MEDIUM RARE
As we race toward Christmas and eventually the year of the magical, mystical Dragon, it’s nice to remember November as a month with four red-letter days. Not only for November-borns but the rest of us who look forward to holy days, holidays, no-work days, whatever the time of year.
Last Monday was Edie Yap’s very own day. (Disclosure: He calls me “pinsan” but we are not related.) On his birthday, celebrated with hundreds of friends and kindred spirits at a dinner musicale at Polo Club, he thanked his family for their love and support, and his doctors for saving him from a heart attack and the big C. But then Edie was born to save others, too. As a businessman he is also a philanthropist. As an advocate of the good life, he shares music as a producer, sponsor and buyer of tickets to give away.
What makes Edie just a bit more special? He was born with a brain on which is imprinted the map of Metro Manila that allows him to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to the traffic jams that eat up our time, opportunities, and wellbeing.
Edie heads the Management Association of the Philippines’ committee on infrastructure, as a result of which we non-MAP members have been saved from what could’ve been more horrendous gridlocks, such as the Miriam-Ateneo-UP triangle of traffic. More recently, his EDSA bus carousel rationalized the matrix of bus schedules that to many motorists felt like 500 buses had been removed, resulting in only 50 left to ply the highway daily.
Speaking of music, Batangas’ outstanding citizen Tony Pastor celebrated his 95th birthday last Nov. 12 with what else but a concert featuring the brightest names on the classical music scene at where else but his own Pontefino Hotel.
Happy birthday soon to the Milagroses of the universe – including Mellie Ablaza and Mila Vera -- on their feast day, Nov. 27. Come Saturday, the 1973 class of Immaculate Conception Academy will mark their golden anniversary. As the cliché goes, how time flies! Yes, tell that to us old fogeys who have marked on our calendars the 23rd, Thanksgiving, and the 30th, Bonifacio Day, in hopes of discovering a new approach to enjoying another “free” day.