Pinoy Pie

Lazy Blogger #2: Sigh

2008-07-09T01:43:00.001+08:00

This must be the cutest pug ever (*sigh*). I think I'm going to the pet store this weekend.

I added the captions but the images were from this flicker account.

Maya Moments

2008-06-15T21:44:00.001+08:00

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the males of the species that have been able to pass on their genetic material and produce offspring! Kudos. If you're a male black widow spider, well, this day might also be your funeral, but I digress.

Since it's Father's Day, we spent the afternoon with my parents over a late lunch. My parents got there before the missus and I. When we got there, my dad introduced us to his friend that was by chance celebrating Father's Day with his family in the same restaurant. We said hello, exchanged polite smiles and sat at our table. Later, they stopped at our table on their way out and we were introduced to the rest of the group. My father introduced me to his friend's son, Mark. As we were shaking hands, my mother said 'Mark is with Rivermaya'. The statement caught me by surprise and the only response that I was able to put together was 'Talaga?' (Really?). He smiled back at me and I was embarrassed for myself. This was Mark Escueta. Although I'm no fanboy, I love Rivermaya's music and have been listening to them for more than a decade. They are definitely on the list of best and most respected groups the Philippines has ever spawned. The family were all nice and we waved goodbye as they left.

I have a few Rivermaya moments in my life, but I think that takes the cake. Let's countdown the other top 3:

Maya Moment #3: There was a week when I couldn't get one of their songs out of my head, You'll be Safe Here. I didn't have a copy of the album where the song was featured so I decided to ask one of my co-workers, who was a known Rivermaya fan, if she had a copy I could borrow. When I went up to her, she was chatting with a friend. I asked her if she had a copy of Rivermaya's latest album. She said she knows someone who does and asked if I was looking for a particular song. I said yeah, You'll be Safe Here. She and her friend looked at each other and giggled, 'That's been out around a year now and they have a new album'. I suddenly felt old and very un-cool. I know, petty and trivial.

Maya Moment #2: I have blogged about my singing abilities before, the gist of it is I have no talent for it and the world would be better off if I avoid it altogether. But there was one time that I was singing and the missus turned to me and said 'that actually wasn't all that bad'. That's probably the best compliment I'm ever going to get. I only sang a portion of it and quit while I was ahead. The song was Rivermaya's Bring Me Down.

Maya Moment #1: I played guitar back in high school. I never got good at it. I could never tune my guitar without an electronic tuner. I did get to a point where I could play the basic chords, and with a lot of practice, I might learn a whole song. There were people in our batch that were good and could play songs by ear. I, on the other hand, needed chords from Songhits or a similar magazine to be able to play. A group of them sometimes got together to jam during weekends. During our senior year, they were asked to perform at the last event for the seniors before graduation. They needed another person to play on guitar, for no other reason other than we were friends and I had the right equipment, they asked me to join. They certainly didn't asked me because of my talent. It was fun jamming with them and eventually playing in front of the batch. I sucked of course, but I had fun. One of the songs we played was Kisapmata by Rivermaya. One of the coolest things I have ever done.

Unexpected Results

2008-06-13T02:15:00.003+08:00

What???!

How disturbing is it that I'm #4 in these search results. Well, good luck whoever you are. I hope you found what you were looking for. Be careful though, it is Friday the 13th, you never know what you're gonna get....uhm, like a box of chocolates....a male box of chocolates.

Cerebral Flatulence #2: Restrooms

2008-05-29T02:31:00.005+08:00

It's important to have clean restrooms. No question about it. People will risk bursting a bladder rather than use vomit-invoking public restrooms. Sparkling tiles is a sign of a well maintained restroom. Although it might be too much if you can actually see the reflection of the person in the next cubicle. A less reflective ceramic flooring might be in order in such instances.

Hmmm...Spam

2008-05-19T00:05:00.009+08:00

I have one email address that I use to sign-up on sites that requires one. That email address gets hit by a thousand spam mails everyday. How great would life be if all Spam mails were genuine?

- I would win the lottery everyday!

- I would get paid hundreds of dollars for a single day's work...at home!

- Free vacations to everywhere, including accommodations!

- Free computers, phones, and all kinds of gadgets!

- All the ladies want to meet me for...ah...wholesome and intelligent conversations, I guess.

Seems like spammers are now sending their junk from the future, about 30 years from now. No wonder these guys never get caught. They haven't even been born yet. Somebody find their parents and take away their Viagra.

Unfortunately, there are draw backs. If spam was true, I would be overweight and depressed, which would explain the erectile dysfunction. I would be on anti-depressants, not to mention an addiction to a multitude of other prescription drugs. I would also be suffering from Alzheimer's and osteoporosis. I wouldn't be able to go on all those vacations and wouldn't be capable of anything other than intelligent conversations with the opposite sex. I would need all the money from the lottery winnings to pay for the medical bills and drug rehabilitation (or support the drug addiction). I would be stuck in the hospital in a dark room basking in the glow of my free computer, growing pale and wasting away. Well, as they say, to everything there is a balance.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T22:00:00.007+08:00

To all mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

First thing the wife and I did when we woke up this morning was call our mothers to greet them. We were going to visit my mom later in the day. We had her on speaker when we called her, here's how part of the call went:

Me: "Do you want us to pick-up anything on the way there?"

Her answer was quick, there was no pause and it seemed she was just waiting for me to ask. She pounced on the question and answered with a snap.

Mom: "Jollibee!"

She sounded a little too excited for junk food so it made me laugh. After we all recovered from chuckling, we asked her what she wanted us to get her.

Mom: "Fried chicken and that big burger they have."

Me: "Champ Burger?"

Mom: "No, not that one, the other one."

I looked at the missus puzzled.

Missus: "Aloha Burger ma'?"

Mom: "Yup, that's the one."

After chuckling a bit more (she was laughing too), we told her we would be there in an hour or so with the food. We later found that Jollibee no longer sold Aloha Burgers, so we just got her a Champ (aww). We also bought her a cake. When we got there, we had a nice junk food meal together, and then had cake and ice cream. It was a menu for a children's party. Dad was out of town on business so it was just the three of us. He probably would have something to say about the food we were eating. He regularly point's out that it wouldn't hurt the three of us to lose some weight. Of course, he does it out of love, or so he says. We spent the rest of the day talking and watched a couple of videos. The missus and I brought "Hairspray" and "The Bucket List" for us to watch. We all enjoyed both movies. Mom especially related to Hairspray, she used to style her hair the same way as the women in the movie. We really needed no convincing as both the missus and I have seen tons of her photographs during that time. In this post is one of those photographs. This was an old worn-out and damaged photograph which I scanned and did some restoration on, so if you see that she has six fingers on one hand, an extra pair of legs or eyes, that was my fault. Mom's perfectly normal and won't be joining the X-Men any time soon. Well, she does have high blood pressure, but I don't think that will qualify as a special ability.

She was also familiar with some of the dance moves in the film. Mom's a good dancer. If there are any researchers out there on the subject, I am definitive proof that dancing is not hereditary. I'd be happy to take part in any case study, especially if you're working on a cure for awkward dancing. That reminds me, even though I live and grew up in the Philippines, there are lots of foreigners who come to visit. I can offer first hand knowledge to the fact that white men can't dance. Not only can't they dance, they frequently inflict injuries to people unfortunate enough to be next to them on the dance floor. That fact should soon be in the science books. Hmmm, that seems to conflict with my earlier statement that dancing abilities are not hereditary, so much for consistency. Seems like we've digressed here, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, Happy Mother's Day!

Drive By Shootings #5: RePhil

2008-05-05T23:09:00.006+08:00

A gas station in the Philippines named "RePhil". Business owners must have put together a project team just to come up with this one. How do you think that meeting went?

Team Leader: We want something catchy, easy to remember. Something customers will relate to.

Team Member: How about "RePhil"? Get it? An abbreviation of "Republic of the Philippines" but also sounds like "Refill", like you do with your gas tank. Witty and patriotic.

Team Leader: Genius! Let's take a vote. Great, it's unanimous. Somebody give that man a cookie! Nice work people. Let's get out of here and pick-up our paychecks. Oh yeah, put down 8 hours for meeting duration.

The Missus Chronicles #3: 15 Minutes

2008-04-20T23:43:00.025+08:00

I was listening to Mellow 94.7 and heard about this show they do, Desert Island Disc. Basically the idea is you send in a list of songs you would take with you if you were marooned on a desert island. If I was going to be a jerk about it, I would say - "If I knew I was going to be stuck in a desert island ahead of time, I would bring a satellite phone, a GPS homing device, a raft, etc." But I'm always game for hypothetical situations, so I sent them an email with my songs and a long with a brief message. It got picked and Chloe read it on their show April 15, 2008 with some side commentaries from her and Chris. They sent me back a message before the day so I had a chance to prepare and record the segment. Here's a recording of the show where I cut out all the songs and just left in the stuff where they were reading my email. And who else would I pick-on aside from the missus? No one really. Check it out:

You can also listen or download through this link (5.61 MB).

I was hoping this was going to be my big break. But it has been a week now and no one has stopped me on the street to ask for my autograph and Hugh Hefner hasn't called with an offer to pose for Playboy. I guess that 15 minutes of fame isn't what it used to be.

The Missus Chronicles #2: Mrs. Evil

2008-03-31T01:00:00.003+08:00

I hate wires. So you can just imagine what nightmare computers are, especially if you have a few peripherals. Keyboard, mouse, power cords, external drives, network cables, etc they just drive me crazy when they get tangled. I go on a rant when the missus moves the laptop to another part of the house and the cables get tangled when I use it. Naturally she's annoyed by it. So yesterday when we had to move the laptop, she gave me all the cables and said "Here, you connect them, you're going to kill me again if I mess up.", which is a funny way of saying what she wanted to say. Having the juvenile mind that I do, I turn to her and said "I knew it! I suspected it all this time! You're my evil arch rival disguised as a woman and tricked me into marrying you! Ha! I have uncovered your evil and elaborate scheme for revenge! You shall not succeed! I have defeated you before and I can do it again!"

The Laws of Karaoke Dynamics

2008-03-12T23:26:00.013+08:00

If you're planning to visit the Philippines and you have friends that live locally to take you on a night out, one of the likely places you'll end up in is a KTV Bar (Karaoke). In an effort to save you some grief, my unsuspecting friend, I present to you the basic laws of karaoke dynamics - heed them well.

The Basic Laws of Karaoke Dynamics

The amount of alcohol in one's system is:
- Inversely proportional to willingness to let go of the microphone.
- Directly proportional to the volume of the singing.

Enthusiasm has no direct relationship to talent.

For everyone to enjoy the night never state the obvious. Do not use the word 'bad', 'terrible', 'worst', etc in reference to anyone's singing. Expect the same courtesy.

In case you find yourself wanting to stab your ears with a rusty screwdriver, remember that alcohol also enhances the auditory senses much like it does the visual senses (i.e. Beer Goggles).

*sigh* Other people come up with the Theory of Relativity, Laws of Motions, Thermodynamics, but me I come up with junk like these.

Enjoy your night out, and no, you won't find Chocolate Rain in the song list.

Drive By Shootings #4: Discount Store

2008-02-15T00:13:00.008+08:00

You know what, all I can say is that I appreciate the shop owner's honesty. If you're sharp enough to spot that this is a "discount store" and not a discount store, then you're okay. But if you miss it, well, he'll take your money. At least you had a chance, it's not an outright con.

Those unnecessary quotes, they're a killer.

Update (2/19/2008):

For more cases of unnecessary quotation marks, check out: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks (thanks Ge!)

Drive By Shootings #3: Dirty Names

2008-02-13T22:22:00.004+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present a contender for the Guinness Book of World Records title for the cheapest business sign in the world.

Get your business name out there with absolutely no cost. Just wait for the truck to get dirty as it goes about its daily business. I estimate that a trip around the metro during rush hour would do it. After you have a good layer of dirt and soot, take a piece of cloth (clean or dirty, doesn't matter) and start lettering. Wait, we might incur some cost with a piece of cloth, scratch that. Just take your finger, give it a good lick and start writing. You might have to re-lick that finger every now and then to keep it moist, feel free to use your other digits.

I say give Home Best Enterprises Furniture a perfect score on cost effectiveness and just forget about the other categories.

Drive By Shootings #2: Fight the Power

2008-02-12T20:22:00.003+08:00

Somebody call the riot police! Chaos has broken out in the parking area of Anarchists Anonymous members!

In case you missed it, there's a sign on the wall that says "PARK FACING WALL". It might just be me, but I found this funny when I walked by it. Must have been some anti-establishment folks sticking it to the Man. "Hey parking sign, you're not the boss of me!"

Drive By Shootings #1: Asian Massage

2008-02-11T20:59:00.001+08:00

New series! These will be pictures I took, mostly from my car, while driving around the metro. They won't be the best quality cause I usually use the camera on my mobile.

While I was driving home one night, this SUV pulled up beside me. My camera phone sucks at night shots, but you can still read most of the text. This really made me laugh when I read it, check it out (click photo for larger version):

If you can't read everything, here's what it says:

Asian Massage
Calming The Whole Nation
24 hour Massage Home Service & SPA (Php 250/HR)
STRICTLY MASSAGE ONLY! - GOD CAN SEE YOU!

I wish I could hear the recordings of the phone calls they received that lead them to put that in there.

Wow. Makes me kind of paranoid. Someone is watching all the time. I think I'm going to start wearing my swimming gear when I take a bath.

The Voices: That doesn't make a difference.
Me: Why?
The Voices: Well, if Superman has X-ray vision, don't you think HE will at least have that or more likely, something better?
Me: Lead underwear?
The Voices: If it helps you sleep at night.

Oh yeah. I think I found the perfect uniform for their masseuse:

Cerebral Flatulence #3: Science &Technology

2008-01-29T19:47:00.000+08:00

Instant Messaging is revolutionary; it breaks down social barriers and connects people like never before. How else would you have a civilized conversation with anyone while in your stained underpants reeking of body odor and bad breath in your bedroom.

Science tells us that two bodies could not occupy the same space at the same time. Following the same thought, you would think that you would not be able close a car door when a human hand is in the way. Well, with the appropriate amount of force, you can apparently break the laws of physics. I also found that the by-product of such a process is a tremendous amount of pain.

Life Resilient

2008-01-02T19:48:00.000+08:00

We have this little plant growing in a little hole between our garage floor and wall (pictured left). The floor is some type of marble and the wall is concrete, yet this plant found that little source of light and broke through the surface. I'm totally amazed by it every time I walk by it in the morning. The little seed that could, a show of how resilient life can be.

That little plant (we don't know what it is) reminded me of the Narra tree in front of my parent's house (pictured right). That tree was a project back when I was still in primary school. I think we were asked to bring different kinds of trees. Back then, it was still a sapling when I brought it to school. After we presented it in school, I brought it back home and forgot about it. No one really paid attention to it and it was not watered daily. One day, my mother came to visit, she noticed the tree. It was in an old tin can and most of the leaves had fallen off. The thing was sickly and looked dead. She took it home with her and planted it in an empty lot in front of her house. Amazingly, it recovered and after a couple of decades, it is huge and I would not be able to wrap my arms around it if I tried. It is a magnificent tree. A friend of my father who is reputed to have a third eye (e.g. paranormal sight) once came over to visit and paused in front of the tree. He told my father never to take it down as there are good spirits who live in the tree that watched over it and its surroundings, including their home. He said that this was one of the reasons why my parent's home has been safe in spite of the fact that their place is one of the oldest in the area and almost all of their neighbors houses have been burglarized.

Also, when the missus and I were driving along Pres. Quirino Avenue, we saw a tree that was planted in the partition that separated the north and south bound lanes of the traffic (pictured right). It must have gotten too big than what the partition could handle as it was cut down leaving only a stump. But growing from the stump was two fresh but thick green branches. It the middle of the Manila traffic where pollution was so bad that most of the other tree's branches had turned black this tree, that was cut down, is surviving and bursting with new life.

Serving The Engine #2: Pancit

2007-12-29T01:11:00.000+08:00

Okay, here's an interesting one. One of my visits indicated this search:

Search Engine : search.yahoo.com
Search Words : putting up a panciteria in the philippines

So I guess someone needed help putting up a panciteria (in the Philipines specifically). I've never been in the pancit business. If someone came up to me and asked what would one need to put up a panciteria, I would probably say 'pancit?'. I guess the two most important things is a good location and good pancit. I can't help with the location, but let's talk about all things pancit. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, I'm into this because mom just called and asked me to bring pancit for our New Year's Eve dinner. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Pancit (pansit) actually has a Wikipedia entry. Listed there are the following kinds of pancit:

- Pancit Bíhon
- Pancit Cantón
- Pancit estacion
- Pancit Habhab
- Pancit Luglog (or Palabok)
- Pancit Malabón
- Pancit Mólo
- Pancit Míki
- Pancit Moròng
- Pancit Sotanghòn

You can click on each pancit style to get a recipe. So many, I don't think this is a complete list. Benetton should launch a new marketing campaign locally, "United Pancit Noodles of Benetton"(baduy!). Benetton, call me, we'll talk.

Did you know that Pancit Malabon has its own festival? You can go here for some information on the event and its activities.

Here is an excerpt from a PCIJ article, Pancit Republic:

Pancit, borrowed from the Chinese, then innovated and adopted into our cuisine, connects us to our Asian roots. But more importantly, it is a veritable Pinoy comfort food — easier to cook than rice, and more versatile and food combination-friendly. It is the faster fast food. In fact, “pancit” is derived from the Hokkien “pian i sit,” which means “something conveniently cooked fast.” (link to full article)

Here's a link to a Pancit Chart also from PCIJ. It has a list of Pancit noodles by:

- how they are cooked
- thickness
- make
- region

Let's top everything off with a cute blog post from rockersworld.com:

pancit, in terms of a romantic relationship, means that a certain party is under. It’s either the other party is the law while the other party is under the law. A statement from someone like, “Hindi ako pancit, ako ang batas!” would definitely mean that the person is indeed a pancit in denial especially if the person consumes enough alcohol to give him/her hallucinations that he/she is indeed the law. (link to full post)

Pancit is a regular part of my diet. Particularly pancit palabok from Jollibee, instant pancit canton (spicy) from Lucky Me, instant pancit palabok from Quickchow. But of course, my favorite of them all, which I rarely ever get, is my sister-in-law's pancit palabok cause she makes a lot of sauce and I can drown the noodles in them. (Update: Pictured right, me with the sister-in-law's pancit palabok, yum!!)

You know what, there's so many things pancit out there that I just gave up. If you guys have anything pancit to add, leave a comment.

Update (1/2/2008) more things pancit:

Following is a Sine Totoo Documentary on the different pancit in the Philippines. The first one deals with places in the south:

- Pancit Masyang ng San Pedro, Laguna
- Pancit Lukban ng Quezon
- Pancit ng Bato ng Camarines Sur

The second part of the documentary deals with areas north of the Philippines:

- Pancit Batil-Patong ng Tuguegarao
- Pancit Cabagan ng Isabela
- Pancit Luglog ng Orani, Bataan

Here's a video on how to make pancit canton. This one is by a group of Fil-Ams which seem to be a school project for their Filipino class. It must be, their Tagalog is so terrible I can't think of another reason why else they would be speaking in Filipino. It's both intentionally and unintentionally funny:

Here's a short film from Jim Libiran entitled "Pancit Canton". This short film was a predecessor to his full length feature entitled "Tribu", winner of the 2007 Cinemalaya Best Film and composed of a cast of real life Tondo gang members. Here's a link to an interview he did for that feature.

Cerebral Flatulence #2: What's the Upside?

2007-12-20T15:38:00.001+08:00

I just spilled soda on my desk. While I was wiping it off, I thought to myself, look at the bright side: your mouse will have more traction. Then I remembered that I used an infrared mouse.

Lazy Blogger #1: IT Humor

2007-12-10T14:49:00.000+08:00

Well, didn't follow through on those blog posts I wanted to write this weekend. So I'm just going to dump stuff I stumbled upon on the interwebs. Click on the image to enlarge.

Savoring Puppy Tears

2007-12-04T23:00:00.000+08:00

For people who are Robinson Malate regulars, like yours truly, you'll know that they've expanded the mall. I would say they increased floor space by 30%. I like the new wing, it's arier. But what I'm most delighted about is the opening of a Savory Chicken Restaurant, woohoo! You see how delighted I am? I went "woohoo". You know, to show how delighted I was. Right. Clear and redundant. Gotcha.

The place isn't actually part of the new wing but it opened the same time the new wing did. Savory is where my chicken addiction began. My dad used to bring some home every weekend and we all looked forward to it. And every time that he did, we would have to take turns trying to solve the mystery of "who ate all the chicken and didn't leave some for me". I have to admit that I was part of the usual suspects, and rightly so in most cases. But hey, I was smart enough to be home when dad arrived. After being told off a number of times, I learned to leave my brother's share of the chicken alone, but still, I always failed to do it for the gravy. I was a Savory chicken gravy junkie. "Keep the chicken! But I get all the gravy!" *manic laughter* As far as I'm concerned, Savory has the best chicken gravy in the world. Even if it turns out that they squeezed cute and lovable little puppies to get puppy tears and put that in the mix as their secret ingredient, I don't think I would stop having it.

I finally got a chance to have dinner at the new place this weekend. I was happy to find that both the chicken and the gravy tasted as I remembered them. But the new place is small, there was a line of people waiting to be seated when we got there. Normally, we would just find another place that's less crowded, but this is Savory and I've been looking forward to eating here since I found out it opened a few weeks ago. So that's my only beef (or should I say poultry?) with the place, it's too small. I think this is the first time they've opened in a mall though. All the places I remember were stand-alone restaurants (those restaurants are so emo). But still, I'm glad they're here and accessible. I must have asked the missus ten times if she liked the chicken and gravy.

If you're beginning to be suspicious, the answer is 'no', I was not paid by anyone to make a Savory endorsement. I'm just a fan boy. Some people have Star Wars, I have food. But if someone from Savory stumbles upon this post, well, it would not be below me to accept free meals for life.

Following is some literature I took off their table mats:

The Juicy Story Behind Savory Chicken

The years following the end of World War II proved significant not just for the Philippines but for the four Ting brothers as they moved to start a fresh life and establish their livelihood. By 1950, the brothers had put up a "panciteria" in the busy district of Quiapo serving mainly lomi. Over time, as their little panciteria grew in popularity and as the brothers began to discover other dishes they could solve their customers, they were able to create a 'special' recipe for fried chicken and gravy that became so popular that soon not just members of the local Chinese community came to partake of the special tasty, juicy and tender chicken treat but also a number of Filipinos who would come to the tiny restaurant with their family to 'savor' this 'savory' fried chicken dish.

And thus the popular Savory Chicken House was born and its first branch opened in Escolta. The menu soon expanded to include other Filipino and Chinese dishes. Now, after over 50 years of existence, the third generation of the Ting family who launched Savory are re-launching the Classic Savory Chicken and you are part of this momentous event as you enjoy your Savory chicken with us.

We thank you for your unwavering loyalty and look forward to serving you the best and juiciest fried chicken for many more generations to come.

Remembering the Aratiles

2007-12-02T06:19:00.000+08:00

When I think back to my childhood, it seems that the Aratiles tree (a.k.a Alatiris, Alateris, Aratiris) is an omnipresent fixture. Back then, when there was no Internet or cable, and Atari consoles were rare, I spent most of my time outdoors. I would run barefoot in the hot asphalt pavement playing with friends. We hung upside down from the monkey bars, stood up and jumped off the swing sets, ran up the industrial grade aluminum slides, played in construction sites, and rode our bikes as far away from home as we dared. Basically, everything that our parents would tell us not to do. But it seems that at the end of every day, we would end up under the Aratiles tree. It was a common tree and it could be found all over the neighborhood. We were all very fond of climbing it and eating its berries while sitting on its branches and resting in its shade. Of course, everything would end up being sticky and it would always stain our clothes. I also remember once getting caught with a couple of friends climbing a neighbor's Aratiles tree without permission.

Even when our family moved from our old neighborhood into the Metro, the Aratiles tree was there. The new place was smaller and the gray cement dominated everything except for a triangle shaped patch of soil where a lone Aratiles tree stood surrounded by the tightly packed and narrow two storey houses.

I gained new friends in our new neighborhood and we spent most days playing in the shade of that lone tree. But as the years passed by I noticed it getting weaker, until one day, when I came around the plaza I saw people had tied ropes around it and had pulled it out of the ground. I don't remember why they did that, but I do remember being saddened by the sight of it being hauled away. For a while it wasn't the same and we would talk of how we missed the tree. But as certain as the sun shines life moved on. Children are fickle and they forget easily; to a young mind there are many distractions and there are always new things to love.

That event seemed to coincide with when as a kid, I decided that I was going to be one of the adults; Entering that phase where you stop bragging about your latest toy and conversations with your friends start to change. I sometimes wonder if that was a mere coincidence or if there was more to the Aratiles tree. Could it be that the child was hauled away with the tree? It seemed that something shifted in the world, that the lens had changed. From a soft focus where things seemed to glow and the background was blurred, the image suddenly sharpened and things were suddenly clearer. Whereas before the blur allowed for the imagination, now the world became hard and rational. Those empty houses we passed while out on our bikes were no longer haunted, but merely abandoned. The rustling tree at night was no longer due to its giant guardian shifting in the branches to light his thick tobacco. Tall grasses no longer hid gnome villages, but dangerous snakes. You realize that you will never stumble upon a portal to another world in those thickets. You stop rubbing anything that remotely resembles an old oil lamp in hope of getting wishes. It seems as if that fruit was the source of childhood innocence and wonderment.

What if the berry of the Aratiles is the anti-thesis of the Forbidden Fruit? While one takes away innocence, could the other impart it? As the Tree of Knowledge is hidden away, the Tree of Innocence is everywhere. As men search for Eden to behold the tree where dwelt the Serpent, this humble tree will grow wild in the most barren of gardens. As Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat The Fruit, this will be offered to the children. But then, the child eventually tires of the fruit, and visit the tree less and less. He will forget. His young mind will discover other things and learn to love something new. Still, unlike first man and woman who were well aware of what they lost after being casted out of the Garden, the children will never know the value of this fruit and they join the world of Man willingly.

Sometimes when I come around that plaza, I can still see the outline of that tree. Like a phantom limb of a dismembered arm, it feels like it's there.

Just to be safe, I think I will put this down on my "Father To Do List", for when I have kids:

Plant an Aratiles tree.