Nap Time Rocks!

When your kid talks back

as for me, i was sooo happy. hindi pa naman ako nasisiraan ng bait ha? masaya ako dahil madaldal na si Mia. she answers me back when i ask her something! well of course it would consist of non-comprehensive syllables like she wasn’t born in the philippines but somewhere in mainland china, but i don’t care. as long as she’s getting the feel of using her vocals to actually speak.

pero nagtataka ako dahil hindi naman ako madaldal.

walang kokontra.:)

super tired

field work today, and tomorrow. hay. but i’m not complaining. this is what i love doing. being out of the office. it’s just that it’s making me miss my previous job. hay.

i love my trusty Nike shoes. when i wear them, i can go on walking all day. no wonder i’m a sucker for rubber shoes especially Nike. yeah, i love Nike. take this survey with me! it’s quick and painless, i promise.

i wonder which Nike shoes i’ll be wearing tomorrow. see you on friday.

pahabol: mia is officially taking more than 2 steps by her self now. konti nalang!

Photoblogging: Delicious

Before I go on to my post’s topic, I just wanted to share these photos I took at my tita’s backyard in Bulacan. They had a pretty little gazebo with those hanging plants whose roots dangle from anywhere you hang them. I’m not sure what you call them.

Roots. A play on lighting and the photo editor.

And my belated Valentine’s photo. I just love this one. More »

The other girl

What man in his right mind will bed a young girl of 14, flirt with with young women barely out of their teens, and all while being married to a powerful and beautiful woman? That kind of man could only be someone who can command respect rather than deserve it, have your head cut off in front of crowds, and someone who wears the royal color purple and wear something made of gold and precious jewels on his head. You’re right, it could only be a king. A king of one of the greatest political kingdoms in history, nonetheless. More »

X-Tag

This is actually a tag from Vannie, and not my idea of reliving the horrid days of my pre- and post- “ex” days. Hehe.

1. Have you forgiven him/her already?

Yeah, that was a long time ago. Not worth my time being bitter about.

2. Do you regret ever meeting him/her?

Not really. I know things happen for a reason. Whatever it was for meeting him, I still have no clue. haha.

3. Describe him/her in three words:

hirap nito ah, baka mabuking. pwede wag nalang? More »

Photoblogging: The stepping game

Mia took her first step last Thursday, Feb 21. Though they were tiny one, two and a half steps, they were such huge steps for both of us. 

This was how it started. I would sit her at the edge of the bed, her feet flat on the ground then I would coach her into standing up on her own. More »

You make me feel like I can fly so high

“Julie Tearjerky on the ground
She’ll swallow anything that’s round
Pick it up next time around
Nothing stays the same
Nothing stays the same…”

It’s songs like this that I wish days were still perfect, the band had not disbanded, and I was back in my HS uniform and lounging at the school bench watching a basketball game. I was decidedly going to have a bad day today, no thanks to a person who manages to make me smile and pout at the same time, but I tuned in to Jam 88.3’s morning Slide (it’s a Friday segment where they play all alternative music from the 80s to the present) and realized it’s not worth it.

“Butterfly carnival
Butterfly carnival
Butterfly carnival
Butterfly carnival…”

So i’m gonna have a good day, no matter what. I’ll let it slide. No one’s gonna ruin my day. Not even you mr. jeepney driver, not even you mr. motorcycle, not even you.

“Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
“Well isn’t this nice…”
And isn’t it ironic… don’t you think”

Sarah McLachlan is crooning on my headphones. I am now tuned in to 99.5 RT, another great radio station. You might think I’m jologs for not even having my own iPod to listen to. I don’t care, playlists bore me.

“You make me feel like I can fly
So high, elevation!”

If i’m not gonna fly away, I’m just gonna have to drive then.

Like Nell, I like to drive when I’m sad, angry or just bored. That way I clear my head and I entertain myself with things I see on the road. Like Mango’s billboards of Penelope Cruz.

nooninoo update #3

My ka-OC-han has struck me again. I’ve just updated my sidebars (cleaned it up a little bit) and my Link page. I have now segmented my blogroll and links into:

• My other sites (where you can find me photo-whoring)
• Blood is thicker than water (which only means my family ties)
• Friends (who are people who have been on my blogroll since the beginning of time. no really, they’re the ones who’ve been there since i started blogging and most of them are UP friends)
• Pretty awesome sites (that caught my interest, the highlight of which would be the master writer himself)
• Techies (who have at least made tech-speak understandable and interesting, as some of you might already know by now that it’s my handicap)
• Moms who rock the blogosphere (yeah, rock on!)
• Food blogs (ooh yum! people on a diet should stay away from these. hehe kidding. that’s bad for business)
• WP Pinoys and genius bloggers (link love anyone?)
• Fashion and design blogs (fashionable polymer, oversized glasses, designer emergency kits, japanese pop art, whatever suits your style)
• Photographers and Artists

Check them out. If you’re a regular reader here, let me know if I haven’t included you in my blogroll yet.

And just in case you’re wondering what the other pages up there are for, Me the Writer has all my short stories and essays so if you’re bored why don’t you critique my writing; Mia’s Milestones would be, well, documenting her milestones as she grows up; Princess Diaries would be my story about how Mia came to be, and it should be an interesting one; and the rest are, well, self-explanatory.

Ok, ’nuff with that. nooninooninoo…

The greatest social climbing contest ever

This one blogger has made such a name around the blogging world by being the master social climber of all, that’s it’s just too hard to ignore her incessant cries to climb the social ladders with her to stardom and world renown. (hehe, pwede na bang intro yan, mahal na Reyna?)

It’s none other than Reyna Elena, OFW champion, blogger extraordinary. And to further kiss the undersides of my fellow bloggers, I am voting in the Queen’s self-indulging online competition, the Social Climbing Logo Contest. No seriously, I am not kissing anyone’s tush here.

My votes are, in order of preference:

1 Ambo – incorporates Reyna Elena’s world vision of conquering more than just the blogosphere

More »

Ninna tags Mia

Meeya’s Ninna tagged my Mia. Pwede nang nursery rhyme.

8 random facts about Mia

Mia loves books. Whether it’s nibbling on it, tearing it apart, or throwing them around. Sometimes also for imitating me when I’m reading.

Mia was born 9 weeks earlier than expected. That was one heck of an experience.

More »

Batchoy soup for the soul

It’s really too cold in the mornings these days. Today isn’t an exception. And if not for my clock that’s telling me I’m about 30 minutes late for work, I’d be happily snuggling back to bed with Mia (who looked so comfortable sprawled all over my side of the bed). Argh back to work. I’ve been (silently) complaining since yesterday actually, and I still haven’t gotten my groove back. As in I still feel so lazy to do anything significant this week.

To make matters worse, I’ve been nursing a very stuffed sinus and my voice has gone a bit like Chuckie’s (Rugrats). Not sexy at all. tsk tsk. So I’ve followed my mom’s advice and I’m now on my 2nd day of taking Alnix for my very stubborn allergies, of 10 days. I really hope this works. I haven’t been sleeping well because of my colds and waking up to an even more hostile respiratory system is such a drag.

So halfway through the morning I get myself a bowl of Payless Busog Sarap Batchoy mami, which I got for free by the way (the perks of working for a food company, hehe). I swear it perked me up with just one sip. And no I am not getting paid for this. Well, ok maybe because I work here, hello. But not really. I really do swear it actually made my morning.

So what about Lucky Me’s commercial about its profound ability to give life to whoever eats it? For me there’s not much to the hype. And Payless’ bowl is much cheaper. Ah well, let the consumers be the judge.

On the other hand, I think those people sitting at the Senate hearing for the ZTE controversy should have a bowl each. That’ll clear their minds and maybe let them think twice before making more idiots out of themselves by doing really useless bantering about each others’ clothes. Come on.

And maybe it’ll make them realize that the president isn’t just the center of “the ecosystem of corruption“. It’s actually their own inefficiencies too. Wake up, boys. Time to do your jobs.

photoblogging: monsters rise

Rise of the Monsters

you’d think there was some sort of theme in this post.

first, happy valentines. belated, that is. i really don’t celebrate the occasion because as the cliche goes, you can let someone know that you love them any time of the year. nevertheless, just so i can post a lazy photo of anything related to the year’s most overrated event:

lately i’ve been compelled to go on a healthier diet of less carbs and more veggies. i love vegetables (except okra and pechay) and i have no problem with that really. if not for my mom pestering me to lose some weight, i’d say the monsters of fashion tv are haunting me.

i don’t mind the diet because of the abundance of good diet-friendly food these days. there’s a great tasting salad at Al Dente, for example. it just makes you feel like you’re a diet guru after eating just their chicken & bacon ceasar salad and feeling full already. don’t mind the sarcasm (just one of those days). it really is good.

another round of applause for the graffiti boys over at our neighborhood. first was the very dramatic rendition of melancholy. now there’s a monster rising out of the ground at the corner of xavierville avenue and katipunan. beware. its tentacles might just come alive and what with its crazed eyes it might mistake your head for a lollipop. (i love photo editing. see the old graffiti markings too? i only saw them after tweaking the photo’s midtones a bit. the MMDA might have been successful the first time, but they’re not stopping this monster.)

edit: i passed by the graffiti wall again this morning and monster talks! i’ll try to take a picture of that and post it here.

Mia Update

Mia can walk with just one hand holding on to mine now! I’m so happy she did it i only have to count a few more weeks till she finally lets go of my hand and take her first steps to independence. Yey!

Shall I spare the rod?

Vannie tagged me with a question. Should I spank my child or not? My answer would be a yes and no. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is a principle that my parents willingly instilled in us growing up. Of course they don’t whack us with a leather belt anymore now that we’re grown ups, but I had my share of red thighs when I was a kid. I have to admit I never really liked it when I was young, but my parents did it (actually it was my dad because my mom never had the heart to do it) in such a way that I didn’t entirely detest it. Obvious ba, I’m actually voting for it. hehe.

I’m saying yes because it actually did something good for us. My brothers and I were often spanked because we were always at each others’ throats when we were small. Knowing (and fearing) that if mom or dad finds out we are gonna get the punishment, we learned to cooperate and promise not to tell nalang. hehehe. No really, our dad always explains to us why he needs to spank us before he does it and after every time, he always reassures us that they still love us. Worked for the kids. But more than that, it really reiterated the fact the fighting with each other is bad and it’s not supposed to be a norm between the three of us. We soon grew out of that so the punishment soon became extinct.

But I’m also saying no, for now. Mia is still at an age where she obviously won’t be able to understand no matter how animated I am in telling her why I need to spank her. She’s just either gonna cry, laugh at me, or immitate me and spank herself (or me). It’ll be totally pointless. But I know that once she reaches a more cognitive level, I’ll be a bit more firm with her. Maybe I won’t have to whack her with a clotheshanger because I don’t think I really can. For now, a firm look, holding her hand, and saying “no, that’s bad” suffices.

how about you meeya, joanjoyce, and jayme, will you spank your kid?

Avaritia

By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down. – Proverbs 29:4

He wipes away the sweat from his forehead, trying to calm his nerves. He takes a deep, but quiet breath and closes his eyes momentarily. They cannot see him. The putrid stench of the gutter, the flickering lamp post, and the chilling air does nothing to slow down his heart beating ahrd in his chest. He opens his eyes again when he hears a flutter of wings overhead. Just bats. Calm down. He slides further down against the wall covered with grime, not minding that his expensive designer garb is now just a filthy rag. All the prestige just went down the drain.

After convincing himself that he has put enough distance between his pursuers, he composes himself and brushes off a cockroach that has somehow found his leather shoes comfortable. He is no longer disgusted at the grime and dirt that now clung to his skin. Nor was he repulsed at his sins of amassing ill-gotten wealth anyway. But somehow, at this point in his life, he is willing to confess to anything in exchange for a warm bed and clean clothes on his back. He had not signed up for this.

One week earlier, 8 p.m. More »

nooninoo update #2

current mood: vengeful 

current status: currently writing a short story to add to my collection. wondering when i’ll be able to finish it. but given the situation of our government (or if you can still call it that) right now, i may still be inspired before the whole ZTE-lozano thing blows over. or before he gets assissinated by his greedy, guilty-as-hell adversaries.

current music: Love Song by Sara Bareilles

currently missing: mia. she waved goodbye to me this morning. can’t wait to get home.

currently munching on: lab test cheese balls