some good times from bad

The exchange of celebrations between life and death, coming and going, laughter and tears and who knows what is next, is quite tough to handle!

I have been stretching my limits with regards to expressing lots of emotions since the start of 2009! And the mixed extremely -happy and sad moments that has alternately challenged me seems to be giving me that strength I needed when some more tough times comes my way!

It is alright, I guess. I see a lot of wisdom to all of these anyway. I might go through all of these to appreciate this one life I am destined to live!

Sometimes I am glad I am a natural "unconventional" or in short rather "crazy" person.

In the island back when I was young, I remember to be so risky with some of my behaviors! If you have read some of my "flashback" articles, that includes running away from home when I was very young, getting into lots of trouble and if I may add to the list, tried alcohol at an early age!

The picture above is a cluster of some coconut trees! I used to think of climbing that kind of tree once but because I am stocky and heavy, I did not have the chance to. It is called the "tree of life" here in the Philippines because one can probably make use of all its part (from its roots to the tips). And it is the source of the wine, I ever first tasted!

My grandmothers in the island, drink what we call "tuba". It is a kind of wine extracted from the coconut trees. From the coconut or palm buds exactly. When freshly extracted, it has a bittersweet taste. Not so awful smelling as other liquors but good enough to make you tipsy into some point and drunk "till you drop".The "tuba" has no known permanent packaging. Except for the "lambanog" brand which I see in the supermarkets here in Davao. They look more like vodka in packaging and with different flavors too. But the freshly collected ones known as "bahalina" ( as in the picture above) could be poured into what is conveniently available such as the empty plastic Coke bottles.

I have tasted one exotic concoction which a friend has prepared. It is a mixture of the "bahalina", "tablea" (pure chocolate molds) and eggs...wheewwww! That could be awful to some, but the taste was great! I think I have to learn the right mixture.

So when the "bahalina" was offered to us one day, we could not resist but taste it once more! It is far cheaper than the beer (the only other one I drink) and could help those men who dare to climb those very tall coconut trees to extract the wine.

The effect: some good times with friends.