Family Archives - Page 5 of 7

February 25, 2009

A Tragic Accident in Ateneo

I was not about to blog about this as I still have a heavy heart. But I realize that LIFE has its happy and sad moments and both, combined, make up our human-ness.

My girls, who study in Ateneo, gave me a heads-up last night on the tragic car accident that claimed the life of a Gr. 4 10-year old boy inside the school grounds. His name was Julian Carlo Miguel (Amiel) Alcantara.

My friend Cathy has most of the details in her blog. As details unfold, it appears Amiel and his yaya stepped out of their car to get some food in the school canteen. Meanwhile, a 30-ish Mom in her van had taken over the driver’s seat while her driver went to get her son. Amiel and yaya were going back to their car when the Mom moved the van. Accounts differ as to whether the van was in front, behind or alongside Amiel. But it looks like the mom stepped on the gas instead of the brakes. Amiel is crushed between two cars and has to be retrieved, bloodied, from underneath. He does not survive. Amiel’s 7th grade older brother was in the car, witness to it all.

Tragic. Depressing. A huge loss for the Alcantara family that no words can describe. A horrific nightmare for the Mom involved.

No one wished for this to happen. I grieved for Amiel last night and shed some tears while reading news that came in trickles. No child would ever imagine that they could be anything but safe inside their school. I grieved too for the young Mom. She has to live with this thought for the rest of her life. I cannot imagine what must be going through her head today.

The incident was another awakening to the shortness of life and how it can be snuffed out of our loved ones any day, any time. I was imagining that if it could happen in Ateneo, it could very well happen in my boys’ school or any school for that matter. They walk to and from school daily, cross streets, and have to contend with the traffic that comes through our street since we live close to 2 schools. My girls in Ateneo also cross Katipunan almost daily to eat at restaurants there. They are just as vulnerable to vehicular accidents and it is only by the grace and protection of God that I see them come home safely each day.

I still believe that nothing happens by accident but in a situation like this, I cannot help but ponder what was the purpose of the whole situation. All I can do is trust that Amiel’s death HAD a purpose and he did not die in vain. But for now, as a mother, I grieve with both families. I pray that as today, Ash Wednesday, starts the Lenten Season, that they both somehow find our God’s comforting Love and Peace.

And for those of us who have children who leave our homes each day for school or work, say a prayer of protection over them every night as you put them to bed, embrace them tightly, and tell them how much you love them. Don’t wait for another tomorrow. Tomorrow may not be there…

For those interested in wake details for Amiel, I am reposting this from Wawam:

His body lies in state at the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels, Ateneo de Manila Grade School.

Wake masses will be held at 7:30 PM from Wednesday, February 25, 2009 to Friday, February 27, 2009.

The remains of Amiel will be cremated at the Arlington Crematorium, Araneta Avenue, Quezon City at 2:00 PM on Saturday, February 28, 2009. There will be a mass at 11:00 AM at the AGS Chapel before the body is brought to Arlington for cremation.

January 25, 2009

Ushering in the Year of the Ox at Home

Just a few pictures to show you the small decor at home to celebrate the Year of the Ox.

KIONG HEE HUAT CHAI! GONG XI FA CAI! KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!

Our main door with the couplet on both sides to wish good luck for the people living inside — Our main door with the couplet on both sides to wish good luck, protection, peace and joy for its occupants

A fortune tree in the living room. Anything round is good for the New Year!

The year of the ox (wait, those are CARABAO!). Hahaha...

Our antique dragon lantern stand and a RED lantern always spruce up the living room — Our antique wooden dragon lantern stand and a RED lantern always spruce up the living room

January 17, 2009

The Makings of a Chinese Lantern

Ever since my boys were young, this mother had to be “tortured” annually whenever Chinese New Year came around because I had to help all of them make one Chinese lantern each. Their school, being Chinese-Filipino, used the lanterns made by the students to line the hallways.

So, it came as a great relief to me that my two high school boys decided this year to do the lanterns on their own. (Woohoo!!!!)

Actually, they did so with grunts and rants (and I was just waiting for them to give up and ask me to jump in to help). But, to their credit, they hurdled the test which I call the Test of Extreme Patience, and worked on their lanterns (with a little help from big sis and yaya). As of this posting, M1 had already finished his and M2 is almost there.

Just to give you an idea of what this mother had to go through year after year, let me give you a synopsis:

Materials You Would Need

1. Lots of RED Japanese paper and cartolina (be sure to beat the rest of your school mates to it at National Bookstore or suffer from lack of supply)

2. Glue (Elmer’s Liquid Glue is too wet; Elmer’s Glue Stick is too dry. Heck, I don’t know what kind of glue is best!!!)

3. A pair of scissors, paper cutter and cutting mat (the mat will spare your floor from potential disaster like permanent deep cuts here and there)

4. Ruler (to ensure the distance of the pattern lines from each other are exactly the same)

5. Scotch tape (to hold together the parts that accidentally rip if your luck runs out as you are halfway through the pattern)

6. The pattern for making a red lantern as shown below (Note to parents: Be sure you have good co-parents willing to share this with you AND keep this pattern in your home vault as you will surely use this until your kid graduates from high school!)

7. Yarn

8. Last and surely not the least — a willing victim or two (I mean, helper/s — which was moi in past years)

Instructions

1. Cut 80 pieces of the lantern pattern using Japanese paper and 2 pieces using cartolina.

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2. Draw lines down each piece of paper following the pattern’s lines.

3. Get one paper and glue down alternate lines (I refer to them as lines 1,3,5,7 and so on). Lay this paper down flat on the floor (the side with glue facing UP).

img_4420-low-res

4. Get a second paper. This time, glue down lines 2,4,6,8 and so on. Lay the paper’s side without glue EXACTLY on top of the first paper with the glue.

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5. Get a third paper. Glue down lines 1,3,5,7 and so on. Lay this paper EXACTLY on top of the second paper.

6. Keep going till paper #80. Don’t forget that the papers have to be glued on alternating lines (following the odd-even pattern in instructions #3 & 4 above).

Now you know why I call it the Test of Extreme Patience?

7. Once all 80 papers are glued together, the cartolina pieces are glued to the front and back as the opposite ends.

8. Punch holes through the entire stack of papers following the hole locations in the pattern.

9. String short yarn through these holes and knot them.

10. Hold both ends of the lantern and slowly open it up like an accordion.

img_4473-cropped

Voila!

WISHING YOU ALL AN ADVANCE HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO USHER IN THE YEAR OF THE OX!

January 7, 2009

Project: 50Leaves

We are a bookworm family. My kids and I love to read — a lot! We have outgrown storage shelves in the house. Where to put the books we continue to buy is becoming a space problem in itself. So when C1 decided to launch her very own project called 50Leaves, it did not surprise me and shows just how far her love of the written word has come.

I am reposting this from my girl’s blog, China Doll in the Philippines, and am the first to formally support her drive to get people reading again. C1’s personal drive is to get the love of reading back into people who have forgotten this joy. The aim is to read 50 books within 2009. Not textbooks or professional journals. Not just chapters of a book (as in assigned class readings). Not magazines. These should be non-academe or non-professional books. The kind you would get at a bookstore for leisurely reading.

In her blog, C1 explains the title of her project and why she decided to make it public:

So why 50Leaves? Basically, my personal aim is to read 50 books in a year. That’s about 4-5books a month. Seems like a hard task, but that’s part of the point. I chose leaves because leaves always remind me of books. It could have stemmed from the word “leafing through books”, but I’m not quite sure. People nowadays don’t like reading books. They’d much rather play video games or watch the boob tube for hours on end, which is sort of sad. Before all these modern technologies, people spent their time reading and expanding their vocabulary, indulging in classics or plays and such. Now, ask a person to read a book and most will ask you if it’s a requirement for school or not. People have lost the love of reading and the love of books. I’m hoping to bring that back for some.

Personally, I think 50 books in a year may be too much as i am now reading a book the thickness of Harry Potter. That alone is probably worth 2-3 books! But what the heck, it is not the quantity but the desire to read that is spurring me to support her worthwhile project. If kids in school can be taken out of internet cafes and computer gaming for part of their lives and to settle down reading noteworthy books, I believe we can raise the bar in terms of education and knowledge power.

We are still working on other mechanics but I encourage you to join this project. The goal is not merely reading 50 books by end-2009. The aim is to rediscover the joy of reading. Relish the journey more than the destination.

I have started a book list on my sidebar to remind me to keep going at reading. Unfortunately, I cannot post my Shelfari bookshelf here due to free WP limitations but you may be able to post yours. That would be a good start!

Here are the mechanics so far (as taken from her blog post):

How to join:

i. Leave a page/entry dedicated simply to this project. Entitle it 50Leaves. I shall leave a comment on your page if the project title will be changed.

ii. On that page/entry write down (in numerical form) A title of the book/s you are reading B author of the book you are reading C a vague idea of the date you finished the book (doesn’t need to be specific, could be just the month, or could be down to the exact date). If the book you are reading gets finished kindly put on bold the entire line. If the year ends and you haven’t finished the book, kindly cross it out/put it on strikethrough. (see examples below)

Ex.

1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (finished around April)

2. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

iii. Once you’ve written a page and followed at least A and B of the previous number, please don’t forget to link to this specific page on your blog (and entitle it as Project:50Leaves) and please don’t forget to leave a comment below with your name and link url to your 50Leaves blog entry/page. You’ll officially be part of Project:50Leaves once I’ve left a comment on your blog and added your name and 50Leaves page into the list of project members below.

iv. At the end of the year, leave a tally at the end of the list saying how many books you’ve finished. It would be easy to count since the books you’ve read will be in bold.

v. Extra bonus. If like me, you like to write reviews, you can choose to do so. Write your reviews on a separate blog entry then link to them via your 50Leaves list. Just please remember to keep your page neat and clean.

January 3, 2009

Are you a MANY-malist? Or a MINImalist?

The New Year is always the time to get rid of the old.

Just before the New Year, I looked around the room and saw eyesores here and there…unread books in stacks on the floor, newsclippings in envelopes that have not been sorted, Christmas gifts waiting to be put away, and basically things in places where they are not supposed to be.

My longest dream has been to go MINIMALIST. But with 4 kids who are also MANY-malists like myself, it is a real challenge to keep only the basic necessities and do away with the extras. My girls and I are also sentimental and tend to keep things because “it was given by <name>” or “it reminds me of <occasion>” or “we could use this someday“.

minimalist1

(from http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/design_inspiration/factsheets/pop_ups/94_3.shtml)

This year though I will try to do something about it. At the very least, even if I am not able to attain the complete minimalistic look, I can reduce clutter to a great extent.

These last few days, despite being allergic to dust and sneezing all over the place, I have managed to clean my room, rearrange the bookshelves to accommodate my unread books on the floor, and just threw out clippings I have not touched in years. THERE!!!!!

img_4212-compressed — One of my bookshelves with my unread books

img_4211-compressed — My yoga books and stack of Yoga Journal mags

If you are like me and trying to go minimalist, here are some links on the web to start us out on our quest:

1. How to decorate your room in minimalist style

2. The Minimalist Approach, Clear That Clutter

3. How to Create a Minimalist Home

4. A Guide to Creating a Minimalist Home

GOOD LUCK TO US!!!!!

December 15, 2008

“Wasting” time meaningfully

We are all perennially caught up in the rat race. And in this fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world we live in I find that many people are preoccupied with making the most of that which, when gone, can never be captured again — TIME.

Ever since I got back to the corporate world, things changed in my life. As a homemaker and budding yogini, I learned to slow down, breathe deeply, become aware of my surroundings, meditate deeply. Going back to a corporate environment meant adjustments. Time well spent in the office spelled productivity. What mattered was what you could produce in the least amount of time. Wake up early. Move quickly. Think on your feet. Eat your meals faster. Walk more briskly. Take the quickest route in any situation. Move it, move it, move it!!!

Sometimes I wonder what people caught up in the corporate whirlwind think about pausing, taking stock of life passing by, and learning to “waste” time meaningfully? Aren’t those two ideas opposing ones?

Can wasted time ever be meaningful?

YES, YES, YES — because it really depends on your view of WASTE.

I can think of thousands of time wasters. But from my perspective, anything that adds value to others, most specially to loved ones or to people around my spheres of influence is NOT a waste. Time away from my own task, though considered wasted, is channeled to making someone else feel better, feel more loved, feel supported and understood. Actually, anything that also adds value TO MY OWN LIFE is definitely not a waste of time.

A parent who stops work to play with his child just lost productive hours but added meaning to his child’s;

A long phone chat with a friend in need is a time waster but has comforted someone;

A long chess game with your kid could make you think of “better” things to do but that precious time can be one of the greatest bonding moments.

Two Saturdays ago, I was at work. I was planning on staying till 5pm to get some work done on a quiet day. Around 3pm, Chona called me. She was free to meet up at Shang. I was initially torn. There went my plans to be work productive. But the next moment, I decided that if a friend I missed wanted to see me, that was more important for us both. Though I did get some work done, it was not as much as I would have wanted. But there were no regrets because I got to spend a wonderful afternoon with an even more wonderful friend and that time cemented our friendship even more.

In a few weeks, I will adjust once again to a slower life as a project comes to an end. There will be time for yoga, time for myself, time to waste with friends and family, time for introspection, time for my bucket list. I think I am looking forward to “wasting” my time. Because by wasting it, I know my life will become even more meaningful.

Looking forward to wasting time with all of you!!!! 🙂