Boodle Fight

Troops lined in front of the 
long table.

     I'm sure lahat tayo nasubukan nang kumain sa dahon ng saging, nang naka-kamay. But have you ever tried doing it ng nakapila, sa isang mahabang lamesa where food is served and all piled up in one line tulad ng kanin, pansit, adobo, nilagang okra at talong, sardinas, bagoong at kung anu-ano pa ng naka-kamay? sa isang Boodle Fight? For those who have no idea what it is, a boodle fight is a symbol of brotherhood, a tradition for military men where they line up in a long table, food is dumped in a pile on top of banana leaves and then everybody eats as fast as they can using bare hands. It's like everyone has to finish everything up on the table as fast as they can. Having been employed in a military camp for almost eight years now at sa makailang ulit nang nagkaroon ng boodle fight sa PSG, sad to say that I have only experienced it once. But a few days ago, March 1 to be exact,  I have participated a boodle fight for the second time.  

     

Let the boodle fight begin...

     Just right after PSG celebrated it's 25th Founding Anniversary at the Grandstand of Malacañang Park, a boodle fight was then held in front of PSG Training School lead by PSG Group Commander Col. Ramon Mateo Dizon. Long tables were prepared. Served on top of banana leaves were Rice, pancit bihon, adobo, hipon, nilagang talong, bagoong, and of course it won't be complete without the sardines. Jugs of water and bottled soda were on the side. As we lined up in front of the table, me and my co-civilian employees were kind of excited as we patiently wait for it to start. After a few traditional ceremony the countdown begins, and finally after the signal was given we all started to feast on the food. With just  bare hands everyone ate up to their limits. It was no fancy  sumptuous food, just the ordinary Filipino food but it seems like it was the most filling meal for everyone. All of us had a smile on our faces as we dig out the food on the table, tummies were filled with everything that was there on the table and just after a few minutes everything on it were wiped out, well that was the aim in the first place. 

PSG Civilian Employees with Defense Secretary Voltaire T Gazmin.

      Aside from the military officers, enlisted personnel and civilian employees of PSG, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former PSG officers and civilian employees who served President Cory Aquino's regime have also participated in the said event. For me and for the rest of the my co-civilian employees who don't usually have the chance to join a boodle fight, it was an experience to remember, a fun free day indeed which makes us look forward to another boodle fight. 

My Little Man's Treasures

     It all started with buying VCD's for our little boy. I remember the very first VCD we bought for him was Barney, a couple of it when he was one year old. He enjoys every episode of it, and was able to memorize every song Barney sang, even some lines from the show.  We also bought several Disney Movies, to name a few were A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, Toy Story, and Cars. Then came Dora, Diego, Spongebob, Backyardigans, and a lot lot more. Of course we also introduced him educational VCD's for kids his age where he later learned his ABC's and Numbers. But with all of the cartoon tv series, disney movies, and children's show that he has seen there is one character that caught his interest, it was Thomas the Tank Engine, the blue painted fictional steam locomotive with his running number 1 printed on his side. Of course every kid knows who Thomas is, all kids from different part of the world surely go locko with him, with the television series and  with the range of toys and railway characters they have in store. Parent's like me and my husband begin to like and enjoy Thomas since we know that Thomas cartoons is not just the usual cartoon series on tv, it does teach kids values and will never be showing violence and disturbing influence on kids.

     Thomas then became one of his favorite character of all the engines, he became a huge fan. Even me and my husband became a fan too. He has seen the Thomas series in VCD's so many times, watched it over and over again without even getting tired. At times i would ask him "anak di ka ba nagsasawa paulit ulit na lang yan?" he would answer me "hindi po. mama pagpunta natin sa sm bili mo'ko ng Thomas ha."  One time we went to the mall and bought him his very first Thomas train.

Joshua with his pullback engine's

James, Percy, and Thomas.

     Thomas pullback engine was his very first Thomas toy. A speedy little engine that you can pull backwards and watch them go. There were two other pullback engine, Percy and James. I guess the cheapest Thomas in store which only sells for 249 pesos if i remember it right. Well, we we're quite low on the budget that time so we weren't able to purchase the three, we only bought him the Thomas pullback so just to make him happy i guess. Later on when we had the money we then bought the other two that completed his adorable pullback engines, which of course made him a lot happier. 

     The next Thomas he had was a bigger Thomas, i don't exactly remember the name but it was a battery operated Thomas accompanied by a silly truck. The silly truck had four mini disc's containing eight musical tracks from Thomas cartoon series which u can play on Thomas since the engine was a mini cd player of some sort. 

     A few months before our son's second birthday, my husband and I planned to buy him another Thomas present. To lessen the guilt of buying a quite expensive toy for a 2 year old kid and since it was out of the budget we decided and initiated a piggy bank savings. We started saving every 5 and 10 peso coin we have everyday. Surprisingly after a couple of months we have already saved a thousand pesos, and just before his birthday we were able to buy him the Thomas Starter Set. The starter set includes of course the little blue tank engine Thomas with his two faithful coaches Annie and Clarabel whom Thomas loves dearly. The two coaches carry passengers for Thomas. The set also comes with a miniature tree, a miniature sign post or whatever they call it, and several pieces of blue track of varying shapes.

Joshua with his big engine 
Gordon.

     Another Thomas present came on his third birthday. Actually it was a money present from her Ninang Dang which was deposited in my bank account. Since it was a birthday present for my son and because a three year old kid won't have any idea what to do with a 500 peso bill, well then I decided to use it to buy him a Thomas toy. We went to a toy store at SM City Fairview and found one of the most popular characters in the railway series, locomotive number 4, the big engine Gordon. 
    

     After the pullback engines, the mini disc player Thomas, and the big engine Gordon, we've added a few more character engines from the Railway Series. He has James the number 5 Red Engine, Percy the number 6 Small engine, steam engine Donald, crane engine Harvey, diesel engines like Mavis and Salty, and super cute and adorable Bertie the bus. He also has the Talk 'N' Action Magic Rail Set which consists of 26 pieces of blue tracks, 6 magic interactive green track pieces, an easy to assemble tunnel, a battery operated Thomas with his faithful carriages Annie and Clarabel, a station house and 5 trees. I had to buy him a long rectangular plastic caboodle to store his Thomas toys. 

     Each Thomas became an addition to his toys to play with. But for our little boy, it's not just toys to play with but it became his little treasures. It was a little expensive yes, but  buying it doesn't mean that we intend to spoil our son with toys, definitely not. It's not like we purchase one every time we wan't to, we can't afford to buy that often. We only purchase when we have extra savings from our budget which only happen once in a blue moon i think. But all in all, what's important to us is not the idea of making it a some sort of collection, but to make our little boy happy having a variety of Thomas toys to play with.

   

FLICKR: A sight to see

Finally Coming Home...

l     It has been almost a year since I've seen his face up close, the last time i did the face was sad with teary eyes. It was at the airport, the day he left for work abroad. That time I remember there were those kissing, some exchanging tight warm embraces before their love ones bids goodbye to work in some other country far from ours. I believe each of us were having the same feeling at that very moment, but of all the people there, we were the only ones with teary eyes. Probably because we know we will be million of miles apart from each other, and him not being able to see and be with his little boy for quite some time makes him even more teary eyed.

     To be apart from him was quite hard at the beginning, i guess even up to now i feel the same. Days, weeks, months have passed since that day. I have been living and taking care of our kid by myself, yes it's hard but that’s no big deal. What’s even bigger is the longingness i feel. I begin to miss everything about him, from what he usually do, his habbits, his irritating snores when he sleeps, his slight yabang at times, his sweetness, times when we go malling, times when i easilly get irritated with the things he does, wala na'kong mapagalitan. I miss him playing with our little man, even our son misses their ‘kilitian’ time. I even miss his appetite, and just him being here is what I miss the most. I guess i'm just used to with how we were before, having him here all the time, doing things and all with him, arguing and laughing with him. There were days when i feel a bit envy when I see a family, may it be at the mall, at my son's school, at the office, or just whenever i see one. I often have this thought in me that if only what we earned here would do then I definitely won't allow him to leave, then we could be the usual happy family like before, like the others. Though i didn't say that we're not a happy family now, we are and definitely we will be as always. It's just the 'not physically together', being apart, that's making the whole happy thing incomplete. 

 

     But with all of these, i feel relieved and even more excited with the thought that a couple of months from now hubby will finally have his vacation and at long last be coming home. Having him here again, and be with us even for just a month is more than enough and worth the wait. I’m just thankful, happy, contented and blessed with a responsible and loving hubby, a good father to our kid as well.

     Can’t wait...