The first chapter of Neil Gaiman’s latest best seller, The Graveyard Book (thanks for the copy Babe!) is titled ‘Why Nobody Came to the Graveyard’ – obviously that is an antithesis to how most of us flocked graveyards last Halloween to remember our dead.

I read somewhere that it is funny, how relatives come together every All Saint’s Day, in a sort of reunion, and all the catching up and snacking covers the fact that most of the people around that grave knows very little about the person lying six feet below.

But I think what is more interesting is finding your departed loved one’s grave flocked with a different set of people, a day after All Saint’s Day – just like what happened to me and my family when we visited our grandparent’s burial last Monday.

It was very movie-like: we came exhausted all the way from a neighboring province; I was carrying this wonderful flower arrangement of white chrysanthemums and orchids, and as we approached the grave, it was obvious that a lot of people were gathered there, not noticing us that we just caught each other in deep surprise as our gazes locked.

It could’ve been fine, it was not as if they were another family of my grandparents -  if only they were not using our grandparent’s grave to play Bingo, which they most certainly did, that they were like mice scrambling all around upon seeing us. Apparently, they were from the grave opposite ours and it so happened that ours has more shade from the big tree near it.

It was customary, to pray upon being there right? Instead, because of the Bingo thing, the first thing I said was “Lolo, sinong nanalo [Who won in the Bingo, grandfather]?

I just turned 22 last weekend. We had a quiet lunch inside our house with only my family as guests. It was really hard to celebrate and be festive when thousands and thousands are left hungry and homeless across the nation, but of course something’s got to give.

The mood was murky and wet, but again, we were very lucky that the storm has kept us dry and warm and safe, that when the people on the hardest hit areas were panicking and fighting for their lives, we were sound asleep and cozy on our beds. With this thought, it is more than enough to be thankful for the 22 last good years on Earth, and some maybe in a parallel universe.

The past days leading to my birthday has left me badly preoccupied and fatigued that I really lost it trying to prepare for my day – anxiety attacks hounding me every five minutes and all, that really, celebrating my birthday has become a thought pushed somewhere at the back of my mind, that when it actually came, I was unprepared for all the love and attention my loved ones poured on me, it felt like too much ear scratching for a cat, but then, if you are a cat you can never have enough ear scratching.

I pause to think about my life, yet all that comes to me is an enormous wave of gratitude towards all of the people that has kept on loving me through the years, who has been by my side, who never doubted me and my abilities, and who have used all the patience in the world in trying to put up with me – my family, my handful of friends, my Man… I am not the easiest person to love, and there really are no indications that it is about to change, and yet I am blessed with everyone and everything that I could possibly have, give and take one or two.

Don Domeng keeps on telling me how young I still am, and I agree, since day after day I stumble upon tons and tons of meaningful and meaningless things I still have to learn, but no worries, I really do not have any plan to take hold of any machine to expedite the process – I enjoy growing up; lately, I feel I am starting to be very process oriented, unlike my previous years where I was an output maniac of some sort.

I am still reciting my Kung Fu Panda line of the times, “you are too concerned with what was and what will be”. I try my hardest to live in the present, to understand that it truly “is a gift, that’s why it is called present”, and to put my trust in the Absolute that in the long run, things will fall into their proper places, just as they always should. It is not really an easy thing to do; as you’ve probably guessed by reading my posts, I have not fully learned to let go of the illusion of control – I am not sure how much more I have to hear the peach tree story until I finally get it, but so far, I feel I am willing to watch it a thousand times more.

I know there are still many goldfish to catch, and many more cans of tuna to open waiting for my whiskers to reach. As of now, it is clear that it won’t be an easy ride; but if one thing’s clearer, it’s that I am not about to give up – that may be the easiest thing to do in the world, but that is not for me.

After all, I still have eight lives to live.

As I was going through featured news and articles on yahoo, I found an interesting one talking about eight perfect sleep-better foods, which includes non-fat popcorn, oatmeal with sliced banana, a pile of sesame seeds, a glass of wine, red bell peppers, unsweetened cheery juice, and yogurt with nuts.

I’m not sure how well those foods will go with me, after all, who wants to eat a pile of sesame seeds and red bell peppers while watching TV before going to bed right?

But I find that apart from greasy potato chips, this is what I eat before going beddy-bye:

Plus, if you buy a bag as huge as this one, it can also make a good pillow, or an eye cover. See, you cannot do that with yogurt and nuts.

Another article I deem interesting was one talking about the potato farmer’s holy grail: a new potato to be used as McDonald’s fries. Now I cannot argue with that – America’s probably got one of the highest obesity rates in the world and in one or two parallel universes.

Which reminds me of a fun time last night with my two sisters, Ched and Piapot, and my Man on our way home from the city. It was dark and raining but it was all yellow inside the car, we were almost blinded by entertainment.

Plus, the potato wedges from a local bar and grill were so superb. Yum! Oopsie, I forgot to take a picture of it! Hmmm… Then maybe we should have it again tonight.

Introducing… Mime Jr.!

I want extra cheese!

Call Me

I'm free on Fridays

Kulot went away for an overnight youth camp in the Diocese yesterday to serve as a facilitator for the new participants. I really cannot imagine her being a religious mut. It just feels so weird. LOL.I wonder how she prays for them?

I really don’t know. But no matter how surprising, I am glad she has various opportunities to develop herself.

In light of recent events, not only in the country but also in some places around the world, I have been thinking about the ideal trasnport system that would suit my taste.

On the dinner table a couple of nights ago, I finally came to a conclusion and announced it excitedly to my siblings:

ME: Ayokong sumakay sa barko, baka lumubog eh. Isa pa, hindi ako marunong lumangoy. Mag aairplane na lang ako. [I don't want to ride a boat. It might sink, plus I don't know how to swim. Thus, I prefer traveling by plane.]

My siblings seem to see the logic in my thought until Piapot suddenly said:

PIAPOT: Bakit, marunong ka bang lumipad? [Why, do you know how to fly?]

Hmm.. Now I think it would be better if i just walked. I like walking better anyways.

I would often play Guess The Sketch (GTS) Challenge on Facebook these days against my sister Kulot, her classmates, and my Man. We would often have such a grand time that every round ends up with us having stomachaches from too much laughing. It was so much fun that there would be times when Kulot would open her account and her classmates would ask for me so that we could play GTS already. LOL

On one particularly fun game, it was my turn to draw and the word was yacht. What was funny was that they knew what the word was but could not spell it correctly! I was dead on the floor laughing my lungs out. The kids would spell yatch, yates, yatee, yate, yatch, yate yan eh di ko lang alam spell! [that is a yacht, i just don't know how to spell yacht correctly!] – everything but the correct one!

The best part about it is that you could tease them endlessly about their blunders – either when they misspell a word or cannot guess an obvious one after everybody in the room has already done so.

But more than that, I think it is the bonding that we create which is most special, especially that my sister is an adolescent, the knowledge that I am a part of her life, and a fun one at that as attested by her peers, is what would definitely keep me drawing hands that look like edematous bananas in GTS, possibly for a long time.

To be asleep is to be in an alternate reality, where you can fly, or paint the sky red, or date Michael Phelps.

To dream is to take a peak into the subconscious, and see your world with your own eyes, and feel its joy and pain.

To sleep is to practice being dead, and if you are lucky, to wake up and open your eyes once again, when the morning comes.

There came a point in my life where I wondered why people celebrated their birthdays the way they do – or was I only questioning who should treat who? LOL.

Happy Birthday Don Domeng

Don Domeng celebrated his 57th birthday yesterday, here with us at home, with a simple dinner with family and some friends. It was so much fun and the food that Mother Goose whipped up out of her kitchen was absolutely divine. My Man and I came home early so we could be taste testers and it was a hard job to stick with the only testing part. LOL.

What I found to be important was that birthdays are a constant reminder to us, not only of how long we’ve been staying here, but of how much we have done with our lives. As each year passes by, before blowing those birthday candles, we are compelled to take a pause to reminisce about what has been going on, and the faces of our guests tell us who we have become. I realized that the number that comes with birthdays really do play a significant part – because the higher it is, the longer the measure of what we have done good should be.

Looking at Don Domeng last night, looking at myself in the mirror this morning when I woke up, I can honestly say that what my father has done in the past 57 years has been a good job – and I believe it is my responsibility to keep it that way for a long time.

After all, I have always reiterated, my father is my honor.

Life has preoccupied me so much I realized all of my recent posts are asphyxiating to some extent! LOL

Because of all the drama work, there has been not much time to breath relax but since I am fine now, allow me to stress it further by posting something fun for a change LOL And what better way to have fun than be with my fat cat Jin!

Did you miss my fat cat Jin?

Wolverine watch out

Can somebody lower the air-conditioning?

Also, I would like to say thank you to Ched’s friend, Clown, for sending me this adorable bucket of gummy bears. It’s like catnip but on a gummy level.

Bucket Uh Bears

Catnip