Christmas memes

Thank you dear friends and family for a fabulous sixty freakin' nth birthday. Let me tell you that age is just a word and it does not hurt at all. To more wrinkles, laughter, lovin', and calendaring! 🎉🍺🍸🍾 you all made my day rock🎶 ( someone gave me other names like Jesusa, Kristina, Noëlle, Santa, etc. for being born on Christmas day but my favorite is Beth) can you figure it out! ?😂 

But before anything else, i thank the woman responsible, the conduit, the vessel - Mary, yes my mother, the mastermind, the brain. A mis ya and A luv ya to the heaven and back! ❤️😘

And to my twin- Jesus, we made it another year again yesterday! Thanks for putting up with all of us. 

Death in the Air

What if at the tip of your fingers is a winged messenger that will bring your prayers to God? 

Would it be faster? Will the form of delivery carry more weight than when it is passively uttered in your thoughts? 

Would He be more delighted if my messenger is as beautiful as this butterfly taking off from my fingers?

Today is the feast of the guardian angels. I believe that they come in the form of beautiful beings that I am naturally drawn to. They guide, they deliver a message or they help me discern. 

My carpenter has been missing for a week now.  He has not shown up, not in his home, not for work. His only vice is alcohol. At the end of the day, he drinks. This is the last activity that was accounted for. He drank with a co-worker and some people he did not know. We have been looking. Today, somebody is going to be picked up to shed light to his disappearance. 

I know he is dead. The stench of death has been following me anywhere I go that  I got this strange headache. A dead mouse in the filter of my car airconditioning was the culprit. How it got there, we are clueless.  I saw dead animals in my walk. Without the physical evidence of where the stench comes from, the stench seemed to be coming from around me too like a serious b.o. 

So I called Dodoy who is part of the search and told him that Eddie is dead. I said he needs prayers and he wants me to know that he will no longer be able to make me boxes for my notecards should I need them again.  He has resigned. Retired from life.  

Then this big butterfly was trapped in my house, first time of this majestic kind.  And I set it free. The energy that hovered the last few days is gone. I feel lighter. 

Bon voyage Eddie. You'd be intoxicated on a higher level where you will go. I ask you to help us solve this crime, if it is the case, but don't use me as your medium anymore. Show up! Dead or alive. 

Before i sleep tonight, let me write my prayer.

Dear God I thank you for the memories that I hold in my heart. Thank you for my heart that chooses which memories to keep - those memories that taught me to be brave and grateful. I thank You for Your Presence through my friends and the children I have taught. For those who have loved me and whom I love... Including  those who unsettled, ruffled, baffled oand squeezed me dry, my teachers of life who demanded nothing less from me, thank you.  Bless me and cradle me in your bossom. My sweet angels, my spirit guides, sleep well tonight. 

Daily Menu

My daughter asked me this morning for some guidelines that I might want to add to the hedcen Faculty Inservice Training on General guidelines in preparing for projects and activities. 

With Hedcen on my mind, in my sleep and waking hours, perhaps this will be the last memory that will go IF i go senile. 

And the song " you are always in my mind..." can be creepy but true. Oh yes, i have other thoughts and plans that are just as equally entertaining that occupy my mind and these wonderings and wanderings are part of the ingredients in my recipe i call Emma's sisig. 

So this is my response to Ana's agenda. 

Consider that hedcen is the center, be-all and end-all:  its moral principles, philosophy, mission and goals. 

Set clear objectives why the project, why the procedure, why the activity. 

That advocacies of hedcen have to be supported and a basis for any project's framework 

Consider realistic planning and economy of and creativity in the use of resources

Consider that everything we do is a window to raise moral consciousness and conscience, accelerate learning and develop responsibility and accountability. 

That our job as hedcen educators is to deliver a liberating education through positive and creative interventions. 

Have a checklist or guidelines that evaluate or assess whether hedcen standards and its non negotiables are met. 

Warts and all

Before this photo, the service people were busy. It was peak time - lunch.  Try as they did, i saw some cheating that I will not disclose except that one kitchen employee touched his nose. 

Talk about where one is seated.., where one gets a peak at habits and everything human! 

Glad i did not order anything that will have to be processed with hands and fingers then served without the sterilizing benefit of heat and boiling OIL!

Someone kept sneezing in the kitchen! OMG! They should not let anybody especially me sit where I was.  

I had stir fried spinach and I looked suspiciously at the fingers of  Mr. Pogi.  

I followed him with my eyes as he went about after he brought my food. He was ok. I don't think he was the one who kept sneezing as his eyes and nose were dry. 

Jacob ordered two servings of DOUBLE boiled beef with noodles. Jose had FRIED chicken. Justo ate whatever Kuya and Diko ordered. 

My bill was 1,500 net after my Senior discount.

That was the cost of food inclusive of germs and virus, warts and all. 

 

Dontbederteh!

I read Jessica Zafra's article on Duterte as the id that gives voice and lakas ng loob to many Filipinos who see him as the bright future of our country. I like it. Jessica is bright! 

This reminds me of behavior challenges that we teachers meet in the classroom. Most of the time, these children's problem is the lack of self regulation. Thus impulsivity. And to a large extent, abusive behavior. 

Most of the time, this behavior leads to indiscriminate acts that can hurt others around them but in the end, this behavior sabotages the person himself. 

And I am writing about children. Without effective interventions, their gifts and their potential cannot be fully developed or realized. 

These people who could be great leaders can also be great threats. Their impulsivity, lack of self regulation, discernment and reflective thinking may be effective in situations that call for actions like jumping from a cliff to save himself or heroically save someone else's life without regard for danger. No thinking required. 

On the other hand, this kind of behavior active for 24 hours in 6 years, exposes this person and everyone around him to great danger.  Think of the entire nation, not one province but 7100 islands. if this personality happens to be the President of the Philippnes, the magnitude of danger is immense. 

And then as an educator, it also gives me a problem. How will I rewrite the entire values education program that is hinged on all the different academic areas?  How will I be effective in teaching my students a simple life-rule: "no bad words". How about democracy? It is not just freedom of speech and press but also due process? How will parents be assured that when their children stand up for what's true, that they will not be in danger of execution or barbaric and dictatorial "justice"?

If I will have another dictator in my lifetime- it will have to be someone who stands for universal goodness. One who does not love to kiss women and sit them on his lap ( i wonder why these girls allow it!) but one who respects the image of every woman, man and children. 

There is only one great dictator that I know of and he ruled with might, wisdom, unquestionable discernment and loved his wife and was loyal to her like his commander. (Hahahaha!) 

But Lee Kuan Yew is dead. So no chance for another one. The rest will just be dictators and tyrants. No way is Duterte close to that. His rule will be one amateurish act whose ways may work for some but definitely not for me. 

I will wait for the the true leaders in the future. Maybe not in this era. Meanwhile, I hope that schools will not have a problem with inconsistency between what is taught and what is seen. 

And that goes to all the presidentiables!!

Back to the Bat Cave for now

I enjoy the humanity of facebook and its users: good intentions and bad, vanity and humility, prudence and impulsivity, freedom and recklessness, information and misinformation, business and human connection and interaction. I am not saying that this is the only place for all of the above, but this is where almost everyone congregates without having to commute or travel, shower, dress up decently, comb, spend to treat a friend over coffee and cake. And the world, in one touch- how can it not be awesomely powerful! 

I can enumerate all the conveniences of a gadget and an internet connection but it is useless because I no longer have that at home. 😄Meaning, i have to dress up to go where there is. And where there is an internet connection is a place of work, and in coffee shops where there is, do i drink coffee alone with my gadget to reach you? And not to mention the fact that I suddenly found myself challenged by the true meaning of friendship and of being private. So, for now, i will try to enjoy the disconnection and will be working on what I can offer for 2017. Anyway, all my children are home now... And I am not saying that you will miss me on FB but I will miss you like a morning paper, and you have the election and its issues to take your interest anyway... except that for those who truly get in touch with me through facebook, i feel that I need to let you know. Meanwhile, email me a note or send a postcard through the slow mail and make a postman or a sorter happy. You may  please send me your addresses through my messenger which I will open when I am in a wifi free zone, and I will connect with you via letter or a postcard or a free phone call. 

Enjoy the world! 

Lenten meditation

Occasionally, there's a pretty flower that comes out from the arid flesh and the spiny arms. But more often than not we take notice of the thorns and miss out on the pretty outcome of the strife. 

Size Big.

Jose.  Big heart. Very sensitive. Feels his music and rhthym with his heart. Feels his food too with all his heart. Loves Sunday takuyaki balls. And now cheese ice cream.  

A way to say things...

Have not blogged for a long time but i had been painting. I do not require too much work for myself lately and this is quite evident in my very wild and loose watercolor sketches. Without the laborious details, it affords me to attend to other businesses among them is tending to things that grow and need my love and attention. 

Lately though, I find myself painting rocks and water with birds in it of course. It is a calming exercise. Hard and soft. Quiet and serene. 

Without words, I am remembering and saying what my feelings and thoughts are. 

Today I played hooky. Not meaning to. But i got myself in deep conversation with an in-law regarding the state of politics in the Philippines. Maybe the common tao look for heroes and some are taken bya law breaker with virginal appeal or pope cursing mangosteen, a robinhood who keeps the loot for himself and another who's got no (sex) appeal. Dangerous... Tsk tsk tsk. 

Oh well, so I ended up painting to once again claim my zen after I agitated myself with a quarter cuppa coffee and a passionate conversation - with a virtual walk by the beach and prolly sitting under the talisay tree waiting for the right moment to take a dip and wade like a duck. 

Work comes to me though so no, i did not play hooky after all. 

Love is the Greatest Energy

I am about to finish a painting I abandoned a few days ago but any excuse to not to is more than welcome. So i distracted myself from the moment's goal and decided that i will blog instead. 

Since today is Valentine's Day, I am remembering all the people (past and present, dead and alive, active and inactive) I love and who love or loved, me. 

I look past the moment now and remember with longing and gratitude those who loved me the most while they were here with me. 

Today, I visited my daughter for a healthy breakfast of granola, hopia, fried egg and banana and to return the gremlins who slept over in my house last night. 

Marie brought her funny girls while Yaya Lyn brought Lucy to visit too. 

And I thought that seeing and being with all the gremlins and funny girls is a testimony of love in action which brings joy and nourishment and gratitude. Knowing that I tried to be a good parent and seeing my children try their best in being good parents is a Happy Valentine's day for me. 

I'm sure about my old and on-off valentine and the partner I chose to raise this family with know that we are blessed. 

Ziva contemplating on life and intensely sending loving thoughts to her Daddy. 

Stay...

I. 

Small but great impact. My bird Boogie stopped dancing.  I held it in my hand when it became very still and tried to imagine how it was a cheerful, sprightly companion till the last day of 2015. 

II. 

I thought that the pillow I received from the House of Queens for my birthday captured my love for birds. Sofia, the beautiful-boned funny girl designed it while her mama Marie executed the awesome concept. 

 III. 

As I sat down for an early morning excel work, i realized the uncanny coincidence of losing my white canary and receiving an art work depicting her everyday as it sits on my old wicker sofa. 

Almost everyday... except during laundry days.