See life through MJ's optimistic eyes.
Hablon and other products of Oton.
I am so blessed to be living in Oton, one of the attractive rural communities in Iloilo. Oton is a first class municipality in the province of Iloilo, about 30 minutes west of the city. I get to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city then go home to my lovely, quiet town at the end of the day. We’ve been living here for 11 years now (we used to live in Jaro). And so far I am loving my life here.
**This is a re-post of Hon. Juan Miguel Flores’ post on Facebook. I am a proud Ogtonganon and I hope this will reach some Ogtonganons as well. This will really help our parish. Two thumbs up to Migs for taking care of our church and its surroundings. We need more people like you! And like I said on Facebook – just keep on doing what you’re doing, there will always be people willing to help an honest person who has honest goals.
If the parish of Molo has a solemn place for wakes, Jaro has a sociable place for wedding receptions, Oton has nothing. IT’S TIME!
Prominently called as our parish “social hall”, we are now in the process of gathering help and raising funds to build a new parish “pastoral center”.
I know I haven’t blogged for 2 weeks now. It has been a couple of hectic weeks. What with my brothers getting sick and some urgent stuffs to finish at work. I’m going to postpone writing about our Boracay vacation for now to give way to my Kabankalan escapade. 
Last Saturday, 23rd of May, I finally got the chance to go to Kabankalan. Tim’s hometown. I went there along with my little brother Rino John and Tim of course. I got to meet Tim’s parents for the 3rd time and his sisters the first time (except for Dainah because we met a couple of times in the past when she went here to Iloilo). We stayed there until the 26th so that’s about 4 days and 3 nights. I loved Kabankalan! Not only did Tim’s family and relatives welcome us in their homes but they also gave us a tour of the city. I didn’t know that they have a palace-like city hall. You have to see it to believe it. It looks more expensive than our Capitol actually., honest. And Kabankalan is a very clean city. They have clean streets. Yes I know Iloilo is also clean but Kabankalan’s cleaner. Maybe its because Kabankalan is still more a rural city than urbanized. Their cathedral is also a lovely structure. It won’t rival Jaro Cathedral but still it’s a beautiful place to worship the Lord. We heard Mass there last Sunday. 
But seriously, I enjoyed my stay there. I got to meet Tim’s wonderful family and that’s all that matters. I think I got chubbier too, gained a few pounds. Because all we did there was eat and eat and I’m blaming Tita Warlit because of that. Haha! She went out of her way to make us feel comfortable at their home along with Tito Ledo and we really appreciate it. When we arrived on the 23rd it was Ken – Tim’s cousin’s birthday. And then on the 25th was Hans – Tim’s nephew’s birthday. So what with no exercise and just lounging around – who won’t gain weight? LOL. Speaking of food, I miss Tita Jane’s spaghetti.
I wonder when I’ll be allowed to go back there again. 
Here are a few of the photos we took during our stay there. Enjoy!
Wow! I’m going to be a year older on the 15th! I can’t believe I’m OLD! Five days before the big day…
I haven’t written anything lately. It’s not because I’m too busy but because I didn’t have internet connection for a week. Can you believe it? A WEEK?!! Imagine the damage it did to my daily tasks. I hated SmartBro so bad last week that I kept calling their dumb CSRs. Those people don’t know how to handle their customers on the phone. I guess being an ex-call center agent makes me way too critical of them. But sorry guys from Smart, I just don’t like you.
I went to Antique last February 1st to attend my Lola’s 76th Birthday. My Lola has a lot of Priest friends. Hehe. I had fun and bonded with my cousins. We went to the beach and took a dip even though it was freezing. Aling and I stayed in the water for only like 10-15 minutes. We took so many photos of ourselves and I’m going to post them here and at my Friendster account as soon as I finish resizing them all. I really should start utilizing my Flicker account for this.
Then last Saturday, February 7th was our Lord’s Day. Tim and I are officially full-pledged members of the CFC Singles for Christ Oton Chapter! We had a great celebration. After the prayers and dinner we had a program where each group had to present an intermission number. There were just 13 of us left so we split into 2 groups. The other group presented an acoustic number and we also did the same thing – except the other group got to practice while we did not. We sucked but we didn’t care because we had fun and we enjoyed it! I also did a song number with my brother – Sev. We sang Linkin Park’s “Leave Out All The Rest.” It’s a song from the movie Twilight. He played the guitar. Toto sings very well while I was a nervous wreck and I kinda like sang out of tune most of the time. Hehehe. But still I don’t care because I was having fun! All I can say is that being a part of the Singles for Christ is so much better that being with the Youth for Christ!
And here’s the best part – my bebeh was appointed by Sis Baby as the participants’ official spokesperson. Hehehe. FYI – the participants were us- the Singles for Christ hopefuls and Sis Baby was a part of the SFC Service Team. Tim’s task was to be the one who’ll give a short speech about basically his experiences during the Christian Life Program, his realizations and to give thanks to everyone. To the SFC Service Team, the Brothers and Sisters from the Couples for Christ who helped them particularly Bro. Joebert Toledo whose the SFC Coordinator, Bro. DeeGee Paredes and everyone who made the CLP a success. I know for a fact that my bebeh is a “shy” person and he doesn’t usually do public speaking (although he tells me that he did give speeches when he was in high school). But my bebeh surprised me and he made me proud. Because not only did he make the best speech EVER (love you beh.. :-*) but he was also really confident in delivering it. Everyone laughed at his “metaphorical jokes” (he makes a lot of that all the time with me ) and listened to every word he said (at least that’s what I observed). I’m just so proud of my bebeh.
Well that’s it guys. I’ll be making the most of my 5 days as a 23 year old girl and I’m looking forward to my birthday. The day after Valentine’s Day. TTYL!
more photos….
goofing around..
with my cousins…
tickle torture..
at the beach with Alyssa..sunset..
the beach..
whatever..
singing “With A Smile” of the Eraserheads..
our group’s presentation..
the duet..hehehe..
SFC Oton Chapter
serious..
my bebeh and me..
I don’t have the time or the inspiration to write just about anything so here are photos of all the stuffs that I’ve been up to lately. We checked out the Dinagyang celebration at the city, photos with my cousins at the hospital when Drix had his operation, a Year of the Ox (my year!!) bracelet from my bebeh, random photos of my so loved bebeh and as promised – the long overdue photos of my ear piercing!
