TOPAZ HORIZON

It's a lovely Saturday, cloudy and cool... my kind of day. I'm a very sunny person. Well, most of the time, but when I get angry, which is quick and often, I'm a terrible thunderstorm. So I guess that's why I like the days to be mild and mellow and vague since my temperament is always at some form of extreme emotion.

Because of my temperament, I've always felt that I'd burn out pretty soon. So one of the very first things I did as an adult was buy an insurance plan. Ya, how boring can I get. It wasn't really for me; it was for my family. When I bought the plan, I was, at the time, the only one with income in my family. So, since I was convinced I'd die young, I thought that my poor family would be in big trouble if I'd kick the bucket. Well, I'm still alive.

When Mama died, she didn't have any savings, any insurance, any money. Death is expensive. It's vulgar how people in the death business have taken advantage of the grief of families to shock them into paying tons of money just so their loved one can get a decent burial. Mama had a fantastic send off, but it cost a lot of money. I'm glad Vince and I had enough for the deposit, and then we were more glad that people gave Papa enough cash to pay for all the costs, even to cover what Vince and I shelled out. Thank God for all the generous people. I used to get annoyed when envelopes were passed around at work or at school when someone's somebody died. Until Mama died. Now, if anyone has a death in a family, I won't hesitate to give.

I know most of my readers are from countries where the government or their workplace provides generously for their medical and retirement needs. Well, that's not the case in the Philippines. So Vince and I checked for life insurance rates recently. Somehow the plans we both got six years ago don't seem enough anymore. Time to get more life insurance plans and to add memorial plans and pension plans and medical plans, too.

Darn. It's a gray day and I feel really old.

*photo used with permission from Free Foto.

So I'm currently resizing photos for this blog and I found these two from when Vince and I moved from his 1-bedroom bachelor's pad to our current one. This was June 2007. I may look happy here but I was in fact very sad because I was desperately missing this tiny place already. So many good memories!

Anyway, look at how exhausted we are! We had hired some men that we saw from the classifieds and they were horrible since they all but threw the furniture into their trolleys. They worked fast but not very carefully, so Vince and I were mortified and had to do a ton of moving by ourselves to save our stuff from getting damaged. Next time--maybe in five or ten years--we'll definitely hire professional moving services. In the meantime, we're enjoying life in our lovely new home.

Photos from Disneyland coming soon!

You can tell from that grin on my face how much I enjoyed Hong Kong Disneyland. The pics here are from the enchanting lobby of the exquisite Victorian-inspired Disneyland Hotel. I have more photos with the real Disney characters! So much fun! I just totally fell in love with everything! I'm so happy! I'm already planning a trip back.

Okay, let me just fix the image sizes of my photos then I'll write about the Disneyland trip the way I did the honeymoon trip--fun multiple posts!!!

So people have been asking me how the credit card theft's been and how I am. Well, I'm actually okay. I'm not happy about it but I'm happy about my life so why ruin my wonderful life with a petty thief?

I was telling my friends that in the great big scheme of things, it's just money. Granted, it's a lot of money and I still don't know how I'll pay for it if HSBC decides that I'll have to pay for it (I really hope they don't!). But on that day my wallet was stolen, things did become very clear to me on what's important in my life. When Vince strode into the office pantry, where I was eating with my staff, with this tight and worried expression on his face, my heart went up my throat.

I thought, "Please, dear God, don't let it be someone's dead again!"

Then he said "The bank called. Someone's using your card right now. Check your things."

I hurried to my desk in alarm but all I felt was this huge relief. Of course, when I found out later that the thief charged a TON of stuff on my card, my knees went weak. But that night, I was able to sleep. Every time I would get upset, I'd remember that strange feeling of relief and gratitude that all my loved ones were safe, and I'd feel better. The past week's actually been good. A few upsets now and then and I've practically chained my bag to my person but, I'm okay. Had a lovely lunch with my in-laws, watched the Twilight premiere for free with friends, celebrated Papa's birthday, had fun chatting with old friends... Life is great!

Anyway, a friend sent this email last Wednesday that we must give everything--even the tiniest concern--to God. So I told God that night, "Lord, I know You are sovereign over all and everything will turn out well for those who love You. It is a sin to worry because it shows I don't trust in You so forgive me and I will offer this up to You and trust in Your plan, whatever happens! I just wish You can give me something nice so I won't feel so bad. I know I'm being selfish but I feel really bad so a nice gift will be much appreciated."

That was my prayer Wednesday night. The very next morning, Vince and I won a brand new Samsung TV LCD-HDTV! I kid you not!!! And it came with two fancy DVD players! We're so happy and excited. We feel that more blessings and surprises are coming our way. God is good! God is good!

So I'll leave you with that for a while, dear readers. I need to pack for our trip to Disneyland tomorrow. On my way to the happiest place on earth, they say, but I think I already am there and that's all because of the peace in my mind, the joy in my heart, the love in my life, and the faith I forever proclaim.

See y'all next week!

Remember that story when I proposed to Vince with the Sony Playstation 3? Well, here's another Sony story. Because we have rabbits, we are quite fond of this Bravia TVC. Of course, it helps that we watch it on our very own 32" Bravia TV.


We're fonder of this Bravia Bunny, however. Isn't Galadriel the cutest ever???Our rabbits are Sony bunnies! Oh, and my two phones are sturdy Sony Ericssons, my SLR camera is a Sony Cybershot, we read books on the Sony eBook Reader, we fight over who gets to play with the PSP, and of course, Vince plays with his PS3 games and I exercise to aerobics videos played through the PS3, too, on our beloved Bravia.

Yep, we live in a Sony world because we really were quite impressed with the Bravia. It definitely gave significance in my life just like the Sony's World's First Noise-Canceling Notebook Computer, the VAIO T Series, which is what I'm salivating for lately because I want to blog anywhere and everywhere and in peace!