Family Reunion

An uncle of mine from Connecticut called me up to ask if my parents and I could come for a small family reunion on the 5th of January. The date kind of surprised me since everybody will already be back and busy in the office by then.

The gathering was originally slated on the 27th of this month, but many begged off since they will be wrapping things up at the office before they take a break again for the New Year festivities.

I hope that Uncle Bob will consider my suggestion to move the reunion to February. I would really like to get to know some of my relatives whom I’ve never met before. It’s a shame, but I really don’t know much about my family. I’ve been planning on checking our ancestry online, but work always gets in the way.

I hope my cousins will back me up on my proposal.

The Nannies

My lungs got a late exercise last night when I watched Mrs. Doubtfire. I already saw this movie twice, but a Robin Williams’ performance never fails to tickle my funny bones

I had 3 nannies during my childhood years. All of them were great. Well, the third one was kind of strict, but she still lets me off the hook once in a while.

I wonder where and how they are right now. I hope they’re with their own families. My 2nd nanny spent Christmas with us because my mom was pregnant with my sister back then. It must’ve been hard for her to spend Christmas with a family that was not hers.

I’ve been meaning to conduct a people search on them so that I’ll be able to thank them for taking care of me during my tender years. However, I’m having difficulties in locating them since I don’t know their last names. My parents are trying to look at their old phonebook to check their surnames. I hope that they’ll be able find it before the New Year festivities.

The Gathering

The party that I threw two days ago was a success. Everybody attended except for Jeide who had to attend to his sick daughter.

The occasion was more of a somber gathering than a wild party, though. Almost everybody was already married. It’s a good thing that I ordered extra food because I thought only 7 of my guests were married. It turned out that there were 5 more who already have spouses.

Nobody thought that many would attend. Many of us have lost contact of each other after graduation. Many suspected that I ran a thorough people search on each person listed on our yearbook. Well, I did. But what made my people search a lot simpler was the old school phonebook that I kept (and still use) since my freshman year.

Jeide called me up after the party. She really regretted not being able to attend. She promised that she will host next year’s reunion if her house gets renovated by spring.

Who's Calling?

An old college friend of mine called me up a while ago to wish me well on Christmas and in the coming New Year. She said that she’s been calling up almost everybody in her phone book ever since she subscribed to a low-cost Internet phone service.

However, her Internet phone has been ringing quite frequently since yesterday. The line gets cut though, immediately after she lifts the handset. She asked me if I’m having or if I had the same experience with my Internet phone. I answered in the negative.

I would’ve wanted to tell her about the horror movie that I saw a few months ago where those who received the strange calls got killed after answering them. Instead, I just asked her to call up the service provider and report the problem. I also told her to invest in a caller ID so that she could trace or call back the person who has been making the calls.

Completing My List

It’s just 4 days away, folks. I hope you’ve already finished your Christmas shopping, and that every close friend and relative of yours have already gotten or will be getting cards or presents from you.

I make it a point to call or send a card to every person dear to me during Christmas. Many of them write back. Some even send presents. Sadly though, there are two or three on my list that never respond. I tried to call them, but their line is already out of service. Maybe they moved to another county or city.

I’m quite bent on conducting a people search on them next week if I don’t hear from them on Christmas day. Even our common friends have no idea as to where they are or how they’re doing right now. Who knows, maybe they need help. And I can’t think of a better time to lend a helping hand than during the season of giving.

Holiday Surprises

One of the reasons why I love the Yuletide season is that long lost friends usually appear during this period out of nowhere to wish you well on Christmas and in the coming New Year. Candice, a seatmate of mine in junior high, suddenly called me up last week to do just that.

I lost contact of her when she transferred to New Orleans. Some of our classmates wanted to conduct a people search on her during our reunion two years ago, but many were quite apprehensive since some suspect that a maiden name search would already be useless since she might already be married.

I don’t know why I did not insist on pushing through with the search. I mean, I already knew back then that we could still find her even if she’s already using her spouse’s surname.

I’m glad she called. I hope that she could fly be here for our next reunion in 2008.

The Last Stand

Last week, the survivors of the bombing of Pearl Harbor had their last reunion. It’s not that the occasion has already lost its significance considering that the event happened more than half a century ago. The decision was actually arrived at by both the organizers and the survivors themselves.

Age has definitely caught up with the World War II veterans. Many of them were already bound to wheelchairs. Some even consider it a miracle that a number of them has lived this long. The survivors know that most of them might not be able to make it to the next one, so they agreed to let this year’s reunion be the last one.

I’m sure that there are many Pearl Harbor veterans who weren’t able to attend the occasion due to poor health. I’m also sure that the organizers of the event have sent them something which expresses the nation’s gratitude for their bravery during the siege.

I just hope that every veteran has been located and has been notified of the event. Past organizers might have had difficulties in searching for the other survivors. However, with the advent of the Internet, failing to locate somebody is almost an inexcusable negligence. Searching for persons online is very easy. You don’t have to be certified private investigator to do this.

FIFA 07

John recently bought the new FIFA 2007 PC Game. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s a video game that features all of the football clubs around the world. You could pit your favorite MLS team against the giants of Europe like Real Madrid.

I haven’t had the chance to play the past 4 releases of the video game. I intentionally kicked them off my shopping list because it can be very addicting. I was able to play it online a few years ago, and it was great. I ignored deadlines, and even skipped lunch and dinner because I was so hooked on the game.

I played the game with somebody from Toronto at that time. We had such a good time playing against each other. I never had the chance to play with him again. I forgot his name, but I still have his e-mail address. Maybe I’ll run a people search on him the next time I decide to kick some virtual soccer ball with somebody.

Call-Waiting

I just recently installed a phone-dialer software on my home computer. The thought of being able to use my computer in making and answering calls excites me. I also bought a headset to complement the program.

I know, this thrill is somewhat low-tech. I mean, I see a lot of people outside walking and talking on the phone at the same time. Bluetooth headsets are fast removing mobile phones from the users’ hands during phone calls.

Aside from being able to talk on the phone without holding anything, one of the things that convinced me to buy the program is its caller ID function. Although I haven’t gotten any crank call since my home phone was installed, I do get anonymous ones sometimes.

I already asked the phone company to activate the caller ID feature of my line. They offered to replace my phone unit with another one that has an LCD which displays the number of the person calling, but I declined since the phone-dialer will already flash the phone number my callers.

I’m already eagerly awaiting my first anonymous call for this month. Once his number gets displayed on my computer monitor, I’ll immediately conduct a reverse records search on his phone number.

Fishing Fisher

Do you know who Bobby Fisher is? I don’t blame you if his name doesn’t ring a bell. After winning the World Chess Championship in 1972 (the only US-born player to do so) and refusing to defend it in 1975, he decided to hide from the public.

To the surprise of many, he returned to the board which made him famous in 1992. He played against Boris Spassky in a match billed as “The World Chess Championship.” Of course, the match was not sanctioned by FIDE, the world chess governing body. Fisher went on to win the series, 10 wins to 5 with 15 draws.

Many were clueless as to what happened to him during his 20 years of hiding. I’m quite surprised as to why journalists and fans weren’t able to successfully locate him. While I’m aware that the people search options back then were not as many as what we have right now, still it would have been easy or highly possible for him to tracked down considering his stature.

Teen Pregnancy

I’ve watched many drama movies where girls in their teens run away from home because they are pregnant.

Do these things happen in real life? I’m sure they do. I just hope that they don’t happen often. Imagine being a girl, 16 years of age, pregnant, and all alone. That’s a terrible situation to be in.

Parents should not always be blamed for the unwanted pregnancies of their daughters. There’s a limit to the degree of restraint that a parent could give or enforce upon his or her child. This doesn’t mean though, that they could already renege on their duties as guardians when things get tough. On the contrary, they should show more affection during darker days.

I know that most parents would do anything just to find a daughter who has ran away from home. There’s no excuse for failing to look for her. Conducting a people search nowadays doesn’t even entail much of anybody’s time. Besides, shouldn’t time and money be immaterial when it comes to the welfare of one’s child?