Miscellany

1. FIRST LOVE
No luck yet leading to any information regarding a certain Norma Cenidoza, 75 years old, originally from Binangonan Rizal. An anonymous message came in saying it could be her mother, but there was no more follow up word from he or her. I asked my Kuya Junior a while ago if he knew about Tito Ynares’ high school crush. Kuya very well remembers the deceased wife of Ka Tito, Bella Flora. They were neighbors in Chicago. Kuya has a faint recollection of who Norma is.

2. TRICK OR TREAT
Even if I had candies outside in the front porch, American kids still like to doorbell and shout trick or treat. Nakakatuwa.

The golden cat

I put on heavy make up and used black and blue eye shadows for my scary Halloween look

Battered wife look. Next year I will have a costume made I’ll wear while giving away candies.

Trick or Treating ended at 9 pm after all our neighbors ran out of goodies and started switching off their front patio lights as signal. All my 200 packs were also gone but I managed to grab a few additional packs of candies from the nearby grocery but since the street was pitch dark, kids, teens and adults alike stopped coming thinking that that were no more houses giving goodies.

House on the main street stopped giving candies at 9:15 pm.

The last family that came, the dad was looking for Hershey’s chocolates. I didn’t have Hershey’s.

I have three packs of candies I’m bringing home to Manila. I hope our service clients enjoy them while they wait for their vehicles being serviced.

3. IT’S AUTUMN
The temperature has dropped by ten degrees beginning last weekend. I was the last person wearing miniskirt. I noticed people were in tights, short boots and light jacket or sweater. It’s now officially autumn or fall.

4. LUNCH ALONE
had lunch at Panda Express: steamed white rice, eggplant and tofu, grilled teriyaki chicken for $8.16 including tax.

5. LAMINATE FLOORS
I was looking at floor laminate flooring samples and the sales agent was telling me that the sample sizes are 1 foot long. No, they are two feet I told her. She stood up straight and pointed at the middle of her thigh and said the sample is a foot long and if it’s up to her mid thigh would be two feet long according to her. I didn’t want to argue so I just kept quiet anyway I was just looking and not buying.

6. IMPEACH TRUMP BY TOM STEYER
There’s a tv commercial showing a man, a certain Tom Steyer, asking for American president Trump’s impeachment. He said a president was impeached for far less mistake. He was calling for Congress to impeach Trump. I didn’t know who Mr. Tom Steyer was. Why is he spending money on commercials which I later learned to be $10M so I Googled to get some personal info about him. Nowadays you can find out about a person’s life in seconds. Here’s a bit of info, He is a former hedge fund manager, a philanthropist and a billionaire. He is from San Francisco and is thinking of running for governor.

Ellen Degeneres occasionally takes a swipe at Trump. A Democrat senator told Trump to stop tweeting and start leading.
CNN is busy covering the Russia probe 24/7 Trump’s tweets, and all about Trump. It was only interrupted by yesterday’s terror attack on NYC cyclists.

7. NYC TERROR ATTACK
The world is getting unsafer by the day. Kawawa naman the 8 who died and those injured when a Home Depot pick up truck you could rent for $19 was used by a bad guy to plow over innocent people. #liveandletlive #choosetobegood #thoushallnotkill #worldpeace

8. HAZING VICTIM HORACIO CATILLO III
I saw the tv clip of the parents of ATIO, the college student who was a victim of hazing. They look a lot younger than Edmund and I. I feel so sorry for them. The dad couldn’t contain his emotions when he said just two months ago their lives were normal. Little did they know that come November 1, their son would be gone. That was really tough. Naawa ako. I am a mom, I am a parent. Nakakadurog ng puso ang nangyari sa kanila. Kawawa. Kayong mga bata, huwag na nga kayong sumali sa mga fraternity kasi delicado at baka kayo mapahamak. AT kayo naman mga frat masters, huwag masyadong hampas kasi masakit iyon at pwede nga kayong makamatay. Yun ngang dingding nasisira pag pinaghahampas, yung tao pa kaya eh konting hataw lang masakit na at makakasugat. Huwag na ganun. UST pa naman kayo.

9. HAZING VICTIM FROM LAS SALLE ST. BENILDE

Naalala ko tuloy yung kwento ni Atty. Raymnond Fortun. He told me about the hazing victim from San Sebastian yata yun. He was the one who handled that case daw as counsel for the frat members who were present or participated in the hazing. Atty. Fortun told me mabigat ang nangyari because the frat neophyte under initiation died during the hazing. He said it took the family of the victim years before their anger subsided and found it in their hearts to forgive the frat members.

10. PHILIPPINE AIRLINES SUCKS
I still can’t get a return booking. The earliest flight with no penalty is on Nov 13 sobrang ang tagal pa. I am thinking of buying an economy ticket and just throw away my one way return business class ticket. Sobrang daming restrictions ng PAL, nakakainis. Tila ayaw ko na sa kanila.

11. MICHAEL JORDAN’S MANSION IS FOR SALE
Nalibang ako watching the NBC feature on the houses, cars, jewelries of the super rich. The house of Michael Jordan in Chicago is for sale for $47M. He moved to Florida that’s why he is selling his Chicago house with a big number 23 on the iron gate. It has a basketball court of course.

There’s a house in Lake Tahoe called Crystal Point that is for sale for $100,000,000 complete with it’s own funicular. They featured the sprawling homes of Holywood celebrities that are currently in the market. They also showed sports cars costing $6.5M each.

12. I WON $1 IN THE LOTTO
Palit ticket lang. I hope next time there will be more zeroes.

13. Ever since I had two bad episodes of makaputol hiningang sorethroat, the more I became paranoid about bacteria. I don’t want to touch anything and everything. I am always washing my hands.

(Kadiring toilet in a Korean bbq restaurant).

14. This car parked too close to mine. There’s an 18″ buffer in between parking spaces but his wheels were in the middle of the buffer. Buti na lang hindi ako gaanong mataba but still I had difficulty squeezing in between our vehicles.

15. While I was standing at the customer service counter in Lowe’s, this guy was on the phone with his mother in Chicago. At first he was cool and calm while asking her to send him some money he badly needed for something.
After a while, he started yelling and demanded that she gives him $400,000 so he could move on with his life. Tayo din bigyan ng $400k move on din tayo.

16. I was looking at the food display I didn’t notice the hand. Only when I moved closer to the cashier to pay when I noticed it. Nakakatakot. When I was in grade 5 or 6, there was a Gabi ng Lagim tv series every Friday night. Merong putol na kamay na gumagapang, every time it came out on screen, all the viewers (our neighbors and maids) screamed and covered their eyes.

17. One of the best buchi I’ve ever eaten. $1.50 per order of 3 pieces.

18. I like the taste of this Zico coconut water.

19. I drove for 45 minutes thru the freeway to get my lab results from the Minute clinic inside CVS. I tried to call for them to email to me instead but it was frustrating to call and nearly impossible to speak to a real person. After waiting on line for half hour listening to a repetitive recording, I decided to brave the rush hour traffic and drove at 70 miles per hour. My worry was coming back, I didn’t want to drive at night.

Third swab was negative.

My throat swab was negative, my two day culture turned out to be negative also. Am glad.

20. ROBOT TELEPHONE OPERATORS
There are no more real people answering the customer service number of CVS, Xfinity, BOFA credit card. It takes forever waiting for a real person to answer the phone. “Tell me why you are calling? I didn’t quite get that. Now tell me why you are calling?” If you answered yes press 1″. Robots are replacing human jobs. There’s a real threat we humans don’t realize.
The more advance technology gets, the lazier people become. Google order pizza. Sarah, clean the floor. What’s for dinner?
A friend recently remodeled his master bath and installed high tech shower that can be operated using his iPhone. Music while taking a shower, lights using hand motion, etc. He said he only needs to sit on the shower chair and the detector would be able to identify his previous settings. Just the right warm water temperature for him. I see robots combing our hair, bathing us in the near future, and overriding all those human commands and taking over our lives.

21. TOP TEN SAFEST COUNTRIES TO VISIT BY CONDE NAST TRAVELER
I’ve been to 6 out of the 11 countries that topped the recent survey by Conde Nast Traveler for Top 10 safest cities to visit. Ireland and Japan are tied on tenth place.
Let’s add this to our list of places to visit:
1. Iceland — Oyen had been here.
2. New Zealand — I’d been, but long time ago when FVR was still president. Our group, Atty. Emil Jurado, Tonyboy Cojuangco, Oscar de Venecia, Antonio Lopa, Atty. Siguion-Reyna (+), Ka Imon Cuevas (+), Gen. Benjamin Kalalo (+), etc. was part of the business delegation that accompanied FVR to Auckland, New Zealand. Alas singko lang sarado na ang mga tindahan. I had bad tummy from drinking tap water at a seafood restaurant.
3. Portugal – twice planned but didn’t push thru. Maybe in 2020.
4. Austria – I’ve been to Austria several times, in Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg.
5. Denmark
6. Czech Republic – I’ve been to Prague twice, in 2015 with my sister and niece Kimberly, and long time ago with the business group accompanying FVR— Andy Soriano, Oscar De Venecia, Tonyboy Cojuangco, Serge Ortiz-Luis Jr., Mrs. & Mrs. Concepcion, Antonio Lopa, Ka Imon (+), Sig (+), Atty Emil Jurado, Dick Penson, Gen. Jose Magno, Sec. Rizalino Navarro (+), FVR and FL Ming Ramos, Mrs. Nene Quimzon, etc.
7. Slovenia
8. Canada— Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal (with FVR business delegation)
9. Switzerland — Once in Lucerne with my family when my daughter graduated from high school. Lucerne is where my 11 year old son discovered the best lamb. Geneva with Edmund, we took the high speed train from Paris,
10. Japan – I’ve been to Japan several times. The first few times were with Philippines presidents– FVR, GMA, Erap, Pnoy. Also when my family joined a group tour before New Year a few years ago.
10. Ireland (tie) – twice planned to visit but didn’t push thru.

22. WE HAVE A NEW TV
Our tv in the bedroom was originally 32″. About 5 years ago, when I came home from the US I found a big tv inside our bedroom. Edmund replaced the old one with a 40″ or 45″ he bought at a P5,000 discount from one of Ford EDSA’s sales managers who won it as an incentive from Ford. I found the 45″ too big for the size of our room. Medyo naduduling ako in the beginning but after a while I got used to it. In the past two years the 45″ has become blurry, medyo malabo na and sometimes merong guhit. Edmund told me a few times to replace it with a bigger one. But I didn’t want to. Our room is too small for a 60″ tv. 60″ should be installed in the sala not in a bedroom that is meant for sleeping and not for movie nights.

When my daughter’s tv broke, Edmund and I bought her a new one, a curved 55″. Edmund wanted to buy two, for Oyen and for us. I objected. Sabi ko okay pa naman yung tv namin, and 55″ would be too big for our bedroom.

A few days ago, my husband told me he was looking to buy a new tv for our bedroom kasi nga luma na daw and maliit na. I told him our bedroom would become more of a theater than a place for sleeping.

Few minutes ago, my husband sent me a photo of a large LED tv now installed in our bedroom. Hindi rin nagpapigil. Maganda nga, ang linaw ng screen unlike before the images were blurred.

He was proud to say that he only paid P10,000 because he used 60,000 SM advantage points.