Love is Lovelier, the Second Time Around
My mother used to play the piece "Speak Softly Love" from the movie, "The Godfather" on our Yamaha organ. The little girl that I was, I, thus, thought, that "The Godfather" was a cheesy love story for oldies. Boy, was I wrong!

In my late teens, I chanced upon "The Godfather" while watching Sky Cable. Bingo -- it's about La Cosa Nostra! As someone who has secret dreams of becoming a spy, a Secret Service/CIA/FBI agent, or worse, a Mafia wife, I became very interested, to say the least. Mario Puzo's novel joined my little library.

I never did get to watch the whole trilogy, until I bought "The Godfather" on VHS when I married my husband. Since then, we were hooked! We would hold our own "The Godfather" movie festivals every month. I ordered Harlan Lebo's "The Godfather Legacy" on amazon.com, and read it with much glee (glee because a lot of the behind-the-scenes anecdotes were amusing!). I even joined this Godfather (gangster) bulletin board where members from all over the world have intelligent and not-so-intelligent discussions about the movie, among others. I was simply taking it all in! In case you're interested, check out the boards at http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi . Thanks, JGeoff, for the generous permission to use one of your file photos!

"The Godfather" is a treasure of a story -- you always learn something new everytime you watch the movie. In the bulletin board, it never fails to amaze me how deep the analysis goes -- dissecting every story angle possible, unraveling plots you thought weren't present, opening your mind into exploring different ways of thinking.

There are many "quotable quotes" one can pick up and learn from "The Godfather", quotes which you can even apply or use in real life, the most famous of which is "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse". My personal favorite is "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Does that mean I have a lot of enemies? Not really. Hahaha. I like it because it's a good strategy, similar to Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". Not that I've read that book, no, I haven't.

What is "The Godfather"? What does it represent? The story is about family, loyalty, honor, and respect. It's about losing your family, at the end of it all.

Alas, my obsession with "The Godfather" came to an abrupt halt in December 2003 when I discovered "Friends". Yes, I was a late bloomer, learning to appreciate their brand of humor five months before the end of their run. "Friends" captivated me so much that I never tired of watching it on DVD (I have all 10 seasons) and syndicated TV re-runs. But that's another story.

For 2 1/2 years, "The Godfather" took a back seat to "Friends".

But thank God for the launch of "The Godfather" game (available on PS2, PC, and X-Box), my intense love for the Corleone family has resurfaced! My husband enjoys the game a lot, and we often laugh at scenes patterned after the movie. For now, my husband (who is already ranked "associate") still cannot get past the stage where Michael has fled to Sicily, after killing that ass_____ Captain McCluskey and Sollozzo.

Ahhh, "The Godfather" ... I'm back to checking the bulletin board everyday, trying to read as many posts as I can (there's simply too much!). I've renewed ties with a board member who is Filipino, living in Manila. I've even started consulting the internet for merchandise/memorabilia to buy. Who knows, I might do a second round of reading with Harlan Lebo's book!

What's with all this obsession, you ask? As the saying goes, love is lovelier the second time around! Capiche?

Counting Sheep
I am a scary person, and I say this only because I have "sleep activities". Maybe my mind and soul are wandering, even at rest. Ooh, that sounds creepy!

Since I was little, I would sometimes have these "sleep activities". Of course, I wouldn't even know that I was doing them because I had my own room -- there were simply no witnesses. That is, unless I sleepwalk ... and sleepwalking (somnambulism) is another creepy topic that I can relate to, but something I would much rather not discuss, only because I am such a scaredy cat!

Okay, the "less scary" activity involves talking in my sleep. Yes, talking in my sleep! I discovered that I was talking in my sleep when, in my teens, my brother, Junjun, once shouted to me at night, asking me what I was telling him (my brother and I have a door between our bedrooms, and we usually leave it open). That's when he realized that I was just sleeptalking. Seems harmless and funny, right? But not funny when you sleeptalk AND sleepwalk at the same time, another creepy thing I can relate to! Again, focus on sleeptalking! ... Moving on, moving on ...

When I got married, I had a full-time witness to my sleep activities. And boy, did Joey hear a lot -- from senseless statements (when did sleeptalk chatter ever make sense?) to scary shrieks. I feared driving him away with my sleeping disorder, especially since he would sometimes see me talking in my sleep with my eyes open!

I always tell Joey to take me for a ride whenever I talk in my sleep -- engage me in conversation, and see where it leads. He never did this quite successfully, never got to squeeze anything out ... until last week:


MARIFE : "Pare-pareho lang yung design!"
JOEY : "Anong design?"
MARIFE : "Yung t-shirt ng mga fish!"
JOEY : "Anong fish?"
MARIFE : "Yung sa PDA!" (referring to our "Fish Tycoon" game in our respective Tungstens)
JOEY : "Wala namang t-shirt yung mga fish dun, eh."
MARIFE : "Meron!" (indignant)


I couldn't stop laughing when Joey recounted the conversation -- I seemed so pleased with how ridiculous it sounded, happy that he was able to keep it going with a few lines here and there.

Thank God, I no longer sleepwalk -- my last episode was in my teens. But despite my long-running sleeptalking or somniloquy (which, Joey says, happens whenever I don't meet my "number-of-words-spoken-in-a-day" quota ... yeah, yeah, very funny!), I am hardly alarmed nor scared out of my wits. Don't hold your breath, Marife -- wait until you say something incriminating, and Joey is there to hear it! Then you'll want to cure your sleeping disorder!