cautionary tales

it’s my party and i’ll cry if i want to! September 26, 2008

Posted by banne in bannedoza, homies on the range.
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three fabulous parties and tons of presents to boot!

with my office berkz

it’s tradition to surprise the celebrant with food and a special “office-made” card. we’re so good at keeping this tradition alive that everyone has come to expect the “surprise” when their turn comes up. however, i was genuinely shocked when i accidentally found my birthday card on sheila’s desk..one day before i expected to have it! bwahahahaha! surprise!

the donut cake. with the famous recyclable birthday candle. bwahahaha.

fiesta! it’s not a party without nghohiong and pancit (from snowsheen!)

with my ladies

it’s nice to share a birthday with someone, because then you could split the bill with her! grace and i celebrated our birthday at tara’s cafe, a nice, family-style restaurant near capitol. the waiters were very attentive and the live acoustic band played popular hits. the place is perfect for families and barkadas. in short, very wholesome

babel surprised grace and i with an awesome multimedia presentation and mitch did a crazy q&a game which everybody enjoyed..at our expense

birthday girls. do you remember..the 21st night of september?

sweet life. super delish present!

with my homies

hmm. all i could remember was being overwhelmed by the sound of mah jong tiles mixed with videoke, the smell of pata, and kids squeezing between brian and me as we watched pixar shorts from vimeo. and then i was knocked unconcious by the microphone and passed out.

butterfly cake! one of baboy’s presents..laveht! it’s pretty and delicious..like me!

presents..

vacation package (from over-sized bag to shades!) from the baboy. purple shoes! from ate and john. book from tina mask from uncle d (i asked it from him when i was in his apartment..and he sent it to me! laveht!)

balloon bouquet from baboy (again)!

“moments with God” desk article from cha office-made card from office berkz.

thanks to everyone who greeted me personally, sa friendster, text, or email. you all made my day!

twenty four. and partying on!

cinderella bride July 25, 2008

Posted by banne in bannedoza, homies on the range.
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i read the labels on the shoe boxes under my sister’s bed.  brown open-toed flats. black and gold stiletto heels. brown low wedge. and something that sounds like a pinoy rock album: butter-yellow sandals. there must be at least 25 pairs of shoes in their neatly labeled boxes. and then i look over at the footwear lying under my own bed. i’m embarrassed that i can count all of them with one hand (ngyak! ) i never got around to starting my own shoe collection, as my sister has (so very industriously) done over the years. i guess it’s because i know i can always borrow from the reliable selection of labeled boxes under her bed. my sister’s feet are a size smaller than mine but nobody can really tell the difference. she complains that i ruin her shoes by stretching them with my big feet. she complains. but she lets me borrow them anyway. partly because we have learned to be generous with each other as we got older. and partly because she just can’t stand to see her younger sister wearing slacks with thong sandals (which i would very likely do, if left to my own devices…hehehe).

this same sister with the shoe fetish is now busy with wedding gowns, church arrangements, ang guest lists. she’s getting married next year. and it’s about time too. my parents are impatient for grandkids. these days she’s talking about invitations, receptions halls, and accomodations for visiting guests. she’s given out assignments to cousins, aunts, uncles, and bestfriends. me? i’m the maid of honor in all this wedding hoopla. she said “i refuse to be bridezilla”, and that’s a direct quote. i think it is my solemn duty as maid of honor to stop her from whacking people in the head with her wedding checklist.

i think about all these things as i look at the dismal number of shoes under my own bed. i think about the time when i won’t be sharing a room, a closet, a life, with my lifetime roommate and co-conspirator. i start coming up with some nice, catchy labels for my own shoes. jeweled purple flats. pointy-toed red. grunge yellow wedge. pretty soon i have to start arranging these shoes in neatly labeled boxes of their own. nobody ever told me starting a shoe collection would be such a lonely business.

the yaya chronicles June 8, 2008

Posted by banne in bannedoza, homies on the range.
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behind every successful man is a woman…
behind every successful woman…is a maid.

the yaya chronicles

for as long as i can remember, we’ve always had a maid around our house. my father is from the “men hunt..women take care of cave and off-springs” school of thought, and he basically leaves the housekeeping up to my mother. my mother is a career-woman who goes to the office everyday, so we always need a maid around to cook, clean, do laundry, and kill ipis. my sister and i can do these things ourselves (except for the ipis part…you can never expect us to touch one with a ten-foot pole..mulupad bya na..heller) but we’d rather pay someone else to do it. my sister can cook but my idea of serving a meal is to boil rice and open a can of tuna. i know this makes me sound like a lazy bratinella who can’t even wash her own underwear….and you are partly correct. yes i am a lazy bratinella BUT i can wash my own underwear

the yaya with milk-white skin. we had her before i was born. she was with us for so long that she stopped being a maid, attended college, worked at an office, and married an engineer. but she stayed on as our yaya with her partner in crime..

the yaya with the curly hair. this yaya taught me how to eat booger and told me that i wasn’t a “tao” because i was just a “bata”. as a child i had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that i wasn’t a person because i was a kid.

the yaya with good teeth. hmm. i remember this yaya as being a lot of fun. she wouldn’t force me to eat everything on my plate and let me skip afternoon naps for play.

the maid who miscarried. she didn’t know she was pregnant and she just lost the baby in our bathroom.

the maid who died. she had a tumor in her stomach. and she died. it was unfortunate, she just started going back to school when it happened.

the maid who was like the youngest sister. we just liked her so much we didn’t care if she watched tv the whole afternoon.

the maid who loved leonardo dicaprio. after she left, i discovered my magazine were missing pages of leonardo’s posters. tsk tsk tsk.

the maid who ran away. she stayed on for three weeks and then she up and left one afternoon. she owes my mother 5,000 pesos worth of cash and clothes. my parents reported her to the police. serious.

but there have also been a lot of hard, maid-less times when we lie awake in the dark wondering if hope would ever come in the morning. we pull our own weight during those hard times. my sister cooks. my mother takes care of the laundry (by looking for a labandera). my father cleans the bathroom (we like our bathroom nice and clean, it is our source of joy). he is also in-charge of ipis, grasshoppers, and rats. i wash the dishes.

i’d like to think i have acquired the minimum required skill-set to not rot away in my unmade bed if i am left to fend for myself. and if times get really tough, i can always serve up my canned-tuna-and-boiled-rice combo. bon apetit!