First Sunday of Advent

Only 25 days till Christmas!

I know I have been posting Christmas carols from other countries since August.  Here is Payapang Daigdig from the home country (as Slash M calls the Philippines).

Pasko Na Naman, Noche Buena and Payapang Daigdig are creations of Felipe Padilla de Leon (01 May 1912 -- 05 December 1992). The song Payapang Daigdig (Peaceful World) was composed by Felipe Padilla De Leon. It is said that he had composed this a day after he witnessed the bombing of the city of Manila at the conclusion of the second world war.

This song can be considered as the Filipino counterpart of Silent Night.  

PAYAPANG DAIGDIG
by Felipe de Leon

Ang gabi’y payapa lahat ay tahimik
Pati mga tala sa bughaw na langit
Kay hinhin ng hangin, waring umiibig
Sa Kapayapaan ng buong daigdig.

Payapang panahon ay diwa ng buhay,
Biyaya ng Diyos sa sangka-tauhan
Ang gabi’y payapa lahat ay tahimik,
Pati mga tala sa bughaw na langit.

(Repeat 1st and 2nd verses).

(I feel bad that they P&G adapted the song for their Pampers commercial.  Now the younger generation thinks of diapers instead of Christmas when they hear this.)

Twilight

It is a love story with lots of twists. You have Edward... Bella... and Jacob ... love, of course, lots of love ... forbidden love... love between friends... love among family members... vampires... humans... werewolves...

I have read the book, thanks to GI.

Yes, I admit it. I read a book my teenage son borrowed from his classmate. How could I resist? First of all, the book belonged to GI's classmate, a fifteen year-old male. Secondly, GI actually borrowed this book and brought it home. GI bringing a book he wasn't mandated to read, home from school? Totally unheard of. Thirdly, GI reported that the book was being made into a movie. (He borrowed it some time in September, I think.) But the clincher was my (not-so) little boy, (more like) my young adult, READING a book approximately 2 inches thick. GI reading a 2" book? This book HAD to be interesting.

So I read Twilight before GI returned it to his classmate.  Being the hopeless romantic, I enjoyed the book.

(GI borrowed the 2nd book of the series from his classmate then we borrowed the 3rd and the 4th books from GI's cousin.)

The movie started showing in the Philippines last Thursday, November 27.  As expected, GI asked for permission to watch the movie this afternoon with his classmate. 

He said the movie was good even if it was kind of short and lacking in details that were found in the book. It's getting good reviews. 

I'll get to see the movie ... eventually.

From Pioneer Street

Hug Me!

Isn't it great to have a warm hug on a cold day?

Pet Peeve

I had dinner with former officemates two weeks ago. One of them mentioned his pet peeve -- people squeezing toothpaste tubes in the middle. Apparently, his son takes after his mother, and consistently squeezes the middle of the toothpaste tubes. (This of course, always gets his goat.)

I smiled because I know for a fact that Father shares this pet peeve. He and Mother have different ideas of the (more) proper way of squeezing toothpaste tubes. Father lived patiently with Mother deforming the aluminum toothpaste tubes. As we all know, his patience was not in vain. Plastic toothpaste tubes were eventually introduced to the market. He has often cited the new toothpaste tube as a good example of technology finding a solution to a (hard to solve) problem.

I take Father's side on this matter. I personally like my toothpaste tubes squeezed deliberately and methodically from the bottom.

24 Hours

We spent twenty-four hours at the Emergency Room of Makati Med. Can you believe it?

This picture was taken two months ago at the Makati Med lobby. RD is holding his arm since he was well enough to have to be given one of his immunization shots.

This was taken when we first went to the ER last Wednesday before noon. Obviously, he wasn't in the pink of health at this time.

We went home soon after this picture was taken. He had two nebulizations there.

Instructions were to nebulize every four hours for the next 24 hours. But after his 4PM nebulization, he was gasping for breath. MacGyver said it was time to bring him back to the ER.

He underwent several more nebulizations at the ER. When they contacted our pediatrician, the pedia gave instructions for RD to be confined.

Unfortunately, there were no rooms available at Makati Med, so here is RD, still "confined" at the Emergency Room. He was lucky he was able to get a bed.

Yes, by Thursday, he was feeling much better. We played cards to pass the time.

After 24 hours, they informed us that a room would be available for us. Of course it took 2 more hours to get the room ready. It was almost 11pm when we transferred to Room 825. (I've never spent that many hours in the Emergency Room. It is not an experience I'd like to have to go through ever again. ERs creep me out.)

Yesterday, we were informed that he needed to have an x-ray done to determine whether or not he has pneumonia.

The nurse parked RD's wheelchair while I sat down on one of the chairs on the other side of the corridor. I couldn't resist taking his picture by the sign. It said, "Do not leave your belongings unattended."

No, I did not leave my belonging unattended. In fact, I brought him back to his room.

He's stuck there for at least 24 hours more. (That means that I'm stuck there, too, when my midday pass expires.)

Puzzled -- Part 7

I almost forgot that we made this Pooh Bear puzzle. This was circa 2002.

(I know the pictures leave much to be desired. Unfortunately, this is one of those puzzles which we didn't have framed so these pictures are the only proof of its existence and completion.)

The Giving Tree

It was RD that first introduced me to the book, The Giving Tree. He had brought home a drawing from school when he was five.

Their teacher had read them the story of The Giving Tree at school and had asked them to make a drawing about the book. I was amused by his drawing which had the boy and the tree, and there was a heart drawn at the base of the tree. I tried to get the story out of him but one can only get so much from a preschooler.

The sketchy details he offered were enough to intrigue me. I decided to check the book our for myself.

The Giving Tree is a story that spans one person's lifetime. The boy found love and friendship where he least expected it. The love he'd found was a special kind of love. It was love that was freely given with nothing expected in exchange. It was selfless love.


The friendship between the boy and the tree was unique. And although the story revolves around the tree giving much to the boy, it was very apparent that the love and friendship between the two made such giving and receiving almost natural. And in the end, when the boy became an old man and there was nothing more than a stump left, the two were perfectly happy to be with each other.

A wonderful book for young and old alike. In its simplicity there is depth. Definitely a keeper.

SMVL

I'm on my scheduled mandatory vacation leave (SMVL) for two week. That's ten days of being away from the office. I had hoped to get some exercise and be able to clean the house (a bit more than usual). The couple of minutes I spent at the treadmill during one of those first few days of leave has given me aching muscles until today. And so far, the house is still a mess. I don't think me being at home is making much of a difference yet. (It's a good thing I still have next week.)

I don't remember what I did last year during my ten-day leave. MyGirl remembers when I resigned in 2006 and had about 2 weeks at home. (I had almost forgotten about that. ) In truth, the last I remember being at home so long was when I was still a stay-at-home mom.

This was us back then.

Songs of Joy & Peace

I recently purchased the Yo-Yo Ma Christmas CD, Songs of Joy & Peace. As I brought the CD player to the dining room so that Father and Mother could listen to it during our Sunday lunch, I got questions like "What is a cello?" and "Yoyo who?"

Hope the youtube video answers these questions.




Plus, I couldn't resist ... more from youtube, Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone. (I LOVE it!) Ü

Bedroom Door

Yes, London Eye, this still hangs on the door of our room.

Parallel Parking for Dummies

MacGyver was bubbling with excitement the other night. He said he wanted to show me something, a Top Gear episode. He set up his laptop so that I could view the video.

I was amused when I found out that the episode he wanted me to see was one which featured a car with a special device that would (theoretically) perform parallel parking AUTOMATICALLY, i.e., without the driver having to do anything.

(Surely a car with that sort of special device was made just for me! That is right. If I had that device when I was in school then I would not have had to leave the house very early in the morning just so that I could get one particular slot at the driveway of the College of Engineering. If I had that device now then I would be more willing to drive, maybe go to Greenhills during the Christmas season or take a car to church instead of walk.)

Alas, as I viewed the episode, it showed that the device was not yet quite ready for the real world. The car WAS able to move on its own, without the intervention of the driver. It DID approximate the parallel parking requirement by getting in between two cars parked parallel to the curb. HOWEVER, as shown on TV, it hit the fence as it was backing up and it nudged one of the cars as it was trying to park.

Oh well, I'm sure they'll perfect that device eventually. In the meantime, I can only say that it never ceases to amaze me how some drivers can parallel park with such great ease. Thank goodness MacGyver is one of those skilled drivers. We're sticking with him at the wheel.


(There are many more theories, tips and techniques for parallel parking. I would think for parallel parking, the same rule applies -- Practice makes perfect.)

Barber Time

There are only two barbers in a small village. One of the barbers has a neatly trimmed head of hair. The other's hair is a complete mess. Which of the two barbers should you go to and why?

We all know that the answer to that is ... go to the one with the messy hair since he is the one who cut the other barber's hair.

Now ... if there is only ONE barber in the house. And it is a school day tomorrow. And you either have been explicitly told to have a hair cut or have a note in your diary saying you need a haircut. What should you do?

Of course the answer to that is ... ask that single person who knows how to cut hair to cut your hair, even if that person is your mother.

(Tomorrow, we'll see whether GI's teacher tells him that he still needs a haircut and RD gets another note in his diary.)

Must Love Dogs

Students

Here is a picture of GI when he was still in grade school.

This is RD on his first day at pre-school.

MyGirl wasn't really Grade 2 in this picture. This is what she looked like when she was Prep.

Here they are now. This picture was taken last August. MyGirl is really in Grade 2, RD is in the 5th Grade while GI is already in 3rd year High School.


(I promised the kids that I'd minimize my blog posts this month so as much as possible I'll stick with pictures.)

Soundtracks

Movies are often remembered for their soundtracks. I particularly like the soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.

Here is one of my favorites from the movie The Mission.

I first watched this movie when I was in college. The story was a powerful one but it was really the music struck me. It was the movie that introduced me to Ennio Morricone.

Among his other works are the soundtracks from Cinema Paradiso, Legend of 1900, Love Affair, and The Untouchables. Yes, I have a lot of favorite tracks from those movies.