The Journey. It’s Mine. [My personal take on love, life, parenting and blogging.]

It’s already the end of February and it’s a Saturday. Tomorrow is March and officially the start of summer here. But it still rains at night and the late afternoons. On the other hand, Raine’s class is already practicing songs for their moving-up ceremony. Raine is also memorizing his line: ‘when i grow up, I want to be a doctor’. Yey! I hope he is serious about the doctor thing. When he arrived at home yesterday, he was regretting he didn’t choose ‘policeman’. Honesty, I’d rather he be a doctor than a policeman!

Today is Abby’s birthday. She is officially a year older than me. Abby is Raine’s ninang and one of my oldest friends. She is now in Dubai, trying her luck out there. I last saw her in April 2007 when she and Gemma came over to visit me and Raine here in bicol. I miss all of my friends. I don’t have much of a social life out here. If going to Sorsogon for my groceries and bringing Raine to Jollibee is a social life, then that’s all I get these days.

Time flies. Soon Raine will be in first grade. Soon he’ll have a social life of his own. He’s finding new friends and new activities. I hope he doesn’t forget about his mommy who lives on a hug and a kiss from him.

I may miss my old life and friends but I am contented right here, right now with my life with Raine. Time indeed flies and it brings us to places we haven’t thought of before.

It’s awfully quiet even though the kids are home because of the unusual holiday that PGMA loves to pull out. Even Raine was confused because he knows it’s Monday. It was already 11 am when I suddenly realized that I already missed the Oscar awards night. Then Raine was watching Batman Begins on Cartoon Network. I couldn’t budge him to change channels. This weekend I have been watching DVDs late at night on my PC. I put Raine to bed and then I go ahead to watch the movies/tv series.

My PC is placed perpendicular to our bed, so that when I am facing the PC monitor I have my back on the bed. To the point I forget that there is a boy sleeping on it. Until he stirred a couple of times. Raine has gotten so used to sleeping beside me, even him sleeping feels weird when I’m not there with him. Now I am really wondering until when we can do this. We’ve been co-sleeping since he was 2 months old. (The first two months he was in his crib.)

I’ve been tempted several times to buy a bigger bed, only that if I do that it might even be more difficult to remove Raine from the bed that we shard. But then he is growing up so fast, at some point he just gotta have to sleep on a bed his own. So fast that even my computer memory can’t keep up. (My old PC actually crashed several times!)

Cuddling is great. But there are nights it keeps me up. Raine just stirs a lot sometimes, it wakes me up. Just when I want an uninterrupted sleep.

Ganito matulog si Raine nung baby sya:

Ganito pa rin sya matulog ngayon:

The funny thing is: my mother sleeps the exact same way. I do too. Raine got that from us.

I’ve gotten the hang of buying stuff online. Except that the websites are based in the U.S. (amazon, barnes and noble, AE, moor allure naturals) and so I have to pay for the shipping fees. With Amazon for example, there are stuff that cannot be shipped to the Philippines. Barnes and Noble accepts paypal payments  — which is swell. Though I haven’t yet bought anything at AE, they ship internationally as well.

In the Philippines, I only know PC Corner Online where you can buy computers online and it will be delivered to you anywhere in the Philippines. However, the transaction isn’t totally online. You call them for the stuff you will buy. You will be then given bank account details in order to deposit your payment. Then you wait for the delivery.

In the U.S. you can even do your grocery shopping online. No need not go outside. How cool is that? All you need is a valid credit/debit card.  If you are a work-at-home person, you need not even go out for months, live the life of  a modern hermit and buy everything (even your food) online. Hmmm…I know somebody who does just that. It’s a good thing his office doesn’t allow working remotely all the time. Else he’d be the total modern hermit.

Anyway, online transactions could be great, does it have a downside? Maybe to your social skills! Finding a sale could be easier online too. You can even avail of perks such as free shipping within the U.S. If this can happen in the Philippines and I’ve found this sale …I’m going to buy this ergonomic desktop keyboard. You have no idea how much I need ergonomic something these days.

With all these online shopping talk? I wish I live in the first world!

The following, I got in the mail from Bing de la Cruz — a sis from Los Baños, Laguna. Believe me, you want to read this one:

Dear all,

If you happen to receive an email like the one below, DO NOT RESPOND. IT IS A STRATEGY TO STEAL YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT. Once you give away your user name and password, you will not be able to use that email account again. Worse, the email thieves will send a message to your contacts saying that you’re in an emergency, stranded in some foreign country or in some other urgent situation and that you need cash ASAP. My Dad was victimized last year, and yesterday Dr. Ruben Villareal, former UP Los Banos Chancellor, got his email stolen. I got an email allegedly sent by him through his stolen account, which I also attached below. Sometimes the wording can be very convincing because the thieves spend time researching your connections with your contacts and what kind of person you are, based on the contents of your mailbox. This is one scam that has been going around for years. Don’t be victimized.

Bing de la Cruz
——————————————————————————————————————————-

HERE IS THE FAKE YAHOO WARNING:

Account Alert

Dear Valued Member,

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo account users and removal of all unused Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused Accounts,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

UserName:……………………………
Password :……………………………
Date of Birth :………………………..
Country Or Terriitory :……………….

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before 24 hours of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thank you for using Yahoo! mail
Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ

——————————————————————————————————
AND HERE IS THE FAKE LETTER FROM DR. VILLAREAL:

Hello,

How’s work on your end? This has had to come in a hurry and it has left me in a devastating state. These peoplewon’t even allow people write in native dialects. I am in some terrible situation and I’m really going to need your urgent help. Yesterday, unannounced, I came to visit a new Researchers’ Complex in Lagos, Nigeria following up on some official tours in West Africa. Well we actually got robbed in the Hotel I booked in and they made away with my wallet (which included my cash, diaries and credit cards). My cellphones were not brought along since I did not get to roam them before coming over. The phone cables have been burnt including the Hotel’s database has been compromised as well. So all I can do now is pay cash and get out of here quickly. I do not want to make a scene of this which is why I did not call the office or my house, this is embarassing enough. Please I want you to lend me a sum of $1,430, just to clear my Hotel bills and get the
next plane home. kindly help me send the money via Western Union or MoneyGram.

This is Details to transfer the money Below:

Name : Ruben L. Villareal

Address: Lovelace House hotel,21 coles street

City: Lagos

Country: Nigeria

Postal code: 23401

NB: The Consulate only cleared me of my travelling documents and ticketing since I came in as a tourist and not on official purpose. I shall have your money reimbursed immediately on my return. I’ll be waiting on you at the Hotel lobby for your mail.

Thank you so much,Please once you are done sending me the Money please help me scan a copy of the Western union receipt or help me write out the Money transfer control number (MTCN).

Take care. Best regards.

Fraternally,

Fellow Ruben’57 Villareal.

———————————————————————————————————-

My personal comments on this matter:

While we have been warned not to click links in an email from a person we do not know, it is difficult to draw a line from an authentic email or a fake or scam email if you received it from somebody you know, somebody in your address book.

However, we should read emails not just once. Not just twice. But many times — especially if it brings good news or bad news. We want to convince ourselves that what we have read the first time is really true. At least that’s how I read emails. I’m sure you do too. Second of all, if you get something like the ‘yahoo warning’ above in your inbox…bear in mind that internet-based email accounts (such as yahoo, gmail, etc) are automatically inactivated once dormant for at least 90 days. Yahoo will automatically do that for you and not send you an email asking to validate information to keep your account active. I just do not know how many people know that info. I guess not all, since there are those who get victimized by email hackers.

The third point I would like to mention is the inconsistencies in the fake email. First of all, if you get robbed abroad, the first people you’d inform are 1) your family back home 2) your office back home 3) friends in the country you were in, it’s much easier to let them know, right? Besides, if you are on official travel, your hosts or collaborators in the said county would be the first persons to lend help. And take note that you already have a round-trip ticket with you before you left. So it would just be a matter of paying your hotel bills — which I’m sure your host office would have shouldered.

Alright, granting that Dr. Villareal is indeed in Nigeria and had no means of contacting everyone about his mishap, but only via email. The email recipients should have then called Dr. Villareal’s family if only to confirm if he is really out of the country. Common sense should not be forgotten, in any case for that matter. Bear in mind too that being robbed abroad is nothing to be ashamed of. You tell the right people about it, because you will ask for real help.

Okay…I’m not being high handed in here. Knock on wood…I don’t want my email hacked and I for one don’t want to be the recipient of a fake email like the above. But if I do, I hope common sense  and double checking wouldn’t get the better of me.  Ask for a second opinion. Ask somebody about it. It wouldn’t hurt to tell a living soul if you get such emails.

One time I received an email from the CIA. It was asking me to call a number or something. It said there was something about the sites I have visited and so I need to call or write them. The email was pretty scary. At first it will make you feel that you did something against the law. If I panicked I would have complied to what I was being asked to do. Good thing I didn’t panic. I instead forwarded the email to a computer security specialist — a friend of mine. It turned out to be one big hoax. He told me nobody else cares about what sites you visit on the web. It is in your disgression and vulnerability to computer viruses.

The lesson learned here is don’t believe anything you read first hand. Verify. Ask those who knows. Call people. Call the sender of the email. Call his/her family. Don’t use the email anymore to reply or something. Everyone has cellphones these days. CALL. We can call Nigeria or any other countries. Don’t be easily fooled. Ask around. Verify, verify and verify before you send out the money.

It has been countless times that I bought Raine watches. Buti na lang ang binibili yung cheap lang, not more than 150 pesos. Each time I bought him one, it disappeared. In school and here in the house. Now I’ve realized, meron palang magnanakaw dito sa bahay namin. Could he be that he picked Raine’s watch? It’s nothing of value so I don’t understand why they’d be interested in it.

Couples of times, the watch disappeared in school. I don’t know how. Raine must have misplaced it or dropped it somewhere. Last week, I was urged to buy another watch. There went my 150 pesos again. So far, the watch hasn’t disappeared yet. It hasn’t left his wrist.

Well..as long as I won’t be buying Polar watches, I’m fine with it.

That’s our mantra these days. The rain doesn’t get tired of pouring it seems. When will it stop? In June?!

I haven’t bought Raine’s birthday gift (a new bike) because it will be useless since it’s always muddy in the yard. The sun shined only a few day, enough to dry our clothes, and then it went back to heavy downpour. The other thing I hate when it’s raining is that the sat tv doesn’t have a reception. It’s bad enough that you are forced to stay indoors, it is more bad that you can’t get some entertainment indoors.

I don’t know…even if i live in steel buildings I know I’d still be complaining about the rain.

I have just moderated 584 of spam comments! Whew. Grabe naman.

Lalo na kung ang magnanakaw ay kamag-anak mo mismo. Kamag-anak na pinatira mo na sa lupa mo at lahat. Bakit namin pinatira? Kasi mag nakakaawang nagsi-uwi galing Maynila at walang matirhan. Mga squa-qua sa Maynila na nawalan ng trabaho at nag desisyong umuwi sa probinsya. Uuwi ng probinsya na akala mo may mga lupaing babalikan!

Ay ambot! Sila yung tipong hihiram ng bigas dahil walang maisaing. Hihiram ng pera, ibabalik daw agad pero kinalimutan na. Uutang sa tindahan hanggang umapaw na ang utang nila. Pero pahihiramin mo pa rin dahil kamag-anak nga.  Hanggang umabot sa bumalik ang asawang babae sa Maynila para maghanap ulit ng trabaho. Iniwan ang mag-a-ama dito. Mga wala na rin yatang makain dahil pati laman ng refrigerator namin ay nananakaw na. Sana man lang magsabi, na nagugutom na at wala silang makain. Bibigyan naman kahit nakakabuwisit na sila. Hindi yung nanakawan ka pa.

Ang mga culprits? Dalawang teenager na anak nila, mga lalaki. At ano ang ninanakaw? Ang mga sigarilyo sa tindahan at sa loob ng bahay! Kasama na ang baryang pera na naksuksok kung saan. Malingat ka lang, wala na. Disappear na si sigarilyo. Wala na ang baryang panukli! Tumanda na ako sa lugar na ito, kahit iwanan mong bukas ang bahay mo walang mawawala. Yung tipong ihahabilin mo lang as kapitabahay na aalis ka at walang naiwan sa bahay. Times have really changed. Lalo na kung ang mga ugaling squatter eh nagbabalikan na sa probinsya.

Ang solusyon namin eh paalisin na sila hanggang maaga pa. Kumukuha lang kami ng tiyempo kung papano at kelan sasabihin. Imagine, kami na ang may-ari kami pa ang nag-iisip ng magandang paraan kung papano sasabihin sa kanila ang bad news. Yan ang hirap sa kamag-anak! Relathieves talaga. Hayyy.

That’s really true. Nakabili lang kami ng tv nung 2003! Why is that? Of course, we couldn’t afford it. Besides, there was no tv reception in this area. Your tv will be useless if you do not have a player (then betamax and VHS, now CD and DVD players). To this date, the reception is blurry if you have the usual antenna. Then you get only one channel (ABS-CBN).

Dream TV is of course, at the moment the only solution to the said problem. Dito, may CNN ka na, may Star Movies at HBO pa. Considering nasa barrio ka, that’s a good thing already. For one, we were able to watch the Obama Inauguration, live! Among other things.

Going back to the tv bought in 2003, it has survived countless typhoons. Now it is showing some malfunctions. For one, the picture isn’t properly aligned anymore and then the background color is a now a hue of green. It needs repair but i can’t help but drool over lcd tvs! Could Rackmount lcd be the ticket?

Yesterday we experienced the annoying flickering on and off of electric power. Just when we thought it will over by late afternoon, it went on throughout the night — wayy past midnight!

Brownout at night means manually fanning (last night i used the mouse pad as fan!) Raine until he’s in deep sleep or until I can hold out before I myself went into deep sleep despite the discomfort. Brownout also means burning the candle because neither one of us can take the pitchdark.

And so I wasn’t surprised when I overslept this morning. I got up at 10 am. I haven’t done that since my dorm days!

With all these blogging stuff, what I really miss is bloghopping — reading other people’s (personal) blogs. It has been a long while since I bloghopped seriously , when I clicked and clicked and clicked thereby ending up in a blog I haven’t been to before. It’s like the Director of Fandemonium is at work. I guess it is really most interesting reading about other people’s lives. Being ‘nosy’ is a universal thing. Hmm..maybe that’s why celebrity blogs have humongous traffic? But then that is another story.

So today I went bloghopping. Only to find out that many blogs I used to visit have disappeared on thin air or haven’t been updated for ages. Ouch! I really should update more often than usual.