MEComposing

(sort of, for Belle, who says she's only 16)

Colleagues were enjoying a series of birthday and anniversary celebrations in the department for the whole week... basically that means food.

Anyway, we got to talking about food we loved as kids.

Like tira-tira for example... and it's sticky sweetness...

And how we huff and puff as we straw milk from plastic bottles... and the cheap milo chocolate that you buy when you're tired of flat matamis na bao, or when the sundot kulangot has already run out...

And we were shocked that one of my colleagues doesn't know what ampaw is like...

And yes, we thank heavens that yema is back with a vengeance...

And I told them how happy I was to find out that they still make Stay Fresh, those green peas-like mints that I used to consume by the pack in grade school... in fact, you can even buy a whole pack for less than P25 in Divi (and yes, i've never believed that story that they make you infertile)... ahehe

And how me miss the five-centavo chicklets or round candies ... you buy a peso of them and you'd have this plastic of colorful sweets all day...

And then we got to talking about games we used to play... and I lamented how I was never good at chinese garter... could never jump high enough once the garter is already on my playmates' waists... and remember that other type where you twirl your finger around the garter and jump over that in a lady-like, naglalandi way? that one where you also sort of twirl your arms on the garter and stretch it over your head and pass that way... bwahahahaha

and i seldom had 'houses' (bahay) in piko , and my steps were always too big/wide for step-no ... tsk

and since i always found it hard to jump...i was also no good at luksong tinik... and luksong baka required me not only to jump but also to spread my legs in a way I wasn't comfortable then...

and yes, am super balagoong when it comes to sha-to, and I never played trumpo, and of course, never had spiders nor salagubangs fight...

and susmio... i'm a hopeless case ever with plastic balloons... and it was bad that I wasn't among those who actually like it's smell and taste...

i was ok with monkey-monkey because I could run... and i liked the variation shake, body-body dancer where, instead of holding still, you put your hands on your waist and shake your body when you get tagged...

and i was also ok with agawan panyo and 1-2-3 or trag-tragan because I could run like hell...

taguan usually finds me becoming IT because I was bigger than my playmates... and when we play hide-and-seek... either we really hide... or just happily squeeze in the same corner where the IT is sure not to miss us...

we of course played bahay-bahayan a lot... with sleeping time and food (crushed junk food) and vitamins (melted ice candy)... the boys always had a free ride bacuse it's usually us girls who would chip in for the food... I guess they knew early on that it's just not right to play house without a Dad and brother :)

and our version of football seems real icky now... since we continue playing even after our ball has landed on the canal... it was combination football (because we kick the ball), baseball (because we had bases) and a little bit of dodgeball (only because we throw the canal-water-wet ball on people if we want them out)

oh, and we also play saga-sagalaan using walis-tingting for flower archs...

speaking of which, bubbles can be had for P60/12 pcs at Divi... or there are the more expensive kind...but none of them create as big bubbles as we ever made using soap and gumamela (hibiscus?) flowers, and using walis-tingting for dipping wands (wrapped in some cloth so the bubble doesn't break)...

ahhh... there were so many games played then... so many early mornings when I only lived to play... and so many afternoons when we'd get spanked to go home... and so many nights when some of us could steal away from our beds unbeknownst to parents...

scabs and scars and sunburn and broken lip and bumps on the head... those were badges of honor...

and with my colleagues, we pitied today's generation... for only having their gameboys and PS...for going after branded labels... for flying T's that are now battery-operated... for their lack of creativity and imagination when they play...

and mostly, for their lack of interaction...

and the fact that... at age 4, a child with so many toys can be heard saying he is bored