Author Archives: Issa

What if you can go on an adventure – now?

July 2 10:04 am ,
Out there

Out there

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

That has fascinated me recently.

Because we humans are all about finding our roots, finding that place where we feel we belong. But what if we belong nowhere, and everywhere?

What if moss is not good and it just ties us down, keeping us from our potentials, from finding out what’s out there?

Some of my friends are upping and going. Just going. Taking that trip to South America to stay for 6 months. With children. Finding a job to sustain them, just enough to sustain them. See the city, the countryside, know the culture, try to understand it and appreciate it and then move on to another darn beautiful place.

Read More →

Posted in: Life Stories , Tagged:

What do you do when you lose your iPhone?

June 10 3:49 pm ,
Finding the way

Finding the way

It was quite an invigorating night, but one that ended in despair.

Ten minutes after arriving in my house, I found out I lost my iPhone.

That is one of my worst fears. My cellphone is the extension of myself (proof of my life). What’s worse, I knew my cellphone’s battery was dead at the time I lost it. So I couldn’t call, I couldn’t text (I did, anyway).

I was in suspended animation, neither here nor there that night and the next few days, responding to every text with “hu dis?”. It was embarrassing.

Anyway, those were the most disquieting days of my life, but as in everything, here are some lessons learned:

Read More →

Posted in: Positive Thinking , Tagged: , , ,

Thoughts while on a bike

May 27 1:53 pm ,
Love, on wheels

Love, on wheels

I was 12 and my dad just bought me one. It was not a BMX, the “in” bike at that time, but impressing others really did not matter in those days. The world was younger, life was simpler, and material pursuits were not a concern.

My cousins and I – we would roam our fiefdom in Imus, Cavite, nodding our heads to people we knew (like little ladies and lords). We stop at a sari-sari store to get our softdrinks in plastic bags. It had a straw peeking at the opening and was met by grateful, thirsty, puckering lips. Or we would buy our favorite bread boling (never figured out how it is spelled but they were ball-like small hard bread smothered with margarine and the name maybe is the colloquial equivalent of bowling and depicted, maybe, little bowling balls). It tastes of heaven.

We had the wind in our hair, steered free of jeepneys and trikes, we had speed, the sun, carefree laughter. We had no destination and no concept of time and we did not care. We went over bridges and humps, through cemeteries, rough roads. We stopped to repair our bikes some of the time, or walk a flat tire.

It was fun.

Read More →

Posted in: Canada , Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Are Filipino families going to be reunited in their lifetimes?

May 22 2:46 pm ,
raincouver

4 seasons in 1 day

Immigration is a topic close to my heart. After all, I myself am an immigrant. Below is an article I wrote for PCI after I interviewed Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. To those parents or grandparents of Filipino-Canadians  who are waiting to immigrate to Canada, or to anyone interested in starting their lives in Canada, read on.

Canada, going the way of America—at least in immigration—is the fear of most Filipino-Canadians. In America, family reunification is a farce, or at least the 25 years or so of waiting makes the lives of separated families seem like one. Those who leave have to reckon with their guilt; those who are left behind are despondent and desolate. The tarmac bears witness to their goodbyes.

The long immigration lines have started to appear in Canada as the waiting period for family reunification stretched to almost a decade. It would soon be overwhelmed with the growing numbers if nothing was done, so Citizenship and Immigration Canada decided to freeze the lines in 2011. Very recently, however, they announced that the bars are to be lifted as solutions to the backlog have been found.

But at what cost?

Read More →

Posted in: Immigration , Tagged: , , , , , ,

Is happiness (or being happy) really an advantage?

May 17 3:35 pm ,
The simple things

The simple things

Who can resist a show featuring  a Harvard researcher doing research on—of all things—happiness?

I could not. So despite the many minor interruptions (irritations), like the selling and upselling of Shawn Achor’s books and videos, I kept at it.

Here are some of the stuff I learned (and remembered):

1.  Those in Harvard, despite Harvard being Harvard, are not happy. Researcher Shawn Achor says that in his experiment, hapless freshmen are only happy for the first 2 weeks—happy to be accepted and besting a thousand others for the coveted slots, happy to be in Harvard’s hallowed halls and relishing its old world smell, happy to be at the center of the intellectual universe. But when the reality of pressure—ever present, permeating the walls (and their every capillary)— becomes apparent, they get lost into the vortex of competing with themselves, forever justifying (to themselves) that they deserved to be there.

At the end of it all (if Achor is to be believed), the Harvardians are just grateful to be let out alive and to smoke the Harvard pipe (misery, they say, loves company).

Read More →

Posted in: Positive Thinking , Tagged: , ,

A retreat-style soul weekend experience

April 23 1:01 pm ,
Spark 007: The Bond Girls

Spark 007: The Bond Girls

This article was published in the Philippine Canadian Inquirer.

There was a long road, winding, rocky. And darkness, the kind that devours. I could hear the gurgling of  little meandering streams tipping its silver toes here and then there, and on my right was a great body of lake I could feel but could not see. Deep, I thought.

In the distance, a spark.

It was the warmth that greeted me, of Baldwin house, and of hosts Lorie Corcuera and Aileen de la Torre. PCI once featured Lorie; I met Aileen (who was with Lorie) at an event I covered for PCI. Both women were amazing. Now, I thought, I could see them work their magic.

Read More →

Posted in: Personal Development , Tagged: , , ,

Can Food Leftovers Provide us an Alternative Energy Source?

April 23 12:47 pm ,
Apple in watercolor

Apple in watercolor

Guest post

In recent years the perception of recycling has changed from a lifestyle fad to something of a necessity. With successive governments working on the best ways to “go green” and help conserve energy and waste, it’s no surprise to see alternative energy sources reaching the news more and more.

Solar panels and wind turbines are perhaps the two most prominent developments in personal renewable energy with government schemes providing people with the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to conserving energy; however they are by no means the only options for businesses.

Read More →

Posted in: Random

My Soroptimist Speech

March 30 3:26 pm ,
Little fall of rain

Little fall of rain

I just came home from the Philippines when I got the email. “Congratulations,” it said. “You have been selected as a winner of the Soroptimist International of North and West Vancouver’s Ruth Ditto award.” I was awed, and rendered speechless. Soroptimist International is a worldwide service organization for women committed to helping women (and girls) achieve their individual and collective potentials. The Ruth Ditto Award is an award unique to the North and West Vancouver Club. Ruth Ditto is an esteemed and treasured Club member and everyone remembers her for her strength (despite the fact that she was a petite woman), and remembers how unselfishly she shared her talents (she is a painter too) and her time. The award is to honour women who persevere despite challenges (in my essay, I spoke of the travails of being a new immigrant with big dreams). With all of Ruth Ditto’s friends in attendance, I felt empowered, humbled, honoured. Below is my speech.

Somebody looked at my palm to gaze into my future. He smiled but did not tell me what he saw.

I prefer it that way. Not knowing. Because it is enough that I know that my husband and I, we always put ourselves in, well, situations.

In December 2011, we found ourselves in the clutches of winter in beautiful Vancouver.

We were starting a new life, embarking on an adventure.

Until the adventure turned real and the difficulty of finding a foothold in a new country we did not know sank in.

Read More →

Posted in: Canada, Life Stories , Tagged: ,