Tag Archives: Thought Bubbles

That Extra Hour

Posted on July 6, 2008 by greenbucks| 29 Comments

I have used this quote in a post I made with Photo Hunters Time theme in my special education blog. This gave me the inspiration to write the question for this week.

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“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” -Rabindranath Tagore

In this busy world we live in, we do two or three things simultaneously. We cut back on our sleep. We clean the house while the food is simmering in the stove. We rush here and there. There never seem enough time to do all the things that have to be done. We never seem to have enough time.

Now I ask you this Weekly Question #7:

If we set aside an extra hour each day to do what we would rather do and not what we should be doing, what would you choose to do?

My answer:

If I have an extra hour each day, I would spend it with my husband and the children and for myself. My two younger children and I spend our days together because they home school but we spend this doing school work and learning.

With my husband, I will spend this time alone with him, just like when it was just the two of us. We spend time together daily, during breakfast or dinner and the whole three meals during weekends, watching a movie or TV series at home, working side by side, but most of the time, one or two kids are hovering around.

With my children, I would spend this time talking with them, exchanging jokes, listening to their thoughts and their dreams. We could probably spend this hour doing something creative, a project that we will enjoy doing.

With myself, I would spend this time, even just a few minutes, to reflect, to talk to God and to just “listen to my thoughts”.

Time is probably one of the greatest gifts we can ever give to anyone. How long does it take to express your love? To call your parents and asking how their day was? To send a text message to friends, greeting them?

Of course, the greatest gift we can ever give is love.

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing. – Brian Tracy

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Posted in Memetag, Thought Bubbles, Weekly Questions

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Lessons From My Father

Posted on June 15, 2008 by greenbucks| 24 Comments

Weekly Question #4

What valuable lessons have you learned from your father?

I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from father who is an admirable man for me. These lessons I have used in my life many times over and these same lessons are what I try to teach my children.

  • BE PUNCTUAL. Papa worked as an employee of the Subic Naval Facility in Olongapo City. He has an acute sense of punctuality unlike the other people employed in Philippine companies especially in government offices. Why? His bosses are part of the United States Navy and there are no such things as late or tardy in their vocabulary.
  • BE COURTEOUS. My papa is a contradiction of sorts. He does not really fight back with words. As a matter of fact, we have an ongoing family issue with his siblings but being the eldest, he hasn’t spoken harsh to his younger siblings. Yet. When he got very sick and they didn’t even bother to see him, he just let them be but I know he is deeply hurt. If he likes you, he will regal you with stories about his work and his thoughts. If he doesn’t like you, he won’t even talk to you nor look at you even if you are within his vision.
  • As much as possible, TRY NOT TO REMIND OTHERS WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR THEM IN THE PAST. He financed a big part of his sister’s education. Now his sister is saying bad things about us. Did he ever tell her in the face what he has done while she was studying, religiously giving a part of his earnings for her expenses? No. But he is patiently trying to control his temper, that much we can see.
  • WORK HARD. Yes, he worked hard. Graveyard shift sometimes, for bigger pay. He traveled1.5 hours to work and another 1.5 hours going home, traveling daily just to go to work. His hard work paid off when he got promoted several times. His American bosses used to go to our home to ask him to accompany them to buy fresh fish from the fishermen.
  • COOK FOR THE FAMILY. He has been the official cook in the house, as long as I can remember. When he got very sick two years ago, we thought we will lose him but thank God he got well. But he has lost his enthusiasm to do this chore anymore.
  • BE YOURSELF. He has no pretensions. He doesn’t care if his relatives are laughing behind his back when they talk about him not attending their get-togethers. He doesn’t want to deal with them so he won’t face them with pretensions of wanting to be with them. Even if they talk bad about him.

There my friends, I introduce to you my father. And oh, if there’s one thing I don’t really admire about him is he spoils my children, especially my youngest daughter, Tania.

That was what he did for me too, bringing home Marvel and DC comics (what his bosses have discarded after reading, lol), red, crunchy apples, sweet oranges, candies in cans and chocolate bars. That was when some or many(?) children my age have not had the chance of getting these things. Circa 70s here in the Philippines.

Papa, thank you for everything. Hang in there. We love you and we respect you.

Happy Father’s Day.

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Posted in blogging101, Memetag, Thought Bubbles, Weekly Questions

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Sulyap sa Tatsulok sa Pilipinas

Posted on April 10, 2008 by greenbucks| 67 Comments

Warning: this is a long post. Please, please do not skip to the end part. Thank you.

Masarap maging bata: naglalaro, simple lang ang buhay, libre ang mangarap at masaya.
Childhood is one of the best times: playing, simple life, imagination is free and wild and being happy is a constant.

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Eto si Tisoy, masayang naglalaro sa binaligtad na kayak, binabalanse, animo ay nakasakay sa surfing board, at dinadala ng malalakas na alon. Sa may kalayuan ay isa ring bata, ang anim na taong gulang na si JAG, nagsasagwan sa kayak na kulay rosas.

That is Tisoy, a foreigner happily playing on an upside down kayak, balancing himself, pretending to be riding on a surf board on strong sea waves. Further down the beach is six year old JAG, rowing on a pink kayak.

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Naku! Umulan na, itabi na ang mga kayak at iba pang kagamitan para sa water sports. Tamang-tama, kasi mag-aalas kwatro na ng hapon, magmemeryenda muna ang mga bata. Pero teka muna, me mga dumadating!

Oh my! The rains are here, gather all the kayaks and other water sports equipments. Good thing that its almost four o’clock, time for the kids to have their snacks. But wait, there is a boat coming to shore!

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Sino sila? Saan sila nanggaling? Saan sila sumilong noong napakalakas ng ulan? Bakit ganito ang hitsura nila? Ay, hindi lang pala siya, bukod sa mga kasamang matatandang naglalako ng mga kwintas gawa sa mga batong galing sa dagat, me mga kasama pa silang ibang bata.

Who are they? Where did they come from? Where they did find shelter when the rains were here, out there in the open sea? Oh, its not just him, that boy, because aside from the male adults selling accessories made of stones from the sea, there are also other children in the boat. Here they are:

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Nasaan ang tatsulok? Hindi, hindi yung dulo ng bangka nila ang tatsulok. Ang tatsulok ay ang kalagayan ng mga Pilipino. Ang mga mayayaman ang nasa tuktok, kakaunti at mahirap abutin. Ang nasa baba ng tatsulok ay ang mga milyung-milyong Pilipino na naghihikahos, gumagawa ng kahit na anong paraan upang mairaos lamang ang kanilang pamilya sa gutom. Nakakapanlumong tignan ang kalagayan nila hindi ba?

Where is the triangle? No, not the triangular shape at the end of the boat. The triangle is a symbol of life and living conditions of the Filipinos. The rich are at the small pointed part of the triangle, for they are very few and they seemed to have put themselves on a pedestal, unreachable by the masses. The base part of the triangle is represented by the poor and the very poor, the masses, millions and millions of them. They work hard (most of them do), they would do anything, however dangerous or compromising, just to be able to feed their families and ease the hunger pains they have.

~o0o~

Oo, toxic ang mga topic ko 😀 Narito ang iba pang mga kalahok sa Litratong Pinoy.

Here are the other entries in the Litratong Pinoy.

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Posted in Litratong Pinoy, Philippines, Photos, social consciousness, Thought Bubbles

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