music to my ears

yesterday, a man said six words that were music to my ears: "no need for a root canal."

phew! what a relief!

what makes you happy?

i took miguel with me one night on one of my errands. i forget how we got to the topic but at one point, i remember asking him, "what makes you happy, miguel?"

his reply: "playing lego... building blocks... loving ninang!"

AWWW! i made it to the top three! isn't he the sweetest?

knowing that you are loved will make anyone happy. me pa? i'm a very easy person to please (read as "mababaw"). herewith is a short list of my simple joys:

1. "playing" with kids young and old
2. good food and even better conversation
3. receiving shiny P5 coins
4. finding P100 in my jeans pocket (actually, kahit P20, masaya na ako)
5. being with my cousin aly anywhere from her house to divisoria
6. my nephews and nieces
7. receiving "lubong" from someone else's grocery run
8. vanilla milkshakes
9. plain m&m's - not from the fridge, mind you
10. receiving handwritten letters and thank you notes
11. a cold beer after a dive (aaaaaah!)
12. a cold beer (period.)

alphabet for 2

ever notice that you hardly see a plate number with the letter "i" on it? you'll have a hard time finding one with either the letter q or o in it, too!

this i know because last week, while on our way to school, miguel asked for his usual dose of road games. the task was to complete the letters of the alphabet by spotting them on license plates. we were stuck on i for the longest time until luckily, i spotted a special plate with the word "filipina" on it! we gave up on the o and q.

of course, miguel got upset that we couldn't find plates with the letters i, o and q. but he had a solution. "ninang, i want that when i grow up, you buy me a car. then i can ask for a license plate with the letters i, o and q on it. then we could complete the alphabet!"

post-jya camp

my back still hurts from being close to mother nature; my face and arms got a nice tan (too bad my legs can't say the same); my right knee is starting to bug me again. and yet despite these aches and pains, i am happy.

the past weekend had a lot of firsts for me. my first ligaya camp, my first all-girls "delegation," my first time to bait a hook with a live earthworm, my first time to catch a fish, my first time to gut, clean, and cook the fish i caught.

got to play pantitero after sooooo many years, if only to prove that we girls are better at it. i also got to say "thank you" to God in a way i haven't in quite a long time. He is truly AMAZING!

and there's a song stuck in my head... "dip, dip, di-ri-ri-rip, dip, di-ri-ri-rip, dip, di-ri-ri-rip..." haaay...

why go camping?

just got back yesterday from a camping weekend in tayabas, quezon with 80+ kids from ligaya ng panginoon. for 4 days and 3 nights, we prayed, played, sang, ate, sweated, fished, and bonfired. we also slept in tents.

i understand how housing some 80+ kids plus adults in tents would be the most practical solution. it is, after all, a camp. we had the campsite all to ourselves thursday. by friday, we shared the campsite with another group that stayed overnight. they had some activities too. a second group joined us at the campsite on saturday. their main activity, it seemed to me, was drinking.

why anyone would leave the comforts of home in this sweltering heat to go "quasi-camping" (graceland has airconditioned apartelles, restaurants and sports facilities) is beyond me. parang nonsense. maybe they truly enjoy sleeping on hard surfaces, in which case, they could have also done on the floors of their homes.

diba?