Guess what I was watching on YouTube last night? The 1994 Miss Universe Pageant. To those who weren't in the Philippines at that time, this pageant was held in Manila. With the country being addicted to beauty pageants, you can imagine the commotion that went on in the summer of '94. So anyway, I watched some clips of that pageant on YouTube. The last interview session for the top 3 contestants had this question: What is the essence of being a woman?
I remember being asked that question 14 years ago. I remember going around in circles, because that's what I do when I have no definite answer. I just beat around the bush, hoping the length of my answer would make me appear knowledgeable. I bet that never worked. So last night I heard the question again, and I asked myself, what is the essence of being a woman?
Easy, motherhood.
It's what sets us apart from men. Women are able to carry a child in their wombs. Christopher West, a renowned Christian speaker, calls women "beautiful tabernacles." Because the womb of a woman is a reflection of Mary's womb. The one that carried Jesus. A tabernacle, indeed.
Now you may ask, what about the women who were or are not called to be mothers? The ones called to single-blessedness? What about the nuns? Well, all women are called to be mothers, may it be biologically or not. An obvious example of a non-biological mother is Mother Teresa. She was not just a mother to the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. She was a mother to the materially and spiritually poor that she took in. Those people that needed to be loved, she loved. Like a mother.
Recently, news broke out about a "pregnant man" (thanks Oprah). When I first read about it, my initial expression was "Huh? How did that happen?" When I read the whole story, that's when I realized, ah, "he" is a "she."
Now I'm not here to judge. None of us have the right to judge, but all of us have the right to love. So we should love this pregnant woman, who is bringing another life to this world. God created her female, named Tracy Lagondino. Now the name change is her decision. If she wants to be called Thomas or Tom or Jack, you know, more power to her. But I'm sorry, none of us can decide our gender. I like what Christopher West said in one of his articles: "Tracy Lagondino is not a man 'trapped' in a woman’s body. There is no such thing. Rather, she is a person tragically cut-off from her true identity as a woman." Again, there should be no judgement here. Only love.
The identity of a woman. The essence of being a woman. Motherhood is this precious thing that women are lucky to have. And as Mother's Day draws near, I'd like to honor my two mothers: Mama Mary and my biological mom. Both women I highly admire and respect. Both of whom I aspire to be. Even if I could only be a smidgen of who they are, I would be a happy camper. If I could only have a dash of their patience, a sprinkle of their gentleness, a teaspoonful of their ability to love unconditionally, what a woman I could be.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Happy Boing Boing
I've always wondered what attracted my nieces and nephews to the Teletubbies. They are so weird (the 'tubbies that is). Whatever they say don't make sense. And what is up with the red bag? The baby as the sun creeps me out as well.
Anyway, I was reading an article a few days ago that linked to an old Sesame Street clip on YouTube. That made me look for more classic Sesame Street clips that I haven't seen in decad... years. I stumbled upon one of my favorites, the Yip Yip Aliens. Watching their segment again, as a 29 year-old, made me realize that I may not be as different as my nieces and nephews when I was a kid. I mean, what the heck...
Yip yip yip... happy happy boing boing... I don't get it anymore. What was I thinking? And their mouths look weird.
Anyway here are a few classic Sesame Street clips that I did enjoy watching again...
Lower case N
Aww... lower case n isn't lonely anymore. Yay rocketships. This one always made me feel sad for "n" when I was a kid. Sometimes even to the point of making me teary-eyed. I only noticed now that the song is kinda 70's-folksy.
Eleven Twelve
I love love loved this. I could not get the song out of my head at times. Thank you Sesame Street, I can sing 1 to 12. And I've always wanted to have a pinball machine like that.
The Bridgekeeper
I remember watching this either before or after school and I'd be eating something. And... yeah. That's all I remember, I'd always be eating something while watching that. Weird.
Anyway, I was reading an article a few days ago that linked to an old Sesame Street clip on YouTube. That made me look for more classic Sesame Street clips that I haven't seen in decad... years. I stumbled upon one of my favorites, the Yip Yip Aliens. Watching their segment again, as a 29 year-old, made me realize that I may not be as different as my nieces and nephews when I was a kid. I mean, what the heck...
Yip yip yip... happy happy boing boing... I don't get it anymore. What was I thinking? And their mouths look weird.
Anyway here are a few classic Sesame Street clips that I did enjoy watching again...
Lower case N
Aww... lower case n isn't lonely anymore. Yay rocketships. This one always made me feel sad for "n" when I was a kid. Sometimes even to the point of making me teary-eyed. I only noticed now that the song is kinda 70's-folksy.
Eleven Twelve
I love love loved this. I could not get the song out of my head at times. Thank you Sesame Street, I can sing 1 to 12. And I've always wanted to have a pinball machine like that.
The Bridgekeeper
I remember watching this either before or after school and I'd be eating something. And... yeah. That's all I remember, I'd always be eating something while watching that. Weird.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Clap Clap Point Point
I used to think this blog would never have anything to do with politics, but this is just too funny...
And since we're talking about politics and late night comedy, click here to find out who "made" Mike Huckabee: Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert? Late night fight! Plus an Irish jig and a cameo from a certain presidential candidate.
And since we're talking about politics and late night comedy, click here to find out who "made" Mike Huckabee: Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert? Late night fight! Plus an Irish jig and a cameo from a certain presidential candidate.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
RIP Bro. Felix Masson, FSC
Earlier today I got a text from my brother saying Bro. Felix passed away. I instantly felt this surge of sadness when I saw the news. Bro. Felix is gone? Forever?
I haven't seen him in 11 or 12 years, but still, he was a part of my life in DLSZ. He was this tall white man that towered over the Filipino students before classes start. He'd usually stand outside his office while students were arriving or after a flag pole ceremony so he could greet everyone that passed by. Whenever he'd see me he'd go "Oh there's my friend, little Katrina! How are you buddy?" Bro. Felix always made it a point to make each student feel special.
I studied in DLSZ for 12 years, and in all those years, he always gave me a stampita as a birthday gift. But it wasn't just me. He did that for all of the students. And we had a pretty big population over there.
Whenever it was a student's birthday (so I guess he did this practically every day), he'd send a note to the teacher asking for the student to be excused so s/he could go visit him. Then the student would go to Bro. Felix's office and meet with him. He'd have a few stampita's laid out on his desk, and would ask the student to choose which s/he'd like to get. After a stampita was chosen, he'd tell the story of the saint in the stampita. Then he'd make small talk and even ask about things that were discussed in the student's previous birthday/s. What a memory! I mean really, with all those students in the school?
I always looked forward to getting a stampita on my birthday. One reason was so I could escape from a boring class and get into Bro. Felix air-conditioned office. Another was because I loved my yearly one-on-ones with Bro. Felix. I'm not sure why Bro. Felix thought of doing that to every student, wouldn't that be tiring? Did he want each of us to be educated in a small way about different saints? Or did he want to just be friends with all of us? Whatever his reason, he never failed to make students feel special.
I remember I was either in 1st or 2nd grade, he carried me just to make me laugh. We were on eye level so it was like I was as tall as he was. I looked around and saw how it looked like if I were a 6-footer. That was the first and last time I felt tall.
Have fun in heaven Bro. Felix! We will miss you over here.
I haven't seen him in 11 or 12 years, but still, he was a part of my life in DLSZ. He was this tall white man that towered over the Filipino students before classes start. He'd usually stand outside his office while students were arriving or after a flag pole ceremony so he could greet everyone that passed by. Whenever he'd see me he'd go "Oh there's my friend, little Katrina! How are you buddy?" Bro. Felix always made it a point to make each student feel special.
I studied in DLSZ for 12 years, and in all those years, he always gave me a stampita as a birthday gift. But it wasn't just me. He did that for all of the students. And we had a pretty big population over there.
Whenever it was a student's birthday (so I guess he did this practically every day), he'd send a note to the teacher asking for the student to be excused so s/he could go visit him. Then the student would go to Bro. Felix's office and meet with him. He'd have a few stampita's laid out on his desk, and would ask the student to choose which s/he'd like to get. After a stampita was chosen, he'd tell the story of the saint in the stampita. Then he'd make small talk and even ask about things that were discussed in the student's previous birthday/s. What a memory! I mean really, with all those students in the school?
I always looked forward to getting a stampita on my birthday. One reason was so I could escape from a boring class and get into Bro. Felix air-conditioned office. Another was because I loved my yearly one-on-ones with Bro. Felix. I'm not sure why Bro. Felix thought of doing that to every student, wouldn't that be tiring? Did he want each of us to be educated in a small way about different saints? Or did he want to just be friends with all of us? Whatever his reason, he never failed to make students feel special.
I remember I was either in 1st or 2nd grade, he carried me just to make me laugh. We were on eye level so it was like I was as tall as he was. I looked around and saw how it looked like if I were a 6-footer. That was the first and last time I felt tall.
Have fun in heaven Bro. Felix! We will miss you over here.
Day 1 of 40
My cursor rolls over the "Gmail" button on my bookmarks toolbar. "Don't!!" my mind screams.
And so goes the first of 40 days of no IM at work.
Last night a fellow SFC was talking to me about his conversation with a priest. He was asked if he does SFC stuff while at work. "Heck yeah you do, and so do I!" I replied, rather excitedly. Then I stopped and thought, wait a minute, that's not exactly something to be proud of now is it?
What the priest said confirmed what I was afraid of. Doing service for anything CFC-related at work is not exactly the Christian thing to do. It is not fair to the employer, its employees and its clients. It's like cheating. According to the priest, it is even considered stealing. That was my cue to say "WHAT?" Because we get paid a certain amount of dollars and we are expected to do our best and give our 100% percent when at work. When we do anything less, especially if we use 50% of the time for service, then that's just getting paid double of the amount of work we are actually doing. No wonder one of the questions in a confession guide I read was "Do you give your 100% at work?"
As all of these realizations came trickling down, I thought about some of the service-related things that I should give up at work: Printing song sheets for household. Printing chords of praise & worship songs. Researching household topics on the web. Reading long GK emails that take up so much time. IMing.
Oh, Google Talk. How I love thee. Here's the thing, Google Talk/Gmail IM for me is my escape from the frustrations at work. My connection to the SFC world while I'm in the office. Whenever I am bored or want to take a break, any of my Google Talk buddies online is just a click away. Except most of the time the conversations tend to go long and next thing I know, I've already used up 3 hours of just chatting about random stuff. Bad employee, bad.
Whether I use IM for service or fun, one thing's for sure: I'm giving it up for 40 days. Now the argument would be, is that a real sacrifice? Because when you're at work, you're supposed to work. Not chat. So, I still have something else to give up for Lent just in case it doesn't count.
Will I make it? I certainly hope so. Although if you haven't noticed, I am blogging during office hours. But I will chalk this up to "lunch break" because I am eating my tuna sandwich while typing this :) I swear I will do better tomorrow! Baby steps, baby steps. Pray for me, brothers and sisters :D
And so goes the first of 40 days of no IM at work.
Last night a fellow SFC was talking to me about his conversation with a priest. He was asked if he does SFC stuff while at work. "Heck yeah you do, and so do I!" I replied, rather excitedly. Then I stopped and thought, wait a minute, that's not exactly something to be proud of now is it?
What the priest said confirmed what I was afraid of. Doing service for anything CFC-related at work is not exactly the Christian thing to do. It is not fair to the employer, its employees and its clients. It's like cheating. According to the priest, it is even considered stealing. That was my cue to say "WHAT?" Because we get paid a certain amount of dollars and we are expected to do our best and give our 100% percent when at work. When we do anything less, especially if we use 50% of the time for service, then that's just getting paid double of the amount of work we are actually doing. No wonder one of the questions in a confession guide I read was "Do you give your 100% at work?"
As all of these realizations came trickling down, I thought about some of the service-related things that I should give up at work: Printing song sheets for household. Printing chords of praise & worship songs. Researching household topics on the web. Reading long GK emails that take up so much time. IMing.
Oh, Google Talk. How I love thee. Here's the thing, Google Talk/Gmail IM for me is my escape from the frustrations at work. My connection to the SFC world while I'm in the office. Whenever I am bored or want to take a break, any of my Google Talk buddies online is just a click away. Except most of the time the conversations tend to go long and next thing I know, I've already used up 3 hours of just chatting about random stuff. Bad employee, bad.
Whether I use IM for service or fun, one thing's for sure: I'm giving it up for 40 days. Now the argument would be, is that a real sacrifice? Because when you're at work, you're supposed to work. Not chat. So, I still have something else to give up for Lent just in case it doesn't count.
Will I make it? I certainly hope so. Although if you haven't noticed, I am blogging during office hours. But I will chalk this up to "lunch break" because I am eating my tuna sandwich while typing this :) I swear I will do better tomorrow! Baby steps, baby steps. Pray for me, brothers and sisters :D
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Stains Can Talk (Possibly in a Foreign Language)
The Super Bowl always has the best ads, and the clip below is the one that cracked me up the most.
At first I thought, what the heck? Haha... but it's so true! When there's a stain on someone's shirt, you can't help but stare at it, and you've all but tuned out whatever that person's saying. S/he may as well be talking gibberish.
The talking stain actually reminds me of Steve Carell on Bruce Almighty.
At first I thought, what the heck? Haha... but it's so true! When there's a stain on someone's shirt, you can't help but stare at it, and you've all but tuned out whatever that person's saying. S/he may as well be talking gibberish.
The talking stain actually reminds me of Steve Carell on Bruce Almighty.
Monday, February 4, 2008
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