finding cain

So sad this morning to hear of the unexpected death of Laura, an old fiend and former dentist. I will always remember her bizarre taste in music, her dark humor, and her unwavering belief that a person’s worth is tied to their oral care routine. Last year, we wanted to meet and work together again on something and I am very, very sorry that will never happen.  I've mentioned her in a 2015 blog post , and today I will rerun the tale... Not So Happy Ending Not so long ago, I went for a drink in a pub in Ortigas. I had second thoughts about entering the establishment when I noticed there were so many people inside. There were men with ironic beard and pretentious hairstyles dressed in rolled up chinos and check shirts; women in vintage sundresses, skinny jeans, and acid wash denim cutoff shorts; actors and models trying to look hip; and a bunch of call center agents who wanted to get drunk before they start their graveyard shifts. There was this famous guitarist at one table, with sho...

I love biking to school with my children. It's a great way to start the day, and it's a lot of fun. Both of them have their own bicycles, meaning I'm basically herding two slightly erratic cyclists. My kids' two-wheelers are quite new and pretty decent. Mine is more like a rusty ten-speeder with a penchant for chain slippage. It's a cheap, rickety bike from China but it's my vehicle of choice for running errands, and honestly, it gets the job done. My youngest is still working on his steering. My eldest, on the other hand, is all about speed. She thinks she's in the Tour de France, so I'm constantly shouting, "Slow down!" Of course there are moments of near disaster. But you know what? Despite the mayhem, there's something undeniably satisfying about arriving at our destination, slightly out of breath, on our bikes. There are also moments of pure, unadulterated joy – like when we are pedaling along the street, the sun on our faces, the wind...

I was doing some cleaning in my old room at my parents' house and found a dusty, old audio cassette inside a drawer: Breakfast in America by Supertramp – a band I know nothing about. I took the tape home and put it in my damaged, but still working Sanyo boombox. My initial reaction was, "How bad does this sound?" I fully rewound the black rectangular plastic, pressed play and then I started to listen. I was expecting some disco or folk rock type of music, but I was surprised when I heard a familiar voice. " Kumusta ka na d'yan? Eto, okay naman kame dito," a sweet female voice uttered the words. "Miss ka na namin. Uwi ka sa Pasko ha." It was my mother's voice on tape. Before Facebook, Skype or Yahoo! Messenger, Filipino families bridged the geographic gap by using ingenious ways. We didn't own a telephone in the 1980s, and, aside from postcards, handwritten letters and old-fashioned greeting cards, my father, who was then working in ...

Robert De Niro is by far one of my favorite actors. Since his first brilliant performance as Johnny Boy Civello in Mean Streets , De Niro has been one of America's greatest thespians.     The 71-year-old icon was recently invited to give a commencement speech to the 2015 class at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and delivered a heavy dose of reality to students. "Tisch graduates, you made it," he began. Then, with a pause, he continued: "And, you're f*cked."    The actor splashed his humor throughout the entire speech, but his underlying message was simple. He told the graduates, "On this day of triumphantly graduating, a new door is opening for you: a door to a lifetime of rejection. It's inevitable. It's what graduates call the real world."    Graduation speeches could often get boring. A lot of schools choose speakers who are unlikely to encourage, inspire, or provide advice that will be remembered after the po...

My new neighbor, Juliet, came up to me on the street yesterday while I was pushing my daughter in her stroller, and asked if we could talk. She asked me a lot of questions – where was I originally from and did I like it here and on and on – until I said why should I answer all this. "What about you?" We were standing near the front windows of a small coffee shop, so she asked me if I wanted to have a drink. She thought she had an idea I would be very interested in.    Well, since she's kinda cute and charming, I thought "Oh, why not." She might even be a good friend to have. Then we went inside the coffee shop and we both ordered iced latte. My two-year-old daughter was calm, but observant. I gave her a small cookie to keep her busy for a while, and then Juliet and I went on to discuss our little "business".    We talked about our families, the bad coffee we were drinking, and the weather. Then, just ten minutes or so later, in a strange twist of e...