Phone call

We had our telephone in the early seventies and it was considered a very important gadget. It still is but now we hardly use the main home phone anymore and rely mostly on our mobile phones for our communications. But the purpose is the same.. for communication... and as in the past (as my father had always insisted) to keep the family informed on where you are or how you are if you are far from home. It is always SOP to call home and tell where you are if you can't make it home at the proper time... you should never keep people worried... and since mama is one worry wort you should make an effort to tell her how and where you are so she could be at peace...

Last night we were all up late... I wasn't planning to. I was tired and I wanted to rest but mama called my other sister's help and asked if her sister (who was my brother's help) came home already. She left very early without informing my brother where she was going but her sister knew that she was attending a seminar on MLM. Mama could not sleep of course since we are not complete at home yet and she asked Cheryl to call Che (they are twins by the way)... and she texted her and got a response that she was okay... It was not enough, mama wanted to know if she talked with her and when she called her another person answered and told her that she was okay but could not be on the phone since they were in the middle of their training... gosh it was almost 12 midnight! Now everybody was up and wondering how she was... the lady would not give the phone... even her older sister who was staying with my other sister in another place was worried and called her and the lady would still not give the phone.. it was their SOP! WE asked for the address, she would not give... geez, we were worried of course... mama was tired and has passed the burden to the rest of the family and was able to sleep... darn... now I could not sleep!
Clock was ticking.. 12:30 1:00... we could not do anything... and then Cheryl said she was tired and went to their room... then my sister... then my sister in law and my brother.... i stayed in the living room waiting... 1:30... 2:00... geez i too was tired. I could not do anything and waited in my room. I did not close the light hoping to sleep lightly and wait... then I got up around 6:00 and knocked on their door... she opened... she just came home...

She was okay... I had a terrible headache... i went back to my room and rested...

Her older sister came and they talked... my sis-in-law also talked... i was listening...

She was so caught up on the fever of multi-level marketing... on the prospect of getting rich... I don't exactly know what went on in that seminar to keep her that long... I could understand her desire to get rich...

But she should have called and told us herself that she was okay...

we are just a phone call away... a few minutes who not have mattered if she called...

Now I don't know what's going to happen next... I'm glad she is okay...
But still I wish she just called!

Kids' games

My nieces and nephews have just celebrated Linggo ng Wika (Philippine Language Week) in their school and they had to wear Filipino costumes on certain days and played Filipino games on Friday. However, not all of them got to join. Only John-john was able to join one game. I was asking them about the games wondering if they got to play the games I used to play when I was small but the games were mostly just relays...

I was thinking how my nieces and nephews missed so much... There were so many great games we played when I was a child from taguan to patintero to agawan base to tumbang preso to luksong baka to luksong tinik and of course syato! And who could forget bahay-bahayan! It was not just girl's game since we lived in a huge compound with other kids and there were lot of construction materials so that we actually build informal dwellings we could stay on and play... and then there were also lot of trees where we don't only get leaves for our bahay-bahay and tinda-tindahan but where we also climb and constructed tree houses or just tree "seat", where you could just stay put as you watch the going ons below...

Then of course we climbed and run on concrete fences and just stayed on the roof then jump from it...

A few days ago, I asked my 9 year old nephew if he could climb our roof so he could sweep it since he was light... and he said "Ano ba yan???" (What's that???) for him it was unthinkable to be climbing roofs...

They are so sheltered and get to play only games on the computers and consoles and those games you buy from the stores... what a pity... they don't get to really experience how it is to be "playful" and active and creative...

Anyway, kids are different now and I still think I was lucky to be able to live a KID in my own time... it was sooooo much fun! :)

PS... here's a link if you want to learn about Tagalog (which is the base of our national language- Filipino) and a page on some Filipino games ... well not exactly the games I played even piko is shown differently but at least a place to start and get some idea.

Macho Guapito for Metro Guapo

I wasn't able to watch Celebrity duets yesterday but I learned that MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando was one of the contestants and I looked for a video of the performance in Youtube and saw a short clear one but could not embed on my post then I found this:



We were laughing as we watched it (the shorter version), my sister came and we showed it to her and she too laughed!

Notice my border? it went with his metro guapo color PINK! And look at his attire-- pink shirt, blue denims and white jacket. That's already working on association and recall :) I laugh at the color but my sister tells me that it is the color of wellness... oh well they should know :)

Some of my "sis" in our community, hates what he and his organization does! During our prayer sessions they would pray for his change of heart so that he would be more understanding of their plight as poor vendors trying to make a living... that they would allow them to sell and not dismantle their stalls...

Ah I understand their concern and realize their difficulties but truth is I like the man and many of the changes he has instituted. Our country needs discipline and he has no qualms on implementing laws even if he becomes unpopular. Recently their agency put pink fence in the island in the pedestrian lane in our killer highway. That means I would have to walk a good distance to get to the pink and blue colored overpass to get to the other side. I don't mind since it is safer.

There is less traffic in the roads now and you can now walk to the sidewalks.

Now to get back at the celebrity duets. They get eliminated by the lowest text votes. I wonder if some people are wishing that they could eliminate by the number of votes instead...hehehe...

On a serious note though, I really wish there are more government people that really do their task and that they learn how to support each other and work together so that improvements are seen not just on the streets but on people's lives as well...

Sure looking forward to it... and am also looking forward to the show. Maybe I get to watch next Saturday :)