My professor, The Archaeologist, for my material culture class has enjoyed the essays I've written so far on the Filipino balikbayan box that he has suggested that I try to get them published. WTF!! Whoa, really!?!?!?! A lowly MA student such as myself, get published in an academic journal? I can't believe it. I'm definitely going to follow through and look into it. I feel so validated thanks to The Archaeologist's encouragement.
hey hey hey! what's haPPenin'???
30 is here and i feel so LiBerATEd from the shackles of my 20s. let's see. the positive: i traveled the country for free, i met amazing new people, i lived in two other places besides NYC, i truly became financially independent from the 'rents. the negatives: the quarter-life crisis, the uncertainty of life, the constant self-questioning, the depressingly low salary, the people pleasing. UGH. i'm tired of it. none of that shitake ANYMORE! i'm older and i demand respect dammit! so if you thought i was outspoken before, wait till you hear me now!
i've been lookin' forward to 30. seems like i'm the only one of my friends that's not freaked out by it. i'm happy and grateful for all the beautiful life blessings i have. so many amazing things are going to happen in this decade; how can i NOT look forward to it???
a beautiful surprise birthday dinner was planned by a scheming duo: j & mom. i never thought mom had it in her. but she surprised me. and the fact that she and j worked together, shocked me even more. yet i felt sooooooooo loved. later, a part-ay! check out photos on flickr.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!!!
Mom turned another year older today! Here she is blowing out her candles surrounded by lovely roses and some cards and a check from me. Ha!
Of course, there has to be one with the two of us!
Happy Birthday Mom!
Here's one of my best friends celebrating her 30th. Her husband, The Chemist, plus 12 close friends celebrated L's (aka "Goober") birthday in elegant style at a Boston lounge and restaurant. With the exception of her elder sister who could not attend, the other four women in her bridal party were there. So we're talkin' just close friends folks.
To the left, you'll see Goober shimmy-ing in one of her gifts, a new blue bathrobe. Doesn't she just look ssssexxy in that bad boy!?!? The Chemist seems to thinks so.
On the right is the birthday gal between me and The Artistic One, who is donning her typical laugh-out-loud-laugh. Don't we look awesome for a bunch of 30-year-olds?
Hey wait, I'm not 30 yet! Haaa!!! I'm the baby in this pic...
All this talk of traveling has made me itching to get on a plane. So when this happpens, I just look back at some of the amazing places I've been:
Me watching the sun set at the Delicate Arch.
Arches National Park, Utah (2001)
This statue, like many Incan artifiacts originally intended for display was completely covered with a thin, gold plate. When the Spaniards arrived, they melted all the gold, kept it for themselves, and exorcised the object by chopping off its nose, and branding a cross by one of its ears.
Me on a ski lift on the Argentinian side of the Andes (2003)
Well folks, it looks like Ghana isn't happening this year.
Based on my work demands, the only month that I can get away is July. And Ghana in July is HIGH season. This means that a round trip ticket from JFK to Accra is $1700! I almost fainted. I have never spent so much money on a plane ticket, not even to the Philippines.
If The Roommate remained, I would've saved the money and visited my friend E, who is in Accra on a fellowship till August (If I go, it would be the 3rd continent E & I would spend time in. We met on the Inca Trail in Peru). But now that The Roommate is leaving on April 1st, my typical monthly savings will go to rent. So I really can't pull off a $1700 ticket.
This situation leaves me with two options:
Yeah! I've got tickets to see them at the Tommy Hilfiger Center in Jones Beach this May!!! I'm soooo excited. Look, you do not understand. I was not allowed out of the house when I was a teenager. Only tasted real freedom when I left for college. So I led a real boring HS existence, which is why I always felt like I missed out on what everyone else did: no concerts, no sleepovers, no late night outings for JoJo.
Seeing bands like Erasure, Depeche Mode (Who's next, the Pet Shop Boys or OMD? Geez, I remember jr hs classmate, PY, had all the band names etched on the front flap of what would be the progenitor of the messenger bag.) in concert is merely making up for lost time!! Because I couldn't do it when I was 13!!! I've waited sooo long...17 years. The wait is well worth it. :) The first single off their album, "Precious", is old-skool DM!! If you've heard it, you would know without a doubt it was them.
*sigh* Listening to their music reminds me of the days when my high hair was stiff from hairspray and when the only color in my wardrobe was black. I love the 80s!!!
My maternal grandmother and my last surviving grandparent, passed away at 4am today in a Philippine hospital from complications of pneumonia. She was 98. She is survived by 6 children, 20 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren.
When she was alive, she used to say that she was comforted by the fact that at least two of her grandchildren would remember her when she was gone (As if the rest would not! She was definitely dramatic...I see where my mom gets it from.) because one is named after her and because the other shares the same birthday with her. The grandchild that celebrates the same birthday with her is me.
I will never forget a beautiful memory I have from 2001. I traveled back to the Philippines to co-celebrate our birthdays: I turned 25 and she 94. Early in the morning before the big party, our whole extended family came to her house to greet her happy birthday. She was showered in kisses and hugs. I waited until the crowd subsided and I went to give her my own well-wishes. When I was done, I began to walk away from her when she called my name. I turned around to see her waving her hand and signaling me to return, so I did. When I looked into her face, she said, "Don't let me forget to greet you because it's your birthday too." And then she held my face in her hands and kissed me on both sides of my cheecks. I started to cry, overwhelmed by the poignancy of the moment. She was startled and asked me why I was crying. I told her that I was so happy and I felt so honored to share the same birthday with her. And she smiled.
(These pictures were taken later that day at a birthday party in our honor. The top pic is right before we left for the restaurant. The bottom pic is me blowing out my "25" birthday candles with grandma and mom looking on. There we are, three generations of the D women. I love this photo.)
I love you Lola! May God welcome you home! I look forward to the time when we will see each other again in a place where no pain or sorrow exists.
The table full of food in preparation for the stroke of midnight, 2006!
There are many superstitions that Filipinos believe in and many get played out on New Year's Eve where what you do at the stroke of midnight in the new year, you do for the rest of the year. That's why the table is set full of food and on it are plenty of noodles (on my table there's pancit and spaghetti) for long life and round thing (grapes, clementines, meatballs, pancakes even though they are flat) for money and posterity. There's also an red elephant on the table (can you find it?) with it's tusk up for good luck that holds lots of loose change.
But before devouring the food and shaking the pockets full of change, more pictures!
Here are the chefs of all that food, and the usual celebrants of New Year's Eve. Who made them wear those funny things on their heads??? We look a little tired because we've been slaving away in the kitchen for 2 full days! We made enough food to feed an army!
I invited MoJo to our usual close-knit celebration and enticed him with all this Filipino food like lumpia and pancit! I didn't need to twist his arm. He was happy to join us and we were happy to have him. Who made him wear his funny thing on his head???
I think he's really excited to start eating, what do you think?
Let's wash down some of that food with some liquid, shall we??? What, a wine glass? Nah, I'll just drink straight out of the bottle. Notice, it's gotten mighty warm in here...
Happy New Year 2006!!!No pictures from Christmas since I forgot the memory card to my digital camera. Boo hoo! I am waiting for members of my family to email their pics to me. Boo hoo!
...Days later...
Wait, a member of la familia sent pics. Here's another one of our (in)famous group pics. They are always the same at the holidays: same family members with just different clothes on. Of course, our family grows and we are delighted to welcome new ones to the group.
Thank goodness Ate G is all the way in the back. Hopefully, she's not causing trouble by tickling people while the shot is getting taken...
