The Latest's First

Last Saturday was the first birthday party of M's youngest nephew Danny, the latest of fifteen nieces and nephews. So everyone in the family who lived in New England made the five-hour trek to Long Island to celebrate the ocassion, along with M's parents who are visiting. One of M's sisters, who lives in Florida, flew in unexpectedly with her husband to everyone's pleasant surprise.

The sun was out and the weather was warm and perfect for a birthday barbecue. The birthday boy was, of course, the center of attention as he delighted everyone with his big, smiling eyes and his charming chatter. I'm sure it means something, at least to him. Part of the fun was trying to figure out what he was trying to say! We sang his very first birthday song and all he did was look at all of us in awe and wonder, clueless as to what was happening around him, like all first birthday celebrants. He was showered with gifts which made his parents and everyone else more excited than he was. His focus during the gift-opening was one of the presents, just because it was small enough to chew and bite on. He's still at that "everything goes in the mouth" stage.

Like the usual gathering of this family, there was plenty of delicious food and mega servings of conversation. The decibel level is always high when we're all together, although this time we almost broke the sound barrier as we brought along the Karaoke DVD player that was given to us a gift by my cousin a few months back. M and his siblings gamely belted out songs and danced to the music. His 7-year old nephew, Puchito, did his James Brown impersonation with "I Feel Good!" complete with the signature scream! I guess Danny had had enough at one point that he walked over to the TV and switched the channel. When that failed, he tried pull out the cord. The kid is already showing great instincts! :) And it's only his first birthday.

It was a really fun weekend. Getting together with M's huge family is always a riot. It reminds me of my own big family back home and how rowdy we get. Before long, it was time to get ready to leave. It's quite a drive but very well worth the the trip!

Danny and his cousins (the younger batch)

M has really cute nieces and nephews. I hope they're an indicator of how our own kid would look like!

Strawberry Fields...and a Barbecue

I have a new respect and appreciation for farmers. I have only observed farm work done in my grandparents' farm and sugar plantation long ago but never actually done it. I knew it was hard labor, but I never experienced it until now. Last Friday, we had our annual company Volunteer Day at the Waltham Community Farm. It is an urban 6-acre organic farm for hunger relief. They grow organic vegetables and supply soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries that feed the homeless and help low-income families in and around Boston. One group's task was to "liberate" the strawberry fields that have been hijacked by weeds. I volunteered since I did not want to be stuck with the mundane task of sending out letters to possible donors. Weeding seemed easy enough to me. That is, until we arrived at the strawberry patches. They were not exaggerating. You could not even see the strawberry plants as they were completely overtaken and buried by weeds. We labored and toiled under the sun for hours until the poor plants were free. Boy, being on your knees or haunches in 95-degree heat on a humid day is not easy! Battling those weeds were harder than I imagined. The joints of my forefingers were aching from all the pulling despite the gloves I had on. As the morning came to an end, we were all sweaty and grubby but the strawberry patches actually looked like, well, patches. There were about eighteen of us working the weeds but it took us a few hours to clear everything. No wonder organic produce is so expensive!

In the afternoon, the company brought the volunteers to Thoreau Center and treated us to a barbecue and an afternoon of fun. I was so excited to see a badminton net as I haven't played it in a long time. Much to my frustration, I couldn't find anyone with whom to play some serious badminton. I was then beckoned to play volleyball by the same people I played beach volleyball with last year. It turned out to be a really intense match! I found myself reliving my volleyball days, only my muscles were older and weren't as cooperative as before. I pulled a hamstring blocking a spike from a man who was a foot taller than me. I did not even consider stopping as I was having too much fun. But before long, two more injuries happened which were more serious, so we had to end the game.

I paid dearly for doing too much that day. I was in pain the next three days and couldn't even walk straight. Today, I still feel a bit stiff, but at least it isn't evident to everyone else anymore.

:)

The Great Thing About Power Outages

After Charley's visit to Florida, many people were left without power, water and worse, some were left without a home. Fortunately, the homes of Michael's sisters in Florida had but a few things in need of repair, like parts of the roof and the fences. However, as with many others, they were left without electricity, water and telephone for a week. Food was either off a can or grilled. As for personal hygiene, it had to be done the French way, "faire la toilette" which is great when you have a limited amount of water. With schools and workplaces closed and a curfew of 8:00 pm enforced, the families spent the kind of quality time that can be had only in times such as this.

Despite the inconvenience of power outages, I have found myself remembering all my experiences of it in a very fond way. I loved the way the moon lights up the night, indoors are only lit by lamps and candles and how quiet it gets. Only human voices and animal sounds can be heard breaking the silence. With a setting like this, people have no choice but to gather around the light and tell stories or play games. And out of this time come the most interesting stories, the funniest jokes and the most heartfelt conversations. It can become a very special moment.

The people of old passed down oral history from one generation to another. Gathering around the fire was a nightly ritual which strengthened bonds between the elders and the children and established strong relationships between people. Our generation is a very distracted one with all the gadgetry available, with still newer ones that come out everyday. Televisions, VCRs, stereos, MP3 players, computers, Playstations, etc., it's sensory overload! The only way one gets to enjoy this now is when groups go camping or when an act of God leaves us with no electricity. And even then, sometimes people fail to see the chance to enjoy the gift of a time like this.

How Truthful Are We?

Truth.

It's a short word but apparently one of the hardest to understand. I see people assert things which I know are untrue without batting an eyelash. It has weighed heavily on my mind lately.

What is truth?

The lexicon meaning of it is:

1 a archaic : FIDELITY, CONSTANCY b : sincerity in action, character, and utterance
2 a (1) : the state of being the case : FACT (2) : the body of real things, events, and facts : ACTUALITY (3) often capitalized : a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality b : a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true c : the body of true statements and propositions
3 a : the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality b chiefly British : TRUE 2 c : fidelity to an original or to a standard

On the other hand, among the many actual "kinds" of truth that abound these days are:

Embellished Truth - The braggart's favorite tool
The truth is stretched a bit further and exaggerated in order to impress or glorify one's self.

Half Truth - The manipulator's handy device
When only a portion of the truth is given and the rest of the information left out so as to affect a perception or an outcome of a situation. Usually used when one wants to manipulate a circumstance or state of affairs. Any other kind of "un-fact" that is riddled with some truth, so one can still say that what was said was true. The other one is the "white lie" supposedly done primarily to spare the feelings of people.

Twisted Truth - The fanatic's desperate grip on their sanity (also the Policitian's way to get elected)
When feelings dictate a person's perception of reality, so the truth is twisted to fit someone's convenience. I guess one example is a parent's unwavering perception of how their child is no matter if proven otherwise.

Most of the time it isn't flagrant, but extremely subtle. I'm sure we can all quickly come up with the times we used any, or all of the three. Unless we lie even to ourselves and say that we are never untruthful. :) If we actually believe that, then we are in dire need of therapy for delusion.

Truth contaminated with anything else is, in fact, A LIE. So yes, everytime we state anything else but the simple, bald fact, we are lying. That is the hard truth.

What makes people lie? I believe it is fear. I know that the times I have lied, it was because I was scared about something. In the end though, I always regret not being truthful because I know that things usually turn out in the best, not necessarily easy, way if the truth is all laid out in the open. Besides, it has its way of catching up and that's something I would rather not have to deal with.

What is the purpose of truth? I recall two sayings. One is, "the truth hurts," and the other is, "the truth will set you free". So yes it hurts, but it sets you free. It sets us free from pretensions and lies, and the many problems that arise from it. Truth is often very hard to accept or deal with, thus you find that the people that face it, are often the most courageous.

Deep inside, we all know when we're being totally truthful or not. At least I hope so. Even if we cannot admit to lying in front of people, I hope that we can, at the very least, admit it to ourselves. Unless we lie so much that we actually start to believe that our utterances are true. What a scary thought. I hope we all learn to handle our lies before it starts to handle us.

A Great Weekend Starter

I love Saturdays. I always look forward to it. And it's not only because I get to wake up when I want. It's because I open my eyes to the smell of bacon and eggs and get served a wonderful breakfast in a tray, in bed. Crispy bacon strips, sunny-side up eggs cooked to perfection, three layers of pancakes topped with whipped cream, dripping with (low-fat) maple syrup! Haha! I wonder if that makes a difference at all. A tall glass of milk tops it all off. Perfect. It's a great way to start the weekend. Hubby has made it a tradition to pamper me on Saturday mornings with that special treat, and I enjoy every morsel and every moment of it. He does it with so much flair that it sometimes looks like a breakfast cart in a five-star hotel. It is quite a feat for someone who claims he doesn't go near the kitchen for fear of setting it on fire. I know it's just a bunch of baloney. For my birthday, he whipped up his first ever attempt of the Filipino pastry called "Sans Rival". It is layers of meringue with roasted and crushed cashew nuts filled with rum-flavored buttercream in between. It isn't called 'without rival' for no reason. I must say it was an unqualified success. It matched all those that I've tasted from the best known pastry shops in Manila. It was the best birthday cake I have ever had! Everyone who had a bite of it raved at how good and rich it was. It has a million calories per serving but well worth the try. Okay, enough about this now. He promised me a massage. :)