Down the Rabbit Hole

The four moons have aligned and cast a shadow of darkness over the land. The ancient gods have gathered to give the mortals a chance to save their world from destruction. They will open a portal at the Ayala Museum on October 27 and they are calling for brave heroes to go on a quest to save the world! (snapshot from Ayala Museum's I nstagram account )  That was how the mystery began at our night at the Ayala Museum this year. Instead of being detectives in a whodunit mystery thriller, we were heroes out to save the Philippine-centric world... from what, I wasn't sure because I wasn't listening too closely to the voice-over when the activity started. What we learned when we started our quest, though, was that we (once again) had to search for clues and puzzles to solve in the four public floors of the museum. And because I was at the museum a few days before this event, the possible locations of the different clues were fresh in my mind. For instance, the lo...

In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma...

And then there was one. Miming officially became the  sole  resident cat after Timtams disappeared. Not for long, however. A black and white tomcat appeared in the backyard and decided that it could shoo Miming (who's already in his senior years) away through bullying.  I was intimidated with this tomcat because I'm not used to have aggressive feral cats loitering in my backyard. At first, I kept shooing it, at the risk of getting scratched or bitten, but eventually, I got convinced to allow the cat to share Miming's food (yes, even when Miming was eating soft foods, this tomcat also ate soft food). Months later, I started calling it Feeling because it's feelingero (Filipino slang for someone who feels comfortable around others who aren't hospitable).  The two cats were constantly competing for food until they figured out a system in which all kibbles placed above ground are for Miming while those on the ground are for Feeling. So now, the challenge...

The book opens with the concept of chess. In chess, the aim of the game is to checkmate the opponent's King while safeguarding your own King. This makes the King both the most important and the most vulnerable piece in the game. On the other hand, the Queen is also the most powerful piece, being able to  move the way a Rook and a Bishop does. She is the ultimate weapon in protecting the King. This concept reminds me of this saying: Behind every powerful man is a great woman. It is a concept that resonated to me while I was reading A Game of Queens . In it, author Sarah Gristwood took readers back to the sixteenth century, when men ruled the courts but peace was achieved by discussions among powerful and influential women.  I'd exclude Queen Isabella I of Castile  to what Gristwood refers to as the "sisterhood of queens" despite being a global influence (together with her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon) because she was known more as a ruling monarch.....

I've always been fascinated by history but the classes I took typically limited the lessons to the who's who of society back in the day and the events that transpired leading up to the contemporary period (I was, still am, not a fan of memorisation). More rarely, my history professors linked past events with current ones and with patterns (most of this happened in college, thanks to UPLB). But never  did my professors try to link Philippine history with the events that happened in other countries. In this age of globalisation, it is high time that teachers take the worldview and teach this perspective to grade school students... otherwise, history fans like me will have to start appreciating lessons a bit later in life, like after graduating from college... or never at all. Anyway, this curiosity about links between Philippine and world history was what got me to buy this book, A Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe  by Sarah Gristwood, during ...

A few months ago, I brought Biboy to Vask Tapas Bar . He liked the food and enjoyed the place that he made me promise to bring him there again when he visits with Barbara. Of course, I had to oblige! Vask is one of my favourite places to eat in at the Bonifacio Global City.  They just had to try some of my go-to dishes here, like the foie gras on mango toast and the Wagyu beef carpaccio .  I just have to say that a meal that starts with these two dishes cannot go wrong. But we also ventured out with dishes that I tried for the first time during Biboy's visit, like these cochinillo tacos. Since Biboy and Barbara are based in the Bay Area , which is also a melting pot of food, particularly of cuisines within the Americas, it's quite natural that they've tasted better tacos. BUT, these Vask tacos were also delicious, thanks to the tasty pork that was used. This is the first time I've tried the oysters at Vask, I think. It's delicious but it wasn...

The timing was impeccable. Just two weeks after Anna flew out to the US , Biboy and Barbara came to visit. It's Barbara's first time to visit Asia and probably the first time to be hit by a major jet lag.  Lola was absolutely thrilled to meet Barbara. Also, the day they arrived was also the day that Lola received her achievement award from the church in the neighbourhood.  These two happy reasons called for a celebration! Despite the jet lag, Biboy and Barbara joined us for dinner at Shakey's . However, because Lola can't be outside the house late in the evening anymore and the travelers have yet to recover from their flights, we all called it an early evening. Seeing the rest of the family will have to be on a separate occasion. 

Becoming 100 years old definitely has its perks...  Earlier today, centenarians were invited to attend Mass at the Presentation of the Child Jesus Parish as guests of honour. Two centenarians were able to attend, both in wheelchairs: Lola Bats (101) and a slightly younger centenarian (100). Two others were represented by their families. The parish priest, Fr. William Ramos said that they were the only ones that the parish knows of and if there were other centenarians in the area, they would also receive a plaque of appreciation and a yearbook from the parish. Lola Bats  definitely is enjoying the life of a centenarian. Looking forward to 102 already!

Three years after I watched Kingsman in Seoul, I learned that Eggsy was confronted with a new nemesis. This time, a former member of his training cohort was recruited into a mysterious organisation called "The Golden Circle", led by an enterprising businesswoman (into illegal business, mind). She intended to make the human population a hostage of a global pandemic, with the cure only available from her. No, she wasn't asking for money to enrich herself; she was endangering people all over the world just to convince the US president to legitimise her business! A really mad antagonist, comparable to the communication maven in Eggy's first outing. Because of his co-trainee's knowledge about Kingsman, The Golden Circle was able to destroy the infrastructure of this top secret organisation. It had no choice but to enact the "Doomsday Protocol", which required them to team up with their counterparts across the pond. If Kingsmen were into bespoke busines...

There'll be a few life changes coming my way as the year ends and to prepare for that, I went to a seminar in Manila. I doubt that I would grasp everything in one sitting but at least I'd have a running start. I wasn't alone. Many of the people I was sitting with were seasoned travellers and appeared to be well-educated.  Although the seminar content was important, I was drawn more to the speaker because he was such an engaging fellow... and I could review his lecture using a book he distributed afterwards. What I noted in that seminar is the speaker's enthusiasm, as if he were drawing energy from his audience. He was literally like a bouncing ball on stage. He was entertaining even. And while he did have slides, he has mastered the content that he didn't need to glance at them except to point out important details. His personality did not intimidate despite his pedagogical tone; hence, the audience enthusiastically asked questions. He was honest when he di...

I have always wondered how Manuel could take flat-lay pictures and keep the shadows away from the food he's taking photos of. Just look at his food posts on Instagram! One evening, I had a chance to see how he does this. Of course, it wasn't the first time... I have the first-hand experience of being stopped from digging into my food as soon as it arrived because he had to take a photo of it. But those were the days when flat-lays weren't the Instagram norm . Was Instagram even a social network back then? Anyway, the photos below shows how much into food photography he really is. We, including the other lab-mates, were eating dinner at Seoul Kitchen . When his dinner came in, he whisked it off to a corner table for its picture. The light has to hit at the right angle; he positioned himself so that the food was at its most photogenic. I think we were halfway through our meal by the time he finished taking photos of his.  Look at how it turned out! Th...

As Anna started packing her stuff in earnest, with help from Richelle  and Kuya Junjun, Semisonic's song "Closing Time" started playing in my head... maybe because of this line: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end". It was an apt song, I think, because Anna's moving to the USA to be with the rest of the family and to establish new roots there. This is her first long-haul flight and her first trip to California, which is one reason why everyone's excited for her, even Lola Bats . It must be difficult to pack your life into two balikbayan boxes but she was able to do it. Mommy, Daddy, Biboy, and Barbara (who took the photo below) were at the San Francisco International Airport to pick her up. They actually went to the meeting area at the arrivals section... complete with balloons!  (And my mom, crying, as usual) Well, I was also there, in spirit... as you can see in the box, my penmanship's there. Ph...