I never planned to upgrade today. I didn’t know it yet but until I searched the archives for my last theme update , what did I discover? Lo and Behold! It is exactly a year ago. How come it took me that long? I usually change my theme every 6 months. I must have loved the old theme so much.
It is Photo Hunt day and a perfect excuse to post a photo. I have such a sweet tooth that I couldn’t resist taking such these colorful desserts, the name of which escapes me now.
Online petition – JUSTICE FOR TARA SANTELICES: Better Crime Prevention
Leaving my kids is never easy no matter their age. I informed my family that I will be traveling to the USA by the last week of September for a series of talks and to visit my 3 siblings. My daughter asked “Who will drive us? it is dangerous to commute. There was a holdup inside a jeepney in Katipunan last week. And have you heard about Tara Santelices who got shot because she tried to wrestle back her bag containing a laptop? yadda yadda!”
Oh the risks of commuting! I suddenly felt like canceling my trip altogether. There I go again, letting fear control me. The “What if?” is the nagging question and on the other hand, What should I do?
What would you do in my shoes?
My girls got to use the public transportation system only in college. By that time, I learned to let go of worry. I am aware of the dangers and risks in our transport system but I didn’t want them to live in a perpetual cloak of fear. During their pre-college years, it was either me or the driver that brought them to school or any destination in Manila. It was easier to control their activities when they were younger since they were a bit obedient in those days with limited social life to boot. They lived a very sheltered life.
My Cebu-based 44 year old, sister-in-law is leaving for Louisiana, USA on Thursday as a special education teacher for a suburban public high school. It came as a pleasant surprise to her. The US hiring agency informed her of an opening on July 4. She got interviewed via Skype by a panel of 10 where questions like “How do you apply technology in the classroom?” and others were asked of her. Distracted by the faces floating in the Skype window, she minimized it and focused on the camera to make eye contact with the school staff. She made the cut and from then on, a flurry of documentation fell into place . Her H-1 visa was released last thursday. A total of $3,000 placement fee was all she paid to the US-based agency.
August 8 2008, 8-8-08, will it be a significant day for most of you? 8/8/08 has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
But what else is happening today?
Today is Sara‘s wedding date.
Today , the 29th Summer Olympics will take off in Beijing at 08:08:08 p.m.
Today is just an ordinary day for most of us.
Let me explain.
It started when I exclaimed “That’s awesome!” to a plurk. Was it Baddie or Pau who noticed that I said that? I forgot who, but Helga begged that I utter LOLcat words. Lauren seemed visibly “annoyed” that her friends were encouraging me to LOLcat speak. If you don’t know yet, LOLCat is an image combining a photograph, most frequently a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in (often) broken Englishâ€â€a dialect which is known as “lolspeak”, or “Kitteh!”. The truth is I find LOLcat so funny. I love our cats and I sort of speak LOLcat to these furry creatures. I know my limits. I will sound ridiculous at my age to utter LOLCat words.
Many years ago, I believed it would have been far out . Can you dig it?
Being a seventies child, I often heard the word “generation gap” from my high school classmates. It occurred to me that one day I’d be a mother.
I’m not going to be that kind of mother.
I’d “betcha by golly wow” will strive to bridge that generation gap. I was gonna be in the groove of things. I twirled and peered into the mirror as I admired my long, waist-length hair, Hot Pants and neon orange top.
Yup, I will be a groovy mom. I will be their mother and maybe their best friend.
When Carlo Ople, the New Media Consultant of Senator Mar Roxas invited me for a bloggers’ meetup, I almost choked:
“Whaaat? I hope you won’t ask me to endorse him or something”.
My imagination started to run wild. The buzz is Senator Mar Roxas is likely to run for the 2010 Presidential Elections. I could see it clearly now. He sees the potential of bloggers and new media to promote his advocacies! I was really hesitant about the whole meeting idea because first of all, I don’t like politics. Second, I felt uncomfortable having to “chikka” with a senator. I sort of nodded “yes” to Carlo, unsure if this was my kind of thing. During the last senatorial election, I only blogged of Alan Cayetano, a family friend the day after the elections. I rarely discuss politics in this blog especially if there is no bearing to my blog’s theme.
So I raised the question in plurk to see if my plurk buddies had the same sentiments as mine, if a senator invites you for a meet-up would you go?
Surprisingly, majority said they’d take the opportunity depending on the senator. Of course, it hit me. This is new media content. I cover food events, press conferences and even the launch of a Governor’s blog so why not a senator’s request to meet bloggers? This is a perfect opportunity to meet a senator up close and know the person behind the senator. Definitely a first in the Philippine blogosphere.
This afternoon, I finally met Senator Mar Roxas. I sat across him so I could easily snap photos of the event. But due to the mirror behind him, he moved over to sit beside me. Great.
He saw my plurk name, momblogger on my macbook and asked, “Is that your name, momblogger?”
“It’s my plurk name. Do you plurk?”, I asked.
He laughed “Not yet. I use Twitter”. Not bad. The senator is very tech-savvy.
I couldn’t contain my plurk addiction so I wrote this momblogger is seated beside Senator Mar Roxas and he is asking if momblogger is my username since he noticed my plurk. and even showed him the replies to my plurk. He was surprised at the plurk greetings.
Bloggers from FilipinoVoices.com, Susan ““Toots” Ople,Lester Cavestany, Jester, Arbet Bernardo, Marck Rimorin, Juned Sunido, Sonnie Santos, Abe Olandres, Paolo Florenda, Ding Gagelonia, Gail Villanueva, Marc Villanueva, Ellen Tordesillas, Manolo Quezon, Ricky Carandang, Carlo Ople and myself introduced ourselves to the senator. He scribbled the names of each blogger on a sheet of paper and made sure he remembered each one of us. He even drew a seating layout with our names in it. A man of details. Very impressive, indeed!
The serious talks on VAT on oil started. He said that:
The 12% VAT on oil was imposed in 2005 when the world price of oil was only $30 per barrel and public deficit was at an all-time high. Today, the situation has revered itself. The price of oil has exceeded $100 a barrel and is still rising while our budget deficit has been tamed. In 2005, at the time government sought a higher VAT, the intention was clear: to put our fiscal house in order. Today, at a time when people’s incomes remain largely stagnant against soaring prices of food and oil, it is government’s turn to make the supreme sacrifice of leaving money in our people’s pockets. Stop collecting the oil VAT. This will immediately result in savings of P6 per liter of gas and P66 per LPG tank. Such savings will be felt more by the poor than the rich. These savings will also benefit the government since whatever we buy with it would be VAT-able anyway.
Listening to Senator Roxas, I am very impressed with the structure of his talk. He is highly organized and smart. I would not have known this if I didn’t attend this intimate gathering. The senator seemed unfazed even under difficult questions from political bloggers.
The question is: Do I really want to remove the VAT on oil? Where will the government gets its revenue? The move seems to favor the poor more than the rich but his Senate bill 1962 on a proposal for a 6-months suspension of the 12% VAT on oil has not moved at the Lower House.
(Photo from Carlo Ople)
A cute question raised by Marck was “Who would he want to meet among the three characters in The Dark Knight?” The senator’s answer is 2 Face and he wants to ask him “What happened to you?”. Nick wondered out loud in plurk “if he thinks two face is what happened to Neri..”
Since his committee is on Trade and Industry, I asked him about consumer protection when Internet Service Providers (ISP) don’t deliver.
His answer: Write him and he will coordinate with the Telcos. Wow. I will probably do that only if I exerted all means to fix the problem with my ISPs.
He also launched his Mar Roxas Blog which he promises to update once a week.
What do you think of a senator tapping bloggers or new media to promote an advocacy?
More photos of Senator Mar Roxas and Bloggers
Other Bloggers’ entries
Blogger Meet up with Senator Mar Roxas
Up Close with Senator Mar Roxas
Mar Roxas Asks: What Do We Have To Show For P7-Trillion?
Sen. Mar Roxas blogs, for real
Finally, finally….we have a venue and date. Philippine Blog Awards 2008 will be held at Coral B, One Esplanade , Seaside corner Bay Boulevard Pasay City on September 21, a Sunday. Here is how One Esplanade looks like.
To capture my initial reaction of the President’s SONA, I wrote this entry while watching the SONA 2008 live coverage.
I care about my children who will inherit the country’s future.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo thinks of the poor and her fellow Filipinos in her State of the Nation Address (SONA 2008) (View SONA 2008 Video Archive and SONA 2008 Full Text). She kept saying “I care…”
Madam President, I think of my children all the time. I had high hopes for the Philippines. I refused the US immigrant application in 1986 when Lauren was still a baby because I wanted my children to stay here and work for the future of their country. Sometimes, I think I made a mistake after seeing the state of our country through no fault of ours, you say.
To address these global challenges, you said that ““we have to reach out to those we need and who may need us, yet we strive for self-reliance.”
My sister, Dr. Belen Lardizabal-Dofitas appeared in Jessica Soho last night as the resource person in behalf of the Philippine Dermatological Society (PDS) for the “Glutathione Supplements for Whitening”. My sister, a dermatologist by profession wrote the PDS position paper on glutathione supplements. There is also the recent controversial withdrawal of the license of 3 glutathione brands in the market which the public should take note. I’ve been meaning to blog about this because I see billboards everywhere on Supplements for Whitening. The most important message my sister wanted to convey is that there is still a lack of good quality scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of glutathione supplements and injectable glutathione for lightening skin color.
(Above is the Youtube video of the Glutathione segment in the Jessica Soho show)