Invest in something you love - chocolates

It is said that if your job is something you love, you don't end up working a single hour of your life (or something along that line). The wife and I decided to make an investment in a business established by a close friend and it is something we do love - chocolates. Here is the link to the website:

CO Chocolat

There is also a Facebook page that documents the activities that includes educating and training farmers about growing cacao. Here are a few photos from the page:

The chocolates are now available but in Dubai where our partners are based and selling these at the weekend bazaars.

Training for cacao farmers engaged for this endeavor

Harvest of cacao

We look forwards to this business growing and helping get attention for Philippine chocolates and cacao. I like to think that this is not it competition with the established brands but more an effort combining to make this industry prosper. It is definitely something we'd love to see grow along with our daughter who's also developed a liking for chocolates. 

Happy New Year to all!

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Year-end ponderings on life and death leading to the New Year

A friend lost his daughter a few weeks ago to what was diagnosed as clinical depression. I learned from various sources that she had already had one attempt to take her own life recently. I also learned that she turned 18 just a week before the end. From all accounts including my friend's and those who knew her, there was no indication of her depression or her going through rough times. The photos in the slideshow at the wake showed what anyone can consider as a happy childhood and a happy, loving family. I have known my friend for almost 29 years now and I know him to be a man of strong faith and convictions. I know that he is an affectionate father and one with a good sense of humor, too.

I could not imagine what my friend and his wife were and are still going through right now. It is certainly a most difficult time given this tragic event. My friend is grieving and has only recently returned to social media where his posts reveal that he is still sorting things in his mind and heart. I pray that he may find solace in his faith and that he would be comforted by happy memories I am sure he keeps of his daughter.

We were at the wake the last Friday before her remains were cremated and witnessed the tributes and testimonials given by the daughter's classmates. The music they shared touched most if not everyone. I felt their grief, their sadness over what happened to a person they regarded as a dear friend. She was Grade 12 and would have graduated next year. She just took the UPCAT and could have passed the entrance examination and go on to study at UP. Sadly, that will not come to be.

Friends talk about how social media and all these information available to us now tend to influence he way we think and feel. I, too, think there's just a lot of information going around these days and people especially the young don't generally know how to filter what's valid or true from the fake. This creates a confusion of the mind and the heart, which may lead to depression and to some, a general loss of hope. It is this hopelessness that we need to address but more so by tackling the root causes. Many people like to say we need to "go back to the basics" and yet it seems they do not know what the "basics" are all about. Perhaps we should have less of social media, of the internet? More of family time, of outdoor activities and interactions? I think we should.

I wish everyone a peaceful, joyful, hopeful, healthy and prosperous 2019!

On my other hobbies and collections

Readers of this blog may have noted that I most often write about two topics: chocolates and watches. I have written many times about me and my wife's love for chocolates and share about the new ones we've eaten here. We love chocolates so much that we have also invested in farming of the main ingredient, which is cacao.

My brother recently gifted me with a Mazinger Z DIY from Bandai. He was in Tokyo recently (his first time to travel to Japan) and did some quick shopping for pasalubong in between his busy schedule there (it was a business trip).

Parts of the model figure of the super robot to be assembled - this was not unlike the Gundam's I've purchased and assembled before.

My other two models are made of die cast metal. I don't recall my reason for not getting a Mazinger Z before during my stays in Japan. Perhaps it was because I was looking to buy a really good model? I was quite meticulous about my Voltes V and was quick to purchase the UFO Grendaizer when a special edition came out just when I was in Tokyo one time.

This was just like putting together a Gundam (I had 2 but both perished in Ondoy's floods in 2009).

Here are the three models now on display in my part of our main shelves in our living room. The models are of the same scale so one can appreciate how large each super robot was compared to the other. Voltes V is the biggest among the three.

I will write about other 'passions' later. That includes other hobbies and collections that I have indulged in before including philately (yes, I used to collect stamps).

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