The family has been quite busy with our grandma’s funeral preparations. One thing that my cousins realized is that it was a little difficult finding a lot of stock photos of her. We’d have to segregate everything from the seven children’s families, scan them and then push them all to iPhoto for a themed slideshow.
I was having a conversation with my cousin who’s a film director and we came to agree that if it were our generation, finding photos would be so much easier as our lives are pretty much public in Facebook, Multiply and Friendster. Not to mention our blogs as well. What would it be like, 50 years from now when it came to storing our memories online?
One of the resolutions among the cousins would be to start a centralized photo repository. Maybe on Flickr or Multiply because it is very easy to batch upload. And then maybe link them all to a blog or something. The objective would be to come up with an organized way for anyone in the family to have access to these gems and contribute.
Those close to the Fernandez and Javellana side of my family have always considered my grandmother “Mommy Darling” to be larger than life. She has always been the epitome of grace and art and an inspiration to us, especially to the cousins to be excellent in our pursuit of everything creative. I am lucky to be blessed by a huge clan (we’re the typical noisy Ilonggo clan 🙂 ) that spend regular Sunday reunions in Blue Ridge. We’re all pretty close. In these fast times, it is hard to keep close to family. All of us 35 grandchildren are great.
Mommy Darling (she didn’t like being called lola — and so yes, lolo was also ‘Daddy Darling’ to us) was especially influential to me because of how she supported my musical endeavors (In her 70’s she was still dancing ballet!). She bought me a Washburn Festival series when I was in college so that I could play for her 75th birthday. She is the root cause of why I love writing, why I love photography and why I’ve learned to appreciate art.
My fondest memory of her was when she decided to treat all her grandchildren to a European tour a few years back. She would have to stress that if the parents wanted to go (her 7 children), they would have to pay for their own fares. So there we were in a tour of Europe for a month with my grandma, nephews and nieces.
Mommy Darling passed away silently on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes, on February 11 2008 while praying the rosary. It is no coincidence that she wished to die on the feast day of her namesake.
I would also like to thank those who visited last night – Sasha and Rico, Juned and Markku and Phoebe of course. Thank you as well to everyone who sent emails and SMS. Really sorry that I cannot always reply but yes, I got them all. My grandma’s remains lie at Christ the King in Greenmeadows and her remains will be transferred this Saturday after the 8:30 am mass to Loyola Marikina, where Daddy Darling waits for her.
There were no tears last night. Everyone was happy. Mommy Darling lived a full life filled with so much love. It is such an envied way to pass through to the next life.
EDIT: So funny that today, she was wearing blue and yesterday she was in a white dress! Thanks to Juned, Noemi and Lauren for passing by tonight as well, together with the SMS messages from everyone else.
Noemi, together with Blog and Soul has organized a Blogging Ethics and Libel Law forum this coming February 16 2008 at Kape Isla. To date, we have slots for 9 more participants. This project is also in support of Rock Ed Philippines’ Book Bigayan Project. Though it is not required, it would be nice if participants donated a book as an “entrance fee” for this event 🙂 Please leave a comment on the B&S blog if you’re interested.
Phoebe Ramos is giving away her back-up make up. Click here for more details on what exactly she’s giving away for adoption. She also started her cooking / food blog.
Does anyone want to go to Hed Kandi on the 16th at Avenue after the Moony Black Concert? VERY limited tickets available. Please leave a comment if you’re interested.
I’ve turned my Flickr Pro account into a photo blog. Some of the shots here were projects done for broadsheets early last year (i.e. Nikki dela Paz and surfer girls) and I finally get to put them online.
“Stripped down” Hamlet will be showing till the 17th of February. Haven’t read such an entertaining blogosphere buzz about a Shakespeare play, ever. Ana Abad Santos-Bitong should do the same thing with Macbeth. I honestly think Shakespeare remakes are a good direction to make the commentaries of the human condition more up to date with the times. Great stuff!
Thank you to those who have ordered flowers through me! You can still avail of a discount by entering the promo code ABUGGEDLIFE-68140when you check out.
In the publishing industry, magazines and newspapers use this thing called “pass on readership” to identify the perceived number of times a single copy of their publication is ready by different eyes. This is usually determined by random phone interviews, survey questions and household demographics such as looking at the average size of a Filipino family and multiplying the circulation data by that number. In reality of course, a publication doesn’t meet that requirement as it is common practice (doesn’t mean its good practice) for sales teams to pad circulation data based on their own fixations with their perceived audiences.
Noemi Lardizabal-Dado and Butch Dado said their vows and made it clear on Facebook. They’re married.
I got a pleasant surprise today in my Facebook feed. Congratulations to Butch and Noemi for tying the knot! We’re all happy for the two of you and I’m sure that all your online friends wish you the best 🙂
