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:: Spark plugs | Columbus, OH | Aug 5, 2008 ::
Friday, August 08, 2008
A night's tale
Trips to foreign land are made all the more memorable with some foible. I won’t disappoint you. I’ll end this brief report with one story of mine.
With piling paper works, I thought I’d need a computer I can use exclusively anytime as my schedule warrants. I was given one at the Graduate Students Office but it’s a struggle to go there during cold weather and football game days. Besides, the monitor quality and lighting in the room were straining my eyes quite badly.
One time on a scouting trip, I realized I missed the last bus and I was at a computer shopping store 75 km away from my dorm. Buses are few (about 1 hr interval) and their availability varies depending on route and day of the week. There was no taxi and I don’t have a phone or a phone card. It was already 8pm and the stores were closing. I had no choice so I braced for the worst. I separated my money, ID, debit card in different pockets. I had to walk home. If I walk at 5 km/hr, it would take me at least 15 hrs but this wasn’t the big problem. The first trip the next day was 4am so the longest walk until the next bus was about 8hrs. Definitely, I can’t run or jog back to the dorm even if I can. It was already dark and I might be suspected as a fleeing criminal. I was also worried getting mugged or robbed. I was wondering how a crime report about me will be written on tabloids. Probably, something like:
Thieves sue Fulbright scholar
for empty wallet, fake dollar
Then, the story would print my picture, pockets inside out, bruises and all. The caption reads: Buckeye with a blackeye.
Also, I don’t know by heart the route back. I had to rely on the map and trust that my interpretation is correct.
After 35 minutes into the journey, I saw a group of young adults across the street. Someone yelled: “How ‘ya doin’?” And so, I approached them while recalling all my self-defense lessons (I mean, the Jet Lee moves in his shaolin movies). He introduced himself as Andy, probably the oldest in the group. He said he can take me along in their car if I pay the $30 full tank fuel to the collective groans of his companions. For fear of me being a predator in the end or for rebuking Andy’s “extortion”, that I would never know. He backed off and instead called a taxi for me. While waiting for the cab, he asked if I want sex for $5, pointing to one of his lady friends. Of course, to make my loved ones and PAEF proud, I stuck with the predilection of a good Filipino and Fulbright grantee (ehem!). He dropped the sex but later, he again asked $5 from me. I didn’t budge. His companions reprimanded him.
All the while I was thinking if he really called a taxi. He showed signs of mischief but was kind enough to offer help to a stranger. The taxi did arrive and I was spared walking for 8 hrs through the night.
What can I say? Kindness comes in many forms.
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Jones Tower, OSU, Oct 30, 2006
Blushing (thorny) blossoms ::
...:: Blushing (thorny) blossoms | North Market, Columbus, OH | Aug 5, 2008 ::
Romantic exploits of Lolo Albert
I started reading Einstein's biography with the preconceived notion that he was shy with the ladies. Although I already knew about his two marriages to Mileva Maric and his first cousin Elsa Einstein, I still suspected that his love life was dull. Or, I was hoping I had some adventures with girls that he sorely missed in favor of Physics equations.
One time at Ali Mall Cubao bus terminal, a girl caught my fancy. An idea came to mind. While still single and unattached, I better jump into adventures which my unique freedom allows. How does it feel to approach a girl out of the blue, with no introduction whatsoever? How will she react? Out of the paper receipt of a McDo Happy Meal, I created a flower by folding it a la origami. After summoning some inner strength, I finally approached and offered her the paper flower.
“Merry Christmas,” I stuttered.
She was puzzled. She just looked at me blankly.
“Kunin mo na, kunin mo na” her seatmate elbowed her.
She was frozen.
“Kunin mo na, kunin mo na” her seatmate nudged her again. And every time, I would extend the flower closer to her.
Maybe on the third or fourth “Kunin mo na” I was already blushing. No, my (very thick!) face was all red. For those who don't know, that Cubao Bus Terminal is always crowded, like a giant supermarket. I felt like everyone was looking at me.
I dropped the flower on her lap and I fled.
“Saan ka ba nagpunta? Ikaw na lang ang hinihintay!” the conductor furiously scolded me.
I was grinning.
In another occasion, I just approached a girl I don't even know at a school market. “Merry Christmas” then I extended to her a copy of Youngblood (the first ever essay anthology of twenty-something and below from Inquirer).
She was surprised. All she could mutter was “H-ha?”
Before she could regain her composure, I left the book beside her. My exit was swift.
That copy, though old, was still valuable. I attended the launching of that book and I even got the autographs of several authors in the anthology, plus that of Tintin Bersola and Julius Babao who happened to shop at a pet store at Megamall.
Later still, I would send about 30 text messages a day to someone I didn't know. All I know was her name and phone number. On the other hand, she knew everything about me in advance because of a partially-leaning common friend. I didn't know how she looks like for all the 6 months of texting (which oftentimes means, I text, she reads) and occasional calling. My messages were not the usual greetings or forwarded messages. I was basically sending her essays, stories about anything. On the pretense of a candlemaking workshop which I would teach at our house, she finally agreed to meet me with her two friends. I fetched her from her house. For a few moments, I was cross-eyed. That is, she looked like a cross between Maxene and Heart. While her aunt was interrogating me, I was thinking “What am I doing here? She's too innocent, too beautiful for me.”
The candlemaking was successful because years later, she became my wife. She still looks the same although I would chide her sometimes that I was not quite right about the innocent part. :)
From the latest and probably the most comprehensive book about Einstein, I learned many things including the realization that I don't even come close to his exploits with the ladies. There were 10 women in his romantic life from his teens up to his seventies. They were:
1] Marie Winteler [p. xxii, 27]
2] Mileva Maric [p. xxi, 42]
3] Anna Meyer who later became Mrs. Schmid [p. 153]
4] Elsa Einstein [p. xix]
5] Betty Neumann [p. 360]
6] Toni Mendel [p. 361]
7] Ethel Michanowski [p. 361]
8] Margarete Lebach [p. 362]
9] Margarita Konenkova [p. 503]
10] Johanna Fantova [p. 535]
The indicated pages are just some markers on the same book (reference cited at the end of this piece) where you can read about those characters. There was no special section for the ladies of Einstein. They were just mentioned every now and then, generally on a chronological circumstance. There was another lady who was with him for a long period but there was no concrete proof of romantic ties. Her name is Helen Dukas, a long time secretary (p.xix).
My vote could have gone to Marie if my opinion matters at all. They both showed sweetness and passion in their innocence. There was a good relationship between families. Even in the long run, the Winteler family has been closely associated with Einstein. His sister Majah later married Marie's brother. His bestfriend Michele (pronounced Mi-kel) Besso married Marie's sister. [p. 27] Einstein would still write to Marie's father in later years.
The first known love letter of a teenage Einstein to Marie is quoted below [p. 28]:
Beloved sweetheart!
Many, many thanks for your charming little letter, which made me endlessly happy. It was so wonderful to be able to press to one's heart such a bit of paper which two so dear little eyes have lovingly beheld and on which the dainty little hands have charmingly glided back and forth. I was now made to realize, my little angel, the meaning of homesickness and pining. But love brings much happiness- much more so than pining brings pain...
My mother has also taken you to her heart, even though she does not know you; I only let her read two of your charming little letters. And she always laughs at me because I am no longer attracted to the girls who were supposed to have enchanted me so much in the past. You mean more to my soul than the whole world did before.
His consenting mother even scribbled her own note on this same love letter. “Without having read this letter, I send you cordial greetings!”
Later, when Einstein was drifting apart, Marie wrote his mother. Pauline Einstein (Albert Einstein's mother) replied: “The rascal has become frightfully lazy. I have been waiting in vain for news for these last three days; I will give him a thorough talking-to once he's here.” [p. 40-41]
Here's another interesting note about Einstein and Marie's relationship. Marie was washing the laundry of Einstein. The interesting side is that they were apart. Einstein was in another place (Pavia?) and he would send by post office his laundry to Marie in Aarau. She would long for love letters that may go with the laundry. Then, Marie mails the clothes back to Einstein. The historical notes of this aspect is definitely Hollywood material:
In one letter she wrote of crossing the woods in the pouring rain to the post office to send back his clean clothes. “In vain did I strain my eyes for a little note, but the mere sight of your dear handwriting in the address was enough to make me happy.” [p. 40]
I guess they were just too young to handle the weight of the relationship. Marie was the one more devastated.
On January 6, 1903, Einstein eventually married Mileva Maric, the only girl in his Physics class [p. 85]. She's not as beautiful as Marie but she was more intellectually compatible with him. Theirs was also a passionate relationship which even resulted to a premarital daughter named Liesrl [p.72] who was buried into oblivion for unclear reasons.
The other interesting account about Einstein's capability for romantic overtures involved Anna Meyer who was a 17 year old, unmarried girl. He wrote this poem in her album:
What should I inscribe for you here?
I could think of many things
Including a kiss
On your tiny little mouth.
If you're angry about it
Do not start to cry
The best punishment
Is to give me one too.
Apparently, this happened when he was about 20 years old. It wasn't clear if he was attached to Marie or Mileva at that time. There was no strong evidence that Anna was his girlfriend and he had the gall to write about kissing her!
In succeeding chapters, Einstein would knowingly stray to other ladies, even though he's married. It could be due to a mixture of being emotionally unfulfilled and his resignation to the belief that man is inherently predisposed to something beyond his control. A similar example was when he surrendered to rescuing his son Eduard from a mental illness [p. 418].
I leave you to find out about his other affairs. Einstein's life is definitely rich with interesting surprises. And that includes his love life.
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Reference:
Isaacson, W. 2008. Einstein: His Life and Universe. Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. New York. ISBN-13:978-0-7432-6474-7.
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