Pinays and Superstitions

[Jedironin]

jm- sounds like your family (and their doctors) need to study more about long-term side effects that drugs can have! Many drugs are not good if they're abused like that... Long-term liver problems, and other organ and tissue problems can develop. I would be very concerned for their health.

[jm21-2]

jm- sounds like your family (and their doctors) need to study more about long-term side effects that drugs can have! Many drugs are not good if they're abused like that... Long-term liver problems, and other organ and tissue problems can develop. I would be very concerned for their health.

I don't think they actually take the medication. Maybe her brother but not her or her mom. And she's absolutely convinced her brother has OCD (he may have a tiny bit, but nowhere near enough for medication).

Without any sort of real procedure for diagnosis, disorders become like horoscopes. The symptoms for most disorders are usually listed vaguely enough that it's easy to think you have one if you don't know much about it. Sad sometimes? Depression. Anal sometimes? OCD. Have differing energy levels? Bi-polar.

It seems like in most Asian countries it is very easy to get fairly powerful pills.

[Bob_S]

It seems like in most Asian countries it is very easy to get fairly powerful pills.

Are they so powerful?  If they are Chinese quality and titrated for Asian body size, they're probably worthless.  Heck, I have to bring my own cold medicines and pain killers when visiting Japan just because their stuff is so weak (and inconvenient to get to boot!).

I think you lived out a conversation that I've already had a few times!  I was asked "can I text when you come to visit!"

My reply was exactly as yours was!  I have traveled 12k miles to see you!  Lay off the texting please, at least until we get acquainted.

That she would even ask is itself a yellow flag.  I thought Pinays were supposed to be instinctually attentive and dutiful? 

But.....Somehow I don't think I will win that argument! 

And there's the red flag.  I do hope you're joking. 

[z_k_g]

That she would even ask is itself a yellow flag.  I thought Pinays were supposed to be instinctually attentive and dutiful? 
And there's the red flag.  I do hope you're joking. 

Bob,

I'm guilty of the texting bug myself! They called it crackberry in the USA!  :-)

The end of our conversation, which I left out, I conceded that previous point!  We both have to turn our cells off initially!! 

I'm going to have to wean myself from my cell, I really don't think I could last an hour without being connected!  Is there a Betty Ford clinic for crackberry addiction?

Zulu

[Jedironin]

I'm going to have to wean myself from my cell, I really don't think I could last an hour without being connected!  Is there a Betty Ford clinic for crackberry addiction?

Zulu

Hey Z! It's called, "The Woods". Drive down the highway until all  you can see is forest. Take an arbitrary Right turn on a small road. Drive until you run out of pavement. Get water, food and a tent out of the car, walk until you're about ready to pass out, then stop and look around. If you found the right spot, you should see nothing but trees all around. Look at the dreaded Crackberry, there should be No Signal. Camp there until you forget how to turn the darned thing on! You're Healed!! 

[Capstone]

Are they so powerful?  If they are Chinese quality and titrated for Asian body size, they're probably worthless. 

I can assure you that is not the case. The last time that I was in China I came down with a cold and found some of the old Contact Cold capsules in a TrustMart - you know the original green & yellow capsules with the little round beads of goodness in them. Those puppies were loaded down with a large dose of pseudoephedrine and cleared my congestion right up - they also knocked me out but I didn't care because they fixed me right up. I brought a couple of boxes back with me and still use them when not feeling too well and they work great every time. I wouldn't want to trust any Chinese made medicines that were important to my overall health though.

For the most part western drugs are pretty scarce in China though, most pharmacies only carry a very small section of them. The Chinese don't believe in taking non herbal remedies too much - my wife won't even take an aspirin.

[piglett]

Are they so powerful?  If they are Chinese quality and titrated for Asian body size, they're probably worthless.  Heck, I have to bring my own cold medicines and pain killers when visiting Japan just because their stuff is so weak (and inconvenient to get to boot!).
That she would even ask is itself a yellow flag.  I thought Pinays were supposed to be instinctually attentive and dutiful? 
And there's the red flag.  I do hope you're joking. 

i think my wife's friends were for the most part very excited because she was going to marry a kano.
this is a very big deal & i guess they had much to talk about with her.

I asked for her phone & she handed it to me no problem.
i would have done it sooner but she was still dealing with all the wedding plans.

the good news is that because of the high cost p15 most of her friends will not be texting her here very often.
I intend to get her some calling cards so she can call them when she wants though.
i just don't like her dam phone chirping every 5 min. when a new text arrives.


pig

[z_k_g]

Hey Z! It's called, "The Woods". Drive down the highway until all  you can see is forest. Take an arbitrary Right turn on a small road. Drive until you run out of pavement. Get water, food and a tent out of the car, walk until you're about ready to pass out, then stop and look around. If you found the right spot, you should see nothing but trees all around. Look at the dreaded Crackberry, there should be No Signal. Camp there until you forget how to turn the darned thing on! You're Healed!! 

I think you are talking COLD TURKEY!!  I dread the Withdrawals! 


Zulu

[thekfc]

Hey Z! It's called, "The Woods". Drive down the highway until all  you can see is forest. Take an arbitrary Right turn on a small road. Drive until you run out of pavement. Get water, food and a tent out of the car, walk until you're about ready to pass out, then stop and look around. If you found the right spot, you should see nothing but trees all around. Look at the dreaded Crackberry, there should be No Signal. Camp there until you forget how to turn the darned thing on! You're Healed!! 

 

[Jedironin]

Speaking of Superstitions... to the Philippines do anything for Halloween/All Hallow's Eve? I know in this country it's gotten totally blown out of proportion, like all our holidays, and I know the traditions of All Hallow's Eve go back a very long way in many EU countries. I really don't know if any Arabian or Asian countries do anything like that, though.   

I'd hate to send some pictures of the office Halloween Party to someone and scare the wits out of them!      

[Dave H]

Hey Jedironin,

Halloween is celebrated by few in the Philippines. Maybe by Fil/Ams (us), OFWs, and places where foreigners hang out. Some people dress up in costumes and go to bars. I don't know why, but kids usually wear Halloween costumes to birthday parties. We celebrate (go to cemetery, light candles, say prayers, and socialize) on November 1st and 2nd, which are All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day. Manila cemeteries are known for their violence on All Soul's Day. They have to station police and guards at the gates and check for weapons. Fights could involve drunks, long standing feuds, and often relatives seeking revenge for the death of a family member.

How Halloween is celebrated around the world

By Jaime Licauco
Philippine Daily InquirerDateFirst Posted 22:05:00 10/26/2010

Talking about this subject has made me ‘artista ng mga multo’ to some people
IT’S HALLOWEEN season again —the time when horror movies, ghost stories, paranormal phenomena and the occult dominate the mass media.

This is also the season when I usually get invited to many talk shows on radio and television. But because the questions asked of me seldom varied from year to year, I soon got tired of appearing on such programs unless the producers give the topic a new angle or perspective.

There was a time I used to appear in so many radio and TV programs during this season that my children dubbed me “The Halloween Personality.” I’ve been described in many other ways, but the funniest was the spontaneous one that was made by the house helper of a friend of mine.

When I visited her, the maid opened the gates for me. When the owner of the house asked who it was, she replied, “Yun pong artista ng mga multo.” My friend and I almost fell off our seats laughing when she related what her maid had said.

Halloween is not really an indigenous Filipino tradition. We copied this mainly from the Americans. And the Americans in turn copied this from a pagan Celtic tradition of honoring the dead on October 31.

According to some sources, “the Celtic pagans consider the season to be a holy time of year, and others who maintain the ancestral customs make offerings to the gods and their ancestors.”

Secular practice

Today, in both the western and Asian countries, the religious aspects of the season are almost completely lost, and the event has become mainly a secular practice.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines considers the wearing of horror costumes and the begging for gifts or coins from door-to-door by children to be a harmless practice, and therefore to be generally tolerated. But several years ago, when a group of enterprising young men and women in Roxas City staged the annual Aswang Festival during the Halloween season and began attracting a large following, the Church stepped in and vigorously put a stop to it.

The Church in Roxas City opposed the event on grounds that it encouraged belief in the aswang. In fact, the organizers’ intention was precisely the opposite, i.e. to treat the aswang as just a folk belief or legend—something harmless and should not be feared.

In Romania, on the other hand, the legendary origin of the Dracula story, the Romanian government tried to cash in on the tourism appeal of the vampire story by staging festivals in honor of Count Dracula, instead of discouraging or stopping it. And Romania’s international reputation or image has not tarnished a bit.

Food and water

How is Halloween celebrated in other countries?

In China, food and water are placed in front of pictures of dead relatives. Lanterns are lit to guide spirits home on Halloween night. There are two purposes for this: First, to remember the dead; and second, to help the dead ascend to heaven if they are still earthbound.

In Japan, there is a holiday celebration similar to Halloween called the Obon Festival, when special foods are prepared and colorful lanterns are lit and set to float on rivers.

In Spanish-speaking countries like Mexico, Latin America and Spain, the season is known as “Dia de Los Muertos.” It is a three-day holiday where families remember their dead relatives and visit their graves.

It is believed that October 31 is when the spirits of the dead return home. Many decorate their homes with altars of flowers and pictures to commemorate their deceased loved ones.

In Ireland, where the practice of Halloween originated, bonfires are lit in the rural areas, recalling the time of the ancient Celts. Children then trick or treat their way around their neighborhood.

In Manila, the Halloween atmosphere this year does not seem to be as festive as in previous years. Maybe this is due to several strong typhoons that have hit the country recently. But the same ritual of visiting the graves of departed relatives remain. And horror films and stories about the supernatural still dominate the mass media, as they do every year.

[Bob_S]

I'm going to have to wean myself from my cell, I really don't think I could last an hour without being connected!  Is there a Betty Ford clinic for crackberry addiction?

Get one that doesn't work outside the U.S.!  I take my cell when I travel abroad, but only to use the phonebook on rare occasions.  My only e-mails are from net cafes that are an effort to get to.  At my MiL's, I'm effectively cut off.  Dave probably get's better WiFi in his nippa hut!

[thekfc]

Commitment!!!!
All you have to do is make a commitment that you will cut down/stop using your phone that much when you travel - and stick to it.

With my trips my mindset was to shut "off" my phone & to enjoy myself & the company who I was with. Everyone can do the same.

Before both of my trips I told friends & contacts that I would not be available during a certain period of time & if they contacted me that I may not response immediately. I did not turn off my phone & I while I was still in the NYC, I received a bunch of text messages, calls, alerts (from the airline), etc,. I saw who the messages/calls were coming from & I choose which ones to answer/reply to. If the incoming were from a private number - I did not answer.
I have the option/can check my voice & text messages online & when I had a chance (at my convenience), I would check my messages & if they were important then I replied (I had the MJ so call to the USA were free - the only calls I remember making were to my bank & CC company).

I had free wifi just about everywhere I went but seldom use my cell to browse. I also got the passcodes from the airline/airport ahead of time so I can contact Ahya if needed (she gets emails, texts & IM on her phone).

I have international SIM cards that I keep in case that I need them but I didn't get much of a chance to use them.

So it is a choice if you want to use your cell or not!!!!!!

[jm21-2]

I didn't use my cell much at all, but I do have to keep up e-mail contact with some clients. I'd spend 30-60 minutes answering e-mails every second or third day.

[Ray]

Now when Jeff, Stephen, and I were young punks, we didn’t have to worry about all this technology crap.

Cell phones were not invented yet, Al Gore hadn’t invented the Internet yet, and snail mail or AT&T long distance calls were the only game in town.

Oh, how uncomplicated life used to be…

Ray

[Jeff S]

Yea - stamps were 10 cents domestic and 31 cents international when I started international dating up from 3 cents domestic and 11 cents international when I was a kid.

Imagine paying $1 PER MINUTE to talk to your sweetie! I did when dating. It was cheaper to save your money and fly over. Now I call land lines in Japan for 2.9 cents a minute on skype and computer to computer video chat for free.

Yep - you used to travel without a computer, phone, ipod with only a briefcase, pad pencil, and slide rule. You had to listen to music on those weird rubber hose thingies on the plane, too, after they came out - but before that you just listened to the engines.

[z_k_g]

Yea - stamps were 10 cents domestic and 31 cents international when I started international dating up from 3 cents domestic and 11 cents international when I was a kid.

Imagine paying $1 PER MINUTE to talk to your sweetie! I did when dating. It was cheaper to save your money and fly over. Now I call land lines in Japan for 2.9 cents a minute on skype and computer to computer video chat for free.

Yep - you used to travel without a computer, phone, ipod with only a briefcase, pad pencil, and slide rule. You had to listen to music on those weird rubber hose thingies on the plane, too, after they came out - but before that you just listened to the engines.

Jeff,

That was a long time ago!! But are you sure the planes had engines?   

Zulu

[Jeff S]

Sure - but the cars had foot brakes:

[Dave H]

Now when Jeff, Stephen, and I were young punks, we didn’t have to worry about all this technology crap.

Cell phones were not invented yet, Al Gore hadn’t invented the Internet yet, and snail mail or AT&T long distance calls were the only game in town.

Oh, how uncomplicated life used to be…

Ray

Hey Ray,

I guess you can add me to that list. 

I know that Al Gore invented the Internet and Global Warming, Clinton invented McDonalds and coronary artery bypass surgery, Jimmy Carter invented the peanut and Billy Beer. What was it that Obama invented besides the acorn? I keep thinking it was the teleprompter?   

[robert angel]

When I was a kid, two tin cans and a string worked fine for a 'telephone'....

[Dave H]

When I was a kid, two tin cans and a string worked fine for a 'telephone'....

Hey Rob,

Thanks for reminding me of those days! I am going to make one to show my daughter.

Dave

[Lyanna]

I don't believe in any of those witches and stuff. However, Filipinos simply believe in different things than Westerners do. They aren't more superstitious.

From what I know, a lot of Westerners believe in astrology, ghosts, UFOs, reincarnation, etc. and are just as superstitious as Asians.

P.S. I don't even own a cell phone.

[Dave H]

I don't believe in any of those witches and stuff.

P.S. I don't even own a cell phone.

Hi Lyanna,

You are a rare lady...like my wife! 

Dave