in a few days time - 2007, the year of the pig will end. but my wish, which i made long, looonnngggg ago is still a wish. this year, as usual the kids had their new dresses, pants, money from their ninangs and ninongs, spent their vacation and eaten all the things they wanted to eat every christmas. i guess, these things are what parents would like to give to their children. me? what i got for christmas? well, i have all i wanted - a loving and understanding husband, lovable and considerate kids, supportive parents, siblings and friends. what more can i ask for? yes, indeed.
but really, there is something i've been wanting, wishing to have. its a material thing. and i'm so fixated on IT . there are hundreds of these things, but i still want IT. in fact, aside from shoes, it's one of my weaknesses. i bought several of these (but not with the brand name), but still i want IT. what is it? it is a brand name -- louis vitton. i've been so fixated with that brand. i want to own a bag that is LV. i know that its beyond my reach. only the rich and famous could have IT. the prices are sooo up-there. but then, i'll have to list it again for my 2008 wishes!!! it is some thing to look forward to. happy new year, everyone!!!

two more days and its christmas! the whole christian world will celebrate its biggest feast and longest feast -- the birth of our Lord and the coming of the new year -- 2008. it feel like yesterday when 2007 was welcomed with a lot of noise, fireworks,and happy new year pervades the air. now, in a few days time it will be ending. and every living thing in this planet will add one year in their lives. even our planet Earth is getting on in years.

Just like last year, i would like to wish everyone a blessed christmas and bountiful new year. together with lots of good health and happy family life. and a productive career. to one and all - my heartfelt wishes!!!

its six, 6, sais, days to go - - - PASKO NA(CHRISTMASTIME)! watching tv showing the people rushing for last minute christmas shopping - i sort of envy them. traffic is horrible even here in tacloban city and watching on tv the traffic in imperial manila - its horrendous! last night and this morning, the husband and me was talking about our plans for the season. plans - since, we have no money. the bonus that our president promised on tv and newspapers remains at that - all on tv and newspaper only. this week is the examination week of the kids. tomorrow, one them will have their party and nothing... by friday another one will have their party and nothing...and on saturday one will come home and nothing... frankly, as a mother i'm panicking. this could be one the worst christmas we'll be having. i'm living daily - and counting. i thank the Lord, everyday that we can make through. the president said that the economy is going great! but where's that? the peso is strong, where's that? i felt so helpless. i just can't imagine how those less-fortunate-than-me spend their christmas. i felt like going back to bed and sleep through christmas . but i'm hoping and praying that everything will turn out right...tomorrow is another day and tomorrow brings new perspective...a brighter one, till the next and the next and the next. FELIZ NAVIDAD EVERYONE!!!

eversince the Philippine version of the big brother house was introduced in our country, our family became fans. and became an instant hit in the country. some winners became celebrities and some easily forgotten. it is now the second season of the show. this season it is a celebrity edition - wherein the houseguests were celebrities - actors, actresses, models, beauty queens and the lot. lately i noticed that some of big brother's houseguests have "psychological problems". and that they joined the show to "rehab" themselves. its disturbing looking at these "disturbed-people-lives". its not fun. it robbed off the entertainment, because it exposes the dark side of the houseguests.
one is a has-been actor (drunkard), who has an ego-bigger-than-himself. he's so paranoid. there's a comedian who bawled in front of the national tv because the housemates could not ride-her-brand-of-comedy. another a has-been sexy star who has undergone everything in plastic surgery and is a maneater. then the beauty queen, who is sooo perfect. she cannot stand if her task is not done right.a nother is a commercial model who is stoic and a dead pan expression on his face. then an actress/mother who is bent on giving everything for her family. she left her house to stay with big brother, while her husband who's-also-a-has-been let her!
big brother's houseguest doesn't encourage or inspire us to keep on watching the show. we have so many problems in our day-to-day life that watching the houseguests problematic lives only depressed us. further, the novelty wears off because anybody-can-now-enter-and-leave-the house-and-went-in-again. its sooo tiring. where's the exclusivity of big bros house? as a viewer, i want to see a lighthearted show that i can laugh and enjoy and compare my life to the houseguests.not a psycho laden one!!!

last week, what i did was to wait. wait. and wait. and waiting was what i did. the week went by and still what i was waiting for did not materialized. waiting is but wasting time. time do not stand still while you are waiting. tasks are left undone. and the time passed cannot be retrieved. but then i guessed, in this life that is what we are doing - waiting. waiting for our time. and waiting what is due to us. and what we are doing everyday is just a way of keeping us busy so that we will not be bored while waiting for Mother Time. and there's a saying that "idle mind invites evil" , something like that. maybe because our mind tends to wander off and roam whenever we have nothing to do. this is the time that grandeuse ideas came to mind. and also the time for devious plans.
D one could use the imagination without limit. options are boundless. it is without restrictions. one has a free hand to do what he wants. you can always change the directions you want if it is not to your satisfaction. dead could come to life. and lives could be dead . one could be rich and be poor. one could be famous and be non-existent. and one could be productive, like me - i made it a subject for my blog!

its the month of decemberrrrrr!!! which means christmas and new year and longer holidays for the kids. it also means shorter days and longer nights and coldddd mornings. of course, everyone knows its wintertime in the other countries. white christmas, they say. but lately, i've noticed (and the other beings, too!) that the weather is not in-its-usual-behavior. when it is supposed to be summer, it rains. but when its supposed to be rainy season, sun shone at its brightest. further, its not cold as-it-used-to-be. and its hotter now-than-it-used-to-be. i've read and heard the news that the icecaps are melting in the north pole. the water has risen. deserts are flooded. and supertyphoons abounds. seas upsurges, volcanoes erupts and the earth quakes from-time-to-time.
mountains erodes. and human lives wasted. the farmers are confused whether to-plant or not-to-plant. because rainy days means planting season. now, its raining all the time. their crops are destroyed and rot

since the sun is-not-seen-shining-as-it-used-to-be.
the habitat of the animals are in havoc.
in my travels, i noticed these changes in our Mother Earth. the degradation. the wanton minings, loggings, the trash that surrounds us. i can't help but say - "Mother Nature is having her revenge on the people living in the planet." the words of one of my professor that says - "your foolishness will go back to your body" is really true. whatever we are experiencing at this moment, is not the fault of nature. it is the fault of the people.
a nun, uttered these words in one of the workshops i've attended: "man by nature is selfish. when he is alive he get everything what Nature has to offer. but when he dies, he does return to earth, because he is cremated or cemented when buried. in dying man should go back to earth to nourish the soil, to sustain the health of the soil for the coming generations." so, let's go back to earth, for our sake and for our childrens sake.

it's fifteen (15) days more and its christmas time!!!
our usual schedule is spending christmas with the parents (which means packing and travelling to catbalogan) and the new year (which means packing and travelling to tacloban) celebrating as a family. up to now, its-all-in-the-mind planning for me, for the very reason that no budget yet. we are on the stage of paying the tuition for the kids exams (the-schools-timed-it-so-that-the-parents-will-really-be-in-dazed-looking-for-money).D so my budget is still-up-there-in-the-hands-of-whatever. but one thing i noticed, even how hard-up a person or family is christmas is always celebrated with fervour. we say it best - "nakakaraos din".D
my usual worry - clothes for the kids to wear for their parties; gifts for them; what food to prepare; gifts for the godchildren; gifts for the "namamasko"; gifts for the parents; gifts for the officemates, and etc., but actually it boils down to money.
but for this year, we'll make our celebration as simple as ever. we will spend our money prudently so that when the year-of-the-rat (2008) came we still have money to welcome the new year.
the important thing in spending christmas with the parents is really bonding time - with us their children and with the grandchildren. and for me -it is going-down-memory-lane. reminiscing with my siblings and keeping in touch with my childhood friends.
whatever problem one is encountering, it is solved during yuletide season. burdens are lightened, and people are kind and understanding. love permeates the air. there's really something special during christmas!!! GOD sure work in many ways!!!

after that nerve-wracking and funny coup-d-etat in our country, am here to dicuss the aftermath. our national television stations haven't gotten over it yet. it is still the headlines in primetime news and major newspapers. now the authorities are into pressing charges to the culprits (Trillanes, et.al.), while the media people who were covering the event will press charges against the authorities. we really are a happy family! the outrage of the media people is understandable. images on national television is not good - media people in handcuffs(or-whatever-it-was-that-was-tied-on-their-wrist)means gagging the press and declaring curfew from that night (Nov. 29) to the early morn of the next day. that is the message that is sent across to us, the viewers. those that experienced martial law during the Marcos regime said that it felt like "martial law" all over again.
for my part when the whole country was declared under martial law, i was in grade school. what i remember most were the sound of the siren every night reminding everyone that its curfew time. we had fun running and pretending hiding from the police. it was a game for us and my childhood friends. also, seeing men-in-uniform-with-a-gun was a common site in the
community. i also remember reading a slogan that says - sa ikauunlad nga bayan, disiplina ang kailangan; and new society or bagong lipunan. the peso bills were marked with "bagong lipunan." as i grew older, i heard on the atrocities of the military. and saw one incident where a military was hitting a tricycle driver. my memories on these dark years were not so "dark", i thank my tender years for that.
going back to the coup-d-etat, the police/military had their reasons for doing what they did and explained their side. yet, one could not erase the images that were played on national television. i think that the government was excited to show their might to the plotters. they invited the media to cover the event and in the process forgot that they were included in the coverage and their every move captured and recorded.
i am thankful that the coup-d-etat did not succeed, but i say the police/military goes overboard in their actions. their success was marred by that excessive handling of the media.
sending the tank to the lobby of the Manila Peninsula Hotel was the highlight and handcuffing the mediamen made the show a flop in the end.

living in the our country - Philippines sure has no boring moments. ::imagine, just last week (Nov 29, to be exact!) we had a coup-d-etat! imagine, if it succeeded, we will have a new president by now. really! the perpetrator was a senator (only-in-the-Philippines!) that won the national elections due to what-he-did-last-summer, stage a coup-d-etat! this is the second time he did this.: he was a graduate of the top military school in the country. the country spent for his education and yet he did this, again!!!: walanghiya talaga!!! Captain Trillanes (that's-what-his-name) in my opinion is a receividist. even up to his strategy, its still the same - captured a hotel, this time the Manila Peninsula Hotel (last time the Oakwood Hotel). the same district Makati City (the business district). the same group-with-red-armbands Magdalo soldiers. i still don't know what he was thinking! the timing was very bad-just when the Philippine peso was going strong, the people are into the yuletide mode, he will do this!!! he doesn't love our country!!! he's shameless!!! ::walanghiya talaga!!!
maybe trillanes thought that the people who voted him as senator, would translate into people-going-into-the-streets-to-fight-for-his-cause. but, if he asked these people why they voted for him, its not that its because he's gwapo! really, what a qualification! he is selfish and thinking only for his glory! but what a shame - nobody supported him! makapal mukha niya!dapat hindi na siya magpakita sa mga tao!
as a mother who is very concerned for my childrens' future, i want peace - at home, and whole country in general. as a mother, i am struggling daily to provide a healthy environment for my family. inculcating to my children to be peace-loving and to become upright citizens of the country. yet, here is a person whom the country spent so much money and this is what he gave back to our country-dishonor!
really - i'm mad!!!