Monthly Archives: August 2011

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 36: School Opening

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36. School opening

I can name more than a good handful of people who are more than glad to get out of school. And twice as many who wish they never had to go to school. And only a small handful of people who can’t wait till school starts again. And still less who would love to study all their lives.

Can you guess which group I belong to?

Definitely the last two groups. Yes, I love school.

When I was little, I couldn’t wait for my first day in school. Not nursery, because I had a moody teacher who wouldn’t let me talk to my seatmate and made us bring our chairs up front and sit down facing the wall for a good amount of time. What else do I remember about nursery? Naps. We have colored mats that we napped on. And the uniforms. We had little tent-like dresses which remind me now of Fred Flinststones’ outfits sans the spots. Except that these came in pastel colors, one for each day of the week, or maybe just 3 different colors that we alternated. I don’t think I learned very much in nursery except that teachers can be really nasty.

It was going to a “real” school–Kindergarten–that I was completely excited about. I was going to take a new school bus and go to a new school. We had moved closer to the new school, so the old school was no longer an option. I had a real uniform–not different colored play dresses, but a navy blue pleated jump skirt and a white button-up blouse. I didn’t like the ruffles. I always hated the ruffles. All the way till I graduated from senior high, I hated those ruffles.

Anyway, off I went on the first day. I had instructions to “follow all the little children with a K on their badge”. We had little round badges about the size of a quarter that had our level on it. K was for Kindergarten. I was proud of my little K.

It wasn’t hard to find out where the Kindergarten classes were. There were sandboxes and a playhouse and swings and other toys outside. And there were dozens of little girls and boys just my size. My problem was finding my room. I went into the first room I found and sat there until the teacher figured out I didn’t belong to that class, so she walked me to all the classrooms, looking for my name on the lists on the doors, until she found my classroom. It was a nice, cozy room with chairs just the right size and a very friendly teacher, Miss Astrid Perez. But I easily got bored. I knew the alphabet and my numbers. I could count. I could read. And I read through all the books in the room long before the class even got to them. So I started sneaking out to play while the class was going on. I never knew it, but the Principal, Sr. Gratia, had called my mother to let her know that I was skipping class. So young! So they gave me tests, and Sr. Gratia gave the verdict: I was to be accelerated to 1st grade. I don’t really remember, but I think a group of us were chosen for this privilege, but we had to take our Prep (with a P badge) in summer. That was fine with me, because I loved school, and somehow felt more at home there than at home.

And so it went. Every year, I have looked forward to going back to school after summer. Now, I still look forward to going back to school after summer…but this time, to teach. I would love to be able to keep on studying just for the pleasure of learning new things, but I have to do that on my own now, because I need to work to pay my bills.

There is everything to be excited about with school opening. Meeting new classmates, meeting new teachers, meeting old classmates and friends, checking out new books in the library, getting new textbooks, getting new school supplies and school shoes, and most of all, learning a whole lot of new things!

I just don’t think people appreciate school enough. But that’s another topic.

Haiku: Thunderclouds

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Thunderclouds threaten

Sunlight fades to purple haze

Autumn night has come.

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 35: Cherries

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35. Cherries

How can one not love cherries?

Back in the Philippines, the only time we ever saw cherries growing up was in cans of fruit cocktail, which was served as is, in fruit salad, or in crema de fruta. We were always trying to best each other at finding the single half slice of preserved cherry.

I discovered maraschino cherries in high school, for a cooking class, if I’m not mistaken. It was one of the ingredients for a fruit cake recipe that we were learning. Of course, some of us simply picked a cherry or two to eat as is. Since then, I’ve always kept a jar of maraschino cherries in my fridge for baking, garnishing, and fruit salads. Not that they always were used to that end, since, later on, my youngest son Justin discovered them and would appropriate the jar for himself, popping cherries as a snack. Let’s say I always had an empty jar of maraschino cherries for some years.

Cherries were a delicacy, a special fruit that we could only find preserved in the Philippines. They were as exotic to us as mangoes are to Canadians.

Scene change: Canada.

On one of our first grocery trips, I decided to get maraschino cherries for fruit cake. While delicious in the cake, they had a completely different taste from the maraschino cherries we got in the Philippines, which were much sweeter. That jar remained undisturbed by Justin, who did not appreciate the sharper flavor.

This summer, as I was browsing through the weekly store flyers, I noticed several specials on fresh black or red cherries. At those prices, how could I say no? Off I went to the grocery store to buy myself a bag of cherries–and didn’t I fall in love! Since then, every time there’s a sale on cherries and I have a bit of extra cash–because they are still an expensive fruit–I get a bag of fresh cherries.

What’s not to love about them? They are luscious little things that you can just pop into your mouth whole and when you bite into them the sweet and very slightly sour flavor just rush over your taste buds and send prickles of pleasure to your brain. Then you savor the soft smooth flesh as you separate it from the pip and crush the fruit some more between your teeth, roll it over your tongue as you spit out the pip then swallow the flesh. There is just enough juice in the fruit to make you want more, not so much to inundate your taste buds.

If they only came seedless, like grapes!

Mmm. New favorite.

 

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 34: Chat!

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34. Chat

There was a time when you could only chat with someone else when you were face to face.

I’m not from that time.

Then, telephones were invented and soon, you could chat with anyone who also had a phone for as long as you wanted…well, as long as you had a phone subscription or enough coins for a pay phone. I grew up in such times, but I never really called up anyone to chat much because I didn’t have anyone to chat with over the phone. And I didn’t like chatting. I preferred to read.

When I learned how to chat socially, I did it with my best friends in grade school and high school, and even if I had the phone numbers of some of my friends, I still didn’t call anyone much just to chat. Phone calls were for important things, to set appointments and dates and other such business.

Then I encountered boys. And they called. And we chatted. And it was fun. And tickled me pink. And I learned that people don’t always look the way their voices sounded. So I was careful about getting set up by phone. Anyone I entertained on the phone was already someone I had met.

It never occurred to me to chat away on a phone with friends. That’s probably because I usually met my friends everyday, at school or at work and we already spent a lot of time chatting. Well, not really–I did chat with friends occasionally on the phone, but it was usually they who called me. As I said, I’m bad for phone chatting. I could have called friends so many times just to chat but I never wanted to bother them in their daily routines because they might be doing something and not really want to chat. So I’d just chat if they initiated the call. I still only called for important reasons or business purposes, hardly ever to just chat. Unless I really liked a guy. But I’m not getting into that.

Then, the personal computer was invented. Most of the time, I just used it for work, because that was pretty much all it was limited to. Well, there was email and browsing as well, but those were limited too. Email was for work. Browsing, well, that was a waste of time if it didn’t involve work. Besides, there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff to browse through then.

Then Windows was invented. And Yahoo! And Yahoo! groups And Yahoo! Messenger. Still, I didn’t chat. My YM list never expanded. I used Yahoo! groups for classes. And Yahoo! for mail.

Then Facebook was invented. From everything I’d heard about Facebook as a “social networking” site, I didn’t think I’d want to get on it. After all, I could attend to my business through Yahoo! Mail, and my browsing consisted of research for work or writing purposes.

Then I finally decided I should try and see what this Facebook was all about, as everyone at work was on Facebook. After a tentative foray into Facebook, I eventually got into the swing of things and discovered that so many hundreds of people I knew and encountered in the past were also on Facebook! All of a sudden, my wondering about how a former student or a former classmate or a former colleague were was not just wondering. I could actually find many of them on Facebook and actually “connect’ with them so that I knew how they were doing, what they were up to, what they were thinking, planning, eating, playing. Let’s not get into that.

And I discovered FB Chat. Believe me, it wasn’t that I was avoiding it. One of my friends just suddenly popped up in a box and we got into chatting! Because I had used YM, I was familiar with the box popping up out of nowhere. Soon, friends were popping up now and then, and I have found it a great and wonderful to keep in touch, keep up, especially with people you’ve been close to, or want to remain close to. Oh, I’m still bad at initiating a chat session. I’m usually working at my email, my blog, my online writing presence, my freelance writing, when a box suddenly pops up. Sometimes the box pops up and I’m not around, so those people get ignored. Not that I meant to ignore them. And sometimes the box pops up when I’m really busy writing and don’t want to be disturbed…because I don’t want to break my trend of thought…like now. But most of the time, when a box pops up, it’s someone I really want to keep in touch with, so we chat…and chat and chat and chat.

It’s a really great way to get a “live” conversation going, which is way different from sending wall messages and comments and likes. Still, all the other passive/active ways of keeping in touch is a great way to keep people in your lives and remind them that you’re still interested in them. I like best the fact that you can jump into any wall conversation and have your say! No matter that you don’t get a response. You still have your say.

Of course, I avoid having my say on everything. Some things are just so trivial or ignorable. After all, people can say or put anything they want on their walls (barring the self-policing and policing by watchers who can flag your content as inappropriate or offensive…not that this censorship happens all the time) because there is freedom of speech on the Internet! And it allows people to say things. And sometimes others listen. Let’s not get into that.

So I’m writing this because I just concluded a very pleasant chat session with an old schoolmate from university days, sharing notes on a variety of things.

What’s bad about it? The chatting just keeps on and on…other things get put aside. Sure, you can end it when you want, or just not reply at all when you have something really important to do. But it’s just nice chatting with some people.

So I’ve put off my housecleaning, which I promised myself I’d do today all morning at least, before I sat down to chat. What happened? I ended up starting my day clearing my email inbox, then started answering some email, and before you knew it, a chat box, then another and another yet popped up. It’s amazing that I can chat with three different people at the same time. On a phone or face-to-face, that would be considered rude, especially if the people are involved in different conversations with you! But on Chat, nobody knows who else you’re chatting with! Or what else you’re doing while you’re chatting. That is just awesome!

So I do look forward to Chats, because it makes me feel like all your friends are closer than they really are…that people are just next door…just a Chat box away even if they’re halfway around the world! I think social networking is an amazing breakthrough in communication. Whatever happens, though, I don’t plan to get a webcam. I’d rather chat away without having to dress up or fix myself up just to chat. We still need that certain level of privacy in our lives, and webcams just cross that line and I’m not comfortable with that.

But I will chat!

A poem for Maeyet

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things are not always the way they seem

they could be harder than you make them appear

you smile through it all

a sweet gentle smile with twinkling eyes

but sometimes a deep sadness sometimes pain

hidden behind that smile

you glide through it all

an effortless meandering

over every path you take

no matter how rugged or rough

beneath your feet that glide

because

you are

a fresh breeze

a whiff of the cool morning air

a spot of sunshine

a touch of hope

a warm embrace

a harbor of sanity

a goblet of cheer

a vessel of love

a welcoming heart

a giving tree

a fountain of youth

an ocean of life

all colors of the rainbow

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 33: A New Post

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33. A New Post

I started writing this collection of 365 things to look forward to for several reasons.

1. I wanted to force myself to write something everyday. The original plan was to write something everyday, until a whole year was up. Then I would have 365 blog entries that I could turn into a book, or sift through and turn into a book, or pick through for topics that I could develop further and eventually turn those into a book. Unfortunately, I hit a few snags early on, and a month passed and I still didn’t have 30-31 things to look forward to. Now, I have 33! One month and a couple of days of things to look forward to and counting. I know it’s a daunting task, but I always wanted to be a serious writer. Which means, I wanted to make writing a life-time career. I’d always dreamed of becoming a writer, and I know I was getting there, but bills got in the way, and other jobs provided a more steady income. Now, before it’s too late, I just want to get on my way, so I’m always setting aside some time for writing. And as long as I can do it, I will do it every single day for the rest of my life.

2. I needed to start counting my blessings. The past two years have taken a lot out of me. I’m still recovering, but I know I need to face life head on and go on with it. Many times, I’d just take things for granted. Most things, I’d take with a grain of salt. Everything was just ordinary. Nothing special ever really happened in my life. At least, that’s how I looked at it. I was just living. I know I started becoming cynical when I was in elementary school, and I was a full-blown cynic in high school. I also developed an armor of protection. Nothing would faze me–at least on the outside. I’d taken on a serious visage and a sharp tongue. Everything I said was tongue-in-cheek, in the sense of an earlier meaning that connoted contemptuous humor. I was satirical, cynical, sardonic, critical, and took everything with a grain of salt. I remained quiet whenever I could, rarely speaking and when I did, it would be some pointed comment. Beneath all that, I wanted to be liked and like others around me. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to understand what my classmates’ lives were like, because my life certainly didn’t seem like anything anyone else I knew had. So I struggled to be that way in my senior year, and I brought that into university, where I adopted a very casual, very carefree aura. I became the belle of the ball, so to speak, and I always tried to look my best, by dressing in very feminine couture, as opposed to my boyish outfits before senior high. I enjoyed the attention and I never showed how I really felt about things. I was a natural flirt and enjoyed the attention I felt I would never get when I was younger, because I was the nerdy geeky girl with eyeglasses at whom men never made passes. I traded my eyeglasses for contact lenses, which did wonders to boost my ego, which had been brutally and constantly bruised growing up. I was extremely active in various organizations and found that I could influence people and I could make myself heard. I was experiencing independence, freedom, and responsibility like never before. And I learned that I could be in control of it all. Through all that, nobody every knew when I had problems or difficulties or issues with anything in life. I was always smiling, always friendly, but still avoided speaking when I could. I preferred to sit at the edge of things, except when I was pushed up front and center to assume leadership roles or to perform tasks, which I always strove to do my best at. I preferred to listen to others as long as I could and not volunteer anything until people looked to me, or I felt obliged to speak up and do something because no one else would, or they couldn’t figure out how to approach a problem, and so on. I preferred to watch people, because I could learn so much about them just by watching them, listening to them speak, observe how they interacted with others and reacted to people or situations or ideas. This was something I had enjoyed doing since childhood—just watching, observing–and I still enjoy doing it now. I can sit for hours, imagining what people’s lives are like from watching them, making up stories about them. After so many years of wearing this persona, I have finally realized that I do have talents that other people don’t have. I always thought I was just another ordinary, insecure girl, who had grown up to be an ordinary, insecure woman. I never thought my life was so different, or so special, or so unusual, or even so extraordinary. I never thought that some of what I do and have been doing all my life are things a lot of other people can’t do at all. I have learned to face the fact that I have been showered with so many blessings, which more than make up for the pains of growing up the way I did. It’s not the first time I tried to start counting my blessings, but every time I tried to in the past, I’d get foiled. I have learned in a very hard way that I can’t let things or people foil me. I’m in control of my life. While I can’t control everything, like my job, the environment, politics, and other people, I can always control the way I feel or react to things. I can always control the way I think. Of course, once in a while, I might indulge in a pityfest. But that’s human. What most people fail to do is learn to stop pitying themselves and learn to love themselves and see everything as some sort of blessing, twisted and disguised as they may be. Being able to even begin to see that is, in itself, a blessing.

3. I need to be more positive. For the longest time, I’d seen things with a jaded eye. There were people and things, of course, that were exempt from this point of view. Those people were mainly my friends who I considered close to me, or those who had taken our relationship from “colleagues” and “associates” to “friends.” I’m not going to name any now, but I do keep in touch with several of them, and even those I haven’t been in touch with are still special to me. Those are people who, no matter what, I will consider good and dear friends. Others are just passing through my life. But that’s not the way it is. In reality, everyone and everything that is in contact with me in whatever shape or form they come, touches my life, becomes a part of me. Some will affect me in a huge way. Some in tiny ways. But I know I am learning things from them, every single day, every moment of my life. I just need to acknowledge that more often. I need to accept that. And I need to do it in a positive way. Some things or people might pass through with little effect and hardly any affect, but that’s because I will have learned that these are insignificant to me, or potentially harmful, hence the need to avoid them or discard them. That’s actually a life lesson. I need to count my blessings and see things in a more positive way. Which brings me back to item 2 in this entry. Blessings and positivity. You can’t separate those two.

4. I need to focus. Too many things interest me. I want to do too many things. I want to learn too many things. I want to be too many things. But I have only one life at the moment. And one self. One body. One me. I knew, back in high school, that I needed to focus on something to determine what course to pursue in university, and eventually, what path my career would take. I was overjoyed when we were offered an aptitude test, that would help use determine what areas we were good at, so that we could plan our future along those lines. That way, we wouldn’t be wasting time developing an area that we had absolutely no aptitude for. I was completely dismayed and disappointed when my results came back. I was hoping the test would decide for me what direction I could and should take. The results I got back showed that I scored at the top of the chart in three career areas (out of five), and scored in the second bracket in the remaining two areas. Before the results were out, I was told that I could pursue a career in the areas where my aptitude lay in the the top two brackets. All I found out was that I could be good at any of all the 5 areas, and that I would be good in any career. I couldn’t even ignore the lowest-scoring area because there wasn’t one. And I couldn’t focus on the top-scoring area because there were three of them! So once again, I was thrown into a quandary where I could be anything I wanted be. And so my life continued, picking up skills in disparate areas of interest. I have finally decided that my earliest desire, to be a writer, is what is really best for me, because it allows me to use the knowledge I have acquired over all the different aspects of my life into a singular task, albeit with a myriad outputs. I have also decided that the second thing I do want to specialize in is my art. That will be totally new discussion, of course, as this entry is getting quite lengthy.

So, there you have it. This is why I chose to start writing 365 things to look forward to. It doesn’t mean I won’t write about other things, because if I do, that means I’m doing just dandy, because finally, my writing is coming handy!

 

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 32: Peanut Butter

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32. Peanut Butter

Why not? I love peanut butter. And what’s not to love about it? It’s creamy, smooth, nutty, and sweet. Sticky too, I’d like to add. Plus, it’s healthy food! Yes. In fact, it’s among the foods recommended for a healthy diet.

I always loved peanut butter. And not in pathetic little servings spread thinly over bread so that you get just a hint of the peanut butter flavor. Oh no sirree! It has to be spread on nice and thick, so that with each bite you feel that wonderful smooth creaminess sticking to the roof of your mouth. Then you roll the delicious morsel on your tongue and let is slowly melt away.

Some people prefer the crunchy peanut butter so they can chew on the bits of peanuts in it. Not I. I can’t stand chunky peanut butter. Sure, peanuts are chunky. But butter! Who ever heard of chunky butter? Butter is supposed to be smooth and creamy and it melts in your mouth. That’s how peanut butter should be as well–smooth and creamy and it melts in your mouth. No stragglers left behind. No teeth clingers. No annoying grit.

I once had the pleasure of tasting chocolate flavored peanut butter. It was the best of both worlds! I just wonder why they stopped producing and selling that product, because I would have bought it all the time!

In the Philippines, there is a brand of peanut butter that seemed like a home-made type of peanut butter. It didn’t have all the preservatives that the more popular brands have. It is, without doubt, delicious as well, but when you first open the jar, you’ll find a layer of peanut oil on top. At least I think it’s peanut oil. Possibly separated from settling. That’s probably what kept me from buying it. Aside from the fact that my mom wouldn’t buy it either because she thought it was too oily. Wow. Something that I actually agree with her on. The consistency wasn’t right, either. It was too soft. More like melted butter already. You couldn’t sink your teeth into it and just feel your bite going through and through.

Until I moved to Canada, I had never eaten a Reese’s peanut butter candy. First of all, I don’t remember seeing a lot of the brand on grocery store shelves. Second, because I shared nearly all my grocery purchases with others, who didn’t care as much about peanut butter, I didn’t consider it a very practical purchase. Once here, I had the chance to try some from a friend who has a sweet tooth and always had some chocolates every now and then, which she shared around at work. I was instantly in love. Well, that is, if you can fall in love with candy. But there I was savoring that first heavenly bite of two of my favorite foods together. The combination of creamy and creamy, chocolate and peanut butter, smooth and melting, sweet chocolate with slightly salty peanut butter was heavenly. I don’t care that Ferrero chocolates claims to be the food of the gods. Reese’s peanut butter cups are godly enough food for me! (Can you tell I love food? I wouldn’t be surprised if half of my 365 things end up being food!)

I still don’t buy it each time I visit the grocery store. Why not? Because I know that if I had a bag or box or pack of Reese’s peanut butter cups, I’d be eating them every day. And that wouldn’t be healthy anymore!

Mind you now, peanut butter is useful as well, in a lot of things. First of all, it makes a great mix in brownies and cookies, but I really don’t like it in cake, because it takes away from the qualities of the cake. Of course, it’s great with chocolate, I already pointed that out. There are dishes that actually taste great with peanut butter, believe it or not! And my favorite, of course, is the Philippine dish “kare-kare” which, of course, has nothing to do with curry. It’s pretty much like the Mexican mole (with a short o and a pronounced short e) which uses chocolate (mmm…). In traditional kare-kare, finely ground toasted peanuts are used. And if you don’t have peanuts? Use peanut butter! What makes it better is the added slightly sweet flavor when it’s all mixed in with the sauce.

Besides food, peanut butter is great for a lot of other things. It’s a great base for an instant bird feeder. Coat a pine cone with peanut butter, dip in birdseed and hang from a branch. Voila! A bird feeder! Or, if you are in a tight spot and need a bit of grease but don’t have any, or don’t want to use industrial grease, use a bit of peanut butter–that’s for nuts, bolts, sliding mechanisms, and squeaky hinges. Well, not in places where ants are sure to go. But here in Canada, though not in summer, it’ll work great. Did I mention it’s a good insect trap too? If you want those ants and flies to get stuck quick, you can spread a generous layer of peanut butter on a piece of paper and set it somewhere away from where you don’t want ants and flies to go, and when they land on the peanut butter, they’re stuck! Of course, honey works better here, but peanut butter is good too, and the stickier the better! It’s good for polishing leather shoes, too. If you don’t mind the slightly peanut-y smell on shoes. But if you can shine shoes with banana peel, why not with peanut butter?

Speaking of bananas, did you know that peanut butter and banana is really yummy? Scoop a tiny spoonful of peanut butter onto each bite of banana you take for an truly delectable treat.

I once tried the new peanut butter ice cream that Coldstone creamery makes. Good, but not something I’d really like, even if I’m a peanut butter lover.

And speaking of peanut butter lover….I’m not getting into that!

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 31: New Gadgets!

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31. New Gadgets

I suppose this would evoke the image of Inspector Gadget for some people, but no, I do not go around with all my gadgets in my pocket or on my person, or in my purse. That would be utterly ridiculous. But I do love new gadgets. Who doesn’t? Oh, wait. Yes. My mom doesn’t. Can’t forget that.

But my dad, oh, did he love new gadgets! I must have picked some of that up from him. He would often come home with some little new-fangled gadget to use in the kitchen or put in his toolbox, or somewhere around the house, and after trying it a couple of times, it would disappear. Well, I suppose it was my mom who would make them disappear. She would mutter about the useless expense and the waste of money and how it would just clutter up her kitchen and so on and so forth. That never seemed to dampen my dad’s interest or enthusiasm, however, and he’d keep on coming home with little things, albeit less frequently. When cable television finally caught in the Philippines and home shopping was on nearly every channel, I discovered that he and my sister were back into trying out new things, ordering little gadgets or novel products from TV offers.

I always enjoyed looking through home stores and hardwares, because there were so many intriguing and amazing gadgets for sale. I can still spend hours and hours going through those stores just looking at everything there is to see. If I had some “spare” cash on me, I’d inevitable be walking up to the check-out counters with a little new something in hand. They really didn’t necessarily have to be a gadget that you could manipulate, although those are the most exciting to get. Sometimes they would be a china mug with a design that I just couldn’t leave on the shelf. I just had to have it for my mug collection. Or it might be an ice cube tray that didn’t make cubes and had some unique shape. I had a couple of ice cube trays that made little balls. I just loved them. Then I had a pair that made tubes. I also got a couple that made the tiniest little round-bottomed half capsules. And a couple that made the cutest tiniest little cubes! I just can’t have normal ice cubes from the standard trays. I have to have cute little fancy ice cubes! Not that they make different ice. Just differently shaped. They never cease to amuse me.

Before I left the Philippines, when I was earning enough to have a bit left over for just about anything, I fell for the home TV shopping. To my credit, I’ll have to say that I only got things that I could really use around the house. Twist mop? I had it. And it was one of the best mops I’ve ever had! I’m sure I had a few other purchases, but I really can’t seem to recall what they were. I guess that proves I never really did a whole lot of the home tV shopping. But I did love to watch the infomercials.

Here in Canada, I don’t get to do the home TV shopping bit for a couple of reasons. No credit card. No money. Sure, there might be a couple of things I’d like to get, but I’ve found that you can actually get them by mail order or in some big stores in town. My big folly now is mail order shopping, which wasn’t a big thing in the Philippines. I actually get a lot of things by mail order, most of which I do use around the house. It’s just so handy to be able to pay in installments, not have to walk around looking for what you want in a dozen stores, and have everything delivered to your front door! I’ve equipped my kitchen with cutters, knives, sharpeners, a mixer, and all sorts of other little appliances and tools to use. I have a really handy screwdriver that twists on its own. Most recently, I just received a brand new craft cutter. My very first craft cutter disappeared from my office in the Philippines, while we were cutting tickets for a show. My second craft cutter, which I purchased just before leaving the Philippines, needs a new cutting pad and has some broken fasteners as well, so that the strip that holds the rotary blade doesn’t stay in place. So I ordered a new craft cutter. It’s still in the plastic wrap in came in, but this one has 6 different blades, an extendable ruler, and a back light! It’s just fantawesome! I can’t wait to use it. But I probably won’t until I finish the oil painting I’m currently working on. That’s because if I start using it, I just know I’ll get engrossed in paper and cutting projects that I’ll be setting aside my paints for a bit. And that won’t do. I have a deadline to meet.

How long will I be able to keep myself from opening the plastic wrap and trying out that new cutter? I don’t know. But it probably won’t be too long.

 

Did someone say bananas?

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Have you had a Coldstone Creamery ice cream with bananas? Because if you have, you will most likely have heard someone behind the counter yell “Did someone say bananas?” followed by the whole Coldstone Squad at the counter belting out a banana song.

Actually, many of the songs are more cheers than songs–verses written out to the tune or beat of old college cheers or popular ditties (like the Flintstones theme song).

Actually, there aren’t that many songs. In total, I’ve probably heard 4 or 5 that are repeated over and over again, day in and day out. If you’re a customer and you hear the songs only when you’re there, it might not be so bad. But if you work there as well, it can be completely nerve-wracking. That’s also because, while the songs were sung with a certain amount of energy when Coldstone was a novelty, they are now sung weakly and half-heartedly most of the time that I hear them. No energy. No delight. No excitement. No enthusiasm.

It seems that the honeymoon is over. Don’t get me wrong. The ice cream itself is exotic. It’s delicious, creamy beyond words, and the mixes are superb. It’s also very very sweet. And too much of sweet is cloying. After a while, you don’t really want it anymore—unless you’re a kid or you have a really sweet tooth. And it’s pricey. I can’t imagine myself indulging in a cup or cone of Coldstone every day, or even every week. Not even every month. Too rich–in sweetness, creaminess, and pricing. It’s not something your average islander will look for. Again, unless you’re a kid or have a really sweet tooth. Or are an ice cream gourmet. Or a connoisseur of ice cream.

When the Creamery had just opened in the first week of April 2011, the lines, the lines were endless! People couldn’t wait to get a taste of the newest ice cream in town. I’m sure people came in just to see what it was like. Then, people came in to try a different flavor each time, or a different cone, or different toppings. Then, people came in to use free coupons or promotional coupons.

Many times, people also come in to bring home a pack of ice cream cupcakes or ice cream cookie sandwiches. People also come in to get specialty cakes and birthday cakes. Specialty products for special occasions. I guess they thought it would be worth it to splurge a little.

But how many people can afford to splurge on a Coldstone cake? Last I saw, the tiniest, 6-inch cake cost quite a pretty penny. I would never be able to easily afford that. Besides, that would have to be a tiny party–4 to 6 people at the most sharing that one cake. So unless the party is just for a small family, or just for the celebrant, it wouldn’t be the cake to get. And for the same price of less, I can get a much much bigger ice cream cake at DQ and share that with a whole lot more people! After all, at a party, who cares what the brand of ice cream is? Or how creamy? Or how fancy? And don’t bother asking about the 8-inch cakes or the signature cakes. For that price, I could get a cold steak dinner at Papa Joe’s, complete with bottomless drinks, and still get change on my bill!

Come to think of it, unless you have special dietary needs because you’re lactose intolerant or diabetic or gluten-sensitive or allergic to nuts, people generally eat ice cream for one reason: it’s cold and yummy. Okay. Two reasons.

After the novelty has worn off, people tend to forget the product, or patronize it as an occasional treat. I can also imagine, when the school year begins, students will be grabbing ice creams for lunch, instead of their usual (healthier?) bagels toasted with butter or muffins or cookies and milk. (I never claimed students ate healthy lunches, okay?) They might also grab a milkshake or a fruit shake, but the cost, the cost, will make you spend the most!

If someone says bananas again, I will go bananas.

The Coldstone banana has split.

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 30: New Subscription Magazine!

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30. New Subscription Magazine!

Most people get excited over a new “toy” or some major purchase of clothing, shoes, technology, and other items of daily use or something for a special occasion. I get excited over new books and magazines. I know. Not many people out there will share the feeling of pure and utter delight at a shiny new pocket book cover, or the clean pure smell of a brand new hard bound book, or the shiny, clean, smooth pages of a brand new magazine in the mail. You’re probably wondering what could generate all this brouhaha? I just received my first issue of Writers’ Digest magazine and I am so excited!!!!

I first encountered this magazine way back when I was still a college student–I found some back issues on sale in a book store. Because brand-new copies were relatively expensive, I couldn’t really afford them, so I took in everything I could from the back issues I had. It was a rare magazine to stumble on in the Philippines and I was disappointed that I couldn’t subscribe myself–I had never considered subscribing to anything from abroad because I needed a credit card to do that, and I didn’t own a credit card!

When I finally did own a credit card, I still couldn’t get a subscription because there was no shipping to the Philippines at the time, or some other inane reason. Even our bookstores didn’t carry the magazine on a regular basis.

Finally, here in Canada, I suddenly found that I could get almost any US or Canadian magazine subscription that I wanted, and they were such bargains at the subscription rates that, as soon as I was earning a little extra from substitute teaching, I put in for a handful of magazines. Unfortunately, WD was not among the available ones.

It eventually dawned on my slow mind that WD would have to be online, and there it was, sure as the sun rises! Could I get a subscription? No. They would only take subscribers with a US postal code. Plus, they only took credit card payments to be settled as the order was placed. Aargh! Once again, I have no credit cards, and I do not intend to get one at all, unless I have sufficient funds to back one up. I couldn’t even subscribe to the online version, because, again, of lack of a credit card.

But was I determined to get that magazine. I still prefer print copies because they will sit there staring at you in the face until you pick them up and read them and put them away. Online versions can be set aside and forgotten and some will become inaccessible. Not things you can easily pick up and browse through anytime you want. Unless you have an electronic tablet. Which I don’t. Which will require a credit card transaction to activate a subscription. Which I can’t do.

Thankfully, I have a very lovely daughter who lives in the US, and I mentioned it to her without letting her know my desperation. Or at least I tried my best to mask it. (A very sheepish grin at this point.) I knew the magazine would be a great resource to have as I move forward to establish my writing career in Canada and internationally. And just like her, she graciously and generously agreed to get the subscription for me without asking me for the money to pay for it. Of course, as all subscriptions go, it’s much cheaper than getting individual copies on the stands, so it really wouldn’t have cost her much. But I was so grateful and happy—elated, even, and overwhelmingly so…and I have finally received my first issue with my name on it and wonderfully helpful topics that I know I can use right away!

I don’t know if my daughter reads my blog, but if she does, now she knows just how thankful and happy I am about my new magazine.