Betty was a single mom with three sons: Pol (the eldest), Chad (the second) and Mon (the youngest). When Betty came in this morning, she was narrating how Chad told him this: “Ma, come to think of it, It seem I’m actually the best student among the three of us (siblings) because I was the only who finished elementary and high school without repeating a level.”

The sad thing about this story is that Chad’s brothers are all low performers academically and he was comparing himself to them and actually feeling good and proud about his “supposed accomplishments” because the brothers are worser than him. Chad was also a low performer in school, he seemed bright but was a totally lazy student. He only graduated from high school because of the persistence and help of his mother who researched and accomplished all his assignments and projects aside from asking (and sometimes, begging) his teachers to pass him.

On the other hand, most Filipinos would remember how the son of infamous Senator Miriam Santiago, Alexander Robert (AR), committed suicide where some speculators believe it may be because of his feeling of failure to measure up to his mother’s achievements and expectations of other people of him to be like his mom.

In the case of Betty and her sons, it seem that Chad and probably, in the long run, even Mon, would not even try hard or maximize their effort to do good academically because their model,
Pol, was a low performer. In the case of Alexander, his mother was such a high-performer that the expectations set for him by others and probably, by himself, was too lofty.

Let’s take as an example the story of Ned, the husband who beat her wife when he’s mad or very drunk. Ned was reared by a father who’s also a wife beater and who somewhat molded him into believing that women are inferior than men, therefore, they have the right to do whatever they want.
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Social Climbing on the Last Day
Marikenya’s Votes on the Social Climbing Logo Contest by Reyna Elena

I guess everyone in the blogging circle would wonder why am I posting now my votes for Reyna Elena’s Logo contest on the last day…

The reason is similar to the confusion of other bloggers in voting for this contest — friends ko sila lahat (all entrants are my friends). But as glitch, a blogger friend told me, my votes would still count and it doesn’t matter much who I voted first or second, what matters is my friends would earn points from my vote. So here goes my choices which I have decided on the basis of design and appeal to me (uhmm… actually, it’s more about friendship and promises ahihihi):
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Wow! Marikenya is PR3!

I was awoke this morning with a text message from a very good friend, Jen of Marriage and Beyond: “Sis, good news! PR3 na blog mo!!! Wohooo!!! So happy for you!”

Until 8:15 a.m., I was thinking that she was referring to her blog being a Page Rank 3 again so I was not surprised anymore because her blog really deserve it. I reread her text when I get to the office and to my surprise, I suddenly realized that she was referring to marikenya this time! Oh wow!

With this, I wanted to thank everyone who helped me started, developed and made Marikenya a PR3. To Neil who inspired and actually lend me the hosting of this site, to my good friends in the real world who made it a habit to read Marikenya, to my virtual friends from WPP and all other forums I joined and those from MyBlogLog and Blog Catalog, to sweet blogger friends who never forget to tag me even if I wasn’t able to respond quickly to tags, and to all Marikenya’s Readers who subscribed to my Feeds and all other walk-ins and passersby, here is my word of gratitude to you all:

My heart and head are up the clouds today. I hope Marikenya will continue to be here until old age and arthritis get the best of my fingers (maybe by then, I’d be rich enough to hire someone to type my thoughts for me). I hope all of you guys will continue to see sense and learn from my pages. I hope Marikenya will survive (just as Lozada would hopefully survive the Senate Hearings and death threats).
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A Hairy Dream

I never had or experienced a dreamless sleep (or even a dreamless nap). I’m not sure why I dream so much, some say probably because I’m such a creative person, but at times, I feel like something is wrong with me.

Anyway, last night, I had one of those unpleasant reveries. I dreamt that the soft and thin hair strands on top of my lips (what they call moustache for men) suddenly became thicker and longer that I looked like a female bandit! Fortunately, when I woke up and looked at the mirror, the hair still looks the same.

That dream though left me thinking, what if that really happens? What if I suddenly grow moustache that is not befitting of a woman (not exactly lady-like though)? Will I resolve to using hairs that wont go away Albany NY products like my officemate whose problem was her thick hirsute legs?
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Want a Wrinkle-Free Life?
The Ultimate Guide to a Happy Life

I realized last night before going to bed that at 31, I’m such a worrier. I worry about a lot of things — those that definitely matters like bills, budgeting, my son’s education and even serious issues like old age and sickness. At times, I even worry about unimportant concerns that are not even worth mentioning.

When I looked at the mirror this morning, I have realized that I already have very visible lines in my face, lines they call wrinkles. Oh man, they look worser than my permanent eye bags! Worrying is such a pain to a beautiful skin (since when I became so vain?).

Anyway, this morning, I resolved to using more products with reduce wrinkles and get a more youthful look adage and of course, as I always say, more often than not, it is all a matter of attitute.

So today, I hope to live my life better. Here are the things I hope to do, cost-free, to try to reduce my wrinkles:
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What Money Can Buy?
Chronicle of Filipino Celebs and Plastic Surgery

Whenever I watch SOP (a Sunday noontime variety show), I always marvel about Regine Velasquez. I’ve always liked her for her singing prowess but more than that, I find it truly amusing that she seem to be slowly becoming another Michael Jackson.

:::: Michael, you’re lucky you’re totally full of powder dust.
Otherwise, you’re just a skeletal figure.
No wonder there are gossips that you’re already dead. ::::

:::: Ogie keeps assuring Regine that she’s pretty.
She needs it I think. ::::

I really like how Regine looks today, she’s now very pretty but I hope for her own sake, she would realize that and stop there. I really hate looking at Michael Jackson’s totally freaking face and I wish Regine would not suffer the same fate. Indeed, anything that is too much is bad.

A lot of Filipino Celebrities have undergone surgery. They could have had nose job rhinoplasty in Philadelphia but no, most of them had their plastic surgery locally. See more of them here –

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Don’t Hate Me If I Won’t Swim

My family along with a group of friends went to a resort near Marikina for a weekend outing. My son was very excited because he’s very fixated with swimming although I must warn you, he’s really like a duckling taking a dip. He won’t go deep into the pool because he’s really afraid of drowning so to enjoy swimming, he would sit down in a shallow part of the pool and would lower his head to the water so his hair would get wet.

Although I came to the resort all dressed up for swimming, I did not even touched the pool water up until 6:00 in the evening. Why? Please don’t hate me but my reason was pretty shallow, I won’t sacrifice the faint result of my almost-a-year ritual of using whitening and all natural skin care products for some hours of fun under the sun.
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Beauty Is Skin Deep
Proper Grooming in a Sensical Perspective

Just recently, I have designed a short module on proper grooming. It struck me as odd that while I believe that beauty is definitely not skin deep, I would soon be running a module on how to make one look prettier or handsomer to be more presentable.

Although it’s good that the jobs now in call centers does not require applicants to be physicaly attractive, for many companies though, they still wanted good-looking personnel. Take Shoe Mart (SM) for example, this company is really high on aesthetics. Their justification is since they’re selling products, they should only hire “personable” people to sell for them.

It’s not a wonder then that people who can afford really spend to improve their appearances. In the past, we often hear about going to the derma for a facial. These days, chemical peel(skin peel/skin care) and what we consider in the past major operations like nose lifting or bust enhancement are now considered typical.

For me though, I would only go as far as skin peeling, for example, the ones being offerered by TCA peel so I’d get rid of the blemishes and blotches in my face. Although I’m not very high on worldly appearance, I find solace and confidence in knowing that somehow, my face is not a disgrace. This is especially important because as a trainor, my participants are usually looking at my face.
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Promoting Peace Starts with the family

The news about the psycho killer, true or not, was really scary. Just the other day, my sister told me another similar frightening event. Apparently, she was told by a neighbor that a 7-year-old child who lives just near our street was abducted and after several days, the kid was brought back near their place. The family noticed that the child seemed to be in trance, was not speaking nor responding. They later found out that the child was missing her kidney.

Everyone in our community was very scared of this news. As a precaution, me and my sister from then on wouldn’t let our children out of our sight. I have thought of the horrible movie “Turistas” where internal organs of victims were sold to rich people needing it. I have thought sadly and fearfully, that even kids today are not safe from this atrocious fate. It’s a reality that maybe, there are criminals now who kidnap children so they can take away their internal organs to be sold to rich family who needs and would pay big money for donors.

I have not written this article to cause panic or scare. I have written this to impress to everyone that it is not a safe world indeed and we have to be extra careful with our and our children’s lives. When I’ve chosen the school for my son, among my top consideration was safety. I’ve checked if my Marcus won’t be able to sneak past the guard and how strict they were in guarding the gates and the premises.

What we can do, aside from creating safety measures for us and our family, is to promote love and peace in our very own homes. Many behavioral problems were caused by trauma or depressing experiences from childhood which may have been avoided or addressed if guidance and proper caring of parents and family members were present or given.

If we wanted world peace, we should be an agent of peace and there’s no better way than promoting it within our own family.
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