beyond toxicity

On Thursday next week, September 18, I’ll be turning 32.  It has been 32 years of existence and counting. And I must admit a lot of blessings came in inspite of few hassles in between, nevertheless, LIFE has been challenging, fulfilling, and happy. 

I thank God for giving me 11,680 mornings.  Waking up daily is a  blessing indeed.

My wife Cristina and our son Gabby are more than enough reasons to wake up every morning.

I thank God for giving me a family who supports me come what may. 

Last year, I blogged 31 things to be grateful of, this time I’d like to share 32 facts about me, from infos to simple things I enjoy,  my plans in the next 10 – 20 years (wishing that I’m still celebrating Life then) to whatever makes me happy and few of my petpeeves. 

1.  I was born September 18, 1976, at 1:40 PM in St. Luke’s Hospital,  QC;  I’m the  eldest of 4 sons of Ruben & Tessie.   

2. I grew up in Pasig and went to school in Marikina until I finished High School.  My life then revolved in home-school-home routine.  It was a happy childhood.  Everything was provided, life was never dull nor grandiose.  I was consistent in the top 10 list of acamedic achievers every quarter from nursery to high school. There were a lot more brilliant students than I am but it was fun to look back that schooling has trained me to be competitive with myself first rather than to race with others.

3. I took up BS Biology in FEU, Manila and enjoyed schooling even more.  I met classmates whom I kept as friends for years now since 1993.  They’ve become my son’s godparents,  and have extended their friendship to my own family. 

4.  I never planned of becoming a doctor.  Just before graduating from college, I became aware that my course would only offer jobs in pharmaceutical companies, research and teaching (which I am doing now). And so I forced myself then to go to med school. What med school gave me was not only a degree but a wife.

5.  I met Tina after engaging in ANONYMOUS TEXTING for one whole year. She is a sister of my classmate in med school who browsed her Ate Bibs’ mobile for a textmate whom she forwarded mushy messages.  Unknowingly, she was already taking Medicine in the same school where I and her Ate Bibs were enrolled. 

6. Our first date was in October 2000 .  We met in LRT station in Cubao QC, and went to Makati.  We first went to Starbucks in Glorietta, saw movie – a suspense horror film (what a movie for a first date) which starred Michelle Pfeiffer entitled WHAT LIES BENEATH and dined at OUTBACK restaurant also in Glorietta.  

7.  Since our friendship then started on texting, I also texted her to asked if we can “bring it to the next level”. And the rest as they say is history… Now, she’s my  EX-GIRLFRIEND for she’s married to me for four years now.     *_*

8.  I and Tina were both 27 years old when we got married.  Makati has been a favorite place so we decided to tie the knot at Sanctuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park Makati.  We both fell in love with the church as we first saw it together with my family years before we decided to wed. 

9.  We went to Bangkok, Thailand for our honeymoon. 

10.  Ten months after honeymoon, we had Gabby.

11. Two days after Gabby was delivered at St. Luke’s, immediately after I brought Tina and our little bundle of joy home, I had a teaching demo in Southeast Asian College.  Having a baby brought another blessing, the moment gave me my first job which I am keeping for four years now.

12.  I also land a job in review centers, one I kept for a year which sent me to their provincial branches- Roxas City in Capiz and in San Fernando Pampanga.  I was also invited as a guest local-board reviewer in a nursing school for 2 consecutive weekends.  But my job as Medical-Surgical Nursing lecturer soared to the seventh heavens when I landed a job in ALLGEN the Intelligent Review.  It’s fulfilling to help people to achieve their goals, inspire and encourage them somehow to exert efforts and to work with the most approachable, friendly, people-loving work staff I’ve met so far.

13. I LOVE  MARKS and SPENCER… their SILK TIES, LONG SLEEVE SHIRTS ….(size 17 please, hehehe)…

14. I LOVE  STARBUCKS, DARK CHOCOLATES, FLOSS of BREADTALK..CHINESE FOOD especially DIM SUM ( especially shrimp cheong fan, hakao, siopao, siomai),  I also like VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS…  I also like ITALIAN FOOD particularly  pasta with PESTO and PIZZA! Hmmmmmm…..

15. I LOVE TRAVELING ! I and my family have been to few countries - USA (from LA, San Diego, San Francisco in California and Las Vegas in Nevada), Hong Kong, Bangkok Thailand, Auckland New Zealand. We also had toured Bendar Seri Begawan in Brunei and had 2 stopovers in Brisbane Airport in Australia.  I also wish to go back to these places someday and to travel to other parts of Asia and the rest of the globe.

16.  I LOVE TO SAY “THANK YOUs” I appreciate comments, testimonials here that show gratitude and achievements of my reviewees and students. May those messages inspire others to do more with everything.  NOT ALL PEOPLE  know how to SAY THANK YOU, so it really brightens my day to receive simple messages that show gratefulness.  I am a person who knows the importance of being thankful to anyone regardless of the extent of contribution to my daily life – from those simple cab drivers who do not select passengers to employers like those of ALLGEN who really VALUE PEOPLE.

 17. I like Grey’s Anatomy, the Amazing Race, LOST, Prison Break, ER, nip tuck… Locally, my entire family is a member of TEAM  KAPAMILYA hehehe..

18. I like wearing neck ties at work, especially from MARKS and SPENCER (did I just state it again that it’s my favorite store?).  My ties make me happy whenever I see them hanging on my wardrobe. I even personally wash and keep them. 

19.  My ultimate earthly dream is to experience EUROPE.  I need to have photos taken with my family at the foot of Eiffel tower in Paris, to ride the gondola in the water streets of Venice, to hear mass and to see the Holy Pope at St. Peter’s Basilica, to visit the LOUVRE museum, to watch musicales in London, to ride the bullet train and cross one city to the other.   I’ll probably cry literally in bliss if these will all happen.

20. The colors of the rainbow do not have my favorite shade. I like BLACK a lot even if it’s not an actual color per se, for it is the result when all the shades are combined.

21. I HATE the HEAT ! I am probably one of those very few people who HATE SUMMER. I cannot stand the heat of summer. I become most furious when it’s hot.

22. That will make you conclude that I like it when it rains. I mean just the drizzle, not storms. And being disgusted with the HOT WEATHER is also one of the reasons why I and my family would like to migrate abroad, not only to work and save but for a change of environment.

23. I cannot imagine a world without ICE CREAM.  It can make my day, I’m that simple.  I like any ice cream with chocolates; if it’s only a sundae, definitely with caramel!

24.  We have to squeeze our budget but we eat a lot. My wife and I are patrons of  Saisaki,Dads and Kamayan ULTIMATE BUFFET in Glorietta,  Flavors of China in Morato, Le Ching in Greenhills and Trinoma,  World Chicken (we’re addict of their ranch sauce in their boneless grilled chicken) in Trinoma and Glorietta. I also like cakes of BIZU.

25. It’s peculiar for most couples that the husband handles the budget, but not to us.  

26. We both aspire to work abroad and save and go back here to settle until we’re old and gray.

27.  I and Tina would like to own a property someday in Tagaytay.  To build a house  there in God’s time, with contemporary Asian theme, a lush garden of greens and blooms, with a small pond of kois would probably make our future mornings surreal.

28. Just like every man’s dream, I hope to build on our savings. I would love to wake up on my future mornings with no worries on expenses, bills and the like. 

29.  I and Tina and Gabby would like to put up a foundation someday. It would happen, I’m sure if we’re financially stable and content. We both love to share to others whatever help we can extend. However, we would want to better ourselves first before reaching out to others. 

30. I take pride in producing students and reviewees who strive hard to achieve their goals. It’s a euphoric feeling everytime a former student informs me that he/she already made it to local/foreign boards.  

31.  My greatest achievement as a mentor to date is having my wife passed her NCLEX-RN for California last July as she sat in my review classess in Allgen few weeks before her exam.  I’m proud of her.  I saw her efforts and knew what she sacrificed for her success in that exam.  I am also proud educator of students who exceeded their expectations out of their sleepless nights of studying. I am always proud to be a part of success of nurses Aynne Taguba who made it to 6th place in June 2007 NLE and Astrobal Silverio, SACI’s first cum laude, batch 2008. And the numerous NLE and NCLEX-RN passers who became my students and reviewees. Congratulations to them, I’ll be forever proud of these people.

32.  I and Tina would like to continue raising Gabby (who will turn 4 years old this October 5th) as God-fearing, respectful son. He may not be the best student as of now but at least he enjoys his lessons and schooling entirely for he’s always excited every morning to attend his classes.  He may take whatever course he wishes to but not anything that will require him to wear white – not of nursing and medicine.  If he wants to wear white in his future profession, we would appreciate but not force him to, if he’ll be the next Wolfgang Puck.

I am always dead tired at the end of each day but the moment I see Gabby as I come home from work, I see more than enough reason to continue to wake up every morning and make the most out of it.

Thank you Lord Jesus for the 32 years (and counting).