Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings

A friend of mine turned 60 early this year. He came up with this bright idea. Wait, he always has bright ideas and this is just one of them. And I am stealing it for this blog. :) And I am even using his words here (verbatim in some areas)...

He decided that he wanted to do 60 things that he has never done before. Kinda like the Visa ads with lists of things to do in your life. And copycat that I am, want to join him on this journey? You can too........ Sure you do!!!!

So you are not 60. If you are turning 30, make it 30 things, if you are turning 48, make yours 48, etc...

Simple guidelines:
1) Time period is from your 60th birthday to the day before your 61st (not the January-December 2008 calendar year)
2) No one category eg. new restaurants tried can exceed 10% of total.
3) Feel free to go beyond the 60 things.
4) You do not have to come up with a list to get started. Things will fall into place so take credit for them. But it's okay to have some "goals".
5) Have fun with this year.

We need your help with the name for the list. "Bucket List" is too depressing and overused. If you have an idea pitch it to me, ... hmmm... via comments?

Blogging is one on my list, so I am off to a good start ... :)

I grew up with my maternal grandmother. My parents and siblings lived close but somehow I grew up / lived with my Grandma. I loved it!

Thinking about Brenda's lists of Three Things... inspired me to think and ultimately wirte about what I learned from my Grandmother... and perhaps later about other significant figures in my life -

1.Strong Women - Not a recent invention. With talk about strong women, women empowerment, etc. these days; my grandmother epitomized all these looooong time ago. She was a single mother before it was common place. Well, in the Philippines it is looked down on if one is a single parent, even at this day and age. My maternal grandfather left my grandma early on the marriage, so Grandma raised thier only daughter alone.

She held her head high as it was not her choosing to be left by her veterenarian husband. She did what she could, raised and sent her daughter to college when she herself was illiterate. She managed her farm and lived off the income of the farm.

2. Girlfriends are important.. Grandma had a couple of real close gal pals who hang out at her home. They would cook together, gossip, smoke, (yes, smoke), and even had sleepovers and lots of laughs. One is never too old to have sleepovers. I often wondered what they talked and laughed about.

3. Chocolate is good with and on everything.. There was always some form of chocolate in grandma's house. Lucky me. I got to have some too... We would have hot cocoa anytime of day... Yummy. She actually had some cocoa plants that bear cocoa in her farm.

She passed away in 1973 a couple of months after I got married and immigrated to the U.S. I still miss her and think of her every now and then. I want to retire on her farm one of these days. The farm is waiting for me...

I know I need to be more self-disciplined. Monday was another example. A few friends called and invited me to go with them to an Indian casino. I am all for supporting Native American causes, but perhaps not this way. I am all for Native self-sufficiency but I maybe going about it the wrong way... I thought I was doing my part! Well, after some arm twisting (hardly any), off I went with the group.

Well, I played slots. I know no one wins.... ok, hardly anyone wins... although Palma and Brad have been known to win some per Palma's blog.

I went from one slot machine to another - no luck. I even tried playing one called Early Retirement. I thought the name could possibly bring good karma. But that did not happen.

One of my gambling companions said that the lunch buffet was great and only costs her $7.95. I do not know what she was talking about because after carefully studying my wallet when I got home, my lunch buffet cost me $157.95! That was what was missing from my stash!

I really need self discipline... as Kenny Rogers said... know when to fold them...Maybe I should stop playing penny slots... Maybe I should stop playing slots - period! But I am going to South Lake Tahoe this weekend (on pretenses of playing in the snow?). I am going to start practicing on that self discipline next week.

I thought about this when Jill first posted this on her blog and once again after Deborah posted it in one of the forums. I am not the most original or creative one, so I thought about what it would be for me...

Here are two that I have been toying with ... not my original thoughts, of course, but I thought these fit me... I teach students who are children of newly immigrated families. So my classroom is pretty diverse culturally and language-wise. I thought the six word sentence below is appropriate for my work. It also carries over to travels - when I step into lands where the language is "foreign" to me... Examples Japan and France... hmmm ... smiles go a long way -

Everyone smiles in the same language

or

To teach is to learn twice

The sentence above is very appropriate in the work that I do and in my life goals... I am always a learner - pursuing something all the time...

Screamy memey

I stole this meme from Softdrink's blog, a long long time ago. I agree, Jill, it has a cute title. Oh, I think I sort of asked Jill's permission to steal this and use it when I am in need of a topic. But that was a long time ago and I need a topic today.

1. Last movie you saw in a theater? I hardly watch movies because the ADHD in me makes it difficult to deal with when sitting for long periods of time is involved... But last night I watched Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's at the old Stanford Theater in Palo Alto. The theater itself is an old awesome structure. There is an organ player that comes and play the organ after each movie... Great expereince.

2. What book are you reading? Boring stuff - Educational Research by Creswell. Does that even count?

3. Favorite board game? Scrabble. I love word games.

4. Favorite magazine? Anything about travel and exotic places.

5. Favorite smells? Chocolate chip cookies in the oven, Hot cocoa, ok anything chocolate

6. Favorite sounds? Baby Mikey's trying to talk

7. Worst feeling in the world? Worrying about anything or worrying about my kids or any of the people I love

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? I think of work. Is that sick or what? But then I also think that it would be nice if I only had to go to work as a hobby.

9. Favorite fast food place? In 'n Out Burger, L and L Hawaiian Barbecue

10. Future child’s name? God forbid.. I should not even have to worry about that! Grandchild maybe ok - but I should not have to decide on names.

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lots of money I’d….?" ...pay all my student loans, travel, open a school in the Philippines with state of the art facilities and materials, and finally I would only go to work if I wanted to and treat work like a hobby.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No.

13. Storms - I hate it

14. Favorite drink? Diet coke, any time of day. Bad habit.

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”? If I have time, I would finish this dissertation.

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli? yes

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice? I have been thinking of dyeing it totally gray.... but I am too chicken to just go for it. And if I don't dye, it is a yucky salt and pepper.

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in? Samboan, Cebu, Phillipines; Cebu City, Phil.; Yap in Micronesia; Palo Alto, Ca.; San Jose, Ca.; Fremont, Ca. Short terms, Manila, Chicago, Atlanta, Tucson.

19. Favorite sports to watch? Not watching sports

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you? I stole this from Softdrink. She did not send it to me. Softdrink is an avid reader, funny in her blogs, and not afraid to travel solo.Ok, that's more than one - but I can't decide which one to feature.

21. What’s under your bed? Right now a rolling backpack that I need to pack for the short July 4th trip to LegoLand with the kids.

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again? Sure, but I'd choose to be a rich b#*%)

23. Morning person, or night owl? Morning but I liked Softdrink's answer - "Neither. I'm a 10-2 person." LOL

24. Over easy, or sunny side up? Over Easy

25. Favorite place to relax? on a beach somewhere in maui or on the lawn at Jardin Luxembourg

26. Favorite pie? Apple. A la mode. Oh and Pecan too.

27. Favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate with caramel, fudge, and sprinkling of peanut butter cups chuncks.

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first? I'm not tagging anyone

I am pretty content with life and really happy about being a transplant from the Philippines to California.

Then one of my cousins sent me a series of pictures she took of my hometown. Homesickness sat in! I miss Samboan, Cebu. It is in the middle part of the Phillipines; about an hour by plane from Manila. It is where I was born and where I spent my elementary school days. It is a pretty peaceful place... everyone seems to be related to me... and can potentially know everything about me...Inspite of that, or inspite of it being small and confining, it has some awesome assets... like this sunset...

I grew up in a little town by the sea. I have not been home in about 3 or maybe 4 years. My relatives are torturing me. My younger cousin and neices sent me some pictures of my favorite part of that town called Samboan. Here they are enjoying the sea....