Roasting Hugo
04.20.06 (10:06 pm) [edit]Hugo's taking swimming lessons this summer with the Milo Summer Clinic at the Cordillera Resort. It's been four days so far, and already he's not the same color he was when he started!
This was taken yesterday:
And this, today:
Roasting quite well, despite the SPF 50 of his sunblock. Oh no! Pretty soon, he'll look like a "nog-nog"! LOL
He needs work with his "bubbles" exercises,
but he's doing "kicking" very well with his kickboard.
At least he seems to be moving in the water -- swimming, not walking. LOL
The view of the resort. Lovely summer day, scorching hot sun. Argh!
Daddy bought him his Speedo Guppy Goggles. They're so cute on him!
1527 visits??!?!?!
04.16.06 (3:05 pm) [edit]YEAH RIGHT!
This is so upsetting. Obviously spammers are on the loose. Or maybe spiders, whatever. The fact of the matter is, I never ever get many visits in this blog, and so 1527 visits is surely the work of the devil, or some such thing!
Grr!!
Die, you spammers!!!! DIEEEEEE!!!!!!!
All this, on Easter Sunday no less. Aaargh.
Euphorbia, anyone?
02.28.06 (5:56 pm) [edit]
Some links about euphorbia:
Desert-Tropicals
International Euphorbia Society
Succulent euphorbias
Some photos
02.27.06 (12:04 pm) [edit]Thought I'd post a few photos I took in China last October.
Mirror Project reject. LOL!
Cultured pearls in Shenzhen.
The Bund in Shanghai
Simply amazing!!!!!
High up on the Great Wall.
The Acrobat Show in Beijing.
The day after
02.27.06 (10:36 am) [edit]Well, I must say, I am amazed at the tenacity of GMA -- she is not called "Ate Glue" for nothing, LOL. The past weekend was a particularly turbulent one in Philippine society, and someone with much lesser control of the government would have folded sooner. At least she gives an illusion of being in control. I'm wondering, though, at the impact of Proclamation 1071 on the general public.
Neal H. Cruz says that Pinoys no longer afraid of martial rule. It's like, bring it on! Me, I'm thinking that maybe it's what we need to bring us to our senses. People are already tired of all the political bullshitting that's been happening.
On the other hand, storm clouds are indeed gathering, and one of these days, a full-blown cyclone is going to appear, destroying everything in its wake. Well, whatever, but please, let us move on. This "people power" thing is getting to be annoying, already. And to think that I was in EDSA in 1986!
JZ's take on the weekend's events can be read on her Twisted blog. Funny, in an ironic sort of way.
Can you tell I'm ambivalent about all this? A dangerous sign.
Descent into chaos
02.24.06 (4:13 pm) [edit]We are under a state of emergency. Isn't it just ironic that this happens on the 20th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution?
Running Account at Inquirer.net
BBC-Emergency declared in Philippines
CNN International-State of emergency in Philippines
I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of all this. Maybe we all need a good bop in the head.
What a weird day
02.23.06 (10:03 pm) [edit]It's been raining the whole day. I woke up at 4:30 am, and it was raining cats and dogs! Good thing the rain stopped when I was waiting for the bus at 5:15 am. I haven't been out that early since last summer.
Basically I just zipped through the day, not really having a specific goal in mind. As the saying goes, "Live one day at a time", di ba? Oh well.
I'm upset because I'm basically penniless right now. Ha ha ha! Not exactly true, but, well, I'm upset anyway. I guess I ought to be thankful that I'm not destitute. Huh.
I had fish fillet curry for lunch. Ang sarap!
This is all gibberish. I better go.
Good stuff
02.21.06 (11:28 am) [edit]The World Cup!!!!
Germany is the place to be on June 9-23. Sigh... if only I could go. Sigh!
Zapatos!!!
Camper, my favorite ever! Thanks to the love of my life (you-know-who, "He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Nam ed-In-My-Mother's-Presenc e", ha ha), I discovered these funky yet sturdy Spanish shoe line. I wore a pair when I was in surgical residency. When I got pregnant and bipedal edema set in, I had to say goodbye to it. Sigh...
Oh shit, you can actually shop online! But the Philippines is not on their list. Shit shit shit!!!!!!!! Why am I in this godforsaken place??????
Man, this is one COOL SHOE! It's a jelly shoe. Really cool! Pero sigurado ako, kokontrahin na naman ako ni Don. Hrmph.
Here's the blurb for something I really like: The Minie is a "shoe in purple suede and leather with rubber sole... designed for the activities of daily life and endless strolls through the city". Shet, gandaaa! My kind of shoe.
I wish I could post the pictures. :-((
You won't believe what happened to me today:
05.19.05 (7:05 pm) [edit]It's been a hectic day! First we woke up to a scheduled power outage. Of course we didn't know it was scheduled -- somehow we seem to be the last to know everything in this town! Then I had patients in the clinic, one of whom required a super lengthy explanation regarding the treatment of his condition. That was the easy part. The difficult part was trying to act dignified and composed while Hugo was usurping my chair and my table for his art activities! Hrmph! Actually it was quite funny...
Lunch was not on us! Not Japanese though, but hey, a free lunch is always good, right? The funny thing about every Pedia conference that I attend is that there is more chika-chika than actual official business. Which I don't really mind, since I'm almost always uninvolved in their activities anyway. But this time it was over-the-top chika-chika, since my mother came with her stories of Europe, and then the pediatricians who toured China also arrived with loads of Chinese pasalubong and pictures. Anyway, I'd like to see the Great Wall of China, and hopefully this September I will be able to afford such a trip. The photos of it in autumn are absolutely stunning!
It's Panagyaman Festival time! This is the event that marks the founding anniversary of Nueva Vizcaya as a province. The capitol is filled with vendors and other festive things, and we're hoping to go tonight. It's too hot to stroll around in the afternoons, anyway.
I bought seedless Perante oranges to give as pasalubong to interested friends in Manila. Yes, I think I'm hours away from boarding the bus to Manila. Yehey!!! Sa wakas! I hope...
I'm still in shock (at my stupidity) about my RSS feed reader fiasco. Argh! I checked my unbilled balance, but it isn't updated yet, so I'm still chewing on my fingernails in suspense at how much I'm going to pay for this costly mistake. !@#$%^&!??!!!!
Damn, damn, damn!!!
05.19.05 (7:03 pm) [edit]Damn damn damn this RSS!!! I've gotten myself in too deep now, and I can't stop! Last night I was able to configure the Egress RSS feed reader on my PPC -- hooray! Lovely! Amazing! I could actually read my favorite blogs on my PPC! Yay!
And then, stupid me, I set the reader to update on the blogs on an hourly basis! No, actually, I forgot to change the default setting on updating, which is on an hourly basis nga. And so, in the middle of the night, while I was sleeping, voila, my PDA switches its GPRS connection automatically to do its updating of the darned RSS feed reader! Which should be so cool and all that, but considering how expensive WAP/GPRS connection rates are... AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! And another AAAARRRGGGH!!!! My PDA was connected to the net for almost 8 hours!!!!! AAAARRRRGGGH! AAAARRRRGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!
Stupid idiot... that's me. Nincompoop... that's me again. !@#$%^&*())?!@?#)(*&^$!!!!!!!!!! I am such an idiot. I hang my head in shame.
Anyway, I've come to terms with it already. So I'll have a mighty huge mobile phone bill next month... so what! It's my fault, so I'd better own up to it and just shut the f--- up. There's nothing I can do about it anyway, except of course to disable these damn update defaults -- which I already did, immediately, once I realized what happened and that I was a dead duck. LOL! I wonder how much it would cost, though. AAAAAAAARRRGGH!!!! I don't even want to know!!!!!
Such is life. One in a while, you become an idiot.
And I thought I was gonna have Japanese for lunch today
05.17.05 (9:51 am) [edit]I was quite looking forward to having a free lunch at the only Japanese restaurant in this part of Luzon, but it's not going to happen today. Damn! I have to see a referral in Santiago, and so I've to leave shortly after 12 noon. Oh well...
It's Corinne's birthday today. Corinne is from Malaybalay, way down in Bukidnon, but she's presently taking Theology or some such thing at the Ateneo de Manila for the summer. We've been friends for 2 decades -- yes, since 1984 when we were classmates in second year high school. Our section was Ilang-Ilang, and we were a hodge-podge class of guys whose idea of great fun in between class breaks was to do Michael Jackson's once-famous (now relegated to the dustbin of dance history) backslide, shy girls from the Mountain Province (that would be Josie and Grace -- see I still remember), a hot-shot transferee from Ateneo (Francis Salaveria!), the infamous Clint Ramos (quite the theater artist even then), and my personal circle of friends composed of Baby Odulio, Yael Tabada, Joy Santos, Elaine Lingan, and Corinne Estrada, among others. So, yeah, we go quite a long, long way back. Incidentally I am right this very moment listening to MJ's Thriller album, which I recently downloaded from Daj's server. Talk about a blast from the oh-so-distant past (as my friend Nidge would quip).
Anyway, about Corinne. We fondly call her "Sting" because she's been a fan of (who else but) Sting since the early '80s. I don't know who started calling her that, but it has stuck through 20 years! I'm still in the dark as to why she quit her job -- she majored in Agriculture & Genetics at UPLB, has a successful mushroom farm way down in the boondocks of Malaybalay, but has spent the last 4 years of her life as a (get this) pre-school teacher! She hasn't explained fully to me the reasons for her sudden change of vocation, and this is actually one of the reasons why I have to make it to Manila this weekend! I'm going to meet up with her so she can tell me all about it. By the way, she is also Hugo's godmother, the representative from high school. (Glenda is the rep for med school, Holly is the rep for the family. Makes sense, doesn't it? LOL!)
Corinne once played the lead role in the Ilang-Ilang version of the musical stage play "Annie". She didn't have red hair, but those were the days when hair-straightening salons were virtually unheard of, and since Corinne had very curly hair, we thought she would do just fine. We actually had a real live dog to play Sandy, which was really cool. Yael was Miss Hannigan (though I would have liked Joy), and Clint was the millionaire played by Albert Finney in the movie. It was really a blast! Just remembering those days makes me laugh out loud!
It's also Luis' birthday pala today! Now Luis... he's an anesthesiologist now based way down south in Butuan City, which is actually near Bukidnon. I once wanted to pair Luis with Corinne, and I was quite convinced that they would be a perfect pair since they had the same birth date! Luis and I are great friends, and yes, he once asked me to marry him. The truth is, I would've said yes, had I been more lucid and practical. But no, I was a fool for love and stuck with Don whose life situation was a lot less than ideal at that time. Anyway, thankfully, my having refused his offer of marriage did not alter our friendship for the worse. We have remained good friends, and he is still single. Sometimes I think how my life would've turned out. had I accepted that proposal. But I have no regrets. And so it goes...
If I die...
05.16.05 (9:39 pm) [edit]Of all the things to start the week with, I had to accompany my mother to a funeral! And she practically blackmailed me into going, at that. She's very good with emotional blackmail, and since it was not something I wanted to deal with on a Monday morning, I just sighed and went along.
It's not that I don't like funerals. I just dislike my mother's attitude towards these events. She seems bent on attending every damn funeral or wake that comes her way, and she has a most idiotic reason for that: she believes that if she doesn't go, her own funeral will not be well-attended! I mean, how stupid a reason can that be! I know that she's getting batty in her old age (she's 68), and so I try to cater to her whims whenever I can. It's the price I have to pay for living with her. It's tough, but I try.
But really, all that does not justify her tantrum this morning. First she was mad at my father because he refused to go, citing his jet-lag as a reason. Now my father is a stubborn man, and he's even more stubborn now that he's almost 70, so there was nothing she could do to convince him. So she picked on me. Bummer.
The truth is, I think most funerals are tacky, especially here in the province. Especially those fake flower wreaths -- ugh! Ang pangit! Not to mention the horrendous coffins that the funeral parlors peddle for a staggering amount of money. I mean, why bother with these expensive things when they'll end up rotten under the ground anyway? I know that burying the dead can be quite expensive these days, but really, should it be so? If the late Pope John Paul II was buried in a wooden coffin, why can't the rest of us do the same? Is it a measure of the man's accomplishment in life if he gets to be interred in a brass coffin with all the trimmings? Apparently in this part of the world, a dead person's coffin can still make or unmake him.
Okay, so when I die, I'd want a simple ceremony. No prolonged wakes which will tax the already grieving relatives. No flowers -- too tacky. I'd want my favorite song played -- not sung by a choir or some hack soloist in church, but the real deal, the actual recording. I haven't really thought of the song yet, though. The eulogy will be delivered by Hugo, of course, and I don't want sentimental stuff that will get everyone in tears. It should definitely contain some touches of humor, things that would make people laugh or smile when they remember the person I was. I think I'd even want to be cremated! Hmm, that would be nice. No bulky coffin to carry, and the grave would be small one, with probably just a stone marker or something. Maybe I would even have my ashes distributed among my relatives, for them to keep in the living room and entertain their visitors with. Ha ha ha! So is all of this morbid? Heck no. That's just the way I am.
=====
Three days to Revenge of the Sith! I hope Hugo and I will be able to travel to Manila this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
xxx 000 xxx
Rain!
05.15.05 (7:21 pm) [edit]Yes, rain! Lovely!
But wait, I think I'm going to have a headache. It's got to be the sudden change in ambient temperature. Argh!
I was watching EWTN just a moment go. It showed the Vatican Television CTV coverage of the new Pope's first week in office, so to speak. When he visited his former office (CDF), he gave a short speech and said of his recent appointment as Pope: "Sometimes you are led [by God] to where you do not want to go". That made me smile. I guess it's because he's just being human and he's humble enough to acknowledge that he really didn't want the job if it were up to him. But God has chosen him, and so, Amen. O di ba! I just love him! I know he came across as a cold and vicious man when he led the CDF, but now, as Pope, he seems to have warmed up a bit. Of course, who would want a cold and calculating Pope? Besides, I think that part of his charm is the fact that we actually have a Pontiff who is active, healthy, and can be understood whenever he speaks. For the longest time kasi, si Pope John Paul II was kind of infirm and beset by so many illnesses, not the least of them Parkinson's disease which did not allow him to speak clearly. Oh well.
I just realized that I should've tuned in to EWTN instead of CNN during JPII's death/funeral and Benedict XVI's election. Medyo over-the-top kasi yung coverage ng CNN. Kanina nga I was watching the Papal audience for May 11. Can you imagine, EWTN broadcasts this sort of thing on ordinary days! Less fanfare pa. Anyway, speaking of audiences, kainis naman sina Mommy, they were not able to attend the regular Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Square which is traditionally officiated by the Pope. I mean, they were supposed to be on a religious tour! Tama ba naman yun, na they didn't get the chance to see the Pope?!? Hay naku! Kung ako yun, I would've moved heaven and earth just to see him. I mean, it's not everyday that you get to go to Rome! Hay naku talaga!
The Amazing Race 7 finale is showing again. I wasn't able to watch the second to the last leg last Wednesday, kasi nga I purposely avoided it because I didn't want to see Rob & Amber win! Mabuti nalang di ko natiis and watched the final leg, anyway. Which turned out quite well, thanks largely to the panache of Uchenna & Joyce. Well, also to the katangahan of Rob & Amber, who were not able to get past the "King of the Havanas" clue. Hmph, buti nga. As for Ron and Kelly, their constant bickering is really irritating. Actually, if you ask me, I think it was karma at work to not let R&A win, and to reward U&J for all their good deeds during the race. Phil was obviously happy to have them as winners. I'm sure had it been R&A, he would've put on his plastic smile that was threatening to break down into a frown. I've seen that face before, countless of times during the different legs that R&A won. LOL!
Scorching, etc.
05.15.05 (3:25 pm) [edit]I've been trying to find the most appropriate adjective to describe the summer heat, and the best thing that I could come up with is "scorching". I don't think it gets any better than that. I mean, what the heck, I actually burned my hands on the steering wheel of my car which was left out in the sun for 4 hours yesterday! But they say that it's actually a lot, lot cooler here in the boondocks than in Manila. In fact my mother keeps dissuading me from going through with my travel plans for Manila. Well, it is true, I've heard accounts of Manila being stifling hot and conducive to heat stroke. Ah well, I don't really care if it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk in Manila, I'm still going! Anyway I have no plans of staying out on the sidewalk, har har! Gosh, you know, I just really need to get away for a while. I mean, I've started to become paranoid about other surgeons' opinions of me! I know, it's not like I've managed to ruin their private practice or steal patients away from them. I think I'm humble enough to admit that, hey, I'm going to have to do a lot more work to reach the place where they are now. It's just that... I don't know, paranoia has started to set in, maybe because I have been experiencing an upsurge in my number of operations this year. So I need a break. I need to have a vacation, however short. I know that I'm going to be antsy after 5 days in Manila, so I'm probably deluding myself when I announce to everyone that I might be taking a 2-week vacation. Ha ha ha! I'm not crazy. I don't want to be in Manila that long! Besides, I don't have enough money to spend for a 2-week vacation.
Anyway, did I already mention that my parents are finally back from their European tour? Yes, and I must say that most of their photos came out okay, although I must take exception to their shots from the bus (through the glass windows at that). I know that I'm also given to doing that with my XDA -- I take pictures of the countryside on my trips to and from Santiago, and for no apparent reason at all. I mean, it's not like there's a great view to take photos of! But at least I use a digital camera, so that if the shots are ugly, I can just delete them. But my parents used a traditional camera! So, naturally, a lot of the prints from the moving bus were not very nice. Oh well... But I have to give it up for my point-and-shoot Kodak camera, which I bought after Hugo was born so that I could document his growing-up years. That camera, almost idiotically simple to use, has already been to Europe 2 years ago, when Don went to Nice and Barcelona. And it returned to Europe once again, this time with my parents. Buti pa yung camera ko, hrmph! Ha ha ha! Nainggit sa camera! LOL!
My mom brought home lots of rosaries from Fatima, Lourdes, and Rome. I'm getting one for myself, the one with the Papal Cross, even though it smells of rosewood and is horribly nauseating for me. I was never one for the fragrance of roses, but I'm taking it anyway, because it has a Papal connection. The container also has Benedict XVI's photo on it. I know, how shallow can I get! I also got a keychain from Loyola, with Saint Ignatius' bas relief portrait on it. Hugo, whose real name is Inigo, was named after St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. This morning, Hugo said to me, "Mommy, pumunta na tayo sa Europe, kasi nakapunta na si Mamala and Papalo!" Someday I hope I can bring him there.
I'd like to go to Santiago de Compostela, and maybe I could even take the Pilgrim's Way, which takes 30 days to complete, I'm told. The cathedral is really, absolutely stunning in photos, and someday I'd like to see it in person. Europe is really rich in history, and is obviously the best place to have an adventure. Given the choice, I'd rather go to Europe than see the United States. I've always been an Old Worlder. =)
Sadly...
05.14.05 (5:05 pm) [edit]I have totally ignored this blog. For what it's worth, though, I'm going to blog here now so as to have a semblance of activity. I'm always on Journalspace these days, and it's been fun. I get comments from people I don't know, but they're all nice comments naman, so okay lang.
Anyway, I've had a busy Saturday. I'm a bit apprehensive because I don't like what I found in one of my patients intra-operatively. I don't want to talk about it, so I'll just leave it at that. I'm kinda superstitious in that way.
Speaking of superstitious, Friday the 13th came and went, and nobody I know managed to gather bad luck yesterday. Huh. Still, I'm never one to tempt the fates, so I'll just shut up now.
My parents are back from Europe. I'm dying to see the photos they took! Alas, they are not digitally inclined, and so we have to contend with the regular photos, you know, the ones that are printed. I got so upset the other day because my mother told me that my dad's luggage got lost somewhere between Singapore and Amsterdam, and so he had to contend with 3 sets of clothing for 21 days! I was really upset because I personally planned his clothes for Europe, no! Kakainis talaga! I bought him a lot of branded stuff (Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, etc) so he'd look especially dapper during the tour, but then... grrr! Anyway, my parents didn't tell me anything the whole time they were abroad, and so obviously we assumed that everything was fine and dandy with them. Yun pala, hindi! The funny (or irritating, depends on how you'd see it) thing is, his luggage arrived by messenger yesterday -- untouched, unopened, from God knows where. How upsetting is that! I would've been totally upset, if I were in his place! Eh, but my dad naman is a pragmatist. Sige lang, whatever. Some things you cannot change, or something to that effect. So okay lang, he toured Europe with 3 sets of clothing! Talk about an adventure.
Don's in Hong Kong, attending an Ophtha thingie. Of course, gratis et amore yung trip, otherwise he wouldn't have gone, 'no! Anyway, what's to see in HK? I'd rather go to China. But wait, HK IS part of China. Huh.
It's Joy's birthday today. She's not replying to either email or SMS, so maybe she might be abroad. Which is kinda odd, because she would've told us about it. And it's also Johanna's birthday today. My sister-in-law and I aren't really close-close, you know, like the type who would go shopping and do stuff together, but I think it's more of an actual lack of common time rather than disparate personalities. After all, we have different working hours, not to mention different fields of work. Of course we agree on a lot of things, but we also have differences, as all of us do. Anyway, she's not bad. In fact I admire her firmness when it comes to her children. She's more the disciplinarian, while Bas is like the eldest child in that family, haha. As for me, I'm trying hard to discipline Hugo, but I don't think I can succeed as well as Joh because I'm a sucker for my child, okay. Besides, he's an only child, and so I cannot help but cater to his whims most of the time. I do try to avoid being a helicopter parent, though.
By the way, I'm using Opera 8.01 as default browser for now. Seems like an excellent version. Although I must say that the latest Firefox is also wonderful.
Damn it's so hot! No sign of rain today. Argh! I actually burned my hands on my car's steering wheel this afternoon after my OR at MMG. Oooh, wait, isn't that thunder I hear in the distance? Hmmm... yeah... the air is decidedly cooler now, all of a sudden. I hope it rains. Let's pray for rain. Better yet, let's do a raindance! Har har!
I was watching Leno last night, and he had Mariah Carey on the show. Surprisingly, she's a soft-spoken person, not very much like the oversexed persona that she projects in her videos. And I actually liked the song she sang on the show! It's from her new album. I think she's a bit toned down now, though she's still kinda like an exhibitionist, or something. I think I read somewhere that she had an illness of that sort. Hmm.
Okay, 30 minutes till Mass. Gotta get ready.
[This was originally posted at GJ, but then this could easily be a piece for this blog, which I've mostly ignored this summer. Consider this a comeback of sorts.]
Sunday space fillers
05.08.05 (7:36 pm) [edit]Since naaawa naman ako sa blog na 'to, I'm going to cross-post. :-)
My interesting day [from Journalspace]
Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are on HBO! How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days, I think the title of the movie is. I looove Matthew, he's just so gorgeous! Love his dimples. I also like Kate, ever since I first saw her in... uh, what was that movie directed by Cameron Crowe about a band? No, not Singles. I forget.
Almost Famous! That was the movie where I first saw Kate. Anyway, she's cool. She's even married to Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, which I really love. Matthew, on the other hand, is going out with Penelope Cruz, yuck! And Tom Cruise's new girlfriend is Katie Holmes!!! OMG! Midlife crisis, anyone?
I watched The Daily Show Global Edition this afternoon. Funny as always. Jon's guest was Christiane Amanpour, the most influential woman in news broadcasting today, I'd like to think. She is CNN's Chief International Correspondent.
I mentioned in a previous entry that Conan had Jet Li on his show last night. Before that, though, Jay Leno had Hayden Christensen on his show, talking about Revenge of the Sith, Episode III of Star Wars. He's not handsome anymore, I mean, Hayden. I thought he looked pretty hot in Episode 2 (and never mind that the movie sucked big time), but now that he's grown older, bleaagh! No, actually, I take it back. Hayden looked horrible on The Tonight Show, but he actually looks pretty cool in the still photos on the official website.
So are we excited about Episode III? Well, yeah! The first 2 episodes were really horrible, but word has it that this 3rd one is da bomb! This is Anakin's fall from grace, his transformation into Darth Vader. If that's not good stuff for a great movie, I don't know what is. Let's hope that George Lucas will behave and remain faithful to the spirit of the entire story. It's the last of the lot, after all. No romp in the meadows here, one hopes.
I've changed my wallpaper to Rise Lord Vader, from www.starwars.com. Very cool! I like Darth Vader. I've always been drawn to rather dark and complicated characters, and this guy obviously fits the bill. The movie opens on May 19th. I'm not sure if it's a worldwide release, though. Would be cool to watch it first-hand!
Hugo's being makulit about going to Manila now. I guess he's been getting the vibes from me. You know, the vibes of discontent for not having had an honest-to-goodness summer vacation. Can't say I blame him for feeling restless. Plus I think he wants to see his Dad na rin. The poor dear is dying to go anyplace else but here!
Remind me to watch Lost tonight.
This poor blog!
05.08.05 (11:14 am) [edit]I haven't posted here for so long that I've almost forgotten what my user name and password are! How pathetic is that? I've been liking Journalspace for the past few weeks and so consequently have managed to ignore several of my blogs... Well, life's a bitch.
But today is Mothers Day! My mom is in Rome, it's 5:30 AM there. I'll just SMS her later. They're hoping to attend the traditional Sunday Mass at Saint Peter's Square with the Pope officiating -- if they're lucky. That would be great, though.
Yeye says that Ben made her a necklace of paperclips for Mothers Day. That's so cute, but of course she has to wear it for the whole day, otherwise Ben would feel bad. On the other hand, Hugo's busy with his coloring books, and I hadn't really bothered with telling him that today is Mothers Day, so I'm not expecting any surprise gifts from him. Ha ha! Although, looking at his work, I'm happy to see that he's finally gotten his gig together and is actually coloring within the black lines! Ninang Corinne says that that sort of skill is advanced for his age! Well, that's great then. Seeing that he's also fond of constructing stuff using different objects (hangers, hairclips, etc), I'd like to think that he would make a fab engineer someday. "Fab engineer"? That sounds suspiciously like something the Fab Five (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) would quip. Har har har!
In the meantime, I am busy busy busy -- surfing the net, downloading stuff, listening to the Beatles' #1's album, blogging. I'm refusing the urge to watch the rerun of last week's AR7 for obvious reasons -- Rob and Amber, of course. I don't like their conniving, disrespectful, unsportsmanlike attitudes. They will probably win, but I don't really care. I hope they get bad karma for all the bad things they've done on the race.
Jet Li was in Conan last night. He speaks much better English now, which is probably why he finally landed a guest spot in Conan! Ha ha ha! And he's so funny, too. Not to mention cute, although he could really have done without that darn baseball cap he was wearing the whole time during his stint. Maybe he's hiding his hair, or something. Oh well...
I've become an addict of Text Twist PPC! Hugo's actually beginning to get upset with me because of it, since I play it all the time!
Today is Sunday, right? Hmm, lots of odd chores to be done. Like having the car tuned up and cleaned. We could go to the wet market later for some fish and meat... I'm done with grocery shopping for the week, especially since I was so shocked at how much things cost nowadays. Everything has been marked up, it's so frustrating! Buti sana if the wages increase so that people can keep up with the inflation. The thing is, doctors like me are stuck. We can't raise our fees because the patients won't be able to afford them anyway. We can't lower our fees, either, because that would be seen as a compromise and may be unethical. What we can hope for now is for wages to increase, so that people can afford private medical services once again, and as a consequence to that we get to see more patients in our clinics. Life is tough, yeah, but it seems to be tougher these days. Thank goodness I am living here, where I don't have to earn much to spend much. Does that make sense? Huh.
Later, alligator.
Habemus papam!
04.22.05 (4:05 pm) [edit]
Amazing grace: Benedict XVI as he appeared for the first time.
It may sound weird, but I just had to take a photo of the TV screen as I was watching the event at 1 o'clock in the morning of Wednesday!
Update 4/29/05: Hmm, apparently, the photo doesn't want to show up. Dunno why...
Update 5/8/05: I guess Hello only hosts images for Blogger sites. Hmph!
The Holy Father has died.
04.03.05 (7:13 pm) [edit]NEWS FROM THE VATICAN
VATICAN STATEMENT | SATURDAY APRIL 2 | 2130 GMT (4:30PM EST)
"The Holy Father died at 9:37 (1937 GMT) this evening in his private apartment. At 8:00PM (1800 GMT) the celebration of Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday began in the Holy Father's room, presided by Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz with the participation of Cardinal Marian Jaworski, of Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko and of Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki. During the course of the Mass, the Viaticum was administered to the Holy Father and, once again, the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. The Holy Father's final hours were marked by the uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his pious death, and by the choral participation in prayer of the thousands of faithful who, for many hours, had been gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Present at the moment of the death of John Paul II were: his two personal secretaries Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz and Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, Fr. Tadeusz Styczen, the three nuns, Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who assist in the Holy Father's apartment, guided by the Superior Sr. Tobiana Sobodka, and the Pope's personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with the two doctors on call, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo, and the two nurses on call. Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano arrived, as did the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice-camerlengo of Holy Roman Church. Thereafter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko also arrived.
Tomorrow, Divine Mercy Sunday, at 10:30AM (0830 GMT), a Mass for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father will be celebrated in St. Peter's Square, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano. At 12 noon, the Marian prayer of Easter time, the Regina Coeli, will be recited. The body of the late pontiff is expected to be brought to the Vatican Basilica no earlier than Monday afternoon. The first General Congregation of Cardinals will be held at 10:00AM (0800 GMT) on Monday April 4 in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic Palace."
From www.newadvent.org
My Opera works today!
03.05.05 (8:12 pm) [edit]My Opera browser is working like a charm today... must be the alignment of the planets, or something. Duh. Nothing that Sean can explain, anyhow. Ha! And you thought nothing would be inexplicable to him! :wink:
It's noisy here in the boondocks. Apparently, a neighbor of ours is getting married, and so a traditional wedding "buda" is being held. Bad news for us, because this will mean loud music from dusk 'til dawn! Once upon a time I was used to this short of thing, when I was young, but when I left for the city, I thought these traditional things died out already. I guess not. It wouldn't be so bad to have modern music blaring in the dead of night, like maybe techno or even Britney Spears -- but hell, no such luck! We are in for a night of traditional waltz music, you know, like the stuff that you hear in barrios! Okay, hell, I guess we gotta live with it. :roll:
It's been a cold day, today. Two days ago it rained heavily, and since then the weather became cooler. Which is good, cos I got to wear my sweaters again. News has it that it's so damned hot in Manila, and so I'm not particularly looking forward to going there just yet. It's so nakakatamad to move around when it's so hot, and the traffic being what it is, forget it! Anyway I still have lots of Lush soaps in my stock, ha ha. Did you know, I only go to Manila to buy Lush soaps. Everything else I can get out here in the country.
Oh, and did I already mention that I haven't smoked since Tuesday? Yes, I went cold turkey, but I'm fine. I don't even miss it. I manage my oral compulsions by snacking... hmm, not exactly healthy, either, but it'll do for now. I'm not saying that I'll totally quit smoking for good, because I think that's too high an expectation for myself. Instead, I've resolved to smoke only during social occasions, i.e., with friends who also smoke. That's actually narrowing it quite severely, because all my friends who smoke are in Manila, and I only get to see them once in a while. But I figured this is probably the best thing I've ever done for myself in recent months, so, why not?
I had to do a hard reset on my XDA this morning. It hung up on me last night after I updated some programs and did some housekeeping on it. I lost all of my Money files, because I don't back them up on my PC, but that's the only thing that I wasn't able to salvage. Thank goodness I had just synced a few hours before everything froze. I also updated some programs -- like, I now have the latest Activesync 3.8 and Money 2005 for PPC! Not that it matters greatly... Right now the most important thing on my XDA are my ebooks and Microsoft Reader. I can do without all the others. But that's not wishful thinking, ha.
Mistakes to avoid
03.02.05 (5:36 pm) [edit]From Blogarama The Blog Directory:
Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Blogging
http://www.blogarama.com/index.php?show=article_mistakes _when_blogging" title="http://www.blogarama.com/index.php?show=article_mistakes _when_blogging" target="_blank"http://www.blogarama.com/inde...
Is it only Sunday?
02.27.05 (8:42 pm) [edit]I think I'm in a time warp. It's only Sunday, but I feel like it's Monday. I seem to have skipped Sunday in its entirety. I think I've been thrown out of loop because I did something out of my routine. Hmm, odd.
Ah heck!
02.24.05 (8:51 pm) [edit]There's a Robin Padilla movie showing on Channel 2 right now. I wouldn't even have mentioned it, but I was intrigued by the fact that the soundtrack is composed mostly of songs of The Doors! As in, you know, "Riders in the Storm", "Hello, I Love You", "Paint It Black", among others. Har har! I choose to be amused by the fact. I don't want to waste my time being annoyed at the proof that Pinoys can be tamad if they have no motivation at all! Argh!
Interesting though kinda cheesy
02.22.05 (1:13 pm) [edit]Discover the 90/10 Principle. It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations).
What is this principle?
10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.
What does this mean?
We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late in arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic.
We have no control over this 10%.
The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%.
How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you: YOU can control how you react.
Let's use an example.
You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just what happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react.
You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home. When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning.
Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?
The answer is "D". You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.
Here is what could have and should have happened.
Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "It's ok honey, you just need to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having. Notice the difference?
Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you REACTED.
You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.
Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle.
If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out, etc.
How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel shatter.
Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive?
Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.
You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job.
The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse.
Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it.
[Author Unknown to me]
