I miss you daddy. It's gonna be our 3rd Christmas without you.

I'm guilty of not taking care of your plot in the cemetery.
I'm guilty of even not visiting you or mommy's grave, which is just near.
What excuse could I have of not visiting and buying you flowers for the caretakers to notice and eventually re-sell?
What excuse do we have of not paying the cemetery caretaker to mend the grass that grows above your sealed coffins?
I don't have an excuse. I really don't have.

Killing time...my Facebook page.

My Passion for Reading

I was age 3 probably when I first placed hands on an alphabet book and familiarized myself with the shapes of letters corresponding to the shapes of figures which the first letter of the figure start with. But it would be only until 8 years old when I have reached that point when I started craving for books, as I have made a wonderful discovery that I like and would love reading. Based from the diminutive size of our home library supply of story books, I was limited to reading 50 year old Disney "almost-all-text and few pictures" which belonged to Lola, as well as the ancient encyclopedia set and dusty science set books. There were Ladybird books given to us by mommy (I can count the number with both my hands), and second-hand Enid Blyton and other big books that some of mommy's colleagues give to us as presents. Weird that one book that mommy picked for Toto one Christmas was Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. But my favorite one then was The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Snow White and Rose Red.

The best part of being in that Montessori school I enrolled at was that they have treasure trove of books- not a library with wall-full of books, but just small shelves where good books lie. The small library of our school then is not in a room actually, but in an alley outside the classrooms headed for the stairs. Not many students serve as clientele of our library that's why there is not much competition in borrowing the best ones (how did I know they were the best then? The best ones probably were Archie's at that time but sad to say they don't have Archie's or even Dennis the Menace comic books).

My selections from that library when I was ages 8-12 years old were Dr. Seuss, Berenstein Bears, Peter Rabbit and selected Ladybird books and then when I reached 10, my love story with Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew started. I would borrow and read with gusto as many stories as I can, then return them immediately so I can start with the next mystery. It was in my 4th grade that I started my obsession with Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High. High school was romance books and Sydney Sheldons, then shifted to Danielle Steeles and classics.

Until now, my love for books is endless, and like a void that doesn't fill an emptiness to stop. I've been courageously buying books for 20 years probably (college limits me to buy more as my pocket money is diverted to clothes I buy at MyPal). I have tons of books to read and I'm buying more...the sad thing is that I keep on reading and reading and there's no way of sharing to other people that stories and discoveries I read.

20 Things Why I Miss London

1. The freezer-like weather
2. Fish and Chips
3. Oxford Street
4. Tesco Tropical-flavored juice
5. The Underground and using the very reliable Oyster card
6. Museums
7. Art galleries
8. Window shopping na may konting shopping na din
9. Layering my clothes
10. OCness ng mga tao in terms of design and culture
11. Brick structures and wide green spaces
12. Squirrels
13. Roses in bloom
14. Crisps and flavored soda water
15. Walking till my feet and legs ache
16. Waiting long for C10 bus at the Canada Water station
17. Lonely planet and my little black London book
18. Courtesy of Brits (they always say something good and drivers let you cross the street with ample time
19. Tea and shortbread
20. Chiqui and Mark

5 more days to go and we're off to Manila. I'm a bit worried as I wasn't able to check the flight details from London-Hongkong-Manila. Though I'm not sure if travel agencies really can do it that way. Our plane from London to Hongkong arrives at 710 am June 14, then our plane fro HK to Manila leaves within the same hour, which is 800 am the same date. My worry if that HK terminal is too big and arising from our seats to transferring to another gate to enter another plane would take more or less an hour and a half. I've emailed my travel agency and will be waiting for their reply if we can rebook our CX flight to a later time, without incurring any rebooking charges.

Some other things to talk about...we just arrived from our afternoon stroll at Covent Garden. It was a fine day as we breezed through the modest and classy shops that sprung from our step out of the Covent Garden underground station. The flea market portion of Covent Garden displayed antique items like English/China bone ceramics and porcelains, pub coasters, plates, doorknobs, lampshades, framed prints, keys, watches and my favorite items - rings and other trinkets. I spent 15 pounds on 1 bracelet, 1 pair of earrings, 1 ring and 1 pendant. How's that for 1000 pesos? Ging's plan to seek bargain shoes has failed him since Neal Street do not have shops for budget-seekers. The cheapest you can go is Aldo...why Brits classify as low price category of shops, the same level as Zara, Mango, M&S, H&M and FCUK. Our ever favorite store is Primark as it's where you can find 1 pound worth of shades, tops, purses, hair accessories, etc. As for shoes, they can go as low as 5 pounds. One more thing, I was happy to purchase 1 pound lotions and creams at M&S, can you imagine getting a 70-80% slash off its regular price in Manila! Digestives also cost like 35 pesos only here, while M&S in Manila sells it for 130 pesos. I'll buy a few pieces more if my baggage weigh would still allow me. Before leaving Covent Garden, we passed by the London Transport Museum Shop as the museum charges 10 pounds for entry. I'd rather buy a toffee tin can and souvenir coasters, which I did. Tesco is so everywhere...the owners are billionaires probably. We bought a few colas, juice, bread, and Maltesers using the self-service counter at Tesco.

Off to Windsor Castle this morning...hope we can have spare
time to visit Greenwich this afternoon. Yesterday was a drive
to Cambridge University, whose town is England's most quaint,
attractive and architecturally design-coordinated university town.
The Trinity College and King's College are the top two structures to
see. We went punting along the small river that runs along the complex,
which offered us a better view of the magnifico buildings, and also
a chance to hear from the punty rower himself for some information
on the sights we're seeing, plus the sight of ducks and ancient bridges
was to behold.

It's my 8th day here in London, staying at my cousins Chiqui and Mark's flat for mine and Ging's honeymoon trip. For the eight days that we've been here, we've been to so many places, in and out of London, I'm losing count. We have never imagined this trip could happen, especially now that it has only been 5 months and we're starting fresh, since all our savings (none there is) should be alloted for making major improvements on the east wing of our house in Lagro. Visa results came out April 20, and Lorna gladly forwarded money for our airfare as their wedding gift to us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I wouldn't dare let is pass by. It's like the story of "opportunity". Opportunity rarely comes, so if opportunity is like a long lock of hair stuck at a man's forehead passing by, if you don't grab it right away, it will just pass by like fire vanishing. Lucky you if it'd come back again. You would need to coordinate the whole milky way galaxy to come and get that opportunity back.

Visiting mommy on her 10th Year Death Anniversary.

Grade school days were movie fan days when most times I shift to a different world dwelling on other people's stories - that is fiction. I was 10-12 years old when I was floating nirvana, episodes of nonsense and no-nonsense, wishful thinking and wife-of-a-handsome-millionaire fantasies. I'm sure most girls have that common imagination lurking them on their pre-teens as we were exposed to various influences of Teen magazine, Sanrio, Vogue, Duty-free stores and Beverly Hills 90210.

I was the way I am, largely because movies provide an escape to nosing around other people's lives, which sometimes I imagined me being the lead role, except for being the Predator. I was so in-love with movies, my uncles, cousins alike rented them through VHS stores and spending long afternoons on a classmate's house, full attention to the tube. My most memorable movies were:

Mannequin (young Kim Catrall)
Dead Poets Society (Robin Williams)
The War of the Roses (Kathleen Turner slamming vases to Michael Douglas)
Pet Sematary (my favorite)
Edward Scissorhands (first movie of Johnny Depp that I've seen, Johnny is a beauty)
Mermaids (Winona, her sister and Cher singing altogether in the kitchen)
Field of Dreams (Kevin Costner playing with ghosts in the baseball field)
Major League (Charlie Sheen and We will rock you)
Ghost (the famous haircut of Demi Moore)
Pretty Woman (big big hair and voluminous lips of Julia Roberts)
Breakfast Club (Molly and boys on detention)
Pretty in Pink (Molly again, whatever happened to her)
Soap Dish (Robert Downey)
Fried Green Tomatoes (I love Cathy Bates' acting)
My Girl (Ging's song and movie dedicated to me)
Dying Young ( I was so in love with the guy)
Cape Fear (the young Juliet Lewis harassed by Robert De Niro)

I'm planning on a small project this year. March 31, 2010 will be mommy's 10th year death anniversary and I would like to publish her life, her story, her strength and the goodness of the Lord to her.

Just Married!

It's our third day at Boracay and thanks to the rain last night until this noontime when drizzles make the weather slightly cool which makes it conducive for walking and dipping in the waters a little longer than usual. I promise to take more photos later and take more dips so I have more excuse to stay longer on the beach, which is what we really plan to do even for the whole day tomorrow. Too bad that our resort doesn't have a generator and so we cannot watch TV as much as we want to.