Sunday, January 30, 2011

30s and Hobbies

Posted by May

My shot of Red Ginger
Thirties is what I can say - the prime of a person's life. From the moment the clock strikes 12 on one's after 29th birthday, everything spelled differently from then on. D-E-C-I-S-I-O-N  is plain and easy 7 letter word but it takes a more than a day to wrap your mind around it.

Thirties is the time a woman declares she's found the one. The real one. It's the time you decide to say yes to the ring and a question, forget another decade of shopping alone. It's the time to start acting like the matured woman you envisioned yourself you'd become from the moment you started baking your own cookies from your very own kitchen. It is also the time you'd stop frozen in the middle of doing something, thinking that the living room lamps look better by the wall.

Thirties is the perfect time to sit and breathe. Your days of playing with your career, trying out different stuff for fun while making a decent living and start building one after your heart, one you truly desire doing for the rest of your days while keeping your dreams, new home, new family alive and happy.

Thirties is the time you start jogging. They say fat around the midsection starts to permanently settle because life has just gotten busier, you hardly notice them settling there. By the time you're 35, you finally sat and relax, you took notice of the words and perfect description of FLABS.

So you are a writer. You write to live. You write to share compartments of feelings and experiences. Many say, you write to breathe. But then again, at thirties, you discover breathing through your pen is never enough. There are times you cannot write. There are times words are as elusive as an eel in water. So you discover other side of you that you would like to explore. And no, taking care of home, husband and children are not hobbies when you treasure your self-worth. As much as you love your new life, you have to give time for yourself. Otherwise, you lose the sense of who you are.

So you take photography classes. What an amazing hobby. A simple thing to point, decide an angle and shoot. What you get is a million more other hobbies out of a little camera. Out of one little shot, you discovered how you like to be a historical travel writer, how you need to name all the creatures you capture in your photographs and what do you know, you're suddenly hitting the encycpedia section of a bookstore just to put a name in a shot.

So you start cooking lessons. And this proves the saying "the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is 100% right. Not that men love eating but men love eating what their women home cooked for them. It takes courage to peel those vegetables, dice meat and fry fish for someone who lived life eating in diners and cafeterias. But so does everything else.

And above all, thirties is the time you decide to take the road of chasing money and success. Where everything else is dwarfed by bigger decisions, bigger challenges, bigger creativity. The time you decide to take the business world. And they say it's a man's world. And I say, what men can do, women can do better. In their 30s.

Thanks for reading! - May

Friday, January 14, 2011

CONGRATULATIONS!

Posted by May
Our SOTC sister just tied the knot! With pride and love, all blessings we wish upon you, Elizabeth! Welcome to our "Life of a Wife" section, too!


Monday, January 10, 2011

Language and Communication

LOOK WHO’S TALKING
By Tess M.

Getting acquainted with different people from different cultures allows me not only to see similarities and differences in our ways of living, but also it makes me appreciate other languages.

According to experts, language acquisition is defined as the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the understanding of varied and complicated capacities including syntax, phonetics, and extensive vocabulary. I agree that capacity to obtain and utilize language is a key aspect that distinguishes humans from other animals. However, to say that non-human animal communication has limited range of nonsyntactically structured vocabulary tokens that lack cross cultural variation between groups is, I believe, too early to conclude.

In one of my reading sessions with my toddler students (2 to 3 years old), we read a story about animals. To activate my students’ prior knowledge, I asked them how each these animals sound pointing on pictures: “how does a dog sound?” I inquired.  In my part of the world, I instinctively know that the answer is “aw, aw, aw” as I often heard how our native dogs bark in the Philippines. However, of course, that’s not how dogs in America sound. Hurriedly one of my students stood up and, accompanied with facial expression, he answered, “arf, arf, arf.” This isn’t true only for dogs. I also noticed other variations such as: 1) frogs in America say, “ribbet, ribbet” while frogs in the Philippines say, “ko-kak-ko-kak”; 2) roosters in America say, “cock-a-doodle-do” while roosters in the Philippines say, “tik-ti-la-ok.” What fascinating is I learned from my reading that there are more different sounds roosters make than I thought:

- In France, it’s cocorico
- In Dutch, it’s kukeleku
- In German, it’s kikeriki
- In Spanish, its quiquiriquiiii

Having studied Communication Arts, both for my undergraduate and graduate studies, I find this discovery very interesting. I am sure that like human language acquisition, theories on animal communication are also controversial and complicated to explain. However, having this in mind, when you travel around the globe perhaps you can be mindful of who is talking - most likely you’ll find that not only its people sound different, but also people’s interpretations to animals sound.

                                                                "ribeet, ribeet"

Monday, January 3, 2011

Rules to Live by this 2011

Posted by May
Simply put, you make and live by your own rules. No one can tell you what to do (rule #1) but it is best to get advices from your partner and your family. I have only one rule this 2011. Grab the Bull by its Horns - which in a nutshell means be of strong courage and just do it. I have been the biggest procrastinating person last 2010 and my to-do list is still chasing me - businesswise. This year, I will be the one chasing.

So what one rule are you setting for yourself this year?






Posted by Tess M.

I am always fascinated by witty lines woven by poets who have an innate gift in translating thoughts, feelings and images into literary strings of diamond. One of my favorites came from my Ambassador(my direct boss when I was serving the Embassy) when I told him about my plan to resign from my job and settle down abroad. He smiled and answered, Life is short, strike while the iron is hot.”  Thus, this 2011 I made it as my guiding rule. This year, I intend not only to focus my mind on things that I NEED to do, but as much as possible try my best to balance them as well with activities that I LOVE to do.

Here's a peek into my four weeks treat to myself in January 2011:   

(to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas)
On the first week of new year
I gave myself a treat,
a new hairdo for the new year.

On the second week of  new year
I gave myself a treat
one painting set, Story Drawing Book
and a new hairdo for the new year.
On the third week of new year
I gave myself a treat
good romantic films, new magazine subscription,
one painting set, Story Drawing Book
and a new hairdo for the new year.

On the fourth week of new year
I gave myself a treat
“Aladdin” Production,
good romantic films, new magazine subscription,
one painting set, Story Drawing Book
And a new hairdo for the new year.


"We only have one life to live, but if we would live it right, once would be enough." -borrowed quotation