It has been a custom to treat your family after receiving your first paycheck. Just this evening, Claudia treated us at Zong for dinner. When we arrived there, we thought that it will take time for us to be seated. We’re plain lucky that all the other guests belong to a group of more than ten. If you’re going to treat a big group, I suggest you and treat your family or friends at Zong for lunch or for dinner. It’s also good to make a reservation so that you won’t have to wait in line.

I just cannot believe the email that I’ve read awhile ago. I’m here at an Internet shop at Singapore, just a few steps from the hotel. It’s about my cousin Audrey, her husband Damien and their child. They had a car accident at around 12:30 am last Sunday (PST) on their way home. The car fell of an enbankment and burned. All of them died. When I was 14 years old, that was the first and the last time that I got the chance to hang out with Audrey. She brought me some place where we could play mini golf and we ate out like pigs even if our stomach was full already. I was hoping to meet Audrey and her family by the time I will go to US for a vacation before my US Visa will expire. Unfortunately, that would not happen anymore. All that I will get to see there are their pictures showing how happy they were when they’re still alive.

I know that this would hurt Tito Burt, Tita Yolly and Kevin because Audrey has always been really sweet. To Audrey and family, we will surely miss you.

Today is my Dad’s birthday! Tomorrow we will be celebrating it at Dish, Quezon City because he wants to watch Bloomfields. In case you do not know, Bloomfields are mostly known for their covers of Beach Boys songs. However, do not have a misconception that Bloomfields are composed of members that are in their 40’s. In fact, they are around my age. They are composed of JJ Lozano (on guitars), Louie Poco (on bass), Pepe Lozano (also on guitars, Lakan Hila (on keyboards), and Rocky Collado (on drums). Surprisingly, Lakan was my classmate in one of the general engineering subjects (Strength of Materials) way back in college. Our block was merged with their block (Industrial Engineering block) for that particular class. By the way, all of them hailed from La Salle Greenhills. Join their Yahoo!Groups if you want to know more about Bloomfields and also get to know some latest updates from the band.

My nephews and Carol was discussing earlier about how they are good in swimming. It’s like one of those “payabangan ng lolo” sessions but they are really referring to about themselves. They are really funny. They were even demonstrating it. For instance, they were doing the popular shark swim style. In my childhood days I usually do that one. Well, almost all are doing the shark swim style as a joke. Then, they were asking Mom to go to our Uncle’s house so that they could swim. Then my Mom said yes and they were screaming their hearts out, “YEHEY!” while they were jumping. Then, when my brother arrived my nephews told him that they wanted to go swimming. However, their excitement was turned to frustration when he would not let them swim. Afterwards, Justin was all quiet and was making ala Puss in boots face. With that, my brother gave them the permission to swim at our Uncle’s place.

Justin and Lance turned five today! They had a little party at their school (a new school they just transferred to this school year) just like last year. Of course my brother bought two cakes for them since they are not in the same class. There’s a rule that twins cannot belong in one class. Thus, he bought a Batman cake for Justin (which is evident in last year’s invitation that I made) and a Superman birthday cake for Lance (since he now fancies being a superhero with a cape like Justin). The goodie bags for their classmates were treats from the Halloween Party that Lance and Justin attended wherein they wore the costumes as shown in the above picture. Too bad I was not able to attend their birthday party in their school since I have work to attend to.

My brother found a really funny sign at Pangasinan. The sign says, “On this Site in 1897, nothing Happened!” It really got me laughing. If the picture was shared to me over YM, I would use the emoticon where the smiley rolls over the floor laughing. Hahaha!

My nephews, Justin and Lance, will be taking their long exams scheduled this week. They studied this afternoon and of course, their Dad was their tutor while I was their spectator. My brother really knows how to motivate them. His style was to make them answer the questions and if they got it correctly, they’ll move one-step forward. This is quite similar to the contests shown at your regular noon-time show.

My brother also related to me when Justin was teaching Lance how to write numbers.

Justin: Yung number three parang dalawang letter C lang yun na baligtad.

Lance: nods.

Justin: Yung number four naman, parang letter L lang yun na nilagyan ng line.

Lance: Nods.

I think Justin is good in abstract reasoning. Hmmmm… child prodigy in the making?

I’ll be the appointed officer-in-charge while the financial manager of the house is away for a US trip this August 1 (his departure from Manila) for 3 weeks. I’ll be taking care of the payment of the electricity and PLDT bills and the groceries too. Attached here is the Out-of-Home Auto Reply from Dad (a parody of the out-of-office auto-reply). I’ll be getting my rewards/incentives once he gets back here though.

From: Dad
To: Jay, Claudia, helpers
CC: Karla
Subject: Out of Home Auto Reply

Dear all,

I’ll be out of the country this August 1 for as US trip (for 3 weeks). For important matters like billing of utilities and groceries, please approach Karla, my OIC.

Regards,
Dad

P.S.
Don’t text or call me if I did not send an SMS to you. My roaming is already activated and my cellphone bill would increase tremendously.