sharing 2 e-mails....

from Stauro ( Asingan )

Uncle Vic,

 

Hi, we have a really great development regarding our project. I just met with auntie Esther yesterday at PSU, they will be having a science symposium with space exploration as their topic. i've been included in the program to speak about science fiction: its role in imagination and development and I plan to talk about how star trek, star wars etc has helped mankind develop technologies and theories to benifit mankind in the real world. cool huh? Now I get to express the importance of reading and watching quality movies. I have asked that the ACES program be included in the program. so this will really help market the availability of the books.

 

Another GOOD NEWS! The tournament in taekwondo here at Asingan will push thru on Nov. 10. that means teams and chapters from around region 1 will be going to our great town. I plan to make this our chance to show the hospitality of Asingan. Hopefully the crew of Taekwondo TV will be here to cover it. That would really be the icing on the cake. As of now the projected budget for the tournament is around 90,000. 55,000 of which will go to the procurement of around 145 pieces of rubber matting for the courts. the others will be for office supplies, honorarium for the referees and officials and crew, publicity. whew.... but this is going to benefit Asingan as this will bring around 1000 mouths to feed, and 1000 potential tourist for Asingan in the future. 1000 people who will see how beautiful our town is. I am quite excited about this.

 

Another activity is the Halloween ball this October 31, but right now I'm clueless about the tradition. It would be nice to get some info about it.

 

This October we will be having the spelling bee for Asingan students first then have other schools from Urdaneta, Rosales and Tayug to join. After the November event, we plan to hold a Pangasinan's BEST Olympics, we will try to host an Olympics style event here at Asingan, to cover several sports.

 

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Halloween is celebrated with TRICK OR TREATING..From 6-10 pm, kids go around with bags asking for candies from houses. This won't be applicable in Asingan ( not yet anyway ) but with regards to the dance,  adults and YP's ( young people ) usually hold a costume ball..They can come as zombies, ( green faces, or with scary make-ups, rubber masks, hoboes ( tattered clothes ) mummies, (looking like a big suman), pirates, etc. Old clothes would do the the trick..Or come as Rizal or Maria Clara, Katipuneros, ( tabungao hat with machete ) ,  the costumes are limited only by one's imagination. The costumes need not be EXPENSIVE, just be CREATIVE..!--Vic

 

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from Mike Bartlett ( Toronto )

 

Ah, kids today have no idea what real fun is and how great games and toys used to be.  What with all the video games and DVDs, it's all melting their brains so they can't use their imagination anymore. 

 

One of the two best toys I ever had was the wooden go-cart I built with my father and the replica rifle my uncle carved for me.  I was seven when I got a carved  wooden "rifle" my uncle gave me for my birthday.  It was a solid piece of wood and even though it couldn't fire anything, I killed many a German soldier during my pretend invasions of Normandy.  My blood lust was only surpassed by my need for speed.  My father helped me (it's the way I remember it anyway) built a go-cart from a couple of bits of spare wood in the garage.  Much to my mother's dismay, I used the wheels off the baby coach my mother used to cart my infant sister around in on her walks.  I would race down the highest hill in my neighbourhood, my steering was a length of rope nailed to the front axle and my brakes were the soles of my
runners.  I was part Evel Knievel and part Chuck Yeager and I was hell bent on becoming the first Six Million Dollar Boy (it was the '70s remember). 

The Bionic Man was too cool.

Ahh, those were the days, indeed.

 

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Aha, your e-mail jogged my memory banks to a very old anecdote among us Costes siblings in the late 40s..I was not even in school yet at that time. But I remember my brother Donato who built a small cart big enough for 3 kids to ride on. ( Brother Donato grew up to be a good auto mechanic ).The wheels were big enough for comfort and easy transport. It was  much bigger than the Radio Flyer carts popularin US/Canada at that time.It was made of strong wood, got 2 wheels, a mini version of the big carts used by Asingan farmers during that time.

 

I remember riding around the town on it. Cars/busses were not common yet at that time but I remember some streets of Poblacion were already cemented.

 

And you know what we used as a pulling machine? It was a big goat, one of the family pets. He was so big ( according to my imagination ) that he was able to pull us 3 kids a few times around the block, from the ancestral house and back.

 

Oh yes, the goat was also the heart throb of the female goats in our backyard and he sired quite a number of kids ( no pun intended but young goats are called kids ) ..

 

"Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end.."!!

 ---Vic

 

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