a matter of teys.t

coffee break ver. 1.33

Sorry folks if my previous posts have seem hurried, but reality bites while one is dreaming. Anyway, I’ll try to catch up on IOU tags and whatnots and I’ll start with Jan’s coffee break question for this week.

What to do????

Drum your fingers.

Roll your eyes.

Kill the drivers next to you with your stares.

Count how many celebrities are splattered on billboards all over the expressway either in sexy swimwear or underwear or make a note to self to confirm if so and so politician promoting skin care products really has flawless skin.

If commuting, catch up on much needed sleep lost due to the previous night’s gimick.

And so much more…

This might come as a surprise but sometimes (actually, a lot of times) I enjoy being in traffic jams especially when I commute. It becomes a pocket of time where I can find sanctuary from the cares of everyday life. No one tugging at me, calling me for this and that, asking me to do so many things all at the same time.

Basically, I am a creature of solitude and in order for me to function well I need to have those specific times where no one disturbs me at all and I can have the opportunity to process things thoroughly. I turn it into a moment to imagine, dream, reflect and take stock of life and be thankful. Deep noh? Well, having two homeschooled kids, no househelp, work at home deadlines etc., I crave for those moments of silence.

I actually have fond memories of the time when I got caught in a traffic jam years ago while I was riding a bus and no one offered me a seat. I distinctly remember that scene where I was holding on to the rail above and enumerating in my head all the things God had given me like peace in my heart, His unconditional acceptance of who I am, the blessings I had even if times were hard so much so that I was already smiling I think to the bewilderment of the other passengers who must have thought I was nuts. I remember that to this day and it still shields me from the frustration of being stuck in a place where I am not in control. 

Sometimes I get frustrated when I know I prepare early and do everything not to be late for an appointment and something out of the blue happens to prevent that, I find out later that the other party wasn’t available at all or was also late etc for reasons beyond our control. I have also learned that most of the time, when I fret and rant about not being able to get to a place I’m supposed to be at and I have diligently tried my best to be on time but the circumstances prevented me from doing so, most of the time it was because God was ordering my steps and orchestrating things to work out something special not just for me but for other people as well.  

So I have learned to choose to be calm and spare myself the wrinkles from the unnecessary freaking out and just use that pocket of time to watch how the shadows fall on the ground, look up at the sky and check out if it has any fancy formations, read the ridiculous and often funny business sign boards typically Pinoy, observe the expressions on the faces of the people passing by and wonder what their story is all about and how to capture their moments in picture or in words. When all these things fill my heart and my mind it leads me to sing a silent song of worship in my heart as I thoughtfully consider all these things He has made.

I do a lot when I’m in a traffic jam and sooner than I think, I’m already where I need to be. 

Those are my thoughts for now. Dinnertime beckons me and I must heed the call of the mundane. Later y’all!.

Ciao!

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Sa linggong ito ang aking lahok ay may kasamang kwentong walang kwenta kasi kalokohan lang. Ito ay isang maikling kwento sa isang araw sa buhay ni TingTing.

Ito si Tingting. Pangarap niyang maging isang sikat na ballerina balang araw kaya’t pilit nyang pinapanatili na magaang ang kanyang timbang. Kahit sya ay nasa handaan namimili sya ng kanyang kinakain para lang hindi sya tumaba kaya hayan ang mga braso tuloy nya parang alambre at ang kanyang mga binti ay parang lapis.

Isang araw naimbitahan si Tingting sa isang handaan at sya’y pinalibutan ng sangkatutak na pagkain. Sa sobrang tagal na nyang pagtitipid sa pagkain di na nya napigilan ang kanyang sarili at inubos nya ang mga banyera ng pagkaing nakapalibot sa kanya. Palihim lang sya ngumuya para hindi sya mahalata at mahuli. Madalas na nyang istilo ito pag sya’y naiimbitahan sa handaan pero sa pagkakataong ito nahuli sya sa akto. Di nya kasi alam may paparazzo sa tabi nya at huling-huli syang may hawak na pagkain. 

Mula noon, nagpagawa sya ng paldang malapad na may mga bulsa sa ilalim na may mga maliliit na supot sa bawat bulsa. Doon ay pasimple nyang sinisilid ang mga handang hindi nya mapagpiyestahan ng lantaran at inuuwi na lang nya sa bahay para doon kainin. Take-out na lang di ba?

WAKAS.

Marami pang nakakaaliw na lahok dito. Iklik mo lang ang kamera sa ibaba at makipaparazzi ka na din!

 

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TATAK - simbolo ng pagkakakilanlan; tanda; marka; nagpapakita ng mga katangiang natatangi at naaangkop sa isang partikular na tao, bagay, lugar o pangyayari.

Isa sa masasabi kong TATAK ng isang Pilipino ay ang pagiging MASAYAHIN. Kahit anong bagyo, kahit anong unos, kahit anong pagsubok, kahit anong hirap na dinadanas sa buhay, lagi tayong may nakikitang bagay na nakakatawa at nakakaaliw, hindi ba? 

Masdan nyo sila, bukod sa pagiging isa sa masasabing may tunay na tatak na Pinoy - ang ating mga katutubo, masayahin sila di ba?

(ang mga nasa larawan ay ang mga katutubo nating Dumagat na

naninirahan sa Angat Watershed.)

happy to be Litratistang Pinoy!

I-klik mo ang kamera para makakita pa ng iba pang lahok!

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coffee break ver. 1.21 - How were you like as a grade school student?

Mmmm, this one’s a bit tricky coz it’s just been like a few years ago (yikes! I mean ages ago) so my grade school memories are a bit fuzzy (overtaken by my own kids gradeschool escapades lol) but I’m still going to give it a try.

I remember chocnut and ice drop mongo and sweet corn flavor, grade 3 spelling bee, waking up to the sound of the church bells ringing telling me I’m late for school, blue and white school uniforms, daddy tying up my shoes for me, twenty-five centavo tricycle fares, nearsightedness and wrongly prescribed betty la fea glasses, climbing up our guava and camias trees (our backyard was cat tree heaven back then), holen, jackstones, pick-up sticks, sipa and piko, patintero, chinese garter with matching kung-fu shoes, field days and recognition days, a snooty science teacher who embarrassed me in front of the class (God bless her :P ), happiness was signal number 3 typhoons which meant no classes, martial law and bagong lipunan money… all these are snippets of my childhood. Where did gradeschool fit in? In between the cracks, I guess :) I didn’t do a lot of studying back then, I was sort of winging it through and quite honestly I still wonder how I got through. Speaking of chocnut I think I need to get my fix. Be back later!

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Di ko sukat akalain noong una kong makita
Isang tanawing tulad nito na tumambad sa aking mata
Ako ba’y nasa Pilipinas o nasa ibang bansa?
Nakatagong kagandahan ng ating bayan 
Sa Angat Dam Watershed ko nakita.

Maligayang Araw mga ka-LP! 

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Not two but three birds with one stone 
It’s been busy this whole week especially the latter part of my weekend. I was asked to do another dance photo shoot by my friend last Thursday and then my family and I had to leave early Friday for a tree planting event hosted by the Green Army at the Angat Dam Watershed were hubby was invited to participate. Since we are a homeschooling family we really wanted to bring our kids to have this experience. We thought it would be a good opportunity to teach them about being responsible for their environment and how they can help in their own little way. The event was a joint effort by the Department of Energy, the Task Force on Climate Change and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) with participation from various NGOs like WWF (where hubby works) and Green Army.

This actually ranks as one of the best things I have ever done so far and more importantly, we got to do something socially relevant as a family. Together with our kids, Kairos, 8 and Aemu, 5 and some other team members we were tasked to prepare 500 seedlings out of a target 10,000 seedlings for the watershed nursery.  It was no longer about me and hubby doing all the work but we sort of did it assembly line style with the two kids packing the soil into the potting bags and hubby and I putting in the seedlings and doing quality control. My kids were unstoppable. It was tiring but it was a good reason to get tired.

Hitting not two but three birds with one stone, this is then my long delayed answer to Jan’s coffee break question about fond memories with my family and memorable mommy moments. I definitely have a lot of memories with my family too many to mention and I am anticipating there will be many more to come. For now, it would be this - when we spent our weekend at the Angat Water Dam Watershed as warriors for nature helping our environment one tree at a time with my kids making a statement as the youngest participants in the almost 500 volunteers, this is one weekend to remember in my scrapbooks. Definitely  worth more than baseball trophies. This just makes me one tootin’ proud mama. 

 … be back in a bit for something else.

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… sa Litratong Pinoy! I recently joined Litratong Pinoy, an online group of Pinoy photographers from all over the globe, and I am finally a Litratista. Out of all the photo groups online, this is the only one that I really got excited about because to me it’s not just another photo group. What makes it unique is that those who want to participate not only get to share photos about themes, more than that, the write up about the photo must be done in Filipino (or wikang Tagalog) and that definitely strikes a “nationalistic” chord in me. So if you are Pinoy, wherever in the world, and you are “adik” sa Kodak moment, check out Litratong Pinoy and join the fun. Ano pang hinihintay mo? Sali na!

(btw, you can find my photo entries here.)

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