Sunday Lifestyle
I will never forget that fateful day, August 20, when I found myself singing the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive” in my executive suite at Diamond Hotel. It was 6 a.m., and I had just received a wake-up call from our wedding coordinator Chinkie Agregado.
I’m a single dad, 45 years old, with two minor kids living with me. I have a stable job abroad and I take care of my kids’ personal and education needs. I have a good and close relationship with them and I’m happy that they are doing good in school.
I’m told that, by some kind of symbiosis, some couples at some point begin to look alike, but nobody warned me about any tendency toward combo dressing.
My first images of Filipina beauty unfolded from the pages of my mother’s album, with pictures of Manila Carnival queens during the ’20s and ’30s. I was 7 years old, and I lingered on the pages showing the pictures of beauteous Miss Philippines; Miss Maria Katigbak of Batangas was the kayumanggi, Miss Pacita de los Reyes was fair-complexioned and mestisahin. Both were dressed like a queen and wore a bejeweled crown on their heads.
Once more, the Quota International of Cebu staged its annual Santacruzan, this time at The Terraces of Ayala Center, last May 12, a Saturday. The fund-raising event was for the benefit of hearing- and speech-impaired children, three daycare centers, and various projects with disadvantaged women and children.
It wasn’t exactly a scene out of a Super Walmart branch raising its gates on a Black Friday, when American bargain hunters are known to morph into savages as they jostle, get trampled on and even resort to pepper spray to ward off rival shoppers. Still, H&M’s much-awaited opening in Manila Friday morning was unprecedented in many ways.
If other foreign cities can have it, why not Makati City?
Joe de Venecia, or JDV as people call him, is a man before his time. While many perceive JDV as a politician, those who know him outside of the political arena appraise him differently.
I am looking for my friend. In spite of the social networks today drawing families from the far reaches of the world, finding long lost classmates and even tracking down errant lovers, I still have had no success locating Maria Luisa.
Sitting on the sidelines at family gatherings can be very interesting. You must try it sometime. There you are, minding your own business, trying to do a head count of the children running around you and to figure out who belongs to whom.
