Sashimi all the way

Went out for dinner with my cousins Kuya Alvin, Isay, Boboy, Baby and her boyfriend Patrick. Tita Minda and Tito Mar took us to a Komegashi in Newport because Baby told them that I requested Japanese food.

I ordered tofu (forgot the name on the menu) and Sashimi dinner. I was so excited I forgot to take a picture of it. Hehehe.. we also drank red wine, Patrick's choice, of course and we chatted the whole time. We grilled Patrick and asked him when is he going to marry Baby. He was on the hot seat!

After dinner Boboy took us to Starbucks and then we went for a little walk to get a view of Manhattan - just on the other side of the river. It's freaking cold at 37 degrees but we took pictures and exchanged stories out in the open.

Tita Minda was telling me how glad she is that we - my cousins and I, picked up where we left off. We got separated in 1991 when they had to migrate here in Jersey City. But when she saw us together she was so happy to see that we're still the same kids she used to watch play back in the Philippines. That was probably why she and Tito Mar took care of our bill whichs costs $368. Damn!

Hehehehe!

Roaming around New Jersey

I was with my cousin Anna Baby and her cool boyfriend Patrick yesterday. We went to Ikea to buy some stuff that Patrick needs for his new place. My cousin's excited in helping him out with the interior decoration thing and they asked me to tag along. Better than staying home the whole day. I was impressed with my cousin's car, an Infinti EX. It has built-in navigation and camera. It was really cool! But, as it is, not my type of car.




They've been teasing me for days now about the Gucci watch thing. Never knew that it would create such a hype, had I known, I wouldn't have accepted it from Ninang. I'm not into watches anyway.. but what the heck, take a look:



A while ago we ate at Buon Appetito at downtown NJ. The pizza was really great. I ate two slices. Hehehe.. then they took me to Liberty State Park to go have a look at the Statue of Liberty from afar. No sense in waiting for a boat ride to take me to the island. We opted to look at it from a different perspective. Nice view.



What's next? NYC, I guess.

Thanksgiving

Tita Vicky and Me. She made that important call that changed my fate here. She took care of me when I was still a baby.

This is my first Thanksgiving. And I am so lucky I have my family here to spend it with. I've always wondered why it was important in American culture. I never got the chance to asked them a while ago. All hell broke loose when the good news came - and then all their eyes turned to one person. Me.

Tita Vicky, Me, Tita Minda, Kuya Alvin, Tita Vangie and Ninang Hermie. Taken at Tita Vangie's place in Jersey City.

This is my first Thanksgiving. And it ain't going to be my last.

All the more reason for me to be thankful for. God is good. All the time.

Trip to NJ

I'm going to New Jersey on Wednesday. That's a fact.

I'm thinking that I may not find the weather in Jersey City very appealing. That's a presumption.

Now, I've decided to just take along my backpack on my trip there. I don't want to carry my entire luggage just for an 8-day stay. So, I'm checking my airline to see if I can do web check-in 24 hrs before my scheduled flight. I'm anticipating that there would be a lot of people flying in time for Thanksgiving. I don't want to be caught up in line for my boarding pass.

So, what am I to do now? Try to sort my stuff. I have to prepare myself for cooler days and nights. Oh man! I like it here in Arizona. But I got to go there to see my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Hmmm.. ngayon makikita ko na kung ano ang hindi namin naranasan. Kami lang kasi ang naiwan sa Pilipinas nung pumunta silang lahat dito.

This NJ trip might be a good material for a future post.

Getting big

I was looking for a physical evidence to tie up my theory that I am really getting big. Tatlong linggo na kasi akong nakabasyon at walang ginawa kundi humiga sa kama, kumain, mamasyal. Hehehe! Sarap buhay no? I should savor this. Once I start working, for sure I'm going to push myself so hard that I'll definitely get a head slap from you-know-who. ;)

I took the liberty of viewing my pictures here in my laptop. Ang laki na ng mukha ko at doble na baba ko! Halaaaaa! Ibang klaseng pag-aalaga kasi ang ginagawa ng misis ko eh. Hehehe!


Me, my godson Wayne and his dad/my brother Ian on the way to the airport almost a month ago.


Appetizer we are at Mall of Asia. Sabi ko nga paalis na lang ako, ganitong pagkain pa kakainin namin!


Hard evidence that I am really getting big! Taken a week ago at Olive Garden


Calamaris appetizer at Olive Garden, wala kaming ginawa kundi kumain!

Tsinelas

Ang tagal ko nang hindi nakikita ang tsinelas na ito. Ilang taon na rin ang nakaraan nung ibinigay ko ito sa asawa ko bago siya umalis. Pagdating niya ng Amerika dala ang tsinelas, lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin Mabuti pa ang tsinelas mo nakatuntong na ng Amerika. Kasa-kasama ko na. Ikaw andiyan pa rin sa Pilipinas. Sana makarating ka na dito.

Hanggang ngayon kapag nakahiga kami sa kama at nag-uusap hindi pa rin kami makapaniwala na andito na ako. Nitong linggo lang ito kami uling nagkasama ng tsinelas ko. Napangiti ako nung makita ko siya. Sabi ko pa, Reunion ba ito? Na-miss kita. Hinding-hindi na tayo maghihiwalay pa.

Praning

It all started this morning. I had a bad dream. In it I was screaming my guts out, but lo and behold - there was only a grunt. At least that was how I woke up, heard myself grunt twice. But in my dream I was screaming. Happens to me all the time, mind you. The perpetual pessimist that I am. Trying to change that, with all the paradigm shift mumbo jumbo.

In the Philippines I may be called praning a Filipino slang for paranoid. The state of being in a state of disturbed thought process which typically includes a perceived threat towards yourself. Beat that! I have my moments of insanity. Believe me. And I can really be good at it.

Probably too much TV.

Better get back to reading. It takes my mind off of things that I shouldn't be worried about.

Back to reading

I haven't seen the light of day for about five days in a row. The only time I went out, as far as I remember was when I took out the trash. I don't feel like going to the mall or checking out electronics. I would have wanted to play ball but there's no basketball court within the vicinity. So, I resigned and grabbed Kathy Reichs' novel about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan of the Bones TV series. It took me two days to finish it. But I really liked it, save for the jargon of anthropology (I only took 2 anthro subjects back in college and they were not that technical).

Liked it because 1. It stirred a controversy regarding the basic tenets of the RC Church just like what Da Vinci Code did, and 2. I secretly wanted to become a detective.

Oh well, I guess it's not a secret anymore! Hahaha! I've got another novel here with me but in the meantime, I've got to get out of this chair and breathe some fresh air!

Blogspot to a new domain name

It's more than a week and the other site isn't working yet! Darn! I reverted it back to blogspot. So, for the time being you can view it here.

Meet the Humping Hamster

Meet the Humping Hamster at Slide Rock Park in Sedona.. hehehehe!



Ito ang pinakabagong pangalan ko. Ang dami ko nang alyas. Andiyan ang "Si Raul" short for sira ulo. "Tikboy" dahil sa pwet kong nakalabas. "Gadilin" dahil daw laging may kumakati sa katawan ko. Sa dinami-dami ng mga ito ang favorite ko ngayon eh itong pagiging hamster. Bakit? Sus, kailangan pa bang i-memorize 'yan?

Panic mode and Frys

I was trying to tweak our new site this morning but I couldn't find it even on blogspot. Blogger is supposed to point to our .com site but all I get is an HTTP 404 Not Found message. Darn! I just posted a blog! So, I searched the net and blogger for help. Blogger said that since we purchased the domain name through them they would take care ot if. And that if we couldn't find our site, we just have to give them a little more time to make sure that all the DNS servers are updated. Whew! So, I need a day or two for them to fix it. Oh well..

I went to Frys Electronics today and found out that they have an Acer Aspire One 120GB XP Home Edition on stock for only $349.99! I got mine for almost $500 in the Philippines! But hey, come to think of it I got in on a 0% interest installment plan for 12 months. Hmmmm.. okay, okay.. stop panicking and calm down. Besides, they only have two color: blue and pink. Eeeew! Not my color anyway. I was looking around and tinkering with the laptop on display when a sales associate approached and asked if I have a question. Honestly, I don't have one. But at the last minute I asked him the difference between a Core 2 Duo and a Dual Core processor. He just said that they are the next generation processors and that's it. I said thank you but I shook my head after he left. Mas mabilis kasi ang Core 2 Duo. It works simultaneously. Unlike the Dual Core, kapag napuno na niya ang memory nung isa saka lang gagana 'yung isa pa. Hmmmm.. my wife would tell me yabangers ka! when I tell her about it later. She's still sleeping.

After my stop at the desktop computers and netbooks, I looked at the DVD section and got interested with the documentaries collection. I saw many historical documentaries. I wanted to grab 1 DVD collection which costs $4.99 but I had second thoughts about it. It's all about World War II. It's the topic that I hate most when I teach Philippine History that's why I wanted to buy the DVD to let my students watch it instead of me discussing it. Hehehehe.. anyway, here it is..



Hmmmm.. probably in a month or two I'm going to get it.

I love my wife

My wife is sleeping. May pasok na siya mamayang gabi and I will be left alone. Ayaw naman niyang sabayan ko siya matulog kasi mahihirapan na naman ako matulog mamayang gabi. Kaya heto, habang nagluluto ng pagkain namin mamaya paggising niya, post muna ako dito sa blog. I can't take off this grin on my face. Sinusulyapan ko nga siyang natutulog ngayon and I can't help but smile. Ang ganda ng Misis ko. Tulog na tulog siya. I feel a certain sense of satisfaction pag nakikita ko siyang ganito. At peace. Ewan ko ba. Makabalik na nga sa kama. Sarap ng may kayakap. Malamig eh!



Pati ang kitchen maayos din. Bukas ipapakita ko sa inyo laman ng fridge. Sandamakmak na ang laman kasi nag-grocery na si Misis. Napansin niya kasi na panay ang bukas ko ng ref pag andito sa bahay eh. There's something about it daw. Ngek!



Hmmm.. ang ayos ng bed ah. Hehehe.. kagagaling lang kasi ng California kaya namahinga ang kama. Ewan ko lang kung ganyan ka pa kaayos after a few days. Hehehe!

Back from talipornia

I better get my blog going. It's been days since I last posted something. Just came back from a six-day trip to CA with my wife and I really don't have time to post during our stay there. Every day is jampacked from day one until day 6. My wife already posted our day one experience at CA's freeway. Our new site will be up and running in about two days. So watch for it!

The happiest place in the world

Well, I've been to the happiest place in the world. And yes, for two days I acted like a child. I've been goofing around and fooling around with my wife and according to her, I'm super kulit! Oh well, makulit naman talaga ako pag kasama ko siya. Hehehehe!



Girl na girl talaga Mahal ko 'no? Sabi ko wacky pose, 'yun na ang wacky pose niya!



Of course hindi ako magpapatalo kay Roger Rabbit! Rabbit din ako eh! Ehek! Hahahaha!



With Goofy. Sira ulo nga 'tong si Goofy, hinalikan kamay ng Mahal ko! Tapos pagtingin niya sa akin, nakipag-shake ng hands! Muntik ko na masapak eh! 'Yung picture namin with Mickey Mouse hindi ko pa nakukuha from Disney's Photo Pass website. Saka na lang!

My life here...

Inside Arizona Mills, one of the malls that I get to see this week. It's near my apartment.

Inside the apartment that I live in. We really look good together huh?


The car that I drive, a Nissan Xterra 4WD A/T. It takes a lot of practice getting used to this car because I drive a stick shift car back home. But I love it! I also noticed that plate numbers in this state is displayed at the rear part of the car only. I wonder why..

The phone I use, a T-Mobile Flexpay Samsung t109 Olive Green domestic dual band phone with myFaves.

Are you in nostalgia?

I've been here for three days. My aunts have been calling me almost alternately to check up on me. I've been asked several times if I feel homesick. I told them no, I am fine and doing okay. They probably think I'm lying or I'm trying to cover it up. But honestly, I don't.

Wikipedia says that Homesickness (or in some cases, Nostalgia), is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from the specific home environment or attachment objects. That it occurs when one travels and may be heightened when one is in an unfamiliar environment or foreign cultural context.

Well, I felt that way once back in 2001 when I was in Oman. But here, it is different. My wife says that it is natural to feel homesick, in fact she thinks that I feel that way. When we talked about it this afternoon before she went to work she was surprised when I said that I really don't feel sad or anxious or depressed that I am here. Ang weird ko nga daw.

The answer is simple: I am home in her arms. Why would I be homesick?

What happened before this?

Ang mahiwagang medyas... hindi siya mapakali, kailangan niya talaga kuhanan ng litrato ang paang ito. Ito lang kasi ang balot na balot sa buong magdamag.



Come to think of it, ang sexy nung image na na-create in between them di ba? Hahahaha! Umandar na naman ang mahalay kong pag-iisip! Ehek! Ssssshhhh...

Home

After almost thirty hours of travel and waiting at the airport, I am finally home in the arms of my one great love. Hindi halatang stressed ako at pagod ano?


Grocery muna bago umuwi sa bahay. Takaw ko daw kasi kaya kailangan dami stock na pagkain. Ehek!


Inside the car, tensed siya kasi dadaan kami ng freeway! Hehehehe! Ayaw tuloy tumingin sa camera. Serious daw siya.

Mahalo

Waiting for Bus 19 or 20 en route to Aloha Tower. Might as well use up my time checking out Hawaii while waiting for my connecting flight
Finally, Bus 19
Traffic in Honolulu is just like traffic in Makati
This guy looks like a Mexican but he's actually a Filipino from Ilocos. Nakalibre tuloy ako ng pamasahe! Hahahaha!
Along Bishop Road
Just got to take pictures!
Along Aloha Tower
Nice tree
View from the Aloha Tower
This is what I got for the $15 voucher from Hawaiian Airlines. Just had to give us something for the delayed flight huh?