A Dose of Sunshine

My Dad used to serve as a judge in a Regional Trial Court and some of the cases that were raffled off to him included murder, terrorism, rape etc. Pretty depressing but he manage to handle it well through prayer. Despite all those horrid things he had to handle he kept a positive outlook on life. There is not problem that cannot be solved. No prayer that will be left unanswered.

And this is one thing that held me together even during difficult times. At the back of my mind I always thought that there was sunshine out there even though there were times I stubbornly stayed in the shade. I hope I got some of my Dad's tenacity. When he wanted to do something, he did it. He'd find a way to do it. My Mom is the same. She's a great project manager and can get things done in a practical manner.

A few years back I wrote a blog post about the lack of good news about our country. I was happy to see that eventually some local media started putting "good news" sections in their coverage. But, I think it's not enough. Last November some of my colleagues asked me if it was common to see 5 murder stories on the front page of our newspaper. I was horrified because I knew it was an exception and I wanted to highlight the good things happening in our country.

After that I started to look closely into the news from other countries and realized that yeah we're pretty much a negative bunch. It's not only on the news, but also on social networking sites. I think what we need both as a people and as individuals is a heavy does of sunshine. Something that would make us have a positive outlook and determination to make things work. It's not bad to cover negative stuff in the news, but there should be a good healthy balance to show that some things do work and highlight what needs to be worked out. That's what I noticed in foreign newspapers. They would cover bad stuff, but give constructive criticism.

But that's just me and my bottomless optimism :)

"I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe." 
Dalai Lama

20 Years After High School

I never really thought about my future when I was in high school. It seemed pretty weird to me back then and my immediate plans revolved around graduating from college and finding a nice job. Things jumbled up a bit when I had Miguel in college, but things pretty much fell into place eventually.

My life was pretty routine when I was in high school. I'd get up at around 4:30 in the morning and the school bus would swing by for me at around 5:15am and I'd be in school at around 7. I ate with the same set of friends from my freshman year until senior year. And they're still my buddies until today. Come to think of it my science laboratory partner, Rica, was my partner for all four years too. She took care of all the gory stuff (think: frog dissection) and I did all the reports. We had a good team despite being complete opposites (she's now an awarded independent film director!).

I had to attend our high school reunion even though I was a bit freaked out about celebrating "20 years after high school". My seatmate/laboratory partner, Rica, was in the committee and she managed to bamboozle me to go home for it (I certainly had to  give up helping in a huge project for this!). So I arrived almost on time last Saturday to attend the reunion (but everyone else was almost 2 hours late!).

I should've watched "Romy and Michelle" again before attending the reunion. I had planned to wear a shirt and shorts +sneakers ensemble, but since I was scheduled to accompany Sweetie to another appointment I decided to wear blouse and jeans (minus the sneakers). Good thing I had bothered to get a hair spa on the same day because I was pretty surprised that everyone seemed to have worn make-up for the party (I guess it's just probably me who thought otherwise, the perils of working for a company which doesn't require you to dress up).

Our section wanted to win the "Hakot Award", but we had a low turnout and so there was only 9 of us. I realized then that a lot of my batchmates are already based in other countries and I was mightily surprised that I had batchmates who live in Singapore too! It was a fun evening reminiscing about high school. The short skit done by some batchmates highlighted our heavy use of the following back then -- Trapper Keeper, Denman brush, Aquanet and our bulging pockets which housed all of those things plus our wallet/album. Of course there had to be a dance number. I took a short video but I'm not going to upload it (I'm not sure it will be welcomed.).

I wouldn't be where I am today if not for the discipline instilled on to me by my teachers (especially the terror ones). I was really happy to see some of them in the flesh - Ms. Galan (P.E.), Ms. Mina (Filipino), Mrs. Se and Ms. Dehesa (now Mrs. Isidro). My Filipino teacher I mentioned in a previous blog post gave us a message through a video. We all shrieked when she appeared on screen. She still has the power to make us sweat even after all these years (haha). One of the things I remember she kept harping on back then was, "Always be prepared even with the small things." If you didn't bring your own paper you weren't allowed to take a quiz.

That's Rica, my high school seatmate/laboratory partner. Still makulit as ever. 

It was great to see my classmates again and I think in the coming years the the "section border" is going to blur and we'd eventually just remember we're from one batch. It was also interesting to see how people have changed physically and mentally in the past 2 decades. I gained 30 pounds since high school! It doesn't look like it, but I used to be reed thin back then (I'm just hiding everything now in my pata). And I can say a lot of us from the "quiet group" have come out of our shell (probably wreaking more havoc than the notorious ones back then).

Well girls, see you in "the nearest Sunday to February 10" in 2017 for our silver jubilee! Block your calendars now!

Slippers

This is how bad my blog back-log is. I actually took this photo in October 2009 at an event in Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro.

Happy Sunday everyone!

What to Do When the Internet is Down at Home

I was going bonkers the other day when my internet connection at home kept going down. 3G connection was of no help either since signal was very low. I had to go out to the street to ping my colleague to call me up because I couldn't join the Hangout. Anyway, it was hard, but I survived the one hour call.

I just could not, not do anything so I tried to do some work that did not require me to be online. There was only one task I could do offline -- edit a video (the result). It took a lot of time (and help) and by the time we finished with the video (around 3 hours later), internet was back.

I thought I'd list down some stuff I could do whenever the internet goes down. I remember when we moved to our new home it took the telco 3 weeks to move our line and so I had to survive on 3G for a few weeks.

(1) Cook - during that time because I had to be disciplined about my time online I had the chance to try out new dishes.

(2) Chores - with more time in my hands I had the chance to do more chores and organize my stuff.

(3) Gardening - spent time weeding and planting new stuff in my garden. I had my Mom adopt most of my plants since most of them started to die when I moved to Singapore.

(4) Read books - this is one thing I do whenever I travel. I get dizzy when I try to use my laptop in-flight, so I just read. (A bit curious though about the Kindle since that would be lighter to bring).

(5) Sleep! Or go to the spa - this I have not tried to do.

Well... have a relaxing weekend everyone! 

Josh Art: Bead Bracelet

I had the opportunity to have dinner with my playmate Josh last night and he gave me this lovely bracelet. I truly appreciate home-made gifts and I remember Sweetie used to make me home made cards when we started dating (teehee). There's much more effort in that than buying expensive gifts.
Thank you Josh, this will be part of my gPhilippines outfit :)

Hanoi Life

The few days I was in Hanoi does not do any justice to what it has to offer for its visitors. I was so busy I didn't have any time to go around. The few snapshots I got were mostly stolen shots white I was in transit or waiting for a cab.

Here's a woman with her trade crossing the street amidst fast moving cars and motorcycles.

Unique tricycle rushing around. I was actually surprised to see a man walking beside it since we were in a busy street. 

One thing I noticed in Hanoi was they had special motorcycle riders-fashion. Here's a girl wearing a long sleeved shirt that has a hood that also covers the face and the sleeves cover the hands too. The child had a special protective covering. Helmets were also very different and there were for female only helmets where you can hang out your ponytail. 

This is a common sight in Hanoi. People hanging out at the park seated on plastic stools. In the mornings they drink coffee, in the evenings they eat sunflower seeds. 

I was really surprised to see a street that had many different shoe shops. It was shoe heaven! I wanted to buy several pairs of sneakers but was too lazy to bargain, maybe next time :)

GSA Philippines in "Call Me Maybe"

We shot this video during the Google Student Ambassador SEA Summit in Singapore a few weeks back. I attempted to edit it in Bali, but ended up sleeping the whole weekend (sorry kids!). Sweetie took pity on me and took over editing hehehe.

Enjoy!