This little piggy should've stayed home

Okay folks! This is an introduction to who I am, where I'm from and why I have a picture of a roasted pig in my first post.

Me name's Junji. The name originates from Japan and is mostly given to male offspring. I was born in the Philippines, the youngest female child in a brood of five! Apparently, Daddy met someone named Junji long before I was even conceived, I think, and took a liking to its sound and decided that the next child he & my mom had would be named Junji, regardless of its sex. That was me.

I like my name. A lot of other people I meet do too. But I especially love it when I'm introduced to Japanese people because the minute they hear my name their eyes widen, finger pointed at me, they go "Junji-san?!?" Then they let out a string of Japanese words while they shake their heads for a good few minutes until they learn to live with it.

Now for the piggy part... I did mention I'm Filipino so... I don't really have to say any more, do I? Ha ha! Well, you see... this little piggy was on its way to market until my relatives decided to have a reunion in Manila last October and took it wee wee wee wee wee wee all the way home instead! I couldn't make the trip back cos of work so they sent tons of photos. By the way, if you ever make a trip to Manila and would like to try this roast pig, it's called "lechon". A roast by any other name just isn't the same... Sigh...

Well, the reason I decided to start this blog today is because, for one, I had the pc to myself. My eldest son's out at work. Secondly, a friend of mine was asking me for songs which have references to home in them for the launch of, yet another, housing development. A task I did which has a direct impact on this move, you'll read why a little further down. Thirdly, I was at the supermarket earlier and heard the first strains of Christmas carols. And then it hit me! I miss Christmas in the Peens!! I miss home. My home.

I guess having lived the first half of my life there, I was so accustomed to that festive air that I somehow took it for granted. It was a given. You didn't have to go searching high & low for it. You walked out of your house and there'd be Christmas lanterns of all shapes and sizes adorning neighbours' windows. Christmas tree lights blink through every household in the entire street. Main thoroughfares are decorated with every imaginable Christmas colour & designs. Shopping mall windows are dressed up with every conceivable Christmas vista. Even the wind changes at this time of the year. It gets chilly from around November right through February. But you never think about it when you're there. Cos its just so much a part of your life. I'm thinking about it now...

Before I go, here's the lyrics to that song I sent to my friend. It's from the Broadway musical, The Wiz as sung by Dorothy.

when i think of home, i think of a place where there's love overflowing

i wish i was home, i wish i was back there with the things i've been knowing

wind that makes the tall trees bend into leaning

suddenly the raindrops that fall have a meaning

sprinkling the scene... makes it all clean...


maybe there's a chance for me to go back now that i have some direction

it would sure be nice to be back home where there's love & affection

then just maybe i can convince time to slow up

giving me enough time in my life to grow up

time be my friend... let me start again...


suddenly my world's gone and changed its face but i still know where i'm going

i have had my mind spun around in space and yet i've watched it growing

and if you're listening God... please don't make it hard for me to know

if we should believe the things that we see

tell us should we run away or should we try and stay

or would it be better just to let things be


living here in this great big world might be a fantasy

but it taught me to love so it's real, it's real, so real to me

and i've learned that we must look inside our hearts to find

a world full love... like yours, like mine.... like home!

See ya 'round...