Justin and Lance turned five today! They had a little party at their school (a new school they just transferred to this school year) just like last year. Of course my brother bought two cakes for them since they are not in the same class. There’s a rule that twins cannot belong in one class. Thus, he bought a Batman cake for Justin (which is evident in last year’s invitation that I made) and a Superman birthday cake for Lance (since he now fancies being a superhero with a cape like Justin). The goodie bags for their classmates were treats from the Halloween Party that Lance and Justin attended wherein they wore the costumes as shown in the above picture. Too bad I was not able to attend their birthday party in their school since I have work to attend to.

My brother found a really funny sign at Pangasinan. The sign says, “On this Site in 1897, nothing Happened!” It really got me laughing. If the picture was shared to me over YM, I would use the emoticon where the smiley rolls over the floor laughing. Hahaha!

My nephews, Justin and Lance, will be taking their long exams scheduled this week. They studied this afternoon and of course, their Dad was their tutor while I was their spectator. My brother really knows how to motivate them. His style was to make them answer the questions and if they got it correctly, they’ll move one-step forward. This is quite similar to the contests shown at your regular noon-time show.

My brother also related to me when Justin was teaching Lance how to write numbers.

Justin: Yung number three parang dalawang letter C lang yun na baligtad.

Lance: nods.

Justin: Yung number four naman, parang letter L lang yun na nilagyan ng line.

Lance: Nods.

I think Justin is good in abstract reasoning. Hmmmm… child prodigy in the making?

I’ll be the appointed officer-in-charge while the financial manager of the house is away for a US trip this August 1 (his departure from Manila) for 3 weeks. I’ll be taking care of the payment of the electricity and PLDT bills and the groceries too. Attached here is the Out-of-Home Auto Reply from Dad (a parody of the out-of-office auto-reply). I’ll be getting my rewards/incentives once he gets back here though.

From: Dad
To: Jay, Claudia, helpers
CC: Karla
Subject: Out of Home Auto Reply

Dear all,

I’ll be out of the country this August 1 for as US trip (for 3 weeks). For important matters like billing of utilities and groceries, please approach Karla, my OIC.

Regards,
Dad

P.S.
Don’t text or call me if I did not send an SMS to you. My roaming is already activated and my cellphone bill would increase tremendously.

I cannot believe that my cousin Joan is already married. I was still surprised by the sudden turn of events. It’s surprisingly unexpected for she is the only girl and the youngest among the three children of Tito Jun and Tita Malou. Actually, her older brother is the one that we’re expecting to be the next one to get married. When I saw my cousin Joan got off the white car, a typical color of a wedding car, with some flowers (which is another way of saying that I am getting married or already married) on it, I felt like as if I was in a dream. But it’s real, the flash of the cameras continuously flooded on her and she walked the aisle with the instrumental from My Sassy Girl as her background music. As she was walking towards the altar, there was a bubble thought in my mind saying, “This is real… This is real… This is happening… This is not a dream”. (more…)

I just bought a pair of eyeglasses from the recently concluded 3-day sale at SM Bicutan. And this is practically what I needed for work. Basically, I use the computer for more than 8 hours a day and in order to prevent the deterioration of my eyesight, a pair of eyeglasses is needed. I got this one 50 percent off from the original price of the frame and an additional hundred bucks for the lens. Of course the lens is not multi-coated. It is the ordinary type of lens which is relatively cheaper than of the multi-coated type. Budget constraints prevented me from purchasing the other type.

Then, my brother bought a pair of ring-bearer get-up for Justine and Lance. Both of them will be part of the wedding entourage of my cousin’s wedding this coming Wednesday. Truly, the sale is just in time for my brother so that he could buy them a Barong Tagalog, an undershirt, a pair of slacks and a black leather shoes for a lesser price that will only be used in the upcoming wedding. The only item that Justin and Lance that can be used again right away is their black leather shoes (for school) and their undershirt (for home). They can only use the slacks and the barong for another formal occasion or maybe, some time in August for the annual Linggo ng Wika. I guess they will be required to wear such.

Last Saturday, we had our lunch at McDonald’s where my nephews, Justin and Lance, were eating up all the french fries that their stomach can hold. They also had a Sundae Cone which would mean an additional chore for me and that is to get a table napkin from the counter (especially that fastfoods are known for their cost-cutting techniques with regards to table napkin distribution) and to wet the napkin with a little water from the faucet just outside the restroom.

While they were eating their ice cream, a man in his late twenties approached our table. He was asking if we’re interested in having our nephews join the casting. He said it’s for a milk commercial and they’re looking for twins (preferably young boys) that are around 4 years old. Instantly, I recalled the days when the twins Richard and Raymond Gutierrez were shown in a milk advertisement. Also, I was reminded by one of their films entitled Kambal Tuko. Apparetly, those were the Mojacko days.

In case you do not know Mojacko, Mojacko is an animated Japanese series shown some time ago at GMA-7. Mojacko looks like a furry ball with a pair of hands and a pair of feet as well. When my nephews were a little younger, they looked like two Mojacko’s. Now, they look like Shaolin kids. I can even imagine them in a Shaolin get-up. However, I can’t imagine them doing the ala Shaolin moves. I can think of them doing a Spider-man act or doing a Mr. Incredible act since both Spider-man and The Incredibles are their favorite movies of all time as of this moment.

Let’s just see if my brother will be taking them to the casting.

When we were still kids and when Mom was still around the house, she would usually bake macaroons. It has been my ultimate favorite ever since. And when my parents got separated, there were no macaroons that would remind us of the times when my parents were still together. She did not bake those macaroons for profit. In fact, Mom made it out of her love for us. And that would certainly describe how delicious the macaroons are.

Mom would use to bake the macaroons at an area in the kitchen where the water dispenser and the plastic cabinet is located (that’s the location of our gas range before). When my parents got separated, the gas range was not used and became a storage area of plastic bags. Later on, the gas range was disposed.

It’s funny how simple things would remind us of our most treasured memories. One time, a friend shared to me that she buys a book everytime there’s an important event, be it a good one or a bad one. And everytime she sees that particular book, she would always recall those memories vividly as if it is a part of a certain novel associated with it.

For me, I can associate any memory with anything, be it a movie, a song, a place, or a concrete object. For example, when I see doctors or any medical equipment, it would always remind me of the days when I was still playing Doctor-Doctoran with my neighbors and that really depicted of my dreams of becoming a doctor which would also remind me of my younger sister that has once dreamt of being a painter… of nails that is. And it would also remind me that when I reached second year High School, Biology became my least appreciated subject which made me dropped my plans of becoming a doctor.

How about you? What simple thing actually reminded you of something special?