My Cup of Tea

9:00 pm...Just got home from a good dinner at Sangkai Japanese restaurant with my MBA classmates. We'd a little celebration because second semester is over and we had a successful presentation of our Marketing Plan 2 hours ago, what a huge relief! We'd been throwing our effort, joggling time with this project since March 16 (where we stayed from 10am to 9pm at Kangaroo during Araw ng Dabaw!) and finished it prior to the deadline, thanks to our professor, Dr. Danny Te, who allowed us to use the revolutionary Marketing Plan Pro software. This software, powered by Duct Marketing, is famously used by top business executives in the US, including CEOs around Silicon Valley.   Paying attention to the presentation Our professor, Dr. Te, listened intently as one of my group mates presented the background of the company Back in college, when I took this subject, our instructor then did not allow us to work as a group (on marketing plan) because we were only 12 in the cla...

San Pedro Cathedral, one of the largest Catholic Churches in Asia, made another history with its newly refurbish altar and tabernacle. The grand renovation, which partly done in Baroque architecture, has a stunning contrast of Gothic and Renaissance designs ushering both Theological and modern influences. This is quite interesting since only few Catholic churches in the Philippines so far use Baroque architecture. The structure is furnished in Auburn color accentuated with panel of Gold shade with emblems of Eucharistic mystery. The tabernacle has a luminous ray of Sapphire and Cobalt blue combinations.       The Cathedral's roof structure is designed like a boat symbolizing St. Peter's humble beginning. According to the Holy Bible, when he was handpicked by Jesus Christ to be His disciple, he was still Simeon, the Fisherman, Jesus then renamed him Peter and was later on selected as the "rock" whom Christ built His church. St. Peter became the first Pope, thus, all P...

A breathing space... At last I can move comfortably in the office. The intensity of work load during summer is not as heavy as that of the semesters', the office hour kicks at 8:00 in the morning so I will not be compelled to wake up as early as 6:00, I still have plenty of minutes to prepare.hehe! Completely caught off guard..haha!photo courtesy of Yam Limbaga :-) with Juvy   The final months of this school year thoroughly depleted all the energy and patience I saved, plummeting my already disillusioned system. I am reconsidering of taking an exodus. It’s so intensely difficult to pretend that everything is fine with my pulse when deep inside I am ready to crumble with fury and anguish. The hidden animosity finally flared up and nailed further my discomfort. But after my resentment subsided (five hours ago), I realized that if I will tolerate my impulsiveness it will bring me further to nowhere, considering disillusioned workers in other companies and ...

I don’t want to toss myself back to the moment where I could feel nothing but distress and resentment. No, that’s not exactly how I would run my life at the moment. So I managed to maintain a sunny disposition despite being ravaged by frustration, disappointment, rejection and oh yes fever. I don't want to be haunted with negative energies. I want a different life, a different outlook to attract happiness and contentment. So despite having fever, I managed to attend my evening classes this week to divert my mind from anxieties and worries. Every time I am in the classroom, it seems I am a new person, it feels like I am living a different life—a great contrast when I am in the office. There’s nothing more exciting and fulfilling than life in the graduate school, sounds like a perfect antidote for my sordid life. It’s like breathing a fresh air.   Paying attention to the speaker in one of our seminar-workshop sessions  My classmate took this shot.haha! Don't be shocked but mo...

The truth is, I’ve twelve godchildren already, but I was not able to attend personally the christening of the four kids so I am hesitant to admit it in my senses if my role in their lives is  valid both in religious practice and in sentiments. I am yet to ask my father (I think he has a good explanation on this because he is one of the lay ministers in our place assigned to conduct lecture/seminar for pre baptism and pre cana ) or some experts about it. Not that I am rude or cruel or what, but I am just confused with its legality.  My 9th godchild both in legality and sentiments (haha!), Stephanie Louie D. Bacalso, carried by her mother, Junna But whatever the acceptable practice, the truth is, being chosen as one of the godmothers is always a great privilege. It also brings back good memories with my own godmother back in the province. I had only two godmothers and two godfathers at baptism and there is one godmother of mine whom I always looked up to when it comes to u...

For the past years since adopting the habit of scribbling thoughts and emotions in my journal   (even online), I’d noticed that I often talked about grief, about misery, about my loneliness and pain in life. I seldom write about happiness, blessings and contentment, as if the keyboard won’t cooperate if I would not write something about agony and resentment. Why I became so hostile and ungrateful about my existence? As if God totally abandoned me? While reading the book about Anne Frank , it came to my senses that I am still very lucky to live in an era where there are no more torment and horrors of wars brought by fascism and insecure people like Hitler, in an era where technologies provide relief of tramping to the library flipping books about history. Though earthquakes and other terrifying calamities hammered other countries, I am living in an environment where natural disasters rarely happen. Thank God! So now I will begin writing about joy, about how blessed I a...

Today is Araw ng Dabaw But how the celebration look s like? My answer is--- I don't know.lol! Since living in the city for almost 18 years now, there were only few occasions that I went to the street and joined the crowd watching float parade and other activities. It's a little pretty boring thing watching throngs of people going everywhere in the city, so I chose to stay in the boarding house than be melted under the scourging heat of the sun. This year, nothing has change. No difference from the previous years, but with a little upgrading..haha! Walking through the maze of people under the pouring rain and with a malfunctioned umbrella, I went straight to the Central bank to join my classmates (going to Kangaroo). We arrived at Kangaroo Coffee shop at exactly 10:00 then poured writing our Marketing Plan right away, we divided the tasks so that we can finish it faster. There, I find peace of mind while pondering what to write on the business plan. It was a...

Warren Buffet, the third richest man in the world, declared he would give 80% of his fortune to charitable causes. In 2009, he donated $42 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which affected his ranking in Forbes Magazine's World's Billionaires. In life, there are people who really leave an impressive mark in our imagination because of their rareness. Among them is Wa rren Buffet. Warren Buffet is the legendary American billionaire whose immense wealth made him the world's richest man in 2007. He built his fortune through shrewd investing style, techniques he learned from Intelligent Investing author, Benjamin Graham. Buffet famously dubbed by experts as one of the most brilliant investors in world history. But despite his billions, Buffet remained humble and simple, his  frugality became a legend in the world's business circuit.   He has no expensive mansion, he continues to reside in a modest house in Omaha, Nebraska which he bought in the l...

... And it felt that way all the time. Why all these negative energies start reappearing? It spurred through one fateful event which was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Then another... Just this morning I felt so annoyed with some people who lacked common sense. But I don't want to go on tolerating all these negative forces inside, because it would just create a huge hole in my system and for heaven's sake I am tired carrying emotional baggage. For the past years, I mastered the art of pretension by keeping my annoyance towards other people with in me, I also discovered how to maintain self control and how to escape weariness-- by updating my blogs. Most often than not, it helps pacified my irritation and mood swing. Writing is always a good relief, a welcome respite and an excellent sanctuary for my cluttered mind. Every time I feel my tantrums would push me to act unreasonably, and every time bad days made me think I am a useless creature, ...

At the start of Lent Season, I made a promise to practice some exercise of self-mortification, discarding temporarily some sort of luxury and fun. So I started eating simplest meals. During the day, I only resort to plain vegetables, fish, boiled eggs, fresh fruits and oatmeal. At night, I have nothing but Whole Wheat bread, fruits and hot green tea. I n my whole existence, I never put my self in a strict diet, though I ridiculously gained weight in my high school years, except for drinking Kalamansi juice before taking breakfast, I never practice any form of dieting solution, so eating simple foods is just a plain routine for me. For the past 10 years, I am eating healthy foods only, no softdrinks, no coffee, no excessive meat intake. Last night while eating sea foods, I suddenly missed my life in the province, the joy, the laughter, the tranquility of the surroundings, the beautiful scenery at sunset and the magnificent sunrise near the beach. So I decided to come home this April, ...

Yesterday, March 11, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 shook Japan's premier city, Tokyo, spurring a devastating tsunami of about 10 meters along its coastline areas. According to Reuters, it was the strongest earthquake to hit Japan in 100 years and the 5th recorded deadly earthquake to hit the world since 1948. Immediately, Philvocs sent a Tsunami alert warning to 19 Philippine provinces situated on the coastal areas of the country. We were also told in the office to go home at 5:00 pm because of the impending disaster. But since I still have a class at 6:00pm I went to Ateneo to ask if there was a message to call off the classes but there was none so I proceeded to the 7th floor for our workshop-seminar. But I was thinking of my family back home. Since my home province, Surigao del sur, is one of the 19 provinces mentioned by Philvocs, I was worried with how the calamity would affect them. My mother texted me that they were told to evacuate but since it was alread...

One of the three big posters of Pope John Paul II in my bedroom  At last, one of my wishes will finally come true. Since his death in April 2005, not a day goes passed without remembering his legacy, his humility and great influence to humankind and how his life's story had touched me so deeply. Pope John Paul II was an amazing Catholic figure/World Leader. I always looked up him as one of my greatest role models in life. I always think of him whenever I am in deep trouble. In the late part of 2009, I experienced the most painful circumstances in my life, the intense humiliation heavily damaged my self-confidence. But nobody understood my sad plight. Day and Night, aside from asking help from God and Mother Mary, I prayed to the soul of the great Pope asking his guidance to soothe my troubled spirit, crying so intensely in front of his posters in my room, begging his intercession and mercy. Then the miracle happened. I'd never been so relieved in my life after praying, i...

Today is Ash Wednesday and based on Catholic faith tradition this is the beginning of the season of Lent, one of the most important seasons in the Catholic Church calendar. Lent is the season where we commemorate the sacrifices and death of Jesus Christ. According to Vatican Council II book, fasting is not really meant to avoid eating meat, but it can be in the form of any self-sacrifices, giving up some on luxuries and life's comfort. It is a way of expressing sorrow and self-mortification like what Jesus Christ did before to save us from eternal damnation. I was raised in a very strict Catholic environment. I grew up accompanying my father doing his Lay Ministerial job in our Parish, my grandmother was the most strict in the family when it comes to traditional Catholic practices. Back in the province, we had this practice of not eating meal on Good Friday, no talking and no taking a bath. I still practice these traditions in reverence to my faith now that I am living alone in...

If there’s one topic I would love to talk endlessly, it’s ROYALTY .  My fascination towards the ROYAL WORLD started during the time I got so mesmerized with the life story of Diana, Princess of Wales. By then she was so famous and dubbed as the most photographed woman in the world, everyone was so enthralled with her beauty, charm and compassion and the media regularly printed articles about her.  When I started knowing her through books and magazines, I noticed how glamorous yet sad her life was. She was floating under fame, glory, fortune, admiration and beauty, yet she was largely ignored by the person she loved. She was so alone in her beautiful but lonely world and seemed needed someone to comfort her but the world she lived in was so unconcerned and insensitive. I was deeply moved with her sad plight. Eventually, I began reading news related to Royalty and that's where my love affair with European Royals started.   The late Princess of Wales, Diana...

Since February this year, I and Kathy hold our business meet-up at a cozy place where we could discuss the ideas and details of the project in the presence of technology and foods!(lol), so we had chosen best cafes in the city offering European dishes : Fagioli along Quirino, Chiccos di Caffe at Roxas Street and Café dimetasse along Torres . While brainstorming, our stomach enjoyed Italian and French delight pumping so much energy to mind. Chiccos served delicious and fantastic Italian coffee beverages and foods, Cafe Dimetasse served mostly French concoctions. Dimetasse by the way is a French word means a small cup of coffee or espresso. Fagioli's foods are mixture of French and Italian dishes.  Garlic bread at Chiccos (image from the official site of chiccos di caffe) Panini at Chiccos (image from Chicco di Caffe website) At Fagioli, I didn’t eat anything because I had already taken my dinner when we gone there but when we agreed to meet at Chiccos that’s when t...