Mon Santos Video48 - Quezon City

Over the years I have collected a dozen of video rental membership cards from different places and until now I still have a few of them.

Last Saturday, I brought my family to Video48 to claim my prize, an FPJ t-shirt for winning an online trivia contest by Mon Santos, owner of Video48. And I bought another one for my brother and several FPJ movies. This shop has withstood the passing of time and still holds a pleasant environment for people who buy and rented movies with a cheerful staff and a great customer service. I never got to meet Mon but just seeing his shop, you can instantly sense his personality, a true aficionado of the art of motion pictures.

Aside from tons of movie files, he also has a great toy collection in his shop most notably Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. We learned from his staff that his collection is extended up to the third floor. Of course, I did not pay much attention on the rest of things there except for FPJ movies and be back for sure…

Thanks for the shirt, Mon! Congrats for the two-decade celebration of your shop and for the many years of movie hunting as well.

John Elway - So Good For So Long

My appreciation for American Football started in 1987 when I was in 4th Grade. My elder brother, Jason, who was in high school then, would only go home during weekends and loved to watch sports shows while he's having a good massage from our dad.

Being an 11 year old boy, I would rather watch cartoons more than anything else which we, my siblings would fight for the television tuner. My brother, being an athletic teenager, always brought home MVP medals from different sports he joined in school. He then became my idol that whatever shows his watching, I see to it that I understand whatever it was, how to score, the name of the plays and the players. One great thing I admire from him is that he loves all sports events. And often times, during championships, he cheered for the underdogs except for local pro-basketball (PBA), where he and the whole family is a die-hard Jaworski fan who wore jersey 7 for Ginebra San Miguel.

One Sunday morning my brother requested to watch the football game and I got intrigued by way the game is being played unlike from any sports I've seen so I also watched the games even when he's not around. What caught my attention during his visits was the NFL Denver Broncos Quarterback, John Elway who also wore jersey number 7. Being a new fan of NFL, I didn't realized that this guy will be my idol too but not until my senior year in college when he won his first Super Bowl. And repeated the feat the following year and ended his career on top with two rings and an MVP award.

In 2005, I bought this McFarlane’s 12 inches figure of Elway. For me, he’s one of the greatest QB I’ve seen because I've seen him in his "The Drive" season when I was a kid and seen him at the end of his career a decade later.

And I can never be happier when I saw and bought an SI 2004 Hall of Fame edition from a small local bookshop entitled: “A Tribute to John Elway, So Good for So Long” where the cover photo is very similar to my McFarlane collectible.

Mama's Day

I grew up with Mama. Papa is working in the middle-east for almost 10 years and she’s all we got in the house. I’m the fourth child of 5 and the youngest of three boys that’s why I consider myself as a mama’s boy in so many ways. I suffered two 50/50 medical conditions because I’m a hyper kid, perhaps I have ADHD and I also have a weak heart so I’m always in her radar no matter how busy she was.

I remember when I was in grade 5, I took a periodical exam and I got a perfect score in one the tests so my teacher could not believe it and start speculating that I could have cheated, so I went home with a disdain mood and told her the story and she got so mad and confronted my teacher the following day and said to him, “Don’t ever call my son a cheater, give him another set of exam to prove you wrong!” and so he did and I still got 100 and Mama was so proud of me…

She is my inspiration; the five of us look up to her as our guide.Happy birthday, Ma! All our love is yours forever…

Wayne Gretzky - The Great One

In 2004, my wife and I went to Toronto from Ottawa for a 2-day trip to visit her mom's childhood bestfriends before heading to LA. Kuya Abel drove us after dinner for a City tour and asked me if I know Wayne Gretzky or any NHL player. I told him that I'm not familiar with the name and only knew about the Disney's Mighty Ducks movies.

So he told us about him and that Gretzky's Restaurant is on our way but its already closed so I hurriedly took a shot. It's blurry but it's the closest thing that I can be with the greatest hockey player. He said if we've stayed longer, he'll take us there and the food are great also.

In 2005, I bought a 12' McFarlane figure of Gretzky in Kings uniform from Amazon. This year, he bought two more figures, one in his Oilers team and second in Rangers' uniform.

In 2007, I bought the ESPN's DVD of Gretzky in LA but our friends Jack and Niel insisted that they'll pay for it as a Christmas gift for me. So the following morning before my flight to DC at 9PM while waiting for the FedEx delivery of my NBA ticket at the Verizon for the Wizards-Phoenix game, I watched the DVD and was mesmerized by his story as a hockey legend.

Great Experience. Great Figure. Great Gift. Great One!

The Madrids of NY - A Family 8,506 Miles Away

After TRU, I took the F metro at 42nd & 6 Ave. and get off from Bergen station, walked a little to Bond St. and stopped at 210 Wyckoff, and I'm at the door of Atty. Andy & Marivic Madrid, my cousins in Brooklyn with their handsome boxer named Jesse who’s already waiting for me at the stairs and all exited for me to come up...

The last time I saw them was in 2004 when my wife and I visited them for a couple of days. Chuck the youngest of the Madrid siblings toured us together with Tito and Tita Tina throughout New York and even to New Jersey to watch the NBA. We had a great time that year and I’m lucky enough to see them again after three years.

This time it’s the couple only. Chuck’s family is on vacation but I was able to say hi to Tito. We went to Pink Tea Cup for lunch and rested for few hours before going out again.

That night, we attended their Dojo class Christmas party. That same night I heard the phrase “Osu!” quite often. And so I ask Kuya the meaning, I remember him saying it’s a way greeting to a fellow Dojo practitioner and as of showing respect or something like that.

I had a great day during this weekend visit and head back to DC the following morning. It was so cold but Kuya Andy gave me a leather jacket before I left which helps me a lot with the winter breeze...

Our Wedding Coin - For Distribution

I was cleaning our display cabinet and noticed that there are still unopened souvenir boxes. Those are for our Ninongs and a Ninangs who could not make it to our wedding from Canada and US.

I collected them and took a picture of two coins showing both sides with our unity coins as the background. We have collected several coins during our travels but this has been one of my favorites.

We'll be celebrating our 6th anniversary in a couple of days and God has given us so much blessings and love in our family...

Commemorative U.S. Quarter Dollars - 50 of 50

Finally, I have completed my coins through the generosity of my colleague who attended a training. I was hoping to collect these last two coins (CA & NE) personally but my I was sent to another continent…

It was a great day to start working after being gone for almost a month. She handed it to me this morning and I was just happy the whole day…

Though I’m more excited to go home early to see our kids and spend some playing time with them since arriving yesterday afternoon and back to work few hours after. I’m still feeling desynchronous but I have to go after spending a boring training yet enjoying one of our greatest vacations as a couple.

Sometimes, smile begins by seeing the number 50.