Noise-eee!

I live in what-could-be one of the nosiest neighborhoods in the Philippines. For the most part, the street in front of our house is to be blamed. Jeepneys and tricycles varoom and honk any time of the day, regardless if a resident in one of the houses they pass by is in badly need of peace and quiet. Then at night, heartless motorbike riders go speed-happy and rip the street with their machine’s thunder, a sound which I absolutely hate. Our wooden walls and jalousie windows do so little in insulating our home from unwanted noise. I can only thank God that I only have to deal with a one-way street; otherwise I’d be living in worse auditory hell.

A house or two away from us is a chapel with a sound system which produces excellently amplified sounds. So every time they hold a mass, we don’t have to step outside to hear the priest’s sermon. We just have to sit on the couch and listen. We can actually do away with Sunday TV mass if only there’s a Eucharistic celebration here every Sunday.

I have no problem with Church songs—I honestly like them. I sometimes catch myself unconsciously singing along with the churchgoers. The problem is when a musically challenged priest starts desecrating the notes. Suddenly the songs turn into noise.

I sometimes think that it is not all right for the chapel people to extend the sound they make way beyond the confines of their walls because, they will be risking bothering non-Catholics, let alone non-Christians, living nearby. I mean, hey, I’m just trying to think objectively. What we think of as holy will be rubbish to non-believers so we should spare them.

At the other direction, probably two to three houses away from us, is a videoke bar which stays open, I think, until 11pm, if not later. Their speakers are not as powerful as the chapel but the sound they make is more than felt. At one point I got sick of the most sang song in their playlist, Ella Mae Saison’s “Til My Heart Aches End.” I was tempted to get myself some earplugs. Now don’t get me started on the singing voice or lack thereof of their frustrated customers. I choose to ignore that.

Of course this piece would not be complete if I don’t mention the neighbors from hell who live in a flowery our-o-centric universe. They make noise day and night, night and day; and they don’t care if they bother the neighbors, as if the universe only revolved around them. You will cease to think that children make the sweetest noise when you hear “their” children wailing for hours. Sometimes, I can only mutter, “there goes the demon child again!” (After which I imagine the kid being exorcized.) When the children are not crying they make too much noise just by being excited and all which I can bear—to a certain extend, especially if nothing good is on TV.

The unforgivable part is the adults making the noise. A woman, who, I think, looks after the children, aggravates the kids’ noise by yelling at the kids which irritates me more than the “demon” children going nuts. (I don’t know who the woman is exactly because I rarely go outside and I, more often than not, don’t stare at our neighbors.) The younger members of their household sometimes play songs a little too loudly. I can let it pass but then, the songs border on being OK to being too juvenile, I can only wonder how old they are. Other times, I’d hear loud thumps, cars careening, gun shots, etc. because apparently they are watching a movie and they like to let the whole world know about it.

Brighter side: there are no real guns to worry about. The neighbor with real guns already moved years ago. No kidding.

Going back to the neighbors from hell, who are guilty of keeping us up and then waking us at around 2AM a few months ago, they must have thought, “oh, we’re not noisy enough, let’s push the thing we do best to the limit!” They are now keeping chicks that tweet beyond anyone’s control. I fear the day when those chicks grow up to be chickens or rooster who’d cock and crow as crazily as their masters . Until then, God help me!

In 1999, Matthew McConaughey was charged with a US$50 fine for violating Austin, Texas’ noise ordinance when he got carried away playing his bongos naked inside his home at a little past midnight. If we have that same ordinance in our place, the neighbors from hell will surely be bankrupt by now. That’ll teach them a lesson.

I would hate to sound like the grumpy neighbor because I’m not. I keep quite for as long as I can. But the thing is, I can only tolerate so much. Actually the chicks are the last straw. I honestly don’t know what to do when they start waking me up even before my alarm clock goes off.

As it is, I am having a hard time focusing on things because of the noise around me. I can literally barely hear my thoughts with all the sounds I have strain on a daily basis. And I can see it affects my family, too. We always have to up our TV’s volume to 20 if the show’s good or 25-30 if the show’s truly interesting. We can barely hear each other. We either have to ask the one talking to repeat what he just said or just nod and act like we heard something. And we cannot hear our callers, too. Imagine that! (Or then again, there's a probability that all of us are going deaf.)

One time, I called a friend on the phone. I had to ask her to repeat what she was saying several times before I’d get her message. The jeepneys and tricycles have their way of varooming at the most inopportune time, thereby blocking what could have been an intelligible sound at the other end of the line. Finally my friend asked me where I was. I knew she thought I was in a payphone in a sari-sari store at some street corner; whereas I was seated all by myself inside a room of the house which can be found at what-may-be one of the noisiest neighborhood in the Philippines.

Hay...

Yentl…Lentil—What’s the Difference?

Yentl was on this afternoon at the MGM channel. I think few will know what the movie Yentl is all about or who Yentl is, for that matter.

The movie is a bit old. According to Wikipedia, Yentl premiered on November 16, 1983 (I was three years old then). It is a period film taking off at time most people would probably wish to forget, if not forgotten. Plus it is set in a boring town where people were too conservative, they almost dress alike, not to mention they themselves look almost alike. (Let it be said, however, that the film did well in its time, even winning an Academy Award for Best original score and a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.)

To sum up the story, the movie is about a girl named Yentl (played by Barbra Streisand) who—despite living in an old-fashioned Jewish town that believed that the main requirement for receiving education is testosterone, lots of it—was raised with books and the passion to learn, thanks to her dad who unfortunately dies at the early part of the movie leaving poor Yentl in the dark and forever sentenced to being the typical woman; ergo submissive, uneducated and voiceless. Being that “girl power” is unheard of in their time, Yentl uses “guy power” to pursue the education deprived of her on the grounds of having the “wrong” genitalia. She cuts her hair, binds her bumps and dresses up with her dad’s clothes. (Well, where else could she have gotten her guy wardrobe?) Then she heads off to a new town where no one would know that she is just pretending to be a boy. (If she grew mustache and beard, she’d be pretending to be a man. But her face was as smooth as a baby’s.) She meets the dashing Avigdor who, despite being smart and all, had no idea she was a girl. Perhaps Yentl, changing her name to the masculine name, Anshel, made it impossible for Avigdor to doubt Yentl/Anshel’s sex.

So Avigdor and Anshel get along and become the best of friends. So much so that when Avigdor’s engagement to Hadass (the only glamorous character in the movie) was dissolved by his supposed future father-in-law, he forces Anshel to marry Hadass for him. And since Anshel/Yentl has fallen head over mules in love with Avigdor, she does what Avigdor demmands and marries Hadass. (Not very smart of her.) Anyway Hadass is the typical woman—submissive, uneducated and voiceless—Yentl refused to be. It only took little effort for Anshel/Yentl to delay consummating her marriage with Hadass without having to admit that she (who was pretending to be a “he”) didn’t have the thing Avigdor and guys like him have. Finally, Anshel/Yentl comes up with a plan: take a long trip with Avigdor and confess her secret when they’re all alone. At first Avigdor thought Anshel was kidding, but then he/she unveils her bumps. Viola! Avigdor's Ex-fiancé’s husband is a girl! Now that explains why Avigdor himself felt a bit gay when his and Anshel’s eyes would meet while they go tickling each other in the school grounds. Avigdor and Yentl profess their love for each other and begin planning their future. But Yentl takes a step back when Avigdor suggests that Yentl grow her hair back and study inside the house with locked doors and closed shutters. She is not too keen on the idea of being domesticated and having limited access to learning. In the end, they agree to part ways and keep in touch. Yentl gives her blessing to Avigdor to go and pursue her wife, Hadass. By this time Hadass is no longer a hundred percent submissive, uneducated and voiceless (thanks to their tutorial sessions which they did instead of doing what newlyweds do), she can defend her love for Avigdor to her disapproving father. Avigdor and Hadass get together; they might have gotten married. Anyway Hadass’ marriage to Anshel was null and void on the grounds that her husband, Anshel, was a girl. Meanwhile, Yentl boards a ship to, I guess, the US where she can come out of her closet, be the woman she truly is and study like she hasn’t studied before.

Whew.

Yentl is the perfect movie to show girls who enjoy the privilege of going to school, especially those girls who have the luxury to attend good schools. It kind of reminds them that not all people are as lucky they are. My high school English teacher must have the exact thoughts when she forced us to watch this film. Thus explaining why I know Yentl.

I don’t know how I did with my compulsory reaction paper for this film, being that back in high school; I suck at writing—big time! But I know that even if I almost had a Barbra Streisand-overdose through Yentl, the movie's theme has seeped through my subconscious and presently plays a lot on my feminist view on things. Lucky for me and the rest of womankind, we live in a time when wanting more and attempting to spread one's wings is no longer considered taboo.

Barbra Streisand best exemplifies the essence of the film by being the director, producer, and (treatment) story writer, apart from being the star who plays 2 different characters—well one character with two names. Proved that just like Yentl, she can be a woman who does lots of substantial things. (Whether she's good at all the fields she pursues is yet another story.)

I have to admit however that my classmates and I were snickering when the closing credits rolled because of the number of times Streisand’s name appeared as part of the production, connoting “epal-ness.” (It’s like hearing: "Starring Ronnie Rickets, directed by Ron Rick." Nyek!)

Oh, one famous song that came out of Yentl is Papa. This I’m sure lots of people know.

Bonggang Bongga si Obama!

Looks like the United States of America will be welcoming its first black president. This says a lot about the status of racial acceptance in the US--a good sign of maturity on the nation the world constantly looks up to.

I was personally vying for Obama, not that my opinion counts. For one, he looks sexier than McCain. (Don't you agree?) Hah! And of course I am all for the color. I believe it'll stir things up in the land which is supposed to be flowing with milk and honey (never mind the recession). I saw Obama delivering his speech in one of his last campaigns. A lot of conviction there. I imagine emotional American voters in tears while cheering for him. His campaign sortee pimps can easily relax.

Barack is all for America. He promises to improve on the US health care system, the flawed system we have seen in John Q. Now, Americans can get sick whenever they like. (Kidding.)

But then, the latest buzz says that Obama is against America's outsourcing of services from other countries like ours. Well, he, of course, thinks that his people should be prioritized in the US job market, the opposite of what outsourcing is all about. Until he does something about it, Pinoys in the Call Center industry can only cross their fingers. (My plea: Mr. Obama, please be kind. Don't take it (irate callers?) away from us. We have to feed our families, too.)

Former Pinoy Senator, Ernesto Maceda, however, assures the public that it'll be virtually impossible for US companies to do away with services outsourced in the Philippines. Afterall, we provide them with quality labor at a very low price. Well, I hope Maceda is right.

Besides, Barack ought to have a heart for people like us. I know Superman has.

I can't imagine how the soon-to-be-most powerful man in the United States and, maybe even, in the world is celebrating right now. His is sure to go down in history as one of the best wins in a presidential race.

Obama has less than two months to get his act together and be the president he promised to be.

Until then, we''ll just have to wait how he performs after he takes his oath of office as the president of the United States of America come January 20. 2009.

Can somebody do us all a favor and gag Valerie Concepcion?

For the good of people-kind, will someone please gag Valerie Concepcion?

I can't believe I did not include her in my list of annoying people on TV! I guess I didn't realize then how irritating this girl is until I got stuck into listening (I don't watch) to Wowowee, the TV show I abhor the most which my mom happens to watch religiously from the moment it starts to the next three to four hours or so.

If you have a migraine, better stay away from Valerie and the sounds she makes. If you're fine and you expose yourself to her, then you'll get a migraine. For your own sake, take my advise. Keep away from her!

It will take a mutated hearing system not to get annoyed with Valerie and the noise she makes.

Pepper Lesson From Padma Lakshmi

This afternoon, I chanced upon a show hosted by Padma Lakshmi (host of Top Chef) at Discovery Travel and Living.

Discovery Travel and Living is becoming one of my favorite channels. But watching their shows partly frustrates me. Because by seeing the places they go to and the food they prepare, I realize how many places I want to visit and how much food I have yet to taste. I could just drool with all the good things they “serve” in their shows!

On the other hand, I learn many things from Discovery Travel and Living. Here comes one of them. Thanks, in part, to Padma.

Black pepper was considered black gold early on in India. They are used to purchase goods and, sometimes, to offer to warmly welcomed guests.

The peppers we are familiar with actually come from pepper berries. Green pepper berries are sun-dried to achieve the black pepper we commonly use to season our food.

Meanwhile, white pepper is produced by soaking ripe pepper berries (the berries are red when ripe) in water until the skin loosens. The white seeds that are left are then sun-dried.

Black and white peppers have opposite effects on our tongue. The taste of black pepper lingers more at the tip of our tongue (the lower part) while the flavor of white pepper is perceived more by the back end of our tongue (the part closest to the throat). Thus explaining why white pepper seems to be milder than black pepper in terms of spiciness.

I bet you didn’t know that!


Learn more about peppers here.

Post Halloween Post

I found this today.



Just thought it's worth sharing.

Happy All Saints’ Day

Text ni Goy: Nagpunta b kau k Nichi? Ang weird ng undas! Parang Pasko.
Sagot ko: Kanya-kanya kmeng dalaw k Nichi e. Ung bestfriend daw ni Nichi e dumaan na kanina. Para ngang fiesta ang undas. Ang saya. Kaso pagkaharap mo n lapida ng loved-one mo, depressing.

Text ulit ni Goy: Katakot isipin pg tau n ang nsa hukay. :-/…
Sagot ko ulit: …pag tayo n nasa hukay, sna uso p dn pagcelebrate ng undas para naman kht once a yr fiesta mode s mga “bahay” natn.

Siguro ito na nga ang time of the year kung saan pinakamaliwanag dahil sa mga kandilang nakatirik. At kagaya ng observation ni Goy, parang happy mood ang lahat.

(Photo c/o Soy)

Perhaps I have issues. Or then again, I may not be completely healed yet kaya may kurot ang undas para sa akin. Ganunpaman, gusto kong i-share ang All Saints day moments ko.







And by the way, we did visit Nichi as a family later this day.

si nichi


si ma


si soy


si dad


Kunwari spirit ako