the perils of

             My baby brother Jiggy has gotten quite older and bigger since I last mentioned him in this blog. He's turning 14 now, and he's now the tallest in all my family. The skinny kind of tall, the kind that can be better described as "lanky."             What's been bothering me is that my parents seem to think that just because he's 14 and tall, he has suddenly become a "man," and that somehow gives him the right to be the leader. Like when we go out, my dad tells Jiggy to protect me, my mom, and Caitlin (my sister). Which is totally absurd as Jiggy is no better a fighter than any of us in the family. And when Dad goes out of town, he appoints Jiggy as "the man of the house," a title which I absolutely despise. Yes, Dad's leaving does make Jiggy the man of the house in the sense that JIGGY IS THE SOLE MALE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Being the sole male in a household does NOT immediately grant him a special leadershi...

I think yesterday marks the first time that my sister and I have ever spent Holy Week away from home. (It also marked my three-year anniversary with Rap, but more on that later.) Sort of spontaneously, Cait and I decided to get these tattoos. Guess which wrists are mine. We drew these on ourselves using a cone of henna ink that I stumbled upon in Little India during our visit to Singapore . I'm so glad we bought it! It was three for ten Singaporean dollah, so that translates to about P106 each cone. Considering that there's still a lot of ink left, I'd say it's a pretty good deal. Here's what it looks like: Like I said, it was my third anniversary with Rap that day. Unfortunately for us, it happened to fall on Maundy Thursday, so most of the restaurants around the city were closed. We ended up spending our anniversary evening at a crowded Jamba Juice down by Serendra. But before that, while we were walking around, Rap presented to me his ...

Yesterday my mom and the rest of the Co Family came to Manila as a stopover before going to China today. So naturally, I spent most of yesterday afternoon shopping with them. We went to Eastwood and checked out the bazaar. My mom noticed how "old-looking" clothes are the trend these days. Like the stuff that was fashionable before are the same things that are fashionable today. After checking out the clothes (and not buying any), we wandered into the mall and ate food. When we got back to my Twa-E's house for dinner, my mom bestowed onto me some gifts she brought from home. YAY!!! I got a jar of mangosteen preserves, which I originally bought as a souvenir for Rap and his family from my summer trip to Dapitan  a month ago. I wasn't able to bring the preserves to my plane ride coming to Manila, because for some reason, airline authorities do not allow glass jars of preserved fruit on airplanes. (And apparently, heavy wooden hitting sticks are less of a security ...