DRAWING MY LIFE: ANOTHER ORANGE CLASSIC

One wonders where Orange, who was about 4 years old then, would get this idea of how to get her Ninong Dennis out of bed!

DRAWING MY LIFE: JAMES ASLEEP & GAINING MOMENTUM

I saw my second son James sleeping on the couch in our sala and drew a quick sketch. As I was drawing he turned around in his sleep so I sketched that too...THE RESULT: A DOUBLE EXPOSURE.

I experimented with the coloring,trying to make most of the colors all pure and flat...the effect was great.

I seem to have gained some momentum in my drawing. It's getting easier by the day. I just make sure I have something done within the first 2 hours of the day...and everything else is a breeze. I feel a burst of energy that keeps me going all morning that sometimes...before I know it, it's LUNCHTIME!

Besides drawing, I've started on another passion of mine which is papercraft.

More than a year ago, I downloaded a papercraft model for a Yamaha motorcycle. I never got to assembling it but yesterday I set aside drawing and started cutting away and gluing. The model is complicated...but I finished the first stage.

Can't wait to see the finished model!

DRAWING MY LIFE: A BANANA IN MY EAR

Sesame Street was one of Orange's favorite TV shows. She learnt her alphabet and numbers from this edu-taining show. But she also picked up some lines that she would use to get her way. Like this : "I can't hear you I've got a banana in my ear!" which she picked up from Ernie.

DRAWING MY LIFE: A SCENE FROM A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ORANGE

Sometime in 1982 I made a mural-like piece entitled "A Day in the Life of Orange" which showed by way of cartoon illustrations what a typical day was like for my precocious niece Orange. For my Drawing A Day challenge I thought I'd draw a scene from that mural.

This one's a classic showing Orange scolding her Lolo Pito for not using 2 eggs for pancakes the way her Tita Bie does.

It just occurred to me that if I can recall the scenes from that mural I might be able to piece together a book of the same title. Hmmmm

DRAWING MY LIFE: MEMORIES OF TUYO (DRIED FISH)

The drawing explains it.

DRAWING MY LIFE: KETCHUP MEMORIES

Seeing the ketchup bottle at breakfast this morning triggered the idea for this drawing for the day.

I recall that when my siblings would see me eat a ketchup sandwich, they would look at me as if I was some kind of weirdo who could eat the stuff! But the ketchup sandwich was delicious...and it filled the stomach...which was the more important thing.

So if I had a good dose of lycopene when I was a kid, it was thanks to the lowly ketchup and its many applications.

DRAWING MY LIFE: SPOOF OF HILLS BROS ICON AND MY BLUE NOTE

My elder brother made a comment about how the Turkish coffee he got as a gift from my sister didn't live up to expectations. And to think that Hills Bros,even made a Turk as its icon, as if signifying that the Turks knew their coffee!

I sent him a spoof of what the icon was really saying, but got lost in translation.

The other two are my studies on My Blue Note... a self-portrait of me playing the guitar at our living room. I played around with the Photoshop filters and got some cool effects!

DRAWING MY LIFE: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY ILLUSTRATION

My brother in law sent a funny poem about The Perfect Man as his Father's Day greeting. I decided to put some illustrations to accompany the limerick.

This is my 3rd drawing a day.

DRAWING MY LIFE: JUNE 14

I came across Michael Nobbs website "SUSTAINABLY CREATIVE" which gave me the idea to journal my day via drawings. So that same day I quickly sketched the day (June 14) in summary. I finalized it this morning. It helped that I didn't have to worry too much about detailing it too much. Felt good to get something done at once!

DRAWING MY LIFE: THANKS MICHAEL NOBBS

I came across a blogger's site, SUSTAINABLY CREATIVE by Michael Nobbs, who "draws" his daily journal and has come out with mini-magazines, The Beany. It was just what I was looking for to inspire me to keep on drawing.

In fact I got some great ideas for toons that will keep me busy for the next few days.

I'm posting one I made today which was based on an email from my sister who's travelling around Istanbul and sampled some of it's Turkish Delights.

I know "Turkish delights" are sweets...but to hot-blooded males,like my brother in law ZEN ...it can mean a different a totally different thing. :-)

DLSU Animo Squad Fil-Oil Champions 2011

The DLSU Animo Squad won the 2011 Filoil Cheerleading Competition held at the San Juan Arena. My daughter Natasha Marie is a member of this team. They practised hard for this often going home late just to perfect their routine. Good thing they also got a new choreographer who fixed their routine early unlike before when they would do things photofinish. Tasha said that after their presentation everyone felt really good about their performance. This was the first time the Animo Squad won gold.

Congrats and kudos to all of you. May this be the start of many more gold winning performances.

DAY 4: ROME OR BUST

Chris Guillebeau's prompt for the 30 day writing challenge was to identify the place I'd really like to visit before I die and write down what I've been doing to get there.

I'd really like to visit Rome (and some other places in Italy) to say I've really lived!

I've not really mapped out any concrete plans for making this dream happen although I've brought up the idea of getting the Redemptorist Fathers to sponsor a trip for us ex-Juvenists to their headquarters in Rome.

I've also checked Rick Steves' website and have an idea of the cost of such a trip ( a 14-day European tour using the Rick Steves tour services will set us back about $ 5,000 each!)

Maybe I need to firm up in my mind that I would like to see the place and from there detail a course of action.

I'm not as driven yet because the vision is not that clear.

DAY 3: CAN I REALLY LIVE ON MY PASSION ALONE? (OR DO ARTISTS REALLY NEED TO STARVE?)

It's been six months since I left a cushy,good-paying consultant job at a leading company. I've resisted the temptation to go back to my former corporate job in order to hone my skills in drawing and writing funny stories (aka comics.)

I've made progress in the drawing and illustrating part...in fact I've learned a lot! My comic strips are now colored and show some command of Photoshop which I didn't have six months ago.

But...it hasn't brought in money to feed my family and pay the bills...yet.

And at the rate I'm going I'm not sure what will happen first...either I run out of funds and have to go back to the cubicle world...or I get a break and start making money from pursuing my passion and never have to go back to a 9 to 5 job again.

I'd like the latter to happen of course, and eventually be able to tell others...and maybe help other dreaming artists like me to "not starve" while achieving the happiness we get from being creative!

DAY 2: WHAT TODAY WAS ABOUT IN ONE SENTENCE

Today was about earning a living by interviewing people who were in search for (hopefully) a better means of living.

15 MINUTES TO LIVE...AND TELL MY STORY

So I've got 15 minutes to live and tell my story...

Actually, if I knew I was going to die in 15 minutes I wouldn't be bothering writing this story but would probably be going around telling people I love them...and saying I'm sorry if I ever hurt them.

Maybe that's the story of my life. There are people I have loved...and there are those I might have hurt or failed.

One thing this exercise made me realize was that if I were to die in 15 minutes... (I've got 10 minutes more at this point)...I would feel bad because I hadn't done things I wanted to do or realize "visions" of things that should be.

For one, I wouldn't be able to experience the fun of being a cool grand daddy to the grandkids I would've wanted to have...

Then there are the places I would've wanted to see...

Then there are the "highs" I would get from having achieved the unthinkable....( the 10 million bucks I would have generated from a 100,000 investment)...which I would be nowhere near of getting.

My 15 minutes are almost over...

I didn't finish "my story"...but I surely got a spark of life to keep me going for another 15 years or more.

FOUND A LONG LOST BROTHER...ONLY TO FIND OUT HE'S GONE

It was one of those," I wish I had found him earlier" kind of experiences...

I was looking for people on Facebook, specifically ex-Juvenists...people who had lived with me in the Seminary during my High school days...so out of the blue I think of Rene Noda, a guy from Marikina who was one year my Junior.

It turns out he has a Facebook account, and I recognized him from the profile photo. I immediately sent him a message,telling him to email me if he wants to get in touch with his former classmates via our egroup.

Next morning, I got an email message through his Facebook account, but it was written by his wife, Gloria, who informed me that Rene had died just recently (February 12,2011) of an aneurysm.

All that time he was within reach but I found him too late...

I informed the group about Rene's passing away and asked for prayers,as his wife had requested.

Within a year we've already lost 3 of our former brothers: Elmo Katigbak, Julius Jongko and now Rene Noda.

Maybe we ought to have that grand get together again this year.

(Photo above shows Rene at the left)

Janet Merewether: Maverick Mother

I caught this on TV,broadcast by Australian Network. It was a feel good movie. Janet, a filmmaker, whose biological clock was ticking, decided to have a baby and after trying artificial insemination, got pregnant after a one night stand with a Swedish friend.

It was a well done piece and when I got a glimpse of the story just as it was starting I couldn't change the channel anymore. No wonder it got an award as a Best Documentary film.

Am sure single mothers who have gone through heaven and hell raising a kid on their own will be able to relate to this "reality movie."

JAMES' APPLE STRUDELS

James,our resident chef, has been his honing skills in making desserts while working at the Buon Giorno restaurant located at the Rockwell Business Center beside Meralco. Last Sunday was his second time to bake Apple Strudels for our dessert and this time around he used Granny Smith apples,which gave it the right bite and texture. Before, he used Washington apples and although it was delicious, the apples became a bit soggy after a while. Topping it with vanilla ice cream made it just perfect! Bon Appetit and our compliments to the chef.

" WHAT DO I DO DAD?"

...hardest question to answer!

...specially if you know that it's up to your son to figure out the answer.

TJ arrived home from work looking glum...so I knew something bad had happened at work.

Bottomline is, although he was recently regularized, he wasn't complying with a WFE -thingy (Work Efficiency something) that he had been warned about, and since he still didn't use it, he was given a written warning...with the possibility of suspension, and even termination.

It was one of those moments that I wished I could just wave a magic wand and make his troubles disappear...but I had to walk him through why he was in such a predicament in the first place.

Simply put, he just didn't seem to appreciate the need for doing something that had been prescribed---the WFE, whatever it was. He was also not meeting important metrics like his AHT (average handling time) and CRR ( call return rate.)

What wasn't good was that he was starting to put himself down again---saying something like if he couldn't hold down an easy job like being a call center agent---then what was he good for?

I had to do my best in pointing out that being a call center agent wasn't easy to begin with, and that actually many call center employees have been known to quit even before their probationary period ends. The fact that he made it through 6 months says something about his staying power! (If it was any consolation,even his cousin Bruce had tried working in a call center but eventually resigned.)

The father and son talk dragged on for more than an hour...and I could understand he was feeling real bad, because in spite of the pressure, the job still paid well. So, he felt that losing another job was going to seem like the end of the world!

I could only think of helping him see options that were open to him.

First, he could always salvage the situation by catching up on his stats. (He wasn't so enthused about this because he said any mistake he would make next week would already be counted.)

Second, he could voluntarily resign but check if there are other options within Convergys for him. But even as I said this,I also told him he should make other plans already, like what would he be doing if he was out of work...look for another job? Skill up for his "dream?" (like one of his friends CJ, who had taken a sabbatical to learn game development, and was eventually hired at the Lady Luck gaming company.)

I think mentioning his dream, made the situation a bit lighter..and maybe gave him hope that it wasn't really the end of the world if he resigned from Convergys.

After all too, I didn't really want to see him make a career out of becoming a call center agent!

I didn't let him off the hook easy though. I had to point out to him that the one thing that was always getting in the way of him spending time on developing his skills....was PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES!

And unless he gave up this addiction...it would be the same story all over again.

I told him to write down his plans and set his new objectives.

It didn't solve his problem...but I think it did pep him enough to want to focus on his dream again...and (hopefully) resolve to do something radically different from the way he's been running his life today.

TAKING A LEAVE... IN ORDER TO LIVE: WHY WE SHOULDN'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

I had just come from the second floor restroom at the Podium when I saw an Asian man (Korean,I thought to myself) rushing out of the Banana Leaf resto. Following closely behind was his girlfriend (I thought,because she was younger and didn't look like his wife) who seemed like she was pleading to him about something.

As the two made their way down the escalator, a supervisor from Banana Leaf (I thought because he was dressed like one) hurriedly tried to catchup with them. But seconds later, one of the waitresses arrived holding some receipts which she showed the supervisor. When he saw these, he seemed to pause for a while then gave up the chase.

Judging from what I saw,I told myself:" The Korean couple must've gotten away with a free meal. Maybe the supervisor didn't want to make a scene so he didn't call security."

I saw the Korean couple later and they still seemed to be arguing.

I forgot about the incident until the next day, I found myself at Banana Leaf eating lunch with my wife Jaja, and her officemates. It so happened that the waitress who served us was the same waitress I had seen the day before. So I asked her what the story was, because I had concluded that the Korean couple had pulled a fast one on them.

On the contrary,she said, the couple had paid their bill.

As it turned out, the man seemed to have had an argument with the girl even before they had started to eat. He must've been upset because,according to the waitress, he got up, went to the cashier and paid the bill and didn't even wait for the change!

The reason the supervisor went after them was to check if they were still going to eat the untouched food (which had cost about P 3K), and the reason she followed with the receipts was to tell her supervisor that they still had unclaimed change!

When we heard the real story, we had a good laugh over lunch. And as a way of livening up the meal, the girls started making up scenarios why the couple had an argument in the first place.

For example, one said that maybe the girl wanted Brown rice but the guy ordered for Nasi Goreng...that's when the fight started.

Moral lesson: "Don't judge me...I'm not a book!" (Melanie Marquez) :-)