simple pleasures part II

turned 37 today. no big celebrations -- i'm saving that for the big 4-0 when my friends will surprise me with a big party (hint! hint!) -- save for the surprise i got at the school kitchen this afternoon.

bless amy's soul. she rounded up friends and family, and they came bearing gifts, too! the theme was "leslie's favorite food" - in line with my english class' topic on adjectives. i'm not a very difficult person to please, as the roster will show you:

• migueli, who's on sem break, came to school with bananas... lacatan, to be exact
• mom (yes! she was there!) brought puto from pangasinan, the ones in the brown paper bag
• mama aly, my bestest cousin in the world, brought me pampanga's best tocino (my former supplier is in jolly england)
• amy gave me cracker nagaraya in all flavors except the bland original
• vikki, my pastoral leader, brought planter's cheez curls and la-la fish crackers
• bicbic sneaked in a box of napoleones and half moons from bacolod (we were on the same flight home yesterday and she said they were all out of stock)
• steph sent me goldilocks mocha cake... all-time favorite comfort food, there's just nothing like it!
• gelique supplied the balloons and brought me cheetos!

later at night, my best friend suzie gave me an estrel's caramel birthday cake... memories of my childhood *sigh*

had anyone given me shiny P5 coins, the day would have been perfect. told you i was mababaw.

to infinity and beyond!

my sister's out and i'm leaving for bacolod for the weekend. time to get some "migueli time" to bring along with me.

while in a "sarap" hug:

ninang: i love you.
miguel: i love you, too.
ninang: i love you three.
miguel: i love you aaalllllllll the numbers!

sigh. good thing it'll just be a weekend.

(not so) simple pleasures

spent the good part of yesterday afternoon in the company of good friends from cisv, in a beautiful house that seemed to be misplaced in manila.

i love my cisv batch! i love being with my co-leaders and the kids, even if they're not mine (sweden). going to camp is one of the best things i've done in my life. yesterday afternoon, i wanted to be in sweden all over again; to feel 11-years old again, carefree yet responsible; to be with my 4 kids again, sneaking in a pizza from a pizzeria down the street or savoring smuggled instant yakisoba or having ticklefests in the lullaby room... eating marabou... marabou's are hard to come by. they're not like hershey's or m & m's. that's what makes me and my kids miss it so much.

when i came home last night, my sister had some high school friends over for dinner. she rummaged through the fridge for dessert and brought out truffles and... A LARGE BAR OF MARABOU! heaven in a bar! thank God, they went for the truffles! it was the perfect cap to a cisv afternoon.

itching

it's been more than a month since i last blogged. can't just yet. dying at work, recuperating from school.

will be back. sem break's less than two weeks away...

procrastinating

if there's one thing i'm good at, it's procrastinating. must be a family thing (read alymama's blog).

i work well under pressure; i thrive on it. that was the reason my former boss gave me all the live staging projects we were awarded. the work was feverish, the tension was thick, and the commission was really good.

it's how i operate. give me the whole day to do something - especially something cerebral - and i will sleep the whole morning and while the entire afternoon before starting on it after dinner - say around 10 p.m. but! i won't let at it until i finish, which could be until 9 the next morning (that too seems to run in the genes. i often computer marathon with my workaholic mother).

modesty aside, some of my best works are products of cramming. the school newsletters, my genogram, my MA papers... whenever i'd complain about how i hated going back to school and dreaded the reports, a former colleague of mine would always nudge and reassure me saying, "kaya mo 'yan! pagpupuyatan mo lang 'yan ng dalawang gabi, tapos mauuno mo pa 'yan."

buti lang naniwala ako sa kanya. she seemed to have more confidence in me than i do in myself. and here i am blogging, when i have yet another paper (a feasibility study) and presentation due in two weeks. the concept's all in my head; just need to get it on paper (i have the logo down). i need that push again.

is it healthy to procrastinate? i would think no. will i stop then? HELL, NO! mwahaha!

fine, fine, fine. i will stop procrastinating... tomorrow.

maligaya sa Ligaya

i write this blog at the risk of sounding preachy. i don't care. i am a Christian and proud of it!

i met Jesus six years ago and He forever changed my life. i don't know how i managed to live so long without truly having Him as a friend. He's been around, always in the background; allowing me to stay in the limelight when it was always Him who should have been there.

last year, i moved to a different community, the Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon. He's there too. they certainly live up to their name, i can tell you that! once a month, we gather as a sector and worship together. today was that day.

i always look forward to these gatherings. God is truly alive in the lives of these people. He speaks to us... literally! today, God sang to me.

as we gathered to worship, the Spirit befell on Jun Cruz and Kuya Jun sang so beautifully! He called us "My sons and daughters," a title i have always been called. Menchie came up to the mic next and sang as well. through her, God called us "sons and daughters of the Spirit" and she continued to spread His message. absolutely lovely!

i had my eyes closed most of the time. when i finally opened my eyes, i saw a sight that jolted me. there in the center of the gathering, was a man whose profile was the spitting image of my father! i couldn't take my eyes off of him!

i pointed him out to amy and diday, who were sitting next to me. diday gave me his name. i don't recall it. it doesn't matter. diday verbalized what i had felt all along. truly, Ligaya has become my family! dad was even there. i am spoiled to this day.

I AM GOD's DAUGHTER. i know it! i feel it! i love it!

if a=b, and b=c...

so miguel cozies up to me while i'm at the computer yet again. as i try to distract him from my feeble attempts to work, i try to get some sugar from him in the process.

ninang: make me lambing.
miguel: i love you thiiiiiiiis much (makes a HUGE circle that reaches his back)
ninang: what else?
miguel: we will always be friends.
ninang: what else?
miguel: i will always, always, always love you, even if you're mad at me.

ninang pathetically asks for more.

ninang: what else?
miguel: i hope we will always be close.

ninang, fishing, drops a clue (which is even more pathetic)

ninang: am i fat?
miguel: yes

heart breaks here. kids never lie (sigh). kasi naman noh?! okay, okay, i should have quit while i was ahead, but dang it, i will have the last laugh here!

light bulb goes on.

ninang: who is fatter, tito a or ninang?
miguel: tito a
ninang: so, is ninang fat?
miguel: no.

definitely quit here. aaaah... syllogisms! ü

to the rescue

i love it when a friend says the right thing at the right time and washes all your guilt away.

thanks, F! oh, the secrets we share! i love it and i love you! ü

tv debut

came out on tv this morning.

actually, it's not a first. i once appeared on a tv commercial for breeze detergent with ate vi... all of 2 seconds (babad!). hahaha. wala lang ü

from the mouth of a babe

thursday afternoons and nights, i become a surrogate mom to my nephew miguel. that's the night my sis stays out late for some spiritual energizing (i.e., her prayer meeting).

i have spent most of my life in the company of children. that's why i became a pre-school teacher. but the beauty of being a teacher, as i always explain to those who ask, is that there's always the prospect (sometimes, the excitement!) of sending them home. it's a 3-hour play day, work is. such is not the case when the child lives in your home.

i don't get much work done once i get home. miguel's always around wanting to type something (funny how it happens whenever you're on the computer), wants you to fold something, borrow your "stuff", brush his teeth, read him a book, write him a book, make an art attack, find cardboard... get the idea? motherhood IS an on-call job, and i'm just the ninang!

don't get me wrong; i love miguel to death - as i do my other 30+ godchildren. sucker that i am, i let him get away with his "demands" then try to steal away when he's busy. tonight (last night) was not any different.

migueli and i were on his bed. i was trying to put him to sleep; he was trying anything but sleep. as is his routine when he is with me, i reminded him to say his evening prayers. and off we go...

dear jesus,

thank you for today. thank you for all i have and for the world.

please don't make it rain tomorrow because i'm going to school.

please protect my mom. please make her come home safe. make her car drive very, very fast, but don't make it bump anything. make her come home in one piece and safe... not even a booboo.

please bless my family and, and, and my house, and my household.

i love you, jesus. amen.

"not even a booboo." how can anyone resist that? that is one blessed mother, my sister is, who came home about an hour later, sans any booboos.

goonight, migueli! sleep tight. your prayers have come true.