Subic Escapade


Zoe and I joined the annual faculty outing of the DLSU Faculty Association. The outing was done at Subic, Philippines. It was a two-day summer adventure. There are lots of activities, and it seemed that all of those are jam-packed in just two days. As a result, everyone was rushing to finish an activity and prepare for the next one. But even if this was the case, I still enjoyed the event, because I saw that Zoë had a great time there.

Unforgettable moments:

1) Zoë puked on my shirt when we were on our way to Subic.

2) Zoë made poop when we were to enter the Ocean Adventure, and I left our bag inside the bus because snacks and drinks are not allowed inside the establishment. So, I did not have a diaper with me…hahaha.. Zoë had no underwear for the entire stay at the Ocean Adventure….I’m just glad it’s over, and she listened to me not to pee during that time…whew!

3) Zoe had fun at the Dolphin show; she didn’t like the Sea lion show.

4) We had fun at the Zoobic Safari. The close encounter with the tigers is really scary. Though they’re inside their cages, I didn’t feel at ease because the tour guide told us that there is a possibility that we might get peed on by those tigers, and the smell would be unbearable. Thank God that didn’t happen.

I’m grateful for this chance. I’ve brought my baby to Subic at a low cost, and she was able to experience such quite rare activities.

Jell and Issa’s 18th Birthday Party



Yesterday, we attended the 18th birthday party of my cousin’s twins, Jell and Issa. The event went well. It reminded me of the fact that I am really getting older. These girls used to be the little kids that I played with several years ago. Now, they’re both ladies already… the babies are now the ladies. Well, I hope they will continue to reach for the stars, and be successful individuals someday.

Shown with this message are the pics at the said event.

Zoe looks like Rory!


JE and I are playing with the celebrity look-alikes of our pictures earlier this evening. We tried one of Zoe’s pics. To our surprise, one of the results is a picture of Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls! I am a great fan of this series. I remember the days of my pregnancy. I always ask my husband to watch an episode with me, and that happened every night before we go to sleep. I would say that habit had some effect on Zoe. When she’s 5 months old (I think), we started to watch our Gilmore Girls collection again. Since Zoe is familiar with the song of GG, she’d always move her head towards the direction of the TV, as if she’s heard something very familiar to her. Now, that she’s two years old, she has advanced to the next level, she’s dancing and singing the GG song when we are watching an episode. When I saw Alexis Bledel’s picture as one of the matches of Zoe’s face, I was extremely delighted, because Zoe looks like Rory!

Remember to stop, look and listen when crossing a street.


Today is the last day of the Chem Congress. I went there just in time for the free lunch. I got my certificate, removed my poster and went home. On the way to Balibago Complex, a mother and her daughter happened to ride the jeepney I was also riding. The daughter was crying. This caught my attention. I eavesdropped a little, and based on what I’ve heard, the daughter is also a mother already. She’s crying because her son was hit by a fast-moving car. The driver took the boy to the nearest hospital, and that’s where the two women are going.

This event reminds me of what I’ve experienced during the day before the Chem Congress commences. I went to Tagaytay to post my poster, and to be familiar with the place so that on the first day of the convention, I’d reach the place hassle-free. But then, after I went out of the jeepney that I rode to get to the convention center, I did not practice the stop-look-listen guidelines in crossing a street. To my surprise, a fast-approaching vehicle is coming. Good thing, I was able to move backwards really fast to avoid an accident. Thank God!

The situation I have witnessed earlier reminded me to say thank you to the Lord, and always be careful. My experience proved that God intends me to live longer, for I still have a job to do in this world. That is, to be a good mom, wife, teacher, and friend to people who surround me.

Big Revision and Poster Presentation


Just this morning, I received an email from my potential sideline. From my blog yesterday, I shared you how I was relieved by not receiving any message from them telling me that there are revisions. Today, I feel so down because of that email. It’s not just a small revision, it happened to be a big revision. The client did not like my work! That is the downside of this job, you will not stop until the client is very satisfied with your work. Good thing, there is no money investment in this. Well, if there is, I think I’d be doubly disappointed.

Anyway, we just had our poster presentation. Nobody asked me a question. They’re just not interested in my work. Sad, huh?! Well, that is quite expected. Most of the research works are fully finished; mine is only 1/3 done. What do you expect? I just submitted a poster since my adviser asked me to, and I also wanted to make the most of this convention. I would say that attending this Chem Congress is very worthwhile. I know that I will not win the poster competition, but I have learned so much about what are the typical questions asked by judges and what kind of presentation they expect in a poster. Shown with this entry is a picture of me and my poster on the second day of the Chem Congress.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the congress. I had fun. I know that I will attend the next convention if the venue is also near. I’m just glad I gave it a shot.

The 22nd Philippine Chemistry Congress


We just had the opening day of the 22nd Philippine Chemistry Congress at DAP Convention Center in Tagaytay. Several chemists gathered to share their research works and other projects in Chemistry. This is my first time to attend a Chem Congress. I would say that it’s fun. It makes me feel like a true chemist 🙂 This convention will finish on Friday (April 13).

The second day (April 12) will be the time for poster presentations… and this is where I come in the picture. How did I get in to this? I don’t know (just joking!). Well, my thesis adviser wanted me to present our work in biodiesel, even though I’m not fully done with this research. Anyway, I agreed, because I have not attended a Chem Congress before. Since the place is quite near to our house (as compared to venues of past Chem Congress, this one is much, much nearer!), I said that I’m up to it. Back to the poster presentation, I would say that I’m nervous about it. I haven’t reviewed our paper yet. Oh my god! I should start right now, the presentation is just a few hours away!

But before I go to that, I just want to mention that the thing I’ve discussed in my previous blog is quite okay now. They have not emailed the article back to me, so that means there are no revisions. Plus, I’ve got three more assignments (quite a lot huh??). Now, I’m wondering how am I supposed to finish them when I’m busy with Chem Congress, and I’ve got a final exam on Saturday?! Hmm…I suppose I should get going and do these urgent things.

Before I close this entry, I want to show you a picture of me with my friends at the lobby of DAP. Just take a look at the picture on the right side, and you would see a girl in black top, that’s me!

Waiting for your reply….


I just finished the reflective essay for one of my potential sidelines. “Potential” is the term that I prefer to use for this, because I am just starting and I don’t know yet if I’m gonna earn extra money from this one. I found it hard to choose a topic for this essay, because your chosen topic should contain several experiences you had in the past. Since this is not my essay, I should be careful with what I will place in the content (I am sort of a ghost writer here..). I finally managed to choose a topic; I chose loss. My choices include responsibility, aging, character and loss, but when I have to pick one, I picked loss. Why? Because for this one, I can write my own experiences, such as loss of a friend or a friend of mine lost her sibling. I don’t know if the client lost one of his relatives already, so I can not assume that’s the case. It’s better to be safe.

Well, I don’t know if they’ll pay me for this job, or if I did the assignment well. My contact is on a vacation trip to their province, and she has not seen my essay yet. I just wish they’d like my work, so that they’ll give me another assignment. This is a fun job, I just realized. Oh well, wish me luck!

Running errands with a baby in tow

It had been a busy day. I went to the bank then I headed to a print shop to have my poster for the Chem Congress made, and then I went to Mr. Quickie to have my shoes’ soles changed. Well, if you will look at it, I did only three major things. I just feel that it’s a very busy day, for it is not my normal day wherein I go to school either for my MS class or for my teaching load. Plus, I did all of today’s chores with my baby Zoe.

Since Zoe had been good and a good companion, I decided that we should eat at McDonald’s for lunch so that she can play in the kid’s place.

I would say that she also enjoyed our trip to several places, for they were all new to her and she had a great time at McDo.

When I was reflecting on the things that happened today, I felt that I was like a stay-at-home mom running errands with a baby in tow. It was a nice experience for me. Zoe had been a good and sweet girl. She kept on hugging me. Oh, it feels good to be appreciated. From her actions, I can tell that she also had a not-so-ordinary day. I just love being a mommy to Daryl Zoe.