(walk)ing in the winter wonderland
I’m not a big fan of cold weather so when went to Big Sky, Montana for our first ski vacation last January, I was skeptical about how cold-proofed I was. With layers of clothing consisting of long underwear, turtleneck sweater, ski jacket and pants, I still found myself (more than) occassionally shivering. I had morning sessions of ski lessons and the afternoons were spent skiing down the slopes with my husband who turned out to be a really good instructor. By the end of vacation, I was bruised from constantly falling on my ass and I was still not a big fan of cold weather, however, I found that I enjoy skiing a lot.
We headed to Heavenly, South Lake Tahoe for another ski adventure. Our daughter, Janine, who is fast approaching the “terrible two” stage has shown signs of uh-advancement and drove us nuts with her incessant crying. The drive to Tahoe included a quick stop at Helm of the Sun Valley where I rented my ski equipment. They couldn’t find the skis I rented a week earlier and it took 30 minutes for them to provide me a replacement which turned out to be really crappy and old. I went out and gave the equipment to my husband for loading and went back inside to complain about the delay. Then, my husband stormed in the shop to complain when he saw that they rented me a crappy and old pair of skis. We asked for refund and left the store in dismay.
With that drama behind us, typhoon Janine unleashed her bawling prowess and cried for the next hour. Usually, my stepdaughter Yanice takes care of turning on the movie, giving Janine toys or food but with her in Germany for the spring break, I had to struggle with the remote control, food bag and toy box myself. Eventually, I put Eon in-charge of food and toys. As we drove across the Sierra mountains, I watched the temperature gradually dropped to 3 degrees Fahrenheit!!
Heavenly was a huge ski area compared to Big Sky. Big Sky was the perfect place and time for me to learn skiing. It wasn’t crowded and the slopes (and lifts) weren’t very intimidating. At Heavenly, the lifts are fast-moving (except the Galaxy) and there are numerous blue runs. I had a shaky start as experienced skiers and snowboarders sped past me but as I grew accustommed to my skis, the “crowd” and the slopes, I was glad to be on snow again.
Name change
I’ve recently received my permanent resident card and in this card I’m using my married name. Over the week, I’ve been to Social Security and Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for name change. The whole process was methodical. While it’s only logical to have one name in all my primary identification cards, I’m suddenly struck at the feeling that I have somehow lost a part of myself. It’s just a strange feeling. I’ve been married for more than half a year and I guess, I should have been ready for this but I realized that it’s not just the name change that I was unprepared for.
Married life is challenging and interesting. Because I started rather early and very few of my friends are married like me, I found myself aching to have someone whom I can share my thoughts and experiences with about my married life. I can talk to my husband about these stuff but it’s just different to talk about some things with someone not involve in the marital relationship. It gives you (perhaps) a different perspective and sometimes the contrast and comparisons in relationships just help you understand or appreciate your relationship better. But this not really the subject in discussion.
I’ve had to deal with the US government a few times already and I must say that despite the sour disposition of some “civil” servants, it’s efficiency is a notch much higher than my home country, Philippines. I remember the web of rules and the pile of paper that I needed to go through for a minor name correction in my birth certificate. Not to mention the endless number of times that you need to fall in line and follow-up your case at the National Statistics Office. In simple terms, it’s a nightmare. I had to go through it twice for myself and my daughter. Ugh. Just thinking about it brings back the feeling of impatience, frustration and then resignation that things are just the way they are — snail-pace slow, inefficient, red-tape that is miles in length and miserable “civil” servants who are not to happy with their jobs.
There was some confusion about which my middle name is. In the Philippines, the middle name is maiden name. Whereas here, the “second” name is the middle name. I have two names as my “first name” and managed to retain my maiden name as middle name thus resulting to four names altogether! But then, I just had to keep my Filipino name intact otherwise I might need to go through the lengthy process of reconciling my Philippine and US identities.
Demystifying Z
As I leaf through the last pages of Zorro by Isabel Allende, it had me wondering up to the final chapter who was the supposed writer of the story. Ofcourse, anyone who can read the book cover will say that it was Isabel Allende who wrote the novel.
I just find it inreresting how writers can effectively take the persona of the charaters in their novel that you actually start believeing that somebody else other than Allende wrote it. OR you start wondering if Allende was the voice of the storyteller and she actually knew Zorro. In this novel, the storyteller is Isabel, one of the Zorros. Wondering what I’m talking about? Read the book! I’ve never really paid much attention to the movie with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, so I can’t tell how much likeness the novel has with the movie.
What fascinates me about Allende is the amount of history and description that flows into every page. I am usually left half wondering how much historical truth is in the book. She writes about Spain, California and the political panorama of the 1800 with such detail that I found myself picturing bustling Madrid and newfound California.
It tool me a while to take the book off the shelves. I just thought that Zorro was a passe figurehead and who would want to read about him when there’s a movie that preceeded it?!? But despite my initial hesitation, I’m way too drawn to Alllende’s eloquence and humor to let my initial relunctance win.
It’s not exactly a must-read like Eva Luna is but it is certainly entertaining.
Another shot
One sure sign that made me rethink blogging was when I found myself writing multiple emails through cut and paste. Yes, I do mean Ctrl + x and Ctrl + y!
I’ve never been able to maintain a blog. This is already my fourth attempt and hopefully, this one has a longer lifespan. It’s certainly not for lack of something to write that hinders me from blogging consistently. There’s always a restaurant or a book review that I want to write, an experience that I want to share and thoughts that I want to put into writing just for the sake of organizing them… Admittedly, one stumbling block is the unfamiliarity with the technology of blogging and like any normal human being, I treaded within my internet comfort zones. This zones is a shortlist of probably 12 websites. You see, I’ve been bitten before. One wrong website and a wrong click has flooded our computer with pop-ups. It tormented me for months that I started dreading even turning on the computer. None of the free pop-up-blockers really helped. But that’s behind me, thankfully. Or more correctly, right in front of me but permanently off. I resigned myself into using my husband’s laptop which wasn’t my comfort zone either. I had to carefully make sure that I don’t come across photos or files that I would rather not see or read. I wasn’t always successful but I’ve come to manage my way around it. How is another blog entry.
So here am I again, in another attempt in making my life and thoughts more accessible to my friends and family. Which brings about yet another stumbling block– just how much of my thoughts and opinions can I write and publish online? To those who are blogging — don’t you feel exposed and naked when you write down all your thoughts? I just do and I guess, since I’ve only recently overcame my inhibitions about walking around the house naked, it’s time to bring that in the www level. Besides, I need it too. By that, I meant writing, not walking around the house naked. I enjoy writing and since my husband and I closed the gap in our long distance relationship, nothing really compensated to the daily emails. I’m ofcourse relieved that we’re finally together and not still writing emails but on the otherhand, the habit of writing down my thoughts and feelings on a daily basis was good for me. I hope this one is too.
