Thanksgiving Holiday

Benefit Dining Event for Tyhpoon "Ondoy" Victims

It's about giving

Known to everyone the Philippines is prone to natural disasters but its people are always strong and resilient. When they fall they stand up and move on. Typhoon “Ondoy” hit the island of Luzon on weekend and caused floods all over Metro Manila. It was the worst flood in 40 years. Many families are displaced and required medical attention. They’ve lost their houses, their clothing and other personal properties were damaged. Though rain has abated and water has subsided (in some areas), however lack of resources and slow response from our government, some families are still waiting to be rescued and in need of bottled-water, food, and clothing especially in the most-hard hit areas such as Malabon, Navotas, Cainta, Pasig and Marikina City. But why wait for our incompetent local government to act upon, if you have something to offer, please do so and donate to the Philippine Red Cross. Big or small donation can make a huge difference to every family flood victim.

IndioBravo Filipino Film Festival

In the upcoming celebration of Philippine’s Independence Day next month, the Indio Bravo Film Foundation features its first IndioBravo Filipino Film Festival from June 11th through the 14th in New York City.

For additional information, click the following URL address below:
Indio Bravo

A Mother's Day

There are moms that are good to be true and there are moms that are true to be good. Either your mom is a quintessential mother – a tireless wife, pretty, mother and homemaker, the ideal mom June Cleaver. Or your mom is a bossy, loud, caustic and dominant woman, somewhat a real mom, Roseanne Conner.

I grew up watching Roseanne Conner in the late 1980’s. Thanks to re-runs I was able to watch June Cleaver as well. My mom is nothing like both mothers on T.V shows but similar to both. The characteristics, traits and personality of a mother both T.V. moms depict every mother.

So what matters, our mothers in general are the ones who nurse us, protect us, and mold us to face the society that we are about to take. The mother love is a fuel that enables us to do the impossible. Thank you for always being there for us.

Thank You

Since I got back from a 2-week vacation, I’ve been thinking about being not appreciated by some of my classmates in high school. A thank-you note (or a text message or phone call) would have been sufficed. Only a handful of them will make an effort to send you a thank-you note. No, there’s only one who sent me a thank-you note.

A thank-you note encourages a person to feel that he/she is being appreciated.

At work you find your boss or subordinates giving you a tap on your back or saying thank you for a job well done. I don’t want to sound whiny about this but everyone deserves to be thanked. Nothing is big or small when you send a thank-you note to a person.

I didn’t join my classmates to their out-of-town in Nakar, Quezon because of my conflict schedule so I offered to prepare and cook one of my specialties, paella valenciana, for them to bring to their overnight outing. I wanted to be special for them so I spent days looking for the right ingredients. Practically scouring the whole Metro Manila, I went to Pure Gold, Walter Mart, Shopwise and even Farmers Market and Q-Mart only to look for those ingredients I needed for my paella. And that effort was not even appreciated.

I felt bad about myself when I didn’t get any feedback from them.

I believe there’s always a room for improvement if any so I could use constructive criticisms from them.

Except for one person whom I really consider her a great friend did thank me. The rest of them, who dey?

One of my high school classmates, now lives in Canada, has suggested that I should be used to it by now. But I don’t understand that because in our culture we always say “po” and “opo” to express our respect and appreciation. Why a thank-you note is not part of it? Am I missing something? Have I lived in the U.S. long enough that I’m no longer aware of my own culture? Don’t think so.

Jetlag

I flew in back from Manila on Easter Sunday but when I got into my apartment at around 5 P.M., I felt unusually vigor for I slept all through the flight from Nagoya, Japan to Detroit, Michigan, as port of my entry. And I had high energy to go on for my connecting flight to NYC. Sleeping all through the flight, perhaps, was not a good idea. I would take the consequence afterwards and so I did.

On Sunday it is going to be a week since I got back from a two weeks vacation. Unfortunately, I haven’t had gotten back my sleeping habit or at least routine. Since Monday as soon as I get home from work, I hit the bed and sleep through midnight. I wake up hungry. I don’t go back to bed not until around 3 A.M. or 4 A.M. then get up at 7 A.M for work. Though this sleeping pattern is kind of weird to me, at work I have full of energy that benefits me because I am able to focus working on my special projects, attending meetings, and testing new corporate system without looking droopy or red eyes. No weary eyes even suits my tan I got from a sunny beach of Zambales.

What I do between my waking up hours is to watch my favorite reality shows on online that I’d missed while I was in Manila. Obviously I’m still awake to blog about it. I don’t know when this peculiar routine would last. I hope it will be soon.

Incidentally, today's my younger brother's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO!

Customer "UN"satisfaction

I’m frustrated and disappointed with Globe Telecom Philippines the way they have been handling my problem. Even after two weeks and seven calls to their hotline attempting to find answers for experiencing an on-and-off signal on my handyphone, none of the representatives I talked with could not provide me a decent explanation. As usual they were trained to be polite and apologetic and they tirelessly reactivate my roaming service for the 7th times in two weeks. But it’s becoming annoying. If there's network glitch, why can't they say so? At least they give assurance that it's not my SIM card that I need to upgrade.

DST

Losing an hour of sleep and gaining more daylights as the daylight-savings time starts on second Sunday of March; it used to be April, so here I am got up early to get online.

Last night I just sealed one of my two “balikbayan” boxes which I’m bringing back to the Philippines on March 28th. I’m spending holy week in Manila then flying back to NYC on Easter Sunday.

I only have two weeks vacation because my boss would not let me take three weeks. I’m told that the new system will be implemented on the week of April 12th. He needs me to be around in case some issues come up.

We have spring-like weather today – high 60’s degrees F.

Returns

It’s Presidents' Day. Thank goodness it’s a federal holiday so I have time to work on my income tax return. I suppose that's the right word “return”. I’m returning the money that I worked hard for to IRS so the government can use as bailout money for the greedy and irresponsible top executives.

Inappropriate Behavior

Who among us who have had not done "inappropriate behaviors" in our early years? I’m not a fan of Michael Phelps though his winning of 18 Olympic gold medals for swimming has been an inspiration for every young athlete. In defense of his recent pot-smoking scandal I think he was just acting like every 23 years old. He has apologized and admitted that he acted inappropriately so I wish the press should allow him to redeem himself. I’m not condoning of what he did. He should have thought twice of getting into this mess since he has been a role model for young kids. Nevertheless, I’m confident that this won’t kill Michael’s career.

Pilipino ka pala.

Sunday I was in NJ for my sister’s birthday. We celebrated in a Japanese buffet restaurant in East Brunswick. I was in line for my dessert when a lovely old lady who was in front of me seemed to having a hard time scooping the “solid-rocked” ice-cream. I offered a hand and said, “Gusto nyo po ako ang mag-scoop para sa inyo,” I knew she was a Filipino because I heard her talking in Tagalog. She looked at me in shock and said, “Ay! Pilipino ka pala. Akala ko intsik ka.”

Year of Optimism

Happy New Year and welcome 2009!