One of Dad’s favorite quotes from the Bible is this: Teach a child on the way that he should go, so that when he grows up he will not depart from it (this is paraphrased; this is probably from Proverbs, but I forgot the actual passage.). When we were children, he taught us zealously and often reminded us that when it’s finally our turn to be parents, we should teach the same to our children. Here are a few things that I learned from this great man.

Lesson No. 1: Learn to trust in God
Dad made me remember Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths.” I never forgot that verse. Whenever we found ourselves in dire times (and there was a lot of those times indeed), Dad would always remind us that the things that happen to us happen for a reason. We may not see God’s purpose immediately, but trusting Him is a far easier than tossing and turning in the night in anxiety.

Lesson No. 2: Never let failure make you give up
Dad was a jack of all trades. He experimented with a lot of businesses, and many of them failed. For some reason, failure never made him give up; he kept trying and trying. As I grew older I began to understand why he failed in most of those endeavors; sometimes he aimed too high and failed to sustain interest in one thing for a long time. But I admired his perseverance. I’ve never met anyone more stubborn.

Lesson No. 3: Always do your best
I know, this oft-repeated phrase is nothing new. But there’s an interesting anecdote about this, something that I still vividly remember after all these years. Dad pushed me hard to excel in school, and I tried every way I could to meet his expectations. He encouraged me to aim for the top in every competition, and that any other place below that was simply unacceptable. No other place was good enough except for the first place. Anyway, one day I came home from school feeling so low and depressed because I didn’t win in a contest (if I remember right, it was a science quiz in elementary). Hearing about my sad report, Dad lovingly embraced me and asked, “Did you do your best?” As I nodded, he told me that it was the only thing that matters. To this day I can never forget that incident.

We can’t always win all our battles, but we can always do our best. In the end the only person we have to compete with is ourselves.

Lesson No. 4: Learn to fight alone
Dad loved boxing, and he often likened his life to being a fighter on the ring. The crowds on the side may cheer, the manager can holler his instructions, but the fighter will be alone to meet his opponent on the ring. When I was in Yamagata trying to fight boredom and depression wrought about by the winter season and loneliness, he wrote me to remind me that being alone is everyone’s business. Learn to fight on your own, and never depend on anyone else to fight for you.

In the end, Dad fought his own battles against his own body, and remained defiant until his very last breath.

Everytime I reflect on Dad’s life, I feel refreshed and seemingly renewed with a second wind (like a boxer, haha). I can only hope and pray, that when it is Aya’s turn to reflect on my life, that she will likewise find the same inspiration and strength.

I love singing. For those who didn’t know, I earned the nickname “Material (Science) Girl” because I like singing Madonna’s songs on the karaoke. I don’t know if I had an uncanny similarity to M’s singing, but for some reason people loved it when I sing “La Isla Bonita.” Well, the Material Girl became a Material Mom, and my trips to the karaoke room became fewer as my motherly duties increased. And besides, Baggy does not like karaokes very much; it’s just no fun singing alone, d’oh!

Ooh la la. They’ve upgraded the system, and I didn’t even know it. This song’s for Aya.

And so it’s been a while since I’ve been inside a karaoke room. Fortunately, though, my li’l sister Lai is now staying with us – and ever since she arrived, she has been insisting on going to karaoke. Well, we finally had our chance last Monday, which happened to be a holiday here in Japan. We took Aya along, of course, because we might as well train her to love singing this early if we ever want to go karaokeing with her when she grows up. Baggy had to tag along too, para naman may audience kami hahaha. 😛

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the making of a diva.

When the staff ushered us to our room, she asked us if we need some help with the controls. Hello? This is like the nth time for me to go karaokeing in this establishment. Confident that I was already familiar with the controls, I politely declined. Much to my surprise, though, the remote controller was not working. I tried the usual keys, but no dice. I flipped through the printed volume but found out that the arrangements are entirely different. I couldn’t even locate where the English songs are. Defeated, I called the staff and asked her to come back. As it turned out, they are now using new controllers for the karaoke system. Instead of the usual remote controls (like the ones used for tvs), they are now using these digital touch-pads controls where you can search songs and singers in a zap! Songs are reserved through these controls, and one can even surprise others by reserving a song in “secret!” Has it been that long since I’ve gone to karaoke? How long has it been since they’ve upgraded their system? At any rate, it was a happy surprise. Thanks to technology, our karaoke experience is much more stress-free and we can enjoy those extra minutes afforded by the ease of control.

Karaoke fees are much higher during nighttime, where most of the customers flock. But since we went there in the afternoon, the fees were lower. We only had to pay 200 yen per person per hour. We booked the room for two hours, so that’s only 400 yen per person. As expected, we ended up with hoarse voices (after all that screaming, what do you expect?). Others get to unload by doing sports, shopping, or eating. We get to do that by singing our hearts out.

Can’t wait for the next karaoke trip. Even Material Moms have to unload every once in a while, you know. 🙂

October is one of my favorite months of the year – every year on a personal basis I “celebrate” the very first day I came to Tsukuba (October 3, 1999). Why? It’s because so many wonderful things happened to my life ever since I came to Tsukuba. I love it here. I can’t imagine living elsewhere (except for my beloved Pinas, of course). Seven years whizzed by so quickly. This is home.

Anyway, almost one month of no blog…where have I been hiding lately? Right here at my desk, with piles of paperwork and data crunching work, while juggling experiments in such frenzied pace. Just gave a presentation early this afternoon – and now my mind’s just blank and simply refuses to churn. I need to blog to let off some steam.

Our turbopump’s wheezing like an asthmatic, and the manufacturer has already cautioned us not to put off overhauling any longer. Considering that I’ve been getting really damn good results lately, this is really, really bad news. The overhaul itself will take about 1.5 to 2 months – imagine, they have to send the pump all the way to Germany! Why can’t they do that here in Japan?!! That’s too long a period to spend idly while I’m in the middle of something “hot.” Sometimes filmmaking is really akin to black magic – sometimes it works almost amazingly, you wonder what exactly happened to the concoction of plasma, ablated species, hot temperature and all that oxygen gas you put together to make a wonder film. I wish I could have more of these moments. Heaven knows I’ve been pounding on that PLD system for 5 long years now; I get nice results once in a while, but never have I been on an experimental “high” for an extended period of time. Not like this!!! Why can’t I have more results like this!

Other concerns: patent (oh yeah baby!); papers; conferences (there’s one at the end of this month). Aya’s sportsfest. Aya needs new clothes because she’s outgrown most of her autumn-season clothes. Baggy’s upcoming move to a new work (don’t leave meeee!).

On top of it all, I want a freakin’ new hairdo!