8 Things I Have Yet to Tell my Wife

Today is our 8^th wedding anniversary and it still amazes me how on Earth my wife was able to survive (and continue to live on) my craziness, antics, tantrums, laziness and unpredictable ways for eight long years.

8 years. That’s 96 months or 384 weeks or 2880 days.

As part of my anniversary gift, I will finally tell her things that I have kept in me for such a long time.

1. I am still not a fan of ampalaya. But thank you mahal for patiently serving me bitter melon in different ways that I can eat it. You’re the only person who was able to persuade me to try this gulay and actually shallow it. Before, the only vegetable dishes that I eat are French fries, coleslaw and tempura.

2. I steal a kiss from you while you were sleeping when I come back from the bathroom at night. Where? In depends what part of you is not covered with blanket.

3.  Whenever you see toys scattered on the floor every morning, it’s not only Charles who did it. More often I am the culprit. Sorry. Sometimes I would still play with a Matchbox or Hotwheels car imagining me, you and Charles traveling to every place we wanted to go without any worries that we have work next day.

4.  Sometimes when I said I am not feeling well and can’t come with you, it’s actually just a basketball game that I don't want to miss. I still dream that someday you’ll finally learn to like the game I so love to play and watch. Well, at least you did accompany me during an NBA event  even you can't identify who Michael Jordan is then. Dami mong ganda points nun and lalo ko na-in love sa'yo for joing me at the Big Dome.

5. I cheated every time we play rock-paper-scissors. The good news is I can assure you those were the only times I cheated on you. Well, I did adjust the scoring functions of the videoke machine one time when we had a one-on-one singing challenge and that’s it.     

6. I will not get you a Starbucks planner this year. Yes, you'll not have the 2015 version and sorry my love if the chain will be broken this year. I just feel that we’ve been spending a lot getting THE planner. I have better plans.

7. It hurts me so much inside whenever we had our petty fights. The more if I see you sad or sick. If only life is perfect that things will always go as we planned or things that make you lonely or disappointed are avoidable, I’ll trade a year of not watching basketball or The Walking Dead Game of Thrones just for you (or pwede one month lang?).

8. I married you not because I want someone who I can live with for the rest of my life but it’s because I can’t live without you in my life.

Happy anniversary, Mahal ko! I love you!  

Seven things I learned from my wife

 

December 2 is a special day.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor of France in Paris. Twelve years later, the first savings bank in the US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society).  British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States at the New York City Theatre in 1867. If you want something from the Pinoy history book, well, The Battle of Tirad Pass or the Philippine-American war was happened in 1899.

Some useless trivia? December 2 is the date when a human birth was first shown on TV (1952); Ringo Starr's tonsils were removed (1964); Barbara Striesand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1 (1978) and the first time there were a dozen people in space.

Personally, it’s one of the most important dates in my life. Not only because it’s Britney Spears birthday but it’s the day when Leah and I tied the knot on 2006. Yup, it’s quite a journey and we can proudly say that we have survived what many consider as the seven–year itch.

I don’t intend to cover  in this post the years that Leah and I have gone through together because I can’t. I’ll need a lifetime to retell all the wonderful things and even the trials that we have shared through the years. What I can write now are a few things that I find more memorable since I learned them from my wife.

1.    You don’t peel ampalaya or bitter melon. On our first week as a married couple, I tried to prove to Leah that I also eat ampalaya. I told her that I cook the best bitter melon with scrambled eggs dish ever. She did like it alright. She like it that she could not stop laughing at the sight of peeled ampalaya for breakfast.

2.    You don’t use a knife while getting stuff the freezer. On our first month, I told my wife that I want to maximize the use of our fridge. Instead of buying 5-peso ice cubes from our next door store, I’ll make use of ice bags to save some coins. It just happened that one ice bag was a little sticky that I need to use a knife to take it off. I heard her said not to use a pointed object but it’s too late, I hit the Freon tube in my first try and the next day we got billed P3,500 for service and Freon refill.

3.    Britney Spears, Cristina Aguillera and Mandy Moore rocks! Before I met Leah, I thought music was all about The Beatles, Eraserheads, Robbie Williams, The Wuds, or any guy who can rock the stage. We had only a portable CD player in our house before and we share most of the time. She use it from morning to evening and I get to hold it a few minutes before I fall as sleep. The result: I was converted into a Britney’s slave after just three weeks of listening to her songs at home.

4.    Wearing pink will not make you a lesser man. When I was still single, my cabinet used to contain only two things: black shirts and others. I am very comfortable wearing dark colored tops because they’re basically wash and wear. People will not notice if you’re armpits are heavily perspiring in it. When my wife and I found out that our first baby was a girl, her first decision was to paint our room pink. Do you expect me to argue with my pregnant wife? In the same year, she bought me a pink polo shirt. From then on, I was embracing this fashion called “The Pink and Black Attack.”

5.    I can be strong on a dark day. My first experience as a father only lasted for almost 12 hours. Our baby Monique was not able to survive after my wife underwent an emergency procedure. I was there for my daughter from the very moment she was put in an incubator up to the moments of her last breath. I was emotionally and physically tired since I never expected that after two weeks in the hospital, my wife will have an unfortunate delivery. I postponed the pouring of my tears because if there is someone who’s hurting the most, it’s my wife. I wore a brave face every time I talked to her and would whisper to her “Everything will be okay” with a heavy heart. After two years, we got our prayers answer with our second child bringing new a life to our relationship.

6.    Anyone can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad. I am so glad I have Leah as my wife to raise a wonderful blessing we call Charles. We agreed that we will impose a “no spanking” policy at home no matter and whatever Charles does. We discipline him with words and make him realize what will happen if he will do things that are nice.  I would like to believe that fatherhood made me more patient, understanding and somewhat special.

7.  Married life is beautiful. I’ve always see life as a wonderful gift. I have loved, failed, took a risk again and won the heart of the most amazing person I’ve ever known.  I can’t imagine life without Leah. She is my best friend, shopping companion, dining table seatmate, roommate and  partner for life, or should I say my life.

Thank you for coming to my life, my dearest Leah. Thanks for all the learning and I hope to be a better person that you truly deserved in the years to come.  Here's a line from one of your favorite Britney Spears song: "All I really want is to hold you tight Treat you right, be with you day and night. All I really want is to hold you tight, be with you day and night."
 

No to TAMAD, Yes to TESDA

Most Filipinos get offended when they are branded as tamad or lazy.

You hear the word almost every day from annoyed wives to their complacent spouses...  upset parents to their easy-go-lucky children... angry bosses to their unproductive employees... and even from unsatisfied citizens to ineffective government officials.

We get offended by the word but still, we don’t do anything to improve the situation (tamad nga, eh.)

That’s why tamad is often associated to the tambays (bums) and people who finds joy spending the the whole day staring at the wall. I also came out with my own meaning for TAMAD as in Taga-abang ng Awa ng Magulang At Diyos. 

The unemployment rate in Philippines, a country with a 92-million population, was last reported at 6.9 percent in April this year.  I am not saying that all of those belonging to the statistic are lazy individuals because there are a lot of factors that led to people to being unemployed. 

Some blame it to the lack of opportunities in our country  but believe it or not, there are still tens of thousands of unfilled positions in the BPO sector alone on top of the 638,000 people already hired in the industry in 2011. 

The real issue is while many Filipinos apply for work in IT-BPO companies, at present the hiring rate is just 5 to 10%. Most applicants do not make the cut because they lack the necessary qualifications, skills, and professional expertise. Now, if you’re someone who spent months or even years looking for a job but only gets rejected in every attempt , more likely you’ll be a tambay and eventually get used to it until you get labelled as tamad.

But this should not be happening since the national government have been reaching out  the unemployed, youth and elderly and OFW sector in enhancing the skills and capability of willing individuals to be more productive and employable.  One of the forefront of such initiatives is the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), now on its 18^th year of service, which has launched innovative approaches in implementing training programs.

Villanueva during the presentations of the donated buses from Genesis Transport Services, Inc. for TESDA's classroom on wheels project.
(Photo credit: www.tesda.gov.ph)

Under the leadership of Director General Joel Villanueva, TESDA has launched classrooms on wheels, TESDA Online or TOP and other programs especially created to the less privileged who can’t afford high-cost education. Villanueva envisions that his programs will bring tech-voc trainings to the grassroots by offering the flexibility of distance learning without sacrificing the quality of teaching. After the training, enrolees can go to the nearest TESDA-accredited centers nationwide to get accessed and certified. 

People can also opt to enroll in any TESDA training centers if they prefer to experience a classroom style approach and choose from different courses from automotive to caregiver training  to electronics and a lot more. You can visit www.tesda.gov.ph for the complete list of courses offered and other details.

 Now, there’s definitely no reason to be tamad because as what they say, “Sa TESDA, May Choice Ka!”  

This blog post is officially entered in the TESDA Blog Contest. I hope you can share and/or like my entry by visiting the TESDA official fan page.