Strawberry Fayre

The boys had great fun today at the Strawberry Fayre held at Cean's school. There were lots of fun things to do - bottle stall, cakes, bouncy castle, books/video, raffle, plants, face painting, toys, displays, games, barbecue, silent auction, wheel of fortune, jewellery and of course, lots of strawberry and cream teas.

It was great weather as well - intermittently cloudy and sunny, which was just perfect as I forgot to put suncream to the boys. I wasn't able to bring a lot of money (about 10 pounds only) but it was enough for the afternoon. The boys' favourite was the bouncy castle. They must have tried it 4-5 times at 50p for five minutes. Cean tried a card raffle game for 20p but was unfortunate. Both of them had a go at some relay game using water in a cup and the tug-of-war game. They really enjoyed that one. But I think in both games, the boys lost to the girls. Talk about girl power, huh!

There was a barbecue stall where we grabbed some late lunch of burger cheese, bacon and sausage, which were all placed in a bread roll. JP was very excited to continue playing that he didn't finish his lunch and quickly vanished from my sight. I found him later having a freebie turn at the bouncy castle.

Cean did fancy having a go at face painting but it was too late as I used up all my money. He probably got envious of some of the boys with tiger and lion faces. Maybe next time. I then brought him to the painting gallery, where there was a little game of finding the tortoise in the paintings. It turned out that there is one in all the paintings being displayed.

And where was JP? Playing with sand in the shade. Cean then joined in. After a while, both had had enough especially when JP had sand in his eyes from playing. It is really summer now. I will now be on a lookout for something to do every weekend because the boys will be asking for it.

Remembering Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

In my previous post on the death of Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, I mentioned the album Thriller. As far as I know this was the first album our family had of Jackson's music. I remember it was bought by my older brother when he went to Manila during summer vacation. How we all sang and danced to the music everytime we played the album!

The album Thriller and its songs had the most impact to me, among Jackson's many great hits. For me, all the songs in this album are great - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Baby Be Mine, The Girl Is Mine, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, PYT (Pretty Young Thing) and The Lady In My Life.

I can still remember very well the Thriller video, which was done like a short movie. It was awesome! So I tried looking in YouTube if it's so I can watch it again as my way of remembering Michael Jackson. I found it and although the video doesn't have great picture quality I still enjoyed it much!

It's not only the original video I ended up watching but also that of the 1,500 plus Cebu prison inmates who danced to the tune of Thriller. This YouTube video made these prisoners world-wide celebrities in 2007 and had 20 million plus views until now. I must admit I did not watch it when it first came out.

The reason I watched this other was the news story I read in a Cebu daily newspaper about how fans of Michael Jackson have paid their tributes to the legendary singer in the comments section of this video and not in the original video. It was bizarre!

King of Pop Is Dead

Photo: BBC

It came as a shock! I just woke up and slowly finding my way downstairs to prepare my son's packed lunch and breakfast as it is a normal school day. Or so it seems until I opened the TV to check on the news, as I always do. The scene that greeted me was that of chaos with people running towards a building.

Amidst that chaotic scene I heard the BBC reporter mentioned King of Pop and later on the news that Michael Jackson is dead apparently from cardiac arrest. I feel the tingle behind my neck as I quickly call my wife to the telly. She was misty eyed as we listen to the news of his death.

His death came a fortnight before he is set to perform in London at the O2 Arena, which he said is going to be his last. He will never make it. The famous Glastonbury music festival will be honouring him this weekend. Already, there are lots of tributes paid to him.

Much has been badly said and written about Michael Jackson the man and his failings but I would rather remember him as Michael Jackson the greatest showman of all time. The music and the dance moves were just brilliant and extraordinary. His three greatest albums - Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall made him the King of Pop.

I remember particularly well the album Thriller especially the title song and the music video made about it. It was the most anticipated music video at that time (I was in my early teenage years). And who has not tried to do the Moonwalk and the Zombie dance? C'mon, admit it we all once tried to be Michael Jackson the dancer, succeeding instead of making an ass of ourselves trying hard to do the dance moves.

You are at peace now Michael Jackson, sir! If you were British, the sir would have come first. Goodbye, Michael Jackson! Today, the music died!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all fathers like me! I'm sharing with you all the special card made by Cean in his school. They do this every year and the first one he made was last year, which I posted twice last year in this blog.

The Terrible Two

I created a picture album of my two boys in my Facebook account, which I gave the title of The Terrible Two. The title was taken from a book that is currently a favourite of my younger son. It is a story of two boys who are the best of friends who decided to form a secret club and call themselves The Terrible Two because they want to do naughty things. In the end, they got bored with this purpose and ended up joining another secret club that was formed by two girls.

I read this book to my sons almost every night now. When I get to the line where I mention the name of the boys' secret club I read it aloud with a booming voice; my sons never failed to have a great laugh. The younger one would always say, "Again! Again!," which I dutifully do. Sometimes I add a line to it - "The Terrible Two, just like you too!" referring to my two boys.

My sons being boys can be terrible, but all boys are. But at least they are only two, which is quite manageable to me and my wife. But can you imagine my mother and father having to deal with The Terrible Seven and all boys at that!

If You Like Chocolate You Will Like This

(I came across this fun post by Pinay single mom through Ungkutan blog. I tried it and it works. If only they give out chocolates as a prize for doing this quiz. Enjoy!)

Check this out!!! This is fun!

Don’t tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway but the Hershey Man will know! YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

This is pretty neat.

DON’T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute .

Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don’t read the bottom until you’ve worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it’s fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 — I’ll wait while you get the
calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759. If you haven’t, add 1758.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born. You should have a three digit number. The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

chocolate Calculator.

London: O2 Arena

Our short tour in London was capped with a dinner at O2 Arena courtesy of Clark, who celebrated his birthday the week before our visit. Tired from the tour I didn't manage to have pictures taken with the arena as background. We went straight inside to have a look around.

Clark treated us at Nando's, a Portuguese restaurant specialising in chicken (reminds me of Max's in the Philippines). It was obviously a favourite among diners as there was a long queue when we get there. Clark told us to have a look around the arena while he queued.

We walked around until we saw a dome with the sign "O2 fanspace" and went inside. It is supposed to be a place to chill out which I welcome very much. The kids does not understand the word chill out obviously, as they treated the place as playground.

No To Con-Ass!

I have not lived in my home country, the Philippines, since 2002. However, I still maintain very strong ties with the country since most of my family and friends still lives there. Being away does not make me less informed about the country. Thanks to the Internet, I am even more informed about the Philippines now that I am living abroad than when I was there.

What happened in 2 June did not pass me by unnoticed, for it was a sad day for Philippine democracy. On that fateful day, the House of Representatives approved House Resolution 1109 that would convene Congress (House and the Senate) into a constituent assembly (ConAss) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

I have been closely following the events on Charter Change on the internet for some time now. I am against any form of Charter Change, whatever the positive argument for it, if it is done under the present administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). It will always be interpreted as a tool to perpetuate GMA's power. She should just go out quietly and save the Filipino people from more hardships. But she can't, mindful of the wrath that awaits her.

Because of this selfish and shameless act of the House, I believe it's time for the Filipino people to really wake up and be outraged. This post is my way of saying that I, too, stands up to be counted for the fight to save Philippine democracy!

SHAME on all the (dis)honourable Congressmen who voted for the passage of House Resolution 1109!

London: City Hall

After our sightseeing of Buckingham Palace, we went to London City Hall. Not only is the city hall a great space to enjoy it is also close to two famous London tourist attractions. Opposite it is the Tower of London, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Near it is the Tower Bridge.

Here are some pictures taken in the city hall. The kids had a great time frolicking around in the grounds outside the city hall.

London: Buckingham Palace

A week ago, we went on a tour of London together with Clark, who is Daisy's cousin, and his family. Since it was a short tour, we only went to see Buckingham Palace, London City Hall and ending with dinner at the O2 Arena.

Here are some pictures taken from Buckingham Palace. Pictures from London City Hall and O2 Arena will follow in the next posts.



My family with Clark and his boys.



Cean in front of the magnificent palace gates.




Cean in front of the Victoria Memorial.

 

Military guards in red uniform marching in unison.

 

Horse-riding military guards on parade.