Tomorrow, I will be attending the piano recital of one of my only two godchildren, Henry.

Henry is the three or four-year old son (I am a bad godparent, I know) of a close friend from high school, and he was my second godchild — but until now, I still feel guilty because I have not been the most ideal godparent for him while he was growing up. Suffice it to say, I was also busy growing up while he did the same. Kidding.

The only instance which I recall having ever given him anything memorable was during Christmas of last year when I gave him Tom Kuhn yoyos on Christmas eve. Of course, he was delighted by the surprise, but that was the only gift that I had given him so far.

I feel guilty because growing up, I was constantly showered with presents from my godparents — heck, one of them even made it a point to give me 50$ every Christmas until I finished high school. And it was because of my Ninong Lino that I was always excited for the holiday season to arrive.

I am excited for Henry tomorrow, and I really hope that he impresses the audience as he executes his piece. From what I’ve gathered from his parents, his talent is exceptional and his mentors even suggested that they make him take advanced piano lessons. I promise to be there tomorrow, if only to cheer him on and make him feel loved and special, because piano recitals do not happen everyday.

Last April 21, the family decided to take a long-needed breather by visiting the family beach house down south. It was supposed to be the triple birthday celebration of my older brother Ray (on the 19th), my younger sister Ellen (20th), and myself (on the 21st). All three birthdates are equally gapped with 3-year intervals, mind you. Blame it on the accountant-parents.

The beach was a welcome respite, especially since the sun had been unrelenting for the past few days. With a handful of life anecdotes, in the warmth of family, and amidst the beauty of the blue waters, I found myself melancholic during pensive moments.

I may not be a professional photographer, but I have tinkered with several cameras in the past. This time around, I used my brother Ray’s camera to capture the bliss of simple living by clicking away at some of nature’s finer creations.

If only I could spend my life in the beach, and live and survive just the same, I would gladly do so.

Here’s to pure bliss and the simple life.

The sunset was simply breathtaking.

My cousin Angel by the shore.

Before we fried these bad boys.

A yellow among greens.

Juxtaposing this flower with the beautiful sunset.

Two nights ago, I attended a despedida party for a friend’s brother who is headed to New Zealand — to seek greener pastures apparently, cliche as that may sound.

Her brother worked as a nurse for 3 years in a government-owned hospital, but he has always been fixated with travelling to another country, because according to him, there is no prospect for landing a lucrative job in this part of the world.

His worldview is actually consensually adhered to by most Filipino nursing graduates, and even when the United States of America has been in retrogression for a couple of years now, most of them have diverted their attention to landing jobs in Europe, Australia, and even Middle Eastern countries.

I remember that I once published an essay in the university school paper discussing this phenomenon. My thesis revolved around the idea that this modern-day diaspora is actually injurious to the nationalist sentiments of our countrymen — but more than this, this even deprives university students of the(ir) choice to be enrolled in courses that they genuinely want to be enrolled in.

I understand the argument of practicality and expediency, but what the heck, this blind submission to what is convenient deprives a person of what can potentially give him his self-realization.

Sometimes, I think it’s really sad how  people tend to feel that they are so empowered given their personal circumstances, when the fact of the matter is that they are still subsumed under certain societally-constructed deceptions that impress upon them as empowerment. Heck, my friend’s brother even had to sell his Meinl Drums set just so his family can send him off to New Zealand.

How I personally wish, and sincerely at that, to see the day when Filipinos would see things as they are — we are brilliant in our own respect, and we just need to remember that there is no tragedy far more damning than a life that was not lived according to what it should have been.

In the end, we need to realize that we are a country of heroes, not subservient slaves.

Because I was done with my errands for the day, I spent my entire afternoon hopping from one channel to another. I don’t know about you, but I personally find it therapeutic to read and watch about what is happening to the world — for there is no life sadder than a life that is detached from the goings-on of the world.

In one channel, I was able to watch a bio documentary of a renowned nationalist, Jose ‘Pepe’ Diokno, who rose to prominence during the Martial Law period for defying the draconian rule of the then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He was a great lawyer, I learned, and I was buoyed by his brilliance to continue doing well in law school.

In another, I was disturbed to have seen a documentary feature about Jaycee Drugard, an unfortunate girl who was abducted by a notorious rapist when she was just 11 and was made a sex slave for 18 years before the authorities were able to recover her from where she was mercilessly abused. And mind you, she already had two children when she was rescued, the first one she delivered when she was only 13, and her second child when she was 18. Chilling.

But what especially piqued my interest was a documentary which featured coin collecting as a hobby. I found this particularly interesting because for one, I am fascinated with history — and coins, or any form of currency for that matter, are often representations of the prevailing economic conditions of a certain country in a particular period of time.

For another, I entertained the prospect of actually venturing into this hobby when I was younger — because apart from these items being part of a country’s past, coin collecting is also potentially a lucrative hobby. This is because coins that have long been out of circulation may increase in value through time, owing to the limited number of people/collectors that have them.

As a matter of fact, there are several companies which peg the value of these rare currencies, such as the morgan silver dollars price guide. And according to the documentary, the current value of a certain coin is contingent upon several circumstances, such as its date of minting, the number of coins that were actually printed, etc.

This hobby is actually more lucrative compared to others that are more for leisure that a lot of collectors mostly consider the prospect for profit, rather than just collecting coins for its own sake.

It’s amazing what one can learn in one day of mindless channel-surfing. But on second thought, knowledge is illimitable, and we should all strive to enrich ourselves with new learnings, wherever we derive them from.

Yesterday, there was a scheduled city-wide black out. A plan of action, therefore, needed to be in place.

Everyone was in agreement of the distraction of choice: barbeque-ing underneath the mango tree. And because I cannot cook even if my life depended on it (I swear I almost burned water once), I gave myself the assignment of just taking pictures so I could still be relevant.

Here’s what happened:

My brother Anthony starting up the smoke

My brothers Ray and Andrew, with my cousin Nene, starting things up

The two heavyweights in the family — ready to devour everything. Kidding!

Halfway through the feast

Kobe, our ever loyal German Shepherd

Choi, the lazy daschund

Andrew making sure of the consistency

Ready for battle

Ta-dah

The collective effort finally paid off (except mine)

To cap things up, I took a picture of this beautiful flower that I found in my mom’s garden.

Just the other night,  our family was in a festive mood. It was the 60th birthday of an uncle (on the mother’s side), the funny one from among his entire brood mind you, and everyone had a blast sending him off to his seniority.

The invitation that we received had specific instructions for us to bring something that was of symbolic value to his ‘greet off’ of sorts. And, when given to him, to say a few lines explaining the relevance of the gift.

My dad, notorious for being someone who had dry humor, gave my uncle a walking cane. Need I say more?

But what really cracked all of us up was the gift of another uncle who was quite popular for his exceptional (READ: twisted) sense of humor. He brought with him a gift that was meticulously wrapped in brown wrapping paper, punctuated with a pretty yellow ribbon. But when he revealed what his gift was, a lot of the older folks found themselves laughing hysterically.

It turned out to be xanogen, a penis enhancement supplement. My uncle explained that it was proven to stimulate sexual urges, and the picture that came with the capsule was quite telling of its, ehrm, potency. Apparently, sexual impulses are not extinguished given the proper ‘supplements.’ LOL

It has been a long time since our family had gathered for a party, and it was reassuring to feel that even when getting old is a little hard to deal with, the blows of aging can be cushioned by the presence of family members who are always willing to make us laugh at the most corny banter, to love life amidst the hardships, and to forget — even for just a moment — the problems that weigh us down.

Because the summer days have generally been a lull, I’ve scoured for TV series that can keep me sane during the long stretch of hot and humid days. A friend has been telling me, since three months ago if I recall it correctly, to download the Game of Thrones series.

When I first heard about it, it didn’t appeal much to me, especially since my friend quipped that it’s better than Lord of the Rings. A word of caution to those who do not know me that much yet: blashpeme about LOTR and you can be certain that your tongue will be cut off in a heartbeat. Kidding.

But since the days had become unbearable and the drag had me virtually sedated for lack of anything to do, I downloaded the series and watched the first episode of the first season.

And boy, was I hooked.

The first thing that got me sucked into its awesomeness is its Medieval-ish feel. The story unfolds in a 7-city kingdom, and it revolves around the exploits of kings, the sporadic rebellions that threaten the existence of the kingdom, and the onslaught of undead armies.

It isn’t like Lord of the Rings, for while it has fantastical characters, most of the series’ tensions revolve around the temperaments of kings, nobles, and the common folk. And just when one starts to think that the suspension of disbelief is limited to the exploits of men, stories and accounts of dragons, white walkers and wildlings betray the fact that this is one helluva fantastical series. For all of you who are fascinated with the Medieval period and (0f) historical accounts during the monarchical reigns, this is definitely a must watch.

Suffice it to say, this is a series that appeals to geeks (I didn’t just say that) — and what makes it especially captivating, well at least for me, are the twists that make it beautifully unpredictable. Its unpredictability makes you laugh, cry and cringe at the same time. At the end of the series, I found myself nagging my friends to give me the continuation of the series — but much to my discontent, the second season just started this April, and so I must anticipate the next installments with a suspended fascination for its brilliance.

But since I hate spoilers myself, I shall only describe the awesomeness that is the Game of Thrones with these abstract details.

Game of Thrones is awesome (if only for emphasis, lol), and I can’t wait for the second season of this epic, epic, epic series.

As an older brother, I feel very proud of my younger brother, Andrew.

Just three days ago, he was one of the three representatives of Visayas in the GSM Flairtending Competition, which is a feat in itself, because it is the most prestigious competition among flairtenders in the country.

Flairtending, for the sake of those who are not familiar with the term, is a relatively new bartending technique which involves the art (or sport, if you ask me) of throwing bottles in the air to the tune of upbeat music while (also) preparing the concocted beverage for the bar patrons.

It is a new fad among bartenders, but it is already gaining prominence in famous night clubs, and even luxury cruise ships. However, it is not easy to master, because the training for sophisticated tricks can be quite rigorous and it would take weeks, sometimes months, for one to be adept with the more difficult techniques.

My brother was fortunate enough to have been part of the top 16 best flairtenders in the country, and although he gave it his all during the final competition in Manila, he did not make it to the top 3.

But because my brother is rather extroverted and outgoing, he was voted as the Most Congenial among the bunch, as well as the 2nd most popular in Facebook votes. He received a cash prize (but he would not divulge how much), a kiss from the beautiful Anne Curtis, as well as hands free headsets courtesy of one of the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the Philippines.

Although I would’ve hoped that he bagged the first place, I know in my heart that he did everything he could to make us, and himself, proud.

So today was a weird day.

Out of the blue, my younger sister asked me: ‘What do you want to name your child in the future?’

Her question caught me off guard, because I did not just want to answer her with any generic name that would make him/her ordinary, and thus, less special.

I mused about how I want the name to be reflective of who he/she will be in the future. In my mind, I’ve always wanted names that tend to be more in keeping with my roots — this is because I think most people are enamored with names that are borrowed from Western personalities. My younger sister, for one, would like the name Jared for her son, because, she said it sounded so dashing.

I raised an eyebrow. Okay.

My child will have the name Ulap (which means cloud in Tagalog) or Alon (a wave), and I will make sure that my child will always be aware that just because something sounds foreign it doe s not mean it automatically translates to better.

After a short while of being pensive and musing about my child’s name, I suddenly realized that my musings betray a certain sense of maturity that I did not see coming. LOL

I was now thinking of baby names — What could this have meant?

How about you, what would you name your child?