My Poor Mom

For the past few days, my mom has been in pain, she can barely walk. Poor mom! It breaks my heart to hear her suffer and the word "Aray!" (Ouch!) is constantly coming from her mouth.

And so, from morning till night, I am her maid, nurse, caregiver, etc. It's a good thing my son was on leave from Tuesday to Thursday this week. He helps around by cooking and buying stuff like pandesal from the convenience store. (My mom has not been eating rice recently to lose some weight.)

I searched the net for the definition, cause and remedy of rheumatism. My ever dependable computer gave the answers. So, my son will buy potatoes, apple cider and honey for my mom.

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I am starting to write an FGD report but the notes I have so far are on the first 3 groups. The last 3 are being conducted today.

I might have another FGD in October and November. A client-friend asked for costs of facilitation, note-taking and analysis. I will definitely do the analysis. But if I am not well enough to be the moderator, I have asked 2 of my friends for their fees. Hope the project gets approved.
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I talked to two friends today. By coincidence, both of them just lost their respective mothers. One died of old age, the other, of pneumonia. I am all the more grateful that mom is still around.

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Since there will be a transportation strike on Monday, I am exempted from going to the hospital for my regular treatment. Yey. Saves us some money.
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I was finally paid by a friend-client. They were able collect from the end-user only last Friday and had to wait for the check to clear.

I feel bad for a friend who acted as guarantor for a loan of about P100,000. The amount has not been paid. Hope they will be able to collect soon.
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Filipinos still have the Ms. Universe fever. We are all so proud of Shamcey Supsup. I just love her answer in the Q & A portion. She should have won, but of course, I am biased.
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The website I revised is almost done. I did my part and gave them options regarding the mission, vision and values. I gave suggestions to improve the look of the site. Hope the new website will draw many visitors and win Clients for them.
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My former neighbor gave a "lifetime supply" of chicharon (pork rind), plus salted egg colored white (instead of red, so I mistook them for balut), cornik, and pastillas (for my mom). What a kind soul. He will come and visit before the end of the month.
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I think I need a change of celphone. My old one looks so ugly and "dilapidated" already because I keep dropping it. I can hardly hear voice calls. Good thing celphones cost so little these days.
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Last FGDs, Sickness, More Work

Last Friday, we had our last two FGDs in Lipa, Batangas. Instead of the usual Pajero, we used an old car. True enough it broke down. I decided to hitch with the Client. He was supposed to drop me off in Makati but we couldn't find a cab. He was kind enough to bring me all the way home. I gave him my cab money.

I felt sick and threw up a number of times. Last Saturday, I rested till about 3 pm. Then I started work on my rush report. I had to rest again after a few slides. I resumed working after dinner.

Today, I continued my report.

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We haven't been paid a single centavo for our FGD project. So, the agency manager said that I shouldn't submit the report without our receiving at least the downpayment from the Client.

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Saw this nice picture...

Two Down, Three to Go

The Cavite FGD pushed through yesterday. It went pretty okay.

We were even able to catch part of the Ash Wednesday mass.

Today, we went to Lipa, Batanagas. We were very early. We had brunch consisting of bulalo, sisig, liempo, and ampalaya.

The group did not achieve the mix Client wanted so we have to come up with a mini-group next week.

Tomorrow, we have yet another FGD in Metro Manila. At least, no long distance travelling.

Looks like this project won't make any money. But I'm determined to do a good job, nevertheless.

BTW, a funny incident happened a while ago. Our driver went to the wrong lane (E-Pass). When he reached the tollgate, he said "emergency" and sort of looked at me. The guards must have seen my cane (I was seated in front) and said we can go. Ha ha. I told the driver to go to confession tomorrow.

Oh well, I'm tired. It's time to rest.

Presentation Time, Another Report

I woke up early so as not to be late for my 8 am presentation. But my friend was late in fetching me. She came all the way from Taguig and got caught in traffic. It was also rush hour going to Makati. So we were more than an hour late (we felt so ashamed and apologized to the Client who was there at 7:30 am!)

It's a good thing the presentation went well. I wasn't nervous at all even in the beginning.

The clients were very receptive to the information being presented. The presentation ended 10:20 am.

We have a new project with them - this time, an FGD (focus group discussion) consisting of four groups. Praise God!

My friend then treated me to lunch. We ate at Binalutan - I had inihaw na baboy. I wanted dessert so I ate halo-halo at Razon's. My friend also bought me chicharon which turned out spicy (I shared some to the taxi driver). I was given money for taxi fare.

Mom ate some chicharon.

We both took our afternoon nap.

I resumed working on my other report which is due Monday. So, I shall concentrate on report-writing for the next few days.

I was supposed to give my book to my Balikbayan friend yesterday but I forgot. Hope he finds time to get it from me so I'll see him one last time before he gets back to the US.

Oh no!

Oh no! I keep losing in Scrabble at Facebook. Maybe it's because I'm playing against people who are used to playing the game. Small consolation: I'm a "beginner". Oh well, will just have to do better next time.

Tomorrow, I have two FGDs. I hope I will do good this time.

This lunch, we had beef lengua and seafood kare-kare. We just ordered from the restaurant downstairs - not the new one, but the old one. I think because of the competition, they made their food more delicious and they put variety in their menu. We're not inclined to order from the new resto any time soon because of bad experience with our first orders.