- Sunday, July 20, 2025
- 0 Comments
1 day ago
The 50th and last item on my list of definitive things I'm thankful for is that I turn 50 today.
Yes, that's me today. As I celebrate my 50th birthday, I am thankful for a lot of things. As I continue on to this second half of a century, I wish and pray for continued support and love from family and friends, good health, happiness, and continued blessings.
When I started this series of posts last month, I wanted to list 50 things I'd be thankful for. I'd share one per day. But then I got sick, then we became busy with home renovations, and so I kind of skipped a month worth of daily updates. I still have my list of 50 things and will add them little by little to my blog at https://www.jaydj.net.
Looking back, I'm grateful for all of the experiences I've had. If you've been part of my life, I thank you. Moving forward, I hope to create more good memories as I begin this new chapter in my life.
Random thoughts:
Half-century old. I would only use the word "century" when talking about century eggs, century tuna, or historical references to century-old events. Funny that now I could use that (or half of it) to describe my age.
Breaking it down into any other number like in months, days, or even minutes is not just overwhelming but also amazing how I reached this new life milestone.
In video game terms: High score. achievement unlocked!
- Sunday, June 23, 2024
- 0 Comments
No recall of what transpired
No experience to tell
The only thing you'll remember precise
Is the date you started life.
No experience to tell
The only thing you'll remember precise
Is the date you started life.
- Saturday, August 28, 2010
- 0 Comments
It's a delayed post but I was really planning on making a birthday post.
So how did I spend my day ?
Well, I woke up as early as 5am cause I usually start my birthday by going to church. My parents decided to join me. I guess I also mentioned that breakfast afterwards is my treat. After mass, we headed to Rocha's to buy some special puto. Their puto is so soft and tasty that it can virtual melt in your mouth with minimal chewing.
Then we passed by the Marikina Sports Center to check if my tito and tita were there exercising. If they were, I wanted to invite them for breakfast too. Luckily, they were there and so we all headed to McDonalds. I chose the McDonalds branch which had a McCafe so I could order a slice of cake to serve as my birthday cake. Unforunately, parking was full so we moved to the other McDonalds branch just across the street. This branch was brand new that it was freezing cold inside. But with the morning rays penetrating the glass, the temperature was just fine.
So after all of us ordering a big McDonalds breakfast, we whipped out the box of puto to complement our coffee. I think one of the crew members was guessing where the box of puto on our table came from. Since we got a complimentary newspaper (and refillable coffee), I went straight to the Horoscope section of the Inquirer to find out what special message was in store for those born on that day. And here it is:
"People easily are enamored of you. You are clever, witty and charming. You also have a delightful romantic streak that can seduce others. (Romance is paramount to you!) You're a shrewd judge of human character; you love to share your views about humanity with others. Work hard to build or construct something this year. Your rewards will soon follow."
I think I like my horoscope... very much.
After breakfast, we all headed to my tita's house cause I mentioned that I needed a coat for an upcoming event. And it's a good thing that one of her son-in-laws left his coat in their house before migrating to Canada simply because it didn't fit him anymore. And guess what ? It was a perfect fit on me ! My tita also honestly thought I was 7 years younger than my age. I love my tita ! :D
When I got home, I replied to the many people who greeted me via my mobile, e-mail and over the phone. Thanks everybody ! Every year since 1995, I've been getting birthday greeting cards and less of them as the years gone by. This year, I guess everything is now digital. Cause I didn't receive any cards anymore. Oh well, any which way the greeting gets to me is much appreciated.
Since I started my day early, it was still morning by this time and I decided to get some tasks done. So I went to the dry cleaners to have the coat cleaned and passed by the bank to settle some bills. Right across the bank was a Tunay na Pancit Malabon branch. I figured that since this year, I didn't plan of any noodle dishes for the day (for long life), I'd get pancit malabon. And since I love the taste of their miniature puto, I bought a pack of them with the pancit.
I just realized it when I got back home that I already bought a box of puto earlier. Oh well, puto and pancit for long life !
After lunch, I didn't have any plans of going out since I had some work to finish. That's when the day went downhill for me. It suddenly became gloomy. Then it started to rain. I wasn't surprised because every year, it rains on my birthday. It never fails. I'd be surprised if it didn't rain. What I didn't expect was the weather to turn into violent winds and heavy downpour. And so after almost 2 hours of non-stop rain, the inevitable happened, we got flooded. In Marikina, that's common. But we were caught unprepared and so we had to lift up our things and place them somewhere elevated all while flood water was rushing in our house. Luckily, only our kitchen, sala and dining room where mildly in water. I say luckily, cause it was just about an inch. The worst we've experienced was waist high inside the entire house. So this wasn't a challenge for us. It was just a hassle since the rest of my birthday afternoon turned into general housecleaning when the water subsided. To make matters worse, we didn't have electricity for 4 hours during that time.
More of my friends were greeting me on my phone and asked how I was doing. When I told them that there was heavy rains here, they said, that's a blessing. If that's so, I think I'll be expecting overflowing blessings since it flooded here.
And so by the time I finally got to rest, clean myself up and go online, it were the people from the other side of the world who were awake and greeted me online. Thanks!
I usually don't celebrate my birthday as most people do. I'd like to be alone, reflect more on the year that has passed and give thanks as well as wishing for another great year ahead of me. And that's more important than an unexpected turn of events for the day. Cause looking back, the greatest event that happened to me in my past year was becoming engaged. And before my next birthday, I'll be married.
Happy Birthday to me !
- Thursday, July 02, 2009
- 3 Comments
Last Sunday, our parish gave an interesting homily. He told a story about an engaged couple who were set to be married. Since they were on a strict budget, they opted to cut down the number of guests to 200 guests (100 each) and sent out invitations with explicit instructions to RSVP for them to know who would be attending. Only half of the invited confirmed. Since the actual reception was already booked for 200, the couple seemed that it would be impractical to have the reception hall half filled. And so they sent out another batch of invitations totalling an additional 100 of friends they were initially not able to invite.
Come their wedding day and they were shocked that almost everybody who didn't confirm, went, which caused them the dilema of how to accommodate more than the alloted seating capacity and food count. It was supposed to be a worry-free day for them, but at the same time, they did not want any guest to feel sad on their wedding day.
Later that Sunday evening, our neighbor was celebrating their birthday and rented a videoke machine. It was so loud that I couldn't help but talk about it over dinner. It made me remember the homily given earlier. I learned that the celebration our neighbor had was an all-day affair. I couldn't imagine how much food and effort would entail a whole-day party.
I also remembered my inaanak who was baptized in the morning, followed by lunch at their house. Several friends who had work that day until 9pm proceeded to the baptized baby's home. I would think that the mom would just say that the celebration is over and there's no more food left. Instead, food was allocated to feed every guest for the entire day. And even if the baby was long asleep by then, the friends still came.
It had me thinking about the two different scenarios - not confirming to attending a celebration and going to a celebration even if it's over. I tried to think about it from a logical perspective. In simple terms, RSVP is for the host to be able to gauge headcount for food and other preparations on the day of the celebration and also is an indication of who is invited. Giving an inclusive time of a party would make everybody attending to follow and attend the event during the given time. Simple right ? It's just a matter of following instructions.
But my mom pointed out that Filipino culture dictates otherwise.
First of all, Filipinos have the "tampo" factor when someone is offered something and you are not. I've seen this in several occasions. If there's an event and one finds out that his/her friends were invited and he/she wasn't, it can serve as grounds to react and feel sad for being left out. It shouldn't be but it's quite common. Some hosts are easily affected and thus "give in" out of goodwill to avoid any conflict, even if it may be against their will. The hosts just hope that the person may forget or may not attend at all. So that throws the entire invitation and RSVP out the window.
Second is that Filipinos extend birthdays, baptisms and other occasions to a whole-day affair. If you're going to cater to any guest who will come at any time of the day, which is also undetermined, it's like having a restaurant open all day. Filipinos usually practice this especially if the party is at their home. So if most people come let's say during lunch for a lunch party, then all is fine. But if some more people come at different intervals during the afternoon and evening, the hosts would have to attend to them, which includes mingling, entertaining them and serving food (reheating food or cooking a new batch all together). It's like holding multiple parties within the day. But my mom says that it's tradition passed on from the "fiesta" concept, where even strangers can pass by and be invited in to celebrate. So holding a definite time for a celebration here tends to be ignored.
I guess that's why some people prefer to celebrate outside home, where following time is more strict, such as with a birthday party at Jollibee or a wedding reception banquet. If you miss the time, you miss the event. If you don't confirm attendance, you're not guaranteed a seat and food.
It's a clash between tradition and practicality.
- Tuesday, October 14, 2008
- 1 Comments
.jpg)