Operation Friendship Detroit News Feb. 3 1963

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Ginintuang Kasalan
Anacleto Panganiban at Teodora Hipolito
Agosto 30, 1940

Tadadada!!!

We have a New Lawyer in town!!!!

Business Venture

I think the very first video games we had were the game and watch games. We had the octopus, and the fire, and later, Popeye, and Mickey Mouse. They were a huge load of fun to play but it totally brought out the whininess of people. The constant yelling of “it’s my turn!!” and “unfair!!!” and “MA!!!!!” probably made our parents wish they never bought the darned things.

People used to bring them to school and share them to each other. Most of the games were a bit expensive so sharing them was important…at least at first.

One day in fourth grade, the games became so in demand that some of the boys in our class decided to rent them out. Twenty-five centavos per game. Kawawa na lang those who didn’t play very well. They would quickly lose their allotted 3 lives and bye-bye money… the more experienced players just kept on playing and playing and playing.

The next day, our class turned into a virtual game center. Everyone who had games, any games mind you, not just the game and watches, were hawking their wares. Twenty- five centavos per game. There were the usual card games, the trump cards and such, of course, but there were miniature bowling games, pin ball machines, mastermind, other board games and even larger video games. There were tons of other stuff too. Recess and lunch made our class into a fully functioning carnival with all its frenzy.

Now, the boys in our class weren’t renting out these things to our class. Classmate groupings were determined when we entered nursery and they were set so that classmates kept on being your classmates throughout grade school.

People became much like family, and the boys were very protective of the girls especially in our class. A girl is insulted and the boys would proceed to beat up on the offender. They would put up blanket tents for us to change in privacy during PE class, and when cleaning, they did all the really dirty scrubbing and let us do the easier less dirty jobs. Very chivalrous I thought.

Actually, I only started thinking that soon after this carnival incident.

The people in our class could borrow the games free and clear…first priority too. It was the boys in the other classes that would come and pay for renting the games. Remember that the ones less experienced….them…played their game lickety split. The more experienced gamers…us…kept on playing (for free) but as time was of the essence
(Recess only 30 minutes, and lunch an hour) paying, then waiting was infuriating.

After a couple of days of this, the boys in one particular class began realizing that all their money were going to our class and they decided to start up their own “business.”

As game central was our classroom, they had a meeting and finally opened the door to their business the day after.

Suddenly the girls in our class had their hackles up. The other class opened up a twenty five centavo….

MASSAGE PARLOR

As in…. the powder or oil kind too…and they had their girl classmates doing it!!!

That recess hour started all the buzz, and chatter and outrage. We found out about it…some of our boys went in there for their massage and boy did we just boil up in anger.

By lunch, though the door to the other classroom was barred to us girls, we got some of their girls out and asked them “What the hell?”

I don’t really know where that business idea came from…maybe someone had heard talk about it, or had heard about it on TV.

Remember we were only about 9 at the time and all we knew about it was put powder under the shirt and do those karate chop moves on their back. Five minutes and that were about it.

Only, the idea of “selling” your girls for money totally pissed us all.

Ah ….my first experience with woman’s liberation.

By noon the next day, all businesses were closed and the games were shared exclusively to our own classmates and everything was back to normal.

Ha! And to think most people's idea of a first business is selling lemonade in a lemonade stand.

Kodakan

In High School, I had a huge collection of wallet sized pictures. I put them in those teeny plastic clear sheets that came in a wallet…the one that looked just like mini album. It used to be all the rage. I’m not sure it still is now…I think everyone just takes pictures through their cellphones, and stores them there. It’s not as nice since you don’t get the messages,( that you forced your friends to write), behind each picture.

Anyway, everyone would stuff their wallets with a number of these photos that the wallet would always be completely deformed and bulging from the massive amount of pictures stuffed inside.

Unfortunately, it also gave the impression that you had tons of money… so when “kleptomaniacs” would come and steal your wallet, All they would find was the usual daily “baon” of twenty pesos and a grotesque amount of sweetly smiling pictures of complete strangers.

Of course each time a wallet is stolen, the victim would spend days crying and crying… because of its inherent sentimental value of course…the pictures usually were irreplaceable. Though it is true that everyone regularly passed out completely new ones every couple of months, The old ones were lost…as well as the messages behind them which was more a “snapshot” of how things were than the actual pictures themselves.

Personally, we had a favorite photo studio that we usually went to. Pictures and Profiles at Shang. We’d be there shopping and then, as we pass by that studio, we’d all decide to get our pictures taken. Usually it was just Jo Ann, Lynette and Laurie, and me…sometimes we’d drag our friends in to them when we had our individual “lakads”

They never resisted much. Although there was always an argument on whose photo studio was better…theirs or ours.

Before all that though, we had our own personal photographer. Mom had a friend whose hobby was photography. Tito Bobby was dragged into giving us freebies whenever an attack of vanity was imminent. Usually, these sessions were for no other reason than to have a new collection of pictures of varying sizes from 1”x1” to 8”x11”.

These were taken at Parks and Wildlife now called Ninoy Aquino Park.

These are from CCP

This also in CCP... at another time and another day of course.

We always had to order tons of wallet sizes of course, since they were the ones automatically doled out to any family and friends who want them... for some reason, most of them just loved the chance to add it to their forever growing wallets…as if to say “let’s see if I can fit just one more in before it explodes…”

I’m just glad I kept as many as I could.

Wireless

Sorry for the long interval between posts. I've been offline for a while, partly recovering, mainly because my internet went caput for a while. Here's a few posts to make up for it.

Belated Merry Christmas from me and my new inaanak

Firecracker

When I was a kid, we always bought a lot of firecrackers. I think we used to buy them on the way home from Malolos after All soul’s day.

I think everyone did too since every night you’d hear lots of firecracker bangs and explosions in the surrounding houses days and days before New Years Eve.

I remember Tito Nonoy coming out each night and sitting on the white metal table set in front of Mama’s house. He would have a packet of three stars and five stars, baby rockets and one time, one of those huge baby rockets (I forget what those are called).

So anyway, he’d light his cigarette and toss a few firecrackers around. After a few pops, Carlos, Eric and I (The “Club”) would come out running to participate.

You know we always thought that Tito Nonoy was our own personal Indiana Jones and so time with him whenever he was around ( specially when Christmas came around….he’d come home for a break from one of his explorations), was a very big deal. You never knew what he’d teach us and we hung on his every word when he talked about his adventures.

He was the one who taught us how to light firecrackers. Rule number One…Only when an adult was around to supervise. Rule number Two…use only lit cigarettes and not matches to decrease chances of accidental explosions… and finally, Rule number Three…be brave… you’d better not freeze up and forget to throw the already lit firecracker. (There is always a big chance of that if you’re a kid just learning.

So anyway, it was always a test on Club Courage not to flinch as a firecracker is just about to make your hand explode.

I remember baby rockets were no problem. But at that one time, Tito Nonoy set up the big rocket on a pole and allowed us to light it. Since the thing was about half our size, and we’d never lit one before, we heed and hawed and pushed at each other to be the ones to light it, all the while trying not to show how freaked we were.

I think eventually, one of us lit it and it whizzed past us, and made a pop. It behaved just like a baby rocket except for the pop in the end. Totally anticlimactic but what can you do?

A couple of afternoons though, when Tito Nonoy was not there and we figured the guard was “adult” enough to fulfill Rule number One, we played around with a few firecrackers.

First, a background…

CCP used to have a parol making contest for its students. There was usually a theme, and a prize given to the top three best Parols. That year it was Filipiniana themed, and the Parols were displayed hanging all along the old Administration building.

Anyway, after the Parols were judged, they were sold. Tito Junior bought the third place finisher. A hugely large Parol made of abaca leaves. I think it might have cost him a total of five thousand pesos.

He proudly had it hanged right at the front-most corner of his house right beside where the guard stayed.

Now usually, when we’d light firecrackers in the afternoon, we’d stay in the driveway between Dad’s and Tito Jun’s house. ( Only at night did we gravitate towards the garage in front of Mama’s house…just in case Mama was around and found us playing in the afternoon…she might decide to teach us stuff and studying is not exactly what we want to do on our Christmas break)

So we prepared to fire our firecrackers on the driveway. Carlos had a few Watusis, a few three stars and a couple of baby rockets.

Only, we decided to start with the baby rocket. So we got a tiny rock to prop it on, (as usual) angled it upwards (as usual,) and prepared to fire away.

Carlos lit the wick with a cigarette (also usual of course.) and the baby rocket, well, rocketed away.

The only unusual thing that happened occurred approximately two seconds after the rocket fired.

We watched the rocket go flying, flying, flying…straight as per its usual course…only, there was something there that in days before did not exist…

…and in the days after, also did not exist.

The rocket went straight for the beautiful native Parol.

Seeing that it was made from Abaca leaves, it suddenly blazed into a huge star shaped fireball. The guard just jumped and yanked it down and stomped on it till the fire died out.

Soo much cooler than that stupid pop after the lighting the giant rocket…at least it would have been if we weren’t terrified of Tito Junior coming home.

I was just so very, very glad that I didn’t light it. I’m sure Carlos had another opinion.

I don’t think Tito Jun minded so much. I think he was just glad that it was only the Parol. If the guard wasn’t so quick, it might have caught the house on fire too.

That wasn’t the only stupid thing we did though. This time, I was glad I was just a bystander.

Carlos and Eric were throwing five stars near the gate. Soon after, they progressed to throwing them at the gate.

It was made of metal so it didn’t do any damage.

Anyway, the gate had one of those mailboxes sealed right onto it.

On the sidewalk side, you only see the gate and a small mail slot off to one side of it. From the inside, there was a house-like hollow container with a hinged door to it. It caught the mail and kept it in until someone opened to lid to get them out.

So anyway, the gate soon lost its appeal since it didn’t even cringe at the large firecrackers being thrown at it.

Carlos then had a bright idea…

They’d light the five stars, put it in the mailbox, and close the lid tight (by physically keeping the lid shut). Mainly to hear a satisfyingly large bang I guess.

So they did.

I stood on the side of the gate, near the front yard, and watched them light the five stars and stick it inside the mailbox.

They pushed on the lid with all their might and smiled evilly in anticipation.

I guess the years of cartoon watching suddenly kicked in because suddenly, they both looked at each other and started running.

The firecracker exploded a split second after and I watched Carlos and Eric run down the driveway with the mailbox chasing after them.

I was in shock. It was exactly like in cartoons. It literally chased them down. Ask them if you doubt me.

The thing lost its power somewhere near the middle of the driveway. Carlos and Eric didn’t stop running until they were hear the end of it.

I guess you really shouldn’t antagonize strong and steadfast gates. When they get pissed, they really go all out to get you.

Special warning to the kiddoes who read this blog...

Rule number One stands. Make sure an adult supervises.
Rule number Two is iffy. DO NOT SMOKE. It’s really bad for you. But also, don’t use a lit match or a lighter to light a firecracker find something else. Katol is good…kills mosquitoes too.
Rule number Three. Be Brave…don’t let evil gates let you down.

Christmas Past

After a few months of abuse, the remains of this walking talking doll, came headless into Dad's bedroom still singing.

Freaked Dad out.

Eric's first Christmas

Soo excited opening Santa's Presents

Couldn't be less interested.

Tree Time

The day after thanksgiving is the Reyes official “Put up the Tree Day.” Before that, Dad used to get all huffy and puffy about the start of the Christmas season. For him, it starts the day AFTER Thanksgiving.

Every one knows that in the Philippines, the Christmas Season starts as soon as the
“-ber” months come along. As soon as September starts, people start thinking of presents, food, and shopping.

Personally, I’d start thinking of Christmas wrapping as soon as June. I start color coordinating and buying up lots and lots of satin ribbons and wrapping paper. It’s cheapest around that time anyway. Divisoria Shopping is so much cheaper and there is a lot less traffic.

So as soon as the fourth Thursday of November ends, the Christmas tree goes up.

Plastic of course, as the real trees just recently made its appearance in specialized markets. They smell good but they dry up so fast, and the needles start falling off making such a mess on the floor. The decorations don’t go on properly and it looks kind of weird…but as mentioned, we ARE used to the plastic ones. The real ones are brown and dead by Christmas Eve. Really depressing.

It smells good though…

We usually have a tall green plastic tree. We used to have this strange silver foil feather duster kind of tree. Mama did too. It was silvery, crinkly and sparkly.

Mama’s tree had small story behind it. I remember Mama telling me how she came to buy that particular tree. She said when she saw it at the store and fell in love with it. The problem was that she always had that chronic money problem of hers? (The one which tells her that everything was just too expensive.) Anyway, she fell in love with the foil tree and then proceeded to just look at it. Then she looked at it, then left and then came back for another look…then she left again only to go back a little later on to have just one more look at it.

After coming back to it for the -enth time, Papa finally lost all patience. And told her to just go buy it already…and he proceeded to buy it for her. She thought it was really sweet. I think Papa just got tired of walking back to the thing. You know how guys are when you take them shopping with you….

So that tree was up for years and years…it was decorated with really ornate Christmas balls (Mama made them herself with beads and sequins) and instant presents under the tree.

You know how when you’re a kid you cannot contain yourself when there are presents under the tree?

You peer though the wrapper in case it’s the least bit transparent, you peek through the slit where one end of the wrapper meets the other, and you shake it and shake it trying to guess what’s in the box? Well. Nothing is more frustrating than when the box doesn’t shake…especially when it’s really big and heavy.

After days of suspense, your self-control breaks and you really, really have to see what’s inside…

…so you look around to make sure no one is around, take one end of the present and loosen the tape a little, hoping to maybe see the label of the gift that will tell you what’s in it.

Without fail, I did that with the untagged presents under Mama’s tree. It’s just so suggestive laying there pooled at the foot of the tree. I always asked Juliet…

“Kanino to?”

She’d say, “Wala…

“Anong laman?”

“Wala lang yan.”

And really, what kind of provocation is that? Who’s it for and what’s inside? It’s aggravating not to know... So after a few days shaking and weighing, I peel the tape off the taped up bottom…and in all anticipation, I finally take a look.

I see yellow pages.

I take a longer look and realize it’s the Yellow Pages.

Really, the actual Yellow Pages….you know? “Let your fingers do the walking?”

Oo nga. Wala talaga.

Its just fake out Christmas presents to make the tree look more Christmassy, at least until the real presents come and to “keep the look” until the Christmas decors have to come down at the end of the season.

But without fail, every year, I go crazy just looking at those untagged, unopened presents and I just have to have a look.

Every single year.

The thing is, those “presents” don’t change in wrapper or anything. It looked the same every single year, but every year, I forget what’s in it and it always drove me crazy.

Yellow pages….I still laugh at myself when I see one of those laying about.

Thanksgiving

On each fourth Thursday of November, we used to celebrate Thanksgiving.

It was highly unusual for Filipinos living in the Philippines to do this, as it is a distinctly American tradition calling forth memories of Pilgrims (which we didn’t have) landing on Plymouth rock, (geographically half the world away) and Indians teaching them how to farm and hunt food keeping them from starving.

(Indios we had…Indians not so much)

But Papa always said giving thanks to God is giving Thanks and that no one had a monopoly to that. So Thanksgiving we celebrated each year.

Mostly of course, it revolved upon the Reyes’ food fixation

Particularly Mama’s Turkey and embotido stuffing.

Mama’s turkey was moist and juicy and so very yummy. Cooked in this dented and banged up stainless steel pan with it’s accompanying cover, and baked into yummy goodness in her ancient electric oven which is probably a collector’s item by now.

I liked the dark meat best but my most favorite was also Mama’s favorite.

The Puwit (Tail).

If Mama didn’t want it, Carlos and I would vie for it. Often just halving the fatty giant heart shaped tail into two. Each one had a large bit…considering how large a turkey can get.

The gravy was salty and flavor filled. Made with the liver of the turkey. Light brown, gooey and creamy all at once.

Slathered onto turkey slices, loaded onto a fork with just a bit of cranberry jelly, a bit of stuffing, and mashed potato to top it off…

The perfect bite.

The stuffing was good all on its own. Sweet, smoky, and chewy, with raisins in them. Ground beef, ground pork, hotdogs and an assortment of chopped veggies stuffed into the turkey or rolled into meat logs made extra for those who wanted more…. (You can never get enough stuffing)

Good at Thanksgiving yes but also good made into stuffing burgers the next day. Or just plain slathered in ketchup, eaten with rice...

Heavenly.

Of course there was also the Chicken asparagus soup. Clear chicken broth swimming with shredded chicken and blanched white asparagus spears. Or Mama’s wonton soup, with teeny ground meatballs covered in pale white wonton wrappers all floaty and fogging up the broth. Served hot and steaming.

The sidings were there of course, corn kernels made slick with the addition of melted butter. Potato salad with mayonnaise and chicken and sliced hard boiled eggs mixed in, as well as the Macaroni salad made sweet by pineapple cubes, with orange red shrimp making it more delectable. Mashed potatoes too of course… all fluffy and buttery.

MMMMmmmm

I think I’ll leave off this article on that note. I have Thanksgiving leftovers in my fridge.

I’m going to get me some.

Meany that I am…

You can’t have any…

Ha, ha, ha.