Penmanship Contest

I got good news from Julia this afternoon. She came home and gave me this letter.








On the letter it says...

"Your child, __________, Gr /Sec _______is one among the Top Five finalist of this year's Penmanship Contest. As such, s/he is qualified to join the final round which will be held on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 in the library at 7:00 am.

We advise you that a finalist loses by default if s/he is absent.

thank you very much!

May we continue working hand-in hand in developing the penmanship skills of our children. Good penmanship enhances one's personality.


respectfully..."


ok, my first thoughts were... wow! I was excited for Julia. I mean, I've never been on any penmanship contest in my life, even though I've always been complemented that I had nice penmanship. I knew it was really something for her bec Julia said, "Mom, I can't beleive it!" She said it in a very calm and relaxed tone while I was ecstatic, almost jumpy. Ok, that was my stage mother instincts kicking in. :-)

When I was young, and would get compliments on my penmanship, my mom would always dismiss it saying, " Na u tong iyong?" (translated in Fookien for What's the use?) See, during those times, my parents believed that for you to become better, criticisms were forms of making you strive harder. I'm not about to follow her footsteps on that one. I gave Julia a lap hug and praised her profusely.

Ok, but wait. Did you see that last part of the letter? "Good penmanship enhances one's personality." I hope for DH's sake this isn't true. He happens to have one of the louiset penmanship I've ever seen. hahahahahahh

Pacquiao Gloves of What?

I got this from Nico. No offense to Pacquiao, but this is so funny.

Wala lang.

Sex and The City 2

While browsing music videos on You Tube that Nico listens and watches out for...I stumbled upon the trailer for Sex and the City 2. I was searching for Empire State of Mind, sung by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys and somehow, it lead me to Sex and the City 2 trailer.

I have to admit, I'm not so big about Big but I do enjoy the fashion and friendship in SATC. Will have to ask the girlfriends to watch this with me. DH is so not going to the movies with me for this one....

Santa Stories

I know its being "Scrooge"... but I want to stop at this Santa charade that we have to put up every year. I could easily just spill the beans on Santa, but I don't want to be the one to burst the bubble on our 8 year old Julia.

We have this family tradition of opening gifts only on the morning of Dec. 25. That morning, Julia found Santa's gift under the tree...

Nico: "Santa's penmanship is so ugly!" (Referring to the "to and From"" note on the gift tag)
Julia: "No, its not. It's a special kind of font!"
Me: "Yeah, can you imagine? If you were Santa, you have to write on so many tags?" (sounding very defensive)

A few days after Christmas...

Julia: "Daddy, Santa's gift is from Toy Kingdom." (She sounded suspicious and confused)
DH: "Santa needs a lot of toys to give during Christmas, maybe he owns Toy Kingdom!"

yeah right! Maybe Santa's full name is Santa Claus SY! hahahahah

Seriously, if Julia asks me if Santa was real, I'm really itching to spill the beans na!

The 25th Putnam Annual Spelling Bee

WHAT'S THE BEE ABOUT? In the Broadway Musical Comedy, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grownups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser. This hilarious tale of overachievers' angst chronicles the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. A quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time.

- excerpts from Atlantisproductionsinc.com

This post is a week late. Last Friday, March 20, my friends and I went to see the first showing of the latest play in town, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". The last play I've watched, The West End Story is a tragic love story along the lines of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. So, this time around, the light and comic theme of the spelling bee was a welcome change.

The show lasted around 2 hours and had no intermission in between. The plot was quite simple and the stage design was nothing elaborate. Just a couple of chairs and table. The background was likewise no frills, just a big tarp that says "25th Annunal Putnam Spelling Bee". But, despite the simple props, the show had a lot of flavor to it. For example, the show started with Rona Lisa Peretti (played by Cathy Azanza-Dy) walking along the aisle and greeting the audience with a large trophy in tow. The play also had an innovative concept that enhances audience particiaption. Each night, they have 4 guest spellers from the audience, 2 of whom are celebrities. On the first night of the show, the celebrity guest spellers were Leah Salonga and Jett Pangan of the Dawn. The guest spellers' role was to be contestants of the spelling bee, so they were given words to spell just like the other actors on the play. The unexpected aspect of being a guest speller makes the show fresh and funny.

I love how several actors, like Noel Rayos ( who played Mitch Mahoney, an ex convict on parole turned counselor taking community service) and Johan de la Fuente (who played Leaf Coneybear, a quirky contestant speller) could shift into roles of gay parents in a click. I had to comment how astonishing it is for Joel Trinidad (who played the principal) to pull a straight face and not laugh at the funny meanings and sentences of the spelling words he gave to the contestants. The short introduction given by Rona Lisa Peretti (played by Cathy Azanza-Dy) to each contestant before they spelled was also hilarious. e.g. When she introduced Leah Salonga... she said, " Miss Salonga thinks she used to be a Vietnamese prostitute in her past life." okey, maybe the way I wrote it isn't as funny, but we had some good laughs during the play.

The play was fun, entertaining and hilarious! Plus, I also learned that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser.

The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee is directed by Bobby Garcia and runs from March 20- April 4, 2009 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Bilding, Makati

Havaianas Recall

A few weeks ago, I read in the news that Havaianas in the US issued a statement to recall some batches of their flipflops. This reason is because the print on the soles has a higher lead content than what is allowed by Federal standards. My first response was to take some action and inquire if I'll be able to exchange a pair that Julia has. But, a friend who had several pairs of recall Havaianas, informed me that the Philippine distributor made an announcement that those purchased in the Philippines are not included in the recalled batch. So, I didn't pursue the exchange.

Today, Havaianas Philippines issued another statement that out of good faith, they will be recalling and exchanging the flipflops included in the recall. I promptly called thier hotline 8958744 and arranged for the exchange. They will need to get information like the size, style, color of the flipflops plus when are where it was bought. Or, you can also fill up details of the flipflops online here. No need to bring your pair of flipflops to any of their stores as they will be arranging for the courier to pick them up at your place. The only downside here is that it will take around 8-12 weeks for you to receive your replacement. But, considering that you won't be using them anyway, its worth taking up. I even requested that they change the flipflops to a bigger size so Julia can still wear them when we receive it.

Incidentally, they have a list of authorized stores where the flipflops should have been bought in order to qualify for the exchange. If you have some Havaianas flipflops at home, you might want to check out if they are included in the recall.

Medical Assistants

Even if you don't regularly watch the news or read the paper, you can sense the global financial crisis that is upon us. A few days ago, news broke out that another 2,500 will be jobless because an IT plant in Laguna has closed down. At a jewelers shop last week, I heard the owner lamenting that people are tightening their belts and are forgoing the purchase of luxury items such as jewelry. On a similar note, because of bad business, cruise ships have lowered fares to very tempting prices.

Mostly affected are those in retail and luxury goods. Some sectors like schools and hospitals won't be as badly hit by the crisis. Heard from a friend overseas that medical assistants are still in demand noways. This is probably the reason why medical assistant schools like St. Agustine School of Medical Assistants are now offering online programs. With the crisis upon us with no certainty how long it will last, courses like that of a medical assistant are getting popular. It seems it has become inevitable that the demand for certain jobs have been the factor in which the youth bases its decision of what course to get into.