Attending a children's birthday party...

... with no kid in tow.

Dial's daughter, Marquie, celebrated her seventh birthday party at Anest Tower in Los Baños. It's a children's party so Dial invited us, her high school friends, and suggested that we could bring kids along. Jyas and Benjo have Sinag, their son; Jean brought along Joaquin, her nephew; Sandy and Dennis brought Yuan, Sandy's nephew. I came alone. No kid to bring, what could I do, right?

I asked Dial what Marquie wishes for her birthday. She said that Marquie would like to have a tsum tsum toy. This made me feel like I'm so old. I have no clue what a tsum tsum toy was! Until I went to a toy store and was shown the new toys; from dancing Barbies to Shopkins. And somewhere deep in the girls' toy section, I was shown the tsum tsums.


This is what kids want these days?!? As far as I understood the vendor's explanations, one can stack the tsum tsums on top of each other and "pop" them so that they get thrown off the stack. Seriously?! Oh well, this is just a sign that I'm old. Really old.

Anyway, the face of Mickey Mouse and the other characters were almost unrecognisable! I'm having difficulty relating to these toys because my stuffed toys have appearances closer to what I see on the telly. Who thought of making these tsum tsums anyway? Gosh, they really are changing cartoon characters! 

When I arrived at the children's party, it was good to see my friends with the kids they brought along for the event. They were having so much fun! I was having fun too, until the mascot came. My first thought was that this might be an alien with purple hair. But no. It's supposed to be a character from My Little Pony and Friends, I think. The funny thing is, the adults were disconcerted (because we also grew up with these characters... albeit the 1980s version) but the kids were thrilled. Oh boy! A clear sign of the generation gap! Haha! 


It was such a fun party. The emcee was really good. There were a lot of loot bags for the kids. And the one adult who didn't bring a kid along. Dial handed it to me, saying that I get a loot bag despite not bringing a child along for the party. 

I was touched. Really. 

It was nice of her, though she's not obliged to, to make sure that I didn't feel awkward surrounded by the little children.

Thank you, Dial, for inviting me to Marquie's birthday party!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

How MALDI-TOF-MS makes mycobacterium diagnosis faster and more accurate

The laboratory I work in has plenty of instruments that help us characterise and identify microorganisms causing diseases in patients. One of my current projects is to validate an instrument called "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer" (MALDI-TOF-MS) in identifying members of the Mycobacterium  species. Many of these organisms are opportunistic, meaning they only cause illnesses in people whose immune systems are not strong enough to fight infections. Mycobacterium leprae  is known for causing leprosy, but we cannot grow this bacterium in culture media, so we cannot isolate it. Mycobacterium tuberculosis  complex, on the other hand, is a group of several species of Mycobacterium  that causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death globally, second only to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Identifying the Mycobacterium species that has infected a patient is
Read more

a crash course on traditional Filipino houses

Image
On Dr Jose Rizal's birthday this year, I was back in historic Manila with Ate Bing, Ate Mary , and Manuel . But instead of visiting him, we opted to soak up on Philippine culture. Our first stop: the Cultural Center of the Philippines ' (CCP) Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino .  Aside from the musical instruments, I noticed the dioramas about Filipino homes. Filipinos living by the sea (the 'sea gypsies', Sama Dilaut or Badjao ) have boathouses; those who live in the mountains, like the Bagobos , have developed interconnected houses in the trees; Filipinos who live along the path of the strongest typhoon winds, such as the Ivatans , have developed houses of thick limestone walls; and people who live in calmer conditions used bamboo and nipa to construct their houses, like the lowlanders and the Agtas . Sama Dilaut 'lepa' and houses on stilts (in the background) Ivatan limestone house nipa hut Ifugao 'fale' Maranao '
Read more