Ding...ding...ding!!!
You are correct!
Friday night's entertainment was provided by none other than the love song ballad queen, Celine Dion.
The dynamic duo that is Snowball and Snowshoe finally saw Celine in concert. The show was supposed to be back in November but the Diva, cancelled it last minute. So it's now 2009, all the major holiday's are over, the stars are aligned and the timing was right. I saw her 10 years ago at the same place. It's so weird to think about that - I was still in college at the time. She pretty much sang all the same songs on Friday as she did from 10 years ago with the exception of maybe 3-4 new songs. She's as good as ever!
Hit it...
I finally had the chance to see Slumdog Millionaire earlier today. WOW!!! I can't believe I waited this long to see it. If I had known how good this movie was and how much I would LOVE IT, I would have seen it on opening day. Go see it please, if you haven't yet. You will like it, love it, fall in love with the characters and come out of the movie feeling really hopeful and optimistic about life and renewed faith in the inherent goodness in all. At least that's my experience.
So a little bit of childhood history here. I grew up in a tough town in the Philippines. Whenever I get asked where I was born and raised by other Filipinos, I always get this look as if I just said the most ridiculous and appalling thing in the world. You see, where I grew up would be considered "THE" slums of the Philippines. If you don't believe me, Google - Tondo, Manila. Anyhow, I won't go into details as to why we were living in the slums but it had a lot to do with safety and the nature of my dad's line of work back then.
Seeing the movie brought back childhood memories. Don't get me wrong, I grew up in a very nice house with a maid service and a driver who took us around. I went to a very good school and my parents always made sure that my sisters and I were well cared for. The only thing that one would consider odd was that we lived in the outskirts of the slums. My sisters and I were considered the "rich" kids, but there was no way in hell that you would be able to tell. We didn't play with the other rich kids. There were none in our side of the town. We were it. Instead, we got to play with the street kids. I truly believe that a huge part of who I am today was a product my slum days :)
Anyhow, watching the movie earlier brought back memories of me playing outside, running around in bare foot because I couldn't use my flip-flops otherwise my mom would find out that I was out in the streets playing which was a big no-no! My sister, Joan and I used to get into so much trouble with my mom. Somehow she always knew when I was outside playing. I mean, I covered my tracks pretty well but it didn't dawn on me that my mom gave me baths every night which meant that she saw how grimy and muddy feet were and I probably stunk like hell too...ha ha ha!
Okay fine, for those of you that have seen the movie, my childhood was not even remotely close to the horror that Jamal went through but as a kid growing up in the area that I did, I saw poverty, crime, abuse and injustice right before my eyes although I was too young to comprehend it at the time. Life taught me early on of the lessons of compassion, tolerance, acceptance and complete gratitude for what I have in my life.
So this Opera going, Symphony loving, Wine drinking, Hula dancing girl that I am today once lived in the slums, played with dirty, stinky kids, loved every minute of it and will do it all over again :)
Each person has a story to tell. Some of the chapters are heroic. Some of them are about loss, some about fear, and some about achievement or joy just like my story. Be open to the stories of others without judgments. You never know what you will find out. Give yourself the chance to get to know others deeper and make the connection. I'm not suggesting to like everyone's personality or want to spend time with them. That's draining and counter intuitive to the goal. Instead, choose the people you enjoy. Don't short change yourself by throwing anyone out of your heart.
I'm so glad Slumdog won so many awards and most importantly the Best Picture of the year - very well deserved.
Speaking of going back to my roots...
peace out homies,
jakey
No comments:
Post a Comment