Chasing

I have been considering pursuing my dream job these past few days despite the fact that I am not sure how I will be able to go through it in the future. I am currently driven by passion and I want to start it while the fire is still burning within me. The spark started when I had stumbled upon a list of jobs that they have for freelance writers itemizing thoroughly what they want from them and how much they are willing to pay the writer for the articles they had produced. I was amazed that the spark had grown to be so much more. I suddenly realized, why not pursue it? The pay may not be that appealing for now but I believe that this ground will be a good starting point for me as a writer. I can already sense all the learning that I might get from this experience. Sometimes in life, you must go through the hard way, for you to grow even more as an individual and for you to appreciate even more the things that you will be acquiring from all those hard work and sacrifice you put in to get to the top, to be where you want to be. I may not be the best in the current field for now but I believe that, in time, I will be able to penetrate then the field. And if ever it did not worked out for me, no big deal for I will just charge the time spent to experience and further development to be the best in the art. Other than that, I will be a happier being for there's nothing more fulfilling than knowing that you have chased after a precious dream during your lifetime. No regrets, no harm done.

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Woke up earlier in a Sunday morning, surprised on how much I have been dreaming just about anything under the sun lately. My dreams do not fail to leave me restless though and had been giving me the same feeling, time and time again, for almost three days now. I am wondering now, why restless out of all the feelings known by the world?

I was quite ready to spend another aimless day today but had later been struck by an enticing idea for myself while surfing the world wide web. A career track that I will surely enjoy but needs time to develop and furnish given the lack of experience and training I have to be competitive in the field. It was the nth time these past few weeks that I had been waking up later than usual. Well, waking up for me lately is a long process, even with the alarm.

We had been going to church late in the afternoon these past few Sundays now and doing so is starting to become quite of a drag already because of the time but nonetheless, the fidelity of hearing the mass overcomes the laziness that we are feeling.

The homily earlier is all about destroying the fence that we had been building around our hearts to allow Christ in all areas of our life and how love postpones. Majority of us had already been caught up in our own little world with our successes and our dreams, that we tend to forgot the more important things in our lives like our families and the relationship that we ought to build with each and everyone of them. Isn't it funny that we are most of the time postponing our time for these important things in our lives and giving much attention to things that will not matter eventually?

Moreover, most of the time, you have to go out of your way if you want to genuinely help people in need. The opportunity to help someone will not be knocking on your door but instead, be the one to find the opportunity and present yourself to it.

During the ride home, the talk diverted to being financially literate like my father. My mom always tell us that my father does not earn that much but he always make it a point to keep a percentage of it in the bank. Even at a young age, it was instilled into us the saying that it is never about what you earn but what you save that matters. Just lately have I come to realize that the saving should not be the endpoint of the cycle. Yes, saving is a good thing but we should endlessly think about ways on how to make use of the money to grow and not be stagnant. We should know how and where to invest it because money would really take us to far places if we know how to use the tool wisely. Let us make it a goal to make money work for us, not the other way around.

An Old Cottage

I have been wanting to dine in Vieux Chalet for the longest time now and found a perfect opportunity to eat there last Sunday for it was Easter Sunday and at the same time my parent’s celebration of their 22nd wedding anniversary with us.

We are welcomed by their ever jolly maitre d’ Rico who enthusiastically guided us on finding the perfect food and on having the perfect dining experience in the Swiss restaurant.

Italian Soup. What I like about the soup is its hint of spiciness and the thinly sliced potatoes that were put and cooked with the soup which kept us baffled and curious before completely identifying it.

Fettucine Padilla. The creamy sauce and the al dente homemade pasta with bits of bacon and shitake mushroom made the food heavenly to eat.

 

Pizza dela Casa. Among all of the food that we ordered here, this one got the highest rave from all of us. The crispiness of the thin crusted pizza made the experience unique and worthwhile. I was literally eating my share gradually and savouring each bite for fear of losing the taste quickly once I consume all of it.

 

Half done Chicken ala Tony. I love how the chicken melts in your mouth.

 

I am not really a fan of ordering desserts after a good meal but I just have to taste  their Carrot Cake and Lemon Poppy Seeds Cake. I personally fell in love with the fullness of the carrot cake and the sponginess of the lemon cake. I enjoyed eating the caramelized oranges that were used to accentuate the taste and look of the cake for its sweetness!

 

The restaurant is teeming with details that could get you preoccupied while waiting for the food. Also, the view is spectacular from the hill for you could clearly see the Makati skyline from there. I want to visit again the place during night time to have a better view of the city with the city lights on and to have a bite of their Swiss chocolate cake mainly because of it being highly recommended rather than me being on the lookout of the best chocolate cake in town. Unfortunately, there was none left last Sunday. Nonetheless, the other desserts did not fail to satisfy our taste buds.

If you want to experience a different kind of dining experience, Vieux Chalet is the place to be. It has been operational for 25 years now and has been established by Tony Hassig. It doubly serves as an inn for those people who could not get enough and who wanted to savour the goodness of the place. The Swiss Inn and restaurant is situated along Taktak Road just near where the Hinulugang Taktak Falls is and a short drive from the Antipolo Cathedral. It is approximately a 40 minute drive on a Sunday morning from Manila.

 

Vieux Chalet Swiss Restaurant

Taktak Road, Antipolo

Look for Rico O. Doy (Maitre d’)

Landline (+63) 02-697-0396 Mobile 0908-937-8772

Email add srhassig@yahoo.com

Websites vieuxchalet.multiply.com, swissinn.multiply.com

Spending Maundy Thursday

Thursday morning was a super sweaty one. I woke up drenched in my own sweat due to the power maintenance the admin of our building was scheduled to do that day. Good thing, we have the Visita Iglesia to keep us occupied the whole morning as opposed to having to stay here in our place waiting for the power to be revived.

Visita Iglesia is one of the renowned activities that most Catholic Filipino families do during the Holy Week. People doing the said activity visit seven churches which is said to have originated from early Christian customs of visiting the seven basilicas of Rome for adoration , though some expand the visit to 14 churches indicative of the 14 stations of the cross.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Quezon City

We are always game to visit 14 churches because of the ease of finding that much number of churches around the metro. Taking into consideration the overflowing presence in number of churches just in Luzon makes me take a second glance on how Christianity gradually spread all over the country during the long reign of the Spaniards in our country and those earlier decades of our history.

The National Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Makati City

In fulfilment of this Holy Week obligation and the seemingly exponentially growing attachment of us, individuals, to the world wide web, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had also introduced lately the Visita Iglesia online in their website which is an alternative for those Catholics who cannot accomplish the said obligation due to  a number of reasons. This features know churches such as the Manila Cathedral Basilica, San Agustin Church, Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, San Lorenzo Ruiz Church, Santo Nino de Tondo Church, Nuestra Senora de Remedios and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine complete with songs that you can play in the background and prayers to be read at each station. We, on the other hand, make the activity more personal by just uttering our own little prayer to Him in every church that we visit. After all, observing Holy Week is not about having the most number of churches visited and covered in a day nor the most number of hours spent on indifferently reciting established prayers barefoot or kneeling nor doing a ton of hollow sacrifices but by commemorating the sacrifice that He had done for our salvation and thanking Him for every bit of thing and favor He is relentlessly giving us.