Sunday, February 13, 2011

Blogging and Blogging Some More

Long before the dotcom fever came into existence, I've already been keeping a journal -- as highschool students, we call it 'diary' -- where I chronicle my most mundane or sometimes most personal thoughts, in pen and paper!


My diary had been a witness to my heartaches and joys (mostly heartaches!). It was the only one who knew all of my secrets, a bestfriend who listened to me when I courageously declared "I don't want to be 16 when being 15 already felt this bad!" (I was nursing a broken heart back them). My diary was a two-inch notebook (definitely not the electronic type) my father gave me and I filled it with my thoughts from the first to the last page back-to-back in single space!

I was passionate about writing until my 4th year high school when my English  teacher thought my words were nonsense. (She warned us against joining frats & soros in college for she said they are bad influence. I joined a sorority in college and it was one of the best decisions I've made. The sorority & its counterpart fraternity abhor hazing and were formed to serve the people and country. She, the English teacher who thought I wasn't any good, on the other hand got pregnant! By a student! She was teaching in a catholic school! 'nuf said!)

I only got back into writing mode when my professor (+) in Writing Children's Literature in my MA class thought I have the most imaginative pieces of writing while my prof in Social Education and another (+) in Language Teaching kept all of my writing assignments when they have returned my classmates' work. :) One said she's keeping my pieces because she never gets tired reading them over and over.

Anyway, I again stopped (creative) writing when I got into my current job five years ago. I did and am still doing a lot of writing but they aren't creative writing, all technical and report writing so I always have an excuse not to blog. I've tried twice or thrice to start blogging again but I always fail like this one. Notice that the last entry was a few months ago.

Then, later this afternoon while I'm hearing mass (yes, my mind was wandering during the homily but with good thoughts, I assure you), I thought of a way to fire me up to continue blogging.

I'm dedicating this blog to a cause! 

You see, my hubby, who has a golden heart, advocates school feeding and he's suggesting to me that we adopt a school in Davao City where he's from which we will support through feeding the malnourished students of that school. So I thought, great idea! (I told you, my musings during the homily are for a good cause! I thought of another great one which I'll post later. I can post that today but who posts four different entries in her blog in one day?! *wink*) To encourage me to write and continue this blog, I will put all of the future proceeds of this blog from paid advertisements to my husband's feeding program!

Ahhh, good thinking! So readers, brace for more (and pardon the paid entries, you know it's for a good cause!) ;)

Plastic ban

Kudos to Muntinlupa City's plastic ban (that's why I love this city more & more!) It's about time!

I hope the rest of the cities in NCR follow.

It's just a matter of discipline amongst consumers and strict implementation from the local government. It maybe hard at the beginning -- to remember bringing your own bag (bringing isn't the issue but 'remembering' is the problem) -- but you'll get used to it!

As a consumer, you can implement your very own plastic ban (like I did long before Los Banos, Laguna where I graduated from college and Muntinlupa where I live implemented this local ordinance). Just always make it a point to have a recyclable shopping bag in your handbag and say no to 'plastic' especially for small items.

Every small step to a greener world counts -- big time.

Growing Up!

My daughter is turning 3 in a month's time and it is also time for her to move up -- in her growing-up milk, that is!
When my daughter's yaya told me that it's time to buy a new can of milk, I got excited and thought of moving my daughter up to Stage 4 of her milk, aptly named 'Pre-school milk' since she'll be going to school as a Nursery (or Casa) come June!

I've never been happier with Gain (except the last few months when I can't find a 1.8kg can, they must be changing the packaging!) When we went back to the Philippines two years ago and it was time to move her to 'regular milk' after being in hypoallergenic (HA) milk for one year, I only had one criterion in mind: that the milk brand and  manufacturer didn't have any negatives (read: kapalpakan!). At that time, it was the height of 1) melamine scanda;l 2) a leading manufacturer's huge recall due to contamination; and 3) another leading manufacturer's huge recall of their milks too due to rusty cans!

At that time, only Gain and Abbott seemed to be doing the right thing. And so there goes my decision to give Gain to my daughter until now (she drinks UHT milk in single-serve tetra pack when out of the house).

Product name: Gain School Advance Pre-school milk
Product Description: A growing up milk for 3-6 year old kids
Size: 900g tin can
Price: P641.25 (at Makati Supermart Alabang)
Manufacturer: Abbott
'The Regular Consumer' Rating: Haven't tried yet but 4.5 for its price and the fact that I'm very satisfied with Gain Plus for 1-3 yo