Jackieh, a library assistant, had to walk fast or run to be on time for work. Tardiness would mean a salary deduction if her reason for being late is not acceptable. During the pandemic when the norm was to work from home, she set the alarm 10 minutes before 10 a.m., her time in, so...
Category: Lifestyle
Post
Family and Fossils: Million-year-old gifts from my wife and sisters
(Third of three parts) Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find, Family and fossils: My grandchild Meg and a treasure trove I have in my hand a fossil—the remains of an ancient creature called a trilobite. This animal-looking rock resulted when the trilobite was buried and minerals replaced its body parts....
Post
Family and fossils: My grandchild Meg and a treasure trove
(Second of two parts) First of two parts : Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find I found my second fossil—and a third, a fourth, in fact several shoe boxes full—practically at my doorstep. It was in the summer of 2003 when I was vacationing in Mandaue, the same summer my...
Post
Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find
(First of two parts) I found my first fossil on a rocky shore in Catmon, a town an hour’s drive from Cebu City. My family and I were on a drive through the countryside north of the city: Liloan, Danao, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod … On the way back we stopped at the only decent public...
Post
Arayat Rizalistas believe in superiority of spiritual education
Filipinos honor their heroes—the men and women who led or contributed to the country’s struggle for freedom against the Spanish colonizers—on the last Monday of August, which falls on Aug. 28 this year. But for a group in Arayat, Pampanga, every day is spent in veneration of National Hero Jose Rizal. The group’s members do...
Post
What’s a guy in his 70s doing trying to ride a bike?
Sometime last April, I had nerve pain in my right leg. In previous bouts with such pain in my leg or bum, I simply waited a few days and the pain went away. This time a week went by but the pain stayed. I checked medical websites for a clue. I found that in the...
Post
There’s hope for stray animals in surge in pet ownership
“If you get a pet, it should be a lifetime commitment” was the message that Sharon Bengzon Yap harped on throughout the interview. She expounded at length on her message: Raising a pet is somewhat like raising a child. There are boxes to be ticked, from decent shelter to regular checkups at the vet. Fur...
Post
Being Filipino as the most natural thing to do
Isabel Padua Grant’s home in Nottingham, like many other English homes, has a traditional English garden. But the living room of that home, at the time when her British-Filipino children were growing up, had marks of the tropics, like native baskets, tribal figures, wood carvings. It was definitely not a traditional English home. From her...
Post
Taiwan the second time around
Back in 2005, I flew to Taiwan with my then boyfriend Joel for his dragon boat team’s competition. It was our first trip abroad together, but we didn’t get the chance to explore the country as our movements were limited to leaving our hotel for the race site and going back to it. Fast forward...
Post
In the highlands with the grand old lady of ‘batok’
Carpe diem! What do Apo Whang-Od and I have in common? Let me (presumptuously) try to count the ways. Apo Whang-Od, the oldest living tattoo artist—mambabatok—has become Vogue’s oldest cover star, and I have branded myself as the oldest stariray with tattooed arms in my clan. And like her, I have a following, too! My...