Nap Time Rocks!

Waterfront beach resort: how not to be a good manager

the customer is always right. well at least you try to placate them or please them if need be. ibang usapan na yun if the customer himself is rude, right?

anyway, I was in charge of looking for a family outing venue for new year’s and one of the resorts I contacted was The Waterfront Beach Resort in Morong, Bataan (what a mistake that was). I was actually satisfied how the first 2 representatives (Claire and Michelle) handled my requests, inquiries and clarifications, compared to the first (rather posh) one I called earlier. it turns out that it’s not always the “posh” ones that are hard to talk to.

I had the resort hold any reservation until I was sure my family would be ok with the quotations (I was comparing 3). I was already inclined to take theirs only because they were the more affordable one but the place, well, not so ok. so to cut the long story short, I reserved another resort for our outing and sent a text to the other 2 saying that I’m cancelling the inquiry and that for future company activities, could they send me a corporate rate?

lo and behold my cellphone rang and this angry old woman was short of screaming at me over the phone. she was clarifying a concern I had earlier but I said I was no longer interested because I already got another resort. then she told me over and over (or was asking, i don’t know because the tone was the same) that I was canceling my “reservation”. she was so rude and hang up on me too. so here’s the rest of the story (click on the photo to view a larger version):

I know I am one tough customer but then again, apathy kills, you know? some may tell me to just let it go. sure, after an apology.

Hindi lang ngayon [LP]

a song comes to mind: “sana ngayong pasko…”

ay may makaing masarap.

may bagong damit at tsinelas.

may pampagamot sa sakit, matutulugang maayos, at makapag-aral. marami sa mga batang lansangan dito sa Maynila, wala na rin halos inaasahan pang magandang kinabukasan.

samantalang ang iba sa atin, napakadaling itake for granted ang mga priveleges ng kahit kakaunting pera. kung itapon ang kinabukasan parang napakadali lang.

ang hiling ko hindi lang ngayong Pasko kundi habang buhay ay sana magamit ko ang mga biyayang bigay ng Diyos para makatulong sa iba. especially to kids who deserve so much more.

hiling ko din na sana kahit papaano ay may mainspire ako sa inyong mga babasa nito, nito, o nito na tumulong din sa mga tulad nila.

—

tema ngayong linggo sa Litratong Pinoy: Hiling (wish)

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI 400D | 102309 | www.flickr.com/morks/photos

Tags: Litratong Pinoy, street children, Virlanie foundation

these kids…

looking at Mia, i feel like i want to tell her how much she is blessed to have a home, a family (albeit missing one parent but who cares, she’s got the best nona and nono, and titos anyway), and food to eat anytime she wants. if only she could understand now. how much i would stress that to her.

for now, i’d like to let everyone know there are so much that we can do to help children who have no such privelege. they may have families but they get abused, or food but those come from hard-earned streets money which they shouldn’t even be doing, or clothing but tattered and barely hangs on to their bodies.

when we had an outreach in partnership with the Virlanie Foundation last Saturday, i fought the urge to cry. i have Mia and this was not the kind of life that you’d want for your kid, or any child for that matter. it was unfair to be born into street life, with nothing to look forward to but where the next meal will come from, or if daddy won’t come home drunk to beat me up again. too cruel.

you may think that i’m overreacting. i say, the next time you decide to do an outreach, go to the streets. special homes won’t let you see the harsh realities of poverty. it just won’t. i was talking to one mother who was very proud of her eldest son who now works at a local fastfood chain. he sort of brings home the bacon now, since the father isn’t much help because of the chronic drinking.

the conversation would’ve been Oprah-worthy if not for the punchline. she told me too that she had hit “jackpot” (that was her term for it) by getting pregnant thrice by a foreigner. that’s not the bitter part. she was so looking forward to raising one of her daughters into a teen so she can bring the family to a better place. if you can read between the lines, i don’t have to tell you that it’s through the flesh trade.

i wanted to ask her where she lives and take the kids myself. that’s just one reality. i’d hate to find out what the others are.

if you have the heart for children, please do share your blessings. the Virlanie Foundation needs so much of it, aside from monetary, there are needs too like personal hygiene and school supplies. vitamins and first aid kits for wound dressing and the like. (believe me, you wouldn’t want to see the worst case of it).

help bring back the smiles into these faces. you can learn about and get in touch with the Virlanie Foundation through www.virlanie.org.

like i said, your blessings are worth nothing unless they’re shared.

Stranded

like i said, September 26 for me and Mia was a different story. since our company decided to push through with the Family Day though it was raining (not as bad), i still decided to go. Mia was even dressed up for the occassion already!

i asked my brother to come with me (because i needed an extra pair of hands to hold on to mia while driving) but he preferred to stay home. what a blessing that turned out to be. so we picked up another officemate and went on our way.

Imelda Avenue in Cainta was already flooded halfway (around the area of Makro Cainta), probably half of the tires were submerged. Rexi (the camera) unfortunately wasn’t able to take photos because i was too busy navigating following a truck.

by midday after getting to Club Manila East in Taytay, the rain was already pounding hard. we were all confident that since the resort was a bit elevated, there wouldn’t be any problem with the water. the show went on.

that's the whole company (of 25), with family and minus a few who couldn't make it

lo and behold in about an hour or two, the muddy water was already thigh-deep out on the street and was beginning to flood the parking area. fortunately it didn’t rise any further but that meant we were all stranded inside CME. i already planned to go home right after lunch but the idea if submerging my car with me and Mia inside didn’t really sit well with me.

in the meantime, my mom has already been texting me not to come home anymore because there were flash floods. particularly on our street, which is sloping down towards a dead end, the water has been coming down faster than expected. my 2 brothers thankfully were aware enough to start bringing some appliances upstairs when the water started to come into our garage. the garage was thankfully empty. my mom had our other car with her in Cubao.

when the water started to come into our living room, my brothers started to bring some furniture up onto the higher level of the kitchen. (that turned out to be futile later on). they also thought about bringing in the 3 washing machines but unless you were Superman had a crane to do that, good luck with that.

by the time my dad came home, the water had rushed into the house waist deep in the kitchen and the ref was managed to be transferred upstairs. all the rest of the furniture were unfortunately left.

to make the long story short, my mom had been able to go home in the evening since the water had subsided by then. the cleaning that had to be done was unbelievable. and my mom being the cleanfreak that she is, had shifted to high-gear OC. i can imagine how that was.

i, on the other hand, had been worrying about Mia’s milk and diapers (i had only brought enough for one day) since we had to stay overnight. but God provides, that much i had been assured. one of the resort’s personnel and our HR manager braved the floodwaters and managed to get to SM Taytay. (thank you, thank you!)

by Sunday afternoon,we still weren’t sure if we’d be able to go home because the waters outside and in some areas where we planned to pass were still too high. but the sun shone, a la Noah’s Ark and a dove came bearing an olive branch.

so Mia went swimming! (forgot to download the photos)

we were finally able to go home when we got news that we could take the Valley Golf-Masinag hiway route. the mess (an understatement) that is Marikina was disheartening. even more so when i realized later that a lot of people washed up on the river banks died.

to say that we were blessed and that my family was spared isn’t even the point.  there were so many others who weren’t and who still need help.

—

pictures of how Ondoy damaged the house here

you can still help. click here to find out.

hay ondoy

this was in front of our house

ours is a dead end street, so guess what, it looked like one big bowl of flood/creek water

it took a good one week to clean out the mess, but that’s one thing friends and churchmates are good for (special mention to <insert your names here> hehe). thank goodness for kind hearts.

my brother’s camera phone didn’t have flash and electricity was already out by the time the water inside the house rose to chest deep in some parts and waist deep in some, so no pictures.

many say it’s mother nature’s wake up call. i say it’s God’s. our free will has destroyed so much of what He has given us to enjoy. all the cynics out there will even go to lengths to blame God, but oh well, whenever man has failed he tries to blame it on force majeur, God included. sad, sad.

and to our widely inefficient government who, in the middle of the mess is blaming each one of its members, shut up and do something about our widely inefficient disaster response system, urban planning (as if there’s much you can do now), and the rest of your administration.

i wish you all had drowned in the flood along with all the garbage and rat crap. well, that only goes out to the corrupt and hopelessly insufferable ones. which almost are all government employees.

and for the rest of us, let’s stop being so apathetic and do our part. plastic bags, candy wrappers, cigarette butts and all, we’ve done our fair share of polluting the environment. i bring my own shopping bag (even in grocery shopping), i pocket wrappers and small papers when there’s no trashcan around, and i don’t smoke. we also recycle plastics and paper at home.

what have you done so far?

fight for my vote, please

the last time i checked, Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City was still named that. i just don’t know when they decided to call it the Vincent Belmonte street.

sino bang politiko na tatakbo sa  eleksyon ang magpapatayo ng monumento sa gitna ng kalsada kung hindi siguradong mananalo, ha? either bayad na lahat ng botante sa buong QC or mayabang lang talaga siya. or mashado siyang assuming. sabihin niyo sakin kung mali lang ang assumption ko. please lang, or am i too paranoid? huh.

i used to think QC had a fairer and better voting population until this dude (who is the incumbent mayor’s son) came up with the brightest idea to cement a reminder to people of who he is right smack in the middle of a busy intersection.

now it scares the shites out of me to think that Mr. Belmonte here assumes the QC population is as brainless as a monkey on steroids. i wouldn’t vote for him just because of that stupid monument (that serves no purpose, by the way). or even if because he’s an “heir”. whatever, Vincent. i haven’t seen how you’ve done anything for me or my community either. the squatters area residents still wreak havoc on our street from time to time, and we still can’t park outside on the street without risking to lose a side mirror or an entire car.

where’s the fairness in your politicking? (hello, iris. stupid question) i can’t even judge the candidate servants even if i wanted to. i’d have to rely on the banners posted up on the street posts/lamps/wires that only multiply relative to the nearness of elections dates. a lot of which aren’t even helpful. “Happy Senior’s day”? really? and what’s with the misleading captions? exhibit A, Councilor Dante/Arlene De Guzman. really??

i say, ban all TVCs and radio ads (at any government level/position), start a year early in campaigning and do a roadshow nationwide. show us what you’ve got by going on a debate. let that be televised on national TV/radio. do that old fashioned meeting de avance along with your peer candidates. scrap the song-and-dance numbers and senseless meet-and-greets that only make you look kiss-ass idiotic. the middle class certainly thinks so. do localized venues to air serious agendas and not just how this other party is such a loser and that you can sing better “Hawak Kamay”. go public with your achievements and do not rely on your posters to do them for you. i hardly see any of you ‘bluebloods’ around my community.

i hope i’m not asking too much. it’s idealistic but hey, this is my country and it’s my business to demand as much. i pay my taxes and i follow the law as much as i can and i  want a fair and honest fight. fight for my vote, you aspiring government officials. i am worth that much.

and my heart broke again

reposting a call for help, from a friend, Shiela Catilo’s site, Moms For Moms:

—

shot April 2, 2009
photos by Jorem and Sheila Catilo

I’ve always loved photographing children. It’s such a joy to be able to capture them whether they’re in their most innocent or most mischievous moments. But this experience was different, and definitely one I would never forget.

Last Tuesday, Jorem and I went to the Dr. Jose Fabella Hospital with Rea Gomez-Harrow to shoot some pictures to post on the Moms for Moms site. It was probably the hardest shoot I’ve ever been through in all my years of being a photographer.

“Are you ready?” She asked, as we walked across the entrance of the ER right after a woman was brought out of the ambulance in a stretcher, her legs stained with blood, ready to give birth. There were pregnant women everywhere – in the hallways, sitting on the steps, walking around just waiting for their turn. I knew I had to brace myself for this.

The scent was familiar. It’s only been 6 months since I got out of the hospital after giving birth to our first baby. Had I been there a couple of years ago, it would have been different. But as we walk into what was 4 rooms full of maybe a hundred of bassinets or more, I felt my knees weaken and my heart crumble. I look through the viewfinder and get ready to shoot, but all I see is a blur as tears start to well up. My heart was pounding to the rhythm of infants crying in chorus. I turn my head, three babies are sharing one bassinet while the other had two. One baby’s face is already pushed against the other’s knee. Can he still breathe? I look the other way and one baby’s arm is as thin as my finger. There are tubes and needles, bottles of fluids running through their tiny bodies. Due to the lack of linens, three newly delivered babies share what looked like an old hand towel to keep them warm. Each was labeled with a medicine box cutout attached to their wrists with a string like a piece of evidence. It was hard to believe all of it was real. I knew there were going to be a lot of babies, but not like this. It was beyond what I expected. To say it was heartbreaking would be an understatement.

I’ve never seen so many babies all in one place at the same time, and seeing them in this condition just didn’t feel right. But this is how it’s always been in Fabella. Everyday, mothers flock to this place to give birth because it’s the only place they can go to. Due to the sheer volume of women giving birth each day, some have to go home a few hours after delivery while others who can’t share a tandem bed with 2-3 others to be able to rest. According to a social worker we talked to, some of them don’t even want to leave. To them, it’s a roof over their heads, a soft bed and regular meals. For their children, it’s a far better environment to survive in for their first few days of life.

It’s a sad reality to face, but it’s real nonetheless. So if these images move you to help, please do with what you can, in any way you can. Feel free to repost, link or contact us about it.

Help us help Fabella.

- Sheila Juan-Catilo

mia’s 1st blog post

hi, my name is Mishka Andrea, but everyone else calls me Mia. except maybe for my pedia doctor who calls me Mishka. i like it either way even though i can’t pronounce it.

you know, i’m not all eat, poop and sleep. i can sing my ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Rain Rain Go Away, and Happy Birthday all on my own. i can count up to 12 now, and even count in espanol, thanks to Dora.

i like imitating my lola photocopy stuff with that white machine which my mom always tells me not to touch. i do anyway. buttons are soo nice to press and it makes me feel like a grown up!

i regularly eat itty bitty meals now, and i think my mom is very happy with me. but i like McDo apple pie, ketchup on just about anything, noodle pasta or rice without anything on it, and Cookie Crisps. i can eat kalamansi without wincing! my mom says my taste is really weird. sometimes i eat better when we’re dining out, and i think it’s because of the pretty bright lights and nice tables and spoons to mess around with.

i’m quite the party girl too ’cause i love to sing and dance. you can play any song and i’ll dance to it, even native music which my tito ian plays sometimes. he says it’s for school, but i think sometimes they just love to see me dance ’cause i’m good at it. and as you can see, i’m a very good model.

i know all basic shapes when mommy shows me stuff, and i know the letters of the alphabet! well, most of them. Z is for Zebra, you know. i’m still learning colors but i got Blue right, i think.

i love wearing dresses, especially long, billowy ones. i like how it flaps around me when i twirl. i’d ask my mom to let me wear one even when i don’t have to leave the house. and i like putting on make up too, just like lola and mommy. but i think they just pretend to put some on me when i ask them. sneaky, sneaky.

that’s about it. i’m one happy little girl that loves everything cute, cuddly, shiny, and sweet. oh, and i love bubble baths too!

Sg Part 2: all things aquatic

hay P, if you were there, you’d love these too.

an all-Australian exhibit was setup at the Marina Square right beside our hotel, and one of them was Splatter’s. i couldn’t help but smile everytime i passed by their booth because the walls were filled with nice square paintings of comic artwork by Christopher Martin (like the one on the left).

the pop artwork were all so cute, selling for about S$40 – S$100+ per piece (which are also available to order online). if it weren’t so hard to pack them and bring them with me home (had a really small luggage), i’d have bought at least one.

but since i couldn’t, i brought Buster home instead.

(click the photo to find out what’s scaring Buster)

it’s an added bedtime reading for me and Mia. it doesn’t have anything to do with water i know, but it’s still one of those things i love.

the second day was as tiring as the first. went shopping at Vivo City at the bay area, which turns out not to be such a good idea if you’re going to Sentosa afterward. you end up riding the Luge with bags in between your legs and that’s not comfortable.

one thing i realized (no, make that several) going around Sentosa’s Underwater World are:

1. not all animals appreciate being pet. take the sting rays for example. there’s a pool area where you can touch the starfishes and the sting rays, and unlike the starfishes who are good at hiding their disapproval, some fish can actually jump out of the aquarium to tell people how irritating it is to be patted and grabbed and startled all day.
2. some people are just hardheaded as much as they are probably deaf (or blind, whichever applies). i don’t want to be racist but i just cannot for the life of me appreciate how cultural differences are nice when you’re in a looong queue, it’s scorching hot, and someone really smelly pushes their way ahead of you when there’s clearly a line to be followed. darn it. it seems to be not an isolated case since it happened to us twice in separate locations. what happened to the universal rule of order?
3. and then some people have no appreciation of other living things. they go to these attractions to satiate their curiosity and to get bragging rights that they were there. it’s sad how, within a few years, the Night Safari had become a circus and it’s so hard to keep tourists at bay. it’s obviously prohibited to use flash photography in several areas where there are animals, but like i said, there were still people who couldn’t understand.
4. sometimes attractions like the Ocean Park, the Underwater World, the Night Safari, etc. are better off unknown and unpopular. i get that they have to make money, but when it gets trampled on by many people like those described above, it feels like it’s not even worth it. the cages of the animals stink, otherwise carefree species are forced to remain in 4×5ft cells, it’s really just unfair to be prodded at and be made spectacles of sorts. it’s not really in their nature to be made captive.

about 7 years ago, i saw how nice and quiet Sentosa Island was. now, i’m not so sure i’d be saying the same thing. it’s so commercialized, they’re even building resorts and a Universal Studios park there. nothing against development but for a place so small and with such booming tourism… i just don’t know…

speaking of changes, the light and water musical show has really improved a lot. it’s still amazing, but with a lot more effects.

the fireworks are great, and i bet they really spend so much on this considering they show it about twice or thrice at night everyday. anyways, need to get to postprocessing photos now..

Foundations [lp]

Buildings are beautiful when they have great foundations. Come disasters for great structures with weak bases, they won’t be pretty anymore when they’re in heaps of rubble. Diba?

The reason why I’m pointing this out is because I heard Smart Buddy’s Me na Me radio ad earlier today and I thought that it didn’t promote such nice values.

The VO in the ad starts by asking kung strict ba parents ng nililigawan mo or something to that effect. The girl VO says “sorry ha, strict parents ko eh” in a pakipot way. Then the VO suggests na araw-arawin mo nalang sa telepono! Labo ha. Ligawan mo nalang sa text araw-araw, gabi-gabi.

Call me conservative. Whatever. I still think it wasn’t promoting the best of principles. So ano yun, never mind tradition to pay courtesy to the girl at home? Medyo hindi yata ako agree dun ah.

Sa huli nung ad sinagot nung girl yung lalaki. Okaaay.

Alarming lang what kind of values our kids are growing in these days. I know when I was younger and raging in teenage angst and hormones my parents worried about the same things. Pero ngayon, iba na eh. What with ingrained technology in our lifestyles. Text lang, pwede mo na ligawan. Mapapasagot mo pa. Eh hello, sa Facebook nga lang pwede ka na magka-gf/bf ng hindi mo pa nam-meet yung tao.

Like I said, foundations are what make a sound building. It won’t be beautiful if the base wasn’t strong.

–

The Baguio Manor Hotel at Camp John Hay. Canon EOS400D.

This week’s Litratong Pinoy theme: Gusali

Mia moment #1

Mia just loves to shout out loud in places where she knows there will be an echo.

So mommy teaches her the word “echo”.

Mommy: Mia say e-cho (enunciating the syllables very carefully)

Mia: eee-cho! (like eco)

Mommy: No, say eh– (this time emphasizing the ‘e’) –cho!

Mia: eee-cho!

Mommy: haay.

At 28 months

Mia writing

Creating a Creative Spirit in Your Child
Give a toddler’s imagination room to grow — you’ll be amazed at how far it can take her.

By age two, your toddler’s creativity and imagination is fully on display, and what an entertaining show it is! She’ll wow you with herability to scribble a blue blob and call it a picture of a kitty cat, or pick up a stick and wave it around like a pretend firefighter’s hose. Your 29-month-old can tell you she’s planning to “move my house to the moon” with pure conviction. You’ve gotta love that!

The Power of Imagination

What toddlers lack in ability (and logic), they easily make up for in imagination… – (Continue reading at Whattoexpect.com)

I am resisting the urge to bring out the Play Doh and let her play with it. But why not, right? We had so much fun the last time we played with clay, just very, very messy.

Beeing Well

This could not just be coincidence and might be God reminding me more to take up that long stalled promise to myself. Everyday (or at least every week) I vow to allot at least an hour to jog again. I was already successful last year but guess what, work happened.

I know no excuse will hold up if I really, really wanted to. But hey, we’re all allowed that little wiggle room, right? Mine just had to be justified. *sheepish grin*

But anyway back to the impending signs of health and wellness, Bumble Bee Foods made a commitment to donate $0.15 for every mile that a runner logs into a website. The project is called BeeWell Miles and the donation goes to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, . (I wish there were more companies with advocacy like this, so it’s not just all marketing and profitability). And if I’m not mistaken as of now there’s about $1,500 worth running/walking miles up for donation already.

If you know a breast cancer patient/survivor/victim, you can also dedicate miles for them. It’s really a very meaningful cause and you don’t just get to Bee Well yourself. I need to spread word around (and maybe gain a jogging buddy in the process?) about this. In fact, I know a couple of joggers and health buffs who might be interested in this.

So it all comes back to committment. Truth be told, my mom and I have been getting into bouts of argument because of this since she’s been pushing me to “go excercise!” or “go jogging!” for the past year. And frankly, I’m hating all the nagging. I know what needs to be done I just lacked the motivation.

This should be enough of a sign.

All rice

a matter that’s close to filipino hearts. quite frankly, who prefers GMOs?

sign the petition against genetically modified rice.

Going blind

I ventured into unfamiliar territory with a just a click of the mouse.

Whatever reasons I’ve cooked up in the past year or so just so I can stay put are quickly vanishing into thin air. This isn’t just a function of x squared multiplied by the square root of y divided by one half of infinity, you know, financial reasons.

I’m finally mustering enough energy to go see the world out there and live in it. I’m applying for an immigrant visa to a country where Christmas isn’t Christmas if it isn’t white; you fail the driving exam three times for turning a corner too slow and a 5-year driving history does not even hold water; feeding the dog leftovers is a crime; and if you’re unemployed the government makes use of its faithful citizens’ taxes to give you an allowance.

It sounded absurd to my virgin Pinoy ears that the government actually works in some parts of the universe. And maybe it’s about time that I did. All these corruptive deals and unscrupulous first gentlemen and crooked systems and evasive tax benefits are seriously getting on my nerves. I purposely do not watch the local evening news because it’s tiring to hear about politicians squabble over who gets the bigger share of the pie. (I only get updates whenever I take a crap in the toilet where there’s a newspaper, and what perfect place to read it because it’s still full of sh**). To hell with their shares. What about mine? The middle-class worker who pays taxes diligently and yet gets screwed over by a society filled with kotong cops, lawless rich people running amok (and free) with drugs and government officials who do not function without padulas. It sucks, really.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. That clear and bright future remains elusive. At least for me.

But it’s not just the government. There’s too much history for me here. Those who know me will know. Wow how redundant. It’s too much to consider if I want to get a move on. No matter what I do, this is a place that the shadows of not-so-good things will always follow me around. And somehow the idea of getting away from it and living adventurously in a land far away is so much more appealing.

And besides, you can get so used to living up to so much expectation and pressure to make it big, that the concept of simple living is like paradise. You know, just earning enough to have food to eat, clothes on your back, and to enjoy the simplicities in life. That’s not to say that I don’t aspire for big and grand things. It’s just that here in the Philippines, you can’t expect that. One must work twice (or even thrice) as hard to even have something on the table. Again, that brings me to the making-taxes-work-for-you point.

So. I’m going blind into the future, not knowing what God holds in it for me, but still sure that it’s going to be better than what I can manage. What else can I do right? I may be able to live comfortably here and provide for myself and my family. But I guess I just need a change.

Anyway. Downloading forms. Taking assessment tests. Check, check. Now to fill up the forms and send them away.