Photo Hunt #40: Memorial

This is one of the few times when my Photo Hunt is up early. This was taken in Cebu City during my first visit to the Queen City of the South. See more memorial photos at Photo Hunt.

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Vacation: it's a must

I am looking forward to as many travels as I can have this year and for the years to come. I guess traveling is something each of us must do since experience is priceless. Being able to immerse ourselves in a different culture from our own is something worth treasuring. It amazes me that there is such a big world out there, waiting for me to discover them. The one great wish that I would truly want to come true someday is being able to have europe tours so I can see the other side of the world that I am living in.

So this is what my happy word is

And this is what the quiz had to say about my thoughts on happiness:

Your Happy Word is "Bliss"

You are happy because you don't need a lot to be content. You experience happiness in the best and worst of times.
You see the divine in everything. You believe that every moment, person, and creature is unique and special.

You are an oasis of calm in this chaotic world. You never lose your head.
You can feel totally elated and exuberant from the smallest pleasures. You don't hold back when it comes to ecstasy.

Where's a good chiropractor?

While doing my visit to fellow participants for a weekly meme where we answer some questions. I was surprised to see quite a few people talking about their plans of going to a Chiropractor in Des Moines to have their backs adjusted. The idea of having one's spine manipulated piqued my interest because it was my first time to hear such. It was also interesting to know why these people were specifically going to a Des Moines chiropractor. I have heard about the word chiropractic a few times but I have never really bothered to know what it was all about until now. So I searched it over Google out of curiosity and instantly saw a link to a page that points to Des Moines Chiropractic. I found the new insights about Chiropractic very interesting but I am still scared to give it a try. Based on what I have read, Chiropractic is considered to be a form of alternative medicine which is basically about manual therapy that includes spinal manipulation. I would like to personally witness someone being treated by a Chiropractor to see how it is done because they say that spinal adjustment could help the person feel better after the therapy.

Hopes for this Year

Another year has begun in my journey and with the very important lesson that I have learned a few months ago with the passing of my loved ones, I plan to make each day as happy as possible. I want to treat each day as an opportunity to do good, be happy, see and go places and touch people's lives.

So to what direction would I want to be heading to? Lemme just ponder on that some more.

Protect Yourself

Two months ago, a recent study that showed an alarming increase of HIV cases in our country has shocked us all. What's even more surprising is the fact that most people who are afflicted with this disease are young people in their twenties. Even with the liberal way of thinking in our society today, there is still a stigma attached to the disease. People still have that notion that people who contracted the disease are promiscuous or leads a highly adventurous life. Most of these HIV positive people hide their true identities for fear of being ostracized. The disease is life-altering so it is better to take preventive measures before it's too late. It's a great thing that there are available std testing centers that value their client's privacy and thus maintain their anonymity aside from the fact that it is affordable. As the old adage says, health is wealth so we should never be too complacent when it comes to this matter.

Blogging and SEO

It has been more than two years since this blog lost its page rank and I have been trying to re-gain the page rank of 3 which I lost more than two years ago. I am beginning to succumb to the notion that some bloggers said that a lost page rank can no longer be recovered. For bloggers who use their blog as a means of making money online, having a page rank and a good readership base is essential. Some even sought the help of SEO services just so they can boost their blog's ranking and status. If one wants to take his blogging to a higher level, knowing the intricacies of SEO and other related issues is a must. But sadly, I don't have enough time to learn those things.

A year and a day older

A treat from Krua Thai

I celebrated another birthday yesterday, a first without my loving mom so there was something amiss about yesterday. My mom, when she was still here would be the first to wake me up with her warm hugs and kisses on my birthday and I missed that on my birthday. I promised myself that I won't be too sentimental on my birthday so I treated myself with all the food that I love.

I had a very heavy and sinful afternoon merienda at Blugre cafe that really made me nauseous to death. I was all alone by myself but I made a great realization that afternoon that being alone isn't really that bad. Now I know that adage that says that we should strive to be in good company even when we are alone.

I am happy that some of the things that I have long been wanting to have finally have been given to me. For one, that Gap Dream Body Mist which I have been waiting for finally arrived yesterday so I quickly bought two bottles, afraid that they might run out of stocks again because it would take them a couple of months before the new stocks would arrive.

I thank God for another year though I hope that the new year added to my life will be better and filled with good things and good people to bless my life. Thank you Lord and Thank you Mom!

It's Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox

American Idol Season 9 is finally coming to an end and just as I had wanted it to be, Casey James, Crystal Bowersox and Lee Dewyze is the top 3 finalists left on the Idol Stage. Lee's performance last night was so overwhelming that I had goose bumps while he was performing Hallelujah, the song chosen by Idol judge, Simon Cowell for him to sing. Thanks to Simon because I really think that last night's performance of Lee was the defining moment of this season.

Just a while ago, Casey James was booted out of the competition thus it is going to be Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox who will be battling it out for the finale. I am rooting for Lee this time although Crystal has always been a favorite. She has always been very good since the very beginning of the competition but Lee's progress and transformation is awesome and noteworthy. He seems to be getting better and better each week.

All about water

We had recently done maintenance and repairs of old water pipes at home. As we took off those old pipes, it's terrifying to see how dirty the insides of the pipes were considering that this is where our water passes through. Water is very essential to our health but it could also cause health problems when the water we take into our body is contaminated. Although we no longer use the water from our faucets for drinking, this is still where we take water for the food we cook so I guess it's about time to get some water filter pitcher to be safe. Even if Davao water is considered to be the best in the world, we still can't compromise our family's health.

Sunday Stealing: Speed Dating Meme 2

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Rol from the blog Sunset Over Slawit. The interesting part this week is we ripped part one off of Nige Lowrey at the blog Nige's Page a' Rage. He explained last week that he was nicking one of Rol's memes. Here's the best part: Rol originated the meme and was kind enough to let us know there would be a Part 2, and encouraged us to steal it. A big Sunday Stealing shout out to Rol!!! So, of course, that will are thrilled. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Cheers to all of us thieves!

Sunday Stealing: The Speed Dating Meme, Part 2

26. Have you ever been stung by a bee? no, God forbid.

27. What's the sickest you've ever been? I had tonsilitis and I can't eat for about a week because my throat hurts badly.

28. What's your favorite form of exercise? dancing

29. What's your favorite Cyndi Lauper song? Money changes everything

30. What did you do for your 13th birthday? celebrated it at home with my family

31. Are you afraid of heights? yes.

32. Have you ever taken dance lessons? no

33. What's your favorite newspaper? Philippine Daily Inquirer

34. What's your favorite Broadway / West End musical? Grease

35. What's the most memorable class you've ever taken? TV production

36. What's your favorite knock-knock joke? I can't think of any.

37. What's your least favorite commercial? Joy

38. If you could go to Disney World with any celebrity alive today, who would it be? Channing Tatum

39. Do you prefer baths or showers? baths

40. What's your favourite newspaper comic strip? Pinoy nga

41. What's your favorite breakfast food? Longganisa and sunny side eggs

42. Who's your favarite game show host? Edu Manzano

43. If you could have a super power, what would it be? Moving things with my mind.

44. Do you like guacamole? what is that?

45. Have you ever been in a food fight? no

46. Name five songs to which you know all the lyrics. When I met you, Forevermore, Love Moves, Through the Fire, With or Without you and a lot more.

47. What's your favorite infomercial? May Bilog na hugis itlog

48. What's the longest you've ever waited in line? May 2010
election

49. What's on the cover of your address book or day planner? nothing, it's plain pink leather.

50. Have you ever taken a picture in one of those little booths? yes with friends a long time ago.

Photo Hunt #40: HALF

I am so sad to see that the number of readers here has decreased tremendously. I wasn't able to drop my ECs for the past week so this means that I had to work double time again. Anyway, I was out to meet old friends yesterday so I wasn't able to post my entry as early as I wanted to.

This is a photo of the Mermaid statue at Baywalk, A mermaid which is HALF-human and HALF-fish is also among the popular mythical creatures in Filipino culture. In fact, several soap opera and movies have been made about mermaids but the most popular among them would be Dyesebel.

My First Automated Voting Experience

This is kinda late and the hype about the first automated Philippine election may have subsided but still, I would like to share my experience in exercising my right of suffrage the automated way.

The night before May 10, all of us at home were pumped up with the next day's big event. My sister who works in Manila came home and our friend came to Davao all the way from Polomolok, South Cotabato to vote because they were still registered here. We checked our precincts thru Comelec's website so that it would be easier for us to find our polling precincts. On election day, we woke up early as we anticipated that there will be long lines of voters since there was much hype about this automated election and we figured that there will be more voters who are eager to try the automated polls.

Clustered Precincts Dilemma

We went to our designated polling place before 10 AM. It didn't take long for us to find polling precinct though,Cluster 483, which is now composed of equivalent to six precincts in previous elections. Our clustered precinct is made up of precincts 1611A, 1611B,1612A,1612B,1613A and 1613B. I was voter # 115 in precinct 1613A. I wonder how COMELEC divided the precincts into clusters since my brother was in a different cluster and there was only one precinct in their cluster hence voters who belong to that cluster do not have to wait long hours to cast their vote. We immediately got our priority numbers. Our numbers were between 350 and 360 and the the numbers being called that time was still #130 so there were still 220 voters ahead of us. After getting hold of our numbers, we assisted dad to his precinct. If there is one thing I envy about being old, it's the privilege they get during these situations. In about thirty minutes, dad was done. So, we decided to just have a hearty lunch at Cafe Andessa after hurdling through a long line of people and come back in the afternoon.

Vote with Extra Care

After lunch, we decided to stay a little longer since we knew that our numbers are still far from the ones that were probably called. When we come back in the afternoon, the lines were longer. Thankfully, it was a cold day and there were sporadic showers so waiting wasn't much agonizing. We were finally able to vote at 4:00 in the afternoon. That was approximately more than six hours of waiting when it only took us fifteen minutes inside the polling precinct to cast our vote. I pity the guy before me who waited equally only to have his vote rejected by the PCOS machine because he accidentally marked the ballot while trying to put on the cap of the pen. Taking care of our votes, doesn't only apply to voting the right candidate but also means being extra careful as to not make unnecessary marks on the ballot.

It was a long and tiring day. It would have gone smoothly if not for the confusion that the clustered precincts brought. In my point of view, the poll automation was a success. Counting of votes is much quicker and teachers, BEI's and poll watchers are much safer now compared to previous elections.

I hope that this is the beginning of a better Philippines.

Photo Hunt #39: Mother

Mother Nature

This is a snapshot of the famous Chocolate Hills of Bohol. The beauty of Mother Nature is really something that leaves us with awe at times. But some people don't seem to care for it with the irresponsible ways that they do with their garbage or the cutting of trees to make way for urbanization or in the guise of development.

The comfort we get out of living in a highly urbanized life where we get everything we want with just a click or a push of a button is nothing compared to the serenity that a peaceful and beautiful scenery of nature offers.

Accomplishments

Thanks GMA for long holidays, I get more time to surf and to blog. I am glad that with the long weekend, I was able to accomplish some mundane tasks that I don't normally get to do these days due to exhaustion after a long day of work and dance practice. To date, I have successfully managed to do things that I need to work on . Here are some of the few things that I have managed to do over the past days which I consider to be quite a feat.

1. Being able to bring my other blog back to life.
2. Being to get my own free copyright. Finally, every blogger should have their works protected.
3. Being able to drop ECs again.
4. Being able to submit entries for meme challenges again which I have missed for several weeks now.
5. Being able to re-connect with friends over Facebook again.
6. Being able to push myself to post more often than the past months.

Now, the list above would probably give an impression that I don't seem to have a life offline. Well, that was just for the things that I love to do online. Offline, I may not have fared much with regards to the loads of chores that I must do. These are some of the tasks at hand that needs to be done today.

1. Do the laundry or else I won't have a uniform to wear tomorrow.
2. My room needs general cleaning. One thing I don't like about the fact that we live near the highway is that our windows accumulate dusts easily.
3. Do some grocery shopping.
4. Go to the parish office to offer some mass for the dead.
5. Visit mom's tomb and tell her some stories.
6. Watch Iron Man 2.( now this seems unlikely considering all the chores I have to do)

The most surprising thing about it all is that I am not complaining. I am happy there's a lot of things to do because it keeps my mind off some depressing thoughts.

Good Prints

I am a little worried about my printer's ink level right now. For months, I have been getting this low ink level warning and I cannot just keep on ignoring it this time around because the last document I printed yesterday was really of bad quality. It's high time for me to shop for printer cartridges. Thank heavens because I just found printer-cartridges.com online.

Oldies but Goodies and Jovit Baldovino

I have been asking around for quite a long time now about this song. All I know is that I remember this from my early childhood because it keeps on playing on the radio then. I have never outgrown my love for this song. At long last, I finally found this on youtube.com and after ages, I now know who sang this song.

There must have been millions of songs played in the airwaves but I guess only a few get played for a very long time. It's a good thing that I always get to hear this on a local radio station here. I really have nothing to do now so I am having a breeze searching for oldie songs over you tube to reminisce my childhood. Then I found several songs from the 80's from classic bands like Chicago and Reo Speedwagon. I guess a love for their music does not equate to one's age because Jovit Baldovino of Pilipinas Got Talent seems to love songs from this era. Before I get defensive with the age thing, here's the video of Jovit's performance in the Semi-finals.

The boy really has a voice that Pilipinas Got Talent judge, Kris Aquino quipped that Jovit Baldovino is the male Charice Pempengco. After getting over 3 millions hits on you tube for his version of Journey's faithfully, there's no doubt that the future looks bright for his young lad.

Good Deals

I am currently searching for virtual shopping places where I could find wholesale dollar items. I have always been a hunter for good deals since I could remember so I am trying to make a list of good online shops to keep in mind. While doing my laundry, I thought of searching for pride products online since I have been a pride product user for years now. My effort proved to be useful because I found prideproducts.com.

Photo Hunt #38: Black

This is a photo taken at Bigby's Restaurant during one of the few times that we dined there. I thought this would be perfect for this week's of Black over at Photo Hunt. I missed last week's episode so I won't miss it this week.