Where FB stands for Facebook, EB for eye ball and Weebee, well, that needs no explanation. :) Having said that, let me announce to the whole world that we just found ourselves some new friends *insert “Weebee!” here* Filipino friends at that! It all started with a message I left on cousin Millie’s Facebook wall last Thursday: “
Belated happy birthday to Alyssa! Hugs and kisses from all of us here in Austin! Mmmwah!
A few minutes later, I got a message in my FB inbox from Lori, a friend of wonder twin sisters Millie (wife of Hubby’s first cousin, Monty) and Carrie, who happen to be living in Austin as well. Lori was just telling me how glad she was that her former classmates Millie and Carrie “know” someone in Austin. I was surprised, too, to find out that Millie and Carrie know someone other than our family of three here in Austin. The next day, I sent Lori an email, too, telling her where I am exactly. And guess what, we live in the same community! Just a stone’s throw away from each other! The emails led to live chats and then to an actual phone call, an impromptu invitation to Lica’s (Lori’s daughter) 7th birthday party scheduled the following day, and finally, an eyeball after I picked up Abby from school last Friday. All these happened in a matter of three hours or so last Friday. As I told Carrie, ang bilis ng mga pangyayari! Not that I’m complaining! Hee hee. We, of course, accepted the invitation to Lica’s party.
For the first time in the more than one year that we’ve been living in Texas, we attended a kiddie party exactly the way we know kiddie parties to be…fun-filled and food-filled, too (think pancit, dinuguan, fried chicken, at marami pang iba!) Hee hee. With Lica’s guests numbering over 70, it was the most number of Filipinos we’ve seen gathered in one place here in the US since we moved here! If you’ve read the book The Host, I tell you, I felt what Wanderer/Melanie must have felt when she discovered a cave-full of humans! Hahaha!
The best part is meeting and being welcomed by a warm and friendly bunch of people. It would have been nice if we had the chance to meet and mingle with everybody but that would be stretching our luck far too much. Hubby and I met about 4 or 5 other couples who also live in our community. We didn’t realize there were so many Filipinos practically next door to us. Gosh, we really don’t get out much…well, we do, but… :D Abby made some new friends, too, friends whom, hopefully, she will see again and again and again.
Hubby and I went home with silly smiles on her face. We teased each other about having new friends, “Uuuy, may friends ka na!”. :P Hubby may have friends from work but it is I who actually has friends (Bet and Ate Aileen) that we hang out with. So the joke’s more on Hubby than me!
What a difference several days make! I’ve made more friends since my last blog entry! When you’re living thousands of miles away from everything familiar, you just can’t not welcome anything or anyone that brings you a tad closer to home. Thank you, God, for a most wonderful weekend miracle! :)
To Lori and Chris, Alet and Edwin, Weng and Andre, Michelle and Andrew and Camille and Art, we say thank you, for a very warm welcome. It was such great pleasure meeting all of you and we had a truly wonderful time.
Unfortunately, blogging moment as it was, I didn’t get to take pictures. Just believe when I say that I didn’t make any of these up. *wink*
oOo
Moving on to other things…
To the five people who subscribe to my feeds, you may have noticed that my feeds are now the full text of my entries, unlike before when you get but a few sentences of a blog entry. Truth be told, I had self serving motives for having summarized feeds. I thought a summarized feed will lure subscribers to visit my site, which is tantamount to hits. Hee hee. I apologize for that. I guess I’ve matured after a little over three years of blogging. I have finally seen the light!
I only realized the beauty of full feeds these past few weeks when I’ve been very busy. I like being able to read the entries of blogs I subscribe to without having to leave my feed reader (Bloglines). Between you and me, I have a tendency to skip blogs with summarized feeds and visit them at a later time. I’m sorry about that, too. :D It’s the classic case of having so many things to do with so little time.
oOo
I’ve got more stories for you tomorrow. For now, I wish you all a great new week ahead! Cheers!
Friends and more friends, that’s what makes us fun and energized right, I am glad you found new friends there!
Hi Sheng! I am so happy nadagdagan ang friends. Hahaha! ;) I don’t really need a lot…just a few good ones. :D
“Uuuy, may friends ka na!”.
hehee, too funny because we do that too! when you’re far from the place you call home (or at least a place you’re very familiar with), any company you find that bears semblance to what you’re so used to is enough to put a smile on your face, it doesn’t matter kung trivial yun sa ibang tao. :)
Hi Abby! I’m glad Lori, my NFF, found me. Nakaexperience ako bigla ng fiesta. Hee hee. :D
ayan, so now alam mo na from experience why and how much i cherish my pinoy barangay dito sa atlanta, haha! (at hindi lang dahil sa chibog galore talaga pag may okasyon, hehe!).
sobrang-sobrang happy ako that you were able to connect with them! ibang-iba talaga when you’re in the company of fellow pinoys who share the same idea of fun and community. ayos! panalo! :) at sabi ko nga sa iyo sa YM, i’m sure simula na ito ng paghahasa mo ng iyong catering abilities, haha!
as for full feeds, i’ve always shared them for my blogs. ang reason ko din nun was (and still is), para hindi na ma-inconvenience ang readers. if they found my entry interesting (or controversial, nyeh!) enough, they’ll eventually click the link to go to the comments box naman. if not, then at least nabasa na nila yung buong entry kahit ayaw nila, haha!
thanks for doing that, it really helps especially sa mga busy tulad natin (naks!)
Meeyas last blog post..Cryptic Blues
Hi Mee! Tama ka at I understand kung gaano kahalaga sayo ang baranggay mo diyan. Hee hee. Iba talaga when you have Pinoy friends…yung hundi mo na kailangan i-explain kung bakit marunong ka mag-English kahit di ka sa US lumaki. Hahaha! At kung bakit nagsisimba pag Linggo…at kung bakit dapat maraming pagkain pag may party! :D
Nag-mature na siguro ako kaya ayan, full feeds ahead!..para sa mga busy…tulad natin. ;)
Hi Weng! I was smiling while reading your blog. Kind of inspired me to blog again which I have so long set aside. I’m just soo happy as well to have found a neighbor so close! At long last my wish has been granted. I can sense this is a start of something…:).
It’s just too bad we weren’t able to talk too much during the party. Maybe, next time we get together in a smaller group its pretty hard when there’s a lot of people around to entertain specially when you’re the host :). Anyways, we welcome you again to Austin and to our group here in *bleep bleep* :).
I’ll talk to you soon. Hi to Dondie and Abby :).
Hi Lori! Welcome to my online home! :) I’m glad you found me. Hahaha! Ang nagagawa ng Facebook, ano? Thanks again for inviting us to Lica’s party. At tulad nga ng sabi ko sayo, hindi ko na-feel na hindi tayo masyado nakapag-usap! Hahaha! You promised ha, tabi tayo sa binyag ni Kassy! :D
I hope Nisa’s doing better now! Ingat! See you on Saturday! :)
wow! maraming new friends ah…and i’m happy ‘cos may kalaro na rin si Abby na malapit lang sa inyo :)
have got something special for you pala: http://crazygraciegirl.blogspot.com/2008/10/special-award.html
para yan sa mga creative posts mo na binabalik-balikan ko :)
Gracies last blog post..special award
Hi Gracie! Thanks for sharing in my, make that in OUR, joy. :) Oo nga, mas dumami rin ang kalaro ni Abby. ;)
Salamat ulit sa award! Mmmwah! :)
Galing talaga what technology can do ano? ;) So happy with your NFFs! Here’s to more Weebees (what does it mean nga pala – sorry, so clueless!) to come!
Take care!
Pinkys last blog post..LP #28: Luma Na
Hi Pinks! In the length of time I’ve been blogging, I’ve made a lot of friends already and continue to do so. Katuwa talaga ang technology!
More Weebees (it’s like Yipeee!)! Hahaha! :D
uy inggit ako may friend ka na hee :) Let me repeat that, may mga friends ka na hahah!
anyhow, I subscribe to your feeds but never ko napansin na putol hahah! Also, I dislike those sites with putol putol feeds, tama ka nga self serving lol! joke peace baka may umaway sa akin.
labya weng, ya know that!
something purples last blog post..random bothered thoughts
Hi Em! Uy, may friends naman ako dati pero dalawa lang. ;) Ngayon, mas marami na. ;)
Sobrang busy ka kasi kaya hindi mo napansin na putol ang feeds ko. Ngayon mababasa mo na ng buung-buo! ;)
Labya, too, Em! Mmmwah!
Pinky mentioned to me this before but only go to read it now. Ang galing ng FB, EB, WeeBee experience ninyo ni Dondi. Uuuy, marami na silang friends. Maybe I should try posting at FB and see if may ma discover din kaming friends dito sa aming lugar… for all you know, di ba?!
Clicking Aways last blog post..LP 029 – Bago nga Ba?
[...] October was when we started getting really busy, as in busier than ever! It was in October when our extended Austin family grew in number…by leaps and bounds. By the sheer power of Facebook, we met other Filipino families who [...]