My children continue to surprise me!

My son Mio pulled a really good one lately. In Aus, it is a requirement that every graduating high school student must have a body of art work for presentation by the end of the year. Last August, he submitted a unique stencil collection of work on old vinyl records for the exhibition. It turned out quite impressive. During the exhibit, his collection was given a prominent spot in his school.

Three weeks ago, when he went to school to collect his stuff after graduation, he was told that his art works were missing. He was quite pissed when he came home and was wondering how the school could have misplaced them.

But lo and behold, a week later, he got a letter from some NSW university body informing him that his work was among 800+ finalists which MAY be exhibited through Art Express, a month long exhibition in art museums featuring outstanding works by high school kids throughout all of New South Wales. He was ecstatic, although I was even more so. He felt privileged enough even just to be considered a finalist.

Well, three days ago, when he opened the mailbox, he received a letter officially informing him that his body of work entitled, ‘Screw art school, I just wanna make art!’ has been officially chosen for a month long exhibition at the Gymea Art Museum.

Dear readers, I am extremely proud to say that my only begotten son Mio with whom I am (generally ) well-pleased will be exhibiting his work starting February 9, 2008 to March 9, 2008 at the said venue.

OK, I know some of you will want to accuse me of being a doting father. I plead guilty. ha ha.

Mark the dates.

And if that isn’t enough, my recently employed, hardworking daughter Ala meanwhile is also preparing for her own month long exhibit to run in the city by March next year. More details to follow. What else can I say? My children make me proud!

* * *

If you received an email about some near rape incident or a warning about rapists, or something like that which purportedly originated from me, well, it did not! But I may have caused the impression that it did since when I forward email, I spare the recipients the long lists of ccs that accompany forwarded mail by deleting them. I find forwarded mail which are unedited quite irritating, actually and very seldom read them.

I felt compelled to write this since I have been getting a lot of emails about it, and it’s been put up in so many blogs with the source attributed to me.

* * *

More than a week ago, Lydia and I, upon the invitation of Leo Valdez finally got to watch the long-running Ms. Saigon. Althroughout the show, I just kept wondering why it took me so long to watch it considering that I had so many friends who had been members of the various casts which have performed all over the world.

I only have great things to say about the Sydney show, but my superlatives go to the Filipinos in the cast who did not fail to hold high the world class standard that the Filipino performer is known for. RJ Rosales whom I had not seen in ages was a powerful, scary Thuy. His clear voice rang through the hall. Leo, as engineer was an overwhelming, menacing , magical presence. His was a seasoned performance, yet still overwhelming with sincerity and power, considering that this was this 2300th plus performance.

As a fellow performer, I could sense his ‘killer instinct’ throughout as he dished both tragedy and comedy. It was, to put it simply, his show. I also give 5 stars to the Pinay who played Ms. Saigon whose name I do not recall right now. She played it with sensitivty and a pain that had me teary-eyed in many scenes. Her love scenes were so filled with heart and passion that that can take your breath away. And considering that the cast has been doing this almost twice daily for more than a year now, it still had a freshness to it that wonderfully worked its magic on the audience.

(Thanks Todd of Melbourne for the pics)

After the show, Leo treated us to merienda at a nice resto with a great view along Darling Harbour. Our relationship with Leo goes a long way back even before Lydia and I got married. We reminisced about the old times and had a few laughs. It was great to see an old friend happy and very accomplished as an artist. We may catch the Adelaide or Perth run in a few months!

* * *

I have had my iphone for almost two months now and continue to be fascinated and delighted by it. I admit I can succumb to techno-lust every now and then, but this one can turn to ‘true love’, at least for some months or even years. I have been using it in Sydney and Manila annd it is simply great!
Yesterday, I went to Greenhills to look up my friend Jann Leigh who unlocked my phone fresh out of the box for use anywhere in the world. This time, I asked him to upgrade the OS from the original 1.0.2 to the latest 1.1.2. which I thought would be quite a mean feat if he could do it. Well, he did with flying colors. As he was doing it, I could only marvel at how adept he was at altering, jailbreaking, and unlocking the iphone, and all other types of phones as well.

If you are thinking of ordering an iphone from the US and having it unlocked, call Jann at 09213798888. Or you can buy one from him already unlocked and waiting to be used with any sim card anywhere.