IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN ( AND MEN )

Yesterday, I bade good bye to two of our Music "classes" at the Senior's Home.

Maybe God gave me some musical genes so I can serve these people at this point in my life.

When I was still about 10 years old, I have already been listening to different genres of music from an old, battery operated RCA radio in Asingan. Folk songs from different countries ( esp. Ireland, Scotland, England, ) and also the current hits of that era..

Of course the hits then were YOU DON'T KNOW ME by Jerry Vale, QUE SERA SERA by Doris Day, I UNDERSTAND by Julius la Rosa, and other names whom younger readers of this Board would remark "Never heard of them.."

But right now I still know them : ITS A LONG WAY TO TIPERRARY, HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN, HARBOUR LIGHTS, LILI MARLENE..etc. My Senior singers love to sing these, every week..They may not remember their room numbers, but they still know the tune and lyrics of these ditties..


We have no piano at home in Asingan. But there was a piano in our neighbour's house, who was the late Fr. Castaneda, a priest of the Aglipayan church. I love going to that church during those days, but only when there was no service. So I sometimes visit the empty church in the afternoon to play with Pete Castaneda, one of the Pastors sons.

Pete was a bit older than me, but he was full of fun. We would play Indians and Cowboys inside the empty church. There were plenty of nooks and crannies where we can hide ( including the confessional box ) which, like the Catholic church in Asingan, was also hardly ever used that time.

He was the one who can piay the piano. So after we played , we would go to his house located behind the church. Then Pete encouraged me to try their piano. I fell in love with the instrument the first time I tinkled its ivory keys. Started playing them then and never stopped playing it ever since.


Now I am using this unique acquired skill, not to earn money but to provide entertainment for the helpless older men and women in the senior home..As a volunteer, of course. There is no pay but I get the feeling of being useful and appreciated by the Recreational Director and the residents themselves. The feeling of self worth is important to anybody's mental health..


In addition, I found a good activity for me and Miggie. She is still working, but after she retires, there must be something we can do together aside from watching TV day and night.

She loves singing to a "captive audience", the residents of this brand new, multi storied facility that looks like a 5 star hotel, from the outside and from the inside .

The building was one time a high school, and then it was bought by a corporation specializing in building Retirement homes.


Thus we found ourselves as "musicians" We sing nothing but the old songs, the ones I heard in Asingan when I was young. I learned their tunes first, and then when I learned how to play the piano, I also learn by memory how to play them without the use of written scores..( to be continued )

next installment: WHEN I AM EIGHTY FOUR..

Returning to Asingan

"But to reach one's final destiny, I believe that first you must have to leave the shore"
A few days before my Mom's telegram arrived, I applied for a job at the Philippine Education Journal as an artist/ illustrator. The art director there asked me to make an illustration of a turtle delivering mail. Very realistic because Philippine Mail then was as slow as that amphibian.

Anyways, the Director seemed to like my work. He started telling me the benefits, working hours, etc. The magazine subscribes to most schools in the country so it seemed to be a very stable periodical. Then I told them I was studying Fine Arts and the director seemed to turn uneasy. I never got the job, of course, but if I did, I was ready to settle down in Manila. The office was in Cubao, on the way to Camp Murphy and my boarding house was just a 15 minute walk away.

I never really wanted to go back to Asingan but the job at DWA seemed to be a challenge. The school has a good reputation during those years and many well to do families were sending their children to this Institution founded by German SVD Fathers. It has also a newly started College Department, and offering a better pay than most private schools at that time. Maybe I could settle there for good, so I thought..

It was Mrs. Loreto Blando Mizal who got me the job. We were together at the Rizal Academy, then we left the school at the same time to seek for the proverbial greener pastures. Both of us went to file our application at the DWA. She also sent another application to the FORPRIDECOM in Los Banios Laguna.

Then I heard she got the job at the DWA. Me, rather than stay in Asingan, without any job, I decided to go back to school thus I enrolled at the UST.


Manang Loreto finished her Journalism in UST. She was a published writer in the Philippines and she encouraged me to keep on writing. Because the only way to learn the craft is to do it. Write a journal everyday, she said. I did write a Journal too, but sometimes my sisters will find it and they do not believe in the privacy of a written diary. They would read it, and would kid me about what they read in front of the dining table.


Anyways, Manang Loreto asked me to visit the school when I am back in Asingan to report to the Director the late Fr. George Harwardt, SVD. When she received her acceptance about the job in Laguna, she filed her resignation from DWA and she was released on condition that she would look for a replacement. And that was me. Good for her..and for me too.

At last she was able to get a writing job in FORPRIDECOM, a government agency dealing with Forest Products Research. I did receive a letter from her telling me that if there is a vacancy in any of the several agencies in Los Banios, she would inform me about it.

And she did. It took two years before I was able to land that dream job of working in an Editorial Office where I could practice my craft. In this life, there is always a person aside from your parents, who would help you unselfishly find your own way.

In my case, it was her. First, she showed confidence in my ability. She corrected my early attempts at writing. Maybe she saw a grain of potentiality in those horrible, high school articles. Then she helped me find jobs wherever she was stationed. With her help, I finally stood on my feet, living in a good community by myself, my new family, away from the comforts of home in Asingan. I had a heavy heart when I left Asingan for Los Banios, with Miguelita who was already pregnant with our first child.

But to reach one's final destiny, I believe that first you must have to leave the shore.---#

my favorite love poem

Sonnet XIV from the Portuguese

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile--her look--her way
Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry, -
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

by Elizabeth Barret Browning..

My interpretation:

According to Elizabeth, love a person not because of looks, way she/he smiles or how good he/she speaks. Because if these attributes would change, then love for the person changes likewise.

Do not love also for pity's sake on seeing the person cry. For if he/she can not cry anymore, then the love would also dissapear..

But love a person because of love's sake..Because true love is eternal, and will last longer than time. True love is a reflection of God's love for all; whether they love Him or not---#

my favorite e-mails..:)

Manong Vic, you are such a talented peron. I want to thank you for posting Jun esperon's life in Asingan board. i am so illiterate when it comes to computer, somebody already thought me how to post from U tube but still I forgot how to do it. it's a good thing you are there. can you also post that
landslide victory from www.tapatmaglingkod.org Thanks again.

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VANCOUVER DIARY PART1

Vancouver is really bursting at its seams now a days..at least until after the end of the Winter olympics. At the airport, there is always a batch of baggage toting tourists; some arriving, some departing..A special train ( called Canada Line ) was constructed so the passengers would take the train conveniently without the hassle of driving or taking the bus...While waiting for my reception committee, I went up the observatory deck of the Vanc. airport. It has a panoramic view of the take off runways. The building is sound proof, so you could hardly hear the sound of jet engines, but you could see through the glass panes, each plane line up, wait for their turn, then they would go about 180 degrees, and in a split second, you would see them soar up like a rocket ship..Children love watching the iron birds defy the law of gravity and inspite of their bulk, size and weight, they are able to soar like kites up the blue yonder!!...

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My flight yesterday was not a direct one, thus I was able to save a few bucks..:) The first ( and only ) stopver was at Edmonton International. When we arrived into its air space, the fog was so thick. There were a few planes ahead of us waiting for the order from the control tower to make a landing. Thus I noticed the plane making circles because the misty afternoon sun keeps rotating around us (!)and you can not see anything in front of you..I know below and above us, some planes are doing the same and I was hoping they ( including ours ) will not run out of gas..!Anyways, after a while our plane started to make its roaring descent ( you could almost hear all passengers heaving sighs of relief ). When I passed through the gates to check my connecting flight, many of the boards there (posted in red letters ) flight delayed. Passengers were calling their friends waiting for them in their destinations about the delay..It set back arrival times for as long as two hours and I had to text my reception committee in Vancouver so they won't be coming to the airport ahead of time.The weather in Edmonton at that time was so cold.Vancouver, on the other hand, ( which was just an hour and 15 mins away already)had a weather so balmy and spring like..When the plane made its descent into Vancouver International ( YVR ), one could see the mountains looking like small mounds of chocolate hills capped with vanilla ice cream. One of them must be Whistler's Mountain which is the hub of the Olympic's outdoor events...

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Your posts are like shots of adrenalin on a battered and weary board; a much awaited downpour on a cracked and parched land. Your vivid and picturesque descriptions are a feast for the mind’s eye; your metaphors, crisp and precise. Even the most ordinary subject by your pen becomes a literary piece. They are a much welcome respite from the postings of late which - if not rash and run of the mill - are uninspired, malicious or confrontational. The AMB is, of course, not a literary venue but it does not prevent anyone from posting well-crafted and sensible messages. Thanks for setting the standard. Your postings reflect well on our beloved town and paint Asinganians as educated and urbane. Congratulations.

---Asinganiantoo

Visiting a new city ( Philippines or Vancouver ) gives me the shot of adrenalin which every writer, published or unpublished, need in order to keep his creative juices flowing..Allow me to continue my updates, esp. the experiences I had yesterday being a "newcomer" in the sense that I was one because Vancouver being the host of this world class event became a "new" place, and the unwary tourist could be trapped..Well, I had a few hours to kill while waiting for my reception commitee. I had a backpack which I could carry around the huge YVR which in day time, looks like a city by itself.But I have also this 25 kilo suitcase which carry clothes, books and other cumbersome but necessary stuff. I saw a baggage depository. For 5 $, you can leave your suitcase with them up to 11:00 pm ( the time they close). Now I said to myself I can go downtown and come back to the airport to pick it up before 11:00 pm.So I thought.But when I proceeded to the Canada Line entrance which promised 25 mins ride in order to reach downtown, I asked this elderly volunteer who acted as an Information Officer to new arrivals at the airport.."How much is the fare or ticket going to downtown?" I asked. "It is $8.25, sir", she said with a smile. I did not smile back because I remember that the last time I was in Van, the fare was only 1.75 $ for Seniors.."How come it is so expensive? It was only 1.75 a few months back?" I feel my BP starting to rise.."Well sir, this is what we were told and we are just followwing what they told us during the training sessions.." I really do not want to argue with her, so I just left, went around the YVR with my backpack, and that is when I saw the escalator going up the observatory...Hours later, when my "sundo" arrived, I asked her: "Did the ticket fares from the airport changed to 8.25 from 1$ something?" "Are you crazy?" she answered.."It is the same! I got here using the 2$ tickets!" Then I related the incident re: the elderly volunteer.."Okay," I said, "she is beside the baggage depository and you talk with her.." So we went to the baggage depository counter while she talked with the lady in question. I did not hear their conversation. ..As we walked towards the gate of the Canada Line, I asked her: "So what did she say?.." "She does not know or she pretends she does not know about the old fares..She said that was she was she was told to say to tourists..."."Mamma Mia", I said.." "If a newly arrived tourist comes in, asked the same question I did, he would be duped into buying the same, paying $8 plus for something he can buy in reality for 2$!.." I calculated mentally how many would fall into the "trap". In a big city there is one sucker born ( or made) every minute..When we reached the Canada Line gate, she gave me my ticket costing $1.75 if you buy a booklet of 10. We went straight into the skytrain whose last stop is the YVR. There was NOBODY who inspected the tickets. One can just board the train without any ticket at all, but if you are caught without one ( during the days before the Olympics ) you will be fined with a hefty sum. As the train crammed with passengers went by smoothly I asked my companion why there are no ticket inspectors. She said.." There are soooo many people now that they just quit doing that tedious job. Because most of the time, the trains are packed like big sardine cans.."