Sunday, July 20, 2008

life lesson #3311974: change is inevitable

today i woke up disturbed. mostly because of a bad dream where i tried to throw forks at strangers on a train (fyi, i don't do this in the real world ... at least to my knowledge) (and also, no one was hurt ... boooo) and partly because i had a feeling i've blogged about 'dancing queen' already.

it's true. i did. creepily enough, i wrote about it almost exactly 2 years ago.

the song that i once cursed and belittled now makes me all smiley and disgustingly giddy.

SO I SAYYYY ...

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, THE SONGS I'M SINGING!!!

wahahahahaha.

i promise – this is my last blog entry about 'mamma mia!' the movie.

to my two regular readers, forgive me. don't leave me. please.

(i'm not needy. i'm not.)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

my my, how can i resist you?

the last time i willingly paid to watch a movie three times was for 'a walk to remember' – definitely not a favorite, curriculum vitae-worthy achievement but one that 'i'll always remembaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh'. ehem. sorry. cough cough. sorry mandy.

today, i watched 'mamma mia!' for the third time with my parents and older sister (who, by the way, watched it with me the first time). surprisingly enough, i enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed the first two viewings. unsurprisingly, i cried at the exact same times during all three.

but seriously – could there be a happier movie? i doubt it. i should know. i saw the 'care bears' movie (the gross little sister forced us to) and it didn't make me feel half as good as this one did.

i'll say it again: all three times were such good experiences for me that i was willing to forgive the nasal vocal prowess of the beautifully aging pierce brosnan. of course the 'beautifully aging' factor had a lot to do with forgiveness.

yet another non-surprise, the mamma of mia (real name of gross little sister) had to end the night with another one of her classic showstoppers:

"ang galing ni meryl streep! parang sya talaga ang kumakanta!!!"

("meryl streep was great! it was like she was actually the one singing!!!")

hmmm.

to this, one can only say ...

...

...

...

YOU CAN DANCE!!!

YOU CAN JAH-HIIIVE!!!

(i apologize to my friends and family who i have bombarded with endless singing on chat and in real life. when we find something that makes us happy, we have to hang on to it and milk it for all it's worth ... until all people who, at some point, loved or respected you start to disappear without explanation and would rather feign their own murder than be seen with you. *tears*)

...

CHIQUITITA, TELL ME WHAT'S WROOOOOOOOOONG ...

(ok i'll stop. now. see if i blog again. ever.)

Monday, July 07, 2008

martina's ark

my older sister has ever so subtly hinted ("complained" would be a better word) that i have not blogged about her youngest child, the little (and i do mean LITTLE) martina. i guess it's my fault. i blogged too much about juancho, martina's older brother, so now i have to even up the score. not that i mind. kids are hilarious. particularly when they're not yours.

juancho is now 6 and martina, 2. if you ask her how old she is, she'll respond by putting up all five fingers on one hand and say "toh!" then she'll order her mom to fold 3 of her teeny fingers so only 2 are exposed. not sure if this is laziness or ingenuity. we'll find out in a few years.

(if you ask her again, she might say "four!" and still have five fingers up. she's a girl. she can be any age she wants to be.)

TOH-year-old Martina

aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway ...

it was just almost a minute after my sister commented on the dearth of martina-related entries. we were all in bed – sister, me and martina – trying to put the tiny one to sleep. i decided to start one of my customized stories for her. i supplied the plot and she filled in the blanks. before i get criticism for my plot selection, bear in mind that marteens is just TOH.

me: once upon a time, there was a cat. and the cat said ... ?

martina: MEOW!

me: the cat said MEOW! and then it saw a bird!

martina: PLYING!!! (her hand shot up in the air and simulated what seemed more like an angry hang glider than a bird in a bedtime story)

me: yes! flying! and they saw a dog. the dog said ... ?

martina: FROOF! FROOF!

(don't ask me why the dog couldn't say "woof!" maybe it had a speech impediment. maybe it had peanut butter stuck to his palate. this unconventional bark, however, signaled the inevitable downward spiral of our homemade tale.)

me: mmm ok. the dog said FROOF! FROOF! and then it saw a pig. the pig said ... ?

martina: (while smiling) MOOOOOO.

(at this point, i was seriously doubting the mothering skills of my sister. what has she been teaching her daughter??? but martina seemed really happy and content about a mooing pig, so i continued. being the storytelling genius that i am, i tried to set it back on the right path.)

me: o ... k ... the pig said MOOOOOO. and they saw a cow! (see? genius.) the cow said ... ?

martina: OH MAN! (and slapped the side of her head with her mini palm)

me: WHAT DID THE COW SAY??? (i had to see it again)

martina: OH MAN!!! (true enough, she slapped her head again)

apparently, the cow in our story wasn't all too happy because either (1) it saw a mooing pig or (2) it was ... a cow. i mean if you woke up as a cow, you'd probably slap your head too. watch out for that hoof.

i valiantly continued our interesting but substance-free tale.

me: so the cow said OH MAN! and then it saw ... a snake. the snake said ... ?

martina then just gave me a tight-lipped, almost scary smile accompanied by a tiny nod.

WAHAHAHAHAHA.

me: what did the snake say???

and she gave me that evil-smile-and-nod combi again.

in fairness, snakes never really say very much. neither did i after that story. i was too busy laughing my froof off.

-------------------

this has to be said: aside from the direct order from mah sistah, another reason why i was inspired to blog again is because just a few hours ago, rafa nadal (aka my lover) won his first wimbledon in an epic 4-hour and 48-minute match against roger federer. if rafa can conquer a grass court, then i can also triumph over my blogging laziness. see the similarity? neither do i. but it's a good excuse to mention rafa.

hi rafa. call me.