The Dance of Life

Carol is one of my best friends for years and she wrote a beautiful article about me on my birthday, it flattered me. I quote:

There’s Something About NORA

October 29, 2008 by caroline2311

I remembered the first time I met Nora. I think it was in August of 1998. Yeah, it’s been 10 years since I met this girl. I was actually looking for something to get busy with away from the stress of my dad, his business and my business (they were all interlinked). Not to mention, I was getting really bored with my social life in Baguio. When all my friends were getting married and having kids, I was there sulking at being young, free and single WITH NOTHING TO DO BUT WORK.

I saw an ad in Baguio Midland Courier of a dance studio offering Hula and Tahitian dance classes. Hmmm, I thought it wasn’t bad to move this hips again and learn about some enchanting ancient culture. Off I went and enrolled myself.

There I met Nora. She was this young girl with shiny long black hair with twisted curls. I thought she was gorgeous and smart. After the enrollment and a short lovely chat, she asked me what I was doing that night. I replied, “Nothing really.” She said, “Well, I have some girlfriends and we are going out. It would be nice for you to come along.” Hmmm, here they go again I thought. They think I was their age and still love to party. So anyway, I turned the invite down as I thought it was out of my league.

The next time we saw each other was during Hula class. She told me she was going out again with her girlfriends and I should really join them coz it will be so much fun. Hmmmm, I thought this time it might be nice coz I can’t be waiting forever for my other girlfriends till their kids grow up before I can have some fun again.

So I went to her place that night and met the other girls Yvonne, Michelle and Redj. Nora then introduced me to her boyfriend Mike and Mike’s brothers Ric and Alec. Hmmm, I thought Ric was really cute. After a few card and pool games we decided to hit the clubs.

I know I can dance but it’s been awhile. So I was sort of the reluctant dance clubber really. I thought, I’d just rather sit there, smoke and drink and watch Nora and the other girls dance. As I was watching her get on the dance floor, I saw her suddenly took the dance floor BY STORM! Geez! I like that. She’s an amazing dancer! After a few drinks, I found my feet following Nora to the dance floor. Hahaha! Whatever! This girl is so cooool!

Since then, me and Nora was inseparable. Since we were both managing businesses of our families, we had lots of time to hang-out together. We go out all night. Sleep until 9 am. Work til 4 pm and get together for coffee at Amadeus before I hit the gym. Go home and eat dinner. After dinner, meet up again.

Being with Nora is like a breathe of new life. I was the most rigid person ever before I met her. I was the most hated person in my dad’s company. I fired an employee guiltlessly on my first week at work and demanded discipline to a high standard. Then I met Nora. She probably doesn’t know how much she has changed my life. I learned to have fun again. I had a cold cold frozen heart. Nora turned me around into a warm-hearted person again. There is so much more about her. I am so lucky she has invited me to her life. Not only is she beautiful outside but inside as well.

TO MY MOST WONDERFUL BESTFRIEND NORA, CHEERS TO YOU!!! HOPE YOU HAVE THE MOST LOVELY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION YET. I WILL SEE YOU SOON. LOVE YAH!

Happy birthday girl!

Source:

Carol’s Blog on Life is Beautiful
“A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” ~Donna Roberts

“A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart.”

On my 31st birthday, I received a lot of sweet, thoughtful messages and because I want to remember them all and because I am ever so thankful of those lovely messages, I thought I’d post some of them here.  So here we go.

This is from my sister, Lorna, who I love very much.  My idol, my best friend, my mentor, and my adviser…. and I quote:

A sister is one who is always there to listen to you, to reach you, to understand you, to love you, to care about you, to spen most of her time even if it’s very late in the night, just to make sure you are smiling and happy and that you are okay.

As for today, a wonderful sister deserves the best wishes she can ever have.

Darling, ading, I maybe miles away from you to celebrate your birthday but I hope you always know how much you mean to me and what a wonderful sister you are.  Happy Birthday!

God Bless you always, ading, and wish you all the best.  Tons and tons of hugs and kisses.

From Michel and Lorna

“A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.” ~Isadora James

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Happy Birthday to my wife who is stunningly beautiful, strikingly wonderful, and simply amazing in every way.  I love you.

From Mike

Happy Birthday, Mommy.  We love you soo much.  You’re the best!

Love, Helena and Wyatt

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For a Special Daughter-in-Law.  It’s love that’s at the heart of this family and you who’ve won a place in our hearts.

So glad you’re in our family - so glad you’re in our lives.

Happy Birthday.

From Oscar and Belle

“There are things that matter most - Hugs and laughter, Words of praise, Family ties that warm our hearts and keep us close through all our days.” ~Kay Andrew

You know what really bugs me? Those people who you’ve been helping and taking care of and in the end turn out to be absolutely unsupportive and ungrateful.  It makes me believe she really is delirious as my in-laws say.  All the time I was working for her, I was nothing but very understanding, patient, and caring…. all these to keep her happy.  And now when I needed her honesty and support, she gives a totally different story.  Oh man, I am so angry!  So here I am venting hoping to calm me down.

One thing I learned from this experience, for sure, is to keep a record of my employment history while they are fresh in mind and in detail, tsk.  I don’t want to resent her for this, I don’t wanna be resenting anyone for that matter but it just upsets me, you know.  Oh well, I just hope the damage won’t be that bad.  *Sigh*

On a chirpier note, our dance practice is coming along fine. Everyone’s practicing and they’re getting better everyday. The kids are on fire, I tell ya! It’s so nice to see them having fun. As for the staff, they’re also doing great, they’re getting there!

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” ~ Seneca

After we’ve decided we will use the song “Last Christmas” for our dance, I started formulating dance steps for it but I’ve always ended up with steps that are hard for the children to follow.  As a result, I changed the hip hop version to the country version where I choreographed a modern line dancing steps.  It took me two short nights to wrap it up.  With Helena and Wyatt being there to interrupt every now and then I still sort of surprised myself of being able to come up with a choreography considering that I haven’t danced in a long time.  It was quiet easy and it made me feel alive again.

I started practicing with the children last week and they had fun.  We did the first half of the song and yesterday we practiced the last half.   We were able to practice from beginning to end, they were having so much fun, they didn’t want to stop.  For the last few minutes, I let them practice on their own while I worked one on one with ones who have problem with some of the steps.

Now that the children got all the steps, it’s time for the staff to practice!  I showed them the steps a few days ago but now it’s just a matter of getting us all together for a practice, considering our busy schedules.  Hopefully we can come up with a time for all o f us to be there.  Good thing is we’re all quiet excited since some of the staff don’t really dance, LOL.

More update soon.
“Dancing is the poetry of the foot.” ~John Dryden

I work with children from 5 - 11-year olds and as part of my qualification or let’s say benefits, we are allowed and encouraged to participate in any childhood related educational events like seminars, short courses, etc., and they pay for it. First, they paid for my First-Aid course where we learned to care and protect children/adults in emergency situations. Now, they are paying for my Virtues Project seminar which is very useful when dealing with children with different and unique qualities and behaviors.

When my director told me about the Virtues seminar, I wasn’t aware at first. Mike was laughing at me because when he asked me what kind of seminar I was attending, I simply told him, “I don’t know”. Well, I didn’t get it clearly when Belle told me about it I was too busy at that time. Anyhow, the first day of the seminar turned out to be really good, very enlightening.

When the first day was over, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t be nice if every human being attends this kind of seminar?” The Virtues Project is designed to give educators tools and strategies to help them shape character by creating a positive, empowering culture or environment in which children are learning and growing. It is a positive, holistic program which has been used in many cultures and countries throughout the world to bring out the best in children and adults.

In this seminar, we will be learning strategies that will help us to live more authentic, purposeful lives, to raise children of compassion and idealism, and create a culture of character in our schools and communities. Part of this is a lot of group sharing where we group ourselves into 2 or or more and share how these virtues affect us and our children and how we work around it to excel and be a better educator, a better individual.

There are 52 Virtues (The Gifts of Character) and you can check them all out at The Gifts of Character
Check out the Virtues and see what speaks to you at that very moment and acknowledge that gift.

Joining this seminar made me feel enlightened and wonderful so I decided to share them to you by blogging about it. So ’til tomorrow again!

“For what has been, thanks! For what shall be — Yes!” ~Dag Hammerskjold

Not so quiet after all.

On my birthday, Mike woke me up in the morning to greet me and for a second I forgot it was my birthday, I just brushed it off then I came to my senses and I was like oh yea it’s my birthday today, hahaha, silly me.

I just really wanted a quiet birthday, you know, just me and Mike and the kids at home, maybe take-out meal.  (Ever since we had kids we sort of got used to taking out meals instead of eating at restaurants - the kids make huge mess!)  But just before I was leaving for work that afternoon, Mike’s dad and his brother Alec came with bags of food and a huge cake.  Mike kind of mentioned last night that his parents are buying us dinner so I thought it would only be us but as it turned out everyone in the family were coming over so that was a bit of surprise to me.  It was great though, I was thrilled and thankful.

Of course with everyone present, except for Rick who couldn’t join ‘cuz of work, we’ve got full house.  It was a fun birthday dinner party, everyone enjoyed themselves!

Thank you so much to everyone for being so sweet and thoughtful.  I loved the food/cake, loved the gifts, loved your presence/calls/messages/cards, and loved the fact that you care.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I love you, all!

Birthday photos are now uploaded on my Gallery.

New President of America

I am really so special, everyone was celebrating on my birthday, hahaha! But yea, the whole time we were celebrating at home, the TV was on, so we were updated of what was going on on the election.  Of course, the whole family was hoping for Obama.  And alas! Barrack Obama won at the end of the day!  So we didn’t only toast champagne to my birthday but also to America’s new president.

Congratulations America! Long Live Pres. Obama! Cheers!

We Remember

Nope, we didn’t go to work today because we need to take our time to recognize the tradition of freedom that our soldiers fought to preserve.  These soldiers died fighting and serving their country and today we acknowledge their courage and their sacrifice and our responsibility to work for the peace they fought hard to achieve.

Happy Veterans!

I almost always dread the coming of Fall and Winter. The busiest and most costly seasons of the year. In Fall, we furnish our kitchen with Thanksgiving food and we devour a whole turkey for days; we endlessly decorate our houses, offices, schools and on the big night with the grossest, spookiest, creepiest and most horrendous decorations and costumes. Then after all that work, we take them down and start putting up Christmas decorations. My goodness, just look how we tortures ourselves and our pockets with holiday decorations, hahaha! It’s crazy, I tell ya!

Anyway, the kids had fun this Halloween. Helena had a Halloween parade at school and some fun and treats at the school’s haunted house. We went trick-a-treating after that where Helena dressed as my little angel, Wyatt as Eeyore, Romeo as Winnie the Pooh, Mike as Michael Jackson, Rick as the invisible guy, and me as bewitched witch. We wrapped up the night with a huge bonfire and fireworks at Helena’s school. Helena was happy to see all her friends and classmates at the bonfire.

Now, I will go back to work and start prepping for the Christmas program and other Christmas events, phew! But of course, let’s not forget my birthday on the 4th, it’s not really a very important event but there it is - a year older Nora on the go!

The rest of our Halloween photos will be added to my Gallery v. soon.
Happy Halloween to all!
“Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with ’scary’, ’spooky’, ‘haunted’, or ‘forbidden’ in the title.”
— Matthew Lillard as Shaggy in Scooby-Doo (2002)