My Labsters

By Ober Khok

This craze called Valentine’s Day is getting my nieces Joy and Krystal more excited than lighted Christmas trees and New Year’s Eve firecrackers and sparklers.

It’s a one-day season, or shall I call it madness? For one day, everybody wants a piece of this emotion called love. And to top it all, this romantic day has been transformed into a big money-making machine.

I’m riding the bandwagon, of course. I looked up “love potion No. 9,” after my Uncle Gustav told me there’s a doo-wop song with the same title. “And it’s a Sandra Bullock’s movie, too.”

The wikipedia says: “Love Potion No. 8 enables a person to make people of the opposite sex become completely infatuated with them by simply talking. The potion also makes people of the same sex loathe and sometimes physically attack, the one who is using the potion.

“Love Potion No. 9 prevents love from fading, and overrides the effects of Love Potion No. 8.”

So it’s Love Potion No. 8 that I really want. My mad scramble searching for a formula turned up with nothing or maybe I was just conserving my energies for something more important today.

My friend Illustracio told me that his grandfather made love potions out of lizard tail, basil juice and burnt hair from the person’s (i.e. the one asking for the love potion) private parts (I want to be polite, you know).

“You should let your intended target drink it. It’s very effective, but I haven’t tried it. I’m handsome enough to attract women. After all, I’m married to a pretty girl,” Illustracio boated.

I turned my attention to Soup No. 5, a common enough potion also known as Viagra Soup. A man or woman can imbibe this soup anytime of the year as a quick fix for romantic blues.

The main ingredients are beef genitalia—this is one time I don’t want to call a spade a spade. I got the recipe from the wikipedia, which is just like the one given to me by Manang Sida, a woman who runs a sidewalk refreshment stand.

Here it is: “The bull parts are washed and cleaned, then scalded in boiling water. The genitalia are then cut into pieces and set aside. You can add pork or chicken, ginger, and vegetables.

“Combine in a stock pot with the beef articles of propagation (I’m trying to be funny), covered with enough water and simmered until tender. It is then seasoned with chili, salt or pepper and served hot.”

It tastes like balbakoa—beef skin, snout and tail boiled till jelly-like in tenderness—a dish whose sticky soup tickles the ribs.

Partaking of animal parts to gain its power is an ancient belief. If you want bull-like prowess in bed, then eat the poor beast’s testicles and all.

You can get the same high from drinking Love Potion No. 9 martini, and consuming strawberries and three bars of dark chocolate—all at once—but they don’t have the same mystery as sipping an exotic soup to raise your testosterone level.

Whether love potions work or not is not for me to prove or disprove. I am but a poor sojourner in the world of love.

I’m even thinking that you can get the same sexual high from eating chicken soup with ginger (an aphrodisiac).

Feeling good makes you ready for any action, but don’t stuff yourself too much. You could become sleepy, which could endanger your chances at being a conqueror in courtship and in bed. (Sun.Star Cebu)

By Ivan K.

Ms. Quijano begins the article “Malady of Love,” published in Sun.Star Weekend Magazine’s February 7, 2009 issue, by declaring Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose “quite meaningless.”

A friend of mine, a postgraduate student of philosophy, told me that he found this dismissal of a great work of literature quite insulting. In the first place, he said, “Eco did not intend his novels for light reading.”

The Name of the Rose is complicated because it attempts to present the concept of “intertexuality” wherein the meaning of a text is in turn shaped by other texts. Hence, we read Eco say in the novel, “books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.”

“Recall for example,” he said, “the last line of the book, when the library was burning and the text enigmatically mentioned of throwing away the ladder. It was he believed, “alluding to Wittgenstein’s phrase, ‘throwing away the ladder,’ which refers to things that goes beyond analytic and linguistic understanding.”

“The book’s complexity,” he adds, “is interesting because it tries to blur historical facts from fiction. The inquisitor Gui was a real person so was the Franciscan Superior, Michael of Cesena. But where does history end and fiction begin? Were all the books mentioned in the novel real? Was there really a second book of Poetics?”

The way we see it, the problem is not at all the lack of meaning as such but rather the overabundance of meaning.

But let us leave it at that. Since it is the season of love, perhaps it is appropriate to shift our focus on the more interesting half of Ms. Quijano’s article. The comments dismissive of Eco’s novel, after all, can be seen as a device meant to introduce Ms. Quijano’s real concern: a lengthy passage from the book answering the question, “What is love and how do you conquer it?”

We will not anymore question the privileging of this quotation over the rest of The Name of the Rose’s six hundred pages which Ms. Quijano dismissed as a “waste of time.” Instead, following her example, we will conclude this brief missive by lifting the following passage from the opening scene of the documentary Žižek!

The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek basically agrees with the diagnosis pointed out by Ms. Quijano:

“What would be my spontaneous attitude toward the universe? It’s a very dark one. The first thesis would have been a kind of total vanity: there is nothing, basically. I mean it quite literally, like… ultimately… there are just some fragments, some vanishing things. If you look at the universe, it’s one big void. But then: how do things emerge? Here I feel a kind of spontaneous affinity with quantum physics, where… the idea… is that the universe is a void, but a kind of positively charged void, and then particular things appear when the balance of the void is disturbed.

“I like this idea of spontaneity very much, the fact that it’s not just nothing. Things are out there – it means something went terribly wrong, that what we call creation is a kind of cosmic imbalance, cosmic catastrophe: things exist by mistake. And I’m even ready to go to the end and to claim that the only way to counteract this is to assume the mistake and go to the end. And we have a name for this: it’s called love.

“Isn’t love precisely this kind of a cosmic imbalance? I was always disgusted with this notion of ‘I love the world,’ ‘universal love’ – I don’t like the world. Basically, I’m somewhere in between ‘I hate the world’ or ‘I’m indifferent towards it.’ But the whole of reality, it’s just it: it’s stupid. It is out there. I don’t care about it. Love, for me, is an extremely violent act. Love is not ‘I love you all’ Love means I pick out something…. Even if this something is just a small detail, a fragile individual person, I say ‘I love you more than anything else.’ In this quite formal sense, love is evil.” (Sun.Star Cebu)

By Jenara Regis Newman

Centuries ago, people found true love in the community they lived in, except for the adventurous who ventured out of home grounds and met the love of their lives elsewhere. These days, the whole world beckons and love may just be found in places far from home, making it harder to find the one true love from the millions of possibilities out there.

A LOVE LETTER

For Roy Abraham from Kerala, India, and Carol Danque from Makati, Philippines, it was while working for the Amman Marriott Hotel in Jordan that they met — he as the hotel’s assistant restaurant manager and she as restaurant supervisor.

A love letter from him tugged at her heartstrings and after two years of friendship, she knew he was the person she would share her life with. But first, she would have to like spicy Indian food and win over her tradition-bound mother-in-law who wanted an Indian bride for her only son to make their marriage work.

Soon enough, she learned to like Roy’s chicken curry and Biryani dishes. Eventually, she won over her mother-in-law who taught her how to cook Roy’s favorite dishes. Indian fare has really spiced up their table and bound their lives for over 20 years. Now that Roy is general manager of Cebu City Marriott Hotel, he has learned to love kare-kare with bagoong alamang.

The Abrahams have three lovely children.

PRIDE OF CULTURE

Raymond Bragg, general manager of Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa, met his wife Susan (her Chinese name is Ching Lay Kheng) while they were working in China. They got married in 1991 when they moved to England, and they have been together since. The important thing about inter racial marriages, Raymond asserts, is: “You should be very proud of your partner’s race and nationality. When I introduce myself to my staff as a New Zealander, I always mention that my wife is Singaporean Chinese.”

While the two had no problems adjusting to each other’s culture, it was their families who needed convincing that their marriage would work, and does work. Since they respect each other’s culture, they celebrate religious holidays, like Christmas and festivities such as Chinese New Year. And they are making sure their only daughter, Kylie, would know both English and Mandarin. Raymond says his teenaged daughter has grown up as a UN kind of girl, what with all the places they have been to. Their home base is Singapore, but work has never taken them there, nor has it taken them to New Zealand, but they try to visit both places every year.

Susan cooks western food, but it is usually Chinese cuisine that the Braggs enjoy at home.

COSMOPOLITAN TWIST

Hotelier Hans Hauri from Switzerland met service management consultant Bo Young Chang in her home place, Korea. Now married 17 years, they have lived in various places: Switzerland, China, Malaysia, and now the Philippines, where Hans is general manager of Marco Polo Plaza Hotel Cebu.

Being both cosmopolitan, it was easy for them to appreciate each other’s culture, and to adjust to their different backgrounds. Bo loves cheese and Hans loves particularly the Korean food setting with the various kimchi dishes set along with the main course. He particularly likes bulgogi.

Bo cooks Korean and Western/Eurpopean cuisine. Their lifestyle makes them appreciate different cuisines provided they are genuine, authentic to the country: if they have Thai food, they would like it to be authentic and preferably, they would like to have that in Thailand.

The happy couple has two sons who are now learning Tagalog.

There are thousands of other interracial marriages in today’s world when travel is easy and jobs can be had in places that may be oceans away from one’s birthplace. These three are a happy example that these unions do work. After all, though one’s country and one’s color may be different from the other, the world has really only one race: the human race. (Sun.Star Cebu)

By Celeste Faith Dela Cruz

It’s this particular time of the year when flowers are unbelievably in abundance. And it is when flowers are exchanged to represent love in its eternal form.

Valentines day it is! And what better way to express love than with flowers. As flowers tell a thousand words without speaking it surely has become the most romantic way of conveying love. And to many, flowers are considered the perfect gift for Valentines.

“People will always love flowers. A flower comes from a bud, then it grows. There’s life…there’s emotion associated with it. That’s why for me, Valentines is never complete without flowers,” says Miriam Real, owner of D’ Flower Passion Gallery.

Roses, for example, being a symbol of fragrance and loveliness are distinctly sought-after during Valentines day. Red roses in particular have long been associated with love and romance.

This year, D’ Flower Passion Gallery, though a little bit conservative in their preparations for the Valentines, aims to provide the best flowers at affordable prices.

“What we are preparing is really special because all our flowers are imported especially for Valentines and yet they are very affordable,” adds Real.

Flower Passion’s saleable Valentine bouquet packages of imported Columbian roses range from P500– P 1,500.

Meanwhile, their assorted imported flower packages which include gerberas, carnation, tulips and lilies range from P550– P 1,800. However, for those who are a little bit tight on budget, Flower Passion’s single long-stemmed rose with ribbon at P100 is way too impressive to help you express your sincerest emotions. Flower Passion’s two-toned roses at P 150 per stem are also viable during Valentines.

Despite these packages though, Flower Passion is flexible in accommodating their clients when it comes to their pricing. “We can provide you with the flowers that you want according to your budget, we are flexible. We stand by our tagline, “Your Desire…Your Budget,” says Real.

Since its operation in 2003, Flower Passion seeks to introduce and provide flowers that suit the varying demands of its clients and the people at large. Thus, it imports from countries like Holland, Vietnam and largely from China. These imported flowers are basically those that are rarely grown in the Philippines like brassica or the cabbage rose, gerbera, cymbidium, tulips and iris. Flower Passion’s fillers like gypsophila, statis and casbia are also imported.

“The aim of Flower Passion is really to be able to sell or provide the public with beautiful flowers…those that we just normally see in the magazines or in the movies. And we are quite satisfied that we were able to introduce something new to the people,” shares Real.

With all these in mind, there’s no reason for us not to indulge in the beauty and charm flowers bring. And, with the Valentines season in the air, may these Valentine flowers take you and your loved ones into the magical and wonderful world of joy and love as they help you express your deepest emotions.  (Sun.Star Cebu)

Is love really blind (“love is blind” is part of a quotation from The Merchant of Venice)? Apparently, it is yes, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

College students who reported they were in love were less likely to take careful notice of other attractive men or women, the team at the University of California Los Angeles (Ucla) and dating Web site eHarmony found.

“Feeling love for your romantic partner appears to make everybody else less attractive, and the emotion appears to work in very specific ways in enabling you to push thoughts of that tempting other out of your mind,” said Gian Gonzaga of eHarmony, whose study is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

The study asked 120 heterosexual undergraduates in committed relationships to examine photographs of attractive members of the opposite sex from an eHarmony Web site. They were asked to choose the most attractive photos, and write an essay either about their current romantic partner, or the subject of their choice, Reuters reported.

While writing, the students were asked to forget the “hotties” from the Web site, but told to put a check in the margins if they did happen to think of the attractive photos.

The volunteers who wrote about their partners were six times less likely to admit to thinking of the attractive others than volunteers who wrote about random subjects.

And later asked to recall the cuties in the pictures, the students who wrote about their lovers remembered fewer details about the physical appearance of the attractive strangers. (from Sun.Star Cebu)

By Ryan Eamon de Vera

My ideal woman is someone you should know
She has a heartwarming smile and even eyes that glow
She doesn’t have those rosy cheeks
But she surely has a very cute voice
I guess that makes her my heart’s only choice
If she stares at you with that cute tiger look of hers you better be ready
Because she will leave an impression on your mind that would last for eternity

By Ryan Eamon de Vera

Sometimes you’ll meet a special person
They’ll enter your life in the oddest of ways
The impact they have is immense
For they’ll begin to fill your life with sense

Sometimes we might meet a special person
They seem like a long lost friend
A spirit bound to you in dreams
Leaving feelings of togetherness you never want to end

Sometimes you’ll meet a special person
At that moment all the world seems right
Their positive influence brightens your life
The thought of them turns darkness to light

Sometimes we’ll meet a special person
A person who will bring warmth in our heart
They may be a person that will bring joy to our life
A person who will ease the pain we have inside

I wish I’ll find that special person
I hope you’ll find that special person
Coz some of us are searching
Some of us are hoping

Searching and hoping for that special person to come into our lives

By Ryan Eamon de Vera

Jeanne is a name I would not forget
For she has a beauty that makes the sun set
I would love to get to know her in any way
Coz I believe it will make my life colorful everyday

The first time I saw you I thought I was dreaming
I finally saw someone who was worth meeting
I may seem stupid but I want to try
To get to know this special lady even for a little while

Before I close my eyes and fall asleep
I’ll try to think of you so that I’ll have a good night sleep
I like it when you smile coz your cute little eyes sparkle
Makes me want to believe there truly are angels

What can I do when all I can think of is you
Where can I go when all I can see is you
So please tell me what to say
tell me what to do
Is there a way for me to get closer to you?

In my mind I see your face
In my heart my feelings race
To have been always thinking of someone I don’t even know
It’s so stupid but every minute, my admiration grows

You are like the song I’ve been waiting to hear
The sight I’ve always been wishing to see
The perfect moment anyone would be wanting to feel
The dream that I’ve wanted to be real

You’re an angel anyone would be wanting by their side
Coz by being near you they’ll know why it’s so great to be alive

By Nikay Paredes

I feel that I am most beautiful
when I am sad
for no other emotion is truer, sharper
or more feminine.
I feel that I am most beautiful
when I am sad.
(Sadness is you
leaning in for a kiss
when I am some place else,
forgetting I have lips.)
I know that I am most beautiful
when I am sad
because when I turn to mirrors
my face changes
to rival the photographs
you took of me
when we were
happiest.

(The author is currently finishing her degree in BFA Creative Writing in Ateneo de Manila University. She has been a fellow in several national writing workshops, including the Dumaguete National Writers’ Workshop. Visit her blog at http://nikay.waterstained.net.)