inglorious wanderer

The are 2 questions I hate being asked about Sundays. "Do you still go to mass on Sundays?" "How is your Catholic faith?" "Ni Manong met!" I purposely enlarged my nostrils and pursed my upper lip as I think of an answer that could please my big brother. No answer from my end. How could I tell my big brother that I have not been really going to mass on Sundays even when I was still in the Philippines. I only went to church on occasions when I was pleading God to grant me a very big favor, like being able to get out of hell. I always leave the church before the priest could say go in peace. "My Catholic faith has just been born again and again and again!" St. Diyan Lang who was asking me about the status of my Catholic faith seemed humorless. He didn't LOL at my answer. "You should work on your Catholic faith, hija!" I wondered what took over St. Diyan Lang. Must be the work of the Holy Spirit. I didn't want to be treate...

The moment I set foot on Hyde Park, I thought of Central Park in New York. Central Park is much much bigger and maybe San Diego's Balboa Park is even bigger. But Hyde Park has a character of its own just like many historical landmarks. Aunt Pauline pointed out to me the Speakers' Corner and she made me pose like I am giving a speech. I think Speakers' corner is the most significant part that give the park its character. I was amazed at how people congregated in Hyde Park. I wondered if they have no other place to go. It was Saturday afternoon. I posted the above picture at Facebook and I called the grassy kind of secluded place "Making-out grounds". After seeing several people lazing out in the grass on a Saturday afternoon at Hyde Park's Making-grounds. I wanted to remember that feeling of "if you can't beat them, join em". I couldn't wait to get home to my babe.

Any visitor would understand the restriction. No phones, no cameras. Illustrated edition. The restriction however did not nclude tablets. Tablets just like what Moses had for his ten commandments long before Apple Store came up with their own modern version and equipped them with cameras. The Ten Commandments still appply. Thou shalt not steal. P.S. If thou can't help it, don't get caught. Escuzi my Lord. I do can't help it. I'll email you my act of contrition. It was a Sunday afternoon and the barricades that would keep visitors from entering the St. John the Baptist Doumo while the mass is on going had just been removed to let visitors in. I tried my best to look solemn while I was viewing the shroud. Discreet and tablet in hand. Joy Magbanua, my host and new abyan (she comes from Iloilo) hovered and kept distance while I approached the encased burial cloth of Jesus Christ. I was in awe to remember reciting the act of contrition in my mind. The mass was over. The c...

Benvenuti a Torino! It was a rainy welcome to Turin. The Italian immigration officer took some time to inspect and question the traveler ahead of me. An African descent. If he had the blue or maroon passport that Americans and British hold, it would have been easier for him to move through. He keep getting documents from his handcarry bag to show the officer. I wonder if he is having a difficulty because of his dark skin. Finally, he was waved through. And finally, my turn. "So you're a tourist?" "No, I am a visitor." To the immigration officer, a tourist and a visitor are probably one and the same. But I was not in Turin as a tourist. I was there to visit my sister's grave. Caselle Airport is not that big. If it is not as big as Heathrow, it would be fairly small. Maybe the same size as Stansted Airport in London. I went straight to the bus ticket booth. SADEM. I was able to purchase a ticket for Torino. I asked how much and the lady answers me in Italian. ...

The British barista at Starbucks London at west end couldn't figure out what I wanted. "Didn't you order black coffee?" "Yes, cafe americano with room for cream" She was beginning to look exasperated. First I asked for half and half and now, room for cream. "Is that something used for coffee in a foreign country?" an Indian-looking staff wearing a tie comes to the rescue. "Yes, it is half cream and half milk," I replied. The Indian-looking Starbucks staff seemed to understand my English but he didn't say anything. He didn't say that half and half is not available nor tell me there's no room for cream. I regret ever asking. Never mind. Cancel. Forget about it. I couldn't decide what to say. I remember co-workers from India when I was working in Saudi Arabia. They took pride in speaking English the way their British colonizers spoke the language. Instead of using "Dear Sir" to start their letters, t...

It's nightime in London. Back home, it would be another afternoon in the 80's in America's finest city.

A getaway with just me and myself. Woohoo. This is the happiness you get if you go pluck yourself from your comfort zones. Would miss the Glorieux Garden and the Pha Khin Phat Temple but I would have something to blag * about. *to blag- this is how some Pho-eating Asians talk about their achievements, where they've been and how well their children are doing in school. That's what the trip is pho.

Willie Nelson as a dog makes the movie heartwarming and hilarious with other seemingly dysfunctional characters.

That's Kariza Gregoria on the photo having fun with Judea and other fellow Asian students of Scripps Ranch High School. Photo must have been taken during her junior year in high school when KG's group was still considered as retards on the campus (ROTC). Nights of chattering teenagers, mostly Asians, are in the past and I am being tempted to brag to the whole world that KG is a USAF scholar at SDSU. The most I could do is to blog about it. No blagging . I congratulated RN for the motivation and the parental support he gave to KG. Brimming with pride and spared of the horrendous expenses in the next four years, RN just bought her an HP laptop. See I am blagging now..LOL. It was easier blogging about her misfits, though. I just digged out a sticky note I wrote while on our way to Colorado. 1st leg. by Glo Navarro on Thursday, 23 June 2011 at 07:55 It's the 3rd day of summer and on the 1st leg of the 880 miles road trip to Colorado. Karlee forgot her glasses an...

Photo is today's Union Tibune's report of the impending strike in Southern California. I am reposting a blog I did at Facebook almost two years ago. Not much is new. Mickey Kasparian is still the president of of the local chapter. I have read somewhere that union membership as condition for employment is illegal in America. The UFCW seems to be just using grocery workers as milking cows. I still have good memories of working with Vons. It is not the best place to work but it is better than having no place to work. I feel sorry for the thousands of workers affected in this impending strike. Pha Khin Mickey Kasparian! UFCW by Glo Navarro on Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 11:35 I was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union for two years. The Safeway Companies makes membership to the union a condition for employment for anyone wanting to work in its groceries. This meant a cut of $15 for UFCW from every paychek while I work for Safeway. As a ...

I am sickened by the story in the link. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/9763/fil-ams-win-us-racial-suit Once you are out of your households, you as naturalized Americans and other aliens, should stop talking Tagalog. If you insist that it is your right to speak your tongue, then stay home and speak it. If it is work-related whether you are in charge, a lead, or even if you are just a dummy, you should never talk Tagalog to a fellow Filipino without asking them if it is okay. Of course it would always be okay but you still need to be courteous and sensitive enough by not causing your fellow Filipino any discomfort. Be aware that there are Filipinos who would rather speak English rather than Tagalog. Besides, Tagalog is just another region in the Philippines just like Cebuano and Ilocano to name a few. You complain about discrimination but you are discriminating against your co-workers who may not want to be stereotyped like you. You act like you can beat the law by flaun...

Photo was taken a year ago.

I watched the movie starring Emma Stone, Voila Davis and Octavia Spencer on the big screen with Karlee tonight. Emma Stone as the college graduate was a so-so for a budding writer's role. With a refreshing white pretty face, she didn't need much effort to act the bourgeoisie writer whose seal is mostly driven by finding out what happened to Constantine, the black maid who raised her. The girly mannerisms were somewhat out of place with the cigarette puffing. I was actually annoyed after watching the movie. The storyline has been recycled so much that it was like bringing it up once again to remind everyone where Condoleeza Rice and Michelle Obama came from. The budding writer actually used the maids to get the big job she was after for from Harper and Row. Voila Davis as the melodramatic Aibileen who resolved to be a writer at the end of the story needed to straighten up her English: "Yo is kind, yo is smart, yo is important." Octavia Spencer as Minnie someho...

1. Rapunzel is not her real name. From her break room narratives, she was scrubbed white by her mother as a little girl. She was once a foreign bride like myself but she brought out the badass in me. "Are you ignoring me?" she asked me from accross the hall. "Say that again?" I said. I had to reclaim myself later and went to her to apologize. "That's all I am waiting for," she told me looking like she was about to break down and cry. I hugged her. 2. I am still looking for an opportunity to reach out to Q, my fallen angel. Stiff and straight, I thought at first she was gay. Oh no, she is married to a man but barren. Cute is the word that I could describe her most. I don't want to categorize her with Pedro's mom because she has much class and breeding and intelligence than anyone in the fishbowl. 3. Paul was not a fool on the hill. To me he would always be the goofy guy. "Who gave you a haircut? Is he still alive?" Pa...

It's not just James Taylor. Plucked from the third world, I so much sing the song to myself. I hum because I am not a belter. Vagabond not bag of bones. I love driving down the road in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota.  But the best part is going home to my love ones: my Babe with the big kid and the monkey. My Babe plucked me from the third world. Big kid is now a student at San Diego State University. She calls me mother. I wish I'd never have to call her Godzilla again. The monkey is a flute player and she plays ♫♪♫what a wonderful world♫♪ for me in flute. I guess I am a lucky person. Lucky to get out of a stupid marriage alive. But lucky most of all to be plucked from the third world. Yahoo. My Babe found me. I love my Babe forever. He saved me by plucking me out of the third world.

Why go pluck yourself? You don't really have to. If it sound like an adult language to you, don't say it. What the pluck! I am plucked up from the third world. I don't give a pluck to those who think I don't love my country of birth. If it's your mission to pluck our country out from the ruins, then by all means don't pluck yourself out, Teresita. The country needs you.You don't want to be a second class citizen. Rant about your nationalism for all you want. All I know is you're eating your heart out. A pigeon flies from one tree into another. Just like plucking people migrating from the rural area to the city into another country. Just like me, plucked up me. Bannatiran is a plucking bird. Kind of a pigeon. Not just any plucking bird.

The parade took place in Mira Mesa and it felt like I was back in MyPinas. Instead of the virgin, all the angels and saints, stone-hard and frigid as they had always been, were a bevy of women, young and once young. The parade, not a Lenten procession, had a festive atmosphere. It's Uncle Sam's birthday, of course. The women parading in transvestites cars were fireworks in themselves. "That must be Tiffany Knight." "You know her?" Karlee asked. "Nope." But I was glad to see a non-Asian in the parade. "She looks like Barack Obama's daughter, don't you think?" a Caucasian lady standing next to me asked. She must be a Republican. I actually found the African-American young lady pretty. Pretty decent, that is. I waved at her and she waved back at me. "Nice car." "Too fruity." "Fruits are meant to be smoothies," another Caucasian man countered. "Wait till you see the Pride Parade at Hillcrest in tw...

Pagosa Springs, Colorado June 26, 2011 I could not relate with Julie Andrews singing and flying on the meadows in the movie "Sound of Music". Until now, I find the movie too pha khin corny, I had to smack my forehead wishing the thought would just go away.  "Climb every mountain," the pha khin song was like a fly hovering by as I trailed behind NASA Lee, RN, KG, Karlee, Terry and Alexander at the Piedra Trails along the boulders of the San Juan Mountains. Alright, alright! I did sing about fording every stream. I must have been really pha khin bored. I did not know why I was going to church every Sunday to accept the Holy Eucharist. I did like singing "Amen" eight times in different octaves. It all started on a question on a handmade poster I found on a church bulleting board: "Do you have a call? Come attend the Search-in." I was on a trek to visit a Manobo tribe family in the hinterlands of San Luis, Agusan del Sur. I was a...

Photo is a discreet shot with my mobile device while I pretended to use the wi-fi at the Starbucks in Mira Mesa. The place is the only Starbucks I have gone into that did not have a wi-fi. I did not bother to ask for access because I went there just for the purpose of taking a picture of fellow Filipinos playing cards in the vicinity. I moved from one unoccupied table to another while a young Asian guy, probably a Filipino, smiled to me in acknowledgement. His parents probably signed him up to a work permit before he was 18 while finishing high school and keeps working as barista to help himself get through college. "Hello, po!" If he was Dear John, the boypren, he would have flashed a toothy boyish smile: "Hi Auntie..." Dear John lives in the same zip code and I could tell how closely knit he is with his family. On occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries, the family just like many Filipinos in San Diego go to casinos. I have this aversion to gambling an...

Fashion victims of the world, unite! The issue on Lady Gaga's gender hasn't been resolved and here I am thinking of the pha khin artichoke. "At least you'll never be a vegetable..." Now what has fashion got to do with a vegetable? Anyone can look at them as victims. This is the reason why I could never be a vegetarian. Even if I am lactose intolerant, I could go cheesy by religion. The thing about vegetarianism and religion are the the same. They are both based on beliefs. Yes, I did watch Amélie.

Makibaka would be my name if I naturalize as a citizen of Timbuktu, feisty name for the feisty character I wish people I know would characterize me with. Unfortunately, I was mostly seen as a stubborn or worse, bitter or defensive for speaking up my mind. Makibaka is a call to fight for one's rights. I associate the cry to Karina David, my former professor in Diliman for the community development class that I was then enrolled in. Her story: she was driving to her husband's home province in Pampanga with her young children one day and they passed by a herd of cows. Baka is the Pilipino term for cow and as she pointed to the cows and referred them in Pilipino to one of her toddlers. "Baka wag atakot" was the toddlers reply. The child's reply to Karina was an awakening that she is becoming too engrossed on activism that her children are adapting into.Karina was a known street parliamentarian. I don't know if she still goes to the streets to raise her fist in ...

I took the picture on a Good Friday when folks from my old world which I now look closely from afar would be on their knees praying for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. Okay, the people in the picture were having some prayer meeting and there I was thinking of my caption: "How high does the grass grow in Germany?" The first time Josef, a co-worker of Polish origins told me about the joke, I told him the joke is too political and a little sardonic. Hitler killed so many Jews who did not give him the "heil reich" salute. I was also thinking of a blog on crab mentality as I worked on the shutter of my 35mm. Imagine the crowd in the photo as small crabs all together in a bushel. The goal would be to get out of the bushel. The bushel sits upright and everyone caught in the bushel would just think of escaping. It is a survival instinct to escape out of captivity. The only option is to climb out of the bushel and with everyone thinking the same way, one has ju...

Whew! I am glad I came to my senses. I meant it when I told her I am sorry. "That's the only thing I wanted to hear." She's not a squirrel, hairy and scary as my Abyan puts it. The thing that made it difficult for us to be working together was that feeling I get when she talks to me. She talks down to me like she is the one paying my wages. I wish she'd ask me if I was busy and say please instead of saying when you get the chance. I hated it when I am working with a client and somebody would call looking for a document that was supposed to be on the board and I have to interrupt my conversation with my client. And she doesn't say please, she would say "when you get the chance". The bad ass in me felt like telling her that I will get the chance tomorrow. I had a thing with her from the start but I admit being a bad ass though.It is why I apologized The thing between us could be something cultural. She talked big time actually but anyway I looke...

When I was growing up in one of the top tobacco growing towns of my top tobacco growing province of La Union, there was this lady who called herself Miracle. Every afternoon after school, she entertained us with her characters. Some days, she was the Virgin Mary and on other days she was Imelda Marcos, Back then dying one's hair blond was not yet in fashion and Miracle found ways to come up with indigenous costumes that expressed the character she was playing. One of my favorite costumes that she used to don was a wig made of corn hair. Some rainy afternoons, she would be Snow White with strawberry blond hair with a matching blond pony tail. It had always been the same story how Miracle became Miracle. Sad and cruel stories where bystanders imagined stories where Miracle was once a poster child until her fate as a girl child in a male-dominated family ended. Did I ever feel sorry for Miracle? I do pity her from a distance.

But not from being a Godzilla.

Pha Khin Phat's short and sweet existence Did not end because he was ran over by a vehicle Nor he fell off the lake Pha Khin Phat was standing at the foot of the stairwell Close by when Godzilla threw a fit In pictures, Pha Khin Phat will always be smiling in glee In a spring spree As for Godzilla The seventeen year old in the household Someday, the spirit of Pha Khin Phat will set her free I say for now: Go pluck yourself From your immaturity Godzilla!

The following test is for us to see if we or somebody else we know may have symptoms commonly associated with schizophrenia. Answer the questions or statements below with true, false or maybe. I hear or see things that others could not hear or see. I feel that others control what I think and feel. Others don't believe me when I tell them the things I see and hear. I can't trust what I am thinking because I don't know if it's real or not. I have magical powers that nobody else has or can. I talk to another person or other people inside my head that nobody else can hear. I believe in global warming. If you answered true in the first six statements, it doesn't mean that you or somebody you knew is suffering from Schizophrenia. But if you have concerns regarding your mental health or that of the person you knew, you might want to consider making an appointment with a mental health professional, more than likely a shrink. Forget about the seventh statement. Global warmin...

Should policies be developed within a national space or instead in a broader space, more in keeping with global production chains set up by transnational firms? (This is a draft of the abstract I submitted about three years ago in response to a call for papers on migration. I was hoping for a free ticket to fly to Montreal, Canada.) The paper explores how cross-border labor in San Diego, California, supplied by day laborers from Mexico corresponds to the agreements entered in the General Agreements in Trade and Services (GATS) complement the goals of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The GATS, a treaty of the World Trade Organization that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round of Negotiations recognizes labor supply providing services as crucial economic factor to production. The US, Canada and Mexico, stakeholders of the NAFTA, have been members of the WTO since January 1995 and signatories of the GATS. Under the GATS...

Did you know? Apr 10, 2006 12:58 am 807 Views That the World Trade Organization or WTO , the only global international organization dealing with rules and trade between nations was set up in 1995. US, Canada and Mexico all have their membership dated 1 January 1995. That a WTO negotiation between member countries likes US, Canada and Mexico in Uruguay led to the General Agreements on Trade and Services (GATS). That under GATS are 4 modes of trade and services between nations, the most interesting of which that concerns some Americans regarding illegal immigration is Mode 4: the movement of natural persons. That Mode 4 refers to cross-border migrations. Citizens from a member country like Mexico can enter the territory of another member country like US to supply labor, like agricultural labor. That on January 6, 2004, President announced the initiative on temporary worker program. The program aimed to protect the rights of illegal workers who live in the shadows and are f...