I was thinking about curve balls and other things......

Well on Friday I was so keen on blogging here that I started to write the post in my head. It was about life throwing me another curve ball. But as usual before I can even put thoughts in paper or in this case in my draft folder, life righted itself and curve ball wasn't thrown at all. Again, it's just me reacting first before thinking. Heavens! When will I learn to read everything first before reacting violently and panicking for no reason.

If you want to know this is what happened. We are on the process of planning for our trip in the fall. We are actually doing 2 cruises, yes I know too much noh? The thing is though when you go to Europe it seems a waste to just stay there for a week, after all you paid that much for the plane fare and traveled all that way just to stay for a week? Or in this case cruise for a week?

The planning for a cruise involves mostly excursions or day trips during port days. This was what I was planning on doing, getting really serious about research and all. And THEN all of a sudden I looked up the dates of our second cruise and voila, I couldn't find the cruise anymore? Instead there is one for the cruise ship but with a different cruise date. Major panic button pressed and bells started to ring in my head.

By the time I had the hubby know of my concern, he said I must be mistaken because well, I'm always mistaken. I don't read everything well, I always skip paragraphs when I read, etc etc.

Turned out the husband was right, as usual I was wrong. Well, I was so relieved to find that I was wrong. Now back to normal programming of research and such.

Also this summer we have finally gotten the time and courage to enroll in swimming lesson at the local swim center. Aside from the husband there are two friends of ours who joined us to learn swimming. There were more people interested in getting lessons when we were talking about it, but in the end there are just the four of us. It comes as no surprise that of the four I am the one that is lagging in progress. I still have to master my courage and curb my fear. I'll get there. I told the college-aged instructor that my goal is to learn how to float and to kick. Simple right? Then my husband told him that it would be the instructor's major achievement if he can teach me how to swim. Yes, I admit I find it really really tough. One more week of lessons to go.

In addition to all these things, last weekend we had our church camping at Samuel P. Taylor State Park at the Madrone Group Campsite. Despite my apprehension of not enjoying it, I did. After all I like everyone who came to camp with us; they're my church family. Someone from church loaned us her bigger tent so there was plenty of room for the two of us, except that we were sleeping the wrong direction and I was rolling off to my side. Also by the second night the air mattress was losing air :)

Summer is nearly at its end but the weather around here is starting to get hot. OMG hot! I cannot stand heat. And by the way we had humidity here, not too much now, but last week I believe it was. Another thing I cannot stand.

Since I'm writing, yesterday to beat the heat we decided to watch a movie when it was the hottest time. We went to see Mark Wahlberg (love him)in the new Transformers movie. How can he be playing a dad to a 17-year-old hottie, he's far too young. Plus, how come he has no love interest in this movie?

Oh I spent today (Sunday) bingeing on tv via ON DEMAND. I've seen the first 3 episodes of the Halle Berry starrer EXTANT, really interesting and good casting. Also in my menu for today was THE STRAIN, watched 2 episodes. I was very interested in both shows which only mean that I am a big sci-fi nerdie now :)

Okay I think this is all for now. This blog is like an old friend that I wanted to share things/activities with.

Day 20 (30 days of June)

Can you believe it's summer? I don't have many summer memories while growing up, because we didn't do anything special during the sweltering heat of the summer months. We stayed home, ate halo-halo and ice candy and ice drop, stayed out of the scorching rays of the sun and I read a lot.

When I became and an adult I was working then I moved here and summer months were working months too. Nothing that would stand out in memory.

Maybe this year I'll have some wonderful summer memories, fingers crossed.

Tattle Tuesday

Did you all have a good Holy Week celebration? Or is celebration the right word to use. I don't know. However, it was a busy one for me. As you know we don't really have a time off work for the Holy Week, unless one requests to take a paid time off. It is this nonstoppage of work that was difficult to adjust to when I first came here. Everyone's working on Holy Week. On Good Friday no one seems to be taking the essence of Good Friday. It's a regular work day.


But I wisened up and have since been taking Good Friday off. My mom and I had this tradition of visiting the local churches here. Five in all. But this year we only went to 4 of them and only 3 were open :). And then after that, we went to Chow King. We didn't eat any meat, but still. Oh I feel bad about not giving up my comfort food for the Holy Week. I was very good the whole week because I was only eating salad at lunch or cut up fruits. Yet on the holiest of them all, Good Friday, I had my comfort food, tapsilog. Yikes!


Anyway, it was a busy Thurs-Sun for me, largely due to a lot of church functions/activities in connection with the Holy Week.


Now that's over, the rain has returned, to my enjoyment. There is something about gloomy rainy day that makes me feel good. Besides, we still need water to fill our reservoirs for summer's use. So come on rain.


Oh I am still busy with finalizing our summer vacation. By summer I mean, summer here. We have a date already, July 18 to August 20. I'm going where it's monsoon season I think. I'm going to enjoy more rain!


There was a time while arranging this vacation (nothing has been booked as of this writing) that we considered Thailand as the jumping point. We have 2 destinations for this one-month vacation. However, Thailand is so expensive coming from here. Maybe someday, with God's grace, we can do Cambodia-Thailand combo.


Speaking of more vacation, I have a couple of days off due (our company gives us 2 floating holidays in addition to the vacation time we accrue). We're thinking of using it on our wedding anniversary. Friends of ours, another couple, want to join us. They have Mendocino on their mind. Mendocino is one of my most fave spots, however, it's expensive. The four of us are on a budget. We're thinking about going to the north instead and see some giant trees and visit state parks and beaches. I hope the water is not cold like the central coast at this time of the year. But I doubt it.


And so I'm still plucking away at the computer seeking the best deals I could find.


Meanwhile, I don't think I'd be going to see Hunger Games, because we're trying to cut back on extra expenses. We are even considering putting our Netflix subscription on hold. We do that periodically when we get busy or we go away. We even do that when we feel that we have watched the movies that we wanted. So while we wait for new movies to appear on DVD, we put Netflix on hold. Saves money.


What else? Oh Saturday was supposed to be photography day. I even brought my DSLR, but we got caught up visiting Gay (we brought her Vietnamese spring rolls and banh mi). She is considering joining us for a cruise next year. We told her we have a free cruise due next year anyway and we're thinking about taking another European cruise. I hope she goes with us.


I had my annual bloodwork. Thank God everything's normal. Only one icky is I'm still deficient in Vit. D. That is caused by being cooped up in the office all day. Doctor advised over the counter vitD, but I am already taking multivitamins. So I guess I'll just soak up more sun and seek out Vit D rich foods to ingest.


I am hankering for more Vietnamese food. I hope I can persuade my hubby to go eat out on the weekend even if we're penny pinching.

Summer Time

It's the first day of summer around these parts and it's hot. So fitting I think. Today makes me want to reminisce some summer pasts.

Growing up, summer meant:

• long daylight hours make for longer play time
• waiting for the dirty ice cream vendor @ 4 pm
• running after the fishball vendor
• waking up to my mother's yakking about how late the hours is and how high the sun has been
• carrying mom's basket while she goes marketing
• shatung, patintero, tumbang preso
• Cathecism
• excursion to the beach
• annual pilgrimmage to Our Lady of Manaoag
• Holy Week services + procession in hot conditions

We didn't go anywhere when I was growing up.  We had to endure the heat and "boringness" of the 2 months at home.  No one in my neighborhood went away for vacation either.  Everyone was home helping out with chores and after lunch we all play at Peia's yard. They have a big yard and it has no plants in it.  It was perfect for playing. We could play sports there, like soccer or baseball if we wanted to or knew how to. 

They have a big gigantic acacia tree in front of the house with large trunk that could shield us from the sun's rays.  It was perfect. 

I cannot believe how nostalgic I am of that acacia tree now that I started to write this. I hope it's still there. I know Peia and family moved out since they didn't own the land. 

I've spent many summers in my family's home, which btw has suffered major damage during the quake of 91 or 90?  And it's begging to be taken down/demolished.  It will be soon.  Out of the many summers, one could easily stand out. It was the summer where either I was finished with Grade 5 or Grade 6, that part I couldn't remember.

But it was the summer where almost all the neighborhood kids banded together, girls and boys, and played.  We never all played before nor after that summer.  So that was what made that summer special.

I remember we played shatung a lot. I was masterful at that game.  We also played patientero.  And when the summer was ending, I organized a disco at my front yard.  Could you believe that?  It was a spur of the moment decision.

I sprung the request to my mom at around 3 pm and by 5 pm we have the stereo playing loud music and kids dancing in our yard.  We had no food but we danced the evening away.  I still remember my verve at asking permission for this boy, about 4 years my junior, from his sister because his folks were not in the house at that time. I can't recall why I have to since I know this boy stays out later than the 5 pm party time, but I still did.  And the funny thing is his sister is only about 4 years older than I am!

Another thing that I remember about that day was my friend's mom came to the yard and asked my mom what was the party about?  And my mom told her the kids wanted to dance :)

We sure did dance the summer away!

Summer Has Finally Arrived

Yap no kidding.

This week we're seeing three days in a row of 80+ temps. Finally some summer around this area.

Not that I'm crazy about hot weather. Not that. But a lot of people living around these parts are groaning about our exceptionally cool summer. It's about time they had their hot weather, doncha think. After all, I had my way with cool weather for most of the summer.

And while we're on the subject of wonderful summer days ahead, this past weekeend was a glorious sun drenched upper 70s in Sonoma Valley where I found myself tagging along hubby and his cohorts, er co-workers on a day of wine tasting.

The day was glorious, never mind that we were late in meeting up with the group because of the horrible traffic jam. We were guessing it's the race in Sonoma that caused the logjam, but this is the Bay Area where there's a traffic jam anytime, rain, shine, fog, mist, or smog. So, who knew really why the crowded streets.

Anyway, we met up with the group in Chateau La Jean and tasted a few varieties, none of which made an impression to my discerning palate (yikes!). Or my frame of mind was more on the photo taking rather than wine tasting.

Our second stop was Blackstone, a little smaller than the first one and the tasting room did not provide samples of dips and gourmet olive oil and gourmet vinegar, etc. But there was one red that I completely enjoyed - except for the price. At $17 a bottle, it was more than what I really am prepared to pay for my wine. But a good experience.

It's funny how when the lady giving the tasting ask our group where we were from and we almost in unison said, across the bridge, she didn't seem to understand that a group of over 10 people - relatively young and Asian looking - would be spending a lovely day wine tasting. We all said we just love to drink :)

It was around 2 pm when we left Blackstone and headed out to a deli a few blocks away - a deli I've been before and was not wowed by the food. We begged off and told the group we'd be on our way as we intended to attend Sebastopol's Apple Harvest Festival. We drove some 20 minutes and found out that we missed the festival by one week :) so we drove back home and ended up hungry in this hole in the wall combination of grocery and Mexican restaurant called Pepito's Mexicatessens. Clever naming isn't it?

The food was superb and well seasoned. I simply found another favorite spot.

Sunday was church and lazing around the house watching some tv and doing a lot of surfing - while Emma did a lot of sleeping. That cat can sleep for 24 hours if you'd let her.

All in all, twas a lovely weekend.

Beach

Beach , originally uploaded by M'roy.

When I was growing up, I only saw the beach once a year. In May when my family or some family members would go to the annual pilgrimmage to Our Lady of Manaoag. After hearing mass visiting with the Virgin Mary's image, we would picnic on the beach and spend the rest of the day there. Those were the days of excursions to the beach.

I was raised in a town where the nearest body of water, a river, is a few kilometers away and raised by parents who were afraid of the water. Therefore, no chance to learn to swim or do any activities connected to water.

Now that I live here in the bay area, we are surrounded by water. But unlike the beaches in SoCal, our beaches here have COLD water. Unless the weather heats up to 80F+, it is just way too cold to be on the beach, much less in the water.

So on occasions that the temps around here heats up, then we go and walk on the beach.

But next week, I will be going on vacation to a tropical setting where the water is warm. I hope to enjoy the beach as much as I could without learning how to swim.

I simply can't wait for my excursion to the beach this summer. Happy summer every one.