mom, i remember…

Mom, I remember …

…how you loved Rogelio Dela Rosa and Carmen Rosales.

…that you were a fashionista way back in college — being the first-born among a brood of 8, you had the privilege of always having new things, and never had to wear hand-me-downs.

…how you liked wearing heels to help add precious inches to your 5′1” height.

…that you used to design and sew dresses by hand, including beautiful beaded wedding gowns, and had clients like veteran actress, Boots Anson-Roa.

…that you adored two of the most handsome (yet closeted gay) leading men of the Golden Era of Hollywood: Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson.

… that you baked macaroon cupcakes, chiffon cakes, and apple cinnamon pies.

… that when you were a young college student in UP, renowned artist and Amorsolo’s contemporary, Ireneo Miranda (the “Dean of Filipino Cartooning”), took a liking for you (*ahem* since you apparently looked like his wife) and often invited you to model for his portraiture classes.

… that you valued the importance of reading and it was because your decision to invest in books like the Dr. Suess series and Companion Library Book Digests made a lifelong reader out of me.

… that you liked joining spelling bees in high school; and your tips on how to spell (close your eyes and ’see’ the word; spell by syllables not by letters) were quite helpful even up to now when I teach MY students to spell.

… that everyone said the same things about you… that you were the favorite niece, the favorite cousin, the favorite daughter-in-law, the favorite aunt… I of course didn’t bother to ask why. We all knew why.

… that I used to watch Nora Daza’s cooking shows with you every Sunday morning; I found it fascinating how you would be ready with your little notebook and pen, how you would jot down the ingredients but not the directions (which you mentally noted instead)…

… how I didn’t heed your suggestions on suitable career paths for me, but now I see. Moms are always right all along.

… the shape and softness of your hands and fingers as I held them in mine, and the contours of your face since I often caressed them when I was little.

… that you were not gifted with robust health even when you were young — reminding me to not take for granted my own health – to eat healthy, to exercise more, to sleep early.

… that we had you for a such a short time — reminding me not to take for granted my own existence, my own dreams, my own time, and the people around me – to live and appreciate life fully, and to love dearly.

… that you never had the chance to enjoy your grandchildren, but if you were still here, I’m sure they would have loved you to bits because I bet you would have made an awesome grandma.

Love you, Ma, and Happy Birthday!

 

FIRST!!!

Today marks the first anniversary of my blog. Woo-hoo! (￣ー￣)ﾉﾉ”” ~clap!clap!clap!~

I remember shedding blood, sweat, and tears setting this all up a year ago, trying to make sense of how things flow in WordPress. I was even thinking of giving up and going back from whence I came (which was blogspot – ugh!).

But I persevered.  And now, it’s still no-regrets-whatsoever.  I like the WordPress community. We really ARE a community in a true sense of the word and am truly appreciative of the constant improvements, messages and support that Matt, Heather, and the guys have been giving to us.  (BTW, I went to check up on my old blog in blogspot just recently and i was really disappointed to see that things haven’t improved at all!).

Anyhoo!

Here are the stats, as of today:

OMP is now a year old with 10,921 hits so far (It had hit the 10,000 mark a week ago–not bad for a personal, no-specific-theme blog— but hey, I can do better…yes i can!).

101 posts have been published (hmm… ‘published’–has a nice ring to it), and 423 spams have tried and failed (yes, I acknowledge these poor souls for even trying, and thank God for twitter, spammers have somewhere else to wreak havoc upon).

Compared to half a year ago, I have three new top posts for now. And they are:

crying time with 1 liter of tears — 1,065 hits; It reached its peak during the time One Liter of Tears was being shown on gma network. People were researching about the story (either that or they’re curious about actor Nishikido Ryo), hence i got some of the traffic flow.  Great show, memorable songs, good response. Hope the Kapuso network would take a hint from this and show more of Ryo ’s talent in jdoramas like Ryusei no Kizuna and Attention Please.

The Gumasa Beach Experience — 268 hits; Being one of the best kept secrets of Mindanao, Gumasa beach is now slowly permeating into people’s consciouness as one of the loveliest beaches in the south.  I noticed that the hits keep coming in heavily during the summer, too.

Nodame Cantabile: how do you say ‘Gyabo’ in Filipino? — 267 hits; another top post on a jdorama? Well, that’s how it goes, I guess. Pinoy jdorama addicts like me are hungry for information and relying heavily on each other’s blog posts considering that we don’t get details from anywhere else.  We are a desperate lot, alas…  o(ﾟдﾟo≡oﾟдﾟ)o??? but loud and proud! (btw, hope Hiroshi Tamaki gains weight… as Chiaki, he doesn’t have to use a baton cause he looks like one!–Haha! Just kidding! I love Tamaki and I’ll be posting a special on him soon!).

And I’m still receiving the most visits from these five countries (in their proper order): The US (1,793), the Philippines (1,230), Indonesia (376), Canada (224) and the UK (192).

Cheers to my one year old blog!

ﾟ･:*:･｡ヽ(◎´∀｀)ﾉ┌i┐ε-(･ε･´) puff~━congrats, OMP♪ﾟﾟ･:*:･｡

 

born on a bloomsday

I was born on a Bloomsday.

If you don’t know what Bloomsday means, I don’t either.

Just kidding.  

Bloomsday is what fans of James Joyce’ novel, Ulysses have been calling this day, June 16, naming it after the story’s protagonist, Leopold Bloom.  The whole story takes place on that one day (1904 to be exact) in Dublin, Ireland–wherein Joyce made mention of  actual streets, bars, and shops. So every Bloomsday, Dubliners and Joyce fans celebrate the day by reliving the story, tracing Bloom’s steps as mentioned in the book and participating in Ulysses readings… and oh, yeah, by hitting the pubs and doing what they do best.

I admit I haven’t finished the book yet (I bookmarked one copy from gutenberg.org).  I managed to read a few pages so far… and you can’t blame me. Ulysses is described as one of the most difficult books to read;  and that reading it ‘would take a lifetime.’  If you’re interested about Bloomsday and how to read and appreciate the book, click on this interesting article.

Well, then… what about MY Bloomsday? I celebrated my birthday two days ahead.  We were all craving for seafood so we went to Dampa, Parañaque City.

The wet market in the Original Dampa (left).

Aah… bday cravings: Fresh crabs, yeah!–expensive but worth it (right)

The place in Sucat is the original dampa– a place where you buy fresh seafood in the nearby wet market, choose an eatery, hand over the food you just bought to the cook or waiting staff and tell them your instructions on how to prepare it, wait for them to cook it, and if it’s done–eat! I’ve tried the other dampas that sprouted all over Manila and QC but the original is still the best– and probably still the cheapest.

Kay Susan Tayo!: We chose Zanvinz Grill Hauz (left). Aling Susan, the proprietress is the one who accommodated us.  We bought some liempo (pork spareribs) which she herself grilled for us.  And she even did some fortune telling while she was at it, too!

Bday feast 2009: We also had calamares, shrimps in butter and garlic, spicy crabs. We had them placed in styropor containers and took them home. Yum! (above pix)

At work, I received gifts- a book, (Coraline!) and a gift card from Powerbooks (left).  Thanks, AGirls! I truly appreciated it!

Then,  I also visited Mom on my birthday (Right)… June 16 maybe a truly fateful day for Leopold Bloom.  I guess it was for me, too. My mom (as well as her brother) passed away on a bloomsday, too.  I hoped she likes the white roses…

“Hold to the now, the here. Through which all future plunges to the past.” -Stephen Dedalus from Ulysses

What’s my birthday wish?… I do dream of traveling, and if I ever do get the chance to globe-trot in the future,  I will celebrate one fine bloomsday in Dublin — perhaps to partake of a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of Burgundy at Davy Byrnes’ pub or maybe liver slices fried with crustcrumbs downed with a cold mug of Irish beer — before I kick the bucket. (=^.^)

Uh… yeah, ok.  And finish the book, too…

Here’s to more Bloomsdays ahead! ♪♫•*¨*•.¸\(✿^○^)/=3┌iiii┐ ¸.•*¨*•♫♪

 

remembering mom

This is MOM who also got to travel to Banaue in the 70’s.  The colors may have faded but this is still one of my favorite pics of her probably taken by an uncle (and this is the pic that taught me early on how to properly take pictures when traveling–that is, to include the background and not just yourself).  She may be smiling but it took some guts for her to pose so near the edge of this cliff. Well, that’s my MAMA! Miss you super much ƸӜƷ !!!

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**♥** Happy Mother’s Day! **♥**
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