Lifeguards and lifesavers

These pins cost P20, and they sold out today! Together with some friends, I attended a Pro-Life event today at the St. Francis Church in Ortigas Center. We were really supposed to have a Jericho March for Life, but Ortigas traffic officials took back the permit to march just last week because of, well, traffic concerns.

Of course, that doesn't diminish the urgency of the cause. This being the last activity for Pro-Life month, people who support the right to life still gathered together to pray for and discuss about the pertinent issues regarding protecting the Filipino family. (This afternoon, by the way, UA&P has a talk on the Magna Carta of Women, a piece of legislation some groups are trying to get passed by March--a.k.a. International Women's Month. This bill takes away a person's right to invoke his/her religious beliefs as a valid reason to not submit to the bill's provisions, among other things suspiciously not pro-women at all. But more on that some other time.)

Hopefully next time, we'll really get to march. But for now, here are some pictures I took of the event. When we do get to march, am hoping to see more excellent people around! Yes? Yes!


To read more about Pro-Life work here in the Philippines, click here. :-D

Weird day

...for Blogger.

¿Que pasa, Blogger?
¿Donde estan mis entradas en mi blog?
¿Porque, porque?

While Blogger is being a traitor, here's a quote I wanna share (which is also in my Twitter if you read the sidebar of this blog). Not only TV, but also computer games and hand held devices take away significant reading time from today's kids. Just the other day I couldn't help saying how expensive a PSP was...and not just in terms of the one time shelling out when you get one from a store--your time drains away too. Imagine the many hours one could spend mesmerized by a video game when instead one could be reading, getting creative, learning an instrument, studying, talking with friends and family, or even sleeping and eating? (Yes, addiction could deprive you of even the basic needs.) So before getting any time consuming entertainment technology consider what you'll be spending in terms of time too. Life's too short.

Oh, and here's the quote (I don't have the name of who said it though):

“TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book.”

Who's flashing that demure little smile?

None other than cover baby Sian Illey Q. Fernandez! The cover photo was taken by Ralph Alejandrino.

For February we're focusing on Wellness--and not just on health matters but also in matters of the heart: nourishing good relationships between grandparents and grand-kids, husband and wife, teaching charity to kids, making the home a wonderful place to come to at the end of a long day... Like we do every month, we made sure to come up with a very meaty issue, which we hope many will enjoy reading!

Baby magazine is published by Marathon Publishing Co. and is sold at all National Bookstores, Babyland (Robinsons Galleria, Shaw Blvd. near Cherry Foodarama, Shoppesville), Baby & Co. (The Podium and Power Plant Mall), Bufini, Procreation Shangri-la mall, Big & Small Co. Shangri-la Mall.

Be mine Valentine

It's Valentine's Day! Let me share a scene from Sita and Rama: Papet Ramayana, here being performed by Roel (7) and Aina Ramolete (10), future master puppeteers. In this scene, Rama and Sita sing a beautiful duet about love and service--which really do go together however people try to separate them.

Let me share the song lyrics (written by accomplished playwright and professor emeritus Amelia Lapena Bonifacio):

Awit ni Prinsipe Rama at Prinsesa Sita
P. Rama: Magmula sa araw na ito,
sumpa kong matimtiman
Lahat ka sa aking buhay,
hindi kita pababayaan;

P. Sita: Magmula sa araw na ito,
sumpa kong matimtiman
Ikaw lang ang mamahalin,
Hindi kita pababayaan;

Sabay: Maging anuman ang iyong pasiya,
ako ang mag-aalalay
Kasama mo ako sa hapis o saya,
sa hirap o kasaganaan.
Maging anuman ang iyong pasiya,
Ako ay nakaalalay;

Magmula sa araw na ito,
hanggang tayo'y sumakabilangbuhay!
Magmula sa araw na ito,
hanggang tayo'y sumakabilangbuhay!

---
For English speakers, forgive me, I can't make a better translation (that is an art in itself, I suppose). But here's what I did just for you:

The song of Prince Rama and Princess Sita
P. Rama: From this day hence,
I sincerely vow
You are all to me,
I will take care of you.

P. Sita: From this day hence,
I sincerely vow
Only you will I love,
I will take care of you.

Both: Whatever you decide
I am you aide
With you in sorrow and joy,
in hardship and abundance.
Whatever you decide
I attend;

From this day
until we pass from this world!
From this day
until we pass from this world!


----
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Spread the love ;-)

Lost my contact lenses...

I used to have a duck...well, a duckling that grew big but not big enough to shed the down and grow feathers like a real duck (is a baby duck a fake duck?). So grade school was the time to collect all sorts of duck-decorated white elephants (er, you get the picture).

So much for back story. Today I saw this picture in CuteOverload and I just couldn't resist sharing. hehe!

Off to congress!

Went to congress with my officemates and some mommies to support pro-life in the deliberations of the RH Bill. This is actually my first time to attend something like this, and my friend Sunnyday said when you show up in support for the pro-life cause it gives our pro-life congressmen reason to keep speaking up! Learned some things about, um, plenary hall decorum during a session. (A friend I met that day explained to me that the real grind happens in committee meetings, and interpellations are simply, for lack of better way to describe it, just for show.) EDIT: Please see Sunnyday's enlightening comment below. haha I'm not exactly knowledgeable in this matter.

Aside from the educational agenda, we thought of coming to represent pro-life so that we could have photo-ops with the young moms. The bill, in fact, affects them the most--who should decide how they should manage their family? The State shouldn't be telling them how many kids to have, or that they're not being responsible when they're not sticking alien stuff in their body... so we invited young moms who are against the bill to stand up for what they believe in. Now you see that not all who are against the bill are celibate priests and nuns, a totally unfair assumption if you ask me.

We wanted to hold some placards with pro-life messages on them but that wasn't allowed in the plenary hall. Hopefully someday we could have some t-shirts with witty slogans! hehe. Here are some of the pictures I took that day. :-D

Lost Generation?

The youth of today = apathetic

I hope that isn't true! Here's a video a friend showed me that should help us all turn around. Very nicely done, really! According to the information in YouTube, this video was created for the AARP U@50 video contest and placed second.