The World of Second Chances

Fitrum

August 17, 2011

Health & Beauty

Today is my 3rd day of taking Fitrum capsule. As advertised, each capsule is high in L-Carnitine and green tea extract which promotes faster metabolism. My OB-gyne prescribed Fitrum during one of my post-natal visits. I’ve taken Fitrum in 2007, I lost 10 lbs in two months. I could have maximized its effect had I been more physically active then. I stopped taking Fitrum because of some side effects like palpitations. After four years (2011), I decided to try it again and I noticed that the formulation is much stronger than in 2007. I didn’t experience stomach pains in 2007 but now, I have stomach pains specially in the morning. I am taking the capsule 3x a day after every meal,as written on the box. Last Monday, I can hardly sleep and I think a glass of coke and Fitrum increased the caffeine level on my blood.

I am not a voracious eater but I have a less active lifestyle now. I intend to enroll in a gym or aerobics class when my time permits. For the meantime, I will take advantage of my countryside life and take a walk in the fields at 30 minutes each day. Speaking of diet, I am getting tired of oatmeal and banana. I’d like to eat a basket of apples instead.

My husband’s talent in cooking is slowly getting on my system; I tend to eat more whenever he cooks chicken adobo. I’ve stopped buying doughnuts and ice cream for dessert.

I’m giving myself two weeks to take Fitrum. If the stomach ache continues, I shall stop. =)
Toy Story

August 9, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

My 23-month old is glued on Toy Story 3. This is a story about a boy leaving his toys in the attic weeks before he goes to college. The mother thought that Andy (college boy) left the garbage bag for collection; not minding to see what’s inside. The journey of the toys led by Woody the cowboy is moving; you’ll ask yourself what happened to the toys that you outgrew as a child.

Two weeks before I had a copy of Toy Story 3, I handed down some old stuffed toys to my neighbors. What will I do of them? My Adi prefers guns and cars while Chang is more interested on make up. After watching Toy Story, I came to think what happened to the toys that were part of my childhood.

1. Candy the rag doll- I had Candy when I was five years old. She was 2.5 feet high and stuffed with soft cotton inside. She was huggable but with a hair made out of brown yarn so combing it was not possible. I gave Candy to Chang when she was a baby. She was left outside and was ravaged by our dogs.
2. Crying Baby- She would stop crying if I would insert her pacifier. One of my playmates put salt into her mouth. The melted salt destroyed the interior of my doll’s mouth so it never cried again after that. I threw her away when I was 14 years old. It took me less than a decade to throw her away.
3. Barbie- She’s actually not a barbie doll. She was another brand of lesser quality. I was eight years old and jealous of my playmate’s barbie doll. Barbie dolls were expensive so my mother bought me a more affordable one. I thought she was a barbie doll. I combed her wiry hair and I wonder why her hair was not silky-smooth unlike my playmate’s barbie. I passed on my barbie lookalike to my daughter. Barbie lookalike survived until Chang was four years old.
4. Cuddly Bunnie- Bunnie was a product of a livelihood project spearheaded by my mother. Bunnie, the best stuffed toy among the batches produced, was given to my mother as a sign of their gratitude for supporting the livelihood project. I was 12 or 13 when Bunnie came into my life. Bunnie was handed down to Chang and then to my niece, Kaila. Kaila gave back the Bunnie to me. Bunnie is older than my 20 year old brother, my 14 year old daughter, my five year old niece and my 23 month old son. =)
5. Whitey- A friend from college gave me this toy in 1998. Whitey is a white cat. Adi used to play with Whitey when he was a small baby. Now Whitey is kept on Adi’s toy cabinet.
All About Nannies

August 2, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

My baby has a new nanny from Camotes Island in Cebu. She’s 17 years old and a single mom. She left her one year old in the care of her mother. My husband fetched him at the domestic airport last Friday. That afternoon, when I arrived home, I interviewed her; our first talk. I asked her what motivated her to go to “Manila” to work. She said that it’s the family’s finances. It was then when she mentioned about her one-year old. Surprised, I asked her if it would not cause her personal conflict to go to “Manila” to take care of my baby when she left her own in the province. She was speechless. Nevertheless, I cheered her up and told her that two of our neighbors are from the Visayas so she wouldn’t feel isolated from the dialect that she’s familiar with. Being young and being away from home for the first time is a challenge for both of us. I found out that she’s not familiar with the basic home gadgets that we’re using; I needed to train her harder. There’s a lot of do’s and don’ts that I need to tell her about taking care of Adi. I could be very meticulous about my baby and I hate to see him soaked in sweat or dirt! Take note that the only time that we require a nanny to work on other household chores is when either, both or all three of us are at the house and the nanny has nothing productive to do. Prior to staying with us, the nanny is given anti-lice shampoo just to make sure that she won’t bring lice into the house. All of us, except my brother who stays with me, have flu shot; I might as well require the nanny to have one along with my brother. Previous nannies were given medicine supply, Sunday day off and other perks. They can eat whatever they like to eat EXCEPT my chocolates. Toiletries are also provided. When it comes to compensation, they are well-compensated. I have this principle of giving what’s due to a person: I’ll give you this much but give me this much of your service and loyalty. So far, this proved to be effective to the previous nanny who could have stayed until March next year had her mother not needed her to take care of her youngest brother. In our humble home, the nanny is treated like a family member, I think that’s the best way to keep them loyal and provide good service to us. 😉
Wet Shoes and Nice Umbrella

July 28, 2011

Life & Love

I arrived at the office wet from the rain. It’s typhoon Juaning’s fault! While some people get melancholic when it’s raining, the opposite happens to me. Rain is my aphrodisiac, my endorphin; I get romantic only when it’s raining. There’s something magical about the rain: the rain forms bubbles on the surface that it falls, matresses get dampy even if you live on a concrete house, the rhythmn of the rain is music to my ears.

When I was in kindergarten, I had a brown Otto sandals that I only use during the rainy season. The sole is anti-slip and the body is made of durable leather. I had a red umbrella that literally flew in the middle of the traffic when I let go of it during a heavy wind.

From grade school onwards, I wore plastic shoes during the rainy season. I had a red plastic shoes and a white one. They were very durable and I just grew tired of them; I gave them away. My umbrella in High School was given to me by an uncle. It was very durable; it took me four years to replace and it was even because of its fading leaf. Products then were more durable than today. Now, I replace my umbrella on the average of four times a year. Quality umbrella is a rarity these days and high price has nothing to do with the promised quality of it.

I love traveling when it’s raining. It was raining hard when we had our honeymoon in Puerto Galera. It was raining hard when we went to Bohol last February. It was raining hard when I first stepped in Baguio. It was raining hard during my final interview with the company president.I realize, all the good things that happened in my life happened when it was raining hard. 🙂
Things You Wish You Never Did

July 26, 2011

Life & Love

If you are familiar with Anna Manalastas, you know what I’m talking about. In fact, there is a little, if not too much, of an Anna inside of us. And maybe, at some point in your life, you were an Anna Manalastas, the Coney Reyes persona.

100 Days to Heaven is not your typical teledrama. You would fall in love with the characters portrayed by Coney Reyes as the adult Anna who died and was brought back to life as a young girl portrayed by Xyriel Manabat. Jodi Santamaria as Anna’s “sidekick” is good, too; she has screen chemistry with both Coney and Xyriel. Coney Reyes has always been my favorite since her “Coney Reyes on Camera” days. She just have this certain charm. But the real scene-stealer is Xyriel Manabat, she’s just so good in portraying good/bad roles. That’s what we call TALENT.

If I were in Anna’s shoes, I guess 100 days is not enough to correct every wrong decisions that I made, to make peace with every persons that I offended and generally, to edit or revise my life. In real life, we don’t have a second chance like Anna; that opportunity to be resurrected or reincarnated to correct whatever we want to correct. In real life, our second chance is correcting every misdoings that we did right after we realize that we should never did that in the first place.
I’m Just A Memory

July 20, 2011

Poems & Stories

Memories are like old songs
that make you stop whenever you hear them.
A song so out of date, you can’t even remember\
the start of the lyrics.
I am that…I’m just a memory.

Memories are like holidays and important events
that just come and go every year.
You can either celebrate it or forget it,
or even pretend that there is no event.
I am that…I’m just a memory.

Memories can make you smile or cry.
It can make you long for more.
It can deceive your mind into pining
for someone,somewhat, somewhere that has long gone.
I have been deleted out of your life.
I’m just a memory.
Let’s live our lives unparallel to one another.
Because no matter what we do, we can only count on the memories
but we can never be together.
Give me the freedom that I deserve because I don’t want to be a slave
of our past. Memories are betraying.
I do not know you anymore.
You don’t know me either.
I’m just a memory.
That’s Entertainment!

July 15, 2011

That’s Entertainment

Growing up in the 80’s gave me the advantage of watching “That’s Entertainment” every afternoon. Those were the days when Leah Salonga was still a struggling teenage artist (she is now a world class performer and she will always be remembered as Kim in Ms. Saigon). Who would ever thought that Sheryl Cruz and Romnick Sarmenta would part ways? You thought Aljon Jimenez would end up with Ruffa Gutierrez? He is now happily married to Manilyn Reynes. Ramon Christopher broke Tina Paner’s heart when he left her for Lotlot De Leon. Lotlot and Monching looked good together and they seemed to be always in love until they separated after more than a decade of being husband and wife. Now, the ex-couple is supporting their eldest daughter’s showbiz career. Mind you, Janine Gutierrez is even prettier than Lotlot during the latter’s younger days; I hope this young lady be given a chance in showbiz. Ruffa Gutierrez and Zoren Legaspi’s on-again and off-again relationship ended permanently when Ruffa’s schedule and priorities diverted her out of local showbiz. Now, Zoren has two wonderful kids with Carmina Villaroel who seemed to be very much in love with then Rustom Padilla (now known as Bebe Gandanghari). Aiko Melendez was dubbed as the young Hilda Koronel. Years later, who would have thought that she would become a politician? From being a shy young lady who was an underdog when Aga Muhlach split up with her, she became “palaban” with all the people who “oppressed” her. When ex-husbands Jomari Yllana and Martin Jickain cheated on her, she did not play martyr and she immediately thought of annulling her unproductive marriage. Jennifer Sevilla and Ian Veneracion looked good together. But the there was no off-cam romance between the two of them. (Hey, I still have a huge crush on Ian! Hehehe)

I had a high school classmate who tried showbiz. He also tried “That’s.” Glutathione was not yet existing as a whitening product during the mid-90’s so he was into chemical peeling to whiten his skin. His schooling was also affected by his “That’s” schedule. From what I remember, he belonged to the same group as Gladys Reyes. He was absent every Thursday and I would be glued to “That’s” in the hope that I would see a glimpse of my classmate’s face on TV.The next day at school, I would tell him if I saw him or not. Being a star (no, I don’t use the term “starlet”), he obliged himself to be properly groomed all the time. He changed the way he talked with his classmates and though I found it superficial, I enjoyed having an encounter with a struggling artist. When he was still a “nobody,” he had all the liberty to eat hopia or drink sago’t gulaman at the school canteen. Not anymore when he thought that drinking chocolate was more “susyal” than drinking sago. When asked if he thinks he could make it in showbiz, he confidently said “Yes, kaya yan. Sana nga.” I admire him for his perseverance but not every artist could be another Christopher de Leon, Aga Muhlach or Piolo Pascual. My classmate got some “pambida” roles for some low-budgetted films; he never made it to the top. Still, I admire him for his guts, his passion for the arts and believing in himself.