June, for solstice

the first of the month has come and gone, that's the hubby's birthday and no celebrations although he'd rather be in the company of his faux friends for merely four hours. while on my birthday I'm going to have a tea party minus the tea. I'm not a fan of hot drinks. I sip hot chocolate at a coffee shop once or twice a year. mostly, I crave cold beverages, without alcohol. boring. death-defying boredom. if you see me guzzling blue drinks, it means i hate the company.

my birthday is a prelude to my baby's first. checking i could tick my list properly with a menu and a guest list. can't believe tiny little baby is turning one. she's running well for her age. eating well. prettier than her mummy? she has a more aquiline nose. but every individual on earth has more aquiline nose than me.

fly high RP

searching for inspiration on how the dear old motherland would excel, i recalled Ryan's friend, thought of my maternal grandmother and the great aunts, tried to observe the gamut of my friendships, read and read some more. some of the guys amongst my Facebook friends have deep philosophic political opinions (c'mon ladies!). during my school years, the girls got the highest grades and win the top student electoral posts and all other positions, go to places (literally). now the ladies just want to be mothers (harder than anything).

I'm talking politics because it's the key to empowerment. Enacting laws to change the status quo like the RH bill, passing legislation like mandating big business to end contractual employment to their staff, providing social and health benefits, pushing the citizenry to work harder, promoting good government that the rebel forces would just die a natural death, vanishing red tape. but in hindsight, despite moments of grave hunger, we don't wallow in depression. we thrive with our happy spirit. living in the catacombs does not shatter the disposition.

however, there is that leeway to polish the gem. work only, no parties? trimming the excess baggage is not that hard.

continue to innovate

saw this article from my tita wan's Facebook page, an article from The Economist and I know it looks good. but thinking above and beyond, I long for the days the RP no longer have to rely from the diaspora, the diligence and fortitude of a myriad of overseas workers providing for a unit of society. numbers and ratings are good. but we are standing on earthquake-prone grounds. as long as our workers search for greener pastures beyond our shores and our level of comfort is not yet competitive with the leading economies, life would continue to be a struggle for majority of the population. how to bridge the gap with the G8 nations is the topic of discourse. a world and future; where the Philippine educational system is on top of the totem pole, where our universities are the Ivy League and Oxbridge of the present; where our power lines are hidden in underground cables; where we observe risk and safety measures in our construction sites; where slums and poverty may not be non-existent but becoming obsolete; where the bread winners, the movers and shakers are not subsisting on paltry pay.

however at this point, as our countrymen in Taiwan are fearing for their lives and we face discrimination in whatever country we go, it's time to saturate, to find ways to improve our lives and slowly reach the plateau, it usually starts with a creative idea (to continue).

trajectory

whenever i come across Amalia Fuentes' name on an article, my mom instantly comes to mind. she was such a huge fan of the former movie queen that she kept scrapbooks. i spent hours staring at those artefacts as a youngster and i've never seen anyone more radiant than the Amalia in those pictures. those scrapbooks probably got lost in some shuffle and i'm still trying to figure out how exactly they vanished into oblivion. but as the images are kept in the recesses of memory, the positive and negative side of any Amalia news, are most welcome. because of the acerbic public persona, she's the antagonist to Susan Roces' protagonist. sweet is best? sweet is stale?

blooming May

i have no time for all the activities in my imaginary list. it remains imaginary until i find a moment to write an actual list. first, i need a nap. or for the baby to sleep for an hour. or a little bit of help from time to time. the heavy lifting in all scopes of living seems a little bit much, an all too real entity in the quest for the necessary self-esteem.

nothing wrong with downtime, none at all.

trolls?

when i last posted a comment on JZ's blog ( ages ago), it wasn't published. it was about the link between show business and the old Etonians and Oxbridge hybrids. it wasn't derogatory, the author just thought it was a contrasting opinion and it might smudge the essence of her piece. but trolls not moderated properly for this celebrity's blog? poor girl. her theme is very light, mostly travels and food. it's refreshing to read articles from mainstream media personalities. most slebs probably litter their writing with dangling syntax. we'll never know because we seldom read their columns or blogs not slashed mightily by well-intentioned editors. they're mostly performers but a little bit of good blogging would add gravitas. this young lady sings, acts, compose songs. she has style. she is on a daily noontime show (which I have never seen). she has more than a million twitter followers (fewer than most of her contemporaries) but compared to the rival which most of the acerbic curmudgeons identify (would love to say the B word), she is not masa and in the social media age, that not even megastars are spared from haters (come to think of it, just an online article provokes anger), she gets hit by arrows and extremely sharp knives. yet, she doesn't make patol (speaking like ate Shawie) or stoop to such low levels.

true talent

these are tita two's creations. they're gorgeous. they look so beautiful for this page.