Blogs from Jupiter

A girl friend of mine sent me a text message this morning asking me this question: “If you were in my situation, who would you rather choose? My new and young boyfriend whom I love so much but is unsure of what he wants in life, or my mature boyfriend of seven years who loves me so much?”

For this blog’s episode, let us name my girl friend Sasha (she wants me to write her life’s story… so Sasha (not her real name), I am starting to write your story), and the new boy friend as Dino, and the old boy friend as Vhon (not really that old coz Vhon is just about the same age as Sasha, with Sasha older by a few months. In Dino’s case, Sasha is the cougar, about eight years of age gap).

Sasha-Vhon is your ideal couple. They’ve been together since the age of the Flintstones. I know this couple even before they were together. Knowing Sasha, Sha abhors complacency and routine. Vhon is nice and mature, and stable and secure in all aspects. My conclusion is that she has become bored with the relationship. She told me that she still has feelings for Vhon but something is wrong, something is empty with the relationship. Vhon, on the other hand, is still so much in love with Sasha.

Vhon just discovered Sasha’s relationship with the younger Dino. Sasha, in fact, confessed her relationship with Dino because she wants to end her relationship with Vhon. Vhon was of course hurt, but he did not call it quits. He’s willing to fight for Sasha.

Sasha-Dino is your typical clandestine couple. Dino: the hot, young, temperamental, raw, brusque, your leather-jacket stubbled motor cycle guy; and Sasha: committed with someone but who is unhappy and bored with the relationship. They only get to meet in the odd places and during unholy hours. He has a bachelor’s pad. I also had the opportunity to see Dino, and reading them as a couple, I would say both are hot! It’s like both just came out from a porn movie.

I wouldn’t blame Sasha for falling in love with Dino. But I’ve asked her, what if Dino is just giving you a ride? And she said it doesn’t matter because she loves him and he makes her happy. Now, we have a problem here. I love my friend Sasha and I wouldn’t want her hurting in the end. I had the chance to talk with Dino, and figured out his feelings for Sasha. And yes, I believe Dino is also in love with Sasha. But then again, Dino is a still a kid. He would say things, a lot of things, but we’ve been there, and we know that all he’s saying are just empty promises. Not that we are turning Dino down but we know… we know… we were like Dino some ten years ago. All of us went through that stage. I also don’t know if Sasha can handle someone like Dino.

Sasha is also having a hard time letting go of Vhon. A seven year relationship is still seven years. 

(To be continued).

I have a full time night job. I work as a news writer for a news content and syndication company based in Florida in the U.S. If its night time in the Philippines, its day time in the U.S. East Coast; so if its 6 p.m. here, it’s exactly 6 a.m. there.

I write mostly business news and a lot of caboodle and stuff. I enjoy covering the transport beat especially the aviation and shipping industries. I enjoy the boardroom drama that’s why I cover a lot of mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeovers and buyouts. And my work with privatized utilities and state divestment of government businesses and services made it easier for me to cover these events, and this time, on a global scale.

The nature of the job is the re-writing of the news, news already posted in the worldwide web. We re-write, properly attributing our news sources. In terms of pay, pay is okay, not much, but I am happy writing the stories. I get to write stories about my personal advocacies such as privatization of state utilities and government services, freedom of speech and of the press, religious tolerance, information technology, renewable and alternative sources of energy, and the environment.

It’s a whole lot of work, I tell you. Most of the time I even extend time without pay because someone has to re-tell news on hunger in Africa, political oppression in Burma, the election of a new leader, the melting glaciers and ice caps, killing of whales and sea lions, extreme cold weather in Siberia, and many others.

I love both my day and night jobs. My day job provides food on the table, travel, and that fulfillment as a public relations professional, while my night job satisfies my appetite for the things I love to write about, and of course, the extra income. I am still a journalist at heart. My day ends at exactly one o’clock in the morning, Philippine time, or one o’clock in the afternoon in the U.S. East Coast.

I am time warped, and every time people ask me about time and dates, I really get confused. Its fun though, coz when everyone is asleep at the other side of the globe, here you are making a living. No time is wasted, and on top of that, I am aware of what’s happening around my world. 

Ahhh… at last, an opportunity to update my Friendster blog. It felt like a million years since the last time I visited this. Been crazy and toxic lately. Done stupid things for the past months. But all is well… so far, so good. Let us say, I went through a big crisis. Big time! It was one helluva roller coaster ride. At that time, I just want the earth to swallow me alive. I was down, really down.

But life is good. The Good Lord is, of course, truly good. Because if not for this faith, which is all I got, I could have done something more stupider. Now, all I can say is life goes on… things happen for a reason… and all these shall pass… and it did pass.

I cannot say that I have fully recovered. I am still healing the wounds that I have created. Not only self inflicted wounds, but wounds I inflicted onto others. I’ve put a lot of people down. I have disappointed all of you.

I am but human. We are all but humans. I am not washing my hands from the wrong that I have committed. And whether I like it or not, I am responsible for my actions.

God has His ways of trying to correct what was wrong. Sometimes, we have to go through the thick of things. He talks and warns us through situations,  accidents and signs, using people to convey His message… almost like He is talking to us loud and clear… and He is telling you… it’s coming… it’s coming… and I told you so, you have been forewarned.

Aaargghhh!!! That was one painful! Painful! Painful! Bump. It was too late.

On the other hand, it is never too late. Because there are such virtues such as hope, grace, mercy and forgiveness. And if you come to realize them, there is this spirit to fight and the willingness to survive, which we call courage.

I just realized that time is a gift along with acceptance and prudence. And if you are given the gift of time, you could start all over again. I am at that stage, starting from scratch. If you have time by your side, you could right what was not right. If you have time by your side, you could make the best out of the worstiest situations. Take it from me who almost lost everything. Yeah… believe it or not, I almost went bare and naked.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to on how you humbled yourself in the midst of life’s storms.

Literally, I am not toxic. Nor was I poisoned or ate too much food with formalin or lead. I am toxic because a simple thing will take you ages to understand. I am toxic because they cannot understand an English word I say. This has always been my problem every time I am in China. You have to be an expert in the game charades.

I asked for a cold drink, they gave me hot tea. I ordered a chicken meal with all the works in KFC here and they only gave me the fries (I pointed to the whole meal in the flyer, apparently the one taking the order thought that I was only after the fries). I ordered for siolungpao (siopao), and I ended up with one big plate of steamed broccoli! Sheeesh!

In my hotel, I requested for some help, and it took the whole caboodle, five hotel staff including the supervisor to figure out what I wanted. When you tell them that you cannot understand Chinese, and you start speaking in English, they run and avoid you: “Sorry. I cannot understand English. Goodbye!” Of course, they smile at you. But man! They are bleeeeeeding trying to understand you.

A few years ago, I was in Shanghai shopping. I was looking for cufflinks. Of course, the saleslady did not understand what I wanted so I demonstrated what cufflinks are using the long sleeve shirt being worn by a mannequin. She came back with a bracelet. I said no and then she left again and then she came back this time with a watch. I said cufflinks, and she just uttered again what I said. She called for her supervisor and I demonstrated the same to her. The supervisor gave me buttons. Other shoppers saw my frustration. So they joined our charades. I say cufflinks and they say again what I say in chorus… cufflinks!

One last time, using the mannequin’s long sleeved shirt, I demonstrated again cufflinks. Now, using my left hand, I connected my pointy finger with my thumb creating that circle we know as the sign of money. I slowly inserted the pointy finger of my right hand through the circle I created with my left hand. And I twisted my right hand demonstrating how cufflinks are locked.

They were all shocked with what I did. The supervisor said no. They didn’t have cufflinks. But everyone had a good laugh with our game.

Also in Shanghai, I was billeted in a hotel near the venue of our event. My bosses checked in in a different hotel. The distance was like from Makati to Quezon City. It was easy to go to my bosses’ hotel because everyone knows where the Hyatt is. The problem was going back to my hotel. I forgot my hotel’s business card, which I should be presenting to the cab driver. Every time I call for a taxi and say the name of my hotel, the drivers would decline me because I was saying it the wrong way. I was forced to walk and I was walking for almost two hours.

Here in Nanning, our conference coordinators were so stressed trying to explain things to us. One coordinator almost freaked out because she was having a hard time explaining last minute changes with our schedule. “I am sorry. I don’t know how to express myself. Please forgive me.” Yes, my dear, you are so so forgiven!

Things are slow here. In the forums, the Chinese speaker has to stop to give way to an English translation. When I did my presentation, I was speaking in English. I made sure that my Chinese translator got my messages well. A 10 minute presentation took me 25 minutes to finish.

Nevertheless, all went well with our presentations and exhibits. The Chinese love grand ceremonies and it was fun watching the rituals, the fireworks, the pageantry and all.

I haven’t blogged for quite awhile. A lot of things have been happening lately both at home and at the office. We celebrated Dad’s first death anniversary a few days ago, and I just flew in here at Nanning, China for some official stuff.

Next month, we’re ready to inter Papa’s ashes at the Mount Carmel Church in New Manila. The construction of Dad’s crypt area is almost done and we’re now planning for his remains’ final rites. We want it simple, private and solemn. This is what Papa wanted: his ashes to be with us for a year at home, and finally interred in a crypt in a church named after the Blessed Mother. Papa is one devout Marian devotee.

Yes. We are ready to let go of Papa, and for us to finally… finally move on.

* * *

At the office, things are getting exciting. The last, first and second quarters of the year are our busiest: preparations and activities for the holiday season, golf tournaments we have to organize, and preparations for the annual stockholders meeting. And we’ve been in the news so much lately, which added to the excitement.

I am now in China, not for some shady deal, but to represent ICTSI and our Subic operations at the China-ASEAN expo. I am scheduled to deliver a presentation on our company, specifically on our Subic operations.

There was one time when I went to Malaysia, a shipping reporter texted me requesting for information on an overseas port project. I texted back that I could only help him when I’m back in Manila. The following day, a news article on our company’s international expansion written by the same reporter came out. It was a good write-up, problem was, there was a sentence in the article, which gave the impression that ICTSI officials were in Malaysia for some port projects. We were in KL not for a port project but for an international conference and exhibit.

So to our friends in media, I am not in China because of because. Don’t be like that comedian in the Senate hearing who has been, to quote our boss, "hallucinating" and “imagining” things.

Anyways, I am getting back into the groove of blogging. Let’ see if there’s something worth sharing here in Nanning.

I miss dancing with my Standard dance instructor, Gigi. She’s currently in the US for a series of shows, competitions and trainings; teaching couples and other dance instructors. She just turned pro a month ago, and she’s taking advantage of this new leash while her knowledge is still fresh. Good thing I started taking dance workshops to compensate her absence. I could have booked lessons with my Latin dance instructor, Jaja, but I am so into Standard right now; one dance at a time because Latin and Standard are two different disciplines.

I am attending the social dancing workshops of Edgar Borromeo, the country’s five-time undefeated amateur standard dancesports champion, at the Valle Verde Country Club. He’s one heck of a teacher! Very professional and disciplined; strict but you get to really understand the why’s and how’s of every move and step. Assisting Edgar is his wife Anna, who usually takes on with the lady participants. Edgar focuses more with the male students as the male dancer leads the female in a routine. Aside from knowing what the next step is, it is important for us men to know the hand and body signals to lead, move and position a female partner.

For this particular workshop, Edgar is teaching the basics; the right steps like when to heel, toe and flick; the right head, body and arm postures; and the right angles and lines of a particular dance. He’s teaching us the basics of both Latin and Standard; and even though I already know some of the basics in Latin, it pays to learn them again. I particularly enjoy Edgar’s Standard lessons because I am learning it from the No. 1 professional male standard dancer in the Philippines. But of course, my ever dearest Manang Gigi (he he he) is irreplaceable. Actually, there’s not much difference with the way Edgar and Gigi teach, both are impeccable, down to the minutest detail of a step and move. And they won’t really stop until you get it right. I now understand where Gi got the temperament; Edgar is also Gigi’s mentor.

My Latin instructor, Jaja (whom I also miss), on the other hand, has her own whims in teaching. She’s the most patient, persistent and persevering, so far. She wouldn’t let me sit. I would only have breaks when I need to replenish myself with water or go to the washroom either to pee or change clothes (I tell you, you sweat more in dancing than in weight training). She wouldn’t stop until my feet hurt! Of course, dancing non-stop has its advantages: you lose more weight, you get a lot of cardio to pump your heart, and more importantly, dancing really relieves stress. The only not so nice part is that you get to have ginger toes. But a dancer is not a dancer when his or her feet are not black and blue and the colors of the rainbow.

I am actually considering a part time career in ballroom as a dance instructor. You see, DIs earn quite a sum. But this would really take quite awhile because I still have a lot to learn. It might or might not happen. Nevertheless, the dancing continues.

Doctors always prescribe dancing as the exercise and physical regimen for old people. Our senior citizens, especially our grandmothers, are the ones you often see in the ballroom. In my case, not only I enjoy dancing but I also enjoy the company of old people. I have the patience and I’m well trained through the years to deal with the tantrums and sometimes obnoxious ways of old crabby people. I especially enjoy listening to them when they talk non-stop. You see, all they need is a little attention, and someone who could listen to them. And besides, dancing with older people is effortless!

So, if you want someone to take care of (or shall we say babysit?) your mothers and grandmothers on a Friday or Saturday night, feel free to drop me a line. I could also teach the lolas a little of hip hop! =)

Yesterday was the first time we celebrated Dad’s birthday without him. The family went out for dinner, as usual, at our favorite dampa restaurant Trinity Macapagal branch at the reclaimed area of Pasay City. Though there was sadness, the happy memories of Papa prevailed.

We dined at the sing-a-long area of Trinity wherein a karaoke host provided entertainment. The hostess dedicated a few old songs for Mama, and Mama forced my youngest brother Osiris and me to sing in front of the dining crowd. The place was a full house so there was hesitation on our part. Mama prodded us to sing invoking that Papa would be the happiest if we would sing. Okay, Mom! We’ll do this for Dad.

My brother sang first one of Dad’s favorites, One Last Song by this defunct boy band I can’t remember the name, followed by yours truly singing I Will Always Stay This Way In Love With You, and the forever perennial Half Crazy. Mama, being the stage mother that she is, was of course all smiles, and proud that we were able to pull through with our impromptus. I cracked a few high notes but it was all okay.

We all enjoyed our all seafood dinner.

* * *

Today, on the other hand, is the birthday of a good friend and college classmate, Jennifer Casipit. Jen and I got close right after college. I would say we have a lot of things in common: we were both university working scholars at UST; we had the same majors, journalism; of course, we love to read, write and dine, the usual stuff with people who writes and edits for a living; and, of course again, our careers wherein we were once media practitioners who made that great cross over to the lucrative and more stable profession called public relations. I was with a newspaper, while Jen was with a magazine.

After college, Jen and I crossed paths at the Philippine Centennial Commission, you know that defunct ad-hoc government agency headed by the late former Philippine Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel. We were in charge of the celebrations of the June 12 Philippine Independence Day Centennial.

Jen and I were a team at the Centennial Information Center Media Bureau. We were “Jennifer and Jupiter”, the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee of the Centennial! It was fun working with Jen: she was my grammar police; and she introduced me to words alien to this planet like “ennui” (I thought she was saying anyway… ahhh… ennui pala… whatever that is… we he he he), and that notorious squirm quote, “The temerity! The audacity! The unmitigated gall!”

Another common thing with Jen is that we both look up to one man who taught us public relations 101 at the Philippine Centennial, the person we all know and dread if there is a water interruption… Jess Matubig… errr Matubis (joke lang po Sir Jess!). Man! Sir Jess is one great mentor! He was our big boss and part-time father at the Centennial.

When I was in BayanTel in 1999, Sir Jess had me transferred to Maynilad, when he joined former Interior Secretary Raffy Alunan in Maynilad (Mr. Alunan was Sir Jess’s boss at DILG), and also got Jennifer months after I left Maynilad for ICTSI, that was in 2001 or 2002 I think.

But most importantly, Jen and I share common values like love for family, dedication to work, compassion, world peace, and all that mushy crap that makes the world go crazy… happily crazy. Jen to me is a sister whom I can always run to when I’m in deep manure. And of course, I’m a brother to Jen too, except that I’m in trouble most of the time.

I haven’t bonded with Jen for the longest time. I’m no longer sure if she has turned into a drunkard after introducing her to vodka or a nympho after introducing her to porn (joke! Wa ha ha ha). My goodness! I just realized I’m such a bad influence to Jen! 

Anyways Jen, the famous Anonymous once said: “Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” Me, I like tiramisu, so tira mo ko, tiramisu ah =D we he he he

I wish you good health, more wealth, and of course happiness… and of course, more sexy time with Amiel! ;D wink wink

God bless you Jen!

You would think that Jupiter is a unique name. A few months ago, on a weekend, I thought of checking out in Friendster as to how many Jupiters are there. Not that I have nothing better to do but it has been a long time curiosity as to how common is my uncommon name. The search generated some 500+ accounts in the Philippines plus a few more hundreds from Malaysia, Indonesia, Canada and the US combined.

I got to communicate with two younger Jupiters here in the Philippines. But my greatest surprise was the existence of another Jupiter Krishna (my complete given name); though the spelling of his Krishna is different, his is “Khrisna”.  Jupiter Khrisna is a 19-year old guy from Jakarta, Indonesia (feel free to check out the other Jupiters, a number of them have accepted my invites and they’re on my list). Indonesia, on the other hand, is where my so ancient ancestors came from, Sumatra in particular; though you really can not tell the difference between a Filipino, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai or Indochinese. 

So my name is no longer original and unique having discovered that quite a number of people were named Jupiter, and an Indonesian kid was carrying both my first and second names.

My siblings and I consider ourselves lucky and blessed for having an erudite father. He gave us unique names so unfamiliar to Filipino ears. His reason for this is that names are powerful words; it determines your destiny; it reflects who and what you are; so Papa was so careful in giving us our names, to the point that he named us after divine and spiritual characters from mythology and religion. Our names have also something to do with dad’s fascination with astrology.

Like in my case, I think the reason why Dad named me Jupiter is because when he was trying to compute my possible date of birth, he miscalculated sometime the last week of November or first week of December. Now, by that period, the sun would be at the constellation Sagittarius (making people who were born that period Sagittarians). The ruling planet of Sagittarius is Jupiter, thus the idea of having me named after Jupiter.

Jupiter, as we all know, is the biggest and brightest planet in the solar system. In Roman mythology, Jupiter is the god of the gods. Jupiter in Latin is “deo pater” meaning father god. My name would have been perfect if I was really a Sagittarian. But I was born midweek of November under the sign of Scorpio. If Dad had his calculations correct, he could have named me Mars or perhaps Hermes, which are nice names as well. Hermes would have been classy and chic! Nevertheless, I’m happy that I was named Jupiter, with Joop as my nick.

My second name Krishna is the main character in the Hindu classic Bhagavad Gita. If in Christianity we have Jesus Christ, in Hinduism they have Krishna. Krishna is believed to be an incarnation or an avatar of the god Vishnu, the god of preservation or the supreme god in the Hindu religion.

That’s the origin of my name. In most cases, I drop the Krishna as when I started schooling, my parents decided to just retain Jupiter. I was about to be enrolled in a Catholic school and Dad does not want any religious or spiritual fuss with the Carmelite nuns. But you know what? After studying Carmelite spirituality, especially books by the mystics of Carmel, I realized that Carmelites are the least orthodox and not at all shallow when it comes to other beliefs. The brown sisters would have not questioned my unique name (I will discuss in a future blog my thoughts on Carmelite spirituality and my devotion to the Little Flower, St. Therese of the Child Jesus).

The names of my other siblings have their interesting origins as well. Let me summarize them:

Janaka Thursday is named after the sage-king Janaka, the father of Sita, the heroine in the Hindu epic Ramayana. His second name is Thursday; the reason behind this is that he was born obviously on a Thursday. Actually, Dad contemplated on giving him the second name of Thor, the god of thunder in Norse mythology, and where the word Thursday (Thor’s Day) came from. But Thor would have been a too powerful (and violent) name, so he decided to just stick with the day.

Marichi Dannaday is named after Marichi, which means “ray of light” in Hindi. Marichi is one of the ten children of Brahma, the cosmic creator. Dannaday, meanwhile, is a derivative of the day Monday, the day where this sister of mine was born. Dad was thinking of the name Diana, the goddess of the moon, as she was born on Monday, the “moon day”. But he finds the name Diana too common so he thought of developing the name Monday further. Dad came out with a very original name, Dannaday.

Govinda Harasol is named after the Hindu deity Govinda. Govinda is a personality of Krishna as the divine cowherder, protector of the land, and as guardian of the senses from the pitfalls of the world. The second name Harasol literally means “ruler of the sun”. My second sister was born in August under the zodiac sign of Leo, which is ruled by the Sun.

My youngest brother, Osiris Germain, is named after Osiris, the Egyptian god of life, death and fertility. Germain, on the other hand, was the famous 18th century New Age icon, the Count of St. Germain.

This is the story behind our names. People have mixed reactions to our names. Some people ask me: “so your brothers and sisters are named after Venus, Mars or Neptune?” My name even had some people go nuts. One time, I was at the MIRC chatting; I already gave my real name, but this girl I am hooking up with doesn’t believe that my name is Jupiter. So I decided to give my second name Krishna, she got mad because she thought I was a girl. 

Today’s a lazy Sunday. Mom went out with her best friend, my brother went to his girlfriend’s place, my nurse sister is on duty, and my youngest brother went to the office (when we say he went to the office, we mean he went to the internet café). I am accompanied by our Ate Cora, whom we call every other day to help us with the house chores.

As I write this blog, I am surfing the channels watching either Animal Planet, Discovery Travel and Living, Jack TV, CNN and of course Kapamilya TV. Just had lunch, my youngest brought cooked food, and I heated up left overs from yesterday: sainaing na tulingan and ginataang baby hipon, yum yum!

I am enjoying this laid back feeling: blogging, watching TV, drinking coffee… just perfect to prepare me for tomorrow’s working week. No need to go to church coz the family went to the first Saturday, anticipated mass. I will go out later tonight to have my car washed and perhaps meet friends, who will have their cars washed as well at Genki in Banawe.

I’m on my second cup of coffee. I might take a nap in a bit unless the caffeine hits me.

The past weeks were trying weeks. Mama was diagnosed with pneumonia and she was hospitalized for a week. She is much better now though we still have to visit a pulmonary specialist. Mom is diabetic so she really has to take good care of her health. So far, she’s been religious with her diet, meds and check ups. Well, mom’s not getting younger; we really have to take good care of her.

The father of my good friend Tita Avi just passed away, and we all know how death devastates people. I met my Tita Avi last year through a common friend and since then, lots of beautiful things happened, she’s like a spiritual mother to her anak-anakans. She is the same age as Mom; she is like a second mother to me that is why I call her Mamita (well, almost everyone I know call her Mamita).

Aside from that, a lot of people I know have been experiencing emotional, spiritual and financial turmoil. Probably, it’s because of the full moon (probably that’s also the reason why Mom had full moon-ia! {pulmunya} he he he). You know, when the full moon is up, people do crazy things.

I have the same tirade these past days but thanks to prayers, all were well. Not that the problems were solved, I am just faithful and confident that the One Up There is in charge of the situation. I started praying not for myself anymore; but for other people, especially those people whom I know are in dire straits. The Good Lord knows my heart’s desires, and I know He will answer my prayers at the right place, at the right time. I just have to be patient.