From the monthly archives:
Over a month ago, I wrote a column that was inspired by Gabriele Pauli’s proposal to limit marriage to seven years — with an option to renew, of course. I won’t repeat the issues I raised save to say that the permanence of marriage is more of a religious/cultural characteristic rather than a legal one.
In [...]
Continue reading 'Forced marriages, arranged marriages' →
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The last time my father brought me to San Miguel, Bulacan for pastillas shopping, he pointed out a house that was some kind of landmark in the area. It was an old house located along the highway and very near the boundary of San Ildefonso and San Miguel. Based on the architecture, it was probably [...]
Continue reading 'The haunted house in San Ildefonso' →
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Tomorrow is Humanities Day at the kids’ school and the students are required to come in some costume to personify a storybook character. Where the heck would we find adult-sized costumes? At this time of the year, the only costumes in the malls are Halloween costumes. So, great, I said, go as Death then. Death? [...]
Continue reading 'Death does not become E.T. even on Halloween' →
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Just found this in my inbox:
Dear Host Family,
I am a mature and experienced Cook and Housekeeper looking for a family to work for. I have a good childcare experience and I am able to iron, clean, drive and do ALL the house tasks. I prefer a Portuguese or Spanish speaker family. Could you call me [...]
Continue reading 'Have I been whining too much about not having a house helper?' →
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When we were new to having cats in the house, it always bugged us why, despite being fed regularly and substantially, the cats would still hunt down the frogs in the garden. Then, we learned that cats hunt not necessarily out of hunger but simply because that’s what they are by nature — hunters.
I was [...]
Continue reading 'Cats are hunters by nature' →
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This is not a joke.
This evening, again in New York City, this time at Carnegie Hall, J.K. Rowling dropped a bombshell on the Harry Potter fan community. When asked by a fan if Dumbledore ever loved anyone, J.K. Rowling replied Dumbledore was gay. Reports from the scene say a hush fell over the crowd and [...]
Continue reading 'Dumbledore was gay — J.K. Rowling' →
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I saw the film before I read the book. Cable TV was new in the mid-1990s and one of the first movies I enjoyed was The House of the Spirits. To say that I was mesmerized would be an understatement. I fell head over heels in love with the story and the years of search [...]
Continue reading 'Isabel Allende: The House of the Spirits' →
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In a discussion about bad customer service in the Philippines over at Sassy Lawyer’s Journal, Paul the Unlawyer posted a totally off-topic comment asking if I had tried cooking with Le Creuset. I knew that Le Creuset cookware was made of cast iron but I wasn’t quite prepared for what it had done to cast [...]
Continue reading 'Is Le Creuset cookware available in the Philippines?' →
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When Chateau mentioned Shuin in a comment a few months back, little did I know that Speedy had been going there for ages. He had brought home frozen dumplings a couple of times, smoked chicken and, just the other day, a bottle of ginger sauce which, when mixed with soy sauce and sesame seed oil, [...]
Continue reading 'Tea cups that do more' →
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Toni has a new blog about story prompts. I checked it out, found it very interesting but I felt I didn’t have the energy to make a contribution just yet.
As I scrolled down her index page, I got to the entry about what’s on your desktop. I paused, realizing that I have had this very [...]
Continue reading 'A dinosaur and egg story' →
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