Brahms' Lullaby - Mommy Jane's version, original version and other variations

I first heard the tune from Jade's mobile which we bought on her 2nd month. Then I found myself humming it while putting my baby to sleep. Few weeks later, I came up with my own lyrics.

Go to sleep baby Jade, go to sleep my dear baby

Go to sleep, have sweet dreams, mommy's right here for you

Mommy's here, daddy's here, we love you our dear darling

Mommy's here, daddy's here, we will take care of you

I love you baby Jade, I love you my dear darling

I love you baby Jade, I will take care of you

Tulog na, baby Jade, tulog na aking baby

Tulog na, baby Jade, la la la la la la

Few months later, I searched on the web for this lullaby's true lyrics. I just looked at it but didn't really plan to memorize or adopt it. Today, I found myself surfing the net once more for Brahms' lullaby's lyrics and from Wikipedia, I found out that the original version by Johannes Brahms was composed in German. An English version was made and other varieties followed. Then Celine Dion also had her own rendition of this famous cradle song. I am keeping my own version but will also post the original version and variations of the lullaby so that just in case I wanted to get back on them, I only need to find this post.

Source: Wikipedia

Brahms' Lullaby is the common name for a number of children's lullabies with similar lyrics and the same melodythe original of which was Johannes Brahms Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Op. 49, No. 4.

It was recorded by Céline Dion in French and English on her These Are Special Times 1998 album.

Johannes Brahms' original version was composed in German:

Guten Abend, gut Nacht, mit Rosen bedacht,

Mit Näglein besteckt, schlupf unter die Deck!'

Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt

Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt

Guten Abend, gut Nacht, von Englein bewacht

Die zeigen im Traum, dir Christkindleins Baum

Schlaf nun selig und süß, schau im Traums Paradies

Schlaf nun selig und süß, schau im Traums Paradies

A close English translation of which is:

Good evening, and good night, with roses adorned,

With carnations covered, slip under the covers.

Early tomorrow, if God wills, you will wake once again.

Early tomorrow, if God wills, you will wake once again.

Good evening, and good night. By angels watched,

Who show you in your dream the Christ-child's tree.

Sleep now peacefully and sweetly, look into dream's paradise.

Sleep now peacefully and sweetly, look into dream's paradise.

The most common English version is as follows:

Lullaby and good night, with roses bedight

With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed

Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

Lullaby and good night, thy mother's delight

Bright angels beside my darling abide

They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast

They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast

Further verses from various sources may be added to lengthen the lullaby:

Sleepyhead, close your eyes, mother's right here beside you.

I'll protect you from harm, you will wake in my arms.

Guardian angels are near, so sleep on, with no fear.

Guardian angels are near, so sleep on, with no fear.

Lullaby, and sleep tight, hush! My darling is sleeping,

On his sheets white as cream, with his head full of dreams.

When the sky's bright with dawn, he will wake in the morning.

When noontide warms the world, he will frolic in the sun.

CELINE DION LYRICS

Lullaby and good night
In the sky stars are bright
'Round your head
Flowers gay
Set you slumbers till day

Lullaby and good night
In the sky stars are bright
'Round your head
Flowers gay
Set you slumbers till day

Close your eyes
Now and rest
May these hours
Be blessed

Close your eyes
Now and rest
May these hours
Be blessed

Bonne nuit cher enfant
Dans tes langes blancs
Repose joyeux
En revant des cieux

Good night dear child
In your white sheets
Rest happy
Dreaming of Heaven
Quand le jour reviendra
Tu te reveilleras
Quand le jour reviendra
Tu te reveilleras

When day will be back
You'll wake up again
When day will be back
You'll wake up again
Lullaby and good night
In the sky stars are bright
'Round your head
Flowers gay
Set you slumbers till day

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The famous "tambay" visited me ... (in my multiply abode)

I regularly check who's visiting my site and BTW, thanks to you dear friends who are sparing me your time reading my blog and looking at the pictures I posted.

When I added a link to the famous tambay's blogsite, I saw that he came in to visit me. Whoa! I think I was actually grinning when I saw a Batjay in my visitors' list. I am privileged. Though he just actually checked on my link to his site, maybe to see that I described it well, I am still glad he did. It meant to me that he cared about those bloggers promoting his blogsite, which by the way was chosen as 2007's best OFW blog.

Don't you worry Batjay, I will continue to promote your site. :)

PS. I wonder how he came to know that I added his website on my link's list .....

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Wheel of misfortune...

I was on my way to the RD lab when I saw my colleague from the window. I called on her to let her know someone’s looking for her only to see that she was weeping. Though she turned to acknowledge me, I just signalled her to go on her way… to the toilet… to weep…
When I reached the lab, I saw her project engineer talking to the team leader. His tone was not very nice until he was already almost shouting. Then I realized what caused her to cry… she had an argument with the guy over the project issues and she left him with the leader otherwise, they’ll be shouting back to each other.
Nah, I had my own share of those bad moments when some people or most people just don’t understand how much pressure is on us being the direct contact between our company and the customers. It’s not as simple as arranging the project schedule as they think. They don’t understand that we are representing the company and not our personal identities.
The team leader and the other team member are here now, trying to comfort her. I understand how disappointed she is with all these big issues and out of control situations plus people who don’t cooperate, and with the customer starting to complain…
I think I had more than that…
I cried several times in desperation feeling I was a failure because I, unlike the rest of the team members, get the direct feedback from outside…
My boss even called me a liar but people around me were more than a liar…
I even shouted back to one of my team members because she jokingly blamed me for the project’s failure…pish!
But now is my time to just watch them…
I can’t do much because of my company’s culture…
Later, when these two are gone, I’ll just listen to my colleague and empathize with her.

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Memorable dialogues from MBFW

Like the 1st time I watched MBFW with my friends, I can’t help but recall some of the dialogue exchanges in the movie. You know how we pinoys chat after watching a movie. We talk about the scenes as if the other didn’t see it. Then, we’ll also talk about how we wanted the ending to be if we’re not satisfied with how the movie ends. Or we’ll talk about “what if’s”. Then we just keep on talking about the movie over and over again.

Wanting to write the lines correctly but not being sure if what I remember are the exact words or phrases, I searched the net and luckily, I found a list of the memorable quotes from the movie. The list is long so I just chose to copy those that I liked most.

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Julianne Potter: Michael... I love you. I've loved you for nine years, I've just been too arrogant and scared to realize it, and... well, now I'm just scared. So, I realize this comes at a very inopportune time but I really have this gigantic favor to ask of you. Choose me. Marry me. Let me make you happy. Oh, that sounds like three favors, doesn't it?

(Julianne in her attempt to get Michael to choose her over Kimmy)

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George Downes: When you kissed Michael did he kiss you back?

Julianne Potter: What do you mean? We were lip to lip.

(Julianne called George to tell him that she kissed Michael.)

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Michael O'Neill: Kimmy says if you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just...

Julianne Potter: Passes you by...

Michael O'Neill: Passes you by...

(Michael and Julianne were on a boat…)

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Julianne Potter: It is the duty of the best man to dance with the maid of honor.

Michael O'Neill: Dance? You can't dance. When did you learn how to dance?

Julianne Potter: I've got moves you've never seen.

(Nagpapacute si Julianne kay Michael while they were watching a field game along with some elders.)

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George Downes: Kindred spirits, eh?

Julianne Potter: No, he's nothing like me. He's like you, actually, only straight.

(I don’t remember hearing this conversation but I liked Julianne’s last sentence. George is a gay in the movie.)

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Julianne Potter: I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that some psychopath was trying to break the two of you up. Luckily, I woke up and I see that the world is just as it should be. For my best friend has won the best woman. I didn't buy you a gift. But this is on loan until you two find your song...

(Julianne, being the maid of honor, delivered this message during the reception. The song will follow in a separate post :)

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Kimmy Wallace: He's got you on a pedestal and me in his arms.

(Kimmy speaking to Julianne. Napahiya si Julianne. )

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George Downes: Why don't we stop and have a drink? You can take a later flight.

Julianne Potter: No, no, no, no. I'm a busy girl. I've got exactly four days to break up a wedding, steal the bride's fella and I haven't one clue how to do it.

(hahahaha. Poor girl.)

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Julianne Potter: Crème brûlée can never be Jell-O. YOU could never be Jell-O.

Kimmy Wallace: I HAVE to be Jell-O!

Julianne Potter: You're never gonna be Jell-O!

(What’s with Jello and what’s with crème brulee? – sosyal kasi ang crème brulee, pangalan pa lang.)

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George Downes: Maybe there won't be marriage, maybe there won't be sex, but by God there'll be dancing!

( George suddenly appeared during the reception huh!)

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Julianne Potter: This is my one chance at happiness. I have to be ruthless!

(Again, poor girl!)

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George Downes: Bond, Jane Bond

(Bading talaga, hahaha)

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George Downes: Michael's chasing Kimmy?

Julianne Potter: Yes!

George Downes: You're chasing Michael?

Julianne Potter: YES!

George Downes: Who's chasing you... nobody, get it? There's your answer. It's Kimmy.

(On the phone…)

Just when I was finishing the last conversation, I suddenly asked myself how this movie would appeal to me 10 years from now. Maybe, I should ask my college friends to join me so we can re-live the younger years huh!

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My Best Friend's Wedding...10 years after

From our Yangmingshan trip, Jade slept until I woke her up before 8pm so she could have dinner. Dennis turned on the TV and we saw that the movie feature is just about to start. Realizing it was “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, I told him I wanted to watch it because I haven’t seen if for a long time already. So we all sat in the sala, with Jade in our midst, and watched. Jade danced with the “Wishin’ and Hopin’” song as the movie’s introductory soundtrack. In the middle of the movie, Jade pulled us to the bedroom signalling us she wanted to sleep already. I asked Dennis if he could put Jade to sleep as I wanted to finish the movie but he told me he wanted to finish it too. We all headed up to the bedroom, turn off the light but didn’t go to sleep yet. Instead, we turned on the small TV in the room and continued to watch. I attempted to put Jade into sleep but she waited until the movie ended.

I first watched MBFW sometime between October and November of 1997… yes, that was 10 years ago. I watched it with my good friends while we were in Manila for the board exams review. I still remember that the moviehouse was jampacked so we had to squeeze ourselves until we reached the front with the screen right infront of us. I guess we seated on the floor. Since we were younger then, the movie really attracted us. But then I realized, until today, after 10 years, the “kilig” effect is still there. I don’t know about my husband’s reaction but I saw that he also enjoyed it.

The story is about two friends who made a pact that if they reach 28 and still haven’t got their partners, they will end up together. The girl was unattached seemingly waiting for the boy to propose but unfortunately figured out that the boy is already engaged and is about to get married 4 days after she knew it. So she had to make a way to stop the wedding.

Here are two versions of the movie plot from tvguide and wikipedia.

As her 28th birthday approaches, perpetually noncommittal food critic Julianne (Julia Roberts) is haunted by the deal she made with best-buddy Michael (Dermot Mulroney), who's always carried a torch for her: They vowed that if neither had married by the age of 28, he'd propose. But when the dreaded phone call comes, it's worse than she had imagined: Michael has fallen in love with someone else. And worse still, this perfect being (Cameron Diaz) is blonde, younger, richer and more good-natured than Julianne. Though atypical in that our gal is forced to fight for her man by any means necessary, this Roberts vehicle is still a first-class showcase for her blinding smile, cascading locks and amiably klutzy mannerisms. But its revelations are Diaz and Rupert Everett, who plays Roberts' boss: Her Kimmy, all insouciance and honest ditziness, is enough to make a frat boy's knees go weak, while he -- the exceedingly suave and witty voice of reason -- gives a modern spin to the classic role of romantic confidant. Every time Everett walks into frame, you can't help but think how much better a movie this would be if there were only more of him in it. This amiable comedy may not be hugely sophisticated, but Hogan does manage to make his attractive leads look like complete idiots, no mean achievement in image-obsessed Hollywood.

Julianne heads to Chicago intent on sabotaging Michael's wedding to the perky Kimberly 'Kimmy' Wallace (Diaz). Soon after Julianne's arrival in Chicago, and after Michael has introduced her to his fiancee Kimberly, Kimmy puts Jules on the spot, in the presence of Jules' best friend Michael, to be Kimmy's maid of honor, so Jules consents, which establishes a comical Hyde/Jekyll scenario for Julianne, who on the one hand, has to appear to be true to the role of being Kimberly's dutiful maid of honor, while nevertheless secretly looking for any opportunity to sabotage Kimmy's wedding to Michael. When other ploys by Julianne fail, she concocts her own fake engagement to her gay friend George (Rupert Everett) --a surprise not only to Michael, but also to George when he hears Jules announce their supposed engagement to Michael when George and Michael meet. Julianne's schemes are sometimes blatently devious, even cruel; in one case, she manages to convince Michael that Kimberly is attempting to steer him into a career decision that he doesn't want to take.

After one scheme after another has failed, Julianne finally confesses to Michael that she is in love with him, but it is truly not meant to be, and Michael does end up marrying his fiancee Kimberly. Two notable differences from most romantic comedies, are that the heroine and hero do not end up together, and that the main character, Julianne is, by her own eventual tearful admission, the "bad guy." Fortunately, everyone is forgiven in the end, and Jules contentedly dances with George at the wedding reception of Kimmy and Michael.

I remember now that all of my girlfriends who watched the movie with me had purple motif on their weddings. In the movie, purple was the wedding’s motif. Coincidence, errr…

I know KGF even bought the movie’s soundtrack in a casette form – CD’s were’nt in yet at that time.

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Up in the mountains of Yangming

On September 7, our good friend Juvel called to ask if we’re free next weekend, 09/15, because her husband wanted to go Yangmingshan for a lunch picnic. Without second thought, I told her we’ll gladly join their family. We have been in Taiwan for more than two years now but we’ve never been to Yangmingshan (BTW, Shan means mountain). Our friend got their car so it would be very convenient for the two families to go out. With all excitement, my family looked forward to that outing.

When I fetched Jade the afternoon before our planned trip, I felt something different; she was warmer than usual so I asked Ate Rosie if she had fever during the day. Ate told me that she just had a warm shower so maybe that’s why seems to be warm. I talked to Jade and asked her not to get sick because this is our only chance to visit Yangmingshan. I observed her closely during the night and started to worry when her temperature was quite high. I gave her medicine before we went to sleep and sent a message to Juvel to inform her that we might not be able to make it to the trip. I woke up early the next day and realized that Jade’s temperature has decreased from last night but it still worried me. Not wanting to wake Juvel, I sent her another message to let her know that we might not really be able to go out with them and told her I’ll give her a call later. I went back to bed and then at 7am, we all woke up and were glad to see that Jade’s ok already. Dennis and I thought that she also felt our excitement and knows that we have a scheduled trip. So I went to cook our baon which I prepared last night and gave our friend a call to tell her we can finally make it to the trip.

We planned to get out of town around 10-11am. Juvel will just call us when they’re heading to fetch us from our apartment. I tried to put Jade back to sleep after breakfast so she wouldn’t be fuzzy later but she wouldn’t. Few minutes before 11am, she finally slept, so did I. Several minutes later, I heard the phone ring; I thought they were already on the way to fetch us. Fortunately, Juvel called to let us know that her daughter is also sleeping and we’ll just wait for them to wake up before we leave. We eventually left town at noontime.

The road Andrew (Juvel’s husband) took was all new to us. From Shanggong Road, we went out to central Sanzhi then up to the mountains. When the path started to appear zigzagged, we thought of its similarity with the path going up to Baguio from the lowlands. Juvel also grew up in Baguio so we had something in common. The winding road and the trees really reminded us of both Kennon Road and Marcos Highway. The more it did when the clouds started to thicken and rainshowers started to pour cooling the insides of the car that we asked the aircon to be turned off. All of us started saying wow. We passed by a nature park with a swamp and a wooden bridge but we couldn’t stop because of the rain. An ongoing bridal pictorial in the park caught our attention as well.

In an attempt to find a shaded place where we can have lunch, we reached until the highest part of the mountain (or maybe not really the highest) where we saw one shed. We parked nearby and de-loaded our stuffs but only to realize that it was very cold and even with a shed; water is getting into the place sideways. Moreover, the two men seated in the shed were wearing windbreakers and enjoying hot tea. Good thing our kids had their jackets. We headed back to the car and decided to return down to look for a better place until we went on and on and on without seeing a good place to stop. Jade even threw up. Then we passed by a place that seemed to us like Tagaytay with several Sonya’s gardens. People started to call us to stop; we didn’t because we have our own food anyway. Then when we took another road, the weather started to get better, the sun started to shine. Finally, we found another shed, on the end of that road. We checked the time and it was already 3PM. Our lunch picnic turned out to be an afternoon snack picnic. We were all famished and glad to have eaten all the food prepared. We brought pasta while Juvel cooked curry, salmon and salad. We didn’t feed the kids that much afraid that both will throw up on our way back.

I noticed a couple in their 60’s just seated in foldable seats they brought and just reading their books and exercising from time to time. I realized most of the elders do that; they go up to the mountains to relax. We saw more people coming and passing by our position. We noticed that there was a hiking path very near to our place.

After eating, we packed our things and decided to take the path. It was my family’s first time to go hiking. As Jade doesn’t fit in a carrier anymore, we had to take turns carrying her. The scent of the leaves brought us a lot of comfort. We were awed by the scenery and all we could do was wowed all that we see. Andrew got back to us saying that the best way to appreciate nature is to be silent. I almost feel ashamed but Juvel eventually said he was only kidding. We moved on and noticed red leaves along the path. Juvel started to pick some of them. I noticed that Jade was keenly observing the environment and was glad that she didn’t cry. Dennis even mentioned about saying “tabi-tabi po” or something like that but he retracted saying we’re in Taiwan and it’s not applicable. Hahaha. We stopped from time to time to enjoy nature. We took another path, this time, Chinese bamboos were around. Thenwe headed to the viewdeck, this time, the path is cemented. I was left as I was taking pictures here and there. When I tried to catch up, I took a look back to where we came from and realized that we’re in the midst of mountains. It made me miss home and my mom’s hometown Lacub in Abra. I took a few moments to reminisce our summer vacations in Lacub.

I followed them in the viewdeck and wow, the view was so great. There were several mountains surrounding us and far below, we could see the urban town of Keelung and the sites of our place Tamsui, and Bali. I kept saying wow then I heard Jade also starting to say wow from time to time. Up there in the viewdeck, there were another couple reading their books and like the older couples I mentioned earlier, they also excercised from time to time.

Being up there seeing the mountains, the trees, the rivers from afar… breathing fresh air, seeing my family enjoy… and all that brought me a natural high. I wanted to go back to that place.

When it was time to go back to where we parked, Dennis and I talked and realized that we should have gone their long time ago but then the question of how was raised. Anyhow, we were both satisfied that we had this chance to get there. On our way back, Jade asked me to carry her, since the path was uphill, I asked her to go to her daddy but she resisted. So as not to make her cry, I then carried her and Dennis told me “wow, you made it to the top with her in your arms”. I indeed up with body pain on that night.

We had a glimpse of the popular hot spring in the middle of the mountain and breathed some sulfur scent on our way passed that mountain. The clouds were already clear so we once again enjoyed the view on our way down back to town. We hoped to stop for coffee down on our way but with our kids already tired and sleeping, we decided to do it some other time.

We will definitely go back to Yangmingshan but we’ll have to figure out how to get there by taking the bus ride from Shilin.

More pictures can be found here.

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Revisiting Sanzhi Beach

We first went to Sanzhi beach sometime on April 2007. We thought it would be nice to get back there again especially with Jade now walking so she could enjoy the beachside. The weather is nice anyway. So we decided to go their on the afternoon of September 1^st. More people are on the beachside as compared to our 1^st visit. One of the 1^st things we did was of course to take pictures. Then as we went nearer to the waters, we tried to put Jade down on the sand with her shoes removed to see if she could now stand the texture of the sand because she dreaded it on our 1^st visit. I put her down slowly so she wouldn’t panic. I thought she would love it but then I realized the change in her facial expression – ah the same thing as before. So I carried her back and let her feel the sand with her hands instead. She didn’t resist, she even offered her other hand and reach to the sand herself. But when I tried to put her down again, she didn’t like. Fearing that she would cry out louder, I opted not to force her. We went to the waters and all she did was to stare on the waves with a grin. She even moved to a position where she attempted to reach to the waters with her hands. Then we decided to try to put her down. She likes the combination of the water and the sand and we saw how happy she was. Toddlers just love water. But then, when the waves were gone, she was left standing on the sand. She realized that and so she started to show a panicky expression on her face. We just ignored it since the waves will be hitting back in a little while. In her attempt to move and walk towards us; she fell to a sitting position, just in time when the waves hit back her place. Oh how she loved it. We left her enjoying that moment; we brought extra diapers and clothes anyway. I handed her the small ball that we also brought and we watched her play. We let her have her own moment in the waters for around 10 minutes. We could have left her longer but I worried that the sand will get into her soaked diapers. So we took her out and changed her wet clothings as soon as we were out from the water. The sand indeed went into her diapers so we headed to the wash area to clean her up. Good thing she didn’t resist otherwise, we could have put her back in the waters and she would end up really soaked.

After leaving the waters, we took a walk and headed to the coffeshops and only then did we realize how many coffeeshops there were on that area. And the ambience of the coffeeshops all looked appealing to us. We decided to go to the shop called “Bossa Nova”. We didn’t find a suitable seat so the waiter suggested that we transfer to their extension shop. I ordered for a cup of coffee and waffle while Dennis ordered for a Heineken ice spin which was served in a really huge glass. When I got my order, I was served chocolate cake instead but since the waitress didn’t speak English, I just took it, Jade enjoyed it anyway. But when I saw the waiter, I told him I got chocolate cake instead of waffle and he insisted he asked for waffle. He checked on the receipt and realized chocolate cake is on the list so he offered to still get me a waffle and would just leave the chocolate cake for free.

It was already dark when we got out of the shop and we had to walk for 10-15minutes to get to the nearest bus stop. We all ended up happy from our Saturday’s family outing. More of our pictures can be found here.

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The new pajama set and an attempted baby powder modelling pictorial huh!

As I am still cross-posting between multiply and blogger, I thought of posting this entry as a blog instead of simply posting the photos in the album so my blogger friends can also see it.I'll just link the picture set to my multiply album. Yeah!

On the night of September 13, Jade dressed up for the night using the new pajama set that her Tita Lai, 1st babysitter, gave her when we met then in Riiz's birthday party a day earlier. With excitement, I hand-washed it right away so Jade can use it the following night. It fitted her well but with the belly exposed if the pants is not pulled up to cover it. She looks pretty cute on it anyway.

After dressing up, the usual me took the camera and started to shoot her. After several shoots, she picked up the baby powder I left in the bed and started to imitate the way I & her Tita Rosie, present babysitter, applied the powder on her. With so much fun, she attempted to put powder on her neck, chest and yes, even on her head. Hahaha. I took a shot of every actions she did and it appeared that she had her own baby powder modelling pictorial session. Hhmmmnnn, could she be a potential model?

Here are my favorite shoots while more can be seen in my photo album. Please click here.

powdering her neck

not sure if she's to apply it on her neck this time

wanting to put powder on her head as well

serious attempt to put powder in her chest, down the pajama tops

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Taga Baguio ka isu?

When I saw the forwarded email entitled "Taga Baguio ka isu? "sent by one of my dear friends, I thought it's similar to what I have received some time ago with the same tone of title. But when I opened it, I figured it's different from the other email, which I think got into many people's inboxes. So is with this email chain. I found it funny and yeah, some true which I can relate to. There are very few that I amazingly wasn't aware of but then, hey, I am from the highlands anyway.

Then I thought, shouldn't the title be "Igorot ka isu?"? What do you think?

BTW, the latest list I got had a name on the end so I will not omit it and I don't claim the list to be written by me anyway.

Sorry folks, I don't have anything new in mind to add in the list, still, I claim that I am an Igorot - proud to be one.

And so the list begins...
1. Taga-Baguio laeng iti makaammu iti original nga kulay ti pader iti Maharlika ken marbay....nu dayu, kuna da nga napinturan iti nalabbaga....hehehe
handa ammu ma-ma gayam...
2.Paboritong expression "WEN YA!!!"
3.Mahilig iti POLO nga stripes and checkered (long sleeve pay) uray aglingling-it ket madi da nga ikkaten...
4.Uray pangkis iti medyas...ayos latta
5.Haan ka nga taga- Baguio nu haan mu nga ammu diay infamous nga "NOVA LODGE".
6. Haan ka nga taga-Baguio nu haan mu nga ammu nga adda iti outbreak...
7. Wash and wear style
8. Naangseg iti Burnham...kasatnu pagisbuan iti nababartek.. ..nu malpas ket pag-iddaan pay iti turista..hehehe
9. Hindi ka taga-Baguio kung nawala cellphone mo...
10. Lastly, sa mga taga Baguio na hindi pa nakakaalam na ang session road ay napalitan na ng pangalan, ang bagong pangalan ay "Muslim road"

Nilaok iti listaan…
11.haan ka nga tigadtoy nu han mu nga malagip ti "labus angels" or " Labo's angels" idyaaaay pinagtakderan iti concrete x-mas tree idyay session
12.basta naka "LEATHER JACKET, FRIENDS FOREVER!" ya!
13. Nu malpas ti shot ket awan ti pagtaxi ibaga da intayo ag ghost hunting .. gayam magmagna agawid...
14. awanin ti session theatre! santo haan nga inaldaw ti panag digus.. nyahaha! naglammin
gamin!
15. Taga Baguio ka nu nabilib ka ket ibagam nga "ay-yu ya! dayta ah!! gemays!!!" hehe..
16. nu mangmangan ka strawberries. ....haan ka taga ditoy.. ta haan mo ammu nagtubuan na ken ayna nangalaan da ti pinag-sibug da ijay.. wehehehe..-BALILI CREEK TOINKS TOINKS
17. han ka taga baguio nu han mu ammu ti BATAWA nyahahahahaha. Intako mandance-dance id sidi ya!!!!! –IJAY DANCE FLOOR PAYLANG KET NATENG TI TOPIC YO ENYA HEHEE
18. han ka nga taga baguio nu han mu ammu iti tawag da idyay ayan ti SM tatta... hehehe...
intako agkibin- kibin idyay nasipnget nga parti...
19. han ka nga taga baguio nu han mu ammu nga kadwan dagiti jeep nga apan trinidad ken apan jay north nga ada terminal o nu sardengen tuy baguio ket COUNTRY, ken ti no.1 bars ditoy ket jay bokawkan han nga ijay legarda. ken ti no.1 FM station ditoy baguio ket 99.9
20. Kaaduan nga tga baguio ket chow da ti dogie.. intako man chow ed comiles..hheehehe..naimas den pulutan da isdi..
21. Paboritong expression "WEN YA!!!".."AW ADI"..Y NAS D"
22. Han ka nga tga baguio ni han mu ammu jay TAM-AWAN village.. balay t tam-awan
u..hehehe
23. han ka nga taga-baguio nu sobra ka nga ag-ayat ti artista... uray samet agpapansin ti artista ditoy ket deadma da latta...
24. han ka ngataga baguio nu han mo ammo daytoy....URAY BUTBOT PANTALON KO BASTA LEVI'S...
25. han ka nga taga baguio nu han mo amu nga j dati nganagtatakderan j centermall ita ket dati nga 'burn area'..
26. t taga baguio kaaduwan nga nagapwan ti taraki nga badu da ket wag- wag nga selection.
27. hAn ka nga taga Baguio no ti amum ket kayo ti pagbungaan ti Sayote..
28.han ka nga taga Baguio nu apan ka diyay Burnham tapno agpapicture dagidyay photographers idyay...gusto mong magpakuha? may digicam na ngayon uy!
29. han ka nga taga Baguio nu madim amo ti usar na ti side A ken side B ti underwear. ayu ket nagbagyo garud!
30.han ka nga taga Baguio nu agpara ka ket ibagam "ma, dyan lang sa tabi". weirdo
ket apay inam data driver?
31. han ka nga taga Baguio nu naka shorts ka ken nagpuskol ti jacket mo ken nakabonnet ka iti BAGUIO CITY. ayu data a!
32.han kan nga taga Baguio nu ibagam nga "kawawa naman" iti pinikpikan nga manok. naimas ti sabaw nga kadwa iti shot! hwahahaha...kawawa nga?!!!
33.haan ka tga baguio nu madim amu nga ti number 1 nga in-inumin ti aartek ditoy ket gin latta ah ken 4 by 4 pay laeng..inggana maibusan..santu sigarilyo ket hope nu saan ket winston..haan kadi? Hahahha
(i did it right?? heyah... yuhooooo!!!) –
han ka nga taga baguio nu han mo nga i-repost daytoy tapos han mu pay manayunan..

Hennie D. Chan


P.S. I had it not just reposted as an email but posted it in my blog. Though I didn't add anything in the list, I'd say "Wen Manong, taga Baguio ak mangu ya! Haan lang ah nga taga Baguio, I-Tubday ak ketdi ah wesh ngantoy et mangu!"

:)

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Accidental long weekend

What a way to start my week... Monday sickness hit me. I still had a hang-over from our Saturday's outing. Both my mind and body were not willing to get out of bed. The alarm was set at 7:00am but when it rang in the morning, I just pressed the snooze button until after 3 rings, I called on Dennis to wake up and told him I'll take a half day off. I really thought of going to work after lunch but realizing that it was already 9:30am when I totally woke up, I eventually decided to file for a leave. I really had body pains anyway although part of the reason is plain laziness. For one, I have nothing to look forward to at work, because I really don't think there is something for me to do on a Monday except to attend a long dragging project review meeting for 2 hours in the afternoon. Bad me, I should be guilty for getting paid by doing nothing...

Anyway, Jade woke up few minutes after I got off from bed to attend to her nanny's phone call. I served her breakfast at 10am and called back Ate Rosie to tell her I'll bring Jade down before lunch. I decided to leave her for a while for me to get some rest and have time to tidy up the house. We went down past 11am and when I left her, she may have thought it's still a weekend so she hesitated to stay with her Tita. To calm her, I asked Ate Rosie to give her a bath so I headed back while they were on their way to the bath. I borrowed the vacuum cleaner for ease of cleaning.

It was my first time to use a vacuum cleaner and I had fun :) I had to maximize my time with Jade on the other house. After vacuuming the house, I washed the shoes Jade has grown up. There were 4 pairs this time and are about to be added in the “hand me down” collection. I felt my stomach churn, I checked my watch, twas already almost 2pm and I didn't have lunch yet. I just got back to the washing sink when the phone rang. Ate Rosie called to check if I already had lunch, told her I'll have it later. There's still the left over nilagang baboy in the ref. Ate asked if I liked tinola for lunch, I initially turned it down but when she said she added papaya and topped it with ampalaya leaves, I eventually said yes noting that I could dip the dish in chili sauce. She asked me to bring rice as what she has may not be enough. I took a quick bath after finishing the shoes and rushed down with my legs starting to shake because of hunger. She heated the dish for me while I prepared the sili. Jade was already asleep so we stayed in the sala with me seated on a small stool. Since Ate already had her lunch, the remaining tinola was all for me which I consumed with all delight. The native blood in me led to one foot folded up in the stool as a sign of dish enjoyment. The rest of the day was spent in 'te Rosie's house.

While I was putting Jade to sleep that night, the phone rang. It was ate who called to tell us that the government has announced Tuesday to be a non-working day because typhoon Wipha will be at its peak in Taiwan's northern counties that day. Whoa, another day spared from work! I still had to set my alarm at 7am as I need to prepare my daughter's breakfast.

Today, I snoozed the alarm once only otherwise, Jade's going to end up with commercial breakfast which we avoid as much as possible. Bottled meals are just for the weekend travels if home-cooked porridge is not available. The wind was really strong. It must have been cold but since we can't open our windows, we had to turn the air conditioning on as we already see Jade perspiring as usual. We just stayed home working on some food to eat and playing with Jade. She had her mommy syndrome again even when I was only at the kitchen preparing juice while they were on the room. I had to keep her away otherwise she will insist being carried while I work. She cried aloud trying to peep down our bedroom door's opening looking for me. I decided to leave her with Dennis in the afternoon so they could also have their own time to bond because if I am around, she always cling to me. I called Ate Rosie and asked if I can stay in her place for a while. After giving her lunch, I left them. I heard her cry while I headed for the elevator. It is better for her to see me leave the house so she would stop looking for me than escape without saying goodbye to her as she would end up crying the whole time thinking I am somewhere hiding. Down at Ate's house, I attempted to write down my day's blog entry while she watches TV but we eventually ended up exchanging stories. We had coffee at 4:45pm. I checked on the father-daughter tandem and was glad to know they were ok. She didn't look for me. They were dancing when I called. I should have headed back upstairs at 5pm but then the usual tsika extensions happened again which made me reach home 10 minutes before 6pm. Back here, I was told Jade had a bottle of milk, ate 2 packs of rice crackers and consumed the banana shake I made before I left. Whew, her stomach was really big so dinner was served at 7pm some minutes past after we took a shower together. She happily consumed her meal while watching Teletubies from time to time. While I was again preparing our calamansi-honey juice, she started to whine and insisted to be carried as usual. Dennis had to place her so near to me watching what I was doing. At 7:30pm, she started to show she's sleepy but noting that it's still quite early, I delayed putting her to sleep for 30minutes. She eventually dozed of a little past 8pm after she consumed another bottle of milk. Obviously, I ended up in the computer for this while hubby is watching a movie in a certain cable channel. Later, I'll drink a cup of juice or milk whatever is preferable and set the alarm at 7am once again. Tomorrow, I will have to get back to the usual working environment. Ah, 3 days workweek is nice. I look forward to the coming weekends that is another 4-day weekend due to the moon festival festivities. We'll be reporting for working on the next Saturday though. Anyhow, it would still be a long weekend.

Ta-ta!

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Sweet 16

Jade turned 16 months old around 2 weeks ago. She's now officially in her 2nd quarter of toddler-hood. We regularly check our book "What To Expect the Toddler Years" or the web to see if the changes that take place monthly aligns with the expected milestones in a particular stage of her toddler development. In some cases, we either find stuffs she can do that are not listed or stuffs listed but she is not able to exhibit yet. But then, we do keep in mind that different toddlers have distinct development patterns. Even authors note in their articles that every child is unique; each develops at his/her own pace and since few children are perfectly average or typical, comparison is not very useful. Authors also say to parents not to worry should they see that their child's development seems to be lagging as they can catch up later with great leaps. Should parents worry, they are advised to consult a doctor if they want to have the child's development evaluated.

For us, checking the book serves as our way of cross checking and making sure that Jade's development is normal. I have noted from our book and from some websites that monthly milestones or simply stated as "what your toddler may be doing now" are separated into three groups such as "should be able to", "will probably be able to" and "may possibly be able to". I have gathered some excerpts from different websites talking about the 16th month development of a toddler and will put some comments.

Here's from www.thenewparentsguide.com

Most toddlers should be able to . . .

Turn pages of a book when you read (she does it quickly to get to her preferred pages)

Gets attached to stuffed animal or other object (she has a very simple baby doll we named Aine, an Irish name pronounced as On-ya that she hugs and sleeps with)

Walk well (she does, she runs well too)

Sing and like to sing (she sings randomly – lately we hear her sing adididi-adododo)

Get upset when frustrated (she even throws things and kicks out of frustration)

Some toddlers will probably be able to . . .

Walk backwards (she does, she also walks without looking at her path)

Start to climb and explore (we use the elevator to get to our apartment, only when we go to the grocery that she gets the chance to climb the stairs)

Help around the house (this is one thing I somehow enjoy because I can ask her to fix her toys, pick up stuffs from certain locations around the house, fix her bottle or cup on the table and do some other great things as long as she understands what we're asking her to do. She is now able to give me some hand.)

Say up to 10 or 15 words (let me check later how many words she knows already, I think it's more than 15)

Some toddlers could possibly be able to . . .

Become picky about certain foods (good thing she's not picky yet)

Take off an article of clothing without help (not yet)

Separation anxiety lessens (it's opposite in her case, her separation anxiety especially from mommy is at its peak now. I actually call it her mommy syndrome. )

Dance to music (she gladly does)

Trot and prance around (since she learned how to run, she somewhat forgot how to walk :)

And here's from www.babycenter.com

Your 16-month-old's physical development: Grand ambitions

Your toddler is still likely to explore her surroundings the way she has for the last few months — grabbing random objects, inspecting them closely, putting them to her mouth, banging them on the floor. But you'll also notice that she likes to challenge her physical limits. She knows she can walk, so she wants to try to carry a heavy load, like a box of blocks, while she's at it. She's confident that she can climb up onto the sofa, so she'll want to push a chair to the kitchen counter to climb higher and investigate what's up on the counter tops.

Other developments: Stacking and drawing

Your 16-month-old is becoming more adept at using her hands and fingers. She may be able to stack two or three blocks into a tower, and will delight in immediately knocking it down. When you read books, she'll insist on turning the pages for you, and by now may be capable of turning one or two pages at a time instead of simply flipping from front to back. If you hand her a crayon, she'll know exactly what to do with it, but will probably scribble on anything that's in front of her — books, furniture, and walls included — so "coloring" is an activity that you'll probably want to monitor closely. She may even be able to insert a round block into the proper hole on a board with various shapes.

( I didn't introduce crayons to Jade yet, maybe soon. On inserting blocks properly, Jade is able to do that in her shapes and colors sorting toy.)

Your 16-month-owl's social and emotional development: The toddler connection

Even at this young age, your toddler is learning that he is rewarded with positive attention — hugs, laughter, praise — when he behaves in ways that people around him think are "right," and that he is punished or ignored when his behavior is "wrong."

The social interactions you're most likely to witness now are basic — waving, smiling, playing peekaboo, and following simple instructions — but these are all first steps in establishing his personal social style that are learned through imitation. A 16-month-old is also able to initiate displays of affection and he'll give back what he receives. If you show affection with hugs and kisses, he will likely, too.

(Even when Jade was still less than one year old, we always clap our hands everytime she successfully does things like being able to say a word or finish her meal. She got that from us that until now, she initiates it by herself. Now, we also give her a kiss and a hug if she does “bigger” things. She also does that to us in return.

On the other hand, her social aspect I think is on the right track :) We are thankful that she gets the opportunity to play with kids within our compound. Moreover, she shares the same nanny with a 4-month younger toddler whom she gets to play with during the day.)

Other developments: Developing self-awareness

A newborn isn't able to differentiate between himself and his mother or between himself and any object he sees. Tasting, touching, smelling, and hearing what's in the world around him are ultimately what help him understand that he is a separate being. At about 16 months, your toddler understands that he is his own person, but that he can use you as an extension of himself.

At this stage, your toddler knows he is powerful and he is the center of his world. He uses your attention and amazement and appreciation of his accomplishments to attempt even more. He wants to succeed at everything he tries, though he often won't.

( One funny thing about Jade is when we ask her who the baby in the picture is, she just says baby. Or when we ask her where the baby is, she will point at the her framed baby picture. She has no clear awareness yet that the baby and she are one and the same.)

There are stuffs that Jade can exhibit other than those listed in the book. I attempted to write it all but decided to stop, I might as well do it some other time. From all I read, I know Jade that is in a normal pace and her development is just right on track.

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Two years + in blogging

I realized I've been posting several journals online for more than 2 years now. I officially started blogging on May of 2005. That was when I belonged to the jobless world and trying to work on getting a dependent visa for me to be able to be with Dennis in Taiwan. We moved to a new apartment and applied for an internet connection to have something to keep me busy while I stay home. I wasn't granted the desired visa but luckily one of the pinoys working in the project management department decided to pursue a better career somewhere so I eventually got a working visa on September that year but I was able to get back to Taiwan with a tourist visa on August. Since I didn't have a continuous internet access, blogging was set aside until after I was back to Taiwan. I made several attempts to improve my web blog but accidentally ended up with a lost one for reasons I was not able to figure out. Maybe the Chinese characters I selected meant "delete this blog". There were only few entries then but it would have been nice to have kept them til now. Anyway, I had to start all over again.

It's nice to revisit those that I have recorded earlier as they are able bring back memories of the happier days or any particular emotion that were apparent those journals were written. I really don't know til when this will go on but as far as I am concerned, I'll just keep on going. BTW, even if I moved to multiply, I still maintain my blogger site, my original web abode.

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Office rant 2...

The following phone conversation is based on a real scenario though the lines are modified so as not to disclose "confidential" information. It took place this morning. I was the one who initiated the call.

me: Hi (girl), did you see my email? Could you please get back to me on the information I asked?

girl: I can't find it.

me: Shouldn't you have a system where you can track it from?

girl: yes we do but i can't find it

me: but (boy) said he already generated it some time ago (around one month ago I think)

girl: let me ask from him. here he is now. i'll pass the phone

me: how come girl can't find the info in the system. you told the team you have already generated it.

boy: i can't find it either.

me: how come?

boy: let me check. i am opening my system now. (pause) i don't think i generated it.

me: what? why? didn't you tell us before you have it already

boy: yes, but i think i made a mistake on that

me: huh!

boy: i also checked from (another boy) and he told me he didn't receive it yet

me: huh! (eyebrows raised) (pause).. hey boy, how come you're telling me this now? we had daily meetings and you confirmed you already provided the info. we even argued with the other boy telling him you confirmed. because you did confidently confirmed back to us several times (strong emphasis on "confidently confirmed")

boy: i think i got things mixed up (or something like that)

me: what??? (again...) hei, didn't you know that we had daily meetings because of you. do you mean you were lying to us the whole time???

boy: perhaps you can say that!

me: (very very surprised, disappointed, almost disoriented already as in duh!)...whoa! so you admit all these time you have lied to us? .....

boy: (i forgot what he said this time because I got disoriented by his earlier response )

me: what's wrong with you? how many times have you told us lies? (pause)

(long pause)

me: I will emphasize to you, you have lied to us. ( I really don't want to believe what I heard earlier again)... ( I had to calm down) ok, just give me what I need and I need it now. (deep sigh... phone down...no bye bye or thanks (what should I thank him for anyway, for his lies???)

minutes later, my colleague/friend reacted. " I thought you were talking the the other department because of this reason but when I heard you mention the name of the boy, I knew what it was. You sounded like a mother... (bwahahahahaha)

I shed some tears because of my great disappointment from that phone conversation. Could you imagine working with somebody who after all, is eventually telling you lies? I shouldn't be more surprise that he's done a lot of lies to his external contacts...pish na ketdi.

I got another call this afternoon, not from the "boy" but from somebody the boy approached looking for some reports. He asked me for some information (not related to the conversation). I just told him "let the boy figure out by himself" and whispered "he's a liar".

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Getting into photography?

Some of my friends have joined the world of photography as hobbyist.Most of them use the DSLR cameras. Seeing their improving pieces has somehow enhanced my interest in taking further steps in this field. I am not sure if I could even consider myself an amateur but I really don't care. For some time now, I've been trying to explore our compact digicam Canon IXUS 850 IS. There are few photos that turned out amazingly good.

Yesterday, I sent one of my friends a picture of my daughter I took during one of our weekend's outing. Her feedback was it was nice capture and has a good background. Hmmnn, that gave me some form of encouragement to share some of the pictures I took on our family outing in Sanzhi beach side last Sept. 1. It was our 2nd time to visit there. First visit pictures can be found in this photo album. Two attempted attractive pictures can also be found here and here.

These first four images are that of the "happier" tones.

The Beachside...

Beach volleyball...

Coming and going...

Basking ...

While the last images are of the "otherwise" tone

Lull...

Blue...

Fishing...

These last two images are my favorites..

Kiss...

SKY...

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Rant...

My colleague (& friend) seated right beside me sent me an email before 3PM today. It contains the following lines...

Why (other colleague's name disclosed) always wears lots of clothes in Summer time then turn the air con to that low temperature……………….Don’t understand……..

I can't help but burst into laughter. We had this concern for some time now. We take turns in changing our office room's air-conditioning setting that my friend even directed the pane right towards the other girl and had the fan setting increased instead of decreasing the temperature. Summer's over now but it is still warm in here so we still get to wear our summer clothes but because of the other girl's doing, we have to wear our jackets from time to time.

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Page 102

I have another blog here.

Sorry, I the link posted earlier is wrong.

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Of cravings, pasta, passion and quick preparation...

Recently, I have regular cravings for a taste just like this. I guess mine is more of a penchant for the combination of olive oil, butter, herbs (or Italian spices) and parmesan cheese. My passion for cooking has made me come up with two variations from the chicken-shrimp pasta that was served first. The second one was added with salmon and instead of using butter when I sauteed the ingredients, cheese was used. My third variation was served last night. I went to town and decided earlier that my husband and I take care of our own dinner - he would buy on the nearby store in our apartment compound while I choose where to eat in town. The choices I had include McDonalds, Yoshinoya, Moss Burger and Kohikan - all of which are fastfood chains. I was not really hungry and thinking of the choices mentioned didn't boost my appetite anyway. Then came the urge for "that" taste. I thought my daughter could have finished her dinner already by the time I arrived home so she could have settled by then and not be catching my attention while I cook, and Dennis is there anyway. When I got into the bus bounded for home, I called him and asked him to cook the pasta so when I get there, I would only be cooking the rest of the ingredients.

I dropped by the grocery, passed by the vegetable section first and thought adding brocolli would be nice so I grabbed one, headed to the meat section and picked up a packaged boneless chicken. I also grabbed a bottle of orange juice on my way to the counter. That's all I got from the grocery. I checked on Jade for few minutes and without even changing clothes, I started to quickly prepare the stuffs I needed - diced onions, (I left out the garlic this time but I used the powdered one instead), diced chicken, sliced brocolli and... tadah... I started the cooking. In a span of 30 minutes, the dish is ready to be eaten. I forgot to mention that the pasta was timely cooked when I got home so all I did was to drain it and coat it with the butter that I intentionally mixed in the saute for quicker preparation. I guess it was the quickest pasta preparation I ever did. The result was great. Adding the brocolli made it even better. I had a second serving at 10PM as I needed to put our daughter to sleep right after I ate my first platter. Moreover, we had a packed pasta for breakfast at work.

The following are photos from my second variation - chicken, shrimp and salmon.

the buttered pasta

the concoction

the mixed concoction and pasta

the dish - served and ready to eat

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TGIF's unplanned date with a “long lost” friend

One of the things I look forward to during the weekdays is for the bell to ring at 5:40PM. Since I am not too busy at work, I always yearn to get out of the office as soon as possible. If only I can get paid from not coming to the office… Anyway, to me, Friday is always a day to look forward to – I don’t really have to tell the reason, do I?

Yesterday, 20 minutes before the bell rings, hubby came to my desk with the phone on his hand on a notion to pass it to me. I asked who’s on the line and he told me he doesn’t know. I was like huh, you’re talking to somebody you don’t know and now you’re passing the phone to me???
I got the phone and said “hello”. The person on the other line replied and in turn, I responded with one of my longest “hi’s” ever. The voice was so familiar to me and I started to post the caller questions such as “where are you?”, “how are you?”, “what happened to you?” and “why did you only call me now?”. These were followed by “I am so happy you called!”, “Ive been looking for you.”, “I’ve been trying to reach you since I got back here.” and a lot more exchanges followed.

I met her in my workplace 4months ago, the 1st time was during her interview. I was tasked to screen her fluency in English. We had a very light conversation which turned out to be exchanges of our personal experiences. I know I like her already and wished she’ll be taken for that position. She is older than me, by how many years, I really don’t know. It made me happy to hear that she got hired. For one reason, I will have somebody to share my work loads with. As I was to take a two months vacation then, she was asked to be with me as she would be taking over most of my projects. Aside from the conversations we had when I gave her trainings, we did have our chat times in the coffeeshop and in our work tables. I always tell her how I hope she will still be in the company when I get back from my break. She just gave me smiles and a “let’s see” expression. Anyway, I knew that we would jive well.

Not even a month passed when she told me a bad news that her mom met an accident and she needs to go home to their province to attend to her mother. Her initial decision was to quit from work as she expected that she needs to spend long time with her mom since her siblings were out of country and she’s the only one left here. It saddened me to hear the news. But then, her boss offered to grant her a 2 months vacation similar to what I planned to take. She tried to turn it down (I felt she has other plans already) but the boss insisted so she gave it some consideration. I asked her to contact me once she gets home and that I made her promise that I will still see her when I get back since her turn to return to office is a month earlier than me. On the other hand, I also told her that even when she decides not to come back, we would still keep in touch.

During my vacation, I eventually found out that she decided not to come back to work anymore. I got sad of course but knowing that I could still contact her made things better. We came back to Taiwan mid-June and one of the first things I did was to call her. The phone kept on ringing but nobody picked it up. I sent a text message but received no reply. I thought she might be busy tending to her mom so I’d give her another call later. I did call her again few days after my first attempt but this time, it was a voice message that answered. I didn’t leave any message instead I sent another text message. I waited but received no response. Days and weeks passed – nothing from her. I asked one of the HR personnels in the office if she knew why she didn’t come back but the girl didn’t know anything. She told me she could be travelling abroad. Ah, yes, maybe, I thought. Last month, I tried to call her number again but still no luck. I gave up and thought she might have gone to another country already. Not until I received that call did I found out that she lost her phone several months ago… and that’s why she became unreachable.
She eventually realized she got my calling card – only on the day she called.

Since we have a weekend appointment, I told her we’ll meet her the following weekend or weekdays but she told me she’s scheduled for a business trip on Wednesday so I told her that we could meet on Monday. But then she told me right there and then to why not meet today instead. Impromptu, we had a TGIF date. I had to bring my family so we went hope to fetch our daughter first and headed to meet her in the MRT station.

We exchange stories like we haven’t seen each other for ages; we had to walk to the restaurant so we took the chance to talk on our way. And still we had spent more more than 2 hours dining and telling our own stories. Oh how really glad I am to have seen and talk to her. Eventually, we can keep the ball rolling.

Reunited ...

That's Tita Irene, Jade

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First Christmas Tune

I played our first Christmas tune at home today. We only have two christmas CD's at home and I opted to play the medley. It feels good to hear them. Jade as usual dance with the music.

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Early morning nerve shaking experience

I woke up this early morning because I felt something different. It was neither my daughter moving nor my husband changing his sleeping position; it was the bed and the door moving. I turned to my daughter’s side, wrapped her with my arms and moved her to the center of the bed. I had to shake my hubby to wake him up (imagine how worried I am already but he was still in a deep sleep huh!). The door was still moving. He looked at me and asked why. I cried in panic “lumilindol, di mo ba nararamdaman!” He turned towards Jade still in a deep sleep and uttered “oo nga!” We lay still hugging each other with our arms wrapped around our precious Jade. I looked around and felt another movement and the door produced a slight banging sound again. Dennis tried to calm me by saying it is ok but for me nothing is ok. My earthquake experience has left caused me a deep trauma that even a slight ground shake will make me cry. Questions like what to do, where to go, what’s next, how to deal with this if it wouldn’t stop, and all things like that ran into my panicked mind. I don’t even remember if I asked for God’s protection. Then after a couple of minutes that seemed like an hour to me, our surroundings calmed down. I didn’t move, I continued to look around hoping that the ground has really calmed. It did! The next thing I heard is “it’s really ok now, go back to sleep.” I looked at my watch, saw time is a little past 2, slowly turned Jade back into her “territory” and continued to hug her while I stared at the curtains and eventually I got back to sleep.

One of the first things I did in office this morning was to check the news and figured out that the earthquake’s magnitude is 6.6 and it took place at 1:52AM. It was followed by another with a magnitude of 5.7 at 1:55AM. The epicenter is in Hualien City found in the middle part of Taiwan. We are in Taipei, northern part of Taiwan and we felt the earth moved significantly. It must really be a strong one. My colleague arrived, asked me if I felt the quake and told me it’s the 3^rd strongest quake after the 1999 killer quake that hit Taiwan. We are very glad the earth didn’t shake any harder.

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Tips for Insomniacs

For those who are experiencing sleep disorders like me, here’s a forwarded article I’d like to share you. This is a published one from Philstar.

Little-known solutions to sleep problems
MIND YOUR BODY By Willie T. Ong, MD
Tuesday, September 4, 2007

I have difficulty falling asleep. When I’m stressed, I can’t seem to keep my mind from thinking about things that happened in the day. What should I do? — James from Iloilo City

Yes, James, many people can’t sleep. There have been countless articles and books on the topic, and I don’t want to repeat them. So I’m listing 17 lesser-known sleep aids, plus I’ll reiterate a few you already know about.

Tips You’ve Heard Of

These conventional tips come from Dr. Helena Schotland, a specialist in sleep medicine:

• Maintain a regular sleep/wake schedule. Go to bed at the same time each night.

• Maintain a healthy diet.

• Have a regular exercise schedule

• Avoid or minimize the use of caffeine, especially in the afternoon.

• Avoid alcohol, which may help you doze off but increases early morning awakenings.

• Avoid smoking.

These tips are effective but not for hardened insomniacs out there.

Tips You May Not Have Heard Of

Sleep is a natural physiological process, but it can also be a learned behavior. Thus, you can train yourself to sleep better by trying a few of these sleep aids.

• No mental work after 6 p.m. If you find yourself rummaging the day’s garbage and stressed at night, then avoid any heated meetings, excitable conversations, and long-term planning at night.

• Turn off your mind. Now, this differs for every person. Some individuals watch TV to relax their minds. Some exercise. Others play with their kids. Some read entertainment magazines or comics. Whatever relaxes you, just do it.

• Turn around the clocks. Lessen the pressure of sleeping by not looking at or knowing the time. Replace noisy clocks or those that say cuckoo every 30 minutes. You don’t want to get reminded that you aren’t sleeping yet.

• Don’t schedule an early morning meeting. Knowing and anticipating an early meeting can make it hard for you to sleep. That’s called anticipation anxiety and it’s normal behavior.

• Make your bedroom a sleep haven. Is the neighbor’s dog too noisy? Can you hear the irritated bus driver blow his horn? Does the sunlight wake you up at 5 a.m.? Try to correct these “sleep botherers” by placing a darker curtain, installing air-conditioning, and making your room more soundproof.

• Invest in a good mattress and comfortable pillows and blankets. Buy adjuncts like a mosquito net, earplugs, eye pads, and a quiet electric fan — let it swing and not blow on you steadily.

• Your bedroom is for sleep and sex only. According to Dr. Christine Rhea S. Igna, your bedroom is not the place where you think of your plans, your problems and unpaid bills. When you go to sleep, try not to anticipate your future events. Deliberately put them on hold.

• Take a light snack or warm drink one to two hours before bedtime. Chamomile tea is an effective relaxation drink. It calms the bowels and smells wonderful, too. For some people, milk and cookies, hot soup or a banana helps them sleep. Bananas have tryptophan, and carbohydrates induce the brain to produce serotonin. Both are sleep inducers. And you can’t sleep if you’re hungry.

• Try supplements. According to infectious disease specialist Dr. Rebecca Castillo, melatonin can not only induce sleep but also boost the immune system with its antioxidant properties. Start with melatonin 500mg at night, then slowly increase to two grams if still not effective. Vitamin B complex (so called “stress tablets”) helps you sleep, too. Studies also show that the herb valerian can enhance sleep, just like Valium. But don’t take them all at the same time. Just try which one works for you.

• Use sleeping pills only occasionally. According to Dr. Lemual Tocjayao, internist and alternative medicine specialist, sleeping pills are habit-forming and addicting. And their effect wears off if you take them daily. Try natural methods first and just use them as a safety net.

• Make your body tired. As the Bible says, the sleep of a laborer is sweet, but the rich man tosses and turns at night. I find that I sleep better when I’ve done a lot of manual work during the day (not mental work). When your body is physically tired, you’ll fall asleep sooner. Resist napping in the afternoon because it will decrease your nighttime sleep.

• Meditation, relaxation, soft music, massage and a warm bath. That sounds so great, but the problem is getting a free masseuse. For couples, try to alternately massage each other — foot massage, neck massage and back massage.

• Try sex at bedtime. According to studies, sex is a great stress reliever and sleep inducer… in men. Women, however, get irritated when guys have sex and just doze off. For some women, sex makes their minds more alert. Again, see what works for you.

• Just lie down. When all else fails, just lie down and do nothing. You can think of something unimportant and trivial. For me, two hours of lying down is equivalent to one hour of sleep. Your body muscles will still be relaxed.

• Count blessings, not sheep. Inspirational guru Norman Vincent Peale advises those who can’t sleep to pray for everyone they know. I’ve followed his tip and it’s very effective and relaxing, too. When I’m all excited and can’t sleep, I just use the time to pray for others and to ask God to send them good tidings. Start with your immediate family, your friends, your acquaintances. Leave the politicians for last lest you wake up sweating.

• Pray the rosary. An alternative to praying for others is to mentally pray the rosary. I usually doze off by the third decade. And if I finish the whole rosary, then I just start all over again.

• Give your problems to God. Offer your insomnia to Him. A man prayed as follows every night: “Lord, we’ve had a good day today, I’ve had some tough decisions, but I know that you are with me. I will sleep now, but I know you’ll be there to protect me and my loved ones. I leave all my worries and concerns to you, Lord. And when I wake up tomorrow refreshed and ready, I’ll be able to do your work for me, Lord. Amen.”

Now, are you ready for sleep? Sleep is relaxing and heavenly. Sleep will come when it comes. Just try these little tips and see your sleep improve. Good night!

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