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Showing posts from March, 2012

Crazy Weather, Tornado, A Leaking Roof And Earth Hour

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We have been experiencing really crazy weather the past week.  I don't know if I should be grateful that the dry season isn't really going to be dry, which is good for the farms and the grass; or scared because summer should be here by now and it is still raining and quite heavily too. What is even more weird is the fact that yesterday at mid-day, a "buhawi/ipu-ipo" (tornado) hit the areas around The Bacolod Doctor's Hospital, St. John's Institute and the back portion of the University of St. La Salle, uprooting trees, throwing off billboards, ripping off rooftops and damaging properties. Retrieved from skyscrapercity.com ( original post by member Boy Muscovado ) flying debris are GI sheets, glass and wood  (picture taken from behind The Doctor's Hospital) besides the old Ceres North Terminal (photo retrieved from GMA news) USLS parking lot besides the football field another view (Bayan Mo, Ipatrol mo) And to top it all, because of the heavy r

El Nido Resorts, Palawan - A Trip of Many Firsts

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In the summer of 2007 I was invited to be part of a group that went to  El Nido Resort s. Back then I was blogging intermittently and was not yet on Facebook.  As I reviewed my travel pages here, I realized that I never wrote about my trip to this beautiful resort that was doubly memorable, because it was a trip of many firsts for me.

Ten Practical Advice For Dormitory Life

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It's graduation time once more and many kids in the provinces will be moving to Manila for college. Parents are busy preparing for this move emotionally and financially. Thank God, I did not have to do that as my son chose to go to a university less than 25 kms from our house.  Last year  however, I was asked by my brother to assist my nephew for his move to Ateneo de Manila, where he was going to be enroll as a college freshman.  Why me?  Well, I think it's because I am most familiar with Metro Manila and I continue to come and go for seminars and other work related events.  Like me, my brother also spent his 8 years of schooling there, but for the last 15 years or so, he rarely goes there and he says he does not know how to get around anymore.  So last June 2011, I helped my nephew settle in his student residence outside campus. The whole experience of helping him move was I think, not much different to my own experience in the mid-70's when I went to UST, also in Manila

Bound For Greatness

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Last week, I wrote about Preemie girl and now it's Big brother's turn. My son whom I raised since he was 5 months old is now 21 and hopefully will be graduating from college this year. Unlike my daughter, I had no behavior issues with him when he was growing up. He was such an obedient child that it was easy to bring him along with me to public places because he was very behaved. It was when he started school that problems started. Although he was a sensitive and intelligent boy, he did not like studying. Unfortunately, I did not have the skill nor the inclination to instill in him good study habits because I too did not like to "study". Therefore, I could not teach him what I did not have, which is weird because I was and still am an avid reader and a life-long learner. It is not the learning part that I hated about school but the process of teaching of what must be learned that was being used by traditional schools. I was the type that needed teachers who

American Idol Again

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I did not watch last year's American Idol simply because I thought most of the finalists were not that great.  Last year's Fil-Am finalist, Thia Megia had a sweet voice but it wasn't good enough to win.  A few voice lessons, more exposure and she will be great for broadway.  This year however is a slightly different story.  The season 11 batch has another Fil-Am, Jessica Sanchez who I think has a good fighting chance to win the title.  Although her biography states that she has a Filipino mother and a Mexican father, she looks very Asian.  I guess her Mexican blood must have more Mayan genes than Spanish :)  But just like Mexico, the Philippines was also colonized by Spain. We share a common heritage and history in the galleon trade .  Check out her rendition of "I will always love you ".  Mabuhay Ang Pilipinas, Viva Mexico!

Regrets

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A friend told me the other day that she resigned from her good-paying government job but will be starting work with a private corporation soon although with lesser salary, but that did not matter.  She explained that after more than 10 years, she has reached the maximum level of where she wants to be in that organization and it was time to move on to more exciting things.  I was happy for her.  As someone who also worked for government almost all of my entire adult life, I thought she was very brave to take a step outside the box. Her decision once again reminded me of how I wished I had that courage to do the same during those times in my life when I wanted to opt out from government service too.  But I thought too much about the years and the money I have invested for my retirement that I couldn't risk changing jobs in mid-life. Oh well, that dilemma has been decided for me when I was suddenly dismissed from my job late last year. I have never been the type to dwell on the what

Houses And Homes

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My old family home was a one and a half structure with rooms on the second floor, built on a 1000 square meters corner lot. The stairs had about 10 steps and as young kids we would slide down the long balustrade. We lived here for 26 years but unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, the possibility that we would lose this house was looming after 1985 and so, looking at our options, we could either build a new house or move into my father's ancestral home which was no longer occupied by then since my grandmother stayed in Manila most of the time. My family home in 1962 just before we bought it from it's original owners My father's ancestral home was even bigger. It was a two story structure with rooms and living areas both in the first and second floors. My grandmother as she grew older found it hard to stay in her second story room, so we had to move her downstairs. It was during this time that I saw how hard it was to maintain a large house and how