TONIGHT...I READ.

I think it's time for me to take a break. I have been doing the same tour/show for the last five (or is it six?) years and I have reached my limit - for now. For the past 2,190 odd days, I have been wearing the same hat, plodding through the same boustrophedon, and mouthing off the same script, rain or shine. But don't get me wrong, it's not that my job has become stressful - I still believe I have the best job in the Philippines. It's just it has gotten a little, well, repetitious lately and needs to refresh itself. The tour has become so rote that I don't even hear myself speaking anymore. I assume this is how Lea Salonga must've felt after playing the lead in Miss Saigon for what - two thousand times or something? I'm sure she reached a point where upon uttering the opening lyrics, "I'm seventeen and I'm new here today", all she wanted to do was get postal. And who can blame her? After playing Kim for all that time, she definitely wasn't seventeen, and she was definitely not new there that day.

And just a couple of days ago, as I was being interviewed by the wonderful Tanya Lara about a tour I'll be doing in Fort Bonifacio on April 25, she asked if there was any interesting book or movie that I finished lately. And Good Lord. I went blank. I realized that I haven't taken the time out to read or watch films in hella long time. I haven't had fresh brain input in years! Which is why I'm rather glad to announce that I'll be taking some time off from all tours in May. I'll be off to Toronto and Vancouver to hang out with Fil-Canadian artists, to get back in touch with my visual artist roots, and to wander about a functional first world metropolis. I also indefinitely cancelled all Corregidor tours and Chinatown tours, and am cleaning out/evicting all extraneous stress/projects/people from my life. Oh, and I will also read.

Purchased from the bookstore that we know as National: Militant But Groovy: Stories of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan; Huling Pytyk: The Art of Nonoy Marcelo (my former boss at Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas); Chaka Chronicles (a graphic novel about a fat girl who eats pizza) by Bobbi Jolbitado, and The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas Friedman.

WHEE! WHEE! AND UGH! UGH!

Today, while on my way to the shooting of an-as-of-now-undisclosed product endorsement in the Batangas area, I received a really great text from one of my peeps over at the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network. Apparently, this March 3, Tuesday, at 3:00PM, Reproductive Health Bill HB5043 will be introduced to Philippine Senate for the first time ever! And with the backing of Senator Biazon no less. Things are moving really fast. Let's hope the momentum keeps! Happy Advanced International Women's Day, everyone!

But on a more somber note. Au Revoir! to the location of many happy 1970's memories with my grandfather and cousins. The chunky Locsin Magnolia Dairy plant (now Nestle), where I once scarfed down Merry Widows and Strawberry Parfaits, is going to be torn down by Robinson's Land Corporation for a - gasp! Gated Community. Jeez, Really, like Manila needs another one. I can only hope that the Gokongwei family does a good job in making the architecture of this new development enhance or improve the area. But judging by the "designed-by-a-team-of-chimpanzees" monstrosities that are Robinson's Galleria, Robinson's Place Malate, and Robinson's Pioneer/Cybergate, I wouldn't place good money on it.

AU REVOIR!

Sigh. It really breaks my heart to do this, but I am going to remove Casa Manila from my Intramuros Regular and Deluxe tours. Due to new rules, the Intramuros Administration has to limit the amount of visitors that enter the museum.  Only thirty people are allowed to enter the museum at any given time.  And my tours usually go up to 35 on the average and unfortunately, they will not give exception to even ONE extra person (and I don't want to leave that one person behind downstairs while we go inside).  But for those who reeeeaaally want to see this replica of a 19th century Ilustrado mansion, worry not, I will still end the tour at the Casa Manila courtyard and all guests will have the chance to see the museum on their own AFTER the tour. The usual spiel that I gave inside the Casa Manila will now be done in different sites around the Plaza San Luis Compound and Intramuros.  

HAPPY! HAPPY! AND AU REVOIR...

HAPPY 437TH BIRTHDAY TO THE CITY OF MANILA. Without whose architecture and culture, I would have no job.


AND AU REVOIR TO GEORGE CARLIN. Without whose pioneering and shocking comedic material, I probably would not have the guts to say half the things I do on my tour.

AU REVOIR!

First I lost the Coconut Palace, now this. Sigh.

But I knew this day had to happen. After having the rough but hauntingly beautiful "House on Madrid Street" as the second stop of my Chinatown tour for the last five years, I am finally losing it on April 30. During my Chinatown tour last Sunday, the residents of this Dickensian abode informed me that by the next time I do the tour, their house will be leveled to an empty lot by the owners of the property due to it's being structurally unsound.

Such a shame. The house has stood there for more almost a hundred years. The mansion survived earthquakes, typhoons, the Philippine Revolution and World War II, only to tragically meet it's fate as scrap wood on Laon Laan Street.

But what can you do? It's a property rights kind of town. If the government and owners of these properties don't see the value of this authentic structure, then nobody will.

And just like the residents of the house who are fatalistically nonchalant about having nowhere to move to, I too am not going to cry for the house. There are bigger problems I have to think of now. Like where can I find an authentic 19th century structure to visit as the second stop of my Chinatown tour? And where can I find other resident families to adopt and provide birth control for? Ugh.

AU REVOIR COCO PALACE!

Without much fanfare and much to my dismay, the Coconut Palace has closed for good. For now.

Last week my "Living La Vida Imelda Tour was unceremoniously re-directed because the Coconut Palace has suddenly switched hands from the Department of Tourism to its "rightful owner", the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). Therefore, the place was shut down for fifteen days for "inventory" without any directive to open it's doors to the public thereafter. And so, without any announcement and consideration for all the printed guidebooks, organized tour operations, and tourists, downtown Manila was suddenly deprived of another world class tourist attraction. And according to the grapevine, the last event to be held there will be on February 8 and there is talk of it becoming a casino. Like - as if Manila needs another one?

Ugh.

Although I would rather have see the Palace converted into "The Museum of Philippine Design", a showcase of contemporary Philippine fashion, accessories, handicrafts and housewares (with rotating exhibitions/workshops curated/managed by CITEM and the Philippine Design Center), I really wouldn't mind it being converted back into the simple banquet hall that it once was.

Ahem. Paging Winston Garcia of the GSIS: What are your plans for the damned thing? Will the GSIS ever open The Coconut Palace to the public again? Or will the GSIS just let it sit there, gain dust and rot in the sun and sea air? Because judging by the crappy GSIS track record for investments and the condition of other architectural masterpieces in its possession (the rotting Metropolitan Theater) and the decaying former GSIS headquarters near Arroceros Park, I can only look forward to years of neglect for The Coconut Palace.

Please prove me wrong, guys.

Dang. And just when I kept pushing the Coconut Palace as a tourist attraction and pushed for its being included as a significant place of interest for tourists. What wasted effort.

Dang. Dang. Dang. Back to the drawing board for my CCP tour too.

Mood: Annoyed.

Thank you My Soul Insurance and Senor Enrique for the photos of the Coconut Palace.