Season's greetings from Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao!

my letter to Maiko on her Grad Day

Dear Maiko, 

I'm so incredibly honored to have you as my niece. I know that we only got to spend a few quality times together and not as often as we would have wanted to but bear in mind that Tita Naynay cares for you so much. You are a biological product of your Papa Ken and Mama Alona but somehow i see myself in you. I see a bit of your "Tita Naynay" in you.

I am so proud that you have grown up to be a beautiful girl and a smart student. More than anything else, I am so happy because I see that you have a good heart and that you show love and respect to your family.

Today, as you end a journey and will face another one in your junior high school, I know that you will face many challenges as you move forward and begin following your dreams, but I also know that if you approach those challenges with the same love and courage that you have now - you will find your way in life and make your dreams come true.

I can’t wait to see what the future will hold for you!

love & kisses,

Tita Naynay

notes from a child

i got this from Daphne O's blog. she doesn't know who the author is. this notes hit home.

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it, it makes me feel secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big".

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

7. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

8. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you". Sometimes it isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me.

9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

10. Don't nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. That is why I am not always accurate.

12. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

13. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

15. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

16. Don't ever think that it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm towards you.

17. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get along without it, so please put up with it.

18. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please do try.

19. Don't forget that I don't thrive without lots of love and understanding, but I don't need to tell you, do I?

20. Please keep yourself fit and healthy. I need you.

my papang

i miss you so much, my Papang. i hope to still spend happy times with you. i thank you for my life.

if only

This morning. I was sad. I felt so stupid. I found myself standing in a middle of four gentlemen (Mechanical Engineers). I was pretty sure they were speaking English but it seemed Chinese and five other lanaguages combined to my ears. I wanted to scream. Every word uttered from their mouths don't mean a thing. For me, it has always been word equals image. You give me a word and my mind will create an image.However, at that very moment, my imgainations went blank. It was like a mental pause.
Let me explain. GEAR MOTOR- that one I understand and definitely konw what for but to understand how it works? Wow! it blew my mind!
So I decided to escape. While they were all talking... my mind went back to my childhood years. I was introduced to biking at an early age of two. Our neighbor in my beloved San Juan Village, Bangkal, Davao City, owned a bike shop. I have vivid memories of fun biking with cousins and friends while I was growing up. We had to sacrifice and save our "piso" to own a bike for an hour. In most cases though, Nong Ike (the shop owner) would sense that our piso first went to ice pop vendor in one corner, so he would just smile and wink at us. That signals a permision that we can borrow his bike for as long as we don't go far from the shop. (reason: if in case one would want to rent the bike we just borrowed, then we will have no choice but to wholeheartedly surrender it)
  Every Christmas season, my brother, my cousins and other boy neighbors would set up a "kanyon" out of bamboo from "daplin sa sapa".  then they would prepare gasoline and light a hole on the mid-top part. BANG! That was a very clever way to save from buying expensive firecrackers.
Then, my memory forwarded fast to my brief experience as the part-time receptionist of our junk/surplus shop in Jacinto before. I was about eighteen years old when I first faced engines and motors, under chassis and other vehicle parts imported from Japan. All those junks didn't mean a thing until I knew how much each cost.
Unfortunately, I was not able to learn how each amazingly works in a vehicle.
Just as how unfortunate it was that my early exposure to bicycles and "kanyon" from childhood didn't snatch my interest in a world of "machines". If only somebody from childhood made me interested. I could have been a Mechanical Engineer now. I could have been like my Uncle Paul (Coca Cola), my Kuya Winston (Holcim) and these four gentlemen I enivetably work with five days a week.
Too late but I am silently screaming..."I WANT TO BE A MECHANICAL ENGINEER!". GRRRRRRRRRR
Well, had I been an engineering stude in Ateneo, I would not have met the same old wonderful individuals (my former classmates), experienced the same fun and learnings I had, that made me the me that I am today.
I guess, it's pretty obvious that it's too late now.
On a second thought... maybe too late for me but still too early for my 2-year old boy. Yehey! At age two, he's now riding a motorbike with his papa kim driving (of course). We'll see. I still have 13 years to wait, to actually find out his interests.
at 11:55AM today, still morning, after having all this in my mind... I am no longer sad but excited and happy looking forward to that 13 years after. And who knows what more exciting experiences Kongkong will have... to make him be interested. hehe!