Archive for September, 2014

29 Sep

My Philippine vacation, part 2

Posted by renxkyoko in Barbie Dolls, my life, Philiipine culture, Philippines, Random thoughts, Taal Volcano. Tagged: , , , , , .

Hello, there.  Renxkyoko Iglesias here.

My  last post  was about crying at sad movies, and I listed down some of the movies that tugged at my heartstrings.  But I forgot one…. the last Toy Story movie.  I cried at that part where grown -up Andy  bequeathes  gives away his beloved  treasures  toys  to a little  girl.   Well, I did  exactly the same thing this week.  I   finally said  goodbye to my beloved Barbie doll and Toy Story  collection and donated them to , I hope, a  deserving brat child who will take care of my stuff lovingly.

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.In that box are over a hundred  beautiful Barbie gowns and dresses, a revolving dress closet, kitchen, dresser,  ( I gave away that stupid  cute barbie car a long time ago), etc.  and most importantly, my Toy Story toys… Woody, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head,  Jessie,  and  sadly, my beloved Buzz Lightyear.  * Buzz, parting is such sweet sorrow.  But I’m an adult now. I can’t play with you anymore.  So, here’s to you, pal….  To Virginity  Infinity and Beyond !!!!! *

Oh. I’m keeping my complete collection of Pokemon cards.  Sorry, kid.  You don’t know what my mother  I went through to complete it.  Not gonna happen.

So…….. here’s part 2 of my fun vacation in the Philippines, as promised.

We spent the first few days after our arrival visiting malls, shopping, and tasting Filipino foods and delicacies at the mall food courts.  So, okay, not all were Filipino foods,  like this Japanese omurice rice ( fried rice wrapped in omelette ) and sizzling steak with mushroom gravy.

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That red thing is ketchup. I think Filipinos love ketchup., seriously.  I mean, my father drowns his sunny side up  in that thing and my Mom does  it with French fries. Half a bottle of ketchup is used up for medium sized fries.   Oh, and it has to be Del Monte catsup, not Hunt’s, nor Heinz…  Eh, what am I saying …..

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.Steak, with rice, and I don’t know if you can see the sunny side up, but it’s there, with the carrots and beans. Ha ha What a combo. Both dishes are USD 2 each.  Cheap, huh.

Photos below  are of   family reunion at our house.

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That’s me in the photo, looking bored. But I wasn’t bored.  I was concentrating on the Monopoly game.

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Just a few slice of life photos above.

The following day, we were invited  by a relative to see the smallest volcano in the world,  Taal Volcano , located about an hour drive ( 50 km./31 mi ) from our house.  Taal Volcano is active,  in fact,  there were so much seismic activities  that were detected in 2011.  Its last violent eruption was in 1977.

The drive to Taal was quite interesting .  Our relative, who was also the driver, played the same songs over and over again… ABBA, Tears for Fears, and one singer  whose name I can’t recall at the moment. Worse, she and my Mom knew the lyrics… so yeah.  * You are the dancing queen,  young and sweet, only seventeen….lalala ” .  The singing was interrupted when Mom opened the glove compartment and saw a small gun.  ” What the h*ll  ! ”  So, okay, our relative ia a senior Prosecutor in the city of Manila, and that gun was issued to her by the mayor for her protection.  Three years ago, she prosecuted the mistress of a rich man for attempted murder. Our relative received death threats purportedly made by the mistress’s relative. They are now both in jail.  And our relative assured us there were no bullets in the gun. Still…. Anyway, they continued singing.  It drove  me crazy.  And then I saw this……

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Then this…..

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.Can you read it ?  It says ” Warning.  P 2,000 ( $46) Minimum Payment for Bumping Barrier. ”  Ha ha ha !   We don’t have that here in the  US !

Well, I have to stop here.  Part 2 of our Taal Volcano trip will be on my next post.

 

Thank you for reading , folks ! be well, and PEACE !

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16 Sep

I cry, therefore I am.

Posted by renxkyoko in Random thoughts, sad movies. Tagged: , , , .

Hello ! Renxkyoko Iglesias here. * waves*

Has anyone watched the movie Transcendence ?  I watched it last night, and  oh, wow, I bawled my eyes out at the end of the movie.  I mean, it’s a syfy movie, for pete’s sake, and  we’re not supposed to cry, right? Well,   it’s  about self-aware  computers, and all that stuff, and you know,  I didn’t really  understand any of it,  but at the end of the movie, it becomes  pure, eternal love!  Well, that’s how I see it , anyway. If you say, I’m just a sentimental , simple-minded fool, it’s fine by me. So, tell me,  what movies  made you cry? I’m talking buckets of tears here, like,  you know, waterfalls,  dams breaking,  and non-stop crying for one day.  By the way, do men cry at movies ?

Anyway, here are some of the movies that tugged at my heartstrings, choked me up, and opened the floodgate of tears.

1. Ghost………….. The love shown  on Sam’s face as he utters the words, “I love you, Molly, ” and  , starts to disappear into heavenly light…. that killed me, darn it.

2. Marley and Me….. I saw 2 tatooed  bikers with swollen , red eyes,   come out of the cinema. Well, the movie’s about a dog ‘s unconditional love for and its loving relationship with its human masters.

3. The Notebook…… Oh. my . gosh, the feels ! ! ! The dam burst at that part of the movie when the nurses see  the lovers, Noah and Allie, lying together in bed ,……both die peacefully, still holding each other’s hand.  Love beyond death.

4. Harry Potter, last movie….. as Snape lies dying in Harry’s arms, he asks Harry to look at him so he can gaze at Harry’s eyes one last time.  Harry looks exactly like his father, except the eyes. They are his mother’s… and we all know his mother is Snape’s one , true love. It is this love that has kept Harry safe and protected  from Valdemort.  So, that’s the significance of Harry’s eyes., nothing more, nothing less.  Heck, I didn’t even cry when Prof. Dumbledore died. I cried for Snape’s undying love.

5.  Grave of the Fireflies……. Roger Ebert considered it, to  quote ” one of the best and most powerful war films, and included it on his ” Great Movies ” list. Believe it or not, this is a Japanese animated film , made by Isao Takahata. Rotten Tomatoes had given it a 97% approval rating,  a film, they say, that is powerfully profound and beautiful.

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* tears falling *  My dear readers, I urge you to watch this film, especially at this time when we see the  clouds of war looming on the horizon.

6. The Little Match  Girl….. I read the story when I was  8 years  old, and watched the short film too. I wrote about this a few years ago here on my blogsite.  I guess it’s easier to just copy  , paste and revise.  So here it is.

 Have you ever read a book that made such a great impact on your psyche that it changed how you view the world? Well, there’s this little children’s book titled The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen that I read it when I was 8 years old. I remember my teacher was a Philippine-American  named Miss Silao, who assigned us some books to read and to make a short book report on . I think I made a rather heartfelt   book report,  (” children should be loved, not get beaten, children should just play, not sell matches, children should be happy, not die on Christmas Day.” ), and disturbing enough that  Miss Silao  talked to me after class. I remember telling her ( I was in tears, too ) I did not like the book, that it upset me that a little girl died. Miss Silao explained  it was just a story the author made up, that nothing like that ever happened. I don’t remember if Miss Silao managed to appease me or not, but, to this day, I still tear up everytime I think of the little match girl. I realize now the story was a mere social commentary of that era. Sadly, it still rings true today. There are millions of children out there that get beaten and abused and go to bed hungry.

If  I wrote that book report today, it would turn out like this…. ” children should be loved, not get beaten or killed, children should just play, not dodge bullets, children should be happy,  and not bombed away. ”

7. Forrest Gump….. Forrest Gump does not show any emotion,  even when his mother and Jenny, his friend/lover,  die……. he does not cry, he does not laugh, except at the last scene where he visits Jenny’s grave (  his childhood friend and the mother of his child)  and,  for the first time in his life, he breaks down, and cries, and says, over and over again, ” I miss you , Jenny.” Forrest Gump is so pure. Darn it.

That”s it.  So, what movies make me cry ?  True Love.

Thank you for reading. PEACE.