Root Canal

Ugh. Can you believe? Spur of the moment visit to the dentist turned into a necessary root canal of all things!!! My tooth had been hurting the past couple of days; it wasn't the run of the mill kind of hurt that would go away with flossing or gargling or thoroughly brushing my teeth. It was this teeth-gnashing, irritating OUCHIE, gnawing that was just killing me!

So first thing this morning, I bounded into the dentist's clinic and sat in the chair. And opened my mouth wide. Turns out that this particular tooth was the SAME one that had been bugging me since *2001* (!!!) and that *HAD* been due for a root canal all those years ago!!! Grrrr! But the pain had gone away and of course I avoided a root canal like the sane, logical person I was!

Fast forward to 7 years later and here I am, seated at the same clinic, having the dentist tap at the exact same tooth. Ouch! She scraped the filling and the gross, GAPING and DEEP hole (#($*&(&%*@($) was in my tooth; I could feel it with my tongue!!! Aaaargh! This was soooooo NOT good!!! Anyhoo, after agreeing to have the danged root canal done just to get rid of the infernal toothache, 2 injections of anaesthesia with these foot-long GINORMOUS stainless steel syringes, I was feeling no pain and was falling asleep with my mouth wide open.

Hehehee. The poor dentist was having to instruct me every so often "open wide!" Oh well. At least I got a nap out of the whole exercise. Sigh! I could literally FEEL the dentist SCRUBBING the innards of my tooth canal with these tightly coiled springy things to sterilize and clean the inside. Oooookay. Then she put on some temporary filling to tide me over for a week. With final instructions of NOT chewing on that side for 24 hours, I was done.

***

On a lighter note, here's an AVP that Japa had made for the Ruby Anniversary. He spent hours poring over photos hunched over his laptop. The result? One of the best videos ever. And that's with NO bias tainting the praise either, lol!

Sit back, relax, grab a cuppa joe. You're going to LOVE this!



***tooth by Jacque Larsen

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Video, Malaysia, Chocolate Heaven

Here's Jason Magbanua's awesome, dramatic on-site video shown during the reception:


Mr. and Mrs. Boy Dizon's 40th Anniversary from Jason Magbanua on Vimeo.

Now tell me if that isn't full of drama! Can't wait to see the entire video now. I wonder how long that's going to take.....

***

Japa was off to Penang, Malaysia this morning for the Dragon Boat World Championships. His team, Drago Pilipinas, is entered in the Men's Division 200m and 500m races, as well as in the Mixed 200m and 500m races. Modesty aside, I just *know* they won't ever ever find as good a team as OUR mixed team in 1997 when we got the GOLD at the Worlds in Hong Kong :) Hehehehe. I do with their teams the best....it's going to be tough this year I'm sure, as the International Dragon Boat Federation has apparently gotten all technical and detail-oriented, right down to mandating the use of life vests (ugh!!) and the stipulation of the use of SAME oars for the entire boat! Plus, teams are now required to bring their own paddles, as opposed to the IDBF providing paddles for the teams' use! I mean really! How ridiculous and an unnecessary expense for the teams involved! Sheesh! Oh well, whatever!

It's the same old story for the team though....traveling at the least expense possible. Which translates to a crappy schedule: the team leaves Manila at 630 am for a 2 hour ride to Clark where they were able to get cheap airfare to Kuala Lumpur. From there, they have a SIX hour layover before boarding a flight to Penang. Finally, after at least 12 hours after they first boarded a plane in Manila, they land at their destination. And their hotel of choice? The YMCA. Ok. And I was thinking of going with them to support them. Yeah. Not at the Y, though!!!

Sending them happy and good luck thoughts from here though! :)

***

So today, on Japa's first day out, I run free.....sort of. Randy and Stella call to invite us for a taste-test at Portico's at Serendra for Tyler's baptismal party. The Brotherhood and Sisterhood (sans Bang, Boydee and Japa) met up with Steff and Jovic to taste and rate some really good food at Portico's. I guess it helped that we were hungry, hehehe (aren't we, all the time!) and we had a great time as we went through most of the food. But most of the food WAS yummy and I wouldn't mind going back there to have a real meal! Not the cheapest place by any means, but then again, good food will always set you back eh? But still. I like them not-so-expensive and good.

Anyhoo, we were trying to convince Randy and Stella that they didn't need to spend so much on the baptismal party for Tyler. It was going to be just family anyway, and we were just going to.....eat. Hehehehe. And if it was going to be mainly pizza and pasta fare, we could always get that cheaper elsewhere. See? We're practical! And we're helping the new parents be that way as well! :) We finally were able to convince them to look elsewhere (P950 per person for a buffet was just waaaaay too much!!!) Whew!

After dinner, we strolled over to Xocolat where, OMG!!! they served up THE best hot chocolate ever!!! It was dark, thick and just PERFECT!!! Yummm!!! I am still licking my lips as I think about how delish it was! And heck YES, I got the large cup! To think there's a Xocolat right next to where we live and we haven't been there at all! Gotta correct that at ONCE!!! Paired with their oh-so-sweet authentic carrot cake, I was in chocolate heaven for sure! A perfect end to a great night! :)

I did feel sort of guilty when I got home because all the kids were asleep in my room. Sort of. It's always fun to go out with the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood and just talk and have fun and to just be out. Even if Japa's not there, hehehe.

Trying to Get Out of Anniversary-Mode

Trying is the key word here. But I'm sitting at my desk, in the office, yawning my head off, still. And to think I slept early last night! It's not hard wresting ourselves out of anniversary-mode. For the longest time, for the past few months, the Ruby Anniversary was all that we thought of, pretty much. Most of our preparations were geared towards this past Sunday. And now. Pshsk. Nothingness.

So, to take a break from the monotony of editing org charts and salary spreadsheets, here are more pictures from the wedding:

The Offerors:

Tito Ricky & Tita Rolette
Tito Kito & Tita Nina
Tito Lito & Tita Rosie
Tito Rey & Tita Tinggoy
Tito Ricky & Tita Paloming
Tito Ji
and Lola Nene, mother of the Bride....looking radiant and regal. Who would say she's 89?!?!

Then some family pics. And you know our family......it was sooooo hard to get some decent pics where EVERYONE looks nice and smiling and actually looking in the exact same direction as everyone in the photo is. Hehehehe. Same thing happens each and every time we attempt to take the "perfect" family picture!

Before I try and completely get out of Anniversay-mode, however, a few heartfelt thank yous and shout outs to the greatest bunch of people ever to come together to make this whole celebration work: our family. It is only family where we discover both our weaknesses AND our strengths. It is only with family that we learn to overcome our weaknesses and build on our strengths. It is with family that we are able to put all our strengths together to make something special, to make something way bigger and way more powerful than each of of us combined, because everything we did was done in the name of love.

So to each and every member of this family, THANK YOU:

To my brothers:

Boydee - for being your obsessive-compulsive self, for setting the bar on dancing with grace and with the necessary hip action, for your acting abilities

Dic - for your Bocelli-likeness in voice and appearance (sort of, hehehe), for your grace and ability to do some major catching up on all the dances, for taking care of the transportation logistics, for dealing with the head waiters

Randy - for making it to the wedding in time (!!!), for gamely practicing in Polaris with only a video to guide you,

Rodney - for doing anniversary stuff even with your wedding looming on the horizon, for softening your body for dancing (hehehe), for doing all the budgeting for the event

To my sisters:

Bang - for your organization skills-a perfect foil for Boydee's OC-ness (thank God!), for your detail-oriented-ness (is that even a word?), for your ability to sweet talk even the priests into dancing

Lai - for your grace and ability to do some major catching up on all the dances, for arranging the food for the practices and at the hotel, for the use of Apitong!!!, for coordinating the make up artists

Stella - for your incredibly powerful voice, for popping out Tyler when you did-to make it to the wedding on time (!!!), for gamely practicing in Polaris with only a video to guide you, for teaching Randy to be graceful as heck despite the short practice time,

Zhar - for cheering on Rod to dance, for keeping up non-stop chatter at Tatang's, for tirelessly arranging invites and the wedding cake, for doing all the anniversary stuff despite your own wedding date coming up soon

and of course to my dear husband:

Japa - for putting up with me through all the practices and the annoying reminders of having to be on time, for taking photos of the entire event, including rehearsals, and most especially, of not complaining of having to take on my weight for that tango finale!!! hehehehe

and me? Heck, this is my blog, so yes, I'm thanking me too: LOLOL! Thank goodness I'm bossy enough to know what the strengths and weaknesses are of the family, for delegating certain things (especially when I was uber lazy to do certain things.....like arranging for food, ugh!) and yes, I'm more of the behind-the-scenes kind of gal, so my forte were pretty much the guest books (with their lovely layouts, I may add, hehehehe) and the art of tirelessly texting people for dance practice once, twice, thrice a week. Let me tell you, I think I've memorized the wonderful texting features of my phones because of this anniversary!

Mamma Mia and More of the Wedding

The day after the anniversary.....thank goodness the kids had no class! First off, it was time for the SONA (State of the Nation Address), and because the place where it was going to be held was near the kids' school, no classes. Additionally, there's a storm coming this way, so the Department of Education declared last night that there wasn't going to be any classes from high school down. So yup, the kids had a break because they stayed up pretty late last night! Most especially Raine, in her high heels, too!

So anyway, since a lot of the family stayed at the hotel last night, we met up for breakfast. Like we didn't eat a lot last night! Hhehehe. Hey, any excuse to get together and EAT is always a good one, especially for this family! :) We met up at Circles and ate and ate and ate. And had fun reliving last night's entire celebration, from the mass to the reception and to all the dancing involved. Even Dad's face would light up every time we talked about yesterday! :)

After breakfast, we went upstairs and hung out a bit as Bang and Rondic checked out. Then we invited Mom and Tita Belen to watch Mamma Mia at the mall. Finally! It had been out since the 10th or the 18th, I think, and we were just getting around to watching it! And was it a fun fun FUN movie!!! I LOOOVED every minute of it, including all the songs! Did I tell you I love musicals? Hehehe. After the nth song, Raegan would sigh out loud, look at me, and say, "why do they have to SING it? Why can't they just SAY it?!?" LOL!

Movie Summary: Raised on a Greek island by a formerly rebellious mom who never disclosed the identity of her father, a bride-to-be locates three men who might be her father and invites them to her wedding.

Awesome performances (including singing!) by Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan! I mean, who would have thought that the former Remington Steele and James Bond could pull off a musicale?!?! Wonderful wonderful performances! The movie pretty much stuck to the play's script, but of course, you can just do so much more in a movie. And it was just wonderfully light fare for today! Just perfect!

Another movie poster I saw that was cute was this one on the right. Adorable eh? Lai, you could've used this for the Ruby celebration, too, and put more of our faces on there, hehehehe.

Speaking of the Ruby, here's a continuation of my picture-heave post from yesterday:

I showed you my sisters just bawling it out during the walk down the aisle of Mom and Dad....here's one of Stella which I missed uploading yesterday:


And you think only the GIRLS were crying?!?! Uh-uh. 'Course not! I've got some beauties of the boys too!

Now I *KNOW* there's a pic somewhere of Rondic crying, but I can't find it!!! Anyone know where it is???

As we neared the steps going up to the altar, it was obvious that Dad was tired. So when he reached the end of the aisle where we were all waiting, the boys took his arms and led him up the stairs to his chair. One of the boys escorted Mom to her chair as well.


During the Responsorial Psalm, it was the grandchildren's turn to shine. Rielle delivered an exceptional chorus of On Eagles' Wings, making my hair stand on end. Pure, innocent, totally child-like, it was just a beautiful rendition that moved me to tears. Hence,

Here's Rielle, looking very tiny all by herself up on the podium

And the other grandkids, singing their hearts out, with the choir backing them up on the first chorus only. They did a pretty decent job :)

The Re-Affirmation of Vows

Apparently, Dad had left instructions that he was going to do the vows STANDING up. So Boydee rushed forward to help him. And good thing he did, too, because when Mom and Dad were exchanging rings, one of the rings fell and Boydee caught it in mid-air!

One of the BEST parts of this whole affair was hearing Dad answer Fr. Benny "I do!" in a loud, clear, strong voice which rang throughout the Shrine. Everyone was so surprised to hear him say it in this way, we all applauded him! This was a HUGE thing!!! Dad rarely spoke nowadays, and never ever in a clear, loud voice! He had been practicing for this moment! Go, Dad!

Lighting of the candles
Laying of the Veil
Laying of the Cord

A shot of the 12 concelebrating priests and Bishop Tumulak

They did a splendid entrance, Fr Anton delivered a great sermon (a tad bit long, but meaningful!) and Fr Benny arrived from Tagaytay way ahead of time to make the wedding and be the lead-priest for the re-affirmation of the vows. To all these wonderful priests who are near and dear to Mom and Dad, we THANK YOU for your support and your presence at the 40th wedding anniversary celebration!

And with that, I'm ending pics of the wedding here.....maybe more tomorrow, hehehehe.

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to Mom and Dad!!!

Forty years. That's a verrrry loooong time. Especially in today's world. What an achievement, a milestone!

Ready for a photo-heavy post? Hehehe. Of course we took loads of pics! Or...Japa did, as did Mario and Oel.....but my dear sister Lai didn't whip out her camera at all! Gasp, my heart! Hehehe. I can't wait to get my scrappy little hands on the pix the photographers we hired took, though. As well as the full-length videos.

But anyhoo, let me take you through the wedding mass and reception, via pictures:

It was a very emotional mass for ALL of us. Not just Mom and Dad, but for the entire family. And when we were talking to some friends and relatives afterwards, turns out not a few were brought to tears from the very start of the processional.

As we were lining up at the back of the church, Dad was brought in from the limo outside, where he was waiting with Mom. He was in his wheelchair. The very instant he saw the Shrine transformed for their wedding mass, he started to tear up. Boydee squatted beside him and told him, "Dad, Dad, we haven't even started yet." :)

The Processional:

Flower Girl

The Junior Bridesmaids (they refused to be called Flower Girls, saying they were all too old for that. They even expressed disappointment in their gowns, saying it was more like a Flower Girl's dress than a bridesmaid's gown that they expected---flowing, graceful lines and fabric *roll eyes* LOL!)

The Bearers (Bible, Rosary, Coin, Ring)



The Secondary Sponsors (Candle, Veil, Cord)


The Groomsman and Bridesmaid

The Groom and the Best Man--there was no way Dad was going to be able to walk the 50-meter aisle to the altar, so Boydee pushed him to the halfway mark to wait for Mom.

The Maid of Honor (that's moi!) with the Best Man
and the gorgeous gorgeous Bride

And when we got to the halfway mark, Dad stood up from his wheelchair and escorted Mom the rest of the way to the altar. It was such an emotional moment; here Dad was, barely able to walk, but he was walking oh so slowly with Mom holding him up a bit. You could see the determination in his face: he was going to get Mom to the altar no matter what. It was a beautiful thing to witness and this moment would stay with me the rest of my life.

This is what love is, this is what sacrifice is, this is 40 years of marriage.

The walk down the aisle:

If *I* thought it was an emotional walk, look at my dear sisters:

pretty gals, all in a row....waiting for Mom and Dad to get to the altar (I was still on the way up with Boydee)
and the emotional roller coaster starts.....
......and......

they lost it:
totally lost it.

And this was just in the church, during the processional!

Ok, it is very very late and I'm tiiiiired. More pics and stories tomorrow!

One More Day and an Impromptu Practice

One more day 'til the big day!!!! Ack!!! Shriek!!! PANIC NOW!!!!!!!

Ok, got that off my chest, whew! Hehehe.

You know how you feel that everything has gone perfectly, and that you've thought that you've done everything ahead of time? Well that was the general feeling we all got when Margot told us this past Wednesday that we were ready; that we didn't need another practice before the big day. Uhmmm.....yeah. As of last night, a bunch of us girls were in a state of panic, thinking that we would FORGET every single dance step taught us! Well, we didn't want to make complete fools out of ourselves, so we called for an impromptu practice for today of all days: a day before the big event. Oh well, at least we would KNOW what to do tomorrow, right?

And good thing we had that practice! We polished every little detail, down to arguing about the last few new steps that Margot had taught us just this Wednesday. We were counting beats, etc, and tried to tie that with the voice over that Boydee and Bang knew we were going to have. From there, we timed our last 4 steps and perfected it. After 3 runs of the entire number, we were done. Finis. Finito.

Satisfied with our performance, we went home to TRY and relax. With 4 kids and 5 different sets of costumes to oversee being prepared, it wasn't exactly stress-free. But the yayas were helpful, and soon enough, everything was ready, and sent to Elizza's for her to bring tonight when she and Bang would be checking in for Mom and Dad.

Even the mannequins and Mom's replica of her original wedding dress and her 25th wedding anniversary dress were sent....and assembled at the room of Randy and Stella who, incidentally, would be arriving TOMORROW MORNING!!! Talk about arriving on the dot, hehehe.

Here's a dark, unprocessed photo of Mom's original dress, a replica. I could NOT find the original one, although I had tried that on oh-so-many decades ago!


And Mom's dress during their 25th wedding anniversary when they renewed their vows as well:


Uhm yeah, I totally forgot the wigs for the mannequins, LOL! Oh well. They displayed the gowns quite nicely in the end, which was the whole purpose anyway.

I am going to go to bed before I get yet another attack of the acne thingamajiggers and they ruin my complexion for the wedding! No no no no!!! Gotta look perfect for tomorrow....say it with me now.......gotta be perfect, everything's gotta be perfect......

Zzzzzz! G'nyt!

It's a THUNDERSTORM!!!

Thunderstorm definition: Kinda like a bridal shower...called so for a bridal shower celebrating 40 years of marriage...get it? Shower=thunderstorm (just because of all the YEARS involved???)

Ok fine, we made that term up for the shower the Sisterhood threw for Mom. It was all hush-hush as can be. Lai's brilliant idea went off without a hitch, especially as we enlisted the aid of Gigi, who lived in the same village as Mom and Dad. But man, was it hard to keep secrets from dear mother! And poor Gigi, who just came from a retreat, was forced to tell several white lies to mom's face! Hehehehe. Gigi, thank you from the very bottom of our hearts for offering your house and your award-winning performance to get Mom to your house on time!

We had agonized over where to hold Mom's thunderstorm....it was going to be SOOOO obvious if, out of the blue, I'd call Mom and invite her over to my house. She knows I do not entertain, hehehe. It Lai were to do it at her house, it was another light bulb, because Mom know Lai and Dic ALWAYS entertain, so she'd know something was up! See the predicament we were in?!? It is never easy with our mother, I tell you!

But everything went off just perfectly! We had gathered a few close friends and family, and Mom's angels. And yes, we were doing the coed thing so that the boys could enjoy the food as well. We assembled at Gigi's spacious living room to wait for Mom and Gigi to arrive.

This was in the small hallway off of the living room. Mom's angels and the kids were all crammed here....I had kind of forbidden them to stand by the curtains as their shadows might be visible through the corridors when Mom walked through the house.


Such a shame not one of us was able to capture Mom's almost-purse-dropping SHOCKED expression when all of us yelled "SURPRISE"!!! Priceless expression at that, too! It was wonderful timing....everyone waiting for Mom to completely step into the living room from behind a thick column after the doorway. Gigi kept up her small talk, in true Oscar-worthy performance! :) She even turned her back on Mom to turn on the light switches! Mom was TOTALLY CLUELESS as to what lay in store for her!!! *release evil cackle here, bwahahahaha*

We had some risque games and some tame ones, which the kids even joined in (mostly on-paper games). Gasp! Kids and MEN at a shower?!?! It's a thunderstorm, after all, and we're setting the bar on this one :) We did tell the kids that they weren't supposed to be there; however, because it was a Friday and we all had frazzled nerves from trying to figure out drivers, rides, and color-coding cars, it was just easier to have them there to be able to use all the drivers at some point during the day! Sheesh! What a logistical nightmare! And to think this wasn't even the anniversary date yet!!!!

Some pics of the games:

Egg-cracking
Wrap the Eggplant
Banana Sculpting

And this is me losing it, when I saw my dear mother holding that eggplant. Apparently, it was the first time (or one of the FEW times) she had ever held a c.o.n.d.o.m in her hand. And she was grossed out from all the oil.

After the games it was time to open all the gifts and watch Lai's video about Mom. A perfect, touching tribute, and a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Happy Thunderstorm, Mom, and thank you to everyone who was there!