Rules of The Game

My grandmother owned a store and sold gulaman to students in the 60's. I set up my first email account in our internet shop which we eventually sold. My uncle and aunt have also began to reap rewards for their efforts in putting up a farm. Our family line may have had entrepreneurs but none that ever made it the center of their lives. Business was not talked about at home much more finance. We used money every day like everyone else but there just wasn't a lot of talk about it except maybe how we wish we had more. I never had that entrepreneurial streak. I didn't pay much attention to my business management class in high school. I was allergic to bookkeeping classes! I hated it with a passion.

Curious About Chile

More than six years ago, I was in the General References Section of our University's library most likely passing the time, I don't quite remember. But I do recall that I picked up a travel guide about Chile. I did not know a lot about the country except that it was in South America. It was also around this time that I learned from Literature class that Pablo Neruda did not only write love poems, ones we often dreamily read in high school, but also wrote political ones. After browsing the guidebook, I decided that I would one day go to Chile.

Excuses, Excuses

Wow. It has been 8 months since I last blogged! Talk about commitment issues!

Apparently, I am not very good at commitments. If I were, I would undoubtedly be successful and famous right now. Blogging is just like taking up ballet at 5 years old then hating it afterwards, taking it again after several years then giving up for good. Years later, you find yourself watching a performance and wishing you were a ballerina. Or in other words, ang tamad walang napapala.

But then, the purpose of this blog is different so I will let this stand on its own and occasionally write a piece or two. No promises.

But I do have a new project and hopefully, I will be more committed to this one because I am doing it with my friend forever, Honey! That is something to look forward to. :)

TTFN!

BC Bloggers Meme: 5 Craziest Things I've Done And Lessons I've Learned

I know this is late but it's Wednesday on this part of the world.

Crazy is different for everyone. Though I have been embarrased so many times I have never done a lot of crazy things compared to others. Such is the tragedy of a painfully shy, hopelessly introverted person like me. You get accused of being prim or worse, boring when all you really are is a ball of fire inside waiting for that defining moment, ready to explode. But before any earth shattering explosion, I seem to notice a series of little bursts of certainty in some actions I've taken. So far, the five crazy things I have done are:

A Birthday Wish and A Birthday Gift

Before we left for Canada, my mother brought me and my sisters to a Joey Ayala concert. His melodies were a part of my childhood music education along with The Phantom of the Opera, the Bukidnon lullabye and assorted children's songs but I have never been in one of his performances until then. I was excited!

I learned during this event that aside from being an exceptional artist, Joey Ayala is also a super effective facilitator*. Instead of a traditional music session, I found myself participating in a workshop! We were seated around tables, provided papers and coloured pencils. Imagine the audience being asked, What do you love doing? by a man walking around with a guitar and singing Ang Lahat ng Bagay ay Magkaugnay. He continued with more ideas and questions: What are you good at? What are your strengths? What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? 

Canada Day and Steveston Salmon Festival

The Steveston Salmon Festival fell in the same Sunday as Canada Day so my family and I went to Steveston, Richmond to take part of the festivities. And what's my default post like when I get lazy? They say a picture paints a thousand words. Teehee!


*Edit: All the pictures were taken by Astrid of Superboink. She always brings her cam despite how heavy it is. Check out her photo blog pixelsandcelluloid.tumblr.com for more beautiful photos!

I just had to say that the ice cream guy looked at me for a good two seconds
after I told him what flavours  I wanted. "Wasabi and Butterscotch, what a combination." He said.
 That was the first time I tried wasabi ice cream and it wasn't bad at all!

On Language

I grew up speaking Cebuano (or commonly known as Bisaya). Everytime people, mostly Tagalog-speaking, comment on  someone's "off" accent in English  as "Bisaya kasi", it really turns me off. Most of the time, I don't say anything because I find it exhausting to argue. Sometimes I want to retaliate by saying, "I've heard a lot of Non-Cebuano people say em arrr teee with a rolled R when they say MRT. Or they say wan tertiii, again rolling the R, when they want to say one thirty. Also they say sirkel when they want to say circle." I could get as stereotypical as they are and inform them that the best English speakers I have met in the Philippines are Cebuanos and Ifugaos. But I keep my mouth shut because again I am not as aggressive as I really want or ought to be. Plus, how far better off am I if I judge people by the way they pronounce things?

However, I do wish that teachers would especially make the effort to be critical about what they say in class because they have the power to influence children. If anything, they should encourage children to be more articulate in ANY language they are comfortable with. And how I wish we were all comfortable in our language no matter what it is. During one of our field work in college, one of our Matigsalug interviewee shared that some Matigsalug children sometimes did not want to speak their language in school because the Visayan children would make fun of them. This time, it's the Bisaya who think they are better off in a so-called hierarchy of languages/ethnicity. To even think that there should be a hierarchy of ethnicity is limited, too linear and actually HORRIBLE but this is what society perpetuates. I write more comfortably in English than Bisaya but I speak more comfortably in Bisaya than in any other language. It's never black and white. It's complicated but it's also exciting. So despite the odds, let's choose to appreciate diversity instead.

This is the clip from Aljazeera that made me write this post: