Today is World Teachers’ Day

Teacher as mother

Maria Theresa Subala was my English teacher and class adviser in Grade I. She was a kind woman with a warm smile and a gentle voice. When I wrote a short poem about our new laptop at home, Miss Subala told me, “Let’s send this to The Judenites!” I was surprised that she wanted to submit my silly rhyme about “my computer called Homer” to the school publication. The poem did not see print but Miss Subala encouraged me to write more, saying I had great potentials waiting to be revealed. Miss Subala was more than my English teacher. She was like a mother to me. I will forever be indebted to and will never forget Miss Subala, who made me realize my capabilities.

First published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 5, 2009 (Monday, Learning Section).
Original Link: Readers say thanks to teachers

 

I love my lucky stars!

Guess what I discovered in my inbox and browser this morning…

Whoopie! I am the very lucky winner of a Blog Hopping Avalon.ph Moleskine Giveaway courtesy of OodlesOfGoodles.com!!!!

(1) One pocket ruled Moleskine notebook
(2) 500php Gift Certificate from Avalon.ph

*jumps for joy and imagines what I’ll write about on one of these babies*

Being an “aspiring writer” and all that, the writing world considers these exquisitely crafted Moleskine notebooks as the perfect companion for all types of literary pursuits. (Been eyeing those over at Fully Booked, Powerbooks et al but being the cheapskate, my scribbles are all over scratch papers.) Legendary sidenote: Ernest Hemingway owned a bunch of these! So I wonder if I can finally transmit that snivelly short story / essay anthology in my head into award-winning magic through this, haha!

And the fact that P500 GCs are a mad holiday for a bookworm. I’ve been meaning to find cookbooks and food/travel writing stuff but don’t have much of a fund left, so this is simply cool. I’ll let you know what I’m going to do with ‘em.

Mood: Seriously delirious. This is the best piece of news I’ve had in months! Thank you sooo much Ms Glenda (and your sister, who unwittingly selected me ), and the people from Avalon.ph for creating this wonderful opportunity!

In case you were wondering, this concluded contest is only the first of four from the 2nd series of the 2009 Avalon.ph Moleskine Giveaways! I found out about this contest just this August, but unfortunately Series 1 was already over. Patience pays and with tremendous fortune, I won! (So nothing is impossible! )

If you’re game for this amazing giveaway and fantastic prizes, just check out the Avalon.ph blog or Twitter @Avalon for updates on when they’ll launch the second to fourth installments (temporarily suspended, but stay tuned). Good luck!

Here comes the sun, not a drop in the metro! Cheerio!
(Back to preparing for the Finals and that thing called life) ~

—
(Update) 10/07/09:
Promptly received the prize package, consisting of the Pocket-ruled Moleskine and my chosen book from the 500GC, “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” by Patricia Schultz. Until now I cannot coax myself to take the Moleskine out of the shrink wrap, knowing how valuable it is and that I’m not worthy yet. ^^;;; Maybe next year, when I find work, meet the love of my life and discover new adventures. Right now I’m loving the armchair travel! Now this is something I can do without the worry of getting lost, getting broke, or staying out too long!
(Thanks again to Avalon.ph & Glenda for making this all supremely possible!)

 

Digging Dug the Dog

(Severely late post, but I just want to share!)

“Up” is one of my super-favorite movies in recent memory. And I’ve been loving Dug (the talking dog!) over and over again… it’s almost an obsession! (It’s him on my computer and mobile wallpaper, ha!) … So one day I thought of copying images and look what I made:

(fanciful rendering, which came from the source below)

(and my Dug versions, in mechanical pencil)

There goes my late-blooming talent *wink*.

As a kid I never really liked to draw, but in elementary my teacher commended me on my pencil-sketched houses (back when we had art class). Pleasantly surprised it took cartoons to reveal a hidden interest in drawing Maybe I have a future in animation!

 

A moment of emo

There are times when for some inexplicable reason, in the middle of whatever you’re doing at the present beat, you feel melancholic all of a sudden. Depressed, even. There’s a sad air about you and you can’t shake them away. A haunting nostalgia crawls in and all you can think of are memories of the past, which may be in wisps and slivers, but they are real and you can almost touch them. You think of the old days, of the old you, of the old relationships you’ve had, the old mundane activities you’ve done. A piano tune, a soft laugh, a whispered sigh. It leaves a hole in the pit of your stomach and empty in the heart. You wish you never got reminded of these in the first place, but as cats’ curiosities go, you march on the path of remembering. There you could see tangible faces, intangible emotions. You breathe in slow, stunted pauses as if unwilling to continue.

But the memory lingers. Running away from your own mind won’t do any good because no amount of denial and forgetting will let you drift away from them. Memories are the most unforgiving of human experiences.

 

Mad Men are Hot Men

 

Vanity Fair September 2009 issue

 

 

Feature of the Day: Don and Betty’s Paradise Lost

Can’t wait for Season 3! And happy 28th to RF tomorrow!

 

To a true national hero

schizoesque Cory Aquino will always be a beacon of hope, strength & sacrifice. I am fortunate to have been born under her presidency. I hope that her life, as well as her passing, will serve as an impetus to redeem our country’s politics and welfare.

 

Pussyfoot

pussyfoot 
verb [I] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to avoid making a decision or expressing an opinion because you are uncertain or frightened about doing so:
Stop pussyfooting around/about and tell me what you really think.

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

—

That is the strangest word I’ve ever heard for a long time. Nuff said

More politics: The best that can be said about the “Gates-gate” controversy is this:
Powell: Harvard scholar might have reacted quickly
… I am very tired of hearing this issue shackling over the US newscasts. Here’s offering my beer mug

I personally need a distraction.

 

… and babies make four.

From BBC Sport:

Federer celebrates birth of twins

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is the proud father of twin girls after his wife Mirka gave birth in Switzerland on Thursday night.

The 15-time Grand Slam winner said the girls, who are the couple’s first children, have been named Charlene Riva and Myla Rose.

“This is the greatest day of our lives,” said the world number one on his website.

“Mirka, Myla and Charlene are all healthy and doing very well.”

==========

TWINS!!! Congratulations to proud papa & mama… Get ready for a doubles team!
(The strange thing is, I kinda “knew” Mirka would give birth any hour from now, and I found out she did! Crazy!)
Off to la la land (and law) again…

 

O is for Only Getting Started

From Friday 5 for July 17: Scattergories

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these five questions to your personal webspace. Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below so we all know where to check out your answers! Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

This week’s 5 is inspired by the party game Scattergories, in which players have to come up with items, all beginning with the same letter, in several categories. For example, if the die is rolled and shows the letter R, players might have to come up with a soft drink, a farm animal, a river, and a U.S. President, all beginning with R. Valid answers might be root beer, rooster, Rhine, and Roosevelt.

First, go to this nifty online random-letter generator. Set the “number of random letter sequences to generate” to 1. Set the “length of each random letter sequence” to 1. Leave the “letters to choose from” how it is and click the button. You’ll get a rather non-dramatic one letter. Use that letter to begin all your answers to the 5 questions below.

Alternately, if you find that boring, you could set the “length of each random letter sequence” to 5, thereby giving you five letters, a different one for each question.

—
1. What random letter was generated by the online random-letter generator? (this doesn’t really count as one of your five questions)
“O”, as in o rly?

2. With what famous person, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would you most like to be stuck on a desert island?
Barack Obama (commendable but generic answer!) I’d say Oprah, because she’ll probably find a way to get us out of there. Or if nothing ever happens, we could benefit from an Island Diet and have some good girly chitchat. On the other hand, Conan O’Brien is definitely a guy I can get stranded with!

3. What food item, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, can always be found in your pantry?
Oatmeal, instant cooking. It’s part of the daily breakfast although I often get a pass. And oil, of course.

4. What song, whose title begins with the letter in question #1, always makes you feel good?
“Oye Como Va”. (Eliane Elias – It’s on my playlist right now, for lack of inspiration.) Oh yeah, Roisin Murphy’s “Overpowered”.

5. What is your least-favorite film whose title begins with the letter in question #1?
(I really cannot recall very bad movies I’ve seen that start with “O”. Guess I’m no film buff.) Though I got bored with “O Brother Where Art Thou”.. and aha! “On The Line” with the N’Sync guy.

6. What unusual animal, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would be a fun pet?
Ostriches! Maybe before they grow taller than me.

 

Jackson’s finest hour

Very shameless plug:
My “Letter to the Editor” about Michael Jackson got published TODAY, July 11, 2009 (Saturday) at the Philippine Daily Inquirer. For people who have a copy of the newspaper, it’s right behind the Opinion section (Page A12).

(My heart is jumping all over the place as I write this. Only came to know about it just a few minutes ago. It’s not “Youngblood” caliber all right, but I feel fulfilled anyway. We’ll eventually get there )

And there’s always the web version:
Jackson’s finest hour
Inquirer mobile link

(ETA: So the good thing about LTE is receiving email… fan mail! But honestly, it’s priceless to know what you wrote has made an impact to somebody. Thanks PDI… and thank you to everyone who read it. )