Bisdak Babbles

Okay, the New Year’s eve is almost a month ago but the joy of celebrating it with my family is as vivid as if it just happened last week. We didn’t attend the New Year mass due to fear of firecrackers, but I tried to imitate what the others do to welcome the new year: spread coins and candies on the floor and have the children gather everything up. We weren’t able to prepare much but the two kulilits at home had a lot of fun.  I was able to convince Shaynna to take an afternoon nap so she was up:

Since I already lost hope of growing any taller, I no longer did my “New Year jump”. Some of my cousins also joined us and just sang the New Year’s day away. The last time my siblings and I had our photo taken was almost two decades ago so I took the opportunity to pose with them. Now, who do you think is the youngest?

It was really a joyful moment and I hope next New Year’s Day, I get to celebrate it again with my family.

I live in a 4-bedroom apartment with eight other Filipinos. My housemates say that the bedrooms are smaller compared to their previous flats’. But I’m really happy with it. My bedroom is the smallest one, yet it is almost twice as big as my bedroom in Japan. We have a big kitchen and a very spacious living room, the reason why I love to just sit on the couch while “TV surfing”. These days, it is best to open the door for the cool breeze to come in. But I want to avoid conversations with sales people knocking on the door. There was one time a lady tried to sell icecream that was clearly more expensive than the ones at the supermarket. It was hard to turn her down but I honestly didn’t have cash at that time. This afternoon, an insurance agent knocked on the door. He tried to sell an insurance plan. He even presented an instant life insurance quote! Fortunately, it was not me who faced him, ‘coz I often feel bad to say “no”. If I’m the only person around, I’d rather close the door.

It’s really uncomfortable being caught up in a conversation about something I’m not familiar with. Like the time when my friends compared each other’s auto insurance quote, or the time when they talked about investments. Maybe it’s about time to educate myself on financial matter. I have always wanted to work for a financial company because I’ve heard they pay a lot higher, and yet I have nothing to put in my resume that says “fixed income”, “derivative”, etc. I should broaden my interests as soon as possible. Maybe it’s high time I should add financial-related books to my small collection of romantic and mystery novels.

It’s a bit overdue but I didn’t have easy access to the internet when I was on vacation in the Philippines. We have decent internet connection at hand but our PC is still the old Pentium III and I didn’t want to test my patience with it either. So how was my Christmas 2009? We didn’t prepare much. As usual, the “traditionals” were there: spaghetti and macaroni salad (we’ve had these since I was 5). For the first time in a long time, food preparations were done a few hours before Misa de Gallo. Maybe because this time, it was not my mother who did the preparations. Still, we were about 5 minutes late for the Christmas mass. Good thing we brought chairs or we would have stood until it was over! Shaynna was really ecstatic that she did not take her afternoon nap. The result? She fell asleep 15 minutes after we arrived at the church, and slept through the night! So, no photo with Shaynna. Only with my mother and some relatives…

We didn’t have much for the Noche Buena. But being just there with my loved ones just made my joy overflow. How I wished Papa was still with us…

Shaynna knew how to operate the DVD player since she was three years old. If you are busy and you want to prevent her from following you around, then tell her to watch cartoons. It’s like Sponge Bob revolution at home, because Sponge Bob is her favorite and Kiera’s (my niece), too! Dora and Barbie are also their favorites. But sometimes, I blame these cartoons because I often have a hard time answering Shaynna’s questions. She asked me why the sun (the real sun) is not smiling, while in Dora it is alive. Or, is the sun a male or female? How about the moon? Or why is sponge bob alive when he is just a sponge? At least in Barbie, she learned some songs.

Since I’ve moved to Singapore, I bought only a single pair of curtains. I wanted to buy one of those faux wood blinds because I want to sleep for as long as I like on weekends. But my curtain holder is just a bit elastic string, not even that good for hanging clothes. We are not basically allowed to alter anything in the apartment and we might move out after a year’s contract. So right now, I just wash the curtains, hang it in the “curtain line” until it dries up and only wash them again after 3 to 4 weeks. Pretty convenient, hun?

I have bought dozens of raffle tickets but I have never won even a consolation prize. Yet, there are some people who are very lucky, like winning major prizes each year at Christmas parties or annual company gathering. There’s anticipation, yet I haven’t experienced the joy of winning. For the past few months, my housemates have been buying lotto tickets that I sometimes ask myself “what will I do if I get the jackpot prize?”. First things first, clear off financial struggles. Then maybe travel to my dream destinations, buy properties, and maybe a motorhome? If only it is safe to travel Philippines with motorhome, I would definitely do that. But before my imagination run wild, maybe I should start buying a lottery ticket or two (one entry is only 50 cents). I know I’ve never been lucky in the lottery, but I still hope that maybe I am destined to win a jackpot prize? *_*

I think almost everyone does some kind of preparations for welcoming the New Year. I don’t even believe that these things have some effects on how one fares in the coming year. At home, at least we try to fix what we can, like replacing busted bulbs. It’s far from those Hubberton Forge but we have a simple chandelier at home. All of its 6 bulbs had been busted for almost a year. My mother just decided to replace them on the New Year’s eve! Aside from fixing stuffs, we also try to at least up on basic commodities. I will write another post on how I spent my New Year’s eve at home. It was not grand but I had a lot of fun. Indeed, there’s no place like home.