TV

Ever since I was little, my affinity to TV was already very evident. Heard of the saying “if there’s a will, there’s a way”…this was probably one of the reasons why even if we were not so fortunate enough to own a TV at that time, me and my cousins would always move heaven and earth to go to a neighbor’s house to watch tv after school, or run to the not-so-friendly neighbour’s house a good 6 blocks away and peep on the window complete with a desperate, pitiful cute angelic look which would melt the neighbor’s heart and make us go inside, sit on the floor to watch the tube….which was still in black and white at that time. At times, I can feel the owner’s gaze leering at me and my cousins, piercing through me as if telling me “you are not welcome here” but I know they cannot say it to my face because of delicadesa, after all I am my father’s daughter. So it went that way as far as I can remember. I may remember having seen “Flordeluna” or the rival soap “Annaliza” every night but I did not watch those soaps in the comfort of our own home. Cartoons like Mighty Thor or The Road Runner or the hit series Knight Rider, The Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman are just few of the tv shows I loved to watch. Yet I never really remembered asking my mother to buy us a set…I had always known we cannot afford one and that a tv set is not a need but a luxury and that owning one is a thing only the wealthy can avail. And so me and my cousins were just contented peeking through the windows of another ‘s house, getting barked at by their dogs, getting nasty side comments from the owner , yet we never took those seriously as long as we can watch TV. On weekends, when I was a teenager we would casually pass by our distant cousin’s store at the market hoping to see their tv on to be able to watch student canteen or eat bulaga at noontime. One reason we need to see those shows is to get some new dance steps we can copy for our own since my cousins and I were really hooked on dancing and the only way we can get new steps was to watch certain contests featured on the shows and imitate the moves. I can recall that after eat bulaga we would continue to sit in front of the tv and watch those old dolphy or fpj movies shown every Saturday afternoons until my aunt would tell us she needs us out of the house or so as not to be obvious, just turn off the tv telling us it needs to rest because it will run out of battery. And so, out we go, only to come back the next day for GMA Supershow. Looking back, even if as kids me and my cousins were not blessed with having wealthy families, I still think we made the most of what we had and what we could enjoy doing as children. Those are experiences worth remembering. It makes me think of the difference between the life I had when I was growing up and the things my nephews and nieces are having. They never get to experience the thrill of being chased by the dogs when attempting to sneak through a window just to watch tv..they just sit in the living room and change channels to whatever show they wanna watch using the remote control…they can watch anytime of the day outside of school….but then times change and I still wouldn’t want to trade my childhood experiences with anything, I mean, those help in making me become the person I am today. by: meg havana 16 june 07