ANIMAL SOUNDS

One day, Kyla wanted to play "pretend" with me. She was going to be a little girl who lived in a farm. She wanted me to play the different animals.

This is how our conversation went: (This is the easiest way for me to tell the story.)

KYLA: "Mommy, you're gonna be a rooster. You have to crow so I can wake up."

ME: "Okay... TUK-TU-GA-OK! TUK-TU-GA-OK!

Kyla opened her eyes and stared at me with this really confused look on her face.

KYLA: "Mommy, what are you doing?! You're supposed to crow like a rooster!"

ME: "I did! I did crow like a rooster!"

KYLA: "No, you didn't. You did something else. You said TUK-TU-SOMETHING. It's supposed to be COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!

ME: "Well, Kyla... In the Philippines, that's the sound roosters make!"

KYLA: "What kind of roosters do they have in the Philippines?!"

* * S I G H * *

KYLA: "Okay, mommy. Now you be a frog and I'm trying to go to sleep but you keep making noises."

ME: "KOKAK! KOKAK!

Kyla looks at me again very confused. She was getting really exasperated.

KYLA: "Mommy, what are you doing?!"

ME: "I'm making frog noises. Isn't that what you wanted me to do?"

KYLA: "Yeah, but that's not the right sound, mommy! It's supposed to be RIBBIT! RIBBIT!

ME: "Well, Kyla... In the Philippines, that's the sound frogs make!"

KYLA: "How come animals in the Philippines make weird sounds? Oh yea... I know why! THEY'RE TAGALOG!"

* * D O U B L E S I G H * *

*As far as Kyla is concerned, every Filipino IS Tagalog.

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOP-A-HOLIC

Ever since my bestfriend, Tiara, got me hooked on the Shop-a-holic series a few years back, I wished and hoped that they would make a movie out of the books. And they did. Finally! It will be officially showing on February 13th but since Tiara has crazy hook-ups, we got to go to the pre-screening earlier today at the Scotiabank Theatre.

The movie was pretty well done considering that it was based on a novel. It was a little different from the book but it worked out pretty well. It wasn't disappointing like most of the other movies based on novels. Isla Fisher was perfect for the part of Rebecca Bloomwood- the main character.

I cracked up so many times since I can totally relate to the character. You guys have to see the movie to understand what I'm talking about. HaHaHa. But I'm sure those of you who know me pretty well will understand just after watching the trailer. Enjoy!

SIGNS 1

See anything wrong with this sign? I took this pic inside one of the malls in Chinatown while out Buddha-shopping.

Who needs to eat flied lice when you can just KAYAOKE!

FOREVER YOUNG

Browsing through some old pictures in the computer, it reminded me of what Kyla told me when she first started school. I believe it was her first few weeks at school and at that time, "Apa" (Brice's dad) would pick her up when she got off since Brice and I would be at work. As time went by, Apa made friends with the other Filipino dads who also picked up their kids. One day, when Apa wasn't there to pick her up (I went instead), she said: "Mommy, my friends' dads said to say hi to my dad but I think they were talking about Apa. He's friends with them you know cuz they're the same age." So I asked her what she said to them. And she answered, "I told them Apa's not my dad- he's my Grandpa! MY MOM AND DAD ARE TEENAGERS!"

*Until now, she still tells everyone that her parents are teenagers. Her reasoning? Because we don't look like her other friends' parents. The other parents look more like Apa and Ama OR Papa and Mama. Oh geez!

F-O-B

I am currently in Ajax at my parents' place and I don't know how it all started but we started talking about random stuff- including MY FOBBY moments. And now, my MOTHER AND HUSBAND wanted me to share my VERY EMBARRASSING moments to the whole wide world!

-I was on my first few shifts at McDonald's (my very first job) and a customer asked me for something... I couldn't understand what he was saying at all. It sounded like pure mumbling to me although that 'something' he was asking for sounded familiar. After he repeated himself so many times, I started to panic- I still had no idea what EXACTLY he wanted and he was getting really frustrated with me. And I was already trying my hardest to lip-read! I thought I was gonna cry but since I thought I knew what he was asking for I said, "Oh, that!" I can see the relief on his face while I started to walk to the side- going to the ice cream machine getting his 'something.' I walked back to the customer with a huge smile on my face and handed him the MOST PERFECT VANILLA CONE I was capable of making. The customer looked at me like I just did the STUPIDEST thing and said, "What's this?" I said, "You wanted *me mumbling trying to make it sound like whatever he said*, right?" At this time, a good friend of mine (who happened to work with me and was working on the next till) was looking at us trying to figure out what was happening. When the customer shouted, "I want some S**V****ES!" I was almost in tears, then I saw my friend walk outside to the condiments counter and got him a whole bunch of napkins. She then walked up to me and said, "He was asking for SERVIETTES!" (To all you Filipinos out there: get it? SERVIETTES? SORBETES? And I wasn't even sure what SORBETES meant. I just remembered seeing that word on some ice cream container in the Philippines so I assumed it meant ice cream!).

-Same setting: McDonalds. A man came up and asked for some 'chips.' I was very apologetic when I said, "I'm sorry, sir. We don't sell chips here. This is McDonalds. The convenient store is just around the corner." He looked at me and pointing to the fry machine he said, "What are those then?" FRIES!

At least when the incident above happened, I finally realized that it was okay to order 'Fish and Chips.' I never wanted to order it before cuz when they say 'chips," it's usually Lay's or some kind of potato chips which I don't really appreciate much. And besides, why would you eat fish with CHIPS? Fish and Fries sounds more appetizing!

-I was doing some shopping and when the cashier handed me the receipt I looked at it and looked at her in shock. I walked back and said, "How'd you know my name? I never told you my first name, did I? By the way, it's misspelled." Then I left staring at the receipt that said, "THANK YOU, MERCI!"

And lastly...

-We were at Fairview Mall earlier this evening and I volunteered to order the food. Brice wanted something from Grill It Up so I decided that I'd get something from there too to save time. I ordered Tandoori Chicken and I specified that I wanted it mild. When the guy handed me my order, I stared at it surprised (again!). On the container was scribbled, "TAN, M"- my last name and first initial! I guess the guy saw my expression cuz he then said, "That's what you wanted, right? TANdoori Mild? I just smiled like an idiot and left.

Mahn! Even after being 'Canadian' for a while now (over a decade already!), these things still happen to me! But now, I can finally laugh it off and say, "I AM SUCH A FOB!"

It's okay, you can laugh WITH me :-D

HA - HA - HA !