I did not know of the details of the tourist hostage in Manila not until yesterday.  This is the bad or maybe the good side of living a life without TV and having an internet connection that will take several minutes to download a newspage.  After learning about it all -  my Chinese friends came to mind.  Though i don’t have Chinese friends in Hongkong, the fact that they are chinese and they are under one country PR China, I am sure all Chinese felt the same – sad of what happened and angry at the Philippines.  Angry towards the Filipinos.  Hearing the news that one woker in HK was sacked by her employers after the hostage aftermath.  I can just imagine the anger in the minds of Chinese people.  Thankfully my kumare’s employer is a foreigner so she won’t experience some untoward treatments.

While thinking about the Chinese in general i can’t also help to think about MY CHINESE FRIENDS.  I wonder what do they think of me.  I am hoping that they haven’t forgotten i told them to always be open minded and that whatever be a person’s race, color, beliefs he or she should always respect.  Respect of one’s opinions and beliefs can cause harmony, i told them that is why am so close with my Chinese friends.

I have several close friends whom I was keeping in touch lately but I haven’t heard from them.  But today morning, I got one from Jane.  Jane is one of my adult students  during my first year there who later became my friend.    So funny because after she heard of the news — she thought of me and tried to contact me.  So here is her letter and also I wanna share to you here comment.

Letter:

Dear Arlene:

I finally got your blog adress yesterday, and am so happy.

I got the sad news happened in your country about the Hk tourists killed.

So worried about you and your Dimple

Trying to e-mail you again but I found that I got no reply for your birthday congratulations. That make me nervous. So I tried to search your blog but failed. Last trying I got some information and a picture.

Wow,it is yours. I am so excited.

From your blog I know you and your daughter are fine. So happy

good luck

Jane

from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, China

Comment from jane456187:

am so happy that i can get your blog address again Arelene. in fact from here i know you and your dimple are ok,that is very important. i sent a email before your birthday but didn’t get a reply.this morning i got the bad news of the hk tourists, i felt sad and worried about you very much.

I am so happy to hear from her.  So very sweet of her.   I felt that i should be the first one emailing them but for this case, she was the one. I already wrote her back and I hope i will hear from her again.

After this I feel the need to write to Frank, Penny, Larry, Liu Ben, Helen Zhao, Helen Lili Min, and Henry.

Anyway, i hope all will be well soon so that i can still be granted for a visit visa next year.

we met!

I graduated from the primary school in 1986 and that little girl (Her name is Elma) was still in the first grade.  I forgot her name when i saw her this evening but the profile of her face was not forgotten.  Just before i saw her, my friend and I were already have our necks high hoping to catch a glimpse of her brother, Ann’s classmate.  By the way, Ann is one year ahead of me.  They graduated 1985 and out batch 1986.  But the batch 1985 were my classmates when i first started going to the elementary school.  The next year, when they went to the 2nd grade, i remained in the first grade because i was more a visiting student that time not a full time student.  I guess that was an exposure for me because when i was in the kinder grade,i won’t attend kinder classes unless my mom sits beside me in class.  If i can’t see her i started to cry.  So i was not yet ready for school during those years.

Going back to Elma Jane — she laughed at me when i mentioned some of her quirk ways.  She never realized we were that close. =)

Anyway, we met and i owe that to the death of her Uncle Sanni, my classmate – Stephen’s father.

Condolences to the Delos Santos family!

Actually i have two titles for this post – Glimpses of Orman ba or Too Near yet Too Far.  Why Too Near yet too Far?  Because we were already in one event, in one room yet I haven’t asked him if i can have a photo taken with him.

This is not a contest entry.  Hindi nalang dahil naabutan ako ng deadline.  Tapos na ang contest yet i have planned of making this post but i was just too busy since i move to another deparment at the start of the week.  So i lost track of time.  Too many reasons (stupid reasons) kulang nalang talaga sabihin na matanda na ako kaya nakalimutan ko na ang mga dapat ko gawin sa buhay blogger ko.

The culimation or the finale  of all contests for GESM is the blog-writing-photo-contest.  The moment i read the post here i knew right away that i can’t make the desired post dahil wala kaming picture dalawa ng royal gandaness ng Gen San.  Hinalungkat ko ang baol ng MBS3 ko kahit alam ko na wala kaming litrato na kami lang dalawa.  Nor a photo of me and him and everyone!

But guess what?  I have glimpses of Orman~~

The royal gandaness of Gen San having a chat with the handsome Adel Tamano

Si Adel ang pakay ko sa aking litrato but hindi yan ibig sabihin na talbog ni Adel ang beauty ni Orman.  Magkaiba kaya sila ng beauty.  I just wished i have asked them both to face me.

Another glimpse of the friendly Orman:

No particular person is focused in this shot.  It was at this point that everyone is taking pictures – feeling the ambience of being in an MBS event.   Although before this shot, i took this —

Kilala nyo sino ito?

Oh well, this is the Orman’s ever loving kapatid!

At bakit meron akong kuha na picture ni Avel at wala kay Orman?

Dahil ay….di pa kami friends ni Orman!

It was my first time to have a glimpse of Orman.
It was my first time to know din na kapatid pala sya ni Avel.
Orman was not introduced to me.  Kahit man lang magkalapit tables namin.

Here’s another one:

Here’s another of me and Avel after thePinoy  Bloggers Awards Night.

Bakit walang Orman again?

Dahil hindi ko sya nakita malapit dyan sa PBAN poster –
at siguro din di pa sya ganun ka famous sa bloggers community kaya di ko man lang sya nalapitan at yinaya na magpa picture kami.

Napaisip rin ako na sana si Orman si Orman nalang ang katabi ko sa picture na yana para meron na akong entry sa 7th week contest.

I am sorry Orman!

Pansin kita but di pa tayo friends kahit man lang sa plurk. hehhee

If given the chance again — MBS 4 or MBS 5 or any Mindanao bloggers event na magtagpo tayo ulit, for sure i’d love to take a lot of photos with you.  Sana pagbigyan mo ako. 

Here’s another (the last) of some glimpses of you:

(please click on the photo to enlarge)

If i am right — this is a group of Gen San and Davao bloggers.  Ako kumuha sa litrato na ito and this was already after the group picture.

I know Orman can be a great friend.
Reading his thoughts through his entries, i know madali lang sya kaibiganin.

But marunong din sya maging mataray..na mataray to the max.
But if pairalin nya ang kanyang pagka loving then love nya talaga ang kanyang mga friends.

Wish you another year of fruitful blogging years, Orman!

Mabuhay ang GESM!

I wish i can make it to your party on Saturday night.

Enjoy enjoy enjoy….

Oppss huwag mo lang kalimutan e mail ang mga panalo ko sa previous contests! =)

Good morning!

It’s a beautiful Monday morning.

Happy 4th of July to all my friends in the United States of America.

Happy Philippine-American Friendship day to all Filipinos here and abroad.

and

Happy birthday to someone of the past today!

and Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their birthday today.

I won’t accept that I am an FB addict but i can’t really prevent myself glued to browsing my feed if I am online at FB.  But tonight, i guess i won’t stay until 9 pm here because i have important stuff to do in the dorm besides the reading i want to do for energy auditor. I haven’t finished ironing my clothes this morning so hopefully i can finish it tonight. Looks like a full evening, but i want things done because tomorrow is already weekend. How time flies that i sometimes have to think what i have done during the whole week. Sometimes i enjoy the quietness of my room during late nights and think back on how my week have gone and what are the important things i have accomplished, what are the things not yet accomplished, what made me happy, what made me sad, what made me angry, and what made me very positive about life.  I think we should all do that kind of contemplation at the end because i feel that if we know what we have done and what we haven’t done, we can make ourselves more focused on our goals.

I also would like to greet my office mate, Ma’am Ruby a very happy birthday.  It’s her birthday tomorrow and she will take the weekend off.  Her family will make a trip to Dakak and i wish them a safe and happy trip.  She mentioned this is her first time to go on a family trip.  I told her it would be a great experience and better decide to do it yearly.  I do take off from work on my birthday, too — for the past 3 years.  But last year, i really have to come to work even though i have filed a leave because I was needed in the office.  This year, i have tentative plans and hopefully it will be materialize.

This is all for now — til tomorrow!

Nite nite everyone!

One sunday afternoon, my daughter and i went to attend a birthday party. When the game started, i looked up the sky and i saw that it was turning dark. I really thought it would rain before the party will be over – but it did not.

The kids really enjoyed the games and goodies and of course the food!

I love potlucks!  I love to see the people getting food to their plates. I love to see long lines with people with different facial expressions.  On my part, i now love preparing the food for potlucks.  I feel lucky to have a boss who loves to cook and really knows how to cook.

Last Saturday, after the Baccalaureate Program of the kids, the seniors with their parents also had a potluck.  There was so much food for everyone.  But i saw that not all kids were present.  There were also parents who were not around but their kids were there.

I think everyone had fun.  I had fun, too. I didn’t eat rice. I just had some fruits but took backed spaghetti for carbs and protein. What i love in that particular potluck was, there was no server.  You can just fall in line, pick the food you want as much you want – then eat!

Everyone’s digging in! You can see them. Right?  I can see my girl getting her food.

While others were busy getting food at the start of the table, the others were also busy getting their share of desserts.  Others just had desserts because they are on a diet.  I was on a diet so i ate fruits first.  I don’t like to take diet pills and experience diet pill side effects.  The bounce effect is not good especially for those who easily get depressed. I was already there so i can say.

After the fruits, i had bake spag, and fruits again.  When i was about to finish my meal, someone gave me some grilled chicken, so i ate a bit.  When i arrived home in the evening, i took some anti histamine pill.

How about you?  Do you do potlucks in your church? How often do you have potlucks in  a year?  I love potlucks that i even thought, when i get married, the reception will be a potluck. lol!

More stamps!

More postcards!

All these are from Mommy Ebie!  Am so thankful to for sharing all these with me.  I have posted the same pics at my other blog and she commented that they are going back to Death Valley on April and she will send me more cards.  I so love the idea and am excited.

Good thing her daughter, Zeee got some off days from work so they could make long weekend trips to anywhere.  I love their mother-daughter bonding time.  Sounds expensive and tiring yet it’s a very memorable one.

I got an email earlier last week that she is coming this way very soon.  She also left her number so i could text her.  As i want to really meet her even long time ago, i texted her and of course wanted a meet-up!  And we did!  Last Saturday (February 27, 2010, 5:30 pm)

We just asked any of the waiters to take a picture of us.  This is just for documentation purposes but i cropped it to hide my big tummy. hahahaa Yen is very beautiful and in person.  She got a very sweet and friendly smile that right away i feel it’s like we’re not meeting for the first time.  We had a quick dining at Mandarin REsto at the Gaisano Mall.

Yen is the author of the blogs, Notablebistro and Around the World and Me and Mine.  Something went wrong with her Me and Mine so the blog does not currently exist. We met online through blogging in 2007 (just when i started blogging) and it’s so nice to feel that after two years we met in person.

Thank you Yen for taking time to meet.  I now understand how busy you are and at least this time you took time to see me.  Nagkita na jud ta!  I hope we meet again next time and promise I won’t be in a hurry to leave for an appointment.

This meeting made me wish for meetings with  other online friends in the future.  It’s great online kindness and friendliness be felt in the real world.

This is one of the first postcards i received in my life.  My sister and I got this when we were in the 4th grade, 25 years ago. The sender was one of our close friends who moved to California that year.

Since then, i got interested in collecting postcards.

The postcards made me see the world beyond my own world.