Life, Day by Day

I spent 6 nights in Manila from June 17 to 22, 2013 to attend a Trainors' Training for the Zuellig Family Foundation's Health Leadership and Governance Program.  I was taking the 3:55 PM PAL flight from Bacolod, only it was 20 minutes delayed, so that we departed at 4:30 PM instead.  There was some delay in landing and we finally got out of the NAIA terminal 2 just a few minutes before 6 PM.  We walked to the taxi stand at the other end of the terminal but there were no taxis as it was raining, not heavily but not stopping either.  We finally got one at about 6:40 PM, and the driver asked if we can take the skyway, as traffic was terrible in EDSA and Magallanes.  To end a long story...we got to our destination in Makati Avenue which is a short distance of approximately 10-12 kms from the airport more than 3 hours later!   I think I kept yawning not so much from low sugar (hunger) but from lack of oxygen (CO2 saturated enclosed space).

Just recently I was doing some research on costumes and I saw a picture of a man wearing Lederhosen . This triggered fond memories of my childhood.   Three, in fact.  The first one is that of my grandmother and  her favorite childhood story. She had this illustrated book titled "Heidi", a novel written by Swiss author Johanna Spyri about a young orphan girl left in the care of her grandfather. My Lola Rizing loved this book and told it to me over and over again. When I learned how to read, I memorized this story by heart and even today, I still feel so close to Heidi, Peter, Clara, and of course, Grandfather.  One of my most fervent childhood wish was to live in a loft near the Alps, and I also badgered my grand-aunt who was a dressmaker, to make me a garment just like Heidi's which I later learned was called a dirndl. I will always remember Grandfather and Peter wearing breeches, which I now know as Lederhosen.  

I thought I would blog about the last 10 years (2000-2010) when Y2K started and then, I realized my impending age-related short term memory loss has already began.  Somehow, I have to rack my brain to remember what the last 10 years of my life has been all about... Okay, before I do that let's me just state that Y2K brought about a lot of changes in my life...some good, some not so good, and yes, some great ones too...but what exactly in particular???  I guess, it's this over all good feeling I get when I think about the last 10 years that makes me say so. Does everyone remember the " panic " the year 2000 brought about?  It was mainly about computer glitches but people brought it to an apocalyptic level .  I remember thinking it's just another day folks !  Well, I think I did prepare some candles, just in case ;-)  Anyway, of course nothing major happened and the world survived for the next 10 years.  On a personal level, I had more or less g...

These days life gets much harder and there is really not much to smile about. Maybe because I feel that there are just so many things beyond my control and the purity of my intentions is often misinterpreted and seen as intrusion. Then in a sort of roundabout way, a friend's friend said something that triggered a memory and all of a sudden I feel, hey! it's not that bad (^^) I remember the feel good times of my life and I was surprised that I have forgotten many of them...like the fun christmas vacations in Manila spent with my maternal grandparents...the feeling of awe and wonder on opening my presents...the carnivals and Holiday on Ice at the Araneta Coliseum...the pleasure I felt when eating ice cream at Dairy Cream...the excursions at Balulan Beach and the effort I put in to get a tan and the allergies that resulted afterwards(although how that could be classified as feeling good escapes me at the moment...but yes, remembering those times make me smile)...the stories my...