"It's fun reaching 62," says a veteran movie actress. Try reaching 82, it's more fun. Hehe.
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I know I'm already that old. The waiters in the Chinese restaurants no longer require me to use chopsticks.
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Speaking of chopsticks, I once heard a shapely middle-aged lady say she keeps trim by eating with only one chopstick.
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Seriously speaking, I'm fond of reading newspaper ads. They're educational. Like this ad featuring Kuya Kim Atienza.
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From this ad I learned many things about kamunggay. Like, gram-for-gram it contains more Vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more Vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas. That's why kamunggay is called "The Wonder Gulay."
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I remember what my good friend and kumpare, the late Stephen Sy Gaisano, told me about kamunggay and tangkong (or kangkong) in the US. He said his Pinoy neighbors would drive miles away just to buy these so-called poor man's gulay.
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Before I forget, I would like to thank Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos for the invitation to the Araw ng Argao celebration last Sept. 19, 2013. The letter invitation was mailed Sept. 23, 2013, although the affair was supposed to be Sept. 19. The letter reached my hands Oct. 9, 2013.
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It's all right, Your Honor. At least I knew you had wanted me to join your celebration. As they say, "sunod na lang."
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My fellow journalist James Watson of the now-defunct Trade Journal Writers of America (of which I was a member for five years) and now living in Vietnam said in an email that more than 200 motorcycles run at the same time everyday in Saigon. Many of them are driven by women from all stations of life. "But accidents are rare," says James. "In fact, I experienced only one accident in my two years of residence here." The accident was about one woman rider who dropped her mobile phone and was crushed by her own motorbike.
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OVERHEARD. Some wives of lawmakers were heard talking about the pork barrel in the lobby of a hotel in Manila. "Malas talaga," one wife was heard saying. "We are still halfway in the payment of our house and car." Commented another lawmaker's wife: "Bakit? Hindi naman para sa atin ang pork barrel, ah."