so you want to get a copy of your birth certificate

filipinos seeking employment, applying for national exams or getting a passport all require a birth certificate from the nso (national statistics office). the nso offices are located in quezon city and in pasay.

for those who have the time but not the budget*, one can personally go to the nso to get this document. i went to the nso at pasay. this can be found along macapagal avenue, across pnb. one needs to take the moa blue or orange jeeps coming from gil puyat corner taft or edsa corner taft to get there. fare is the minimum, P8. the nso is nearer gil puyat or a few meters across the world trade area.

i got there a little after 8am and was surprised to see that there were already quite a number of people. i was number 274.

STEP 1: fill up a form. one can request for the birth certificate, certificate of no marriage (i have no idea what this is for), a death certificate, or a birth card that certifies that one has records at the nso.

the form asks for the usual information - name, birthday, place of birth, father's full name (first, middle name, last), mother's maiden name (full name, middle name and her maiden last name). it also asks for the purpose. the last part is all in the check box, anyway.

after filling up the form, sit down and move as the people get to move. everyone sits and moves and this serves as the cue. movement is from right to right, then left to left - much like the letter s or in the "isaw" wave. one can actually sit down and fill up the form while in cue. that would cut the waiting for about 10 mins.

it takes about a minute or less to move from the next seat to the other. movement is usually done in 5's so if all the payment counters had been open that morning, the lines would be moving in 10's. there were only four open counters when i was there and it took me an hour to reach step 2.

STEP 2: there will be a lady who will be further inspecting the filled up form. then she will hand the number printout which is proof that one has cued and didn't merely cut into the payment line. the lady is the one who will approach the filee. just wait.

STEP 3: upon reaching the counter, hand in the filled up form, a valid ID and the payment of P140 for each copy of the birth certificate. the certificate of no marriage is P190.

STEP 4: go to the back office. from the entrance, go right at the ministop. sit in the room and wait for your name to be called. the documents will only be released if one has a valid id. this step took less than 30 mins. annd that's it.

i ended the process around ten minutes before 1100. not bad.

it is best to come early, perhaps by 7am so that one can be done early, too. moa opens at 9am, though.

NOW, if one has the budget, call NSO direct and pay via metrobank the P330 per copy of the birth certificate. it takes around a week for the door to door delivery of the copy. i spent P280 for two copies of my birth certificate and 1/2 day. if i called NSO direct, i would've spent P660 and the time to go to the bank and the waiting period.

and for those who want another person to get the documents. one needs to give a letter of authorization and an id of the document owner to get one.

zoobic adventure October 6 2006

Taken from Friendster

October 6 2006
zoobic adventure

i got back from subic the other day and it was quite a photo experience. what excited me this afternoon was seeing my film photos of the ocean adventure attraction and i was so amazed that the canon eos 888 was able to capture the dolphins before they landed in the water - something my digicam failed to do (it was due to my adjustments and i realized too late that i did them wrongly). well, as soon as i am done with my work, i will sit down, fix my photos and make a photo essay out of my animal photos.

the guys at netopia madison along taft scanned my contact prints and i was so impressed.

bravo! bolshoi ballet and ballet manila! 2006

bravo! bolshoi ballet and ballet manila!
June 16th, 2006

from Malaya:

The week-long event will feature some of the stars of the famous Bolshoi Theatre Ballet. Performing are lead soloist and honoured artist of Russia, Anastasia Yatsenko; lead soloist Andrei Bolotin; Nelli Kobakhidze, ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet; lead soloist Yekaterina Shipulina; lead soloist Alexander Volchkov; lead soloist Anastasia Goryacheva; and lead soloist Ruslann Skvortsov.

guess who was at ccp seated in one of those boxes last night in awe?

yup. thanks to the diva and the diva’s mom, i got a once in lifetime chance to sample the stars of the bolshoi theater ballet performing pieces from swan lake, giselle and the tarantella.

this was also with the participation of ballet manila. although in her early 40s, if my calculations are correct as she was in senior year when i was in frosh year, lisa macuja elizalde still exudes the passion for dance. rumors have it that doctors have warned her against dancing because of her age and the kids. nonetheless, lisa was "breathtaking" in their version of a muslim dance. she flipped, hung and sat on bamboo poles!

when sour grapes turn to whine, err.. wine

(Taken from friendster. circa 2006. i wrote this a few months after resigning from dlsu and being hired at stc. soon, i will write why i resigned from stc.)

when sour grapes turn to whine, err.. wine
August 16th, 2006


just watch american dreamz. (it’s a request, not a report of a past action)

i’m not a hugh grant fan but i’ve gotten interested in the movies mandy moore appears in. face it, she can sing and act but not really excel in either. anyhow, someone paid for my ticket so i watched it and laughed hard because it was a funny movie. it made fun of "idol" shows and contestants, the us president, I-raq rebels, etc… since i am part of the gnd generation (grim and determined), the movie is really a black comedy, satire, lots of laughs with a whole lot of message like when william williams, two weeks short of training, gets to be sent to iraq (I-raq, not eerak) and gets shot and returns as a war veteran. argh… watch out for iqbal. this actor is so hilarious. where did the production find these actors who played iraqis- iqbal and omer. funfunfun.

of course, the following is more interesting than the above paragraph.

ah, the joys and perils of being part-time in an educational institution - your future gets decided by a respected handful. : ) by this time, they have gotten rid of the old ones who made the department what it is and gave it respect. (read between the lines) oh, i’m not sour-graping. my sour grapes are making themselves into bottles of fine wine and it’s wine that’s not about to turn. anyway, it’s reality - that if you do not have a master’s, your game’s over. come to think of it, when i lost work a year short of my accumulated 15 years in that institution, i found out who my real friends from that office were, people who had the decency to ask how i was and not only assumed i was fine (period). hmmm… only one from my friendster set (ec) asked. ms is exempted as she wasn’t part of my friendster yet. (well, the people in the office don’t even account for 5% of people i know.)

i guess that’s how it is. when you face a tragedy, R E A L, as in velveteen rabbit R E A L, ask you how you are even if they might be fearful of how your response will be. so, here’s my learning on that, even if i know someone is hurting and that i will be rejected, i will still ask how he/she is…only if i know i can be real myself.

oh, i’m just writing this because they did a britney …. oops they did it again, got rid of an old part-timer.

who's the diva

taken from friendster. circa 2006 - my take on minette's first recital

who’s the diva?
March 19th, 2006

this is not a work of fiction. the event you are about to read is an actual account. this really happened. real people. real places. real event. i will not hide behind caveats. though, no psychologist was involved, someone turned out right… or so we think.

some time ago,way back when sanrio was the in thing and all kittens were white and wearing red ribbons, four girls from an exclusive school situated in the heart of D. Tuazon, Maria Clara, Calamba and Banawe streets - oh yeah St. Theresa’s College, Q.C., stood on the platform, exasperated - their singing exercise was over.

they sang: Kookaburra sits in the old gum

Merry, merry king of the bush is Laugh,

Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra

Gay your life must

note: a kookaburra is an australian bird and this kid’s song has four stanzas but we only knew the first.

then when all four stepped towards there seats, one was asked to stay and sing again. so, she sang with all her heart, nary a thought to what a kookaburra was. she thought kookaburra was some old tribal king of a remote tribe in Africa. ( geez, i was just breaking into puberty, why should i even care?)

then, as our ex future singing star sat down, she asked her seatmate, Why was I asked by Mrs. Padilla to sing again?

Kase, Beth, para kang tumutula.

shattered. dreams.

Thus, she clammed up and never dare sang another note in  her entire life.

Fifteen years later, our hero was now teaching English after devoting her gift of words to literature, a senior co-teacher kept telling her:

Have you met the new faculty? She’s the daughter of Mrs. Padilla!

Mrs. Padilla, who?

Mrs. Padilla, your music teacher.

Sorry, I don’t remember. (okay, so, i had a conscious memory lapse.)

Beth??? Mrs. Padilla! Doesn’t she look like her mom?!

(ang kulit, ha! sinabi ng I don’t remember eh.)

a month and more passed, still the clam has no recall of Mrs. Padilla. then, one morning, when all was calm and Beth was cool, she stirs in her dreams as the melody of kookaburra roused her.

thus, to keep her sane, the clam talks of the story and reveals the truth as to why karaoke bores her and that she’s rather pay her way out of singing and why she’d never get a magic sing mike.

the real future diva tells the story to Mrs. Padilla and this is her reply: I must have ruined her life.

ha! of course, after sometime, I got a chance to meet up with Mrs. Padilla and even got invited to Baguio. she promises to make up for her, err, ruining by offering piano lessons.

yesterday, after I told this story, someone said that Mrs. Padilla is wise as she offered me piano and not singing lessons!

hahaha! so, that’s the diva, Minette, the soprana, the daughter of Mrs. Padilla.

Eating Time in Quezon circa 2006

taken from my Friendster blog...

Lafang time in Quezon
June 16th, 2006

(this article appears in the KAISA newsletter. i wrote this on the pleas of jotan. after i ate…a lot… i had to write about it. bummer. at any rate, i did enjoy this food tour and we’re all dreaming of going to pampanga for a sisig spree. some pictures were taken during this trip. okay, me and a bus load of fil-chinese…)

*********************

Kulinarya Quezon: Not just a Gastronomic Feast

The Sunday of May 28, 2006, proved to be one of the best day adventures I ever had. First, upon the invitation of Jocelyn Tan, I knew of the possibility that I will be the only non-Chinese Filipino among the group of KAISA. Second, I had to wake up early as Jotan said the bus will leave anyone who is not on time at 600am. Third, we were all going to a CULINARY tour of Quezon province and that meant gastronomic delights to someone who’s always excited on anything that has to do with food.

As the bus left KAISA and proceeded to the Magallanes Shell station where we had to pick up two more participants, our tour guide, please insert her name here, talked about what we were about to expect that day, breakfast at Kusina Salud, side trip at Ugu’s pottery garden, lunch at Gala- Rodriguez, walking tour at Sariaya, food demos at Lucban, and the tagayan ritual of lambanog at Tayabas.

Kusina Salud, the home of world renowned Patis Tesoro in San Pablo, was a welcome to us weary and hungry travelers. The garden, mini aviary, antiques, paintings, and water fountains, all merging in a symphony of colors, were very inviting.

Breakfast consisted of organic brown rice, dilis served on a bed of egg-tomato-onion-kesong puti, scrambled eggs with kesong-puti, longganisa, beef tapa (It must have been kalabaw meat. I didn’t dare ask but it was on the breakfast menu and it is part of the traditional breakfast.) Dessert was a warm guinatan halo-halo, with the ube giving its rich purple color.

What caught my palate’s attention was the dilis. Its size was perfect and so was its crunchiness. Its presentation, on top of a salad of yellow, red, light purple and white, magnificently bursts of colors and flavors.

The food demo was the pako salad with a twist. First, it was prepared the traditional way (fish bagoong, calamansi, tomato, onion, pepper). Then, a whole salted egg was grated on it. Then to balance the taste, a dressing was poured over it. The taste was a fusion of saltiness, sourness, sweetness and the pako’s own taste.

The next stop wasn’t on the itinerary but it was the most significant. It was a brief stop at the monument of General Yue Fei. Located along the highway and with in the compound of a city center, the monument pays homage to the Filipino-Chinese contribution to China, similar to how Jose Rizal is the Filipino-Chinese contribution to the Philippines.

Lunch was about to be served at Ugu’s Pottery Garden, not anymore at the Gala-Rodriguez mansion. Although we felt that it was just a few hours after breakfast, we all eagerly anticipated what food will be served amidst the gardens and pottery of Ugu.

Ugu’s Pottery Garden in Tiaong is its well guarded open secret as there are no signs leading to its location. Still, this is a must see place for three reasons: its sprawling garden with cottages where people can rest and eat, the pottery as being there gives a peak into the potter’s works and works in progress and the most important, the food.

Ugu’s food demo is the kulawo. To make this extraordinary dish out of ordinary ingredients, one would need banana heart, boiled and shredded, grated coconut, vinegar, the aromatics of garlic and onion and salt and pepper. This dish tasted like inihaw na liempo! The secret, I think, lies in both the toasting of the coconut in live coals and using vinegar to extract its milk. (If you attempt this, do not forget to remove the coals before squeezing the shredded coconut. Also, if the taste is far from Ugu’s kulawo, then we can assume that it is the potter’s hands that make the difference.)

In first and second waves, lunch was cleaned in a jiffy. There was a clear soup of various meats and squid balls that had a very light flavor, calamares, inihaw na liempo, kulawo, pako, fried and steamed fish. All these were washed down by pure buko juice. Dessert was buko pandan which I had to forego as I was too stuffed with the kulawo.

Then it was off to the town of Sariaya. We were led to the church where the replica of the crucifix of the Sto. Kristo de Burgos was the main relic. Our tour guide said that it was only that replica that survived when the church burned, thus, strengthening the attributions of miracles to it. Then, in the middle of the summer afternoon, we decided to forego the walking tour of the old houses and just admire their architecture and enormous structures from our bus windows. The bus stopped in front of the Galo-Rodriguez ancestral mansion where we were welcomed with a serenade and the tagayan. This meant that everyone had to partake of the lambanog from the same glass.

The mansion itself has a rich history. It was built by Sariaya’s prominent family and was designed by Architect Juan Nakpil. Upon its completion in the mid 1930’s and a couple of days before the family was to occupy it, their matriarch, Doña Gregoria died. During World War II, the upper floor of the mansion was used by the Japanese high officials as their residence while the family stayed at the first floor. Old mansions are often designed with secret chambers and this is no different. The Japanese never detected that within the kitchen of the first floor was the trap door that led to the house’s cellar. It was her that the family hid the eldest daughter, Carmen, to avoid the amorous advances of one of the officers. Thus, christened cellar of safety, this underground area now houses some of the family’s belongings, including a collection of women’s shoes, a couple of chamber pots, among others. As part of the tour, we all went down into the cellar. However, what was really the treat was finding the exit and maneuvering one’s body to pass through the elevated small window. Of course, a hand full decided to simply go up via the trap door again.

The next stop was KoffeeKlatch Bakeshop in Lukban. Located at the foot of Mt. Banahaw, Lukban is sometimes known as Quezon’s Baguio because of its cool weather. The food demo focused on two of Lukban’s famous specialties, the kiping and the longganisa. On the one hand, kiping is made out of rice flour, water and food color. The sticky paste is then spread on the kabal leaves and steamed. After cooling them, the kiping is easily peeled off and dried.The colorful kiping decorations are edible. One either toasts or fries the kiping, sprinkles sugar, and one has a crunchy snack.

On the other hand, the longganisa’s tasty secret is its use of oregano juice and non-use of chemical preservatives. Our resource person was also keen on saying that they stick to the dried pig’s intestine for casing and replacing it with the synthetic edible one is much too expensive and unthinkable. The group was then treated to pancit habhab, round apas, cassava cake and the luckier ones were able to sample the longganisa. It seemed that no one left the bakeshop without buying apas, biscuits and longganisa.

The final stop was Mi Casa in Tayabas for the Tagayan ritual. Our gracious host, former mayor, Dondi Alandy Silang, patiently narrated the ritual of tagayan or the drinking of lambanog in a group. The most important role went to the one who is tasked to pour the lambanog, the tagayero. His task is to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of lambanog in the one glass used by everyone and that the bottle of lambanog will be enough for everyone. There is much respect involved in the ritual. One cannot simply refuse the drink nor can one just drink as much as one wants. “Patimtim po,” should be said for refusal. Since it is the women who often refuse the drink, they still have to make sure that their lips touch the rim of the glass. This adds pressure to the rest of the group, so one of the male participants has to save the drink (and the woman) by saying, “Sasakupin po.” This means that the “saviour” has to drink from the area of the rim that was earlier touched by the woman’s lips. However, one should never take lambanog lightly, particularly, Tayabas’ pure lambanog. It is quite potent, so moderation should be practiced.

Kusina ni Salud, Ugu’s pottery, Sariaya’s mansions and churches, Lukban’s kiping and longganisa, Tayabas’s tagayan, are all but samples of what Quezon has to offer. The tour only allowed a glimpse of the richness of the province’s culture and is still far from reaching its core; after all, we only reached a few towns of Quezon. Looking at the map, these towns are merely in Quezon’s periphery. Imagine how much more Quezon has to offer if one is able to go further into its heart.

(On a personal note, I am so appreciative of being part of the KAISA tour. Not only did I learn about what culinary delights Quezon has to offer, I also benefited from the anecdotes of Ma’m Tessie about the Chinese influence in Quezon’s history and culture, as well, as these are historical data that never get to land in the books. )

4/4/11

today is 4/4/11.

repeated numbers, repeated dates, repeated problems.

there was a fire earlier. had i not missed work, i would've panicked at the thought there was a fire along my street. it was merely four houses away from mine. the flames began as a bonfire and the men were unable to control it. it was scary because the flames were goind beyond the wall and were about to reach the wooden house next to it.

the hose connected to our well was well used. the water well provided the initial drenching. in a few minutes, the fire trucks arrived and in a minute, a miracle happened. it rained enough to further reduce the white smoke to steam. how was that on a summer day! my street reverberates with prayers and masses so we're pretty much sheltered.

i looked at my dogs and wondered how i would carry them in case of a bigger and closer fire. i guess i'll be able to with the great adrenalin rush.

i hate fires.

what graduation

The second meaning of graduation as lifted from the freedictionary:
a. A division or interval on a graduated scale.
b. A mark indicating the boundary of such an interval.

i'd take b. anytime. it means the ending and the beginning. it means something has to die in order for something to rise up. it also means a time in limbo and ask the easiest question of all, "what am i to do now?" thought the easiest, this requires the hardest answer. decisions are hard to make and honoring them often can be the downfall of some.

it also means letting go and keeping in memory the happiness and sadness the experiences and people brought into one's life. for example, a teacher could have praised a student for the most minute incident or raised hell over some miscue. the former could be the only positive point in the life of the student and he/she will magnify that in times of low self-esteem while the latter can lead to scars and resentment. but, with graduation, one has to move on and only look back to draw strength, not to wish to go back again.