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September 18, 2010 – A Silent March for Peace

tim — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:11:35 +0000

On September 18, 2010 at Washington Monument 4,800 people will gather to commemorate the loss of US men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a respectful march, that commemorate the sacrifice of these men and women, we ask that we march in single file, wearing a uniform, T- shirt (Be All that you Can Be) or some uniform – with an 6 foot piece of rope joined together, an American flag at the front of the parade. a Peace Flag at the end of the parade. Marching to the Vietnam Memorial – where the names will be called out.

More info will be posted on the Be All You Can Be website: namayaproductions.com/latest-projects/beallthatyoucanbe/

Our Mindanao Escapade

tim — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:55:12 +0000

We just got back from a five day Mindanao vacation. It was a tiring, frustrating, exciting and fun experience. I did not work for the entire five days simply because the internet connection is close to nil and I had permission to chuck off work, yay!!! Not all of those five days is fun-filled though, my son got sick the night of our arrival and gave us a dengue scare but luckily it was only tonsillitis and was easily treated with antibiotics although we missed out on the first three days because we could not go anywhere with his fever as it was. We spent our third night in Sunrise Valley Resort in Lake Seloton, we ate tilapia, lots of it and stayed in a comfy cottage. It was really, really cold add the fact that we did not bring any jacket with us. We had a great time and the atmosphere was so laid back and I was almost able to relax… Almost…if not for two lovable but whiny kids, they constantly reminded me all throughout our five day vacation how much we have depended on their nanny. It was kind of sad and frustrating but I guess both of them are vying for my attention.

Sunrise Valley at Lake Seloton

Anyway, we tried the 7 falls zipline. It was sort of terrifying at first glance, I am not afraid of heights and I’ve always wanted to try bungee jumping but since they don’t have a bungee jump the zipline will do. Its an experience worth repeating but not for the faint of heart. The cold air beating on you face and the fact that you’re dangling 200 meters off the ground is more than enough to awaken the voice of senility rationality inside your head. It was an exhilarating experience and after the first zip which is 640 meters long and lasted for about 44seconds, I was raring to go for more. The second zip (340 meters) was really great too, our kids were waiting on the end of the line and were shouting their heads off, I’m not sure if its from fear or excitement, maybe both. Imagine being 3 and 5 years old and seeing your parents dangling from cables hundreds of meters off the ground… I wanted to try it a second time but we didn’t have enough time, oh, well… next time then.

First zip - 640 meters long

Second zip - 340 meters long

A fly is still a fly

tim — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:50:28 +0000

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Samuel Johnson

Why I hate cats…

tim — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:52:59 +0000

We’ve spent sleepless nights trying to keep our three little lovies alive. They were fisher’s lovebirds that we took away from their parents for handfeeding because they were being trampled on. They were 2 weeks, 1 week and 2 days old respectively and I never imagined that we would be able to give them the care they need to live but we did it, feeding them every 2-3 hours, keeping them warm, making sure that they will live through each and every night. They were too small, too fragile that I thought they would never live through the night. But they did, they grew and develop their feathers. Natsu the eldest was slowly learning to fly, Gray was slowly getting out of his shell and Zero the one we thought would never live through the night was the most active and playful of the three.

We were planning to transfer them to a big bird cage and I was also making plans on giving them their own blog when the horror of horrors happened. Yesterday, I took them one by one out of their cage and played with them. I took pictures and we planned on putting their big cage beside the window where I can see them always. Little did I know that the little nips and kisses they gave me were their last one. The two hours that we spent outside to buy groceries would spell doom for my little lovies. They are in a flat cage for easy feeding access since they still don’t know how to fly, Natsu is learning but is not yet in the stage of trying it out for sure. I received a missed call from someone at home, I texted my sister-in-law asking what the problem was, she said not to forget the sugar. I was feeling nauseous the whole time we were in the taxi, when we arrived home my kids blurted out that two cats ate my birds. I thought they were joking. I ran upstairs to check on them, they’re not where they were supposed to be. I ran in the back, saw their dismantled cage, my eyes gravitated towards the farthest corner under the water tank and saw something that almost made me lose everything I ate during the day. Mangled feathers, feet and beak – those are the only ones left of my beautiful birds. Two cats stalking our house attacked them when everyone was downstairs having their siesta, dragged their cage and ate them leaving the inedibles.

I love my birds and what the cats did to them is unforgivable. I was never a cat-person, I don’t particularly hate them before, I think some are cute but I never had the urge to own one. Now I know why, I’m a dog and bird person, I love my pets to death and seeing what these horrible felines did to my lovies make me abhor them. I never want to see cats near me again. I’m not against cat-persons and their cats but if it were your birds you’d feel the same way I do too. Below are the last pictures we took of them, their last feeding time, and play time… I will always miss these little buddies, I just hope they don’t feel any pain anymore.

I’ve come to realize…

tim — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:59:50 +0000

1. that no matter how busy you are, you’ll always find a way to do the things you thought you don’t have time to do.

2. that siblings are bound to fight and you can’t do anything to stop the inevitable short of locking them up in separate rooms.

3. that you make your own destiny as long as you have the guts to defy fate and those people who tell you otherwise.

4. that puppies, little boys and little girls no matter how spoiled will always have the power to make you smile and make your day.

5. that work is never work if you love what you do.

6. that people will always tell you things you don’t want to hear but you’ll just have to swallow them like a bitter pill in order to keep your sanity.

7. that santa clause, superman, tom and jerry, kamen rider, super robot monkey team hyper force go and naruto is as real to a 3 and 5 year old as the people you see around you.

8. that kids will always whine when its time for them to sleep.

9. that you’re never satisfied until you hit the motherload or you die, whichever comes first. Either way, you’ll always try to play the game again and again.

10. that I’m lucky I work at home and can see my little kids grow up into spoiled, lovable little imps.

What’s new?

tim — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:38:42 +0000

1. The full automation of elections held last May 10 was a success although the usual violence and long lines and of course vote buying were obviously rampant. How the comelec can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear is beyond my comprehension.

2. We still don’t have an official President and Vice-President. The who’s who of Philippine fame are still debating over who cheated and won or who cheated but didn’t win. By virtue of Philippine Politicians, whoever won is most probably a cheater and the ones who lost can pay some unlucky person to pose as a whistle-blower complete with mask and voice changer.

3. Its actually raining! We complained about the heat of the sun and prayed for rain to come, now torrents of rain are actually coming down and of course, we complain about the flood the way we do everything else. We never learn, do we?

4. Dengue! Well, its not actually new, but it comes with the rain. I hope it doesn’t come knocking on our doors again.

5. I am actually blogging. After weeks of hiatus, I have actually talked my self into writing something… anything… A blogs gotta pay for its space, you know… Virtual real estate doesn’t come cheap.

Goodbye Bayantel?

tim — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:06:27 +0000

Working at home does have its pros and cons and having to deal with the problems that comes with it takes too much of my time when I don’t really have that much to spare. Add to that the frequent problem that I am having with my ISP, Bayantel. By frequent, I mean every f*!@ing day! Its frustrating and I’d have to rely on my smartbro plug-it to get me through 10PM-6AM which is the time Bayantel rears its ugly head.

During daytimes, the connection is okay although I am currently experiencing decrease speedwise but at least I don’t get disconnected every 5minutes or so which is the case every 10PM-6AM. I’ve been calling their hotline almost every day and I already have a collection of reference numbers that would make any reference number collector proud. Their technicians have done everything they can think of doing, changed the modem 3 times in 1 month, changed the lines, reconnected my landline, they even went out of their way to visit us after work hours and almost camped beside our modem from 7pm-10pm. And lucky me, it did not disconnect while the technicians were here, it only got disconnected twice. But my luck ran out when they went home and I finally decided to start working at around 11:45pm, I can only connect for about 2minutes and then disconnects again. As of the moment, its 10PM and my connection is about to die a slow painful death. I hope they fix this soon, I don’t want to transfer ISP but if this goes on I don’t think I might be able to hold on for much longer…

A virtual candle for Haiti

tim — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:41:58 +0000

Its been awhile, I know but a lot of things have happened and I just don’t have the time to do a lot of stuff – one of which is blogging. I have a lot of unfinished business to take care of first before I get back on the bandwagon and it being the new year although 19 days too late I have to clean up my act and make good on my promises most especially to myself.

Having said that, I can now move on to the important part – my New Year’s Resolution or my lack thereof. I don’t have a New Year’s Resolution, I stopped making one years and years ago. You see, I don’t want to make the New Year an excuse to make a “New Me” or a “Better Me”, it just wouldn’t work for me. But I am trying to make the best of myself not because its a whole new year but because I want to.

And I want to start by raising awareness and to at least do my part in giving the people of Haiti a voice. I won’t elaborate on the suffering because the television, internet and all types of media are full of that. I don’t want to rub salt to an already very open wound, all I want is to light a candle, offer prayers and give space for websites dedicated to alleviating the fear and suffering of Haiti.

I also want to share a miracle, two miracles in fact, amidst all the chaos and misery that is present worldwide and although this catastrophic event might seem like God’s fury to those in the midst of it (I would feel the same way), still God finds a way to show us that there is hope for us. Why else would He save two babies five and six days after the earthquake without food and water? Why save these innocent babies while countless others are suffering and thousands dead? Why indeed…

There is a reason for everything, we might not know it now but someday, somehow we’ll know and when we do, we won’t be as miserable and as hateful as now. Hate and sorrow are two emotions that go hand in hand, we all have to deal with it, we all have to experience it. But how you learn from it is your decision alone. I don’t know how I would fare if I am put in the same situation but this is all I can do for now – to light a virtual candle for all the dead, dying, suffering, wounded people especially the innocent children of Haiti.

For the children of Haiti

Bloggers for Haiti Just Giving Page

Save The Children

DEC Haiti Earthquake appeal

UNICEF

shelterbox.org

My New Pet

tim — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:12:06 +0000

We are finally back home, Reign had another go at the hospital for gastroenteritis and of course we had to stay for another 6 days. It was a scary, arduous and emotionally draining three weeks for us, not to mention the holes we now have in our pockets.

Anyway, surprises where waiting for us back home. My african eyering lovies, Yahoo and Google got hatchlings, I don’t know about the actual breed types of Yahoo(black, cock) and Google(white, hen) though. There were supposed to be three but two died and only one survived. I am now handfeeding him, his name is Converse. Why Converse? When I took him out of his nest, I had no spare cage so I put him temporarily inside a Converse shoebox where he stayed for half a day. He is now happy in his hamster cage. And yeah, Creo and Pestis finally arrived. Will post some of their pictures soon. But check below for a picture of Converse with Pestis.

Acute Bronchitis, Dengue and a colonoscopy

tim — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:20:28 +0000

I have not done anything these past few weeks, my children were hospitalized last week because of dengue fever. Khleomi was treated for acute bronchitis a week before and just when she was about to finish up her treatment they were both admitted for dengue.

It was the worst week of our lives, the daily blood tests and the trauma the children experienced during that time left us empty and stripped of strength. I could not think of anything except the children, I never want to be in the same boat again. I would rather I be the one hospitalized than see them with three different tubes on their arms. I had no choice every 6am but accept the screams and plea for help whenever I help hold them down so that blood samples can be taken from their swollen arms. The eyes looking at me with anger afterwards are like knives stabbing me in the chest.

And now this… I brought my little boy back to the diagnostic clinic where my sister worked as a medical technologist to have one last blood test to make sure that his platelet count is normal. When I changed his diapers, and saw the amount of blood in his stool everything went out of focus. He was checked and we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist. The doctor checked him and found polyps and we were scheduled for a colonoscopy this coming Tuesday, November 10.

I know that things happen for a reason and somehow things will work out for us. I just hope that there will be no more bad news coming our way. We had our fill and I don’t know how much more I could take. But then again, I would be able to face anything for my children… All I’m asking now are prayers for my little ones, especially Xanth, he’s too young to be subjected to such a procedure but we have no choice…