Forwarding Address

I had some real estate concerns that needed some consultations and I thought that the best way to seek a neutral advise and the most economical way to do so is to go to the Public Attorney's Office or more commonly known as PAO.

I have always known where the office was located so I left our house confident that I knew where I was going.

But when I got to the street where the office was supposed to be, doubt immediately set in. There was a sign with a private attorney's name on it on the office's front. I concluded right away that the office is not there anymore, and that surely, they just moved into another place. I looked in front of the office for some signs that might indicate a forwarding address but I saw none. So, the next best thing to do is what most people doesn't. Ask around.

There was a Barangay Traffic officer just around the corner. I approached him and politely asked if he happen to know where the PAO office is (yeah, office was redundant, but it sounded right… right?), and, expectedly, he scratched his head and looked up. I waited, praying that he might have known and just forgotten. I guess I was lucky that my prayer worked because his face suddenly looked like a bulb that lit after a brownout and told me where to go.

I had nothing else to do but trust the guy.

And he was right.

The office was at the second floor. As I was going up, I was a little apprehensive because the rungs look like it won't be able to stand my weight. So, I took the steps slowly like testing the water if it was cold. I finally made it to the landing and was surprised with what I saw. The floor looked very dilapidated and the walls do not even have paint. There was a man sitting on a bench. I asked if the PAO office is on that floor and he pointed to the door painted green.

I guess my apprehensions vanished when I entered the room. The office was air conditioned and very simply furnished. It was big with maybe about more than ten office tables and a shelf filled with what I presume to be law books. A lady whom I presumed as the secretary greeted me politely and asked how can she help and if I was looking for a particular lawyer. I told her my concern and I was immediately asked to sit on a table. The lawyer-on-duty was already behind me and immediately sat on the other side of the table and we right away started our conversation.

My concerns were finished in less than ten minutes, with all my questions answered very clearly. Thanks to the attorney for being so accommodating.

This is probably the second time that I needed to go to a government office for certain concerns. Will you be surprise if I tell you that I haven't experienced any single negative reception on these two events? I feel thankful for these people to have given me this kind of service as opposed to what I am seeing in the news. I feel that this kind of service is what we should see on tv instead of those irritable people who are featured more often than those that do good deeds.

The only thing I didn't like about the whole thing is that there were no forwarding address in the old office. It would have completed the good service that they give. But, let us give them the benefit of the doubt on this: may be they have moved a few years back that the sign that I expected to see was long gone.

If you live here in my place, the PAO office is located in front of the MWSS office, at least for now. When you reach the MWSS office, just look up at the opposite side of the street and you'll see the sign (which was what I did).

Another Natural Dengue Fighter

I just got off the phone talking to my cousin from the States. Of course, after the brief 'how's everyone' one topic after another follows. And who wouldn't talk about dengue? After a lot of people have been confined and treated at hospitals, it seems to me that the problem is still there.

A good friend of mine was not saved after all. No, not her. But her husband, her middle daughter and youngest son were all confined the past two weeks all of the same cause.

So, my cousin shared what she read over the internet. She told me that our very own talbos ng kamote (Sweet Potato Greens or Ipomea Batatas) is said to be one of the nature's answers to the disease. So, I googled and found the link to what she shared. Go to this website here, Sense & Serendipity: Some Amazing Local Leafy Greens and find out more on how this can help your patient fight the dreaded dengue which won't seem to go away.

But going back to preventive measuresinstead of cure, like my previous post here about tanglad (lemongrass), I think that what we really need to do is to keep our environment free of stagnant waters and things like old tires which could be home for these mosquitoes to reproduce and multiply.

I have observed that many of our households today do not clean their yards anymore using our good, old, reliable walis tingting (a local broom made out of the spine of the coconut leaves). When I was in Dubai, I was kind of frustrated not having to find walis tingting to clean our open-air kitchen free of water that I used to wash out the floor. There was a plastic broom and this thing that wipes away the water very similar to a car's wiper, but nothing does it better than the walis tingting.

Maybe it's really time for us to get back to some of our old ways, to eat some of our local plants. I believe it won't harm us all if just try. After all, we still get some benefits out of this talbos ng kamote aside from fighting dengue.

The BER Months

I was on my Feedly Reader a few minutes ago and read about this bus wherein its passengers were robbed of their belongings. It was just a headline and I didn't want to read more about it. Who wants to know more about these things when we already have had enough of the events that happened since August 23.

After reading the headlines. I thought, 'the BER months… expect more of this kind of news.'

I wanted to think of something that would rhyme with BER, to give a push to this month and write about it here on my blog. The only word I can think of is Robber. And then I thought of the Arabs and Indian Muslims. If we are Arabs or Indians, we won't have the letter P in our alphabets. They call their dads Baba for Papa, although I think has nothing to do with the translations. But they call Pepsi, Bebsi and pizza, bizza. So… aside from the word robber, I now have…

Holdubber.

Kidnabber.

I know you'd believe me when I say that these BER months would indeed be the months of the word I just thought and the words that I have coined.

Let us all be vigilant within the coming months. I don't want to spoil your festive mood at this first day of the BER months, but this is the other side, the other reality of what all these months hold.

I Like...

Bookbags.

Photo grabbed from the eBay site linked below

Or what else do you call those? Messenger's bag? Mailman's bag? But whichever, I love having one of those.

I am one of those who carry bags that are big. My friends often tease me that I carry a generator inside my bag. I was never someone who carries bags that only fits a mobile phone and a purse. I want something that is big enough to carry my notebook, my digicam, my eyeglasses, and a room for some more. Mine actually accommodates my old, fourteen-inch laptop and its plugs.

I was browsing for some stuff and I saw this…

This actually replaces one of my first acquisitions when I was in Dubai which was a book bag I got for free for buying a Swatch watch. And I think one of the reasons why I bought the watch was because I got to have that bag for free which is more or less the same color as this one in the picture.

This one is still in eBay. If you are also a fan of book bags, you can buy it by clicking on this link.

I Colored My World

Look what I found inside my sister's pencil case….

Do you still remember this thing?

It was my alternative to Stabilo Boss when I was in college. It comes, too, in colors green and blue, but I never bought those options. Although my favorite is green, I just think that it makes it hard for me to see the words after shading them. I find it convenient to use it over Stabilos especially if I happen to have books that used newsprints because dermatographs doesn’t go all the way to the back of the paper. I used to compare with crayons but crayons have this oily substance that it leaves on your hands after touching them.

Dermatographs and Stabilo Boss were my tools way back in college to help me remember important phrases in my notes. It also helped me a lot in memorizing and understanding a lot of things from those countless researches that we made during college. It helped me took note of the things that I need to write down for further reference or for more details on those topics that I highlighted.

But also, I heard way back that it is also used by tailors to mark the cloths they are working on but I have doubts on this. From what I know, tailors used the tailor's chalk and that was it for me. I never really found it if dermatographs were indeed an option for them.

Anyway.

I am actually amazed that I get to see one of these again. My sister told me that I gave this to her years ago and not as a student anymore. We both use it to highlight parts of our diaries that we deem important or something to remember. I was thrilled to see one that I started highlighting the dates on my improvised moleskin which was actually an unused diary from last year's.

I wonder if they still have this in the stores now. I will have to check our local book store if they still have it. Sometimes, small town stores have the oldest stocks you can imagine. But I will also have to ask my friend if they still have it in the book stores in Manila. They may still be available but I just think it's not as many as before.

Did you use dermatographs in college or even after college? How about these days? Please leave me a comment because I'd really like to know.