Kimmy Schemy

Archive for March, 2010

Can’t actually remember watching any movie about a prisoner or anybody behind bars. So, I chose INSTINCT starring Academy Award Winner Anthony Hopkins with Cuba Gooding, Jr., which took place in prison for criminally insane.

The movie was about Ethan Powell (Hopkins), a primatologist who studied mountain gorillas and lived as one of them in the wilds of Rwanda.

He was arrested and imprisoned for brutal murders and was taken by psychiatrist, Theo Caulder (Gooding) for evaluation.

But as Caulder tried to understand the highly educated madman, they became psychologically connected and their relationship changed from psychiatrist and prisoner to teacher and student.

An entry for

5 feet 11 inches tall, with broad shoulders and pointed nose, 14 years old Sebastian* is a real hunk. He is my regular tutee.

He is actually smart. He doesn’t need a tutor. On the other hand, he is extremely lazy. Well, that explains the regular visit to the tutorial center (which is not at all cheap).

One day, I accidentally asked about his parents, rather, I mistakenly said, “Your parents are just wasting their money. You don’t need a tutor. What you need is a study habit.”

To this he casually answered, “I don’t have any parents..”

That day, I was enlightened. His mom gave birth to him and left him to his childless tita (aunt) who raised him as her own son. She is the one who sends him to an exclusive school and tutorial center, and… naturally, pays the bill.

What happened to the mom? She ran away with a foreigner and is now gallivanting somewhere in Europe. Sebastian never met her.

Well, whatever his mom’s reason was for leaving him (for good), it’s none of my (or anybody’s) business. But every time I see Sebastian, I think of my own kids, and I deeply hope they will realize someday, how lucky they are that they have me…

Happy weekend!

Photos: Courtesy of Mommy Liz of This is My Life

Models are used in respect to subject’s privacy

The HEAT is ON! And it is an extremely and ultimately intense and ruthless heat.

We haven’t had the time to go out for a swim yet, so the best I could come up with to bear with this boiling rage of the season is..

….. MILK SHAKE!

Not much, huh? But I find it better than plain cold water and even BETTER THAN cold soda. So, every day, my kids have fruit flavored milk shake and some sandwiches for snack.

Healthful and refreshing!

An entry for… Summer Days are here!

I honestly don’t know what to post for this edition (espionage) only that… there must be a spy in the movie. So, I chose.. True Lies.

Incidentally, Harry learned of this, and scared to lose his wife, did everything in his capacity to win her back. He ended up dragging her into the camp of the most wanted terrorist.

But professional as he is, he was able to get them out of the situation, save their daughter who was hostaged by the same terrorist, and save the entire city as well.

I had so much fun watching this film, funny, entertaining and insightful, particularly concerning family values.

An entry for..

Trina* got pregnant when she was in 2nd year High School. She was 17 at the time.

Being out-if-school for 7 years, she was shedding eyebrows and eyelashes over the lessons I presented to her during the review, which include the difference between adjectival and adverbial clause (what are these?)

I am happy that she still wants to go back to school after all these time. But my heart went out to her as I see her (in my peripheral vision) biting her lips and curdling her toes while answering her test. And I wanted (so badly) to tell her ‘You shouldn’t have left school’ or ‘You should have come back sooner..’

Happy weekend, everyone!

*not real name

photos courtesy of stmu.ab.ca, mfs.edu.hk and centexbirthnetwork.com

Do they look disappointed? I don’t think so..

This field trip was supposed to be in Subic, but for some reasons, they ended up in Paradise Ranch (somewhere in Pampanga) and San Guillermo Parish, where ‘May Bukas Pa’ (Santino) a newly concluded soap opera in Channel 2 was shot.

She seems to be enjoying herself, huh? Well, that’s good enough for me…

But there is one thing I discovered about my daughter, Candid, in this trip. That is, how stingy she could be… She only spent P70 (to buy a bamboo flute, which her brother, Daryl, smashed 2 hours after it arrived) from her pocket money. Maybe she didn’t find anything to buy as I packed a great deal of something to eat: adobong manok (classic) for lunch, chips, cookies, iced tea, chocolate drink and some candies.

She brought me some nice photos…

She got home safe… That’s something to thank the Lord for, right?

Entry for…

Among the most common things I encounter in my work are the ‘too excited’ parents, who are ‘dying’ to send their children to school.

Isaac*, 2 years old, was brought to us for assessment. His parents wanted to sign him up in a Reading Program as he knows all the letters of the alphabet already.

I believe them. There really are smart kids who, at 2 years old, can identify each letter of the alphabet even if randomly presented. But one look at Isaac and I knew, he was not ready to read. Not just yet. But I can not tell the parents that (unless I want to blow their bubbles). They have to find it out for themselves.

So, I did the usual procedures, and as I expected, the child did not cooperate, he did not even look at the alphabet chart I was holding because he was busy looking, touching and ‘sniffing’ around. He was curious.

Needles to say, the parents were disappointed, and I felt sorry for them, but I felt sorry for Isaac even more. He’s just a child, a baby. He needs to play, and rest, and be cuddled by mom at home. Why rush to send him to school?

I know they’ll be back, and when they do, I wish it’s later than I expect them to..

Have a nice weekend!

*not real name
photos borrowed from zylo.com and article.wn.com

We normally sit down in front of the TV on weekends. But this weekend was different as my eldest (Candid, 15) mentioned something about ‘reading a boy’s name’ on my second child’s (Mika, 9) diary.

I was shocked. No, I was horrified I was not able to move a muscle. I gave myself quite some while to ponder on what I just heard then very calmly, I asked, in my most casual tone..

“And why did you read Mika’s diary?”

It took my eldest more time to realize that things didn’t turn out the way she expected them to be. So, in her defense..

“Her things were in shambles. It was simply lying there so I picked it up..”

I answered..

“Even so, you must realize that it’s not right to read another person’s diary. That’s why I never did it to yours..”

Honestly, truthfully, I never read my children’s diaries, but not primarily because of ‘i respect your privacy’ reasons. I do respect my children’s privacy, but it only comes second to the fact that I am scared..

I am scared of what I might read on those ‘little books’, example of which is mentioned above…

I can say I was disappointed with the movie ‘The Fountain‘, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.

Maybe because I expected too much from it as it starred my ultimate crush and one of my most favorite actors, (the PAPAble) Hugh Jackman. I loved him in X-Men and I worshipped him in Kate and Leopold. In addition to that, he was paired with the beautiful Rachel Weisz of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

They were kind of living three parallel lives, each of different time, the 16th century,the modern time and 26th century. In each time, the woman was sick, dying. Ultimately, the conquistador/scientist/astronaut (Jackman) did everything to find the fountain of youth, so that his beloved would live forever…

Maybe the love story was supposed to be touching, but instead of being ‘touched’ i got confused, and instead of appreciating the profound love they have for each other, which did not materialize, I got bored..