Holiday Dead Weight

I feel like an utter grinch and took about 16 festive quizzes just to prove myself wrong. I finally found one I can truly identify with........

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are about generosity. You give as much as you possibly can to friends, family, and charity. You celebrate the holidays in a minimalist style. You are likely to only give one great present and decorate your house with a few special items. During the holidays, you feel like having fun. Tradition is not important to you... having a blast with your friends is. You think the holidays should be nostalgic and sweet. The holidays bring out your inner child. Your best holiday memories are of childhood foods and traditions. You secretly still wish you believed in Santa Claus.

What Do the Holidays Mean to You?

Seroiusly, what does it all mean to you???

Here's to a meaningful and blessed Christmas to all!

Holiday Anathema

The Christmas season isn't exactly my favorite time of the year. For starters, it's so darn commercialized. I'm not being scrooge-ish but seriously, how on earth can one do some serious soul-searching amid all the parties, events, presents, food, alcohol, sweets, and traffic?

A strong case in point would be an incident just 2 days ago. Joel and I decided to do some last minute Christmas shopping sans the kids at Trinoma. We anticipated the traffic and the huge crowds hence we went as soon as it opened.

By 11 A.M., we were starved and decided to have our lunch early. Due to opposing tastes, we had to go our separate ways. I ordered take-out from Taco Bell, and he ordered his lunch to go from his favorite steakhouse. We decided to meet at the food court.

I got there first and got the best banquet seat in the house. Since he was taking too long, I started nibbling away. Just then, a mom, her daughter (about 6 or 7), and her yaya (local term for nursemaid or nanny) approached me and asked if I was with someone so I said yes. Minutes later, they went back and asked me the same question. I, of course, gave the same answer.

I wouldn't have mind having them but there were about a hundred vacant tables in the food court. The kid throws me a piercing glance followed by a huge tantrum then started yelling at her mom and threatened that if she cannot sit there, she's not eating at all.

I remain unfazed amid all the drama. I'm not moving my fat ass for some spoiled rotten kid.

Joel arrives and little miss spoiled brat decides to shut up. The mom-in-despair, the spoiled rotten kid, and the dumbfounded yaya then settle for a table near ours. The spoiled little beast throws me piercing glances every now and then while showing off her new Winx and Bratz dolls to her yaya.

I swear I wanted to gouge her eyes out. Joel calms me by telling me that she isn't my problem, she's her mother's problem. Which is so true making the brat in me shut up.

I've always believed that the spoiled breed is 'made' and not 'born'. No baby is born spoiled. Spoiled rottenness is not innate.

Bringing up and rearing children is a huge responsibility and to a point, a major obligation that all parents should commit themselves to upholding.

I may not be the perfect mother but one thing I'm most definitely proud of is that my boys are far from spoiled brats. They are the most amazing creatures on the planet and of that, I'm quite certain (proud mama ).

Nonetheless it's still the season to be jolly so in keeping with the times and so as not to wreck my sons' super festive mood, I'm desperately trying to keep a smile on my already wrinkled face.

Christmas has somehow lost its true essence amid all the material indulgences we employ to celebrate it.

I'm still going with the scientific theory that the Lord was born sometime in the summer because apparently there was no hay in December in Nazareth.

I can't wait till it's REALLY 'Christ'mas.

Thirty-Eight Things

Panhandled form Cyberpunk

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My sister, Memai, A.K.A. Chakaness
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Socializing at a party at my parents' house
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
In a brown study
4. What happened to you in 2006?
Irons in the fire
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
Can't remember
6. How many beverages did you have today?
2 cups of coffee, 2 cups of milk tea, 4 cups of iced tea
7. What color is your hairbrush?
Black
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Gum
9. Where were you last night?
See # 2
10. What color is your front door?
Brown
11. Where do you keep your change?
Coin purse
12. What’s the weather like today?
Breezy
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Haagen-Dazs dulce de leche & rum raisin
14. What excites you?
Wakeboarding, bags, Joel, my kids (in no particular order)
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
I already have
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Affirmative
17. Do you talk a lot?
Only when I'm comfortable
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Only the episodes before they killed off Mischa Barton's character
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Do Steven Spielberg , Steven Seagal, and Steven Curtis Chapman count?
20. Do you make up your own words?
Shurevaloo!!!
21. Are you a jealous person?
Ask Joel
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Ana
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kats
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
My mom
25. What does the last text message you received say?
Globe advisory
26. Do you chew on your straw?
All the time
27. Do you have curly hair?
Negative
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
Never-never land
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
I'm not telling
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Chicken empanada
31. Will you get married in the future?
Duh
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Ray
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Long term/ concrete/ objective: Joel
Short term/ notional/ subjective: Gerard Butler
Material/ mercenary/ irrational: White Goyard PM tote
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
This morning
35. Are you currently depressed?
A little
36. Did you cry today?
Nope
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I haven't posted anything in 5 days. I haven't checked my emails in 3 days, hell I barely even touched the computer since. I've been attending Christmas parties nonstop for 4 consecutive nights and I seriously can't keep my mind (and hands) off my kids' new Pokemon Diamond version game of which I've been playing since they've had. In a matter of 2 days (and about 18 playing hours) I'm off to get my 7th gym badge. Can anybody tell me where in the Sinnoh region can I get my hands on my own Lucario?
38. 5 people you tag next?
J.D., for his creative and unconventional take on memes
Leena, for her numerical adroitness

FIN

Temporary Madness

love \'ləv\ n 1 a (1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties ‹maternal ~ for a child› (2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests ‹~ for his old schoolmates› b : an assurance of love ‹give her my ~› 2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion ‹~ of the sea› 3 a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration ‹baseball was his first ~› b (1): a beloved person : often used as a term of endearment (2)Brit— used as an informal term of address 4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others b : a person's adoration of God 5 : a god or personification of love 6 : an amorous episode : love affair 7 : the sexual embrace : copulation 8 : a score of zero (as in tennis) 9 Christian Science: God — at love : holding one's opponent scoreless in tennis — in love : inspired by affection

All of the above definitions embody love as prescribed by a dictionary.

As much I 'love' the word 'love', there are ceratin aspects of the word I find perplexing. One, it is a very personal matter, even whimsical and capricious at times. Two, it is highly subjective, moodily introspective, and somewhat illusory. Three, it is probably the English language's most misused, abused, debased, and misunderstood word - ever.

One of love's integrants is lust. Lust is probably the simplest and most primitive of its components. Or probably the most hormone-based <wink wink>.

There's another thing called romance or romantic love. Or in layman's term, madness. I was watching an episode on love on the Discovery Channel last week, and they believe that love and madness are very similar in nature. Apparently, the similarity is in one of the brain's neurotransmitters, Serotonin. In the central nervous system, serotonin is believed to play an important role in the regulation of anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, vomiting, sexuality, even appetite. Increased levels of this neurotransmitter have a calming and healing effect on people. Decreased levels, anxiety and depression.

Subsequently, our body's reaction to love subsides and different areas of the brain are then activated. Thus, attachment or commitment is in order. Among the three, this is probably the most complex. After all, how do you sutain love? If your serotonin levels continue to dwindle, can you stay 'in love' with a person? In short, can we actually keep the love alive?

Just how exactly do you 'account' for love?

Take for example my love for bags. I love bags, my heart skips two beats whenever I see even just a picture of an Hermes Birkin 35 cm in black or a Chanel reissue 2.55 white 226. But that has nothing to do with romance (okay, maybe just a little), more so with attachment or commitment. Why? Just like my former love affair with monogram, I know there will come a day when I will outgrow that lust. Or move on to yet another 'lustworthy' addiction lol.....

Or even wakeboarding. I sooooo love wakeboarding. I have been an addict for nearly 4 years and yet every single time I'm about 50 to 100 meters away from Lago, I start vomiting (another confession). Yes, it's been an inexplicable predicament since day 1. That, to me, is lust plus a little romance and a pinch of attachment.

Let's move on to something a little less worldly. Take my parents and siblings for example, I love them dearly yet I do not feel my anything romantic <eeew> towards them. I do not feel any lust <double eeew> for any one of them. But I do feel a highly strong and very deep cosmic attachment for every single one of them.

I can probably say the same for my children, this time amplify that attachment and affection to a gazillion times. I'm very protective of them (probably to a fault), and I'd kill (literally!) anybody who'd do them harm. Motherhood, to me, is presumably the paradigm of human and altruistic love.

It's much different with my husband though. After nearly 9 years of marriage and almost 10 years as lovers, I still feel 'that' certain desire. I still feel 'in love'. All that plus a deep, cosmic bond. He's pretty much my soulmate, don't you think? But that's another topic.

So here's to love. Transitory dementia. Evanescent lunacy. Temporal derangement. Momentary senselessness. Fugacious idiocy. Temporary madness. Or whatever it is you wish to call it.

Let The Cat Out Of The Bag

I have a handle on the situation.
I have a handle on my space and contents.
My vacant hollow.
Or the items of which I house a dozen odds and ends.
I always know what I possess or what may be un-there or missing.
To study my physiognomy, one might think not much or lacking.
But closer on inspection, I am near divine and worthy of great travels.
A true companion of love and comfort, recognition, the familiar.
I have been held in such a clutch and such a love storm by my mistress and her values.
She takes me aboard a thousand footsteps, always holding on and never once ignoring.
Mostly I am there to steady, to balance her or witness.
She sometimes shuffles through my soul in search of needy things,
like painted sticks and looking glasses of which I keep most dear.
She searches inward and there she looks inside my sacred space.
Full of painted stick and looking glasses,
I am my lady's handbag.
- I Have A Handle On The Situation, a poem by David Roby
(bag pics: all mine)

Aside from my blog and other blogging communities, I also hang around the Purse Forum quite often . There a lot of sub-forums there on practically every designer bag in existence. On each sub-forum is a 'What's in your bag?' thread. Being a purse addict/fanatic/enthusiast/freak, I've posted pics of nearly every single bag I own. But being a (somewhat) private person, I've only shown one bag's innards just one time.

I used to be crazy for those vinyl backpacks from Sari-Sari Store in my teens. I remember at one time having 2 of the same vinyl backpacks. As I got older (or probably a bit more modest), I've learned to value my privacy.

I used to be sooooooo crazy for logos. Thanks to my middle-age exigency, I'm now partial to non-monogrammed bags. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, It's just that I hate those stares I get from people who seem to want to ask whether I'm carrying the real deal. I do not own a single fake honey, never have, never will.

So when I was tagged for this meme by December stunner (and birthday girl) Melai, I was more than happy to riposte.

Say hello to my everyday bag, my '06 Black Balenciaga City Peek-a-booThe auricularFrom the top:
Fino leather checkbook holder, Lacoste long wallet (had it for 9 years), Nokia 9210 (dinosaur-age, my bother calls this a deadly weapon as it is so old and huge), Ipod Nano in Tokidoki ISkin (on outside pocket), Ipod shuffle (Joel's, outside pocket as well), Canon Ixus, Coin purse (I've had it since high school, can't even remember where I bought it), black satin purseket from bag-a-holic

Inside the purseket:Rosary and scapular (both from my paternal grandmother), Louis Vuitton Damier Cles which holds 2 SD cards (for my camera) and my car's spare key, The Sak address book, Givenchy card holder, paracetamol tablets (for my perpetual headeaches), house keys, mints, post-it flags, calculator, oil-control film, metered dose inhalers (for me & my sons' asthma), MAC blot powder, Nars blush in Orgasm, Shu Uemura eyelash curler, Shu Uemura magnifying mirror, Smashbox Tint in Smashing Heat, MAC lipstick in Cherish, Shu Uemura blush brush, Shu Uemura compact face brush, Tweezerman tweezers.

Shoot, there goes modesty and privacy right down the drain.

In the spirit of torch-passing memes, I pass this on to Canuck Chick, Josey, Mae, Ghee, and Beng. Tell me ladies, what's inside your bags? :)

Happy Birthday Manilenya!!!!

Disambiguated Seity

If you were thrown the perennial identity question 'Who am I? Why am I here?', how would you answer?

Frankly, other than stating your name, would YOU even know where to start, much less respond?

Having no concept of selfhood, do you think your identity is either diachronic, synchronic, or both? Hell, I have no idea.

John Locke, a 17th-century English philosopher (not Terry O'Quinn's character in 'Lost'), stated that personal identity is founded on consciousness, and not the substance of either the soul or the body.

That said, how on earth will I ever come up with a de rigueur answer. Here's an attempt.

I am not always be kind but that does not mean I am wicked.
I may not be sympathetic but that does not mean I am not empathic.
I am not righteous but I'm awfully certain I am honest.
I am sometimes sarcastic but I am definitely not high-and-mighty.
I may not be enlightened but I'm positive I'm sharp-witted.
I strive to give of myself but that does not imply I am noble.
I sometimes strive for gain but that does not imply I am self-serving.
I sometimes feign indifference but I am not stoic.
I sometimes find my tongue staggering without purpose but in no way does that suggest I am undiplomatic.

I may not always be sure of who I am, but I'm extremely certain of who I'm not. After all, I am human. Created by The Supreme Being. Of flesh and blood. Of body and soul. Of mind and spirit. Powered by the divine spark, the elan vital.

To quote myself, 'Your reputation may be established, even fabricated by somebody else. But in the end, your character is something you build up for yourself.'

You can walk through life posing as a lamb whilst bitch-slapping everyone behind their backs. As for me, I'd rather be an in-your-face bitch than a hypocrite in denial.

In the words of Truman Capote, 'But without such misjudgements and such faiths, the seas would sleep, the eternal snows remain untracked.'

So now tell me, who are you? Do you know?

Turning Over A New Leaf

New look. New URL. New server. Yay!!!

To celebrate such a momentous occasion, allow me and Sedira to reintroduce ourselves.Just in case you were wondering whether she's 'alive' ;)
A big thank you to Ate Sienna for 'adopting' us.

P.S. I'm still a bit under the weather so give me time to better my layout, finish up on my link lists, and resume my blog-hopping duties. Thanks y'all!

Testing... Pansitan Server

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Honorarium

It's been 4 days since I last posted. First it was PMS. Now, I'm down with the flu *sniff sniff cough cough*.

Thanks to some generous bloggers, I feel somewhat better. Since I've been laid up with malady for 2 days and counting, what better way to lighten up than to share a few plums.

Without preamble, here are my nominees.........

I received the Egel Nest Blog Award from the lovely Tatiana

Since the eagle is associated with strong soaring flight, I would like to share this one with some eminent blogger friends - Melai, Beng, Ghee, Leena, Liudmila, Annita, Gale, and Cyberpunk. I wanted to share this with you J.D. but since we received this award together, I'm giving you the next one whether you like it or not lol...................

Awarded to yours truly by the beautiful and sexy Ghee

This one I'd like to share with with some of the most beautiful and sexiest in blogosphere - Beng, Melai (again), Canuck Chick, Lyka, Josey, Joanne, Nessa, Tatiana, and yes, J.D.

The next one is quite special to me as it is the first one I received. But being a blogging newbie (read: imbecile), I didn't even know what to do with it then. This 'Sweet Treat Award' was given by the glamorous NessaTo share with my sweetest blog buds - Melai (Yet again. Happy birthday in advance dear pal :), Annita, Julie, Piko, Lord Manila Stone, Lazarus, and Zang.

Again, thanks to Tatiana, Ghee, and Nessa. I'd love to give you guys a hug, but alas I'm still a walking viral plague lol.......*sniff sniff cough cough*