Waiting for my piece of cake

Last Saturday I celebrated a milestone in my life. Yes, a milestone! Oftentimes I would just let special occasions pass me by. I would not even partake of all the celebrations surrounding an occasion. I never felt the need to because all my life, I never really celebrated any of the other milestones in my life. Never had a birthday party. Never had a first communion. Never attended a high school dance. I attended my high school graduation, even had a special award, but somehow it felt just like an ordinary day. Uneventful. Same with my first day of work. My very first paycheck...didn't do anything special with it. I even broke up with a girlfriend because I didn't know how to celebrate our first month anniversary. Seems like my life has been devoid of celebrations. I didn't know and wouldn't know how to celebrate an occasion. But all that is going to change. I want to mark every milestones from now on with a celebration. Damn it, it's special, so I'll make it special.

Don't think for a minute though that I had a crappy childhood. I had a great childhood spent when times were much simpler. Yeah, I know, we've all received those forwarded emails reminiscing how simpler life used to be. But that's exactly the childhood I had. It was late 70s, and after school I would play with the neighborhood kids. Tumbang preso, moro-moro (agawan base), hide and seek, and even games as simple as habulan that would start with a silly rhyme such as "monkey, monkey, annabel..." would be enough to fulfill a child's idea of a great day. I had a great time growing up. But yeah, I was the one in the neighborhood or in the school who never had a birthday party.

I remember in grade school a classmate who would always have a celebration for her birthday. From kindergarten to grade six, it never fails that every year on her birthday, her parents would send food for the whole section during recess. There's the cake, and the ice cream, and of course, either pancit or spaghetti. And the whole class will sing to her, while kids from the other sections look on.

It's the same story in my neighborhood. My playmates would have their children's party complete with palaro like pabitin, trip to Jerusalem and stop dance. I would always be a guest. I would just wait for my piece of cake, and be happy to celebrate somebody else's birthday. I didn't have my own cake to share during my birthday with my playmates or schoolmates.

Don't get me wrong, our family is not devoid of celebrations. It's just me. My older brother had his share of throwing birthday parties. My sister, too. We would invite the whole neighborhood for her parties. And the same for my parents wedding anniversaries. Or our house blessing. Or inviting the whole church congregation to celebrate something. It was just me. I never wanted to celebrate my own milestones. My mom would ask me if I wanted a birthday party and I'd just say, "No it's okay, tayo-tayo na lang."

And that's what I want to change.
I don't have kids yet, but I want them to see me celebrating my own milestones so they would know how to celebrate theirs. I want them to anticipate the joy and happiness involved in reaching these milestones. I want to make these occasions special. So last Saturday was a first step. It was just my fiancee and I, but that was enough to start this change. I felt like this accomplishment was special. I wanted to celebrate it and that we did. Now, I'm ready to have my own cake.

Catching up on my sleep

I'm finally done with all the projects. Woo-hooo. That was not an easy two weeks. Sometimes I wonder if staying up late really made a difference. I know everything I did on those nights, I could have done in the daytime. But still, I get easily sidetracked during the day. So my best work really comes out at night. Anyways, now I have to catch up on getting some sleep. No Letterman, no O'Brian, just bedtime by 11 o'clock. Let's see if I can do this knowing how much I love TV...

This coming week, I'll be back to my normal routine. 9-5 at work, then TV at night. What a boring life I lead. At least I have something to look forward to: seeing my new house in Pomona next week...

Of course I found time to watch the finales of Friends, Survivor All-Stars, and Frasier. Two of them are gone for good, while the other one, I'll probably never watch again. Sorry, Survivor but I gotta move on...

The dream is still alive! Sacramento Kings just beat Minnesotta T'woves in Game 6. One more win and on to facing the Lakers again. This should be a good match. But first, the Kings need to win Game 7 in Minnesotta on Wednesday...

My college friend Ace just arrived in Washington, DC last week. Another newly-arrived, unemployed Filipino in the East Coast. But I'm sure not for long, UPian yata yan...

Okay, on to Barrio Alimasag to do some postings...

Happy Mother's Day, atbp.

I wish I can wish my mom a happy mother's day today. But she's in Bataan and I cannnot call her there. I may have to wait until tomorrow when she returns to Manila.
I miss my whole family and I really hope that they will all come in December. I have not seen my Dad in seven years. That's a loooong time. Same with my brother. I think it was 1999 the last time he came to visit. And my little sister, she'll be going to high school this June and I've only seen her once! One time in 12 years! If they all don't come together in December, then I'll start planning to visit them instead. I think it's about time that I go back to my lupang tinubuan.

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I hated last night!
First, after leading by as much as 10 points in the last 4 minutes of the game, the Sacramento Kings lost to Timberwolves in Game 2 of their 2nd round NBA playoff series. They could have been up two games heading back to Sac for game 3.
Then, Manny Pacquiao got a draw from his match last night after knocking down Marquez three times in the first round. I actually did not see the game since I don't get HBO, but I was following it last night from news updates in Yahoo. It was so close...

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A few weeks ago I wrote about my unexpected phone call from Brad Nick. But he's not the only one I've suddenly been in touch with, there's also Ace, Mein, Dingdong and Teody (all from KAD, just like Nick), and then there's Joji. A long lost friend I met through another friend in my past. And of all places, I found her in Friendster. She's also not too far away from Sac. She's in Fresno which is about two hours from here. Last I heard, she might not stay here in the US. I better see her before she goes back to Manila. If only I can finish all these projects.