LOVE letter from School!

For the first time I got a LOVE letter from my John-john's school.
Actually it was a letter from the guidance counselor apologizing because John-john had a big lump on his head after his classmate threw a bottle and hit him! Well they were actually playing and became a bit rough that he ended up getting hit. It was an accident and even John-john says so. Anyway, I have been called to the principal's office that an apology was definitely a change.

The last time I was in the principal office, I also brought my mom along since John is basically not just my care but ours and plus they get to interact most of the time since I go to work. We were called because John-john with other classmates was naughty again and teased two of their classmates when they saw them sort of hugging. There were a lot of other classmates involved but I guess John-john is a becoming a favorite of his teacher… Arghhhh! I know my nephew is naughty but he is in Grade IV plus an active boy so there’s bound to be lots of teasing!

Anyway, the principal is always nice when I visit her office (sometimes I wonder if he is called so frequently also because the principal likes talking to me…. Hehehe). She was giving us (me and mama) pointers on how to discipline John-john so he’ll improve in school not just on the academics but also on conduct. I am not sure at what part of our talk but at one point I told the principal that John was good at mechanical things (and indeed he is!)... assembling stuff… trying to figure out how physical things go together or connect to each other and she appreciated me for finding and acknowledging John's genius.

Well he showed his genius again tonight. The pull-up handle of his huge bag would not go up the previous day and I couldn't fix it... my brother couldn't also but lo and behold he showed it to me all fixed up tonight. He fixed it himself! And I was really impressed. It sure would be difficult to carry the very heavy huge bag! And i told everybody at home how good he was!

Now.. if only his genius would trickle down to the math and reading and everything else! Ahhhhh in time I'm sure... in time!

Boxing and Job

Manny Pacquiao did it again! He made history by winning 7 titles in different division and The Philippines is proud of him. Not just The Philippines but a whole lot others that even before the fight Time magazine already featured him in their covers.

People at home watched the game live through video streaming as they have done in the past and I could imagine their excitement as they watched. I had to meet some people so left home early and I watched the game when I got home later from the video copy they made. They know that I would be more at ease watching the fight after I’ve learned the outcome. I have watched some of his games live before and they were all laughing at me since I seem to be candidate for a heart attack watching the game and I could sure feel the pressure on my heart watching… continuously praying that he wins!

It is not really as exciting watching the game after you know the outcome but the assurance that whom you’ve been routing for won somehow makes up for the thrill… there is still the element of Joy.

I have just finished watching the game when I thought about the story of Job from the bible. How he had everything…lost everything… even being judged by his friends to have done something wrong that he was being punished…yet in the end was justified when God restored to him everything. It is one of the most popular stories in the bible to see you through during your adversity and difficulty. Every time I read it or hear of it, I would think that I could appreciate it because I already know the outcome… that in the end he was victorious. But to be in his shoes (or sandals for that matter) during the time when he lost everything and was sore from all over his body… I would think that I would want to die already… pretty much like the “heart attack” feeling when I watch boxing fight when I am routing for somebody... hoping it to be over so I know the outcome of the game!

It is only through determination and HOPE that you could actually go through your life or game when you feel uncertainty or things going wrong… but you move on and you fight even harder and never losing hope. Then you feel the sweet taste of victory even more after the struggle.

Yup the sweet taste of victory indeed!

Getting heavy

I met one of the bosses in our hallway and he mentioned that I was getting bigger. Yup I told him, I gained 6 pounds over a couple of months then gave my neatest smile. Most actually says the current weight looks better on me but the weight is harder to carry for my legs plus my pants are screaming out and i feel so constricted! I like my lighter normal weight of 148 pounds.

Now i should limit my food intake... but it feels good to be eating especially eating with the other girls during our lunch and merienda (snacks) in the office.

So next best choice is to have some exercise aside from walking.

Start with shaking to the right ...

then both ways!

Now move front and back ... hmmm that feels more like dancing. Don't think I'll be burning too much fat that way. Have to add some bigger effort like Bending!

Hmmm now i feel some sweat there!

Now to max it out and move everything!

Whew! That looks like a total workout!

Now to move it from my head and this machine to my body...
Ah that's another thing... hahaha!

I think i better just settle on buying bigger pants as mama suggested! ;-)

We are all a miracle

This is a thank you card ABS CBN Bantay bata gave to our big boss.
It was a very nice card and I asked if i could have it and had it scanned...

The photo was nice of course but what i liked best was the quote
that went along with it. It says:

"The child must know that he is a miracle,
that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been,
and until the end of the world there will not be,
another child like him."
~~~ Pablo Casals

How so true.

The quote caught my attention because I was again called
to the principal's office last monday because my nephew
misbehaved in school as he with others teased another classmate
and add to that he ain't exactly doing well academically in school.
When I told the principal that John-john was good in tinkering
and putting things together she told me that it was good that
i get to see his other talents.

John-john could indeed turn your hair white and raise it even
but I could sense goodness also. Oftentimes he is stubborn but
I would see him watching me during my supposedly unguarded
moments plus sometimes he would just blurt out something
that would reassure me that indeed there is lots of goodness inside :-)

He is indeed unique and a miracle...
And so with my other nieces and nephews...
And so with us all...
Isn't it great?

Now... to only remember to always nurture that thought
to all the children... all the people... especially those under our care...

Climate change

Climate change…
Don’t really know how to explain it
All I know is that I can feel it
Weather is not the same as before
And I wonder if it will ever be again?

A lot of people blame it
For the mess we recently experienced
Nature has certainly sent her vengeance
That many lives were lost from Ondoy
And then from Pepeng that followed

And we don’t really have to think deep
‘coz we know that we are to blame
For the erratic changes that’s happening
We gave a lot of garbage to nature
And nature gave back what we gave her.

Climate change when people change
Nature gives back what we give her
We’ve neglected her and abused her
She hurt and so she cried us a river
So change our ways so she change for the better.


A Blog action day post on climate change

Waiting for darkness to lift

It was only 2:30 pm when we looked out from our office window and saw that it was very dark. It was raining once again but it was not really that heavy. However, there was a strong feeling of worry among the staff as many exclaimed "please no more rain!"

Our office is in the 26th floor and currently the tallest building in the area that we have a good view of south of Manila and beyond. However, visibility today was bad as we can only see structures near our building all the rest were hazy aside from it being dark. The umbrella stores along the sidewalk from across the street have opened their lights. It was like it was already past 6 pm and we could not help but check the window from time to time but it never went light again.

It is almost 8:00 pm now and I am about to leave the office. I hear no sound of rain anymore. O dear God, thanks! And please no more rain till the wrath of nature on our country has eased a bit.

No more mooncake games

Mooncake festival will be on October 3, 2009.

Our head office has been celebrating the mooncake festival yearly for a long time but we will not be having it this year because of the financial crisis. The company will not be giving the mooncake boxes where we have the different sizes of mooncakes with the rules of the game in it. Initially our department decided to have our own despite the company deciding against it, in fact we have already set aside money from our funds for it but that too will not push through, instead we gave the money to the auditors that were affected by typhoon Ondoy. There are 3 of them and their homes were submerged. Two of them lost everything while the other was luckier since their home had a second floor and he did not report to work anymore on that day so that he was able to move his things. We also pooled money aside from our funds with our boss giving the biggest share. I think that is more worthwhile anyway.

So no mooncake game for this year but a full moon will be glowing brightly in our heart for an opportunity to share with our brothers.

It is the same thing going on in our country. We have experienced a great disaster from Ondoy but the hearts of a lot of folks are also glowing from the opportunity to serve.

May the light of kindness shine through always. :)

PS. No mooncake games this year but I still got a mooncake from one of our officers yesterday. She always gives me mooncake during this occasion. She’s pretty neat!

Ondoy's cry me a river

The sun smiled briefly this day, he couldn’t hold on though since Ondoy still was not through crying a river. Good thing that there were just few tears this time and not as much as yesterday.

Yesterday was the heaviest rain I experienced in a long long time. It was like the heaven was so angry that it let is pain out all at once. I like rain… it’s gentle tapping on the roof but Oh boy, was Ondoy (heaven’s messenger) ever so mad and sorrowful that he cried us a river! So many streets were flooded and some literally turned into a river. It was only typhoon signal #1 in Metro Manila but the rain was very heavy.

Even if the rain was heavy around noon yesterday I tried to brave the rain so I could go to church. Our street was only ankle deep at the most especially along the open drainage. The water was flowing heavily though and there were a lot of people bathing in the rain but there were others like me who had to walk in the rain to do their business. I was already wet when I reached the highway and I was actually having second thoughts already midway but since I was already out I thought that I might as well go on. But the rain grew heavier and there were so very little vehicles on the road most of them had their lights on since visibility was not good and I could see most stopping and taking cover too. I waited and waited but no transport came. People walking told me there was none coming and I finally had to give up and go back. When I got home, I got news that part of the concrete fence of a golf club near our place collapsed and the nearby areas was really deep in water. The families at the end of our road had to transfer to a Protestant Church near our home since they were flooded already. One of our neighbors also got flooded. Good thing our home is a bit elevated. Our drainage is flooded too but the water did not get to our home.

We were safe and dry at home while the others had terrible experience outside.

It is now late and Ondoy has finally stopped crying (well at least for today)… It is quiet in my room but I know that some people still cry over Ondoy’s deluge of tears.

New Perspective

The kids were once again watching cartoon on cable as I sat on the sofa. It features a rat and I watched. I have to leave before 12:00 noon to go to pick up a friend but the cartoon was good. I asked what it was and my brother who came said "Ratatouille." He asked "Have you not seen it?" and I answered "Nope, I haven’t." I haven’t seen a movie at home or in the theater in a long time. It was good and I wanted to finish it so I sent a message to my friend that I will be late which was okay with her in fact I still had to wait for her to finish dressing up when I got to their place... Arghhh!!!

The movie is about a rat who loves to cook… not just cook but he wants to create dish. He experimented yet would rely on his gut. He was an artist who appreciates the taste of one ingredient but knew how to put them together to create a really spectacular taste. He was torn at some point for he was not human… yet he was not like the other rats but in the end he was true to himself. He was a cook! A great cook!

There were other stories in the movie and they were all good in fact the movie made me cry… Ahhhh!!! It seems that the kids always watch me when I watch something and would know exactly when tears will be coming by. But what can I do? Happy endings make me cry!

There were nice quotes in the movie but what really struck me was the part when Anton Ego the great food critic came for his meal. I’d like to share part of the talk:

Waiter: [taking Ego's order] Do you know what you'd like this evening, sir?
Anton Ego: Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?
Waiter: With what, sir?
Anton Ego: Perspective. Fresh out, I take it?
Waiter: I am, uh...
Anton Ego: Very well. Since you're all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I'll make you a deal. You provide the food, I'll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.
Waiter: I'm afraid... your dinner selection?
Anton Ego: [stands up angrily] Tell your chef Linguini that I want whatever he dares to serve me. Tell him to hit me with his best SHOT.

He was cynical. He had little expectations. He wasn’t expecting to get a new perspective. He was so sure of his views but in the end he was baffled out of his senses when he finally got to taste his dish and indeed he got a lot of new perspectives as can be seen in this video:



And what was actually good after all that realization and even if his career was ruined in the succeeding event was that he was transformed and ventured into something else… and the really good stuff was that he was a lot happier in the end!!! It was indeed a happy ending…

I miss watching cartoons and other movies.

And my brother promised to give me more cartoons! :)

Simply stitching

I found an uncompleted embroidery I was working on when I was cleaning my room and I decided to work on it again. It was supposed to be a sort of mini-comforter project that could be converted to a throw pillow which I saw from my boss, except what she bought just had a printed design. I have been asking her to bring it once more so I know where I could place the zipper for the conversion (from comforter to pillow) but she never brought it again saying she can’t remember where she placed it so I stopped working on it too. However, when I saw it again I felt the urge to sew and realized that I don’t have to use zipper but I could do something else to convert it still…

So I am back to working on the second panel of embroidery since only one panel is complete. I was planning 5 panels for it but I think I’ll just make it three. The embroidery is simple actually just a combination of back stitch and stem stitch and using only one color. See the first panel???



When I started working on it again I actually felt relaxed and joyful. My ten year old niece came to my room and watched me for a while then ask me for some cloth so she could sew too! So I gave her a cloth which she cut into small pieces and drew a design ( a heart) on one and asked me how and started sewing her own as I told her how to handle the cloth and hold the needle and thread. She’s still having difficulty but I’m sure in time if she is interested that she could handle it well.

I was telling her how both my grandmothers were good at sewing especially on darning. The way my paternal grandmother darned you won’t easily notice that the cloth was torn or had a hole. Her hand stitches were so fine that they blend with the cloth. My maternal grandmother was also good not just at darning but also sewing pieces together. When I would darn I would try my best to do it as well as them… some of my works were neat I think but theirs were still tops!

I was also telling my niece how I embroidered in college. I embroidered my pants, blouse (even my friends formal blouse), the bags I made… they were all just small stuff not really big and some of my embroidery looked like patches. Embroidered clothes and stuff was not the trend during my time but I like doing it… I thought I was unique then and by the time the trend came I was focused on other things but would smile as i remembered the works that i did.

Then there was a boom on cross stitching… almost every girl in the office (even a married boy) was crossstitching. Their patterns were neat and looked like paintings and some were huge works which they followed from a pattern. I enjoyed looking at their work but I wasn’t interested on making one. Somehow the work seemed too complex for me to appreciate, I still liked small designs which I would suit to what I need…

And now I’m back to simple stitchin. I am not in a hurry to finish my project but it is nice to feel joy while pushing and pulling the needle and thread. My eyes could not easily thread the needle anymore but just the thought of working on it again felt good!