Names

My parents belonged to the "old school" who were almost tempted to name me after the Roman Catholic saints. Then, there was also the idea of combining their names - Milagros (miracle?) and Generoso (generous?) - to produce "Milgen." Thank God there was so much indecision that moment. And all because my father was agog to name me, as their first-born child, after then movie icon Fernando Poe Sr. (father of FPJ). At least, I learned to love that name. What if I was not saved from such unforgettable catastrophe. LOL. If I got it from saint, I might be "Pablo" now? I couldn't forgive them, I swear.

When I had my turn to name my own kids, I gave them three names and one unique nick-name each. LOL. My second daughter is Alexandria Monica Corinna or Maico (her nickname). That's her during one of our visits to our favorite restaurant near our place. Her two siblings have also same name structure.

The eldest (in school uniform) is Sophia Ingrid Colleen or Cooky and Ziarra Mae Treena the youngest or Kayra. Friends wonder why they have such long names and nicknames so far from the their real names as most Pinoys would use to do lifting nicknames from their real names.

The idea was patterned after their mother's name who is nick-named as "Gemma" although her real name is "Beverly." With those three-in-one names, they have freedom what name to use normally when they work, meet friends, etc.

But when my patience is too low, I would call Maico as "makong" or "bakang (bow-legged)", Cooky as "bake or bakbak (frog)" and Kayra as "kiray" or "kayring" depending on mood-swing. LOL.

Dream House

It is not easy to own a house these days. High-end residential lots are expensive. And if you opt for a subdivision at Php2,500 to Php3,000 a month, aside from equities, etc., you would have to implement austerity measures to meet the monthly amortization. But we realized that we could not go on paying monthly for 25 to 30 years. We had to change tact by selling our house and looked for a residential lot where we would build our house through process a called "running construction." That means, a plan would be the basis for the intermittent renovations depending on budget availability. This approach works although it would take time before you see your dream house unfolding to its fullness. Thanks because we are now 85 percent complete requiring some finishing touches.

This is my finishing carpenter uncle who is experienced in doing interior designs. He had worked on the interior designs in many of his projects in of Davao City that included high-end restaurants, mall stalls, etc. The only drawback is that he asks Php300 a day for his labor. Well, with the quality work he gives, the amount is not bad.