Our Chance Encounter of the Port of Lost Wonder

Port of Lost Wonder (POLW) - Singapore's First Kids' Club by the Beach. It's one of the newest attractions in Sentosa, specifically intended for kids! :) It's a pirate-themed swimming resort that offers a lot of attractions and facilities for the whole family.

Last week, we had no intention of going here. We originally planned to take the cable car and get off at Beach station, then walk towards the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia to have our picnic there. Along the way past the carpark building, we got a glimpse of this huge pirate ship and right then and there we decided to go in and have our picnic there.

Obviously, that was a good call. :)

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TIP: POLW is the first stop of the Palawan-Tanjong Beach tram from Beach Station. Can't miss it.

Baptism Ideas for your Baby Born Abroad

Happy New Year!

After completing your "quest" to get a valid pass for child -- and you're Roman Catholic -- it's only natural that you arrange for your newborn to be baptised. For most Filipino Catholics here, you either have your child baptised where you are, or back to the Philippines where most of your relatives and friends are.

We went for the Philippine route. So anyway, if you're interested, here are some firsthand tips from us.

• Prepare the documents. Namely, the child's Birth Certificate and the parrent's Marriage Certificate. Prepare some photocopies as well. If you don't have this, you'll be in a whole lot of trouble.
• Contact your Church. You should have done this waaaay ahead of your target date of baptism --even way ahead of your flight back to Philippines. Ask for the requirements (i.e. above documents, seminar for parents and godparents, etc.), whether they offer "special" (i.e. solo) baptism or only mass baptism, available schedule, and what fees are required, if any. Most parishes have websites nowadays, so you should check them out online.
• Contact your local contact. To make things even easier for you, you need someone "onsite" -- could be a relative or a close friend -- to actually help smoothen things out even before you arrive. They should be able to help out arranging with the church/parish, talk with caterers, prepare your place, etc.
• Prepare the budget. Can't be stressed enough. A well-planned budget goes a long way. This will help you plan ahead with the event.
• Prepare the Guestlist. With the budget on hand, you should be able to make a list of the people you want to invite. Usually, this should always include your immediate family, close friends, and godparents. This is a bit trickier than what you may think. So plan ahead.
• Consider your luggage when booking a flight. Expecially if it's your baby's first-time to travel, you should consider the amount of luggage. You'd be surprised that the large bulk of your total check-in baggage is your kid's. So you may want to consider carefully before going for the cheaper airline's 15kg check-in limit or the more expensive one with a slightly more 20kg check-in.
• Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! If you're like us, you'd probably want to take pictures of your newborn everyday if you could. Save, collect, and collate. It may not seem much now, but you should organize the pictures before the total number is way too much to handle -- you'd be surprised that you may end up with hundreds of pictures in one month alone. Anyway, where are you going to use this pictures? Well, in case you have absolutely no idea, here are some hints for you:
• invitations
• sourvenirs
• tarpoulins
• guest book
• Hire some Help. Might be a bit costly and some may think even unnecessary. However, you need some people to take care of stuff -- food, pictures, video, whatever -- so that  you can have the time to concentrate on the things that are more important. You don't need to hire someone for everything, but you should consider hiring for the "big stuff" that you should not be worrying about like caterers and a photographer.
• DIY Stuff. There are some stuff that you can do yourself, provided, you have the time, energy, and resources. Example: for us, since we have photoshop, tons of pictures, and a decent printer, we did the invitations ourselves.

Guess that's it. There are still many other considerations but this list, based from our personal experience, tops them all off. Good luck! :)

Daddy-to-Be's Long Reprieve

And it's another one of those times when I'm so no blogging for a long while. Not that I don't want to.I simply put it (blogging) off because I'm busy with something else. You know, important things that requires my utmost attention... sort of. :)

So what the hell have I been up to?

Birthday May
My birthday. My birth month. Yey! Yipee! Nothing unusual. Same old, same old celebration at the house with my wife. TV. Cake. Food. Never gets old! :)

Then towards the end of the month, we returned to good ol' Philippines -- way after the May 2010 elections. Our last visit was way back August 2009. Those were painful times for us... So at least now, it's good to look back at our last visit as a more pleasant one.

Unfortunately, the last visit was not without casualties. The touchscreen of Che's Nintendo DS Lite is broken. Well, not broken broken. Just that it can't detect the stylus accurately anymore. It's like there's always a stylus pointed at the upper left region of the screen, so when you're not doing anything, you will see the pointer always on that location. Oh well, I guess it's time to move on. I'm actually eyeing that new Nintendo DS XL. Not sure if the R4DS works on that as well though; haven't had the time to look into it yet...

Then there's this nagging cold and flu. I had this since before our flight home, but I thought I could get by with just Tempra Forte. Guess not. And the weather did not help at all. Raining slightly for ten minutes followed by intense sunlight everyday really did a number on me. Good thing I still get to drive the car... Wow, I missed driving!


Raining June
Yep, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Good to know that by the time we left, it already started raining again in Manila... At least for the first few days, that is.

So we had the usual cleanup-after-returning-from-a-trip. A bit harder that usual since we're also rearranging stuff for the baby. :) We finally decided to get a Trends portable aircon for the master bedroom. And yes, we're living in a flat without an aircon for the last two years. So installing the portable aircon was a welcome change. It was fun installing the exhaust for the portable aircon; removing the dusty old roman curtain, covering the exhaust cover with printed foil cover (heh), and moving things around so we can place the aircon as close to the window as possible.

Then there's two events that keeps Singapore busy these days: the annual IT Show in Suntec City and, of course, the Great Singapore Sale (GSS). Things just got a bit busier. :)

We already planned this way back... The next big thing that we will buy is a videocam. And so, after much comparison, and weighing of the pros and cons, we finally decided on buying a shiny blue Sony HDR-CX150E. It's within our slightly tightening budget, lightweight, has an internal 16GB harddisk, supports both the Sony memory stick and the SD card, touchscreen, 3.1 Megapixels, 25x Optical zoom, Full HD (1080). And since it's the IT Show, we got a lot of freebies - extra batt, video frame, tripod, etc. And so there you have it. A good buy to suit our needs.

And the very first thing we shot: Che's ultrasound. After three previous sessions of failing to determine our baby's gender, we finally got a confirmation: IT'S A BOY! Hehehe :) And we got it all on tape -- or disk, whatever. :)

Then the ongoing GSS also got us busy. Preparing the baby stuff, choosing the crib and stroller, and more. All these considerations is sometimes abit hard to swallow... Oh well, part of being a new dad. :)

Then on top of these all, there's one other thing we are having a hard time with: what will be the baby's name? We've narrowed down it down to about ten combinations -- we decided that baby should have two first names, so as to avoid the problem I had with NBI Clearance: if your name is too common, chances are, somewhere around the country, there is another person with the same name. :)

So there you have it. The things that got me all riled up. :) Hopefully I can get to post something more often. I do have some opinions about what's happening around. I'm still deciding whether I should publish it or not, though. :)

Good day!

Nice Idea for a home

We've been watching "Everybody's Fine". There was a scene there that really captured my eyes:



Not sure how I can get a home like this... But I'm just keeping this for future reference.

So let's see... It's white, so it should be cooler than normal. It has a pool. Nice grassy lawn. Flat rooftops which can be used as an eco-rooftop. Or something..

Okay... Need a lot of money fpr this one... Guess I'll just have to figure that one out later...


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Home reinforcements have arrived

Yesterday, I fetched my mother-in-law in Changi Airport. It's been a few months since she had been here and now she's back.

At least now I feel a little more relaxed knowing that wifey is not alone when I'm at work.

Now seriously considering to get maid from an agency here. A bit expensive, but should be worth it. Learned a lot from the experiences of our close neighbors... The extra levy every month seems steep, but you get a really well-trained hand to help you out around the house... Oh well, that's something to think about for another time....

Anyway, going back to my biyenan. She's really made a big impact right away. In less than 24 hours, she has already fixed the other bedroom, cooked several dishes at the same time, and finished off the rest of the laundry. Wow! She just kept goin' and goin' ang goin'. Can't stop her, saying she needed to do something. Talk about workaholics.


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Long lost prayerbook

I fetched my mother-in-law today from the airport. Among the things that she brought along was Che's long lost traveller's companion prayer book.

It was lost in a pile of our old stuff, I guess, so it's really lucky that she managed to get it.


It has all the the different prayers and novenas. Che's very happy to have it back.


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Long silence... hidden fears realized... and forging ahead...

It's been a while... Been scared most of this time... So scared of the what ifs and what may have beens....

My wife Che is pregnant again. Just a few months after the loss of our Angel, we're there again. Though I'm very happy that we're blessed again, at the back of my mind, I can't shake that same fear we had faced just a few months before.

Guess our fears are understandable... And for a while, we've been coping well... Several check ups with the OB and everything's clear so far. We thought this time would be better. Smooth sailing from here on.

Still, couldn't find the strength nor the will to post about it... Not sure why, but I think my fears got the better of me. Plus the fact that we've been legitimately busy, with her birthday last week and all... Guess that trauma is still with me... Posted the first scans of Angel a few months back. That was one of the happiest moments of our lives. Only to last a few months, happiness replaced with extreme sorrow... Yep, guess that sums up why I can't post about it...

Then fear struck again....

Che was bleeding. She was scared as hell. What's worse is that I'm in the office; she's all alone facing that ordeal. Thankfully our good friends are onhand and helped her along; took her to the hospital and everything.

Thankfully, the baby is okay. Our OB explained this as a "threatened miscarriage", quite common during the first trimester. After an overnight stay, we checked out of the hospital.

A couple more weeks before the first trimester is over and everything becomes peachy again. Just need to get over this few weeks. That means minimal physical exertion. No stress. No nothing. Nothing bad for the next few weeks. Coping well so far.

As I'm the designated "houseband" for the next few weeks, I've become fully domesticated. :)) Hehehe... Doing laundry, cooking, washing dishes, grocery, cleaning. You name it. Not a new thing for me, mind you. Ever since we settled here, I did my share of household work. Of course this time, it's gonna be 100% on me. I welcome the challenge.

I think I'm actually doing good; the fact that I have time to write this post since I've finished my work for the day kinda proves that. Not bad. Guess all that time management training in the office is finally paying off. :))

Oh well, better plan the lunch and dinner for tomorrow and the next few days. I will be at work starting this Thursday, so I need to plan and cook food for her such that she only needs to reheat the food. Don't want her to rely on food deliveries; not that healthy and definitely more expensive. The pork ribs afritada I cooked for dinner earlier was a surprise hit. I wasn't expecting too much from it; didn't follow the cooking instructions and made a lot of improvisions. Anyway, glad that Che liked it... so did I! :)

Anyway... Guess I've moved on. Or at least in the process of moving on... Writing something after a long time of silence. That's a big step for me. Now motivated by the renewed desire to share experiences, good and bad.

Should heed my own advice. I always tell Che when she's down that there's always good side to anything. That it's up to us whether we look at the bad side or the good side of the story. In this case, better to share fears and experiences. Might help some people some day. Maybe.. Maybe not. Whatever...

Uhh... I'm babbling again.... Well not babbling, babbling, since I'm actually typing... Anyway, I lost my train of thought. Guess I shifted to my nothing box a few sentences ago. Hehehe :))

Oh well, thanks for reading.. :)

Many events this Saturday!

This is a great day for me for many reasons.

First, it's my dad's birthday! He's ty-eight years old. (Hehehe. Guess how old he is? It's between twenty and sixty! :)) ) I called to greet him early this morning. :) They said the entire clan is going to Alabang to dinner to celebrate. Wish we could have been there, but... well.... that's how life is. I'm just glad that he would finally be getting out of Sucat for once. :)

Today is also the wedding day of our friends, Tin and Jason. Just too bad for me because I'm in the office. Tin and Jason. Congratulations! Have a great and meaningful married life!

This day also serves as a reunion of sorts. Neil, Cel and the family are here again after about three months vacation in the Philippines. Nice to see everyone here again.

Lastly, Che finally gave me my birthday gift. A brand new iPhone!!! Whoopeee! I'm having a blast right now. I'm just trying to download the free stuff from the App Store. I'm still thinking of the other apps which I may need for it. Any suggestions?

The only thing preventing me from fully enjoying this day? Well, work. :) Hehehe... Oh well. After today, I'm up for two night shifts... hopefully the iPhone can help me get through them just fine. :)

Back in Manila March '09 - Day Six

March 30, 2009: Back to business. Everyone's back to the office, so it's time for me to finish this thing that's been bugging me for days and preventing me from driving: renewing my friggin' license.

I was supposed to be at the LTO by 8:00, but natured called. No choice there. :)) After I'm done, I realized I already peed. This was bad; based from experience, one of the main causes of delays in renewal is not being able to produce enough urine for the drug testing center to test. So, I just downed a whole 200ml bottle of water and when I got there, I went for another Coke Sakto bottle. Surely enough, I had more than enough to give as a sample. :)) Of course after that, I needed to go, uhm, every fifteen to twenty minutes for the next three hours. :))

I remember being at the drug testing center in LTO Paranaque around 8:30. When I got in, there was already a long queue of people. Well, there isn't actually a queue, but there were already many people inside before me. After paying 400 pesos and getting the sample bottle, I immediately filled it up and made crew process my medical and drug test much faster and ahead of the others. Urine sample, checked; Eye test, checked; blood pressure normal, checked. It still took about an hour and a half, but that's still relatively a short time compared to the others there -- particularly this middle-aged woman who was there before me, but by the time I got the results, she has only filled up about a quarter of the bottle.

For those renewing, you may want to take note of this. There are four official documents you need to produce:

• Your curent license and the original receipt


• Medical examination result with receipt (as of this writing, only the drug testing center local to the LTO branch is accredited)


• (Negative) drug test result with receipt (same point as above)


• Filled up application form

For some reason, the guy at Window 1 (Evaluator) required a copy of the TIN (Tax Identification Number), which is weird considering that it is not declared anywhere in the posters that this is required. When I said that I don't have TIN ID and I don't remember my TIN, they just said to go over across the street to get one. WHAT?! And there I went to this small unassuming carinderia and asked for a TIN. They made me pay 150 pesos! A hell of a lot for this!!! What choice did I have? The medical results were only valid for today and only for this LTO branch. And this LTO branch will not process my renewal if I don't have any TIN. And this guys won't give me a TIN if I don't cough up 150 pesos! Hmph... Dunno know about you, but I know this fishy business -- I'm guessing the guy at window 1 has an arrangement with the guys in the carinderia. Every license renewal, they get 150. Geez...

Now I have two TINs. The first one which I've used for filing my tax, and this second one which apparently has no purpose at all.

It woudn't have mattered if the official LTO posters and banners indicated that the TIN is required. It's not. So there. Whatever. I just wanted to get this over with. After passing all the *five* required documents, in less than thirty minutes, I have paid, and received my brand new license card -- and this time, the spelling of my name is CORRECT!!! :))

All in all, let's see: 400 pesos for medical and drug testing, 150 pesos for the TIN, 492.63 pesos for license renewal, computer fee, and late charge penalty. Quite pricey for something that I'm only be using until the end of the week. Still, it's an official document that I'm gonna need anyway as an official ID... Oh well... I finished everything before 12, so I'm free for thes rest of the afternoon.

I then had my haircut at Eduardo's Barber shop in BF Homes. The same barber shop me and my dad have been going to since my very first haircut. And two of the original crew, Mang Nick and Mang Romy, are still there. I don't think they've recognized me though, since it's been years since I last my haircut there. :)

After that, I stopped by at my uncle's home in nearby Tahanan Village. With the many things I still have to do, I thought this is a good time as any to visit them. We had a lot of catching up to do. My uncle is already retired, while my aunt was still at work when I visited. Their eldest son was processing his papers to work abroad, while the others are all looking for jobs themselves. I wish them all the luck. By the time I left, it was already dark. So I simply went home and rest. :)

Back in Manila March '09 - Day Five

March 29, 2009: Che's family in Pasay welcomed another daughter to the world. Today is the baby's baptism. :) And for me, it is today's main event. I need to make it to Pasay before 11:00 AM. Good thing, I was able to wake up before 8AM. Gave me more than enough time to prepare and commute to Pasay.

Yeah, I normally would drive there. But during the previous nightout with my family, I was clobbered by all of the concerns about how I should not be driving without a valid license that it psyched me out and I dared not drive until I do get a license. It's better to drive without any worries than to drive very anxiously because you're concerned one of those *ahem* buwayas are out there waiting and biding their time. :))

So off I go, and, with the ever-reliable bus transit I mentioned, I got there in no time. Here are some pictures during and after the baptism.






Another task I was to do is to look at the Lenovo S10 that the guys have and see if there's anything that I can do to make it work again. They said one time they turned it on, they saw the message No OS can be found, or something like that. The next time they turned it on, they can't see anything. The screen is blank and does not appear to be loading anything.

Haven't really done troubleshooting a laptop before, so I'm not sure where to start. Che and my gut tells me to check the battery since the battery LED was orange. Well, I guess the prospect of going to SM Mall of Asia was too much -- there is a Lenovo Service Center in SM MOA, in 2F Main Mall -- that I dodn't really bother looking at it much other than finding the receipt and going to MOA. Tagging along are our nieces who wanted to go there as well for Timezone. :))

So we went there and explained to the Lenovo service crew about the problem. It was actually quite simple really -- remove then replace the battery. That's it. Everything's peachy after that. I'm actually quite ashamed when I walked out since it was too simple. :)) Anyway, at the very least I was able to confirm one of the doubts that I had for quite some time now...

That S10 was bought in Singapore. Lenovo said it has international warranty and that we only need to show the receipt -- no warranty forms needed, which is quite unusual for me, since most of the appliances and gadgets that we have so far have either written or online warranty forms. Well, this trip to the Lenovo service center MOA has confirmed a few things

• The warranty is actually a "REGIONAL" warranty, that is applicable to ASEAN countries


• Yes, only the official receipt is required. That is the only thing required by Lenovo service centers; once that is checked, they can now troubleshoot the thing.


• Lenovo S10 has some problems with batteries. So the first thing you need to know when owning an S10, how to remove and replace batteries.

After that we went to Timezone. Not really much to see there, except for the games and tons of people. It was a weeekend and it is vacation time for most kids. No surprises there.

It was a long day and shortly, I went home back in Sucat. There, I picked up a few things and preparing for my trip this coming Friday.

Damn, it's already the 29th. So little time, so much to do. I almost want to break out into song... Hehehe :)) It was a productive day and I still had so much fun. It's nice seeing Kiang-Kiang and the others again. :)

Back in Manila March '09 - Day Four - Earth Day

March 28, 2009: Once again, it a slow start again, but not a big thing, since I had not much plans today -- I can't process any of my paperwork since a weekend, so I just stayed home to relax.

The only main activity was the family dinnerout -- originally, it was supposed to be a lunchout. But my sister and her husband had some business to attend to the whole day. So I rescheduled it for a dinner out in one of the restaurants in Santana grove. Later, when big brother and hios family came, I learned that my dad is already tired of going to Santana Grove. It turns out that the only places that he goes to are his home and the Shopwise-Santana grove area. So I changed the plan again to dinnerout at Dencio's in Brittany Bay. It's not far and we have a scenic view of the Laguna Bay. Also, it was Earth Day. We thought it would be cool to see the lights going out in the landscape -- assuming that people actually "vote for the earth" by switching off their lights for one hour. :) We'll just have to wait and see.

Like I said, big bro is here again, as per their usual routine during Saturdays: 8AM badminton in the subdivision plaza; 10AM visit dad until afterlunch. Had a good time with everyone. I just learned that my niece was a greenbelter in Karate! Geez, and she's been doing this she's 6! Wow! I'm so proud. She's the youngest in the Karate class -- no big surprise -- and I'm happy that she was able to do something that I always wanted to do myself. :) Well, too late for me I guess, but it's good to know that at least one in the family knows one form of martial arts. :)

The rest of the afternoon, I'm tyring to watch all the TV I can get. Jack TV. HBO. Star Movies. Basically channels that we don't have in our Singapore flat. Just learned that Jimmy Fallon replaced Conan O'Brien in Late Night. Don't want to compare but I like Conan much better than Jimmy. Sorry, just my personal opinion. Just have to wait I guess until June 1st, when Conan replaces Jay Leno in the Tonight Show.

7PM came and we were off to Dencio's in Brittany Bay. It's one of those rare occasions when everyone is present and accounted for before we all go out. Normally, either my brother's family or my sister's will arrive to the venue late. This time, all of us are here and we all went together at the same time. Nice change actually. :)

Not sure what to buy, we simply went for the Graduation Special Promo there: for php 3,000, we get a complete meal set for 10 people. We took Set B.



Then the promo also stated that for every purchase of the special promo, you get a Crispy Pata (worth about php400+).

Since there were only 8 of us, we were not really expecting to finish off all of the served foods. Which can only be good news for our doggies back home! :))

BTW, the restaurant is actually Pugad Dencio's. Didn't get why that is at first, but it became obvious the moment we came inside. According to my brother, Pol Medina Jr. -- creator of Pugad Baboy -- is either a stockholder or co-owner of this particular branch of Dencio's. The paper placemats contain some comic strips, much to the enjoyment of my niece and nephew.

That's where we had Earth Day. We thought the restautant will not be participating in the Earth Day, since it's past 8:30 and still the lights are still on. Then at 8:50, they switched off all of the main lights, leaving only the dim nightlights on. Lucky for us, our table is still lit up by the nightlights, unlike the table next to us which is completely swallowed up in darkness. We overheard the people sitting there complaining to the management about this; apparently, they were celebrating the graduation of one of their kids today and they get to spend it near-total drakness. Guess, that's one reason why we didn't see many turning off the lights, despite the large movement urging everyone to switch them off.

We stayed there for awhile -- the people sitting on tables that came before and after us have already left; I guess we were there for at least two hours. We stayed there for so long, ate so much food, and had so many leftovers, we didn't realize that the crispy pata was not served to us. We were only reminded when we exited and saw the poster showing the promo. We went back in and asked about it. Here's the funny if not weird part. The manager said that our crispy pata was served to another table! And that they will just cook another one now. Everyone of us thought that that was B$. We just asked for how long, and they said 5 minutes. Crispy Pata in 5 minutes? Yeah right. Anyway, maybe because the kids are having fun with the place and the weather is actually quite nice that time -- very cool and windy -- everyone, especially dad, are relaxed and just continued where we left off with our discussions earlier.

We came home very late -- maybe 1130-ish, and I was all groggy. I had to sleep now since I need to be early for tomorrow's events...

And we're back again!

It's June and we just got back from Manila!

The nine-day vacation was longer than our last visit last February, although it is still not long enough. Our stay isn't exactly what I would call a "vacation"; we had to work on some issues that we've left behind, such as the clearance form from my last job, and cutting our unused phone line. :)

Nevertheless, on a more serious and personal note, I got more than what I bargained for... After learning a few things, our past experiences have been placed in a new light... Seeing my past in a new perspective was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. All of my current concerns seem trivial.

On a lighter note, it's good to see old friends and relatives again. I never felt more homesick than I was a week ago and seeing everyone sure helped me a lot.

Although not fully rested, I'm now psyched to get back here with a fresh new outlook to face my challenges... at least for the next couple of weeks... :)

Countdown to homecoming!

Just a few hours left.... Tonight, we will be flying back to Manila for about a week!

I miss a lot of things from the hometown, but there are also many things I'm not really looking forward to.

One good thing is the more favorable exchange rate; last February, SGD1 = PHP27++; as of this writing, SGD1 = PHP31++, the highest so far this year. So supposedly, one SGD can buy more now than last February. The bad thing: all prices went up; rice, gas, jeep/bus fares. Well, there goes the better exchange rate... Still, at least it's higher than last time.

Traffic, I heard, was getting worse everywhere. Good thing the places we need to go are not that very far. Well, except for a few items (Cavite, etc.), but aside from that, I guess we're okay.

We've been keeping tabs on our immediate families, and I'm happy they're all good. Although seeing them all with my own eyes should be so much better than hearing them over the cellphone. We missed all their birthdays this year, but work and obligations just prevents us from doing so.

Haven't seen a lot of our friends the last time we were here. Many of them did not even know we came back! ;) Oh, well, you can only do so much in a week.

I wonder how Santana Grove looks like now? When we left, the place was already becoming a people "magnet", promising to be one of the new "gimikans" or "go-to places" in Paranaque.

Water is still a problem, though. Could be a few more months, if not years, before NAWASA/MWSS (or whatever company is making all the digs along Sucat Road) can reach our subdivision. Plus, we need a new water tank. Hehehe :)

Oh well, still... Despite the imperfections, home is home. :) Nothing better to prepare myself before the June "showdown" I'll be working on than getting the "home-feeling" again. :)

Hope we can make the most of our stay; if everything stays the same, the next time we'll be able to go back is next year.

Hmmm... Just realized my post is almost like a jumble of ramblings, one thought only loosely connected to the others. Oh well, I guess that's how I am when I'm left with these musings about home. Hehehe. :)

I guess, happy homecoming to us then! Yipee!

Lapse in posting...

Looks like I was too busy the last few days that I didn't realize it has been more than a week since I last posted here. So let's see...

Che is in Thailand again -- hopefully for the last time -- since last Thursday (or was it Wednesday?) for server reinstallation on the client side (apparently, someone screwed up the servers beyond the point of recovery, such that everything has to be reinstalled from scratch). She should be back later this week.

Dad's birthday last Friday. Had quite a long talk over the phone. Good thing it's a Friday -- everyone could be there for the dinner...well, except us of course!

Geez, still can't get over the fact that the price of rice per kilo is not lower than PHP 35! Also, the gas price soaring PHP50+ per liter! How disappointing... Prices are going up... except salaries! Reminds me of why we went here to work in the first place...

May 19 was also Vesak Day, official Singaporean holiday! So that was an extended three-day weekend for us. Didn't really do much of anything. Just had to catch up on my reading -- been reading Investing for Dummies for a while now. :)

Went to get the exit pass from Lucky Plaza (iRemit). Strange thing is, one single exit pass is only SGD 5.50. A Pinoy colleague went directly to the Philippine Embassy the day before and the single exit pass costs SGD6.00. Sure, not a big deal for some. Question is this: why is it cheaper in Lucky Plaza (think of it as just a branch office) than in Philippine Embassy itself? Oh well, maybe a transition of prices. Whatever. :)

So yeah... I got the exit pass because we're going back to home!!! Hehehe. :) We'll be flying this coming Friday evening. That reminds me... I better fix our agenda for our week-long stay to maximize everything.

That's all for the last week updates and upcoming events! Hehehe :))

My sister's family's one-stop visit

As per my last post, my sister visited us here in Singapore before they would go on their amazing race.



BTW, they're Sheila, Peter and Konrad, my sister, her husband, and their son. And of course us. :)

Tiny trivia: for the last six months, we haven't set foot in Sentosa yet. Sheila, staying in SG for only one day, got there first before us. Hmmm... I guess that means...... to be continued.... :)

FLASHBACK - Pinas pictures

Because I have a nasty habit of forgetting stuff, I'll post these pictures now! :)

Us with the newest member of the Aguilar clan: Keisha!

With Kiara and the family

With SPI guys

Dinner with Mike, Amy, and Mitch (maraming absent!)

Me with "Timberlake" guys

See you guys again! :)

Nostalgic about Manila

Just combing through net (and the links from my wife's blog) when I came across this blog about the way Manila used to be in the 80s and 70s.

Nice posts! Makes me miss the good ol' days in Manila! :) Can't wait to get back home hopefully this February... (Still a long way to go, but, well, not much choice in the matter...)

First November first away from home

Well, there's a lot of firsts here for us this November. And this one tops the list.

This is our first All Saint's Day away from the Philippines. It's a bit strange not being able to visit my Mom. Sure, we visited here shortly before we left last month, but I still get that "longing" feeling. I guess my body "remembers" that I should be walking the stretch of Sucat Road from Goodwill II to Manila Memorial Park. My body "remembers" pushing and being pushed during the long procession to the cemeteries. My body remembers how painful my feet feels after that and how I love sitting down and chatting with our entire clan there -- by "clan" I mean, my Dad and the families of my two siblings. :) I remember how calm it feels when I'm there sitting at my mother's grave...

Strangely enough, I also remember and actually miss the thriving businesses that we normally see these days. Of course, the flower stalls are there (taking advantage of the season, tripling their normal prices) and of course the different food stalls. (Takaw talaga ng Pinoy!) Hehehe... Years ago, you only find the small food businesses. Nowadays, food business giants are taking advantage of that as well. Picture it: a Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Yellow Cab stalls standing side-by-side with makeshift sari-sari stores and hotdog/barbeque stands. Oh yeah... :))

Oh well, no choice but to deal with it. This is one of the consequences I know that we will be facing when we go abroad. Not that it bothers me alot. Just missing a little taste of home.

Things I left behind for SG...

After four and a half long, long, loooong years in Sykes supporting the problems of other people, I have finally resigned.

Big step for me; definitely big changes up ahead... Not the easiest decision for me to make, but one that I know I have to make. My life's not just for me anymore.. All of my future decisions will take into account my wife and family.

So now, let's see.. What exactly did I leave behind....

My family of course... After 26 years, this is the first time that I'll be leaving them for a very long time. You can tell the tension when I broke the news to them. My siblings, being a little bit old-fashioned as they were -- they are 11 and 9 years older than me -- thought that it's a big mistake to suddenly resign and look for opportunities somewhere else. To them (or at least the less open-minded sibling of mine) said that I would have wasted all of my four and a half years here if I go somewhere else -- note that they are both currently employed in their first jobs -- she's there for almost 15 years, the other one almost 12 years.

In the end, though, perhaps realizing that we have already made up our mind, they were all supportive, even giving us a despedida lunchout last Saturday.

I'll also be leaving tons of material things here, since we are only limited to 20KG luggage and 7KG handcarry. Our house, thankfuly, is going to be manned by one of our most trusted friends here. For security reasons, I will not post his/her/its name here. :-)

Also, Grae, our '91 Toyota Corolla was sold off. It's old enough to be a 3rd year high school student (15 years) and experience tons of crashes, scratches, bumps, and other stuff at my hands. Hehehe... My practice car as it were, I learned to drive in Pasay -- perhaps one of the best, uhmm, "training grounds" -- using this car and that is where I got most of my driving experience. You may want to practice driving in Pasay.. Hey, if you can get through a two-lan two-way side street with cars parked on one side, you can drive anywhere! :-)

Anyway, Grae is already showing signs of his age -- frequent monthly problems, excessive "kalampag", etc -- so it is best that we sold him off. The new owner should be able to take care of it much better than I did.

Of course, I'll be leaving behind my second home, my job. Unlike most of my other batchmates there, I really like my job. Sure, there are several times when I said I no longer want to work there, but that is only a stage/phase... Stress is high, so it really does get to you after a while... After getting the stress of my system, everything's back to normal. I learn more with dealing with people (which is one of the few things that I least miss, but otherwise thankful for) as well as more techie stuff. Also, got more practice on time management -- going back n forth between managing your cases and reviewing the cases of others. Ah yeah... Those times were great.. Rendering OTYs, getting nothing but shit from customers, client and/or client representatives not making life easy for you.. Things like that.

Sure, there are a lot of politics involved (although I must say it is significantly reduced now than way back then, around 2 years ago), but that's office life.. Actually, that's life.. As long as there is a group of people, some form of politics will be involved. I really don't miss this part much, but I did learn a lot about people because of it. How people act, react, and manipulate the people around them. The backstabbing. The hypocrisies. Everything and anything you can think of. It's the ugly part of any business and something that everyone must deal with.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.. The office politics there in the "Timberlake" account is a real eye-opener. I saw first hand what my Dad said about the office: know how to deal with your peers (same level as you are), with your subordinates (under you) , and your bosses (above you). Dealing with each one is important as well as keeping the balance among them...

In spite of the politics there, though, I believe what I'll miss most are the people of the SEC team. The team has seen the best and the worst. Getting the most number of cases (and in turn, generates the most revenue for the account/company), each engineer is doing the task of three, perhaps more. And yet, we see each of them -- although complaining whichis understandable -- doing everything they can to do their work, being the best in what we do.
And yet at the end of the day, the team manages to have fun. It's a great team, one that I hope the management would recognize. I really do hope everything is done to make the lives of these selfless engineers a lot easier.

That's all for now... :-)

Of baptism and reunions...

11AM, I'm at Malate Church for the the baptism of our newest godchild, Quianne, Jane and Moore's first daughter. I though I wasn't going to make it because I left the house around 10:30 AM. Good thing it's Sunday and not many cars along the roads -- at least along the roads I took to get to Malate church.

Once, I get a hold of some pictures, I'll post them here ASAP.

Many old faces from SPI I haven't seen for quite some time, so it was also like a reunion of sorts. Too bad Che's not here. I'm sure she would have enjoyed it.

Anyway, the reception at Kamayans along Padre Faura is great! Nothing beats a good buffet to celebrate Quianne's baptism! Hehehe :-)

However, I couldn't stay for long as we needed to go to Nagcarlan, Laguna for the reunion with our Tita Vinia.

It's been almost 10 years since she and her family visited the Philippines. Her two children have grown a lot. Michael, 16, is now a senior high school student and stands 5'9"! (Geez, easily one of the tallest of my cousins.) Nicole, 15, is a sweet, beautiful young lady. She said they'll be back here in the Philippines for her 18th birthday.

It's really nice being with them. They remind me of the early high school days. Life was simpler, not much of a care in the world, and whatever cliches you can think of. Of course I didn't have my own income by then to buy my own stuff. I'm proud of these guys because actually had a productive summer vacation earning several hundred dollars doing stuff in their neighborhood -- mostly mowing the lawns for a few bucks... I wish I could have done that back then..

O well... Back to the here and now... :-) Keep on moving! hehehe...