Sunday morning in the north

9:30 AM. The clocks tell me that life SHOULD be moving at this mid-morning half hour. As the pleasant morning habits are over -- newspaper, oatmeal breakfast, e-mail and shower -- I am compelled to get something started.

It is Sunday, so the standard as to what starting something is, is lax. In my case, I decide with glee that this means writing in a coffee shop and buying groceries. So here I am.

* * *

My favorite barista, T, isn't around. I will receive no banter on what book I happy to have tucked under my arm. Instead, I am met by two cheery faces inquring about how I'd like my mocha. A quick scan of the store and I see the usual coffee-shop characters: student, shoulders hunched and head bowed, high-lighting a photocopied reading, mp3 player in his ears; two baseball moms in their blue uniforms & white shoes, perfectly dressed and no grass stains in sight; 20-something guy with stubble, scribbling on a pad, in jeans, t-shirt & sandals, accompanied by appropriate liberal minded-book and backpack.

None of these coffee people will exchange words with each other this morning. What anchors them into this modern-day community space is the jazz music, soft recessed-ceiling lights and hanging lamps.

* * *


Having read the first few chapter of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, I examine all food labels for insiduous insertions of subsidized industrial corn: maltodextrin, fructose, corn syrup, xantham gum, MSG, cornstarch, etc. I determine that passing on Lee Kum Kee's Black Bean Garlic Sauce is too great a sacrifice for keeping my food-conscience clear. I figure that my food karma will balance out, since I'll be cooking tofu and mushrooms with it.

A lady offers me a free-taste of chicken nuggets as I walk through the frozen meats section. Should I make a scene and recoil in horror?

I buy many interesting vegetables, wrapped in a lot of plastic. All purchases can go into my backpack or over-priced canvas bags conveniently sold by the grocery store.

All virtue has a price.

* * *

Back at home and my two useful siblings are still asleep.

(to be continued)

Concerning Habits

A bit of silence on the part of this blog over the past few days because I've been busy partying too much.

I considered posting about my whereabouts and activities, but I don't want this place to be too much of a repository of places to eat and places to get smashed. Suffice it to say that the year began right by crashing at home at 9am. Woke up in pretty good shape in the afternoon, but I also wonder if I should be thinking of a personal age-limit of this type of behavior.

* * *

The rains came to Manila this New Year, just as it did this Christmas, and the weather bureau reports that warm air prevented the fireworks smoke from dispersing and gave many of our streets a fog-like effect post-midnight today. So driving around was slightly more dangerous, but roads had a rare quiet eeriness. 

* * *

Work starts on January 5 for most offices and I'm slightly dreading the absolute crunch of everything this Monday morning. Backed-up office e-mails, traffic, crowded gyms, and people still coming out of vacation mode. My advice to myself and to anybody out there: give yourself some breathing room and start early.

* * *

Many things on my mind today, but nothing further appropriate for the blog. I hope to get good entries in the coming days.  Happy New Year Everybody.

civilized behavior

I had drinks last night with a few friends at wine place Cav at the Serendra area, and thus had planned to post on their ridiculous counter-intuitive corkage fee (in short: one is charged a 300 corkage fee if you buy a sub-1000 peso wine from them and then drink it at their restaurant).

 

But the mood of outrage for something like that seems so petty now in light of the latest news of 2 sons of a government cabinet member, a mayor of lanao del sur, and presumably other assorted goons not-accounted for, beating up a 56 yr old businessman and his 14 yr old son in a golf course. First encountered details of the incident here. Bloggers have started writing about this incident, most prominently perhaps Manuel Quezon III.  Predictably though, a story that would so inflame the public in maybe the first 48 hours, is doused by accounts that it was in fact the the other side who started it. (Edited to include another account that it was the other side who started it) And the ultimate dousing will come from what happens next -- investigations, slow grinding of bureaucratic processes, i.e. boring news. 

In cases like these, the details of who started it, who was rude, who poked who with a friggin umbrella and started saying swear words are not as important as who in the end got beaten up, because assuming that one party started the whole mess it never justifies a beating.

If I were Bambee dela Paz I would take photos of the injuries of her family members and then post it on her blog. She should take a picture of her brother's ear that bled, and any other bruises, injuries, black eyes on her father and brother. That would help this story survive a bit longer in our media cycle that will soon move on to the next thing. 

Update from 3 Jan 2009

Lots of details here, which come from a pinoy golfer website

As is natural when more details and information are released, the issue becomes less black and white and requires more distillation as to which facts matter in deciding who was at fault here. So this info messes up things a bit, including clarity behind Pangandaman asking bloggers to stop it already. If anything, I think bloggers are helping clarify the issue (though of course there are lots of rabid ad hominem attacks perhaps; take the good with the bad)

I have not fully incorporated everything myself the details from the forum, but my essential query still stands what kind of violence was inflicted on the De la Paz party. I will admit though that to be fair now, I have to also ask the question as to what kind of violence was inflicted on the Pangandaman party. 

As the issue is more complex, it becomes harder for people to sort out. As an aid in the sorting out though, one needs to go back to first principles.

UPDATES:

Palace orders a probe of the incident

this is the default Palace action every time an incident that hits a nerve like this is reported in the media; it's a bit of a non-news to say the least.

Cops frustrated that neutral witnesses of the incident aren't forthcoming

The Antipolo police are frustrated. Neutral witnesses are hard to come by. The officers of the golf club don't want to talk, but they've already suspended the Secretary from the golf club reports Inquirer. The Inquirer report also says that a Pampanga fish-pond owner has been suspended. Is this supposed to be de la Paz?

Some rebuttal also from Delfin de la Paz (the 56 yr old) on the allegation of Secretary Pangandaman that de la Paz had started it.

Quoted from the Cops frustrated Inquirer article:

" 'As a father would I go into battle with my 18-year old daughter and my 14-year old son against five grown men? Would I, as a father, risk the safety of both my children, and the emotional trauma that this would cause them, as indeed was what had happened?' he said.

'Could my 14-year old son, my 18-year old daughter, and myself, a 56-year old man, beat up a 27-year old man with four or five grown men with him?' De La Paz said."

This is not the best sound bite to offer or quote to prove De La Paz's innocence in the matter; one could still start a fight, regardless if you're the "weaker" party. Punches were allegedly thrown, De La Paz was stepped on while on the ground, and he is quoted to say that he didn't feel that he was capable of driving himself to the hospital. The x-rays, medical reports, and photographic evidence of this would be far stronger statements.

Pet peeves with Inquirer reportage (from where I am getting most of my info on the incident) What is a "tee house brawl"?

DAR Chief apologizes for the golf brawl

The DAR Chief apologizes for the incident. He is sorry about what happened. He doesn't like what had happened. No mention in the article that it was the fault of his sons or of any other members of his golfing party. So far then, it seems like one of those fake apologies. They usually take the form of being sorry about the incident in general, but not admitting any fault. It's the admitting that certain people acted like neanderthals that provides everyone the needed catharsis.

And rightly, the De La Paz's did not accept

One will notice that the issue could get muddled as reportage of other issues with Pangandaman  are brought up. I find the issue already losing steam and heat. Where are those photos.

The need for quieter spaces

My main afternoon errand was to bring my sister to the airport. And as this is the sort of errand that could be potentially stressful -- what with the ugliness of the drive, and the traffic -- we decided to leave the house early and chill-out at a point not far from the c-5 route we were taking.

We ended up killing some time at the UCC Cafe at the Fort.   Decent brewed coffee + cream + chestnut paste = 200 bucks, good grief. Oh well, it was the 26th and we were willing to spend a little. We just needed a place to write in our notebooks, annotate our books and flip through some magazines

This UCC branch was a favorite place of mine to hang-out about 3-4 years ago when the Fort was still relatively empty. UCC was in a stand-alone structure, tucked at the edge of the Fort w/ only one or two tall buildings near it, and not even a proper parking lot nearby. We could see the McDonalds from just outside the door. We knew back then that such space -- the open fields, the darkness, and yet the smooth roads -- were a temporary phenomenon. So my sitting there that afternoon was already a nostalgia trip: for what the Fort once was (open playground for in-line skaters, skateboarders, runners) to what it's now becoming. 

You fill in the blank as to what the Fort is now becoming. 

There are more than a few plusses from things have changed, in terms of proper establishments in the area (Theodore's, Barcino, Fully Booked, R.O.X, the slew of restaurants in Serendra), but these things would have located outside Fort if such a development wasn't there. What is rare is what I described above: space, darkness, seclusion. We still need those things.

finding chairs

Ria and I spent a good bit of Saturday running errands to get the apartment into better shape. An early morning visit from our landlady saw our dining table and chairs carted away by the building administration. 

We had initially asked for them to be taken away, and though we said that we had changed our minds, it was too late as the furniture had been promised to one of the building officers. On the bright side, this was the perfect excuse to head to Evangelista Street and find some very cool 2nd hand replacements.

I wish I knew the names of the chair designs so I could identify the kinds of chairs we saw. We found some pretty good looking mod pieces, designs right out of the 60s & 70s, but a lot of the prices we found too expensive. We were especially taken aback that one lady was selling a set of four wood chairs for Php 2.5k each when 1k we thought as the more fair price. (Ria reported to me that she had later found the same type of brand new chairs at SM Makati for 1.8k. per chair). 

We ended up buying a set of 4 entirely different looking chairs for 4k. They need some clean up, and perhaps even slip-covers. But like the other set we had found interesting, we thought we had found something well-designed. The elegant line created by the back of chair and the back legs made me think that these chairs would not look out of place in any fine-dining restaurant. 

As soon as those chairs get some clean-up, I'll post up some photos.