Judgment Day... not!

I have a bunch of other things to blog. I'd normally add any new stuff to my "to-blog" list before it gets on here but I have to post this one now before it gets stale.

In the latest issue of "The Week", they said it was a good week for the human race because the end of the world did not happen yesterday. But there was an Editor's Note saying they filed the item several days earlier and would print a correction if it was wrong. Don't know if it was meant to be a joke but if it did happen, how would they be able to print the correction?

Btw, yesterday happened to be Janelle's First Communion, too. Earlier on, Jed asked, "Isn't it ironic that Janelle's First Communion and a friend's son's Christening [names intentionally withheld] are happening on Judgment day"?

Fortunately, our good Lord did not let the latter happen. Or maybe something did end and we are now in the new world. Nothing but good stuff now. What? It pays to be optimistic.

Love and light to all,
E

Happy New Year!

Thank you, 2010! Welcome 2011! May you be full of love and endless blessings for everyone!

Let's start the year with laughter, shall we? I was going to add these to the Joke Book blog until I found out that I hadn't migrated it to the new "system". I'm not in the mood for it so these shall be here for now (or ever).

Here's the first: There are three types of people... those who can count and those who can't. (I'm trying to recall a similar joke about binary numbers but I'm failing big time... maybe next time.)

And here's the second one:

The Hearing Aid
Buddy 1: Hey bud, check out my new hearing aid! I'm so happy I got it... top of the line, baby!
Buddy 2: Oh yeah, how much was it?
Buddy 1: (looking at his watch) 10 o'clock.

There you go. :) Have a good one!

Love and light,
E

Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice 2010

We just witnessed the lunar eclipse!!! Yoohoo!!! Right in our own backyard! I promised the kids I'd wake them up at 11:30 pm. And so I did. At first I wasn't sure since I couldn't see it from any of our windows. I had to step outside in front of the house. It was overhead, that's why.

Anyway, so all four of us went out into the backyard and witnessed it. We had both the still camera and the video camera with us. I had to go back in to get the binoculars and Jed, his glasses. I was able to film it but of course, it wasn't very good. We couldn't even get a good still shot. The clouds kept getting in the way, too. But we at least saw it for a good few moments. That was enough! I wasn't even sure we'd see it since it had been raining.

This is extra special because the lunar eclipse and the winter solstice happening at the same time is a rare occurrence. The last one happened on December 21, 1638. The next one will not be until at least 2094.

I see the moon and the moon sees me.
God bless the moon, God bless me... and you... and everyone... and everything.

Love and light,
E

Go Giants!!!

Woohoo!!!

E

P.S. The timestamp of this post is 11:37. 11 and 37 are the two numbers I see/notice most often. What's really up with that?

Hallelujah!

It's a 3-day weekend. Heh, that's just my excuse so I could have a good title. As usual, my to-blog list kept getting longer and longer. I got time now so let me take advantage of it.

Jing keeps getting these new baby offers and even milk samples. What's up with that? Either someone used her name to sign up for something or these baby product manufacturers are assuming we have a new one since Janelle is now almost seven. I have no clue.

We saw the American Idol concert last month... Jing's super ecstatic because she got to shake Lee DeWyze's hands. We actually got to see all ten of them up close after the concert and got them to autograph our tickets. I took pictures, too. But sadly, we had nothing but the iPhone. So the pictures were bad. Better than nothing.

Tim Urban was wearing this red watch which I suspected was a G-Shock. So I asked him and he confirmed it was. He said they gave it to him at the show. So, that night, I looked for red (and anything not black for that matter) G-Shocks all over the Internet. The red ones were not solar AND atomic. So, no, I'm not getting it. I might get a white one. Not sure when.

Janelle lost her first baby tooth on August 17th. It wasn't supposed to be the first one. Our dentist warned us that it might take a long time (could be years) for the replacement permanent tooth to come out since it wasn't ready yet. But it is making its way out. I'm so relieved! She lost the second one on September 1st. It actually had to be extracted because it still wasn't loose enough but the permanent tooth was growing fast behind it.

Speaking of Janelle, she was in a play in school. If I didn't blog about it, she and Jed were in another play a few weeks ago. We're so proud of them. I goofed with the filming though. I didn't get to film the last scenes I think and the bows and applauses at the end. I thought that it was recording all along. :(

More Janelle... she had a surprise visit from one of her best friends (if not THE best friend) a couple of weeks ago. We actually picked her up at her house and then her dad picked her up in the afternoon. Sadly, the other playdate we said they'd have hasn't materialized due to so many things going on here. And they're back in school next week!

K... for the big news regarding my singing career outside of church... hehe... Kuya Jong and I were front acts for Kuya Romy's musical play. Well, it wasn't his, per se. He and Bong acted and sang and danced and whipped!!! I had to look for songs to sing because I didn't really have a repertoire. I had to buy songs online. I ended up buying "Falling Slowly", "Hallelujah" (hence, the title :)), and "To Make You Feel My Love". I got to sing the first two on the first night. I was nervous with the first one but got to shake it off with the second one, mostly due to the crowd participation that the song just naturally lends itself to. Second night, we had the choir dinner dance so we didn't get to sing. Third night, just one song each. "Hallelujah" again, of course. Many of the choir members were present in the audience and were of course the loudest among the "Hallelujuah"'ers... Thanks, guys!

Among the choir members who were there were Kuya Arnie and Ate Sonia, who have recently moved to SoCal. :( But they'll still come visit us every now and then so that's cool! If you guys are reading this, hello! :)

Lastly, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We were there last weekend and what fun it was! Each of us genuinely had lots of fun! We got to bowl. And got on rides that were just different. Jed coerced me to get on stuff that I didn't think I ever would and could. Fireball, hello! And the glider thing... only, you're just going round and round. And the cyclone, when I saw it from a distance, I thought it would be the scariest but even small kids are allowed. That's because the centrifugal force pushes people against the wall so there's no way you would fall. You don't even have to hold on to anything. Jing and I also enjoyed the yummy but super-hot fried cheesecake. What else? Basta... It was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (however it's spelled)!

That's about it! Happy Labor Day weekend!
E

37

I keep seeing the number 37. For several weeks now. What's up with that? Will we finally get a windfall of $37,000,000? Thank you, Dear Lord! :) I also see the odd numbers 7, 9, and 11 quite a lot. Let me see... maybe on July 9, 2011, we'll win the lotto jackpot, which would be $37 million. Yep, that day is a Saturday. Superlotto day!

Some people I've talked to say they don't want to be super-rich. I do. I honestly do. We could do so much with that much money. Besides being financially free, we could help the people around us: family, friends, and the world. Philanthrophy, research, travel, more time with family, further pursuit of interests, etc. I guess we'll know for sure what we will do with that huge amount when we cross the bridge. And mind you, it's a "will" and a "when". Can't wait!

Gotta hit the treadmill now. Love and light to all.
Ever

Dancing with the mirror

This is the first time that Jing and I followed "Dancing with the Stars" from the first episode. I don't remember why we were interested in checking it out. Could have been because of Pamela Anderson or Buzz Aldrin. Anyway, I even found it more interesting than American Idol (Jing's very very happy with Lee's win though). The Argentine Tango... wow! It seemed really funny at first... with all those leg swinging movements... but it ended up becoming my favorite dance (nope, I won't even try to learn it myself). And all three finalists chose it too for one of their final performances.

Nicole Scherzinger was really something. I had a feeling she had Filipino blood but didn't really bother looking her up until I saw her make the sign of the cross during the finals. So, after her win, I went straight to google and there you go, her dad's Filipino. Not that it mattered. Nicole and Derek made a GREAT team. Very creative. We looked forward to every one of their performances. I didn't even know Nicole. I knew a couple of Pussycat Dolls songs but had no idea which person that lead voice belonged to.

Anyway, enough about Nicole. The other topic, as the title suggests, is the mirror. One day, I just realized how I would always look at my left eye when looking in the mirror. When I tried looking at the right eye, I looked different, like a different person. I guess my two eyes don't look alike. So, now, I try to remind myself to look at the right eye. Maybe, by doing so, I would uncover more of my right brain... you know, the artistic, intuitive stuff. Maybe it's the key to finally knowing who we really are and what we're really here for. Hehe... this may strike you funny but I think it's worth "looking" into. Hmm, what if I should look at the point midway between the eyes? I'll try that, too. :) Anyway, if you're like me who tends to look at the left eye in the mirror, maybe it's time you tried looking at the other eye or somewhere in the middle.

'Til next post. Love and light.
Ever

From humming to strumming

The day after my most recent blog, the hummingbirds were gone. In the morning, one of them was still there. By afternoon, it was an empty nest. I hope they did fly away... as opposed to... you know... We still see hummingbirds visiting our backyard every now and then (saw one over lunch today). I would like to think it's one of them (or the parents).

There's also this cat that visits our backyard. We saw it look up the juniper tree one time. It may have been responsible for the baby finches' demise. :(

One night, I was telling Jed how the Magnolia flower reminded me of vanilla ice cream. He asked, is that why there's a brand of ice cream (at least in the Philippines) called "Magnolia"? Never thought of that.

When we were in Monterey recently, he asked if it meant "Mountain King". Again, never thought of that. :)

On Mother's day (and the day before), the kids (including our very own, of course) sang "Through the Window" with us during communion. After the song, they distributed roses to the mothers. Janelle was holding the very last flower and there were three mothers still standing by her. I actually couldn't see her. I just heard laughter. She couldn't decide which one to give it to. I could just imagine her face. So cute. :)

On May 9th or 10th (depending on the time of my dream), for the first time ever, I finally understood a message from my intuition. I guess I'd been thinking too much about which stock to buy next (with our paltry investment amount). I heard someone (Celine Dion herself maybe) singing "... What do you say to taking chances?..." Then, I saw us having fun on some type of water slide... Since I didn't understand it, my intuition came up with another way of saying "it"... I saw people (including myself, I think) doing the "wave" at a concert. Then, it clicked. It's telling me to take chances with "waving stocks" (a.k.a. rolling stocks)... or not. That's the thing, I wasn't sure whether it was encouraging me. It did feel like it though.

Speaking of intuition, Jing told me yesterday how she was trying to pass a truck but couldn't and ended up missing her turn. She had to take a different route and right after she crossed an intersection, people started putting road blocks (I guess, to prep for some construction work). She thinks (and I agree) she was made aware of that so that she'd know which route to avoid in the afternoon when she picks up the kids from school.

Back to May 10th... that night... I finally started doing something with my new guitar. I was able to play "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Amazing Grace". Same chords over and over so they were really easy. But I really need to work on my strumming. The left hand was quite easy. I think my fingers still remember. I learned guitar back in college but did not follow through. And my strumming never really got good. I bought my first guitar using the money I got for Pinapangarap, which, as you may know, is my composition that was recorded by Manilyn Reynes. Hopefully, my other songs (well, the good ones) will also get published someday. I send love and light to that dream.

And love and light to you all,
Ever

Bragging, humming, publishing

Janelle still doesn't quite get that bragging is not a good thing. One time, Jed told her to read the book about bragging. And she replied, "I don't need to read it. I already know how to brag." Heh...

We have birds nesting in the backyard again. There were two nests. One was of house finches (I think), in the same juniper tree. The other is of hummingbirds (really cool!) and it's on the wind chime. I guess they like being swung around constantly.

As you may have noticed, I said they WERE two nests. Sadly, yesterday, we found the finch nest on the ground, torn into chunks and with one egg that never hatched. There were already three, I think, that hatched. It was hard to tell because the last time I looked, I couldn't make out the parts of their still-almost-naked bodies. But I believe I saw three yellow beaks at one point. Anyway, we're guessing a crow had invaded the nest again. :( Could have been the rain but that wouldn't explain where they are now. (Update: we saw the parents come back over lunch today. The dad checked out the nest... twice. So sad.)

The hummingbirds, however, are still there. There are two of them. We've even seen the mother feed them multiple times now. She comes shortly before 1 pm at lunch time. Yesterday, it was at 12:50 pm. This morning, I saw her again... just past 7... breakfast! Even the finches came to feed their babies at lunch. By the way, from what I've read online, only the mother hummingbird takes care of the kids, unlike the finches. (Update: Janelle said she saw two hummingbirds chasing each other and she thought they were the parents. If they really were, I guess the dad is still in the relationship but just doesn't want anything to do with the kids.)

This morning, I saw one of the little hummers flying in place. So, it won't be long before they leave their nest.

Blogger.com is discontinuing FTP publishing starting May 1st. I will need to use some other mechanism. Please pardon any dust (or a blackout) during the migration. I have yet to figure out what to do exactly. (Update: FTP is giving me problems now. I remember having the same problems last time. It's probably intentional so people would stop using it. Anyway, you may or may not see this post before the migration.) (Update 2: Migration is done. I couldn't figure out the custom domain route so I just picked blogspot for now. I will probably switch to some other blogging site later on. We'll see...)

Love and light to all.
E

P.S. I would like to give a shout-out to my cousin, Mayan, whom I recently exchanged emails with. God bless you and your hubby always!

Time to breathe

Finally had time to breathe. Taking this chance to blog entries that I have accumulated on my to-blog list. I'll make this as quick as possible.

1. I use (although not as regularly anymore) a service called reQall that lets you dictate items you want to add to your to-do list. It's pretty accurate but it does goof up at times. This one is the funniest. And for the life of me, I could not remember what I dictated... until I logged on to the site, where you could actually listen to your recording. And it made sense after that:

Call doctor about train regarding Caroline.

I know. :) Well, that was my reminder to call our dentist (whose name apparently sounded like "about train") about our caroling. Our choir was going to sing carols at her office. (See how dated this is. Christmas.)

2. I once saw some $50 gift certs on Amazon and bids on it were as high as $66. Why?

3. You know the free shuttle service that car dealers provide when you bring your car in for service? The driver of the Honda dealer we go to owns and drives a Ford.

4. There's a guy at Costco that has always reminded me of our friend Roehl. And I recently happened to see his badge. His name is Roel. Holy synchronicity!

5. Possibly due to our frequent and long practices for caroling, my throat began hurting. It got me worried. I eventually had it checked out. It was nothing. Hmm, I forget exactly what the doctor said it could be. But it was nothing to worry about. Right after the visit, it just went away. Power of the mind, baby. Don't underestimate it.

6. On 1/8, I got a notification from Where's George that a bill I registered 304 days prior had reached Brooklyn, NY.

7. Janelle loved (and still do?) the Chippettes (sp?) so much that she started singing like one. But I think we've managed to snap her out of it.

8. There was a power outage on 1/24. Not having anything else to do, we sat down and played scrabble and snakes and ladders, with a lamp and a candle alongside. Our first ever board game night. Sad that it took a power outage to have us sit down together as family and do it. It was actually pretty fun. But of course, we'd still rather have the power back.

9. I have this entry "heavyweight knives but they are really not" on my to-blog list. I think I know what it means but it doesn't seem as amusing anymore so let's move on. :)

10. One time on the freeway, Janelle, seeing a down-arrow sign (which says to go straight ahead), asked "How are we going down when there's no road going down?". :) Then she saw another sign with a right arrow (indicating an exit) and said, "That I understand". :)

11. On 2/13, we went to Chabot Space Center with my college friend Joey. We stayed until the telescope viewing at night. We got to see Mars (the polar cap... wow!), the Orion nebula, some star cluster, and the pleides (I actually don't remember what they are... must be another nebula or star cluster... a googling is in order). It was really cool and yeah, temperature-wise, too.

12. 3/14 was pi day. Up until 3/9, I only knew the first six digits of pi. Jed's Math teacher forwarded a few YouTube links of people that had memorized up to 523 or something digits. The Guinness record is actually some 60,000+. Ever the nerd, that inspired me to do some memorizing myself. That same day, I memorized the first 50. And I'm up to 66, I think. But I haven't been practicing. Gotta get back into it. Jed and Janelle have also shared the "passion"... well, I kinda forced them... I think Jed can do 20 or 30+ and Janelle, 20+ I think.

13. Speaking of passion, my latest desire is to learn the guitar. I got my learning pack (Steve McKay) from Barnes & Noble. I got a guitar song book from Target (in the clearance section... hehe). But I don't have the actual guitar yet. :) Last night, I pulled Jed's guitar out from the playroom closet. It's too small though. Gotta get a real one. Let's see where this passion takes me. I've semi-officially given up on piano.

14. On 2/22, we went to visit two other college friends (Ger and Cynths) and their families in Ohio. We had fun. Snow all around. We even went to the zoo in the snow. Who does that? Well, there were a few other people there. So, we're not crazy... not totally at least. It was actually okay. Better than rain. A lot of animals were surprisingly out. We saw a tiger and some really cute lion cubs, for example. And the snow backdrop made for some really good shots (at least based on my standards).

I think that's about it. 'Til next breath. :)

Ever