head of state

 

I took a nice image of my mid-morning snack. The box of Typhoo tea that I bought two years ago will expire this year so I need to finish all of it (it’s by the hundreds…erratum: box of 80). Why did I buy aforementioned tea? Because it was a rare sighting for me; found it at a grocery store from an out-of-town trip. LOL. I put unsweetened oat milk on it, because it doesn’t overpower the taste of the tea and it’s my way of cutting down on dairy. 

Beside the mug is a pack of Skyflakes crackers. Delicious common Filipino crackers. Great with canned tuna or any type of cheese.

Fusion snack. Indulge me and my pretentiousness.

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I understand that the monarchy is a touchy subject and that this may be an unpalatable post to some folks.

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Three years ago, I pledged allegiance to the monarch of the United Kingdom as a citizen of a Commonwealth nation. I’m certain that my peers from my home country either quietly frown upon this or are indifferent. After all, it was only in the late 1800s when my country of birth first gained independence from over 3 centuries of Spanish colonial rule. A lot of other occupations happened after that. Looking at this from a very zoomed out perspective, it’s a sequential change in allegiances, isn’t it? Whichever is convenient—is that it? That doesn’t feel good when I think of it that way.

I watched the highlights of King Charles III’s coronation online and the pageantry is certainly spectacular and familiar at the same time. It’s interesting to see representatives of different Christian traditions (a Roman Catholic cardinal included) stating scripted blessings to the newly crowned monarch at some point during the ceremony. 

Going back to my remark about the familiarity of pageantry and how I grew up exposed to it…Pageantry is probably not the best description especially since it’s as if I’m projecting this idea that I think it’s all for show…I actually like it. Why? It’s because of the tradition tied to the rubrics of whatever ceremony is taking place. That the choreography, words, and tools have been around for centuries and that these somehow connect me with our ancestors. Don’t get me wrong…I like change as well, rather, I like adaptability. My opinion is that the centuries old traditions that can still be done today keep us connected with the greater human story.

I am a person of structure in most aspects of my life. A sense of order represents stability for me. Routine, lists, schedules…certainties amidst uncertainty. It is comforting. It is identity-building. The comfort lies in knowing who I am based on where I’m from, knowing the circumstances that made me who I am, and the common day-to-day things I do. Now that I think about it, I’m probably a good target for criminals for being predictable, eh? Am I glad I’m nobody and don’t have hefty assets or some important information to be ideal prey. But that’s who I am—almost robotic. Most of us are, I think. Like those NPCs (Non-Playing Characters) in video games (disclaimer: I am not a gamer, I am old, and I learned that term from my kids). I always felt like the filler. I mean, I am surely of value within my nuclear family, but if we were to consider the bigger picture…I am on ordinary citizen. The common folk. A count on the census. If I haven’t been blogging, nobody would know the joys and travails of the ordinary human in this specific era of human existence. Because the things in my head are now concretized in this medium—whether or not this persists in the succeeding millenia—I hope it helps some future version of an archaeologist. The common citizen cyber-excavated from an ordinary cyber location surrounded by ordinary fragments of data that existed at a particular point in time. Well, I hope this helps someone’s thesis in the future. Maybe I should write a post that is purely in my native language—deepen things a bit. How vain am I? LOL. 

Back to our theme of tradition. Cheers to tradition and rubrics and pageantry. And as is appropriate during this time…God save the King. Mabuhay ang sangkatauhan. Malayong lupain amin mang marating, ‘di rin magbabago ang damdamin.