"We're Brothers Forever!"

I had not caught up with my TiVo viewing,

so I did not get to watch this performance last night.

I started getting calls from some of my facetious

"politically incorrect" non-Asian friends,

to tease me that they saw me on American Idol.

I know "we" may all look alike in "your" eyes,

but that was not me ... that was my brother!

Damn him, I wrote that song on the boat on our way to America

and he stole it from me...LOL

Presenting Renaldo Lapuz and his audition song,

"We're Brothers Forever!":

Check out one of the several dance remix versions:

Caught Another Bug!

No, I did not start the year by getting sick.

On the first weekend of the new year,

we helped my niece, Czarina,

get a great deal on her second car.

She replaced her 2004 VW Golf GL

with a fully-loaded 2008 VW New Beetle.

This is the 4th Bug we now have had in our family.

Presenting "Bullet", the Platinum Gray Metallic Beetle!

the new kid on the block

with turbo engine, heated leather seats, and 18-inch alloy wheels

parked inside the garage for the first month only

***

Check out the interior details:

comes with a laptop

flat screen TV

mini-bar

reclinable heated leather back seats

***

Yah, right! LOL

P.S. My Bucket List

I really wasn't excited about the New Year 2008.
In some way I've been scared to "death" of it.

I'm not afraid of dying. But since we never know when that day will come, I try to live my life as if time was running out for me. Even before 9/11, we had experienced some close calls, such as almost drowning, getting lost in the woods, etc., which made Bill draw up a living trust and me write down a "bucket list" (list of all things we want to do in our lives before we kick the bucket.) Perhaps because of these experiences, I began to have this wanderlust or desire to do and see as much as I can, while I'm still young/er.

What I'm afraid of is people I love dying on me.
Sorry to sound so morbid, but in 2007, we were surrounded by several health scares and
were constantly reminded to value the concept of "health is wealth":

The day after Christmas 2007, I got some scary news that my father, who is in the Philippines, was rushed to the ER. He had suffered from vertigo caused by an atrial flutter. Thankfully, after a few days the doctors let him go back home and with medication is now doing better.
As the youngest child born to parents who were already in their 40's when I came into their lives, I somehow always worried that I would not have the privilege of enjoying them as long as my older siblings. As I child, I would often lay awake at night waiting for my Dad to come home (which was almost always pretty late at night due to his work). Since social drinking was an inevitable part of these late nights, I would always pray that nothing bad would happen to him on his drive home. My paternal grandparents lived close to their 100th birthdays, so longevity, fortunately, does run in my veins. But my dad still drinks whisky, smokes cigarettes, and eats fried oily food. He is an anomaly, since he has outlived most of his peers who lived healthier lifestyles.

Bill's Mom, Mabel and Stepdad, Roy (just like my Dad), are in their mid-80's and are not at the peak of good health. Roy battled bladder cancer by undergoing extensive chemotherapy and Mabel is suffering from a leaking heart valve.

Mike Pohjola, our good friend, who we have been watching over, has Parkinson's Disease. All his treatments have not had promising results.

Besi, our Yellow Labrador had been diagnosed last July with Degenerative Myelopathy and was given a few weeks/months to live. Somehow she has temporarily overcome this hurdle and is still with us.

All our plans for out of town/country trips are on hold due to the fear that something bad may occur while we are away. I know death is inevitable, but here is to keeping strong until those sad days comes and hopefully beyond.

Just by chance, the first two movies we saw during the first weekend of the year were, "The Bucket List" and "P.S. I Love You". Both films were marketed as light comedy/love story films and I almost forgot about the "death" aspect. I guess with what I was feeling, both films hit a nerve and I found myself breaking down in tears inside the theater restroom.

Part of my Old Bucket List (*as also shown in the movie):
*Go skydiving - checked
*Go on an African safari - checked
*See the rest of the New 7 Wonders and other exotic/ancient places - checking
*Learn to drive an 18-wheeler truck (in lieu of race car driving) - unchecked
(don't ask me why, 'cuz I don't know the answer myself...LOL)
Run a marathon - unchecked
....etc.

Added to my Bucket List:
Visit Mike more often in the nursing home.
Spoil Besi even more.
Spend more quality time with Mabe & Roy, as often as we can.
Call my Dad & Mom more often and visit them in the Philippines at the end of the year.

P.S. I love you!