Jotashield Flex

     The last paint product I launched was Jotashield Flex, my last paint formulation before I moved to marketing. I launched in the Asian countries I was responsible of although personally I wouldn't have launched it in tropical environment but due to corporate pressure, I had to launch.

My product was featured in this Malaysian magazine

     Technically, this product is good with crack-bridging ability. It suffers though on dirt pick-up resistance especily in tropical climate. It may attract dirt more due to its lower Tg, the glass transition temperature of the binder which is a key component of the paint.

How To Get Away With Murder

     I just finished this series on Netflix entitled "How To Get Away With Murder", which is very catchy. Until now I am still wondering how Netflix can air this kind of series. The title alone is suggesting a negative message to the audience.

The series that perplexes me 

     I know the content is about fighting for justice for the underdogs and hiding the truth in order to protect the innocent who happened to be at the scene. It is a noble objective but the lies and hiding still annoys me. I understand they were trying to portray fighting for justice in this cruel imbalanced world where the moneyed and powerful perpetrate their crimes over those who have no means to fight. I believe a better title would have made the series less offensive. 

Yee Sang

     Yee shang or Yuu sahng or lohsang, however you say it, it all means prosperity toss, a Chinese New Year must do among the Chinese be it in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong or China during Chinese New Year which I had experienced many times with my Chinese friends in Malaysia.

An eating ritual I did when I was in Malaysia

     It's a tradition during Chinese New Year. They do it even before the Chinese New Year date. The recipe is full of ingredients that will usher in luck and prosperity, they believe. They toss it as they believe the higher the toss, the more prosperous you become. It is common during Chinese New Year although the taste is not, the sweet-salty sauce makes it not bad for the palate.

Filinvest

     I acquired my condominium in Manila through Filinvest while working in Singapore. There was a time I did AirBNB but I have stopped after my stroke. I prefer long-term rental to minimize the hassle for me.

     I religiously paid it through Filinvest and I paid it fully in 2020 to reduce my worries since I am no longer working. I am chasing Filinvest for the title of my unit. This week it created a website for clients like us to access them and communicate with them as well as get updates, a laudable move in this era. I was asked to register but I couldn't, only later to find out that the telephone number registered with them is still my Singapore number. I told them to update accordingly. It is with this communication with them suddenly they informed me my email is also not the one in their system.

 

     How on earth my email cannot be registered with them when it is the one they use to communicate with me? I still have no logical explanation as to how they can come up with this. Either they are plain stupid or lazy to check on the details. I have no patience with people who never use their brain for such simple matters, pure common sense.

A Stranger In My Own Land

     I loved working in Malaysia for almost twenty years the most. I learned to be independent there and grew professionally especially working with a global Norwegian paint company as a paint chemist. I feel connected with my ex-colleagues, even now that I have completely retired from work. I love them so much.

My Jotun colleagues in a farewell dinner they organized when I left 

     Malaysia seems to be my second home that I know it very well in many ways. Thus coming back to my hometown after many years of being away feels so much strange and I am still struggling to fit in situations. Each morning I do my daily walk meet people on the road who recognize me but I don't know them nor remember. Not that I don't know them but they look so different thirty years ago.

Smoke-Free Municipality

     Once you enter Alangalang, my hometown, you will see this board reminding people that smoking is no longer allowed.

Reminder to the public

     This ordinance is exemplary and laudable, beneficial to the health of the public. However, this is my first time to hear a complete smoking ban. In Singapore where I used to work, which for me should be a model for implemennting "no smoking", they have smoking spots all over the state and rooms in shopping malls and buildings catering the need of the smokers.

     This complete ban opens opportunities of irresponsible individuals to smuggle cigarettes especially in the barangays where police presence is absent. The ingenious Filipinos will find a way to bring in cigarettes discretely because there is a market. This is a mistake of the municipal government for not foreseeing the influx of illegal activities related to the cigarette smuggling. The intention is right but it lacks the foresight of possible issues related to the ban.

Beautiful Day

     These last three days has been sunny without the rain that has been with us since Christmas. We had a cold and gloomy New Year.

What a Beautiful Day

     It is still cold now but at least the rain has stopped, praying it will be for good. It has been damp and wet and cold for several days that I just wanted to curl in bed. 

A Break in the Ms. Universe Streak

     I have a negative view of beauty pageants as a disgrace to women's dignity but I can't help but watch them, especially the global tilts like Ms. Universe.This year ended the Philippines' semi-finals streak since 2010. This year would be the worst relatively. The hype before the pageant was too much I feel. I pray that this be a lesson to the Filipino beauty pageant mentality because there are many other pressing issues that merits attention. Widespread poverty, lack of food among the poor, unemployment all over the country are some of the major issues faced by the country that are more pressing than beauty pageants. 

The Philippines has consistently been a semi-finalist since 2010

    

Australian Open 2023

     The Australian tennis Open starts tomorrow, and my bets to win are Novak for the men and Iga for the women. I am putting my faith in these two for their past performances in the tennis circuit. Of course, it's hard to predict the winners as the ball is round, as they say. I saw these online, predictions of the quarterfinalists-would-be which I can't disagree. 

The men's 

The women's 

     My two finalists predictions would be Djokovic-Medvedev for the men, and Swiatek-Sabalenka for the women. Let's see.

The Weather

     I thought the sunshine and good weather the other day is the end of the moonsoon torrential rain. It is a gloomy day again and the temeprature drop is felt again. The path leading to our hut was flooded for several days, and when I saw it dried this morning, I thought we are going to have the good weather. But what I see now is a cloudy day with low temperature that can drive folks to cuddle.

It's dry now 

Flooded for several days

Why I Stopped Going To Church

    When I was working in Singapore, I went to the church to fulfill my religious obligation, even when I was travelling for business, I tried finding the nearest church to my hotel. In Singapore, I found the church to be an abode for contemplation, for reflection and I felt the presence of God when I went to the church. The good life of the Singaporeans gave me that feeling that indeed God provided them with everything, although it's because of good governance and the elites are not greedy.

The most beautiful church internally in Singapore 

    It's a different story now that I am back to the Philippines, where I grew up to the tenets of Christianity, with my grandmother who was born during the Spanish rule in the country back in 1887. I see an environment totally different of that of Singapore, leading me to question where is God. There is rampant poverty in the countryside. People are so poor, living miserable lives but it seems the people accepted it, a success for the political leaders and elites because that's what they want them to believe. The church leaders, the priests, mostly are tools of the establishment. They don't practice what they preach as they say, and during the election the church clearly sided with the politicians and the elites. That's when I decided not be an instrument in the continuous oppression of the poor.

     Today my sister is going to Tacloban City to attend holy mass at the church, I respectfully rejected her invitation to join them. I cannot stomach celebrating mass in the confines of the church while the moment you step outside, it's poverty among the people. How on earth the elites and their cohorts be worshipping God when they don't do what God expected them to do? People's thinking strengthened by the church is that the elites are blessed while the  wretched poor are punished by God for not being religious or something like that. I can't swallow this fallacy. To me, the church in the Philippines is an instrument of the elite who control politics and economy in the country.

The church is an instrument of the elite in the Philippines 

  

Pope Benedict's Funeral

     Pope Benedict is being buried today in Vatican. He passed on last Saturday, on New Year's Eve. He was probably the shortest term of a Pope, the first Pope to ever resign from his post then Pope Francis came into power. He was Pope from from 2005 until 2013.

Solemn funeral service for the ex-Pope

     The ceremony at St. Peter's Square seems solemn, especially among Catholics all over the world as he was their leader when he was still the Pope. 

     I remember my grandmother's story of how a Pope is chosen. When I was young, I have always thought popes are divinely chosen as was inculcated by my ultra-religious grandmother who was born in 1887, when the Philippines was still a colony of Spain and was responsible for her Catholic mindset.

     My grandmother told me that to chose a Pope, all Cardinals meet in Vatican, for now what I know as the conclave. They will be locked in a secluded room, according to her, holding a candle in their hands, for days in silence and prayers. Whoever holds the candle that gets lighted is the one chosen by God to be the new Pope. What a story concocted by my grandmother, I don't know if she actually believed in it or she related it to me with the hope of strengthening my faith. Only when I grew up I got to learn they vote during the conclave to elect a new Pope.

Goodbye Rain

     The sun is finally out. It has been raining due to low pressure phenomenon and it has been relatively cold since Christmas.

It's as low as 18°C in one of the days

     The cold front of December made the temperature low then heavy raining for almost a week caused flooding in many areas. Thanks God today it seems the sun is back. The sunlight dries the moist stuff in the house and the wet clothes we kept hanging in the barn. Hope this sun is here to stay for us to dry our clothes.

The path to our hut has been flooded for days