Honey Time!
Aljude and I spent some time together today. We went out for a movie date. We ate at Bigby’s at Megamall’s Atrium and watched Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. I loved the movie! I love the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen. The White Queen was also quite hilarious in her airy, flaky way. It’s actually not the same story as Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland, or rather it is, but it’s not exactly the same. I don’t want to ruin the story for anybody out there reading this entry, so you should just go and watch it.
I had lots of fun with my husband today. We just walked around, looked at computers and paintings, stopped once in a while for desserts… just like old times. A good ‘ole date. It’s funny because he waited for me to finish dressing up and then he picked a shirt and jeans that matches the color of mine. He has this thing about matching outfits, hahaha. He’s actually the only guy I know who consciously chooses matching outfits. It’s alright with me. It’s part of what makes him special.
What doesn’t kill you…
What a week this has been for me and my family. Recently I’ve been enjoying a renewed closeness with my kuya (eldest brother) and his family, and it’s really a great thing that the relationship has been restored. My kuya and his family is just going through a few difficulties regarding finances and I can say that my husband and I are no strangers to this kind of situation. We’ve had lots of financial difficulties before, especially when we were just newlyweds.
All I can say is that when difficulties like these present themselves to your life, it tests the love between a husband and wife. It puts a lot of pressure on people because the bills just don’t stop coming. The rent has to be paid. Meralco, phone bills, cable, water, food… When you take out all the unnecessary things, there’s still a lot of things left to be paid. Ang mahal mabuhay sa mundo.
By God’s grace and through the kindness of people who helped us through difficult times, we were able to survive it. Still, the lessons we learned from those times will probably stay with us forever. What I’m really happy about is that looking back during those times doesn’t leave a bad taste in our mouth. My husband and I didn’t go through ugly fights, emotional breakdowns, or anything like that. We made the most out of it while being thankful for what we had. If we had to share a small can of sardines between us for the entire day, we were thankful we had something to eat. If we had to walk all the way to somewhere instead of taking a jeepney, we were still thankful that we were fit enough to walk. If we had nowhere to go during weekends, we went out for a quiet walk together and enjoyed it. There was no bitterness or desperation, there was only close companionship.
We pray never to go through anything like that again, but in hindsight I realized that trials like these are very crucial to married couples. It could make or break you. It could draw you closer or pull you apart. It could bring out the best or the worst.
As I see my own brother go through their share of trials, my prayer goes with them. This could be a defining moment for their marriage, in the same way that Aljude and I have had our share of defining moments.
Winners of the Picture Flawless Campaign
Here are some photos of the winners and finalists of the Picture Flawless Campaign 2010 launched by Flawless (aesthetic beauty clinic). Julienne Arceno and Robert de Claro won a year-long endorsement contract, billboard ads and P800,000 each from Flawless (ooooh). First runners up were Aris Corrales and Doris Cheong followed by second runners up Rafael Nanquil and Abigael Arazo. Photos after the jump!
Birthday weekend!
Last Friday was ma’s 55th birthday. We all went home to celebrate her birthday with her yesterday. Kumpleto kami, with kuya’s family, my family, sevvy and mervi.
Kuya cooked caldereta, I cooked spaghetti and meatballs. We had lots of fun, I guess things are getting better at our household because family time are beginning to be more fun than stressful. Families aren’t perfect and our family had our share of conflicts, but things are getting better bit by bit.
I enjoyed getting to know my pamangkins, especially the girls. Gabe got to live with us for a while when he was a baby so we were able to enjoy his childhood with his parents. We’re just beginning to get to know the two girls and they’re a lot of fun to have around. They have very different temperaments. Makes me wonder what it would feel like to grow up with a sister.
Here’s Panda, one of the new puppies that Beauty and Milo had recently. He’s got a very sweet temperament and oh boy, he’s so fluffy! Except for the grey panda spots around his eyes, he kinda looks like how Milo looked like when he was a puppy.
Panda has one sister and two brothers. He’s so cute. 
I hope that he’ll grow up to be like Milo; big, fluffy, and sweet. My brother and I carried him inside the house to show around to the family. The kids love to pet his fur and giggle. Panda’s not running around yet, but I can’t wait to see how he will interact with the other dogs and cats at home.
After dinner, we had a videoke showdown. Kuya partnered with Jun, Jane partnered with Mama, and I partnered up with Mervi. It was a riot! Mervi and I planned our lineup well. We both didn’t have the capability for vocal gymnastics so we picked simple songs that were easy to reach (for our range).
In the end Mervi and I won. We’ll never let Sevvy forget that he lost this round of Videoke Showdown to Mervi and me. Hahahahaha.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA. (evil laugh)
Adik ka ba?
Last night I watched Kara David’s documentary about game addiction. “Adik Ka Ba” is quite disturbing. It shows several young people who were badly addicted to computer gaming. May isa don, pulubi siya, pulot-basura ang trabaho. At the end of the day he earns P80, spends P70 on internet games and P10 on food. The next day it’s the same vicious cycle. He plays Flyff and since he’s not doing drugs or anything like that, doesn’t see that there’s something wrong with what he’s occupying himself with every day. There’s a 14-year old boy who got involved with a gay lover just so he can get money to play computer games every day. There’s a young boy, I think he’s around 8 or 9 years old, also addicted to gaming. Nagpapa-ending siya araw-araw para may pang-computer. Kapag kumita siya ng P100, P50 dun mapupunta sa nanay niya, P50 ipang-lalaro niya ng computer.
There were two guys who spend 20 hours in the computer shop. One of them can’t even finish high school because he keeps flunking his junior year because of his absences. Another one dropped out of school, sells pirated DVDs on the streets just so he can have money for computer games.
This kind of addiction, just like any other addiction, is not going to be easy to battle with. It’s really disturbing that the parents don’t even know (or care about) what their children do to get money or where they spend their money and time on. Yun lang nasa isip ko habang nanunuod; nasaan ang mga magulang nitong mga batang ito. When left alone, children make really bad decisions. Nakakaawa sila kasi lumalaki na walang guidance. If a young boy learns how to run a gambling gig at a very early age, imagine how addicted he will be to gambling and computer games by the time he becomes a teenager.
It’s easy to say that they should realize this on their own and do something productive with their life, but addiction is a vicious cycle and it’s not that easy to get away from it.
If you want to watch the videos, here are the links to the YouTube uploads:
WHO AM I?
My name is Pao. This is my blog. There's not much to say aside from the things that are already in here. Feel free to look around and also visit my photo blog My Manila and my food blog Tastylicious while you're here.
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