Philippine Circus... este, Politics
The political scene is really a joke. Well, it has been a joke for years. But I kept hoping that it would be better, that things would change. I kept saying that Gloria was a bitter pill to swallow to cure what we had - Erap. But the pill turned out to be poison! Our country is still in the dumps! If the situation we're in isn't worse than before, then it's at least as bad.
I have come to hate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Her smiles on TV really annoy me. She's so smug when THERE'S NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF. She hasn't done anything for this country. If she has, then I guess it has been overshadowed by all the negative things. Chaotic is the perfect word to describe Philippine politics today.
And yesterday, another joke. FPJ is running for President. People keep saying "he's a good man!" or "he's not a politician" or whatever. We don't just need a "good man". We need a good leader. To be the leader of the Philippines means you also have to understand the basics of Economics, Finance, the Military... Being good just isn't enough. What does FPJ know about those things? Will he be able to understand when it's explained to him? Plus, FPJ being president means Angara and Sotto will be the
'little' presidents. So it's gonna be the same old thing. The business sector also has no confidence in FPJ. So much proof! The peso fell to an all-time low today. And a downgrade is being eyed on our long-term borrowings. It's so awful!
Some people say that "it can be much worse". True, but that doesn't make the scenario now acceptable. A lot of people are seriously thinking about migrating. And these are the educated ones, the talented ones. There will a surge in the regular country "brain drain" when FPJ becomes president. We regularly lose doctors, nurses, teachers who go abroad to search for a better life. When FPJ becomes president, the numbers will surely spike. Bet?
I'm so worried for the country.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Monday, November 24, 2003
Macau
Last night, we had dinner at the Macau Restaurant in Eastwood, Libis. We wanted to try a restaurant that we haven't tried before. So we ended up there. Food wasn't good. I ordered the Grilled Rib-eye steak and Jovan ordered the Grilled T-bone steak. Also, the place didn't look good plus the utensils looked "cheap".
Crossing Over with John Edward
I'm a scaredy cat, and I get scared over the smallest things. Heck, some parts of Scary Movie 3 scared me, and it's supposed to be a comedy! But watching Crossing Over with John Edward doesn't elicit fear from me, it elicits awe. The guy is amazing! His accuracy is borderline freaky. The cynical me insists that he has researchers who dig up facts about the audience before the show. But the show always starts with a disclaimer that John Edward doesn't know anything about the people in the audience.
What I like most about him is that he ends the show with a reminder to everyone. He always says that we should validate and appreciate the people around us now, so that we wouldn't have to go to mediums like him in the future.
Last night, we had dinner at the Macau Restaurant in Eastwood, Libis. We wanted to try a restaurant that we haven't tried before. So we ended up there. Food wasn't good. I ordered the Grilled Rib-eye steak and Jovan ordered the Grilled T-bone steak. Also, the place didn't look good plus the utensils looked "cheap".
Crossing Over with John Edward
I'm a scaredy cat, and I get scared over the smallest things. Heck, some parts of Scary Movie 3 scared me, and it's supposed to be a comedy! But watching Crossing Over with John Edward doesn't elicit fear from me, it elicits awe. The guy is amazing! His accuracy is borderline freaky. The cynical me insists that he has researchers who dig up facts about the audience before the show. But the show always starts with a disclaimer that John Edward doesn't know anything about the people in the audience.
What I like most about him is that he ends the show with a reminder to everyone. He always says that we should validate and appreciate the people around us now, so that we wouldn't have to go to mediums like him in the future.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
I watched the first 6 episodes of Alias Season 3 last night. And I still love it. It's still as exciting and full of twists as the first two seasons. Michael Vartan is still gorgeous. The stories per episode and the main story are still very interesting. (The writers are gooooooood.) Nice developments related to Dixon and Vaugh's new wife.
I cannot wait to get hold of the next episodes.
I cannot wait to get hold of the next episodes.
Binan Badminton Club formally opened today. It's located at #1 National Highway, Barrio Platero, Binan Laguna. I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of people dropped by to inquire about the rates. There were many walk-ins, and some of them had to wait in line for the courts.
For those who live in the South, especially Binan, Sta. Rosa, and San Pedro, do drop by! The place is right in front of Segunda Village (St. Michael's College and Binan Doctors' Hospital), and is a couple of minutes away from the Pavillion Mall.
I feel that this is really a blessing for me, because of several reasons. First, this gives me a reason to go home to Binan more often. I only go home during family gatherings so I've lost touch with old friends and I feel like an outsider already whenever I'm there. Second, I've cut a deal with my friends. I'm going to take care of the snacks and drinks. Pretty good deal since the players really look for Gatorade and mineral water after they play. Third, I get to play lotsa badminton, which means I get to exercise! Woohoo!
For those who live in the South, especially Binan, Sta. Rosa, and San Pedro, do drop by! The place is right in front of Segunda Village (St. Michael's College and Binan Doctors' Hospital), and is a couple of minutes away from the Pavillion Mall.
I feel that this is really a blessing for me, because of several reasons. First, this gives me a reason to go home to Binan more often. I only go home during family gatherings so I've lost touch with old friends and I feel like an outsider already whenever I'm there. Second, I've cut a deal with my friends. I'm going to take care of the snacks and drinks. Pretty good deal since the players really look for Gatorade and mineral water after they play. Third, I get to play lotsa badminton, which means I get to exercise! Woohoo!
Friday, November 21, 2003
Had a blast watching Scary Movie 3 at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1 last night. You really just have to take it as it is - a spoof of several movies. Everyone in the theater was laughing! However, I was really disturbed because of one scene, the scene where they blew up a wall with Mother Teresa's face. What's up with that? That wasn't funny at all.
Yes, it's a stupid movie. But consider this movie as a stress-buster. Watching this movie is a nice way to unwind after working xx hours in the office!
Yes, it's a stupid movie. But consider this movie as a stress-buster. Watching this movie is a nice way to unwind after working xx hours in the office!
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Bili, bili na kayo dyan!
Tindera na ako ngayon. I'm selling Ragnarok prepaid cards, Blast prepaid cards, and Smart eLoad. It's actually fun! Returns are small but it's still better than just placing your money in the bank. Next stop is the Badminton place that my friends just opened in Binan, Laguna. It's called Binan Badminton Club and I'll be supplying the drinks.
Any suggestions on what else I can check out?
:)
Tindera na ako ngayon. I'm selling Ragnarok prepaid cards, Blast prepaid cards, and Smart eLoad. It's actually fun! Returns are small but it's still better than just placing your money in the bank. Next stop is the Badminton place that my friends just opened in Binan, Laguna. It's called Binan Badminton Club and I'll be supplying the drinks.
Any suggestions on what else I can check out?
:)
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
A New Beginning
I've been very busy for the past few months, especially the last two. I guess it's obvious, based on the number of blog entries I have. I just couldn't find the time, and when I did have time, I was just too tired to come up with a decent entry. I noticed that I was slowly turning into a very cynical person, and that really freaked me out. I thought that something had to be done. I remembered "Lundagin mo Beybeh!" from Ateneo. I remembered the saying "No guts, no glory!". I thought that I can complain all I want, but nothing was gonna happen if I don't do anything. And so I made a very big decision last week. Guess who's smiling now.
I hope everything works out for me. This is going to be something new. I'm going to be in a very unfamiliar place. Very exciting, but scary at the same time.
I would like to share with you the email that I received which helped me in my decision. Please, do print it out. It's worth keeping. Read it when you get carried away with your work. Read it when you forget WHY you're doing what you're doing. It's long, but I promise you, you will be moved. I highlighted the phrases/sentences that struck me.
"REAL LIFE IS ALL I KNOW"
It's a great honor for me to be the third member of my family to receive an honorary doctorate from this great university. It's an honor to follow my great Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician, and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman. Both of them could have told you something important about their professions, about medicine or commerce.
I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a disadvantage talking to you today. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. REAL LIFE IS ALL I KNOW. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.The second is only part of the first.
Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for re-election because he had been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."
Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has custody of your life. Your particular life...Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.
People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
HERE IS MY RESUME:
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.
I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me...I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true. You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.
SO HERE'S WHAT I WOULD WANT TO TELL YOU TODAY:
GET A LIFE. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?
GET A LIFE in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
GET A LIFE in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter.
GET A LIFE in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around.Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.
I LEARNED TO LIVE many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways...And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this:
Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.
This is a commencement speech made by Anna Quindlen at Villanova.
I've been very busy for the past few months, especially the last two. I guess it's obvious, based on the number of blog entries I have. I just couldn't find the time, and when I did have time, I was just too tired to come up with a decent entry. I noticed that I was slowly turning into a very cynical person, and that really freaked me out. I thought that something had to be done. I remembered "Lundagin mo Beybeh!" from Ateneo. I remembered the saying "No guts, no glory!". I thought that I can complain all I want, but nothing was gonna happen if I don't do anything. And so I made a very big decision last week. Guess who's smiling now.
I hope everything works out for me. This is going to be something new. I'm going to be in a very unfamiliar place. Very exciting, but scary at the same time.
I would like to share with you the email that I received which helped me in my decision. Please, do print it out. It's worth keeping. Read it when you get carried away with your work. Read it when you forget WHY you're doing what you're doing. It's long, but I promise you, you will be moved. I highlighted the phrases/sentences that struck me.
"REAL LIFE IS ALL I KNOW"
It's a great honor for me to be the third member of my family to receive an honorary doctorate from this great university. It's an honor to follow my great Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician, and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman. Both of them could have told you something important about their professions, about medicine or commerce.
I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a disadvantage talking to you today. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. REAL LIFE IS ALL I KNOW. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.The second is only part of the first.
Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for re-election because he had been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."
Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has custody of your life. Your particular life...Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.
People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
HERE IS MY RESUME:
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.
I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me...I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true. You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.
SO HERE'S WHAT I WOULD WANT TO TELL YOU TODAY:
GET A LIFE. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?
GET A LIFE in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
GET A LIFE in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter.
GET A LIFE in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around.Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.
I LEARNED TO LIVE many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways...And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this:
Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.
This is a commencement speech made by Anna Quindlen at Villanova.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
2003 BAZAAR SCHEDULE
It's bazaar season and I was being my OC self when I put this together. I'm sure that some girls out there are interested in this. :)
(I'll fix this some other time, tab doesn't work here pala.)
Oct.3-31 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Oct.11-12 Zonta Bazaar Edsa Shangri-La
Oct.11-12 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Oct.12 Shoppers’ Day by US Embassy World Trade Center
Oct.13 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Oct.13-17 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Oct.15-17 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Oct.18 ADB Spouses Association Bazaar Makati Shangri-La
Oct.18-19 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Oct.18-19 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Oct.19 Bazaar World Trade Center
Oct.19 Catholic Women’s Club Casa Y Jardin
Oct.25-26 Noel “The Discovery Bazaar” Manila Polo Club
Oct.26 Zonta Bazaar Intercon
Oct.27-31 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Oct.29-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Nov.3-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Nov.8-9 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.12-14 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Nov.12-13,15 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Nov.13 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Nov.14-16 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.15-16 Angel Sent Edsa Shangri-La
Nov.15-16 AAVA-EMPC Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Nov.15-16 Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar Manila Polo Club
Nov.15-16 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Nov.21-23 Christmas@2003 Shop Expo World Trade Center
Nov.22-23 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Nov.22-23 Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar Manila Polo Club
Nov. 24-28 Negros Megatrade Hall
Nov.26-28 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Nov.26-28 Bazaar Pacific Star Bldg, Buendia
Nov.27-28 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Nov.15-16 Almost Christmas Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Nov.29-30 Noel “The Discovery Bazaar” Manila Polo Club
Nov.29-30 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.29-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Nov.29-30 Super Bazaar Sanctuario de San Antonio
Nov.29-30 Bargain Hunt White Plains Basketball Court
Dec.1 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Dec.2-31 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Dec.4-14 World Bazaar for Bantay Bata World Trade Center
Dec.6-7 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Dec.6-7 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Dec.6-7 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Dec.6-7 St. James Bazaar St. James, Ayala Alabang
Dec.13-14 Christmas Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Dec.13-14 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Dec.13-14 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Dec.13-14 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Dec.15-19 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Dec.15-19 Bazaar Pacific Star Bldg, Buendia
Dec.15-16 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Dec.17-19 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Dec.17-19 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Dec.20-21 Angel Sent Edsa Shangri-La
Dec.20-21 Year End Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Dec.20-21 Bargain Hunt White Plains Basketball Court
Dec.20-23 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
It's bazaar season and I was being my OC self when I put this together. I'm sure that some girls out there are interested in this. :)
(I'll fix this some other time, tab doesn't work here pala.)
Oct.3-31 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Oct.11-12 Zonta Bazaar Edsa Shangri-La
Oct.11-12 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Oct.12 Shoppers’ Day by US Embassy World Trade Center
Oct.13 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Oct.13-17 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Oct.15-17 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Oct.18 ADB Spouses Association Bazaar Makati Shangri-La
Oct.18-19 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Oct.18-19 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Oct.19 Bazaar World Trade Center
Oct.19 Catholic Women’s Club Casa Y Jardin
Oct.25-26 Noel “The Discovery Bazaar” Manila Polo Club
Oct.26 Zonta Bazaar Intercon
Oct.27-31 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Oct.29-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Nov.3-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Nov.8-9 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.12-14 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Nov.12-13,15 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Nov.13 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Nov.14-16 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.15-16 Angel Sent Edsa Shangri-La
Nov.15-16 AAVA-EMPC Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Nov.15-16 Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar Manila Polo Club
Nov.15-16 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Nov.21-23 Christmas@2003 Shop Expo World Trade Center
Nov.22-23 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Nov.22-23 Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar Manila Polo Club
Nov. 24-28 Negros Megatrade Hall
Nov.26-28 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Nov.26-28 Bazaar Pacific Star Bldg, Buendia
Nov.27-28 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Nov.15-16 Almost Christmas Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Nov.29-30 Noel “The Discovery Bazaar” Manila Polo Club
Nov.29-30 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Nov.29-30 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Nov.29-30 Super Bazaar Sanctuario de San Antonio
Nov.29-30 Bargain Hunt White Plains Basketball Court
Dec.1 Monthly Bazaar World Trade Center
Dec.2-31 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars MC Home Depot, The Fort
Dec.4-14 World Bazaar for Bantay Bata World Trade Center
Dec.6-7 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Dec.6-7 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Dec.6-7 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Dec.6-7 St. James Bazaar St. James, Ayala Alabang
Dec.13-14 Christmas Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Dec.13-14 Bazaar La Vista Clubhouse
Dec.13-14 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Dec.13-14 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Makati Sports Club
Dec.15-19 Bazaar LKG Tower, Ayala Ave.
Dec.15-19 Bazaar Pacific Star Bldg, Buendia
Dec.15-16 Bazaar UCPB, Makati Ave.
Dec.17-19 Bazaar Pearl Plaza, Pearl Drive
Dec.17-19 Menchie Mabanta Bazaars Tektite
Dec.20-21 Angel Sent Edsa Shangri-La
Dec.20-21 Year End Bazaar Cuenca, Ayala Alabang
Dec.20-21 Bargain Hunt White Plains Basketball Court
Dec.20-23 Shop @ The Fort NBC Tent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
