"Tuldok", period or dot in English, was my pet name for my relatives and oldies back home. Harsh as it may seem, they gave it to me because of my cute hobbit height and with my Tyra Bank's skin tone. (Well that's how I turn my negative plate into a positive one. Too much of positivism, you think huh?! :b) Although harsh, it turned out nothing to me since everyone in our clan got one. One of my cousin got a two big front teeth, "ngipin" is his pet name. For the next award, having dust allergy, she got "tutang" as her nickname. Then for our weakling who got her arm put in a cast not once but twice, you may call her "pingkaw". And the list goes on...

But for this specific entry, I want you guys to meet "MATA". No need for further explanation, logic or formula regarding his pet name. Hehehe! Yes! He has a binocular on the upper part of his head. A pair of big eyes, (picture out the big bad wolf who pretended to be little red riding hood's grandma, got the picture?! well, it's bigger than that! choosss! hahaha!) too big that even sleeping it looked like as if his eyes are still open, uhhhmmm semi-open?! LOL! (cross fingers, hope he'll not cross this entry of mine)

Mata is my playmate for the longest time I know. Although I don't remember, I assume that we played on the same crib. He is just 3 months older than me. So since we live in the same neighborhood and cousins as well, we don't have a choice but to be playmates. LOL!

We've been through a lot. All those soil turned into mud when we decided to create our own waterway, several trees that we climb and invaded in our neighborhood, our numerous rain dance that succesfully gone to dancing-in-the-rain sessions, endless card games, POG, and jolens. Add to that our exhausting outdoor games, patintero, taguan, syato, langit lupa, saksak puso, name it we played it. And to top it all... our favorite past time **drum roll please** "bahay-bahayan". Well it's not the typical "bahay-bahayan" like the other kids do. We do carpentry in this kind of game. Meet up is at the vacant lot in our block, armed with hammer, knife, nails, plywood, and other kinds of wood which we took from our father's stuff (without any permission, SSSSHHHH!) we then start our self-imposed job.

It took us a week or two to build our "bahay-bahayan" which we're both proud of afterwards, too proud that we'll invite our moms to chill with us at our so called playhouse but now I realize that it's more like a house in the slum area rather than a playhouse. Hehehe! We'll do cooking and decorate our playhouse for a day or two and then a major renovation, and then back to nothing! Building mode again! LOL!

The most memorable bonding time with Mata is our biking stroll. He learned first to ride a bike so he let me ride at the back portion while he do the driving. I ended up with lot of scarred marks on my legs because of that. After several falls and additional scarred marks on my arms and elbow, eventually I learned to keep my balance. However I still don't have my own bike and I keep on borrowing Mata's bike for practice. Luckily my Kuya got his bike as a gift from one of our relatives. So whenever my kuya is not using it, me and Mata do the strolling. We bike our way to a nearby village and a lot of around the lake biking and a lot of scolding from our parents for biking that far and not asking for permission as well... Hehehe!

me with white tee and a party hat while Mata has his eyes on how he'll get the hat from me :D

Then highschool happened...
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Maybe time goes by too fast and we ended looking on those playtime rubbish. Playtime is now on a different level with different set of friends. School is busy and we seldom see each other since we studied at different school or if ever our schedule permit us (CHOSS!) for several hours of the day all we do is bully each other, that's how matured we were.

Until we got our degree, got our jobs and still we do the bullying but the truth stay the same even after the rubbish statement, we had the best childhood ever! That makes us the best of friends!

My Best Friend Mata went on a different play area, a serious play area where he will build his own family with his loving wife and future babies (i go with the plural form, I'm sure about this! hehehe!) And since we're the best of friends, I was one of his secondary sponsor on his sweet and special wedding. Now I'm looking forward to be one of their PRETTY and WITTY fairy godmother on their first born. *winks*

To Mata, Elgene Baylor Briones,

Cheers to a fruitful and happy married life! Go and multiply! Apir!

From Tuldok, Orange!