Back again June 19, 2009
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Academe, Family, Here and Now, Work Life.add a comment
Netopia, Vega, LB – Here I am in a public Internet shop again, after more than a year since Smartbro came into my life, writing on this site and uploading pictures on another site. Reason: I have to give in to a family pressure to post the pictures of our post-summer “gimmick” last weekend via my new and first-ever digicam.
Anyway, I began to discover blogging and cyber life through this Internet shop. So it’s like a reunion of sorts. But it’s different to do online writing right at the confines of your own physical space. There’s no built-in pressure. Here, I’m doing the act because I must do something while waiting for the uploads to finish. The speed is more manageable than the Net connection at home, but it still leaves much to be desired.
Anyway, my FS blog I closed and my entries there I imported and uploaded on this site sans the pictures accompanying the texts though. Better than losing the texts altogether. There’s another blogsite I keep at Multiply. I write differently there. More of the spur-of-the-moment type of writing. And it’s meant for fewer readers.
First Sem. This semester ushered in with a promise of work and and a host of responsibilities. I have 2 undergrad teaching assignments and 1 graduate class. And as a student, I have one graduate class to attend at UPD-CMC. It is always a full week. I must wake up at 6 a.m., report to work by 8 a.m., go home from school the earliest at 7 p.m., and sleep by 1 a.m. I don’t want to elaborate.
Yet I enjoy the stress and gain strength from the thought that a full life is worth living.
Easy like a Sunday morning March 8, 2009
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Comfort Zone, Family, Here and Now, Memory, Visuals.2 comments
You woke up after an eight-hour sleep and felt breezy. Spotted two wild birds resting on the fence just outside the screen of the dirty kitchen. Wasn’t that a good sign of things about to happen during the day?
Maybe yes. When you have all the time in this world, you can literally smell the flowers and blend the fruits. That I concretely did this morning, one Sunday when Summer began to unfold like a seasonal guest.
Went to LB after late mass this morning to pick up some fresh flowers Mommy asked me to buy for our altar. I bought some too for empty vessels waiting for fresh blooms. I love Summer! Because flowers bloom and smell extra good.
On my way home I dropped by a fruit stand and bought some fresh mangoes and bananas to have them processed as fruit shake, good sip while working this hot day. You know it’s summer…
Summer reminds us of good old days. When chimes get swayed by the wind. When we can literally eat lunch outside under natural canopy. When reading gets the best out of us in the lull of afternoon with nothing but your book, rocking chair, and pillow to transport you to the thrill and riveting flow of life.
And the day isn’t enough to read, frolic, and laze around because it’s Summer and to be idle is guilt-free.
A writer’s journal February 14, 2009
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Family, Here and Now, Memory.add a comment
Sometimes I have to force myself to write. Like now. Because only in writing can I make events alive and their memories documented.
The week that was. It was an exhaustive week. We sat in the conference committee of Ikatlong Tanghal, the National University Theater Festival hosted by Letran-Calamba from 10th to 14th of February. It was a delight listening to voices of theater artists, managers, mentors, and students all over the country, along with some foreign delegates, expressing one common passion: arts. National Artist for Literature Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera stayed during the entire duration of the conference-workshop-festival to synthesize in the end what direction the University Theater in the country should take.
New book. What a nice Valentine’s gift! My good friend Pearl gifted me with Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, a fiction that sounds like the sci-fi-thrill-genre of Dan Brown: always moving, relentlessly suspense-full, mysterious. I’ve started the first few pages this morning, and I know I can’t stop flipping through the remaining pages when the story reaches the height of its twists and turns. Crichton is the author of such celebrated sci-fi books, the most popular of which is Jurassic Park. He is also the creator of the equally popular TV series ER. This book, by the way, is part of the bulk of books brought home by Pearl from the United States last Christmas season.
Funny V-Day message. From co-author and good friend Nina, I got this funny Valentine’s (or Valentime’s) message:
If only for the soul and believing in the heart, love flows in a river–sweet of heartache.
True.
So let it be said that what seemed to know that it should be… forever. Happy valentime. Hehehe.
Feb Fair. Tired from our aero session and just had fun from eating our Valentine’s dinner together, we trekked to UPLB’s Feb Fair. It was virtually a fiesta. The entire campus was filled with all kinds of people walking, having fun, frolicking, eating, dating, singing, dancing, buying items, taking photo ops, and a lot more. My nieces and nephews and I couldn’t feel comfortable with the massive crowd, we decided to get out of the campus and dropped by McDo-Vega where there were lesser people. We were one of the last customers of this food stop. No wonder it was almost 12 a.m.
We walked on our way out of Grove. We met familiar faces, most of whom were my Letran students, hehehe. We had fun strolling that wee hour. They laughed at me running after jeepneys because I was sort of worried we couldn’t go home on time for the curfew set by their parents. I was their mere chaperone you know. They wouldn’t be allowed to get out to the Fair without me. But it was fun, more so when rains suddenly poured down on our way home until we transferred to a tricycle delivering us to our gate. All’s well that ends well.
The latest about my Christmas lamps December 8, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Comfort Zone, Family, Visuals.Tags: Interior Design
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After posting here and in my Facebook site the Christmas candle lamps hanging on the arch dividing my study and our dining area, a recent change took place for the better.
This positive change was influenced by (1) a blog comment from one of my most admired blogosphere writers and (2) literature advice ["real home ideas"]. I hope I am able to do enough justice for these elegant native hanging lamps. I’m not sure about the artistry of my arrangement. Maybe I can do better. Meantime, here’s how things look now…
Just like in a thesis, I’d like to cite my references, ehem, hehehe. 
Making a difference [in interior design] December 7, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Comfort Zone, Family, Visuals.Tags: Interior Design
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At the height of Pacman euphoria, there I was at the Kutitap candle | crafts stall at Robinson’s LB grabbing hanging lamps on sale from 10 to 50% off. Funny I must be at home watching the dream match, but I took that rare opportunity to visit the local mall when more people were glued on TV.
I bought three items on sale: one in orange, another in light blue, and the last in my fave shade of yellow. Now, they are hanging on the arch dividing my study and the dining area. My impulse to buy these hanging lamps was triggered by yesterday’s edition of House Life in Q11. The resident interior designer mentioned that hanging lights or lamps can accentuate an area or provide a focal point. Very true, now my arch is given more emphasis by the hanging lamps which is further accented by the Christmas garlands center of the arch.
The total effect looks like this. The entire arch with the hanging lamps provides a dramatic ambiance for the dining table that looks like ready, spruced and dressed up, for Christmas dinner. In P700+, I was able to create a difference in the house interior design. What can you say about this Tristan Jovellana? Wahehe.
Christmas comes early on November November 20, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Angst, Distant Past, Family, Here and Now, Metaphors for Life, Musings, Visuals.2 comments
For some, Christmas is associated to the mushy and melodramatic. It may be true but to most of us Christmas is the most joyful season of the year, and the longest celebration, in fact, for Pinoys. It is the object of sentimental editorials and essays and short stories. Yes, Virginia… Read O Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” and discover that Christmas is about making other people happy.
For a former Canossian like myself, Christmas meant acting out the Nativity during Christmas program or saving enough, to the point of having meager foods during Christmas Party, so we could give to the poor or the sick in the hospitals. That corporal work of mercy would earn us points in the form of putting hand-made poinsentia in a large branch of tree assembled by the good sisters in the school lobby. That early, we were taught that Christmas is being selfless and it could only be meaningful when shared to another.
As a grownup, when I began to earn my own money, Christmas would mean giving cash gifts to kids in the family and tokens to adults including my two sets of parents and other elderlies. Still, it lives to its true meaning of sharing. I couldn’t remember any Christmas done without giving a part of myself to others.
This year, Christmas comes early in the house. God gave me early gifts of a good new work, healthy family members, happiness and comfort shared by friends, and the hope for the future that looms large in the horizon. I couldn’t ask for more.
Tonight I dropped by my fave woodcraft stall and bought a wooden cart, which looks so like a child toy, with some greens of the season sporadically splashed around it. There I put inside it, in the cart, old gold Christmas balls kept from the previous seasons. This reminds of my Christmas as a child when that season was nothing but a genuine act of giving and sharing without expecting anything in return. Best way to look at Christmas is to view it through the naive eyes of a kid. Enough said.
The colors of Christmas are gold, red, and green. On our center table now sits a native basket where lie balls, bells, and abaca angels in gold, red, and green. This is homegrown Christmas at its best. When you’re tired from a whole-day work gearing up and decorating for the season eases the pains. It is the spirit of sharing one’s creativity and flair for colors that works here.
These make me pause… and love life more November 17, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Angst, Family, Here and Now, Musings, Work Life.Tags: introspection, joyful season
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There are moments when you feel like the world is so kind: life stops to give you a better view of what really matters–a great time with the family, words of encouragement from friends, inspirations from people you least expect are capable of making you happy, support you get from co-workers who welcome you in a place they’ve grown so familiar with, simple moment of introspection you get by merely looking at lights one Sunday night.
They compensate for our little troubles in life. One moment we forget about the malfunctioning operations of Friendster [and discover the joy of Multiply, hehe]… unkind [silent] treatment from people we grew to respect and accept as part of our pains in the neck [life wouldn't be the same without them, mind you]… waking up early and sleeping less and less [but still finding the time to take two-hour nap during unlikely opportunities]… learning things the hard [sometimes slow] way.
But both of which [the joy and trouble of living] make life worth pursuing. We wake up in the morning with the thought that regardless, there are more inspiring people than otherwise, more time to read [despite work], and write our own memoir [looking at our varied roles as works in progress]… filling out spaces we know are there to make us strive and become persons our better selves deserve.
Yeah, this is a nice prelude to Christmas: that perfect moment when everything you can see seems to transform into the “true, good, and beautiful.” The child in me yearns for it, aching hard to write more about it. I’ll do every moment I could. Let this be the start of feel-good writing [on the side senti musing|mushy trip down the memory lane] recognizing the joy, spirit, and angst of this Season. Expect more. I’ll give all.
Looks familiar November 8, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Distant Past, Family, Here and Now, Musings.6 comments
Did it ever happen to you meeting some folks who looked so the same some familiar persons in your life?
I think it happened to me at least thrice.
Once I’ve seen a woman in the Sunday church who resembled the features of my late Nanay. I couldn’t help but cry in my room that day. I couldn’t explain it. Was that reincarnation? A ghost apparition? A coincidence? One of life’s mysteries? Maybe none of these could explain how we become emotional when we see someone who recreates a figure in our lives who is now gone.
One time we were eating in a new fastfood stop outside the campus, we saw someone who looked like my former boss and predecessor in the research department. Did she stay? Didn’t leave at all? Her alter ego? Whatever. That may be fun because the person is still around, alive, somewhere. There our speculative instinct worked.
Just recently, I met in the jeepney on the road home someone who looked so like an old friend. Maybe he was that person. Only he never grew mature. He looked much younger. What could probably explain that again? His younger brother? I don’t know. But as I’ve told once in an earlier blog entry, we get to recognize the real person we know as a character from our past through his|her eyes. Because our eyes do not change across time, or so they say. So no matter how that reincarnated, resurrected, born-anew guy eludes recognition he|she could be identified by a mere look into his|her eyes. He was not that person. I know.
So the next time you meet a person who looks like your parent, former boss, or long-time-no-see friend, think again, take a second look, because with a blink of an eye you’re off to a real re-discovery of your past.
Family Moment! November 1, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Angst, Comfort Zone, Family, Here and Now, Musings.2 comments
It’s the first Sunday of November and the air smells of barbecue and other leftover foods (hehehe!). We intend to eat outside in a place a few steps away from our houses right at the heart of our compound, at our backyard, inside our fences. We call that nook our park.
Surely, it will be a fun lunch. This is the last time we’ll ever enjoy what’s left of the quick break. Tomorrow’s another regular day at work minding adult matters, grownup consequences. We look forward to the long Christmas break when family again takes centerstage amid the flurry and frenzy of the season.
Family and real friends stay. They don’t hibernate or leave you hanging. They respect you for who you are. They understand. They forgive. They stay.
I’d love to be surprised. Family and true friends are capable of doing that. When I get to bump with former students, officemates, or classmates, I could not help but get goose bumps or grow excited because they remember, they stay.
They don’t treat you like you’re begging for their time or hungry for their attention. That’s why true friends and a loving family surprise you with the unforeseen, love you, rub you until the most authentic part of you emerges, real.
And so the barbecue lunch-cum-party beckons. The aroma of foods stay. Maybe linger, long enough to make us salivate or yearn (hahaha!). This is family time at its best! We’re here to stay. Yes, for good.
Some Life’s Little Lessons October 11, 2008
Posted by bobbetrevilla in Family, Lists.2 comments
What a week! I have had a lot this week. Overwhelming things, inevitable changes. It’s nice going back to some events, and listing down across them some life’s little lessons.
- Quick talk with Father Rector Monday morning. It lasted for less than five minutes. Very casual and amiable. I didn’t expect his trust to me could only be expressed in a few words.
- Brief meeting with Dean Au. She trusted me enough too to let me go.
- Transition meeting with Ma’am Silon. It went on longer than expected. She informally endorsed to me some works I have to confront as she turns over her post to me come November. We couldn’t help but go back to works we’ve done together like my five-year stint as research moderator at R&DD and the one-year stay I’ve had at PCARRD where we were both project staff.
- Three-hour conversation with Ria, whom we are grooming for the languages and communication post I’ll be leaving behind. I couldn’t help but feel the cycle of life in the academe, this time, it’s my turn to mentor a new leader, giving tribute to those who have mentored me in the past.
- Pearl’s Chowking treat. Fresh from their Hong Kong trip, she made us try new Chowking branch at Letran. I enjoyed the halo-halo along with other friends and faculty colleagues plus the session we had to socialize our anxieties. Hahaha.
- My communication theory students’ group communication projects. Despite their limitations, they were able to explore various sites of communication process. Samples: the communication process in Calamba City prison cells, among Rizalistas and fraternity members; a communication research on media consumption (TV in particular) among Letran students; not to mention those who have tried to capture the communication process in the classroom. Kudos to my AB Comm students!
- My graduate class this morning. This is my second trimester to handle Org Comm among students old enough to surpass me in the area of professional experience. But that’s the challenge. With lesser students this time (7), comprised among others of my former boss in the R&DD and one NFA finance officer from Nueva Ecija, I couldn’t avoid being overwhelmed again. The change in my audience, from undergrads to professionals, makes me see the transition of my role. Maybe this is what Paolo Freire means by pedagogy (or adult learning). Because I see myself teaching my graduate students the technology of contemporary communication, starting with how to gain access to an electronic group (and I have to teach the process step-by-step, hehehe).
- Finding the time to read Butch Dalisay, Randy David, and Barbara Gonzalez again–on-line–after months of hiatus. They are my writing icons. As you can see, they’re part of the list that says “who I want to meet” (Friendster Profile).
- Bon’s birthday. He’s one of my early inaanaks, so I couldn’t miss it. I’ll end this list with a picture of how a typical family salu-salo happens in our kin. Probably festive is the word. For a family known to love “mountainous” foods (that’s how our US-based cousin Euge would call the phenomenon, hehehe), no wonder this latest one was replete with our traditional delicacies again capped with laughters, endless kuwentuhan, and fun. Thank God for the gift of family!
