“Kaladkarin” defined as: basta ayain sa lakwatsa, sama agad.
Well…even typhoon Winnie was not able to keep us from taking a road trip to Tagaytay yesterday. We had lunch with some very good friends at Leslie’s Restaurant where there is supposed to be a very nice view of Taal Lake. We ended up viewing a “thick gray tabing” and gulping hot bulalo soup amidst the cold fog. (kailangan bilisan ang paghigop sa sabaw dahil maya-maya lang masebo na).But what the heck…it was fun to be with friends. I really love unplanned road trips!
And I do love Tagaytay…for many reasons: the view, the climate, the wild sunflower, the fruit(esp. señoritang saging at chico) and some good memories that make the heart smile.
If I don’t stop, breathe for a while and really stare at this little man…before I could notice, he’ll be a grown-up man. In a month, it’d only be two years but I can’t remember anymore what raine looked like as an infant. So if I could find the time, I’m really fond of browsing back at his baby pictures. Always, I am amazed at how quick a baby grows and matures.
As a parent, I really believe that quantity (and not quality) of time should be spent with our children specially in their formative years. Time flies so fast and we cannot turn it back to the time/things we have already missed. Before we know it, we’ll be old and gray and it’s time to let our children go…
Paborito kong kunan ng picture ang sunset. Ewan ko ba…malungkot na masaya…na peaceful din. I was never a morning person kaya di ko appreciated ang sunrise. Even if most people will testify that it’s (sunrise) the most beautiful time of the day: you will stand in awe to the beauty of the breaking dawn, as the multitude of colors in the sky each unfold just to give birth to a new day. And I will never be a morning person kahit nanay na ako. mas gusto ko pa rin ang sunset kasi you get the feeling na madami kang na-accomplish throughout the day.
Sunset at IRRI Research Campus(top) and field (bottom) : a few of my most favorite sunset shots.
Sunset at NZ farm: sunset na pangarap kong makita someday
Bicol rolling hills: di man ako makakita ng NZ sunset and rolling hills…may bicol version naman.
Disclaimer: pag-pasensiyahan nyo ang photos na ito, kuha ang mga ito nung di pa uso ang digicam.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer
in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is
clearer from the plain.
(taken from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran)
Gemma with Raine in November 2003
14 long years of friendship that stood witness to storms we’ve survived; triumphs we’ve celebrated; joys, sorrows, laughters and tears we’ve shared.
14 long years of friendship that has traversed a generation, the test of time and distance.
14 long years of heart (and mind!) enriching journey of the spirit.
In this lifetime, not all are blessed with such kind of friendship and I look forward to 14 and a 140 years more…
My house says to me, “do not leave me, for here dwells your past.”
And the road says to me, “Come and follow me, for I am your future.”
And I say to both my house and the road,
“I have no past, nor have I a future.
If I stay here, there is a going in my staying;
and if I go there is a staying in my going.
Only love and death change all things.”
-Kahlil Gibran
Even after the “spring cleaning” i did recently, there are just some stuff that are too priceless to get rid of.
R will surely kill me for posting these here. Sorry girl, cant resist. (he he…)
taken in 1997 (birthday ni D.O.!) at 12 noon, IRRI pond
1998, one of our field sampling trips
December 1998, a few hours befoe R left for the airport on her very first trip to germsland
As long as my PC doesn’t break down again, I have too many hard prints that I’ve started to immortalize with technology (read: scanning). Watch out for the next expose’!
Raine is enjoying his new
“day care” .
It’s a good opportunity for him to bond with his cousins and the rest of the members of his other family. Although he’s dead tired at the end of the day…what the heck? The kids are having the time of their lives…so let them be. After all they’re a family.
I’m keeping still and wishing to keep it that way for a long,long time. Now, there’s peace and quiet in the house. No more masungit na yaya. No more rowdy teenagers. At daytime it’s an empty house(no threat of anyone getting starved, zero electric consumption): Raine is at daycare (his grandparents’ house) while I’m in the office. At nighttime it’s our big bunk. I like it better this way…even if trips to the toilet means “water play time” for Raine. I don’t mind doing the laundry ’til the middle of the night while my little one is snorkingly fast asleep; as long as I can catch up on some readings while the washing machine is at work. I don’t mind picking up the scattered toys on the floor or waking up at 2 o’clock in the morning just to turn off the TV. Considering the things I have to do for Raine’s sake…I do not have the energy anymore to worry about others and stuff or to bite off more than I could chew.
Im fine with this. Quoting my boss’ favorite line: Everything under control?…Ja.
Scene1: Thursday 12 nn…nagmamadaling umuwi galing opisina ang nanay na si Glo. Dahil napag-alaman na aalis na ang kambal para mag-enroll sa Cavite. Dali-daling binihisan ang anak na si Raine para dalhin sa opisina for the rest of the day. Empake ang “magic bag”…kumpleto ba ang gamit ng anak?: pamalit na damit, diaper, gatas, toy car, biskwit, feeding bottle etc. Bitbit si magic bag, shoulder bag at payong syempre dahil umuulan.
Scene2: Said goodbye to kambal…sakay sa dyip papuntang South Supermarket. Para bumili ng ilang gamit pa ni Raine bago tumuloy sa opisina. (praning kasi ang nanay ilang oras lang naman sa opis…kelangan enough ang gatas) Pasok sa supermarket…dampot ng gatas, biskwit, wipies…hmnnn…ano pa ba?
Scene3: Habang umiikot sa grocery at nag-iisip si Glo kung ano pa ang dadamputin, si Raine naman ay enjoy sa pakikipag-habulan. (akala nya siguro nasa park kami?!) teka parang may mali sa isip lang ni Glo: parang hindi pantay ang heels ko! Syyettt di nga pantay dahil di magkapares! Dali Raine…bibili pa ng slippers si Mommy!!!
O di ba? meron akong instant new slip-ons ngayon! Grabe mamamatay ako sa hiya. buti na lang may pera pa ako…kung wala, papasok ako sa opis o uuwi ng naka-paa. At that time gusto ko lamunin ako ng lupa. Inisip ko na lang na sana ako lang ang mahilig tumingin sa paa (o sapatos ng mga taong kasalubong ko o kasakay sa dyip. Sabi nga nung guwardiya at cashier sa grocery: buti po ma’am, di kayo hinuli ng pulis!!!
There’s more to Angelina Jolie than meets the eye. To read the rest of her interview, grab a copy of Reader’s Digest November 2004 issue.
RD: Is there anything that you haven’t done that you’d like to do?
Jolie: I’m sure I will live a life of great adventure. The one thing that I am not sure of is if I will do it alone. I would like to believe that I’m going to share my life with somebody, one day. There’s something bittersweet when you wake up in the middle of the night, or something amazing happens – your son walks for the first time – and you don’t have the other person who’s going to remember that for ever with you. That’s kind of the one sadness. But if I get only one great love in my life, him being my son, I’ll take him.
RD: And if you get another love, what will he be like?
Jolie: The kind of man I could be with one day would have to be an amazing father, a compassionate, strong, independent individual. I want somebody who demands I be better than what I am today. I don’t have that with anyone except my son. My son somehow thinks I can do everything.
She couldn’t have said it any better…
• even if you are working in an
international organization…the system sucks because it’s housed in the Philippines.
• even if you have 3 pages of work experience and 4 paragraphs of scientific/technical skills in your resume…you still get judged by the few subjects you flunked in college.
• if you feel that something is too good to be true…then it really is.
• at work: have lunch or coffee breaks on off-hour-schedule…you enjoy the break more when the cafeteria is less crowded.
• if you want to avoid confrontations: just send SMS.
• spaghetti (mixed with the sauce) tastes better after a day or two in the fridge.
• even if you are paying the rent…your landlady rules.
• don’t throw away 25-cent coins: now that the minimum fare is 5.50 (PhP), they come in handy. (di ka susuklian ng driver pag 6 pesos binayad mo)
• even if you are on first name basis with your boss…that doesn’t make him less german.
I did not go anywhere but I am back from the ‘ruins’ of the old abubots and more-or-less have fixed my new place to a decent, liveable state. Not a very easy task to do if you have a 22-month old who thinks that he’s helping by scattering his toys all over the place; and two 16-year old boys (my brothers) posing as nannies, who are running on a ‘push-button’ system.(in short, walang kusa…kelangan specific to the last detail and utos mo). So, before I turn out into a nagger-lunatic sis and mom…I’ve decided to do things by myself as long as they keep Raine out of my way. And promised myself: this is going to be the last move…the next one will be in my own house already. Pweh! Maloloka ako sa stress.
In the middle of it all: I was able to attend a dear old friend’s wedding and catch up (kahit bitin) with old time (all time) amigas A and G. For awhile, over bottles of cold (good-old) San Mig Super Dry in a (i-forgot-the-name) bar/restaurant in Timog Ave. QC in the middle of a hot afternoon; I forgot that I have a son waiting for me back home down in (i still don’t know the house number and street) Brgy. Maahas, Los Baños, Laguna.
Back here in the office/lab: it’s a different kind of rush. Not the holiday rush. Deadlines rush. Sigh…I should have taken the MRT!