4:15p

makulit
once again my brain is all over the place today.
my goals for the day:
- finish the laundry
- clean the bbq grill
- work out
- clean the house

instead what have I been doing?
getting inspired to re-decorate the house...again!
I decided it's about time I finally worked on our
psuedo back yard furniture AND finally
sew a couch cover, which I've been planning
on doing for almost four years...damn, come to think of
it, our 4 year anniversary passed.
As of last week (Aug 1st) it has been 4 years since
we've lived in this house together.
wow. How could I forget that?

Anyhow, because of the above
I went to Berkeley again to check out fabrics and foam.
Yes, foam...I need it for the patio furniture.
Turns out it's wayyy too expensive over there.
Damn, $200 just for 3 pieces of foam to cushion your ass.
my ass ain't worth THAT much!
i think I'll just go to Ross and buy a roll of foam (they're usually on sale
for only $5 or less) and just double up on it.


so what have I been doing all week?
as usual, I've been MIA this week on the blog scene.
did I mention that I finally got into the stupid "Prendster"
(as my dad would pronounce it) website?

DAMN!!! HELLLLA folkers be on that thing.
It was kinda cool for a while, checking out people's testimonials
and all that...trying to see if I could spot any old friends
I hadn't seen in years.
One thing's for sure: if you're pinoy and live in the Bay Area,
you are guaranteed to have some degree of seperation from
the rest of the pinoys in the Bay Area...and potentially the whole
state of California.

After a while, though, it starts to feel like another
popularity contest thing. I'm sure it's great for networking, though...
anything to keep connected with people is fine.
but, it's still kinda surface-y for me. I guess the challenge is in what you do with
those connections you make. that's where the substance is found.
'hope people can still find it in this new novelty.

on the ride home
ok, so as I was saying before i stupidly erased it all,
I was hangin' out with my dad on our ride home from the airport.
he just arrived back from spending 2 weeks in the PI's to tend to
my lola (my mom's mom). He came back by himself since
my mom decided to spend more time with lola.

it's been difficult for me to include this entry here, because
it's always a challenge for me to express things that impact me so
deeply.
this probably also explains why I haven't blogged all week.
I guess I'm just afraid that i won't be able to do any justice to the topic.

but I listenened to and absorbed wholeheartedly
my dad's stories from his trip.
my favorite was about his visit to his hometown
where he grew up.
I love to hear him express his love for his town,
he's always so proud of the people...their graciousness
and humility.
it's funny cause that's the essence of who my pops is,
even though he's perhaps one of the most BIZARRE people on the planet. ;)

then, dad began to talk about his house and his childhood.
to this day, the house he grew up in is STILL in our family's name.
my cousin lives there now with her husband and two kids.
apparently, dad's oldest brother (who worked in Alaska back in the days)
saved enough money to
build that house.
god knows they needed it, cause all 9 of them were living in a nipa hut before
the house was built.

but that didn't phase my dad growing up.
even though they were financially poor, he always talks about how much he enjoyed his childhood.
he's got TONS of stories...many of which he's repeated at least
10 times to my brother and I.
I know them all by heart.

on the ride home, dad
reminded me of amang (his dad) and his popularity with
the town folk.
he was a mailman, so he knew everyone and vice versa.
hence, everyone knew my dad.
and according to dad, amang was the BEST storyteller,
the favorite of the town.

dad also reminded me of inang (his mom),
how he never knew exactly how old she was.
inang never knew either because her parents passed away
before she was old enough to know them
and she never went to school.
at that moment I just thought to myself quietly how amazing
a woman she was to raise 7 children who all became successful in life.
all have their own families and pursued various careers.
the oldest was a lawyer.
the second was an engineer.
3 of her daughters became nurses
and her youngest son, dad, became a CPA.

...soon enough we reached my parents' house and it was time for
me to help my dad unload the car.
his story telling had to cease for the moment, but I could
not help but feel so much pride and appreciation for
my roots on dad's side.
made me wish i could speak and understand ilocano, his native tongue.
made me proud of my last name...I don't ever want to get rid of it.
Not even when I get married.
truth is, i really like my name as is.
and now I have more reason to keep it as is.