One more thing

2013_05_27_28_29 073, originally uploaded by M'roy.

I've seen it from different angles now, not once but a few times and my conclusion is this - it boils down to these 3 key elements:

First is forgiveness. You must learn to forgive your partner from what he/she has done or left undone. You must accept that you were hurt by his/her actions or words and that you are willing to bury the hatchet. Forgive your partner and yourself for all the hurtful things and words you gave and received.

Secondly is amnesia. You must be able to completely erase this painful episode from your memory. Nothing less than a complete surrender of one's being to amnesia is effective to make this relationship work.

And lastly be able to communicate. This unfortunate incident has opened my eyes that you were not communicating with each. You must find a way to be open about your thoughts and feelings to each other without fear of rejection or ridicule. Honest and open should be the line of communication for a relationship to thrive and prosper.

That's all I have to say. And yes, this is my unsolicited advise. I'm done now!

Talking to Myself

IMG_3951, originally uploaded by M'roy.

I'm struggling to be a friend right now. I found out that I'm not as patient with "friends" as I thought I am. I learned that my well of understanding is shallow and that my power of persuasion borders on the fringes of dictatorship.

I pride myself in having the best shoulders to cry on and the most patient ears in the friendship business, but this time my claims have been challenged and questioned and put into test every single time.

What happened to me? I need to meditate to find courage to help friends find their way back to their happy zone.

Winter, Olympics, AI and other projects

2013_05_27_28_29 185, originally uploaded by M'roy.

It's been a weird winter. Drought in California and endless snowstorm in the East, Midwest and some parts of the South. I know the rest of the country can't wait for spring to come and snow on the ground to melt, but I'm a bit anxious of the arrival of both spring and summer. If the trend continues and we don't get any significant rainfall between now and summer, I'm pretty sure we will see water rationing. I never experienced having water rationing before, full time. I remember when my brother used to live in Makati, they get water from about 5 am to 9 am and then again from 6 pm to about 10 pm. They collect water in a large bin in the bathroom and more bins in the kitchen. They have the faucets continuously running during those hours and the pressure wasn't great but the household water needs were met. You learn to make do with the available resources I suppose.

In other news, I've been enjoying the Olympic Games so far, although I've been getting impatient with women's figure skating which is finally tonight. I'm not checking online for spoilers as I know the short program is completed earlier in the day.

Additionally, American Idol is back! I'm loving Harry Connick Jr as the moral fiber of the group, so to speak. I really really like him and this early I could see that the trio of judges gel together well, unlike the ragtag team of last year's judging panel. Really dislike Mariah and Nikki Minaj.

I went shopping crazy a few weeks ago. I went to my closet and found that my pants were one by one disintegrating. They have been used so many times that they were dying on me. No other choice but to shop. So I bought 5 pants and 3 tops. Now the pants need to be altered, I mean shortened. I usually buy pants labelled "short" but this time around they didn't have those. So the pants were sitting in my closet accummulating cat hair until I convinced the hubby to invest in a simple sewing machine. Great timing K-Mart was selling a "simple" sewing machine, yes that's what it's called, last week for $79. So we bought one. It's Wednesday now and the only action that the sewing machine had seen were scratches from the cats curious about the heavy box sitting at the foot of the bed. I can stitch two fabrics together, I know how to use a sewing machine. My mother did not teach me how to cook - although she was a great cook - but she taught me how to sew. So my project now is to shorten the pants. I am giving myself a week to complete this project.

In addition, I still have that cross stitch project that I agreed to do with my San Diego friend. She and I will do a cross stitch project at the same time and will check on each other's progress online. Unfortunately she had to go home to the homeland because her mother passed away. I think today is her arrival back stateside.

That's all for now. I'm getting lazy putting my thoughts and feelings on writing, so there's less and less stuff here.

Happy Heart's Day

IMGP9387, originally uploaded by M'roy.

There is this force that compels me to write today. Is it because today's Valentine's Day? Or despite of it? Whatever the occult reasoning behind this interest to jot down something and share I'm happy to do so.

I over ate today. Chinese food c/o supervisor at work who treated everyone in the staff lunch. Pretty nice move. Then one brought strawberries - sweet, succulent - and she handpicked 2 of the biggest ones for me. Again another one received a big box of Sampler's chocolates and I was encouraged to enjoy a piece or two. Naturally I helped myself to 2 pieces, are you kidding me?

Now I know the hubs has some special dinner at home. While we don't do the whole Valentine thing - dinner, roses, chocolates, gifts - we find a way to fix something special for dinner at home. We tried to go out to dinner on V-Day before and it was disastrous. The amount of people eating out today is incredible.

Anyway, since it's Valentine's Day I'd like to share what transpired at the bedroom last night. No it's not x-rated in nature. So here goes: We were watching Jimmy Kimmel as we always do and he has this segment where he had 2 couples in different cities and it's like a scavenger hunt sort of game. One of the things he asked the couples is this: Bring something that belongs to your partner that you hate but he/she loves.

I didn't think anything more about it. We tune in to Kimmel and then set the timer on the tv. We find that we easily could sleep when there's tv noise so we keep Kimmel on.

Long after I took off my glasses and the lights were put out, I noticed that he was still awake, which is off since he could easily drift to dreamland when head hits pillow.

So I asked if he's okay. He said he's thinking of something that he hates of mine that I truly love. Oh-em-gee! He's serious about this.

To give him a little help I volunteered my answer to Kimmel's question. I told him that I truly hate his brown shorts that he loved to wear everywhere. He's worn it overseas even, I cannot stand it.

My answer gave way to his answer. I have this long t-shirt that is worn inside the house either as a lounger or as a nightgown. He said he hated seeing that. It's full of holes and I'm still wearing it. Before tonight he didn't say anything about it, except noticing that it's full of holes. How would I know he didn't like it.

As much as I liked that shirt, it really is time to retire it.

Anyway, for those who are brave enough to go out and celebrate this holiday, hope you enjoy yourself and your company.

Some of my favorite.....

2013_07_16 049, originally uploaded by M'roy.

....things in the world are friends and family and big big trees.

9 Days Later

9 days since the last post, my record at blogging this year is pathetic. Reason behind this sad fact is the busy offline life I'm having and of course a dose of laziness.

So the first week after getting back from vacation is always busy at work, because I'm always trying to catch up with workload that piled up while I was away.

Then I got lazy. Really lazy.

And we went out to eat with people. It seems that I'm eating out more this first 2 months of the year than I have the first 6 months of last year. Unbeknownst to me my husband made a date with his carpool buddies for dinner. The three of them brought their wives. I know one couple already since they came over for Thanksgiving at the house last year. When I met the other couple, I liked them immediately. We went to a Sichuan restaurant and ate spicy food, so spicy that it numbs the tongue and mouth. We had a fun time chatting and eating while the storm rages outside.

Back from Vegas

We just got back from a 4-day road trip to Vegas. A wonderful winter break. Stayed in Excalibur and one day drove 3 hours to Zion National Park in Utah where we hiked two different easy trails and ate Subway sandwiches for lunch under the beautiful sunny blue sky. We went crazy photographing the incredible red rocks. Another day we went to revisit one of our favorite places in the world, Valley of Fire State Park, where we went crazy with shooting everything in sight again. One day we hoped to get back there early and go hiking, to trails we never been.

Dining wise we were not planning on getting on any buffets. After driving 9 hours from home on the first day, our dinner consisted of Baja Fresh burito and salad. On the second day, I had reservation to a Brazilian churrascaria called Pampas located inside the Miracle Mile Mall at Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino. I was able to snag a deal from Travelzoo so that was good. On our third night we had dinner and a show at Excalibur's Tournament of Kings. A very good show, okay food. We were good with eating. We didn't go crazy with spending for dinner. We even got a breakfast buffet and the dinner and a show in exchange for sitting on a timeshare presentation. Haha, I know. We are curious about what's out there so we sign up. The freebies are not bad either.

All in all we had a good time. The long drive was both tiring and relaxing. On the drive to Vegas, I took the first shift and I probably drove 3.5 hours. We stopped for gas and subway somewhere in Tehachapi. Then hubs took over until we reached Vegas at about 7 pm.

On the drive back, he took the first shift of driving per my request. I find the city driving layout complex especially when trying to find the freeway exit. Good thing he took the first shift out of Vegas because it was extremely windy and blustery. The little compact that we were driving was unstable. I nearly got carsick, which I never do, ever.

All through the California desert area, the wind was blowing like crazy. There was dust spiraling in the distance, tumbleweeds dance from one side of the road to the other, but the passing scenery was truly relaxing for both of us. We had the radio on alternately on PBS, on a pop station (always trying to find a Pink tune) and on classical station.

So the first vacation of the year is done and over with. We usually do a little overnighter around our anniversary (May) so that's one thing to look forward to. Until then, it's back to the salt mines for the both of us.

Oh we pray for rain. And snow in the Sierras. We badly need precipitation here in California. The gov't is already talking about mandatory water cuts and hopefully it won't get so bad that the water need to be rationed in the summer time.