As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I got addicted to the Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley series. Love Stories. Nancy Drew. Christopher Pike. A few classics like Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Little Prince, When Worlds Collide, The Joy Luck Club, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and my all-time favorite: To Kill a Mockingbird.

I probably amassed quite a collection of books back then, but lost most when we moved. I didn’t read much when I started working (at a call center for 6 months, then eventually to having my own home business), until I got hooked on Harry Potter. I probably bought only a few other books besides that series for the past five years, but the need to keep sane from the all the work deadlines lured me back to reading. I was starting to amass another book collection when my husband Marc finally got fed up seeing my books everywhere, and got me my own book cabinet :)

Reading hasn’t only helped me relax more (I’m less cranky!), but even Marc had to admit it does help with my work. Entering a totally different world through words exercises my imagination — an activity vital to a creative job like mine. I always start with a blank canvass for a website, and it doesn’t take me as long as before to create something. Reading excises my brain, imagination, and creativity.

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I read mostly adventure, fantasy and science fiction books — kids’ books. What can I say? They’re fun.

Currently, I’ve been hooked on Rick Riordan’s series — I just love his light and funny writing, his modern adaptation of ancient mythology. Just finished the first two books in Brandon Mull’s Beyonders trilogy (can’t wait for the third!). Next series up would probably be Fableheaven and Artemis Fowl — something to pass the wait time for Rick Riordan’s Mark of Athena coming this October.

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Does this mean I’m becoming a book addict? Marc will probably say so. He had already threatened to “de-worm” me of my now-very-awake book worm once or twice, but not much. After all, the book worm does help in getting work stuff done :P

My husband Marc recently brought me along to a meeting with our accountant who handles the accounting of both our business and personal finances. As it turns out, our business books are ok — although our accountant suggested we should price our services a bit higher. But the personal? Ha. Bottom line, we “seemed” to spend a lot.

The sad thing about it is that we technically don’t. And when I say “technically,” I mean that me and Marc usually just spend on basic needs and utilities with the occasional movie date or two. I don’t spend on clothes (as I’m rarely out of the home office anyway), and Marc, being a typical guy, doesn’t as well. We don’t buy gadgets that we don’t need for work. So why the awful finances?

Two words: CREDIT CARD.

I’m really, really starting to hate those words. Seriously.

Our credit card woes actually started about a year or two ago, when we had the compulsion to travel a lot — like every month kind of “a lot.” We only had two credit cards then, one Visa (Marc’s) and one Mastercard (mine), but the constant traveling encouraged us to get another one that earns miles instead of points. We used my card primarily for work transactions, as it had an “online version” which allowed me to transact online with worrying about some schmuck using up my entire credit line. Marc’s card we used for monthly personal expenses such as health insurance and pension plans. These two cards had long been factored in our expected monthly expenses, and we lived with them for years without any problems. But the new card, the one that earns miles, did not.

So we traveled and spent. Traveled and spent. We only snapped out of it when we realized that we weren’t prioritizing what needed to be prioritized, like work-related upgrades perhaps. It’s true that when you travel, you gain more on experience than anything else. But the problem was, the experiences weren’t able to pay the bills, nor did it upgrade work equipment. We limited our travels to overnight stays and simple road trips, and started paying off the credit card.

Then the unfortunate happened. Marc’s grandmother passed away. She was the one paying for Marc’s younger brother’s education, and we had no one to turn to at that moment but the credit card’s cash advance feature. Luckily, Marc’s mom soon settled down in her new town in New Zealand and was eventually able to provide for his brother’s tuition.

But the thing is, we were so used to not having to pay credit card finance charges. When a call from the credit card company offering another cash advance to pay off our debt in installment for a year, we jumped on it. After a month or two we realized what a stupid decision that was. We were stuck paying more because of the interest. Gah! We vowed never to do that again.

By now, we’re almost in the clear. But the damage is done. We learned it the hard way… Instead of enjoying the fruits of our business, the fruits are paying off credit card bills. It sucked to know that we could have saved a lot, and sucked even more when we saw the numbers organized by our accountant.

Oh well. At least we’re slowly getting out of it. Almost there! Probably just a few more months, and we’re free from this credit card nuisance.

I can’t wait.

So what brought about the new theme? Nothing much. The old one was just really — well, old. I grew tired of it. Unfortunately, the web designer side of me trumped the blogger side — I just couldn’t bring myself to blog when I thought my layout was already fugly.

Does that mean I’ll be blogging more? Well, maybe. It took me around two months of almost-regular blogging on the recently-revamped Pinoy Dog-Lover before I got distracted with other things again (ie. work). I guess we’ll just have to wait and see :)

Got a few kinks to polish in this new theme. I’ve also kept the design as simple as possible, but hopefully it’ll take a while before I get tired of it again.

My family had been affected by 2009′s wrathful typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). We lost a lot of treasured belongings. Our bungalow was a wreck. Worst of all, we lost a lot of canine friends who passed on one by one from drinking flood water. But we’re still very lucky. We survived, and we eventually recovered.

They say Sendong is worse than Ondoy — the death toll just keep on rising. For someone who still freaks out at the sight of rising flood water, I can say without bias that what happened to my family is not even the tip of the iceberg for those who lost their families and homes to Sendong.

Let’s help the survivors of CDO and Iligan recover. Details here.

For Metro Manila residents, you can send donations through LBC Foundation. That’s what we’re doing.

See? Even my dog Shantee is helping pack stuff for the survivors :)

Thank you for all the memories, badet. I will never forget you, and how you always gave me stomach gas from all the laughter and bitch moments we shared. I will miss you, but I’m also glad you’re at peace and free of pain. I’m sure you’re now teaching those angels up there how to party, and chasing unicorns so you can finally have one of your own.

From now on, every time I see a rainbow, I’ll think of it as you checking up on us (pwede ba namang mahuli ang badet sa chismax?!). You are now my Rainbow Brite. Farewell, my friend.

** AJ’s family needs assistance. Please visit 1000 Volunteers for AJ to find out how you can help.

It was quite lame watching The Smurfs for a Friday night date with my husband — far from romantic — but hey, it’s not often those little blue creatures get to be on a live action flick. Besides, it just goes to show how much my husband loves me — he endured an hour and a half of cuteness! :D

Aside from our yaya who reveled in those quiet moments I’m glued to the TV, my sister also spent a lot of time watching cartoons with me as soon as she was old enough to. The Smurfs was one of our favorites cartoons.

I learned about the Smurf toys being included in McDonald’s Happy Meal from my sister. I made it a point to collect every one of them, with the main obstacle being: I rarely eat fast food nowadays. I haven’t had a burger in almost a year, and the most I’ve bought from McDonald’s are chicken nuggets and fries. But my family likes fast food. And that made collecting all eight toys possible.

The toys are now displayed beside my work computer. They’re quite a relief to see whenever the going gets tough at work (so cute!). But best of all, they’re a welcoming reminder of how my family — my husband, mom, dad, and sister — all made an effort to get Happy Meals instead of their usual orders for the past few weeks just to let me have my Smurfs. :)

I’ve always been a Voltron fan girl. I used to spend afternoons glued to the television hoping for the Voltron Lion Force to air (I hated the Vehicle Voltron, it had too many crew members and the storyline didn’t appeal much to little kid me), while my yaya made use of these moments to breath and relax after a whole day of chasing me around. It was a show I really, really looked forward to — it was such a favorite that I remember putting on the manipulative kiddie charms on my Dad just so he’d buy me my own copy of the show’s video tape.

You can just imagine my elation when I found out that NickToons will be doing a reboot of the show. I’ve been following the plot summaries on the Voltron forums and watching episode teasers in YouTube for weeks now… And so far, I’ve been liking the new series. I’m not that crazy about Voltron to try and reconfigure my iMac so I’d be able to watch it on the Nicktoons website. After all, I did wait for a new Voltron for more than 20 years… I think I can handle waiting for it to come out on DVD :)

I have a few mixed feelings about the new character designs — so disappointed with the Lance drawing! :( Lance was my crush when I was a kid; he now looked too buffed up for my taste. But the reboot went well for Captain Keith — I think he’s my new cartoon crush now! :D

I just love this new theme song! So catchy, and up-to-date. :)

Nick Asia, please have Voltron soon!!!

I guess that’s probably why movements on natural resources conservation have been gaining popularity. People are finally beginning to realize the importance of taking care of the world we live in, and conserving our resources that are slowly drying out. The Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources (or Haribon Foundation for short) have long stood and fought for this. They’re an organization dedicated to the conservation of Philippine biodiversity, aiming to build a constituency for environmental issues that will prioritize conservation actions on habitats and sites, based on solid, scientific and socio-economic research.

This year, Haribon Foundation is one of the four beneficiaries of Globe Run for Home, a yearly running event organized by Globe to raise funds for charity. I’ve always supported this run since its first-ever event, and I’m really glad they included Haribon Foundation — an organization I’ve long considered to be the “nature heroes” of the Philippines.

The race will be held on March 27, 2011 in Bonifacio Global City. Reg fees are pegged at Php650 for 3k, Php750 for 5k, Php850 for 10k, Php950 for 15k, and Php1,050 for 21k. It’s a bit pricey compared to other runs, but for every runner who registers, their chosen beneficiary will be guaranteed donation. Obviously, Haribon Foundation is my beneficiary of choice… And I hope it would be yours too :)

Globe Run for Home and Haribon Foundation logos by kutitots, on Flickr

The race kit includes the usual: singlets, D-tag race chip, race bib, runpix analysis, downloadable photos, and a finisher medal for the 21k category. The singlet is actually one of the inclusions I’ve liked since last year in a Globe Run. My husband and I have already accumulated a closet-full of singlets from races we’ve joined for the past two years, but the Globe singlet is… special :P Aside from being very comfy to wear, it’s made of 100% recycled PET plastic bottles. Interesting, eh? Who’d have thought plastic bottles could be made into a shirt.

Globe Run for Home 2011 singlet by kutitots, on Flickr

Another innovation for this year’s Globe Run is for runners and non-runners alike to participate. Through Globe GCASH, family, friends and relatives of runners can show their support by donating to the beneficiaries. To send donation for Haribon Foundation, text DONATE (space) AMOUNT (space) MPIN (space) HARIBON and send to 2882.

To join the run, you can register online by logging on the Globe Run for Home website. You can also register and pay through cash at the Run for Home 2011 physical registration booth at the 4th floor Cinema Lobby of Greenbelt 3 in Makati City from February 28 to March 20. Runners who paid online through credit card will have their kits delivered to their doorstep, while those who pay in cash may claim their kits at the on-site reg booth from noon to 8pm.

Globe R4H registration center by kutitots, on Flickr

For two years, I’ve ran the 3k category. In 2009, I ran the shortest category for the simple reason that it was my first-ever run in 10 years. Last year, I chose 3k simply because I already ran 5k the week before in a different race. This year, I’ll just be doing 5k. I would have wanted at least 10k, but my husband Marc was strongly opposed to it. He wanted me to take it easy, I’d be running 42.2k (full marathon) the week before after all. He’s going to be my personal pacer during my full marathon this Sunday, running with me from start to finish of the entire 42.2k stretch, so I’d give him credit and respect what he thought is best for us both :)

See you at the starting line! :)

P.S.
Please pick Haribon Foundation as your beneficiary if you are to register! :)

Times have changed so much that sometimes I can’t help but wonder if any “traditional Filipino value” is still alive. Being born and raised in the city, it’s hard not to wonder. Just tune in to the evening news and you’ll see what I mean. So many have changed that I’ve learned not to expect much from anybody anymore.

I’ve always wanted to believe the best in people, giving them the benefit of the doubt… But unfortunately, there really are those who would take advantage of that. There are also very few people I know who’d do things for others just because they wanted to help, not asking for anything in return.

We’re in trying times, that’s true, and I fully understand that people are just looking out for their selves. But sometimes, we still hear reports of regular people turned heroes — people who placed another person’s welfare above his own. Little miracles like that gives hope — that maybe, it’s not so bad to still believe in the best of people.

I’d like to start off 2011 in this blog with two of my own stories to tell, of the heroes I’ve met in just a span of two months.

They saved our car from drainage doom

Last January 2, my husband Marc and I were on our way to Caloocan City to welcome my aunt back from the States. I can’t remember exactly where we were, but Marc drove the car right into an uncovered drainage in the gutter. As luck would have it, our right front wheel perfectly fitted into the hole (I’m trying not to want to strangle my husband again as I write this). There were some minor scratches on our bumper, but no spectacular damage except for the fact that the right front wheel fit so perfectly inside a deep hole you’d think it was made just for my husband to drive into.

When we both got out of the car to survey the damage, I could only scratch my head in disbelief, awe, and frustration. How was I supposed to lift the car out of the hole?! The drainage on the gutter was located a few meters from the intersection. People were starting to look, probably wondering how in the world we got ourselves in that crazy predicament (and probably even laughed at our expense if they were mean).

It was embarrassing. It was one of those situations when I just wanted to cry on the spot in the hopes that somebody would take pity and lift the car for me. Guess what? Somebody actually did, and I didn’t even shed a single tear :P

A white van parked in front of us, and out came our savior. He looked about my dad’s age, and he immediately took charge of the situation — advised Marc what to do, and asked able men walking by to help out. Took them a few tries, until a man on a motorcycle wearing gloves stopped and held on to the underside of the fender so the other men could lift it up. Marc gunned the engine while the men pushed and lifted. Our car was free!!!

We couldn’t stop thanking everyone, especially the man in the van and in the motorcycle. We wanted to offer them something, just anything, to show how thankful we were. But before we could even think of what to offer them, they just waved, smiled, and went off in their respective vehicles. Just like that.

They helped me conquer the Wall

“Hitting the Wall,” in non-technical runner terms, is usually the point where a long-distance runner’s energy gets depleted and the will to continue on just seems to disappear. I ran my first official 21 kilometers (half-marathon) last February 6 at the Condura Skyway Marathon, and it was in this race when I nearly encountered the dreaded wall. Twice.

You see, hitting the wall can be countered by replenishing energy resources, like carbohydrates. I prepared for that, bringing along with me sufficient energy gels and sports beans along with two hydration belt bottles of Gatorade. I prepared like I was going to battle. But the will to carry on and the temptation of raising the white flag in the middle of battle just zapped my brain out of common sense. I only had to reach down and take a pack of energy gel before it became too late for me — but all I could think about was throwing in the towel and calling it done.

As I ran and walked on the long highway with nothing but rising sun for company — everybody’s minding their own business, as we still had a long way to go, so I might as well just talked to the lamp post if I wanted conversation to distract myself — I prayed. I prayed for something, anything, that can strengthen my resolve to finish at that moment.

A few meters ahead, I saw a family looking over the fence separating the Skyway from the residents. They weren’t saying anything to the passing runners, they were just looking. Even to those who looked like in a worse shape than I was, they didn’t say anything. They just looked. But strangely enough, the moment I passed by them, they cheered me on. Me. The father said I could do it, the kids shouted to go for the finish. I waved my thanks and smiled. Common sense came back. I took my energy gel, and ran strong once more.

At kilometer 16, my calves started to stiffen. Uh-oh, cramps! Luckily, an aid station was near. I cooled my stiffening muscles, and stretched a bit. It was at this point I was really, really considering not to go on. Sheer will might not be enough to carry me to the finish line if my calves failed. Runners were passing me by, albeit some were struggling — but at least they were still running :( I was losing hope, and I had to decide while I was still near the aid station so marshals could help me get back to Bonifacio High Street. I was in limbo. I didn’t know if I should go on, or raise the white flag.

“Kaya mo yan. Halika, sabay tayo,” a runner said to me. He was willing to let me run with him and keep me company. I went with him, ran about 2 to 3 kilometers, and had fun. Talking with him during the race kept my mind off the stiffening muscles, and kept my common sense in place to avoid having cramps or hitting the wall. We only parted ways when I decided to keep a struggling runner company at the last 3 kilometers. I was pretty sure I looked as exhausted as she was before the kind man helped me. He saved me from giving up without asking for anything in return, and I felt I just couldn’t leave a runner behind needing help when help came to me when I needed it.

The kind runner who helped me? I found out later that he was a priest :) I’m not the religious type, far from it actually. As a Catholic school girl, I’ve met a variety of priests already — from those who are genuinely living the Church’s teachings, to those who use their religious authority for their own benefits. Who’d have thought that of all the people to help me, it was a priest who had kind heart who would?

These things, no matter how simple, I consider little miracles. Little miracles brought on by everyday heroes. In a time when people are too busy looking after themselves, they find the time to stop and help a stranger in need.

Miracles do happen. And maybe, our everyday heroes will give us hope that not all is lost in these crazy times… Like it did me :)

Dad rolled his eyes when he first saw it, but he and the family still headed over the grocery to buy some off my wish list :D The gifts I want are quite practical, stuff that I can use for the kitchen or to aid me in my marathon training. But if somebody thought an iPad is the best present to give me… How can I refuse? :D

Merry Christmas everyone! :)