MAPEH Adventure 2011: Cantabon Cave

Visiting different places will be one of the plan activities of our department. For this year, our destination was Siquijor. The place was known to be mystical for it is the place where the “mangkukulam” resides. However, if you were in the place you will get to love the nature that eludes the concept of witchcraft. Continue reading »

Elegant Log Bed

Not most of the people have pine beds, maybe because they are not used to it and most of the people are using the modern beds. What they don’t know is that the bed came from the tree of pine is very durable and it can also be stylish.

In my past years until now, the bed we are using are beds from wood. Very cool. You just put foam to make it soft and them bedding and…. solve! So if I were to choose, I will surely choose the pine bed which is very durable and affordable too.

Working Girls

Directed by: Jose Javier Reyes

April 23, 2010 was a memorable to me because it was the date that me and my husband were back to dating. Yes, dating. The usual dating we had were watching movies on screen.

Working Girls is a Filipino movie. It is the story of seven different women.  Eula Valdez, Eugene Domingo, Cristine Reye, Bianca King, Iza Calzado, Jennylyn Mercado and  Ruffa Gutierrez. Each of them has different story to tell.

Eula Valdez – played the role as Dr. Cleo Carrillo, a well-known dermatologists.

Eugene Domingo – Paula Cabigting, a hardworking mother of two. She’s very proud in sending her children at Ateneo. She is a nagger. One thing I like her is she’s having an online business which is selling bags and delivers it.

Cristine Reyes – Wendy Casuga is a promo girl. She is been considered as “pok-pok” or a prostitute. She has this demure attitude but very aggressive.

Bianca King – Dara dela Vega, a daughter of Amanda dela Vega (Cherry Gil). She ‘s been appointed as segment producer in news and current affairs. It was only then, I knew what is a segment producer. I just also realized that you must know what your work is so you won’t have a hard time adopting its new environment.

Iza Calzado – Tere Villanueva – a very kind and understanding nurse. Her past relationship made her stayed single for all time. The feeling of emptiness and hatred will not be eased until such there is closure. Only then you will realized that you have been moving on without realizing it.

Jennylyn Mercado – Ada Villanueva, a call center agent and a single mom. It is not easy for her to raise her child especially if the feelings towards the father is still there. Sometimes, we must look around and appreciate the people around us.

Ruffa Gutierrez – Marilou Cobarrubias, a beauty queen and widow. She now become the CEO after her husband died. She doesn’t have any knowledge about running a business however, she been practical in finding ways to solve the bankruptcy of her company.

The only story that keeps the movie alive is Paula’s  tale. I really enjoyed her silliness. Ruffa, Bianca, Iza, Jennlyn are beautiful. Carmi, Eula, Gina, Isabel and Rio are the original cast of working girls. They are also beautiful as if they were not getting older.

Movie Rating : 7

Talavera: The House of Prayer

The University of Cebu High School Department (UCHS) had a two days  retreat  last November 6 and 7 at Talavera, the House of Prayer located at the beautiful hills of Quiot, Cebu City, Philippines.

Talking about the place where the retreat was held, I was really curios of its name.

Talavera means “true star”. It symbolizes spiritual rebirth, evangelical radicalism, longing got a life of loving dedication and closeness to the Lord. The place had several rooms which can accommodate up to four people. They have also dormitory type of room with the capacity of 30 people.

The place is cozy to stay with. If you want to unleash and uplift your spiritual aspects in life. Talavera House of Prayer is the right place for seminars, retreat, recollection and other religious activities. Having a retreat at Talavera was really a great experience. Our speaker of the said retreat was Fr. Louie Punzalan, SVD. He is a great priest and speaker. He gave us a conference which is just brief yet it gave us a great impact to our personal lives, and being a teacher. He could relate to us  for he was also a teacher then.

Interior View of the Talavera House of Prayer

Fill in an empty spiritual aspect of your life at Talavera House of Prayer.

John Q

Directed by: James Kearns

Written by: Nick Cassavetes

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Kimberly Elise, Daniel E. Smith

Genre: Drama, Crime

Check your health insurance provider whether you are fully being covered. This is my advice to all of you who are reading this review. This is how the story John Q evolves.

Summary:

John Quincy Archibald (Denzel), is a loving husband and father. He will do everything, anything just to make his family secured and happy. His son, Mike (Daniel E. Smith) is talented boy and wants to be the next well known wrestler. His wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) is a good Christian woman. They lived in a simple life. Until such a tragedy happened that they never expect. Mike, suddenly fell out in the ground while running for the second base during their baseball game. John and Denise rushed him to the hospital. Only then, they found out that Mike’s heart is three times bigger than a normal kid of nine years old. Denise can not believe it for Mike seems okay. The only way to save Mike is through heart transplant. Heart transplant will cost them a bundle. John Q expected that major medical is covered in their health care insurance. Sad to say, it wasn’t. As a result, he sold every belongings that they have, seeking an advice to the expert, asking their community to help them to come up with the amount desired just to put his son’s name on the donor’s list. Doing all those things are not enough. He is really desperate when his wife called that Mike will not make it. Consequently, hostaging the doctor and other people in the emergency room is the only way that his son will be listed in the donor’s list. Even though, he looks like a mad man with a gun, still he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. Their conversation with his wife and son proves that he only want to make his boy operated and be back to his normal life. Because of this, many people support him in his undertakings so with the doctor. John wants to kill himself so he could donate his own heart. Fortunately, he was saved for there is available heart that matches his son’s blood type.   His son lived but he is sent to the prison for kidnapping in false imprisonment.

Review:

I like the whole story. It really gives us an idea that you can ready to sacrifice your own life just to make the other alive. It is not easy living in this country without any knowledge of your insurance policy. It would be best if you will ask the agent the things that are being covered under the privilege that you choose. Denzel (John) did a great job. I could really feel his acting. He seems so natural portraying a loving father and a hostage taker with a heart. Kimberly (Denise) also had a very emotional acting. I like the part when she calls Denzel; she’s very assertive and vocal pushing her husband to do something. Another one that I like is the part where there is a confrontation with the director of the hospital. She acted so compelling that I wanted to give her applause. I do really like the twist at the end part of the movie; it seems that John really killed himself before Denise told them that there is a heart available. Another one, it seems that John stepped out in the emergency room and surrendered himself after receiving the organ but it wasn’t him. He was there, watching as his son was being operated.

I would recommend this movie. This is worthy to be watched. Because of this, I will rate it 10 out of 10.