In memoriam, Ronron
Showing posts with label Blood Thicker Than Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blood Thicker Than Water. Show all posts
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Can't Argue With The Kid's Logic
So while in Manila, was out to dinner with Manang Tata, Kuya Eric and two of their kids: Migs and Brix.
Brix (who just turned 7) decides to throw some math problems my way for kicks. He's asking stuff like "755 divided by 2, plus 40, times 5", etc. Then he kicks it up a notch and asks "what's infinity divided by 8, times infinity, plus infinity". Then he says he's gonna ask me a hard one --- what's 0 divided by 6, and I tell him you really can't divide nothing (zero) by a number, since you get nothing.
And he replies: "That's why it's hard".
And for once, I did not have a quick, smartass reply.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday, September 3, 2007
Simpsons Goodness
Oh, so my cousin Efelle sent me these last week from Seattle. She picked these up from the Kwik-E Mart/7-Eleven up there. Cool yah?
Thanks again, Efelle!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Weekend Light Show, With Some Butterflies Thrown In
I went home to the folks' this past weekend, and was treated to quite the light show on the way there. As I was driving home to Bergenfield with my mom riding shotgun, we were listening to the radio and they mentioned a Thunderstorm warning for the Northern NJ/NY Area. No sooner had we driven past the George Washington Bridge than we started seeing in the horizon forks of lightning, one after another, streaking down from the sky. It was an amazing sight, albeit a tad scary as they seemed to hit the ground every time from our perspective. This went on for about the entire 20 minute drive from the GWB to their house, and I wish I could have pulled over and took pictures. It was just so spectacular to watch; each and every fork streaked across the sky like a million fireflies chasing each other.
But alas, any thoughts about entertaining that whim to take pictures was broken as the skies opened up and one of the biggest deluges I have ever seen started. I got reminded of being a kid in the Philippines and watching the typhoons as it hit, doing so from home as school was closed.
The next day, I played chauffeur and drove the 'rents and my aunts to the Blue Army Shrine in Washington, NJ. It was a ridiculously hot day, but I saw some butterflies flying around and I could not resist taking some pictures.
All in all, a very fine weekend.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Snake Invasion
Another very interesting article from the NY Times; this time it's about the reptile problem in the Florida Everglades.
This reminds me of when I was a teenager; I used to have a fish tank where I kept a lot of goldfish. It was about 40 gallons, so it was fairly big. I started off with 3 fish, and I kept on adding - at one point I think I had 7 or 8 at a time. Anyway, fish die, and I kept on replacing them, but eventually I called it a day when the last of my 3 original fish died about 5 or 6 years after I first got them.
So I had this empty fish tank taking up space. I've always been intrigued by reptiles and I hesitatingly brought up getting a snake a few times with my mom. Any of you who know my mom know how quickly that idea was shot down each time. But it would have been so cool to get a python, I thought back then.
But I do miss having fish. They were always so relaxing to look at. Maybe I'll start again in a few years.
Monday, June 4, 2007
My cousin's doll house
So my cousin Neemsayer decided that her next project will be to build a "No Doll Dollhouse". Check it out, it's pretty cool.
Neemsayer's Dollhouse.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Ronnald D. Tonogbanua
So I am going to go ahead and break one of my own “blog rules” here and post something personal. But I guess what I meant about “personal” was more along the terms of “embarrassing” or “more than I needed to know”. This one, I don’t think it falls into either category.
My little brother Ronnald D. Tonogbanua was born on September 25, 1981, about five and a half years after I was born, and almost nine years after my sister, Gina.
Even though I was so young at the time, I will never forget the thrill I experienced when my folks told me I was going to have a younger brother or sister. And I really, really, really hoped and prayed that it was going to be a younger brother. No offense to my sister, but while sisters had their uses and benefits later in life, at that point in time, having a big sister was the equivalent of having a walking, breathing, living nightmare whom you had to share the same bedroom with. An example: she once wrapped a tiny rock in candy wrapper and offered it to me. And yes, I opened it and popped it in my mouth without even looking at it. She only stopped terrorizing me when I kept on getting taller and she didn’t.
Having a little brother was the best, even though all he did early on was cry, eat, and drool. A few months later, he still did all that and added biting me a lot to the list. He was the most adorable, naughtiest thing though. For the longest time, and this was before he was a year old, my folks were honest to goodness surprised that he never resisted or raised a ruckus whenever he had to take his foul-tasting medicine or vitamins. Then they discovered one day that what he did was he would take the medicine but keep it under his tongue, so when they made him open his mouth it looked as if he swallowed it. And then once no one was looking he would spit it out. My folks eventually had to resort to pinching his little nose oh so slightly to force him to swallow his vitamins.
I could go on and on about Ronron, but sadly, he died on November 5, 1982 after a short battle with Dengue. No doubt in my mind that that was the most devastating day my family has ever experienced. It’s funny, I don’t remember the names of people I met last week, or what I had for lunch two days ago. But even though I was all of six years old at the time, I remember in clear cut Technicolor detail the night he was brought to the hospital... And the moment I found out two days later he had died… The car ride to the funeral home... My worse fears come true when his little white casket was brought in and I saw my dear lifeless little brother for the first time since he had died… My parents’ faces during the entire ordeal, the one and only time in my life I have ever seen them so defeated and so hopeless… And certainly the funeral when I cried so much, and some wonderful person whom I don’t even remember anymore was kind enough to give me a Tupperware container full of cold water to drink… Kissing the casket one last time… And finally the complete and utter feeling of desolation when the casket was lowered to the ground and covered with dirt.
Even though years have gone by and the family has moved on, there really are some things you just never forget or completely get over. There are times when I just imagine what it would have been like to discuss life with him, or the brother-sister things the three of us would have done together, stuff like that.
And then there are those times when an overwhelming sadness of what was, and what could have been, and what never was, suddenly grips you and hits you like a sledgehammer blow to the chest. And you just have to cry and/or write about it to let it all out.
I miss him. I miss him so much. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about him. And even with all the pain and hurt his death caused, I am just so glad that for about 13 months, I had a little brother. I would never ever trade those 13 months in order to not experience the sadness and the pain that followed.
Anyway, that’s all I really wanted to say.
frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you."
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tito Bamboo's Xmas Village
The preceding picture was of my Tito Bamboo (Tito is Uncle in Filipino, and Bamboo is really my Uncle's name) and a tiny tiny tiny part of his Christmas Village, located in the Tonogbanua family homestead in Bacolod City, Philippines.
It has grown from a tiny little hobby on his part to what is now something that literally takes a fairly big part of the 2nd floor of my late grandparents' house, and we are quite proud of him as it could now be considered a tourist and cultural attraction in Bacolod.
I've never seen it in person, unfortunately. Hopefully in November, I will finally be able to and I will post pictures galore.
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