hello! i was off-blogged (again!)out for a while. i was into one my travels last week and haven't found time to do my blog. this time, i was quiet early for my return-flight-back-home and has 5 hours to "kill-time".

since, my destination counter was still closed, i took the opportunity of taking a nap. as soon as i closed my eyes, sounds reverberated in my head - chirping of the birds, throbbing of the airconditioners, babel of human voices-in-different-languages, running-of-feet-both-by-children-and-those-late-arrivals-for-their-flights, the wheels of the pushcarts and baggages, the public-address-systems-announcing-of-flight-arrivals-and-departures-and-what-carousel-numbers-to-claims-luggages, the beeping and ringing of celfons, engines-sound-of-arriving-and-departing-planes, laughters-in-different-degrees, car-and-taxis-arriving-and-departing, and whatever-that-is-that-made-the-airport-alive-and-vibrating. absorbing these sounds eventually made me forget to nap. U- (

after thirty minutes of trying-to-forget-the-world, i decided to open my eyes-wide-&-deal-with-the-airport-sights: the harassed-passengers-late-fot-their-flights, the early-birds-passengers-(like me!)-sleeping-without-care-in-the-world, children-running-around, passengers-with-lots-of-luggages-and-baggages, police roaming, airport personnel -busy-with-their-assigned-tasks, utilitymen and women cleaning the premises, birds flying, planes landing-and-taking-off, cars running in the tarmac, pilots-and-crews-coming-and-going, passengers arriving-and-leaving, sniffing dogs-amd-their-trainers, people-talking-to-their-celfons, famous-and-not-so-famous-people-making-the-airport-their-modelling-runway-walking-from-end-to-end-and-back-in-different-mode-of-clothing-from-very-casual-to-very-formal. with these neverending-kaledeiscope-of-colors-and-sounds, it made my waiting for my flight enjoyable and how time flies!!!

since, i found "amazing race" in cable tv, my tv viewing habit has not been the same. i've become an instant fan of the show, and later on the whole family. it is a must that each week, the "amazing race" is a date with the whole family. we're gathered and glued to the tv everytime the show is on.
this season, we've been cheering on the team of tk & rachel. they are soooo coooolll and low-key. they seldom explode-at-each-other. not like the other teams, specifically jen-and-nathan-who-were-booted-last-night (yes!) its quiet tiring watching them bickering & shouting at each other and jen, always making personal remarks on the other teams that resulted in their "alienation". this season 12, the teams that made it to the final race are the teams that one-will-not-expect-to-reach-the-last-leg, two teams are paired with oldies - nick and his grandpa & the japanese looking father and daughter team. in the early leg of the race, i was betting that these "oldies team" will be the first to be eliminated, but i was wrong. they are still there and determined to give their best-effort-to-the-last-drop. i can't helped but admire their tenacity. hurraahh! never-say-old-they-are-young-at-heart. it really proves that a-team-that-is-in-harmony-is-a-big-plus. the father-daughter-team, specially the daughter always-keeps-her-cool-whenever-her-father-is-on-one-of-his-"being-a-father-mode" and do her-best-to-save-the-situation-mode. which is also manifested by the grandson-grandpa team. the grandson made-up-for-some-things-the-grandpa-can't-things. and go-on with their tasks.
it is always a treat to see the landscapes and views of the different countries they-are-in-at-the-moment. and its a joy to watch them coming up with strategies when they are in a country and don't speak the language. the teams creativity always saved the day. the amazing race 12 will end soon. we are keeping our fingers crossed that tk & ratchel won. but the father-daughter team is a dark horse. we're looking forward to the last leg...

its fourteen (14) days since 2008 was welcomed. i was a bit slow in my blogs. i was caught between yearender's-reporting. and preparing for year-end assessments. for the last week, i was caught-up in "numbers" and making-graphs-and-analysis of data. i was making sense of all those data-that-were-submitted-year-long. and making-heads-and-tails of what they are trying to tell the management and the public in general.

and also if the-job-our-agency-is-doing-is-appreciated-by-the-public. actually, we are trying to keep our agency afloat. it was touted since, that the program we are implementing will end by this year. many of us were discouraged-facing the thought of unemployment. what-ifs had confronted us. what will happen to me? where will i go? what will i do? how can i support the studies of my kids? will i still find job at my age? but, i still face life with exuberance. i tried not to be negative about this matter. i'm positive that-something-good-will-happen-out-of-this. and i have my faith with me. i believe in miracles. and i believe in GOD.

love reading...since i could remember, i am always fascinated with the "written word". i grew up with newspapers - literally! my father is a journalist. i grew up with the manila times (pre-martial law days), the daily express, the manila bulletin, the philippine daily inquirer, the philippine star, mr & miss, woman, womens, mod, reader's digest, time, newsweek, barbara cartland, mills & boons, harold robbins, irving wallace, leon uris, jeffrey archer, danielle steele, robert ludlum, stephen king, emilie loring, tolkien, walt disney classic, magic carpet, and-they-lived-happily-ever-after-fairytales. these, when the television was non-existent in my world. i was buried deep in the world-of-letters-alphabets-comma-period-exclamation point-adjective-adverb-noun-pronoun-and-declarative-sentences.
time was, i did all-the-home-reading-report-of-my-classmates-because-it-was-an-opportunity-to-read-a-new-book. time was, essay-writing-was-my-favorite-type-of-examination. time was, bringing-a-novel-was-an-in-thing-to-do. but as they say - everything changes.
when, i was introduced to the television, i conveniently left my "written-world". i liked teevee. it was fast. colored. and varied. it was a totally "different-world". conversations were focused-on-the-whats-the-new-teevee-program-and-who-are-the-stars. and there was a time when-advertisements-are-more-fascinating-than-the-shows-itself.
now, i think i've come to a full circle. i married a journalist. and i go back to reading naturally. sections of the philippine daily inquirer scattered around the house. i bought condensed reader's digest books, literature books, encyclopedia, journalism books, novels, magazines, w.i.t.c.h., winx, and-what-not. whenever, i go on travel - i never-go-back-home-without-a-book. but really, i buy cheap - i-buy-on-sale-books-and-magazines. back issues, actually. but still it evokes memories of long-ago-kingdoms, beloved-characters, issues-and-non-issues. i want my kids to experience my "written-world". and that's what i've been telling since i can remember...it's a looonnnnggggg battle and still going-on.

i really enyoyed the holidays! though, most of the time i spent it in front of the television with the family. and watching the movies being shown. the kids wrote down the schedule of the movies we're going to watch. number one on the list was the - sound of music. it never fails to deliver. we enjoyed singing the songs of how-do-you-solved-the-problem-that's-maria. her favorite things. and the do-re-mi. and captain von trapp - edelwiess.
we also watched the x-men trilogy. the kids love the flying and the fights and the superheroes. my young girl felt sad on the ending of the x-men-the-last-stand. she said "mama, i feel sad, because many of them died." yes, me, too, felt sad - especially when professor x died.
next, we watched the harry potter series - the goblet of fire. well, there was also the element of death there. but anyway, its magic, and we love it. then, there were the charlie's angels, ghostbusters, snakes on the planes (this one i really didn't see. snakes - yuckkk!)
we also have the disney channel and the-high-school-musical (we've watched this over-and-over-and-over-and-over-again), and the tom-and-jerry neverending-saga-of-cat-and-mouse-chase. this famous cat-&-mouse never failed to elicit laughter. it is my favorite cartoon.
i guess, with this routine for just a matter of 6 days, i-gained-a-lot-of-weight. what with the eating and sitting that we did. anyhow, its all-worth-it. the kids enjoyed it and we (the husband) loved seeing them-enjoying-a-movie-together-without-bickering-and-quarreling-on-who-will-hold-the-remote-control.
a show of unity, at last!!! : yes:

so, today is january 2, 2008!!! in case you're in timbuktu, people, its the new year!!! 2007 is a-thing-in-the-past. but really, the present-will-not-come-without-the-past. 2007 was the year of the pig, so says the chinese, (but really, i-don't-understand-that). for me, 2007 was a good to me and my family. we're all in good health. the kids are all fine. we have our jobs. we're able to eat-what-we-want and buy-what-we-want, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

D for our country - 2007 - was like this: we still have the same president. the same politicians. the prices of oil still rising. the wages is still not rising. the opposition is still bickering. and the administration still saying the economy is good. the peso-dollar rate is still holding on to P41 per 1$. the weather is still skewed. the poor are still poor. the rich are still rich. the ofws still affected with the peso-dollar exchanged rate or-whatever-it-is.

D for the world in general - 2007 - was like this: conflict still going-on in middle east. floods ravaged nations. fires razes forests. leaders were elected. impeached. and killed. new technologies invented. man still fighting in surviving the daily-rat-race. and babies born every second, minute, hour. 2007 was a good year and i say 2008 is pretty much the same-as-all-of-the-above. D