Today, marked the celebration of Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer walk all over the Philippines.

My daughter and I joined a sea of people in pink for the celebration of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This celebration was presented by Avon, in partnership with the Philippines Cancer Society, is an event that aims to raise awareness about breast cancer. It also aimed to gather 30,000 participants in 16 places all over the Philippines walking towards a healthier tomorrow.

Part of the purchase of the PhP149 pink KGBC shirt serves as a donation to the cause. A limited edition KGBC Skin So Soft ultra-healing lotion also has part of it’s price that will go to the Philippines General Hospital’s Breast Care Center which houses the Philippine Cancer Society’s library.

This event was made possible by other sponsors like GMA Network, Globe, Reebok, Astra Zeneca, SM Mall of Asia and the Rotary International District 3780.

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I still have to see the numbers if the targeted number of participants has been achieved.

Last night when we gassed up at a nearby gasoline station, my son saw a poster announcing the Singapore Night Race happening on September 26, 2008.

He asked is we can go to Singapore and watch the race.

Hubby said we can’t because the tickets are very expensive.

How expensive?

Just the walkabout price is the same as the plane fare itself, S$168 or PhP5,400+.

Those who will watch in the grandstands have tickets that range from S$248 - S$1388 or PhP 8,000 - PhP 44834.60. Whew.

We listened to him explain that it is going to be a wonderful race because it is the fist time Formula 1 will have a night race. He also further said that what will add to the excitement would be seeing the glow of the brakes on the wheels which can’t be seen during seen during daytime races.

I suddenly popped up an idea. “What if we get the inexpensive flight tickets to Singapore and go there during the week when the races are due?”

Hubby answered me back, “And where would you watch the races?”

I answered back, “From the hotel windows, like what they do at Monaco.” In the Monaco Grand Prix, people watch from the hotel balconies. Some even watch from the deck of their luxurious yachts.

So I started to wonder what else can be seen from hotel balconies like maybe Las vegas hotels where one can savor the sights and sounds of this vibrant place.

Not to go somewhere far, the view of the Manila Bay sunsets from those building along Roxas Blvd. must be fascinating too.

Back to the Singapore Grand Prix topic, just when this event is just so near, I really wish my boys would be able to watch a race like this, I am sure it is going to be a dream come true for them. On that note, I think I need to get some very good earplugs for my son because he does not enjoy the sound of revving engines

The world is abuzz with the news about Michael Phelps. He who won eight (Beijing) Olympic gold medals in swimming, surpassing and breaking the record of Mark Spitz who had 7 gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics. All in all, he has 14 gold medals, the most any Olympian has ever won.

Need I mention that the predicted fortune the eight gold medals will bring him would be close to $100 million due to product endorsements?

As everybody knows by now, he has ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

So what so special about having ADHD and how does it relate to him winning a lot of gold and breaking world records?

It is NOT just having the ADHD that helped him win these, as the theme of the news reports reporting on this interesting aspect about him. It was a lot more.

His mother, Debbie Phelps was a middle school principal did her best to help her son: “I believe that appropriate treatment, including behavioral therapy and medication, can benefit children and adolescents with ADHD.” Click here to read more.

She was quoted here to have describing Michael as:

“He never sat still. He never shut up; he would never stop asking questions,” his mom says. “He just wanted to go from one thing to another.”

Debbie Phelps is a big help in developing Michael and his skills. She even wrote an article with tips on how to help manage a child with ADHD: Back to School: Help Your Child with ADHD Succeed In and Out of the Classroom.

Michael was diagnosed with ADHD and was on Ritalin until he reached 11 years old. He used to be angered easily when he losses. He focused instead, on winning, on getting his hand on the wall before anybody else does. Click here to read the article.

On dry land, Michael Phelps is said to be unsure of his footing. He even injured his wrist when he had a fall. He was hyperflexible on land, characteristic of those with ADHD who manages to trip on their own feet. Click here to read about the incredible prediction of Michael Phelp’s future victories when he was just 11 years old, written in a 2004 article.

So what does this post of mine have to do with sports and having ADHD?

continue reading this entry »

Michael Savage is a radio host who is making a stir among the advocates for persons with Autism, specifically parents of children with autism.

What did he say and do then, asks the curious.

He said last week that children with autism is “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out” in a telephone interview.

No, he is not apologizing and he is standing by what he said.

The following were what he said in his radio show which airs every weekday:

“My main point remains true,” Mr. Savage said in the interview. “It is an overdiagnosed medical condition. In my readings, there is no definitive medical diagnosis for autism.”

Mr. Savage suggested that “99 percent of the cases” of autism were a result of lax parenting. “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.’ ” Among the other admonitions he felt children with autism should be hearing, he said, were: “ ‘Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”

These are nasty remarks, hurtful to those parents who are doing their best to help their children.

So how have parents and advocates reacted?

Click here to read.

I have written about how it is both a blessing and a difficulty to have children diagnosed as having autism here.

When i was a new special ed teacher, I found a friend in the person of the mom of a brilliant student. She also blogs and calls herself KittyMama. KittyMama’s medical career took a backseat when her second born son was diagnosed as having autism.

She writes well superbly, mostly about their family’s daily struggles and her thoughts as a mother. I have cried countless times when I read her posts.

There is one post, however that made me think how really difficult it is to do things that seem ordinary for us folks. Flying.

No, of course, not the fly-with-your-wings sort of thing but taking a flight. In an airplane.

There were instances when people have been asked to not fly with an airplane because of the behavior of the children who were diagnosed as having autism.

Click here (who repeatedly said “bye,bye plane” during the safety speech ) and here (about the toddler who was having a tantrum) to read about what happened why they were booted off the plane.

Oh, on another note, there was this Kindergarten teacher who asked her students for a vote whether the student who was displaying behavior problems should be removed from their class or not. The vote was 14-2. Click here.

Or maybe being kicked out of church. Of the what? Yes, the church. Click here.

Its not about having been booted off the plane or out of the Kindergarten class that really made me a little emotional. It was the reactions, the comments of the people about the incidents.

People can judge what they see but would that even help what the parents are going through? How would they respond to these situations if it was them who were parents of these children?

I know it is not a good situation to be in when in a plane about to take a flight and there is a child having a fit.

I know that it takes a lot of patience and grit, plus the help of an aide or another teacher, to be able to restrain or even help a child who can’t cope in a classroom situation.

I know because I have been there.

It is not a good position to be in charge of a group when everyone else is enjoying a wonderful day of learning and there is this one child who refuses to do what everyone is doing. Coupled with the fact that he/she distracts everyone else.

So what do parents have to say in these situations? Click here, and here.

Sea tragedies after sea tragedies, we Filipinos never seem to learn.

Thousands have already perished, how many more lives would the sea claim?

Is it the sea that claims the lives?

The worsening weather conditions?

Or the human errors in navigating ships?

What about those kin of those who perished? Here are some photos.

Who should take the responsibilities for this tragedy?

So sad. So tragic.