LP: Kadiliman

May mga ibang lugar na sadyang madilim para mas maganda ang dating... gaya ng bar. Ang lahok ko sa linggong ito sa Litratong Pinoy ay kuha sa Treff Bar sa loob ng Waterfront Hotel & Casino sa Cebu. Ang bar na ito ay glass ang bubong kaya "see-through" ang mga bituin sa kalangitan. Pag tumingala ka, ganito ang view mo:

There are only two things

Sitting up in bed while busily 'facebooking' and munching my Cheezy corn crunch junk food, I "accidentally" let out a loud burp.

"Ew! Ma, that's disgusting! Burp is disgusting!", exclaimed my 4.5 year old son.

My husband, who was sitting shirtless by the desk and fiddling with the remote control of the a/c while wondering why the freon suddenly ran out on this warm night, guffawed.

"Hey...did you teach this little imp that?", I asked my hubs as I tried to stifle my own laughter. "Of course not!", he quickly retorted.

"Fine", I said. Now turning to youngest son, "Ok, and what do you mean by disgusting???"

"Burp and "ut*t" (f*rt) are disgusting", he remarked looking proud of himself.

"Oh... and what about "u-*" (sh*t)? Is that disgusting?", I asked, trying to pick his brain.

"No... Ma, there are only 2 things that are disgusting and that is not", he stressed.

Ooo-kay...

That's just on day one of their semestral break. I wonder what other things he'll "learn" next.

LP: Liwanag (Light)

Kung ikaw ay nakarating na sa Manila Ocean Park, kapansin-pansin ang lugar na kung saan nakapuwesto ang mga kwadradong upuan na ito na gawa sa plastic. Madilim dito at ang nagbibigay ng bahagyang liwanag ay ang mga upuan na merong ilaw sa loob. Ang maganda, nagpapalit-palit pa ng kulay ang ilaw ng bawat isa. :)

Ayan, nagkaroon ako ng lahok para sa linggong ito. Teka, tingnan naman natin ang ibang klaseng liwanag na ibinahagi ng mga ka-litratista sa Litratong Pinoy?

Temporary Disconnection

My sons were warned a couple of months back to limit their mobile phone usage. Just recently I requested Globe to deactivate the wap service of Kyle's phone after it's 2 billing statements registered P1,500 and P1,000 respectively on data / internet usage alone. Argh! That's even higher than an HSDPA's monthly subscripiton plan for unlimited use of internet! *Groan*

At first I figured it must be the mobile phone's button placement that triggers the accidental connection to wap/internet, whenever it's in the pants' pocket. But the second time it happened, despite Kyle's statement that he doesn't use wap, I thought this still looked more deliberate. Hence my request for deactivation.

Matt on the other hand, was heavy on text messaging. His SMS usage lately was NOT lower than P1,000 (net of free sms)! That's easily about 30 messages a day! Ugh.

Over the last couple of months, I successfully collected from their allowances the total subscription fees thinking that this would make them feel the waste of money and probably put a stop to the runaway cost. They paid me but this strategy wasn't effective in lowering the expense. It was still beyond their combined P750/month plans.

Now they're phones can only receive calls and messages. Outgoing calls and messages have been barred. They tried to negotiate with me, for me to re-consider my decision and pay the bill. I was playing hard-ball this time. Heh! And then I came up with a plan that would benefit both parties.

The deal was for them to start blogging online (which they are not too keen about). If I see at least 10 posts (of not less than 200 words per entry), then their mobile plans would be paid and reactivated. So far, they have both created their accounts with Blogger. Matt has written 3 posts and Kyle is on his way to writing his entries as well.

I hope this works. *Crossing my fingers*



Matt & Kyle

Homeschooling? Sort of...

When my eldest son entered pre-school 12 years ago (he's now 15), I assumed the "new" role of the mommy-tutor. We would study his lessons and do his homework together.

It was the same thing three years later when it was my 2nd son's turn to enter school. Study time became part of our daily routine on weekdays, usually after dinner time. My hubs and I divided ourselves between the 2 boys. I was in charge of Filipino while Jerry handled the kids' Mandarin lessons.

Hiring a professional tutor was never a plan even if my husband and I were working full-time and leading busy lives. As parents, we were pretty much involved with our boys' academics and extra-curricular activities (though I was rarely active in PTA stuff).

So fast forward to this school year. I'm no longer as strict and as hard on the boys' studies. Why? The early habits formed became ingrained in them that they are now able to handle school stuff by themselves and consistently maintain their slot in their respective honors' classes.

Nowadays, eldest son checks on 2nd son and youngest sons' (nursery2) lessons when we (the parents) are not around or need to stay out late for some matters. I'm relieved and very glad he can now help us out when needed. Soon, we'll regain some more free time when both elder boys play an active role in their little brother's studies. Let me share what I captured on video...




And here are some pictures of Matt with his peers doing some research and snacks afterwards.

Litratong Pinoy: Bago Nga Kaya?

Noong ika-12 na kaarawan ni Kyle, minabuti kong bilhan siya ng mga libro bilang isa sa mga regalong galing sa amin. Nang mabili ko na ang mga libro, pati ang aming 15 taong gulang na panganay ay na-engganyong humiram nito. Nakakatuwa dahil sa kabila ng mga makabagong electronic na gamit nila gaya ng cellphone, ipod, kompyuter, Playstation at PSP, nahihilig pa rin sila sa pagbabasa.

Ang mga bagong librong hard-bound na ito ay nabili ko sa halagang P375 (suma tutal). Mura diba? Naka-sale na kasi, taong 2008 pa yung almanac gayong patapos na ang taon at papasok na ang 2009.

Ikutin natin ang mga litratistang Pinoy/Pinay para tingnan kung ano naman ang bago sa kanila.

Label Reader, I'm Starting To Become

I just received an email a few minutes ago which prompted me to blog. It mentioned about "made in China" stuff and how some products, though made in China, are not labeled as such (yikes!). Part of the email mentioned about checking the barcodes in order to tell where a product was manufactured. I'm no authority on this and it would be best if somebody out there could validate if true. Still, I'm listing it here for everybody's benefit:

The 1st 3-digits of a barcode:
00 - 09 >>> USA & CANADA
30 - 37 >>> FRANCE
40 - 44 >>> GERMANY
49 - >>> JAPAN
50 - >>> UK
690 - 692 >>> China

By the way, it's not just melamine that we're supposed to be looking out for. Other food additives found in processed foods we consume everyday are equally dangerous, if taken excessively: artificial coloring, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, MSG, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, and trans fat. Hmm, that was a mouthful (pun intended)! Click here to find out the truth about 7 common food additives and why these shouldn't be part of our diet at all.

Kyle's 12th

It was a no-brainer birthday planning event that turned out really great. An afternoon of internet-gaming session with lots of pizza for snacks for Kyle's friends for the 2nd time (or is it 3rd?) is still the popular choice for us.

It was a good thing there was a newly opened internet cafe near our workplace. Reservation was a breeze as the people manning the outlet sees me often. They gave me a good price for 10 computers reserved for 3 hours. That should be enough, I thought.

On the day itself, it turned out we had to pay for at least 15 computers as Kyle's guests were more than we expected! LOL. They were all excited to the point that a few of Kyle's friends even arrived at the venue ahead of us. Haha. Judging from the looks on their faces, it was well worth it.

So, tip for today, for a hassle-free tweener birthday celeb, ditch the balloons, the loot bags, the pinata, and the birthday clowns. Or better yet, invite the birthday clowns for some gaming session instead.
---

Venue: eNGy Cafe and Da Vinci Pizza at Asiatown IT Park

Litratong Pinoy: Luma Na

Ang Coloseo ang isa sa mga kilalang lumang istruktura na magpahanggang ngayon ay nakatayo pa. Ginawa noong AD72 hanggang AD80 (ayon sa nakatala sa internet), ito ang ginamit na arena ng mga Romano para panoorin ang paglalaban ng Kristiyano at leon o kaya naman ay mga "gladiators".

Taong 2003 nang makita ko sa unang pagkakataon ang pamosong atraksyon na ito sa Rome at tunay na kamangha-mangha ang tanawin na aking nakita. Pakiramdam ko noon ay parang nagbabalik ako sa lumang panahon ng mga Romano.

Sana nagustuhan ninyo ang napili kong ilahok sa linggong ito para sa Litratong Pinoy.

Litratong Pinoy: Aking Kompyuter

Ilang taon akong nasanay gumamit ng kung ano-anong brand ng computer, mapa-laptop man o yung ordinaryong desktop. Pero sa kainitan ng aking pagkahilig sa photoblogging noong 2005, naisipan kong bumili ng sariling laptop. At sa pange-engganyo ng aking kapatid, napag-desisyunan kong bumili ng aking unang Apple na produkto, ang iBook.



Inspirado akong magtrabaho. Bakit ika nyo? Ang ganda ng laptop tapos ganito pa ang view ko sa maghapon...



Simula noon di na ako gumamit ng non-Mac. Tuluyang naging Mac convert na ako. Sa kabutihang palad, noong lumipat ako sa aking bagong employer noong 2007, MacBook ang naging standard equipment naming lahat. O, di ba? Ang saya! :)




Nakaka-curious din makita kung ano naman ang mga computer ng mga litratista sa Litratong Pinoy. Tingnan natin dito.