The Kid and His "Opo"

on my way home from work, i rode the jeepney instead of the taxi. the passenger beside me was a kid, about 13 to 15-ish. he was conversing with someone on his cellphone and kept saying "opo". saying "opo" is part of the filipino culture of showing respect to elders, our cultural version of saying "yes" or affirmation.

growing up in a tagalog family, we were trained to say "opo" to elders or those in authority. i even trained my son on saying "opo" instead of the usual "oo" or just giving a nod.

here in davao city, where majority of the inhabitants speak bisaya, i seldom here the word "opo". there's no "opo" in bisaya and instead they just say "oo" which is the standard "yes". but there is quite a minority here who speak tagalog. so hearing this kid beside me say "opo" gave me a bit of delight. filipino kids nowadays, when talking to elders, never really say "opo" that much anymore. cultural decay? maybe. i'm not really a pure traditionalist. i admit to having some form of cultural decay myself but there are quite a few things that stuck with me - that i am proud of.

changing times, fine. i have that considered, but, it's still nice to have a piece of our cultural identity intact.

music: taya, up dharma down
costume: pajamas
snacking on: milk and cookies

Shine on and be happy!!!

gifts too early for christmas

we're on the last month of the first quarter of the year. time flies,indeed. i can still remember the smell of fireworks last new year like it was just yesterday and wow, summer's coming already!!!

last month, my dad went to manila for a reunion with the "murphy brats". murphy, being camp murphy (now camp aguinaldo)is where my dad's family lived for a time. my grandfather was a high ranking officer in the military. they had the camp reunion after 25(?) years. anyhoots, so my dad went home and a day before he left, he sent me a message "kai, anong number ng mommy mo?". hahahahaha. he was asking for my mom's number. they've been separated for 20 years now. i texted him back "why?" and he just replied "nothing, just trying if i could have it." wierd. hahaha. i texted him back "wait, i'll ask the madamme first".

so i called up my mom and asked her if i could give her number to my dad. i told her he asked for it. not really surprising but still wierd, my mom was ecstatic! haha. so instead of giving my dad her number, i gave my mom my dad's number and she was the one who sent him a message.

they're friends now. nice. i never really expected it to happen, after all these years. wow.

still swimming in my bliss over my parents' newfound friendship, i received a text message from my ex who's the dad of my son. he said "hi, can we talk?". we've broken up around 3 years ago and never really found a common ground to be amicable with each other after lots of hullabaloo. so i replied and told him my work schedule and to just let me know when he is free for the talk. i was expecting that it'd be about arrangements for our son, who's going to be in grade 1 by june.

the day after, he texted me and asked if we could meet after my work. i said ok and asked permission from the boyfie, my big dinosaur. he said it's okay and he also thinks i have to talk to my ex. so we did talk that night. it went really great. we talked about all the things and decisions we both did. we've come into an agreement to be good friends for our son. past is past and we agreed to not let the things in the past bother us anymore. we've talked about the new arrangements this coming june and we've actually laughed at some things and chitchat about life itself...we've grown, i think. it was nice to see him realize things because i did so.

this was one of those big unexpected moments. he was the one who cut off all ties after we broke up. it was hard coz we have a son but now i'm so glad the war is over, officially. i've wished for this for years. i want to end all the burden and pain - forget what has been.

so thank you, high heavens, for giving these to me. i'm happier now. thank you really. evoke good vibes and good vibes you shall get. thank you, thank you, thank you.

Shine on and be happy!!!

A Domesticated Weekend

Last Thursday night, I was already concrete on my plans for the weekend. Big dinosaur's (the boyfriend) band was supposed to have a gig on Friday and I planned that on Saturday, we'll go to his place - and stay over til Sunday. Friday came and big dinosaur got sick. Their drummer texted and said he's sick too. Everybody's sick, must be the weather.

So after my work Friday night, I headed home and bid my Friday night unwinding goodbye. Oh boy, big dinosaur WAS sick. Yesterday, I told him to rest the entire day and I'd do the house chores. We usually divide house chores. I remembered that my dad told me to have chicken soup when we're sick so I texted him and ask what kind of chicken soup should I prepare (and told him I was sick too). He said I should cook "talunan" - a native kind of chicken soup with lots of tomatoes and ginger. My dad is a great cook. I am too, I believe. Our difference though is that his food has names, mine does not. I have eaten his Talunan forever and it tastes really yummy. I have never tried cooking it though.

Yesterday's attempt was successful as big dinoasaur liked the soup. I even put 3 pieces of long chillis to add spice to it - goodluck mucus. Hehe. Today I think he feels better. He's not even here now. He went to the mall to attend to some music-related stuff. Before he left I said I missed watching tv. We used to have cable and we had it cut off because nobody watches tv. Drei, our housemate, says we can surf the news on the net anyway. We have wifi connection at home and usually, the four of us go to our separate spots and tinker with our laptops. No one watches tv. Both of the tv sets here don't have the "rabbit" antennas so we can't even see the local channels. Now I miss watching tv. It's Sunday and it's showbiz talkshow day. I can't watch them. We can surf the news on the net but I can't watch showbiz talkshows on the net. Haha. Don't get me wrong, I'm not after each celebrity's scandalous life. I'm just amused watching Boy, Kris, and Ruffa - three of the wittiest tv people I've seen.

Here I am, in front of my laptop, as usual. I give myself 30 minutes more then I'm off to wash the dishes, do my laundry, and probably clean the comfort room too.

How was your weekend?



Music: No Lovechild, Corrine Bailey Rae

Shine on and be happy!!!