What's Up With That?

I don't understand this country. They fervently fight to make capital punishment for convicted criminals as painless and humane as possible, so they came up with lethal injection. However, they will let an upstanding person, whom they say are in a vegetative state (although this is still in argument) and can't feed and fend for herself, die of thirst and starvation.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/24/schiavo/index.html

http://www.terrisfight.net/

Without a written will, how can we be sure 'beyond reasonable doubt' that what she wanted was to be starved to death now that she is what society calls "useless"?

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Today is my Dad's birthday. According to his driver's license, he would have been seventy-two. He died of heart failure the day before New Year's eve in 2002.

To his friends and colleagues, he was this noted journalist and political analyst who was not afraid to voice his opinion on the current state of affairs in the Philippines. To me, he was Daddy, whose chest I loved resting on while he did his crossword puzzles in bed. I was Daddy's girl, at least until the day he left. I was only 12.

From then on, it was hard to reconcile the father I knew who was loving and gentle in every way (even in the way he disciplined us), to the man who chose to leave us rather than try to rebuild our family and cohabitate with another woman. I know now that relationships are complicated and rebuilding a marriage is easier said than done with two very imperfect people.

In my view, my father led a less-than-ideal life. After such a promising start, I don't think he ever lived up to his fullest potential due to the few poor choices he made during mid-life. Nevertheless, my father had qualities that I unconsciously honed in me throughout the years I was growing up. As I sought to forgive him bit by bit, the way he came through any conversations I had with him, whether pleasant or serious, made a deep impression on me. His patient and calm demeanor, his very gentle and affectionate ways, the respect he accorded, and the thoughtful and quiet way he would opine and inquire in conversations, never overbearing or pushy.

Dad was no saint, and I am not going to be dishonest and say that he was, just because he's passed on. There were many things that he did that disappointed us. But he is my father and I do love him, warts and all. No matter what mistakes he did, he's contributed largely to who and the way I am today. My brother told me once that I am like him in many ways. It made me smile. I liked hearing that. I really did.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Modern Chain Letters

I have come across chain letters since I was in grade school. I received a number of them from friends throughout my primary and secondary years in school. It would come in the form of a supposed prayer to a favorite saint who will readily grant you the first thing you wish for. There were conditions though. You had to copy that letter ten or twenty times and pass it on to friends. This seems like an easy enough task, but then personal computers did not exist back then. You had to handwrite everything, one by one. Also, it came with a curse. It stated that if you failed to do it, something bad will happen to you and/or your loved ones. It outlined many instances of people who supposedly had their wishes granted after complying, and tragedies that occurred to people who refused to believe in the letter. Gullible as I was, I remember suffering many 'handaches' then trying to make 20 copies and distribute them to prevent any bad luck for me and my family.

Today, I continually receive the modern, electronic versions of these pesky little letters. It is now made more annoying as those who forward it have unwittingly advertised your email address to spammers. We all should know by now that forwarded messages are the spammers' way to glean email addresses for marketing purposes. So not only do you get a curse on your head when you receive these things, your inbox gets crammed with junk email selling cheaper prescription drugs in Canada, porn site invitations, and worse, you can get a computer virus. There is also the more sinister 'phishing' emails that pose as a legitimate businesses trying to get your bank/credit card information. So you can actually put your friends and family in a bad situation if you do it!

So please, folks, think before you click on 'Forward'. Don't believe everything you receive. A lot of those emails are hoaxes, and you can check at www.snopes.com ! If you really feel it is something you must forward (really hilarious jokes or truly important information that can help), do the blind carbon copy option so everyone's email addresses are hidden.

"Huh? What the...?!"

That was the reaction of some people during my performance last Sunday. Right before the show's overture, I was quietly whispering the lyrics of my song to myself and then I got stuck. I was having a major brain fart. For the life of me, I could not remember one line. I panicked but could not do anything as I heard the opening notes. I thought that, surely, memory would kick in at the precise moment and take over. I had two numbers to go through before it got to my song and I couldn't stress about it, lest I ruin my other lines in the first two numbers. So I went through the first two numbers with as much chutzpah as the role called for, without a hitch. My song came next. It started out fine but in the middle of it, my mind went blank. In my panic, my mouth just threw out a line that matched with the melody. That's good, right? Well, not really. Because it wasn't my line but someone else's, and it totally threw off the next three lines I was singing. I did not let my expression waver one bit. I calmly switched to the right lyrics the first moment I could. The funny thing is, I had mistakenly sung two verses that were supposed to be sung later, so I had to sing it again at the right time. As I sang (and prayed), my mind tried to frantically paraphrase so the audience wouldn't go, "Hmmm, she said that already!". Boy, can our brains multi-task or what?! Anyway, let's just say I am not as good as Audie Gemora at making up lyrics on the spot. I tried but failed miserably. I just tried to dazzle the audience with my belting ability (naks naman!) so they would not notice. I think the hardest thing after that was keeping a straight face. I was furious at myself for having a gaffe like that. At the same time, I wanted to burst out laughing at the stupidity of what I had just uttered.

Oh, did I mention that there was a critic in the audience? Wunnerful. Just wunnerful.