old wives' tales

There are some old wives' tales - "mga pamahiin ng matatanda" - that I realize I instinctively believe for a few seconds until my good sense takes over and reminds me there is no truth to them. Like when I saw this photo of a child sitting on the hood of a car... My automatic reaction was that she'd get "balisawsaw", that peeing problem my Lola [grandmother] said I'd get from sitting on hot things like a car's hood or concrete stairs that have turned hot under the sun. I feel the same about itchy palms. When my palms get itchy, my automatic reaction is to put my hands inside my pockets... until I realize I can't suddenly turn rich & lucky by merely putting itchy palms in my pockets. I still believe that touching your eyes after touching a butterfly can make you blind. Gosh, is there any truth to this? Or is this also an old wives' tale?

I have to admit though that there are myths I wish my kids still believed. Particularly those old rituals on New Year's Eve. When I look back on New Year's Eves of my childhood, I remember how fun it was to jump 3 times with my brother & cousins when the clock struck 12. I also remember a NYE when we crawled around - underneath our dining table - with huge luggages believing that ritual would assure us of travel that year. 

Noah is quite a realist, reluctant to jump this past NYE because he found it ludicrous that jumping on NYE would make him tall. To some extent, I agree that we shouldn't propagate these myths (Just last week, a co-parent at Noah's school said Noah was "handsome. Pwera, usog.", licked her thumb and reached out to touch Noah with it. Thankfully, another co-parent stopped her, saying, "Hindi totoo yang usog-usog na yan!". Thank God, coz I was too shocked to keep her saliva from touching my son!). But it's still a shame because the NYE rituals we did when we were kids were quite fun to do. And I can't help wish that Noah embraced the fun of it more (vs. half-heartedly jumping). After all, while they're really old wives' tales, they still make for such happy, nostalgic stories of childhood. 

Photo from annnniegirl. 

my Monica-closet house

My house is not the unbelievable, disastrous mess you see as the "before" in the show Clean House. But just like Monica (see more of my Friends obsession here), I've got a closet... okay, a corner... fine! corners and drawers... that are shamefully piled high with category-less clutter.

Now that I have time on my hands (see related post here), I've been cleaning out those closets, corners & drawers that have accumulated clutter since we moved in 8 years ago. Am far from done but so far, I've unearthed 2 VHS players, 3 telephones, 3 vacuum cleaners - all in the storage cabinets under the stairs.

I also found my Advantix rolls, so organized in their special box. 

This, together with film negatives and "developed" photos, are now in the box of photos here.

I also found these casette tapes... 

I have always been an OST lover. Do you remember Ally McBeal and Reality Bites? The Apo & Michael V ones are my hubby's. No one has owned up to owning the Randy Santiago tape though. Amazing how we still have a brand new tape (which has a price tag at the back of P47, just in case you wanted to know).

The Basia CD isn't even mine! Borrowed it from my friend S in college and turns out, I never returned it! Eeep! 

Notice the masking tape label on the Workshy CD? That was for our wedding - to guide the music guy on which tracks to play and when. How primitive huh? The hubby and I scrambled to put these labels on our CDs the day before our wedding! When wedding coordinators and digitally-organized-playlists didn't exist yet.

I also found stacks & stacks of Isabella's childhood books and VHS tapes. After taking out those that can be handed down to Noah and my nieces, I gathered everything up for donation to the Philippine Toy Library. I have to admit I was teary-eyed the day I said goodbye to my baby girl's books & Veggie Tales movies. But the idea that they would now make other children happy felt pretty good.

So far, this de-cluttering has been a dusty yet delightful trip down memory lane. :)

Photos are my own and from here.

Click here for the ofdotsnthings version of this post. Click here for another ancient thing about my wedding. 

Philippine Toy Library is a group of volunteer-friends who provide the experience of play to Filipino children living in cramped, congested areas. PTL transforms idle spaces in barangays/schools/parishes into fun & educational playrooms to keep kids off the streets. Drop-off point for donations is near Ateneo, behind Kenny Rogers, at 56 Esteban Abada Street Loyola Heights, QC (zip code is 1108 in case you want to send them a box of toys just like a friend of mine from Singapore recently did). So go and de-clutter your homes, donate to PTL & bring joy to more Filipino kids.

delightful dinner dysfunction

I grew up eating dinner in front of the TV. We did it as a family. We would eat in our den with trays on tables like these (ours weren't as pretty though) and watch TV together. We watched dramas like Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. We watched comedy shows like Three's Company, Who's the Boss?, Punky Brewster, Cosby Show, Alf and Perfect Strangers. I also remember watching Buck Rogers, Greatest American Hero, Moonlighting and Scarecrow & Mrs. King. We talked about our day during commercials, but once the show started again, we either laughed together, groaned together at annoying cliffhangers or playfully teased those that bawled during sad episodes. I didn't have a TV in my room and I never felt I needed it. Perhaps because TV time was family-time rather than alone-time for me.

I realize now it was odd not to sit at the dinnertable at dinner. And if you're wondering how my brother and I learned good table manners with this dinner-in-front-of-the-TV habit, I think it's because our mom used to take us out to lunch every weekend. I remember how when we were kids, we frequented Cafe Rizal in the old Rizal Theater, the Manila Garden coffee shop, SM's Cafe Elysee and Trattoria Uno in Ali Mall (see related post here). I also remember how my little brother would even pull our chairs for my mom & me at these restos. I'm sure the other lunch patrons who saw us kids with our napkins on our laps and scooping our soup away-from-rather-than-towards-us wouldn't have believed we ate our dinners on cafeteria trays in front of the TV.

I guess I have to admit that growing up, our dinners - maybe even our lunches - were not very common. Some would probably even frown upon them and call them dysfunctional. But for me, they were delightful family-bonding memories. And I wouldn't have had them any other way. 

Photo from FYNCT. 

my thing about personalized monograms

My his & hers post here made me realize that - for someone who loves wearing her kids' names or initials around her neck here, I am not a fan of my own monogram or initial. I realized I don't have personalized label stickers like a lot of people I know. I don't even put my name on my books so book nameplates are useless for me. And I've never been attracted to the idea of having my designer bag monogrammed.

I wonder if it's because I have two names... My family calls me by my first name. Naturally. But my friends & co-workers call me by my maiden name. It started in school. My classmates just got into the habit of calling me by my maiden name largely because it sounds like a nickname. It caught on so it's the name I've been using since I started working. In fact, after I got married, very few of my co-workers know that what they think is my nickname is actually my maiden name. Anyway, obviously, my family couldn't get on board with calling me by my maiden name. So I ended up with a different name for my family vs. my friends. And maybe this is why I don't like plastering my name or initial on anything.

I wonder though if the reason behind this quirk of mine is my 91-year-old Lola (grandma). Because as you will see in this post about her of ocmominmanila here, she put ghastly-looking labels of her initials all over our house. I grew up with our TV, electric fan, even our flashlights displaying a masking-tape marked JH. Maybe those horrible labels just turned me off of personalized labels?

Whatever the reason, I won't be having our towels or pillows embroidered with our initials anytime soon. I guess this would be the only possible embroidery on our pillows...

It's no wonder then that I am loving the charming non-monogrammed his & hers items here.

Photos from pinkwallpaper and annnniegirl.

Click here for another post about what makes my Lola such a character.

before the monobloc

Do you remember what chairs were used in outdoor school events before the monobloc chair was invented? I remember the curved wood of the chairs during field demonstration events at my school was not polished like this. They looked more like the wood used as broomsticks. Apparently, this wooden chair with a sulihiya seat is called a bendwood or Thonet chair. And I am loving the pop of color in this new Thonet chair!

I also love the contemporary wider & shorter look on these pre-monobloc rental chairs of the past.

Don't they look fabulous at this breakfast table?

I just love how native sulihiya looks so fresh & current!

Photos from designsponge and here.

Click here for previous nostalgic posts.

my impossible wishlist

After writing that post on my excessive wishlist, I got to thinking about an impossible wishlist...

1. To watch a Friends episode live. When we went on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Burbank, California two years ago, we went inside the Two and a Half Men studio. Filming the show wasn't scheduled that day but we got to sit where a live audience would and right in front of us was the set of Charlie's house. It hit me then how sad it was that I would never get a chance to watch the filming of a Friends show. Good thing the Friends Central Perk set was part of the WB Tour so I at least got to see it up close. 
2. To taste Trattoria Uno's Zuppa Marinara again. When I was growing up, there were very few mall choices. One of them was Ali Mall and they had this quaint little Italian restaurant there with patrons' graffiti all over the walls. We ate there all the time. They had freshly-baked bread and the best Seafood Marinara soup! If I am not mistaken, it was owned by the Aranetas and in later years, would sometimes be closed because the chefs were busy with a private party of the Araneta family. I remember going there in later years and Zuppa Marinara was no longer on their menu but the chef would gladly cook me and my mom our favorite tomato soup! But a few years ago, Trattoria Uno closed down. And tasting their Zuppa Marinara again sadly lands on my impossible wishlist. Sigh.  
3. To munch on Jack & Jill Barbecue Curls again. I haven't found anyone who remembers Jack & Jill  Barbecue Curls because only Chiz Curls survived the test of time. People remember Munchees (which I wasn't a fan of) but nobody remembers the Barbecue Curls packed in a red and yellow foil pouch. I remember loving it when I was a kid. But to be honest, decades later, I have a very faint recollection of it's actual taste. So I'd sure love to try it again! A snack I do remember so well - that I can almost taste it - is the original Planters Cheese Curls that came in big cardboard canisters. I remember they brought out the "selfish" in me. When my friends were over at my house, I'd hide my big can and offer everything we had to eat at home - except for my salty, cheesy Planters Cheese Curls. Now sometimes, a Cheetos Crunchy would start out tasting like my old Planters, but the flavor at the end will be quite different. And don't be fooled by the Cheese Curls you might spot nowadays in a blue canister and yellow lid (even those that use the Planters brand), they are so NOT the same. The Cheese Balls versions are pretty close to the original. But the Cheese Curls are never like the original.
4. To see a photo of my old toy creations. When my brother and I were little, we would make pretend horses using side tables as the body (with a pillow so it would be soft to sit on), our mom's belts as reins & stirrups, and our teddy bears as our horses' heads. I also remember building various things out of Lego... Like a dog with an open slit as his mouth. The flat hole led to his belly so we pretended the "smooth flat two" Lego pieces were dogfood. The memories are so clear in my head but it would be great to have a photo as a souvenir.

5. To be one of those names in the credits of Disney's Beauty and the Beast or Toy Story. When I first watched Belle, I was so in awe of her expressions & actions - how her eyebrows furrowed, how her eyes widened with emotion, how her hair would fall down her face and she would brush it off. She seemed like a real person! I was also captivated by the very realistic majestic ballroom. And to this day, I love the songs! As the credits rolled down, I remember wishing my name was one of those many names. It would have been great to be a part of such a grand project. It was, after all, the first ever animated film to be nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Picture. I would have also loved to be part of the Toy Story production team. The first-ever animated film in CGI with three-dimensional characters... and toys I grew up with as the characters! That would have been awesome! Oh and just so it's clear, this wishlist item is not only impossible because the movies were made a long time ago, but more because I have no idea how animated films are made! I don't even know how to use Photoshop! It's just really fun to dream of being part of such a Creative Team.

Oddly, I thought thinking up this impossible wishlist would make me sad. But dreaming up the possibility of these impossible wishes was actually quite enjoyable! 

Friends photo is my own and the Beauty & the Beast animated gif is from annnniegirl.

Click here and here for previous posts that show my addiction to Friends. Click here for another nostalgic post on Ali Mall and other old malls.   

i miss riding...

I used to ride. Since I was 3 years old. But I haven't gone riding in a while. And I miss it a lot. I even miss just looking at beautiful horses (yes, sorry to discriminate, but not the sad, malnourished-looking kalesa-type of horses). Somehow, thoroughbreds have a calming effect on me. At the risk of making this seem like an oops, my neurosis is showing post, I have to admit that just seeing a horse's handsome back calms me. You know how only the horse's behind is seen when they're in a horse trailer? Well, I am soothed when I chance upon such a horse trailer on SLEX - probably on its way to its ranch home in Batangas. They need not be thoroughbreds. I remember passing Sta. Ana on the way to my Makati office during my first couple of years of working just to chance upon some part (behind or other) of a fine-looking horse. 

Gosh, I so miss horses. I haven't seen a handsome one in a while. It doesn't help that the horses eluded me during my last couple of work meetings in Manila Polo Club (why are they always out back?!). I guess I really should schedule a trip to Subic's El Kabayo Equestrian Center soon...

Photos from annnniegirl.

Click here for actual posts from the Oops, My Neurosis Is Showing series since I know, this post is suspiciously like one of them.

pencil connections

Some things intuitively go together. Salt & pepper. Bacon & eggs. And in time for Santa's visit soon: milk & cookies. Some, like perhaps  a pencil, don't have intuitive partners.  

But a few decades ago, we could intuitively tell why a pencil would be paired with a cassette tape -- or a VHS tape. Or even the connection between a rotary phone & a pencil (albeit, an eraser-less one) to protect one's manicure.

Do you remember these pencil connections?

Photo from here, here, here and acupofjo.

Click here for previous nostalgic posts. Click here and here for previous posts on wondrous art out of pencils.

partyline, pakibaba

Do you remember the days of the rotary phone? Did you dial 9 and wait for the rotary dial to go back to its position? Or were you one of those who would force the dial back to 9?

Do you remember the days when someone interrupts your conversation and you have to say, "Partyline, pakibaba"?

Do you remember the time when the yellow pages were so important? Nowadays, they seem to be more useful this way...

Okay, my Lola (grandma) still uses her thick yellow pages book. So maybe they are still useful. But I'm sure even my 90-year-old Lola will agree that these are a much more beautiful use of ye olde yellow pages.

Photos from here and adverblog.

measurements: from paper feet to hands

Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom would trace your foot on a piece of paper so she could buy you a pair of shoes? I remember how it tickled when the pencil went around my foot and how she'd test the cut-out paper foot inside a shoe that could still fit.

I realize that I don't do this with my kids. I use my hand and arm to measure my kids feet, chest (for shirts) and waist. So I hold the armpit area of Noah's shirt with my right hand - between my thumb and index finger. Then I pull the other armpit with my left hand and hold it against my outstretched right arm. Noah's shirt measurement is from my thumb to the line on the back of my elbow. Isabella's would be the same plus 2 inches. This works for Isabella's waist as well.

For Noah's waist - which is still too small to reach the back of my elbow, I fold his pants in the middle and measure the halfway point on my hand. His folded pants would start at my wristline to the middle of my middle finger.

Noah's shoe fits right between my wristline and the line at the back of my elbow.

 

Don't you think my hand measurements are just as good as those giraffe height charts at the pediatrician's office? :)

 

I store these measurements on my phone so I can buy the kids clothes and shoes that fit perfectly even when they're not with me (This is most useful on out-of-the-country business trips for pasalubong shopping). Of course, I have to update the measurements every couple of months. But it sure beats having to bring out a tape measure (which isn't so easy to roll back into place) or paper-feet when measuring clothes at the mall.

Photos of this fun hand-&-foot painting kiddie activity from playtimebreak.

Click here for a previous post about feet.

new old license plates

Have you noticed that the new Manila license plates have resurrected the letters N and P as starting letters? Are you wondering if we are re-using old plate numbers?

Since I sit in traffic for a long time to and from work, I have mulled over this plate number thing a number of times:

No, we aren't re-using old plate numbers. I used to play the alphabet license plate game with my brother when I was a kid. We would look for the letters A to Z on license plates. So I am absolutely sure that old license plates did NOT use the letters I, O and Q.

So when N and P are resurrected, the letters I, O or Q are also used in the combination to ensure the new plates are unique.

Like I said, I have pondered about this a lot in traffic. So I've gone to the extent of calculating how many cars each resurrected letter is equivalent to. Now, please excuse the nerdiness because Permutations and Combinations is the only Math topic I enjoyed in school. 

1 (to represent each resurrected letter) x 3 (I, O, Q) x 26 (all letters in the alphabet) x 10 (0 to 9) x 10 x 10 = 76,000 license plates.

So everytime a letter is resurrected, that means an additional 76,000 cars were given license plates! So when N, P, T, U, W, X and Z have all been resurrected, there will be a total of 624,000 additional cars on the road! Aaagggghhhh! I cannot imagine how long I will be stuck in traffic when that time comes! But I wonder what other mundane things I will end up thinking about with all the more time in traffic?

Photos from i'mjustsaying and fromainsley.

do you remember?

Do you remember when we used to fill out autograph books in gradeschool? Do you remember how we scribbled TMTM as our answer to "Favorite Songs"? Do you remember a dedication in your own autograph book signed off with JAPAN (Just Always Pray At Night), or ITALY (I Trust And Love You), or with the more common TCCIC (Take Care Coz I Care)? Turns out, we started the OMG and LOL textspeak of today!

Do you remember the questions... Who is your crush? What is your motto? What is your most embarassing moment? And... What is love? 

"Define love." I don't quite remember what I wrote down then. But I do remember a great big love at that time... 

Do you remember the wedding of Kermit the Frog and Ms. Piggy in the movie Muppets Take Manhattan? My brother and I even had an LP record of the soundtrack! So I remember this song that leads up to the wedding so clearly...

Sadly, I could not find a clip of the actual wedding ceremony... But I do remember the funny sing-song pronouncement so fondly...

"Because you share a love so biiiiiggg...

I now pronounce you Frog and Piiiiiggggg!"

Do you remember?

Photos from designeditor and muppet.wikia.

my name is NOT Regina Phalange.

I was wearing this Regina Phalange shirt of mine today at Starbucks and after taking my order, the girl at the cash register looked at my "nametag" and decided against asking for my name.

That incredibly confused me because Regina Phalange was Phoebe Buffay's pseudonym. Just as Ken Adams was Joey Tribbiani's alternate name. And because I had an alternate Starbucks name of my own. They never could get my name right. I would repeat it three to four times and they would still get it wrong on the cup.

Barista: "Your name, ma'am?"

Me: "Epi."

Barista: "Emmy?" 

Me: "No, Epi."

Barista: "Ellie, ma'am?"

Me: "No, Epi."

Barista: "Eddie?"

Me: [sigh] I give in, "Yes, Eddie."

Scrawled on my cup: "Teddy" [mild expletive under my breath]

So one day, when the Starbucks barista asked for my name, I uttered, "Vivian". And they got it in one shot! The spelling on the cup was right too! From then on, my Starbucks name became "Vivian".

So imagine my confusion when the Starbucks barista did not only NOT call me by my real name "Epi", but also did NOT call me by my pseudonym "Vivian". Instead, she called me by a new name: "One Coffee Jelly Frap for Ms. Regina".

Disclaimers:
1. Yes, I am a Friends fanatic. See related post here and here.
2. Epi is not my real, real name. Neither is Vivian. Nor Regina.
3. I didn't use my old nick (during my IRC/mIRC/ICQ days of yore) because that would have been a similarly long and confusing dialogue. 

 Photo from here.

R.I.P., Typewriter

From the Atlantic Magazine comes this sad bit of news that the typewriter will no longer be produced, with the recent shutdown of the last typewriter factory in the world - in India.

A company called Godrej and Boyce sold 50,000 typewriters a year until the early 1990's. Up until 2009, it still produced up to 12,000 units, serving courts, the military, and other government offices. That inventory went down to 200 before the shutdown, the lowest point for a company that had been around for 6 decades.

Goodbye, Typewriter. While pressing the backspace key several times to type Joyce Kilmer's poem Trees into the shape of a Christmas tree (see related post here) is an utterly useless skill nowadays, I still appreciate the things I learned from my old manual ribbon typewriter: (1) You taught me that something so small, like my pinky, can gain strength - with exercise. (2) You taught me that mistakes leave scars with the occasional whiter speck on my paper where the liquid paper blots were. (3) When I typed too fast and pressed several keys simultaneously and the typebars got tangled, you taught me that if we don't take turns, nobody gets a good turn and nothing gets done. (4) You taught me about the importance of personal space which your carriage return so demandingly required. And finally, (5) you taught me that I CAN fix things myself - by pushing down the typebars that get entangled with impatient typing, or by reinserting the ribbon on its hook when suddenly my paper turns blank despite my perfect typing strokes. In fact, all the fix-it learning I got from other things was to depend on a bang here or there. You, dear typewriter, taught me that I can understand how something like you works, making it easy for me to fix you.

You taught me several life lessons and it's sad that you are now officially endangered species. Makes me look forward to catching a glimpse of you at my next government office visit. Rest in peace, dear old Typewriter.

Photo from Kate Spade.

dear jeepney driver

I wish you wouldn't stop in the middle of the road every 3 feet. While it's fun to play that old game in gradeschool called "Pepsiiiii... 7-Up!", playing this with you each morning makes me late for work. If you really want to play, we can opt to play Taguan (hide-and-seek) where you hide and I [don't] seek. Now that would make me so early for work! Habulan (tag) is another option... hmmm, but only as long as I'm not your passenger. So okay, fine. For the safety and sanity of your passengers, we can continue to play "Pepsi, 7-Up" as long as your Pepsi's are much longer and your 7-Up's are fewer and farther between (read: please pick up and drop off passengers only at loading/unloading zones).

Pepsi, 7-Up requires at least 2 players where one is the "it" and stays in front facing away from the other players. The "it" shouts "Pepsi" and prolongs the word ("Pepsiiiiiiiii") to signal to the other players to advance toward him. When he shouts "7-Up", the other players need to freeze. When a player is able to tag the "it" after several rounds of "Pepsiiii... 7-Up!", the "it" chases everyone and whoever gets tagged becomes the new "it".

Photo from here.

  

mall nostalgia

It's funny how these random photos remind me of the malls in the 80's.

SM (Makati or Cubao, can't quite remember) had a section at the center of the department store with European-looking benches, a lot of plastic greenery and red phone booths.

Unimart had Orange Julius (that frothy orange juice) and a Coney Island ice cream scooping station. I used to get either bubblegum or orange with chocolate fudge and rainbow sprinkles.

Alimall had this Italian restaurant, Trattoria Uno, which served freshly-baked bread and had people's signatures all over their white walls. This place I miss very, very much. The bread and their seafood marinara soup. Mmmmm!

Rustan's Makati always had fabulous window displays. I remember wanting to be a window-designer as a kid because the Rustan's windows always greeted me when I hopped off the old Love Bus.

Sigh. I wonder if I will remember the malls of today with the same fondness? I love that the malls of the 80's had these charming, memorable details.

What about you? What do you remember of the malls of the 80's?

Photos from i'mjustsaying, inspirationoohaah, and foodsection.

musically-declined

My mom made me take piano lessons when I was in gradeschool. I can rock a mean Chopsticks but that's as far as I could go since I majorly disliked piano practice.

In highschool, I remember regretting that I didn't stick to it because I found myself wishing I knew how to play an instrument. Wouldn't it be great to know how to play the guitar?

Then again, who says you need a guitar to play music?

Now if only you could get away with just attitude on Guitar Hero or Rockband.

Photos from sparklesandpretending, terrierandlobster and stopandpicture.

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving... that there are no more Foto-Me booths outside every mall entrance. Why are they relegated to just children's parties and weddings nowadays? Where are they during back-to-school season when your kids need I.D. pictures? Coz waiting 1 hour for photo-developing is just too long with malls so crowded during this time. Plus, you get 4 different-looking I.D. pics (albeit, 2 could have caught you blinking!) instead of committing to 12 copies of the same goofy smile.

Sigh. I never thought I'd actually miss Foto-Me booths...

Photo from sparklesandpretending.

those quilted appliance covers

Did you also grow up with those hideous quilted toaster covers that matched the microwave-oven cover that matched the hot-water-thermos cover and the rice-cooker cover? Thank God my grandmother didn't cover our couches with plastic like Nova Villa did in that 80's TV show of hers (was it Chicks to Chicks?).

Wouldn't it have been much prettier like this?

After all, the cover was to keep the dust away, not hide the appliance, right? And it's not like guests didn't know what was underneath with the cover that fit each appliance so perfectly. So why not put a beatiful print of the microwave on a white canvas cover?

  

Oh, and that cover with the dog printed on it just cracks me up! :)

Photos from sparklesandpretending.

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving the fact that balloons these days are filled with regular air (and don't get me started on those unsafe sticks they come with). Kids these days are growing up thinking that balloons aren't meant to fly.

I miss helium-filled balloons.

I miss having to stand on a stool in the house to reach for the balloon I accidentally let go of so it drifted to the ceiling.

I miss the time when balloons were whimsical and you could dream of flying up into the sky with a dozen balloons.

Photos from i'mjustsaying and everythingfabtumblr.