Sweet moments with Ms. B

Heritage Conservation simply means:Taking good care of the past. Quite ironic, don't you think? How can one takes care of the past when it has already gone? I think the answer lies in our hearts.

As an architect, I observed that through preservation of our Cultual Heritage, career-wise, has enhanced in ways i incorporate the design concept into the classical creations thereby giving recognition to those old but historical edifices which are now on the verge of existence due to wear and tear brought about by time and natural calamities while consciously merging both the modern and the classical ideas into a soluble tandem evolving into a pleasing incorporation of design eventually allowing trapped and hidden talents to be exposed and made to flourish into the limelight in the design arena.

With the application of Heritage conservation here inCebu, the community was hesitant at first. In fact they over-reacted that there were lots of misunderstandings and debates over who, what and why preserve? The biggest question then was: Why not just forget about it and replace it with a new one? To some it may seem to sound okay, but with the continued advocacy on the ins and outs of the process, the people now has grown and are more conscious in finding ways to lean some of the techniques in conservation of heritage. The greater majority of society are now positively enjoying the fruits of its resulting impact in the tourism-related repercussions in the aspect of economy. A rise of annual revenue together with the increase of influx of visitors proved it so. Various sectors of society were greatly benefited of this said program, and one of them are the intrepreneurs, who directly absorbed the profit-projected turnout in various angles of commerce.

Another group who are also enjoying its benifits is the marginalized group of people whom we have the majority in number. Although their level of consciousness as far as heritage is concerned was fast disappearing if not lost yet but with this Heritage conservation process they learned in their hearts the importance and value of why we should take good care of the past and/or what's left of it thus enabling their minds to subtlety be filled with the essence of what our heritage was and its significance in our existence today.

Cultural Heritage preservation means so much! I can say it is the guiding strength of a nation, of a society in general and of man, in particular. They are the mainstream of how we are today and how we might be in the future. Our pride as the only catholic nation in the far East only elaborates it more. We owe it all to our great though-kind-of- sour- past as to what has become of us now. Our culture speaks so much of us. As a matter of fact, it governs our very lives. Culture is our lifestyle. And the things, images, items and everything else which are associated with our culture, are significant for us in every little way it does. They come in as tangible and intangible kind. Structures like churches, ancient gates, old fortresses, grottos, even cemeteries are rich enough to be preserved as they are the very solid evidence of the ways those people in the past started it all for us.

The picture above is one of the booklet of four (4) produced by our team Cebu Heritage Frontier (CHF) from the taxing yet fun research we did in four towns in southern Cebu namely: Argao, Dalaguete, Boljoon and Oslob. I was the head-architect assigned in Oslob.
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Related article: INQ7.net

Today starts a day without warning
Molded by time and nurtured with emotion
A day, full of life and compassion
Only to be interwoven with dignity and pride.

Empty heart continues to bleed
Longing for that moment
Chosen mindfully
By HIM.

Nothing really matters, but life.
And the day goes on…

Wishing here waiting

What I got to do to make you love me?
What I got to do to make you care?
What do I do when lightning strikes me?
And I wake to find that you're not there?

What I got to do to make you want me?
What I got to do to be heard?
What do I say when it's all over?
Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation.
And it's getting more and more absurd.
It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over?
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word.

What do I do to make you want me?
What I got to do to be heard?
What do I say when it's all over?
Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation.
And it's getting more and more absurd.
It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over?
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word.

Yeah. Sorry

What I got to do to make you love me?
What I got to do to be heard?
What do I do when lightning strikes me?
What have I got to do?
What have I got to do?
When sorry seems to be the hardest word.
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I just love this band, and Elton John too!

Every time I get near a structure of any type, whether a monument, a building or a superstructure, I feel some kind of connection, like magnetism… as if it is communicating to me and endearing me to it closer like a person. I cannot explain exactly why but it seems there is a need for me connect to it too, in any way I can. Like… a bridge! For me, a bridge is truly a bridge as its name denotes! It bridges me to an open field that somewhere out there opportunity awaits thus allowing my inner self to indulge with it like I am having some kind of connection from my current settings /situation to the other. It simply enthrals me and put me into some kind of a spell.

My first encounter with a bridge was when I was five 5 years old, in one corner here in Cebu City. I was already in first grade and we (my sister together with my two older brothers) liked to walk down to school using the only shortcut @ the back across it but a big pond was in between. So we traversed that little bridge made of only two (not four) bamboo poles, bonded together with a smooth steel wire-long enough to hold it still for a long period of time- in every foot distance. It had a rail on one side only, also made of bamboo for our hands to hold on to while walking on it. It was suspended more than a foot up from the mud with huge water lilys sprouting all over. I think that bridge was a little over four (4) meters long. We had great times with it. I almost fell one time when I was hurrying up too fast and my left foot slid down; but I did mange to get a grip on the railing and continued my journey to school with dry shoes! It was really fun.

Today, I am in an island with two bridges! This time it isn’t made of bamboo but tempered steel with huge pre-stressed concrete for support and cable on its sides. Isn’t that just fantastic!

First stop : Mandaue-Mactan Bridge. This bridge is quite dear to me because my dad and my two elder brothers were among the many bridge builders (erectors as they are called) employed then to fit those rivets in. It was the first to be built (1973) thus the name and it allowed progress to step into Mactan more easily and freely. It was said that a bridge lasts a lifetime depending on whose lifetime it started and considering some minor renovations /repairs are taken into account every so often.

The next one is the Marcelo H. Fernan Bridge- in honor of our chief justice of cebuano descent. It is located just a little over to the North (Pusok) but barely two kilometers away from the first one. This bridge carries long cables to support it from both sides as most suspension bridges do anywhere else.

Bridges! They simply amaze me all the time! It enables me to breath more freely and cherish this (almost) perfect life i'm having to the max! These huge but gentle structures sit on peaceful waters across the channel, joining two great cities :Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, sending off messages of camaraderie, freedom and...love perhaps?

There! I’ve said it: Tennis is my game. And I’m quite proud to say I learned it from scratch. I mean, I started out with clinics: The term used in training young children the basics of the game. Basically it means: tennis lessons!

So there I was standing in attention- a 25 year-old married lady together with some 6 other kids whose ages ranged from 6 – 10. Oh yeah! It was kind of fun actually. Amid the heat of an open multi-purpose court -’coz it used to be a basketball court at night too - I stood there wearing my best skirt supposedly-tennis-attire and was doing the forehand and backhand grips, and hit better groundstrokes. I'm now using Head S6Intelligence midplus after my long overdue engagement with Prince oversize carbon.

My personal reason behind why I’m blogging about tennis is the fact that I miss the game so much now. You see, after my hospital encounters last April, I haven’t played it since because my doctors told me so. This tube inside me has to come off first meaning: four months onwards- (after August) but with a condition that no more kidney stones are trapped inside or else, I need to be inserted another tiny tube and wait another four months! Can you imagine how long that takes? You should know for tennis players like me, a week of not playing seems forever! My, oh my! By the way, I hit a few balls in billiards every now and then, and the latest craze here: Badminton.

But i think the best reason of all is simple. I only want to share with you something to aspire for, hoping one could get a grasp if not a glimpse of how it feels like having a sport as a way of releasing the tension of work in our daily routine; and also i was hoping it might encourage our youths of today in learning the game or any game for that matter, for a better sporty tomorrow.

So, you all know my sporty world (or is it), perhaps, you can tell me yours?

Everybody has been talking and blogging about it lately. It's so humongus that it made responses greater than expected! And i had the chance last night of experiencing almost all the concerts performed in my very own bedroom!

Yes! It was aired live in our local TV ! There i was enjoying the simplest comfort of my 20" television and rocked my heart out with Bono himself live in London! WOW! Then it shifted to Japan with Bjork and then on to Rome with no less than Duran-Duran! My my! All my fave artists were singing and rocking and sending the message to the Group of Eight (G8) great leaders who will be having their annual summit meeting on July 6th in Edinbugh, which is aimed at fighting poverty in Africa.

It was up all night 'coz when i woke up this morning and turned on the tv set, Sting was featured with his great song: "Every breath you'll take" (we will be watching you). 'just breathtaking!

Oh, i manged to encode my name in the list and saw it run down my monitor thanking me along with the rest of names who supports this cause. I hope you have done your part too.

(First of a series)

Various sports amaze me more than movie viewing but there is nothing like playing it for real to get the feel of it.

As far as I can remember, I won the 100-meter dash in my elementary days during the Public School Sports tournament or something like that and I was a softball player way back in high school. We were all girls and it made sense playing the game much as I enjoyed the running we did and the cheering dances we get to compete every so often while wearing those very short white skirts topped with sexier-than-ever (in those times) shirts! My mom was an athlete too in her younger days then. I guess I got the genes from her as a sports enthusiast.

Of all the sports I have encountered, I was pretty inclined to the ball games, which made me fell in-love with table tennis. I was so engrossed with the game that I requested my dad that we make our own table @ home for us to practice more freely. And indeed I had the standard table but get this: it was my boyfriend then (husband now) who built it all by himself! Was it real love already? Well, perhaps it was, ‘coz that same table was the presidential table during our wedding!

I M A G I N E ! Opps! I’m sorry, I got derailed there a while.

Anyway, I was an avid fan of the game and still is. But my heart fell (in sports I mean) for lawn tennis when my hubby started playing. And it wasn’t until I married (after my first child) that I got to play and learn it by heart.

Actually, Lawn tennis is quite a complicated sport-@ least for me - given my situation of a full time wife, mother, home maker, landscape artist, electrician, plumber and all plus I took some short courses in computers on my spare hours; but in spite of these I did manage and made it to the women’s finals (doubles) in our local city (LCTC) Lapu-Lapu City Lawn Tennis Club. I had more than a couple of partners every game or two though. Playing this game really demands so much time not to mention great efforts not only physically but mentally too. I remember one time we (my hubby) and i tied a ball up the ceiling and let it hang down in its most appropriate length for me to practice the serve because as the game requires- first serve is your greatest weapon. So there went my sliced first serve. Lately, changed it to a flat one considering my grip is changed too from continental to conventional (flat). I can strike it better now and harder... with a bang!

I trully felt how it is to be a champion when we earned it together with my nurse-partner carrying the club name: MTC (Marigondon Tennis Club) a new one - over the Pacific Cebu Resort (PCR). Oh by the way, I am a very active member of Marigondon tennis Club, with Fr. George Alfonso as our guiding strength and our very friendly spiritual adviser. It is under the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, one of the promising parishes in our city.



(to be continued)...