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““A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” Sean Parker, Founding President of Facebook I didn’t really think Facebook would grow that big. Friendster seemed unbeatable in its popularity. In 2007, everyone else I knew was in Friendster. Good thing that I had my blogger friends as my first few friends in facebook. Tonight, I had the chance to see a special preview of “Social Network” (Thanks to Nuffnang Philippines) with my husband and blogger friends. I really enjoyed the movie. I was mesmerized by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. I didn’t even know Sean Parker of Napster was part of Facebook. Indeed, there are lessons to be learned especially in broken relationships, intellectual property, ethics and lawsuits. Spoiler alert A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one’s husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh It is a blessed Sunday morning as I take breakfast with my husband. These days, I don’t read newspapers unless I want to collect that issue, Our netbooks are with us as we sip our coffee. This time around, I am taking warm calamansi-lemon drink to soothe my sore throat. It is an old folks home remedy that always works. I believe that happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast even if it is just once a week on a Sunday. Andy Rooney best explains this bit of happiness. For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness. There is no other choice. Choose a healthy lifestyle. I am diabetic and though my blood sugar is controlled, my cholesterol level is quite high. It is a genetic predisposition that my siblings continue to battle daily. I have removed pork and beef in my diet but still struggle with high cholesterol levels. My new-found friend, Jean Goulbourn invited me to try her other advocacy for the weekend and to take a walk in the path of natural healing and enter a journey into optimum well being. Her company, Global Vital Source (GVS) had this weekend session in New World Hotel, which was called the called the digestive clean-up or DCU, part of the Clean and Nourish regimen that GVS offers. We were a large group of 34 but eager to know more of Digestive clean up is akin to an internal spa. It is supposed to be a natural method of cleansing the body. It is a detoxification method of cleansing that causes the discharge of accumulated toxic matter from the digestive tract, liver and gall bladder. Two days before, I received a text message to refrain from coffee and fatty foods. Vegetarian diet was suggested. At around 8:00 PM the night before my weekend overnight, I had to fast. No food or water. Off I went to the venue, the New World Hotel in Makati, at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. The GVS staff were already there ready to take our weight , blood pressure, waist measurement and materials. A medical technologist took blood samples for blood chemistry. moved to my new domain Beauty over 50 Don’t we just love family meals together? It’s the perfect time and place to reconnect and to show my girls that they are our priority. Sitting across the table is where and when I find out more about my children’s likes, dislikes, and daily life. Now that they are adults, it is the place where I discover their career plans or frustrations at work. It is actually the family conversations that are important  they are one of the few times parents can find out what their children are up to (and vice versa). As my daughters’ social lives get even busier, it becomes a challenge to get the family to sit down. During these special meals, I make it a point that I dish up something new on the dinner table. Happy family meals together are long-time tradition that is timeless. The government inviting bloggers is slowly catching on. The Singapore Tourism Board brought me to their Singapore Food Festival 2009 and also Singapore Food Festival 2010. Our own Philippines’ Department of Tourism invited a few bloggers to the Black Eyed Peas Concert and Meet Apl de Ap in Singapore. It was a matter of time that the embassies in the Philippines would invite bloggers to their reception or events. The Embassy of the United States in Manila is not far behind. Jay de Jesus, the Emerging Media Specialist for Public Affairs of the US Embassy recommended a few bloggers to a reception hosted by Counselor for Public Affairs, Richard W. Nelson to welcome their new and current Cultural Affairs Attache, Alan R. Holst, and Assistant Cultural Affairs Attache, Joseph Tordella. ““Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” Bill Clinton Did you know that the Philippines has the highest incidence of depression in Southeast Asia? In 2004, there were over 4.5 million cases of depression reported in the Philippines. Jeanne Goulbourn shares her wisdom on depression. ““Depression is a condition that knows no social class; it could strike anyone regardless of intelligence, educational attainment and financial standing.” This wisdom she has learned in the midst of pain brought about by the sudden and untimely demise of her well-loved daughter, Natasha, who suffered from depression. As she grieved over her daughter’s passing, Jeanne said she asked God what losing her daughter meant, and prayed for a sign. The sight of over 100 dolphins convinced her she had a higher calling to help people with depression. “I prayed that if I see five dolphins, Natasha might be in hell. If I see 10 dolphins, could she be in purgatory? But God, if you show me a lot of dolphins, more than 10, I know my daughter is with you. We saw about 108 in Puerto Galera,” she recalled, saying the sight was so rare it even brought the boatman to tears. Like Jeanne, we know our grief will always be a part of our life and we eventually find ways to resolve it. She and a group of friends from various sectors formed the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation (NGF) five years after the death of Natasha. Its primary advocacy is to promote awareness on depression. Not many know what depression is. I have written about suicide prevention and mental health before just to raise awareness. I don’t claim to be an expert on mental health. It’s just that in the course of my grief work at the Compassionate Friends Philippines, I’ve come across a few observations of these mental health issues. 1. Shame often prevents a person from seeking medical help because of this stigma towards mental illness. And even if they ask for help, the gravity of their problem is minimized as mere despair. Oh yes, I know of one death by suicide from a friend because of this reason alone. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln We spent the afternoon at the resting place of our beloved son watching the pretty blue dragonflies hovering nearby as well as the white-speckled butterfly that fluttered by the flowers on the basket. Just watching the wonders of nature was enough joy. Earlier, I bought bright orange and pink flowers to brighten our living and dining room. I added a pale violet orchid plant to add the final touch on my antique writing table. He loved the flower arrangement and I hope that made up for my laziness today.
I first came to know about Facebook around May 2004. I was browsing through my daughter’s message board looking for the latest web trends. I clearly remember the post from my daughter’s friend …that Facebook was the next best thing after Myspace and Friendster. Of course, I could not join Facebook then because one needed to be a student. Eventually, it became public and my first profile photo shows that I started on May 23, 2007.
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A Woman on Prime Time
The house seems quieter without my other daughter’s booming voice at home. (I will write about this more). Lauren is fast asleep so it is just Butch and me. I am just grateful about today. The quiet moments with my husband at breakfast. Gazing at the two Siamese kitties lounging nearby makes me smile. I think I will be bonding more with my pet cat Missy.
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Photo from Jane Uymatiao. Me and Assistant Cultural Affairs, Joe Tordella with Jay de Jesus on far left and Juned Sonido at the center.
Butch turned 51 years old today. He is two years younger than me. As in all birthdays in my family, I celebrate it with food. The more we praise and celebrate life, the more there is in life to celebrate. This time around, I feel bad for waking up late and not preparing a special menu as I used to do in the past before my life became so busy. I love that he did not complain though. He even bought his own birthday cake for lunch. It makes me think that birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake. (kidding!)