After 35 years, Sikolohiyang Pilipino gets world respect - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

    I'm so proud to be part of this movement and to share its philosophy!

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PSSP Conference 2010

UP Baguio
November 2010

Alden's family

2010 Commissioning

Baguio 2010

So sad

I am tired. I am sad. I'll miss you, Tita Lina! So much ...

Pasko Na Sinta Ko - Gary Valenciano (Sing-along)

PAP Workshop

Bencab Museum

Bencab Museum

Easter Weaving Room

After 30 years

Easter Weaving Room

Marimel after 30+ years

Amici rocks!

Dinner with volunteer CSSP Registration Assistants

My 2011 Rules

    In July 2003, I wrote some Life Rules. Today, I reviewed them, revised some, but still believe in most of them.
 
Here's my updated Life Rules:

Read a lot                                                              
Eat healthy & well 
Cook
Drink fruit shakes and herbal tea
Wink at kids                                                         
Make kids laugh
Put babies to sleep
Have dates with my husband
Have dates with my kids    
Pray more with my family                       
Watch sunsets
Paint sunsets
Take artsy photos
Light scented candles
Have plenty of massages
Write poetry
Keep a blog
Write serious stuff for publication
Speak good Filipino
Hug long-lost friends
Answer e-mail
Inspire others
Put bullies in their place
Take invigorating showers
Pamper with scented soaps & bodywash
Swim in the rain
Swim regularly                                      
Sing
Play the piano
Listen to classical music
Travel, travel, travel
Wake up to birds outside my window
Wake up to kisses
Sleep outdoors.
Use fresh white, cotton sheets
Wear pearls
Make jewelry
Shop in tiangges.
Dress for comfort
Avoid high heels.
Dress in understated elegance
Use the computer
Keep up with technology
Have long lunches with dear friends.
Cry my heart out when I need to
Laugh till my tummy hurts
Meet deadlines
Keep cool at work
Forgive myself
Share my blessings
Love unconditionally

Mutya ng Pasig by Lilac Caña

Another favorite by our choir

Lagi Kitang Naaalala - L. Silos (arranged by Jose Valdez)

One of my favorite songs from my Lakbay-Awit days

Rainy November 1

I am awakened by the strong rain. I remember it is  November 1. And I remember Mama and all the rainy All Saints Day we had to bear when we were young.

It begun in 1971, a few days after we had just buried Lola Ipay, who died on October 25, in Loyola Memorial Park . Before that, we had always gone to the cemeteries in San Pablo and Sta. Cruz to visit our dead. I don't ever remember that it rained during those times and having had to do anything taxing except to locate the grave site of our relatives. So when we had to spend Nov 1 that year in Loyola, we were not prepared for what would transpire.

That first time, it took us hours to get to Marikina from the corner of Katipunan, a ride that would normally take 15 minutes. I was amazed to see the serene memorial park of two weeks before transformed into what looked like picnic grounds with big tents dotting the landscape. That evening signaled the beginning of an annual ritual of 1) setting up the tent days before All Saints Day, 2) starting very early in the day but still enduring hours of travel of bumper-to-bumper traffic, then 3) lugging tables, chairs, food, flowers, and candles to the grave site. Whether rainy (and therefore, muddy) or steaming hot, we had lunch under the tent. We usually stayed until late afternoon or until we just had about enough of what was going on all around us. Surprisingly, teen-aged me longed to stay till it was dark because it seemed there appeared to be more action in the evenings. But that never happened because there was the tiresome task of bringing back all our stuff to the car and then bearing the lengthy trip home.

Mama did all that was needed to be done for this event with a passion. I don't know whether it was out of duty or love for our relatives buried there that she made sure everything was in place. Or was it so that she actually enjoyed being there, chatting with the "neighbors", having the whole family there eating food she prepared. I didn't share her enthusiasm for this family outing but had no choice in the matter, of course!

Things changed when in 1988, I had a legitimate reason to stay home. I had to breastfeed our 6-month old daughter who was too young to join everyone in Loyola. Everyone that year included our 5-year old son who managed to get lost in the crowds of thousands. He was later found exploring the sights on his own. It was that year that I decided that I would no longer go to Loyola on November 1. Instead, my family would pay our respects to our dead on November 2, All Souls Day, when traffic was lighter, crowds were sparse, and the placed looked more like a park than a circus.

Mama continued to go to Loyola on November 1 with my cousins until one year, when she was nearing her 80s, she said she preferred to join us. She had, on that day, passed on the baton of the responsibility of taking charge of the Loyola visits to me. 

Today, Mama and Papa are both buried there now and I sort of understand now why Mama was so devoted to her annual rituals. It was her way of professing of her undying love for those who lay there. I guess the tradition (with my modifications) will go on because they make sure that our ties with our loved ones will always remain. Through heat, through mud, through rain!

 

Josh Groban featuring Chris Botti - Broken Vow - Live at Soundstage

Sometimes - Carpenters

A favorite of mine from high school days

Lea Salonga - On my own (Les Miserables)

Pablo undertands me

Sonnet LXXXI From: �Cien sonetos de amor� �Already, you are mine. Rest with your dream inside my dream.� ~ Pablo Neruda

Already, you are mine. Rest with your dream inside my dream. Love, grief, labour, must sleep now. Night revolves on invisible wheels and joined to me you are pure as sleeping amber. No one else will sleep with my dream, love. You will go we will go joined by the waters of time. No other one will travel the shadows with me, only you, eternal nature, eternal sun, eternal moon. Already your hands have opened their delicate fists and let fall, without direction, their gentle signs, you eyes enclosing themselves like two grey wings, while I follow the waters you bring that take me onwards: night, Earth, winds weave their fate, and already, not only am I not without you, I alone am your dream.

FRANCO NERO (Gene Merlino as Lancelot's singing voice) - If Ever I Would Leave You (Camelot 1967)

Another version from the 1967 movie, "Camelot"

Woman-to-woman guarding

Friday evening to Sunday morning in DAP, then Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning in Viewpoint Hotel! Goodness, I have infected my daughter with the can't-finish-a-paper-unless-I work-in-Tagaytay virus! We managed to complete most of what we set out to do thanks to long, late nights fueled by food & coffee from a nearby, friendly cafe.  I guess I should start saving up for the next one!

If Ever I Would Leave You - Nathan Gunn

A favorite song from Camelot

A date at Clawdaddy's

If crabs are your thing, then don't fail to have some of the best I've ever had. I swear one could drown in all that garlic! Oysters were heavenly too!

Birthday blow-out @ 101

Yummy Estrel's caramel cake

Mama Diding.m4v

Art from my mobile phone

The Search

Instead of soul-searching (which I usually do on my birthdays since I turned golden), I spent my 50+ birthday searching for the best sisig in Angeles, Pampanga. Another discovery was the original Red Crab in Clark. Yummy day!

Kara & Friends at Musicbox

Lovely at 22!

April 27, 2010
Chelsea Restaurant

Goddess daw

In a quiz which asks "Which ancient goddess are you"; this is what I got:                          

 Indo-Iranian Goddess Anahita of Water...      You are easygoing and open-minded, though passionate about your values. You have much integrity and resonate elegance and inner beauty. You are a deep thinker, caring and sensitive.   Wow, if only all of these were true! Hahaha!

Sixty is Sexy!

Tito celebrated his 60th birthday on September 27, 2010. The party was held in Cerchio Restaurant.

Mommy's birthday celebration 2010

Where'd the white rabbit go?

September 2010

Celdran

I would have been offended by Celdran's act if I were there! The mass in not only about the clergy presiding over an event. It is more about a community of the faithful coming together to worship God. If some people do not share in the belief that the mass is sacred, then they should at least respect our belief that it is so!

Sometimes I think "tagasalo" really means "tanga-salo". Hay, the story of my life! 

Lost

"A man is not where he lives, but where he loves." - Latin Proverb


I don't know where I am anymore. I don't know who I am anymore.

All I know is my heart lives where loving him equals pain. 

9/19/2010

11:12 PM

I want to go to Marrakesh!

On Bus Trips & Personal Space

Rode the San Agustin bus to Tagaytay last Saturday. Wanted to have one day all to myself before the family joined me a day later. That would give me time to finish all sorts of papers with deadlines I had already missed.

I caught the trip leaving the terminal a few minutes past 10 AM. The bus seemed road-worthy and the interiors were neat and clean. The thinly-cushioned seats covered in thick plastic were comfy even if a bit narrow for my generous behind. But that wasn't much of a problem as I had 3 empty seats all to myself. I settled in for what I imagined would be a pleasant and comfortable ride. By noontime, I should be taking lunch in Tagaytay, I predicted.

From Cubao to Roxas Blvd, the ride was uneventful. After that, the colorful balloons in my unrealistic mind started to pop one by one. I had to eventually give up the luxury of the 2 seats beside me. No problem, I thought, it's just less a little over an hour to my destination anyway. Of course I didn't anticipate the horrible traffic in Imus and Dasmarinas which kept us moving in a turtle-in-a-stupor pace. Again, that would have been tolerable if the bus didn't stop for any passenger that cared to squeeze his or way inside and stand in the aisle in the now very full bus. The ordeal lasted until fresh air started to stream inside the bus as it approached Silang. By 12:35, I got off the bus terminal and boarded a low-slung tricycle (in which I practically had to kneel to get into) that took me on a bumpy ride to DAP.

Almost 3 hours after I boarded the bus, I was finally at the front desk claiming my reservation. It would take another hour before I could finally rest in the comfort of a nice, big room which I had all to myself!

Which brings me to the point of this story... This trip brought me to the realization that my definition of personal space might be different from those of many. Might the dimensions of my personal space be much bigger than others, I wondered.

Even as a child, I have  always been in dread of crowds. I have never cherished being boxed in by a sea of humanity, of feeling the sweat of complete strangers, of being elbowed and stepped upon mindlessly by people.  I have been upset on airplanes when the limbs of seatmates have transgressed the boundaries set by armrests. So all the more was I a little flabbergasted that I seemed to be the only one who minded that we were packed shoulder-to-shoulder and knee-to-knee in that bus.
 
Why was I silently protesting in my seat?  Could it be due to the fact that a space normally adequate for a regular-sized Filipino woman was a bit too confining for my bigger-than-average frame and size? Or Is it because my upper middle class lifestyle has afforded me the luxury of traveling in comfort too often that I suffer when I have to travel sardine-style? Maybe both. I don't know,

In the meantime, I am imagining that sometime soon the bus companies plying the Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas route will, in a flash of genius and inspiration, come up with Express buses to Tagaytay. They will charge much more than the P104 fare, of course, but if that means a speedier and less claustrophobic ride to  my fave destination, let it be! This personal space-challenged person can dream, can't she ?

The Shifting of Light

             I was seated on one of the wooden benches on DAP taking in this beautiful sight on a just-right cool day in Tagaytay when I noticed that the light on the lawn would change from minute to minute. First, the sun was bright and intense on the ground, then suddenly the light softened, and then the colors of the trees and grass would glow again. It was like someone up there was playfully folding and unfolding a giant umbrella over the area where I was. Looking up, I noticed a flurry of clouds move from the end of the sky farthest from me towards the direction over my head. Sometimes, the clouds took a lazy pace, taking their own sweet time to traverse the distance. But when I chose to pay close attention, up there was a spread of feathery clouds that seemed to be racing to get to a finish line.

               And that was when I realized how flimsy-looking clouds can reduce the intensity of the light and heat of the sun. Even for a fleeting moment, that which signified Life seemed to have surrendered its power to the seemingly weightless combination of water and air. It was a free-form dance of nature's elements which delighted my senses at that moment and rekindled memories of Clouds in my life!

              There have been friends who have provided me shade when the Sun had almost burned holes in my heart. They have banished fears and soothed my pain, even if just for a while. They are now gone from my life but were there when it mattered.

            I guess that I too have trekked through the skies to give friends respite from the heat. It would have made me happy to stay. But clouds can only obey the wind that urges them to move on. To where they will matter.

              

   

Tagaytay once again

August 28-31, 2010

Happy Birthday, Ivan!

My inaanak, Ivan, turned 24 last August 22, 2010. Birthday celebration was at Maki Haus

Weight loss program in Palawan. Not!

Part of the fun during our stay in Puerto Prinsesa was trying out the restaurants in the city. Mabuti na lang Legend Hotel lunches were terrible! Otherwise, I'm sure I would have gained a pound or two for each day that we were there!

Finally, Palawan! (Business muna)

Attended the annual convention of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) in Puerto Princesa witth colleagues from the UP Department of Psychology
Aug.17-21, 2010

Finally, Palawan! (Pleasure naman)

Underground River Tour
Puerto Princesa

"Love is so short. Forgetting is so long." - Pablo Neruda

Darwin Day2: Nightcliff Market

#Hate minutes

It is taking superhuman effort for me to work on the minutes of a meeting! Trudge on, sigh on... I have only 3 days left. 

Panaginip

Today, I pretended that I was a rich but lonely heiress. That I had everything that money could buy but yet I was all alone in this world. Hahaha! Only because when I was swimming  in the infinity pool of the gym, I had it all to myself. It was also as if I owned everything I could see from the all-glass wall of the penthouse where the pool was. Hay! Masarap managinip paminsan-minsan. 

Darwin Botanic Garden

Happy Birthday, Winnie!

Joined high school classmates in Subic to help celebrate Winnie's birthday.
July 25, 2010

Crocodylus Park & Zoo

Takot ako sa crocodile!

We went to Crocodylus Park and Zoo to look at the crocodiles. Didn't know that holding them was part of the deal. Shivers!!! The kiddos had no fear in handling the baby crocodile unlike Tita Jang who could barely touch the reptile.

Mindil Market

The last of many markets I visited (take note, I did not shop in all of them) in Darwin. I enjoyed looking at the crafts and the food stalls. People come to the Mindil market also to view the spectacular sunset while having a picnic on the beach. Haven't seen this many people on a beach at any one time!

Darwin Museum

Unfortunately, no photography allowed inside the museum!

Dinner with the Fernans of Darwin

Singapore Art Museum

Walked about 2 hours all over trying to find this place. It was sure worth the sore feet, missed lunch, and unexpected tan. It's a small museum but with a good collection of local and regional artists. It's also very well-maintained.

The Kiddos

SAM Art Garden

Breakfast at the mall

McDonald's at Causarina Square

Room 209 in Footprints Hostel

It's the artwork on one wall of my room.

From EDSA Shangri-la Hotel to Footprints Hostel! Aaargh, like sliding down the scale from 10 to 2.5. But hey, from not having to pay more than Singapore $60/night, bought myself some Scholl slip-ons that cost even more than the room. : )

Singapore on foot

Walked from the Little India area to the Singapore Art Museum and back. Sure way of discovering out of the way places and getting sore feet, of course. But if I didn't particularly like visiting Singapore in the past, this adventure just made me change my mind. If and when I get another chance, I'm sure I'll enjoy discovering more sites on foot!

The Casino

No, didn't play at the tables. Instead, gambled with the chance of not gaining more weight after a sumptuous buffet at the casino restaurant. I probably lost that bet but discovering wholegrain mustard with roast beef sure made me feel like a winner. Burp!

The 3rd APsyA Conference

Charles Darwin University
July 4-7, 2010

Darwin Day1: In Malak & at the Wharf

Darwin Day2: The APsyA Welcome Dinner