One cold February night this year, while I was helping my kid study her lessons, we both heard loud flapping of wings. My kid looked around, got excited and suddenly shouted, “Mama! There’s a bird, in our room!”

I turned around to look at my room. My father was faster; he sprang up to his feet to look for the bird. He carefully caught the little animal using a small red bucket, and then he covered bucket with cardboard.

The ibong pipit in the bucket

My kid wished that she keep the bird, but my mom gently explained that the ibong pipit is not suitable as a pet. Those birds usually die the next day when they are kept captive.

My kid didn’t insist. She went out of the house, opened the covering and let the bird go in the middle of the night.

I had worked on various companies – both government and private through the years before i discovered the joys of working at home.

Working at home is probably the best job I had so far. I don’t have to worry about being late at work. I can decide to take leaves anytime. Most of all there is no boss to look over my shoulder on how I am doing.

However, there are some things that I miss doing when I was still employed. I always got those various perks that came with my job – such as leaves, various bonuses and even business insurance health that covered me during those holidays. There were always those fun and educational field trips, family days and Christmas parties which are always a welcome break to the stress of the corporate workplace. Of course, those outings that need us to travel miles away from our workplaces are always under group health insurance coverage.

I distinctly remember that time when my kid who was all too excited to be with me whenever my employers threw these kinds of activities. It was all too helpful for me to bond with my kid – especially during the time when I had to work someplace where I get to see my kid only once or twice each week!

Obviously, my employers had gotten the best business insurance quote that they could afford to get into before all of us get into a bus trip somewhere.

I miss these doing these fun activities with my former boss and coworkers, no matter how pleasant or irritating they could be.  To keep myself sane, I had to always find time to meet people in town, usually in coffee shops. These people are often as old classmates and establish online friends who happen to be in town. The internet had given me a virtual world with a bunch of virtual officemates and clients, but this is no match to having real live officemate breathing and laughing beside me – and if officemate is male, perhaps that friendship could turn to something that I don’t have for now – love!

These were activities are something I terribly miss – being that home worker dressed in my pajamas.

Perhaps spending some time together each week really helped!

Actually I should have taken the hint last year that my kid had mentioned about a boy that she liked in class. I teased her a bit and asked about it, but she never admitted that she is interested. She doesn’t open up much and that behavior is something that I worry.

Being with her last Sunday turned out different and surprising. She admitted that she has a crush on a classmate. She even turned red on the cheeks as she revealed that. She even told me that there were a number of boys who gave her torn-out pad paper containing love messages. She even got flying kisses and winks from her boy classmates – which she found irritating – except perhaps if this gesture would come from a boy that she is interested in.

This is one of the times that made me realize that I don’t have a little kid anymore!

I found this among the funny t-shirts at a website that also offers inspirational posters and I think it’s sexy. It’s quite a rare find to me: most often I see T-shirts that are either made for both sexes, or just sound quite manly for a woman (for a woman in the engineering profession) to wear.

I think this one fits well for any woman who is involved in engineering profession, don’t you think?

I’m quite a fairly frugal person but sometimes when I encounter shirts with confidence quotes just like this it makes me want to have one. “Engineer with curves” – I still am a curvy fat woman even if I don’t have that kind of flattery figure men often drool. Of course, obviously this shirt would have better impact if I had that kind of figure most men want. I have plans to lose weight to keep healthy and make myself flattering, but I still couldn’t find time to do that.

I tried thinking of some funny quotes or messages that are related to my profession and my gender, but I couldn’t think of one. If I will be able to compose one, then I’d probably get a custom T-shirt design done. Maybe today is one of those days when my creativity isn’t at its peak.

I’d probably add one or two of these kind of  T-shirts to my wardrobe.

Today is perhaps the one day when the Filipino people stopped doing their usual work to watch the real-life hostage drama that took place near the Quirino Grandstand which was aired on national TV. The incident was so disturbing that I could not even get to sleep.

I already know about the hostage drama earlier from various online Philippine news but didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking that no one would get hurt. However, after working for the day, my thoughts keep on coming back to that drama. Soon I found myself watching the drama live on Philippine TV early night.

Suddenly, I heard gunshots – several of them – and moments later a lifeless body at the bus door. There was also a driver who managed to escape to lived to tell that no one was left alive.

As hostage went on, I could not help but get angry at what happened. I had so many questions running on my mind.

Why did the SWAT act so incompetent? Do they realize that they are dealing with hostage-taker has a good two-decades plus of police experience behind him? What kind of training and equipment are the SWAT teams getting?

Why did the government leave most of the negotiations alone to the SWAT team? Would it be easier to give in to the hostage-taker’s demands then arrest then charge him later so that no bloodbath had happened?

Was it the fault of the media, whose cameras were entirely focused on the delicate SWAT operation? Why weren’t there a news blackout so that this most critical part of the operation would not be possibly watched by the hostage-taker?

Why made the hostage-taker ex-police caption Rolando Mendoza do that in the first place? Was there really an unjust treatment on his case which resulted to all of this?

Moreover, why are those bystanders present? Aren’t there enough police forces to control the crowd? We know that the police are so effective in dispersing rallyists, but why are they having difficulty controlling people around the scene?

I could not blame the Hongkong Security Bureau for putting a “black alert” on their Outbound Alert System – that warns their citizens to avoid traveling to the Philippines. I worry that Hongkong and the rest world might see Philippines as another terrible and dangerous place in the world to visit and live.

This week is a bit different from all the other weeks that I had. This time I became conscious of myself. This time I seriously, really want to lose weight.

Losing my weight back to around 50 kilograms was one of the things that I promised myself to do at the start of the year. That was my weight after giving birth to my only kid. I really wished I could show a picture of me during that time, but unfortunately I wasn’t even earning enough that to even buy myself a decent camera.

I now weigh a little over 70 kilograms!

Pink Sherbet Photography

I know several moms who were able to have three or more kids, but they were able to maintain their lovely figures, sometimes even better than when they were single. I had only one kid, and yet I feel and look like one of those moms who gave birth to half a dozen kids.

To make matters worse, I broke two chairs at home and my bestfriend’s matrimonial-sized bed – just sitting on them!

This week, I found myself typing “how to lose weight” in one of the famous search engines. I was disappointed at the results because most of the articles that I found were SEO-optimized: they were trying to sell something to their readers.

I am normally contented with my body. I learned to accept this for more than a year. However, this week I felt quite sad and really wished that this is not something that I would worry.

I knew it would happen eventually. It’s inevitable. It’s a fact of life.

I am talking about my daughter having her ‘visitor.’

No, I am not talking about suitors. Those I can deal with, I have a nine-inch blade sharpened regularly for those eventualities, and I intend to hang the blade in clear view in the Sala if there are those types of visitors in the house.

image credit to Atena

I am talking about the monthly regular ‘visitor.’ You know, the one where there is blood flowing out of the female body, from ‘you know where.’ The one they called…. can I write menstruation here?

Okay, so that’s it. The regular monthly period. It’s inevitable, right? It will happen.

So what’s the big deal?

Just in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a father and men don’t do these stuff. And without a mother to tell her about ‘periods,’ how can my baby know what to do in the case of its eventualities.

Of course, I have an idea of how it’s done, where to put those ‘napkins’ etc. I’m not that ignorant. But you know there’s more to that than just sanitary napkins, right? I’m talking the pain that sometimes go with the ‘flow’ (no pun intended) and other changes involved with the sudden ‘rush’ of puberty.

Do I sound like I’m panicking? Of course, I’m not. Why should I?

It’s just that I have seen in movies and television wherein most fathers were caught off-guarded with their daughters having the unexpected visitor at such a wrong timing. And you know how it is in the movies, everything is magnified.

So, no. I am not really panicking. I’m sure everything will be okay. I will know what to do, or what to tell my daughter, just in case. For starters, we already bought a pack those things, because we know it would be anytime soon.

One day, I saw my daughter disposing what looked like one-of-those-things, I didn’t really examined it, but I’m sure it was what I thought it was, and I was surprised even to see how she disposed of it very well – neatly tucked in its pouch.

So I looked at her and asked, “You already have ‘it?’ When? What did you do? Who taught you?” were my series of questions with much concern in my tone.

Her voice was calm and composed when she told me that some of her classmates had theirs earlier and taught her what to do. And quickly proceeded to her room.

And I, I was left feeling relieved, and to think that for the last few days I was worried sick for the said occurrence. Now my only concern is to make sure that there is available supply of ‘those stuff’ in the house every time.

And no, I am not ashamed to buy them for my daughter.

Once upon a time, hot single chicks stopped being hot when they decide to marry, have kids and live with the hope of having a happily ever after family life. These new moms stopped worrying about their appearance and became less prettier than they were single. That was also something I observed when showbiz moms traded their two-piece bikinis for a more conservative outfit. Most showbiz moms are away from the public eye when they get pregnant.

That was once the impression that I had on mothers when I was a little girl.

image credit to ibanda

Things are now different this time I became a mother. Hot chicks still remain hot, or sometimes they become hotter than ever before. We have hot moms who still continued to flaunt their figures in two-piece bikinis. Being pregnant in Hollywood is already not something to be hidden, but should be something to be proud of. It is now uncommon to encounter an almost naked pregnant mom in the front cover of a mom magazine. Hot moms are becoming plentiful, that someone even coined the term MILF.

It’s already getting hard to tell whether that girl got already kids or not.

The pressure is strong now for moms to retain their figures even after giving birth. Many model showbiz moms we watch on the television and see in the internet had undergone huge transformations after giving birth – most often corrected by surgery and not by diet alone.

My own set of Facebook mom friends do post pictures of themselves looking lovely or hot. Even my own mother talked me out several times about getting my butt of my computer chair and do workouts.

I’m not against moms who prefer to keep their good looks after having kids. I am against with are those moms who neglect to keep their responsibility to their own family to focus instead on their looks.

My dad and I have this simple arrangement: I drive the car while he does all the repairs and maintenance of the vehicle; in turn, my dad uses the computer while I handle all the computer repairs and maintenance. Things are different now.

Since my dad could not move around because of stroke, my mom and I decided to split the things that my father used to do. One of the things that I have to take over is maintaining the family car. For weeks now, I had been driving that family car as well as spending money for its gasoline and maintenance.

Our family car is an old school Volkswagen beetle. Throughout the years, he owned several of these vehicles – one after another. My father never wanted another model.

the family car, owned several (one at a time) over the years simply because my dad loves them

During my father’s stronger days, he used to spend hours working under the hood: learning, tinkering, doing repairs and maintenance and of course, doing improvements and modifications on that car.

Unlike other places in the Philippines, Volkswagen cars are commonly found here in Baguio. It is a favorite of many owners living in the city for the powerful engine design suited for the highlands.

When I taught him how to use the computer and the internet, he learned how to find information on Volkswagen beetles. He usually finds himself reading blogs, forums and online articles here and there. The last thing he did is that, he was trying to make HHO work, a device attached to the car’s engine to save on gasoline expenses.

HHO installed beside the volkswagen engine

Since my dad could not drive, I had to take over. This is one of life’s sad realities: my parents are getting old.

I am slowly learning my way around our family car slowly (but surely). Even if I learned how to drive in high school and got my driver’s license as soon as I turned 18, I drove again that thing when I rushed him to the nearest hospital!

Despite not having driven any vehicle for months, driving again was still easy for me, as I do not need to relearn again that skill. However, my dad did not have the chance to teach me more on maintaining it. We used to have this arrangement: my dad uses the computer while I do the repairs and maintenance tasks; in turn, I use the car while my dad handles all the car repairs.

Now, I had to rely simple repairs task to a mechanic. My dad referred me to Ray, an expert Volkswagen mechanic who owns a little car shop near Asin Road. I had several things that need fixed: no horn, difficult hand brake and steering wheel, application of motor oil to the car engine and welding work for the driver’s car seat (uhm, my weight broke it *blush*).

me and Ray, admirable guy - from mechanic to shop owner/mechanic

Interestingly, Ray seemed famous in the Volkswagen circle our home place. I met one car owner and a shop worker who got their cars checked who knows my father.

some pretty interesting volkswagen parts dangling around the shop

And happen to stumble into this guy who happened to be a former classmate of my former classmates in Girls’ High – I didn’t realize that we were “friends” already in Facebook and he recognized me!

stumbled on Jef, facebook friend and a friend of my former classmate's friends

Maybe if my dad taught me simple repairs and maintenance I probably have saved a few hundred pesos and a few hours of downtime. For now I have to take little steps, one at a time – like learning how to check the car pressure’s tires using a tire-pressure gauge (looking at the tires physically isn’t enough) and even do simple cleaning of the car inside and out (before I delegate that task to the nearest car wash).

For the particular Volkswagen beetle we use, the two front tires should measure 24 to 25 psi while the two back tires should be at 27 to 28 psi.To get accurate condition of the tires, measure when the tires and the surrounding air temperature is not hot – usually in the morning.

I do not think it will not be long before I learn simple maintenance tasks, because I had years of experience as a former maintenance engineer in a semiconductor factory (where I dealt with mechanical and electrical machines that used to manufacture ICs or integrated circuits that we use in car radios, videoke, computers, digital cameras, etc).

the view outside the volkwagen repair shop

I plan to give that car a new paint job and install air conditioning over the next few months. For now I’m still trying to get acquainted with our family vehicle.

Can anyone give me tips on how to further handle this car?

We didn’t think that this one fine sunny Panagbenga afternoon would actually turn out to be different – and our lives had never been the same again.

Me and dad

My mom was doing some household chores while talking to our landlady. I was in the bedroom, tired from a half-day’s work and trying to get a short nap. My kid was playing with her toys and my dad was at the living room sofa, just woke up from the afternoon nap.

Suddenly my kid saw my dad fell down the floor. He asked help from my kid to get up. The floor surrounding him was all wet with his… urine?

Our neighbor, the landlady, noticed my dad’s odd behavior. He seemed sick with something, so she called her son, a nurse, to check his condition. His blood pressure was abnormally high at 220/100!

Heatstroke! We were all alarmed!

My father is not a tall person, but he has a heavy built. One male person was not enough to carry him. There were three persons who helped carry him to our family car.

Good thing my father taught me how to drive years ago and I got my driver’s license as soon as I turned 18. I was very competent enough to drive as fast as I can to the nearest hospital. Good thing there wasn’t any traffic along the way.

My father spent the first week at the ICU unit. The following week, he was transferred to one of the private rooms. Like other heatstroke victims, he ended up unable to move the left part of his body.

He had lots of visitors – friends and relatives came to offer support and encourage him. Some of them were even stroke victims and they shared their experiences during recovery. It felt good to know that there stroke victims are able to recover 99% of their bodily functions.

Dad and the physical therapist

We paid quite a huge sum of hospital bill but we were able to get huge discounts using my Philhealth benefit and my Dad’s and Mom’s senior citizen benefits.

The expenses did not end there. For my dad to be able to use his left side of the body, he had to go several weeks of physical therapy sessions. It was so difficult at the beginning: my mom and I always had difficulty moving and carrying him so we asked a male cousin to live with us until my dad is able to walk.

We realized that it was quite difficult not to have a man in the house.

The guy at the right is my cousin

It is now more than 3 months since the stroke happened. My dad is recovering well and he is able to walk with a quad cane, but the physical therapist still visits him at home for the sessions. My mom and I are slowly adjusting to the changes: we had to split errands and I have to take over the chore of driving around and fetching my kid to school.

Dad learning how to walk - assisted by the physical therapist

Because of that, I cannot stay long periods at home – I have to try working at coffee shops, malls and anywhere where I could get good internet connection with either WIFI or USB broadband.

We are all optimistic that he will recover.

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Here’s a helpful video on how to spot signs of stroke.