UP

I have always expected a Disney/Pixar movie to be visually entertaining and exciting. They always produce superior quality to every animation they offer to the public. Everything is done meticulously. The movie is almost life-like.

Almost always too, a Disney/Pixar movie touches the hearts of both its young and adult audience. To me, they never fail. Among their movies, I love Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Cars. UP will be an addition.

What I never expected from UP is the quite heavy emotional presentation of the first few minutes of the film. Well yes, there were the brothers and sisters of Nemo, including her mother, eaten by a large fish. That was sad. Nemo was left without a mother but a very loving father, albeit overprotective, cared for him.

UP took us to a journey of two bright-eyed kids from their childhood to their young life up to the last moments of their lives - childless, the wife passed away leaving his husband alone after being together almost all their lives. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking to watch. Imagine the silent heaves and sighs of the dads and moms watching the movie.

One scene still unexpected was the old man, Mr. Carl Fredricksen, hitting a man on the head because he accidentally bumped the mail box which served as one of the many memories of his wife. There was blood. Ooh. The adventure unfolded from this scene.

The government asked Mr. Carl to sell his house and live in a retirement house. That just couldn't happen. Off he set-up his house with thousands of colorful helium balloons, fly and live the adventure his wife had always wanted to fulfill. She actually wanted to build their house atop a waterfall in South America.

Enter the adorable boy, Russel. Oh boy, he's such a cutie you want to cuddle him. I love his voice and the his antics. I love how passionate he is with his role as a Junior Wilderness Explorer. Mr. Carl's trip to South America was so much fun because of this spunky little boy, the dog named Dug, the chocolate-loving bird named Kevin. She's a female by the way.

Marvel at the visuals but all the more marvel about rediscovering life's adventures, the joy of fulfilling a promise, giving a helping hand to those in need and welcoming other people in your life. Life goes on, life is good. UP is humor and heart.

What's Your Name?

I am pretty sure you have done this also. I was fond of scribbling possible names of my future children when I was in college. I did this randomly. Sometimes my thoughts wander while reviewing for a certain subject and automatically, for a second, I write down different names I prefer when that time comes that I will have my own children. It put a silly smile on my face (remembering it now, it gave me a big grin).

I have always wanted two first names for my children. Maybe because I have a very short name which is really quite generic. I feel like my name is a root word. I wanted some fancy name for my son or daughter. Fancy but not saccharine sweet. I like names that are timeless. There is a pair of names which I really preferred. I wrote them down and held them in my heart. I know that when I bring a daughter to this world, that will be her name.

Of course I also have connected my favorite names to the surname of my boyfriend then (who became my husband, good to note) and see if they sounded good. They did, they do! :) Everything was settled. That will be my daughter's name.

Her names taken together mean "a noble man", or woman in this case. Here she is, my lovely daughter, Andrea.


Let me brag a little and congratulate my daughter and her group for bagging the winning corkboard they created during their summer stint at Club Orange Juice. I have shared about it in my previous post, My Daughter's "First Job".

Picture below is from the Club OJ site.


***Read more about what's behind the names of the kids of mommy participants at Mommy Journey.

Balancing the Scale

I just needed to change my template. This looks like a table cloth. It's green, it's dainty and it has flowers. This is not me and I don't know why I like it. Edited, 8.17.09, 10:08AM. Obviously I was not able to stand the green, flowery, table-cloth like template. Too dainty for me. I opted to go back to my old template. End of edit.

In an unrelated matter, I finally used TweetDeck for my Twitter updates. I love it! It's more organized than Twitter and I can easily read updates. I use Twitter for two things - number one would be for my microblogging and number two would be updates from different news tweets and what's the latest on Hollywood. I am informed right away what is happening around the globe which is also vital with my kind of work.

This tweet update got me interested, from CNNMoney.com's Ask the Expert, "Retired at 38, Reality vs. Fantasy". The email sender has $900,000 and tired of the highly pressuring corporate life.

In a nutshell, the expert advised not to retire at the drop of the thought but take on simpler jobs, reduced hours and see how he will find living a simpler, slower paced life. It could be the younger one retires, the more money one needs.

Take that in Philippine setting. How much is $900,000? At the current conversion rate, that would be P43M. Yes, he can very well retire, build a ten-door townhouse or apartment for rent and invest some in stocks. But this comes to mind, if I have that money, will I retire this early?

Definitely I will invest my money on more real estate properties and stocks (with extra caution on this one). Financially, I will ensure the future of my daughter and my family. I will indulge on my interests like traveling with my family and pamper myself and my family on a number of occasions. I will set aside bigger amounts for my church and other charitable institutions for senior citizens and street children.

Being an entrepreneur as what I have been trying to master now is a totally different discussion so let me leave that part. So back to the question, can I really leave my work? Work for me is a source of good income and benefits. But additionally, it is one of the ways I enrich my social life and a great venue for continuous learning. I love interacting with the different people I meet in and out of my job. Sure I can also do that even without a job but it could be more limited.

Sometimes too, it's not all about money. A change in lifestyle when one retires has a big emotional impact one might not be prepared to take on. I want to slow down once in a while but my body system looks for a fast-paced life. Multi-tasking is my brand of heroin if I may borrow a line from Edward Cullen.

I always tell this to myself, I should be enjoying what I am doing so that I will not drag myself to work everyday. It's a personal decision of wanting to hold a career and continue balancing the scale. Taking a sabbatical is a good thing if work pressure is taking its toll. We all need to breathe some fresh air after all.

Cory Aquino, the Mother

I have not posted anything about the late ex-president of the Philippines, Mrs. Cory Aquino. It's not that I am obligated to do it but I really want to. I just couldn't find the time. All I post these days are short entries in my two blogs since I need to be quick in front of the computer. I can't really seem to create a post that will be longer than fifty words. Should I blame it on Twitter which reduces my thoughts into 140 characters?

I am so late about giving due respect to a great person. So late that what was in the news this morning was already about Tita Cory's nomination to sainthood. Hmmm.....

I belong to a different faith and I am not a fan like 90% of the people I read online. But I do acknowledge and admire Cory Aquino's beauty as a person. Her sincerity, courage and passion were clearly felt and understood by the Filipinos.

What I admire most about Cory is her being a mother. I want to believe her leadership stems from her being a great mother. This is what endeared her the most to the Filipino people. The Philippines is a matriarchal society in the sense that the woman generally holds (or is expected to hold) responsibility in the sustenance and protection of the clan or the family. Cory Aquino proved to be one - a mother who loved her children unconditionally.

Cory is like my mother. My mother is God's wonderful gift to us, her children (with my loving father of course) - rejoicing with her children during good times, ably supporting her children during challenging times. There never was a bad seed. My mother, just like Cory, always nurtures us, her children and grandchildren, is never demanding and values integrity above everything.

And that is how I will remember Cory. A mother who always trusts, cares and serves as the family's tower of strength.

Metro Station

My daughter loves listening to music. She has her long list of favorites in varying genres. Tops on her list are The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, David Archuleta. I favor David Archuleta among her preferences. He has easy listening music and the boy's personality is just so pleasant. He always smiles and he looks so neat. Next time he visits the country, we will definitely watch his concert.


There are also bands which my daughter listens to like Paramore, Hey Monday and Metro Station. She is into that stage that a little loud music seems cool must-listen to. Imagine how excited she was when Metro Station will be performing in the nearby mall. I promised her we would watch.


I research about whatever interests my daughter. I want to know what kind of music she listens to, who are these bands. It's not just to find out if I should put some restriction when I find them inappropriate for her but more like I want to be able to relate to what she is watching or listening to at the moment. Sometimes I find myself getting really interested. I have fun talking to her about her favorite artists.


We trooped to the mall a few hours before the start of the concert. I was thinking maybe there will not be much people around since this band is not that well known in the Philippines. But boy when we got there, the line was long already. The band is quite popular with the tweens and the teens. We have to line up two hours before the start of the concert. We shopped first since our receipts will serve as our tickets to enter the activity area. Is this a good marketing strategy of the mall or what.


My daughter was all smiles as she lined up to have her CD signed by each of the band members.

The kids were jumping and dancing as shown in the first picture even if the concert has not yet started. They were just watching the videos of the band shown on stage. The concert started and my daughter went inside. I opted to stay in the background as this concert proved to be too noisy for me. Our line did not get to the photo-opportunity but we were able to sign the Metro Station CD she bought.


She treasures this signed CD a lot. Goodness, they look like doodles to me. I could have signed it myself that way. Hahaha.

I noticed Chino Lui-Pio while near the line. This is one of her favorite Video Jocks on Myx, a local MTV-type channel. I told her to go to him and ask for a pose. He gladly obliged. That was a nice gesture.

That's entertainment for my daughter. I was entertained seeing how my daughter appreciated her encounter with one of her favorite bands.

***More of entertainment pictures at Photo Hunt .