incessant rambling

since i'm a morbidly funny mood nowadays and "death" seems to be the flavor of the month, i am posting bebang's letter to her family. Ang sulat ni Bebang Registered nurse si Bebeng sa L.A. Kasama niya ang kanyang ina na nagpagamot doon. Namatay ang ina nito. Dahil sa kamahalan ng pamasahe pabalik sa Pilipinas, nagtipid si Bebeng. Pinauwi na lang niya ang kabaong ng kanyang ina na mag-isa. Pagdating ng kabaong, napansin ng mga kapamilya niya na nakadikit ang mukha ng ina sa salamin ng ataul. Nagkomento tuloy ang isang anak, "Ay, naku! Tingnan mo 'yan... hindi sila marunong mag-ayos ng bangkay sa Amerika! Nakudrado tuloy ang mukha ng inay." Upang ayusin ang itsura ng bangkay, binuksan ang kabaong. Aba! May sulat na-nakastaple sa dibdib ng ina. Kinuha nila ito at binasa. Ang nilalaman ng liham na mula kay Bebeng: Mahal kong tatay at mga kapatid: Pasensya na kayo at hindi ko nasamahan ang nanay sa pag-uwi riyan sa Pilipinas dahil napakamahal ng pamasahe. ...

when i die, i want to be cremated. seeing dad lying there made me think that he never imagined he'd wear makeup someday. and pink lipstick. oh yes, he had the occasional lipstick on his cheek, neck and other whereabouts, but the pink glossy one he had was just awful. it made him look dead (pun intended) and for those that come up and say "tito carding looks really handsome", thank you. despite the fact that you know , i know and we all know that it was just a knee jerk reaction seeing pops in makeup. there's really no handsome or beautiful corpse. otherwise, you'd have Chanel, Este Lauder, MAC, and Max Factor come up with their "necrological" line. imagine the tagline, deadly-licious . my cousin is going to kill me. you see, she's an angel of death. este, agent of death. she works for st. peter (no, not the saint in heaven with the cock, err... that didn't sound right) and you should have seen her work the crowd of mostly aging-near-croaking visi...

since i was tasked to deliver the eulogy after dad's grand kid and brother, i decided to spice up the moment with a few well placed jokes. my voice cracked and i had to stop a number of times, but i was encouraged by the sound of laughter mixed with sobs. my sister asked me to read her letter to papang, she felt scared she'd break down in the middle of her love letter. i suspect the real reason is that she won't be able to reach the podium becuase of her height. most people don't know me in town. i left at a very young age, studied in bacolod and manila, left the country and settled in cebu. i stood in front of them without really knowing what to say or how to introduce myself. considering dad's reputation as something of a ladies' man, i told everyone: many people ask who i am when they come visit the house, i tell them that i am the youngest of seven. hopefully . turning towards my eldest half brother, i told the crowd: manong cesar is the eldest of the siblin...

the news that some of our relatives were coming in from iloilo had my sister scrambling to tell my brother to prepare for lunch. and it's not just an ordinary spread. the night before, we had pata asado, pata hamonado, palabok overload, kinilaw and pancit canton that had more meats and ingredients compared to actual noodles. food that's going to keep one young, you see, you die early with that kind of fare. to top it off, even my cousin who lives across the road reminded us to prepare for the visitors. what the effing shit is that? hearing them you would have thought we were preparing for some fiesta. my dad's gone the way of the dinosaur. extinct. kaput. dead. i didn't think it was right to make that as an excuse to do a feeding program for the horde! click on read.more my brother complained that his budget is not going to reach an additional five days with the kind of food that's being served. i looked him straight in the eye and said, so stop cooking like you...

I read that title for two showbiz columnists whose underlying theme is that they know Cory on a personal basis. one had legitimate reason to be familiar with Cory as Kris is his best friend. on the other hand, the other writer recalled a few occasions where he was invited to a press conference and a dinner by Cory's daughter. that and the fact he shook hands with cory after digging his hand into a plate of greasy nuts. i guess Cory is name-droppable nowadays. in any case, the closest that i'll ever get to cory is the fact that kris was the classmate of my niece in san agustin (dasmarinas, makati). at that time, kris was either a straight english or tagalog speaking teenager. remarkably, kris resembles her mom when cory was still a young lady. but i guess that comparison ends there. in an entirely different note, last wednesday the metro was literally drowning in rain and the wind howling through the streets. i guess, that's pretty symbolic of the tears and cries of the peop...