labor day weekend!

last hurrah for the summer... =(

school is definitely upon us... ok, ok. i know i've been whining about it for forever. i'm just stressing, and i hope unnecessarily. i really hope and pray my son would have an easy week as that would gauge what is to come...

had a busy morning. had a 9:30 dental appointment... more work to be done... uggghhh... got bagels from panera bread for weekend breakfast; to aldi's to get more breakfast sandwiches and cereals for son's school day breakfast; to giant eagle to pickup meds for hubby and myself; and finally, to the cleaners to pickup hubby's pants.

housework after this, and check pgatour website occasionally for Tiger's score. btw, steelers won last night so missing bb8's live broadcast was worth it. but i still got to see the show through a link i found in bb8 dish, the best bb8 site out there. hands down! this will be a very interesting week in the bb house. half of the remaining HGs are squirming, and i love that... =)

later...

lazy day... almost there...

lazy day for me... not that i've run out of things to write... just being lazy...

the long weekend is almost here, which also means school is very much upon us... uggghhh...

will get dinner ready. yeah... this early. i want it out of the way...

no big brother 8 for me tonight. will have to rely on online updates(spoilers) for the results. the steelers are playing, that's why. love the steelers but i can do away with their game tonight. it's just a pre-season game... but bb8 thursday is always huge. live eviction and hoh competition. having a delayed telecast at 1:30am is a joke... i'm pissed-off...

not a happy camper today...

hump day! growing up pains...

time flies by so fast. it seems like yesterday when summer vacation started, and now it's almost over...

my son will be back in school the day after Labor Day. (sighhh...) i hope he won't be so stressed out by it. but i'm glad we went to the high school yesterday. he doesn't seem as overwhelmed now by the thought of high school after we did the walk-through, and after meeting some of his teachers.

uggghhh... it is hard enough being an aspie. but it is harder when you're an aspie AND a teenager. i wish i can take away all his pain and apprehensions. no matter how much assurance i give, he still feels insecure...

such are the throes of growing up...

how i spent my morning...

after my first post for the day, my son and i went to the high school to have a walk-through according to his final schedule. most of the teachers were there getting their classrooms ready. we met his science and am history teachers. they look so young even my son thought they were senior students. we also saw his math teacher, one of his favorites who was also his teacher in the 7th grade, and he was genuinely happy to see my son, and vice-versa.

the teachers still have a lot to do to get their classrooms ready. all the books and other school stuff were lined up in the hallways waiting to be set up in each room. maybe i could volunteer next year to help them out... we'll see...

from the high school, we went to the library to return the book and dvd of 2001 space odyssey. the dvd of castaway, which i requested, is not there yet.

next stop was giant eagle to get more bananas. my son is going nuts over bananas so i get more of them than the usual. we also passed my walmart to exchange the jeans i bought for him with another style.

next was the barber shop. he had a buzz cut, which he prefers. there were a number of older gentlemen, as usual, waiting. my son loves going to this particular barber shop. it gives him(and myself) that feel-good feeling. it's like being transported in the 50s-60s era. i think it's the ambiance...

finally, our last stop was get go where we grabbed lunch. we both got subs, coffee for him and slush drink for me. i had coupons so i only paid $5.00+ for everything.

back to housework...

there is hope...

...alberto gonzales resigned, finally (huge sigh of relief...). bush said the treatment he got was uncalled for, unfair and political. he failed(refused) to recognize that he was responsible for all of it...

...before gonzales, carl rove also stepped down (a bigger sigh of relief...) from his lofty perch in the white house. what else is there to say of his departure other than "good riddance"...?

...michael vick pleaded guilty to charges of illegal dogfighting. said he was sorry and will strive to become a better person. said he found Jesus amidst all these. i'm surprised he didn't say he's going to rehab...

...there are so many "personalitites" out there that i hope would just disappear from the face of the earth...

meanwhile, according to antiwar.com, the total fatalities in Iraq since war began in march 19, 2003 is 3,732, both combat and non-combat. everyday i pray and wonder...

tgim! school stuff...

yes. thank God it's monday. without monday, we won't get to friday... lame... =)

went to my son's high school and met up with his guidance counselor for his final schedule. everything looks good. he really has good teachers, one of which is one of his favorites. i really hope he won't struggle this year the way he did last, and will have a good, positive start.

i still have cyberschool at the back burner - just in case... but i don't even want to think about it if i can help it. i still firmly believe nothing beats going to a regular school especially when Bethel High has such a good curriculum, and topnotch programs. i don't want my son to miss all those opportunities.

...and so i'm hoping and always praying...

got to do some housework.

Matter of Taste

this is the fourth time that this email was forwarded to me. it was funny the first time I read it, and I still find it funny after reading it the fourth time, so i decided to share.

written by a British journalist in 1999 while stationed in the Philippines, it is a funny anecdote about us, Filipinos.

Matter of Taste
by Matthew Sutherland
I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.
The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point, there will be no turning back.
BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg.
It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.
It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.
Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda-cena, dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count.
The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.
Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines:
Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. Try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.
One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!").
This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great! In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.
Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.
I also share one key Pinoy trait - a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!
It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS.

Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.
Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.
And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog).
The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet. "What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"
Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals - the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette- like blocks of animal blood). Yum,yum. Bon appetit.
When I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since.
The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.
The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over five.
Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.
Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like - well, doorbells. There are millions of them.
Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping. None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.
Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.
Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where come from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent!! !
Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning.
The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.
Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.
More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).
Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.
That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila - taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.
Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not).
That's a bit like me being called something like Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.
And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name.
It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?
How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.
Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?
Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines!
Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

my, my, my beautiful Sunday...

really beautiful out there. the sun is shining brightly but it is not hot and muggy. very comfortable, so unlike the past couple of days. the storm system that was forecasted to roll by yesterday(last night) spared our area. we just had light rain, which helped cool down the air.

got up a little early than usual to catch cbs sunday morning show. harry smith, whom i also like a lot, subbed for charles osgood. as always, all their stories are very interesting and informative. i really like this show. a good reason to get up early on sundays.

after breakfast, i went to the grocery store to get some stuff - bread, bananas and something for hubby's (pack)lunch for the week. i decided on isaly's chopped ham. i also got a pound of fresh US shrimps, and 6 crab cakes, which i sampled (they have cooked ones you can try). really good... speaking of fresh shrimps, since i saw a news segment on food inspection of imported food products, i always make sure that i buy only US-caught or US-raised fish, shrimps, beef, pork or chicken. i specially avoid anything that says China in any of the earlier mentioned, and other products, too. there are more than enough news reports on this subject so i won't dwell on it anymore.

from the grocery store, i passed by walmart and checked what's on sale(clearance). i was able to get a tshirt and a pair of jeans for my son. i got a size smaller than his usual since he lost 10 pounds. apparently, he lost the 10 in other parts of his body but not his tummy. jeans was tight so i'll exchange tomorrow... there were so many kids AND parents at walmart scrambling for back-to-school stuff. i won't do that as much anymore since starting this schoolyear, all school supplies my son(and other kids) will need will be provided by the high school. that's our taxes working for us, people. i wonder why they can't do the same thing in public schools in the Philippines? i think i should ask Jose Pidal... or Joseph Estrada... or Imelda Marcos...

the strip district

my son and i came from the strip. it was sooo muggy...uggghhh... on top of that, there were so many people it took as two run-arounds to finally find a parking spot. we went to lotus foods, the biggest asian store in the strip, and bought (2) 25-kilo bags of milagrosa rice, (5) packs of longganisa, (2) slabs of pork belly (either for adobo or binagoongan), (2) packets of mama sita's caldereta mix, (1) packet of mama sita's tocino mix, (2) cans of lychees and fresh cloves of garlic. i was looking for ligo sardines but they (again) ran out of it. total amount i paid was $65.80... sometimes you don't realize that little things add up...

we brought everything back to the car so we don't have to drag them along when we go get other stuff. we went to another asian store, a smaller one, and found all the wonderful stuff i was looking for! i got (5) cans of ligo sardines, (1) can of victoria's spicy bangus, and (2) bottles of tuyo!!! i was so happy to see the tuyo...

next stop was wholey's. i got (2) orders of calamari for myself, and cod fillet for my son with fries and onion rings. finally, our last stop was a food stall operated by a Filipino family. i never fail to pass by their stall whenever i'm in the strip. i got a chicken kabob for hubby, a pint of shrimp fried rice, and a pint of pancit bihon. yummm...

they told me about a movie premier for a Gawad-Kalinga fundraising. the movie is "Paraiso", a GK-produced movie specifically made for fundraising. i wasn't able to commit since i'm not sure if hubby would want to go. so i didn't get tickets, and i also didn't ask for a number i could call in case we want to go. true enough, when i told hubby about it, he wants to go... so now i'll look up for the Filipino organization's contact number here in pittsburgh so we could purchase the tickets. i hope i find it.

the forecast last night was a storm would roll in at around 3pm and will move out around 9pm. it is 4pm, and not one sign of any storm... i hope it moves in if it will ever, to cool down the air. it is really hot and muggy outside.

this is all i can come up with...

another muggy, steamy, hazy, august day. the heat sapped the energy out of me, but i don't want a day to go by without a blog post from me. i know it's lame... but hey! it's my blog.

so it's an early night for me. i hope to start my day early tomorrow. i want to go to the stript district to get some stuff from the asian store before the storm rolls into this part of the world tomorrow afternoon.

g'nite!

Malu Fernandez... one last time; indignations and ningas cogon

i have already said my piece about this brouhaha, and this will be my last.

the article written by Ms. Fernandez is demeaning and outrageous, and there is no excuse for that. not even her claim of writing the article specifically for her target readers. that is ridiculous and an insult. it is short of saying that her so-called "target readers" are just like her...

but what is more demeaning and outrageous are the viciousness of some articles on Ms. Fernandez, and the name-calling that went on relentlessly on several blogs. i cringed at majority of the comments i read, and realized that most of us are no better than Ms. Fernandez.

someone came up with a very apt term for it - blog-lynching. everybody is riding the bandwagon of lynching and thrashing Ms. Fernandez. as i read through the comments, i felt like everybody is trying to outdo each other in their vicious attack of her.

i wonder what will come out of this indignation? we have been indignant so many times, and for so many reasons in the past but with no positive results. they all became "ningas-cogon".

• we were indignant when Ninoy Aquino died. nothing came out of it.
• we were indignant with the Marcoses and their cronies especially after their fall from power in 1986. nothing came out of it. in fact, most of them are again lording it over in Philippine politics.
• we were so indignant with the same old tradpols and their shenanigans that we had several sequels of people power, but nothing came out in any of it. nothing changed, and they may even made matters worst.

it's the same old, same old. same faces, same MO. it is a vicious cycle...

the sun is back!

...and so are the heat and humidity!!! uggghhh... i just came back from taking my son to his doctor in swissvale, and then took him to see his 6th grade principal to visit. it wasn't fun being in the car closed to an hour-and-a-half in this heat. i'm back home, tired, hungry, but too tired to eat.

i'll lie down for now.

9th grade orientation

my son and i attended the 9th grade orientation at his HS's auditorium. attendance was good, which is a good sign. school rules and policies were discussed. there was a panel, to answer questions from parents, composed of the head principal, the police resource officer, the magistrate of bethel park, guidance counselors, and a teacher involved in the school's sports programs.

there were members of the school's national honor society who escorted them throughout the campus. overall, it was a good and productive night for everyone.

the schedule i picked up last friday was totally scratched by his guidance counselor. she called me and said she had to make a lot of changes since she felt that the teachers in his original schedule won't be a good fit to him. she gave me a brief rundown of the teachers she felt would work best with him, and one of them was one of his favorite teachers, a former math teacher in his 7th grade who moved to the high school. i was relieved to hear that, and he was very excited and happy when i told him about it. i'll pick up his final schedule on monday.

inspite of a seemingly productive night, he told me that he still feels that he would have the same experience as he had in the 7th and 8th grades. not having real friends, and not fitting in. that made me really, really sad. he feels there isn't anybody who shares the same interests as his, and doubts he will ever find one. i told him it isn't fair to him nor any of these kids to say that; to give it time, and give it a fair chance.

we have a strong support group so i am optimistic.

asperger's syndrome

my son has it. he was diagnosed when he was 8 years old. he was in the 2nd grade. he is now 15 and is an incoming 9th grader.

i'm not an expert. i know it is part of the autism spectrum disorder.

inspite of his disability, he is very high-functioning. very smart, very articulate. can be very funny. can be very sensitive. he puts my writings to shame with his. unfortunately, i don't get to read most of them. he doesn't let me. but his teachers were kind enough to share some of them with me. i asked him why he never shares them, but he didn't say anything. i didn't push but i let him know i'm very proud of him. that i believe in him. that i hope someday he would share his writings with me.

his biggest disadvantage for being an aspie is his lack of social skills. he also has a hard time processing and articulating feelings and emotions.

my son and i have a lot of issues. i was more focused on my work than on him for four years, and this caused damage to our relationship. so two years ago, i decided to just focus on him and his needs, help him, help myself, heal and rebuild our relationship. it is not an easy process. it is still a work in progress. very complicated, sometimes very painful. but we are on the mend. and there are so many people i will forever be thanful to for helping us through, for their time, patience, understanding, compassion and their friendship.

now, i have a better understanding of everything about him. i will never again put him and his needs in the back burner.

someday...

i will go home someday. i don't know when. i don't know why. just that. i will go home. not soon. not in the near future.

today, america is my home. but someday, i will go back home...

grey, cold, wet tuesday; my country, the Philippines

"the sky ain't clear. the sky ain't blue. but i will still blabber and so will you." lame... =)

i did something yesterday that i have not done for quite sometime - not turn my computer on in the morning. surprise, surprise, i was able to accomplish a number of houseworks because of that! i didn't turn on my computer until 8:30pm. first thing i did was check on bb8 dish and joker's - two bb8 sites that give updates. then i checked my emails, and went to my usual sites. i ended up going to bed at 1:30am when i intended to at 11pm. oh well...

it was grey, cold and wet yesterday, as it is today, though not as cold. i think we will see rain, on and off, the entire week. good thing i mowed the lawn before the rainy days started. i'm still a long way off from accomplishing the things i set to do this summer. so what else is new...?

we have exactly two weeks until school starts. uggghhh... he will be in 9th grade, the first level in high school. we have a school orientation tomorrow night, and i hope that goes well for him to kick off (what i hope would be) a good start. on thursday morning, he has an appointment with his endocrinologist, then spend some time with his 6th grade principal in his former middle school, to visit and maybe help her with some school stuff. monday morning, we will meet up with his guidance counselor to go over his schedule. then monday pm, he has his therapy session.

my brother called earlier from manila. he hasn't called in quite a while. said he will call again in the weekend so i(we) could talk to my mom and dad, and my sister. everything is fine with them. said it is also raining there constantly, which is causing a lot of havoc (as usual) on everyboday. there are times when dep ed suspends classes when all the students are already in school. it is hard when that happens because they don't have the school buses like we do here, to bring the kids back home. there are privately owned mini vans that parents (who can afford) contract to take their kids to and from school. but like i said, only those who can afford have access to these vans. some parents would pick their children up from school but most kids would travel back home, on their own, and usually through flooded streets. this happens every single year for as long as i can remember. i used to be one of those kids who trudged through the flood waters just to get home.

i'm already beyond outraged by this, and the many other incompetencies of the government. i am more saddened and disheartened by the state my country is in right now. the conditions, political and social, are as bad as ever, if not worse. but the saddest part is seeing my countrymen divided in so many ways. there is a part of society that has this sense of apathy where they no longer question the social and political injustices that pervade their existence, and seemed to have accepted that this may be the norm. then there are those who have this sense of complacency, who seemed to be unaffected by it all as long as they (and their families) are not directly touched by the social and political injustices around them.

i don't know if i'm being hypocritical about all these. maybe i am... because i view these deplorable circumstances from afar. when i hear about these things, i rant and rave, cry and feel outraged, and yet, i do nothing beyond these feelings. i feel helpless. sometimes, i blame my countrymen for not doing anything, for being complacent and apathetic. but then again, i may be just like them. but where do we start? what do we do? i feel rotten every single day i watch my country unravel from afar...

by the way... Malu Fernandez & Kris Aquino: two peas in a pod.

i mentioned in passing, in a previous post, Malu Fernandez, for her demeaning, prejudiced, insulting and ignorant remarks about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). it is bad enough to be discriminated against by some people outside your race. but there is nothing more hateful, mean and vile than being discriminated against by someone from your own race, much less a fellow countryman. she is a columnist in a daily broadsheet, and that makes her more dangerous. for someone who (supposedly) came from a well to-do family, breeding and compassion were apparently two things that were forgotten to be drilled into her.

Kris Aquino is a younger version of Ms. Fernandez. she may have not insulted any OFW, but she has thrown cheap shots at some people. some of them contestants in her game show, and some were guests in her (and her manager's) talk show. she is a conceited, self-applauding, know-it-all, haughty, arrogant brat. i can go on and on about her delusions but i won't waste any more space. by the way, Ms. Aquino is the youngest daughter of the late Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and former Philippine president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. does that bit of information tell you anything?

these two are indeed two peas in a pod. they are so delusional, they forget that karma is indeed a bitch.

i say no more...

grey, cold, wet sunday

i woke up around 8:30, even before the alarm went off, and it was cold. turned off the alarm, went to the bathroom, and went back to bed. i wanted to watch cbs sunday morning (that's why i set the alarm to 8:35) but i was so sleepy. i went to bed a little after 5am to finish my email to Tin, my niece. so i went back to sleep, and finally got up a little past 10 so we (hubby & i) were still able to see the tailend of sunday morning.

i always like bill geist's stories. he's also very funny. in this morning's show, he featured a barber shop in south carolina where a band, composed of elderly gentlemen from the neighborhood, plays everyday in the barber shop - for free. there is also a lady who goes there every now and then to sing, and just recently, they had some musicians from the ukraine who also played. it's become a well-known gathering place not only locally. according to the barber, he also gets thank-you notes from wives of the men who hangs out in his shop, for keeping them there, sort off serving like a daycare for husbands. =)

i went to aldi's after breakfast and cleaning up. i was supposed to go yesterday but hubby went out to meet up and have dinner with his son, who is in town. they had a nice time together, which is really good. there were so many people in aldi's. it is a sunday... duh... but i still like going there.

it's almost 5pm, and as usual, i'm running out of time for tons of things i still need to do. we'll have NE clam chowder for dinner so that should not take so much time to prepare(cook). i'll also load up the washer, and try to finish the movies i rented while ironing some shirts and pants. i'm starting to sound like a broken record for mentioning these chores for a week now... ;(

gotta go.

to-do list part 2

heya! cool, beautiful morning. the alarm clock went off at 6:05am. i hit the snooze, then off button, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom. i was about to wash my face when i realized it is saturday. so off to bed i went back. finally got up at almost 10am, i think.

we had sticky loaf for breakfast, which i bought from Eat'n Park. the second consecutive weekend we had it. hubby said he doesn't want it again until after some time... =) poor, hubby... he wants a quick breakfast so that's what he gets.

before i digress any further, here's my to-do list for today. technically, for half of today since it's now 12:26pm.

• do the laundry (beddings, shirts, shorts, towels)
• iron shirts, pants, shorts
• go to aldi's (looovvveee aldi's)

as i said, already mowed the lawn yesterday.

i hope i can stick to the list.

we'll have clam chowder soup but i'm not sure when yet. the ingredients are already in my shopping list. i'm not talking about the clam-chowder-from-scratch soup but the quick and easy version, which i found in recipezaar, i think. tweak it a little bit according to your and your family's taste, and it's pretty good. a no-fuss recipe.

ok. one reason that kept me up 'til early this morning was the article written by Malu Fernandez of Manila Standard for their People Asia magazine. i found out(read) about it from Nick's blog. needless to say, it infuriated me. i'll talk about it in another post together with another younger, equally infuriating version of Ms. Fernandez.

'til next.

to-do list

mowing the lawn is scratched from the list. i already did that yesterday afternoon. the sun was out but it was windy so i thought it won't be so bad. wrong. i almost passed out as i was emptying the lawnmower bag because i was bent over. i started seeing stars, so i gripped the lawnmower handle, and hoped not to fall. when it passed, i stopped and left everything, walked back to the house, sat on the sofa, leaned back, eyes closed, and hoped for the best. drank a glass of water, and went back out as soon as i felt better. i know. i'm so ocd. i set aside the 2 trash bags of cut grass, rolled-up the extension cord (we have an electric lawnmower), swept the walkway, and put everything back in the shed. and all through these, the stars were coming and going...

i called hubby after i'm done and told him we may have to buy dinner. can't(won't) prepare(cook) dinner because of what happened. said fine but will be coming home a little late. will meet up with his eldest son, who is in town to watch the Phillies play the Pirates. by the way, the son called him earlier while driving along the pa turnpike. he was cited for over speeding, and was really pissed-off. the fine, $140+ but still lower than mine. mine came up to $158. uggghhh...

anyway, the short of it, we had mcdonald's for dinner. i planned on going to bed between 9:30 and 10:00, but at 2:27am, i'm still typing away but barely able to keep my eyes open.

so, goodnight. good morning. but what do you know? the to-do list is still not here.

happy, happy, joy, joy...

tgif! it's cloudy and muggy outside. just like overnight. i didn't sleep well because of it. we have the box fan sitting on the window ledge but that was not enough. i had to get the stand fan in my 'office' and bring it to our bedroom.

bb8 update - the father was saved from being evicted. instead, princess buffoon was the one kicked to the curb. hahaha. and to top it all, daughter won hoh! what makes the win more special is her upcoming birthday on the 20th, it think. i have to check that out. i wish she would put up ms.holier-than-thou and crybaby and backdoor the model, like she needs like to go... we'll see... but i'm ok with whomever she puts up. never been so satisfied with the eviction/hoh comp outcome for a long, long while until last night. i hope father-daughter's (good) luck continues.

will call my aunt after this. she's now in minneapolis staying with her college friend. they went to nursing school together. i hope they're home when i call.

this is all for now. still have to check my emails AND really start with my to-do list. procrastinator...!

thunder and lightning

i woke up to thunder and lightning just before 4am earlier. it was also raining hard with gusty wind, it was scary... i got up to check on my son because i heard a banging noise, which i thought was coming from his room. i realized it was our door. it was shaking and banging from the wind. so i took down the box fan sitting on our window ledge so i can close the window. apparently, there was also a power outage as our radio clock was blinking. i had to reset it before going back to bed.

the sun is trying to break out of the clouds now but i think we're going to have more stormy weather this afternoon. i like the rain and gusty wind but not the thunder and lightning.

i'll go to the library and pick up the book and dvd of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which i requested for my son. he's into this sci-fi thing again but i think just for this movie/book.

he read 1984 by George Orwell and liked it. he told me that is where 'big brother' came from. well, the only big brother that interests me right now is the one on tv. i hope the father escapes the chopping block. he and his daughter made a deal with 'AP' and his ladylove, and i think (i hope) it's a done deal. but anything can still happen in that crazy game, crazy house - especially when people behind those glass walls intervene! so much for a reality show...

before sunrise, dinner, bb8

started watching 'before sunrise', and am about three-quarters into it before i stopped. had to prepare dinner. like i said earlier, will broil porkchop again, and i did. just need to clean up the kitchen before i jump into the shower and pick up hubby at 5:50pm. but for now, i'll check on the live feeds first. there's an interesting thing going on right now inside the house. some sort of clues being given by different characters for the HGs to figure out. let's see who is smart enough to figure out all these clues.

already called family video and extended the three movies for another five days. we should watch 'music & lyrics' on friday night if i want to finish the to-do list i drew up for myself for this weekend. as usual, we'll see...

chicken spread, the young and the restless

i just made chicken spread for hubby's lunch at work for the week. i wanted to put finely chopped onions but he doesn't like them so i just put sweet relish, mayo, djon mustard, salt and pepper. i made enough so maybe it will last until next week.

am watching y&r now but on and off. i used to watch this religiously but stopped a couple of weeks ago. i didn't like where the story's going so for now i'm sort of boycotting it. i'll probably watch again after a month. in the world of soaps, a lot can happen and so much can change in a month. so we'll see.

these soaps have characters who are so hypocritical, it's like watching what's going on around you. uggghhh...

dvds, movies, post office, pork chops

i rented three movies last week, due to be returned today, and i still have not watch any of them. not one. i intend to now, as soon as i post this. i borrowed 'before sunrise', it's sequel 'before sunset' and 'music & lyrics' as hubby wants that. i'll probably extend them for another five days so he/we can watch them this weekend.

i had to re-pack the box i'm mailing to tiNena. changed it from the rectangular box to the square box. both are flat rates, though so the weight is not an issue. it should get to her in san diego this weekend. she's now in toronto, and went to niagara falls over the weekend. am really glad she took this trip by herself. she's enjoying herself so much.

we had broiled porkchops for dinner last night. it would have been better if it was grilled but ours is not set up yet as hubby is thinking of returning it... =( i still have some chops to broil so we'll have the same for dinner tonight.

the weather has been mild since monday, but will be milder over the weekend. i'll mow the lawn and maybe, finally, hose down the front of the house including the porch. i also plan on trimming the tree branches. i hope i'll be able to accomplish all these...

mild monday

i nice departure from the heat and humidity of the past several days, we woke up to a mild monday. actually, yesterday was not too bad either. coming from a tropical country, i'm not very fond of too much heat and humidity. who is, anyway???

my son has his therapy today at 1pm. i hope we can continue with the every-other-week schedule he has with Aaron even after school starts. i really believe he will need the therapy more once school starts. he always had more issues during the beginning of the school year, and this year would be tougher as this is his first year in high school. i have to talk to Aaron about this and some other things.

this is all for now. i really need to get myself more organized AND motivated...

Tiger won his lucky 13th!

Tiger got his 13th major championship win, and is now just 5 majors behind Jack Nicklaus' 18. i can conservatively say Tiger can tie that record in five years.

Elin was in the scoring tent with Sam Alexis (!) when Tiger came in to sign his scorecard. It was a nice surprise for him as he wasn't expecting them in there. Sam was wearing a red, cute onesie, but was asleep. Mother and daughter are looking good, hale and healthy.

Congratulations, Tiger!

bright, sunshiny day...

beautiful Sunday!

i'm going out to do some grocery-shopping. i need to get back before 2pm in time for the broadcast of the final day of the PGA Championship. Tiger is leading, and hopefully, we're looking at his 13th major championship win.

we had kfc for dinner last night. there are still a few pieces left so we're having them again tonight with, again, leftover spaghetti. =)

(sigh) i really need to get some housework done that i keep on putting off. i'm so bad...

"it's gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day..."

more bigbrother8 'coz i can't...

i can't stay away as i planned when i got up this morning. had to know who won the POV to see if either father or daughter is staying. the dad won and is taking the daughter off the block. i really wish princess will be the replacement nominee, and gets voted off - IF - daughter, model, alliance of 1 and the hated america's player all voted to kick him out. i really, really wish that happens. until then...

i am really obsessed it's pathetic.

sunny saturday

i'm trying to stay away from anything bb8 right now. i'm so disappointed with the turn of events i can't even sleep at night. how pathetic is that??? grrr...

at least Tiger is playing really, really well at the PGA Championship. he almost broke the record for the lowest round in any major championship. i hope it carries on until this weekend so he can, at least, have one major win this year. i hope he comes out with a new pic of Sam, his daughter. good luck, Tiger!

my tiNena spent her birthday in montauk yesterday. too bad it was grey and gloomy the entire day. my cousin's house was by the water so it was really pretty. i'm glad my aunt had a nice birthday inspite of the weather.

i hear my son grumbling in his room again. he does that when he is losing in the game he's playing. i wonder when he'd stop doing that...

hubby's working on his home office project. did some carpenter work last night building a platform with caster wheels for two of his CPUs. i have not gone down to basement yet to see his work. will do now, and so...

have a nice saturday!

auntie nena

it is my aunt's 75th birthday today. she's in ny now visiting one of her cousins. just called her and they're on their way to montauk to spend the day.

happy birthday, tiNena!

big brother 8

grrr... one of the nerd herd2 got hoh. i do like jess but she's with dustin and eric and i hate those two. arghhh... dani and dick are in big, big trouble. dustin is such a pompous, obnoxious %$&. joe was right all along about him. grrr... and jameka, she is such a hypocrite! reading and quoting from the bible does not make a good Christian. religion should not even be brought into the game because it is a GAME! as for dumber, what else is left to say about her? eric? he's a %&*#$@... cbs should stop shoving him down our throats because he is not our player!!!

i hate this NH2... comparing them to season 5's original NH is an insult. they're worst... they're a flock of 'tards... my team is toast... =(

guilty pleasures

speaking of guilty pleasures as mentioned in an earlier post, my summer guilty pleasures are reality shows and game shows. among them are:

• big brother 8
• singing bee
• america's got talent
• age of love
• don't forget the lyrics
• so you think you can dance
• and the Power of 10

drew carey is sooo funny. he is a good choice to host the power of 10 AND the Price is Right succeeding Bob Barker. love Bob Barker. i used to watch him back in the Philippines in the 70s where they showed PiR once a week on primetime, and wished i could go to the show when i become old enough. i also used to watch him host the Miss Universe Pageants. but after he left Miss U, i felt like it was never the same again...

PGA update: Tiger dropped another one and is back to even par thru 16 holes. uggghhh...

sports fan

i am a sports fan. a huge one. i'm not an expert on any of the sports but i love watching them.

i'm a fan of:

• Tiger Woods
• Roger Federer
• Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, Stefi Graf, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe (especially when they were still playing)
• the MN Twins
• the Pittsburgh Steelers
• the Pittsburgh Penguins

i also like:

• the MN Wild
• Lance Armstrong, Michael Schumacher (when they were still racing)
• Jeff Gordon
• Dario Franchitti

i used to be a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls and basketball until Michael Jordan retired. i still watch it occasionally, and sometimes cheer for the Cavs or the Pistons, but i have lost my passion for the game.

now back to watching more of Tiger. he went from being 3-under to even par to currently 1-under thru 14 holes. he almost had an eagle on that one... shoot...

PGA Championship and other sports

today is the start of the PGA Championship and i'm watching it online at pgatour.com. as most everyone else, i'm rooting for Tiger. been following his career since his amateur days when he won his 3rd consecutive US amateur championship. i really hope he wins this final major championship this year.

Tiger competing in a golf tournament is one of my guilty pleasures. i get so excited when he plays in a tournament, and feels down when he doesn't win it.

when i think of him and Michael Jordan, i just feel so lucky that i had(have) the chance to watch them play. they are two of the greatest sports personality - ever. too bad Michael is retired. another player who excites me is Sidney Crosby. so young, so phenomenal, so very talented. another one who is in the same category is Roger Federer. these guys are really, really good in their respective sports. we're just so lucky to have the chance to watch them mesmerize us in years to come.

and now back to watching Tiger...

speeding

i got a "Notice of Trial Summary Case" from the mail today. ngek! i was ticketed for speeding last july 12. according to the officer, i was going 42mph on a 25mph road. 17mph over the speed limit, which is equivalent to a 3-pt driving penalty based on PA guidelines. i was also assessed a $158.50 fine. i pleaded not guilty so a trial was set for september 7.

until then...

Bourne Ultimatum

accompanied my husband this morning to his doctor's appointment. good news - his blood test results came back good. by the way, mine also did. had my checkup last week. big sigh of relief for us. i was kinda worried my cholesterol level might be high... thank, God, it wasn't. hubby's already taking cholesterol meds, and i don't want to have to as i am already taking blood pressure meds. the travails of getting old... and i'm only 45!!!

from the doctor, we had an early lunch at Eat'n Park (two days in a row for me) and headed to the movies after. we watched Bourne Ultimatum. i just love Matt Damon. he's on top of my list of the sexiest actors out there followed by Daniel Craig. he's not only sexy, he is a damn good actor as well. Ben Affleck cannot hold a candle to his buddy.

like the two other Bournes, this one is also very, very good. one of the very few, intelligently-made, action films, by far. chase scenes were executed very well. hubby wants to get all three on dvd when the third one comes out. they would be nice to have.

love this film. love Matt Damon! 2 thumbs up (and toes, if possible) for me! =)

procrastinating...

i'm such a procrastinator. i have tons of things to do, i'm running out of time, and i still let myself get sidetracked. arghhh!!!

things to do:

• paint inside of kitchen cabinets **
• clean windows **
• power-wash facade of the house including porch
• mow the lawn
• finish up laundry
• and the most imprtant of all - work on my other website, which i hope will bring in supplemental income. (i know. ain't gonna happen until i work on it...)

i'm such a bum...

**spring task (i know, i know...)

blabber&chatter

the reason why it doesn't bother me that i don't have many people to chat with is because i have a little group of people that i have CONVERSATIONS with. that is the difference there - conversation.

i'll treat my son to a breakfast buffet at Eat'n Park. and we will have a nice conversation. when i get back, it's ironing time. yes, i do iron all our shirts/tshirts. ALL. but that's just me because i am my mother's daughter.

it's grey outside but a beautiful day nonetheless. everyday i open my eyes is a beautiful day.

see ya!

first!

ok. i see that word (first!) ALL the time in the comment section of blogs, articles, columns, etc. it is very irritating and a waste of space - in my opinion.

i created this blog to talk, blabber, chat, whatever. it may sound sad, and it's not, but there are only two people i have conversations with everyday - my husband and my 15-year old son. i used to have more conversations with other people when we were still in an apartment. sometimes i chat with a neighbor in the elevator, the laundry room or the lobby of the building. other times, i chance upon a neighbor in the parking lot or someone would strike up a conversation with me while in the checkout counter of a store or when i go to the bank or pharmacy. but i'm fine with not having many to chat with. i'm not really the sociable type but i'm not hard to talk to either. i'm easygoing and very easy to talk to. but i'll be blabbing more soon. school starts in less than a month (waaa...) so i'll have more people to talk to.

i'm working on my other blog, which i hope would bring me supplemental income. but i have to do a lot of reading and researching before i can really get on with it. besides, i have to unclutter my mind so i'd be able to focus and concentrate more - PLUS! i have tons of laundry to do, and i want to get all those out of the way before i sit down and start with it.

so there. if you happen to stumble upon this blog, and nothing seems to make sense to you, that's because i am blabbering. i need to so i can get on to my next task.

i'm starting to like this. see ya!