Breezy Morning

Yesterday morning (January 6), we woke up to the cool windy morning as you can see in this video of our room's window. That's freeze air blowing into our room was cooler than those in the previous days.

In the night, would just open the window to allow freeze air - our natural aircon - to come in. I designed the second storey's room for this purpose.

Names

My parents belonged to the "old school" who were almost tempted to name me after the Roman Catholic saints. Then, there was also the idea of combining their names - Milagros (miracle?) and Generoso (generous?) - to produce "Milgen." Thank God there was so much indecision that moment. And all because my father was agog to name me, as their first-born child, after then movie icon Fernando Poe Sr. (father of FPJ). At least, I learned to love that name. What if I was not saved from such unforgettable catastrophe. LOL. If I got it from saint, I might be "Pablo" now? I couldn't forgive them, I swear.

When I had my turn to name my own kids, I gave them three names and one unique nick-name each. LOL. My second daughter is Alexandria Monica Corinna or Maico (her nickname). That's her during one of our visits to our favorite restaurant near our place. Her two siblings have also same name structure.

The eldest (in school uniform) is Sophia Ingrid Colleen or Cooky and Ziarra Mae Treena the youngest or Kayra. Friends wonder why they have such long names and nicknames so far from the their real names as most Pinoys would use to do lifting nicknames from their real names.

The idea was patterned after their mother's name who is nick-named as "Gemma" although her real name is "Beverly." With those three-in-one names, they have freedom what name to use normally when they work, meet friends, etc.

But when my patience is too low, I would call Maico as "makong" or "bakang (bow-legged)", Cooky as "bake or bakbak (frog)" and Kayra as "kiray" or "kayring" depending on mood-swing. LOL.

Dream House

It is not easy to own a house these days. High-end residential lots are expensive. And if you opt for a subdivision at Php2,500 to Php3,000 a month, aside from equities, etc., you would have to implement austerity measures to meet the monthly amortization. But we realized that we could not go on paying monthly for 25 to 30 years. We had to change tact by selling our house and looked for a residential lot where we would build our house through process a called "running construction." That means, a plan would be the basis for the intermittent renovations depending on budget availability. This approach works although it would take time before you see your dream house unfolding to its fullness. Thanks because we are now 85 percent complete requiring some finishing touches.

This is my finishing carpenter uncle who is experienced in doing interior designs. He had worked on the interior designs in many of his projects in of Davao City that included high-end restaurants, mall stalls, etc. The only drawback is that he asks Php300 a day for his labor. Well, with the quality work he gives, the amount is not bad.

Red Coco Wine

I had the chance to sip a mug of red coco wine after my carpenter uncle bought it from a coco wine collector who has a collecting station near my house. Coco wine comes from the young saps of coconut trees which are abound in our place. Coconut trees are protected by a law and that cutting down them needs prior approval from the Philippine Coconut Authority.

Every morning, the collector would gather and deliver the wine to the flea markets or in mini stores. In my birthplace or as other remote villages in Mindanao, the stuff is popular as poor man’s wine. You can’t find it in bars. If you see coco wine in a bar, then I am pretty sure that bar is located up in a boondock LOL.

I had my first taste of Tuba when I was young. My grandmother loved it then as part of her breakfast. Our mananggiti (coco wine collector) friend Manong Dencio, whose wife was Manang Vencia (manong/manang mean old man/woman to us said as form of respect), used to deliver a liter of fresh and sweet coco wine every morning as part of his rent to the coconut trees he sourced out. When the coco saps from where it is extracted are properly maintained, the juice tastes the best. The lowly juice is no lowly at all in that comes with alcohol content enough to make you feel groggy – from suave to rough. A liquid candy which has a spike of alcohol. A glass of it is enough to bring you into a state of trance. LOL. Ugly faces become pretty. Oh, please one more shot.

When it gets you tipsy, you can be capable of doing sins. That is it. In fact, many rambles in local fiestas where the lowly wine is present usually started off with a drinking session over gallons of coco wine and over some “pulutan” (side dish). In the drinking session, there is only one glass for all as the “tagay” (the turn) being passed on to the next drinker by a “gunner.” Some drinkers would mix it with other liquor of higher alcohol content. (My grandmother would mix it with popular softdrink.) Sadly, when the alcohol from the wine gets into their heads instead of their stomachs, deadly ramble may erupt. I can only presume that the wine more often has bad effect on these drinkers when shortens their patience and emboldens them even more. Hahaha, just maybe.

“Kinutil” is one preparation we usually had during ordinary Sunday family gathering. In a kinutil (perhaps from the rootword "kutil" which means to mix), fresh egg, hot tsokolate (powdered cacao thawed in hot water) and condensed milk are added for all ages in the family to drink. But it is where small children get their first dosage of alcohol sublimely hidden in the “kinutil.” With all the ingredients, the concoction thickens to become syrupy.

The toxicity of the coco sap juice varies from a number of days they are fermented. “Bahal” is one day old and onward which could pass as another hard liquor. “Bahalina” is another product purified from if. Fresh tuba finds their way to the flea market in containers. The seller displays transfer them in glass gallons where its foam comes oozing from the tips of the transparent containers. “Palahubog” or drunkards are said to be unfortunately hooked on the lowly tuba so that when they see bubbles tumbling up and down inside the gallon, they would feel intense craving of the coco wine. This joke is usually poked at the consummate “palahubog” whose life and happiness depend on the coco wine.

Buko Juice

Buko (young coconut) Juice is a healthy thirst quencher. We saw this one positioned just outside the perimeters of the supermarket when we bought our weekly groceries yesterday.

While the Buko Juice peddler sells the juice with its natural container, this one is sold cold at the fast food section of the supermarket at Php10.00 per cup while the one I mentioned earlier is sold at Php20.00 per nut.

Grocery Store

My wife looking for goods at the shelves in one of the supermarkets near our place. I have always this joke when we are in grocery stores.

My role is always to push the cart while following her way while my wife would be talking to me about goods, their quality and their prices, etc. And then when she notices that the good she is looking for is no longer available, she would turn to me to ask if I see some stock. And then I would quickly reply: "Sorry, Mam, that's the last stock we have. Come back tomorrow, new stocks are coming."

Obsolescence

My Casio SLR Cam (manual) and tripod (next photo).

When I worked in 1985, I started my special love for photography and wanted to develop a skill on this field. I had also the opportunity to be the "photographer" of our office. I had also the chance to be trained by undergoing basic photography. Unfortunately, I failed to focus or at least give more time on this hobby as I became  enmeshed  with painting and computer graphic arts. I  seldom had projects needing new photos since more often my clients would just supply for their photo needs. Anyway, my analog Casio SLR (single lens reflex) camera now hangs idle as I am more on cam-equipped cellphone now.

Digital technology has overtaken the use of analog camera. I still have lots of exposed films needing development. Same thing goes to cassette tapes or cartridges. I am a big fan of Earl Klugh, for instance, and I collected a number of his albums. With the advent of computer, internet, digital music, Ipod, MP3, etc, my casette tapes have become out of use. Indeed, the notion that the book entitled "Only Paranoids Survives" (I forgot the name of that guy - who was an intel CEO) applies here or it is so true when it mentioned about 10x force. That is the coming of new technology outpaced the use of the current models. Or in the case of another book I read years ago "The Waste Makers" by Vance Packard, obsolescence and consumerism are at fault here. What can we do? it is how life works.

Marriage Jokes

My friend who is based in Germany now sent me marriage jokes. But I only posted those I like most or those I believed as hilarious. Enjoy. Read on:

Marriage is a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffer-Ring.

In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the NEIGHBOR listens.

There was this man who muttered a few words in the church and found himself married. A year later he muttered something in his sleep and found himself divorced.

Son: How much does it cost to get married, Dad? Father: I don't know son, I'm still paying for it.

They say that when a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it is love; after marriage it is self-defense.

WIFE: Let's go out and have some fun tonight. HUSBAND: OK, but if you get home before I do, leave the hallway lights on.

At a cocktail party, one woman said to another: Aren’t you wearing your ring on the wrong finger? The other replied, Yes, I am. I married to the wrong man.

A man inserted an ad in the paper – “Wife Wanted.” The next day he received hundreds of letters and they all said the same thing – “You can have mine.”

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing - either the car is new or the wife is.

My Confession

The first time I met my wife was during our first year in college (1985). I lost track of her and then our paths crossed again in 1992. Got married in 1993.

At left is my future dancer Maico with her Mama. After church every Sunday, we would drop by a nearby low budget restaurant to take our breakfast.

This infant was our first product (LOL). Her name is Cooky. She is 14 years old now (next photo).

Stock Photos

This is my pretty wife and my daughter Kayra at the dining table enjoying their softdrink.

My grandma taking the center stage of a black and white photo.

One of my computers before as taken with our dining place.

Indoor-to-outdoor shooting.