Friends true and through…
February 24, 2010When you suddenly find yourself faced with seemingly insurmountable problems you can’t help but feel lost and all alone. You start to take stock of all that you have and if this proves to be not enough, you start to think about who you can probably ask help from.
My son was diagnosed with a congenital “defect” (and for this reason the hmo won’t cover it) that needed surgery as soon as possible… or it would probably be more accurate to say, “as soon as you have the money”. The problem is we didn’t have the money… I don’t have 75,000 pesos, heck I don’t even have 5,000 pesos in my bank account. I will have around 11,000 from my oDesk writing jobs, but the last time I checked that money won’t materialize until March 3.
And all this time my son is in pain… he is not in unbearable pain I suppose because he is still the energizer bunny that he usually is, but he would often tell me that the part that needed surgery on is painful… and he would ask that I rub some liniment on it every now and then. If you were in my place, wouldn’t your heart have already melted?
I waited for this child all my life. I have actually given up wishing to have a child when a round of fertility efforts failed… and that was when he came… nothing short of a miracle I dare say because I was already pushing 35.
Now here he is… in pain and needing surgery… and we didn’t have the money to get him the first surgeon available at the soonest possible time. I was desperate and distraught that I thought of texting his godparents to ask them to “advance” five years-worth of Christmas and birthday gifts. By the way, I didn’t just toy with the idea… I really did text them… at least those who are really close friends of mine.
Out of several, only three responded… one belatedly responded but at least he responded just the same… offering not just monetary help but help in finding other surgeons who could do the operation for a lot less.
A godmother almost instantaneously called me up after receiving my text message to offer solace and promise to track down a former officemate who had an uncle who is a surgeon. She said he might not be the pedia-surgeon my son needed but just the same he is sure to have some connections we could use. She didn’t stop there… she got in touch with friends and friends of friends to see what kind of connections they have in the medical world. If that is not true friendship, then I don’t know what is.
Then there is this one particular friend, (who was not even a godmother to my son) with whom I stayed in communication with only through IM and despite being a stay-at-home-mom herself (read: having no income of her own) immediately asked me for my bank account so she could send me some money for my son’s operation. I was sooo touched by her gesture.
The godfather (though he’d really rather be a godmother) who took a few days to remember to reply, promised to help out in whatever way he can and to even ask his officemates (who were former teammates of mine) to help out as well.
There is also this former co-agent, who probably has more problems than I do and whose child also needs medical attention quite often, who never fails to empathize with me and my plight as a stay-at-home mom trying to eck out a few extra bucks. She probably also has a lot of money problems nowadays (aside from motherhood that’s one topic we never fail to talk about whenever we get to chat through IM) but she has unselfishly offered to help with whatever amount she could pitch in.
And of course, there is Momi Yoki, another former officemate who pointed me to the right direction… by telling me to make the hmo coordinator my first pit-stop before making my way to finding the specialist that I needed and could afford (since my son’s case is congenital, the hmo will not cover it in full, but only to the extent of 20,000). What touched me the most is that she went out of her way (she has her own brood to attend to, it being a Sunday) to call the hospital to get the pediatricians’ schedules. She even went the extra mile and called the hmo to confirm that my son’s treatment will be covered up to the maximum amount of 20,000 pesos. Prior to her call to the hmo, I was convinced that we would have to raise the money needed all by ourselves because it is explicitly stated in the hmo guidebook that congenital illnesses will not be covered. Boy, what a relief I felt when I found out that our problem was lessened by at least 20,000 pesos, give or take the semi-private room that was also included.
That to me is what real friendship is all about… especially when the one banking on the friendship has nothing to offer in exchange or in return aside from the “friendship” itself.
It’s not the amount, it’s not the time it took to respond, but it’s the gesture… it’s the genuine concern these people showed to me in my hours of great need and desperation. It’s the “being there when they were needed the most” that really struck a cord in my heart… and for this I say thank you to Maricel, to Cheechang, to Martin, to Lucky and to Momi Yoki. I might not have any money or position nor the influence to “incubate” the friendship I have with you, but you have stayed on… true and through it all.
P.S.
Thank you also to Ace for recalling that Momi Yoki once had the same predicament and telling me that I should consult with her.
Finally, an end to my Bayantel miseries!
February 16, 2010Success!!! I finally saw the end of my Bayantel DSL miseries. The Bayantel technician, Dan, just left about five minutes ago… and he didn’t leave without providing a resolution to my DSL woes.
When he called their office to request for a test port or something, he was told that there’s already an instruction to transfer me from Shelf 2 to Shelf 3. I didn’t understand much of their conversation because it was laced in DSL jargon, so when I asked Dan to “translate”, he told me that the cause of my slow DSL speed is the congestion in the shelf where my connection was in. He also said that the new DSL wired customers are already on Digi40 while mine is still in E1… Na-E1 (Naiwan… left behind with the old configuration)?
What’s more, Dan said no amount of reconfiguration, modem resetting, speed tests, ping tests and trace route tests will change my speed because of the shelf congestion and the fact that I was still in E1 (I really didn’t understand what E1 is but I think it’s the archaic DSL connection of Bayantel).
So there… after several email exchanges they finally sent the guy who was able to resolve my problem.
What I don’t know is for how long this “honeymoon” period will last or if I’m going to have to ask to be transferred to a new shelf every month.
I’ve had this DSL connection for almost a year with my contract ending on March 26, 2010. Prior to this episode I was already thinking of getting one of those thumb-drive DSL connectors because of the portability it offers. I was actually going through the motions of reading several reviews about Globe Tattoo. Now that my DSL got faster, I guess I’ll really have to give it until March 26.
I have tried Smart Bro prepaid but ended up giving it to my mother because it did not give me the speed Mo twister said it would give.
Based on my postpaid connection with Sun cellullar which only registers 1 bar (sometimes I don’t even have a signal) inside our house, I will not try Sun Broadband. I couldn’t even hear or understand what my husband is saying when he calls me using his own Sun postpaid line… how much better can I expect Sun broadband to be?
Globe Tattoo… I’d like to try it because I often (it’s not always) get a full 3 signal bars of 3G even in our bedroom. Other than that and the convenience, I don’t think I’m going to get a lot out of it as far as speed and consistency is concerned. Oh, but I like the soft phone feature, too.
Can someone lend me a Globe Tattoo so I won’t have to spend another P895 on it?
Love to love…
February 9, 2010It’s almost Valentine’s day so I’m begging for your indulgence because I think I’m about to become ”cheesy” .
After all, if you’re looking for true love… love that transcends time, distance and even logic (ask Marlene Aguilar 
)… love that knows no boundaries… love that does not look at color, weight, size or any outwardly appearance… look at how a mother loves her child… unconditional, unwavering, inexplainable.
I saw a billboard along EDSA once, and it said, “When a child is born, so is a mother.” Oh, I agree! Once a woman becomes a mother her whole life changes… in a really major way!
But apart from giving birth, there is really more to “motherhood”. I gave birth to this boy 2 years ago…
Here he is now… all grown up and looking like a “little” man. 
How fast two years flew… but I feel like I’ve only been a “mother” for 10 months… a real mother… a fulltime mom. I have since rid myself of my dependence on a yaya (nanny) since April of last year and boy, has it been a gruelling 10 months since! I feel like I’ve added 10 quick years to my age! I cook, I clean, I do the laundry, I take care of my son, I write and do everything else that needs to be done around the house in between… There is just no rest for the wicked… or more appropriately, ‘there’s just no rest for a work-at-home mom like me”!
But look at my little man… I had to fold and sew his barong and pants because they were a bit long and he looked lost in them. A few days prior to the wedding where he was the ring-bearer I cut his hair. I also cut his nails, give him baths, pick up and clean after him, feed him and teach him his ABCs and 123s. Boy, am I dog-tired after!
But look at him… look at my little man. Quite a fine-looking young boy isn’t he?
Living the Life You Love and Loving the Life You Live…
February 2, 2010“Living the life you love and loving the life you live” is actually a tagline of a local show here in the Philippines. Hearing it for the first time made me ask myself if “I am living the life I love or at least loving the life I’m living”.
My answer: YES and NO… depending on my mood… depending on the events of the day… depending on whether or not I was able to do what I wanted to do or go to where I wanted to go.
There are times when I sorely regret having decided to quit my job and just be a fulltime houseMAID… errr houseWIFE. There are times when I wish I can just turn back the hands of time and re-do a lot things I did in the past. Yes, regrets… I sometimes have one too many.
Why? Because I’m used to getting and having my way… I’m used to being “spoiled”… I’m used to earning my own money and being able to buy anything I can afford or at least save up for in a few months time. I’m used to dressing up and going to work… figuring out which shoes and bag go with what outfit…
Bottomline is I’m just so used to being my own person… doing my own thing when I want to. having transitioned to a fulltime home-maker has changed all that. I know that I’m not supposed to “lose myself” just because I got married and had a kid, but ask any mother out there and surely she’d choose her family’s welfare over her own “enjoyment” if made to choose just one.
I could easily choose to pamper myself, be “irresponsible” and live the way I did prior to having a family of my own… sure, that can be done… but unless you become a wife… a mother… you will never understand the choices mothers sometimes need to make to keep their families and their own sanity together.
So, going back to the question…am I living the life I love? No.
For one, I have always wanted a life filled with adventure and travels, shopping sprees, oodles and oodles of money, great food, fun people and enriching experiences. I know that’s the kind of life I’d certainly want to live if I can have it my way.
BUT… am I loving the life I’m living? Well, I’m trying too. On some days I can even answer that question with a resounding “YES”… yup, in all caps even!
When I see my son growing up to be the kid I have always imagined I would have, that’s definitely a “YES” moment. When I am able to provide a well-thought of meal for my family that my son says, “Rap!” (Sarap) to, that’s another “YES” moment for me. When I see our house uncluttered and clean… that’s another “YES” moment for me. When I get our electric bill and I see our consumption going down… another “YES”!
What does all these boil down to? Answer: Being able to manage our life well. This was something I never had time to do when I was working and depending on a “yaya” to run my household and raise my kid.
Do I still regret leaving my good ol’ bi-monthly paying job? Sometimes… especially when it’s sale season.
My new number…
February 1, 2010I have recently gotten a new cellphone number (and a new cellphone to boot)… it’s 0922-8485471.
Oh my… oh me, oh my…
Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve been to my own blog! I have not written a single post since time immemorial and I want to kick myself on the head for it.
It’s just I’ve been going all crazy fixing up our house… arranging our furniture… re-arranging what I have previously arranged… re-arranging what I have re-arranged (I’m sure you get the picture)… de-cluttering, organizing, sorting out stuff… basically (and to cut the long story short), I have been doing almost everything I never had time to do when I was working the graveyard shift. I just wish I could throw in some shopping sprees, massages, beautification rituals and other relaxing activities into the mix. God knows I have not been able to do those things for quite some time now, although I have been going to Dapitan and other homestores for decors and other home “necessities”. Oh well, I’m sure you know what kind of shopping spree I was talking about… read: shopping or stuff FOR GOOD OL’ ME!
Anyway, aside from being a trying-hard interior decorator, I have also been a full-time houseMAID… errr housewife. I have sent our good-for-nothing househelp packing and I have been taking on househelp duties for about six months now. Boy, am I dog-tired everyday! You see, I have a preferred way of doing things and striving to meet my own set of standards when it comes to doing the laundry, cooking, taking care of my kid and keeping the house spic and span really drains me. There is really just no rest for the wicked!
Bottomline is things have got to change! I have to conscientiously devote some time to my online activities like selling and freelance writing… and that should include updating this blog. After all, I sometimes use this to showcase my writing skills to supplement my sample articles and rewrites.
So here I go again… I will try my darnest to update this blog more often (fingers and toes crossed!).
