jb's never say never & the morning shift

never... say... neVERRRRR!!!!!

i adore this kid. carla does too. we watched the movie with gail and my sister shawee, at aminin nyo gail at sha, natuwa kayo at bumilib kay justin. such a bibo kid. and i quote carla, "maayos naman pala ang mga taong nakapaligid sa kanya." o ha. worried sya sa welfare ni baby jb. hahaha!

we watched at the shangri la plaza cinema where there's free (though i think i was forced to buy them) popcorn and drinks. what i like about the shang cinema is that it's never crowded and the seats are assigned. it was also the second time i watched 3d and i enjoyed it more than the first time. so justin bieber-1, avatar-0. *fist pump*

justin bieber is that kid who gets you and makes you want to scout the internet for his videos and photos. have you ever been like that? yeah me neither. *close tabs* anyway...

gail was supposed to start on a 7am shift today, but his office sent him home at 1am in the morning. hence, screw 7am, he's starting on monday. since it's such a cruel cruel thing to make a girl wake up at 530am, they invented the microwave oven. starting on monday the drill is this: i prepare breakfast at night and then just reheat them the next morning. the only things i cook in the morning are the eggs, and they only take a minute.

ps: i was tempted to announce today on fb that im pregnant, but figured its not funny.

pps: im animated today. *dougie* *headstand* *signature justin bieber heart shaped hands*

today is wednesday

last week, i said that im going to launch a blog segment. i have been toying with the idea for quite a while already, consulting with my editor (gail) and evaluating the demands. after some daydreams of how fun it could be, i decided to go for it: a weekly sort of thing inspired by none other than kuya germs or rebecca black, whoever you fancy. so here we be with...

WHY NOT WEDNESDAY!

you can read that as "why not wednesday?" like why not lets go to the beach on wednesday. or as "why not, wednesday?" like you're talking to wednesday. whatevs, we're going to rock our midweek.

im going to do/say/eat/(insert verb) something interesting/new/old/fancy/un-fancy/cool/hot/(insert adjective) on wednesday to make it more interesting than being just that day when you just wish it's already friday and then tomorrow is saturday and sunday comes afterweeeerds. im quite sure most of us treat wednesday as the middle child, and we're that negligent parent who doesnt treat her/him right.

im committing to this and im excited to see myself grow, have more fun and learn to live a carpe diem life. :)

what do you do on brownouts

We sit around the living room, lay a mattress, and take turns snuggling beside our mommy. There's not much to do so we get to talk to each other and have fun at it. Zero electricity times are one of the best times around the house.

Last Saturday, I got to spend 60 minutes of pretend brownout with Gail and the rest of my new family. Music team rehearsal was moved to Sunday morning so that we could participate in Earth Hour. Lights went off at 8:30 PM Saturday, and went back on at 9:30. Pretty much the same things: kwento and fun and playing with lights. I didn't mind the darkness.

This year's Earth Hour logo includes a plus sign as an encouragement to "go beyond the hour" and do more than simply turning off lights once a year. Here at home we will start by segregating our trash. It is not yet mandated in our community and we think that very few who do it, but we think it will send out a good message to the garbage collectors when they see our waste bags.

I want to participate in these and other earth-saving peace-promoting love-hugging advocacies, especially since I feel that the earth seems to be turning darker by the day. We need to love double-time so evil won't prevail! The future of the earth is more real now that we're building a family. Teary-eyed, I told Gail the next day that our children will very much likely be living in a harsher world than what it already is right now. He reminded me that God will take care of them and they will be perfectly fine. Of course. :)

So questions: What did you do on Earth Hour? And what will you do beyond it? Please do it for my kids who will be playmates of your kids. :)

PS: Can someone tell me why it's called a BROWN out? Is it brown when it happens during the day? Hehe.

hug o' war

is gail's favorite shel silverstein poem:

next to sonnet xvii by neruda:

and with that i wish you a huggable and lovable friday. :)

red shoes and tobacco pipe

i used to walk the streets of ayala and paseo de roxas to reach my office, monday to friday, around 8 to 8:30 am. of course, i seldom found anything interesting, except for the red shoes and the tobacco pipe.

i first saw the red shoes near the underpass from ayala to paseo. they were a cute pair and i followed them with my sight until i got distracted by other trivial things. the next time i saw the red shoes, i was already in the underpass. and then at another time, in another location of my route.

the pipe was more interesting of course, since it's not every day i see men smoking pipes on the street. i saw it one day at paseo de roxas. i wondered how different it was from a cigarette, and then walked faster and let go of the thought. on another day, i saw the pipe again, but farther from my office.

i noticed that the exact meeting location of me and the pipe, or me and the red shoes, indicated how late or early i was for work. they became my curious morning things, and they turned my walks from boring to interesting. if i encountered them at spots near my office, it meant that im a little early. farther and it meant i was a little late. so whenever i see the pipe on the corner of ayala and paseo, i walk faster because i know that i was supposed to see it at paseo center.

the routine troubled me a bit. it was a little unsettling to know that i was part of an everyday round of events that involved the girl wearing the red shoes and the man smoking a tobacco pipe. it is my nature to get a bit dissatisfied whenever i reach a certain level of familiarity or comfort, because most of the time, it's a sign that i've stopped growing or i'm unaware of newer things. worse, maybe i'm unaware of myself and the things i need to change.

i want to grow in every aspect of my life, because as much as i deny it, i am far from being perfect. last night God revealed to me that i need to refocus AGAIN and change perspective so i can develop into a better person. copy that Lord, im all eyes and ears and heart.

ps: fave word ko pala ang bit? hehe. also, launching a new and first blog segment next wednesday, because i love all the days of the week. no, sunday, dont be jealous.

blog-her

inspiration is playing hide and seek with me today. but discipline is on my tag team, so here we be with a blog entry. :D

and unlike me, who is still in the process of getting more creative and un-boring, some girl friends of mine in the blogosphere are rocking it. i read blogs too, and that is why im here, trying my best not to miss any day of my blogging schedule. i check my blogger friends' pages every day every morning to jumpstart my day, and maybe you should too, they're really great. ;)

Tin - let's start with my best friend. she lists five blessings that she's thankful for every day. if that's not enough to give you the right perspective, i don't know what else will. i promise you she has the purest heart, and her blog reminds me that i should have one too. also, i miss our school days...

Carla - also one of my closest friends, she's on a travel and experience roll, going places and being gorgeois at the same time. we were classmates forever so it's no puzzle that we like the same things. in fact, we're the only quarter-aged women who will watch the jb movie. :p

almi - i love almi, most especially when she's with kim. they're cute and cool at the same time, two things that seldom go together. hehehe. she's so creative and pretty and she wears f21 and zara, so fasyown!

ivory - for the deeper meaning of life, read ivory's blog. her mind is wired a different way than mine, but we understand each other without fail. if we were in a girl-boy relationship, we shouldve won the long distance hurdle and got a large trophy! she's heart, intelligence, humor and pretties rolled into one. :)

PS: i wish more friends were bloggers. :)

chicher

Look who I saw in Ilocos?

si vivien!

She's one of the students who make me miss teaching. Then I think of the majority and instantly just like that, I get white hair. Haha.

Vivien and students like her made every discussion fun, like I was part of a workshop where we made haiku's and we talked about mysteries of stories. We became fans of authors all together, not just me, not just them. Brilliant kids taught me more than I did teach them.

College na sila. :)

bieber fever

at the risk of losing my few readers (and my friends), i confess that i love justin bieber. there. well, that felt good. also, haters to the left. haha!

i really got this justin bieber fever going on, and i have no idea how i got it. i just remember a year back i said his lyrics are cute and very sweet, and then the next thing i know his videos are on loop on my desktop. ohmaygash im so in love i found you finally, said usher and ching.

aside from rori (a 2-year old girl), i do not know anyone who likes justin bieber as much as i do. gail asked, confronted me maybe (haha), why i like justin bieber. i said well because he's sweet and nice, and his lyrics are sweet and nice. and believe me, sweet and nice are my thing. it's not a crush, btw. it's more of a mom thing, like a you're-so-cute-i-want-to-put-you-in-my-pocket kind of admiration. i just saw the never say never billboard in shang. who wants to watch with me? my treat! :)

Romance

The love month passed and here I am gushing about romance. So let's just call 2011 the love YEAR so I get to have passes to gush and mush without any occasion.

I am far from being a poet, and so Pablo Neruda speaks words that I wish I did. In fact I already have a Neruda poem for my future children. In fact I already have a book of poems for my children, which both Gail and I treasure. Next time we will discuss some Silverstein, but today let's be grownups in love. Gail’s favorite “I love you” words are also Neruda, which he texted to me years ago.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
I love you because I know no other way

Although it was an answer to my question "What's your favorite quote?", I saved it in my inbox for a very long time as if he said the words to me. Crush? Major. This one below is one of my favorites. :)


And because Love battles 

And because love battles
not only in its burning agricultures
but also in the mouth of men and women,
I will finish off by taking the path away
to those who between my chest and your fragrance
want to interpose their obscure plant.

About me, nothing worse
they will tell you, my love,
than what I told you.

I lived in the prairies
before I got to know you
and I did not wait love but I was
laying in wait for and I jumped on the rose.

What more can they tell you?
I am neither good nor bad but a man,
and they will then associate the danger
of my life, which you know
and which with your passion you shared.

And good, this danger
is danger of love, of complete love
for all life,
for all lives,
and if this love brings us
the death and the prisons,
I am sure that your big eyes,
as when I kiss them,
will then close with pride,
into double pride, love,
with your pride and my pride.

But to my ears they will come before
to wear down the tour
of the sweet and hard love which binds us,
and they will say: “The one
you love,
is not a woman for you,
Why do you love her? I think
you could find one more beautiful,
more serious, more deep,
more other, you understand me, look how she’s light,
and what a head she has,
and look at how she dresses,
and etcetera and etcetera”.

And I in these lines say:
Like this I want you, love,
love, Like this I love you,
as you dress
and how your hair lifts up
and how your mouth smiles,
light as the water
of the spring upon the pure stones,
Like this I love you, beloved.

To bread I do not ask to teach me
but only not to lack during every day of life.
I don’t know anything about light, from where
it comes nor where it goes,
I only want the light to light up,
I do not ask to the night
explanations,
I wait for it and it envelops me,
And so you, bread and light
And shadow are.

You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.

Tomorrow we will only give them
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love.