racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

It’s April 6th once again! Here’s a short poem I wrote two years ago, with a few modifications.

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon
April 6, 2003
We marched at four
We said our I do’s
To declare our love
For the whole world to see

It’s been four years now, today
We’ve grown from two, to three, now to four
(and going on to five. Any more?)
And we nurture our love and our family
Through sickness and health
For richer or poorer
(right now the latter, but hopefully going better)
Through the ups and downs
Rain or shine
Even death will not part us

Happy fourth anniversary, my love!

(J. Angelo Racoma and Caren Marie R. Guevara were wed on April 6, 2003 at the Basilica de San Sebastian)

Benj says over at the Philippine Blog Awards blog that the Racomas are a blogging dynasty.

Benj: Family blog? That’s like Racoma vs Deen! hehe. I wonder who comes out on top…

The-Jester-in-exile: you forgot the dados, benj.

Benj: oh of course! haha. Dynasties!!! lololol :p

Yes, people. In the Philippines, not only are the political dynasties dominant. There are also blogging dynasties–families of incessant bloggers who aim to rule the blogging world.

I wonder if we’ll win. I’m not sure what _family blog_ means. Does it mean a blog co-written by family members? Or does it refer to personal blogs about family matters? If it’s the latter, then I think my mother stands a strong chance of winning.

Thanks for the mention, guys. Maybe Globe will take those comments as a hint.

I’m filling in for Lara Saunders over at Splashpress Media‘s Parenting Blog. This is an assignment I took with much anticipation. After all, I’ve been writing about being a dad for quite some time now (especially on my rarely-updated J Spotter, which is supposed to be my personal blog). But the Parenting blog’s target audience is supposed to be other parents, so somehow I kind of feel more pressured because I know other parents are watching. And I’m not yet that experienced in parenting, being only at it for about three and a half years.

Anyway, do check out my posts. Here’s one about routines.

Generally, I’m a disorganized person. I’m more spur-of-the-moment rather than scheduled. I’m more adaptive rather than structured. I’m more dynamic rather than static. But of course, if it’s for the children’s good, then I would have to adjust and adopt.

Routines are important because they help instill awareness of time and enhance a child’s feeling of security, so I’m told. Routines help enhance a child’s self-confidence, especially if he or she has the opportunity to have an active role in contributing to the flow of events.

Routines don’t necessarily have to be time-based, but these can be flow- or event-based. So you don’t necessarily have to follow a strict time table, but instead you can do activities based on sequence.

Enjoy!

You may be getting “bandwidth exceeded” errors my blog and others on the racoma.com.ph domain. Sorry for that. Our sites seem to be more popular this December than they were in the past. Perhaps it’s because of the recent inclusion of my mom’s blog (aptly named The D Spot) on the server. Or perhaps it’s due to my starting with my newest assignment on the Blog Herald (hey, I’m now on the “friends” blogroll).

So how did your Christmas celebrations go? We spent the past two weeks attending _simbang gabi_ or dawn masses. We couldn’t get up at dawn, though, so we made sure to attend the anticipated masses in the preceding evening. The kids started to get sick a couple of weeks ago, though, so we weren’t able to go out much. We actually only got to go out buy presents on the 24th, so everything was a rush.

The holidays are a bad time to get sick!

Anyway, we spent the evening attending Christmas eve mass and had _noche buena_ (Christmas eve dinner) with the family.

Speaking of getting sick during the holidays, my family was supposed to go out of town this week, and my parents have been planning the trip since the start of the month. My wife and I were having second thoughts, though, because of the distance (a six to eight hour drive). And with the kids catching the bug, we decided against joining. Midnight of the 25th (after the Christmas celebrations), my sister was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pains. And guess what–she had to undergo surgery this Christmas morning for appendicitis. Now the entire trip had been cancelled.

Everyone’s still happy, though, especially the kids. Now if I can only say the same for my wallet and bank account.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My mom says I’m abnormal. To make things worse, she called me a psycho!

Angelo—once a psychiatric case

Angelo, at 26, is the eldest. Naturally, being the unico hijo, our world revolved around him, ever over protective, as they say, guarding him every single second, no mosquito was allowed to be within reach. At one point in time, there were 5 helpers in the house, two dedicated to him alone, and even while asleep, he should not be left alone. We didn’t realize it, but he has became boss in the household, every single word was a command. He was pampered. And through the years, he has developed these peculiarities, like, when wearing shirts, right hand first before left; when wearing shoes, right foot first before left; shorts should be with pockets; shirts with collars; shoes should be rubber shoes (leather shoes are no no – he even was ring bearer for my brother’s wedding, all in his formal clothes and tie, wearing his red Mickey Mouse pair of shoes!).

One time, he hurt his small finger. Since then, for many weeks, no one was allowed to take off the band aid. If ever it was taken out while he was sleeping, it had to be replaced. After several weeks, we were aghast, the finger has wrinkled, the nail gangling – it was an ugly sight, so ugly that he could not look at it.

At age 2, he was already playing the piano; at age 4, he was discussing physics in school, as indicated in his progress report card. And he was the most stubborn, most angry, most spoiled brat that I knew of, and I became paranoid. I asked myself – where did I go wrong? What was I lacking at?

Check it out here on her blog.