Vagina

As I was scrounging through PowerBooks in MegaMall looking for an appropriate gift for a friend’s coming birthday, I decided without giving it much thought to get a book to read for my self. The worst was over in school and I can foresee some excess bandwidth that I can use to read. Then the question made it self plain… What do I get? Feeling a little crazy I decided to tear my self away from my usual haunts and explore areas I normally didn’t dare tread. I considered fiction, or all those new, old, new age books that became in vogue after the ruckus kicked up by The Da Vinci Code, not withstanding the fact that the Gnostic scriptures and all those things had been around for centuries. I moved on and checked out some books in the Filipiniana section and browsed a bit, all those management, leadership, and how to make money books. Then I saw it, having heard all the fanfare and ravings about the play, I considered it for a moment. I had refused to read it before specifically because it was so popular. But now, I asked my self; why not?

Now amidst all my books on computers, history, first aid, and war, will soon sit an odd and seemingly out of place stranger called The Vagina Monologues. I thought about it and realized that I only had two books that were about women, the first was about a young girl called Anne Frank, but that was set against the back drop of war and the holocaust, I did find reading her diary somewhat peculiar, as if I was looking into the private thoughts of girl. It was fascinating. The other was The Joy Luck Club and that was required reading. I guess I chose this book in a desire to understand the fairer sex a bit more. The complexity of a totally different perspective, the absurdity of it all, and the sheer insanity! Now, stay thy wrath…. This is my blog and I will write it as I wish.

Now this isn’t going to be a review nor will I discuss the topics covered or the ideas discussed in the book. If that is what you are looking for then go read the book! I have always considered my self a fairly reasonable and liberal minded person. But here and now I shall confess my guilt. I was once guilty of violence against a woman. I once kicked a classmate in third grade after she poured a bottle full stinking orange juice that smelled more like medicine than juice, over my head. I don’t know if she ever forgave me but she did become my S1, as I ran the CAT Corps during our senior year.

Now I’ve never really viewed women as the weaker sex. By all means I expect that women should be as capable if not more, in any endeavor. I'm not trying to be politically correct nor is this an attempt to win brownie points. In truth and from experience I speak. I had engaged in combat a member of the fairer sex in what is referred to as “Kumite” when I was student of Karate. To make the story short, she beat the crap out of me.

I was by no means a weakling, I had a nasty roundhouse kick that had on several occasion caused the hook and chain that held up my punching bag to break and for it to fall to the ground. I could deliver a side kick higher than my head, and I worked out on my punching bag at times till my bandaged knuckles nearly bled.

I could try to rationalize that she had beaten me because I was being considered for promotion to yellow belt while she was about to don a black belt not to mention that she was the daughter of the head instructor. I could also add that I had an accident three days before and had a lot of cuts and bruises on my legs. But I had taken down a competent brown belter before and I was no stranger to injury. So what happened?

Maybe it was her cute and pretty face that left me seemingly in a swoon laid vulnerable and open to attack. She stalked me as predator would its prey. She watched every movement of my hands and feet anticipating and parrying every half hearted move I made, while I could only look into those beautiful eyes and pretty face. I barely extended my legs to its full length when I threw a kick and I doubt if my punches would even hurt a girl scout. It seemed like all she needed to do was purse her lips and bat her eyes and it would have the same effect as a baseball bat wielded by a 250 lbs hitter for the New York Yankees. I did land a few lucky punches which infuriated her even more. Sufficing to say I was doomed.

It is often said the end is not known at the beginning. That is true here for I don’t really have an idea what I am writing about and why I chose that title. I guess this is an ode to women; strong and powerful yet graceful and sublime.

The Great Raid

There is this small shop in Podium called Ink and Stone. It’s a really small shop that sells books and beads and accessories and stuff. Not a place where you would usually find me but I have been able to find books there that I couldn’t get in Power books, so I always make it a point to drop by and check out what they have. A couple of years back I found this book called The Great Raid. On the front cover it read “Soon to be a major motion picture from Miramax films”. I have read a lot books about WW II but mostly about the war in Europe, and I thought it would be nice to read something that happened here in this country for a change.

Fast-forward to today, The Great Raid has had its run in the local cinemas and it came and went without much fanfare. I had been waiting for the movie since I first read the book and when it finally arrived, I wasn’t surprised… it wasn’t really worth waiting for.

It had the hallmarks of a typical Hollywood film, it chopped up what was in the book and had the mandatory love angle. It also had CGI special effects to recreate the landing beaches of Leyte and the city of Manila during the war. The film also followed the current trend of taking a detached view and not glorifying war.

But in the end it still was a Hollywood film meant for the American market. It seems to me that the truth would have been a better story to tell but it simply doesn’t have what Hollywood is looking for.

The film left out Claire Fuentes who ran the Tsubaki club and a spy ring who worked with Guerillas to get information to Mc Arthur and even get some supplies to the Cabanatuan POW camp. I think she would have been more interesting than Miss “U” or Miss Utinsky who in real life was a middle aged over weight woman. The truth is more fascinating than fiction.

The film did make a lot of modifications for dramatic effect. The murder of POWs by putting them in air raid shelters and dumping gasoline on them to burn them alive wasn’t in the book and I haven’t read anything like that happening. I don’t think it makes sense to be wasting precious fuel when you can just simply shoot or bayonet or even behead the prisoners. There was also no barrio filled with burnt up bodies that day. I’m sure something like that happened during the course of the war but it simply wasn’t in the book.



The Alamo Scouts

The movie did mention in the end that more than 20 Filipino Guerillas died as opposed to 2 American Rangers. The film also didn’t show that there were more Filipino Guerillas who fought that day and considering the death toll and the fact that the almost 1,000 Japanese soldiers across the river didn’t get through, that means that they stood their ground and fought well. It would have probably been a route and a massacre had the Japanese been able to get through since they would have out numbered the Rangers who were spread out and was slowed down by the 511 POWs.

It wasn’t also mentioned that Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson fought as Lieutenants under US command in Bataan and that they were operating as Guerillas under the command of Major Bob Lapham. Major Lapham was the guy who rode a horse to tell the US forces about the POW camp.

Col. Mucci and Capt. Prince were both awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross, and the other officers were given the Silver Star, while the enlisted men got Bronze Stars. Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson who both played crucial roles, were both officers, and were actually members of the US Army were only awarded Bronze Stars.

Capt. Pajota was later promoted to Major and fought the Japanese in northern Luzon till the end of the war and Capt. Joson became the Governor of Nueva Ecija after the war and his heirs has followed in his foot steps and still hold political power in the province to this day.


Filipino Guerillas

The film did capture the spirit of the whole affair by admitting that the mission had no strategic military value but was conducted primarily for idealistic reasons. The US Government did write off the American forces along with the Filipino soldiers fighting under the American flag on Bataan, to be chewed up by the Japanese for strategic reasons. In effect rescuing the POWs was the least they could do.


Ranger and POW

Dive and Trek

August 21, 2005, I along with Park, JC, Camille, and Gino went on day trip to Dive and Trek to go skin diving or snorkeling. We raced off early morning Sunday in order to get away from the pressures of city life and give our selves a much-needed break by communing with nature and visiting the world beneath the waves. I had planned to go SCUBA diving but unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a dive buddy, so I was resigned to the fact that my time underwater would be limited by the amount of air I could hold in my lungs.

Dive and Trek is a dive resort located in San Pablo, Bauan, Batangas. The unique thing about this resort is that it sits right in front of a marine sanctuary. Since the coral reef right in front of the resort is protected, it is one of the best dive spots in the Balayan bay area when it comes to the amount of marine life you will see. This also makes the place an ideal spot for skin diving since the reef stretches almost right up to the shore. So you wouldn’t have to go deep in order to experience and enjoy the wonders of the sea.

I have been going to that place since college and I haven’t seen a better place to go skin diving. Dive and Trek is where I first learned how to skin dive way back in college when I first took up skin diving as a PE class, It was there where we had our check out dive. It was also there, a few years later where I first learned how to SCUBA dive because it was also the site for our check out dive. Seeing Sarah Meier during our check out dive and the Miss Earth Beauty Pageant contestants during a clam seeding activity there makes the place…. Ahhh well, memorable.

Since pictures speak louder than words, just check out the pics.


Ready to dive…


Fish!


Is that you Nemo?


Feeding Frenzy!

More Pics

I think I will come back….