Dulang Ko « Sa Dulang ni Deedee

Dulang Ko

Welcome to Sa Dulang ni Deedee.

Just so you know – dulang is a Tagalog word for “low table” that is normally used for dining purposes. In my home, however, we use the dulang as a centerpiece for life’s conversations. Guests, such as yourselves, however, are also privileged to sit around it, whether in my home in Manila, or here in my blog.

I am a freelance writer, doing integrated communications work. For the past 20 years, I have written news articles, feature stories, advertising copies, annual reports, technical manuals, on varied subjects. Writing is my passion, so I will continue doing so until I come up with my first book, perhaps before I turn half a decade.

Allow me to share with you life’s stories, whether mine or those of others. I hope the stories you read here inspire you, because sharing them with you gives me pleasure no end.

46 Comments »

46 Responses

on November 21, 2006 at 1:27 am | Reply Pablo Santa Cruz

I know that your passion to write is an expression of your self and your love and concern for the welfare of others. I know because you are my daughter pala and the dulang ako pa rin paka ang gumawa. Love Papa.
on November 21, 2006 at 1:30 am | Reply Pablo Santa Cruz

you are such a great writer
on November 21, 2006 at 1:58 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hello, father! Looking for trouble? Ha ha!!!

Thanks for leaving a comment here. Of course, we should not forget that you made the dulang for me and your apos. It’s indeed a centerpiece in the house. My home will not be complete without it. And it’s going to stay with us forever.

And thanks for appreciating my writing. I am grateful to have been gifted with putting words together to make sense and somehow make an impact in other people’s lives.

Cheers!
on November 23, 2006 at 11:09 am | Reply Diwa del Mundo

Deedee – the engineer turned writer and a very cool gal.
on November 24, 2006 at 3:42 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hello, Diwa! Sorry, but everytime I call out your name, it’s as if I am calling out my daughter! Love your name!

Thanks for dropping by. Appreciate such an accurate impression of me…I hope I am really cool.

So, when do I visit your office?

Cheers!
on December 4, 2006 at 6:47 am | Reply Armand H.

Hi Deedee! hows my long lost friend doing. What can I say…. this blog is really really a good help for a very mobile writer … its like 2 years ago in the making hehe… Anyway, good luck and be safe always… Oh by the way, miss thy lunch hehe
on December 4, 2006 at 12:45 pm | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hi, Armand. Thanks for dropping by.

Oo nga, two years in the making ito…kaya dapat maganda! Thanks for appreciating. Lunch it is..only when I am around though.

Cheers.
on March 29, 2007 at 7:51 pm | Reply Robert Santa Cruz

Hi Deedee,

I am so proud to have you as my niece, It seems like just yesterday that we were all growing up. Reading your articles are very inspirational to me. It makes me want to come home to PI asap. (wishful thinking) Keep up the good work and i know someday you are going to be very succesful. Regards to the young ones and hope to see you guys soon. Take care and god bless.

Love,
Rob&Ems
on March 30, 2007 at 1:39 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hello! What a surprise to see you here. I only intended to introduce to you my blog. But thanks for your note. I can’t be grateful enough to be given such wishes, though I am successful already in many little ways, including being read by an uncle who is so far away. Regards to Ems. See you soon!
on March 30, 2007 at 1:14 pm | Reply Anita Taylor

Deedee,

You are such a smart Woman. Love reading you blogs.

Love,
Tita Nitz
on March 30, 2007 at 3:19 pm | Reply sadulangnideedee

Thank you, Tita Nitz! Labyu!
on April 27, 2007 at 5:56 am | Reply kelly

Hi deedee,

remember me? this is kelly from your previous dtsi stint. hee hee.

How are you?

hope to hear from you soon.
on May 4, 2007 at 3:39 am | Reply alou villanueva

hi deedee,

im honored to have known you I hope to too see read more articles here on your blog site.
on May 4, 2007 at 3:55 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Kelly! I will definitely see you in Singapore!
on May 4, 2007 at 3:55 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

I am privileged to be read by you, Alou. I hope to rise to the occasion of being read by young minds!
on May 12, 2007 at 10:36 am | Reply jnet tongol-rojas

hi, i am lea’s highschool classmate. she shared me your site. inspiring. so you like vigan too..
until next visit…keep smiling God loves us always..
on May 12, 2007 at 11:47 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hello Janet! Thanks for visiting. I have always dreamed of going to Vigan. Till now, it’s still a dream, but will work on it and really see it and be there.

You like Vigan, too, I suppose!

Cheers!
Deedee
on May 22, 2007 at 10:46 am | Reply fred

hi madam deedee.
just drop by to check ur page. it great! Excellent writter u are. by the way i’m one of the participants on the seminar u conducted a while ago, (about integration curriculum) in camella-las pinas. (remember?)

it’s me, fred
on May 25, 2007 at 6:36 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hi, Fred. Of course, I remember you.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I apologize for not responding promptly. I flew to Singapore the afternoon of the seminar. I just got back, and so I saw your comment here.

I hope the seminar made an impact on you. Integrating subjects in the classroom is not far-fetched. We only need to sit down, go through the thinking process, and we shall be well on our way to helping our children make more meaningful connections in the world that we live in.

Keep visiting!
on May 28, 2007 at 1:39 am | Reply kelly

deedee…such a cool and down-to-earth person.
on May 29, 2007 at 12:38 am | Reply dulang

hi there.
i was playing around and did a search on my last name “dulang” and found you.
great page/blog!
on May 29, 2007 at 2:49 pm | Reply sadulangnideedee

Your last name is dulang…that is a great family name.

I am glad you found me. I hope I will come to know the Dulang who stumbled upon my blog.

Hope to see you here again.
on June 3, 2007 at 10:58 am | Reply ponyong

Paminsan-minsan, paturutalagsad naabrihan ko an imo blog. pasensya na. Nalilipay ako san imo opisyo. I hope someday you can share your talent in writing to masbateños. Thank you gali for the backpack ad. You are special.
on June 10, 2007 at 8:25 pm | Reply Josefina - Santa Cruz- Gonzalez

Epifania Turbanada is her name. At least that was her name when I last heard from her.

Epi, my pet name for her, and I were classmates at UST from first year high school through Chemical Engineering. We were thick as thieves: walked home together from school, giggled together, did our homework together, shared the same taste and distaste for some boys. She was always a step ahead of me academically. She was Valedictorian and I was Salutatorian when we finished high school. In Engineering, I always trailed behind her on the Honor Roll. But in the Board Exams for Chemical Engineers, I placed 9th and she was not among the top 10. But it didn’t matter. It was irrelevant to our friendship.

She went back to Catubig, Samar after our Board exams. I started work for the Forest Products Research Institute at UP College of Forestry in Los Banos. We saw each other less but kept in touch. When I left to take graduate studies in the US a year after, she sent her best wishes in a cablegram from Samar. I still have that piece of paper.

I finished my studies two years after and returned home via Europe. By this time, she was in Manchester , England for graduate studies. She came to see me in London, had dinner, and got tickets for a live show “A Man For all Seasons”. We talked and filled in each other about the separate directions our lives were taking. We wanted to spend more time together but she had to go back for classes and I had a plane to catch the following day.

Back at work in Los Banos two months later, I received a letter from her asking for tips about travel in Europe. She must have considered me the person to ask, after winging it there for three months on a shoestring budget. That was the last I heard from her.

Since then, I have been searching for Epi, my dearest, closest friend. I’ve attended many UST class reunions over the last 45 years but Epi was never in any of them. Everyone who knew us as “the inseparable” naturally asked me where she was. Who better would know? But I didn’t, and neither did any of our classmates. I’ve tried the People Search on the Internet. It led me nowhere. In the process, I did have a most exciting encounter with the man with whom she fell in love. But that’s another story.

By publishing my story in your Blog, I thought I might have better success in my search for Epi. From what I’ve gathered, she is married now to a veterinarian and lives somewhere in the USA. Someone, somewhere in the hilippines, who knows her whereabouts, might read your Blog, and lead me to her. Our friendship has been put on hold for over 45 years, but she still holds a special place in my heart.
on August 30, 2007 at 11:45 pm | Reply jun asis

I didn’t know you blogged! I knew you wrote a lot but I thought puro commercial ang mga raket mo.

You know, I think I’ve told no one about this, but you were the cousin that I looked up to in general (parang ikaw lang yata ang nakapag-aral ng college that time?), and who influenced me to play the guitar.

Hope to bump into you one of these days.
on August 31, 2007 at 1:18 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

OMG! Jun! What a surprise!

Well, what do you know! The feeling is mutual Jun. I thought that you were such a person with character–intelligent, focused, smart, witty, and so so deep. Well, thank you for having some influence in you. That’s quite a revelation.

Hey, why don’t we get together some time? I know we live quite close to each other, so it won’t be a problem meeting halfway…say Visayas Avenue…

Anyways, I started this blog in Sept of last year. Since then, I was bitten by blogging and I can’t stop now.

Thanks for visiting! See you soon!
on August 31, 2007 at 1:32 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Hey Jun! Have you moved to Davao? Quite interesting to know what you’ve been doing lately. See you soon!
on November 22, 2007 at 2:06 am | Reply Peter S.

Hello, Ms. Deedee!

Your log is simply fabulous! Loving it! Loving it! Really loving it! Hope to see you here at Diwa soon! We still have to eat at Cibo.
on November 22, 2007 at 7:43 am | Reply Dulang ni Deedee

Peter, Peter! Cibo it is!

Thanks for visiting. See you soon.
on December 9, 2007 at 1:17 pm | Reply Macnerdz

Hello po. great site
on December 9, 2007 at 1:43 pm | Reply Dulang ni Deedee

Hello, Macnerdz! Thanks for visiting.
on January 23, 2008 at 2:52 am | Reply yen lim-galagnara

luv it!
i wish i could say our fave line when we goof around with yeng…
“let’s drink……”
but your readers might say my english sucks, and my writing carreer might go down the drain….hehehe.
luv it. luv ya.
on January 26, 2008 at 1:14 pm | Reply Dulang ni Deedee

Let’s drink *** that, Yen! Ha ha!

I wish we could get together for coffee or beer at Conspiracy so we could goof around some more!

Luv u two!
on June 17, 2008 at 2:42 am | Reply Honey

Hi Ate Deedee,

Great blogsite! I came across it while trying to check out your fantastic kids’ multiply site. I am glad that you and your family are doing great! You are looking great…better and better every year. You need to share your secret!
When you have a chance, drop me an email or visit my multiply site…I would love to keep in touch.

Honey (batumbakal, ang alaga mong kumakain ng hilaw na kamatis na parang mansanas)
on June 18, 2008 at 2:39 pm | Reply sadulangnideedee

Honey, Honey, Honey! What a surprise! Thanks for visiting.

Oh well, youthful disposition makes for a younger-looking me! But really, my brain just keeps churning things and perhaps makes me better and better! Never a lull in my life!

Yeah, I remember you munching tomatoes like apples! Ka-cute!

Hugs!
Ate Deedee
on July 2, 2008 at 2:24 am | Reply Jeanne

Hi Ms. Deedee!

Would like to ask for your contact numbers, where can I call you? Are you based here in Manila?

Have a query re one of your item.

Thanks and God Bless!

Jeanne
on July 28, 2008 at 11:19 pm | Reply ACE

You sure have made one of your optimisms come true ….

Great work

XO
on July 29, 2008 at 12:35 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Thanks for visiting, ACE. And thank you more for saying this is great work, or whatever this optimism might be (among the many…).

Keep visiting.
on July 29, 2008 at 1:05 am | Reply ACE

Most welcome, Adela …… …. and thank you for your contribution to the world …..
on July 29, 2008 at 2:03 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Just my own little way…
on July 29, 2008 at 5:09 am | Reply ACE

To you, just a little way; to most, the world.

You have invited people to come to your garden so your roses can see them ….

Through these publication and blog, you’ve given close attention to something if not a lot of things and so to your readers even a blade of grass became a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself ….. so I guess it’s safe to say that it’s more than just “a little way” ….

As always, in awe of you !
on September 30, 2008 at 7:38 am | Reply gail

hi…. just wanna say your blog is great. i know you dont know my name, but we always see each other at conspi. most of the time i am with tita….

see you at conspi!

gail
on October 1, 2008 at 5:57 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

Of course, Gail. I always see you at Conspi. But never really had the chance to chat with you.

See you soon! Diyosa will be there on the 14th for a set after the Writers’ Night.

Thanks for visiting.
on March 20, 2009 at 11:29 pm | Reply Nasadulangniadela

How are you lately, Adela ?
on March 21, 2009 at 11:32 am | Reply sadulangnideedee

I have been good. Thank you for visiting.
on August 4, 2009 at 7:23 am | Reply Lorelli

Hi Deedee,

How are you? Finally I was able to find you. After 2 years isip ko rin family name mo. Hhmp.. I keep asking myself, what’s Dedee’s family name. I have to try the internet to search your name. Ayon, dito ako naituro. Kaya basa ko lahat & got this new word na dulang. So you are going to be a grandma kay Diwa. Anyway, this is my email: lorelliviv@yahoo.com.sg. Hope to hear from you.