My Autobiography: David Balleza K(C)atague

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Recent Wedding Reception at Chateau Du Mer, Marinduque

It is heartening to know that Chateau Du Mer Hall is still providing a venue for a wedding reception in spite of my physical absence. My thanks to Siony Jambalos( my sister-in-law), Edwin and Cecile ( caretaker couple) and Jimmy ( my grounds keeper and gardener) to make this event possible even in my absence. Attached below is a recent video of the Jandusay-De Castro wedding reception.
https://www.facebook.com/lot.j.decastro/videos/10214320104748747/UzpfSTExMjQxMTQ0NzY6MTAyMTIxMDcyNzk3MzM2MjM/

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Two Names Added to My Pinoy Pride List-Antonio A. Nieva and Jose Antonio Vargas

Two years ago, I wrote in one of my hubs a list of names I called my Pinoy Pride List. There were 20 names of accomplished Filipino-Americans or Filipinos in that list. Here's my article as published in my Hubpages.com account.

https://hubpages.com/business/caste-system-in-the-philippines

Today I am proud to add two names to this list.

1. Antonio A. Nieva-Writer and Filipino-American veteran of World War II. Tony Arevalo Nieva is my wife's uncle and father of Ronie and Pepi Nieva. For details of his life and book read the following:

https://www.usphsociety.org/2017/05/24/filipino-veterans-honored-at-the-washington-dc-book-launch-of-nievas-cadet-soldier-guerrilla-fighter/

2. Jose Antonio Vargas- DACA and Dreamer's Act Activist. For his biography and accomplishments read the following.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Antonio_Vargas

Thursday, April 5, 2018

The Sound Track of the Movie-The Hours by Philip Glass

Its time for some great music: Macrine and I just finished watching an old movie-the Hours. The movie was great and sad but what really attracted our attention was the music or sound track of the movie. Macrine kept asking me during the movie, what was the title of the music during some of the dramatic scenes, because she thought it sound familiar. So I did my web search ( Wikipedia) and was not surprised that this sound track received numerous awards as follows:

The album won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (lost to the score of the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers).

The Hours is the original soundtrack album, on the Elektra/Nonesuch label, of the 2002 film The Hours, starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. The original score was composed by Philip Glass. Not all of the music in the film was composed specifically for it: earlier music by Glass, including a theme from his opera Satyagraha, was also featured and credited separately at the end of the film.

Michael Riesman and Nico Muhly arranged the soundtrack for piano solo. This score was published in 2003 as a 64-paged book containing most of the tracks (excluding "For Your Own Benefit", "Vanessa and the Changelings" and "The Kiss").

Here's the sound track for your listening pleasure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXyMywvHF0

Track listing
No.
Song title
Time
1.
The Poet Acts
03:40
2.
Morning Passages
05:30
3.
Something She Has to Do
03:09
4.
"For Your Own Benefit"
02:00
5.
Vanessa and the Changelings
01:45
6.
"I'm Going to Make a Cake"
04:01
7.
An Unwelcome Friend
04:08
8.
Dead Things
04:21
9.
The Kiss
03:54
10.
"Why Does Someone Have to Die?"
03:53
11.
Tearing Herself Away
05:00
12.
Escape!
03:48
13.
Choosing Life
03:50
14.
The Hours
07:44

Total time
56:43

Note: This is the first time that both Macrine and I enjoyed the music sound track more than the story line of a movie. The movie had received also numerous awards for acting ( Nicole Kidman), but to us the score composed by Philip Glass is outstanding and worth our time. It is a sad movie with two suicides and one attempted suicide. The acting however is superb particularly the child actor playing the boy, Richard. Kidman, Moore and Strep were also fantastic. We highly recommend this movie if you have not seen it.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Easter Sunday and Holy Week Celebration in Marinduque

This year Macrine and I were not able to spend Holy Week in our second home-the Island of Marinduque. However every Holy Week reminds us that the Philippines is indeed a nation of Festivals. One of the highlights of the Easter Celebration in Marinduque is the Gasan-Gasan Street dancing Competition.

Attached is my hub written a few years ago, but still very applicable today.

https://hubpages.com/travel/the-philippines-nation-of-fiestas-and-festivals

Personal Note: Macrine and I just finished watching the Papal Easter Mass and Benediction live from the Vatican-St Peter's Square . It was a memorable TV experience and it reminded us of our 7 days vacation in Rome, Italy a few decades ago.

Again, Easter Greetings to all my readers, friends and relatives all over the world.

Monday, March 26, 2018

A Simple Celebration of Macrine's 82nd Birthday

Dodie is not on the photo, since he decided to take a short nap after lunch since he was still suffering from jet lag after 6 weeks of cruise and vacation in New Zealand and Australia.

Yesterday at about Noon we celebrated Macrine's 82nd birthday with a simple lunch of Honey baked Ham, potato salad, pancit ( for long life), dinuguan, puto ( rice cakes), green salad, and home-made bread ( brought by our neighbor-Lina Edison). For dessert we had Cheese Cake and Ice Cream. Today March 26 is her real birthday date along with our grand daughter Elaine King and first cousin Yong Elizalde Nieva.

Besides Me and David III our guests were Ian and Sara DiCampli, Lina Edison ( our neighbor), Dodie, Ditas, Carenna and Jean Maeda. I was surprise to see Dodie as well as Jean. Dodie and wife Ruth are still suffering from jet lag, since they just arrived from a 6-week cruise and vacation in Australia and New Zealand. Jean was not sure of attending since she just got out working from the night shift. Thank you Jean and Dodie for attending. Your Manang and Mom was teary eyed after you left.

Ian shared some good news. He and Sara are now residing in a condo by themselves in mid town Sacramento. I was happy to learn they are getting independent as young adults. I know Ian does not want me to mention about great grand kids, but looking at how happy Ian and Sara together makes me wonder, the time of Macrine and I to have great grandchildren appears in the very near future.

Ditas had some good news also. The room extension of her residence in Sacramento is now finished. A grand opening for Yoga and Art Classes had been scheduled for April 22. Here's her announcement in FB:

SAVE the DATE- Sunday, April 22nd (Earth Day) for the GRAND OPENING of my new outdoor yoga and art studio! Art classes and Kundalini Yoga coming to East Sac! #createsacredspace #alongiyardscapes.

Friday, March 23, 2018

A Birthday in the Katague Household Today and Two this Coming Monday

Macrine and the 4D's and Me on her 80th Birthday, March 26, 2016.

Today March 23 is Ditas birthday, my youngest daughter. We had a grand celebration during her 50th birthday three years ago as posted in the following posting.

http://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/search?q=ditas+50th+birthday

Here's a short bio of Ditas latest accomplishments: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/bios/katague-ditas.html

This coming Monday, March 26 will be Macrine's 82nd Birthday and Elaine King -my grand daughter-daughter of Dinah. We will have a simple celebration this Sunday with just relatives and a our next door neighbor and friend. I will purchase Pinoy delicacies and goodies from our neighborhood Filipino Grocery store and restaurant.

Details on Elaine birthday is on her FB page: https://www.facebook.com/elaineking03

The following are some of the photos taken 2 years ago during Macrine's 80th Birthday.

http://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/search?q=macrine%27s+80th

About Me

David B. Katague is an online memoirist and cultural essayist whose writing has appeared on HubPages and Blogger since 2007. His work reflects a sustained interest in Filipino heritage, family history, senior living, art, community life, and the cultural meaning found in everyday experience. Through memoir, reflection, and essay, he explores the personal and historical dimensions of identity, memory, and belonging. His writing seeks to preserve lived experience while offering thoughtful commentary on the traditions, values, and social realities that shape individual and collective life. As a Filipino-American writer, he brings a distinctive cultural perspective to his work, drawing on personal experience and careful observation to create writing that is both reflective and engaging. His online essays and memoir pieces continue to document a lifelong commitment to storytelling, cultural understanding, and the written record of experience.

Highlights of My Professional Career

In my more than 40 years of professional career, I have experienced both working rank and file, as well as supervising the work of subordinates. I have worked in four private firms and the Federal Government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I retired. I enjoyed the challenges and difficulties of both types of job situations. This is the highlights of my work experience story.

My first job after completing my doctorate degree was a Chemist for Chemagro Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a subsidiary of Bayer Corporation, a German conglomerate. I worked for the analytical chemistry department comprised of about fifty people; half that number was either chemists or biologists. My specific task was to develop analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in plant and animal tissues. I worked on my own, similar to six other bench chemists, and we all reported to the same supervisor.

The firm sponsored my visa conversion from a student to a permanent resident, and I was able to legally work and reside in the United States with my family. The company generously took care of its employees. At the end of each successful year, everyone received a 13th month salary bonus. The employees and their families celebrated wonderful annual Christmas parties in a downtown Kansas City hotel, with dancing and free drinks for the whole night.

Inasmuch as I enjoyed and loved working for Chemagro for five years, I found a new job which offered a substantially higher pay. Due to my exemplary work performance, my supervisor preferred and lobbied for me to stay with the company. I had to turn him down because they could not match the package presented by my new employer. It was also a chance for me and my family to move and live in the US west coast, where the mild winter climate is bearable compared to the Midwest.

My next job was at the agricultural research division of Shell Development Company in Modesto, California. I was a Research Chemist, and again I worked individually, same as five other chemists who all reported to a supervisor. My specific duty was similar to my previous job. I worked for them for five years, until the company decided to get out of the pesticide business. They closed their research facility affecting the jobs of more than 200 employees.

My third industrial job was with the agricultural research division of Stauffer chemical company, located in Richmond, California. I was a Senior Research Chemist doing the same project as my two previous jobs. I worked for twelve continuous years for the company, with outstanding annual job performance. I became a Principal Research Chemist, the highest attainable non-supervisory position.

One day in 1986, my supervisor informed me that my job had been eliminated, and I had one day to vacate the facility. It was the most dreadful lay off experience in my life. I felt anger, sadness and humiliation to be dismissed from work with one day notice, after all the years of hard work invested for the company. This was an unforgettable incident and was the gloomiest point in my professional career.
The company terminated sixty research employees, who were upset of the bad news.

One of the chemists was distressed and expressed his outrageous anger by threatening the company and its workers. He told his supervisor of his intention to bomb and burn down the laboratory. He was immediately escorted by the security staff out of the building and into his car. He was informed to leave behind his personal belongings; they will be mailed to his residence. He was warned never to show up again near the company premises or risk getting arrested.

My supervisor was kind and allowed me to take my time to pack up my belongings. It took me two days to clear up my workplace, after toiling for a long period in the same jobsite. We were provided clerical help and office space, in preparation to look for another job, such as updating our resumes, and using the computer and copy machine. We were given six weeks of separation pay plus benefits.

Fortunately, with the help of a friend who is a Church parishioner, I found another job thirty days after leaving Stauffer chemical company. He hired me as a senior research chemist and as a group leader with two technicians to supervise. It was in the same field as my expertise in my previous three jobs spanning the last twenty one years. My new employer was Chevron Chemical Company, and which was located in the same area as my former employer.

This job gave me the introduction and basic knowledge of managing the work of subordinates. I worked for Chevron Company for four and a half years. The company decided to consolidate their research facilities in Texas, and lay off all its research employees. This time I had enough distress and agony from working, and eventually getting laid off from several private companies. To avoid going through any more miserable layoffs, I made a vow that I would never again work for a private company.

In my work experiences, there were noticeable and unavoidable jobsite occurrences. One can never miss the office romantic relationships between co-workers, both illicit and permitted. Though it was frowned upon, there was a boss and staff relationship, which was used as a ploy to get ahead in the company. Some relationships had chemistry, no pun intended, but some never worked out. Oftentimes, there was a sense of distrust among bench chemists for some workers who unjustly obtained preferred work assignments.

Some employees resorted to bribing superiors to get special privileges, such as being able to attend choice conferences and meetings in exciting venues or locations. Likewise, politics was always present at the worksites. It was during an era when various forms of harassment, equal opportunity and discrimination laws were not yet enforced in the workplace. Occasionally, an unexpected chemical explosion happens in a laboratory setting, where luckily no one got seriously hurt.

In the three private companies I worked for, I was able to publish scientific journals for some of the research studies and analytical methods which I developed for the respective companies of Chemagro, Shell Development and Stauffer.

After deciding and making a vow to avoid working in the private sector, I made my new goal which was either to work for the state of California, or the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Four months after I lost my job in Chevron, I was lucky and joyful to be hired by the Food and Drug Administration as a review chemist in the fall of 1990.

In 1994 I was promoted as an Expert Research Chemist with a GS-14 rating. My expertise was on Anti-malarial and Anti-parasitic drug products. In 1997, I was again deservingly promoted to Chemistry team leader, supervising the work of six Chemistry reviewers including five with doctorate degrees.

As team leader, I was responsible for prioritizing, assigning, and assuring the technical accuracy of all chemistry, manufacturing and control issues for all new drug applications submitted to the Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, Center of New Drugs.

It was part of my responsibility to give advice, instruct and promote high morale and teamwork in my group. My work in the FDA is confidential, until the drug patent on the products I worked on has expired. There are manufacturing supplements that I have approved that are now open for the public in the Internet.

In 1998, I won the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award. The citation reads, “For outstanding accomplishments in fostering the objectives of the EEO Program by hiring minorities and encouraging their professional growth while providing excellent leadership.” I have received numerous certificates of appreciation, awards in leadership and communications, commendation for teamwork and excellence in the accomplishment of the FDA mission. I have also received several letters of appreciation from private industry for my review work.

There are many good things working as rank and file while enjoying doing one’s job individually. It is a humbling, satisfying and productive experience, if one can work in harmony with one’s immediate supervisor. Working individually develops one’s skills in goal setting and scheduling. But in general, the financial rewards are less than a person who has supervisory responsibilities.

Managing the work of others has its challenges. Moreover, it develops one’s skill in handling and developing people, and the compensation rewards and benefits are better. Due to additional duties, responsibilities and leadership, supervisory work can be more stressful than working as a subordinate. However, supervisory jobs give one more personal growth and satisfaction, based on my personal experience. My work in FDA as a team leader managing the work of six scientists had been the happiest and rewarding work experience in my career in Chemistry. You might also like: