Feedback on Things you do in the name of love

It’s half past 1AM now and I was tempted to turn in after posting here through the night — but with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought it was very apt to at least post these notes..

From Tintin: Hi Dinna! It must have been a great risk you took when you went to New York. But as they say, risks must be taken because only a person who risks is free. 🙂 You sound so happy now so I guess the risk was well worth it. God bless you and your hubby!

From milkphish: . . . landed on your blog via pinoytopblogs.com. just like you, i had to move to another place to start a family (los angeles to seattle). but i’ve been living in the states since i was 11 yrs. old —- i still miss manila all the time, nonetheless.

From Jerome (our Birthday boy): You made me cry on my birthday!!!!! I am a huge sucker for romance (borrowed the line from Marsha Mason’s character in “The Goodbye Girl”). Thank you for your sweet entry. With some blogs, we are only allowed entrance to the author’s minds. But you just let me into your heart and your soul. Thank you so much for the privilege. (still sobbing…I’m a friggin’ mess. Lagot ka sa kin pag umuwi ka sa Pilipinas. *sniffs*)

People who hear Alan and I talk about each other always come to the conclusion that we must be so in love with each other.  They say it shows in the way we light up when we tell people about the other, and it’s very heartening that we still do.  Not that we have been married all that long, but we take pride in the fact that we continue to get closer as the years go.  Almost 6 years now as husband and wife and we haven’t strangled each other yet. LOL

I’ll say it again — were it not for him, I wouldn’t choose to be here in New York.  But everything has its price, and being with him meant giving everything up.  We have our disagreements and our petty quarrels, but we’ve grown to be such a team that I can finish his sentences and he can anticipate what I am thinking even before I speak my mind out.  We still hold hands in the movies, while he drives, and while we sit next to each other on the express bus..

Right now I’m worried sick because I can hear the wind howling outside and I know he will park over at our parking spot a few blocks away from the house.  I don’t want to bug him at the party because he’s probably still drinking with his friends.  I know he’ll be home soon enough, and while he wouldn’t mind my going ahead to turn in for the night, I just can’t because I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly until I know he’s safely home. 

He’s the one who makes my valentine’s day truly happy.

More Feedback

Here’s Tintin’s take on the Wowowee incident:

Hi Dinna! I see the news about the Wowowee incident has reached your side of the world. Indeed, it was tragic. I really felt sad when I heard the news. The local news channel were able to interview some survivors and there was this lady in her 40s who said she went to ULTRA because her home got burned late last year and one of her neighbors (whose house also was razed to the ground) joined Wowowee before and was able to win P8500 (consolation price, having been chosen as one of the contestants), so she was hoping to win, too. You can really see how desperate these people are. Some of them were already lining up to get in for the past three days. Some came from as far as Aparri, hiring a jeepney just to get them to Manila. They wouldn’t have gone to these lengths if they didn’t need the money so badly. It’s so sad because our people are getting poorer and still our government claims that we are on the road to national recovery? What’s happening to our country?

As always, the finger-pointing has started and I just hope those in charge do not forget about the people who suffered losses and injuries in this unfortunate incident.  I think that people have also forgotten that while we’d like to put the blame squarely on the show organizers, we must recognize the fact that Wowowee is a very popular show and enjoys quite a following among the masses.  It’s not just the money that brought the crowds in — it sure was a factor — but people just enjoyed the show.

As a parallel, people line up outside Broadway Centrum to watch Eat Bulaga day in and day out, camping outside to get a good spot, arriving by the bus loads in excursions to watch the show live.  That’s part of the Filipino culture.  While poverty had a major part in driving the crowds to the big show, it’s also the fan mentality in the Filipino that brought them there in droves.

Now if only the authorities can get all the probes over and done with and concrete steps be taken to help those who need it most.

 

Feeback Backlog

My apologies to those whose feedback I have been unable to post and respond to promptly.  Too many things going on all at the same time, and work, as always, is such a distraction!  If I miss your feedback by some reason along the way, my apologies — I’m trying to catch up and will try to be more diligent about responding from hereon.

Lani had written this feedback on Bagiuo and Books

I’ve been to Baguio once and medyo disappointed pa ako sa visit namin. It was Dec. 2003 and grabe ang dami ng tao. Para kaming nasa Divisoria sa Session Rd, traffic sa sasakyan at tao. But my friends told me that after the meningococcemia scare sa Baguio, medyo kumonti ang nagpupunta and mula daw noong magkaroon ng SM Baguio, naipon na sa mall ang mga tao. So free nang maglibot na di ka masisiksik.

I also love to read books especially self-help books. Robert Ludlum, Dan Brown, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon are just some of my favorite authors. Before I love to read Danielle Steele’s books but I find it very nakakaiyak kaya tinigilan ko na. Para hindi ako gaanong mamulubi sa kabibili ng books, I usually go to Recto to buy 2nd hand books, much cheaper talaga.

Lani, Baguio holds a special place in my heart because I had spent summer after summer there in my childhood.  I spent several birthdays there and consider the summer capital a very important part of my young life.  I am sure it is now a far cry from the very quiet Baguio I remember, but believe it or not, there are certain days here in New York which brings me back to those cold mornings in Baguio I remember.

Some of your favorite authors are mine, too.  Robert Ludlum?  Have you read ROAD TO GANDOLFO?  I think his attempt at comedic writing is truly exceptional, and this remains as one of my all-time favorites not just among his works, but across all my favorite authors in the thriller genre. 

More on Books and reading from Tintin:

hi dinna! i’m not much of a non-fiction reader, but i read a lot of novels. usually, when i “discover” an author who catches my fancy, i would read all the books i could find written by this author. i love whodunit books especially those written by james patterson (his alex cross series) and patricia cornwell (kay scarpetta series). this must still be due to my love for nancy drew! anyway, your suggestion to order a book from NBS-Manila through their Bacolod branch is a good one. I just might do that! Thanks! By the way, I’ve created a new blog  ..Hope you can visit! 🙂

The Nancy Drew Mystery Series was a favorite read back in elementary.  I tried to read as many as I could and had even bought a few books for my personal library.  I never got to read them all but managed to read more than half of those on the list.  Like you, I try to read as much of an author when I find myself hooked.. still, I try to venture into new reads every now and then — and I discover that they are as entertaining although not as captivating as those authors I’ve come to admire.  Still can’t forget actually chatting with Tom Clancy when TEETH OF THE TIGER came out.. wish I can catch John Grisham sometime in the future, but the guy is not too fond of doing book tours like most other bestselling authors.  I just might try Patterson one of these days.. the book club is endorsing him heavily, but I don’t know if he writes like Clancy whose characters have books which are written in a series, or like Grisham who does his books with a different set of characters each time.. I’ll let you know when I get there.

Delish visited us but did not leave a link when he/she left feedback on my post on CHUBO:

looks like it’s a feast you had 🙂

A feast indeed.. as I wrote we used to do this on a weekly basis, and at least once a month with our friends.  Parenthood has made us limit our culinary expeditions but we try to do it.  It’s something we definitely enjoy doing, and it helps keep the romance alive.  We always share dessert and share at least a spoonful with each other — making subo unashamedly across the table.

Let it snow, let it snow..

It’s minutes to midnight and it has been snowing since mid-afternoon today.  And to think the weather forecast was that the blizzard would hit us full blast right about now until tomorrow morning.

We did all our errands today because we’re just staying indoors tomorrow.  The groceries were full of people trying to stock up like us.  Not that we think we’ll be holed up longer than the weekend.  We’ll have to go to work on Monday for sure — no matter how much snow we get. 

I elected to stay home and let Alan go to his party with his friends.  Mom needs to rest because she hasn’t been feeling well.  Nothing major, I hope.

Meanwhile, the high school batch now has a website. (Yipee!)  I decided to have it webhosted by my main domain — being that I haven’t had anything meaningful on that site for ages.  Tax time is a reminder to get going on something profitable because this year is the last year I can claim that expense as a business loss.

But there is hope.. I am talking to one of my bestfriends in Manila about possibly putting up something there for distribution here in the US.  It’s going to be a lot of work because I actually want to make the business work.  I need to research restrictions, requirements, competitors, etc., etc.  No million-dollar (or million peso for that matter) venture — but something that can be profitable and something that can grow if my friend and I can make it work.  I promised her I will present the research to her when we see each other when I come for a visit this April.

It might actually take off.. keeping my fingers crossed.