Is there life after high school?

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The Groovies, my high school classmates (circa St Theresa’s College Cebu 1974) once again got into the groove of bonding moments. There were reasons to celebrate. Our class salutatorian, Deirdra came home from New Jersey for a visit. Birthday celebrants needed to make a wish and the groovies from Manila missed Cebu. You know, I look forward to these small reunions. Groovies remind me that we are still cool and awesome despite the passage of time. I draw inspiration from classmates that still manage to look good.

Marget Fernan-Villarica not only hosted the party but our stay as well in her lovely, comfy home. Our current president, Nerissa Soon-Ruiz gave this brilliant idea of auctioning off our give-aways to raise funds for our batch project. What fun!

Tess, the preceding batch president told me to write an article for our Coral reunion last year. It is only this year that I got to read the printed version of the STC Annual 2009.

Here it is:

Is there life after high school? To be honest, I was relieved when my high school graduation ceremony ended. In high school, I was a painfully shy, mediocre student with average grades (as in 81 to 85). I often felt intimidated by the smart and outspoken girls. You know how it is in high school – there are the popular girls and the invisible girls. I was one of the invisible girls but I was lucky enough to have a few friends who made me feel like I belonged to a group.

So do people ever recover from that intense high school social experience? Some don’t. They spend the rest of their lives trying to justify what they were, or were not, in high school. This is why high school reunions are so emotional, especially the first one. I declined to attend the 25th High School class of 1974 reunion because I was not ready to face that dreaded high school experience once again. Coupled with five deaths of family members in Cebu, I felt Cebu was just bad news for me and going home was not an option at that point.
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Cat lovers watch the musical, Cats

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When Concertus, the local producer of Cats sent two complimentary tickets to the musical “Cats: Now and Forever” , I knew there was no more excuse not to watch the show. They had invited me to the press conference but I was busy finishing an ebook at that time. Anyway, I thought of buying two more tickets for my daughters so they could tag along with us and watch Lea Salonga as Grizabella. I miss my stage mother days and I was certain the daughters still love watching the arts and culture. The last time I was at the Cultural Center was watching my girls dancing ballet.

I thought it was just me but I didn’t get the plot of the musical. One should really read the synopsis before watching the musical. Despite not understanding the story, I loved the cat playground, elaborate lighting, the props, the makeup, the costumes and Lea Salonga of course. She is the only Filipino artist in a production dominated by Australian “triple threat” performers. It was also good that I bought the 50 peso binoculars which I peered into during solo singing. Though seated at balcony 1, I just couldn’t see the details of their “cat-like” makeup in their faces.
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Entertainment breaks with my PLDT MyDSL broadband connection

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Do you know that when I just want to relax, I watch funny or entertaining youtube videos? It takes my mind off work, gives me a lot of laughter to just be and let worries go away for the moment. Even just the expectation of a mirthful laughter involved in watching funny videos has some very surprising and significant neuroendocrine/hormone effect. Experiments showed that viewing a favorite funny video can offset symptoms of chronic stress, which can suppress various components of the immune responses, particularly those related to anti-viral and anti-tumor defenses. See, that’s why I look forward to my entertainment breaks.


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The politics of motherhood

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I cringe every time someone outside the blogging world, asks me “what exactly do you do? or How long do you spend at your computer?” Well, let me just say, that we, mom Bloggers are not frumpy women that hang out with our computers all day. There’s more to being a mom blogger than one might think. Some of us are former career women, and professionals who decided to spend more time with our kids and blog because we are passionate about something and not as our primary job.

We also know when to have fun, to take time away from our kids and to take care of ourselves. When someone feels rotten about their day or asks me “what should I do? we had a fight” , I often say “take care of yourself first. Love yourself. ”

A famous Dalai Lama quote says it all ““If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.” I believe one cannot give what one does not have.
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A Chance to win a National Geographic Expeditions trip to the Greek isles

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A Jewish proverb says “No matter what happens, travel gives you a story to tell. ” I just came from my husband’s hometown for a Father’s day weekend. It might just be an ordinary place to travel for most of you but see, there is a story to tell. Since we moved to our new home in Pasig in 2007, my husband felt our new home was the ultimate vacation destination. Except for a brief trip to Singapore, we never traveled within the Philippines as we used to in the past. I nagged him to take us back to his birthplace because the kids missed travelling with us. Unfortunately, only one daughter could join us as the second daughter couldn’t leave work. Being in a different place is always an opportunity to take a break from the computer, bond with my husband and daughter. This is just the beginning of a series of travel in the Philippines and elsewhere for the year 2010. Of course, a travel is never complete without photos and I took lots of them. Above are just a few.

National Geographic Energizer Ultimate Photo ContestI am back in Manila and eager to start work when I saw this email in my inbox. The sender, the awareness campaign of National Geographic and Energizer who asked me if I was interested to share the Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest with my readers. The thought of travelling to the Greek Isles will surely interest everyone. I thought you might be interested in this unique opportunity which is now in its third year so I am sharing it with you.

What is it about? (EDIT: Found out the contest rules are “open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least eighteen (18) years old “)

1. Send in your best photos – in categories like Animals/Wildlife, Travel and Weather – for a chance to win a National Geographic Expeditions trip for two to the Greek isles and a featured in an Energizer ad in the December issue of National Geographic magazine.

2. Entry is open until June 30th at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pictela. National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson serves as a contest judge, and will also be doling out photography tips and participating in a Q&A session on the contest website.

3. ALL photography skill levels are encouraged to enter – one of last year’s winners was shot by a zoo employee on a regular point-and-shoot camera!

The deadline is next week, June 30. Send your photos here at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pictela

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Clubbing 101 for a clueless, hip mom

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It’s been a trend over the last few years, but it’s just getting bigger and bigger. It’s the clubbing, party-going crowd, and it gives people an excuse to dress up how they normally wouldn’t. Shari Maxwell


Receiving an invitation to a launch is nothing new to me and with my busy schedule, I am quite picky. The cool invite to attend the launch of the new Republiq , a club, a venue of sorts located at the Plaza, Resorts World Manila, Newport City in Pasay City piqued my interest because it was Tim Yap’s latest venture. I met Tim Yap in Singapore last year at the height of Ondoy and got to know him beyond his celebrity status.

I appreciated the invite because I have never experienced the clubbing scene in Manila. Who says I can’t have good clean fun at my age? Having a little adventure is always fun. Bringing my husband was out of the question. It was a week day. Good thing the hubby didn’t complain when I told him that I’ll bringing the girls out on thursday night. Off we went to Republiq club in long dresses, a rarity. It was a good 40 minutes drive away from home.

Like I told you earlier, I thought it was a media event so I brought along my Nikon DSLR. The lady at the entrance told me that my DSLR had to be deposited. No problem, I didn’t feel like dragging my chunky camera along anyway. She placed a stamp on my hand.

At the entrance, the guards inspected the hands of my girls. I looked horrified as I stared at my right hand, ” look, the stamp on my hand disappeared. Let me go back to the counter…”

My daughter, the “club authority” whispered, “Mom….UV light will detect it.”

I chuckled at clueless me.

The Republiq was not ready for the guests so I just sat down and looked around for my media friends.

Noting my disappointment, another daughter rolled her eyes “Mom, this is not a media invite. You were invited. Didn’t you read the invitation? Private launch?”

Then another daughter piped in “You may be hip and cool,mom but still a mom. Clueless about clubs”.

Laughing at my faux pax, I chimed in “I know, haha. well, what I know about clubs are disco clubs…we actually dance.”

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I wear many hats

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IMG_6634I wear many hats literally. With the summer heat, the hat protects me from direct sunlight or else I suffer migraines. My favorite is this light and summery straw fedora as it often gives my outfit a summery and sexy feel. I like how I look with my hats. Wearing many hats give diversity in my look. I guess I can say the same about wearing many hats as in having many responsibilities. With each change of hat I am a different person.

The past months, I have had to wear many hats. No longer was I just your ordinary mom blogger, I learned to go out of my comfort zone, learn everything I can about the elections and political issues. I looked forward to the day elections will be over and done with. I told myself that I just want to live my pre-Blog Watch laid-back lifestyle. No hectic schedules. No late nights writing articles. The past events made me rethink that position because I feel that I have gotten so involved with citizen’s watch.

IMG_6635Not only am I in citizen’s watch, I wear another hat as features editor of the Philippine Online Chronicles. I love my work. Listening to the story pitches of my editors every month is something to look forward to. I learn something new every time I read articles whether in Health & fitness, Sports, Technology, Movie Reviews , etc.

Then I wear another hat at home, as a loving wife and friend to my darling husband, and another hat to my two girls who are often too busy to talk to mommy. I’ve been so remiss with my homemaker’s hat. I am grateful that I have a trusted helpers who can execute my “things to do” for the day. I will wear this hat more often now , at least for the next few weeks. The dry grass in the garden needs to be attended to. The kitchen cabinet needs to be reorganized with the new appliances I just bought. The tons of books lingering with dust needs to be hauled off to someone who will actually read it. Junk , junk everywhere needs to be thrown out.

I’ve done my share to help this country. It’s time I attend to home sweet home. Oh yes, I will wear this hat for now.

Family conversation at the dinner table

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paulene-swiss-chocolatesI feel guilty whenever I am away from home. Even if the girls are all grown up, I am just so used to being a stay-at-home mom working at the comfort of my bedroom. As election day nears, I find myself out of the house more often than I ever had in my married life.

Food never fails to bring us together. Last friday, I brought in extra food from a Yehey interview with Erwin Genuino, a Makati mayoral candidate. I sent an SMS to everyone “I am on my way home. Bringing food from Sentro.” It was 9:00 PM and to my surprise, everyone was home on a friday night. Getting the family together for dinner can be difficult especially with adult kids with an active social life.
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