-klasing planggana'g kaldero, maplastik, mabuak o sartin man ang pagkahimo. Usahay makaswerte ming manabū kay ang mamaligja ug tambal ug lana para haplas sa tanan sakit kasagaran dinhi dapita mupunko. Syempre di mawâ ang ijang binuhing sawa, nga mahuman na lang sija sa ijang pangampanya di pa mogawas sa kahon diin kini naglokū. Para namo niadtong panahuna waysapayan, kay naa man pod sijay mga madjik-madjik kunuhay nga makalingaw ug kataw-anan..
Isdaan ug karnehan ang kinatapusang estraktura. Solid taga Pantalan ang mga namaligja ug tindera. Naay namaligja'g bolinao, kinhason ug gagmayng isda nga kuha sa sapyaw ug usahay naa poy tiniltil nga swaki ug tujom nga presko. Panahon sa tabū ra mi makakita ug lambay, kay tinumod man pod gikan sa laing mga lungsod. Kun naay kasag nga sinu-an ug sinibot nga pasayan, abtik-abtik jud ug hakop kay sa kanihit basin ka mahutdan.
Kilid sa isdaan nakapwesto ang karnehan ug baboy. Ambit-ambit lang jud pod hinoon daan kay kada Domingo ra man pod mag-ihaw si Nong Juan. Swerte na'g makapalit kag karneng baboy sa di pa moudto, kana kun gusto kag bukog-bukog ug salin-saling unod sa ulo. Maajo na kaajo kun sa usa ka buwan makakita ka'g karne'ng baka. Ambot pod kaha'g ngano pero sa akong tantiya ang mga taw kanhiay sa amoa 'vegetarian' o wa juy mga kwarta
Sa tuong bahin sa merkado naglaray ang mga restawran. Dinhi ang mga taw'ng tapuwan magluto makapalit ug sud-an nga human-daan. Daghang pod ka'g mapilian, naay nangkang gitunuan, ginaling nga baboy ug dinuguan. Kun gani ting klase, tapokanan ning lugara sa mga taga barrio'ng estudyante.
Sa wang bahin dunay mga tindahang gagmay ug lumber ni Medequiso. Di kaajo mi tig-abot didto kay ang tag-ija medyo estrikto. Hinoon kun panahon na gani sa litik ug lastiko didto mi tanan magpundok. Ambot ngano nga perting sinawa man ang sawg nga semento didtong dapita. Kana kun wa poy kamote ug ube'ng gipangtapok nga usahay imbis paliton, bayluan na lang ug ginamos, tinabal o buwad nga lawlaw.
Bibo tong merkadoha labi nag adlawng tabū ug angat fiesta kay mapuno jud sa mga manggad ang mga tag-as nga lamesa. Naay tinapok nga panty, brief, Bang-Bang nga karsones ug Guitar nga kamiseta. Daghang pod mantil nga nilukot ug nagkalain-lai'g kolor nga kurtina. Dinhi pod dapita usahay matug si Victor buang.
Kami, nga mga batang boutan, sa matag tabū usa ray di makalimtan, kadtong mga panahon nga nagkisikisi mi sa sementong pasilyo ug hinilak kay sa tiling-tiling nga 'ice cream' di mi palitan!
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Bakasyon Series
Part 1
Usa ray nindot nga mahinumduman kada sugod sa eskwela sa elementarya niadtong panahong kami mga bata pa. Ambot lang kaha sa uban pero para nako dako ju'ng kalipay kun ting-klase na kay pohun-pohun, pagkahuman sa di maihap nga lusi sa dunggan ug kusì sa bugan, bakasyon na man pod ang paabuton. Pwera lang sab kung way masaag panahon sa bakasyon nga mga madre sa katekisis nga sa among karaang simbahan mgsige la'g bahis-bahis. Inig tungtong sa buwan sa Enero mangabot na jud sa dunggan ang ngisi kay takulahaw lang, sa pipila ka mga buwan, bakasyon na man pod ang matagamtaman. Ingna ko'g bakakon kun di ka maghinamhinam inig dawat jud nimo sa imong grado, di tungod kay nakapasar ka sa tanang subject way labot gardening ug home economics, kundi sa kasiguruan nga pagkaugma mahimo nag di ka momata'g sajo, maligo ug magsipilyo.
Unang puntarya inig sugod jud sa bakasyon ang dagat, kay daghan mag mahimong kalingawan sa katungan ug hunasan, mamana man kung taub o manginhas kun tinghunas. Ang pamasol sa Tawg naka eskedyul na daan. Taub pa gani adto na mi mamasol, omang ray pama-on kay ibis ug islawan ra man ang kasagarang isda'ng makuha. Didto sa ubos sa kalatsutsing karaan nga nag-ambû sa lapad nga katunggan, naa didtoy gamayng lam-aw diin magdasok ang mga ibis ug bakagan. Murag kumag-ku ra ka dako tong mga isda-a pero lami pod kilawon labi nag mahimbisan na. Kung makasibot mi'g pasajan, adto sa Emburna ag padulngan kay dagko man ang mga isdang katambak nga kasagarang makuha didto, kana kun swertehon pod ug way sakajan nga mag sige'g bahis-bahis ilawom sa taytayan. Kun wa gani isdang makuha, aw unsa pa, ambak dajun aron mangaligo, i-tumong jud namo kun naay sakyanan nga mo-agi, hubo sa short pants ug syagit nga ala-Tarzan dayon ngisi. Dakop-dakop ang duwa nga unang mahuna-hunaan kay inig kapoyun na gani mi, gira'g lapok na man pod ang kalingawan. Usahay, kun tugka'g kabuang, mangawat pod mi'g sakajan, kun dili gani didto sa sapa-sapa, sa Tawg ug sa mga nakahigot nga baroto didto sa Ihawan. Perting sukoa hinoon sa tag-ija pagkahuman kay ang barotong among kawaton ug sakyan-sakyan amo mang ilublob sa dagat unja batobatu-an. Di pod sila intawon mang reklamo kay ang kasagarang tag-ija sa among kawatong baroto di man taga Pantalan kundi taga baryo.
Inig sugod na jud ug hunas moatake na mi sa katunggan. Daghang supsupon nga daw-daw'ng kinhason didto nga nanapot sa nga bakhaw ug tuod sa kanipaan. Daghan pong mani-it ug gagmayng kasag nga among kubkubon sa ilang mga buho sa lapok, matamataon lang ang mga bali-sà nga manidlit o sabwagan ug tubig gamit ang tsinelas aron motuyhakaw ug dali ra mapunit. Perting swerteha na kun makasugamak ug alimangong mat-an kay kasagaran sa sapyaw ra man ni sila madakpan. Kadtong imbaw nga hawt kaajo ug sabaw ila ra to sa nga hanas kay kapoy baja pod ning sige'g tuslok sa sundang nga amow sa lapok makakuha lang ug pila ka bouk.
Paglusad sa panas nga perting haita ug mga bato nga buyon sa Tintinan, didto na magsugod ang panginhas. Lisod mata-on ang aninikad nga kinhason kay kasagaran maglibon man ug lumot maong kinahanglan abtik jud kag mata nga mo-ila aron dili puro bato imong madala. Kun maka-agi ug linaw nga gamay maghupo-hupo pod mi'g ginagmay, kay kun naa gani tubig nga mosidlit siguradong naay kinhasong litub nga mapunit. Hiway-hiway pod panagsa sa mga gagmayng bato ug mga lusay kay buwahan naay nitapot nga lukot nga ingon pa sa mga tiguwang, ta-e kuno sa dunsol nga buktot. Bat-tulì ug bat-hanginan usahay pod mataymingan, balihon ra inig hugasan dajun ub-ubon. Hinay-hinay lang pod ug hungit kay usahay ang kinaon sa bat nga bas ang imong ma-ingkit.
Magsige mig atang kanus-a magbukad ug batö ug bunsod kay inig kahuman sa tag-ija ug panibot , libre na man mi tanan manakop sa mga isdang nahibilin. Abtik lang jud pod ug panigbas sa mga isdang nakaikyas ug panakop sa mga danggit nga sa mga bato nanuksok kay kun malas-malason ka'g matunok, aw hilantan ra man pod ka inigkataud-taud. Kun malas-malason kay maot ug panahon, hipos tanang bubog nga maagi-an, putlan sa gaway ug ilubong ra kadiyot sa bas aron ang ijang laway mangalibkas, libre na sud-an ug sumsoman sa bahal nga muna-muna namong gi-amotan. Swaki ug tujom kun takdol ang buwan among paborito bisan pa man ug kapoy magtilang ug maglimpyo. Gamay ray unod hinoon ang makuha, pero sa kalami, hurot ang bahaw kun mao nay among ma-suwà. Inig tali-sawp na ang adlaw ug padung na motaub mi magdali-dali ug pang-uli kay mahadlok mi nga matauban inig labang sa lawom nga dan-dan nga sa suba gi-agian, sa di pa makahaw-as sa Ihawan. Wa pa gani ma-uga ang among mga sinina nagsabot na pod mi nga manapyaw ug manghilo'g kugitang gagmay inig ka ugma. Magtigum ra hinoon pod mi ug upos sa tabako kay mao may among gamiton panghilo sa mga tama-ã nga dagko.
Panahon sa tinglatuk sa buwan, kanang di kaaju motaub ug mohunas ang dagat, mamana mi didto sa kilid sa pantalan. Tukog sa pajung ug kabhang sa bolpen ray among gikinahanglan. Ang antiparang kahoy nga mapalit ra inig tabù mag-ulos-ulos mig huwam kay ang tres pesos atong panahona, para namo, perti pa man intawon mahala. Pata,ibis, bakagan ug mga isdang labajan ang kasagarang matuhog kay di man mi maka-utong lapas sa duha ka dupa, ug sa makausa pa, perting lawma na man kun adto mi mamana sa taliwà.
Usa sa timailhan nga hanas na ka mulangoy sa pantalan kadtong pahambogay kun kinsay makalahutay ug langoy hangtud sa gitagdok nga timailhan ngilit sa mabawng dapit sa hunasan, mga kapin sa usa ka gatos pod ka metros ang gilay-on gikan atong kaliguanan nga gihagdan-hagdanan. Ambak sa tumoy ug langoy-langoy sa mga haliging napuno nag tagimtim magtud-tod mi'g kinsay mo-una, kay sa kalawm atong dapita, inig lingi nimo paingon sa unahan maglagitom na jud ang imong makit-an. Hadlokon mi sa una sa mga katiguwangan nga naa kuno didto mag-atang ang mga iho, pero ambot lang kaha kay wa man jud koy bisan usa'ng nakita, na-opaw na lang ko.
Kadtong panahon nga daghan pa ang bolinao nga mabaling, manguban mi inig kagabii sa lawd arong motabang ug pangay. Sa tag piso pa ang kilo kun daghan ang kuha o uno bayntsengko kun nihit, way bata nga di maningkamot mangay aron makakwarta sa palit. Magtimaan na mi daan kun Biernes na sa gabii ug Sabado kay ingon pa sa mga tiguwang hinay ang bolinao sa Domingo kay kuno sagrado. Kapoy man tuod tong kalaki-a pero perti pod ka-alegre labi nag magkujog mo tanan mga barkada. Sabot-sabot ra mi'g unsay dalhon inig ka gabii sa lawd, tuay nagdala ug suka, asin ang uban ug sibuyas dahonan para sa tinuwa nga sa dala namong soû among dabdaban. Inig ka busog na ug panahon sa tingkatog, magsige lng mi'g panimpãd pamasol buwahan makakuha ug isda nga saging-saging ug usahay swertihon, tambakol. Kadtong medyo maldito, magdala'g La Yebana o sigarilyong Titina, buhot-buhot pod mi panagsa kay sa katugnaw magsige na la'g siga imong mata. Sa di pa manguli, mohapit mi sa mga naglaray nga mga paninda, mga nagtapun-og nga puto,biko ug bingka, nga paresan namo ug kaping sinangag o sekwating perting espisoha. Alas kwatro sa hapon sa eskina na pod mi magtapok, kay magsabot-sabot unsay dad-on sunod inig balik na pod namo sa lawd.
Kadtong mga panahuna, sa wa pay TV, selpon ug computer nga makalinga, para namo perti na jung lingawa labi na nga ang tanang bata sa lungsod hangtud sa kasugpanan kaila namo ug suod nga barkada.
Aw, taym sà ha, way diay labot mga taga pikas eskina.
(Kung mangutana ka ug 'Ngano man?', palihug basaha'g usab kadtong estoryang "Guerra Tibouk Kalibutan!").😂
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Men Bake Roses, Women Plant Cakes
I used to bake Tru-Orange flavored puff pastries when I was younger which mother affectionately called 'chiffon cakes' although they're not thin cloth materials made of silk and weren't that soft either, literally. There must be something wrong with the ovens today since I can't figure out as to why all my kneading and pleading doesn't work out its magic anymore. My wife said I must have forgotten the recipes or probably the yeast I was using were already past expiration date. She must have noticed that every single cake I baked flopped or turned into something ressembling a millstone. My daughter said its all because I was scrimping on everything, baking time included. Gas is expensive too, right?
It was also during that time when a few varities of roses were blooming right through Mother's front yard garden, the years she anxiously thought I turned yellow, although much of that passion was born out of reading Mills and Boon's paperback novels my older sister was hoarding in the dining room bookshelves. Tradition must have equated flowers and cakes go well together to sum up some silly notion that I was going soft, as vacuous people are inclined to percieve, though I didn't blame them for being so. Boys just don't plant roses, right?
Wrong.
I do and the poor St.Valentine has nothing to do with it considering I've never had any serious relationship whatsoever with the opposite sex during that wimpy life phase I wasn't very fond of remembering, regretfully. My day as a youngster always starts with a bowlful of steaming rice porridge and ends well under the kitchen stairwell thinly slicing those sticky banana stalks and pounding them afterwards with a wooden pestle before mixing them with milled rice husk to feed mother's voracious hogs. Serious relationships were far and remote as the chilly Siberian tundra except perhaps for some coercive happenstances of mutual understanding borne out of youthful taunts, unrestrained ignorance and envy. I can't even remember saying 'I love you' to someone else, not even to myself. There were instead a few potshot crushes and short shrift affections especially with the loveliest girl in high school who remains as lovely as she is today than as she was before. Turns out I was stupid enough to believe that we were of distant relation which eventually wasn't true either. Anyway, we both grew up in a kquaint little town where everybody is related to anybody at some point in time somehow, either by intermarriage or just by the simple fact of being long time neighbors. Honestly though, I believed she never knew about my intentions until now and hopefully, to make things less embarassing for me, will keep it that way. She was definitely the reason for the white roses. People usually wear white during Chinese funerals, right?
The potted double-petalled purplish pink hugging inside the unpainted picket fence just below the guava tree in front of our old house were strickly for show-off partly because they were grafted hybrids from a cutting that I yanked from somebody else's garden. My on and off girlfriend at that time was totally unaware that what I had been giving her were actually from the elementary school garden and the reason for it was because there were also a few bees in her bedeviled heart, as what my best friend reminds me of, constantly. We're not friends on Facebook anyway so there's no need to worry.
Unquestinably, the prolific bloomers were the deep reds which goes bald as they were in huge demand for the corsage during school's yearend commemoration exercises. They were the only roses planted right in the soil because they were of native variety and were highly resistant to aphids and other pest. I also happen to hate their prickly thorns. 'Never sell your flowers if you don't want to be castigated by the whole neighbor-friendly community', mother used to say. I'm not a whore but that would have been a lot of pennies for a hard-up youngster like me and it was agonizingly tempting.
You don't need to be a romantic to be able to plant roses anyway, or a horticulturist for that matter, as I reckoned years later. A 'handsome' sapling or a 'decent' grafting in a nutrient 'rich', moisture retentive soil is all that is needed other than a pest and temperature controlled environment to grow most varieties of roses. (Mother said to remember those three words too!)
So, why roses?
It was all probably because at that age I thought roses are like girls that needed constant attention and all-out patience in order to grow and bloom into something beautiful and sweet-smelling. They must also be handled delicately otherwise the petals will wither easily or you will get feverish from a single prick of its pernicious thorns. Too much water and the stems will molder and rot. Starve the soil and you'll get miniaturized flowers that only flourish for a day. It would take a lot of time to understand their nature and disposition inasmuch as their inversely inscrutable intentions. They are mostly beautiful externally but dare to venture a tad closer and you will definitely be scorched crisply by their temper or worst being prickled by their biting retorts. Mother said to be very careful with them, one freakish parental lesson I never took to heart very seriously then. I should have known better!
Roses too are like second chance promises that men foolishly fall into believing. Girls like everything expensive, that's the hard truth, though it is only through the gift of a flower where their hearts melt and eventually reveals the fidelity of their true feelings. Roses are like truth serum that most girls can't resist or lie about though luckily for them men gullibly believed otherwise.
The exquisite canary yellows are definitively exotic, larger than most varieties and very delicate to grow. The buds seldom flourish into full-blown flowers but when they do the waiting was worth it. Compared to the other varieties, they wither easily and will never last long enough in the vase even when am Aspirin tablet is added to the water, one reason why they're best suited for cemetery votives.
Compost takes a long time to rot while fertilizers are expensive and hard to procure during those days so the eggs shells that were proudly impaled and lined up along the decorative finials of the kitchen sink were expropriated instead as a substitute along with a few sun dried starfishes that were pounded into powdery dust by mother's garlic pestle and the redolent cow dungs that bemired the town's public plaza. Some say urine is good when mixed with water but I was afraid the flowers would turn musky so I settled for beer. Turns out I liked beer better than flowers, and skittish girls too, so the plan was stupefyingly dismissed heartily.
The bold pink roses were definitively the most memorable of the lot partly because of the circumstance of its incipience rather than its distinctive rareness. It took me a few months to win the heart of a girl just to be able to transgress her uncle's garden for the pretentious variety and it was worth it! Her uncle, ( for heaven's sake, forgive me!) was a priest by the way.
Valentines date?
Nah, that's totally rubbish. Winning the heart of a girl with a wrapped Cartier, a glittering Bulgari or a sleek Prada is exponentially much better albiet to the special someone that you really, really loved, a bouquet of flowers is honestly more than enough. I recommend the 'all-weather' polyethelene ones made in China because they really suggest something like 'forever'. Otherwise, get busy and bake a damn cake!
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Understanding a Pandemic
Writing anything about this pandemic is an ambiguously perplexing task for one simple reason which hopefully will remain impartial and subjective throughout this narrative. 'I am not a virologist and I have no idea what is this all about, other than knowing that a lot of people had already perished and our way of life has been altered drastically from what we were used to a couple of years ago. In this time of extreme contagion there is no room for half-baked pretension so let's try to be blunt with the facts.
Definitively it is a virus, any of a large group of submicroscopic infectious agent that are nonliving, extremely complex molecules, typically containing a protein coat sorrounding an RNA or DNA core of genetic material but no semi-permeable membrane. They are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in humans, animals and plants. Summarily, according to Mirriam, it is a causative agent of an infectious disease.
Coronavirus
Any of a family (Coronaviridae) of single-stranded RNA viruses that have a lipid envelope studded with club-shaped projections that infect birds and many mammals including humans, and include the causative agents of MERS and SARS.
Infectious Disease. Fatal.
Less than a fortnight. That's how long it will take for your body's immune system to decide whether you live and will continue watching Netflix day in and day out or you're helplessly doomed and may be dead due to complication. That is also the extent of everything I know about this pandemic and for a non-scientist like me, anything other than that is bullshit.
So, lets start with every bullshit that you may have probably learned and believed from social media while living in sedentary hiatus for a year and a half as to where this virus came from.
Wuhan, China.
A bustling large industrial metropolis in the heart of the old imperial China situated along the confluences of the Yangtze river and its largest tributary, the Han river. Chinawise, Wuhan is a class-A city in terms of wealth, development, social standards and the resultant corruption mentality with a categorically upscale maritime traffic, though landlocked, that served as a major transportation conduit and a hub for trade and commerce in the central China region. Without the extensive river and the webs of interconnecting channel and canal system in the region, Wuhan and the nearby cities within the river's reach is practically non-existent. This is also one of the places in China where research institutes can be found, 350 of them to be exact, one of which is the reputably infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wang Jian, a 3rd Engineer cadet on one of my prevous ship lives here along with his young capricious wife and her nagging mother who berates him constantly especially when he sends no money. Tradition dictates that if you hold a girl's hand her parents can demand marriage instantly to avoid familial indignity. Apparently, that is what happened in his case of which he openly loathed and forfeited to fate. I hope they're still alive by now.
Exotic Meat Market.
The first mention of the emergence of this virus strain was said to come from this place which I'm particularly confused of as all meat markets in China are deemed exotic even to Asians. Chinese markets always sell meat of any kind of animals because as Xiaopeng once said, Chinese eat everything that swims, everything that crawls, and everything that flies, except airplanes. Animals we oftentimes see in the zoo are butchered here for meat and traditional medicine including endangered species imported and smuggled from as far away as the African savannah and the Amazon rainforest. The more exotic the meat, the more commanding the price. Live frogs and dried insects are even normally displayed in most food section of large swanky supermarkets besides choice beef cuts and imported truffles from abroad. Bush meat swamped local markets. Apparently, this virus came from animals and was transmitted to us humans in an inconceivable and uncomprehending way other than consumption and infection albiet through unintentional contact or elective absurdity.
Bats and Other Exotic Animals.
The identification of a certain kind of bats allegedly found only in the caves of a particular region of China that hosted the deadly corona virus strain was discovered a few decades ago, extensively studied, scrutinized and genetically analyzed down to their sub-molecular composition by various researchers. Various entities, which in this case is not principally subjected only to the Chinese virologist who discovered it but by the entire scientific field of virology research all over the world. Bats fly but they are not airplanes so they are probably part of the menu.
The postulation of this virus coming from pangolins, another type of exotic zoo display animal of the anteater (Myrmecophagidae) specie, was also suspected although there were inconsistent research result to assume validity to the claim.
Laboratory Leak Theories
A lot of American media ballyhoos specifically pinpointed Chinese research laboratories as the primary source of this pandemic which I find very conflicting from the onset. For how could a seat of government justify the notion of intentionally culling half a million of its citizenry just to assess a virus effectivity? Apart from being too farfetched to be accepted, it does not logically imply that since the pandemic allegedly started in Wuhan, the laboratories within its vicinity are all deemed suspect as the source of its transmission. It is also widely established that there are a handful of laboratories specializing in virus research all over the world other than China. Why is it then that their existence were all discounted for considering it is general knowledge that most various research projects particularly in the field of science all over the world are openly tied up and shared research materials even to the extent of breaching national security, I have not the slightest idea. With this factual reasoning alone, the notion that some foreign agencies are covertly funding research in aiming to create advance viruses in Chinese laboratories could also be feasibly warranted. Inasmuch as an accidental release is concerned, as prattled to be one of the possible cause by most analyst in the western countries, that would be very unlikely considering foolproof measures are always a top priority in research facilities dealing with these kind of hypersensitive experiments. There are also international standard and practice commissions that certify and oversee the operation of this facilities to avoid any possible slip ups and unintentional circumstance that violates its operating protocols. However, there were verified reports of three researchers from WIV who became sick enough to require hospital care way back in November 2019 which substantiated the incipiency timeline of the pandemic and adding credence to lab-leak theorist proponents.
World Health Org.
A branch of the United Nation that specifically deals with and monitors the health of the entire world population may have dampened the spread of the disease through their information and rehabilitation programs but were unable to evade mounting criticism in its initial conduct in handling the pandemic. Their search for the source of the virus in China were also inconclusive as Chinese authorities were uncooperative and hesitant to divulge their own findings and statistics. However, there were circumstantial postulation regarding the agency's lackadaisical outlook during the onset of the pandemic that raised eyebrows among academics and other health monitoring agencies specifically in relation to their complicit reluctance in stamping China's outright culpability of the crisis. China’s refusal to cooperate in the investigation is also tantamount to admitting damaging lapses in containing the pandemic intrinsically. China's alledged funding contribution to the agency, according to unsupported assertion by some financial watchdog, is also suspect. Though blaming China for this crisis is tantamount to censuring westerners for introducing cancer catalyzing hotdogs and genetically modified foods to the world, the fact that the pandemic started in China eventually remains true in nature although the origin of the virus. Whether it was from animal spillover or laboratory leakage, still remains vague and debatable.
Conspiracy Theories
Two years ago, a symposium that chiefly addressed the virus strain was held somewhere in the North American continent. The Chinese scientist who was the leading authority on the subject mysteriously became infected and died along with a dozen investigative researchers who had audaciously delved into and exposed conspiracy theories regarding its origin and nature, including prominent WHO representatives. The death of the Chinese doctor who exposed through media the initial surge of patients and casualties and who nonetheless alerted the relevant authorities regarding the possible onset of a pandemic sadly also became a fodder for conspiracy theorist.
Black Ops
There would be no mystery casualties and conspiracy theories without black operations and this in itself is self explanatory. Most superpowered countries acknowledge their existence decades ago though initially intended as a deterrent to foreign intervention that could jeopardize national interest and security. It is however recently being expanded to covertly exercise and influence the psychological characteristic of the people within its contituency and beyond by using social media platforms as a tool. Whether this is a black ops gone haywire or an economy based deliberate strategy for world dominion, I would not know because I'm also not a political scientist nor a financial strategist.
Media Frenzy
The media and internet wars of today that is currently waged by competing superpower countries is a billion dollar industry. The corollary effect of mass communication brought about by the invention of the world wide web considerably became a lethal weapon considering it has the capability to act and produce an effect that could influence world politics and the economy. Media, as we all acknowledge, is also responsible in providing veracious reports and proliferating fake news that spread solicitude and panic other than public differential diagnostic attitude. Their actions further complicate the efforts of the relevant health agencies to combat the scourge. In as much as blaming the Chinese for the spread of the virus or creating racial tension to stave off the reproach, mass media became the focal point of interest in this war of words and the source of pointless namedropping allegation that instigated worldwide mass hysteria for reasons way beyond our already distressed comprehension.
History
There were countless pandemics and plagues that came to ravage the entire world ever since men started to record history and it is remarkably interesting to ponder the consistency of its recurrence. Though the discovery of vaccines may have saved countless lives in the past, nature has its way that we still can't figure out and relentlessly unleashes novel vaccine resistant virus strains we've never encountered previously. The progressing coronavirus epidemic at the onset of the 21st century that preceeded the lentivirus, filovirus and orthomyxovirus scare however is noteworthy. These viruses, notably MERs, SARs and the current SARs2 Covid-19, all of which are of the Coronaviridae family, came to emerge in Asia. HIV, Marburg, Yambuku or Ebola in the late 20th century all mysteriously came to manifest in Africa. Apparently, natures way of disseminating viruses is also peculiarly discrimatory.
The rapid spread of the disease however can also be summed up as the effect of inequality of living standards between rich and poor nation, the unintended result of globalization. People from poor nation immigrate to developed countries to seek affluent lifestyles as investor flocked to third world countries to extract their resources and cheap labor. With the prevalent ease of travel and border restrictions, the spread of the disease became inevitably uncontrolable. Complacency, which is a common human trait that transends all aspects of life's boundaries, may have also became the multiplying factor in the spread of infection and fatalities, a self assumption that was dispelled by the sudden shock of morbid reality. As it was before, people never learn.
Vaccine
Vaccines were available within six months since the outbreak which is quite unprecedented considering the novelty of the virus strain. This may be partly due to the alarming and rapid propagation of the disease that affected the whole world and the widespread economic downturn following the general lockdowns and quarantines imposed stringently by almost all countries. Although a host of speculation regarding the initial test phase of most vaccines were insidiously circulated through the media, the demand however validated their importance though their effectivity are still closely being monitored particularly on the emerging regionalized variants that are said to have an increased transmissibility rate. Most Covid-19 vaccine brands however have shown remarkable capability to neutralize the virus ranging from as low as J&J's 85 percent to Pfizers 97 percent effectivity particularly in combating B.1.351 strain, which is also known as the deadly South African variant, the fast spreading Indian variant and the latest dominant B.1.1.7 variant that is currently ravaging the US and Israel. Studies have shown that those who had received vaccination, especially the frontline health workers who are more prone to be infected, had a high percentage rate of immunity in staving off infection than those who shun the medication. Generally, vaccination is a must, whether the drug is made in China or anywhere else, and the only option to those who does not approve of it (e.g. gene therapy theorist) apparently is to live like a hermit inside a cave a thousand miles away from civilization for life. Eating those cave bats though will still probably end their lives in less than a fortnight.
These are some of the examples of misleading nonsense that were fed to us by the media lately. More is yet to come. But for all this hype, three things still remains essential for our survival in these pandemic and that would be by getting vaccinated, by not getting infected and by trying not to infect others. Generally, media these days are mostly for entertainment purposes only, so let's just keep it that way.
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The Gods of Summer
Birth
Guan Dong Mountains, 1427 AD
Episode 1
It was during the turbulent year of 1427 when Pek Chen was born to a peasant woman who worked the land for a rich and powerful town magistrate in the mountainous region of Fujian, three years after the death of Emperor Yongle, the greatest emperor of the Ming dynasty. A war for succession between competing factions in the Imperial Palace was raging in the capital and an eminent civil war in the south was threatening the large towns in the lowlands. But there was relative calm and peace far in the hinterlands for the harvest was plentiful, the hunt was successful, the forest was cleared and Pek Chen came out healthy and strong. The plague that ravaged the countryside had long been gone and the previous winter was mild. And to top it all, there was joy in the large compound where the magistrate lived for there in the lofty private rooms of the only three tiered estate that overtopped the pine trees up above the mudbrick cottages where the servants were quartered, his newborn daughter wailed. The local necromancer, who was also the resident healer of the clan, declared that it was an auspicious day for the household as it was a full moon on the 8th day of the 8th lunar month when the child was delivered. She was the old magistrate's firstborn daughter, after ten years of marriage to the principal lady of the house, and he named her Rang Be in honor to the Gods of Summer. A feast was to be held the next day at the courtyard to welcome the princess of the estate and the squelling pigs that were caged in the backyard shed next to the bamboo fenced chicken coops were marshalled to the slaughter house by the male servants. Festive red lanterns were hastily festooned up along the entirety of the courtyard, gold sequinned silk draperies flapped along the broad latticed windows of the main house and the round red bricked main gate that served as the main entrance to the huge property was enlivened with bouquets of fresh flowers plucked from the grand mistress's garden that was tended by Pek Chen's mother. In the eastern inner wall near the communal well, the huge painted dragon paper-mache and the ribbon ornamented festival drums lay. People from the nearby villages were already camping out in the outer wall of the compound, wrapped up in the cold mist and drinking steeped tea leaves besides their makeshift tents as the smoke from their wood burning stoves muddled the fogbound morning into a surreal scenery welcoming a forecast of a wondrous and festive day.
From his perch above the ornate council house that served as the towns administrative office, the town scribe bawled out the decree that marked the week a special non working holiday as the kindly magistrate came to the servants quarter to wish the convalescing mother luck and well-being with her newborn son. It was he who named the child Pek Chen and laugh heartily as he raised the child that was still wrapped snugly in a flimsy burlap sheet close to his face. He then dug deep into his pocket and brought forth a small keepsake, a jade inlaid puzzle box with the boys name exquisitely engraved in it.
It was indeed a wondrous day.
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The Gods of Summer
Wounded
Amoy, China, 1914
Episode 2
It was only a few years ago that the juvenile Emperor PuYi had been forced to abdicated or rather was unceremoniously relegated to become just a figurehead by the quasi-government hastily installed by the coalition of professed reformist and nationalist. Although royalist forces loyal to the Emperor waged a failed resistance for the reinstitution of the dynasty in the early days of the conflict, it was the squabble for dominance between the different political factions of the coalition that actually led to the civil war. Ultimately, as what had happened centuries ago during the early Han invasion , the convoluted war was fought between the people of the north against those that lived south of the Yellow River, the ragtag Royalist forces against the disciplined soldiers of the Nationalist and everyone else against the pesky Marxist.
War had ravaged the land and the unfortunate Chan Pek was in the middle of the fray.
The dilapidation of the once swanky four storey hotel was twofold — it was ancient and it was made entirely of wood, though the tides of war may have hastened its rapid decay. Nevertheless, the war may have also bailed it from its misery as it was sequestered by the Nationalist authorities and reserved temporarily as a halfway house for soldiers returning from the frontlines instead of being demolished. The huge centerpiece, a wrought iron chandelier in the foyer, was already laced with cobwebs, its diamantine beads dulled by the detritus of neglect and dust. Since the caged elevator was broken and inoperable apparently because of spare parts inaccessibility, Chan Pek, heavily burdened by all of his life's possession in a canvas military backpack, climbed the dark rickety stairs to the third floor where he was billeted a lodging. The small room was bare except for a bed and a side table with a lighted candle on top that was barely flickering in the dark. The single window fronting the street sagged, its glass panes deliberately replaced with blackened plywood sheets as a deterrent to bomb shocks. Dust was everywhere, he felt it even in the dark, and he was not alone. A few rats were scuttling between obscured holes underneath the thinly mattressed spring bed. But he was too tired and famished to bother other than needing a few hours of rest from juggling transport trains and buses just to be nearer to home. Splayed wide in bed, he also came to notice the silence of dawn that for the last three consecutive years were constanly being bombarded by distant rumbles of howitzer barrage, small firearm crackles, and the desperate wail of pain and anguish of humankind. The bed was comfortable enough, he thought, far better than the compacted mud and sandbags that also served as peripheral defensive wall of the trenches that he and his comrades have been digging for almost the entirety of their forced enlistment. The war was brutal yet necessary and he knew that something extraordinary will come out of it. His wounds and sacrifices will never be in vain.
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The Gods of Summer
Dawn
Guan Dong, 1427 AD
Episode 3
The huge iron-bracketed wooden east gate of the brick and mortar walled town was partly opened by the nightguards early the next morning, in anticipation of the expected large number of revelers from the nearby villages, but only wide enough for the palanquin litters that bore the few expected dignitaries to pass through. People camped outside the wall were already scurrying inside, perhaps to escape the morning chill and the resultant enveloping fog that smothered everything and making visibility of less than two arms lenght at the most. The wandering circus from the lowland town arrived early, resplendent in their colorful costumes and glittering contraptions, heralded by jugglers, lithe acrobats, midget clowns and bamboo stilt walkers. There were martial artist too, sword performers and fire breathers amongst the horde that streamed gaily into the main street, each one flaunting off their talent to the early risers who were beginning to gather on the skirt of the gravelled road. There was an atmosphere of rapturous anticipation in the magistrate's courtyard as countless longtables bedecked with adornments under sheets of white linen were laid out, assembled in a square fashion, with the central area purposely made bare to host the performers and dancers that were expected to enliven the affair. Temporarily commissioned for the festivity, the communal kitchen was already alive with frenzied fermentation, with cooks jostling for space to finish their specialty creations and bakers in their flour besmeared aprons balancing loaves of freshly baked breads over their white capped heads. Servants and indentured housekeepers were busily propping up the household with festive decorations, red and gold paper ribbons intertwining and enlacing all of the posts and ceiling of the main foyer area up to where the anteroom opens up to the main door, as lantern balloons were being tied and lined up against the inner wall of the courtyard by the nimble manservants. Even the ancient cherryblossom tree that stood at the entrance of the mistress garden was not spared, and bedecked with countless adornments and hanged ornaments, its branches sagged helplessly in submission. Pek Chen's mother Shui Dem from the Chan clan came to the main house, leaving him in the care of her younger sister, to help in the preparation of the festivity to the consternation of the magistrates wife whose apprehension was dismissed outright by her adamant reply. Both knew that she was the only househelp that the magistrate trusted with her daughter and, inspite of her youthful age, was a direct descendant from a line of esteemed stewards that the family had retained over a long period of time. It was also not a coincidence that Shui Dem's father was the magistrates squire and confidant when he was young and growing up, the latter's regretful loss unsetlling when he died during the recent plague that swept the land.
Rang Be had already been bathed when Shui Dem came to the nursery and, along with the magistrates mistress, began to suit her up with the elaborate raiment specifically made by the best dressmaker in town for the occassion. Embellished in gold sequins with silk underlining, the red flowing gown accentuated the baby's milky white complexion that seems to glow with the effervesence of royalty and grandeur that can only be percieved in the crannies of the Imperial Palace by those lucky enough to have lived that long to tell the story. A bracelet made of red and black shell beads which was painstakingly crafted by the best jeweler in the far-off provincial capital of Amoy, adorned her tiny wrist, a popular talismanic charm to avert evil and bring good fortune to those who wear it. Binded loosely by strips of fine silk, bright red satin shoes with ornamental flakes of gold covered her tiny feet. In her tiny neck dangled a gold pendant in honor to the gods she was named after. Indeed, Rang Be was an impressively spectacular child to behold.
Down in the servants quarter Pek Chen abruptly stopped wailing when he was fed with rice porridge but his tears never did.
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The Gods of Summer
The Upheaving
Amoy 1914
Episode 4
Sleep came fast but then a slight shudder and an increasing low yet heavy rumbling sound woke him up. Propped up in bed, Chan Pek waited for the surefire booming of a howitzer blast to follow but it never came. Alarmed but still alert and in his elements, he cautiously crept up to the boarded window and peered outside. But there was nothing unusual in the streets either, no blast or fire burst that always preceeded a barrage and it was not even raining. Perplexed yet still drowsy, he felt slightly dizzy as he went back to bed and then it happened. A sudden, violent convulsion shook the whole building in an increasing degree, the bed swayed and the walls began to lurch from side to side. Chan Pek and the bedside table came tumbling down together as all of his life's position inside his backpack spilled and scattered on the barren floor. The door to his room, though locked from the inside, swinged and banged wildly against the wall, its hinges unclasped. Clawing on all fours, he managed to crawl towards the door and mustering all his strenght, lurched himself up towards the stairway. People were already scampering out of their rooms and into the lobby where to an unfortunate fate, some of them were fatally crushed by the huge wrough iron chandelier that came crashing down from the high ceiling and into the tiled floor below. Skirting and dodging the fallen debris, Chan Pek headed straight to the main door and ran as fast as he could towards the relative safety of the open space which was already teeming with traumatized and afflicted people.
The powerful earthquake had lasted exactly two minutes but the devastation was utterly severe that the landscape he had perceptively recognized beforehand had completely changed drastically. There was not a single building left standing anymore and in their place heaps of rubbles feed a conflagration of fiery manifest that turned the early dawn into day. Lugging his backpack and the few remaining position which he reflexively managed to grab during his narrow escape, Chan Pek hurriedly headed straight to the outskirt of the city towards the direction of the mountains. There was a jarring dissonance of frantic flight from the traffic of frightened people streaming out towards the uncertainty of refuge in their varied conveyances, from overburdened donkeys and ox-drawn carts, to honking cars that manages to escape unscathed or barely functioning, each one trying to outpace each other from the growing conflagration that swept the city. Chan Pek, who was still in his army uniform, managed to flag down and commander a passing military half track, directed the enlisted driver to slow down briefly while he tried to untangle the horde of people and vehicles congesting on the main artery to no avail. Exasperated and weary from lack of sleep he slumped down on the backseat of the car and doze, relegating his fate to the Gods of Summer.
He had no idea how long he had slept until he was awakened by the pouring rain that penetrated the canopy of a bamboo groove where the vehicle was being parked under its foilage momentarily. It was then that the driver shook him up and gave him a lighted cigarette, a rare commodity in time of war but nevertheless a circumstantial necessity. 'Please excuse my asking, sir, but I think I knew you from somewhere' the man bellowed loudly just to be heard against the din of the intense downpour. 'You're from Guan Dong town, aren't you, sir?, he added while furtively eyeing the embroidered name tag sewn on the breastpocket of his uniforn. As luck would have it, the enlisted man said that he was also from the uplands and had heared all about the Chan clan from the stories told by his grandfather, legendary tales of fealty, courage and requited romance that filtered through the neighboring pinnacles and vilages that dotted the highland. It was also widely known that the ladies of the town are exceptionally desirable and faithful to their men even in times of conflict and famine which was a constant threat during the time of the Warring Three Kingdoms.
'The crossing that leads to the mountain pass is about ten miles down the road, sir, and if you're heading that way, it will be my honor to ferry you up to where the road ends, the man continued. 'My name is Mah Shu, from the Tu clan, and if we ever meet again, please bless me with a wife from your household. I will be forever indebted with your graciousness', the enlisted man meekly pleaded.
Chan Pek's older sister unconciously flashed through his mind.
The widespread devastation of the upheaving was clearly evident as they travelled the road towards the mountain pass which became impassable after a few miles as it was being blocked by countless landslides and rock falls. Fallen trees and mud clogged riverbeds and channels making them impossible to negotiate. It was evident that their brief journey had to end and parting is inevitable.
Chan Pek, showing his utmost gratitude by promising the enlisted man of his request to be looked into, headed eastward on foot to where his homestead awaits. Skirting the usual pathway would lessen the thirty mile, five day trek back home and with the rain unabating he also knew the the pass would be perilously arduous to cross. Nevertheless he decided to take the shortest possible route even if he had to overcome the dangers of the dark forest, the slippery cliffs and the deep ravines along the way.
It was then on the second night of his incursion deep in the forest that he encountered the tiger.
Hunkering down under the shelter of a shallow cavern from the rain, Chan Pek was startled by an indistinct growl coming from the bushes a few meters from where he was settling. Instinctively he knew from his experience of living for the last eighteen years in the mountains that danger is approaching and, after recognizing the predatory threat, slowly began to back off from his disadvantageous confine. But all his efforts were in vain as the tiger came crashing down from the brambles at high speed towards him. Chan Pek, with all his remaining strenght left, sprinted quickly into the embrace of the thick forest only to tumble down time and again in the pitch black darkness with the tiger following closely behind. Then a miracle happened. Or maybe it was the Gods of Summer who intervened. As he was about to surrender his fate to the hungry beast, he saw a hollowed tree trunk near where he had last fallen and crawled inside to hide. For the next suspenseful hour the tiger struggled desperately to fish him out, scraping the tree trunk incessantly with his claws and gnarling wildly in desperation. Two hours of stillness passed before the hesitant Chan Pek peeped into a rotten knob to find the tiger gone but still waited a couple of hours more before he wriggled his way out of his life redeeming refuge. Clasping the sterling silver charm typifying the representation of the Gods of Summer which was hanging from his neck, he offered a short prayer of deliverance.
After enduring the three and a half days of perilous journey, there from up above a familiar promontory, the east gate of the town blushed as the sunrise bathe its ramparts with a golden hue of a new day. It was only then that Chan Pek managed a weak smile.
But it was destined to be short-lived.
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The Gods of Summer
Destiny
Guan Dong Uplands 1427
Episode 5
The festivity started with a thousand explosive bang from the array of colorful fireworks that was fired incessantly for a full three minutes along with the pealing of bells and the shrill whistling sound of bamboo flutes that was distributed to everyone beforehand. The beating of a hundred drums and clashing cymbals drowns the gasps of the people that gathered around the large lavishly decorated courtyard. Pirouetting slender dancers came along, in flowing silky white gowns that seems to float amidst the persisting fog, swirling and twirling their way in cadence towards the makeshift platform with their long hand-held ribbons coiling upwards in the wind in a profusion of liberating vibrance. Out from the corner of the courtyard came the lion-masked acrobats in their yellow and golden finery, sprightly bouncing with the beat of the drums and zipping past along the line of enthralled spectators in an intimidating vivacity, the personification of evil, misfortune and life's adversity. The fire-breather and stilt walkers turned up from nowhere, adding a spectacle of theatrical stupendousness to the event that left the crowd with full wonderment and ecstacy. Then all of a sudden the accompanying rhythm stopped and from the central doorway adjacent to the main gate of the magistrates compound came the titillating yet euphonic sound of the bamboo flutist, the xylophone beaters and the mandolin strummers - all young village ladies in their glittering bead headresses and dazzling white gowns. Following close behind came the menacing five-man dragon and fire ball dancers that wantonly overwhelmed and smothered all the embodiment of evil in the stand with their sedated prance and swift and vigorous dance as they crashed their way into the compound. Up in the main platform, the benevolent magistrate Li Xing Ka appeared along with his beautiful wife Hwa Ya. Elegantly frocked in an elaborate gold embellished red vestment, she was followed by Shui Dem who was carrying the young celebrant in her arms. It was there and then that the drums came back thundering with earthshaking intensity that the deities of abomination began falling down to their knees as if in supplication while the fireworks spontaneously burst forth in a myriad of colors and explosive resonance. The Buddhist monks, resplendent in their blood red robes and golden headgears, who trooped down purposely from the temple mount to bless the celebration, began to chant earnestly in consonance with the robust booming of their ceremonial horns.
With the of triumph of goodness over evil, the ceremonial ritual came to end with great felicity and thunderous applause.
The abstraction of the ritual observance that was meant to drive away evil spirits and marked the solicitation of a bountiful harvest and economic prosperity used to be celebrated only during the eve of the lunar year. Over time, it became a ceremonial and customary practice especially amongst the privileged few to hold the ritual in any significant occassion to their behest and intention, may it be a royal promotion, matrimony or birth of an heir. And with his reverence to pageantry and elaborate display of wealth and influencial authority, it was apparent that the magistrate has all the capacity to remunerate the fealty of his constituency with such a bedazzling affair.
Pek Chen, who was piggyback-strapped by his aunt, witnessed it all yet remained unperturbed as his eyes were transfixed by the emanation of a goddess borne in his mothers arms. And for the very first time in his life, a contentious frown turned his curled lips into a beaming smile.
Destiny was meant to be and the power of the Gods of Summer holds sway.
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The Gods of Summer
The Voyage
Guan Dong Uplands 1918
Episode 6
Pek Chen was shocked to see his mother rushing to meet him at the east gate as she was miserably shabby, her left arm heavily bandaged and was partly limping. The quasi-government's rescue team had already left after having stayed for a couple of days she said and, instead of helping them rebuild the devastated town, forcedly took with them every single youth above the age of ten including his two younger brothers for the war effort, Lui De and Mi Re. Their ancestral house had collapsed, burying the old water pump under a niche in the lower floor close to where the brick drying kiln stands and incidentally someone who Chan Pek's mother thought was fetching some water down there when the tremor began. It was almost four days since the upheaval had strucked but Chan Pek was persistent to dig up the debris believing in the curse that a dead body in one's property might bring bad luck and great misery to those who were residing in it. It was two hours into the frenzied digging when he heard a slight tapping of the sluice pipe that connected the manual pump to the overhead spout and, envigorated with the chance of finding a survivor, resumed to excavate the ruin frantically. Peering into a small crevice that he had made with his pick axe, Chan Pek saw a limp body lying under the kiln's arched hatchway and upon calling out saw vaguely a fragile hand raised up as if reaching out in resigned desperation.
The girl was barely alived when Chan Pek gently raised her body from the rubble into the open space and to his surprise realized that she was the woman of his life, Xi Re, from the Li clan. She had a broken a foot, a deep gash on her torso and a piece of wood splinter that pierced her chest close to her heart. In that very moment Chan Pek knew that it won't be long before she will met her demise.
'I know you'd come', she whispered feebly and managed a weak smile inspite of the tears streaming down from her eyes. With that done she slowly closes them for the last time in exulting serenity. She died in his arms before he could even say goodbye.
Ten months of mourning and self reproach hadn't brought peace to his depressing loss, his will and sensibility shattered, until the day his friend Mah Shu, from the Tu clan, came to rescue him from his debilitating misery. The war had already reached the provincial capital and sporadic street fighting were happening daily in the outskirts of the city, he reported. He confessed that he purposely deserted the army to save his skin rather than continue fighting an unwinnable war against his fellow compatriot whose only mistake is that of living on the wrong side of the country. With the MP's under his heel for quite sometime now, his capital offence punishable with death by firing squad, he decided to leave the city for the mountains and came to Dong Guan to take refuge. Mah Shu also admitted that he had been a seafarer before the war and that he had a lot of connections in the business who had the means to ferry anybody out of the country illegally in case they desired to do so. Apparently, there was no denying that such hazardous venture would also cost a lot of money, which he evidently lacked.
Re Ah, Chan Pek's older sister, nevertheless was esctatic and overwhelmingly swooning at the thought of finding the man to her liking. Mah Shu was young and dashing and it also didn't took him a second to notice her importunately unbuttoned infatuation that before long Chan Pek was sidelined by their mutual affectation.
The hardy Ma Em, Chan Pek's mother, was undeterred by the thought of living alone by herself when the latter consulted her of their proposal to leave the mountains for good and to set sail in a far away land, just like what their early ancestors did when the war of attrition swept the country. She was too old to take the journey anyway, she adamantly insisted. In reality, it was more on the question of who will fed the chickens and tend the garden of the town administrators wife if she will leave.
As the only traditional medicine woman for miles around, it was also logical to assume that she is crucially needed at home than being away especially during this time of civil strife.
As for Chan Peks sister, it was evidently clear that everything is of no consequence to her. The moment she allowed Mah Shu to hold her hand for a split second, their fate was already sealed.
There was a mutual agreement decided by both parties that instead of giving the customary dowry to the groom, they would instead save the money and sell the jewelries to book a passage out of the country and maybe start a business to tide them over, eventually. Re Ah obviously did not care at all for as long as Mah Su was around she was happy.
Spring came with a burst of blinding color although marred short by Re Ah's miscarriage which dampened the mood for a few weeks, and inspite of the heavy winter, the livestocks thrived soundly. Mah Su went ahead to the provincial capital when the mountain pass became negotiable with the intention of arranging for their passage and, with the dowry in hand, brought along the few heirloom jewelries that the family had collected over the years to be sold or used to bribe his contacts. Promising to send an emissary when everything would be ready, Mah Shu left forthright to his binding.
Two summer came and went and the harvest was plentiful yet there was still no news of Mah Su, much to the dismay of the expectant family. When a recent wandering merchant recalled encountering Re Ah's fiance in the city's gambling district flaunting about his new found wealth yet clearly short of being a mendicant, it became clearer to the family that they have been swindled badly. Re Ah was catatonic for a week, Chan Pek enraged.
The administrators wife came to console the family one night after learning about their recent plight and offered to help in anyway she can. Afterall, she was also thankful that her daughters body was found and buried properly, thanks to Chan Peks rectitude and perseverance.
Re Ah had not been away from the mountains in her entire life and inspite of the rustle and bustle of the city where she was suddenly thrust into, she remained calm and collected for the entire duration of their brief stay. Their passage was already booked in advance by the administrators wife through her vast connections and, surprisingly, her powerful prestige and reputation that preceeded her family spanning centuries in conceiving. She was afterall a direct descendant of the influential and previleged Li clan, and a great-great-great granddaughter of the fearless navigator General Zheng He who was responsible for expanding the Ming dynasty's influence throughout China Sea and beyond in the early 1500s. In 1918, people still honor their heroic descendants and although there was a concerted effort in searching for Mah Su's whereabout, he was never to be found. Later on, some reliable sources close to the administrators wife said that it would be futile to search for him anymore because he will never be found.
Thus, Re Ah became a widow before she was even married.
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The Perils of Inequality and the Pandemic
Jared Diamond wrote in a 2018 article of the National Geographic magazine about the Peril of Inequality among rich and poor nations and their progressive effect globally. In his article, he cited that the average income of rich countries are a hundred times more than the poorest nation which clearly mean that there is a huge imbalance of resource consumption as a result. It’s a tragedy for the poor countries but will it also affect the industrialized nations?, he asked.
The reality however is very different and with the onset of globalization in the early 90s, these data has been greatly altered. This is where remote countries create a big problem for the rich ones. The point of this changing pattern is crucial to the plane of the standard of living among the more developed countries particularly in competing for the resources and lifestyle as well as the consumer power of the emerging middle class. Globalization, particularly in business and farm out schemes of major industrial corporations drain the economy of these countries which lead to a major reduction of their economic significance and authority. So why is this alarming to these rich nations?
The estimated population that all of the world's total power resources can accomodate equally is around 9 billion people. The disparity however in the distribution of these resources is disproportionately allocated as it was estimated that only 1 billion people out of our current world population of 7.5 billion is enjoying the luxury of its extent. But with the introduction of globalization. three things came to manifest that these rich countries are now coping up — health, terrorism and the collision of inequality and globalization.
Endemic diseases of developing countries with weak health response are now spreading worldwide. (HIV, Marburg, Cov.). Terrorism, which decades ago were usually prevalent only in poor nations, are now widespread. People living spartan lifestyles want affluence and luxury, a top policy in developing countries brought partly by the introduction of intercontinental mass communication network. With the ease of travel restriction and immigration, whether legal or illegal in nature, these incursions result in the disruption of the privilege that these rich nations enjoyed. How?
These all boil down to the average consumption rate of resources per person.
Multiplying the average consumption rate of a resource, like say, oil, by the total population of a rich country will result in a total of 30% as high as compared to a poor nation. These statistics would mean that with the introduction of an emerging middle class society, the worlds current consumption rate wil increase tenfold which is equivalent to a world population of 80 billion people. As the worlds total resources estimated can only support 9 billion people, this substantiation is totally absurd and can never be sufficient enough.
The bottom line is to curtail and lower down the per capita consumption rates in developing countries to preserve their quality of living. The only question is whether these countries will reach that outcome by methods of their choice or by unpleasant methods not of our choice.
If it will be proven that this recent pandemic was deliberately advanced by unpleasant method not of our choice, then I'll be damned!
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San Juan
Niadtong panahon nga kami pay mga bata, kada bakasyon, gawas sa Flores de Mayo, petsa 24 sa Hunyo ra jud ang sige namo bantayan kay pista man ni San Juan ug sigurado mi nga mangaligo sa pantalan, mangaligo 'as in' tanang taw sa tibouk lungsod ug mga kabaryohan. Lupig pay tabo sa merkado ang mahitabo sa pantalan ug mga kasikbit nga mga kabaybayunan. Ambot unsang misteryoha ngano nga kining adlawa duha ra man ka panghitabo ang mapaingnan sa sitwasyon sa dagat, taub nga kinatauban o hunas nga kinahunasan sulod sa kinatibouk-ang tuig. Matud pa sa panag-ingnan sa mga katiguwangan, basi kuno ni sa takdol sa buwan. Mura diay pod ni kintahay ug gibarang nga modako ang tijan kun lingin ang buwan unja mohiyos pod kun hunas.
Ug kay kumo tubig man ang nahisgutan, gideklara sab ni agi sa karaang proklamasyon sa simbahan nga pista ni Senyor San Juan, ang nagbunjag ni Hesukristo didto sa suba sa Jordan, nga sarang nahimong patron kasagaran sa mga pantalan.
Semana sa di pa ang pista, magsugod na ang mga kalingawan dito sa lapyahan. Kada gabii, ubos sa hagdan-hagdang karaan magsugod na ang 'amateur hour', kontes ni sa kanta, nga gidujugan ug kumparsa. Sa mga wa kahibaw unsa nang kumparsa, 'live concert' ni sa mga musikero sa una nga ginamitan ug bandorya, sista, bajo nga arang dakoa, tambol nga lata ug usahay trumbon ug trumpeta. Medyo dako-dako nag pundo ang kapelya kun 'combo' nay modujog, labi nag 'grand finals' na ug ituboy na ang napiling mananaug. Ang gamitong entablado kasagaran atong panahona kadtong tag-as nga mga lamesa, lamesa nga hikyaran sa manggad panahon sa tabû sa merkado, tarukan ug duha ka ligdong nga kawajan sa kada kilid nga maoy sab-itan atong telon nga puwa nga gitaptan pod ug karton nga mga letra. Kadtung panahon nga wa pay kuryente, petromax ra nga gipangsab-it ang nagda ug lamdag sa entablado, nga atimanon pod intawon hinoon ug bomba kun mag awp-awp na. Kun way 'budget' kay wa pa ang kapelya maka 'solicit' ug kwarta para iabang ug 'sound system, hala, siyauk jud ang mahitabo sa mga mangantahay arong madunggan pod sa mga manan-away. Kun maka abang gani sa 'sound system' ni Nong Arnold, medyo tawhay ang kontes kay naa man to sija'y gamay nga 'generator' nga gimontar sa karomata maong naay sugang bombilya ang entablado unja kompleto pod ug trumpa ug mikropono. Kasagarang mag 'emcee' si Nong Eugene ug si Nang Rosing nga ijang asawa, nga makalingaw pod kay mga komedyante man to silang duha. Way pili sa mga entranteng moapil, ma bata, bayung-bayung man o matiguwang, hala sige, basta di lang mojabag kay sa katiguwang na sa mga membro sa kumparsa, magkabuang intawon sila ug gukod sa mga nota. Naa toy gamayng puthaw nga isab-it sa kilid sa entablado, nga bagtingon pod dajun sa 'emcee' kun mojabag na gani ang kanta sa entrante. Alegre tong ubang jabag nga mangantahay kay bisan nagsige nag bagting ang 'emcee' di man moundang ug siyauk ang kay di mosugot mapildi. Ang inadlawng premyo depende ra sa mga 'sponsor' nga kasagaran mga kwartahan ug tag-ijahag tindahan sa lungsod. Makadawat pod hinoon ang mananaug ug gamayng kwarta, djes pesos sa pang-ikatulo, baynte sa ikaduha ug singkwenta sa tsampyon anang adlawa, way labot sa pakapin nga bugas, sardinas, sabon'g panlaba ug uban pa.
Mapuno kada gabii ang mga ang-ang atong karaang hagdan-hagdan sa mga manan-away, sa atubangan magtapok ang mga tiguwang nga komportable sa ilang mga bangkitong gilingkuran, samtang sa ilawom sa entablado didto pod mi magdasok labi nag gwapa ang mokanta unja nagkajabkajab ang saya. Magbantay-bantay pod hinoon mi ni Nong Ok-ok ug ni Nong Nonoy Bunot nga magsige'g lîlî sa mga siniak nga lukay nga gitabil sa tiilan sa mga lamesang entablado buwahan makadagan dajun kun masakpan ug di mabunalan ug pagatpat nga binugha. Kadtong mga kabatan-onan sa kilid-kilid ra nagpahipi, ang ubang sa dakong kuros likod sa simbahan nagtuhak-tuhak. Nanubay mi sa una didto sa kotâ paingon sa eskwelahan kay siguradong naay pares-pares didto nga among makit-an.
Besperas sa pista human sa 'grand finals' sa pakontes ug kanta, panahon ni sa mga gwapa nga morampa, madalaga man, minjo o mga matrona. Bibo kaaju kun mga matrona nay mopaso kay haskang dagkoa na man ug bilbil nga nagtabil-tabil unja napuno pa jud ang nawng ug Fanbo, pulbos ug ang wa-it perting puwaha,. 'Swimsuit portion' ang among sige'g bantayan kay adtong mga panahona ang bajeng magshort ug mugbo sawayon pa man sa mga katiguwangan, pusposan ug silhig gu-ngi o balikason dajun papaulion para mag-ilis ug panapton. Wa pod ko kahinumdum ug naay nag 'bathing suit' atong panahona, maligo man sa dagat o morampa, 'bikini' pa kaha nga haskang mobua? Kasagarang modaug atong 'Beauty Pageant' ang bajeng kugihan mosuroy ug sobre, sobre nga 'solicitation' kay kwartahay man kintahay tong kontesa, kinadak-ang 'solicitation' maoy iproklamar nga pinaka-gwapa. Mao 'tong looy ang gwapang mangi-uwawon intawn kay sajun ra sija pildihon sa bajeng dili tanto gwapa pero baga-baga gamay ug nawng.
Besperas, sajo pa sa buntag magsugod na ug taud sa mga banderitas sa dan ang mga taw sa pantalan, sugod sa karaan balay ni Nang Cleta atbang atong taas nga 'pine tree nga karaan mga naigo ug kidlat hangtud sa tindahan ni Nong Tasan sa tumoy sa pantalan, hadoul na sa parolang sige'g kaponder ang suga. Mga lukay nga gi-adornohan ug gihimong 'bouquet' naglaray na sa dalan nga gikatayan pod ug mga dayan-dayan nga 'crepe paper' nga nagklase-klase lang ang kolor. Ang mga baroto ug pumpboat gipangadornohan na pod ug mga banderitas labi na 'tong dakong bangkang di layag ni Nong Marcos nga maoy sakyan sa santos nga i-prosesyon sa dagat sa kasumaran. Hipos tanang taro sa ginamos,buwad ug mga nipang pang-atop nga inangkat pa sa Liloan ug Abatan nga ilang igtutumod paingon sa Cebu ug mga kasikbit nga kalungsoran. Kadtong pukot nga gibuwad sa baral sa katig nga dako diin didto mi mangatog usahay kun kapoyun na sa pagpangaligo, gipanglukot na'g gihakyad didto sa Ihawan.
Ug syempre, kay besperas man, daghan baboy napagan. Nanimahong sinugbang baboy ug dinuguan ang mga kabalayan, nag-aso-aso na ang mga kusina ug naa na poy hubog sa dalan nga nagwara-wara. Nagkayabkayab na ang mga kurtenang bag-o sa mga bintana sa mga kabalayan, sinaw na ang mga sawg nga hinimo sa siniak nga kawajan ug gipagawas na ang mga kubyertos nga tinipigan. Ambot pod kaha ug ngano nga hasta sawg pasinawan pa man nga kun mutaub na gani sa adlawng hingtungdan, ang tubig dagat usahay molapas man sa dalan. Adto mi magtapok sa balay ni Nong Odû kadtong tighimo ug sundang nga ubos sa balay sa mga Dumandan kilid sa hagdan-hagdang karaan kay mamaid man pod to sija ug mga kutsilyo ug amow nga sundang. Mutabang pod hinoon mi usahay ug bomba atong kawajan nga maoy mobuga ug hangin sa ijang pugon kay makalingaw man buhaton.
Oras de peligro sa mga saag nga iro ning mga panahona kay kun malas-malason, abugawon man sa mga istambay sa eskina aron maligsan, pangajuon sa tag-ija kun hiniktan o deritsuhon ra ug ihaw sa kasugpanan. Mga manok nga way singsing sa patuka intawn pag-amping kay kun dili madala'g paasuhan ug vinyl nga plaka, pan-an man ug mais mga naay tagâ pakapin. Kadtong panahon nga daghan pa mokaon ug irong kalderitas, dabdaban ra man to ang panit aron himoong kilawin, silihan ug usa ka kumkom dajun pinupinuhon nga tadtaron. Taymingon pod hinoon ug luto, kanang padung na mangaligo, kay kun mabugnaw na ang kalderitas daghan na man manggimok sa mga unod nga pinikas.
Hurot tanang pancit nga baligja sa merkado, lisod pangita ug bugnaw mga softdrinks kay ang ice nga blokeng baligja ila Dodong Jugo sajo pa sa buntag natagudtagud nag pino.
Pista kasumaran, magmisa didto sa kapilyang daan atbang sa balay ni American Boy, human sa pipila ka adlawng novena sa gabii. Mapuno tong dapita ug mga manimbahay kay dujugan man sa kumparsa ang mga kantores sa simbahan nga manganta. Magbantay-bantay pod hinoon ang mga manimbahay sa ilang mga ulo kay mahagbungan unja ug bunga sa dakong kulo nga nag-ambo tungod jud atong kapilya nga parking-nganan pod ug karo.
Pagkahuman sa misa sugdan dajun ang gipaabot nga prosesyon gikan sa kapilya paingon sa Tawg ug Ihawan, latas sa plasa, tujok sa simbahan dajun lugsong paingon balik sa pantalan agi sa dan ila Nang Cleta. Mosubay ang prosesyon hangtud sa parola diin didto nagpaabot ang bangkang dilajag ni Nong Marcos. Halos tanang pambot ug baroto mouban ug mosunod samtang ang imahe ni San Juan itujok sa pantalan paingon sa lawd. Ang mga taw nga nangilaray sa tibouk pantalan nagdasok na'g nag-abiba samtang ang prosesyon moagi na sa ilang tungod, magsinabligay dajun ug tubig sa isig usag-usa samtang ang uban nagsigeg pangaliyupo nga unta gabayan ang ilang mga panginabuhi sa dagat ug ilikay sa mga kakulian nga dili mapugngan. Ang mga mananaug sa 'beauty pageant' apil pod ug parada, nagsige lang gihapon ug tingsi bisan ang mga nawng nagkalagum na.
Kining tradisyon nga magsinabligay o magbinas-anay dili lang nahituldok sa kadagatan kundi apil na ang mga suba, lapyahan, katunggan o tanang lugar nga naay tubig, maparat man o tab-ang. Usa sa rason nganong adto mi mangatang sa una sa Emburna, kadtong nahunlak nga taytayan paingon sa Anislag. Bitbit ang mga kabo ug lata, perting looya sa mga biyaherong mangagi kay makahilam-os jud inig agi, naa pay pakapin lapok usahay. Dili intawn makatibad ang mga lumalabay kay inig human ug sablig, sa suba man dajun mi mangambak, ipakita pa ang lubot nga siak.
Lumba sa pambot ang kasagarang gipaabot sa mga taw inig kahuman jud sa prosesyon sa dagat ug ang gikaintapang entrante ang kang Nong Ver nga sakayan, katong ila ka Boboy Escabarte nga Evinrude ang makina ug ang tulin nga pambot sa mga kaliwat Oraño, Angeles, Nolasco ug Balazuela. Naa toy kusug pod modagan nga pambot nga taga Lincod ug taga Punta Cruz, wa lang ko kaila ug si kinsa to'y tag-ija atong mga sakayana. Lumba ug baroto gamit ang bugsay ang sunod nga entrada, gikan sa parola tujok sa tumoy hangtod sa mga gakit nga gipanghigot sa pikas nga bahin sa pantalan. Perting biboha tong lumbaa kay tanang mga taw nga nakapwesto nag lugar nga kaliguan sa pantalan moapil na man ug abiba.
Inig ka udto, mapuno na jud ang tumoy ug mga taw, di lang taga lungsod kundi apil na tong gikan pa sa lajong dapit nga among matiman-an kay magda man ug Thames nga sakyanan nga napuno sa mga tawng mangaligoay ug mga bawng kaldero ug uban pang gamit. Kadtong mga taga lungsod nga medyo arang-arangan adto paingon sa Punta Cruz o Guiwanon dala sa ilang mga sakyanan. Ang uban nga naay mga baroto adto magpundok sa mga panas nga bas sa lapyahan, sa isla sa Tintinan o sa mga kilid-kilid nga parte sa katunggan. Tuay nagpundok sa Tawg ug mga sapa-sapa, ang uban, labi nag nagpujo ra sa pantalan, sa ilang kusina ra mag-ambak-ambak samtang nag-inom-inom ug tuba unja nagsugba pod ug sumsuman. Sinaw tanang tuba sa merkado ug sa mga tindahang tubaan, ma bag-o mang sinangotan, bahal o sinabado pagkahimo. Hasta himoonong suka punsihan ra ug usa ka 'family size' nga Pepsi, sulbad na ang kombate.
Perting kamingaw ang lungsod inig ka udto kay tua man sa pantalan nag 'picnic' ang tanang taw. Kung naa pay lihirong kawatan sa una, siguradong karon haska nang datoa kay wa pa may uso ang kandado ug mga birha. Wa po'y irong maglatagaw kay nahurot na man ug ihaw.
Bibo ang pantalan inig ka udtong tutok ug siguradong di ka magut-man kay bisan kinsa na man la'y mo dapit nimo ug kaon, tagay man o paghimamatay. Wa pod ko kahibaw adtong mga panahona nga sa kami pay nagdako kun nganong tanang taw maabi-abihon man labi na tong di kaayo arang-arangan. Basta bisag unsay nakaladlad sa dahon saging nga gihawban, ma piniritong manok, kinilawng bolinaw o sinugbang kamote, gabi o balanghoy man, di jud ka mahimong mobalibad kay pista lagi kuno ni Señor San Juan. Kadtong saging nilung-ag nga ituslob sa una sa ginamos nga gisilihan way makatupong, imnan dajun ug usa ka bugok nga Coke nga gilub-lob sa dagat aron kunohay mabugnaw, solbad jud ang kagutom.
Kataw-anan 'tong nagpaburot ug interior sa ligid nga gihimong salbabida kay magbaws-baws man lang mi ug huwam ug sakay-sakay kay perti man pong nindota. Diha pa toy higayon nga ang usa ka tabla nga gisawg sa karaang pantalan sa tumoy gitapukan namo ug bato ang usa ka tumoy unja gihimo namong ambakan nga murag 'diving board'. Pasikatay pod mi dajun ug 'dive-dive' ug balintong-balintong bisan di kamao maong mahpla ang resulta ug ang among mga dughan mangapuwa. Sakit pod gamay pero way tagam kay ang mga batang baje nga among nasiplatan nagsige na man lang ug pangatawa sa among kahimtang. Kadtong lumba'g langoy paingon sa parolang gamay natuman jud sa dugay kay perti mang lajua ug naa pa ka sa tunga kutasan na man ka. Napuno nag tagimtim to ijang kilid-kilid nga semento pero kinahanglan man jud kuno mosaka sa ibabaw arong makita sa mga taw. Mao tong bahala'g magkasamad-samad basta lang jud makakatkat.
Inig sugod najud ug hunas ang kasadya di pa mahuman kay maghinay-hinay naman pod ang mga taw ug lugsong paingon sa hunasan kay didto samtang manginhas ang pista magtiwas. Mapuno jud ug taw ang hunasan, tuay nanginhas, tuay namana ug tua poy nasuroy-suroy lang arong sa pagkahubog mahuwasan. Ngitngit na ang mga taw mamauli, nagkalagum, basa, hubog ug naa poy nagngisi kay nakatilang ug tujom ug unod sa swaki. Kadtong uban nga nakuwangan pa, gusto magbanlaw ug mangita'g tubig nga bugnaw, adto paingon sa Bokbok aron magtiwas ug sawm-sawm.
Inig ka gabii sa kasumaran magsugod dajun ang gipaabot nga bayle, nga kompleto pod ug 'sound system', de-kolor nga mga bombelya ug mga inimbitar nga mga baje. Palamout tan-awon tong mga batan-on nga mag-ilog atong gwapa nga bisita kay tanang kalaki himoon, tuay nagsinikhanay kun kinsay maka-una, tua poy maro-maro nga mo-request ug special nga sonata para di mailogan sa bajeng nakursonada. Peso ang kada tugtog sa 'special dance' ug way laing mosayaw kundi kadto rang nakabayad. Ang mosagul, buak bagulbagol kay si Berong man atong panahona sa mga bayle maoy 'bouncer'. Sa tag baynte-sinko sentabos ang tiket sa usa ka sonata, medyo may pagkamahal na kay ang gantang sa bugas humay atong higayuna tag dos sengkwenta pa man ug ang usa ka bol nga tuba baynte sentabos ra man, sa ahong nahinumduman. Kahibaw pod ko sa presyo atong panahona kay adto baja pod mi mag-estambayan sa tubaan ni Nang Pesya.
Inig intra sa mga tiguwang, hipos tanang kabatan-onan kay salsa ug kuradang na man ang mga tugtog, dungagan pag kundiman nga arang ka karaan sila ray makasabot. Inig tugtog ug balik sa 'Funkytown' magkaguliyang na pod ug balik ang mga kabatan-onan, sundan pa jud ug 'Saturday Night Fever' di maglukso-lukso na pod ug balik ang mga kanahan. Sikat pod tong VST nga mga kanta sa una ug 'One Way Ticket' kay 'swing' pa may uso. Kasagaran magsul-ob ug kamisin nga de-colores nga gilublob sa gipabukawan nga tinâ, paresan dajun ug takong nga sapatos ug 'bell-bottom nga karsones. Naa po'y ubang kamiseta nga hinimo sa sako sa harina nga giburdahan ang kilid ug tanod nga puwa, dihay nagsul-ob ug kamisin nga naay Peace, Love not War nga printa. Hippies kunohay ang tema atong panahuna, hippies nga namayle kilid sa hunasan.
Niadtong mga panahuna perti jung biboha sa pantalan, kay pista lagi kuno ni Señor San Juan.
Lima ka adlaw human sa kasumaran sa pista ni San Juan manggimok na pod ming mga karajo, kay matud pa sa nahipatik sa almanake, pista na man pod kuno ni Señor San Pedro.
Ligo na pod!
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