ZVCC’s Newly Inducted Member:

MILLIE SAN JOSE

Zone V Camera Club has inducted a new member, Millie San Jose,  during the club’s face to face meeting last January 2024 at the Ayala Museum.

Here is Millie’s Q&A so we can get to know her better.

Please tell us about yourself: your family, your work, your hobbies and other interests.

I am Millicent San Jose, some call me Ting, others Millie. My dad named me by combining the words million centavos, as he got a job promotion when I was conceived. I am a part-time Pediatrician, happily married to an internist-cardiologist and a full-time mom to two pretty girls who are both in the medical field, too.

We all love to travel, which sparked my interest in photography. We all go to concerts and musicals. I also spend hours either reading or crocheting. I was also one of those who managed to turn our backyard into a mini jungle during the pandemic.

I used to play the piano. I learned to play at the age of 4yo. This was followed by a whirlwind of numerous piano competitions, playing classical music, that I eventually started hating what I initially fell in love with. Looking back, that time, what I actually only wanted was to play piano while my family sang in the background.  I still remember how my piano teacher would visit our house every now and then to check if I had any modern music pieces that could potentially make my fingers stiff—a definite no-no for a classical music player. And a competitor at that. Those modern piano pieces would come in every now and then though, courtesy of my dad who would proudly whip them out of his bag when he arrived home from work and the jamming would start, sometimes pushing dinner off till much later. So yeah, I had to bid goodbye to piano for the rigid rules it caged me in.

Share with us some thoughts on your ZVCC Probee experience.

I joined Zone V February 2023 thru one of my fave photographers, Arlene Donaire. I will never forget the warm welcome my fellow probee husband and I received, both during the online meeting when we were introduced and more so during the first photo walk we joined, where we got to meet some of the members face to face. I noticed the dedication, the common visions and goals, the concern for one another, the eagerness to share, and how organized and structured the club is.  Not to mention the epic fun we had during the two OTS fellowship nights that my husband and I got to attend. The club’s enthusiasm is infectious. I got to meet really lovely and funny people (you all know who you all are, in case you think you aren’t included). I enjoyed the whole probee experience and I certainly will look back to it all time and again with a smile on my face.

If you were given a chance to spend one day with a famous personality (living or dead), who would that person be and why?

I would like to spend a day with Queen Elizabeth II. She ruled England for 70 years from age 25yo. I see her as both a dignified and elegant person who was able to handle herself well amidst all the challenges she had to face during her reign, including the so-called annus horribilis. What actually goes on inside a palace: Do you bathe in milk? Have you ever done silly things just for the heck of it, or just to forget that you’re royalty, like maybe wearing old worn out clothes with a hole or two ?  Do you dance like crazy when you’re alone? Stuff like that.

What is your favorite thing about yourself?

Friends and family describe me as a listener and a sounding board. They would leave me sitting on my own and when they return, I would be conversing with a stranger animatedly. Even little kids would wave hi at me out of nowhere. Ask my hubby.

What is the most memorable lesson you learned from your parents?

Take good care of yourself so you can take good care of others. Not only in terms of health but in all aspects of life: preparing for your future, being stable financially, strengthening your faith and belief in God, and so on. Remember you only live once but you also grow old, and hopefully wise.

 If you could master one skill right now that you don’t currently have, what would it be?

It’s a toss up between carpentry and sculpture. I love hammering and drilling holes and I want to just be able to change the look of a room by doing carpentry stuff, even creating my own furniture, and not just moving things around.

Would you rather be a jack-of-all trades or a master of one?

I am a jack-of-all-trades. I don’t like getting stuck at something and not know what to do. One of the things my dad taught me whenever we would get lost while he was driving was: “there will always be a way out of this unfamiliar road and we will eventually reach our destination. You just need to move and not stay stuck.” Learn new things.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I would save some, share some, and then meet with a financial adviser to discuss how best to invest the rest. I want money to work for me and when that investment starts to earn, then that’s the time I can think… of investing them yet again somewhere else.