To The Academy...

I do this in my PJs, in my own time and leisurely. No deadlines, no pressures,... no pay. But to receive an award? OMG! Thanks Ms. ...Blah... for this honor. Thanks to Ms. Randomness, too, for giving the same award to my other blog An Angel's Whisper. Here's a list of my Super 7...

• This Randomness. She never runs out of things to talk about. Although her interest in movies is not in my league, she does get me to pay attention to some of them.
  
• Happy Slip. I enjoy her video blogs very much. She makes me laugh.
• ...Blah Blah... From a baby to a baby's mom, I have seen her life. And every time I read her blogs, I see her grow up. She is funny and clever and she reminds me that I don't want to grow old.
• Close to the Heart. He is privileged to be in this list because he is my other half, the better one. There are things that we don't talk about, I just read about in his blogs. His wisdom shows in his writings and confirms once again that he is really the better half. As if he has all the time to blog, he has created other blogs, which I also follow...
• Kalandrakas ug Rambol and Up Close and Personal. He just has a lot in his mind, he does not know when and how to put them in writing.
• Sprig of Acacia. I like his stories. He needs to write more often though and be less concerned if he is being read or not. He maintains another blog, which I visit sometimes, Zamboanga State HS77. He put a lot of effort in making this blog and he deserves to be noticed.
• Life After Steel. Ms. Randomness maintains this blog and I thank her for creating this blog. I find old friends there and I remember a lot of happy days when I read the postings. She gets an "A" for all her hard work into making that blog what it is now.

Now that I have posted my best seven reads, here's what my awardees need to do:
1) you are entitled to post the nifty icon on top;
2) inform your chosen blogs (by leaving them a comment) that they were prized with “Honest Scrap Award”;
3) finally, you should enumerate 10 honest things about yourselves (this will be in another blog).

Lastly, I thank all my readers. You make blogging fun.

Bygone

Last year, Thaad got suspended from school for a day. He kicked a boy in the... you know where. Shock of my life! Ever since he was a little boy, he never got into a fight. He might have his moods but he's actually a gentle soul. My little investigation, asking the victim (in my point of view, Thaad) and some witnesses (neighbors/friends who go to the same school), gave me an idea of what kind of person this other boy was. Then, I marched into the principal's office to defend my little boy's case. The counselor promised that she would look into the matter.... well, school administrators really do not want to admit their fault and even if they did, how is a punishment undone, anyway? Let bygones be bygones... the incident is forgotten, but not with lessons learned.

Thaad is a senior in HS now and as usual, he has a lot of friends who come over to our house. There is one particular boy who comes almost everyday, I jokingly tell him to just change his last name to Sabolboro. I feed him at dinner time.... he has acquired the Filipino taste. A lot of times I talk to my kids in Binisaya and because he has a Spanish class, he catches some words, but most of the time, he just pretends he understands...or guesses.... until... "What?! You are the same Derek who got Thaad suspended?!... I shouldn't have let you in my house... I shouldn't have fed you... ", I started blabbing. I was kidding, of course. It turned out that they were just horsing around when that accident happened and was witnessed by a lunch lady who promptly reported the incident to the office.

Derek aspires to be a doctor someday. Derek, this blog is for you. Remember me when you have already affixed a MD at the end of your name... and keep reading my blog.

Flower Power

This flower has lost its power!

What causes a flower to loose its power?

Drought. The flower needs water. The day needs sunshine. The game needs excitement. Life needs challenges. A blogger needs inspiration.

Is it the weather? Is it the absence of a job? Is it the lack of interaction with other people? Is it a fear of something? Is it the daily douse of worry? ... All these amount to only one thing: SLOTH!

Conquer sloth! ... and let the flower show its power!

Birthday Party Going On!

Welcome! You are invited!
Someone's going to have a birthday tomorrow and we are celebrating here at Kalidadis. My friend, I'm not going to name her for fear of being disowned, is going to be forty-something.... but age is just a number, who cares?! To you, my dear friend, I wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am not a poet but this poem I found is what I exactly would want for you...

Hold within your arms a sun
And let it smile and wish you well.
Play with it, and when you're done,
Put it where you'll never tell.
Your sun will smile just for you,
Being yours, and yours alone,
Inside your palace, out of view,
Resting in a place unknown.
The sun we wish for you is bright,
Happy doing what suns will:
Daring to hold off the night
As loves and dreams your future fill,
Your cares caress and sorrows still.

Cheap!

When I get a haircut, I want to close my eyes. I want to be surprised when I open my eyes... or maybe I just trust my hairdresser too much that worry is not an issue. It 's more like having a head massage, I allow myself to get drowned in the pleasure, even for a moment. At the regular salon I go to, I pay twenty-five bucks plus tip. At the salon next door to where I work part time, it is just eleven bucks. A girl at work gets her haircut there and I do not remember her having any problems. What the heck! I may just have to try this salon... so I did. This is why it is just eleven: no shampoo before the haircut and no styling after the haircut... but most of all, I could not close my eyes during the haircut because I felt that there was just something wrong with what she was doing. Tense and unsatisfied with my new haircut, I drove home. I was so mad, I was almost going to cry. When I recounted my sad story to Bong at home, he added to my misery by laughing... but consoled me by saying that it's not as bad as I think it is and said, "we can't to anything about that anymore". So, I should just love this haircut?! Oh no.... no, no, no. I set an appointment for a haircut at my regular salon and had one the following day. Now, I am happier. Eleven vs. Twenty-five. Aggravation vs. Satisfaction. This time, I had my share of both.

This Blogger

I am not a great writer but I like to tell stories, I like to talk about things that are dear to me. Thus, I blog. Here, nobody checks my grammar and spelling. I don't need to worry about my writing style and I publish the articles myself. I cannot be concerned about sales of my publications but by the comments that my readers leave, I take great joy. In fact, I have two blogs. This, Kalidadis, is my disorganized side... not that my life is in disarray. It is the lighter side of me, unscripted and casual. My other blog, which I have named An Angel's Whisper, is the focused me, the side of me that drives my whole being. It is where my own Jimminy Cricket lives. Being a fair person, I do not like one better than the other. They both make me me. If you like both my blogs, then you must like me! It's nice to meet you, you can call me Dang.

Whining?

A view from my deck door.

I look at my big TV screen and the numbers 5 8 3 were flashed before me. They are not the winning lottery daily three numbers, they are today's temperatures, in degrees Fahrenheit, for AM, noon, and PM respectively. I look out my window and I see a very beautiful day: the sun up and everything dressed up in white, decorations of white on the green pine tree in my front yard, little rabbit (or squirrel) footsteps on the thin white coating on the pavement..it is such a sight to behold! So clean, so peaceful. This is the view I see from inside my house where it is warm and toasty.

Being outside this morning to drive Thaad to school was a different story. Brrrr... I was all bundled up, head to toe, yet all I felt was the chilly air. There was no 'sight to behold'... it was just soooo coooold.... sooo messy... sooooo slippery and my clothes, soooo heavy. Complain. Complain. Complain. Oh, little whiner me! Before I will even know it, it'll be spring again and winter will be forgotten.

I guess this is just like life. The reality is different from the expected. But in all the chaos that this world brings, God gives us hope. I hope you have a great day!

My Blog-o-shpere Angel

I have started a new blog which I have called "An Angel's Whisper". I was so excited as I created my new space in the blog-o-sphere when my ignorance caught me. Doing the layout, I unknowingly messed up my Kalidadis entry. Aggravated and did not know how to proceed, I shut down my computer and decided I may just have to go to bed early. But before I did so, I gave my friend & fellow blogger, Ms. Randomness, and her hubby, the tech support guy, a call to get some help. I got it. It's clear, even in the blog-o-sphere, I meet some angels. Thanks, Randomness team.

Some Filipino Oddities

Warning: The following information are weird and useless. Read at your own expense.

• If the Mexicans have their Churros y Chocolate, Filipinos have their Pan de sal at Tsokolate (or sikwate in Binisaya). We love to dip our bread (pan de sal) in our chocolate drink (sikwate) before we take a bite of it. After the bread is gone, we gulp down the rest of the choco drink. Because of this strange habit, we make fun of ourselves... we are so obsessed with cleanliness, we wash our bread before we eat it... and we are so frugal, we don't throw away the waste liquid but instead drink it.
• Two years ago, Jas, Thaad and I went home to the Philippines.. The Detroit airport was busy with travelers and workers alike. We were in the check-in line, pushing these big boxes that we were bringing with us when I began to notice that some people were looking at us surprised. Yeah, people, we travel back home not with luggage but boxes we call balikbayan box. May I refer you to this link on how a balikbayan box is formed because it is so true. Actually, this is a very practical way since the contents are never coming back with us, they are all homecoming gifts (pasalubong)... even the shoes, or perhaps the sunglasses, we are wearing aren't coming back with us either.
• Ding Dong ... is that the door bell? Nope, that is just the nickname of a Filipino whose real name might be Ricardo (who would have guessed?). We are known to have "door bell" nicknames. Let's start with my husband, Bong. My sisters are Kwing & Yang. Everyone calls my lola (grandma) Bibang and my other lola, Soling. Ling and Ting are Bong's cousins. Ting-ting is my goddaughter. Bing-bing is my friend. Ding-ding is my friend's sister. Then there's a governor whose name is Bong-bong. Then there's Toting and Klang-klang and Bing-bong and Ging-ging and... I better stop. I don't want this post to be the reason why there's ringing in your ears. Oh, by the way, mine is Dang.

Meet FEFE

One day in the fall, Thaad and Jas went apple picking with some friends. I was hoping that they would bring home some apples. But instead, a scared little brown furry thing with big brown eyes, cuddled in Jas' arms, was what greeted me. Meet Fefe, short for Josefina Sabolboro, the newest member of our family. This little bunny is our four-legged s#$!@ machine (thanks to my friend Mark for this new term). Isn't she lovely?! Except that she has been the blame of Bong's constant itch. Allergy or not, that is the question... a really big question since I have been scratching his itchy back everyday, even before Fefe. She has been living with us for the past 5 months or so, when suddenly, Jas and Gem thought maybe she is not a Fefe but rather, he might be a Fufu...






P.S. The original picture I took of Fefe has been replaced. The new photo is courtesy of my backseat of a blogger husband, Bong.

New Year Bloopers

OOoopppsss....

I still have my 2008 calendar on the wall and I did not even remember to buy a new one. Yeah, I got a 2009 calendar from our church, St. Cyprian, but I have yet to find out where I put it. Not so long ago, everyone was giving out calendars... a little bit too many for all the walls in the house, you would rather want not to get one. In this age of blackberries, who needs a calendar anyway. My hand up in the air... I do!

I wrote my first check of the year... Yup, Jan. 6, 2008. What a fool! I need to practice writing that new year and as punishment for wasting that one check, I am writing "2009" one hundred times on my kitchen blackboard... starting right now!

Then one day Gem tells me, "Ma, go down to the basement and then look up!"... Oh no... a big, big mess made by a leak from the bathroom on the main floor. So, Bong has announced that we can only take showers in the cold basement bathroom... until this leak is fixed.

Even my first trip to the Post Office was a disaster! I got a book of stamps, then put my mails in the mailbox... with my book of stamps #@&*! ... so here I was, in front of the clerk, begging her to get me back my stamps, what an idiot!

Bong just learned that he'll soon be transferred to another plant... in Romeo, MI... about an hour and a quarter drive from home. That is bad. But the good thing is: he has still a job. Thank you God!

Living In My House

My girls tell me that it is only right that I should be the one always cleaning house because I have the most visitors. "How about these people that are here everyday? They are your visitors!", I countered. "No, Ma, they live here."... Last night, they decided, was spaghetti dinner. Jas did all the cooking (Thank God for daughters!). I only got one meatball, so, who ate more than the quota? Burp! That was a good dinner! So where is Thaad?....

Here's my Thaad.... camera shy or just plain shy? Nah, he's just so full, he's ready to take a nap.

And here's Bong, my guitar hero hero...

Are you having fun yet?

Epiphany

Picture of our belen before we put it away for next year.

Today is the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Wikipedia defines Epiphany (Greek for "to manifest" or "to show") as a Christian feast day which celebrates the revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. Epiphany falls on the last day of the twelve days of Christmas which is January 6th. Sometimes, we call it the feast of the Three Kings, for it is by their gifts that we appreciate the reality of the dual nature of the child Christ:

1. human, son of Mary. He shares our earthly joys and sorrows.
   
2. divine, Son of God. He also shares with us His heavenly & eternal life.
   

Gold. For a King, not of this world, but of hearts and heaven.
Frankincense. The same one we burn at our churches, as a sweet offering to God of our prayers. We probably associate it as the scent of God.
Myrrh. A spice used in ancient embalming rituals, to signify the very real death that He would endure for our sake.

A few months from now, we commemorate His death on the cross... then we are reminded once more that Christmas was not in vain!

We're Coming Home

From wintry London, ON to wintry Riverview, MI. This is a photo narrative of our drive back home on January 2, 2009.

After a very fun mini-vacation at the Gonzales', we are back home. With the year 2008 slipping quietly away, here we are suddenly faced with the uncertainties of the new year, 2009. New year... new beginnings... this, we hear every start of the year, but do we really follow through until the end? Good luck to you all new beginners. As for me, I am just thankful for the year that passed and hopeful for the year ahead.

with love from Technical Support

Bong's unpublished comments:


Picture posted is too dark. He sends me a new one and tells me to change what I had already posted. The blogger in me refuses to do so but instead creates a new one. I admit, it's a much better photograph, thanks, Tagamichi... or should I start calling you Kalandrakas?

The green alien's identity was never revealed. Now, I had to find out if I have a picture of him (or "IT") in my archives... and I did! His name is Kenny and he's the fourth from the left. He's one of Thaad's buddies who frequent our house. He usually drives a Ford Focus and sometimes a Mustang. In the summertime, he shows up in his motorcycle. You're a crazy boy, Kenny.

Say CHEESE

Bong has always loved to take photographs. He has the necessary equipment and he brings them whenever and wherever there are special events. He is always glad to share his knowledge about his craft with other budding enthusiasts. I, on the other hand, am only interested in the photos and making scrapbooks and sharing them with friends and sending them to family... oh, and never to forget, using them for my blog and other internet purposes. In other words, he is the expert and I am the freeloader. So, coming home from our London New Year's celebration and not having been blogging for a while because of the holidays' craziness, I was so ready to be back on my computer and so excited to see those pictures that he took. Alas! These are all the pictures that he has in his camera, I even recognize some that I took myself... I am sure my friends took more pictures. There is only one photo with me on it... am I not his favorite subject anymore? Hmmm.... maybe he needs a new camera.

2009 with a BANG!

We celebrate the coming of the new year with some of our dearest friends and their families. Last year, it was at our home in Riverview, MI. This year, the Gonzales' peaceful abode was the center of all the fun and noise of our little(?) group. Food was in abundance, kids were enjoying their video games without interruption (except to go to the bathroom or the dining room... but not for chores), moms soaking themselves in their favorite pastime of talking about important events and people, and dads taking pictures and discussing about their boy toys. One thing that everyone had fun doing together was watching the movie, Slumdog Millionaire and Happy Slip's video blogs. Everyone's looking forward to next year's celebration which will be at the Ocampo's. Hasta la vista! and have a very good year!