My Socially Constructed Reality

Another Philosophy class (Asian Philo) is over. I am saying this not because I have wanted the class to end. That is not true. In fact, attending Philosophy classes is one of the things I look forward to every Saturday. Our Philosophy classroom is a place where I get to THINK & REFLECT . With so many things to do in school from Monday to Friday, the only time I feel free to examine the kind of life I am living is when I attend my Philosophy class. And the good thing about it is that, I do the reflection and at the same time, I get to interact with my classmates who all make sense. Anyway, Sir Archie (our professor) mentioned that the ABILITY TO REFLECT is one thing that is unique about a person . This makes us different from animals who don't do reflection at all. They just act according to instinct or to what they get used to. But the question is, "Does it (reflection) make sense?" Could we actually make a difference by taking 15 units of Philosophy classes? Could...

Cha ( on the right ): Was it Mama's birthday today? Stef (on the left ): I think Mommy has just turned 22... Vei (center ) : If it were my birthday today, I'm sure James will be here beside me. So, I don't think this cake belongs to me... [Where could James be?]

Brownies with lots of chocolates, especially baked by my sis!

For the first time in my entire life, food, particularly chef salad and pork stew, tasted so bland. I didn’t even want to drink water, not a single drop of it, at least for several hours that night. Until the following day, my appetite has not visited me. It was because I had mixed feelings that night of June 27. It was a night I didn’t expect to come. I left the school early that afternoon. I swiped out at our attendance monitoring machine at four instead of at 5:30 p.m. I went home early because my family and I wanted to go to my sister and mom’s house in Balibago. We were anticipating a family dinner so my sister cooked spaghetti and my mom prepared pork stew. While cooking spaghetti, my sis even prepared chef salad for me. I requested for it and because she could not say no to me, I had what I wanted. I haven’t finished half of the serving of my favorite chef salad when I heard my son crying at my back. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t get a chance to see what exactly happened...

[ Picture-taking after test-taking last October 14. ]

Meet my college buddy -- my classmate at UP and dormmate at St. Francis Dorm in Baguio City. CATHY is a record-holder. She sent the longest personal e-mail. She's indeed a Journalism grad, and a writer by heart :-) She's currently in Europe, pursuing a Master's degree (sosyal!)

Spider-man cake from VEI & JAMES This is part 2 of Charlie's birthday. We already celebrated his birthday last October 4 (his real birthday) but the cake which was ordered last Oct. 4 was delivered yesterday. :-) Charles is loyal to SPIDER-MAN. He loves Spider-man more than any other super heroes.

My baby is approximately 28 weeks on my tummy. My expected delivery date is on the end of December. Having a 28-week-old baby in my womb makes everything a lot different. My baby's constant movements deprive me of a good night sleep. I have to wake up and go to the CR several times at night so in the morning, I still feel like not waking up at all. It also has become difficult to find the perfect position for sleeping, and the endless movements on my tummy just wake me up in the middle of the night. Actually, the third trimester of pregnancy gives me ambivalent feelings. First, I feel like I want this term to end-- I could not wait for the 9th month because of so many discomforts. At the same time, I feel like I don't want the 9th month to come because I am so afraid of labor pains. Really. For me, nothing could be more painful than the labor pains which last for several hours. pix courtesy of WebMD Inc. Check out its site.

It's not easy to find TRUE LOVE. And it's not always easy to be someone like your TRUE LOVE. An amulet became a way for NITA and KENAI to realize that they are meant for each other. Of course, Koda also realized how much Kenai learned to love him as a little brother -- Check out reviews and photos at this site .

My kids love playing video games. Charles plays Need for Speed Underground, Spider-man 2, and other games available at nickjr.com or cartoonnetwork.com. Stef plays SIMS 2 and other online games (Total Girl, Power Puff girls, etc). I never deprive them of the chance to have fun in front of the PC but I make sure that I limit their computer use. An hour (a day) for each of them is enough, usually. You may read selected articles about video game addiction at this site . By the way, it is also interesting to note that children also learn through video game playing.

Typhoon MILENYO batters Metro Manila and other parts of the country but we still managed to spend the day at SM Clark. Classes were suspended due to strong winds and heavy rains brought about by Milenyo.

Chicken Fingers Bangus belly kare-kare Bagoong rice, sisig, french fries, seafood chopsuey, crispy pata

A birthday treat at CONGO GRILLE, SM Clark Stef, Vei, Charles and James V & J Charles with Nanay Huling hirit: Happy birthday....

A piece of cake from CONGO GRILLE

1. My four-year-old son got 100% in all his 8 subjects in school. HURRAY!!! It's fun being in Kindergarten! Charles is enjoying school a lot. 2. Stef is also active in extra-curricular activities. She's joining a verse choir and she'll be GOLDIE in the story Goldilocks and the 3 bears. So now, she is asking me to look for her costume... 3. Charles loves his mini-computer which his Tita Vivien gave two years ago. Charles excels in Math, and his mini-pc helps him love Math more! 4. Lately, Stef loves reading dictionaries. I don't know why. She even told me that her teacher was wrong when he said that gospel means good news from God. Well, when my daughter looked for the meaning of gospel in the dictionary, she said the meaning was "a short passage or story found in the bible." She didn't realize the teacher was not speaking to them literally :-) 5. Charles didn't want to be absent even if he is slightly sick... He's just like Stef... They just love s...

"Happiness is never something you get from other people. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you're able to give." -- Oprah Winfrey