Beyond Boundaries

I was invited to a lunch gathering today at Max's Restaurant in Monte Vista, Pansol, Calamba. RareJob tutors from all over Laguna attended the event. With me were my friends, Millicent and Johnny. It was our first time to attend a Rarejob Tutor Gathering and we were very excited. We had different motives when we replied to the invitation. My motivation mainly was to see Mr. Tomohisa Kato himself. I wanted to know who is responsible for giving many UP students the opportunity to earn a lot of money through online tutoring.

Today, I had the opportunity to meet the Chief Executive Officer of RareJob, Mr. Tomohisa Kato, face to face. I had this notion that Mr. Tomohisa Kato is a man around his 50's or 60's. Maybe because I have stereotyped people with the title of CEO as someone who is aged and experienced. When we entered the registration area, Johnny, Milli and I were pleasantly surprised. Mr. Kato appears to be only in his early 30's. He was definitely good looking and seemed to be very kind. He greeted each and everyone of us with a warm smile. He also gave us Japanese treats and said "Pasalubong from Japan." I, personally, was starstruck. I was wearing a silly smile the whole time I was there. It was such a great experience for me.

Kato-San sat at our table, which was a great honor. He was also our group mate for the game that was prepared by one of the staff. I could tell that he was down-to-earth. He didn't wear any fancy business suit like what people would expect, instead, he wore simple jeans and polo. He entertained our questions and had his picture taken with everyone. He was so cool.

I learned from a student that he is only 31 and that he also wrote a book in Japan which tells about how he started RareJob. At such a young age, he has accomplished so much. He is a celebrity in his own right and he has become an inspiration to some young Japanese entrepreneurs. Learning about his mission and vision for RareJob has made me proud for rendering my services for the betterment of their people. I hope that I can continue with this rare opportunity that he has given to all of us Filipino English tutors. Knowing him and his vision has definitely improved my way of thinking and has given me a new sense of respect for the kind of work that I do.

I am proud to be an English teacher. I am proud that I am able to touch the lives of people beyond boundaries through the help of a man who once had a dream. I am proud to be part of his dream and prouder still to be able to help him achieve his dream for the greater good.

If you are interested to be part of RareJob, kindly click [HERE] to visit their site. You could also visit their Facebook Like page [HERE].

Sharing Mr. Peabody's Apples

Madonna celebrated her birthday today and even at her age of 53, she is definitely one hot mama! Her songs about sexuality has made her controversial, and no one can deny that before Britney Spears, she was the original pop princess. Now, she is a living legend.

What some people don't know about Madonna is that she's also a children's book writer. She has written several children's books and among them, Mr. Peabody's Apples is my favorite. I have read this book aloud to my students and even they loved it. So today, I decided to share Mr. Peabody's Apples to a lucky follower on Twitter. I have three copies of the book and decided to give one away since it's Madonna's birthday. It's an amazing read, and I just want to inspire other people just like Madonna did.

So what I did was I posted this question: Who is the ORIGINAL AUTHOR of Mr. Peabody's Apples?

One of my followers was able to answer the question and he really tried hard. I was so happy!

It's amazing to know that a pop star like Madonna could also be profound. It also is quite a surprise that someone who has lived an "X-rated" life can make a book for general audiences. Madonna is now 53. Maybe she will lie low on her music career. Personally, I think she has done enough. But what I can never get enough of is her being a children's book writer. I hope that she would continue to write more children's books so she could inspire a lot of children through her stories.

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The Wonders of Malunggay

Malunggay is not my favorite vegetable but I came to like it because it has become a necessity to me. I need malunggay not because of myself but for the benefit of my baby. You see, he hates being bottle fed so the only way to get him to drink milk is through breastfeeding. I don't produce a lot of milk, but with the help of Malunggay, having milk is not a problem anymore.

My mother is a very practical woman. She dries malunggay leaves, crush them and put the powdered form inside a gel capsule. It's practically the same as the commercialized malunggay capsules bought at drugstores so why do I have to buy it when I can have it for free?

The good thing about Moringa is that it is readily available. There are a lot of malunggay products out there. We have malunggay tea, malunggay chips, malunggay candies, malunggay noodles and a whole lot more. As long as there are products such as these, breastfeeding moms need not to worry again. Malunggay may be a poor man's vegetable, but with it's amazing health benefits, it certainly is the best.

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Lemonade Zombie

I once had this student who has always been a mystery to me. I seldom hear her speak, or laugh. She just flashes you this secret smile and it makes you wonder what is going on inside her head. Bianca is definitely more than meets the eye. I never had the chance to be her adviser even though I was her teacher for four years. I wish that I had exerted effort in knowing her better. But thanks to Twitter, I am learning more about her and I'm pleasantly surprised with the random things that I find out. She calls herself Lemonade Zombie on Twitter and I wonder why on earth did she choose that nickname?! I had this impression that Bianca was this type of person who loves flowers, cuddly toys, pop music and Justin Bieber but reading her tweets on Twitter made me realize that she was totally the opposite! Who would have thought that this quiet girl loves rock and roll, guitars, and zombies. Truly, you cannot judge a book by its cover, nor a person by the way he looks. For me, Bianca is an enigma, a mystery waiting to unfold.

Too Good Be True

Last August 11, 2011, I received a weird phone call from Philippine Electronic Association saying that I won a prize from GreenTop Marketing. The woman on the other side of the line said that the prizes could be any of the following: Energy Cooker with Halogen, Healthy Ozonizer, Home Theater, Multi Purpose Cooker and Clearview Glasses with Pinholes. I had no idea what those products were but winning a Home Theater sounded great to me.

Excitedly, my husband and I claimed the prize at GreenTop Marketing and this is where the weirdness all began. The staff corrected that what they were giving away was not a prize but a Thanksgiving Gift and that the phonecall that I received was because of an electronic raffle where milllions of telephone numbers were chosen from. They asked me for two valid IDs and the reference code that Philippine Electronics Association gave me. The reference code was BI9099CV. I gave them the number and they said they would verify and see which "gift" I would receive. While one of the staff was verifying the reference code, one of the staff entertained us. She even let us sit on the Chair Massager which personally I think was better than the La-Z-Boy.

While my husband was getting comfortable with the chair, the one who took my ID returned with a pair of strange looking pair of glasses. She said that the reference number given to me showed that the "gift" that matched the code was the pair of Clearview Glasses. My mom has the same pair of glasses. She bought them at an expensive price of Php.6000. So, when the woman gave the glasses to me, I took it with fake enthusiasm. I pretended to be grateful, but deep inside I sensed that a sort of elaborated script was about to take place, and I got ready to play along.The woman handed the pair of glasses and also an envelope saying that we were entitled to a special privilege. She asked us to open the envelope which says "Congratulations!". My husband opened it and inside, there was a gift certificate of Php.2000. It was too good to be true. They said that they will verify the gift certificate and ask where we could claim the prize. Then, the same woman came back excitedly and told us that at the back of the coupon, it says there that I won something else! It was really becoming weirder by the minute, but still my husband and I showed some tolerance.

The coupon says that we won the Chair Massager which was worth Php. 85,999 and a beautifying gadget (sorry, I didn't get the exact name of the product) which costs Php. 13,499. It was mind blowing, I know, but deep inside everything felt wrong. There must be a catch. Then they called someone from Makati to verify the prize and they let me speak to the person on the phone. I couldn't understand what the woman on the phone was saying because of the blaring noise from the speakers inside the shop. So my husband talked to her. The woman on the phone said that the prizes were ABSOLUTELY FREE and we can get the prizes if we satisfy the conditions at the back of the gift certificate. I knew that there was a catch! I knew that everything was too good to be true.

So the saleslady read the conditions to us. It says that it the coupon is not convertible to cash, it is. It is also non-transferrable, and we could claim it only if we avail of the two thousand gift certificate and use it in GreenTop. So the woman asked us to look at their products and asked us to choose one. My husband chose the induction Energy Cooker with grill and it costs Php. 57,000. If we buy it, we will get it only for Php 55,000 plus the chair and the beautifying gadget. They also added two more products in the package. It was an awesome deal actually, but it was also a scam. What they did was a creative yet desperate effort to sell their products. It was a good thing that I didn't have money. It was a good thing I didn't have a debit card or a credit card. If my mom were in the same situation as me, she would have bought a product and brought home all those fabulous prizes. Unfortunately, I have no money and have better sense than to buy those ridiculously overpriced things.

We went out of the store graciously, with the Clearview Glasses in hand. We wanted to get out of there as fast as we could. It was not exactly a waste of time. We got a free gift which was worth Php. 6000 and I learned two things today: 1. Don't believe anything that is too good to be true, and 2. Don't trust salesmen, they are all liars.

Angry Birds and the Law of Projectile Motion

Angry Birds is a very popular application available to iPod, Android and even the computer. My son, Ken, loves it very much. I am sometimes surprised that he could get the top score in any level just by randomly aiming the bird in any direction. Since he is five years old, I would assume that he doesn't know what he is doing, but he still gets a good score. Oh, what irony!

I have studied projectile motion and I know the concept of Angry Birds. The annoying thing is that even if I apply what I learned in Physics and Geometry, I still couldn't get the high score. What's worse, it's difficult for me to finish a level.

Sometimes, when my son and I compete with each other, he usually finishes a level first and leaves me behind while I become so annoyed with those green pigs. Maybe my son doesn't randomly aim his Angry Birds. Maybe he knows Physics and Geometry more than I. Who knows what is going inside his head? Ken has always been a mystery to me. I might as well accept the fact that he is good, while I am technologically disadvantaged.

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The Most Horrendous Pair Of Shoes

My husband tried to wear a pair of cowboy boots and it looked ridiculous on him! It was perfectly horrid and I told him that if ever he wears those kind of boots on a regular basis, I would deny that I know him. I just don't get it why some men would wear these. It costs more than the regular pair of shoes and for crying out loud, it's RED! So if you're a man who wants to prove his masculinity, leave red boots to women, puhlease. You don't want to be labeled metrosexual, do you?

Waiting In Vain

"People wait and wait and wait for the perfect moment, for when it seems right, for when it's quiet, for when the kids are grown, for when they have enough money, clout, time, sleep, energy. Why do we do this? Maybe it's fear. Laziness. Overwhelm. Perhaps. But I think it's because we think we'll get another moment."

It's true. All of us wait and wait and wait, because we think we will get another chance . But what we don't realize is that what if we don't get that chance? What if the opportunity that passed was the last one? Then perhaps we would keep on waiting . . . waiting in vain.

The Rest Is Gravy

I am a mother of two children. I love both of my sons in different ways, various degrees, yet I'd like to say, equally.

I used to be a mother of several children, not in actuality, but professionally. You see, I am also an English teacher and being a teacher for ten years has taught me a great deal about parenting but it took me a long time to learn.

My first son, Ken, has suffered because of my lack of parenting skills. At the age of five, he still speaks like a two year old. That's because I wasn't able to train him how to talk. I let the TV become his baby sitter, and now, he is suffering ridicule from his classmates. I had become too busy with my career, being a mother to children that I don't even know. I had forgotten about my own child's development and what he is now is actually my fault.

Now, I have Roswell, my second child. I promised myself that he wouldn't have to become like his brother. So I decided to temporarily quit my job and give my time to my two children. I think it's not yet too late to remedy Ken's inabilities. He's five years old, and I know that he will still learn. I don't want to become a bad parent anymore. I quit my job because I want to give them the most precious gift I have available . . .

I read from an article that the best gift that your child can have is the gift of time with you. Reading, singing, playing, dancing, catching fireflies --- it's all good. The rest is gravy. . . and based from experience, I totally agree.

My Life's Work is Worth Half a Dollar

Today I sold most of my life's work to a junk shop and I earned about half a dollar for five kilograms of paper with my thoughts in each one of them. It made me sad to see most of my experimentations on prose and poetry be thrown away, but I knew I had to let go of them. I am training myself not to get too sentimental or involved.

Ever heard the saying, "a penny for your thoughts"? Well, that's exactly how much my ideas were. Some were even worth nothing. Inside the box were some stories I wrote from high school, poems that I wrote when I was young, unfinished novels inspired by Sweet Valley Twins and my fanfiction of Westlife. The box also included some of my Filipino love stories - a futile and crazy attempt just to get published - and also the original draft of my unpublished novel, "When All The Ice Melts."

I have always dreamt of being a writer because I have a passion for words. I still hold on to that dream, I guess. Throwing away those years of written words makes me want to cry, but then I realize that in order for me to grow, I have to let go. So, I finally did, and it was actually a liberating experience.

Gone are the days of pencil and paper. Now I write on a more permanent type of ink. It's different from what I used to do before. Now, I have to think really hard about what I write, to make sure that my thoughts are worth more than a penny. Blogging is now my way of sharing the whole world what I feel, and I'm glad that I cannot sell my ideas anymore to a junk shop.

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Relic #3 - Wordstar Masterpiece

Before Microsoft Word, there was already Wordstar. Before the inkjet printer, there was the dot matrix. Before I even began blogging, I wrote novels.

This is my first attempt in writing a novel. I typed this in Wordstar and printed it in a dot matrix printer. I remember that I was 13 years old when I wrote this. It was a pathetic story about a girl who lost her parents and who found out that she was in love with her bestfriend who had cancer.

I tried to read it again, but everytime I turn the page, I cringe at my choice of words and my horrible grammar. The worst part is that the story itself was not something that I could be proud of. Oh the horror!

So I decided to throw it away. I don't want anybody to see it. They might lose their respect for me. As much as it hurts to see it in the trash can, I know that my dreams are still with me. And I could be a better author now that I am all grown up.

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Relic #2 - The Notebook

While I was looking through my old stuff, I found this notebook which I had since I was still in highschool. It doesn't contain lecture notes on Physics or Trigonometry. It contains something more important than that. It contains my first attempt in writing a fantasy story. The title of the story was: The Neverending Story III.

Yes, its sounds crazy. Well, I wrote a story about the continuation of Michael Ende's The Neverending Story. My bestfriend and I sort of competed with each other. We both wrote our original ideas and apparently she won. She was able to finish her story, while I had lost interest.

So I am throwing this notebook away, because even if this has sentimental value to me, it doesn't matter anymore. It's no use calling it The Neverending Story when the story has already ended long time ago.

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