Wanlu with his puppet, Nicolo

Just a thought: Living a life without prayers is like a house without nails. Truly, God is our solid foundation. When the storm comes, we will not be shaken.

MANILA, Philippines -- The old and the new: You can tell very easily the old from the new by the way people talk, go about their daily business by using whatever resources are at hand.

Here are some of the ways of the old. Add on to them and send me your inputs later through the e-mail address listed below.

They send press releases produced from good old typewriters. These are sent to newspaper offices with a hard copy of pictures attached to them. Take note that the envelope bears their own handwriting.

They don’t use e-mail and are clueless about computers, much less, the Internet.

They love to write letters, notes and send these by snail mail.

They send you postcards from Rome or wherever.

They expect your children to give them signed pictures of their graduation or wedding pictures.

In conversations, they sprinkle their dialog with Spanish terms like compleano, tarjeta, traje de boda, cuarta y moneda.

They still refer to Claro M. Recto Avenue as Azcarraga, Roxas Boulevard as Dewey Boulevard, EDSA as Highway 54.

Their radio stations are fixed to DWBR, DWWW, DZMM from 1 to 3 p.m. daily, DZRJ.

They love to read health columns and chat endlessly about hypertension, arthritis, back pains.

They go to a lot of reunions that re-bond them with friends from high school, college, even elementary.

They know only too well the ways of the old that they write about them in their columns.  

Lost in transit: The other day, however, an old friend, a major actress in her time, pointed out to me how some ways of the old are still a lot better than the new.

She asked her son to send me a bunch of photos taken during a wedding in which she was ninang. However, due to some technical glitz, the photos never got transmitted to my address. They must have landed in my spam mail, which I normally delete the moment I spot them. Deleting spam mail from my e-mail gives me a delirious high, not unlike that of a serial killer pouncing on a hapless rabbit.

Who knows if they really ended up there – in spam – or nowhere?

After some time, my friend asked me if I finally got the pictures that she sent. I never did, I told her. By that time, the photos were no longer relevant as some time had lapsed.

Exasperated, she said, “I still really prefer the old way of sending stuff. I see the pictures myself, have them printed, and send them to you in hard copy. There is no way you can say you never got them.”

Wanlu in CD: Now you can bring home comedian-ventriloquist Wanlu and have your fill of his entertaining comic, magical act.

Wanlu, the second Hall of Famer on “Talentadong Pinoy” and recent recipient of the Asian Entertainer Award, Albani Peace Prize and Dangal ng Bayan Award as Asia’s Outstanding Ventriloquist, has just released his first kiddie album entitled “Wanlu and His Puppets.”

Fun-filled songs as performed by Wanlu and his cast of lovable and funny puppets make up the initial recorded production of The Party Zone. Aside from six novelty songs (“Wanlu the Ventriloquist,” “Wanlu And Nicolo,” “Baby Bryan,” “Nicolo,” “Kung May Pangarap,” “Wanlu And His Puppets”) the album also includes a bonus track featuring a quick lesson in ventriloquism. That’s a total of seven tracks to keep the young and young at heart entertained.

Wanlu and his puppets will tour schools and malls nationwide to promote the album. Interested parties can e-mail Wanlu at puppets@wanlu.net.

(nescuar@yahoo.com)