I started early today decorating my live Christmas tree. I bought it last night from the Quebecois, who come from Canada to Manhattan every year to sell their holiday trees. I filled up the stand with water and scooped two teaspoons of sugar into it. Somebody told me that the pine fragrance, which I adore, intensifies by doing so. Massive ice storm had struck the northeast and southern parts of the country, according to today’s papers, but New York, my city, luckily was spared. Actually, although winter solstice is just around the corner, the weather is still quite mild and no sign of snow yet in my neck of the wood. A white Christmas seems to be out of the question this year. (Funny, a day or so after I mailed this newsletter, we got about six inches of snow in New York.) But snow or not, there’s no stopping for the inauguration of the new, historic U.S. president. It ought to be a time of celebration, but the future looks bleak: the U.S. and the world economies are in the gutter, so many Americans are losing their jobs, and wars are going on in so many parts of the world. God, Oh, God, will there ever be peace and quiet in the world?
If I have to pick one exciting thing I did during the year, it will be my studies at Columbia University. I have always wanted to soak myself in an ivy-league-school atmosphere, enjoy its lovely campus, get acquainted with its students and professors, and learn something new. Columbia, the fifth oldest university in the U.S., was the obvious choice since it’s only a subway-ride away from my place. It has a roster of luminous graduates, including Broadway’s Rodgers and Hammerstein, home guru Martha Stewart, Hollywood star Anthony Perkins, and the newly elected president of the U.S., Barack Obama.
I enrolled in a philosophy course because somebody told me that one of the books I’m planning to write has a philosophy tone to it. Since I have no philosophy background, I needed all the help I can get. In my course, we studied the major philosophical movements of the twentieth century, from William’s Pragmatism to Russell’s Logical Positivism, from Sartre’s Existentialism to Phenomenology to Ordinary Language, including Derida’s Deconstruction, Foucault’s Perspectivism, and so on. I got migraine reading the bloviated writings of these philosophers, but learned a lot. I also learned much from the numerous lectures going on inside the university, with topics ranging from religion, economics, art, politics, and many more. I especially treasured the rare opportunity of hearing Hans Kung, a controversial, Catholic Swiss priest and theologian, whose authority to teach Catholic theology was rescinded by the Vatican. I surrendered attending the many plays, concerts and lectures within the university: there were just too many of them
I did two foreign trips last year: one to Manila, Philippines to attend my brother Vic and his wife Belen’s “boda de oro” (Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary). It was a great and rare event because at this time and age, very few couples reach that blessed day. The occasion also served as a grand reunion for our BIG family. The second one was to Jogjakarta, Indonesia, to bring the “newlyweds” (sans the bride due to some passport problem) and another brother to visit Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world and the Prambanan, a lovely Hindu temple, which was the precursor of the more famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia. We checked-out the Gunung Bromo, an awesome valley of volcanoes, popular to the back-packers set in eastern Java. The rest of my 2008 trips were local: to the West Coast (Oregon, Washington and California), with Gigi and Ted, my classmates; Mark, Gigi’s husband and our friend Tom; to Las Vegas, to celebrate milestone birthdays of Anne and Paul Noll; twice to Washington, D.C. and twice to Boston, with relatives and friend.
The notable Broadway and off-Broadway shows I saw during the year included South Pacific, Equus (with “Harry Potter”), The Little Mermaid, Hair and Hamlet. Operas: War and Peace and Our Town. To plug holes in my theater-going activities, I went with friends to experience the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, (we saw “Julius Caesar”), Goodspeed Opera House and Yale Repertory Theatre, both in Connecticut (saw the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Passion Play,” respectively). Concerts: So many, but I love the one by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Lang Lang, the famous Chinese pianist; the Leonard Bernstein Score Series: Elgar Enigma Variations; and the folk-song concerts by Pete Seeger and Patti Smith. I continued to support the visiting Filipino performers, which this year included the La Salle’s Kundirana, Ateneo’s Chamber Singers, and the Loboc Children’s Choir. They’re great, especially the last one.
Among the many museum exhibitions I saw during the year, the ones I like were the “Dead Sea Scroll” at the Jewish Museum, Phillipe de Montebello (who is leaving as the Museum Director) Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Frida Kahlo Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Due to my travels, studies and stream of visitors, I did very little writing during the year, which made me quite frustrated. But I finished doing the research of my next book and I hope to finish writing it next spring. I’m still serving in our Coop Board: too bad, we had to increase our monthly maintenance next year because of the ballooning real estate taxes in NYC and the escalating other building expenses. Four deaths, including two close friends (Peter Reiche and Norbert Winge), a high school classmate (Amador Raz), a former coworker (Noli Sumulong), were the downside of the year. Life is short, we always say like a cliché, but it’s true. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
As the year ends, I’m looking forward to quite a few holiday events, such as the Columbia University & Barnard College Candlelit Concert at Union Theological Seminary, our Villa Group’s concert (at St. Bartholomew’s Church) and dinner (in Little Italy) on Dec. 21, a Christmas Eve Get-together for family and friends in my place, and a post-Christmas Get-together on Dec. 27th in Ted & Re’s Place. I have two foreign trips scheduled so far next year. One will surely happen (a college “get-together” in Manila), but the other one (an Italian villa stay) is still up in the air. I’m booked to spend a few days in Dubai on my way to Manila. That will be a great escape from the cold temperature in NYC.
So long for now. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Luv y’all (as the southerners would say).
Ciao,
Joe
