Blog - December 4, 2005

December 4, 2005 · Posted in Mike's Blog 

Again, it’s been quite sometime since I last made a real update to my website. I’ve been doing lots of things lately and I can’t simply find the right time to make the necessary updates to my blog and other sections of this site. Anyway, here I am, making a batch of updates that I hope you will like.Lots of things have happened to me in these past months – jobwise, family wise, and even personal. I’ve finally decided to make my life a bit more transparent than before. Yes, that means you’ll get to know more of me provided that once again, I will find time to update this seldomly maintained website.

Work at DWC

So ok, let’s start about my job. I got a $100 increase from DWC. I think I’m worthy of it but more than that, the DWC management thinks I’m worthy to receive this salary increase. Thanks to the folks up their in the US who made this happen. $100 / month means a lot to a typical Filipino household like mine. That means, we no longer have to worry about paying the monthly bills since $100 means more than Php 5000 and that’s more than enough to pay for electricity, water, and internet bills. Whew! Thanks. But of course, nobody gives a salary increase without giving the employee more responsibilities and I think that that’s just fair. To start with, I had to handle both the Media Arts and Programming department in the Philippines plus my original job as programmer. Good thing that they hired more people here in the Philippines to help me out – including Ren Samaniego who will now handle the Media Arts department in my stead. Nonetheless, I will still have more work to do in the programming side such as bug fixes and thinking of ways to come up with new products. Well, that’s work. It’s definitely a lot better than doing nothing.

By the way, thanks to my boss Mark Kevitt for giving me a book called ‘Basic Study Manual’ which is currently helping me a lot in developing my managerial and teaching skills. Thanks Mark!

Family Matters

Now, let’s move forward. Let’s talk about family stuff. As usual, me and my wife had our own share of fighting amongst each other. One major fight we had recently was when I lost control of my temper resulting to a very violent argument between her and me – FYI, nobody was hurt. Ok, no need to tell details here. I said I’ll be transparent but this involves family matter – not just me. To all those who knows what could happen when I lose my temper – well, just try to imagine what happened. Again, put in mind that neither I nor Evelyn got hurt.

Other than that, everything has been smooth sailing in the family. Not much fighting but I think it’s mainly due to the fact that we seldom talk about serious matters that may kindle an argument. As the saying goes, “the less talking, the less fighting.” The downside of this though is that we get to tackle possibly important issues much less than we use to. But then I think it’s just a matter of time before we both finally grow up and decide to take matters in a far more civilized manner.

Our two kids – Kei and Vhi – are doing pretty well in school. I am however not that happy yet with their performance but as I always say, there’s always room for improvement, especially for young kids like them. Kei seems to be having problems recalling what she studied about. Take Math for example. I teach her one thing, makes sure that she understands it, gives a series of tests and she does well – not to mention that seems to be enjoying it as well. Then a few days later, her mother gives her the same type of tests I gave her before and she surprisingly does it wrong this time. I’m still looking into the possibilities of why this happens but I think it’s more like of setting her mood first. Honestly also, I could have failed in making her truly understand what we were talking about. But then, that’s an area for me to explore.

Vhi on the other hand, is starting to get a hold of things that she is studying. There are even times when she gets up at 4:00 in the morning and tells her mom that she wants to study – talk about persistence!!! Of course, we tell her to go back to sleep most of the time – after all, there is the proper time for everything, including studying.

The school where they go to (OLGA – Our Lord’s Glory Academy) held an educational field trip last month and we toured Marikina City (known for its cleanliness and orderliness), the Butterfly Garden also in Marikina, a handmade Shoe Factory called ‘Japs’, not because the owner was Japanese but because he looks like one (they even repaired Kei’s and Vhi’s pair of shoes for free), and finally onto Avilon Zoo. I’ll try to post pictures here but I don’t want to make promises so please bear with me. The trip was very tiring but fruitful in terms of educating the kids (and the parents) as well as in terms of enjoyment.

Personal Story

Now, finally onto myself. Lots of ’spiritual’ matters have been going on in myself. Question like, ‘Does God really exist?’ are in my head. I finally decided to make up my mind regarding this matter and also decided to announce it to the world and to the people around me as well. (Yes, it is possible to announce to the world and leave the people around you not knowing what you announced.)

Honestly, this is tough for me to say but I’m going to say it anyway – partly because I said that I will be more transparent and partly because I want you to know what my thoughts are. So here are some of the the major questions that I had to battle in my mind for the past several months:

Is God (and the devil) Real?
What really happens to a man after he dies?

I know that these questions may strike a terrifying note among lots of people – possibly including you but also these questions are fundamental to how we will do and plan things in our life. I’ve been a Roman Catholic from birth to 17 years old after which I switched to Protestantism because I believe that ‘born again’ Christians are teaching things in a more truthful manner than the Catholic Church. As a Protestant, I was mainly an Evangelical though I’ve also been in one way or another a Pentecostal, Baptist, and a Methodist – mainly through the practice of their teachings. I’ve served God – or so I thought – for about 90% of my time as a Protestant and I learned to enjoy and love it until I encountered things in my life that brought up lots of questions in my life. I’ve read the bible, asked the pastors, read articles and books, searched the internet and most of all prayed and fasted in search for the right answer but I didn’t really find them. Pastors have different answers (so much for one body and one spirit) and the bible appears to have discrepancies. Reading books, articles and searching the internet is a lot like asking the pastors – different answers.

So, what did I do? For sure, I need to have answers if I were to go on with my life. Basically what I did was listen to my heart and make up my mind. I can’t really say that I have finally come to clear and concrete answers to my questions as I am still in the process of searching at the moment. However, I can confidently say that I’ve finally decided on what path to take in my journey through life. A path that may be a lot different from what the rest of the world is taking. But it could also be the path for the wise and balanced soul-searching man. So if you want to know my thoughts about my questions in life, simply click on an title below:

I hope to increase this list of questions in the near future, again as I find time.

Wrapping things up

Tomorrow will be another day – for you and for me. Lots of things may happen that could our minds and ultimately our way of living whether it be an event in our jobs or businesses, a family matter or just a simple personal question. You may laugh at my thoughts and ideas or you may also be inspired and encourated but remember this, you can do that only because you have freedom – whether partial or in full and that’s what I’m simply using here – my freedom to think, to talk, to write, to tell the people about my things in life.

See ya!



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