Mother's Day at Bono Tei

I had been thinking of a mother's day anecdote for a few weeks now but it's a shame that I've run out of time (need to do a bit more research before elections). Anyway, we opted to have dinner at Bono Tei in BF Parañaque. I swear, whenever we pass by this place, the parking is always packed! So we were lucky enough to have come at a lean hour (the guests came in droves as soon as we were seated).

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10 Reasons Why 2012 Had Been Good To Me

Strange haircuts aside, 2012 was a good year for me. While 2011 was a hellishly wild roller-coaster ride, it prepared me for the battles ahead.  I won most of 2012.  Let me count the ways.

10. Had another cat, the Persian-Himalayan Arya
She's kinda dumb and simple, but isn't she a beauty? Here's a photo of her being groomed by our Siamese cat, Kirara.

9. Short vacations at Boracay and Bataan.
If it weren't for the long travel time between Manila and Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar...well, I still say the trip was worth it. Especially after seeing the first UP Fine Arts building.

8. Moved to Makati
Not only did this move make it easier for me to get to Makati Medical Center (5 minutes walk), it also assured me that my entire system would get the circulation it needed. All that walking actually helped me overcome an accident (fell off a Greenbelt5 escalator earlier this year).

7. Healthier lifestyle, less hospital visits
Cooked my own baon. Well, it was mostly budget at first, but became a health concern later.

I gave myself a P100/day food allowance and upped it to P250/day when I got promoted and became the highest-ranking Producer at work. One thing about being a Producer and a PhD student at the same time...it made me so much more conscious about my health (more than 3/4th of my net salary went to medical bills!!). I learned how to balance my meals, found ways to exercise (lots of walking), learned how to calculate my liquid intake (3.5-4 liters, mostly water). The routine is still not perfect, but the food experiments have been fun.

6. Released Puzzle Pets Adventure on my birth month

5. Released Grave Mania: Undead Fever on my birthday
It also peaked at #5 in Japan and had a fairly great review rating in the US.

4. Spoke at the Youth for IT Congress
Made me realize how much I missed the academe. I still have stage fright, but knowledge sharing has always been a fulfilling experience for me.

3. Survived game development AND PhD studies
I had been (endearingly) called crazy for doing both at the same time but there were actually many factors that conspired for me to achieve this:

• I had a boss who would bake me goodies all the time. (Pastries are the best stress busters!)
• A super friend who thought I was the smartest pretty/prettiest smart girl he has ever met (di ko na to papakilala sa friends ko, hahaha, lalawak ang coverage, hahahaha!) and rewarded me for it with more stress busters (coffee, cakes, reams of paper).
• A best friend who acted like my personal assistant during critical paper submissions (and lent me her colored laser printer).
• Talented work teammates who never gave me headaches because they didn't need micromanaging.
• Friends and family who never stopped believing in me.
• Have a mother who is also finishing her PhD while working in her industry (so it kinda helped me see that I was not the only crazy workaholic nerd at the Lapa residence).

French macarons perfected by my boss (COO) Michael Carranceja

2. Grave Mania: Undead Fever and Puzzle Pets Adventure WON
Best PC/Mac Game for Grave Mania
Best Browser-Based Game for Puzzle Pets

at the Philippine Game Development Festival 2012. Was told that it was 70% jury, 30% public voting. The 70% was a result of all my teammates' hard work and dedication. Every single one of them had loads of talent, intelligence and resilience. The 30% is probably thanks to my entire family and my teammates' students. LOL.

1. Obtained my PhD in Communication
I am definitely not the sharpest tool in that particular UP shed, but I was cursed with ADHD and was indirectly told by a psychiatrist that this was actually the reason why I had been so focused on getting my PhD.

Told myself that I would graduate in 4 years or less and despite the naysayers in my previous employment (and those who thought that my ADHD would be my greatest enemy), it came to pass. I am thankful for my adviser and critic, Dr. Arminda Vallejo Santiago and Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso, who had both provided valuable readings and insights that have helped me bridge game development (my work) and research (my studies).

Truly, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. (Oooh, and RH Bill had been passed!) Thanks be to God, the Supreme Architect.

What about you? Was 2012 good to you?

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A tribute to all Tiger Moms

One of the first things I did upon getting Kindle for my Android phone was to download about PhP3K worth of books from Amazon.com. (I did not notice it and I ended up lamenting about it when I realized how much I had spent.) One of those books is Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which I downloaded because I had been curious about the controversy surrounding it and thought that it could also be the key that would unlock my question of, "Why are kids these days feeling so self-entitled even when they don't deserve it?"

Oh yes, a lot of us would cringe at Chua's parenting methods (she was such a perfectionist that it's scary to even contemplate) but take note, I live in a country where it's legal to spank your kids. (And am I so ever glad that it is legal here. I think it kept the brats from dominating this country for a while.) She never spanked her kids, so I don't understand where all the hostility is coming from. Also, this is a memoir. She makes fun of herself even when she brags about her and her daughters' accomplishments because at the end of it all, she was indeed humbled by her rebellious second daughter.

What people probably failed to see is how this kind of mother had to sacrifice a major part of her time and youth in order to ensure that her children become the best that they could achieve. Even if that's not what the kids want. Heck, she works, cooks, cleans, tutors her kids, takes care of the dogs...only a mother could clock in that amount of dedication. Oh, sure, her obsession with perfection is twisted but you have got to admire such love and passion. Of course, she did have her bouts of self-doubt and that was interesting to see as well.

(A video of Russell Peters' comedic talk about how immigrant parents beat their kids and how Caucasian kids feel left out because they only get sent to their rooms. It's funny, just don't take it too seriously because we all know that you're not supposed to beat your kids.)

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a riveting read. I appreciated my mother more. She was about as tough as Amy Chua herself. She wasn't a perfectionist (getting a grade of B was forgivable; C was not) but boy did I get spanked. And I am thankful, even when she realized later on that as a toddler, I was the type of child that you could actually talk and explain mistakes to without resorting to spanking. She was a lot more lenient with my younger siblings, having learned her lesson from her experience in raising me. You know how it is with eldest children, they're like the trial-and-error kid.

Like Chua's daughters, I went through piano and voice lessons (my sister learned the violin in addition to that; I think it's an Asian thing) and I threw my share of tantrums when I wanted to stop. When I was younger, I couldn't stay 10 minutes in the room alone with my mom without getting frustrated but as I grew older, I realized that really...all moms want what's best for us. They may not always be the perfect parents, but they do try their hardest to lead us to bright futures.

To re-post my Facebook status:

Dear Ma, I probably inherited most of my skills from you. I hope I inherited your looks as well. Hahahahahaha! Thanks, Ma. Love you! ♥ ♥ ♥ Happy Mothers Day!

And to all the moms out there: I SALUTE YOU. Motherhood is not the easiest thing to do as it requires multitasking, dedication, passion...and it's not something you can resign from.

Happy Mothers Day to you all!

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Saving your family photos with the right app

One of the things I get really frustrated about is when there's a family moment to capture and photos turn out blurred or skewed and it gets doubly frustrating when you're trying it out on a cellphone cam (sorry, Edgie-kun!), even if that happens to take the sharpest photos among other cellphone cams.

Well, sometimes there are Android applications that can help you fix this. Case in point, Vignette, which I got from EJ Arboleda's tip. You can do all sorts of styles, like Holga, Diana, Polaroid and other vintage techniques. Of course, we don't wanna overdo using this app lest we start getting sick of it. Anyhoo, here's how I rescued some of my family photos (from near disaster) for the Holy Week.

A blurred picture of my brother and sister. I actually have a clear version of this, but the blurriness here somehow looks dramatic.

My brother's girlfriend, Jacy in a contemplative pose.

My mom. She kept making strange faces so I opted for this.

Now this actually took my breath away. It's a Holga-nized shot of the funicular trail at Tagaytay Highlands. You can see the Belle View at the very top.

Using the "Retro" style. I find this shot equally as breathtaking.

My parents having merienda at our Tagaytay house, enjoying our farm's fresh harvest. You can only see their silhouettes.

Here they are again. I love how our parents bond over tennis, farming and eating the fruits of their labor.

Many of these photos came out as epic failures on Shin-Chan2 (my Lumix ZS3). I saved them with my Edgie-kun's Vignette app. But, like I said, we mustn't overdo this lest we saturate the internet with stylized bad photos. Hahaha!

Happy Easter, everyone!!!

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Visita Iglesia 2011 - Tagaytay

My parents realized our mistake when we got to the center of Tagaytay and saw the burgeoning traffic. Seeing that Manila virtually had no people, it would have been easier to do Visita Iglesia in Manila. In the end, we decided to just go to Tagaytay Highlands (my Dad opted to stay put at our Tagaytay farm to check the harvest), since my mom figured very few people would be going to Highlands since it's a members-only area. Everyone else in Tagaytay were probably on their way to Lourdes, Caleruega, Don Bosco and farther South.

Getting out of the Highlands was another matter entirely, of course. It took me and my siblings two hours to get back to the farm, which is usually just a 10-minute drive. Impatient, my Mom walked all the way to the market, where my Dad picked her up.

Anyway, there are two chapels at Tagaytay Highlands.

Image Gallery:

This was the original Tagaytay Highlands chapel. It's non-sectarian supposedly...

But it does have a rather large crucifix in the middle, a symbol that has deep meaning to Catholics.

The altar. Water flows in and out of the mini fountain.

Stations of the Cross tablets are spread out. You can meditate while inhaling the wonderful scent of leaves and trees.

From afar, you can see the bridge that connects The Gardens to the Highlands China Palace.

 One of the Stations, up close.

Plaque in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Flawless and pure, The Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The gazebo, which sits right across the chapel.

My sister and I rested here, since the chapel was being prepared for a celebration.

Re-grouping with my family. Actually, that's just my mom, my brother and his girlfriend Jacy over there.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of the hydrangeas in full bloom. I love them.

Riding the funicular on the way down to Madre De Dios Chapel.

 Madre De Dios Chapel from above.

A few flights of stairs leading up to the holy ground.

 Chapel's side.

Madre De Dios facade.

It's pretty spacious inside. Despite the difference in exteriors, this somehow reminds me of Caleruega.

A view of the altar.

Beautiful stained glass art.

The traffic slowly began moving when we neared this church, which was halfway between Highlands and our farm. It's called Ina ng Laging Saklolo (Mother of Perpetual Help). Sorry for the blurred shot; we were moving.

It was actually pretty warm in the Highlands, especially in the Midlands area. You'd have to be really far up, to enjoy the cool Tagaytay breeze, which I have not done in years.

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Birthday 2011: My Girly Wedding Cake

Little girls dream of their future wedding gowns and walking down the aisle. I never dreamed of my wedding. All I ever fantasized about -- when it comes to questions on weddings and engagement -- was how my cake was going to look like. Eight years ago, my butch-y friend Ivann (whose real name is Evangeline) called me up and told me that she'd buy me all the wedding cakes I wanted as long as I never got married. Hahahahaha!

Looks like most of my friends had been playing with this idea, if my 2011 birthday cake were any indication:

No, I did not get married on March 5. But I did recall saying that I wanted a Merced wedding cake for my birthday. Wish was granted. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! MMMMWAAAAAH!

Well, we also had chicken wings, meticulously prepared by our helper Ate Jasmine.

Baked macaroni, a Dr. Corina Venturanza creation. Haha! Thanks, Tita Yna!

Adobong tahong by Cris Dumlao. Best eaten with lots of steamed rice.

Special lemon iced tea, also by Cris Dumlao. Daniel Enriquez, my last visitor, had two pitchers of this. Well. He remained awake till 6AM the next day.

Cutting the cake. My guests don't know what to make of this. They treated me like a debutante. Hahaha! (I didn't have this kind of cake on my 18th.) Elvert thinks that Rebie looked really hungry here, but Rebie said she was staring at the candy flowers. (Photo by Elvert.)

Yep! She really was after the flowers!

Now for the hard part:

Notice the amount of concentration on the faces of Cris, Elvert and my brother Pau? They were trying to figure out how to open the cake's beribboned wishes/fortune.

Cha's look of bewilderment: PRICELESS.

Tin had the hardest time with these ribbons. Must have something to do with her IQ. We noticed that the higher your IQ, the more difficulty you'd have with this.

But she rewarded herself with pink candy flowers. See the evidence in her choppers.

Lei and Rose arrived a little bit later.

Followed by Dan, who spent the rest of the night talking about projects, politics, ethics and whatnot.

More photos by Elvert:

From left: Cha, me, Pau, Rebie, Cris and Tin.

From left: Tin, Elvert, Cha, me, Pau, Rebie.

Me and my pretty wedding kekki!

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