Interpretative Drawing

Four-year old Indie was playing music from my cellphone and had it glued to her ears with one hand while while the other was busy doodling on her drawing board. What exactly was she doing?

Destination Anywhere

The Commitments OST

Come Back To Me

David Cook

Across The Universe

Across The Universe OST

The Sweetest Thing

Just a day away from home and look what I got from my baby...

End of Innocence

Ever wonder what goes on in kids' heads nowadays?

Baby Gaga

I'm afraid even my soon-to-be-five-year-old Indie was not insusceptible to this phenomenon called Lady Gaga. I know her outrageous music videos are far from kiddie fare but my baby caught sight of a couple of them while watching MTV with her two cousins, aged seven and ten, who did not exactly qualify as "parental guidance" providers.

And so, like most of the world, little Indie went Gaga as well. Poker Face, Paparazzi and Bad Romance became our daily ear companions which was fine with me. Until one afternoon when Indie showed me her Lady Gaga doodle and said proudly: "Look, mama, she's only wearing panties!"

It was my turn to go gaga.


Lady Gaga photo grabbed from here.

No to Death

Indie: Inay, I want to grow up fast.

Lola: Why?

Indie: Because if mama dies, I will be alone.

Awww.

More Love for Cory

There's no stopping the outpouring of love for democracy's icon even days after her burial. According to a broadsheet, around 1000 people still pay their last respects at Cory's tomb in Manila Memorial on a daily basis.

As for Times Street, there was a small crowd in front of the bungalow where the revered leader lived for most of her life. There was thick wax covering part of the sidewalk from a thousand candles lit for her eternal rest. There were testaments of affection on streamers and posters. And there was a mounting pile of flowers, mostly yellow, that extended to the walls of the house next to the Aquino's. This was the scene that greeted us last morning when we stopped by, flowers and candles in hand, on the ninth day of Cory's passing.

Still For the Love of Cory

As if the stories on TV were not enough, I, two days after Cory was laid to rest, still heard two personal accounts of humble little sacrifices made as final acts of thanksgiving for the leader we lost.


My sister's bestfriend came with her siblings all the way from our hometown in Batangas on the eve of Cory's funeral. They braved the tempest that brought heavy rains and thick fog to Tagaytay's accident-prone highways and lined up to the Cathedral even if their limbs were still tired from the three-hour car ride. After a brief glimpse of Tita Cory, they had to wade through Manila's flood waters to get back to their SUV parked several meters away, after which they were on to another three-hour journey back home in the wee hours of the morning.

My cousin went with the nuns who ran the hospital where she worked as a nutritionist also on the last day of the wake. It was 3 pm. The lines were long and became longer when viewing had to be stopped to give way to the necrological services. As the heavens seemed to mourn with the throngs, not a single person was not drenched, not directly from the downpour but from water dripping from a sea of umbrellas gathered so closely together. When good Samaritans started distributing boiled eggs by dinnertime, she was so famished she thought she must have swallowed an egg whole and then another. By 11 pm, they were praying in front of the casket and were out in a few minutes. The nuns rode back to the hospital while my cousin waited for her husband who got caught in traffic somewhere near Manila Hotel. She got inside the car at 1 am.

Such were the sacrifices of the nameless faces in the crowd, who gave up several hours of their day without complaint, knowing full well that Cory gave up not just a few days but nearly all days of her life for the people she never stopped believing in.

* Photos grabbed from Google search.