What would YOU do if you CANNOT FAIL; If there are absolutely NO LIMITATIONS in Money, Resources, Time or Networks?

I WOULD FREAK OUT. The insane part of my mind would go into hysterics and it would cook out a plan for world domination. The saner, more dominant (sometimes) part of my brain will check all avenues for success just so it will be absolutely sure that failure is no longer a factor.  WHAT WOULD I DO? I’ll free myself from every single thing that stresses me out. I will bungee jump, I will sky dive, I WILL BE AN ASTRONAUT!

I… I… I…

It’s insane – how a single question could wreck my usually sane mind. If you are really true to your innermost desires you will also answer with “I… I… I…” and not think of anybody else, it’s the typical human psyche at work. Humans, I now concede to this fact, are basically SELFISH. There’s nothing wrong with it, you don’t have to be ashamed about it.  It’s the enlightened ones who will go on to think of others after they’ve gone through the initial “I…I…I…” phase. As for me, I’m not yet through the “I” phase, it’s just too good to be true and I want to enjoy the things that are currently running in my mind. I might go into the enlightened phase or I might not it all depends on how everything is played through in my mind.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I’ve got nothing to say except W-O-W!!!

Tomorrow I turn 29. I’m trying to think real hard if I have achieved the things I dreamed of when I was just a little girl. And if I am the person I wanted to become back when I was innocent and a little naive. This is a journey down memory lane, random things that I can still remember from my youth…

When I was in kindergarten, I remember being mischievous and I do know that I was never shy. I always got the “Most Friendly” award, maybe because I try to befriend everyone regardless of who or what they are. I remember falling down from the big slide and when my teacher asked me what I want to be when I grow up, I remember saying I want to be an astronaut while all my other female classmates wanted to be nurses or teachers. I never learned how to read until the middle of my 2nd grade, words are meaningless and garbled images to me (I only learned later that there’s a name to what I have, Dyslexia) although, I’m quite adept at Math. I can multiply long before I can read. Thanks to my tutor, I think her name was Ms. Makiling or something… The main motivation for me to learn to read was because my older sister had her name on the honor’s list, she was always 1st honors while I got nothing. Mainly because I can’t read and I don’t pay attention, my GMRC was 76 – but I was really good at Math.

Anyways, I learned to read on my 2nd grade and had the 3rd honors at the end of the year. From 3rd grade up, I got the highest honors and graduated Valedictorian on my senior year. It was tiring, all those studying and keeping up so I decided to slack off when I got into college, more so because I wanted to read and write than actually study and get good grades in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I love Math but I found out that I love reading and writing more – go figure. I did graduate, but I never actually used my degree. I wanted to be an astronaut, remember?

I got pregnant with my little princess while reviewing for the board exam, I did not pass. The reason was not because I was pregnant and could not concentrate, I got high grades on the first two subjects but failed miserably on the 3rd. Failed because I do not know the dimensions of the signage if you want to sell cellphones, yeah, I blame the system. But me failing the board exam did not get me down, and no I never tried again because at the back of my mind I know that if I passed it and got the license that so many companies look at as “gold” I would be obliged to find a job that is suitable for the degree that I have and yes I’ll be miserable. My first official work was as a tech support for Dell, I don’t really hate it, I just thought its not really suitable for me. My second one was as a data encoder then after training an SEO analyst, and I then started ghost writing for SEO ebooks online and also writing thesis for foreign students. After research, I found that web designers and developers get higher pay and so I taught myself how to design and develop websites. It took me about a month to get my act together and when I felt really confident that I can do the job and whatever I still don’t know I can learn without any problem I started looking for clients. I’m a pretty quick study and am able to grasp concepts quite easily and I am confident – both my strength and my downfall.

That’s a quick rundown of what I have achieved so far, but the best one that I have is a loving husband and two very special kids. I wouldn’t trade them for anything, not for all the riches in the world nor all the success not even the possibility of me being an astronaut. So am I happy? Can I confidently say that I’m successful and that I have the life that I dreamed of when I was young? I may not have what I’ve dreamed of, but I am positive that I am very happy with what I have and who I have become – its more than I ever expected and I know for a fact that the future holds a lot more for me and my family.

Five years ago, a gift arrived – an angel in disguise
Fine curls, a cute button nose, mischievous twinkling eyes
You instantly got everyone under your spell,
You’re just too cute, that I instantly fell…
hopelessly, incredibly in love.
The kisses, the hugs and even the tears
That I got all these five years
They’re all cherished memories that I will surely keep
Till the end of my days, till my eternal sleep
To have tons of years more with you is my deepest wish.
My little big guy, I love you so much
Even if you’re sometimes naughty, my heart you always touch
With that twinkling eyes, that mischievous smile,
I will always love you even if you drive me senile
Happy 5th Birthday my Baby Reign.

Allow me this one day for being weird. So yeah, today is Pirate Day! Yeah! And to commemorate this very special day, to me at least, I present you with my favorite pirate of all time:

We watched season 1 of Game of thrones and its a great series to watch, can’t wait for season 2. And I’m reading the book too. I guess I also have some time on my hands today, so here’s my masterpiece:

At exactly 4:47AM an intensity 6.4 earthquake hit the Panay region. The epicenter was in Sipalay and was felt all over the visayas. Iloilo felt intensity 6.0 and it almost toppled me over. I was still working when it happened, it was long about 15-20 seconds or more, am not really timing it because I was shaking really bad. We just carried the sleeping kids downstairs, they were confused and aftershocks were felt a few minutes after. Needless to say, I never want to experience that again, visions of what happened in Japan flashed through my mind… And we’re really close to the sea too… For more details about the earthquake, click here

We are new to homeschool and we LOVE IT! We are now on our third week of independent homeschooling and the kids are enjoying it, its not easy in any way especially with both my hubby and me working full time. We both work at home, both keep our own time and our kids are technology-oriented and already knows how to navigate the computer. Which is one of the main reason why we choose an online curriculum, Time4Learning. It s a great curriculum and the kids love it, although there may be times when they find it a little bit boring which is why we mix it up with other learning tools as well. We’re leaning more towards “Unschooling” or rather its more like a “desire-based learning” for our son while our daughter needs a structured environment that time4learning offers.

My children have different learning styles and we want to help them realize their genius, because it has always been my belief that every child is a genius in his own right. The problem lies on how to cultivate them in order for them to reach their full potentials. Which also makes Time4Learning a great curriculum for us because it caters to different learning styles and it makes it easier for us to check our kids’ progress because they keep a comprehensive report of each of my kids’ progress and also allows us to review the lessons that they are having a hard time with.

I’ve been getting a lot of help from online communities too especially The Homeschool Buyer Co-op, where I got to see what homeschool families are using, what works for them, what doesn’t, what’s recommended and the how-to’s in homeschooling. The Homeschool Buyer Co-op is a free homeschooling organization for both new and veteran homeschoolers. Co-op membership is free and confidential, and entitles homeschooling families to discounts from hundreds of educational suppliers. The Co-op also sponsors “Group Buys” for curriculum packages that can save homerschooling families lots of money. On the site you’ll find lots of free information, such as databases of free curriculum, field trips, and educational contests and scholarships.I got a lot of information from that site alone and its been a really big help. This site also introduced us to Time4Learning – for which I will be eternally grateful. For those considering homeschooling, check out The Homeschool Buyer Co-op.

Disclaimer:

Time4Learning has given me the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. Time4Learning is an online educational program that can be used as a homeschool curriculum or for afterschool enrichment. While I was compensated, the content in this review was not written by Time4Learning. The opinion is entirely my own.

We love you so much!

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!!!

I saw the blood red moon in its entirety. It was a brilliant display of the fury and magnificence of nature and of the wondrous Glory of God. I could not stop staring at it, I was like a little child staring at my children’s telescope and trying to find the right angle to get a good photo through the telescope… This is what I got and of course, I couldn’t stop myself from writing a poem…

Ode to the moon

Oh, Luna, my muse
Where art though in this cloud-free night?
Your shining face so bright
Alas is not in sight.
The sky brings a blood red face
Staring down with fire…
Why do you bring such ire?
Throwing the heavens in deep quagmire.

Selene, Luna, Soma or are you perhaps Chang’e…
Did the moon rabbit stopped playing with you?
Bloody Red Moon,
I too will bid you adieu.

My little princess, Khleomi Helen turned 6 last June 3 and she declared her 6th birthday to be the best ever. It was her first without a party and a first for me not being too harassed, usually I plan weeks before because I’m always hands-on with invitations, cakes – the works… And believe me, planning a 2-3 hour event takes a lot of patience and ingenuity. For this year, I skipped the planning part and just went with my guts. All she wanted was a cake, a barbie doll with spare clothes (she wished that on her fallen eyelash), a baby doll and me not working. Most of what she wanted was doable, the only difficult one is the “me not working” part. But a promise is a promise and throwing caution into the wind, I took a four day vacation. I did check my emails every now and then but I did not really do any real work which was a great feat for me. I haven’t taken that much pictures because we were enjoying too much… All in all it was a birthday to remember and just seeing the sparkle in her eyes made it all worthwhile…

This open source short film makes me want to learn how to use Blender… Big Buck Bunny was unveiled 3 years ago but its magic is still very much alive even until now. My kids love it, we just watched it (3x) a few minutes ago and being open source I am free to show this to you in full. So enjoy the hilarious antics of three nasty rodents and Big Buck’s payback. My little princess literally cringed on the butterfly part, she loves butterflies! For those peeps who want to know more about the creator of this funny and inspiring short film, here’s the link for you –> Project Peach

There are three more open source films made by the Blender foundation and I’ll post them all as soon as I finish downloading them and showing them to my little critics for approval.

Japan needs all the help they can get, they may be a first world country but every human is ultimately the same in our mortality. The code below will enable the Hello Bar above ↑

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<script type="text/javascript" src="//www.hellobar.com/hellobar.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
new HelloBar(1,9126);
</script>
<noscript>Help The Victims of the 8.9 Earthquake in Japan by Spreading Awareness and Aid. Visit http://goo.gl/wjZQz to donate.
</noscript>

After the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is once again in another disaster in just less than a day and this particular disaster could possibly turn into a global one. A few hours ago, the Fukushima’s Nuclear Plant reactor #1 exploded and there have been reported radiation leaks. The Japan government is keeping as mum as possible to avoid mass hysteria, all we can do is offer our prayers to these people and for ourselves as well. There is already mass chaos all over the world and this disaster might just be the tip of the iceberg, mother nature is telling us something. This is our wake up call.

I’ve watched the movie “Get Over It” a few years back and I believe I liked it but never really remembered it until I heard the song Dream of Me again. I actually forgot the title of the song and was trying to google it because it seems so familiar and I know that I’ve memorized it from way back. Just so I won’t forget again and also to share with you peeps… I’ve posted the lyrics as well for those who would want to sing along.

Dream of me

Let me sleep
For when I sleep
I dream that you are here
You’re mine
And all my fears are left behind
I float on air
The nightingale sings gentle lullabys
So let me close my eyes

And sleep
Per chance to dream
So I can see the face I long to touch
To kiss
But only dreams can bring me this
So let the moon
Shine softly on the boy I long to see
And maybe when he dreams
He’ll dream of me

I’ll hide beneath the clouds
And whisper to the evening stars
They tell me love is just a dream away
Dream away (echo 3x)
I’ll dream away

So let the moon
Shine softly on the boy I long to see
And maybe when he dreams
He’ll dream of me

Oooohhh
Dream of me

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.  ~Author Unknown

I know weirdness and I know I might be weird, but I’ve found someone weird who is incompatible with me when I’m sane but completely compatible with me in weirdness. And we have two lovely weird children and We’re all mad here. Anyways, have a Happy Heart’s Day everyone and always keep in mind that Cupid is a short, chubby toddler coming at you with a deadly weapon.

I’ve wanted to see the new Philippine money upfront since December without much success and tonight I finally got to see the new 20 and 50 peso bills up close and personal although all folded up. I must say that its an obvious improvement although at first glance both bills look like play money but upon close inspection they are actually well made and the sort-of embossed 20 and 50 numbers might be of help to the blind. I can’t wait to see the other bills and I’ll probably add the first ones I have to my collection…

Just want to greet everyone Kiong hee huat tsai!