Doraemon

I am not fond of watching local TV stations like ABS-CBN or GMA but I'm just thankful that the latter station introduced Doraemon and reaired it. I love this show so much. Doraemon is said to be Asia's most popular anime icon and had graced the cover of Time Asia magazine where it was selected as one of the 22 Asian Heroes (the only anime character selected!). In March 2008, Japan's Foreign Ministry appointed Doraemon as the nation's first "anime ambassador." Cool!!.

The cute talking blue robot, Doraemon, is different from other famous anime series in the sense that it is a comedy about a child's fantasy of the real world. Most popular animes we see today revolve on fight scenes showing swift moves and cool action sequences. Most of Doraemon's episodes depict moral lessons about honesty, perseverance, courage, etc. The series also tackles several noteworthy environmental issues like homeless animals, endangered species, deforestation, and pollution. Topics such as dinosaurs, the flat earth theory, wormhole traveling, Gulliver's Travels, and the history of Japan are also covered.

For those clueless about Doraemon (I hope there's none), here's a refresher. Doraemon is a robotic cat, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. Nobita is a weak, coward, dim-witted and clumsy boy in almost everything he does. The only main female character is Shizuka, who serves as a semi-romantic girlfriend of Nobita, but otherwise a supporting, minor character. Nobita's main human friends, Suneo and Damulag (Gian in Japan), are both bullies to him when they are around together. However, Suneo seems to warm up kindly to Nobita if Gian is not with them. This suggests that Suneo is allied with Gian for only his power, so that he is well-protected from attack.

The stories are formulaic, usually focused on the everyday struggles of fourth grader Nobita, the protagonist of the story. In a typical chapter, Nobita comes home crying about a problem he faces in school or the local neighborhood. After Nobita's pleading or goading, Doraemon produces a futuristic gadget to help Nobita fix his problem, enact revenge, or flaunt to his friends. Nobita usually goes too far, despite Doraemon's best intentions, and gets into deeper trouble than before. Sometimes, Nobita's friends (usually Suneo or Jaian) steal the gadgets and end up misusing them. However, by the end of the story, there is usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral lesson is taught.

Childhood Recollection

My teammates and I had a great time talking about our childhood memories. My childhood is one of the best chapters in my life and since these memories are still fresh in my mind, I decided to write about it. This childhood recollection made me realize how rambunctious, defiant and mischievous I was during my younger years. Seemed like I was a bit similar to "Denise the Menace".

1. Sinister Me - This was the wicked thing I ever did against mama and my older sister. When I was 7 years old, I punched my older sister on her back when she changed the channel from Popeye to a sappy ABS-CBN teenshow. Mama scolded me vehemently as punishment. Enraged, I went to my room sobbing and then prayed to the Lord to bring mama to heaven. When my anger trickled away and I started to realize my fault, I prayed back earnestly and revoked what I prayed earlier.

2. Frustrated Cook - Mama came from the grocery store and left the plastic bag chockful of groceries in our kitchen. While she was resting, I sneaked in the kitchen and took the Maggi Soy Sauce and brought it to our playhouse. When she knew about it, the bottle was already half empty. Good thing mama was in good mood so I didn't taste her fury again. That was my first attempt in cooking. My ingredients were dragonflies, butterflies and grasshoppers mixed with gumamela flowers and leaves. Of course my playmates and I didn't eat it.

3. Demanding Me - I abhored going to church but mama forced me to do so. Since my playmates had been forced by their mama too, going there wasn't bad at all. One time during the month of May, Flores de Mayo, I refused to go to church for the reason that I was envious with my playmates as they had beautiful and freshly picked flowers. So I demanded my mama to buy me fresh flowers sold at the store near our house. Mama did it without complaints.

4. Gambler, Not Quite - I've learned how to play Tong-its and Chikicha at the age of 10. At that time, I already played it with money involved at school. One day after class, I threw my bag in the couch and rushed to the vacant lot upon seeing my playmates there playing patentero. My mama took my bag as she was suppose to place it at the study room but to my misfortune, the coins inside it made a noice. Out of curiousity, she opened it and to her astonishment, a purse chockful of coins and playing cards greeted her. Mama went ballistic and I ended up being spanked 5 times. Beside that I was given an award. And that award was a week of no TV and no playing outside the house.

5. Duckling Killer - One of our neighbors raised ducks and had them colored flamboyantly. One day, the owner forgot to lock their gate so the fancy ducklings escaped and intruded our backyard. Their cuteness and charming colors piqued my curiosity so I approached them and held one of them in my hands. Oblivious of her presence, the mother duck came rushing towards my back and poked my leg with her beak. Out of surprise, my grip lossened up and the little duck fell to the ground which slightly maimed him. To retaliate, I hurled a small wooden box towards them. The mother duck and the rest of the ducklings managed to dodge the box but one of them, unfortunately, failed to evade and was crushed to death.

6. Wrestler - Me and my younger sister were best of enemies when we were still young. We were extremely opposite in almost everything. One time, we wrestled over the remote control and we never seemed to stop. So my uncle came to intercept and separate us. Unfortunately, my uncle suffered as we bit and clawed him on his hands and face. My mama was furious at what we did to uncle. She took 2 knives and gave us one each and said "galit na galit talaga kayo sa isa't isa ha, ayan yong kutsilyo, mag patayan kayo." That ended the bullfight. I was 12 then and she was 11.

I Love You, Mama

I'm probably one of the luckiest sons in the world for having such a wonderful mama named Clarita.

Mama raised a brood of three by herself when Papa went to heaven when I was still three years old. Growing up, I saw how she worked hard and sacrificed a lot to raise the three of us. She's a supermama who juggled work, home and still have time take good care of us. Mama is not the typical mother who is expressive and showy about her love to us. She rarely say I love you and talk to us in the most intimate way. Despite that less talk and bonding moment, she never failed to provide us everything we needed.

Mama was strict when we were still young. I still remember how I was upbraided when I puched my older sister on her back when she changed the channel. Whenever we ate meals, we were always careful when eating as she doesn't want to see foods spilled on the table. We were always mindful not to heaped our plates with food because she doesn't want us to waste food not eaten. I feared her whenever she's around the house because I know she would scold me again for not doing my assigned household chores or for doing it sloppily. And so I hid all the broom sticks in our house before she came home from work so she can't use it to beat me.

There was one time I hated her so much after she had scolded me that I prayed to the Lord to take her to heaven. But after my anger dissipated, I immediately prayed back ardently and recanted all I had prayed earlier. I was such a lazy, selfish and a bad son and I deserved all the punishment she had given me.

But the years I was away from home made me look at things from a different perspective. I learned that her style of motherhood was the best for us. We grew up to be strong, independent, and steadfast. I began to see her as a woman of strength, a woman of faith.

Mama, thank you so much for bringing me out into this wonderful world. Thank you for your hardwork and sacrifices so we can live in this world with ease and comfort. Thank you for being strict as they made me become who I am right now. I may not be the most successful person out there, but I have great conviction and loyalty. And thank you for showing me what uncondional love REALLY means. Thank you for everything. Happy Mother's Day, Mama.

Cheesy Me

Graphics for Emotional Comments

After I came home from the cathartic vacation to my hometown, the days following it had been remarkably different. Differrent in the sense that I had gone out of my comfort zone inadvertently.

My friends have always known me as a telenovela hater. I've already had so much drama in my life so why would I bother to add more to it. Besides these shows are too cheesy that is way beyond normal. But lately, they have noticed myself starting to deviate from what they have thought about me. I was nonchalant about their observation at first but as I listened to a romantic song one late evening, it dawned on me that indeed something has changed in me. Of course, I didn't change to something undesirable.

I have noticed that I started to become unbelievably sentimental and mushy. One time, my friends and I were together talking about the usual silly and puny things like celebrity gossips and rumors about a colleague of ours. They noticed I was quite, distant and seemed spaced out while the rest of them had a great time slandering. And then I broke my silence and started talking about family, relationship and forgiveness and other chessy stuff. The look on their faces suggested they were dumbfounded and then they started laughing. Questions like what happened to me, why I was talking that way, what have I eaten and stuff like that were hurled towards me.

Honestly, I was not like that before. I was never sentimental and I rarely talk about mushy topics about family, love and whatnot. I guess, my realization to my family's status quo and my effort to strengthen the bond between us has changed me spirituality and emotionally. And this affected the way how I deal with the people around me lately. I sort of snapped out of being a tad shallow and I started to act maturely. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being mawkishly amorous, right?