Basti crawling

Bohol Trip

Leo and I went to Bohol on August 21 to 23 to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary.
We stayed at Alona Tropical Beach Resort at Panglao Island.
Bohol is such a very beautiful and enchanting place. We will return there someday and we'll bring Basti. He'll surely enjoy it.
Take note, it's not expensive as other people would say. It's really cheap. The airfare is more expensive than what we spent for the room and other expenses. Better if we were able to find cheap fares going there.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Start:

Sep 1, '09

Wow, it's been 2 years since Leo and I got married. A lot of things has happened since then and most of it was this year.

The Final Stretch

When I took a leave of absence from my MBA studies two years ago, I told myself and my husband (then my boyfriend) that I'll only take a leave for one term until I'm fully settled with my new job at SCB. It turned out, I was away for more than that because I got married then I got pregnant. After giving birth, I knew I had no other excuse so I went back to school this term.

As I was already beyond the prescribed period, I was tasked to take a penalty subject (an additional elective) pushing up my remaining units to 9. I took a finance elective as it was my waterloo and hopefully it will help me with my final paper (it's indeed a helpful subject).

Today is the start of enrollment for the next term. I've been struggling since this morning trying to figure out what subject to take. I initially enrolled for an elective on Risk Management, a subject which really interests me as it's my line of work now. But I backtracked and changed it to a lighter elective (Managing Corporate Wellness) and the dreaded integrating subject--Strategic Management. Since I'm returnee who's already beyond the prescribed period, I'm given a year to finish my subjects and take my OCE. I figured if I do the one time big time now, I have two terms for my OCE. This was also the advice given to me by the GSB people and my boss.

Leo has been scaring me as the STRAMA professor is known to be tough with exceptional standards. He said it's like taking two subjects already so it's best to be taken alone. I figured if I survived working for tough bosses who demanded the best from me, then I could survive this subject. Besides, my workload in the office is not as heavy as before. I hope I did not bite off more than I can chew.

So, STRAMA. you are mine next term. Bring it on!

My Typing SKILLZ

I have always been pleased with my typing skills. I can type using all my fingers instead of the pindot system that most seem to favor. I can also type without looking at the keyboard and just starting at the paper that I'm transcribing. According to an application in Facebook, my typing speed has already reached 100+wpm. Not a mean feat, I tell you and one that I'm surely damn proud of.

I got my typing skills (which was further developed by hours of online chat) from my high school teacher. I think her name was Mrs. Ponce. Back then, typing class was mandatory and mind you, we didn't have computers then. We had to learn typing using the manual typewriters and we had to learn it the old-fashioned way. Centering does not entail choosing an option from the Format tools section. It involved finding the paper's center and a complicated computation. Who knew there was a science to it?!

Liquid paper was the favorite school supply and the roller-type white outs were unheard of then. We would get calluses from pushing at stubborn typewriter keys and struggling with that return lever (the metal thing that you push when you need to go to the next line). Environment awareness must not yet be an in-thing then because a lot of bond papers were wasted due to numerous typing errors which were too many to be corrected by liquid paper. Delete keys were unknown and making numerous copies involved the use of carbon paper.

I just remembered our VERY cheesy production when our Typing teacher made us present something about typing. Our group presented something with James Bond as our theme...get it...my name is Bond...Bond Paper (all together
now...CHEEESSSSYYY!!!!!! Wahahaha!).

As our final exam, we had to wear blindfolds or masks and put a paper bag over our heads (I kid you not!) and type her dictations. She uses a triangle to signal that time was up and we would laugh at what we've typed after removing our head covers.

It's probably an unorthodox (and funny!) way of teaching touch-typing but hey, it surely worked. My typing SKILLZ now rock!

I Will Not Vote for You

I am pissed at these electoral candidates who are already campaigning when campaign period has not officially started. You know who they are. Those so-called public officials who churns out political ads in the guise of infomercials. It makes me literally sick. Think about it. If they can bend the rules today, what makes you think they will not bend or break the rules when they've been elected?

No, I will not vote for you Manny Villar (obvious na trying hard)
No, I will not vote for you Mar Roxas (mas obvious na trying hard and what's with the magazine covers? I almost threw away my PEP issue for the month!)
No, I will not vote for you Ronaldo Puno (sino ka ba?)
No, I will not vote for you Bayani Fernando (your Facebook ad sucks, by the way)
No, I will not vote for you Jamby Madrigal (distributing yellow bracelets with your face on it during Cory's funeral was absolutely distasteful)
and most and foremost, I will not vote for any of GMA's cronies who went with her to the US and spent almost 2 Million Pesos (probably some of it coming from MY HARD-EARNED MONEY) gorging themselves with cholesterol-laden food.

Let's see who will be left and I really hope to God that someone is worthy enough to take on our lost cause.

I previously wrote that I was scared that with Cory gone, no one will wake me from my apathetic state. I was wrong. Her death actually woke me up from my indifference. I began to care again about my country's welfare. I began to open my eyes to the disgusting things happening with our government. Most of all, I took accountability for that mistake I made five years ago when I voted for GMA. (Well, probably seeing the tax that is being withheld from my salary every payday and knowing it goes to the pockets of these officials makes my blood churn).

They say that I am only one person and my voice will not be heard. But my voice together with another and another and another will be one big voice by next year.

If that does not work, I'm a firm believer of karma. What goes around, comes around.

As Conrado de Quiros said in his today's column, May araw din kayo.

WHAT NOW?

It has been a week since our beloved former President Cory was buried and I still can't get over her demise. I purposedly did not write anything about her in my blogs as I feel that enough has already been said. But to still feel this bereft for almost 2 weeks since she passed away, I have to write to try to express what I feel.

Though I only met her once in my life--I just saw her onstage delivering a talk in our alma mater--I feel that a big part of me was gone. I still devour anything written about her. My eyes still tear up whenever I read new stories about her legendary humility and kindness. I would scour the newspapers looking for any new tidbit that the press might have missed during her funeral.

One thing I learned these past two weeks, Tita Cory, though how venerable and saintly other people might proclaim her to be, is not perfect. She knew nothing about running a government but her character helped her with the transition from a dictatorial to a democratic government. It was this character of hers that drove people to the streets either to oust a person in power or to condole with a family in their grief.

I guess people know innate goodness when they see one. I cried buckets when Pope John Paul died as he was the personification of goodness. Though he is only human, he practiced what he preached. He learned to forgive what others might deem impossible and his benevolence shone from him like a beacon, drawing the hopeless into the his light. It's the same case with Tita Cory. Her kindness radiated from her and touched everyone who sees her. It somehow converted the cynics in all of us and made us believe that there are still decent people in our ugly and cruel world.

I plead guilty to the fact that there was a time in my catatonic state that I was wondering why she wanted President Arroyo to resign. Weren't they allies who ousted President Estrada from Malacanang? Why is she trying to shake things when we are on the road to recovery? I would hate it when they would parade down Ayala shouting for leadership change while I peer down from my windowseat wondering if they'll be gone by the time I go home. I was apathetic and I would only think of the pathetic state of our country when I would see the tax withheld from my salary twice a month. I had problems on my own and I refused to think of the state of our nation and the trials that we had. Let the lobbyists and the politicians think about it.

I cried and am still crying because I'm ashamed that with Tita Cory gone, no one will be able to wake me up from indifference. That with her gone, I will end up ashamed of being a Filipino.

BAD HAIR DAY        

It's been a long time since I posted something. Nothing like a bad hair day that would power up a rant.

Actually, I blame my non-posts to Facebook's Farmtown and Farmville. I've been playing those two applications for the past two weeks and there's something addicting on levelling up. Never mind if the application would take its time loading up, I would patiently wait for my avatar to finish harvesting and plowing before I hie off to the marketplace to find another employer. There's something about virtual farming that makes life fun. I can't say the same for the real farming though. I doubt peas and potatoes would be ready for harvest in a day. Hehe.

As mentioned in my previous post, my last day at SCB was July 3. I started my new job on July 16 and I'm now almost four weeks in the job. I miss my friends in my former company but I take refuge in the fact that I get to go home at 5:30 on the dot and I have more time to do my extra-curricular activities (i.e. go to the gym and shopping). Best of all, Basti's still awake when I get home and I get to witness his heartwarming giggles and gurgles and his other milestones. It makes me feel good knowing that my son still recognizes me and smiles whenever he sees me when I get home.

I'll be crossing off two items in my project list by the end of the month. Not only will my husband and I be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary, we will also be going to Bohol--a place where both of us has never been before. We'll be leaving Basti to the care of my in-laws while Leo and I explore this place that I've heard so much good things about. Can hardly wait!

Happy and Cute Basti

Basti rolling over

Basti learned to roll over when he turned 3 months. Now that he's 6 months old, he can master the roll.

Dania's 1st birthday party

Disney-theme party at Bellevue last July 26

Basti @ 6 months

Several pictures of Basti at 6 months, including his monthly cake.