Remembering Grandma on Mothers' Day

I always remember my maternal grandmother every Mothers' Day.  That is because it's very near her birthday.  And when I saw my aunt post in Facebook a picture of grandma, I felt nostalgic.  Today, May 13 is my grandma's birthday.

Though she died sixteen years ago, I really miss her.

I lived with my grandparents in Mindanao when I was six years old.  Being their first grandchild, and being with them most of the time, people thought I was the favorite.  Nope, it's not what they think.  I had my own share of spanking too. She was strict but loving.  She never fails to pack my baon before going to school.  And when I come home rugged and dirty, it's either her long stick or grandpa's belt that will do the talking.  No excuses as the evidence is in my pants. (They make me wear long pants so when I play, crawl and tumble with friends, dirt would stick to my pants).

This is what my aunt wrote on Facebook a few hours ago in reply to my sister's comment on her profile pic.

"day .., ako jud ni gituyo nga i profile kay kung gimingaw mo ni lola, mas na jud ko, mama is my best friend, best mother sa buong mundo, wala ng iba.. very supportive mother, kaya mintras buhi pa ang inyong mama, pahimusli jud ang walang pag-alinlangan na pagmamahal. missed my mama so much, it's her birthday tomorrow..."

I certainly agree with my auntie.  While our mothers are still alive, seize every opportunity to show them love and affection. We only have one mother in this world. 

I know a lot were already thinking of cool mothers' day gift ideas, as we just noticed in the various malls in the city the other day.  But you know what,  they don't really care about the gifts, but they appreciate much the time we spend with them.

To Comment or Not To Comment

I made a quick round to the blogs of people I used to interact with in the past. I was tempted to comment but I paused a bit. Do they still remember me?

What if they ask me where I've been for the past 4 or five years when I stopped dropping by their blogs? What if they call me by the pseudo-name I use here when in fact I already outed myself in the blog events that I joined? Yep, I've meet some bloggers in real life settings. I have also joined a Facebook group of bloggers as me. Anonymity in social media had already lost its flavor. That is already the case this four or five years.

I am just keeping this blog for sentimental and selfish reasons. And when I leave a comment to other blogs, I now have second thoughts on what name to use and what url to fill in the comment section. Ah!

At another instance, I followed a tweet by a friend which contained a link to a blogpost on his personal blog. I really wanted to comment on this one but I was thinking, "Will my comment do him any good? Or is he just having one of those emo moments?"

I wanted to tell him, "Grow up and act like your mid 40's age. The world does not revolve around you anymore". But again, I was thinking that bloggers have all the right to say things on their blogs as long as it does not hurt others. It's just one of his emo moments. I'm sure he has already recovered by now.

Social Networking Etiquette For Teens

My wife is working with kids, teens and young people at Church and she has some sort of following. But they follow me instead because she has no Facebook account of her own.

I received friend request here and there and I got to ask her if she knows them. Of course, most these kids know me as well. But I had a hard time matching their names with their faces. Some I knew when they were as young as 8 or 9 at Kid's church, and then now that they're college students and seeing them once in a quarter, I have forgotten many of them.

Since we're friends in Facebook, i get to see some of their pics and walls. They certainly have grown. But I have some concerns with a few of them. Some post inappropriate pics and rants like they don't care at all. I've seen a few verbal quarrels as well. I guess these are problems not only common in teens but for other adults too. But it's the kids and teens that I'm concerned the most. They're vulnerable and they need to be guided.

I see the need of these kids to be informed on proper social media etiquette. What they post during high school will be there in the internet long enough that it could be used against them in the future. Who knows if they'll suffer the same fate as those graduating kids from STC who weren't able to march with their batch. Or that they'll be cyber-bullied because they think that it's alright to ride a butanding, drown a cat, or pose in a crucifix with sexy shorts. We do a lot of crazy things when we were teens, right? All for the sake of fun, notwithstanding the consequences.

Just when I was thinking of coming up with seminar materials for these young people, GMA7 came up with a series of ads "Think Before You Click". Here's the Tween Edition: