I was quite excited about the long weekend because I was celebrating the tenth anniversary of my 25th birthday. My friends encouraged me to celebrate since there was a lot to be thankful for. I had three separate home parties (that means I cooked!). The first one was planned by my Mom and Tita. It was held at my parents' house and was no different from the childhood birthday parties I had (sans the balloons). I even blew the candles with both my parents beside me (my choice!). The other two was just done at home with some childhood friends and I'm glad they liked my cooking.
One thing though marred my special day. As we were about to leave for my parents' house we heard a car horn honking like mad. The hubby went out to check it out. I wondered why he was taking so long so I went out to investigate who arrived. As I peeked out of the door the guy in the green car (he was the one honking madly) started to scream at me. Apparently he was upset that our guest (who was picking us up) somehow double parked the car (but the road was still passable, I don't drive all that well but I would've managed to get through).
During this time the hubby was moving the car behind another neighbor's vehicle. I apologized to the guy, but he kept on ranting and kept on saying, "I don't f--king care if your guests just arrived and are about to leave! Hindi ganyan mambastos ng kapitbahay, mga bagong salta lang kayo dito!" I just kept apologizing to him continuously, but he was in a rage and I didn't bother explaining that I've lived in the same village since birth. I waited for Jay to come back inside our house and the guy just kept on hurling insults at us. I just said one final apology and closed the door.
What happened hurt and I was shaking until about an hour after. To experience so much rage from someone we don't know was truly a scary experience and I wondered why I had to experience it on my birthday. When we got to my parents' house I immediately relayed to my parents and my Mom's friends what happened. I also told them that I was worried what may happen the next two days since I was expecting guests. My Tita immediately called the village security officer and requested for them to be around our place for the next two days (she's the village association president so it would be a big headache for her if anything else happened). That's what helped me calm down a bit and I soon managed to enjoy the party.
I still wondered though why it happened. The answer came during the homily the next day where our guest priest talked about humility. He said that being humble doesn't only mean not being a show-off. It's not only a test of character when you receive praise. Showing humility in times of trouble. The most powerful word, which should be the last word, during fights is an apology. The totally wrecked my mindset since I was really indignant about the incident. We weren't at fault and I thought he shouldn't have made a mountain about a mole hill. I wanted to find the neighbor. I wanted to talk it out or something just to get the bad feeling off my chest.
It took about 24 hours before the sermon sank in and as the priest said, "Humility is one of the hardest and most painful values to learn. Be thankful when God reminds you about it." It was a painful experience, but I'm glad we just held on and did not fight fire with fire. It would have just probably created a bigger mess. We always wondered as well why our neighbors don't seem to know each other (unlike in the street where I used to live, about 7 streets away). It was truly a painful experience to be berated by someone you don't know. Much less to be scolded by a mistake that isn't yours.
I thought I'd blog about it to get it totally out of my system and to be a reminder of the lesson on humility I received on my birthday.
And here's a song for my neighbor:
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Heart of Healing
Early this year though, my cardio advised that I should still go through heart surgery so that I could live a normal life again and have more kids. I was really saddened over that and became a bit depressed over it. For a few weeks after my check-up I ended up having asthma attacks almost everyday and I was not my usual perky self.
Ardy Roberto's book "The Heart of Healing" was a token from a talk I gave. I was immediately hooked when I started reading the book while waiting for Sweetie to pick me up. The book is about Ardy's wife who had lupus. Lupus is a disease that isn't curable and Ardy's journey wasn't an easy one. I am glad though that I came across the book because it surely reminded me of what Fr. Faller said during his homily. He said that healing may not be immediate, but may come in phases.
The cloud that was on me for the past few months lifted half-way through the book. Healing is indeed a process which often takes time to happen. I continue to pray to be healed so I can continue my mission.
It's my birthday today and I'd just like to thank my family, friends and everyone who has touched my life for being there. And, of course, thank you Papa God for the healing grace.
Bongga!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
10 Things that were Non-Existent Back in the 1980s
This post was inspired by the game that was played during Neo's launch of its newest 3D gaming laptop where we were challenged to name as many things that were non-existent during the 80s. I can easily name 30, but would just limit this post to ten things I use a lot now.
Chatting
I remember back in high school me and my imaginative friends dreamt that we would eventually talk/chat easily through a computer. We all had PCs with monochrome monitors and no internet access yet when we had that conversation. It did come true. My best friend lives in Cebu and I only get to talk to my other friends via chat (GTalk, YM, Facebook, Skype and ICQ).
I was issued my first mobile phone when I worked for a telco. It was the N100 and was nicknamed "pangkaskas ng yelo" because it was solid and heavy. It could only do voice calls back then. And who would've thought that we could carry around our landline phone? Smart phones nowadays, like my NexusOne, gets you on the internet in a jiffy. Oh back in the early 80s our phone had a rotary dialer. My son couldn't imagine how it worked.
CDs and Dibidi (DVD)
I used to collect cassette tapes and record my favorite songs while listening to the radio (unheard of for Miguel!). We also used to watch movies on Betamax and eventually VHS tapes. Nowadays one's favorite song can be easily acquired by buying the CD and movies through DVD (and BluRay!).
Email and Social Networking Sites
I lost touch with a number of friends to immigrated when I was a kid. I'm quite happy that I've found most of them through social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook, Multiply etc. Back then the only way to stay in touch was by calling them or writing them through snail mail. I even have a stamp collection to prove that I used to write a lot of letters. I now use snail mail only on rare occasions since there's email anyway.
Digital Cameras
I got my very first camera from my sister. She found it on a sidewalk in the US and when no one claimed it, she sent it to me. A good chunk of my allowance went to having film developed. Thank God for digital cameras since taking photos is now limited only to the size of your SD card/memory. Most phones also have cameras so it's easy to capture images anytime, anywhere. (And yes Miguel, back in the 80s we did have colored photos already! Rawr!!!).
The founders of Google are just 2 years older than me so it definitely didn't exist yet in the 80s although based on some readings I've done search has been around for sometime already, just not for everyone. I was already a college graduate when Google was founded, but it definitely got me through grad school because it made doing research much easier.
LRT and MRT
I don't really know how I would've survived commuting to and from school without the LRT. I used to take the jeepney though whenever I had to study for an exam.
Monstrous USB Storage and The Cloud
My first USB had tiny storage space. Inarbor ko from my Kuya. I dunno how old it is right now, but it's with Miguel and has survived a couple of floods already. There was a time my thesismates had to go to my house to physically share files with me (on a floppy disk!). I can't imagine how we managed to complete our thesis back then. Eventually things got more sophisticated and I just burned huge amounts of data on a CD, then DVD and now I can just easily copy stuff on a USB flash drive.
The iPod
I felt really cool when I was 12 because I had a Walkman. I used to sleep with it (and that probably affected my hearing) and that's how I listened to my cassette tape collection. I skipped owning a DiscMan because I found it too expensive (I was already working then so I couldn't ask my parents to buy me one), but I did gift myself with an iPod Nano (not the first gen iPod) when it came out. I love listening to music (my son too) and my iTunes holds my music collection now.
InkJet Printers
My Kuya had a dot-matrix printer in the late 1980s. It was quite noisy and I'm proud to say that I acquired the skill to change its ribbon! My son has never experienced printing on a dot-matrix printer and maybe one day I'll unearth the one we had in the early 90s. It's still somewhere at home.
We take these things for granted nowadays, but kids are so lucky they have all of these things at their fingertips. I didn't mention gaming consoles in this post since the only one I had back in the 80s was Game & Watch and a PacMan watch. I was never allowed to play Atari or Super Mario so I still play games like a three year old. Anyway, all of these conveniences are great and helpful, I wonder how things will be 30 years from now.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lumina Pandit
Allow me to verge away from the depressing previous post. I actually started a follow-up post, but something's just not right and I thought I'd postpone writing about it for now.
So before my weekend was ruined by that bad taxi driver I managed to visit University of Sto. Tomas with Sweetie and blogger friends, Nina, Juned and Winston. We were in the area because Miguel was taking his college entrance exam at Mapua, so we headed to UST after eating breakfast in Intramuros.
Met with with our blogger friends at the UST main building and then proceeded to tour the UST Museum Arts and Sciences (check out my post on Lakwatsera Ako). Rested a bit at the new quadrangle and then went to the UST Library lobby for the "Lumina Pandit" exhibit.
I was amazed at the collection of books that was in the exhibit. Here's a few of them:
They have books in alibata writing, the Doctrina Christiana and many others I would've loved to scrutinize (we unfortunately did not finish our tour since we had to pick up Miguel). One thing that caught my attention was the 1507 World Map. I tried to look for the Philippines on it but failed.
In exhibition were other old Philippine maps. I hope to see one day an overlay of all these maps so we can see how our country evolve geographically!
Anyway, do visit this awesome exhibit and learn more about our history. I'd like to visit again to view the grades of four Philippine presidents and 6 Supreme Court chief justices!
So before my weekend was ruined by that bad taxi driver I managed to visit University of Sto. Tomas with Sweetie and blogger friends, Nina, Juned and Winston. We were in the area because Miguel was taking his college entrance exam at Mapua, so we headed to UST after eating breakfast in Intramuros.
Met with with our blogger friends at the UST main building and then proceeded to tour the UST Museum Arts and Sciences (check out my post on Lakwatsera Ako). Rested a bit at the new quadrangle and then went to the UST Library lobby for the "Lumina Pandit" exhibit.
I was amazed at the collection of books that was in the exhibit. Here's a few of them:
La Guerra Judaica by Flavius Josephus (1492)
(This is the oldest book in their collection. I wonder how they
managed the fully justified margins back 500 years ago?).
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium by Nicholaus Copernicus (1543)
(According to the curator there are only 200 of these books in existence).
They have books in alibata writing, the Doctrina Christiana and many others I would've loved to scrutinize (we unfortunately did not finish our tour since we had to pick up Miguel). One thing that caught my attention was the 1507 World Map. I tried to look for the Philippines on it but failed.
In exhibition were other old Philippine maps. I hope to see one day an overlay of all these maps so we can see how our country evolve geographically!
Anyway, do visit this awesome exhibit and learn more about our history. I'd like to visit again to view the grades of four Philippine presidents and 6 Supreme Court chief justices!
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Most Horrible Taxi Ride Ever
PAFC Transport Coop, Plate number PYM 320, white Toyota Corolla. Do not ride this taxi service!
My bottomless optimism almost hit rock bottom today after experiencing the most horrible taxi ride in my life. This ride's worse than the roach-infested taxi, the gas smelling taxi, the reckless driver, the time I got harassed (driver almost brought me in a motel), etc. etc. The taxi was in perfect condition and the driver drove just fine. What really irked me was the blatant deceit through it's taxi meter.
The cab's meter was a new one, it wasn't the usual red-lighted meter. I noticed because I always check if it was flagged and running properly (yes I am paranoid that way). We got the taxi at SM Mall of Asia and I was surprised to hear a sound coming from the meter. I was shocked to witness the meter jump from 30 pesos to 40 pesos as we were turning right to Macapagal Avenue. I thought I was just imagining things but it happened again and the meter was at 60 pesos even before we crossed Roxas Boulevard to the Airport Road.
I fell silent after that and communicated with Jay and Miguel via SMS so as not to alert the driver that we were having suspicions that his meter was rigged. I told Jay that I couldn't see meter because the driver was covering it with his hand on the clutch (isn't it supposed to be on the dashboard and not by the clutch?). He then started to send me messages on the amount. Traffic wasn't as bad as two weeks ago, but by the time we were beside the airport I was alarmed to see that the meter moved by 12.50 in four minutes.
6:39 p.m. PhP132.50
6:41 p.m. PhP135.00
6:43 p.m. PhP145.00
And we had barely moved 5 meters during that time (we were about to turn left to Kaingin Road). I was really alarmed by then because I remember the taxi we took 2 weeks ago (same route) billed us only 140 pesos (I added 30 pesos as goodwill because he was an honest driver and traffic was quite heavy). I realized then that we were being robbed. By the time we reached the end of Dona Soledad the bill was at 192.50 and I told Jay that I wanted to get off of the cab already since I was scared that the bill would reach 300 pesos.
I gave Jay 205 and tried to get out of the cab immediately (it was hard because the door handle was broken). When I got off a traffic enforcer approached the taxi and told the driver the he was holding traffic up. I wondered why Jay was taking so long to get out of the cab. Apparently the driver was asking him to give him 20 pesos more, but he didn't have any change and finally got out of the cab. I then told the traffic enforcer that the taxi's meter was rigged and that he was asking us for additional payment.
The traffic enforcer then told the driver that I had a complaint and that he should settle it first before leaving. The taxi then sped off. Good thing the traffic enforcer had a radio and told her colleague down the road to flag the taxi. We then walked towards where the driver was. We had a few exchanges and then I moved a few meters away since I was a bit scared that he might try to run over me. I then saw the driver offer money to the traffic enforcer. I then shouted out to the traffic enforcer, "Ano yan nilalagyan ka niya?" (What's that? He trying to bribe you?). The traffic enforcer then told the driver that they don't accept bribes and that I had a complaint about him. She then called her colleague who had the "ticket".
Better Living traffic enforcer J.V. Baticados then arrived and taxi driver's license and ticket in-hand asked me what happened. I was just starting to recount my story when the taxi driver flashed Baticados a "card" with a smile. Baticados then told me, "Wala ako nakikitang violation nitong taxi na ito." (I don't see any traffic violation). His tone totally changed when the driver flashed him the "card" (I only saw the back side). I then told the traffic enforcer what happened and then he asked me, "So ano lalagay nating violation?" (What violation do I put?). I then called up my Dad to ask what violation to place, he mentioned that essentially the driver was in violation of the taxi's franchise.
When I told this to the traffic enforcer his tone changed again and said that maybe we could just ask the driver to return the excess money and that we should just complain to LTFRB about the problem so that we won't be hassled anymore. I knew then that it was a dead-end for us so I agreed but said that I was really going to send a complaint. I said that he should just return 50 pesos. The driver then said, "Sus, 50 pesos lang pala, ito 100!" (So it's just 50 pesos, here's 100!).
The traffic enforcer then said that he would return the driver's license and let the driver go. I said okay since I wanted to go home already. The traffic enforcer then returned the license, but lo and behold, it wasn't the end of the horrible evening yet. I saw the driver get some cash from his shirt pocket, folded it and give it to the traffic enforcer. I then said, "Ano yan? Hindi ka dapat naglalagay! Umalis ka na!" (What's that? You shouldn't be bribing!).
The driver then tried to intimidate me by shouting at me, "Sino ka para paalisin ako?" (Who are you to tell me to leave). I just replied that the traffic enforcer told him to leave already and that he shouldn't be bribing him. Baticados then told the driver to leave and said, "Hindi kami tumatanggap ng lagay noh! Kami dito sa Better Living tapat kami!" (We don't accept bribes. We here at Better Living are honest!). And while he was saying this he was putting whatever the driver gave him in his pocket. Driver left and Baticados immediately left as well.
We were left with the other female traffic enforcer who was then denying that the driver was trying to give her money. She assisted us to get on a tricycle. A few meters away I saw the taxi parked and the driver got off of the cab. I told Jay and Miguel to hide because I wasn't sure why the driver was there and I was scared that he might follow us home. Miguel said that he saw the motorcycle of Baticados parked near where the taxi was.
I've reported this incident to SM Mall of Asia's hotline number and also sent an email complaint to LTFRB (as suggested by someone I know who works for MMDA). I won't bother reporting to the DOTC hotline since I've reported so many incident there already and I never saw any action anyway. Oh, after doing some online research we found out that the taxi franchise PAFC Transport Coop is under the Philippine Army Finance Center. I tried calling their number too, but no one was answering.
Be safe my friends!
My bottomless optimism almost hit rock bottom today after experiencing the most horrible taxi ride in my life. This ride's worse than the roach-infested taxi, the gas smelling taxi, the reckless driver, the time I got harassed (driver almost brought me in a motel), etc. etc. The taxi was in perfect condition and the driver drove just fine. What really irked me was the blatant deceit through it's taxi meter.
The cab's meter was a new one, it wasn't the usual red-lighted meter. I noticed because I always check if it was flagged and running properly (yes I am paranoid that way). We got the taxi at SM Mall of Asia and I was surprised to hear a sound coming from the meter. I was shocked to witness the meter jump from 30 pesos to 40 pesos as we were turning right to Macapagal Avenue. I thought I was just imagining things but it happened again and the meter was at 60 pesos even before we crossed Roxas Boulevard to the Airport Road.
I fell silent after that and communicated with Jay and Miguel via SMS so as not to alert the driver that we were having suspicions that his meter was rigged. I told Jay that I couldn't see meter because the driver was covering it with his hand on the clutch (isn't it supposed to be on the dashboard and not by the clutch?). He then started to send me messages on the amount. Traffic wasn't as bad as two weeks ago, but by the time we were beside the airport I was alarmed to see that the meter moved by 12.50 in four minutes.
6:39 p.m. PhP132.50
6:41 p.m. PhP135.00
6:43 p.m. PhP145.00
And we had barely moved 5 meters during that time (we were about to turn left to Kaingin Road). I was really alarmed by then because I remember the taxi we took 2 weeks ago (same route) billed us only 140 pesos (I added 30 pesos as goodwill because he was an honest driver and traffic was quite heavy). I realized then that we were being robbed. By the time we reached the end of Dona Soledad the bill was at 192.50 and I told Jay that I wanted to get off of the cab already since I was scared that the bill would reach 300 pesos.
I gave Jay 205 and tried to get out of the cab immediately (it was hard because the door handle was broken). When I got off a traffic enforcer approached the taxi and told the driver the he was holding traffic up. I wondered why Jay was taking so long to get out of the cab. Apparently the driver was asking him to give him 20 pesos more, but he didn't have any change and finally got out of the cab. I then told the traffic enforcer that the taxi's meter was rigged and that he was asking us for additional payment.
The traffic enforcer then told the driver that I had a complaint and that he should settle it first before leaving. The taxi then sped off. Good thing the traffic enforcer had a radio and told her colleague down the road to flag the taxi. We then walked towards where the driver was. We had a few exchanges and then I moved a few meters away since I was a bit scared that he might try to run over me. I then saw the driver offer money to the traffic enforcer. I then shouted out to the traffic enforcer, "Ano yan nilalagyan ka niya?" (What's that? He trying to bribe you?). The traffic enforcer then told the driver that they don't accept bribes and that I had a complaint about him. She then called her colleague who had the "ticket".
Better Living traffic enforcer J.V. Baticados then arrived and taxi driver's license and ticket in-hand asked me what happened. I was just starting to recount my story when the taxi driver flashed Baticados a "card" with a smile. Baticados then told me, "Wala ako nakikitang violation nitong taxi na ito." (I don't see any traffic violation). His tone totally changed when the driver flashed him the "card" (I only saw the back side). I then told the traffic enforcer what happened and then he asked me, "So ano lalagay nating violation?" (What violation do I put?). I then called up my Dad to ask what violation to place, he mentioned that essentially the driver was in violation of the taxi's franchise.
When I told this to the traffic enforcer his tone changed again and said that maybe we could just ask the driver to return the excess money and that we should just complain to LTFRB about the problem so that we won't be hassled anymore. I knew then that it was a dead-end for us so I agreed but said that I was really going to send a complaint. I said that he should just return 50 pesos. The driver then said, "Sus, 50 pesos lang pala, ito 100!" (So it's just 50 pesos, here's 100!).
The traffic enforcer then said that he would return the driver's license and let the driver go. I said okay since I wanted to go home already. The traffic enforcer then returned the license, but lo and behold, it wasn't the end of the horrible evening yet. I saw the driver get some cash from his shirt pocket, folded it and give it to the traffic enforcer. I then said, "Ano yan? Hindi ka dapat naglalagay! Umalis ka na!" (What's that? You shouldn't be bribing!).
The driver then tried to intimidate me by shouting at me, "Sino ka para paalisin ako?" (Who are you to tell me to leave). I just replied that the traffic enforcer told him to leave already and that he shouldn't be bribing him. Baticados then told the driver to leave and said, "Hindi kami tumatanggap ng lagay noh! Kami dito sa Better Living tapat kami!" (We don't accept bribes. We here at Better Living are honest!). And while he was saying this he was putting whatever the driver gave him in his pocket. Driver left and Baticados immediately left as well.
We were left with the other female traffic enforcer who was then denying that the driver was trying to give her money. She assisted us to get on a tricycle. A few meters away I saw the taxi parked and the driver got off of the cab. I told Jay and Miguel to hide because I wasn't sure why the driver was there and I was scared that he might follow us home. Miguel said that he saw the motorcycle of Baticados parked near where the taxi was.
I've reported this incident to SM Mall of Asia's hotline number and also sent an email complaint to LTFRB (as suggested by someone I know who works for MMDA). I won't bother reporting to the DOTC hotline since I've reported so many incident there already and I never saw any action anyway. Oh, after doing some online research we found out that the taxi franchise PAFC Transport Coop is under the Philippine Army Finance Center. I tried calling their number too, but no one was answering.
Be safe my friends!
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