The Bear Bitch’s Project

Remember that part in Willy Wonka where Violet Beauregard eats a piece of ‘Three Course Meal’ flavored gum?
(For those who are pitifully ignorant of that wonderful Gene Wilder movie; in the Inventing Room, Violet eats a piece of gum that’s flavored to taste like tomato soup, then roast beef with mashed potatoes, and then blueberry pie)
Well, I just had a "life imitating art" moment yesterday when I ate a piece of Broiled Beef flavored caramel.
Yes, you read right. Broiled beef flavored. Don’t believe me? Check out the box for yourself:

When you first bite into it all you taste is caramel with a hint of ginger but the more you chew, the garlic, pepper, and then beef flavors become more pronounced. It was quite a bizarre experience. Unlike most of the others who tried the caramel, I didn’t spit it out, but i sure as heck would have to be paid a whole lot of money to eat it again. Its definitely something you only do one in your life.
On the bright side, at least I didn’t turn into a human blueberry.

Keeping in theme with the previous post:

Did you know that the story of Sleeping Beauty doesn’t end with the Prince waking her up with a kiss? One of the earliest versions of the story is called Sun, Moon, and Talia   by Giambattista Basile.
This is one story you DO NOT want to read to your children. It starts off
just like the Sleeping Beauty we all know and love but then turns into a
perverted mutation of Hansel & Gretel and Snow White.
What does the prince do when he finds an abandoned castle with a beautiful girl asleep in it? Does he wake her up with a kiss? Hell no. He rapes and impregnates her then goes home to his wife. What a shock it must be to wake up after being asleep for a hundred years not only to find out that you’ve been raped but also that you’ve given birth to twins (named Sun and Moon - go figure) without knowing it. Of course the wife finds out and orders the children to be killed and their flesh served for dinner. But the cook takes pity on the children and cooks a
goat instead. So the wife tries again to have them killed but the prince
saves them and he lives happily ever after with Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and the twins.
Yep. Read that to a kid before bedtime and be prepared to be awoken in the middle of the night because of nightmares!

The version I prefer is called Briar Rose and is by Charles Perrault.
This one is "GP" compared to the one by Basile.
The prince does wake her up with a chaste kiss, they get married and have consensual sex within the bounds of holy matrimony, resulting in twins named Dawn & Day (much better than "Sun" and "Moon").  But they are forced to keep the marriage and kids a secret: not because he has a legal wife but because his mother is an ogre (not of the Shrek variety) who liked to eat children. To make a long story short, she
finds out about the children and gets someone from her staff to turn them into dinner but he can’t bring himself to kill them so he serves her lamb instead. She eventually finds out and tries to kill them once more but the prince arrives just in the nick of time and saves the day. No raping, no adultery, and no Stockholm Syndrome/Raptus. Hurray! Just good, clean, formulaic fiction. What more can you ask from a classic fairy tale?

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that Disney ruined some of the greatest fairy tales out there. I mean, editing out the first 2 balls in Cinderella, editing out the first 3 murder attempts of Snow White, and worst of all, making the Little Mermaid live! What’s the deal with that?
Don’t get me wrong. I very much enjoy those Disney movies, in fact, those 4 are my all time favorites, but somehow, commercializing the stories makes the already 1 dimensional story even flatter.
Well, that’s my two cents on the matter.

The first reading for today is the famous 1 Corinthians 12:31 to 13:13 which is about the theological virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love.
I really can’t remember why or when it started, but I’ve always had a particular fascination with those 3 virtues which are more often than not symbolized by a cross, an anchor, and a heart respectively.

I bought charms and keychains and pendants (like this one) in gold and silver and had them on my neck, wrist, finger, and anywhere else I could hang it. But in spite of all that, I never really understood why Hope is always symbolized by an anchor. So after mass I asked Fr. David. He explained that anchors are what hold ships down during stoms and prevent them from getting swept away. Hope is the same for us emotionally. When he said this, I wanted to smack my palm to my forehead and exclaim "Well, duh, Bear." Its so obvious. Hope is what we hold on to when we are in turmoil; it is what secures us when the world tugs at us from all directons. Hope is what "anchors" us when we are swaying over the edge.
It makes so much sense!
So then I started thinking about the other virtues and what they mean.
Faith, as I understand it, is not just belief in God. Faith, in context of the theological virtues, is our ability to "see" God in our life, surroundings, and others. When a stranger reaches out, grabs your arm when your heel snags and prevents you from falling flat on your face in the middle of Ayala Ave, you could think "Wow. He’s got good reflexes." or "Buti nalang  he caught me. Kakahiya if I fell." OR you could recognize the divine in that random act of kindness and know that there is still good in people and in the world.
"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  (1^st Corinthians 13:13)
Love, I guess, refers to God’s love rather than our own. We should always remember that though our actions make us undeserving of God’s unconditional love, we have it nonetheless, and therefore stive to make ourselves worthy of it. We do this by loving God back through others (among other things, of course).
I suppose this is where a good helping of Faith would come in handy to help us see God in others. Faith, Hope, and Love always come together because they support each other. What good would hope do if you neither have faith in, nor love for, God? It would be pointless.

Please keep in mind that I am no theologian so this, by no means, is not the straightforward or possibly even correct explanation of the theological virtues. This is just my personal understanding of it, resulting from a quick 10 minute reflection during the walk back from my lunchtime liturgy.
-September 20, 2006-

1.    I no longer convert all my purchases from dollars to pesos (Just some).
2.    I now greet people by asking them “How are you?”, a custom which irked me when I first moved here. (I dreaded being the recipient of that question but now I impose it on others).
3.    Buying cleaning supplies excites me as much as buying make-up and books (Scrubbing Bubbles and Clorox wipes are fabulous).
4.    Having to compute and add sales tax to purchases no longer annoys me (I’ve just stopped bothering altogether).
5.    I would willingly give my next 2 pay checks in full to:
-    have the Philippine Daily Inquirer on my doorstep every morning
-    be able to go to mass on Saturdays at the Dasma park
-    have a National Bookstore in my neighborhood
-    be able to get Blu Skies, fresh Kalamansi juice, and Tanauan Bibingka at the grocery

-    turn on the radio and hear K-Lite

I’ve survived a whole year as a US resident. I can’t believe it. Who would’ve thought? I sure didn’t. Horray for me!

Link: July For Kings / Joe Hedges.

www.julyforkings.com not
        found…
       
"July For Kings was a five member Rock band originally from the Middletown/
        Cincinnati Ohio area. In 2006 JFK disbanded, with former members T Miller
        and Dan McQuinn joining frontman Joe Hedges to record his debut solo album."

*******
One of my favorite bands, July For Kings has disbanded. I’m so heartbroken.

Me, my Ninong Rex, and the Dave Matthews Band.

Nuff said.

Clockwise from the top: Me with my ticket, With my Ninong Rex, With Joy & Don (before the concert), and the Dave Matthews Band!

“Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed

Feared today, forgot tomorrow

Beside the news of holy war and holy need

Ours is just a little sorrowed talk”

Ever since my Kuya Marty gave me the book "Andy Bear" for my birthday 13 years ago, I’ve wanted a pet polar bear. Since that’s impossible, this is the next best thing.

Of course I named him Andy after the bear in the book

This cute little guy came with the adoption certificate.

. . . acknowledges text messages by replying "Roger".
. . . lets me play my music when we’re in his car.
. . . has ugly feet but has legs that any woman would die for (naturally smooth and hairless).
. . . Has won medals in the Asian and SEA Games in shooting.
. . . passed on his keratosis pilaris to me but teases me relentlessly about it.
. . . is my movie partner.
. . . learned archery in his 60s and made it to the Philippine team beating men less than half his age.
. . . calls cologne/perfume "lotion".
. . . let me reload his shotgun ammunition even before I turned 6 years old.
. . . gets mad when I put the money he gives me in the bank instead of spending it.
. . . moves his lips when he reads.
. . . is an architect, interior designer, pilot, hunter, and an amazing athlete who continues to win international competitions even in his 70s.


HAPPY 73rd BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!