A Tribute to Mang Jo

made by Mang Jo

Mang Jo started to serve the family when he was hired by Mama Lola to paint the Cruz Building. Mang Jo was a good painter. His paint coatings would be even, smooth, and perfect. I never really got to know him that well. All I remember was that he made my first writing desk, and I loved it. I wrote on that desk for years until I was too tall for that little cute desk.

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Snippets of Dreams: DIY Inspiring Quotes

This picture was made by my friend Johanna Buenavente

Ever since I was young, I wanted to make my own quote. I was attracted to how a single line can make someone immortal. I remember my classmates always started their essays with a quote. I wouldn’t do this because I thought that it wasn’t an original or gripping introduction. One time, I couldn’t think of an introduction for my Christian Living essay. I didn’t want to put a quote, but that was the only thing that I could think of. Then an idea struck me—what if I write my own quote? I wrote the quote, put it in quotation marks, put a dash, then I wrote “JTC.” I thought it was cocky to write my own quote, so I hoped my teacher would think that JTC was someone famous, and he or she will not realize that those were just my initials. From then on, I have tried to write several quotes. Here are the quotes that I have written about following one’s dreams, and in my case, that dream is to become a great writer.

• Following your heart is scary, doing otherwise is painful.

• You’ll never know if you’re talented enough. You’ll only know if you’re brave enough.

• If you’re not afraid to sound pedestrian, you might actually get to say something profound.

• Courage and passion. It’s always about courage and passion. No matter who you are or what you want, it’s always about courage and passion.

• Dear Universe, I am a writer. Let me write.

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Sweet Dreams Little Ja

Jaja is sleeeepppppyyyyy…

Here’s a list of unforgettable dreams and nightmares that I’ve had when I was a kid

1.) Sabrina

One of my favorite dreams was about my favorite tv show Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In my dream, Sabrina sprinkled fairy dust on me, and we started flying across the sky. We flew higher and higher. Then, I realized that I was slowly losing height.

“The fairy dust’s effects are wearing off” Sabrina said, “Look for Aunt Hilda and ask for more fairy dust.”

I landed on the ground, and started aimlessly walking around. I called out Aunt Hilda’s name over and over, and I heard my voice echo through the empty space. I really wanted to fly again, but I woke up.

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Juancho Threw a Rock at Me

Me, Annika, and Juancho

When my cousin Juancho was a kid, like five years old or so, he threw a rock at me. We were in a beach in Batangas, and Annika and I decided to try rowing the small banka. It barely fit us two kids, and we couldn’t go far because there it had a hole. We had to scoop out the water using an empty can of Nido powdered milk just to stay afloat.

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What Little Ja Wrote

This is a list of all the stories that I wrote when I was little. Actually I didn’t finish any of them, but I wrote piles and piles of plots and compiled them in a big red expander. I kept the original drafts of what I’ve written in the hopes that when I become famous, my children can sell those drafts if they needed money.

1.)   Flower Street Mountain

I loved Sweet Valley so I wanted to make my version of it. I replaced “valley” with “mountain.” The word “sweet” reminded me of flowers. Adding “street” sounded better than “Flower Mountain.”

The characters were my cousins Annika, Juancho, Erika, Erinn, Errol, Erijah, Era, and Ellesse. I think Ezekiel was not yet born. We would go on adventures like go around the world in a car that can turn into an airplane and a boat. One time we got kidnapped in Batangas, and we managed to escape. There’s also a story about how we were all inside a car, and we mistakenly stepped on the gas, but we didn’t know where the break was or how to drive the car.

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