Dinagyang 2009

In a couple of days Iloilo City will be celebrating their own version of Kalibo Aklan's version of Ati-Atihan, in Iloilo we call it Dinagyang (loosing translated as romping around "dagyang").

I reminisce of times long gone when the streets were not soooo crowded and the festivities were enjoyed mostly by Ilonggos and people from the outskirts of the city, and yet you see foreign looking faces from all over the world. Iloilo's celebration always gets the passing through, had not really had enough of the partying from Kalibo people that come to Iloilo for MORE partying. I always loved it as I was growing up.

well, I am thousands of miles away from there now and I hope a little girl is watching this festivities and have great memories of the revelry and the dances and the drum beats and the food - and the fun that comes with it.

The parade now has changed routes a couple of times and of course you change one aspect of something it is NEVER the same again, ever!

The foreigners used to come and dance hard, but they party harder. I hope they are tamer this time around (yah right!) and that they respect the festivities like never before. Ati-Atihan in Kalibo is really something to watch ( if you can being amongst millions of people and all).

Years long gone, I am glad I had gone to them years ago. Mostly...have been there and done that...NEXT....

Wishing everyone a happy DINAGYANG 2009. Stay safe!

Santa Baby....

Six days after the end of 2008, here I am wishing I made that Christmas list I thought about sometime around November of last year. Well, too late now!

I was not wishing for anything material, really! And usually I tend to ask for "stuff" but last year was tough, very tough. For just about everybody lost someone, work, savings, 401K, and value of property, homes and even worst all of the above.

I cannot begin to imagine making a list of "stuff". Last Christmas, I gave out presents without expecting anything in return, not even "thank you" from anyone. I got some "thanks and gracias" but as a whole I stopped thinking about wanting to hear how grateful they are to what I gave them.

I was just happy to give, to let them know I thought about them and gift-giving is not thank-you-expecting. At least to me, that is the case.

It made me feel good that I gave gifts, even very small ones. I loved the idea that they did not expect it and that they are dumb-founded to the surprise that they really do not know what to say. Really!

So last year, I will fess up I thought about Santa Baby (think Eartha Kitt here, please) and it brought a smile to my face because, with me and my red Santa cap, I sure did feel like one. :-)

And that was a very good feeling.

No need for that list after all, now that I think about it.

The Year 2008 in review

First, as always, I apologize for taking my sweet old time in posting - I mean I could not believe it my last post was the 17th of November - what was I thinking!! I am fine and have just been - lazy at posting. :-) Please be kind and forgive...

Second, I am back in Buenos Aires. Business as usual, it is slow very slow. You want to know how slow? Ok. Let me tell you how slow business is - have you ever watched paint dry - yeah, that slow.

2008 in review, every new year I always think of just one or two words to describe the past year. It keeps me focused on what I need to do THIS year 2009. I came to the word - revival.

I thought 2008 was kind to me and the ones I love. I have connected with people I once thought I had lost and most of all have established a more matured level of "connection". It is great.

I have found a new source of inner strength in hearing people put me down, because honestly even those that "love" you cannot bear to see or hear that YOU are actually better than them. Imagine that!?

I also have seen in me a growth that only someone at my age would dare have - the ability to take anything on. Graceful aging gives me vigor like never I have seen before. Wow!

I am still searching for that final place for me - I am here but am I really supposed to be here - that kind of thought. Remarkable to me is the fact that I can be so obnoxiously confident yet doubtful of my presence in this very place. I am still a "transient' here in Argentina. All I have is a thriving business and a good roof over my head - besides that if the Argentine government rounds up people who should be leaving, I would be tops of that list. Not really sure why I still feel that but it would take me a long while before considering Argentina any reflection of home. Being honest here you know.

USA and the small dusty place where I was born is HOME. Here I do not have a label, I am a wanderer here. Great for my adventureous spirit, I give you that.

2008 was great I loved it for everything and everyone that it brought to me. My experiences and the things I learned had only made me better.

And I have a nice Renault 9 gtl to show for a year ender, who wouldn't like that?

The Christmas tree posted above is the one we had for 2008. Silver was the motiff I chose. I took this picture the day after all the presents were given.
Christmas is really a time for giving and forgiveness.