Zamboanga Girl: what is better than coppertone spf 50?

this is going to be a post of few text. my arthritic right hand is acting up, the network of nerves and flesh and cartilage from my wrist up to the tip of my thumb swelling up, aching, generally going haywire.

typing is an arduous process because i can't strike the spacebar without feeling electrocuted in that aforementioned part of my anatomy. and do you know how often you have to strike the spacebar while blogging? do you? after EVERY word. yes, after E-V-E-R-Y damned word. unless the word is at the end of the sentence. BUT THEN, you have to hit the spacebar again after the period or other terminal marks. unless you are one of those who like to annoy their readers by making the next sentence appear like it is part of the preceding sentence.like this.yes, just like this.do you see what i mean?

frankly, i am not very sure it's arthritis. but from what i learned during the time that i crammed for my cgfns and nclex, this is what arthritis should feel and look like. so i am going by that.

now, before i renege on my promise to keep this post as text-free as possible (hahaha. a girl can dream, right?), let me get on with the task at hand. that task being a compliance with the request of my sister girlie and my brother monching to post pictures of the holy week we spent at the beach in liloy, zamboanga del norte. they are not eager to see sports illustrated-like photos of me in my swimsuit -- there aren't any, in any case. they just want to see photos of the beach house, the beach, and the kids at the beach.

my nephew carlo was born on an easter sunday. during those years that april 20 does not fall on an easter sunday, he has two birthday parties. maita brought that cake from a factory, that white bougainvillea came from the garden, those little plastic toys (an orange motorbike, a green yoyo and something unidentifiable) came free with some junk food the kids bought from the sari-sari store earlier, and the name carlo was written with an ube-flavored chewy candy cut into long pieces, rolled and bent into shape, and et voila, a birthday cake!

the party people, from left to right: kimi, juliana, jana, mikka, carlo looking so happy, and diego. kimi and mikka are my JVP partner lara's sons. they are here on loan from their mom and pop in manila. the mendoza boys arrived thirty degrees fairer than they look here. three days of chasing hermit crabs brought about the exotic coloration. coppertone spf 50 can only do so much.

do you see the martha stewart worthy tin watering can to the right of the cake? so pretty, right? crazy baby gabriel urinated into that an hour before the party. he is his lola's grandchild, our gabriel. for the queasy ones amongst you, worry not, i washed and soaped it already.

the party people with the party sponsors, carlo's papa july and mama maita.

boys of summer...

boys of summer with a chick...

and the girls of summer with a boylet...

mikka mendoza is 7 and his brother kimi is 4. mikka is in grade 1 and he said that in this picture, he is wearing the uniform his team wore when they went to singapore to play in a football tournament. he said they won second place only on account of a stupid move by a team mate. he didn't use the word stupid. i did. mikka used the kinder word "fumble" to refer to his team mate's stupid move. mikka has encyclopedic knowledge about Formula 1. husband has found someone at the house who is willing to sit with him to watch abnormal cars race each other on abnormal roads.

kimi on the other hand does not seem to be very interested in anything sporty. he stayed inside the beach house the most. if allowed, he will have koko crunch and milk for breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks, dinner, and snacks. like me, he does not like the morning sun. but unlike me, he breaks out in hives, especially on the face, when he gets exposed to the sun too much. i just turn orange all over.

taken near dusk at low tide. those rocks behind us would get completely covered by the sea at high tide, usually highest at this time of the year at around noon. when the water recedes late in the day, the rocks get exposed, along with the gazillions of weird sea creatures living in between and under them. a would-be marine biologist's dream land. or dream sea.

can't resist including this. not taken at the beach at all but during carlo's recognition day. ms. liloy 2022.

talking of carlo's recognition day, he was part of a production number at the program. here he is in costume, as a doctor! for those who have known carlo since toddlerhood, this is a phenomenon! all carlo ever wanted to be was a bus conductor. never mind his doctor mom or his accountant dad. nothing captured his imagination more than collecting fares from passengers of speeding air con rural transit buses. but then this happened to his mama and sort of deflated his will to become the best bus conductor the world has ever seen. this, my friends, is called tragedy.

belated happy easter eveyone!