PLUGGING
My family is back from San Diego, where we joyfully celebrated Christmas with friends and family. We went to LEGOLAND on Christmas day, totally unaware that on the other side of the world, someone else was being a SCROOGE.One can only surmise what this person got in her stocking. A lump of coal? A run? An order to report for duty? She certainly wasn't feeling festive when she left me a comment at 87 GENTLE STREET.
Bah, humbug!
LOOK WHO'S TALKING 
This is my favorite picture of my two boys.It was taken when Troy was three and Lance was four. Troy had just raided the orphaned sock drawer. If you're wondering why his socks are uneven, it's because one of them happens to be a glove.I love Lance's smile in this picture too. I miss my son's open smile. He stopped showing his teeth when he lost two of his lower front ones. They've since grown back, but the toothy smile is gone. Part of growing pains, I guess, (not his but mine).Now, my older son is six and in first grade. For the past two weeks he has been joining the Second Grade Reading Class. He was reading far too advanced compared to the rest of his classmates that his teacher felt he wasn't being challenged enough."Mom," he told me recently, "I know when to go back to my first grade class now. It's when the big hand is on eleven," and he gave me a proud smile.I love recording these little snippets of conversation with my children. One can almost hear them growing up just by listening to the changes in content and speech pattern. Troy, who's now four, still talks in an endearingly bulol way sometimes, but don't let the baby talk fool you.A few days after his Kuya Lance's Star Wars birthday party, we were driving when I heard a little voice from the back seat. "Mom", Troy said, "for my next birthday, I want a cake with Anakin and Darth Vader on it too"."You want a cake with Anakin and Darth Vader in it?" I distractedly asked."No, ON it", was the reproving reply.I never thought I'd see the day when my four-year-old would be correcting my grammar for a change!
Reanna is now a year and a half, and she, too, is discovering the delights of spoken discourse. She loves to tease me by calling me "Daddy". When I correct her by pointing to myself, saying "No, Reanna, Mom-my," she points to herself in turn and says "mom-my", with a mischievous smile. She's quick enough to call me "Mom", however, when she needs something, this time referring to herself as "Na-na". I guess Ree-YA-na is still too much of a mouthful for an eighteen-month-old's palate to form.When Lance was Reanna's age, he used to call all the animals he saw, "doggies". Well, Reanna is no different, except she thinks all furry creatures on this earth are "kitties".I now leave you with a memorable conversation my baby girl had with her Daddy. There they were, in the backyard, playing with Spot the Pit Bull...Reanna: Heeeere tittie (Here kitty)...Lorenzo: No, Reanna, "doggie".Reanna: Heeeere tittieee... Lorenzo: No, Reanna, Spotty is a doggie. Do-ggy.Reanna: Heeeere tittie-doddieee... (Here kitty-doggy...)Eighteen months and a mind of her own already.I like that.
TROLL ALERT
I am starting a new feature in this blog, to alert others of trolls in our midst.I am not aware of any known Troll Databases out there. Then again, I haven't really run any searches for them. Nevertheless, I am considering starting a entirely new site featuring IP addresses of known trolls, but only if I can get enough entries to feature in it.If you have been a victim of trolling, and have been able to isolate these people's IP addresses, please e-mail me at pradamama@peoplepc.com. Please include verification, such as copies of the rude comments with identifying IP information from Haloscan, etc.. All correspondence will be kept confidential.Someone anonymously left me a nasty comment last week. I chose to delete it, but this time, I won't be latting the troll off that easily. I am now sharing this person's personal details with you:Domain Name: shawcable.netIP Address: 68.145.108.173ISP: Shaw CommunicationsCountry: CanadaState/Region: AlbertaCity: CalgaryOperating System: Microsoft WinXPBrowser: Internet Explorer 6.0I have since banned this person from commenting on any of my sites.I encourage you guys to ban this person's IP address, 68.145.108.173, as well.Trolls are a scourge among us. These people should be taught a lesson: Unless they mind their manners, they cannot roam freely among our ranks. We should all work together to make them the pariahs they ought to be.
I've always said that trolls were "spineless, gutless people hiding in the dark underbelly of the blogosphere, surfacing in the sunlight when it is safe again, assuming the form of their mild-mannered alter-egos, hiding their rotten identities behind fake smiles."The time has come to fight back. These people need to be outed. NOW.I say ZERO TOLERANCE. Enough is enough. Bloggers Unite!(PLUGGING: For more of my views on trolling, please read MASKED MENACE. And check out NEMESIS, my latest entry at 87 GENTLE STREET.)
PLUGGING
Shortly after I got the e-mail below about JULIO DIAZ, my old friend and colleague from Channel 9 News, Cathy Santillan, left a short message on my TagBoard. My past was coming back to haunt me. Before long, familiar scenes started playing out in my mind. I found myself dredging up old memories, some of them nice and others not-so-nice. One of them inspired me to write NEMESIS.So join me, as I face old foes on "The Long Way Home" to 87 GENTLE STREET. But first, I must warn you. This time, the gloves are off, so don't expect anything even remotely close to gentle.
REGARDING JULIO DIAZ
I recently got this e-mailed response to FILIPINO FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE, an article I wrote a couple of years ago, which I featured both here and in 87 GENTLE STREET.
"...Re: Julio Diaz
I saw your blog about Julio's inappropriate comments to you. In response I'd say, you're absolutely right to think Julio is "rude" and perhaps "crass". But you know what, that's only because you don't get to know him real well as a person & do not consider him a friend, as he does you. His comments, while inappropriate, are actually Julio's way of expressing his concern for you.
Having been raised in Quiapo by a single mom who sells cigarette for a living. Julio, who as a child was too busy working to help his mom and 3 sisters so they can eat 3 square meals a day, never had the time to learn the social courtesies you expected him to have. In fairness, despite the poverty, Julio was still able to send himself through college and became an accomplished actor. There's no excuse for Julio's actions, but you can be more understanding of others who "were not brought up properly by their parents? It is said "Being tolerant is to respect others' differences... the way they look, their religions, their way of life. It is also to be interested in other people, to see what makes them similar rather than what makes them different. It is to say NO to prejudice."
Ana Marie..."
Now, I'm not at all sure if this same person happens to be Julio's wife. I am assuming it is, since she seems comfortable enough to speak on his behalf, not to mention her last initial also happens to be "D". Wife or not, I am now sharing my response to this e-mail.
Hi Ana Marie.
I'm sorry it's taken me this long to reply to your e-mail. With my son's birthday and the Thanksgiving holiday passing, I'm afraid I've ignored my computer altogether. I dread even looking at the long list of e-mails I have, just waiting to be read.
First of all, I would like to thank you for setting the story clear as far as Julio's intentions behind his comments to me, and if they were, in fact, his way of expressing concern towards me, then I guess they were misinterpreted and for that, I apologize.
I am well aware of Julio's story: how he fought his way out of poverty through strength of character, fortitude and sheer talent. I knew this even before I met him in person. My admiration for him even increased after I met him for the first time. I thought he was charming and courteous, every bit the gentleman I expected him to be.
You can imagine my dismay, upon meeting him for the second time, to discover that he, too, had clay feet. I guess it is obvious, now that you have read my article, that I was offended by his remarks, which, at the time, I found to be not just insensitive, but offensive as well.
And just so you know, I would've found these remarks offensive no matter whom they came from, social history notwithstanding, (and I must say that I also got similar comments from people who were educated and therefore, should've known better).
While you have tried to defend Julio by bringing up the circumstances he was brought up in, I must say that this does not excuse him. Just because someone is a little "rough around the edges", it does not exempt him from common courtesy.
For in fact, "common courtesy", just like "common sense", is not learned in school. We are all born with a strong sense of what is "right" and what is "wrong". It is innate in all of us, whether or not we were taught by our parents.
But all that is water under the bridge. That incident took place almost eight years ago. Much has happened since then, and I now have three kids with LORENZO (whom Julio also knows) and the nonexistent waistline to show for it. Pointed remarks about my gaining weight now roll off my back like water on a duck. In other words, they don't bother me anymore.
I am sorry if I have offended Julio in turn by mentioning this little incident.
Sincerely Yours,
Renee Sereno
My family is back from San Diego, where we joyfully celebrated Christmas with friends and family. We went to LEGOLAND on Christmas day, totally unaware that on the other side of the world, someone else was being a SCROOGE.
Reanna is now a year and a half, and she, too, is discovering the delights of spoken discourse. She loves to tease me by calling me "Daddy". When I correct her by pointing to myself, saying "No, Reanna, Mom-my," she points to herself in turn and says "mom-my", with a mischievous smile. She's quick enough to call me "Mom", however, when she needs something, this time referring to herself as "Na-na". I guess Ree-YA-na is still too much of a mouthful for an eighteen-month-old's palate to form.
Shortly after I got the e-mail below about JULIO DIAZ, my old friend and colleague from Channel 9 News, Cathy Santillan, left a short message on my TagBoard. My past was coming back to haunt me. Before long, familiar scenes started playing out in my mind. I found myself dredging up old memories, some of them nice and others not-so-nice. One of them inspired me to write NEMESIS.
