What if Janine didn’t meet Danny O’Donoghue and instead met an ordinary guy, would she be persecuted the way she is being persecuted right now?
What if Janine and Jaypee cancelled their Kris TV guesting, would their break up announcement be as controversial? (Janine looked irritated and bored most of the time except when she discussed about Danny and how they met. )
What if Janine stayed with Jaypee just like what she promised after she won the 1st-runner up crown, wouldn’t she be bashed for taking an average-looking boyfriend? (And in the first place, it’s none of our business if Jaypee is average-looking or not. It was Janine who chose him, anyway.)
What if Jaypee stayed out of the limelight, would he be spared from everyone’s curiosity?
What if after all, Danny was not really the reason why Janine’s love for Jaypee seemed to fade away? What if they really have other issues and getting attracted to another guy is the EFFECT and not the CAUSE?
What if after all our bashings, they (Janine and Jaypee) get back together? Would some angry and affected netizens bash Jaypee, too for taking her back?
Case 1: The Yema Vendor in Olongapo
When I was still living and working in Olongapo, there was this young boy who would approach people to sell sweets. The boy was about 8-10 years old at that time, neat and goodlooking. Out of fondness, my friend and I would buy a pack or two of his yema candies. The yema candies did not taste good but whenever that boy would pass by us, my friend and I would call him to buy some sweets. My friend had a loving heart for struggling streetkids and buying goods from them would encourage them to be productive instead of playing cara y cruz. I felt weird everytime I saw that young boy still out at 9PM. He should be sleeping at home instead of selling yema candies. What if a pedophile abduct him?
Case 2: The Paputok Maker in Bocaue
I am no fan of firecrackers. It’s just a waste of money! Buying firecrackers for New Year’s Eve celebration requires a lot of justification on my husband’s part. Aside from being risky, my lungs get tortured from the firecrackers’ toxic fumes. I don’t get it why parents let their kids get employed on a firecracker factory when there are other options like being a helper at a bakery. Worse, the owners of this kind of business deliberately hire children to cut on labor cost. How do they train those kids to be careful on material handling? Heck, you don’t give risky job to untrained and uncapable operators.
Case 3: Child Prostitution
Prostitution is an age-old profession and some prostitutes just accepted the fact that this is their profession but to force children into prostitution is another thing. What is more heart-breaking is to know that in some cases, it is their parents who peddle them into the flesh trade. It is sickening to imagine how a 20, 30, 40 and even 50 and up something man could stomach having sex with a child as young as six years old! A pimp approached my friend and offered his ward. The girl was between 9-12 years old with frail body but with a naughty smile. The girl was made to believe that prostitution was just their way of life and having sex with strangers for a fee was okay so that she could help her family.
Different cases of child labor but same bottomline: children are meant to enjoy their youth and parents must provide for their kids and not the other way around. That is why I salute parents who have the tenacity to send their kids to school no matter how financially hard up they are.
It is safe to assume that almost all of us will come to a point in our life wherein we have to live with strangers like:
– a college freshman who needs to stay in a dormitory
– a college fresh graduate who needs to stay in a boarding house near his/her workplace
– elementary students in a summer camping activity
– exchange students
– students or office workers doing missionary/charitable works
– a stay-in employee living with his/her employer
– in some cases, living with your husband or wife after a fixed marriage (yeah, right!)
How bad and how sad is it to live with strangers? Usually, the newcomer is the one who needs to adjust to the rules and regulations of the old-timers in a dormitory or boarding house. Culture-clash cannot be prevented in a situation of closely living with somebody unfamiliar to you. What is acceptable to you might be taboo to the other person and vice-versa. A loud music to you might be a lullabye to your housemate. Then there’s the issue of equal sharing to the electricity and water bill especially if you think that you are shortchanged in the computation. Of course, privacy is also an issue because some people prefer not to entertain visitors at the dorm or boarding house. In the case of an employee living with his/her employer, the working hours written on the contract is prone to be violated if you’re just a stone-throw away from each other.
The Big Brother House is one hell of a description about how it is to live with somebody you don’t know. Big Brother intentionally did not get housemates with similar interests and personalities for the purpose of entertainment. Imagine a house full of Lucy Torreses or a house full of Ethel Boobas; the former would be comparable to a convent while the latter, to a circus.
In reality, the winning housemate must be the one who is able to keep a harmonious relationship with all of his/her housemates. Age has something to do with patience because younger people have shorter temper. As a person matures, his/her understanding about life and how to interact with the other person is broader and better.
We are always reminded about being respectful about our housemate’s belongings but the first step in dealing with a stranger is to know and understand his/her culture and as well as his/her family background. After discovering one’s culture and background, we will be more understanding about his/her personality and then, respect and acceptance will follow.
I enrolled my toddler in a summer school. I’d like to ready him for schooling on June. Summer class is supposed to be short (one month) and sweet. I’d like Adi to learn how to socialize with other kids his age (3 and a half).
My eldest child was the one who brought him to school this morning so I have no idea yet about his day at the school. (I’m excited to go home to hear it from him).
To motivate him to go to school, I bought him a Cars-designed bag, Ben Ten covered notebook and 24-colors crayon. (He’s fine with 8-colors crayon, actually). I lectured him about what to expect in school and how to behave in front of his teachers and classmates. (As if he could grasp all of my lectures!)
The toddler was excited to go to school; he was holding his bag most of the time last night. This morning, he ate breakfast with me because he thought that working people and students SHOULD eat breakfast. While I was dressing up for work, he knocked on my door and asked if I would dress him up for school. I told him that his Ate would be the one to dress him up. The toddler patiently waited for his elder sister at the sala.
I realize that kids today are much smarter than kids of yesteryears. The emotional intelligence and independence of kids today are much higher than the kids of my time. (I still had separation anxiety until 10 years old!) On the other hand, older people think that we are exposing our children to stress at an early age. If my grandmother were still alive, she would have criticized me for sending my 3 and a half to school because being a teacher, she should know better that kids of that age are still babies emotionally. But this is the system that has been going on for the past decade; sending kids to nursery, then to kindergarten, then to pre-school before the formal primary school begins. Being a working mother, I belong to a generation wherein parents expect the school to teach our kids the alphabet and numbers.
Will home-schooling be an option should my toddler decide that he’s too young for a regular school? I don’t know. But I will give him the opportunity to explore and learn new things in nursery class; should he feel deprived of his liberty to play and have fun, then I’ll cross the bridge when I get there.
“Where are you from?” a classmate in Baguio asked me. It was the start of the second semester and we were given the opportunity to get acquainted with our classmates. It was just a classroom affair though.
Proudly, I told him that I was from Bataan. His round eyes widened and he let go a smirk.
“And where is that on the map?” he asked.
“I can’t believe you don’t know where Bataan is. It’s near Pampanga,” I replied.
“Oh, I haven’t been to Pampanga,” he said.
“Really, so don’t tell me you haven’t been to Manila, too. You will pass by Pampanga when you travel down to Manila,” I informed him.
Of course my classmate was just trying to annoy me by deliberately pretending that he didn’t know where on the Philippines my province was. He succeeded in annoying me though.
I left Bataan in 1994 for Baguio to pursue my studies there. Since then, I would only visit my province twice up to four times per year. Working in the lowlands after college gave me the opportunity to go home in Bataan weekly. Those were one of my happiest days. I was able to visit my family while exploring the beauty of my province.
It is true that you wouldn’t know what you got until you lose it. When I was away from home in college, I always dreamed of my grandmother’s house. It was a big old house where I spent part of my childhood and teenage years. There was nothing really special about that house except the good old memories of the persons who lived there.
Before we had the Robinson’s in Balanga, we were happy with VETAF’s and the arcade. The town plaza was simple and the Balanga Cathedral was old and mossy. We definitely have better structures now and better facilities; it’s good for the new generation to be growing up to a more modern society but I can’t help but feel sorry for myself for not taking the opportunity to enjoy the old Balanga as it was. Monuments and architecture are the artistic and realistic reflections of an era; I just lost my era to a better one, I guess.
An officemate proudly told me that she had been to Dambana ng Kagitingan for five times. I told her that I’ve only been there once and it was in 1993. So near and yet so far, when I was in Bataan, I wouldn’t care about the tourist spots there but now that I’m a province apart, I am pining to be there and explore the province. Maybe the same holds true for my current feelings for Bulacan or Quezon City; I wouldn’t appreciate being here unless I move to another place and realize what I have missed.
With Evangeline Pascual and Janine Tugonon as beauty front-runners, one of my officemates couldn’t help but conclude that most of Bataan women are pretty. Now speaking like an outsider, I agree with her observation because most, if not all, of the girls and women that I chanced upon in Beanery and some of the bars there were pretty.
But typical Bataeno/Bataenas are snob and do not merge easily into an outsider’s culture. The pride is inborn and the mentality of superiority is always there but never admitted.
I’ve been dreaming of uninterrupted sleep since Friday. Lack of sleep is fastly affecting my mood and my senses. Taking care of my two young children can be very tiring and I have no ME-TIME since I had Robi last year.
I can work productively all day but when I lack sleep, my mind doesn’t seem to function well. Decision-making is postponed and even standing is such a big task! My coffee addiction did more harm than good to me when I became acidic due to too much caffeine.
I had the best siesta in my life yesterday morning when I slept from 9AM to 3PM. I was not able to do some household chores but I needed that sleep break to recharge myself from a week’s lack of sleep.
Sleep is indeed a luxury for working mothers. Between going to Palawan or Boracay for a summer treat or sleeping, I would definitely choose the latter. No amount of luxuries can match the good feeling of having enough sleep.
I’m a big fan of Walter Mart Supermarket and this is where we buy our grocery and food. The prices of the grocery items are much cheaper than the leading supermarket. However, prices of fruits and vegetables are much higher as compared to buying them from the market (palengke).
Anyways, I’d like to share my experience last Saturday when a stranger asked me for some cash. I was busy looking for my brand of creamer when a middle-aged man approached me with his (maybe) six year-old son. He asked for some cash and when he saw that I was with my husband, he immediately walked away.
I was hesitant to report him to the guard-on-duty for fear of ridiculing somebody who might be needing some real help but at the same time, I was also paranoid about the Budol Budol gang and the recent child-snatching activites in Metro Manila.
We had our grocery at 12:00 noon last Saturday and it was an unholy hour so only a few customers were around. I thought, if that man chanced upon me in the corner section where no CCTV’s or mirrors were available, he could have snatched my bag or declare a hold-up and nobody would suspect that taking place. My toddler is usually with us when buying grocery and then I thought, what if that man used his six year-old son to sway my toddler into going with him?
The worst part of being a mother (and wife) is the thought that something bad will happen to your child (or husband). Being vigilant and suspicious won’t cost me a dime. Better safe than sorry, right?
The World of Second Chances 