favourite things

Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens...and the promise of this.

loving animals

A passion that came late in life for me is one that pertains to animals. This came when Meeza as a toddler would swoon as she sees a cat crossing by and when it became obvious that she loved to linger in pet shops. I was curious and completely enamoured at how my little angel at the age of three would not sleep because a kitty was stuck in some hole in our old garage.

My own childhood differed in a sense that we were not attracted to cats and rabbits as much as our children, nephews and nieces are. Our idea of having pets was staring at lovebirds in small cages and waiting for those pecking moments to happen. And, I would not count those times when we had bats which to me looked like half bodied humans; and the baby python which we found dead after it was provided a rat for food. Apparently, the rat was more of the predator than the prey. We caught frogs and toads and in one attempt, my sister fell down a ditch and broke her arm.

Well, back to this passion found late in adulthood. Though I have never been served foie gras or seen one, I shudder at the thought of ducks being fed through tubes in their necks just for their much prized livers. I lament at the ugly deaths of those stray animals lost on our roads. This passion also comes with awareness of children's books portraying violence to animals. One book which has a deceptive book cover, shows animals being cruel to other animals. This is one part of the book:

Knock, Knock.
"Who's there?", bleated the goat.
"It's me.", said the donkey.
"Off with you, I'm a fighting goat. My two big horns will rip your coat!"

I suppose that teachers would unlikely explain the act of skinning a donkey. My old pre-teaching, pre-parenting self would gladly play with the semantics of it but Meeza would have despaired. The old adage - parenthood changes you - is for real!

mocking

I see round-eyed Spaniards mocking the Chinese. I think it is juvenile, perjorative, and with our history of those Castillian wars, I say, very racist and imperialist!

so lost without u

I have to admit that I like the hackneyed, the sonorous and the ancient Air Supply. If you can't be caught being enthusiastic with them ---get to this one!



And by the way, I like the ABBA too.

bitten

The Warao Indians who live in the remote villages of Venezuela have been plagued with vampire bats that have gone into biting sprees. Thirty eight of the Warao Indians have died as of today. And this piece of news has rekindled my memories of scary tales spouted by tired babysitters -- one of them telling us siblings to sleep with steadfastness as she was going out for her dinner of bloody muck and will return as soon as dawn breaks. To compound my uneasiness, I find my brothers, the next day, playing with baby bats tied in strings. That was my childhood Twilight staple.

The much anticipated fourth book, Breaking Dawn has been released and I may be reading it next week. Below is the cold skinned vampire, Edward of the Twilight series which was made into a movie due to be shown by the end of this year. Edward Cullen is to be portrayed by Robert Pattinson. He looks much much better than our parents' Christopher Lee and our Tom Cruise, right?

apology accepted?

For the first time in history, the Americans are making an official apology for their institution of slavery - one of the most malevolent acts of men ever. We'll hear about its repercussions in a day or two or maybe hours from now. We must remember that slavery and its sub-forms, racism for one, did not only hold bondage the Africans but also Asians and other non-Caucasians who have immigrated to the country of milk and honey. Well, as simplistic as I may sound, they have come a long way to restitution to the point that an African-American may be elected president of the USA soon. Here is one that echoes my sentiments and it quotes a Filipino-American who was born in the States and grew up seeing the challenges of racism.

"And if Obama becomes president, it could become a much easier choice to make. Perhaps a choice that is even celebrated in a society with a painful history of rejecting those who are different -- but which is now evolving into a community where people with strange names, who come from strange lands and who speak strange languages are not just welcomed, accepted and embraced, they at times can even have the seat at the head of the table."

loves of my life

This is the picture that makes my heart skip for a second. My treasured piece of memory of sheer joy is etched on these grains of colour and on those glorious half-smiles. Nothing else matches this.