bluebacon

The Back-to-School PAC Meeting/Social was this evening. Unlike in the past, I think this the meeting that I was least prepared for, least excited about, but at the same time felt like it was more important than the back-to-school meetings we've had in the past. I think it's mostly because we have a new principal, some new PAC Execs and staff... it was interesting to see how we would all work together this year. Overall I thought it went well. Not looking forward to school starting, not because I don't like school, but mostly because driving 15 km every morning in traffic is starting to get really old. I am however excited that this will be my last year as PAC Chair. My goodness, what will I do with all that free time next year??! That's a trick question. I'm sure something will come up to replace the void that PAC chairmanship will leave in my schedule. I am quite delighted with the people I have in place in the PAC Exec this year. In fact I am doing less leg wo...

I had previously talked about Home Teaching, this time I thought I'd share something about Visiting Teaching. That''s what I did tonight with my Visiting Teaching companion, we went to visit the sisters from the church who are assigned to us. What is the purpose of Visiting Teaching? The Purpose of Visiting Teaching Is to Minister. How do we minister? Pray daily for the sister that we visit and her family. Seek inspiration to know her and her family. Visit her regularly to learn how she is doing and to comfort and strengthen her. Stay in frequent contact through visits, phone calls, letters, e-mail, text messages, and simple acts of kindness. Greet her at Church meetings. Help her when she has an emergency, illness, or other urgent need. Teach her the gospel from the scriptures and the visiting teaching messages. Inspire her by setting a good example. Again, as an introvert, I struggled with becoming a Visiting Teacher at the beginning. I could only see it ...

It's a cliche to say that time goes by so quickly, but it's extra annoying when I realized that it's been five months since my first speech! I know I procrastinated a while before I could even give my first speech, but it was never my intention to prolong the whole endeavour. The Competent Communicator  manual has ten speeches and I really wanted to finish all the projects within the year. Okay maybe not ALL of them, but at least most of them. And me realizing that it's been almost half a year since my very first speech is so not acceptable. So I signed to do my second one today. And you know what? I have scheduled myself in advance for all my future speeches as well. Now that I took on the VP of Education for my Toastmasters Club, I have a better understanding of the broad scope of Toastmasters International's education program. I have decided that I will pursue the Leadership Track which means I will need to complete two manuals (Competent Communication and Comp...

Today was Bell's audition. She's trying out for Four Seasons Musical Theatre's production of High School Musical this fall. And although we don't know if there's any room for younger kids in this production, she didn't care and just wanted to go for it anyway. I was in the waiting room and even with the door closed, I heard her belting it out in the audition. I was so proud of her. I AM proud of her. I am amazed at her level of confidence and ability to identify goals and ambitions, to be able to brush off fear and anxiety, which I myself would normally have around performances, or with anything really. I know Bellie tends to resent too much structure at times, so for her to be able to just pick out her own song and perform it the way she wants to, is something I really admire. As a side note, I met the show's producer who happens to be Eduardo's friend from the Y, who organized the SPCA Paws for a Cause back in 2009, whose dog we borrowed so we coul...

It's been a super long day and I need to write this entry quickly before I crash for the day. I carpooled with my visiting teaching companion, her husband and another friend. We caught the 6am ferry which surprisingly, was a super cool time slot to take the ferry. We thought the ferry would be  full, but most people just decided to sleep in their cars instead of  lining up at the cafeteria to have breakfast. For a sailing that supposedly was 75% full, the whole ferry felt like it was empty! I couldn't believe how fast time flew by -- it's been almost a year since I last went to the temple! The last time I went was in Salt Lake City, the morning before my sister-in-law's wedding. We had to cram temple work into our crazy busy schedule that day just because, when else are we going to be in Salt Lake City again?? Plus everyone kept saying that we had to experience the live performance during the endowment sessions. Anyway, I digress... after we got back from our trip t...

Three weeks ago I was contacted by the Development staff from the film festival, who reached out to me if I would have time to chat with her about fundraising in the arts. I was recommended to her by her boss who said that it might be good for her to chat with someone who has had a long time background experience with fundraising in the arts. Of course I said yes, and I really was genuinely happy to help. Today we met up and ended up chatting for almost two hours! The part that really surprised me was -- I knew what I was talking about! I didn't have notes nor did I stumble answering anything. Based on my experience, I actually had enough concrete examples to give to her of projects I worked on, do's and don'ts that worked for me, best practices, tips, strategies and ideas that she could actually apply to her job. It reminded me of my last work interview when I realized, I really don't need to be nervous or panic anymore when talking about work-related matters because...

Photo taken when I dropped them off at the bus pick up spot The kids are back from their first overnight camp ever! They made it, they survived! Better yet, WE survived! Admittedly, for the most part Eduardo and I acted and behaved to be the cool parents we usually are, which is a lot better than what I first anticipated I would react. Raine was the one who really wanted to go but then we made Bell go. We said he can only go if Bell went too, so in the end she felt obligated, which we didn't care too much about because really, she's the one with the survival skills between the two of them. When we first agreed to sign them up for the overnight camp and submitted the paperwork and everything, I did feel that knot in my stomach. The kind that's accompanied with the feelings of, "sure we'll let them go because we're awesome parents who have brought them up well and know that they will be responsible" with a mix of "holy fuck, am I going to be abl...

"Home teaching is the responsibility of all Melchizedek Priesthood holders and of those who are teachers and priests in the Aaronic Priesthood. As part of their responsibility to watch over the members of the Church, home teachers visit their assigned families at least once each month to teach and strengthen them. Home teachers establish a relationship of trust with these families so that the families can call upon them in times of need." In the beginning I really did not understand the need to have Home Teachers. We go to church for three hours every week. Those three hours are broken down into three parts: church service for the first hour, Sunday School for the second hour, and then for the last hour the women go to the Relief Society class and the men go to their Priesthood class. That's pretty substantial and well-rounded as far as covering gospel lessons. But then there are church activities at least once a month that involves the whole ward or just women from the...

Over the weekend, I finally got up the courage to do what I said I would do a few blog entries ago -- I applied for a Director of Development job. It took me four hours to complete the application. That's what happens when I get one of my low self-esteem panic attacks over a 200 character career impact statement . But once it passed and I was able to submit the application, I eventually relaxed and started dreaming big again. I decided to browse other jobs outside of my region. Just for fun. Out of curiosity. But searching within Canada was not cutting it, so I started browsing for international opportunities. This fundraising job with UNICEF totally caught my attention. I felt the tingle and itch to move. Especially because it was located in Geneva, Switzerland. I had to laugh at the thought. Imagine pitching that idea to Eduardo - LOL. I love Victoria and at long last I can actually say that I have found my home, but I will always be an adventurous person above all else and so ...

VWTH staff selfie with the total solar eclipse of 2017 Today was the once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse. This was taken outside the office with my work colleagues. They said you couldn't look directly at the sun because it was dangerous, so we viewed the eclipse through the shadow that it cast. Pretty cool and fascinating experience. As the sun slowly got covered by the moon, we could totally feel the temperature drop. We only had a 90% eclipse in Victoria but the light outside looked like as if you stepped outside with your sunglasses on. Amazing.

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but I started teaching Sunday School as of three months ago. I co-teach this class with my mother-in-law and we have a class of 10 students within the age of 9-11 years old. My very first church calling was the Relief Society Music Conductor. It was fine, it allowed me to familiarize myself with church hymns and taught me how to conduct. It was really easy and simple, but being me, I complicated things by really going through the different hymns in the whole hymn book until I found the perfect ones for each particular lesson each week. Choosing a song was one thing but then I'd get all rattled about practising my conducting as well. It wasn't meant to be a stressful calling, but I made it stressful for myself. Then a year later, I got promoted to the Ward Choir's Music Director. Would've been a great one for me if: 1) I really knew how to conduct, which I didn't, 2) members who joined the choir knew how to sing pro...

It's been four years since my last bike lesson with Eduardo. I don't know what prompted me to try again, but I actually initiated that he try to teach me again this afternoon. To be completely honest, I really see no use for having biking skills except for when the day comes that we run out of gas and there's a zombie apocalypse and I might need an alternate form of transportation instead of just running away from zombies on foot. That and it might be fun to learn just because the kids are biking on their own now. Actually I honestly don't mind at all when the rest of my family goes biking without me. Another opportunity to have alone time, but I know it would make the kids really happy if I just tried. But as expected, it was another disaster lesson. Well not really, but I was really hard on myself. It was frustrating just how difficult it was. I hate that it's once again another activity that requires me to relax. As you know, I don't do that very well. ...

I had a Scrabble date today with one of our donors. I wasn't doing it to practice my untapped major gift skills, I really did genuinely want to play Scrabble with her because I know she loves to play, she's really good at it too so I knew I wouldn't be playing against a novice, and lastly, I got these chocolate Scrabble tiles last Christmas as a present and I really don't have the heart to open it because it's just awesome. But it is food and it will go bad eventually if I didn't eat it, so I made the call that if I were to eat it, I would only share it with someone who would equally appreciate how adorable it is. And that was Christine. I'm not sure how old she is but she's probably in her 70s. She lives alone but a very active person. She attends events around town, in fact I knew her from the Opera as she was also a donor for POV. She's a very frank and a no-nonsense person which I find very comforting in this day and age. It was great to hang...

Yes you are not imagining things. That is a super giant pizza. A super giant pizza at the back of Eduardo's car, which I borrowed without permission in order to pick up the pizza. And this is the same super giant pizza in the middle of our bed as we prepared to watch TV while eating dinner. A 27-inch pizza to be exact. This was my bright idea to test out the menu for Bell's upcoming birthday party. The kids left today with grandma to spend a few days in Vancouver. It was the perfect time to test the pizza without them knowing so that we can surprise them with it at the party :)

So you know those apps that automatically come with your iPhone or automatically gets installed whenever there's a software update? Who really spends their time checking what those apps are all about? I mean, REALLY. Okay, I did. But only after what, two years of having those apps and also, only because I couldn't get up from my bed that morning after my crazy work event the night before which resulted to work-event-induced muscle pains. Plus I didn't particularly want to play Candy Crush that time, which is the only game I have on my phone. So what did I do? I went and tried to look for something else to fixate on my phone. My curiosity zeroed in on the Health App. There were four areas that it focused on. Activity, Sleep, Nutrition and Mindfulness. The Activity part was interesting. It measured my steps for each day and even kept track of what time of the day I made all those steps. But really, it's only effective as long as I have my phone with me, which I...

Throw-Back May 21, 2017: Chorfest 2017 Gala Performance Just got home from a wonderful get together with the BC Choral Federation's Victoria Chorfest 2017 Planning Committee. We did an evaluation and wrap-up of the amazing Chorfest weekend we had in May. What an amazing group of people. Although partly and closer to the event I was starting to regret taking on the hospitality portfolio of this festival, in the end, as exhausted as I was, I really did feel that it was a privilege to help bring this event together. It was also extra meaningful for me to see my kids take part in the children's stream of the festival and be given the opportunity to perform with children, youth and adults all over the province. 400 choristers plus professional orchestra musicians on stage. It was definitely a sight to remember. My heart was so full. And that's a wrap! One volunteer gig done. several more to wrap up in the course of the year.

Finally! A Table Topics speech that I can proudly say that I nailed! An impromptu speech with a strong introduction, body and conclusion, with humour, and most importantly -- all that within exactly two minutes! Yahoo!!! I'm crediting this accomplishment to my daily writing. It really did help! Just that ability to think on my feet and come up with something witty that makes sense. For the first time, I wasn't looking down half-praying that I don't get called on. This time, I made up my mind from the beginning that I will wing the Table Topics Speech, get up with confidence and make the most of what I've got. And it worked. It's really all in my head. I know now that it's really up to me to believe and push myself. You know what else I did? I didn't want to lose the momentum, so I decided to go ahead and schedule my next speech in advance. Not only that, but I decided that I will join the club level Inspiration & Humour Speech Contest at the end of S...

When my brother's family was visiting, we were introduced to an old high school friend of his who just recently moved to Victoria with his family. He has a Canadian wife and have two kids just slightly younger than Raine and Bell. Since then we've invited them camping with us and today we had their kids over at Grandma's house while he and his wife went grocery shopping. Afterwards we all had a BBQ at Grandma's. It's been a while since we've spent time at Grandma's backyard, especially with the sound of the kids playing. Since the Crespos left, we haven't really had a lot of social time with other families with kids. It was just a nice feeling meeting another family that we got along well and had similar Filipino values. I do hope they settle well and make Victoria their home.

Oh third-party events... Actually what I really meant was -- Oh events... What did I want to say about events? Oh right, that I hate them. I know, I know it sounds awfully harsh and judgmental but coming from me who's been doing a million of them a year for the last 17 years, I'm allowed to say that I don't like them. The other part that's annoying is I'm good at planning these stupid time suckers. I should clarify that my distaste for events has nothing to do with the cause or the charity. In fact that's probably what helps me keep going -- knowing the significant impact that each event does for the future of whatever charity it supports. But events for the heck of it -- ugh, screw those. But I can't discount that events are also a good source of learning. People skills, attention to detail, efficiency, diplomacy, high standards, organizational skills, planning skills, communication skills, leadership, management, class and finesse... you get them all o...

I came home from a longer than expected work day because we had to prep for an event. But since Eduardo was going to play basketball and the kids were at grandma's, I had an evening of glorious alone time to myself. Normal people would sit at home, watch TV, knit or do whatever it is that other people do when they have nothing else to do at home on a Friday night. But for me, I thought that this would be the perfect time to work on my conference scholarship application -- while having dinner in front of the TV... in the middle of my bed. What I wasn't expecting was to get stumped! The application asked me to write down three short-term career objectives and three long-term career objectives. I pulled up an older application I submitted in the past, thinking that I could rip off my answers and be done with this activity really quickly. But to my surprise, I have actually achieved a couple of the items I had listed as career objectives from a year and half ago. Okay, not a prob...

I'm not sure what's going in my head, but I've been having these recurring dreams. Two types of recurring dreams to be exact. One that I was having regularly, as in every day, for almost three years. And the other one is a recurring themed dream that is like a reminder or confirmation of the choices I have made. And just to be upfront, both dreams are annoying to me. Recurring Dream#1 It started around January of 2015. At first I didn't really pay attention to it. I still worked at the opera at that time, so really who had time to think about dreams or the way I saw it -- nightmares?! But months later I realized it kept repeating to the point that I stopped and thought back and realized it's been happening every day! What is the dream exactly? It's really stupid. I would dream that I would wake up in the middle of the night from my dream because I couldn't remember if I had brushed my teeth or not. Then I would actually wake up from my dream in real li...

I attended my first rowing lesson today, thanks to the rowing gift certificate I bid on at the South Park Auction this past Spring. I lucked out actually. There were three rowing gift certificates up for bidding but people seemed to only notice two of them so right before the silent auction closed, I bid on the third certificate which was still empty at that point, and got it for really cheap. I had never rowed before. I've kayaked but rowing is completely different, and as I quickly discovered, also required more rhythm and coordination than I thought. Let's just cut to the chase -- I was not coordinated. But in principle, I totally understood and could appreciate that it's a pretty awesome full-body exercise that puts no stress on any of the joints. I just wanted to try something new, that's why I bid on the certificate at the auction. It wasn't my intention to go pro or anything, but now I'm glad that I discovered another sport that I could potentially in...

I attended a YoUnlimited writing workshop tonight. The last time I went was when I was still new at my job and felt like I needed all the practice I could get because writing has become a major part of my job. But because it's always held on a Tuesday, nine months our of the year, I really wouldn't be able to go because it would coincide with choir rehearsal. So tonight I had no conflicts or prior engagement so I went. I have less issues now than I did at the beginning and was able to spontaneously write about whatever prompt was given, but the creativity still wasn't there. I was so amazed and in awe of the work that the other women were able to produce at such a short time frame! I'll get to that level again. One day.

Currently ruminating about the following: 17 Years since I left home... I'm three years away to twenty years of being away from my home country. Well, I really shouldn't call it "home" because I never really felt at home there, but you know what I mean -- that place where I was born and grew up. Seems like a long time but honestly, it has never felt long. And after visiting last year for the first time since I left, I also would never go back again. So instead of marking this day for how long I had been away, I'm going to commemorate it as the number of years since I started breathing fresh air! My Dad's Birthday... My dad is 80 years old today. Now that feels old. My mental image of him is still stuck back to when he was 50. My parents are in Pennsylvania right now. We almost got bullied and obligated into travelling there using the bait that it's my dad's 80th birthday. Not that I'm belittling this milestone or my dad, but I really need to ...

Tofino was a disappointment. I had such high hopes that because it's the middle of the summer, it would be warm enough to even go into the water and have an actual beach day with waves and everything, without having to wear a wet suit. Well... it turned out that yes you can go into the water at Tofino but there's no way anyone can go swim without a wet suit, no matter what time of the year! Well, that was a bust. Our three hour drive to this lovely side of the island turned out into well... sightseeing -- literally. We gawked, oohed and aahed at the beautiful water and sandy beach and dipped our toes for maybe two minutes. We ate, of course. Yummy local food is never a waste of time no matter how far we drove to get there. It kind of reminded me of the North Shore in Hawaii. Except it was freezing cold. Aside from one day going back to do a proper storm-watching package in the winter time at one of those resorts I doubt I can ever afford, I think I've got that side of t...

Okay, let me start by openly admitting how much I overreacted about this whole camping trip -- how much stress and anxiety I put myself in, how much melodrama I created in my head that contributed to all the crazy-making... But like I said, camping is not my thing. Comfort and convenience is. But you know, I am admitting that all the worry I did was so unnecessary. Yes there were mosquitoes and they still bit me despite being overly prepared with bug spray, allergy pills and anti-itch gel. But happy to say that the mosquitoes were the only problems I had throughout the camping trip. Yes there was the Mini Olympics that Raine and Grandma concocted together. Yes I tend to dislike sports but I figured that the best way to get through the day was to just participate. So I did. Competitively. And true enough, it made the whole day go by quickly, but you know what else? I actually did have fun. The 35 people I didn't know and was so worried about socializing with? They were all so ni...

Ugh. The dreaded camping trip has arrived. I ran out of ideas on how I could get out of it. I did manage to delay my appearance for a few hours, but unsuccessful with any attempts to further delay my arrival. Ok let me back track... I don't dislike camping. I dislike some aspects of it but over the years have found ways to offset those aspects and still sleep outdoors in a tent. Meaning, yes I will go camping BUT it has to be in a campsite that has access to water and electricity, clean flushed toilets, the scenery has to be really pretty and the site itself needs to be in the shade and preferably without any mosquitoes. But regardless of whether all these criteria are met or not, the whole activity is still completely out of my comfort zone. I've said it a million times. I can stay outdoors all day -- go hiking, roll on the mud, get wet and cross rivers, climb things, whatever! But at the end of the day, I need a warm shower and somewhere to plug my hairdryer. I didn't...

I know I've ranted, whined, stressed and complained about my dancing skills over the years. I can't remember how it all started, I don't know why or how I ever developed such negative opinion about my dancing. I used to love going to dances where I actually danced. Just a hunch, but I think as I went through my miserable teenage years and developed more angst as I grew older, the more I refused to let myself enjoy things. It probably also didn't help that I developed an aversion towards pop music and only listened to angry metal music that technically you couldn't dance to. Put all of that together and I ended up like this -- awkward, sarcastic, lacking in self-confidence and an overall introverted mess. So I thought... The aversion to pop music slowly got cured since I had kids. What can I say, gotta stay updated. The self-confidence issue, well... been working on it and happy to report that although I think I still have more work ahead of me in this area, I am...

I picked up two books today. At the beginning of the summer, my choir sent out this email that if anyone wanted to pick up their scores early and get a head start on learning the music during the summer, that our music director have made arrangements for the scores to be available. I laughed at the thought of a bunch of keeners learning Beethoven's Missa solemnis all summer long. I mocked and made fun of the idea but there I was, picking up my own score this afternoon. Not that I'm anticipating some free time to practice in the near future but it's like the first week of school, when you just received the list of books you need for your class and you're excited to get them all. I haven't even tried to listen to a youtube video of this music, but admittedly I was dying to get a glimpse of my next choral challenge. Yay for another Beethoven piece that's not Beethoven Nine! Then on my way home I picked up Fifty Shades of Grey from the library. We watched Fifty...

So remember back when I lived in Philly and I went to this really expensive gym because it was the closest gym to my work and really loved that they had a hairdryer in the change room and that I didn't have to bring any towels with me? (and that they really had good looking trainers, but that was just an eye candy bonus...) So back then, to justify the ridiculous amount I was paying monthly, I tried to go to as many classes as I possibly could. One of the classes I stumbled upon one day was called Urban Rebound. In a nutshell it was a class where you get to do aerobic/choreography type moves while bouncing on an individual trampoline. I remember going to this 45-minute class for the first time and then practically crawling my way home. I also remember not being able to walk all week. For someone who has never done any form of uncoerced exercise, pretty much my whole entire life (except for the times that I had to because it was graded...), this was of course a shock to my system....