Achieving Happiness

I am happy about the controversy over the infant formula industry and whether is illegal for it to promote itself through massive public advertising campaigns. I Hope that the Supreme Court imposes a complete ban against these ad campaigns and instead uphold breastfeeding as mandatory for mothers with babies; and mandatory for doctors to strongly recommend breastfeeding.

I don’t have kids, but I do have a significant number of nieces and nephews (and two of my best friends have kids — Walkie, Nova)  and I do worry about the milk they take.
Walkie is a staunch breastfeeding advocate. Three or four years ago she even made me attend a nutrition seminar at her house wherein the guest lecturer succeeded in scaring the pants off me by saying the evil effects of cow milk and infant formula (derivatives of cow and chemicals, eow) on babies’ digestive systems and over all health.
I have not forgotten. I still get the shivers.
It’s all about making money. The infant milk formula companies promote their products by saying the milk will promote intelligence, increase immunity against childhood diseases, and "Your kids will be so bibo they’ll end up on tv just like the models on our tv ads!"
Yeah, just shell out P600 per 1 kilogram can and wait for your baby to develop digestion problems, the least being gas and stomach cramps. I was also told that drinking cow’s milk CAN CAUSE BONE PROBLEMS.
On the other hand, there are no arguments against mothers’ milk. None.
Moms! If you can breastfeed, do it. There’s nothing more important than making sure that during the first three years of your baby’s life ALL their nutrition needs are met, and this can be if you breastfeed.
I’m a menopausal baby, born premature. I lived the first month of my life outside my mom inside an incubator, and lived on formula milk. My mom still apologizes for this (which is funny, but touching all the same. I tease her that my inability to comprehend math as a language is due to that ‘neglect.’).
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The military top brass, seems to me, is completely freaked by Antonio Trillanes IV’s victory. It’s a wonder the likes of Esperon and Ebdane do not spontaneously combust in shame and embarrassment over it — the rebel soldier they tried to crush by keeping him jailed refused to crack, ran for the senate, and won! Now the 35-year old (signs of a small crush here…) is saying that he will call for senate investigations into the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into the extrajudicial killings of journalists and activists.
Whether he is able to hold office in the senate premises or stays in his cell, I’m willing to bet that so long as he stays on track and keeps true to the advocacy that won him the support of over 10 million voters, Sen. Trillanes will be able to perform his tasks as a legislator effectively. I mean, his kind of idealism (kahit militar siya, and I hate the military as a rule), must count for something; and the media will always consider him hot copy.
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Three weeks back I had after-dinner tea with Nova and Elias. Now I’ve known Elias since forever (1993), and I always thought of him intelligent, cute, but a boring dresser. He used to wear these generic Giordano shirts, khaki or serge golfing shorts and Topsiders day in, day out. After college, he resorted to these flowing Hawaiian shirts (he was first to wear them, I think — even before Raul Roco or Lito Atienza) and, shivers, collected them ("Look at this, the flowers have electric cathodes for pistils…")
Now, well, talk about a major transformation in looks! He lost weight, lost the ugly shirts, and he’s now going about his business in vintage tees, fashionably faded or equally fashionably slightly acid-washed jeans, and sneakers. Like I told Nova (which in turn made her cringe. Actually, ako din ngayon medyo naduduwal), Elias looks hot.
I mean, after years of looking like a goofy salesman for the Flower Farm.
The best thing about this is that Elias feels much better about himself. He’s always been a nerd ("I chose this watch because it has a calculator and it glows in the dark!"), but at least now he doesn’t look like one. He feels more confident  (but not mayabang at all) and happier ("Shopping is interesting, I’ve realized).
Three cheers for outwardly transformations that have inwardly impact!
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I’ve been told that there were some comments about my previous blog about my friend Edre; comments regarding his credibility (um, ang seryoso  ng ibang tao…) so I thought I’d settle the issue here:
I actually had a  hard time dissuading Edre from his implementing his spittle attack  plan on the Eduardo  Ermita’s  picture.  It was like being in a championship patintero match and the pressure was on.
I followed him around the exhibition area pulling at his arm. I walked backwards, always facing him and muttering ‘"Hwag na, hwag na, walang prop value yan…" while for his part, he kept saying "Walang tao, it’s ok, isang dura lang, galit lang ako…"
I think we walked around the area at least three or four times. He would not be convinced to leave.
There was no pretty girl on the escalator . I wrote that  because, well, it’s a funnier ending to an anecdote; and its’ an Edre-kind-of-thing to be distracted by a pretty girl (in his defense, he says that this isn’t an Edre-specific characteristic).
Fact:  I managed to finally dissuade him by telling him that we could go to the National Bookstore branch on the ground level of the mall and buy a Sharpie, go back to the picture and vandalize it. I suggested a mustache like Hitler’s and a few black, rotted teeth. He wanted to add horns.
"Sure, sure, whatever you want.."
As we walked toward the escalator, a security guy came out of the nearby john and assumed his post at one corner of the exhibit area. That’s what put an end to Edre’s saliva agenda.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.