Is there life after PLDT?

Many may wonder what my title is all about.I have asked this myself more than 5 yrs ago when i left PLDT. And the same question entered my mind when few days ago,i came across with our neighbor while me and my son Carlo was on our way home from a drug store.Our neighbor who still works as a lineman where i used to work,and his wife stopped me to tell me that he saw many operators crying at the lobby of my former employer,he said more than 500 employees of PLDT, 238 of them were my former co workers and friends were sacked!I was enveloped by sadness, coz i know how they value much of their work. i know most of them are bread winners,and i know the feeling....so depressing!

It was 1990 when i decided to apply as an operator in PLDT.I was a graduate of BSE and had a one year teaching experience from a Catholic School. I decided to try another field coz eversince I was a kid,i really wanted to work in an office,to be an office girl.I had a funny dream then,i wanted to be a saleslady...lol.coz way back then,i can saw them wearing make up and they were wearing sexy skirt and heels...and i thought before, they're working in an office hihihi...then when i was in high school,i dreamt of becoming a teacher coz i know this is a noble vocation so i became one.but after a year of experience i resigned and became a private tutor to 8 kids near our place.when i learned that the leading telecommunication in the country was hiring,i applied.it was a stiff competition.i remember i didnt know how to go to Makati,i was with my friend when i submitted my resume and it was my mother i was with when i had my first interview....hahaha...i thought after that,it was all over.but it was followed by another,then exams then interview then exams.series of interviews and exams lasted for a month because after one interview,you'll be asked to come back after 3 or 5 days for psychological test then you'll be asked to come back for another tongue twister after anther 3 days.we were less than a hundred of applicants when i had my first interview.After each interview,they will call the names of the ones who passed. and before we reached the final interview,we were just 3.i was so nervous coz it was really hard.i was the 2nd one to be called,the first one didnt make it.and when it was my turn,i went inside with confidence but still nervous.the manager was gay,as he was talking to me,i felt comfortable,i answered each question with confidence.after the interview,he gave me a sheet of paper and told me to give it to the guy at the left table,he told me i passed the exam and was asked to get a form so i can have my PE exam and the rest is history! i learned that the third lady didnt pass the final interview.that made me sad for her but was so glad for my luck coz with less than 100 applicants,it was only me who passed! my family was so proud of me!

And my days in that company started,i met lots of friends and "enemies" as well....lol....coz let's admit it,being in an all girls department, we were more than 500 employees,and we all know we cant please everybody right? and im the type of person who's transparent,what you see is what you get,i dont talk to a person if i dont feel like it,kaya nga sabi nila suplada daw ako....lol..but i didnt mind kc i know im just being true to myself...i met a lot of people,i gained lots of experience and gained friends, some friends were more of a user than being true and real. i found out who really are my friends there when i left my work in 2002. they were the ones who console and give me moral support when i was down and up to now,they're still there for me.though it was sad when i left the company,the place that i considered my second home and my world revolved around,but then im happy,coz it made me strong and more responsible for my actions and because of that i found my true friends and they know who they are.

Before,i thought there was no life after pldt. why? coz aside from this is one of the top companies in the Philippines,it offers a lot of benefits, and the salary is high and of all the departments,Traffic, where i used to belong, is the one who gets paid really good. but of course life is not a bed of roses, we need to sacrifice as well,we need to work very hard for it. if operators were the high paying employees then, we were the ones who suffer a lot. if there's a calamity,whether from here or abroad,it's a sin to be absent coz we're a public servant. and they're very strict when it comes to tardiness, if you'll be absent, you need to call the office a day before so they will find a replacement for you. if you need to change your days off,you need to find a co maker,make a memo and submit it to your supervisor and wait for it to be approved by the chief operator.and most of all,dealing with different kinds of people was truly tough!

Oh about my title, yes! there's life after pldt,in fact,it has a lot more.We just got used of our life when we were there because we can buy whatever we wanted, if one wanted to have a vacation abroad, it was so easy because you have money.new cellphones,cars,shopping.. name it and pldt has it. but life isnt just material things.there's more to it. family is more important,and being a person that you are.No matter how rich a person can be, life cant be measured how much millions you have, you can embrace all your money but it cant embrace you back. you can buy all the things you want with it but you cant buy real happiness. you can have lots of friends because of it but you wont know who your true friends are.

Before, i thought i cant survive without pldt,but i did. i even gained true friends who trusted me and accepted me as i am. although i dont have money, im more at peace, im more relaxed. i know i cant buy things that i want like i used to but that doesnt stop me from being happy and contented with my life.i have my family who's always there to give me moral support,my son who never fails to give me headache...hahaha :-), but kidding aside, my son is all i have,he's my world. he's growing up too fast but i've no regrets because being a stay in mom, i saw him grew up, i was with him when he had his first tooth, and i was with him when he first set foot in school and i was with him when we bought a gift for his first girlfriend....lol...and i'll continue to be with him to guide him and give him all the love that i have.I used to be busy also because of my job in pldt, but now, im always at home..i didnt have any single regret by just staying and working here, because of it....i met my true love...the one that made my life very colorful. i know i already have my son who gives color to my everyday life, but Joe completed it all... i can say that i already have a complete family but this will come true only if we 3 are living together and i know that will be soon.

12 yrs of working in pldt taught me a lot of things and i gained a lot of experiences after 5 yrs of being not there.Life has to move on, we must move on...the road is wide and life has lots to offer although i know it's hard but eventually, we can adjust....there's hope while we're alive and we still have a long way to go...remember.... LIFE IS A JOURNEY!

The pics here are some of my real friends.we dont communicate often but then,we know by heart that no matter how far the distance is,our friendship will remain forever... See because of our sweet smiles(and with those belly "baby" fats...lol),you'll know that we are happy even without PLDT!

What is a Mother?

my sister Neri, Joe and my Nanay

A mother is a woman who conceives, gives birth to , or raises and nurtures a child. We all know that we all have a mother. even animals has their mother. even Jesus Christ has His own mother,VIrgin Mary and for Catholics, She is the mother of all mothers.

We all love our mother.of course we love both our parents, but usually, it's with our mother that we are closer because we were with her since the time that she was conceiving,from the time of our birth, and even when we are already adult and have our own family, the bond will always be there.

I can only speak of my own mother. Unlike other kids, i dont tell her much that i love her but i know she knew it and I really adore her, she'll soon be turning 75 but she's still strong, her eyes can still see clearly, and she can still attend some gimiks with her amigas...lol.

I grew up looking up at my mother.I saw her transformed from being a caring housewife,a caring mother to her 7kids(actually we were 8 but the baby died just after a few days when he was born and the 5 of us didnt even see him) to being a single parent.

Yes, my mother became a widow at the age of 43.Our eldest was barely 20yrs old when my father died,i was just 9yrs old and my youngest brother was 5. It was really a big blow to my family.My father was a seaman, had an appendectomy in France but unluckily for him, he got a liver complication that resulted to his death.The last time we saw our father alive was when we saw him leave from the airport,and it was hard to welcome him again inside the box....Lifeless!

It was the start of my mother's sacrifices, just a few months after my father passed away, another tragedy hit us, our house was burnt by fire.but then God saved us coz nobody from my family got hurt..Thanks be to God.

And life must continue, my mother devoted her time from being a mother and a father as well,she was a dressmaker, she didnt waste any single time, she worked hard for us. even i was just a kid then, i remember there were men who were visiting her and trying to win her heart her but she said no,she was so determined to make a living for us and didnt have time, didnt even think of getting another husband...I really admire her for that.

She was able to sent us to school,the 3 of us girls finished college, but the 4 boys didnt make it.she told them, she gave them a chance to finish their studies and take the course they wanted but they didnt grab the opportunity, so they cant blame her for that.

Like others, life has its ups and downs.And when i had mine, she was there to help me and helped me recover.yes, I managed to fight all those tests that came my way with my mother beside me. I know by heart she still has lots of dreams that she'd like to fulfill someday,i also have dreams for her and i hope she's still here when im ready to give it to her.

As of now, she already has 12 grandkids which she adore so much. one came from me of course...lol :p . Every Friday, she goes to Quiapo Church as her devotion to the Black Nazarene,sometimes she's going out with her friends, Malling...heheheh...my son loves her so much because she spoiled him... :p

I know I still have a long way compared to my mother who've been through a lot. I dont know if i can be as strong as my mother but there's one thing i would want to do.... TO BE A GOOD MOTHER LIKE SHE IS TO US....

Salamat Inay sa inyong pagpapala! ( Thanks Mom for taking good care of us)

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What a wonderful world!

Life has its ups and downs, it's like a wheel, sometimes we're on top, sometimes we're at the bottom but no matter how hard it is, everything that goes down must come up. That's how life goes.

It happened to me before, i was so down, i've no job,im a single parent and i have a son that needs my care and attention, bills to pay,food to buy, ohhh problems everywhere! I need to breathe, i need to relax, seemed that i needed to go to a secluded place where i could
shout and cry at the top of my voice,I almost asked God why me? why it was happening to me?But i didnt dare coz i know God's just testing me and everything happens for a reason.

I needed somebody to talk to, i needed a real friend who will lend an ear to me, who will comfort me in times of trouble, who wont condemn me from the things that i did. who will not point fingers on me and tell me " it is your fault"! At that time, i needed a shoulder to cry on, a somebody who will look at me as me.

Life's a challenge, a long journey. It takes a lot of patience, understanding and faith to God in order to understand it. I remember the movie that i watched before, Forrest Gump, he said: " Life's like a box of chocolate, you wont know what you'll get". and it's true. And it comforts me every time i think about it. I know there are no people here on earth who didnt experience trouble in their lives. We're all being given a "test of life", it's just on a different package. and God wont give us problems if He know we dont know how to handle it.

At that time, i was so lonely,i admit, i need a man in my life. that's true! so i asked God's guidance,and give me patience and help me find a man who will love me for what i am, and who will accept my son as his own, whom i can live and share my life with forever.

Luckily, God didnt take long to answer my prayer. He not only gave me somebody who will love me and my son as we are, He gave me not only a partner in life, but a BESTFRIEND that i can share all my worries, my thoughts and ideas,share my laughter and plans. He even gave me the namesake of His father here on earth, Joseph.

He's the one that makes me complete.Joe's the kind of person that can make you cry because of happiness and because of his jokes. We can talk for hours without getting bored. He's a man in a true sense of the word. There's nothing that i could ask for but to be with him soon.

I know we still have lots of trials to face, we still need to gather a lot of patience.We've been through a lot, we've encountered some tests on our relationship, but it just made our relationship stronger than before.And thanks for always assuring me that no matter what, we will make this happen and for keeping all your promises.


Life's really a wonderful world!

Little Me

This is me when i was 4yrs old,cute? of course...lol..i remember when i was a kid,we used to go to Antipolo Church every summer,me and my other siblings,my mother and my late father, whenever he was on vacation,btw,my father died when i was just 9yrs old,it was 32yrs ago.anyways,i missed going to Antipolo.it's been a long time since we went there.i can still recall whenever we were there,after the mass,we will buy suman and mangga,then we will go swimming to the then famous Hinulugang Taktak Yipeee!!!!but my all time favorite was when my mother was buying me clay pots or we call that in tagalog "palayok-palayukan".i loved those very much when i was a little girl, once we were home,i will play with those,sometimes with my playmates or with my 2 elder sisters,we will cook real rice and some foods...i wonder why i know little about cooking when i used to love it when i was a kid...lol...

if you'll look at the pic,you'll see that i was all smiling,coz my mother already bought me clay pots then,but i had other picture when i had a long face,i didnt post it here coz i dont like how i looked,the reason for the long face was my mother didnt buy my favorite palayok-palayukan..sob :( ...lol....

I really had a wonderful memories of my childhood!

a glimpse from my place....

when you look from our window,you'll see this scene.this is the picture of our neighborhood,a typical filipino house with some trees and you can even see some electrical wirings...oh well,it's in Tondo,Manila...although some still get scared once they hear about my place,but what they dont know,there are lots of good and peace loving people that they could find here...we dont live in a village or subdivision but i knew the people living here eversince i was a kid...neighbors are helping each other,show concerns.respect and appreciations,what i dont like are the people who spend most their time outside,talking and gossiping,but i dont care though,i dont have time for them,what i care most is about myself and my family and my work...i've no time to gossip nor to waste my time outside doing nothing...well,that's their life...to each his own...



....and this is the scene when you look down from our window...plants of my mother,a car of our neighbor,and some wires where we hang the clothes outside...you can see the leaves of our coconut tree,looks like it needs trimming now....lol...this is the place where i was born,i grew up and lived my life,ooops,lived?hey im still alive and still living here ....lolz...this is where i met my bestfriend,we dont see much of each other now although she just live nearby,we both are busy now with our own lives,a lot of things has changed for both of us,but one thing is certain and will not be changed,our friendship...we are still friends....and that's for keeps...

Books

Do you read books? Are you fond of it? how often do you read? What you see are just samples of my favorite books.Chicken Soup for mother's soul,the dictionary and of course The Holy Bible.
There are lotsa and lotsa books...it depends upon your interest...some finds it interesting,some dont...again...it depends upon the person...some read a lot and because of this,they're being tagged as "bookworm"...some hate the idea of reading books,it's just that they dont find it interesting or dont have time to read it,or dont know how to read...lol.
For me,books are interesting,it's a good source of knowledge,i love reading books...eversince i learned how to read,i became attached to it....when i was in elementary,i used to frequent our school library just to borrow books,fairy tale books,i love reading the stories of Cinderella,Snowhite,The 3 Little pigs and the likes,name the fairy tale characters and i knew it...When i entered high school,i was also a frequent visitor of our library,although i still read something about fairy tales,that time, i was there often to have some researches regarding my homeworks,book reports and projects...oh sometimes we go there to chat and talk about our crushes....hehehehe....
During college,of course,i knew where our school library was located,while doing some researches,we went there to do mostly of our lesson plans,because we need that for our Practice Teaching subjects,we even went to different libraries in Manila or in Quezon City if we cant find it in our own library....well,although,for those who knew me especially my friends whom i didnt go to school together,they laughed sometimes coz they said,it doesnt show in my personality,coz they knew me for being happy go lucky,lots of sense of humor and easy to get along with,i always cheer them up when they're blue and tell them jokes which usually ended them laughing so hard...lol
I know books are important...it helped me a lot,i admit i didnt do good when i was still studying,i didnt get higher grades,in fact,i was always shy when it comes to class participation,but as time went by,i learned to overcome it,told myself that if i will not help myself,nobody will,it's only me that i can depend myself upon,so i tried hard,i started to teach myself,if i heard some words that i never heard before,my dictionary is always available for free consultations,even if i already done with my schooling,i never stopped studying...
Books are there for us to enjoy,but then,there are some knowledge that we cant find solely from our books,we cant find inside the library....that's the book of life...that's the best book God gave to us.
Enjoy life and enjoy reading books...dont stop learning...dont stop educating yourself.....Coz i believe..Life is a continues process...and education is the only treasure here on earth that no one can steal from us.....
P.S....
And friends, dont ever forget to read the daily scriptures, it will really help us deal with our daily life.
Godbless

Where do GOD lives?

I used to asked the same question when I was little, as expected, I got some responses from the "olds" that God lives in heaven, some replied that God lives inside the church,and so I believed them. That made me did weekly visits to His home The Church…when I leave the house, I used to look up above me to see if God is watching me and will follow wherever I went. When my father died, they told me, He was already in the care of God who created all of us. I was told that God will be the one who will take care of my father, and to all of those who already died. When I reached puberty, I still asked the same question," Where does God lives?" and got the same answers, God lives in the Church, some said that He lives in heaven. That one question gave birth to another one, if God lives in the Church, if He lives in heaven, He sees what's happening in us, He sees the one who suffers, He sees the poorest of the poor, He sees those who needs His care, He sees everything and yet, nothing changed, the poor is still poor, the needy still a needy, and those who suffers are still suffering. Why is it like that? Why doesn't He come down to end every suffering that we are experiencing? Those questions lingered for years but now that I'm an adult, I already found and got the answer. I found it out from my own experiences. I knew God doesn't live inside the church, because if He is there, nobody will ever dare to look disgustingly to those people who don't wear nice clothes inside the church, nobody will talk about nasty things to their seatmates, the priest and the church itself won't dare to collect money from the people and spend it for their own interests, yes that's true. Other priests may not be doing this but some does. And if He really lives in the church, the people who go there regularly will not curse or say anything bad when they come home, people will learn how to speak and learn the ways of God and live with it but they're not. With regards to God living in heaven, can anybody tell me how it looks? We all believe that there's a heaven and God lives there? We don't even know if there's a heaven, we just know that there's heaven if we feel good, but if not, we'll say that everything's in hell, which I doubt too if there's such one…but I am sure of one thing, and that I know where God really resides …. God resides in all of us. he lives in our hearts…everything in us were made by God that's why we can find HIM within.We cannot see things the way they are if God didn't give us eyes, we can't smell the fragrance of a flower if He didn't give us a sense of smell, we can't hear our own laughter if He didn't give us our sense of hearing, we can't feel love if he didn't give us our hearts…and that's the most important of it all…If we know how to love,then we'll know where he resides ... Nobody ever talked to or seen God yet but because we have hearts that can feel His presence…we believe that he exists and lives there… IN OUR HEARTS!God is forever!God is Everywhere!

Torres High School Batch '82

After 25 years,here we are...most of us already have our own family,some have gone to different countries and some are now with our creator...no matter how busy we are in our daily lives,there are times that we stop and think about of our high school days...it's nice isnt it? it's nice to recall all those wonderful days during our teenage years...especially high school ...so many years have passed,still i remember,how can i forget my classmates and friends way back then...we've had lots of fun,we've exchanged laughters,tears,and there were times that we exchanged papers during exam... :)..and sometimes we have similar answers on our assignment :p...because one copied it from the other and so on and so forth...we've made fun of our classmates,teachers and of course,ourselves...i miss those days...although there are some that i still see and talk to,there are others that i wonder where they are now???...
But no matter what...they will remain in my thoughts and the happy times that we've shared will stay with me...

CHEERS TO SECTION 27 Batch "'82

please visit our website: http://torresians.me.com/

....BLANK....

There are mornings that we wake up and feel that we’re not in the mood, that we don’t feel like going anywhere, don’t feel like talking to anybody nor seeing anyone, feeling all alone, feeling helpless and depressed…all u want to do is to stay in bed, stare at the ceiling…thinking nothing…BLANK!

Oh well, sometimes when we look back, we sees nothing but Blank…it seems our life is clueless….Empty!...that you’re looking for something that’s lacking in your life….did u figure it out why? And what’s lacking?

No matter how busy we are, we need to reflect, we need to stop, look and listen…days
are passing so fast that we have to stop and take it slow, we do shortcuts so we could go to our destinations faster, but we have to look to see if we’re going into the right direction, we talk fast that we didn’t dare to listen, maybe we just don’t notice, God is talking to us, and is reaching for us. ahhh the world is getting complicated, it’s suffocating….we need to breathe….

That’s why we need to have time for ourselves. We need somebody to talk and listen to. Life is two way traffic, we need to understand everything in order to be understood. And really, life is too short, so we need to appreciate whatever we have and we need to show our love to the people that surrounds us, especially our family...coz if we let it pass, time cannot be taken back anymore…

So let’s share our happiness to one another, enjoy the beauty of life, the joy of being with our love ones, make each day a special day, and let’s give love to one another. Forget the past and focus on what’s happening today and smile to each other….LET’S NOT ALLOW BLANK SPACE FILL OUR LIFE… Let’s fill it with unselfish love..go out and make friends...
smile like this and say....