isang pastime lang yan. ang isa pa ay ang main event -- ang maligo mismo sa ulan. lalo na kapag summer, tapos yung unang ulan ng abril o mayo ba yun e may ek na dapat maligo ka doon para for good luck yata or something superstitious like that. pero kahit hindi summer, basta malakas ang ulan, maliligo lang kami ever. dedma sa knowledge ng acid rain anesh? kasi naman noong panahong iyon e mababa pa ang reading ng air pollution index chenes ng maynila (at ng buong pilipinas to boot) kaya we were safe and okay. papasok lang sa bahay o time out lang kapag nilamig na sa ulan o nangulubut na ng sobra ang balat sa paa, whichever came first.
minsan naman, lalo na whenever i spent weekends or holidays in marikina, ang pastime naman doon e maglayag sa iba't ibang kalye kasi baha. as in hanggang bewang ng bata ang baha, which means bewang namin. and no, there was no danger of those rat thingie diseases like leptospirosis(sp?) chenes going on that time. eto buhay pa kami lahat o. dun naman, dahil sobrang provincial pa noon ang marikina (think may sapa-sapa areas pa noon doon with real live fishies kung saan may mga tunay na maningisda ka talagang makikita na nagfi-fish) at marami pang vacant areas and big lots with grass na kapag umulan nga e biglang nagiging fishpond, naaliw kaming rumonda kapag umuulan nang ganito. minsan nga, sa isang paglalayag, hindi namalayan ng isa namng kalaro na may bukas na manhole or something smaller sa isang gilid, at bigla na lang siyang lumubog, a in swoooksh! kala namin may monster na humila sa paa niya or what (yeah we watch a lot of fantasy movies din back then). nang makita naming nahila ang isa niyang leg sa butas, natawa kaming lahat habang umiiyak siya. lalo kaming natawa kasi fraidycat ang dating niya hahahaha. ang evil ng mga kabataan talaga ever ano?
naaliw lang ako sa pagflashback when i read an email from miss jo, our new college secretary oic sa masscomm, isang email na nakapagpangiti sa akin ngayong tanghali. eto nilagyan ko ng annotation kong sarili in [brackets].
enjoy! your youth only comes once. live it to the fullest. life's too short to dillydally on the sidelines. go to where the action is, pipol! like now!
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1950's, 60's and 70's !!
[yeah that means me! less than a year after martial law was declared, i was born into this planet]
First, some of us survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. ( sioktong ang inumin)
[hindi ako aware na ginawa ito ng nanay ko though, but i saw some titas do this wen they were pregnant -- kaya siguro ganyan iba kong pinsan hehehehe chos]
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, fish from a can ( brand : ligo ) , and didn't get tested for diabetes.
[true. konti lang din kasi ang choices back then]
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints , pati na yung laruang kabayu-kabayuhan.
[ay tru! meron ako ng kabayong yan! pero short-lived dahil meron yata akong hogan touch, as in pag hinawakan ko e nasisira hehehe at saka pinagpalit ko na siya sa bisikleta kong may pampasahero sa likod. yes at 3 years old, motorista na ako hehe]
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no kneepads , sometimes wala ngang preno yung bisikleta.
[ay puta oo korek yan. have you ever heard of na yung paa ang pampreno ng bike? kaya mega-pudpod agad ang tsinelas na pinagtatakhan ng mga nanay namin noon hahaha]
As children, we would ride in car with no seat belts or air bags – hanggang ngayon naman, di ba ? ( jeep )
[super! i especially enjoyed riding my lolo's white toyota crown men, yung ang front seat ay parang sopa na diretso sa passenger seat side at hindi individually seated. ang kewl nun. tapos i tinker with the dial of the car radio na ang vintage lang ng hitsura even back then, before i even had the knowledge of what vintage meant]
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. ( maykaya kayo pare ! )
[rare nga ito. my papa called his pick-up (which was office-issues) a crewcab so that's what we called it.]
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle ( minsan straight from the faucet)
[tru. this is one of the wonders i had when i first started living independently in the mid-90s, bakit binibili ang tubig? nalost ako sa konsepto until i realized na sa bahay ng apala, laging may water filter sa mga gripo namin hehe]
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. Or contacted hepatitis.
We ate rice with tinunaw na purico ( dahil ubos na ang star margarine), nutribuns na galing kay macoy and drank sopdrinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight kasi nga.....
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
[as in! laman lang kami ng kalye. kahit yung mga kapitbahay naming mayayamang intsik e lumalabas paminsan minsan para makipaglaro kasi walang threat na kikidnapin sila]
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. Sarap mag patintero, tumbang preso , habulan taguan….
[unless ang nanay mo o lola mo, like mine, ay superfan ng siesta sessions after lunch, na pipilitin kang matulog bago lumarga ulit sa labas...i hated that.]
No one was able to reach us all day ( di uso ang celfon , walang beepers ). And we were O.K.
[hindi pa kasi praning ang mga panahong iyon, in general...and everybody knew where everybody was, most of the time...]
We would spend hours building our trolleys or slides out of scraps and then ride down the street, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
[pastime din naming humiram "by force" ng skateboard ng isang kapitbahay sa may taas ng kalye,, against his wishes, tapos we would take turns riding or learning how to ride it pabba sa kalye sa may area namin habang hinahabol niya kami hahaha. i think that guy's name was ruther. wotta name huh? i had weirdly named neighbors back then. pero okay na kami when my mom finally agreed to buy me my own skateboard. so we left ruther alone na. na na-sad siguro siya kaya he started hanging out with us hehe.]
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms....... ...WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
[oo nga! our mode of communication back then was the landline phone, kung meron man ang kalaro mong pldt line, o kaya papalakpakan kami sa tapat ng bahay/gate parang signal na lumabas ka na. mahilig din kaming magsayawan noon kaya pag may birthday sa bahay, gasgas ang vinyl record turntable player ng tita ko hehe]
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. The only rubbing we get is from our friends with the words…..masakit ba ? pero pag galit yung kalaro mo,,,,ang sasabihin sa iyo…..beh buti nga !
[tapos kuyugan na at maghahabulan]
We play in the dirt , wash our hands a little and ate with our barehands…we were not afraid of getting worms in our stomachs.
[reliable pa ang combantrin noon hahaha]
We have to live with homemade guns – gawa sa kahoy, tinali ng rubberband , sumpit , tirador at kung ano ano pa na puedeng makasakit…..pero walang nagrereklamo.
[oo nga. pag umiyak ka, mapababae man o lalaki, laos ka!]
made up games with sticks (syato)and cans (tumbang preso) and although we were told it would happen, wala naman tayong binulag o napatay… paminsan-minsan may nabubukulan.
[pare syato champion ako! magalig ako sumalo ng lumilipad na stick! at saka kaya kong tirahin siya ng malayo. and we had really good teamwork back then.]
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
[see above -- palakpakan mode]
Mini basketball teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Walang sumasama ang loob.
[oo nga. naniniwala kami sa better luck next time. ngayon, magpapatayan pa e...]
Ang magulang ay nandoon lang para tingnan kung ayos lang ang bata…hindi para makialam.
[ay nako di uso ang stage parents noon ha plis lang. saka laos ka pag nagsumbong ka hahaha]
This generation of ours has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and managers ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good.
and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
PS - The big type is because your eyes may not be able to read this… at your age
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