Ghetto Life

Yep. I live in the ghetto. By choice, really. It gives me satisfaction that I own my little house. I currently don't have to worry about mortgage nor rent. I sold half of my duplex house to an old friend. So, essentially I live in a one-bedroom house (more like an apartment) about 600 square feet in area plus basement. The space is plenty for me as I hardly own much plus I rarely entertain guests. I did not grow up in an "entertaining" house, we're more accustomed to being guests rather than hosts. I have lived here for more than a couple of years now. There has been no major incidents so far in terms of threats to my personal safety. There are the occasional annoyances: stolen burning car next door, stolen outgoing mail, stolen center caps of my hubcap, and most recently shredded car antenna. No big deal, really.

So what has inspired me to write about my neighborhood? Today, I was playing hookie from work. Or I should say, I'm working from home :). So, I decided to walk over to the bank as I usually do. I typically don't carry my purse around just by common sense. I just bring the check I need to deposit plus my photo ID. The bank as well as the grocery store is just a short walk from the alley behind my house. I then noticed a couple of police cars at the bank's parking lot. Inside the bank, I saw the officers talking to an old lady. It turns out that she was robbed in broad daylight a few minutes before I got to the bank! The bank tellers were saying that it was the 5th robbery in front of the bank in the last 3 months (not even counting actual robberies inside the bank). They told me to be careful. I told them that I need not worry since I typically don't have any money on me.

So, I walked back home and I see this car parked behind my neighbor's house. I just know that new neighbors had recently moved in. The woman in the car said hello. So I chirpily responded to the woman and the man with her, "Oh, are you my new neighbors?". She said no and that they were just looking at the house. I asked if the house was for sale. She said no. And then it hit me that she must be one of the "pretty women" plying my neighborhood.

So, that's a slice of my life here in the 'hood. I don't mind living here at all. It certainly makes for colorful stories. :)

Best Dad in the World

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

It's my dad's 58th birthday today. I used to think of my dad as the anti-romantic hero. No flowers to my mom ever. No chocolates. No sweet nothings. But throughout the years I have appreciated him more and more. :) His devotion to family is matchless! He is God-fearing, selfless, hardworking, loyal, faithful, and loving. What could be more romantic than all of that and more combined?

Bridesmaid Dresses

I am scouting for good tickets to California for a friend's wedding in October.
I am really happy for her that she found her "the one". As I think about weddings, I count the number of times I have been a bridesmaid. Six times! Here are a couple of pictures.



Channeling Marilyn in Bloomington, Indiana (July 2005)



Wedding by a Seattle beach (June 2005)

Sixth Grade

I went back to my old school for sixth grade. I'm standing third from left, again right next to my good friend from grade school, Rosalyn (2nd from left).

My grandmother in my father's side died when I was in sixth grade. We attended her funeral in Bulacan. From my home province of Bataan, our family traveled by jeepney to pay our respects. I did not really know her that well. From what I hear, we could have a lot of similarities. She was a very independent woman. Her faith was central to her life. I guess that's part of the reason I am writing my memoirs here in my blog. Maybe my future grandchildren and greatgrandchildren will be able to read this and through my stories understand themselves better.

Happy Birthday, Wewe!

My brother Vincent (nicknamed Wewe) celebrates his 29th birthday today. My youngest sister Viva affectionately calls him Kuya (Big Brother) Attorney. He passed the bar exam in 2003. His girlfriend also passed the bar recently so wedding bells for them might be ringing sooner than later. My dad always jokes around that he is a frustrated lawyer. He is really proud that we have a lawyer in the family.

When we were about 8 and 9, Wewe and I used to quiz each other about capitals of different countries. We had these 2-volume Grolier's Encyclopedia/Dictionary where we got our information. When we got done with the capitals, we combed the dictionary for entries on U.S. Presidents. I don't know why we were interested in learning them in chronological order.

Statistically Speaking

For all those so inclined...

http://www.guzer.com/animations/100_people.php

Fifth Grade

My dad lost his job at the bank a few months before my fifth grade. We couldn't afford the house payments so we moved from our lower middle class existence in the village to our old house in the town proper of Mariveles, Bataan. My mom's parents had given us this house built on rented land. The landowner apparently did not want to sell off the land. So, in theory we could have been evicted at any point. My mom felt guilty when one day the landowner fell off the roof of his house. She wasn't sure whether she's partly to blame for thinking that the landowner was very mean.

I guess my parents could not afford to send me to private school that year so I attended the local public school. It was a totally different experience. The new school is really huge. There was at least 8 sections of 30 students in my grade.
I did not have problems at all fitting in at the new school. I even learned a very important lesson that year. That it is no big deal to "fail". I have gotten top academic honors the 2 prior years at the old school. It was a shock to me that at the end of the fifth grade, I only finished second. I was still number one academically but somehow the overall marks also depended on "character". It was not clear to me that I was assigned to clean the windows. Since apparently I did not clean the windows, I did not get a good grade for "character". That was the last year they graded "character" that way. We grew up mostly having household help so up to this day you still can't expect me to volunteer for household chores :).

Grades 3 and 4

Apparently, we don't have a copy of the third grade pic, so I'm jumping to 4th grade. Can you guess which one is me? I'm standing at the third row, second from right.

The classmate to my left was B. I'm not sure if he was also in our third grade class. He had seizures so ever so often we would witness one of his episodes. It was very sad. The class would be quiet as the teacher places a spoon in his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue. I think he passed away when we were just in high school. I was already studying in the city then so I was not able to go to his funeral.

Grade 2

I'm the 5th one from the right, with bangs and shoulder-length hair.

Hmmm what do I remember from 2nd grade? I remember learning the musical multiplication table. I remember playing Monopoly at a classmate's house. I had fun there and I was so impressed that they had an ice cream maker. Anybody else remembering anything from second grade?

First Grade

Thanks to my grade school classmates for scanning and posting this class picture. I don't even remember having a copy of this picture. I'm sitting at the second row, far left, the one with chubby cheeks and long bangs.

I can't say I remember much from the first grade. I just remember being in kindergarten one day and then the next day I was transferred to first grade. I still know all my teachers from the picture. They were still teaching at Mt. View even after we finished grade school. I still recognize most of my classmates, most of us stayed at the same school until 6th grade. Our village was relatively small. Everyone pretty much knew everybody. We just walked to school by ourselves. We played in the streets. We visited each other's houses. We caught dragonflies in the fields. All in all, we pretty much led simple lives.

Good for another 100,000 miles

I was sitting at the reception area of the cardiologist's office today. My appointment to train him for the hospital's computer system was supposed to be at noon. He got called to the wards so I ended up waiting for at least 45 minutes. While waiting, I noticed an elderly man sitting across the room. I was reading my book, the one about reflections of women doctors, to pass the time. A few minutes later, in my peripheral view, I saw an elderly woman come out to the reception area. I heard the elderly man who I am assuming to be her husband say, "So, you're good for another 100,000 miles?". I looked up at him since I thought that his comment was really funny. He had such a warm loving smile directed to his wife. He glanced at me briefly, he must have noticed that I was also smiling. His wife didn't hear him at first so as he approached her he said again, "good for another 100,000 miles?". His wife laughed and they walked off to the sunset.

The Road to Becoming a Domestic Diva

Hello family and friends! I did not realize that it's been a month since my last posting. So, what have I been up to? I just bought my first cookbook today! I am determined to learn how to cook :). I am pretty sure I can follow recipes. How hard it can be? I have a degree in Biochemistry, ahem ahem. I can follow complex molecular biology protocols. I have studied apoptosis in traumatic brain injury in rats. I have worked in elucidating the controls of angiogenesis in the chicken eye. I have studied signal transduction pathways in leukemic cell lines. My credentials can just go on and on ;). It is just a matter of finding the motivation to actually cook everyday. And no, Mr. Right has not come knocking at my door. If I wait to cook until he finds me, I might not learn in this lifetime hehe. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I am cooking and it's all for me.

There are about 300 recipes in this book. I'll start with recipe #1 which is longanisa. I can probably easily buy that at the store. But for the sake of being able to say that I can cook longanisa from scratch, I will try it tomorrow. For tonight, I got some fish to fry and I have red ripe tomatoes to go along with that. Yum! Yum! So, don't be surprised if you see me 20 pounds heavier the next time we see each other. :)