Telegram

There used to be two big names here that offer telegraph and telegram services. The nation relied on this service for its main communication. People relied on this for airport and pier arrivals of people, cargoes, merchandise and money transfers. Bottom line, our economy depends on this service.

A “social telegram” is for special occasions. In those days, getting a social telegram is a big deal. A “regalo gram” is a gift sent thru telegram. You get to choose from a catalogue which item you want to send. A “singing telegram” is when the delivery guy sings a song to the recipient. All these are the essentials of the decade’s social communication.

The later generations are actually not familiar of what I am discussing here. They sure miss the sweet thrill of waiting for the arrival of a social telegram. They have not experienced the process of going to a telegram counter to file a message; the annoyance of falling in line for sending an urgent message; the feeling of having a box full of telegram files received.

With the advent of cellular phones, the first industry affected were the pager companies, then the telegraph and telegram communication followed. An enormous loss for some companies, for the benefit of other company’s technological advancement. The cellular phone era has made a huge impact on the economy. What used to be an hour’s wait for a message seem to be incredibly overcome by a cellular phone’s “instant” messaging.

Before we leave this world’s high-technology competition, we will see more advancement and development that would leave the cellular phone era obsolete.

The Wonder Dog

Sept. 09, 2006

George joined our household when he was 4 months old. He was still a puppy at that time but his size was comparable to an adult mongrel. George is a pedigree golden retriever.

George grew up and became attached to his master. He was also very sensitive. He knows his master’s mood. When his master gets angry at things not related to him, he would also sulk as if he apologizes for it. He always anticipates his master’s mood.

He receives the newspaper delivered by the newspaper guy every early morning. George would take it from the gate and bring it to his master’s location wherever it is in the house. If anyone would attempt to intercept the paper, he would not be successful even until the paper would be ripped into tiny pieces.

His latest trick learned was the “butterfly wink”. This trick is similar to where you would tell a toddler to show his/her “beautiful eyes”. The toddler would then rapidly blink the eyes and show a cute face. George can do that too! I had no access to any sort of video gadget that time otherwise I would have shown it here.

George was my constant companion everyday. I was self employed during those times so I had the freedom to bring George with me wherever I go. I would just load him in the rear of the pick-up truck and off we go.

George’s “nanny” left us and it was also the time when I was starting my employment with a company that requires me to work at least eight hours, I sort of neglected George. He became ill. He acquired lice and mites and lost his appetite. His weight dropped rapidly and I knew he was sick. I took the signs for granted and thought he was just lonely and needed my usual attention. One night I cried when he did not respond to my call, he was down but he was still breathing. I knew George was suffering. I went to sleep broken-hearted and hoping a miracle would cure him. I woke up at 3:00 A.M. to check on George. He was dead. I could not put my grief into words as George was really one of a kind.

What's In A Word

As a seaman in the past, I travelled to several seaports in South American countries for a couple of years. I even travelled to Spain as well. I  mingled with stevedores, longshoremen and cab drivers and learned some local slangs and phrases. I became more interested in learning new words and its etymology. This gave me the opportunity to enrich my Spanish slang vocabulary.

I jumped off my seat weeks ago the first time I heard an advertisement being played on the TV. The ad was paid by a senator aspiring to be president. The rapper in the commercial rapped the word "conyo" in his lines. Does he know what he's rapping about? I was really surprised.

Our country being a Spanish colony for 300 years, still has descendants of Spanish speaking families who preserved the language in their clan through generations. These people would surely understand what "conyo" means. (It is written coño in Spanish).

Coño is synonymous with concha, chucha in Spanish. For those who really wants to know, do some research. Start with yahoo's English-Spanish/Spanish English translator or dictionary. You'll be surprised.

Some Things Are Never Right I

Sept. 04, 2009

My sister instructed me to deposit the money I owe her thru a CASH CARD which is definitely not familiar to me. I asked for instruction thru text messaging because I complained of having a hard time filling out the form with the information she supplied me. I was already inside the bank struggling with the form when she called me for instruction. While I was talking to her, I felt a light pat on my shoulder. I turned and saw the security guard gesturing something about my phone. I ignored him but I realized he wanted me to step out of the bank while I was using my cellullar phone. I finished the call and asked him why did he call my attention. I was right, he wanted me to step out while using my cellular phone.

What? I think this is a stupid thing. How could I fill out the form if I step out of the bank? At first I thought the bank should have reviewed this ridiculous policy before imposing it, but then as I saw the sign posted near the counter, I realized it isn't the banks fault. It's the guards stupidiy at work.

I think they lack training and briefing regarding rules on this particular issue to bank clients or customers. They should be made aware of the purpose of the restriction. They should base this policy case to case. They should understand what "Thank You for not using your cellular phones and other electronic gadgets inside the bank premises" means.

Some Things Are Never Right II

Sept. 04, 2009

A few minutes later (In the same bank mentioned in Part I), I was already done filling out my form and was lining-up for a teller. I thought I heard an argument behind me but I did not mind it, there was a loud voice. Later on, I heard the same loud voice demanding to see the bank manager. Now I can see him. He was so irate because he was told by the security guards to fall in line for him to change his foreign currency. He complained why does he have to fall in line for a currency change. I can tell that he is an American, definitely, but he is not the type of American I see everyday in our office. He is an impolite and condescending American. He literally threw his weight around the bank demanding to see the manager. His loud voice drew the attention of everybody in the bank. (don't ask me why can I tell he's an American)

By the way, in America do people fall in line for a bank transaction or not?  I think they do.

My EDSA Experience

At first when the announcement of former President Cory Aquino’s death came thru text message, I was expressionless, as if it were just a routine spam message received. A few minutes later, it sunk to my senses that we just lost the Philippine icon of democracy. Cory Aquino’s death is a great loss to our nation. It was the success of 1986 EDSA bloodless revolution that placed Cory Aquino in the seat of presidency. After Ninoy’s death, she ran against Marcos in the SNAP election and was allegedly cheated. The people became uncontrollably outraged.

I can still remember in February 1986 when my board mate woke me up early in the morning telling me that Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Constabulary chief General Fidel Ramos were inside a military camp in EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue), rebelling against President Ferdinand Marcos. In short, they took over the camp and gained the sympathy of all the dwellers there. It wasn’t so easy but this was the beginning of the fall of the Marcos regime. I, and some other guys in the boarding house in Leon Guinto St. (Malate) decided to head up to EDSA to find out the real situation. We heard on the radio that public transport along the entire EDSA was not available because it was full of people. We walked from our place, making a short cut along Buendia and Ayala avenue then EDSA. I was struck with awe when I saw the number of people in EDSA. I was hoping that negotiation will occur and this will probably be over by tomorrow. It did not happen.

Although Enrile, Ramos and the “rebels” took over the camp, their numbers are no match to the Armed Forces of Marcos positioning themselves outside the camp waiting for orders to attack and arrest them. All the gates in the camp were locked down by the people to prevent the Armed Forces from doing so. An ultimatum was given to Enrile and Ramos to surrender otherwise, the Armed Forces will breach the gates, attack them that might result in killing them. At that point the gates were cordoned more heavily by people sacrificing themselves as human shields to prevent it from happening. I experienced a stand-off between the people and the military. We were standing with the cordon of priests, nuns, businessmen, movie personalities, the media and people from all walks of life. Opposite us, a few feet away were the battery of heavily armed, full battle geared Armed Forces of Marcos.

There were some twist of events, at one time we had to facilitate a passage for a platoon of heavily armed Marines who changed sides. At first we mistook them as intruders, but they pleaded to give them a safe passage to the camp in which we did. Several other breakaway groups at different entry points followed the procedure until the camp gained more military support. They grew in numbers by the end of day There were numerous attempts to breach the cordon at different entry points but they were unsuccessful. At one point the military fired several canisters of tear gas at the crowd and started advancing to disperse the cordon. But the direction of the wind shifted to the military’s direction, without gas masks themselves, the soldiers fell back and gasped for air. The nuns who were praying at that time stated that it was a divine intervention.

This is only a chip of the experience I am relating in my EDSA experience. I am proud to be a part of the EDSA Revolution, I am proud of Corazon Aquino who led the people with pureness of heart and love.

Malling

I usually try to figure out how to spend my day off with less spending. You need to have 500 pesos if you plan to go to a mall and pass the time there. If you intend to have your lunch there and let the time pass until late afternoon, you will be spending more.

I tried to beat the expense by eating lunch at home before heading to the mall. Even though I just had lunch, once I got there, I am really tempted to enter my favorite food joint.

The crispy chicken, the bubbly pepsi, the mouth-watering pizza or the roasted chicken, the hot rice with "dinuguan" (blood soup) are just few of the enticing dishes. The temptation is irresistible. Even if it's your bottom money, you would surely shed it.

I sometimes tried to economize by buying just two slices of take out pizza and devour it with coffee in my favorite coffee shop. After the "feast", I usually dwell longer there and literally pass the time away. Sometimes I fall asleep for an hour. The baristas don't mind you dozing off in the chair. What I'm concerned about are the thieves, they might take the chance and strip me off my valuables which actually I don't have.

That particular coffee shop used to be my regular hang-out, but when they had this placed renovated, the ambiance changed. Refills for half the amount is not so popular in this coffee shop, I guess. Once I tried to have a refill, they were caught by surprise for a moment and did not know how to charge me.

After I leave coffee shop I usually move around to window-shop. The best thing about window shopping is, you can shop as much as you want but you don't have to pay anything.

I also get excited when I see that a good film is being shown in one of the theatres inside the mall. I would not have second thoughts in viewing it and bringing a burger and soda for refreshments is a consequence, but recently I find myself falling asleep during the showing, one movie I can recall was when I watched "Da Vinci Code".  At the end of the day, I head back home feeling tired but felt that my "malling" experience for the day was worth it's toll.