the common good

I am an advocate of common good. It’s not anything formal, but I know within me I have a profound belief in it. I am one of the regular victims of this. And being that lucky, I can’t help but tell myself: If the best things in life are free, then this so-called common good is bliss. But wait the minute, before I dig deeper into this, what the heck is common good? Simply put, common good is our ability to do good things to others, instinctively. No strings attached, No nothing. Just pure, straightforward, 100% goodness from us. The reason I brought this up because of what happened last Tuesday (Yeah, it took that long for me to blog it, I am that busy).

It was a usual morning. I’m running late, I skipped my meal and things weren’t there when you need ‘em. Dang! You can’t find the keys even when you’re holding them. Or your belt that you wore last night which you are so sure that you have it on one of your jeans. Or the shirt you’ve just ironed. Morning rush is such an ordeal for me. If you think that’s not enough, wait till I get into the jeep. Are you familiar with those “Barya lang po sa umaga (Please pay coins during morning)” stickers? Well, I am. And I hate them. Why? Because it’s very effected on me. ‘See, most of the time I have paper bills instead of coins. And it’s like “Oh shit, wala na naman akong barya (Oh shit, I’m out of coins again)“. If you haven’t been in such situation, consider yourself lucky. You are saving yourself from tons of humiliation. And the only solution for that is to pretend that it’s not 6AM in the morning and pay the fare with your bill. And the driver will say “Bosing, wala ba kayong barya, kakalabas ko lang e (Hey man, don’t you have coins?)“, and I would react (for a million times) “Ay boss, sorry, wala e (Sorry man, I’m out of coins) “. And that, by the way, should be followed by an innocent look in your face. Here’s a tip: make it look like it’s your first time so that driver would let you pass.

But that day, the story took a different turn. When almost everyone got off the jeep, I slowly told the driver “Boss, wala talaga akong barya e, Pasencia na (I’m really out of coins) “. Pissed, the driver has no option but to let me pass. And then suddenly, a man in front of me interrupts with “Brader, heto o (Hey Bro, here, take it)“, while he hands me one five-peso and three one-peso coins. I was surprised. He continue with ”Cge na, Brader, tanggapin mo na (Come on, Bro. Take it)“. Though the situation is still sinking in, I grabbed the coins and hand it over to the driver. I was so thankful to the guy. I felt so relieved.

Where have we gone into that small things like this seem to be foreign. Why can’t we have that good ol’ bayanihan spirit or offering some seats for the ladies just like before? Or have the cockpit honesty? And start making things simple and easy.

ilocus region: a review

Last Saturday, Emer, Kiko and I had our long awaited trip to the province of Ilocus. It was initially planned as a Vigan trip but it turned out to be a whole adventure in Region I, the Ilocus region. We started our trip last Saturday, 12:00 AM in Manila (Yup, we had to go to manila because that’s where the bus station to Laoag is). We were supposed to ride the 10 o’clock bus but we missed it by 2 person. Dang! We traveled roughly 600 kilometers — that’s a 10-hour sleep-talk-wander-sleep-talk-wander routine — and believe me your creativity will surely kick in. The fare is PhP 701, and don’t ask me what the hell is that 1 peso for.

Our first destination is Pagudpod which is, by the way, the farthest. It is located at the northernmost region of the Philippines. The travel was very exciting. We had our first stop in Ilocus Sur. One thing I’ve noticed here are the mountains, very dense and bold. The ocean, which beautifully sits next to it, has rough shores. I can’t exactly remember the name of the town, but we enjoyed some of the local delicacies there like Dinakdakan (we suspected that it was a dog meat, but we ate it anyway), Papaitan and Pinakbet. We had our second stop in Vigan but we didn’t get off the bus yet. I’ll have the details about it later. From Vigan, we traveled 2 more hours to get to Laoag, which is also another great City. From Laoag, We traveled another 1 and a half hours to Pagudpod. This is one of the highlights. While the bus is taking a curve the scene slowly unveils us a magnificent, proposal-place-candidate (as Kiko coined it) view. The scene was breathtaking. I’ll try to describe it here but you have to forgive for the details that I’ll miss out.  The town is called Bangui. It is situated between 2 mountains, in front is an azure beach. On its shore are windmills, around 100-feet tall, which were perfectly decorated to add more beauty to the view. The windmills supply the town’s electricity. We just can’t get enough of the view.

Next to Bangui is Pagudpod, finally. Pagudpod is a quiet town. Freaky quiet to be honest. It was Sunday afternoon but there were at most 20 people, in the plaza! We still have to take a 15-minute tric (tricycle) to get to the resorts. It’s a long beach so there are plenty of resorts. We’ve visited a few and finally settled to a resort called ‘Apo Idon’ for a P1, 800 overnight. It was a good deal. The room can accommodate 3 – 6 people (hehehe), there’s a pool, it was beachfront hotel, cable is good, and breakfast for is also 4 included. Oh, don’t forget the perks, the cook (hehehe) and the lady beside the pool (hehehe, nice ‘mer). The foods were also great. We had some Bagnet (pork rinds) and Kare-Kare. The beach was awesome. Pagudpod is branded as ‘Boracay of the north’. Though not white-sanded, it has fine mocha sand. The waves are just fair, not to too rough and not too calm. We really had a good in time there.

We had to leave early the next morning since we still have to get to Laoag and Vigan. Laoag is a typical pinoy city. The Filipino culture is well-defined on the place and people. The major transportations within the city are tric and calesa. Tric will cost 7 pesos per head so it’s very cheap. We made a quick tour in the town and in one of the museum. The museum is called ‘Abel Iloco’; it showcases old Filipino artifacts and tools. It’s very educational.

It was passed lunch when we reach Vigan, one of my favorites in the trip. It was a very poetic experience.  The way I see it, Vigan is like Italy (I haven’t been to Italy yet so correct me if I’m wrong). Every wall, every street is full of emotions. Full of stories. Walking along Crisologo St. is very thrilling. It’s like the fifteenth century passing before you. It makes you wanna speak in Spanish, “Muchacho, rapido! rapido!“, hahaha. Also, the Belle Tower of Batac is great. Trivia: this is where Panday pull his sword in the movie. We’ve visited a few more place and head back home.

All in all it was a great experience. If you like traveling I highly recommend it. I’m gonna give Pagudpod 7.5 stars, Laoag also 7.5 and Vigan with 8 stars.

Next: We’re going south! Bohol.

expect

If assumption is the mother of all screw-ups then expectation should be the father. We’ve been crushed by expectation before. It is a luxury we often mistake as necessity. Dont’t fret, I am not here to dissent it, where would be the beauty in that? Expecting make plans exciting. It makes people interesting.  We will expect over and over again, blindly and stupidly. But expect according to your grasp. If you cannot sleep at night easily then don’t expect a lot.  If you find yourself always thinking then do yourself a favor to keep your mind from expecting. Expectation is not a food. Having enough is too much. Just a slice will do, to spice everything up.

And you can quote me for that.

the burden of my name

Now that my eyes are locked on something, I have to deal with one thing that I feared most in my life: my name. To the least, I don’t hate my name. I was named after our national hero after all. What I hate are the atrocities in it. My real name is Jose A. Capistrano Jr. 4th, ‘mind you that there are no typos’ there. Yes. That’s how exactly my birth certificate shows. 4th. Damn. It was a revolting revelation to me when I first laid eyes on my birth certificate. Literally, I don’t know what to do. But my head shake voluntarily. And the images of horror pass before me, “This cannot be good”, I uttered.

For the last few days, I’ve been dodging lines, begging to people, and being to places I never thought I will be. Do the math: your name, as you know it, is not what it is. How bad could it be? Well, let me put it this way, bad is a mediocre word for that. You know what’s the most frustrating part? It was a stupid mistake. Why in the world would someone put ‘4th‘ instead of ‘IV‘ in a birth certificate? That person for sure never attended a single history class. Kings have roman numerals suffix. Even Popes. Even common people. Bummer.

So right now I am slowly fixing things up. And I consider myself lucky. Though tedious, it’s been very fruitful. Wish me luck peeps!

wa.. u.. e.. lala?

I paid my son a visit last Sunday. His grandma’ was so excited to brag his new talent: counting. Proudly, I lifted my son and asked “Cge nga anak, bilang ka.” He stared at me for a few moments and start counting with his fingers “Wa.. U.. E..   Lala?” (One, Two Three, Wala na? )

Hahaha. Well, according to my mom I learned to talk when I was 5.

mines of moria

I watched Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring again last night, and as expected I was at the edge of my sit. I’ve seen this movie a million times but I’ll always grab a popcorn for this one over and over again. One of the scenes that caught me this time is the Mines-of-Moria scene. Remember that one? The fellowship was just established and they’re on their way to the land of Mordor to destroy the ring. The problem is they cannot cross the Misty Mountains because Saruman is pissing them off by casting lightning that cause avalanche on their way. Although Gandalf was reluctant to choose Mines of Moria as their escape route, he doesn’t have a choice. Now, the thrilling part was when Gandalf confronted the Balrog of Morgoth (the fire-demon creature with a whip) on the bridge of Khazad-dûm, where he made that famous statement “You shall not pass!”, and then, well, he died. Hehe. Now, I hope you  are still following me because here’s the cheesy part.

At that very moment, right after Gandalf have fallen, everything was left to Aragorn. Everything. The leadership of the team. The emotional burden. And he has to hide his grief and push the team to keep on going because he knows the danger they’re in. It was a very tough call but he has do it. Watching everyone grieve while you stay invincible so that everyone can believe that they can count on you is an act of magic.

We all have been to Mines of Moria. Figuratively, of course. We’ve been into positions where we cannot go back, because we’ve gone so far. We’ve been into positions where we cannot stay because staying will cost too much. We all have been in position where there’s nothing left to do but to move forward. Moving forward.. which, ironically, the most painful of all.