Just got off reading Time Magazine's Summer Journey Issue for this year. It was pretty great as they featured a series of stories on the different games that we play, across various cultures and generations, from marbles to yo-yo's, to competitive sports. 

Theirs is an interesting thesis, and a convincing one too, that in the final analysis, in the age of globalization and endless connectivity, consumerism and popular culture may not be all that unites us today but also that the more simple, fundamental desire to engage in play remains ingrained in all of us.  In that sense I found the articles insightful and enlightening as it made me take a second look on something as seemingly innocuous and banal as play and see it as something that potentially shapes and continues to transform our perspectives as people and cultures.

Now, as an adult and a mother-to-be, the subject of play is something that I find myself highly interested in again. Not that it's charm ever lost its hold on me. I still find that going to the toy store, playing game boards, watching sports, and just daydreaming and make-believing are some of the activities that top my list as the most enjoyable things to do. But now, the kind of toys and activities to get my baby started on seems to be at the forefront of the many conscious decisions RJ and I need to make. 

Good thing we both agree that the purchase of toys will not be a priority for our Raya because we want her to be more into books and puzzles. And besides, we also want her to try and use everyday stuff for play because we think it'll foster imagination and hone her problem-solving skills. I'll be a prouder parent seeing my daughter play with a box and pretend it's a sail boat or a fortress than seeing her passively seeking entertainment from an electronic toy.

Now I just have to *wean* RJ off that PSP habit...hehehe! 

 

Move that booty!

In the spirit of Waiting (with which I started this whole foray into the world of blogging). I am still waiting to gather enough energy and resolve to get off my butt and start the things that I need to do before D-day. No, not Doomsday. Thank God. 

And to pressure me into actually getting at least half of them done before then, I will be posting my much overdue to-do list so that everyone (meaning the one...or two...) readers of my blog will hold me accountable if I fail to do so. 

To do:

1. Clear the bedroom of all our unnecessary crap. 

Task Description: This includes containers, toiletries, clothes, dvd covers, pillows, shoes, papers, that no longer have a right to space in our already spatially-challenged living quarters. 

This also includes wiping the tabletops and shelves clean and clearing our numerous cabinet spaces of all things that have not seen the light of day for the past 5 years. 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: 3 days

2. Clean/Sanitize the bathroom 'till kingdom come. 

Task Description: I can't exactly do this by myself since my belly cannot accommodate all the leaning and bending that it will require but I can possibly solicit the help of the two lovely helpers, Jenny and Manang Iking and/or RJ.  We will have to have the muriatic acid, zonrox cleaner, powdered cleanser and lysol at hand for this. Not to mention a handful of rags and brushes. 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: One whole day

3. Bring the Mac over to SENCO to have the busted CD-Drive estimated and (hopefully) fixed. 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: One day

4. Follow up our Wedding Photos and Video from Niceprint (and quite possibly resort to intimidation if they fail to deliver it by next month. Bwaharhar.). 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: 15 minutes

5. Work on a Wedding Brochure for the Parish (start Research and Writing). 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: 2 weeks to 1 month  

6. Put my D-day bag together in time for August. 

Task Description: This involves putting all I need to bring to the hospital in one bag and making sure nothing is forgotten. This also involves, turning over this bag to RJ so he can make sure it's brought with us when my tummy starts crunching. 

Estimated Accomplishment Time: 1 Day

Time to get my butt a'workin! 

Limbo

At the risk of starting off this blog with what resembles negativity, I would like to bring attention to something that my beloved Philosophy of Man professor said in a discussion several years ago -- that "Waiting is Hell." 

Now, one may ask why I, somebody new to the world of blogging,  young, arguably promising and on the verge of what would be one (if not THE) of the greatest adventures of my life, would want to debut my new cyber persona with this dubious theme. Well, I have three reasons, mainly:

1. I think that if one does without the obvious and convenient interpretation of that statement and look at it from a more nuanced perspective, one would realize that it can also be the perfect description to where I am right now in my life . 

Let me elaborate: I am 23 years old, and right now, I can think of only a handful of things that may have a more disproportionate height-weight ratio than my burgeoning figure as I am 32 weeks pregnant and gloriously overweight. 

Now the figure loss may already be enough to trigger existential musings in most women, or if not, just plain old whining and griping, but what's particularly challenging to come to grips with are the shifts in lifestyle and perspective that came with the more obvious (yet just as agonizing) stretch marks and cellulite.  Yes Mom, I got the curse too. Nyay. 

I used to work as a field producer for one of the Philippines' biggest networks -- a job that brought many adventures, learning experiences, pressures, a considerable income and countless opportunities with it. Something that I couldn't quite get enough of as an impressionable new member of the workforce. 

But fate had other plans. Okay, not fate. RJ (my better half) and I had made some calls of our own, abandoning I guess the "wiser" voices in our head that cried halt, and these eventually lead to a series of premature but nevertheless dramatic shifts in lifestyle. 

Don't get me wrong though. I am excited as ever for the coming of our little Friend. I think to describe the anticipation and excitement in words would cheapen the experience. In fact, for as far as my limited wisdom can afford, I venture to say that pregnancy truly is one of the most incredible things that a woman may go through, especially one of my age and relative inexperience. And that depth and complexity also renders it quite possibly the most fulfilling, life-transforming event but also the most intimidating. 

And the Wait I think is the most challenging part. When the reality of change starts to dawn on you and creep into your body -- your life -- then it starts to be the most agitating and stimulating time of your life.

Hence, the "Waiting is Hell" reference and hence, the online journal.  

 

2. The statement is provocative and I believe would have better chances of catching the attention of the misguided few who would stumble into my little corner in cyberspace, giving me a better chance of "reaching out to people." 

I don't have illusions about the possible impact that my musings would generate but I do hope that if somebody reads what I have to say about some things, then at the very least, that person would be informed, entertained, irritated (enough to elicit a comment?) or at least stimulated to do his/her own thinking on that subject. Sayang naman ang effort kung deadma lang, diba? ;) 

3. And finally, I think that my chosen debut statement has an air of universality about it, for after all, isn't that what we're all doing on this planet? Waiting. 

Waiting for some Grace of whatever sort to befall us; waiting for a promise to be fulfilled; waiting for an insight to reveal itself; waiting for something to end; waiting for something to begin. 

And with that I hope to start this journal to help me learn and understand more the never-ending and mostly open-ended conversations that go on inside my head so I could hopefully bring more to the conversations that others are willing to start with me. :)

Disclaimer: I seriously doubt that all my entries in the future would be as "feeling-deep" or dull as this first one. Some hopefully would be more fun, mababaw, exciting and/or at least informative. OR at least some will have more pictures in them. :) So please bear with my presumptuous effort to make a difference (or get noticed, hehe). The Wait for a more inspirational entry may just be a little shorter next time.  

Happy Reading!