Due to the escalating prices of gas and other basic utilities and commodities, my husband has declared that air conditioner units (ACU) will no longer be turned on as if we are the Lopez's (Manila Electric Company major stock holders). All my kids complained as they have gotten used to turning on the air-conditioner units the moment they arrive home. Of course, I am irritated too. Why? First, I too prefer cool rooms where I need not sweat. Second, because my kids are suffering from the heat! I hate it when my kids are uncomfortable. For moms out there, I know that you know what I mean.

There is now an ongoing cold war between my kids and their dad. In order to pacify everyone, I did not really (only slightly) say on whose side I am on. I explained that we just have to adjust to the ACUs being on only at bedtime. No one is happy with the set up. Ethan (the 24/7 ACU user) complained that he is melting. Daughter # 2 said her asthma has acted up. Daughter #3 and #4 had thought of paying for their own energy consumption. For the past week the two had logged in their ACU usage. The log is actually posted on their door where their dad can see it - which he cannot for he refuses to wear corrective lenses. My son is not greatly affected for he only comes home on weekends, likewise daughter #1.

So, now, after a week of suffering from heat, did my husband actually saved money? I think so for there was definitely a marked drop in the ACU usage. But wait! Did I actually saved money in this no-ACU-usage-till-bedtime ploy? I certainly did not! Ethan got sick with cough and cold. Electric fan induced air does not suit him. The intensity of the cough forced me to buy a new nebulizer- for the old one conked out- which cost me 3,000 Php plus another 1,000 Php for meds. I had to buy two new electric fans at 1,300 Php. I now have watery eyes and itchy throat. I am about to get sick, for like Ethan,I have very low tolerance to the air turbulence created by an electric fan.

Someone... please turn on the air conditioner.

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Daughter #4 did it again. She was on an overnight stay with her thesis #2 group mates when she sent me an SMS message.

Mom, are you free on August 2?

Most likely. Why?

I need you to attend a formal function. I am a recipient of the school's annual Honor's Award and I have two tickets for the occasion. Can you come?

Of course I'll be there! I know that was not an easy feat. She has been a consistent first honor awardee and the school will finally confer her an award.

I excitedly told the news to my three daughters and the first thing that came into their minds was.. what was I to wear. I have had my share of 5 high JS Proms and 5 high school Senior's Ball. You can just imagine the number of prom dresses my girls have in their wardrobe. Add to the list the numerous other long gowns and cocktail dresses that are akin to celebrity dresses they have used in 3 undergrad Grad balls, 2 doctorate Grad balls and 3 Oath taking ceremonies. I am not kidding when I say that these special occasion dresses cost me a fortune! Now, what will I wear for the occasion? I chose to wear something black in a classic cut - nothing obstructive. It's daughter #4's day anyway, not mine.

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Typhoon Frank, with a sustained wind of 120 mph, hit the Philippines, specifically the Visayas and Southern Luzon, Metro Manila included, over the weekend. A reported 229 people are confirmed dead while 700 are missing - passengers of the ill-fated ferry M/V Princess of the Stars that capsized somewhere in Romblon. Iloilo was reportedly under 6 feet of water and landslides occurred affecting 300,000+ people. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in hand with other government agencies and NGO are busy helping out the needy.





Sunday dawned dark and stormy. I was awakened at 4:00 am when the hum of the air-conditioner went off. Brownout! The wind outside was howling with a vengeance while I heard Ethan's plaintive cry of Oh My God! Where is everybody? He too was awakened by the complete silence and woke up traumatically to a pitch black bedroom. I called out his name and groped for him. We were awake - listening to the sound of the storm. By 5:30 am the worst had passed and we were ready to great the stormy morning.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. We were stranded as the streets surrounding our village was flooded. Later, the village itself was flooded. By evening, the Department of Education declared that classes are suspended at all levels. There was much hullabaloo because daughter # 4 said she still needs confirmation from her own university before she believes of the suspension. Son said he is not sure if his state university is under DepEd and since his Monday class is a once a week class, he might as well attend.. Daughter #2, the teacher, said since it's no longer signal #3, teachers are supposed to go to school.

I did not say anything. I just looked at the window and estimated how deep the flood will be come morning.

It's 9:30 am, Monday. There is no more rain. The three who can't wait to go to school went back to bed. The motorboat can't take them to school.

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Do you remember sticker pics? What is it? There are these photo booths in malls where you get to have your picture taken. You can choose the border design of your picture too. Why sticker? It's because the pictures are stickers. You can just about stick it anywhere.About 10 year ago, my kids had the tendency to have sticker pics taken every time we go to a mall. Here are some old ones I found.

Sticker Pic Family Picture Circa 1999

my 5 kids

dad, dentist, teacher

4th, 5th, 3rd

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As I alight from my car to fetch Ethan, his teachers were already at the school veranda waiting for me. I walked towards them wondering if something was wrong.

Hi! I said. Am I late?

Hello ma'm. You're just in time for the pick up. However, there has been a major incident regarding Ethan and a classmate said teacher 1.

My head expanded and was nearly on the verge of bursting! I was thinking some major accident happened. Cracked skull! Slit lips! Fractured shin! Grazed face! I composed myself and asked what happened?

Teacher 1 with teacher 2 narrated the incident. It seemed that Ethan and a girl classmate were fighting over the right to occupy a cubicle. As the two struggled as who the worthy occupant of the cubicle will be, the girl said that Ethan punched her while Ethan claimed the girl scratched her. Indeed, a band aid covers the booboo on Ethan's arm. The teacher said that between the girl and Ethan, they can't rightly know which came first: the punch or the scratch. Anyway, Ethan and his girl classmate have made amends. The scratch was quite vicious, the punch, no tell tale sign whatsoever.

When we came home, the punching and scratching tale was told and retold to everyone in the house. There was a variety of reactions like: tsk tsk , what???!!! (the beatch), may i see the booboo?, ha-h-a-ha, did you say sorry? Though expressed in different words and sentiments all my children basically had the same advice to Ethan.

Don't punch anyone, especially girls. But if he/she goes first,
go ahead and punch him/her right back. Be sure to be win.

Sounds brutal? Nah! that was exactly the same piece of advice I gave my kids when they were in grade school. No one was ever caught in a fight.

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We all had our turns in screaming out caution to our kids (or to anyone's kid for that matter) if we see them running around with a fork or a pointy thing. NEVER RUN WITH A SHARP OBJECT may well be one of a mother's mantra to her kids (again, or to anyone's kids). Below is a picture that tells it all - the outcome of running with a fork.



Umm... you're thinking the tip of the fork grazed the kid's nose. Read more to find out the truth. Caution: If you are squeamish, I advice you not to proceed.

I bet the mom almost died!

photo credits:FunandFun

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A six-year-old boy told his father he wanted to marry the little girl
across the street. The father, being modern and well-schooled in handling
children, hid his smile behind his hand.
"That's a serious step," he said. "Have you thought it out completely?"
"Yes," his young son answered. "We can spend one week in my room and the
next in hers. It's right across the street, so I can run home if I get
scared of the dark."

"How about transportation? " the father asked.

"I have my wagon, and we both have our tricycles," the little boy
answered. The boy had an answer to every question the father raised.

Finally, in exasperation, his dad asked, "What about babies? When you're
married, you're liable to have babies, you know."

"We've thought about that, too," the little boy replied.
"We're not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I'm going to
step on it!"

....there you go... the answer to stop population boom!

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Kids just say the cutest and sometimes, the wisest things! One day, Ethan was lying to his teeth! I was asking him if he ate the chocolate in the fridge because it was missing. He said an emphatic NO! while his teeth still has some chocolate stain. I told him that lying is bad and that he should not do it. He looked me straight in the eye and said: I don't lie. I just tell jokes.

Here are some more priceless quotes compiled by Judith Frost Stark in her book Don't Cross the Bridge Before..... You Pay the Toll.

A miss is as good as a....... MR.

No news is..... IMPOSSIBLE.

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Cry and.....YOU HAVE TO BLOW YOUR NOSE.

A penny saved is ....NOT TOO MUCH.

He who marries for money.... BETTER BE NICE TO HIS WIFE.

It's always darkest before..... DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

If at first you don't succeed....GET NEW BATTERIES.

Still waters.... WILL GET YOU NOWHERE.

When the blind leadeth the blind.... GET OUT OF THEIR WAY.

Kids! We can't do without them!

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The picture on the left has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the content of this post. I just felt like uploading it. This was taken infront of the Iron Man poster at Mall of Asia. No. I was not legless. I was jumping for 'joy'.

Today I am officially 'maid-less'. My two maids and an extra went home for 'vacation'. How I envy them. They can just pack their bags, make a salary advance (without interest, of course) and go home for a spell of relaxation. I cannot remember the last time I had a complete-restful vacation. My vacations were just extensions of my daily routine more tiring at that since the routines were done in unfamiiar places. Double boohoo for me if the vacations were spent in places accessible by airplanes only.

Anway, the house is quiet enough. My three other daughters and Ethan are now lolling in the white sands of one of the islands in Visayas.. The ones who are not in vacation are hubby, 4th daughter-doing her on-the-job-training, and only son -in the middle of a league. Before I log off and cry, ooopppss..I mean log of and sleep, let me just say that I am not actually feeling lonesome but I actually miss Ethan's chatter. Oh well.

Friends, forgive me if I can't do the tags you sent me. I'll get to them once I have adjusted to my new routine as a housemaid-laundrywoman-driver-cook-gardener-etc. Sigh!

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I woke up earlier than usual today for it was my turn to drive the dentist to her duty. Going to the hospital was a breeze but coming back was not. It is the town fiesta tomorrow in my adopted-third-world-town in Cavite so traffic snarls were expected. I greeted Ethan when I got back and gave him some crinkles that I bought in Becky's Kitchen. I proceeded to the basement and turned on my desktop.

Mom! I can't open the door to your bedroom. Something clicked and now the doorknob is loose! It won't budge! daughter # 2 - the teacher- said. Ethan is inside and can't get out.

Huh!? Again!? For the nth time, that doorknob has been replaced. My bedroom gets the most traffic in our house. Everybody wants to hang out in my bedroom. Watch TV. Sleep on my bed. Eat. Talk. Rant. Rave. Exercise. Do make-overs. Anything. Everything.

Ethan! I've told you millions of times to stop banging and slamming my door. I shouted as I walked or rather galloped towards my bedroom.

But mom, I didn't do anything, countered Ethan. The teacher and I tried to open the door. We used keys, screw drivers, credit card (expired) to try to open the jammed door. Nothing. Okay. Think. I asked one of the maids to get the ladder so I can climb by the window and try to pry it open- bad idea as the French window is barrel bolted. No harm trying.

It is good that my house is a split-level type and my bedroom is just about 8 steps elevated from the ground. As I climbed the ladder, the three maids and daughter #2 were all gawking at me. Right. You might ask why daughter #2 did not climb the ladder herself. She was all dressed up and was about to leave when the incident happened. I can't let her dirty her clothes.

Ethan, get your chair and come by the window. Step on the chair and try to slide the bolt of the window to your right. Of course I lost about a pint of blood explaining what the heck is a bolt, how it looks like and how to align all parts so it might slide freely and finally unlock.

What mom? Ethan is 5 and can't even get near the window much less understand or execute my instructions. Again. I tapped the window and indicated that he lift the blinds -which as you can probably see in the picture, is now broken- and curtains so he can reach the window bolt. Yes! He was able to reach the bolt. Now, slide the bolt to your right as I indicated with my hand where his right is. It's not working mom. Oh shoot! Slide the bolt to your left! He did, finally, and I opened the window from the outside.

Problem 2. The window has grills but I was able to unlock it. The problem was the grills swing in the bedroom to open which is impossible to do since half of the TV was blocking the window.The TV was heavy and Ethan can't possibly budge it. I got down from the ladder to call my foreman.

Mom?!
What!?
I really have to poo! Great!

Daughter #2 rushed back praying that the door might finally open. Miraculously, it did!

Lessons learned:

for Ethan: do not bang or slam the door.
for daughter#2: miracles do happen in the most tight situations
for me: do not buy that particular brand of doorknob ever again.

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As we were eating dinner, I nonchalantly asked daughter # 4 her grades for the last tri-mester. She was in school to get her classcards.

Oh, I got an average of 3.9 mom (4.00 being the highest). She made the first honors list again. Considering her double-degree course, thesis #1 that she submitted, thesis #2 that is in the drawing board, her extra-curricular activities and her regular load in school, I would say that was quite a feat.

As we were laughing and being happy with #4's academic honors, son came in ready to sit down for dinner too.

Son: So why is everybody laughing?

Me:There's really nothing to laugh about.

#3: We're just sort of giggly because sister here has a GPA of 3.9.

Me: That is almost 4.00!

#2: Almost perfect!

Son: Big deal. I got a 4.00 in Math 17.

Note: Philippine universities vary in their grading systems. Most have a grading system of 1 to 5 with 1 as the highest, 5 as fail and 4 as conditional. A grade of four requires the student to retake the final exams. Some has a grading system of 4 to 1 with 4 as the highest, 1 as the lowest and 0 for fail.

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I left the house at 9:30 am today to take the dentist to her residency duty somewhere in Quezon city. With me were my son and Ethan. Since the dentist will only take an hour to finish her rounds, we (son, Ethan and I) decided to leave her at the hospital and eat an early lunch at Burger King near the Quezon City Memorial Circle: the one intersecting Rodriquez Ave., Quezon Ave., and Espana Boulevard.

After eating, I decided to order take-out for the dentist. I got out of the joint's parking area while son and grandson were happily eating their sundaes. I then proceeded to the rotonda to make my u-turn. Crap! The circle is all blocked up. No more circling the rotonda to go Eastward of Quezon Ave. Okay. I'll just proceed along Espana Boulevard and hope to make a u-turn in one of the intersections.

Heavy traffic at lunch time. The car aircon was in full blast but I was still feeling hot! hot! hot! My gosh! There's no freaking u-turn or left turn in any of the intersections I have passed. Just then, my mobile phone rang.

Mom! Where are you? I'm done.
I'm somewhere along Espana looking for a u-turn.
There's no u-turn there. You have to turn left at the street before UST. Oh wait! There's no left turn there either.

Okay. I was then officially pissed off. My son was making some guttural noise-like ihavetobeinschoolbyonethirty. Heh!

I had to turn left at Lacson, do an illegal u-turn near the UST Hospital ( I was pass caring at this point), crossed Espana to get to Forbes, drove some more to get near the bottom of the fly-over at the Magsaysay and Nagtahan junction where I finally did the badly-needed u-turn to drive north of Lacson to turn right at Espana to finally go east of Quezon Ave, to pick up dentist then take son to school.

Crappity-crap! A five-minute drive turned into a 35-minute detour disaster which translated into wasted time and gasoline.

Who ever thought of closing all the u-turn points along Espana Boulevard?!

Show yourself!

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Last night before I went to sleep I set my mobile phone alarm to go off at 5:50 am. Three of my kids will be leaving at 6:30 a.m. I just want to see them off.

Zzzzzz.....I felt movement inside my bedroom. I heard my son say bye mom. My bemuffled mind commanded my sleepy tongue to say "bye". Good-bye at this time? Are they leaving now?

I still did not get up. My alarm clock has not rang. Maybe my son is in one of his nocturnal episodes. I heard hurried footsteps outside my door. They are leaving? Must be a figment of my imagination. It is still so early. My alarm is silent.

I drifted in and out of dreamland. My mind was trying to absorbed the news on TV. Huh? Ex-president Cory Aquino has colon cancer? Is that right? Why is there a news broadcast before 6:00 am? It's pretty early. My alarm has not rang.

I felt the sun on my eyes. The askew curtain allowed the sun's ray to touch my face. Someone is talking in my ear. Mom. Mom. Mom. Wake up. I'm hungry. Someone started to bounce on my bed! It's still freaking early. My alarm has not played Latin Lover yet. I felt the wet lips on my ear. I AM HUNGRY! Ethan emphasized.

I groped for my mobile phone and looked at the time. It's 7:45 am! What happened? My kids have left and I did not see them off. Is my phone broken? Why didn't the alarm sound? I checked my phone. See, the alarm was set at 5:50.... PM!

My Latin Lover failed me.

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The house is silent. Ethan is watching TV. No one else is here except for the maids and I. It's 3:35 pm and I have nothing else to do.

I have no errands to finish.

I have no one to fetch or take to school.

I am not googling any topic to help out my kids on their research paper.

I am not typing any term paper.

I am not on my way to the bookstore to buy illustration board, glitters, and poster-color for their art project.

am not going to Divisoria to buy textile for their costumes.

I don't have a Parent-Teacher Conference looming in the next few weeks.

I am not on my way to a swimming, golf, cheerdance or a volleyball competition.

My Saturdays are free of ballet classes.

I no longer have to bribe one of my daughters to take piano lessons.

I no longer look forward to trips abroad for the girls' chorus to perform or for me to watch an International Swimming competition.

I no longer have to wait for my son to finish his saxophone class or buy my 4th daughter a new flute for she dented her old one.

no longer have to cook tons of food for their respective varsity teams.

I no longer have to label all their socks, undies and hankies, to avoid mix-up.

Their baby books are all filled up with vaccinations and booster shots.

I no longer have to wake up at 5:30 am to fix their breakfast and pack their lunches.

I no longer have to supervise homeworks and study periods.

Most weekday dinners are just Ethan, my hubby and I.

So many things have changed now that my kids are all grown up. I should be glad. I should be feeling free. But: believe it ot not, I miss the chaos and hectic pacing of a mom with young kids.

Enjoy your little ones now. Do not wish to fast forward their childhood days. Cherish. Delight in the experience of caring for your children. At the blink of an eye ( for me, it was) your children will be all grown up.

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Friday: Ethan and I gate-crashed an overnight activity of an exclusive school in Las Pinas. The activity was all about the moon and the stars. Yes! It was moon-stars viewing through powerful and expensive ( at least 500,000 Php each ) telescopes.


The activity was made possible by AstroCamp. The group brought in 15 powerful telescopes to view the moon, saturn, mars, orion, and jupiter. Cool!









Saturday: We had dinner at Italianni's. Freaking Expensive. At right, me eating Sicilian salad. Yummy! It's garden fresh salad with mango, grape, almond nuts and grilled chicken.






note :Ethan's hand reaching for my fork!



Sunday:AC Chorale had its 20th anniversary concert at PCI Bank Auditorium. We watched as alumnae sang Bridges and Handog with the current group.

It was a touching moment when former members composed and sang a song for the chorale's conductress of 20 years, Tina Yulo-So.

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Gotta gig tonight!

No! I’m not drunk!

I’m going out. Don’t wait up.

School sucks!!!! I quit!!!!

Lucky me. I have not had the occasion to hear these phrases from my kids. No. They are not the nerdy-fanatics-worthier-than-thou-type of kids. They are just your regular neighborhood sort. They don’t smoke, do drugs or party incessantly. My kids are conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc. In other words… they are square.

My kids are focused on their studies: so focused that I have to put my foot down against their going to school when storm signal #3 is up. Their reason? No class suspension announcement yet!

My fault actually. I have rammed into my children’s the value of education: I say what you’ve learned cannot be bought, stolen or lost. It is your legacy! It is your right and privilege and it’s up to you to make the most of that opportunity!.. relentlessly.

Gosh! I so sound like my dear-departed-papa! Yes, I tend to sermonize complete with emote. I usually do the discourse during dinner. But wait! As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with my lectures.

Parents should instill to their young children the importance of education. How? I initiated my kids by developing their study habits. Kids need structure and discipline. Once your child starts preschool, set aside a time for study. By “study” I do not mean comprehensive reading and writing and math at 3 years old!: more on reciting the alphabet, doing puzzles and coloring books, story-telling and the likes. As the child grows older and more apt, then you can modify his study period accordingly.

When my eldest started preschool, I integrated into her schedule a “mommy-child” time. Oh these sessions were often tearful (on my daughter’s part) but we persevered. I bought each of my children a study table. They had their own little nook for studying and doing their homework. I bought books, books and more books for my kids to read and use as reference. (Yup, no Google yet).

The study time that I started with my kids paid off. (I’d like to think, big time).

My eldest, (who used to cry at study-time) is now a doctor. My second child (who can’t seem to grasp the meaning of study much more, spell it) is now a teacher. My third child (who used to feign sleep and appear innocent to avoid study-time) is now a dentist. My fourth daughter (the one who wanted to leave home at age 6 and hahaha, thought that unicorns are real [at age 17!]) is a senior taking up a double-degree course. My fifth and only boy (who was a super-hyper kid that we thought had ADHD and was and is still color-confused) is a freshman at a top Philippine university.

Yes. My kids are square… and I don’t mind.

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I think it is only the Filipinos and the Chinese who use terms of endearments to address their older brothers and sisters. From the Chinese, the Pinoys got Kuya (koo-yuh) and Ate (ah-te) to call the eldest brother and sister, respectively. Diko and Ditse are used for second eldest male and female siblings, while Sangko and Sanse are for the third eldest brother and sister.

Let us not bother with the other terms but just concentrate on Kuya and Ate. Nowadays, Kuya and Ate are loosely used to address any older male and female regardless if he or she is a relation or not. My son calls the tricycle drivers, street vendors, security guards, school custodians and all older males as Kuya. My other four daughters do too. They call the canteen servers, cook, photocopy girls, and every other older female as Ate. When my kids were very young, there was a slight confusion on the household hierarchy for they call all our household helps as Ate while the house helpers addressed me as Ate too.

I really cannot recall when this practice of calling everyone kuya and ate evolved. When I was a kid back in the 60's, I called all unrelated older males and females as Ka as in Ka Juan and Ka Fely. Thus our laundrywoman was Ka Teresa and our neighbor with the gumamela bushes was Ka Choleng. Older brothers and sisters and cousins were entitled to be called kuya and ate. I was taught not to bother with diko, ditse and the likes. Too tedious.

The term Ka is synonymous with Mang for older males and Aling for older females. I called my parents' contemporaries as Ka or Kang (if there is some semblance of blood relations). I have one brother, yet my kids have titas (aunts) and titos (uncles) galore. No. I am not remotely related to this growing number of new relations. These relatives are family friends, their classmates' parents, their friends' parents, their friends' friends' parents, some of our neighbors, and what-have-you.

As their circle of kuyas, ates, titos and titas keep growing, so is mine. Every so often, I acquire a new niece or nephew. I am even an honorary "mommy" to some. I do not mind. Really. It seems like all Pinoys are related.

The use of Aling and Mang has evolved too. The youtube generation calls the elderly mommy and daddy or mama and papa or nanay and tatay.

I am now a grandma and by tradition my grandson should call me lola (grandmother). Ethan calls me "mom". I refuse to be a lola for the term epitomizes a sweet-gray-haired-elderly lady-knitting-while-sitting-on a rocking chair which I am totally is not. (I do knit, but not the rest of the description).

The other day, a street vendor passed by my house and asked me 'Nay, gusto ba nyo ng walis? (Mother, would you like to buy a broom?) Yep! That 40 something older male called me mother! I was so offended I replied Huwag mo 'ko tawagin ng nanay, hindi kita anak! (Do not call me mother. You are not my son!)

.....Which brings to an end the idea that all Pinoys are related.

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Don't you just hate it when people post pictures that are not interesting at all.........where the contents are grotesque faces, distorted limbs, awkward poses and ( hay naku, pardon me) "feeling" beautiful faces.

With the proliferation of social networking there comes an avalance of digi-photos in the net. Armed with their phone cameras and 2 pixel digicams, these wannabes click to their hearts' content... without thought, without fear, without reservation and yes!!... pictures without composition..., dear juan and juana... there are such things as composition, balance, symmetry, focal point, light and shadow, etc., etc. in taking pictures. you might want to read up on the topic or simply google it for you to learn the basics of photography.

Pictures are for posterity... a record of history... an account of your life in stills... why do you choose to photographically record yourself as fantastically ugly and bizarre? Why always the EMO face and attitude? For those who are clueless regarding Emo, it is a broad title that covers a lot of different styles of emotionally-charged punk rock.

I seldom have my picture taken for I want to project the best of me everytime I have a photo taken.That way, I will always be remembered as oozing with the true Filipina essence of femininity and grace.( ahahahhaha ) Even if I am not beautiful, with a great photograph, I can be.

So please, refrain from posting pictures that are not pleasing. You might think that projecting an emo attitude and face is cool....yeah. maybe. sometimes. But to always posture as one? Pleeeeeeeeease......

or..... I might as well stop browsing other people's social network sites..............

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