When In Pampanga

Last weekend, we headed to Pampanga for our family reunion slash the 19^th birthday celebration of my cousin, Ralph Aaron.

Backdrop showing the photoshopped images of my late grandparents

We were supposed to be there early on the 13^th but I couldn’t make it then because I can’t absent from work. It was my first time to handle my classes in Valenzuela Polytechnic College and I needed to meet my students right away so that I could plan well my lessons for the remaining semester.

After work, I rushed home to prepare for the out of town trip. Since my mother was already weary, we just opted to take a cab to Pampanga. We offered to pay the driver double the amount of his meter. Man, the road trip was not nice because we got lost. The meter hit over a thousand bucks. Since we promised to pay double, we paid Php 2000 plus. The memory of the “joy ride” is disgusting and at the same time amusing – disgusting because we were billed exorbitantly and we’re at fault; and amusing because we felt like we’re in an Amazing Race reality show.

Until we reached our destination – the welcoming abode of Uncle Pete and his family.

Since we arrived late, I just tried to catch up with whatever was there left to enjoy. Of course, I greeted the birthday boy and handed him the cake I bought at Ricci’s (an Italian pastry shop at Valenzuela Town Center).  I enjoyed the viands I rarely experience in Manila. I also had a can of beer and some cigarette while my cousins were sound trippin’.  Chill.

Catching Up Session

The kids? Well, they have a different, energetic world. They played all the time. They also camped together at the terrace.

The Campers

The following day was the bigger day for me. We went to the market to buy stuff for my son’s birthday and my mom and I cooked the whole morning.

View from the backyard

We had boodle fight for our lunch; the kids went swimming; I had my mini Valentine’s Day concert (not caring at all if I’m hitting the right note); and my favorite part of the day... of course, the celebration of my son’s seventh birthday.

Children having fun at the pool

Meet the Birthday "Sponsor" - Tito Peter

It was a very long day but I can’t complain. I left Pampanga with a smile painted on my face.

Hurrah For V-Day!

My kind of V-Day is not Valentine's Day. It's Vladimir's Day.

When I was in college, I told some friends that in the future, I just want to have children and I don’t want to have a husband. Reason being is having internalized too well the studies I took about domestic violence and gender bias that are still rampant in most corners of our society. Looking back, I realized that what I wished for is finally here. I have cute kids and I am single.

What’s paradoxical about my situation is that my son’s birthday fell on Valentine’s Day, February 14, which means that I don’t have to feel envious of sweet couples around because I’ll be busy of making his birthday helluva fun and momentous.

Last night, my son handed me a wrinkled valentine’s card. He was crying because he thought the paper-cut heart is not presentable enough to me for it was crumpled in his school bag. Nonetheless, he gathered his innocent courage to show it to me.

As a mother, I was really touched by the gesture because the message reads, “Dear mommy thanks for taking care of me and teaching me. I love you - Love Vladimir.” I appeased him by saying that the artwork was nice and it’s the thought that counts. I’m even planning to display his artwork somewhere in the house.

We plan to go out of town this weekend to celebrate his seventh birthday. I’ll do my best to make it a fun-filled birthday for him, worthier perhaps of the commercialized representation of couples’ day.

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By the way, did you know that there are four types of love? In one of my students’ reports in our Philippine Literature class, this issue was tackled. 

Source: http://www.twl4parents.com/the-four-loves/

As was shared in the class, according to Clive Staples Lewis, a British novelist and Christian apologist, the four types of love are (1) "Storge" or empathy bond, (2) "Philia" or friend bond, (3) "Eros" or erotic bond, and (4) "Agape" or unconditional 'God' love.

What’s your kind of love on the 14th?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Not So Pressured Cooker

One fine Sunday while we were having our lunch at The Racks in SM North, I heard my aunt tell her son Christian that he should already learn how to drive. She said that my cousin should try to acquire a new skill every year. That thought lingered in my mind for quite some time and I told myself that I would also want to apply that piece of advice in my life. The sad part is, I don’t have the budget to pursue the things I want to do. If I want to upgrade my skills, this would entail some cost.

A couple of weeks passed when suddenly, an idea popped out of my head. I thought, instead of me enrolling in classes to learn something new, why not enhance the skills I have at present? Why not look around and check if there are valuable lessons that I could muster without spending a penny?

SO. In the mean time, I will forget about baking, photography, photoshop, script writing and video editing. I have set my heart that I will concentrate in COOKING this year.

I am blessed because I have a mother who cooks really well. She is my personal mentor. I no longer need to spend time in cooking classes because I can simply ask her for the procedures. And my ultimate taste tester is my super polite housemate, Diether. He never complains if the food tastes bad. He just doesn’t eat. Hahaha!

My Easy-To-Prepare Salad

My weekends are productive because I get to cook something new for the household. Well, not really that “new” because the viands are ordinary. It’s just that I’m a kitchen newbie so trying out what I find unfamiliar already means something to me.

Last week, I cooked “pinakbet.” Today, I cooked “bicol express.” They’re among my recent gastronomic discoveries.

For me, another recipe learned and practiced is an achievement. It’s an upgrade of my previous self who’s not kitchen savvy. So I’m a better me, every week. 

Social Welfare Office At Work

At this point, I have my rejuvenated enthusiasm towards work especially now that I am often called by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) to aid them in their endeavours. 

Here’s a glimpse of my collaboration with my aforementioned esteemed office.

THE VISION-MISSION STATEMENTS OF CSWDO

Creating the Vision and Mission statements of an organization is not a simple thing. It should be coherent with the governing culture imposed by the umbrella unit; it should be brainstormed accordingly by the decision makers within the group; and of course, the statements must be duly approved.

I sought assistance from my college friend, Prof. Neil Kenneth Jamandre of UP Diliman, to help us through. He conducted a workshop on creating vision-mission statements for CSWDO’s subunits last September 16, 2015 at 2A Conference Room of The City Hall, City Government Center.

The workshop was attended by 10 CSWDO managers. They were Ms. Mary June Sy and Mr. Jayvie Roman of Bahay-Pag-asa; Ms. Virginia de Asis and Ms. Ma. Kristina C. Ramos of CSWDO; Ms. Melinda V. Aquino, Mr. Renato Singson, and Ma. Lourdes M. Gardoce of Bahay Kalinga; Ms. Maricel T. Batara, Ms. Elenita R. Hernandez, and Ms. Emelie Ubina of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Office.

GAD PRESENTATION FOR VISITORS FROM DAO, PROVINCE OF CAPIZ

It’s common among local government officials to conduct study tours to other cities in order for them to emulate good governance practices. 

When the municipality of Dao, Capiz tapped CSWDO to get educated on the city’s best practices on the implementation of projects related with gender and development (GAD), yours truly was tapped to help them with their presentation.

We initially conducted a meeting to discuss the contents of the presentation. We outlined the flow of the discussion. Through the aid of my colleagues – Mr. Rod de Guzman, Mr. Jerry Rubiano, Mr. Jay Exiomo and Mr. Raf Delfino – who contributed stock photos, PowerPoint guide, and nice infographics, yours truly was able to finish the presentation right on time.

In a chit-chat with Mayor Joselito Escutin of Dao, he gave me a brochure of their locality which was titled, “Feel at Home in Dao.” I had goose bumps upon seeing that their locale was able to preserve the Spanish pueblo set-up for their buildings. He said that NCCA actually went to him to preserve this cultural and historical site.

Mayor Joselito Escutin learns about GAD's major infrastructure project

CT SCAN VOUCHER

“This is where your taxes go.”

CSWDO is always busy prepping for services for the indigent constituents. Together with our office’s resident artist, Mr. Allan Tampandong, we were able to complete this CT Scan voucher to be cascaded to qualified beneficiaries soon.

This month of March, exciting activities are lined up for the celebration of Women’s Month. I’m not going to divulge anything yet. I can only assure you that it’s going to be really fun!

In Valenzuela City, CSWDO works!

Kung Hei Fat Choi

The Chinese New Year celebration is fast approaching and I’m thinking of getting myself immersed better in their culture this year.

As an avid fanatic of horoscopes and fortune telling, I’m quite intrigued of what’s in store for me this year. If the stars will say that I’ll have good luck, I’ll cling to that prediction. But if it’s otherwise, I’ll opt to believe in positive karma – a Hindu belief. Hahaha! I think it is part of human nature to always want things that are favourable to oneself. This is my idiosyncrasy.

In the past few years, the Chinese culture permeated my monotonous life without me anticipating it big time. I found myself befriending people of Chinese descent which made me more fascinated with their culture.

I am most pleased with one of our most esteemed department heads, the very down to earth Arch. Edison Ching Padilla. Together with her cute little daughter in Chinese traditional costume, they roamed around the city hall one Chinese New Year to give palatable goodies.

My dear friend, the beautiful Ms. Clariz Tanganco, also shared lots of interesting stories about Chinese culture and tradition. She’s always ready to strike a pose every time we need a model for our projects. At first, it was difficult for me to pronounce her surname. She explained to me that her last name is actually a combination of three Chinese surnames – Tan, Gan, and Co – hence, Tanganco.

In-house Model

Last Year of the Horse, our family also dined at Heritage hotel where the kids had several selfies at the lobby.

My personal favourite among all these nostalgic moments is the first cosplay experience of my son. (Cosplay is not Chinese-inspired. It’s Japanese. But since the school activity coincided with the Chinese New Year celebration, I just inserted it here. No pun intended on the sad history between the two territories.) His school staged a cosplay competition at SM Valenzuela, where Vladimir represented my favourite anime character, Kenshin Himura. After the show I took a photo of him in front of a Chinese icon.

To all my dear Chinese friends and my blog visitors, KUNG HEI FAT CHOI!

Recycling 101

One of my life advocacies is recycling.

It was through my Communication 3 class in UP when I first realized the value of waste management. We were asked by our professor then to conduct a research about garbage so that we’ll have substantial information to share in our group discussion. We went to DENR, we went to the pre-rehabilitated Payatas in Quezon City, some went to QC city hall to search for existing ordinances, and we also browsed for relevant news articles and studies about garbage. Since then, I get bothered every time I see a litter or any messy area.

It’s not that I’m an obsessive compulsive when it comes to neatness because as an artist, I also have some episodes of wanting to see myself at the center of my chaotic files. I feel a sense of urgency whenever my tangible “to-do list” is right in front of my face. Nevertheless, I want everything orderly once I’m finished with a certain task.

In getting yourself organized, sometimes you don’t have to shell out a penny. A little imagination could do the trick. Here are some ways:

1.       RESEALABLE PLASTIC. Instead of throwing the plastic which once contained your cotton buds, you can actually reuse it to keep safety pins, clips, or rubber bands for emergency purposes. You can stack this inside your travel kit or beauty pouch.

2.       PILLBOX. If you no longer need your pillbox, you can convert it into a jewelry holder. This way, you can better choose your accessory of the day!

3.       BRASSIERE. Look, this is hilarious I know but your brassiere can be turned into a potholder too! Just tear the strings and keep the pads, sew the sides, and presto... you can now protect your hands from too much heat of pots and pans! LOL.

4.       MOUTH WASH. First, buy the small one. Next, buy the biggest size available. Every time the content of the handy mouth wash container is depleted, just refill it. You know you’re saving money when you buy in bulks or larger amounts, right?

5.       IMPROVISED FOLDERS. Instead of throwing away calendars that are made up of cartons, you can simply convert it into a folder to file important documents. On this picture, we used the cartons to file the job orders that our team received in the office. This way, it has been easier for us to track our accomplishments month over month.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. You too can help save Mother Earth.

My Little Mathematician

“Behind the clouds, the sun is still shining.”

The past few days have been overwhelming. I even skipped one workday just to give myself some time to breathe. Office issues, domestic issues, and other things in between zap my energy. But well, how can I complain further if my Friday will ink the week with a bang! Thanks to my brainy son, Vladimir, all my worries melted.

I went to his school today to get his report card for the third quarter. His name was listed on the board as one of the top pupils in class. His teacher also told me that he is one of the four representatives of their school for the Battle of the Brains. I told his teacher that he also represented their school for preschool level last year.

His teacher asked me if his grades dipped in Math. I said no. In fact his grade increased by four points. He dipped in language but not in Math. The teacher shared that some of his classmates got low grades in that subject that’s why she asked.

Vladimir was hailed as “Little Mathematician” when he was in nursery level. In senior kinder, his then teacher told me that Vladimir was their Math ace for the Battle of the Brains. Now on his first grade, at age six, he has already memorized the multiplication table for five’s. I’m quite impressed and somewhat teary-eyed because even if I barely have the time now to review him, he’s still performing well in school.

Last year, Ana (his beautiful tutor) accompanied us at the Battle of the Brains

Thank you Lord for taking care of my baby. Even if my plate has more than what I can chew, You’re there to guide me through.