TARGET DEMO

 

Just came back from a global business forum that, among others, tried to map out the future of the Australian and Asia-Pacific economies. One of the takeaways: because of shifting demographics, some sectors will shrink, while others will boom.

 if you're a coffee-drinking trucker who's good at math, holler at us

The keynote was delivered by a speaker whose thing is spotting and identifying those demographics and tagging them with acronyms. Some of them are catchy (catchronyms?), others are, well....

Good sir, I believe you left out the DORKOS (diplomats of remarkable knowledge of starwars). We will NOT BE IGNORED!!

FLOWERS BLOOM ALL MAY

It's May, which means almost every weekend in the month will see a Santacruzan staged in some Sydney suburb. As I like saying at these events, not only is it a meaningful expression of our faith, values and beliefs, it is also a beautiful manifestation of Filipino culture, colors and creativity (not to mention, a wonderful excuse for people to get together and enjoy a Philippine feast!) How wonderful, too, that our Australian hosts, friends, and neighbors get to witness a Philippine Flores de Mayo in person and share in the celebration.

And they've witnessed, among others, a Filipina soprano's salu-salo song, beauty queens in church aisles, and an Indian presiding priest speaking fluent Filipino and Ilocano.

Mabuhi, mates!

THE BIRTHDAY CIRCUIT

There's a great social contract out here in Sydney suburbia: if some parents throw a birthday party for their kid, the other parents get to completely dump off their kids at said party then disappear to wherever they want and just show up at the party again at pick-up time 2-3 hours later. Brilliant! The LLDD-Hyphen-L and I didn't know about this the first time we took the LLDD-Baby to a schoolmate's birthday party, so we were the only grown ups awkwardly hanging around the venue until a late arriving mom came over to us and said "well i'm heading off to the pub for a beer, you coming?" Again, brilliant!  

And it's not like we're just abandoning the kids at some desolate wasteland. The parties are always held at someplace fun and pretty.  So far, we've been to a town hall's playplace:

...an arts and crafts cafe

...a park's picnic area...

...a mall's arcade...

...even a golf course's practice green!

Now, far be it from the LLDD-Hyphen-L and myself to break local custom, so when it was the LLDD-Baby's birthday, we threw a party at a local Lego activity center and took in as many of her friends and classmates as we could - to the absentee delight of their parents!

To be clear, there is consideration to the birthday party social contract: we, the celebrant's parents, relieve you, the non-celebrant's parents, of your kids - feed them, entertain them, give them goodie bags and whatnot - for two plus hours...and in return, the birthday girl gets to go home with a presents haul.

Dabby birthdays to y'all!
       

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER AT SEA

The Consulate was invited to the 76th(!) reunion of a veterans organization known as the U.S. Army Small Ships Association, a diverse group of merchant seamen who served alongside army personnel during WWII on board a ragtag fleet of civilian ships that roamed the Pacific, including several runs to the Philippines. I encourage everyone to visit their homepage and read all of the powerful and poignant stories of the group and of its members. The reunion lunch itself bore some unforgettable memories, including:

* a historic hotel venue, which once served as Gen. MacAthur's headquarters

* a keynote speaker of effortless oratorical skill and substance (and a "Give me 10,000 Filipinos..." shout-out)

* memorabilia from one of the members who explained - with a wink and a chuckle - that you could tell it was one of their group's coins because, if you carefully felt the engraving on one side, "you can feel that there's something not quite right...just like our boys."  

you guys sound all right me, mate       

MULTICOOLTURES

Me: "I will never be cool, but I will someday be cultured!"

LLDD-Hyphen-L: 🙄

Me: Seriously, sweetie, let's watch this recital sponsored by the Russian Consulate, of a Ukrainian classical-jazz pianist, now based in Australia, at the Goethe Institute.  That's, like, a LOT of culture!  

LLDD-Hyphen-L: 😎

Me: And he's really good and mixes up classics with some of his own original work. Here look





LLDD-Hyphen-L: Alam mo ba kung alin yung classic at alin yung original?

Me: 😐

mag-selfie culture na lang tayo

CEBIT. CEBIT RUN.

Attended the opening of CeBIT, which bills itself as one of the largest tech expos in the world.  Always fun to go and geek out at events like these, what with the Philippine IT sector strongly reppin...

whassup BPO agent located in makati who startled every passer-by talking to them in real time

...the latest in A.I. and V.R...

the a.i. lady had uncanny valley qualities, but I swear was self-aware enough to give me the stink eye when I stared at her too long.

...and the trendiest in tech start-up wordblends  

next year i'm coming in with "atenennial" -- the dating site for atenista millennials. should be popular.

WHERE YOU AT WILDCATS?

A "Colors of the World" cultural festival was just held in Sydney and, with due respect to Efron et al, we may have just witnessed the most big budgeted, highest production-valued high school musical ever. It was staged at the new International Conference Center's 2000-seat theater, there were acts flown in from all over the region, celebrities and dignitaries galore, and it seemed like the entire student body of a local college was enlisted to perform. And what a show they put together! (below are the highlights my 10-year old crapcam managed to capture)

As you might expect, the big finish featured a birit from young Pinay...

...but it was some dad-dancing that brought it all home.




(postscript: they raffled off a car at the end! and a pinoy seated in the upper deck won! and, no, it wasn't vanessa hudgens!)