I can’t remember exactly at what age I stopped eating corn or the very first reason that gave me my aversion of the popular finger food. All I know is that I don’t like it. Have I eaten it before? Well yeah, during those few occasions when there was absolutely nothing else on the table nor in the food cabinet. I did, but as much as possible I stay away from it.

Why? I guess at the top of my head, it’s just that it’s still corn when it comes out! Get it? I know it’s gross that’s why I don’t indulge - not while on the cub, not even when in butter or in loose kernels already. If there’s anything else, then anything else would be better than corn.

Andrea knows about this. Some of my workmates also know about this. That’s why I don’t get any offers when it comes to corn. That’s also why I thought Mateo would get the same aversion of corn as me, but I was wrong - so wrong!

Here he is greedily gnawing at a cub from the canteen.

No matter how much we try to conserve our reserves or limit our spending, something always comes up to take everything away. For example, just this August, Andrea and I tried out a different strategy to minimize our grocery in the hopes of cutting down a few hundreds in expenses. Unfortunately, before August ended, just a few days ago, an impacted wisdom tooth of mine started announcing its presence painfully. So painfully in fact that yesterday, I was forced to go to the dentist to have it checked.

You see, according to the dentist, the impacted tooth needs to be surgically removed (with a 5k surgical procedure). What the heck?! Isn’t that just ironic? Instead of saving a few hundreds, we’re now facing a five-thousand deficit.

This made us finally realized that we really are living relatively too meagerly. By this I mean our expenses are breaking even with what we’re getting, if not exceeding. We both agreed that if we want to have another baby next year, then we have to find a way to get more than what we’re currently receiving.

Our solution - part-time jobs. We’re currently considering finding some online work to add a few more bucks to our income. It doesn’t really matter if it would require us to maintain more blogs, write some articles or check and compare mortgage quotes. The important thing right now is to earn a few more for the rainy days. We can’t afford to sit back and relax - at least not yet!

Just a few minutes ago, andrea told me about the top 5 cancer-causing foods of all time - hotdogs; processed meat; doughnuts; french fries; chips, crackers and cookies. My first thought was, what the heck? These are food that we often have on the table. What are we supposed to have then?

What has happened to the world? Has this increase in cancer cases really been brought about by food? Or was this caused by other factors like the environment? Or maybe we’ve just been plagued with cancer ever since and this is just the first time we’re realizing how prevalent the disease or condition is? I really don’t know.

The only thing I do know is that results of recent studies on cancer are frightening, especially since the causes they’re discovering are striking so close to home. Not to mention that aside from food, they’re finding more and more carcinogenic substances like asbestos.

The truth is cases of cancer are turning up everyday. It’s come to such an alarming prevalence that there is such a thing now as a Mesothelioma lawyer (Mesothelioma is the cancer of the mesothelium caused by asbestos). Yes! Can you imagine? a specific lawyer for a an almost tongue-twisting disease! It almost sounds ridiculous (even though there’s really nothing remotely close to ridiculous about it).

I guess the real concern here is what are we supposed to do now? In this age of cancer, what else is non-carcinogenic?

When I was first told about the coordinator responsibilities that I’d be handling this year, I knew then that work was about to get a whole lot tougher. I just never expected that it would be this tough.

You see, for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been spending close to 4 hours of sleep only everyday trying my best to successfully juggle between several tasks - finishing 4 exams, checking others’ exams, writing a report on the quiz bee we joined recently (and lost), catching up on my studies, and wracking my brains out trying to think of strategies to help everyone meet the deadlines for the science expo (a major project of the science department).

I was so busy I couldn’t even get a few hours to myself to shoot some hoops. Too busy to play anything - no basketball, no ping pong balls, not even golf balls (even in a computer game). Haay!

Oh I can’t wait for the semestral break!

There comes a point every year when I feel really exhausted to the point of questioning the very reason why I keep on teaching. For this year, it just came a bit early.

You see for the past few years that I’ve been teaching, this type of feeling would always comes late in the year - usually during the last trimester of school. (When the students I’ve been pouring my heart out to in terms of effort have not yet shown any progress.) This year, however, I’m starting to see the familiar symptoms this early - stomach aches, hyper acidity, migraine attacks, and occasional loss of interest.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the extra role that I’ve been given, or if it’s the major change in administration, or if it’s the extra 9 units of studies I’m taking on top of everything else. All I know is that I’m tired - so spent serving several masters at the same time - work, more work, studies, and family. Don’t get me wrong though. I don’t feel any apprehensions toward any of them. I guess what’s just really making it tough for me right now is the fact that I have a lot of expectations for myself and for what I could and should do - at home and in school. But really… what can I do?

All I’m craving for right now is a break. Vegas vacations, work moratorium, family outing - I don’t really know which one I prefer most. All I know is that I’m close to freaking out and I’m up to here in terms of stress. Whatever it is I have to figure it out before I literally and figuratively explode!

Aside from the water, the rainy season brings with it so many other things - unwanted things to be more specific.

For starters, rain showers cause a lot of people to catch cold. This is because the sudden change of temperature and the prolonged exposure to rain significantly compromises one’s immune system thereby increasing the chances of viral infection.

Secondly, when rainwater accumulates in small pools, it becomes an inviting nesting ground for mosquitoes. This is why Dengue cases are always at their highest during the rainy season.

Lastly, when rains occur, we, (both andrea and I) being teachers, have to strain our vocal cords in order to win against the overwhelming background sound that the rain produces as it batters the roof and the walls of the classrooms. (Sometimes it makes you wonder how different it would be if classes were held inside in las vegas hotels where soundproofing is a common feature of every room.

And the list goes on and on. If I went through all of them, it’d be Christmas before I get to the last one. I’m telling you… when it rains, it really pours.

Among the many changes that Mateo brought to our lives, one of the funniest and probably the most bizaare things is the sudden appreciation for baby gifts. You see, andrea and I are used to buying gifts for people - for each other, for our friends, moms and dads, teachers, co-workers and even our co-workers’ babies.

And among the people we gave gifts too, the one we’ve had the hardest time choosing gifts for is each other. That’s because, when we give each other gifts, we take the time to choose the most unique one. At least that was before Mateo.

You see, now, whenever there’s an occasion that would allow us to buy gifts, we take the most time scouring gifts for Mateo. In fact, we take twice as much time as it took us to look for gifts for ourselves. We go through all the baby stores we could find for the most unique baby gifts available before we actually decide which is the best one to buy. That’s how meticulous we’ve become thanks to our little baby! I’m just not sure that’s a good thing!

When I first started teaching, my definition of the work was nothing more than what I had formulated based on previous experiences with my own teachers. A teacher is someone who teachers and imbibes knowledge to students. A teacher is a professional who gets paid to make students learn using any or everything in his/her assortment of arsenals - textbooks, exams, reports, and now even the internet.

After 5 years of living it, my definition has grown to something a bit more abstract and complicated. Teachers are not defined by their work. They are defined by their devotion to their profession. Their main objective is not to pass on knowledge. (That I feel is secondary if not coincidental.) Their primary goal is to inspire students to want to seek knowledge on their own.

And with lives of children hanging on their shoulders, they bear a huge weight - the responsiblity to shape each and every child they teach to become the best that he/she could be regardless of how much they’re willing to be changed.

Now that my definition of a teacher is complete, I’m proud to say that I am a teacher, and that’s what I do. That’s the cross I bear and the badge I’m deeply honored to wear.

Before andrea and I got married, I used to pass by sporting stores everytime to check the latest weight equipment available. That’s because I was hooked on weight training during college. No I’m not a muscle buff. Heck, I won’t even qualify as toned. I just used to dream of putting up a complete exercise setup at home - a setup that would provide a total body workout. That’s all.

Now, six years after college, all I have left are some weight discs, a dumbbell and a pair of flabs. I guess not all things turn out the way you want them too.

As much of a relief as it is from the heat, the rainy season brings some very troublesome things. For one, it makes getting up for work a Herculean task. I mean who would want to get up early when the bed provides so much comfort against the cold, right? Second, it makes commuting a puzzling obstacle course as you navigate the streets carefully in order not to splash water on people and on yourself too. Third, because the coldness prevents your sweat from quickly evaporating, it makes the skin more oily than usual. This is why I used to experience acne breakout during the start of the rainy seasons. Fortunately now, I’m past the age of looking for the best acne treatment. I just simply wipe off the sweat and oil clean. But that’s as far as the third reason is concerned. With regard to the first two, those I have no answers for yet!

That’s why even though I’m not very fond of summer, I’m not a fan of the cold weather either.