Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows?
There was a farmer whose horse ran away.
The neighbors sympathized, 'Oh that's such bad luck.'
The farmer replied, 'Good luck, bad luck, who knows?'
Th next day the farmer's horse came back and with it was a herd of wild horses.
The neighbors commented, 'Oh that's such good luck.'
The farmer replied, 'Good luck, bad luck, who knows?'
Then the farmer's son broke his arm while taming one of the wild horses.
The neighbors said, 'Oh that's such bad luck.'
The farmer replied, 'Good luck, bad luck, who knows?'
Then a decree announced that all able-bodied young men were to be sent to war. The farmer's son, with his broken arm, was exempted.
The neighbors said, 'Oh that's such good luck.'
- Story retold from Fr. Joseph Yao's homily yesterday at the Church of St. Ignatius
I liked the story so much that I decided to post it here so that whenever something happens that could easily be blamed to good luck or bad luck, I'd think again and remember that all I need is faith. God always knows best. From now on, instead of saying 'Good Luck', I'd say 'God bless.' :o)
In other news, Andrei was cantor for yesterday's Sunset Mass. My heart almost burst with pride as the timbre of his rich vocals filled the church. It took a tremendous amount of self-restraint to stop myself from applauding and shouting to the Singaporean congregation that he's Filipino! And he's mine!Today's Low: We went to four different malls but we still couldn't find the luggage in the color and size that Andrei wanted. We ended up just buying the small one. Good luck, bad luck, who knows?Today's High: I have new luggage too! Matching pink ones! I am getting the hang of this 'girl' thing. ;o) Labing-isang linggo na lang, pulotgataan na! Kahit saan mang lulalop kami mapadpad, panalo ang maleta ko! :o)
God Is In the Details
Have you ever sliced a papaya crosswise and taken a moment to admire the celestial shape formed by the hollow part containing the seeds? When did you last examine the wondrous intricacy of a flower from its petals and sepals to its pistil and anthers? Have you ever stopped at a parking lot to wonder how a few drops of black oil on concrete could create a whole array of colors? Everywhere we look there is a reason to marvel at God's attention to detail. And that's the underlying theme that we will try to achieve on our wedding day --God Is In The Details. (Ok, so that was a lame attempt for an introduction just so I'd have an excuse to post my favorite macro shot of a flower with a pistil. But I stand by my statement about the wonder of God's creations.)
And so our mission this weekend was to think of ways to PersonalizeIt! by infusing little bric-a-bracs that will accomplish the 'detailed' look.
We started off with the Table Names (as opposed to Table Numbers). Each table will be named after a tree (Andrei went to great lengths researching what tree name sounded best for each letter. Proved to be difficult finding for K and U -- ever heard of Kumquat and Uvalha??) and each name card was painstakingly put together using the leftover invitation materials.
Next on the list were the placecards for the presidential table. We didn't want to settle for the plain placecards that will be provided by the caterer and so we made our own!
And instead of the traditional bilao heaping with valenciana, embutido, and morcon to give as thank you gifts for the Principal Sponsors like we do in the province (for the life of me I could not remember the Tagalog term for it), we opted for a non-perishable alternative. Each handmade bag (with an autumn surprise -- you never know what you're gonna get) was tied lovingly with gold and terracotta ribbons, beads, and our bungisngis picture. Packaging is everything.
Today's Low: Found at least 3 clichés in the blog I just wrote.
Today's High: People don't seem to mind as my hits are increasing each day (even if most of them point to a certain IP ad from Zilog Philippines. I guess one more cliché wouldn't hurt: One loyal friend is worth ten thousand acquaintances. :o)
Labor of Love Part 2
Yes, this is still a wedding countdown blog. Pooh Bear and Eeyore were just carried away for a while there. But then, what better way to prepare oneself for marriage than discussing love's mysteries as if you know them so well? :o) Today's High: We finished packing 30 souvenirs! 130 more to go! We got this idea from my brother to just use index prints of our pictures for souvenir tags instead of going to all the trouble of designing and printing thank you cards. Today's Low: It's Friday! Any low can be upped just by the thought of the weekend. :o)
Pooh Bear Replies...
"May tanong ako, ano ang nangyari sa story mo? Nung dumating yung second brother, nakakita ba sya ng perfect na corn? Dalawang bagay ang naiisip ko sa blog mo. Una, sa story mo, pano kung nakarating ka nga sa dulo ng corn field at wala ka nang napili, hindi ka na pwedeng bumalik diba? What you thought could be the best, but decided you should look for something more, was lost, and you could never go back. In either of the paths that you'll take, both has risks and consequences. It's just a matter of choice, and nobody will know if it is right or wrong. A better thought, there could never be a right or wrong decision. It's up to you to make it right and more so, you could make it wrong.
Ang pangalawang bagay na naisip ko ay tungkol sa quote mo. "Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time..." Maybe, most of us, wish and want to believe that because ideally, that should be love. Pero sa totoong buhay, meron pa bang mad, passionate or extraordinary na habangbuhay? Sa tingin ko, madaming paraan natin makikita, masasabi at mawiwitness ang love. Yung sinabi mo, totoong nag-aapply sa inyo ni daddy. Pero sa iba, hindi. Tulad ng kela mommy at papa, definitely hindi mad at passionate yon. Tapos yung pagiging extraordinary ng love ni papa kay mommy, naprove ko na lang nung later part ng buhay nila. But all these years, they stayed together and I could say it is love, even though it isn't mad and passionate."
Walang ending yung kwento ko - to emphasize my point that the first brother is still suffering until now because of thinking of what-could-have-beens.Could be that he came back with something that was better than what his brother came up with and so he won the price.Could be that he reached the end of the field and so he was forced to just get the last one he saw, which was inferior to the one the first brother got and so he lost.You're right. There are risks in both cases. And no choice is right or wrong.I still stand by my belief and it's ok if you don't agree. That's what we're here for - to listen to each other's thoughts. Pero oo, sa tingin ko there could be a love that is mad, passionate, and extraordinary na panghabangbuhay. Nagkakatalo lang how you define these adjectives. Mad and passionate and extraordinary don't always equal sexual chemistry or being all over each other or breathless declarations of undying love or anything as dramatic as the story of Romeo and Juliet. But two things must hold true - it should be real and it should last. Passion that is based on being "in love" or "in heat" easily fades, and that's not what I meant. For me, it is something that is based on, among other things, sharing good laughs, long conversations, and comfortable silences, putting the other person's needs before your own, and being fascinated with the tiny details of his being that are insignificant to other people - all done passionately. It could be a quiet kind of passion like what you witnessed with your parents. That kind could be more powerful because it's grounded on strength that each of them held on to until the end. I'm sure your parents loved (and still do) each other in their own ways, but knowing what little I know of your mommy, I'm sure she must have loved your papa in her own way, but passionate nevertheless."But could this be the way I love him?" What Tigger and I have is not perfect and not even almost perfect - far from it even. But I know that it is love - without any question mark. And that's what I want you to have. I want you to be sure. Not just because Piglet promised to change to be a better person to suit your standards and not just because you heard what you wanted to hear. Yun lang ang hiling ko, ang maging sigurado ka tapos susuportahan ko kung ano man ang desisyon mo.Tigger and I love you very much (and not without passion) and we just want you to be truly happy.
For my Pooh Bear who deserves all the love in the world
"Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life and love shouldn't be one of them." -- Dream For An Insomniac
As the tag line of La Germania (or was it Imarflex?) succinctly puts it: Don't settle for anything less.There was this story I read somewhere about a father who asked his two sons to ride into the cornfield to look for the perfect ear of corn (or was it a blade of grass?) and the son who came back with the best will inherit the father's riches or some other nice prize. But the catch was, once they go past one, they cannot come back to it; they can only move forward and without turning back. The first son came back with his choice and the father, seeing that his son came back so quickly, asked him, "How do you know that you found the perfect one if you didn't cover the entire cornfield?" The son replied, "I did not want to risk going past a perfectly beautiful ear of corn in search for a more beautiful one for who knows if I never find it." However, as they waited for the second brother to come back (he still hasn't come back as of press time), the first son suffered in anxiety (and is still suffering). If he had looked some more, could he have found a more beautiful ear of corn than the first one he settled for? He will never know now, will he?Ok, so I fabricated the story a bit. But the point is, settling for something may be the easiest route, especially when you have the excuse that you might not find something like it again. But sooner or later, you will regret it somehow and you will spend the rest of your life wondering. Had you looked some more or had you waited some more, would you have found the ear of corn that would have made you happier?So when did I become an expert on this love thing? (We're still talking about love, are we not?) Well, I'm not. I just know that I am blessed to have found it and I am certain that this is really it because not once did I wonder if there could ever be a better one for me even if I have been always allowed to go back to the others and have always been free to look farther in the cornfield.
Love (and making love) is the ambrosia of life and it is something that God must have intended to be brilliant and extraordinary and splendid and, as Heidi Klum would put it, over-the-top. If it's anything less than that, then why bother? There are many fish in the sea and the cornfield is limited only by our own capacity to dream.
And so, my dear Pooh Bear, which brother are you? The decision is yours but you know where I stand: La Germania or bust. It will be all worth it, I promise you.
The Final Touch
Materials:oil (baby oil or cooking oil)
wax stamper
small glue gun
glue sticks
tray or any smooth surface
a thin ruler or a stiff plastic ID cover or any thin sharp material
1. Coat the tray and the wax stamper with oil.
2. When the glue gun is hot and ready, squeeze 6 full squirts on the tray making sure that the squirts land on the exact same spot for the glue not to spread out.
3. Wait for one minute for the glue to harden a bit. This step is very important as the glue will imprint even the littlest imperfection of the stamper if it's too wet.
4. Press the wax stamper slowly on the blob of glue (making sure to press it exactly in the middle) until approximately 1-2mm of glue is pressed outside of the stamper, creating the outline of the seal.
5. Wait for one minute for the glue to cool and then using the stiff plastic ID cover, slowly detach the glue from the tray.
6. Detach the stamper from the hardened glue.7. To attach the seals on the envelope flaps, use a non-colored gluestick.
Ta-dah! You now have a cheaper alternative to a wax seal!
Thanks, Nis! What will I ever do without you?
Labor of Love
My brother flew home this morning with a bagful of invitations and a headful of instructions on how they should be sealed with wax (colored gluesticks actually) and when they should be distributed. Yes, we did it! We finished all 180 of them! We slaved away on Friday night, spent the day off on Saturday (we attended a friend's son's Christian dedication, went to hear Mass at the church where Andrei's choir sings, bought Crocs for Mama at Queensway, and bought rugs at Ikea), and then went at it again on Saturday night. Around break of dawn, Andrei officially announced with a dramatic sweeping gesture that we have finished! The last bead has been strung, the last maple leaf has been glued, the last board has been pinked, and the last stroke of Andrei's beautiful calligraphy has been penned! We celebrated by naming that tune from our selection of 14GB mp3s while drinking Bailey's Caramel Creme.
The only thing better than seeing your hard work come to fruition is seeing the hard work that you've done with two of the most important men in your life come to fruition (now that's a run-on sentence).
Now it's all in Riel and Eunice's hands - literally. :o)
I Am Woman
Hasty generalization is the fallacy that I hate most but for the sake of blogging, I might have to commit one: most women own at least a dozen pairs of shoes, one bag for each day of the week (and in all imaginable colors if most women are like my mother), and jewelry for all occasions. I, a woman of uncertain terms (blame my past life in Lesbos), own one bag (plus two if you count my camera and laptop bags) and two shoes (a pair of rubber shoes and a pair of slip-ons which I haven't used for more than a year now) and the only piece of jewelry that I own is my engagement ring (which I love to bits, by the way). I don't even own a watch.But then again, I am not most women. On my wedding day however, I will be one. A woman, that is.
I am going to wear stilettos (open-toed ones to show off my Tips 'N Toes pedicure c/o ate Dimps), I am going to carry a sequined pouch bag, and I am going to wear jewelry from head (see previous entry on Wedding Hairstyles 101) to toe (toe ring, perhaps?). Which brings me to my newsworthy accomplishment today: I bought diva earrings! We went to Chinatown after work today and I bought three pairs! I'd have bought one pair only had it not been one of those 3 for $10 souvenir stores, but what the hey, I am woman! I need at least 3 of everything. And who would guess that a pair only costs Php 100? I am diva on a dime, bride on a budget.But I'd be woman in NO uncertain terms, albeit only for a day.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
I found time today to go over the on-the-day tasks and realized that I already have 52 
items on my list and I'm not even halfway finished with it yet!For a minute there I panicked and considered hiring a professional coordinator just so I'd have someone to worry for me. But I quickly came to my senses and reminded myself that everything is under control. Why would I have all these items written down if it were otherwise? Besides, Eunice (love her!) volunteered her sisters and boyfriend to be our OTD coordinators so there's nothing to worry about. In fact I already did the cutest IDs for them. :o)
A very wise woman told me once that "the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances". That's been my mantra ever since because I know that from time to time, I WILL find myself in situations that are out of my control but what's within my control is my attitude towards these situations. But before I go all philosophical, let me go back to what I was trying to say -- I vow to have fun on my wedding day no matter what. I've waited for this my whole life and no amount of wilted flowers, defective microphones, or missing luminaries can ruin it for me. After all, I'm marrying the man of my dreams and that's the only reason I need to celebrate the best day of my life.
No to Butterfly Kisses
Today found me finalizing the guest list while listening to Moon River, Fly Me To the Moon, and What A Wonderful World over and over again. These are the songs that Papa will sing for the reception and I wanted to immune my tear glands as early as now. I initially wanted him to sing Butterfly Kisses but I knew that I'd be crying buckets even before he reach the line "She'll change her name today. She'll make a promise and I'll give her away." Not that I believed for a minute that I wouldn't cry with the other song choices but if i can help it, there's no reason to push it. Sayang naman ang professional makeup. ;o)
Today's Low: Today is All Saints' Day and I miss the traditions that my family does every year on this day . :o(
Today's High: By this time next year, I'd have a new family to start new traditions with. :o)
In other news, Andrei was cantor for yesterday's Sunset Mass. My heart almost burst with pride as the timbre of his rich vocals filled the church. It took a tremendous amount of self-restraint to stop myself from applauding and shouting to the Singaporean congregation that he's Filipino! And he's mine!
