If there is spring cleaning, what does one call the act of throwing out old stuff to make room for new ones beginning of the year?

While family is away on vacation, I have been doing a bit of cleaning. Our house is 18 years old and we have decided to refurbish (major repairs are in order) this year. We will also be building a library and a mezzanine which will act as our “bodega”.

I decided to start with my own things. The idea dawned on me while I was looking for my Star Cinema script. I have been so busy I just pile everything in one corner. I started sorting them out- “Maalaala mo Kaya?” script and Mano Po 6 scripts are now nicely stowed away. Lyrics from shows and itineraries from  the Divas tours piled in another corner.

So far, I  have cleaned two desks- one inside my room and the other right outside where I hang out to do bills, write letters, do photo albums and sometimes, type on my computer- just like today.

I was supposed to film for Star Cinema today (hang on tight Kimerald fans), but it was canceled, so I decided to stay home to do more cleaning. We accumulate so much mail, magazines, books, knick knacks, “abubot” the whole year ’round and January always seems  a reasonable time to clean, right? It’s easy for me to throw things out but it’s important to know what you shouldn’t throw away. Like the old adage goes, no one throws away memories.

Things I couldn’t throw away:

1. Pictures. Why aren’t we printing enough anymore though?  This digital frenzy makes it impossible to choose. I mean, aim and shoot. How hard could it be? And as long as you, your friends and family are in the photo, that makes for a good shot, right?

Photo albums are so much fun to look at. And seeing how fast my kids have grown, makes me sigh and ask myself,  ” Where has the time gone?”.

And scrapbooks are fun to make. I think the last time I had pictures printed was 2 years ago. My bad. I need to sort out good ones and have them printed. Wow, thinking about it makes me dizzy. Some task that’s going to be.

2. Cards/ letters, Souvenir programs from concerts, my kids’ school programs, report cards, drawings,  scripts, lyrics and travel/tour itineraries, etc, etc.

I’m sentimental but I don’t know where to keep them anymore. I had my staff go to SM MOA today to get 6 big plastic containers.Luckily, it was on sale. I filled one with old and new posters of concerts/ movies and the other one with important mail, letters, souvenirs, cards, report cards, scripts, etc.

3. Magazines especially with Karylle on the cover. Proud Mom will keep them forever!
I also keep newspaper articles and it’s all piled up in a corner! That has got to go in one container.

4. Paper weights. I have about 4 and they are cute and basically just acts as knick knacks on my desk. Most are from my girls and it makes me happy seeing them on my desk.

That’s about it. I have not been keeping cds of music materials like I used to. It’s already in my computer. After I upload them, I throw them out. Kinda wasteful, don’t you think?

I still own a cassette player/recorder and several tapes though. Although they are obsolete, they have been neatly filed by my staff early last year.

And so i am done cleaning my desks. I’m thinking of old clothes and shoes next. So many people may be able to make good use of them.

I don’t want an empty desk. I even put the most “painful” mail I have where I could see it. And as I fixed my desk today, I put it right back at the very top of the heap.

I need to glimpse at it daily. Because even with this long hard struggle, I have learned to be grateful. And so I thank God that I get to live another day even if it’s to fight this long battle. If there’s one thing in my life that has not yet been granted, there have been so many blessings that have probably taken it’s place.

And yes, I have lived another year to “declutter”. Who knows, this year, I may have the chance to finally throw these registered mail out. For good.

-ZZP

Hello from melbourne
Sep 10, ‘09 5:41 PM

hi. zia is on break at la salle (for a week) and we decided to visit my other daughter, nicole who is studying in melbourne university. karylle, sadly, was not allowed to come. she supposedly had taping schedule.

anyhow, we spent the weekend in one of my favorite hotels- the park hyatt. i love it there!!!
then we moved to melbourne.

can’t wait to be back here. flying back to manila tonight. see you, guys!

love,
zsazshing

Hello from Coron, Palawan
Aug 27, ‘09 1:04 PM

Hi everyone! It’s fiesta time here in Coron and I was invited by Governor Joel Reyes and Mrs. Fems Reyes to sing for the good people of Coron for their town fiesta. It was held near the hotel we were billeted at- Mt. Tapyas Hotel. I hear that the town celebrates every fiesta time for a whole week.

There is wi-fi here at the veranda coffee shop! The phone signals are good as well. I love it!

It”s beautiful here. Before the plane landed at Boswanga, you could see the beautiful white sandy beaches of several islands.

I was invited along with Lovie Po among other stars of ABS like Rachel Ann Go and Makisig.

It was good seeing Lovie. I remember the first time I saw her was at the wake of her Dad. It was quite a sad moment. The last time was during the show of Ogie da pogi at Araneta. I don’t get to see Kapuso stars very often so it always gives such a positive feeling.

I was worried about my asthma because it was so humid yesterday. It rained around 4p.m. and so before the sun was about to set, I decided to do a bit of cardio. I wanted to walk around. I wanted to go near the water but I was told that you’d need a banca to go island hopping because it’s where the beautiful beaches were at. I was just in the mood to walk so i asked what else i could do aside from going to the beach. They told me i could climb their mountain, Mt. Tapyas. It would take 700 plus steps but really now- my body guard (a local we got for my short stay here) said- it’s not much of a challenge.

And so we walked. My manager, Nene joined us when we saw her in a van coming from the sound check.

The view on the way top was breathtaking. And at the very top was a cross that served as a substitute light house. It’s really pretty. There was a rainbow right beside it which made everything seem a bit surreal. I’m so sorry- my phone camera was not working well and could only take shots from the secondary one. And as of the moment, I am trying to blue tooth them but my computer won’t seem to accept. Anyhow, I’m sure you can picture them in your mind for now.

On my way to the very top, we met a young boy who sold drinks. Sino ba s’yang artista? were the first words I heard from him.I laughed because he couldn’t understand why other people were asking to have their picture taken with me even before i reached the top.

He is 14 years old. He looked 8 to me. His name is Eric. And he sells drinks when you reach the very last step at the top. Such an enterprising young man. He says he does this everyday for a living. “Hopefully, after school”, were thoughts running in my mind. He was a bit shy from all the questions I was asking so I felt it was time to go near the cross and say a little prayer — but before that, I asked to have a picture taken with him.

Thank you to the peaceful townspeople of Coron. It has been a wonderful short stay. I’ll be leaving for the airport in a few.

Until next time….
zzp

Unchanging Love turns gold
Aug 23, ‘09 12:41 AM

Hello, friends! My album “Unchanging Love” turned gold last Sunday, August 16. Thank you once again to everyone who bought a copy of the album. It means so much to me!

I hope to see you in my forthcoming mall shows. Today, I will be at Robinson’s Imus, Cavite and our last Robinson’s show will be in Bacolod City on the 29th of August.

Take care, everyone. See you at Asap ‘09 later.

p.s.
Isn’t my sister blooming lately? i love this shot of her.

zzp