Post Created Jul 19, 2011 8:37:53 AM

a few nights ago, mike was showing me this phone application about math tricks. interesting, i thought. for one who hates doesn't like math, i could use all the tricks in the market that i could get.

so we looked at a certain trick that's something like this:



and i got more confused. and i felt proud. and thankful to mrs. jose, my grade 6 math teacher, who terrorized us to death until we memorized the multiplication table.

mrs. jose is a stout woman. she wore high heels and the fats in her feet are escaping madly from her shoes. that didn't make her less of a person though. in fact, reflecting now, i think she may have been one of the few teachers who left the biggest and most useful lesson to me (and the class).

this was her system:

1. at the beginning of the period, we all stand for the prayer (we start and end each subject with a prayer). i guess this is the point when you also say a little prayer for yourself for what lies ahead of you during the math class.

2. nobody sits after the prayer.

3. she signals for the class to start the recitation of the multiplication table, starting at 6. as in, "6x1 = 6, 6x2 = 12, ... up to 9x9 = 81).

4. you have to be honest. if you make a mistake, you have to sit down.

5. at the end of the number chant, all who are standing will sit down, and all who are seated will stand up. stand up until the end of the math period - yes, amidst lectures and taking down notes and all!

she was scary, yes, but effective to the maximum level. give me a complex problem about derivatives and i will perspire - with blood! but ask me what's 7x8 is and i'll answer in a breeze. :) it matters, i think! in a complex world like what we have now, it sometimes pays that you know simple things by heart. i know my multiplication table and i'm proud. thanks to mrs. jose, we know that some 300 students a year are memorizing their multiplication table too. i wonder where she is now? :)

mighty clouds

such a lovely view.
it rained.
then the sun came out.
then the clouds became amazing like this.
then i cooked lucky me instant pancit canton.
wanted to eat it with rice.
but there was none.
so i settled with banana walnut bread.
was just as lovely.

life's little pleasures :)

ka choleng

when i was a kid, we had a trusted labandera / plantsadora. her name is ka choleng. she would wash clothes one day and come back on another day to press the clothes. i'm not sure how many years she provided this service but she had to stop one day because she had to take care of her apos.

i don't know why there is this certain story that i can't forget about her. she said that she wanted to have a customized bracelet out of a "special" spoon. she said she would bring the spoon to an alahero, the alahero will then transform the spoon into a bangle probably.

i didn't see the spoon. neither did i see the bracelet. but i remember having a strong desire to own a bracelet that's made out of a spoon too! hahaha! inspired by ka choleng :p

now i realize that you couldn't always have what you want. i don't know about ka choleng but i never had that bracelet.

hehehe anong drama ito? all i really want to say is: i now realize that ka choleng was/is a gem. we got the luxury of having fresh, ironed clothes - no sweat.

these days, we do everything on our own. mike does most of the laundry and he is doing a very good job! our clothes smell so good! don't worry though, he has not turned into a domestic god. washing is as easy as dumping the clothes in the washer and coming back after 50 mins to hang the clothes. no sweat.

ironing? if i had a choice, i wouldn't do it hehe. but i have to. maybe not so much now but when mike gets his work then i'll have to iron big time like ka choleng did.

oh dear! what big clothes you have, mike! hahaha!

where does your heart belong?

i quote from bbc news:

"The heart of the last heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Otto von Habsburg, has been buried in central Hungary.

The funeral of the last crown prince took place on Saturday in the Austrian capital Vienna, where his body was buried alongside those of his ancestors in the Imperial crypt.

His heart was buried separately in accordance with Habsburg tradition."

my condolences.

such an interesting tradition.

i wonder, if i have to go through the same, where will i have my body buried? probably i would like to rest my body in peace with mike.

and where will my heart rest? probably in my
hometown, paranaque. papa, lolo, lola are there.

chos!

aldwin and marenila

july is the birthday month of two wonderful people: kuya aldwin and tita marenila :)




tita's midnight birthday cake on the 8th:



dear tita, i wish you good health. we, especially keyla, can't thank you enough. a home is just a semi home if a mom figure is not around.




kuya's midnight birthday cake on the 13th:



dear kuya, i wish you more strength and wisdom as you continue to face fatherhood each day. you are the best!

the feast last weekend - chili crabs, baby kailan with oyster sauce, cereal prawns, mantau bread, peaches and cream, courtesy of chef aldwin and chef april. superb! finger licking good! who needs jumbo when we have jangbow? hehehe! pwedeng pwede! ;)



happy, happy birthday!!!

refuge

i was 6 or 7. mami woke me up at around 4 am. i got confused but woke up anyway. a few hours later, we were in mindoro, in my lola ading's house. i can't remember the details of how we got there, but we got there. mami was home, in her refuge.

lola was surprised, more of happy, to see us. she hugged us. we sat at the living room then it was there where mami started the ordeal of telling lola why we were there. i heard every word and saw every tear. it was something about papa and some bad things that papa was doing, but i couldn't grasp everything.

"alam mo na kung bakit tayo andito?" mami asked. i shrugged. i didn't fully understand.

we stayed there for the night. i could remember eating sardines for dinner - the best sardines i ever tasted, sharing a toothbrush with mami, seeing a giant spider on our kulambo, and going back home to manila the next day... because summer was ending i had to go to school.

that night, when papa got home, he carried me and brought me to the garage to tricyle-view and to mildly interrogate me.

"san kayo nagpunta ni mami kahapon?" he asked gently.

"sa mindoro," i replied.

"tsk. natututo ka nang magsinungaling ha?"

and i got more confused. why? what did i do? :))

catherine michelle

... is my full name. quite long. people never call me michelle. family members call me cath, my friends call me caths, my grannies in mindoro call me karen. i've always just used "catherine camacho" in exam papers. so what's in a second name? hehe. i think it's just pampahaba! i like the name michelle. just don't call me michelle 'cause i don't feel it's me. jejeje.

so the beckhams call their new baby girl harper seven. having seven for a second/middle name may sound, hmm, unique, but check this out. found the clip on bbc news, sort of an analysis on names...

"There can be more than one. British musician Brian Eno is actually Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, while Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland is Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland."

woah! how much space and time do they need in filling out forms??? :)) it's a good read. i'm happy with catherine michelle. thanks!