On Our Own at Last!

I found our new apartment at Sta. Cruz, Manila and it rocks! Yeah. Not only that it was near to SM San Lazaro where my kids used to stay during the warm afternoon but it was also adjacent to ALPS bus terminal were my sister was in the habit of sending some valuables from Oriental Mindoro. My schedule changed since I do not wake up as early as 3:30 a.m. just what I did in Navotas.

Found a New Apartment

Finally, after 5 years(?) of living with my parents in-law we will have the courage to transfer to our new apartment at Kalimbas, Manila, Philippines. I (with my wife) have been searching for a better place to live since my daughter Helena wakes up at 3:00 a.m. just to go to school. So we will finally leave Navotas and will look for better or should I say greener pasture there.

BTW, I found the new place quiet and serene. It's near to Helena's school too so I wouldn't wake up at 3:30 a.m. just to accompany her to the school.

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'Have been addicted to Farmville for 2 straight weeks now.. I hope my chess games won't suffer. I am now on Level 18.

Chess Invitations

I got invitations to play in a chess team tournament from two teams. I'm having a hard time to choose. Hopefully it would be settled right away.

By the way I would like to congratulate Super GM Wesley So for beating the mighty Super GM Vassily Ivanchuk during their Round 2 chess encounter in the World Cup.

There are too many heroes in the Philippines today. Congrats.

To follow the World Cup games please click this link Chess in Khanty-Mansiysk

New Website for IMCS

I just finished 3 web pages of IMCS new site. Hopefully it will be over this week. I used weebly.com as suggested by one of my sensei's from Okinawa.

By the way this is our new site http://imcs.weebly.com

Feel free to make suggestions and comments. The IMCS site is still under construction, though.

Regards to all.

National Anthem Wrongfully Sang

I am attending a workshop at RELC-NCR Marikina and doing my usual morning routine when I overhead the singing of the national anthem from a nearby secondary school. Mind you, the singing is led by one male student who misses three lines of the song. Everybody is shouting and laughing. Moral of the story: learn the lyrics of the song and be confident in singing.

Pacquiao Annihilates Cotto

Photo Credit: Internet (I forgot the site)
How nice to see my countryman Manny Pacquiao annihilating (sorry for the word) the equally talented Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico. I am so nervous during the first round as both players exchange hard punches. Every time Manny gets hit I felt the pain inside me. As the game progresses the excitement continuously grow. Come Round 3 and a wicked right cross (is that really a right cross?) from Pacquiao decked Cotto to the canvas.

I jumped. No. Everybody watching jumped as we exchanged high fives at the RELC-NCR in Marikina. Wow. Manny's punch was indeed extraordinary.

The game ended with a TKO during the final round. As Manny gave a 3-punch combo Bayless immediately stopped the fight probably to protect Cotto from further injuries.

Congrats Manny! You made us Filipinos great again.

Helena's Birthday

We celebrated the birthday of my daughter Helena Beatrice at Chef d' Angelo at SM San Lazaro. What made the day interesting was that we ate for free. It was Helena's prize during the costume party days ago at the same mall. Whattaday!

Fun After Weeks of Work

After series of sleepless nights our group from SoftDev't KCTC, once again reunited at Pizza Hut @ Robinsons Galleria to enjoy the evening we rightfully deserve.

Halloween Show at SM San Lazaro

I went to SM Manila to witness the 2009 Halloween Costume Party, it so happened that my two kids were also participants. I enjoyed the party of course. BTW here are the pictures...

My Computer Crashed

I was about to finish my database when suddenly my computer crashed. Whew... I have been working on my database for weeks now and all my efforts went to naught.

Unanswered Prayer...

Two days after I got a "your wish is granted" comment from my parish priest, here I am too lonely to hear the "declined remarks" to join the Japanese Scholarship from my superiors. I felt so low. I thought I was a little form surrounded by the head and foot of a parenthesis.

Prophecy

My lofty ambition was really intensified by the remarks I've got from the following: 1)a friend from Caloocan, told me that he could still foresee another scholarship for me; 2) my daughter Helena always include me on her prayers and have been seeing how many toys she could have once I'm there; and then my parish priest told me two days ago that my wish will be granted (I requested for the scholarship). None of these happened, err... maybe in the future, who knows?

Conflict

I prepared for this chance to compete with the best in the bureaucracy and it's a gauge on how far I could go. But I was literally shot before I could start.

Strange Feeling

Perhaps the happiest person now should she receive this information would be my wife. She really dislikes me to leave.

Home Anew!

I went to my hometown yesterday, in haste, to see once again the festive celebration at Barcenaga, Oriental Mindoro. I immediately ordered my wife and kids to go to the JAM bus station for a long drive to Batangas Pier. We missed the 12:00 midnight Ro-Ro ride though due to slow driving mode of the bus driver, instead we catched the 2:00 a.m. ride. Every one felt haggard and wasted because of the long trip.

It's been a long time since I last set foot at our island. I couldn't barely notice the young people I confronted with. The youngsters were very tall I supposed. I came here for two reasons: first, to attend our town fiesta and second, to seek for spiritual blessing from my parish priest regarding my quest for scholarship. I been a fan of spiritual blessing since I got it from a priest at Baybay, Leyte. There was an international conference that time and I was about to take the examination for teachers. The blessing was very effective since I passed the examination now I'm hoping that this request would still be an effective one. I hope that my superiors would let me join and compete in the Japanese scholarship.

As usual, the fiesta celebration had been attended by various people from different places and the extravagant and lavish food were visible all over households. When I was younger I remembered that during fiestas there where shed of blood that arised because of drunkness, well this one is not different. It just came to my knowledge that series of fights happened near our place and one of the victims was at ICU.

Speaking of my visit, I ate several sets of food prepared by my sisters and enjoyed my experienced here. My ageing mother is still on her good mood and what touched me most was when I overheard her saying, "I am happy because everyone comes but what would make me sad is when all of you leave." Whew...

I played chess with my colleagues from the Calapan Chess Club and visited "peryahan" and "tianggehan".

I offered a mass (8:00 a.m.) delivered by the provincial bishop. I have been searching for him for guidance but instead saw my town priest.

Tomorrow we would leave for Manila after enjoying two-day stay.

Family Prayer

I was really stunned to hear the prayer request of my daughter Helena yesterday. Know what? She petitioned for the approval of my scholarship to Japan, new house, etc. For her age I really couldn't believe she would say that.