Entries for January, 2008

January 9th, 2008

when does a wife become a mistress?

from my wife:

i'm sorry jope, bago mo pa malaman sa iba, aaminin ko na. nagka-affair kami ni diether.

wahahahahaha. joke lang.

 

What if...? Honestly, I think I can easily let go. If that's what'll make her happy; so long as she'll file the annulment case and spend for it herself. I wouldn't want to force myself on anyone just as I don't want others to force their selves on me. Easy eh!

My colleague and myself are cooking up something for the SOH Festival in January. We're re-screening Maryo J. De los Reyes' A Love Story and have a Mel and Jay-type forum after discussing the phenomenon of mistresses, live-ins, infidelity, and commitment. It'll be a major break from the usual symposia hosted by the Philosophy Department. We'll have experts from sociology, philosophy, and the law to talk about the topic and have actual couples and mistresses to speak about their experiences. I'm excited to see this project in the flesh. And like any other project I embarked on, I'll see to it that this will be perfect.

This is what commitment is--eyes on the goals, heart on the underlying values, hands working to make it happen. No sidetracking, no fooling around. A yes is a yes. And I really mean it.

Posted by meetjopeblack at 10:51 AM | 6 bench press(es).

January 19th, 2008

the secret life of dads


meetjopeblack

I accompanied Cathy do her magazine trade checks at the mall and got excited seeing back issues of magazines on sale. I got myself a Men's Health mag June 2007 issue and a copy of Maxim's Hot 100 2007. Tired from doing the rounds--Shangri-la to Megamall then back to Shangri-la, we drove to Corinthian Hills for coffee... and my love for these two magazines re-developed.

Allow me to steal from Men's Health an interview-essay done by John Melegrito entitled "The Secret Life of Dad". This almost made me cry. Here's what it says:

When you're a kid, your father is a mythical beast--part action hero, part silverback gorilla. He's bigger, stronger, and smarter than you. He's honest, good-looking, and fiercely protective. He's great at his job and always true to your mom.

Its subsections enumerate dads' secrets:

Dad Secret 1: He doesn't know everything
Dad Secret 2: If you want it, he wants it for you times 10
Dad Secret 3: Sometimes, there are things he just couldn't do
Dad Secret 4: He gets scared, too
Dad Secret 5: He cares even if he doesn't know how to show it
Dad Secret 6: He's this close to smacking you one
Dad Secret 7: Once in a while, he needs to act like a kid again
Dad Secret 8: He's a different guy at work
Dad Secret 9: He's not as tough as he looks
Dad Secret 10: He can still appreciate a beautiful woman
Dad Secret 11: Sometimes he needs you to be the bigger man
Dad Secret 12: Once the i's are dotted, he's out of here
Dad Secret 13: There's a meaning behind his madness

I like number 2 most and one inset note which says that dads' "I love you's" usually take the form of "Let's take a look under the hood."

Cathy said I should clip this article and show it to our kids when we are old and worn out. I probably will. I wish I had my hand on this article when I was younger so as to have easily picked up the hidden expressions of love my dodd was relaying.

But then again, I probably would not have understood what the secret codes mean if I were still in my terrible teens.

And also, there were no such magazines back then.

Indeed these magazines have a purpose, at least sometimes.

Posted by meetjopeblack at 09:18 PM | 2 bench press(es).

January 21st, 2008

he might just be the right person to lead the society


meetjopeblack
ROME (CNS) -- Spanish-born Father Adolfo Nicolas, moderator of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania, was elected superior general of the Society of Jesus Jan. 19.

The 217 voting delegates to the Jesuit General Congregation elected Father Nicolas, 71, on their second ballot. He succeeds Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 79, who had asked to resign because of his age.

Pope Benedict XVI was informed of the election of Father Nicolas before the Jesuits announced it publicly.

The election came after four days of prayer, silence and quiet one-on-one conversations among the voting delegates, who were chosen to represent the more than 19,000 Jesuits around the world.

Father Nicolas was ordained to the priesthood in Tokyo and is the former Jesuit provincial of Japan. He also had served as director of the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila.

Interviewed in December about his hopes for the work of the General Congregation, Father Nicolas said, "I have a feeling, still imprecise and difficult to define, that there is something important in our religious life that needs attention and is not getting it.

"We have certainly been diligent in addressing our problems whenever we have seen them," he said, noting the focus of past General Congregations, "but the uneasiness in the society and in the church has not disappeared."

In the interview, with the Province Express, the newsletter of the Australian Jesuits, he said, "The question for us is: Is it enough that we are happy with our life and are improving our service and ministry? Isn't there also an important factor in the perception of people ('vox populi') that should drive us to some deeper reflection on religious life today?

"How come we elicit so much admiration and so little following?" he asked.

He concluded by telling the newsletter that he hoped the General Congregation would begin "a process of dynamic and open reflection on our religious life that might begin a process of re-creation of the society for our times, not only in the quality of our services, but also and mostly in the quality of our personal and community witness to the church and the world."

Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, told Catholic News Service that Father Nicolas "is a great man. He is inspirational, he is holy and he represents a great bridge among the various cultures in the church."

Father Smolich said he had gotten to know the new general as they both served on the commission preparing for the General Congregation. Although Father Nicolas is 71, "he has the energy of a much younger man."

In a Jan. 10 letter to the Jesuits, Pope Benedict asked them to reaffirm their "total adhesion to Catholic doctrine," particularly regarding interreligious dialogue and various aspects of sexual morality.

Father Smolich said, "I do not think there was a cause-and-effect relationship, but we have chosen one of the premiere men in the society" in the field of relations between Christianity and other religions.

"He can work intimately with the pope and the Vatican on this very issue," the Jesuit said.

"Seriously, he is one of the most intelligent and holiest men I have ever met," Father Smolich said. "He has the breadth and depth to handle these issues."

The resignation of Father Kolvenbach and the election of Father Nicolas was just the beginning of the General Congregation's work; as of Jan. 19, the Jesuits had not announced an end date for the meeting, but it was expected to last at least another month and focus on questions of Jesuit identity and governance, vocations, mission and collaboration with the laity.

Born April 29, 1936, in Palencia, Spain, Father Nicolas entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1953. After earning a degree in philosophy in Spain, he was sent to Japan to study theology. He was ordained a priest in Tokyo in 1967.

After earning a master's degree in theology from the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to Japan and taught systematic theology at Sophia University in Tokyo.

In 1978-84 he was director of the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila. In 1991-1993 he was rector of the program for Jesuit scholastics in Japan, and in 1993 he was appointed provincial for Japan.

Before being named moderator of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania in 2004, he spent three years working in a poor immigrant parish in Tokyo, living with and ministering to Filipino and other Asian immigrants.

Father Nicolas speaks Spanish, Japanese, English, French and Italian.

END

Posted by meetjopeblack at 05:30 PM | 3 bench press(es).

January 22nd, 2008

on monday, january 28, all are invited!

 
The Philosophy Department is inviting you to a talkshow on love, commitment, and infidelity. This will be a no-holds-barred discussion following the issues raised in the 2007 Aga Muhlach-Maricel Soriano starrer, "A Love Story". Through the sharing of people with experiences on infidelity, the concepts of love, relationships, and family can be seen without any romantic gloss on. Hopefully, we can better understand the complexities of this reality and deal with it accordingly.

See you on January 28, 430 pm at the Leong Auditorium! Do extend the invite to your friends.

Posted by meetjopeblack at 09:01 AM | mix me my whey

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