penny July 30th, 2009
I was editing names in a paper I was writing this afternoon, and asked my new co-author what his middle initial was. He said “Z”, and I said “Wow, your first name and middle name both start with Z?” To which he replied “No, what you know as my name is actually my middle name.”
Of course, here lies the cultural difference. To most Pinoys, a middle name is the surname of their mother. Of course to my co-author, what he gave as his middle name was actually a second name for a Pinoy, like “Jose Maria” has “Maria” as a second name.
Just thought it was striking how different the concept of names for people around the world. I remember reading somewhere that in Iceland, it is customary to add “sson” (or “son”) to your own name as a given name for your son. For example, if you are a man, and your name is Kristoffer, then your son could be named Kristoffersson.
Of course, there are also traditions within families where boys are given names according to a line of fathers/grandfathers. For instance, Jose Sr., Jose Jr., Jose II, Jose III, and so on. My father is a Jose Jr.
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So in my head started other thoughts about names and their context on circumstances and places. And the main thing that fluttered to my brain was about women changing surnames after marriage.
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penny July 27th, 2009
Wedding anniversaries begin with a Paper anniversary, a first.
Ajay and I have too many anniversaries now. First we met, first we went steady on 20th of June 1997, first time I gave him a cold and angry shoulder (otherwise known as Black Monday), first time he proposed for marriage, first we went out of town, first we flew out of town, etc etc… until we were wed in 27 July 2008.
But then, much like any other couple, these firsts are followed by seconds. I’m not sure if it’s the same for most, but we had quite memorable seconds.
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Tags: Anniversary
AJ Jorge July 22nd, 2009
The rain is threatening to hit us when we reached the famed Chocolate Hills in Bohol. Well, it will be a lost cause if we don’t climb the viewing deck even though you could feel the rain will drop by anytime soon. So we begrudgingly climbed the stairs leading to the viewing deck. Clouds and the breeze are more obvious at the top. There is no doubt that it will rain before we descend to the parking lot. And right on cue, just as we are on the peak of our excitement of seeing the mounds, rain fell hard. We had to run for cover and seek refuge among with the other tourists.
So much for experiencing Chocolate Hills. I am not saying I didn’t like it; I just didn’t achieve the feeling of satisfaction of seeing and marvelling the famed lumps.
AJ Jorge July 20th, 2009
On our way to Bohol, the pilot announced that Mayon volcano is on our left hand side. Eventhough we are still eating, I hopped on the vacant seats on our left side (we are seated on the right aisle) and saw the awesomeness of Mayon. I grabbed the camera and quickly pointed it to the volcano. Good thing the zoom lens was mounted and capturing this scene is truly epic.
The plane was moving fast — as it should be — and the volcano is slowly drifting away. Clicked some more shots and tried to angle it as much as I can. Quite satisfied with the result and this is one of those kodak moments that may be hard to duplicate.
AJ Jorge July 14th, 2009
janep is being neglected.
We are all over the social-networking sites besided janep.
Pen twitters @penreyes, AJ twitters @ajayjorge.
Pen plurks @penelope, AJ sometimes plurks @ajayjorge.
Pen facebooks at penreyes, AJ facebooks at ajayjorge.
We’ll try to update janep as much as we update the other streams.
Thanks for stopping by.
