I’ve died and gone to heaven

April 28, 2008 at 8:16 am (pregnancy, specials)
Tags: ,

Seriously!

 

I could feel a big smile stretching my baby’s little face — not to mention that I was grinning like crazy in between mouthfuls of sashimi tuna and rice.  Yes!  Yes! Yes!  I ate raw fish on my 5th month!!!  It was only 3 small slices of tuna but it was OMG del-i-cious!

 

I sound insane I know.  But I haven’t been without sashimi tuna this long:  5 freaking months long!  My OB told me that it’s okay as long as I don’t overdo it BUT I am really afraid to hurt my baby so I completely removed raw Japanese food in my diet except last Friday when we celebrated my sister’s graduation.  My brother laughed at me because I wouldn’t even touch the medium rare Angus beef but I ate the raw fish.  But beef is more prone to bacteria than fish.  DUH.

 

So anyhoo, the real news is that my sister has finally graduated from college.  She finished 7th in her class of Physical Therapy majors.  A big kudos for her!  Not me nor Maynard, even finished on top of anything in college.  And apart from that, she has been very involved in the student government and tutoring her fellow classmates.  Now, she’s gonna be preparing for the board exams in July and entering medical school.

 

Side story.  The parents were requested to receive the diploma together with the graduates.  And guess what?  A minute before my sister was to receive her diploma, my Dad decided to go to the loo.  Perfect timing!  Sister dear asked a friend to urgently call for my dad. We were in the great halls of PICC!  Can you imagine how far the restrooms were?  My mom was already resigned to the fact that she’ll be the only one going up the stage with my sister when wonders of wonders my dad suddenly appeared.  He came just in time!  My dad never heard the end of it till we finished our Saisaki lunch.

 

So there, I’m ecstatic that my sister has successfully crossed the bridge from being a student to the unemployed and that I got my 3 slices of tuna sashimi.  Now when I’ll be tasting tuna sashimi again, I don’t know but at least I had Friday.

11 Comments

Tatlong Beinte Singko

April 11, 2008 at 8:48 am (daily grind, random thoughts)
Tags:

I was rummaging through my wallet for some three 75 centavo coins for my jeepney fare when the first strains of Dingdong Avanzado’s hit, Tatlong Beinte Singko crept into my mind:

 

Tatlong beinte singko lang ang aking kailangan

Upang makausap ka kahit sandali lang

Tatlong beinte singko lang ang aking kailagan

Para nasa langit na ako

 

But it didn’t stop there.  My 80s self wrenched free from its 20th century restraints and I found myself singing the chorus:

 

Sige na ale, papalit ng barya

Sige na please naman ale, miss na miss ko na siya…

 

I forgot that I was leaving the train station area and I was receiving a curious glance from a fellow passenger.  But I couldn’t help it.  I liked the upbeat tempo of the song and that it’s just what I needed to last me another day in the office. 

 

It’s not that I hate going to the office ‘coz honestly I’ve learned to enjoy my new work and the company of my new officemates (after 7 months, hehe).  But I am a firm believer that every person should have a song for the day (or even the week) running through his mind — sort of like your theme.  And the happier the song, the better — the happier you will be.  Take my friend’s favorite song, James Taylor’s Your Smiling Face.  You can never have a bad day with that song in mind.  Or Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly.  Now, THAT is a happy song.  But you can also choose a not so happy song like Bad Day.  Now, Bad Day is a bad trip song BUT it IS upbeat so you have the rhythm going for the song, so it’s not a bad to choose that as your song for the day.

 

So anyway, back to Dingdong.  I really am not a fan of that singer turned politician (who broke up with another good singer turned barely-dressed singer, Rachel Alejandro (see, I really don’t know anything about these 80s people)) but any 80s born person has to admit that Tatlong Beinte Singko is a catchy song.  And the lines just repeat itself so you only need a few neurons to memorize the whole song.

 

Gone were the days when you only need three 75 centavo coins and the huge red pay phone in making a 3-minute prank call.  Now, it costs like 6.50 per minute on a mobile phone.  I remember using the red pay phone in my alma mater to call up friends.  Yup, my home in Marikina used to be at the edge of civilization and nope, we didn’t have a landline.  So imagine when we got our own line, I literally lived beside the phone.

 

Oh, there are still payphones around but truth be said, I don’t remember the last time I used one (except that one time that I got curious in using one in Ayala Mall in Cebu to call up a friend in Cagayan de Oro and it didn’t even work) for something important.  Today, if you have a mobile phone and the battery conks out on you, you just don’t call.  Or if you need to send a text message and you do not have load, you have to ask the ale to pass you load. And you can’t pass load in centavos.  It’s all pesos nowadays.

 

Sige na ale, limang  pisong load naman dyan

Sige na please naman ale, miss na miss ko na siya…

 

And so officially, Tatlong Beinte Singko is MY song of the day — confirming that I truly am an 80s child.  I hope my baby enjoys it too.

2 Comments

Mother’s Day Special

April 9, 2008 at 11:05 am (specials)
Tags: , ,

My good friend, Ging Lorenzo and her wedding MUA, EJ Litiatco (how I wish I knew her when I got married myself!) have teamed up for a special photo session for mommies on May 11 on Mother’s Day.  Details of the venue are still being finalized but I tell you, YOU JUST GOTTA SIGN UP FOR THIS! :)   EJ is an excellent artist and will surely make your mom radiant on this special day.  And as usual, Ging’s eye for beauty will capture moments of your mom and your family. :)   I’m signing up my mom!  It’ll be a nice gift for her on mother’s day.  See you on May 11!

Leave a Comment

4th Month Pre-Natal Check-up

April 9, 2008 at 9:46 am (pregnancy)

I was a bit worried of my 4th month pre-natal checkup yesterday because of my weight.  So while waiting for the doctor to arrive, I stepped on the weighing scale when the attendant wasn’t looking to take a peek if I gained a few pounds.  2 pounds more!  Yay.  But according to my official record (those pink papers that my OB wrote on), I gained 6 pounds.  Those clinic attendants aren’t very good.  Yesterday, I had to weigh in again when my doctor arrived because somebody wrote 112 lbs in my record.  I mean, if I wasn’t pregnant I would have been ecstatic but 112 is less than the previous month and my doctor got worried when she saw it.  112 pounds.  I think the last time I had that weight was back in HS.  Thank God I can still rely on my sense of sight (the senses are heightened during pregnancy — at least that’s according to the chiclit I’m reading now so I can’t be too sure).  And so, to appease her, I stood on the scale again, and voila! 121smackeroos. I know that’s so looooooooow.  I should be gaining a pound a week.  But I’m not.  What’s wrong with me?!

 

So anyhoo, in fetal heartbeat news, my baby’s doing fine.  Hubby finally heard it live through the Doppler and we recorded it again.  It sounded less than horse hooves running on a dirt road.  I still can’t figure what it sounded like — more like the sound of wipers in ultra-fast mode trying to fight off a typhoon at signal number 5.

 

All seems well and I hope it continues, hunny’s doing my pregnant mug shot just like Chen but my tummy looks real small so my before and after would still look the same.  Except now, I’m proud to say, I have an honest to goodness excuse for a bilbil.

 

 

 

6 Comments

Pen on paper

April 5, 2008 at 1:58 pm (work)
Tags:

Last year was a great year for me in the “writing department”.  I started writing for a small magazine and even moonlighted as an editorial assistant.  This year, things have been pretty slow as I have been helping my brother get some writing rakets as well.  I was just so glad that the same mag got in touch with me again to write once in a while.  Wonders of wonders. :)

Anyhoo, I found out that 3 months out of work left my writing and interviewing skills rotting in the heat of the hot tropical sun.  I just have to wing it.  Good luck to me.

But as always, I am excited to meet those successful entrepreneurs in the hope that their good fortune will rub off on me. :)   I can’t wait!

3 Comments

10 Years

April 2, 2008 at 9:20 am (Uncategorized)
Tags:

We hit our 10th year with no fanfare.  Yup, 10 years ago on one hot, blistering, summer afternoon in UPDil, I said “Yes” to boyfriend-now-hubby (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).  We spent our 10th year anniversary as a couple apart — me with my parents and him in our home in Cavite.  He promised to make up for it in the weekend.

 

Come Friday, we met up at Gateway, did some shopping for a baptism and 2 birthdays.  For dinner, instead of just us two, Mia introduced us to one of her favorite restaus, Volare.  According to Mia, Volare is a spin-off of San Beda College’s official concessionaire.  Makes you wonder how much the Bedans priests spend on food.  And as always with Italian dishes, I forget the names of what we ordered.  Mia got the spinach caneloni, I got the pizza with 4 different flavors and hubby ordered the seafood lasagna.  Since hubby and I were celebrating our 10th and hubby’s sorta promotion, hubby paid for everything.  Hehe.  We usually go dutch with friends.  Lucky Mia.

 

On Saturday, we celebrated my sis-in-law’s birthday at Trinoma’s Chef d’ Angelo.  I loved their fried chicken!!!  Even if I have real bad allergies, I didn’t care!  I just had to have the chicken!  And the GRAVY! 

 

And my nephew Dale, now 7 months old — looking very gwapo, regaled us with his “spitting skill”.  It was really bad with him drooling all over the place but since all of us (9 adults) were all grins, he took it as a sign that he was doing a real fine job.  He conked out on the 2nd hour of the get-together, after running out of drool. 

 

On Sunday, it was Christer’s baptism at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Mandaluyong.  Christer is my HS friend Christine, 1st born.  He’s on his 3rd month and he has grown so much!  Instead of the little thing we saw last December, he got a lot chubbier and healthier.  And he wailed not on his baptism but during his reception, he cried like a banshee.  He was inconsolable.  I think he was overwhelmed with the number of people who wanted to hold him to get a bit of angel dust in their arms.  He was such an angel all throughout the ceremony.  Our barkada loves the little darling. 

 

Oooh and did I tell you?  We’re going for a vacation this April with my HS friends.  I do hope it pushes through!  They’re looking for a place where it’s near Manila but with just enough sunshine and fresh air of the tropics.  And there should be a hospital nearby or lying-in according to Dr. Christine lest we run into some pregnant woman trouble in case I fall into some malady. 

 

So there goes our supposed anniversary weekend.  Nobody really knew that exactly except for bestfriend, Ice.  It wasn’t romantic and I’m not complaining.  We’re not very sentimental people.  Since time immemorial, hubby and I have always been surrounded with family and friends and the good thing about celebrating the milestones in their lives, is with us together, sharing in their moments after all these years.

11 Comments