Happiness all over!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The official purpose is all-business - witness the processing of high level PCBs in the non-combustion facility of UNIDO in Bataan, Philippines. BUT coming home this month created several beautiful memories that will forever be etched in the memoirs of my life.

First, the ROMERO's FAMILY ANNUAL REUNION. For years now, it has been the clan's tradition to hold its yearly gathering in February. It also serves as a celebration of Lolo Celo's birthday who has passed on and probably anticipates this yearly event in Heaven as much as everyone in the family does.

Simple joys at the Romero's Family Reunion 2012...go orange!

Second, the GRADE SCHOOL DAY of the niece and nephew. I have always enjoyed watching the showcase of talents at the Montessori School during its GS Day. This year, the celebration coincided with my duty travel. How I enjoyed watching Alex sashaying gracefully to Tango and Basti swaggering to Rumba with the Banana Boat Song (6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot...bunch!). There's talent in the family after all! :)

Awesome talents at the Montessori Grade School Day...

Third, of course, was my BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. I turned ONE! Last year, I said "Life begins..", so there.... It was a simple celebration made special by family and friends. The "radicals" (he..he..) of AUF Batch 87 came and it was sheer fun traipsing down memory lane! It was a night of wit and intelligent repartee!

I turned 1...!

 And then there's BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Part 2 - Fontana  Water Theme Park. It was Basti's first and the little guy just savored the moment. I can still vividly remember his expression while swimming in probably 5 inches of water in the wave pool saying "Ninang, ang saya saya ko!". Pure happiness there!! It was also my opportunity, eherrrmmmm, to don my swimsuit again! As they say, NO GUTS, NO GLORY!!

All smiles at Fontana Water Theme Park....

And then it was over...:(

Of course, the mission and the annual leave had to end. Time to go back to Vienna where the hubby awaits. Its always the same feeling - torn!! While I am excited to go back to the comforts and safety of my surrogate home, a huge part (pun intended :D) of me longed to stay. So, there I was at the NAIA with a luggage-full of native vegetables, tocino, longganisa and Mother's homecooked dishes, emoting like Ate Vi!

The 20-hour trip over and the cute chauffeur from Emirates waiting with the limo (ok, ok.. its free service from the airline...he..he..),  Vienna's sunshine greeted me. And look what awaited for me at home! This pretty bunch absolutely dissolved all the melancholic feeling....thank you, loves!!

Blissful contentment.....

Wait, it aint over yet! Almost zombie-like having almost no sleep, a party awaits...this time its the Aguman Kapampangan's fete for Feb-Mar birthday celebrants! What a delight!!!

Felicity of Community...

Then, 15-hours of glorious sleep....Thank you GOD for all these!!!

Featured book: The Fifth Witness

...another Michael Connelly classic...this guy never disappoints!
*********************************************************************************

I've always wanted to be a lawyer - part of my childhood vacillation over being a writer, a teacher and yeah, a lawyer (why I ended up in Engineering is another story).  It is for this reason that I love shows like The Practice and Law&Order and I devour books of John Grisham and Connelly like a famished worm.If I were a first year law student, I would definitely have this book as a sort of  " Judicial process for dummies" kind. Read on and find out why....
-------------------------------------------------------

Summary: 
Michael "Mickey" Haller has fallen on tough times. He expands his business into foreclosure defense, only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home.

Mickey puts his team into high gear to exonerate Lisa Trammel, even though the evidence and his own suspicions tell him his client is guilty. Soon after he learns that the victim had black market dealings of his own, Haller is assaulted, too--and he's certain he's on the right trail.

Despite the danger and uncertainty, Haller mounts the best defense of his career in a trial where the last surprise comes after the verdict is in. - www.goodreads.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This blog won't be another review of the book. You just need to google "The Fifth Witness"  and you'll see a multitude of  (great) reviews of the novel. But for me, a book is only a good read, if I ended up "educated" after reading it - which is true for this one - to say the least.

Now lets see, where do we start?

Lisa Trammel, in this novel, is the defendant and the plaintiff is "the state." She was summoned to a first-appearance hearing, which is primarily just an "official acknowledgement of the charges and the starting point of the judicial process"  where there is also an opportunity to request and argue for bail.

The bail in her case was set at two million and she would need to put up 10% of that as bond. What is interesting is that, aside from knowing how bail and bond works, I learned that bail bond agents are almost exclusively found in the US and the Philippines. Yes, THE Philippines! Interesting, isn't it!

Then there's preliminary hearing which was described as a "routine step on the way to a trial" and is 100% the prosecution's show. The state is charged with presenting its case to the court and the judge then rules on whether there is sufficient evidence to take it forward to a jury trial.

The case went to a full-blown trial where the author walked the reader through the whole process from jury selection, to reasonable doubt, alternate theory, 14th Amendment, motion to quash, fungible and opening statements.


Now, the prosecution's calls its witnesses. There's the scene setter witness, merely called to build the architecture of the state's witness and the hunter-gatherer witnesses - the crime scene technicians and so on... Then, it's the defense turn. Of course, the whole saga is peppered with objections sustained and overruled and with both camps trying to outwit each other. Verrryyy nice....

The whole trial actually climaxed to a witness invoking the Fifth Amendment, in this case, right against self-incrimination. Thus, the title. But what is interesting is that Haller, the main character, also used the witness as a "straw man" - which actually has a very complex but interesting meaning.

Of course, there was a twist at the end - that dramatic enlightenment. I sort of anticipated it, though,  and was anticlimatic for me.  Double jeopardy is of course a no, no... but there was redemption at the end!


I AM telling you this book is a literary judicial basics haven!


I first fell in love with Mickey in The Lincoln Lawyer ( now a movie starting Matthew McConaughey - note to self:  must see, must see!!) and with the new path he's taking - he is running for District Attorney - I'm sure there'll be  more great work from Connelly!

Date night: Ristorante Angelo

Its pizza night!!

The hubby and I craved for something Italian and off we went to Ristorante Angelo at the Donauzentrum in Wien. The place is not extraordinary with two gorgeous, not too amiable servers but surprisingly, the food is delish!

Here's what we had:

Forza Austria

Spaghetti Pescatore

 and he enjoyed both dishes with his beer while I sipped on my ever dependable glass of carbonated spirit - Coca cola (make that 2). Yeah, yeah, I know! We committed a cardinal sin by not having wine!

The Mr. with his Austrian beer

 He used to shun Italian food favoring Asian dishes but after 20 years of being together, he, eherrrmm,  acquired the taste.

Italians, I read, are much like Filipinos. For both cultures, food, practically plays an important part of family gatherings. We celebrate events and achievements by delighting the palate!

But I like the rituals in Italian dining. You start with antipasto (cold cuts, cheese and preserved meat). Next would be a pasta and/or a meat/poultry dish.  This is  followed by salad with oil and vinegar, which should cleanse the palate and help in the digestion process. Many also eat fruit and finocchio (fennel), whose anis taste is also supposed to aid digestion, at the end of the meal. There are even aperitifs made solely to help people get their food down easily.* 

In other words, its a complete cycle of dining pleasure - before, during and after. So, saluti to health! Buon appetito!!

***************************************************************************
*Condensed from "Before your next meal: 4 things you should know about Italian food."

Sunday Reflections: Healing and Prayers

****************************************************

Today’s Gospel (Mark 1: 29-39) is of  healing and prayers.

Simon said, “Jesus, my mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever.”Jesus went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up.  The fever left her immediately, and she began to serve them.

“Rising very early before dawn, He left and went off to a deserted place, where He prayed.”  

Having personally experienced the power of these two words, it felt like the readings were speaking directly to me. As part of my personal reflection, I would like to share my 2011 reckoning which I wrote before the year ended and manifests much of what I feel about healing and prayers.

*****************************************************

While 2011 has not been particularly great for me, the events of this year have truly cemented my belief in love, prayers and second chances. These words embody most of what I am thankful for in 2011.

Love of family and friends.  I never doubted that  love strongly binds my family but 2011 was an affirmation of that love. I felt it when I marked my 40th - truly memorable gestures of appreciation from my whole family. I felt it more when I fought a "great battle". I will forever cherish the love shown by family and friends - I knew that I was fully armed to give a good fight and to finally win - physically scarred but emotionally stronger.

LOVE is the best medicine

The power of prayers. Cliche' but true. So many testimonials have been written on the subject that no further elaboration is necessary. But each case is very personal, very intimate - always between the person and the Higher Being. For me, 2011 was an opportunity to reinforce my relationship with my GOD. Along with so many wonderful people who offered their prayers, I let go and let GOD. And now, more fervently than ever,  in the happiest, saddest and darkest moments of my life, I utter a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing.

Second chances.  They say that if you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. I know that I was given a jolt but I was also offered a second chance - to do things better or differently, to treasure the littlest joys,to laugh harder, to love more, to touch more lives, TO LIVE...

Then again, we need not wait for the changing of the year to have a clean slate, a new page, a new beginning...life offers us all these at all times! What we write and rewrite onto them is entirely our choice...

****************************************************

Personal prayer:

Lord, thank you for listening to us during the happiest, saddest and darkest moments of our lives. AMEN.

Date night: Ebi

The hubby and I just love Japanese food!  Even when we were just dating, our gastonomic choice on date nights would most likely be Japanese. We progressed from Tokyo Tokyo (fast food) to Saisaki (buffet style) then even tried a  Japanese fine dining experience in a 5 star hotel which we vow not to repeat after seeing the bill. :)

Anyways, he loves sashimi (yap, those thin slices of raw fish) and I can definitely eat just  sushi(s) forever!!  Tried these at the Ebi Restaurant here in Vienna…Itadakimasu!

Sushi and sashimi feast at the Ebi resto in Wien...

Then again, who would not love Japanese food?! It’s the presentation, man! Even a bento which you can buy on the streets and at any 7-11 store in Tokyo is visually enticing as well as a delight to the palate.

Typical Japanese food set - had this in Nikko, Japan

 

I had the opportunity to live in Japan sometime ago and I can absolutely claim that I had many of the best moments of my life there!! The culture, the food, the people and places – all definitely worth their own blogs!!

In my next life, if GOD wills it, I’d probably want to be a Japanese….hmmmm,  being Thai comes very, very close…but hey, don’t get me wrong, despite all the misconceptions and the (wrong) notions about my country and my people, I AM TRULY, PROUDLY a FILIPINO! 

Disappointments...

Found these blogs in my “orphaned” Multiply sites…they seem fitting with what I am feeling these days so here goes….
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today, October 28, 2008, at exactly 11:54 AM Vienna time, I received a really disappointing news. Something that created havoc in all the plans I mapped out for the next two weeks.

Let's hear what the experts say about DISAPPOINTMENTS..

"Oft expectations fails and most oft there where most it promises, and oft it hits where hope and is coldest and despair most fits." - William Shakespeare

"There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better; we find comfort somewhere..." - Jane Austin

but there is one, I think I most subscribe to...

"SHIT HAPPENS!" - Forrest Gump

****

 Dealing with disappointments.....

At 9:45 AM today, October 31, 2008, Manila time, I would have been braving the traffic of Nagtahan going home to our humble abode in Vicente Cruz. I would have been fighting jet lag but not too tired, nonetheless, to give the love of my life the kisses and hugs (and more..), oh, we two so deserved. I would have been jostling the throngs of people to haggle for flowers in the busy street of Dimasalang. I would have been feasting on Jollibee Chickenjoy with gravy brimming over...

Instead, I am in front of this inanimate thing called com-pyu-ter composing this ridiculous blog about dealing with disappointments...


But they say we have to be our bestest selves when things did not turn out as we had hoped for...


So, I am going to VENICE instead...

St Mark's Basilica, St. Mark's Square, Venice

****

Dealing with disappointments part 2....

More than 3 years since, while having the time of my life in DC, I received a really disappointing news. A project which I have “nurtured” and seen through since 2009 got rejected by the funding agency because of “lack of concrete co-financing and weak baseline project that incremental cost cannot be determined”. You see in our “business” , we live and breathe co-financing and incremental costs.

So, completely reminiscent of my 2008 way of dealing with disappointments, with my bestest self revivified….

I went to New York!!!

docking at staten island...

 

Date night: Segafredo

Segafredo Carmelita

Coffee on a cold winter night...

the Mr.

 .....with the one who makes everything right! 

***********
There are only two kinds of conversation needed for a good marriage…
coffee talk, and pillow talk.
They should both be warm, and sweet.