Bamboo pillow - who knew?

Friday was the surprise birthday party for my uncle. It was hard keeping the surprise from him but it was worth it. I took the afternoon off to be at the hall early to help in the decoration. The picture is of the centerpiece that an aunt made for the party. The earlier plans included me having to say something during the program since I was the one who came up with what all cousins call him now and that's "Pabo" which is short for Papa Kalbo since back then he already had a receding hairline. I called his wife, my aunt "Mama Aba" which is short for Mama Taba. I really don't know how or why I came to call them that. I don't have much recollection of it. But, people said that it came from me so I guess I will take the credit. When I was younger, we all lived at the house above the bakery of my maternal grandparents. I was told that I started calling him that to distinguish him from Papa - my real dad. At the time of the party, my cousin forgot to call me much to my relief. I didn't mind talking but I wasn't able to prepare anything. I was ready to just wing it if and when I was called but that didn't happen. They were excited to start with the dancing so the program was shortened.

Up until the last minute, I still have not decided what I was going to wear. I had 5 options. My first option was to wear all black - lace skirt and shell sleeveless shirt and to wear a pearl necklace and gold shoes as accessories. I am pretty superstitious about wearing black to birthday parties so I was having doubts about it. My other options were this turquoise dress, this royal blue dress that I just picked up that day or a blue skirt and red blouse. I tried to veer away from the black but at the end of the day I still went back to my first choice. I think I read it somewhere that the first choice is always the best or something. It turned out well I guess. My shoes were kind of high but surprisingly it was comfortable.

I was exhausted the following day that instead of sleeping over at my aunt's house which I always do on weekends, I decided to stay in and rest. My aunt and uncle left for Vegas so it was just going to be my aunt and myself. I planned to do nothing but rest but surprise of all surprise I had this want to all of a sudden fix the clutter in my room. My books and magazines, though in shelves were all mixed up. I decided to fix them and threw away the magazines that I don't think I would be reading anymore. I also fixed my bed, had this insane idea to move around my full size bed all by myself. It would have been easy if only my bed part of a bunk bed. The ladder to the top bed was in the way. But I was able to manage just fine eventually. Cleaning my room was actually a good thing. I think there is some parallelism between our rooms and our life. I felt that my life was starting to be full of clutter and chaotic much like how my room was turning to look like. It felt good having things in their right places. I just hope things would be easy to find since when I fix my things I end up not finding some of my stuff later on. I may have hid them so well that I myself am not able to find them.

With my room fixed, I realized I was in dire need of new pillows. My pillow was so flat that it was starting to be uncomfortable. I didn't realize that there would be so many different kinds of pillows. I only knew of 2 - the cotton and the feather one, the density- soft, medium or firm, that's it. When I was looking for pillows, I was met by a whole barrage of choices: side, stomach, plush, down, feather, shapeable, aller-free, and strangely bamboo. I don't like soft pillows and among the choices the only firm one was the bamboo. It said that the fabric of the shell was made from fibers derived from bamboo. It was naturally smooth and eco-friendly at that. I liked it because it was the right density that I wanted and that was enough for me. I didn't expect to be so ecstatic over pillows but I was. Maybe it's just my imagination but I am actually sleeping better with my new pillows...

and these companions