in search of scratch

in my mom's world of order, everything has it own place. it's very evident with how things are kept.

take paper, for example. in the supplies drawer is paper... in all sizes and uses. the top drawer is reserved for pristine clean paper, still in its packaging with a portion of the top neatly cut for uncrumpled retrieval. that's for paper that comes in large quantities. there is also paper in resealable plastic and paper in green semi-transparent plastic bags. each of these green plastic bags come with an appropriate label with exact measurements. i kid you not! that is how i know that long is actually 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 and not 8 1/2 by 12.

the second drawer is for reusable paper. in this drawer, paper is classified by size, each in (voila!) a green semi-transparent plastic bag with a strip of masking tape on top properly labeling the contents: scratch paper - A4, scratch paper - short. you'll never get lost. heck, she even labeled MY scratch paper! scratch paper (leslie) - short and scratch paper (leslie) - A4. i'm confused if i should be touched by the gesture or embarrassed that i have so much!

so. if all goes well, a piece of paper in our house should travel from top drawer, to second drawer, to final place of destination... which will not surprise me if it should be one of her many filing boxes, all in red, of course... but that's totally another blog.

you should see her closet.

this blog is brought to you by gransazer

today, i taught miguel how to draw a star without lifting the pen off the paper. he had a different, more complicated version.

that was this afternoon. before dinner, i asked him to draw me one again, which he did. like the good teacher that i hope i am, i asked him to label his work with the word "star." instead, he wrote all this:

not bad, considering that he did it all by himself! it should actually read: "life goes on a shining star." wah? it didn't make sense to me either until he sang it to me. then came hard laughter.

for those not in the know, it's actually the lyrics (well, not exactly) of a japanese robo-drama called "gransazer." you know, the type with exaggerated acting, a euphemism for "bad acting" although i'm sure that miguel will argue otherwise. but i digress.

the song isn't actually in english... it's mostly japanese, interspersed with english here and there. thanks to a prompt at the bottom of the screen, we know that it goes somemething like "life goes on onichuwo. madara ichiwaishur. nonodo ogaiwata darita my soul! wadisha o shining star!" and hence, the words to the drawing. bow. lest we forget, please note the star drawing.

but i have to admit: there's a childlike wisdom to what he quoted. life CAN go on a shining star. i truly believe that miguel's on one. he just has to hold on for the ride.

gransazer is seen on cartoon network (ch. 43) every weekday at 7:30 p.m. you can catch just the opening song if you want. watching the entire thing is your call. you have been warned.

top hits

before i forget... heard last Christmas as migueli was playing...

migueli: On the first day of Christmas, my TUNA gave to me...

winner!

retreat-after high

When God speaks, you listen. I am Samuel all over again.

Be a sojourner
Travel light;
Carry neither lust
nor envy,
nor pride.
For on this earth
I am but passing through

Homeward bound

to my permanent address

with my Father in Heaven.

TA-DAH!!

after a 3-month absence, I'M BACK! to my fans, i'm so sorry and i missed you too! mwa-ha-ha! having to share 1 computer with a "workoholic-insomniac-retired (?)-working-mom" doesn't make blogging easy... and then there's the work part of the sked to deal with, and our internet connection sucks, too!

well, thanks to a self-imposed leave to study for my comprehensive exams, i finally found a vacancy in mom's pc use... a gem, believe me! i may only have a few for this so let's get on with it!

highlights of the last 3 months, in no particular order...

SAGADA!
i told ree i'd write about this. spent the sem break with 7 other adventurers whose only common denominator was my friend, riya. hence, we were known as chopsuey, inc. twelve hours after leaving manila - including breakfast and coffee in baguio - chopsuey, inc. finds themselves in sagada.

sagada is one place i'm glad i visited before i turned 40. our big accomplishment was that we did the cave connections where you enter one cave and come out another one... 5 hours later! considering that my very first blog was on caving in tuguegarao, let me just say that these caves are WAY more challenging, fun, daring, and scary... but i still love anton c. imagine rapelling from a 45-foot cliff with just a rope tied to a rock -- no harness, no helmet, no first aid kit... also, no guts, no glory. and THAT was just one part of what we had to do in the dark. i'm not so sure i'd recommend the activity to my friends thinking that putting their life in danger was MY idea! we later found out that only crazy people like us would do the cave connections.

we trekked down (the easy part) to the big falls the next day... over, around, through and into (i have the scar to prove it) rice terraces. the sight of the falls was AWESOME! it humbled me knowing that only God can make something as beautiful and powerful as the big falls. a swim in the pool and a packed lunch later, we made our way up again ( the hard part). back in manila, i again found out that grappling over boulders to get to the pool was another thing only crazies did (duh).

there's much, much more to be said about the chopsuey adventures (my bad). this much i know... i have to go back there one day, probably through the back route (batad, banawe). wanna?

MIGUELI
since october, he has...
- been accepted in the ateneo (halikinu!)
- learned how to tell time (not with a digital clock, mind you)
- learned how to tie a bow (and wrap Christmas gifts... no accounting for neatness)
- started piano lessons (albeit the sked has been very erratic)
- been a ring bearer to my bro's wedding... which brings me to...

DENNIS and ESSIE's WEDDING

a great Sulit affair, if i may say so. we finally fitted our gowns and got all dolled up. the effort was well worth it. i have never seen my brother so happy! come to think of it, i had never seen him dance until that night either!

it was a very nice ceremony... short, personal, and sweet. food was good; drinks were flowing; firewroks were a nice touch, too!

my sis-in-law (SIL), essie, is in the house now, very much a part of the family. i really like her. hey, she got my brother to pray and go to mass again... she's good in my book!

CHRISTMAS 2005

did my Christmas shopping for the kids this year with frankie (she begged for my help - haha!). still, Christmas would not be the same without a shopping day with mama aly. it's been some sort of a tradition, like thanksgiving at her dad's and new year's at our place. i'd chuck a wedding just to shop with her during the holidays - which i did (hehehe). well worth it!

i also hosted my annual ateneo college barkada dinner - a 15-year tradition - for the first time! the pressures of being a hostess! the meal was a year in the making since someone had the bright idea that hostesses HAVE TO have souvenirs. well, the theme and cuisine was chinese. thank God for divisoria chinese take out boxes and tita lanelle fernando's soy pots! it also helped that i know the number of hap chan's dimsum supplier :)

going on it's 21st year tradition was my high school barkada Christmas party - also hosted at home. there's around 10 of us in manila, half of which are married with an average of 3 kids per family. do the math on that and shop for all those, plus the moms. not to forget that 4 or 5 of the kids are godchildren so their gifts are a little more special. then again, what's Christmas without the frazzle, right?
PYRO OLYMPICS

what kid doesn't like fireworks? I LOVE 'EM! i'm sorry, but it gets me jumping and screaming like a little girl. got to see the pyro olympics with jali twice on the week that it was hosted. we were there on the first day, on the wall in front of the barge, when australia (who won!) showed-off their nautical shells. our connections paid off when we went again 2 days later with the mendiolas of SM. so blessed to have them in my circles. oh, thanks, jali, for the photos! aren't they pur-ty?! i'm looking forward to pyro olympics 2006 with you and anyone else who loves fireworks!

there, among many other things, is 3 months in a nutshell. my mini-entries may not do them justice, but hey, i gotta start somewhere, right? and considering that i even put in photos... not bad!