Walking among the millionaires in Singapore (SG p...
Singapore’s leading publisher, SPH, reported that the country has the “highest density of millionaires” around the world because of the state’s small size and the number of millionaires living here: 99,000! A typical millionaire, the report says, has an average of 3 signature watches (SGD15,000 each or half a million pesos), and...
iPhone 4s (technology meets art: perfection)
Once upon a modern time, before iPhone 4s was released, my game designer friend Jay warned me, in an arcane tone, that the way you look at mobile phones will never be the same again once you use an iPhone. Since I was never a techie person, that geek data he was trying to feed my electronics-proof head didn’t really come through. The...
I was published in Young Blood!
Today’s a lovely day. I’m back at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquarters in Los Baños to start another issue of Rice Today. IRRI is just beside the UPLB campus, so walking around the university brings me back to my golden days of 2001 when I was a freshman. I felt like a student again walking with young...
what make up can do, or, thoughts on my MAC tutori...
For the most part of my life, I was that skinny little poor flat-chested thing buried on the pages of novels well into my early 20s. Until one day, like in the movie Persepolis, the body decided to pop some boobs and swell the hips to 35 inches. The face remained boyish with thick eyebrows and upper lip hair, zits every ‘bloody’...
first timer in Vietnam (snapshots of walk trips, p...
When I checked in and entered my room, I literally stopped in awe at the room reserved for me (my mind said: omigoshoigoshomigosh). Like in my other trips, I don’t expect much from the places nor do I read so many travel guides since they may spoil my own impressions. One funny habit I have is, I read travel blogs of a place after...
I want more Vietnamese food!
Oh my. Vietnamese food is all goodness. Heaven’s delight. pho Honestly I had zero idea what specialty Vietnam has, until my co-editor at IRRI, Lanie, advised me to try pho, noodles made of rice! (they’re abundant with rice, Vietnam being the world’s second largest rice exporter (after Thailand). That advice came to me weeks...
Given
Do you remember me, Ms Ai? would always be the exacting question of a former student whom I'd run into; I'd answer not with a categorical yes or no, but with a classroom no. and seat location, or a topic in research paper--that's where you sat, that's what you wrote in class, I would answer; then comes the predictable reaction...
Ohhh Sad Movies. Always. Make Me. Cry.
Couple of days ago, I solicited suggestions for all-time tear-jerker movies, the kind that will give you swollen eyes and runny nose. And here’s what I got: Rizza: A Moment to Remember Kamille: I Am David Andre: The Notebook Raymond: Simon Birch, The Love of Siam Jay: Never Let Me Go, Grave of the Fireflies, Toy Story 3, Up Connet:...
Drowning End-Of-The-World Thoughts With Tsunamic L...
In Japanese, the name Ai means- love. (Says meaning-of-names.com) If the tsunami in Japan sent waves of panic and end-of-the-world thoughts (and jokes) around the globe, I could only think of that statement. In Japanese, the name Ai means- love. Our social conscience would tug at our heart strings, feel for Japan, and offer a prayer or a...
not all gays*
*to Juni, who lent me dvds of gayness, after he talked about his clothing designs and love affairs, the first time I met him one evening in Quezon Ave. Issues of gender are difficult to evade because along with social class, education, religion, nationality (among others), gender is part of one’s subject position-or the...
Sir Caloy Aureus’ 100 Books You Should Read ...
Once, my prof in Classical Literary Theories teased us: do you want to know the books that you should read at least once in your lifetime? We asked for the list and he e-mailed us this. How many and which of these have you read, dear reader? You can’t possibly be reading blogs all your life, can you? I hope my professors don’t...
Raising funds (photos)
September and October have been busy months because aside from work, there’s the fund raising activities for Given Grace, the 19-year old Computer Science student slain and raped in UPLB exactly last year.
This kid biked the huge campus of UPLB–for justice!
Since justice delayed is justice denied, the Task Force Given Grace organized a benefit gig in business district Makati, a bike ride in idyllic UPLB, and a fun run in the University of the Philippines’ flagship campus in Diliman.
Net income: Php80,000. This was our biggest surprise.
Read MoreEditor
reading the proof at the printing press in Singapore
The title “editor” is a convenient, self-explanatory name quite handy to say to people who ask what I do for a living. It’s a capsule of information about what editors do: edit.
One year into this editorial post, though, I understand that being an editor of a magazine is not just about trimming articles, spotting grammatical lapses, and adhering to an institution’s editorial style–these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Read MoreRage, rage
From which hole did this idiot crawl? said Mike Jackson (former IRRI scientist who’s now back in UK) in his Facebook the other day. Curious me checked out the link attached. It’s an article about US congressman Todd Akin, who was quoted saying: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
This was reported to be the Missouri rep’s attempt to explain his opposition to abortion, even in rape cases. The politician has apologized after an onslaught of feedback, but still. With social networks ready to pound on the slightest hint of idiocy, we are all well-warned of letting our ignorance slip into public.
Legitimate rape. The phrase bothered me. I remember listening to friend Giz, who’s studying Law; she said, among the cases they discuss, the most sensitive of all is Rape–so sensitive that the whole classroom’s atmosphere is heavy with silence. Why, not really would it be awkward to prove that one has been raped, but it must also be challenging to face the rapists in a courtroom and tell every detail of the story from hell.
In the case of Given Grace, the UPLB student who was raped, murdered and dumped near IRRI last year, Given won’t be around to recount the details of the crime; it will be her mother and father who are to brave the pieces of evidence and witnesses’ accounts. It will be the loving parents, who brought up the innocent, sweet child, who are going to hear again and again how the suspected men trespassed her body, ruined her womanhood (if not childhood), and dishonored her.
Call for War
An opportunity for collective condemnation rose when college friends Rene and Weng invited me and other friends last June to mount some activities to raise funds for Given’s family (incidentally, as Rene has noticed, Given’s mother was Weng’s teacher, and Weng was one of my mentors in the college paper; Given was one of my students during my last semester in the University).
Makati Gig: Sept 1
Initially, Rene simply wanted a pass-the-hat kind of charity thing to collect money from us (to help support the family’s legal fees), but during our first meeting at the Conspiracy Bar (how apt, right?), we eventually conspired to wage a full-blown war against Rape and other violence against women. There was Kate, who will manage media coverage; Connet, who volunteered to help in organizing the bazaar and produce PSA/docu video we could perhaps use in the programs; there was a lawyer who shed some light in Given’s case; and there were others who pledged to help.
Weng and Grace Cutab (former UP Student Regent) initially planned the benefit gig, which later on, progressed with help from others (Jek, Daks, and so many others I haven’t met). We were amazed how everybody worked fast: finding a free venue, reservations, invitation to rock bands and performers, logistics, etc.
Cool news for the Gig team, Mr Caio Cadiz said that Ebe (Sugarfree) is willing to perform in Elbi to support this advocacy.
Read MoreUnited Colors of Singapore, kids (SG post 4)
Singapore is home to Chinese, Malays, Indians, and foreigners–so many foreigners such as Australians, Filipinos, British, Indonesians, Bangladeshis, and others, that the locals want their influx stopped (immigration and work, not tourism).
Such mixed and diversified population can be seen usually in tourist spots (Sentosa, Orchard, Esplanade) and business districts (Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar, Harborfront). The cutest place to see this mix is the playground.
Before we flew out of Singapore, we went to the far end of the Circle Line of the MRT and visited one of the hundred parks and nature reserves of Singapore, the Labrador Park, which used to be an armed front to Japanese invaders once upon a time.
It was late in the afternoon when we reached the hilly Park by the sea, so we didn’t have much time to hike and trek. Instead, Mike and I let my nephew Marcus play at the white-sand playground, together with representatives of the united nations, junior edition.
Here I post some photos of these little cuddly people and a snap or two of the Park.
Read MoreLucky Plaza, the Filipino mall (SG post 3)
If there’s a TV station for Filipinos (The Filipino Channel), Singapore’s Filipino mall is the Lucky Plaza.
You can find this old mall at Orchard, sticking out like a sore thumb among luxury malls like Ion, Ngee Ann City, Paragon, and the forever-under-construction Tang.
It stands proudly at the center of shopping action and tourist attraction, making Orchard one of the best places for Filipinos who are missing home, because come Sunday/Saturday, you can hear Tagalog being spoken everywhere. I could also understand some Ilocano (Mama’s an Ilocana) and recognize Bisaya, so I have a rough estimate of the Filipino demographics in my head.
The sad picture that Lucky Plaza paints for me is how every salary day, millions (ok, that’s hyperbole–hopefully) of Filipino laborers all come down here to send money to their families. What’s wrong in the picture? I was in a long que in the restroom and I heard women talking, one said, hawakan ko muna ‘to para maramdaman ko naman nagkapera ako (laughs); another said, ganon talaga, mahal mo sila e, malayong pag-ibig (laughs).
Read MoreWho, Me?
Hello there! My name is Ai, Japanese for "love." I couldn't stay in one place for too long, so I'm always walking, traveling or changing address. I write for Australia's Campus Review, Education Review, Insite health care, and other magazines under APN. Before this, I was an editor of a quarterly rice science magazine and a weekly publication on international commodity trade in Singapore. But before everything else, I was an educator for five years.
