Private Joke ^_^

I'm sure the godess understands hahahahaha!

Crimson Sky

crimson sky taken in my backyard last year june 29, my bro's birthday ^_^ very beautiful

Blag!?

in light of my brother's query and to prove my point, i researched it on the net and indeed! i am right "Blog" a combination of two words "Web Log" is pronounced rhyming with "Dog" or "Blob." Common mistakes reading it "Bee-Log" (totally absurd) and now as my brother says to me "Blag." Is that an attempt to have a slang!? just totally wrong...

new terms related to blogging :
blogger - people who blog
blogosphere/blogdom/blogworld - realm of blogging
vlog - video blog
phlog - photo blog
blogorrhea - tendency to fill blog with too much trivial information (like what is happening now, pfft)
blogroll - part of blog showing links to other blogs

resources :
www.askoxford.com
http://www.andreas.com/faq-blog.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Who's my thousandth visitor?

well... actually this count is not reliably accurate because i started putting the counter way off when this blog started and i must say that knowing www.chrisalipio.com has been online since 1998 it would mean it's an inaccurate count. AND! this ticker also counts me when i visit so.... (drum roll please!) ta-daaaa!!!! I am the thousandth visitor! HAHAHAHAHA! this is a realy nice gift for my birthday thank you everybody!

lz

Thank Yous

thanks to all the people who greeted me today ^_^ special hi's to ms. tin alba who shares this birthday with me ^_^ special prayer for my grandpa who also shares this birthday with me!

special thanks to : my mom & dad, potsy; the highpriestess and the godess; tito roman, tita pat, kaitlynn and tristan; tita lites who gave me my cake ^_^; my med classmates, a1 and a2, and mr. acosta and verle; claude and robert and to everybody who greeted me and i forgot thank you! everybody, you're super!

lz

My Take on Imelda's Jewels

My take on this matter : I hope i don't get burnt at the stake but really... my opinion is that :

WE SHOULD NOT SELL THESE JEWELS

though these jewels were part of the country's dark history, these can be a very useful educational tool for our children and grandchildren. how more can they appreciate history when they see it with their own eyes how their forebearers suffered while other people swam in precious stones!?

who would probably buy these jewels when sold? (a) countries or their museums would want to add some valuable things to their national treasures i.e. the sminthsonian might buy a lot of it, (b) people, i.e. queens, princessess, and other royalty and people who can afford them.

sigh... our history displayed on other's people's museums or rotting away in a private vault. this is unacceptable to me. we should give these to our own national museum, heck! we can call these the philippine crown jewels.

i think the fact that they were attached to our history and mrs. marcos made these jewels priceless... and the money that we will get with selling this stuff- do you really think that most of it will go to the farmers!?

i really don't know why i'm so appaled by the idea of "giving" away our history. i remember this instance when my mom told me that she had one of the rings(heirloom said to be more than cenntury old) given to her by her auntie melted and made into new jewelry and i think i was really affected :-( call me a freak but i thought part of my family history melted with that

La Naval Enthronement

whew! it really was exhausting... holding back my emotions that is... hahahaha! I was really surpised I thought I’ve had it with 3 (or 4?) years of attending the la naval festivities, but I just cannot explain it!?? Seeing the image like a queen being brought down the church nave, preceeded by like 50 priests dressed similarly. It’s just like a queen entering her court. People were clapping… touching… waving their pañolitos… crying…

I got to touch the image, paganistic you might think, but I just really had the urge to touch it as it passed by in front of me. The image wasn’t wearing her real-real beautiful jewels maybe they thought it was better she dressed casually as she passed the people.

Of course there were these heavenly voices of the tiples again serenading their queen. Whew! Well… at least I didn’t cry… not yet :-)

my favorite house moment...

my favorite house moment? hahaha! nothing can be better than this ^_^ i captured this from episode 5. thank you to mr. brabante for giving me the whole first season ^_^

reflections on life cycles

i was just reading about ecology earlier and i am now realizing on the extent of how much we did and did not learn on this subject. true, our professor may have been one of the course's most proficient and skill-oriented instructors but still the subject ultimately did not cover basic concepts that must have been studied. I remember such things disregarded to be reported (which of course no one pays attention to ^_^ )

anyway… to the segue. The high priestess was just talking about cycles in life, particularly to the seemingly incredible adherence of ours to a pattern that is both mmm shall we say pleasing and revolting (hehehe)

I sincerely hope nothing unpalatable happens to anyone of us especially now that we should be celebrating the fruitful lovelife of the godess but this makes me reflect… are we really following cycles during the course of our lives?

In my case, the simple example of my encounter in pharma may be enough, and i cannot stress enough how much I fought to try not to go through with this experience (again in this case) well… so much for trying. but in this pattern, a very invigorating prospect dawns… highschool : bad experience, college : good experience, medschool : BAD experience, my new moment in life : GOOD experience! ha! so it seems I may not need to worry at all!

Yet… a lot of things bother me, friends and family of course. adjustment, and a lot of other terrible things that though I’ve thought about, still would be a challenge when I face them in reality

Hmm… for the godess – what are my foresights into your new foray? … (reflect… reflect…digging into my 8th sense… {hehehe}) I really haven’t met your guy so I’ll delay that for now…

Your pureness, high priestess (haha!) I read your writings and I realize that everything is a choice, the fact that we are here where we are is proof enough. I admire your courage and resiliency. Sigh… you know me I am a real slothful person hahaha! But day by day I am slowly realizing medschool has really transformed me into something of a studying machine hehehe, for how many months now I haven’t lost my zest to study! And even though there are moments that I’d rather watch tv and play pc-games! Something just zaps my ass and makes me study hahaha! Must be the smell of green money hahahaha!

There can be no greater “thank yous” I can give for the valuable life lessons you both thought me during our everyday conversations, they’re something that have become carved in my tablet permanently, and I assume, something that would be a good point of argument with my future women (hehehe) well really this a thanks (hehe)

This is long… huh the point of this being…? hahaha the godess has just gone to a higher plane… so it was just fitting to go back to some things that tie us up… I pray more good things in store for us and everyone else…

it's that time of year again

• it's that time of year again when i go to do my devotion to the lady of the most holy rosary la naval de manila enshrined in the now 51 years old sto. domingo church. time to hear the tiples sing "... adios reina del cielo!" the enthronement is on september 29 at 4 or 5 pm i forgot. i've placed a link below the title bar of this blog to my old la naval page. most of the links don't work but just enjoy the pictures ^_^ if anyone has la naval stories to tell email them to me and i'll post them on the la naval mini-webby.

• i'm starting to feel the air turn cold ^_^ yep, christmas is just around the corner. it's really nice lights are going up again and lot's of food served hehehe

• i got the guilty pleasures cd from astroplus in the podium a few days ago and everysong is very satisfying i espcially love the songs: it's up to you, all the children and (our love) don't throw it all away

Med Week

busy week, as i've said, my talents were pretty much exploited this week, since my work portfolio isn't going to be active anytime soon, i share the job i did with the ust faculty of medicine and surgery student council :
it's for the student council to be put in our lobby, photos were of mr. allan brabante (i did not have time to orchestrate them myself because of other graphic jobs) and more ideas by verle ^_^ we had a fun time doing it and we have a special cameo in the large (4 X 3 feet) tarpaulin billboard : (see the keyboard at the bottom of the poster, i did a little tinkering^_^)

>> my deepest condolences to the family of my former highschool teacher Mr. Crispin Astrologio, he wasn't really technically my teacher, but he helped me and the emperor through a lot, may he rest in peace

>> on a lighter note, i am really elated to know that i'm really in demand in school (haha) well, i'm happy they appreciate my graphic designing abilities ^_^ my current costumers?? mse (a sorority), the medical student council; my own org: medical missions, inc., and i also did our pharma alternative medicine presentation, all in one week! well well well... thank you to the people who exhaust my ideas ^_^

>> im going to activate my portfolio in a few weeks time (look up under the blog title) so you can see the things i designed for them

>> congratulations in advance to the godess ^_^ y'knaw what i mean hehe

Night Out

we attended the high priestess' med week party at ratsky's morato ^ after an hour of ear-aching but otherwise nice live-band music, we transferred next door to my favorite coffee bar ^ coffee bean and tea leaf ^ chatted away till 2 am ^ 'twas nice to spend this time with you guys ^ hope we can go out sometime soon again ^

Linnaeus' Clock

reviewing my botany ^ i came across several interesting things ^ one that really stuck on my mind and i searched for a picture in the net (because its very interesting) is about a horologium florae or a flower sundial thought of by Carolus Linnaeus ^ father of taxonomy ^ he noticed that several flowers opened and closed at different times of the day so he arranged them outside his house so that it could serve as a clock ^ wonderful right ^ and you may say he's very persistent ^ it must have taken him months to observe if the plants did keep to their schedule

Free Streisand Single at Barnes & Nobles

from what i'm hearing, they're flying off like pancakes :-) btw, look at just what airbrushing and makeup can do to a 63 year old woman :-) just like buttah

Venting

Passed First Pharma Shifting, well... hehehe Ginebra San Miguel Advertisement "Bilog ang Mundo." Haha!

Me and Verle went out to celebrate my achievement, Sandy's supposed to go but something came up. Had hours of chat talking 'bout everything, enjoying our neighbors stare and noise, i think everybody at Napoli's that night must've been from UST haha. thanks again verle :-)

on a different note, im really annoyed i must say. read ahead :

"chris, can you make a ticket for a fundraiser our org plans?"

Note : I'm information committee head so this is my job, alright let's continue on

"Alright, send me the details and i'll get to it. No Problem" No problem at all really, i love doing these stuff.

"Oh, the org logo must be there as well as other boxes for sponsors' logo and of course someplace to tear and ticket number."

???? Me Thinking: ok? "Alright, how bout the details? what should i put in the ticket?"

"I'll ask ----, if possible just send me a draft."

pfft. i don't know if you understand what just happened in the conversation but i must say, i'm not God! i don't make something come out of nothing, and i'm proud to say i am a good enough artist that i'll not make something not good enough for me and risk giving it to people to hear them say something shitty about my work (shitty things i don't intend them to think anyway). i can easily invent the details but imagine people looking at the ticket i designed with what? invented information and they say: "what the hell are those written?" and as well i can imagine that by the time they have time to look at my work that's also the time they have decided what to put on the ticket so what they'll notice is how shitty the things i've written there. Hell... and the people requesting these are doctors!

Letting Go

oh my god, streisand raw and unplugged!

streisand and a piano, imagine. i can almost imagine her reading our posts in the streisand yahoo group and thinking "ok, i'll give them that, just me and a piano."

just live and beautiful, voice cracks and all.

i hope she goes on oprah again and sings this live. it'll be just river of tears for oprah and her audience.

"it's so hard..... letting go................................................"

watch the video : http://blog.columbiarecords.com/barbra/index.html

Merlin 2

woohoo! one of my favorite tv movies, merlin is going to have a sequel ^_^ i know someone reading this is as excited as me haha

i just loved the character of the celtic godess-warrior queen mab in the original merlin. at first you seem to take her as a villain but later on you'll find out that she's fighting for her existence and the existence of her kind, queen mab is the protrectress of the faerie, of the old ways and in the process to protect the old way, she creates merlin to help her, unfortunately, her sister (the lady of the lake also played by richardson) and merlin turns their back at her and she disappears forever. i really like the character the way she's says that with everything around her evil, she can't help but do evil to survive.

unfortunately there will be no queen mab on the second merlin, but miss richardson (who also plays rita skeeter on the new harry potter movie) will still play the lady of the lake and sam neil reprises his role as merlin.

babs new video

babs has her new video for her new album on amazon video, titled "stranger in a strange land," it's dedicated to the soldiers fighting the war in the middle east.

dr. house m.d.

there's this new series in star called house m.d. it's about a frustrated doctor who was crippled because of a muscle infarction. other doctors were not able to help him, the only symptom was pain. he refuses to see patients and talks to them without tact often offending people who do not know him, but the hospital administration does not want to fire him because of his brillance as a diagnostician.

on the first episode there was this woman who was having violent fits and was diagnosed to have a brain tumor, dr. house doesn't agree, he was sure it wasn't a tumor, he just doesn't know what it was yet...

he had his residents give the patients steroids, modern medicine's wonder drug, treats anything, anytime. he reasoned that it might be vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, and in this case, in the brain, he said that if it was it she'd be cured if it was really a tumor, she's going to die anyway.

the patient seemed to get better until she had a very violent seizure attack. dr. house up to until this time hasn't seen the patient personally, he was convinced by one of his residents to take this case by lying that she was his cousin. dr. house suddenly had an enlightenment, there could only be one thing that could cause this response to steroids.

the patient had cysticercoid larvae in her brain, but by this time, the patient refuses to be treated and wants to go home and die with dignity. dr. house goes to her finally delivered my favorite line from this episode: "there has never been dignity in dying, there can only be dignity in living."

all it took was good ole albendazole to treat her. this adds something that i should look forward for every week. well aside from hoping the godess, the priestess, and i would be able to go out ^_^ btw, it has been nice talking to you again godess, thank you for the appreciation.

lz

Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile

i'm extremely enjoying this new game by tilted mill, its the next installment from pharoah and cleopatra from another company, they seem to have transfered the rights and i must say the new company did a really good job. the only trouble with game is that the people are never satisfied, well... that's all real ain't it!? but hey! give me some slack, im playing the game for enjoyment, not to suffer the headaches of a pharoah ^_^

a snapshot :

view ontowards my pyramid(still under construction) an an obelisk built on my honor (hehe)

if i never saw her --

if i never met you...
if i never saw your face
this world...
this world would be a colder place i bet

haha! but still my GAWD! i saw this angel walking along emerald avenue, i thought wowow this woman really looks like NATALIE PORTMAN! (Read this: i watched "Closer") just strutting along there not minding anyone, wearing a baby blue baby tee, jeans, auburn hair (sigh...) i could just go on hehehe didn't she notice that all the faces just whew! WENT along with her stride, hehehe anyway my jaw didn't drop (i was able to hold it up until i was inside my building). this was... this was really a good day...

reminds me of the time i saw this woman inside the manila cathedral - - oh! just looked like jackie foster wish it was her (maybe it was her(wink), rambled about the woman for like about - - WEEKS! or months, tell me friends. i wish i had a dr. hitch (thanks verle for lending me the video)

lz

The First Hurdle - - Che-ECK!

woohoo! got the first hurdle! yeah! passed prelims woohoo! thank you to jerome for letting me borrow his F.R.I.E.N.D.S. DVD Collection ^_^ thank you!

i was watching tv the other day and found a new show that i like: Discovery's "Rides," nice, i really loved this pick-up truck they customized real nice, i hope i can have sumthin' like that in the future ^_^

Guilty Pleasure

Ms. Streisand's 61'st album is to be released on September 20th. She pairs once again with Mr. Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame for this album. Their first partnership, Guilty, is Ms. Streisand's highest selling album launching into No.1 on its first day of release. I hope this album achieves even half of the previous' success ^_^

Next week... exam week, I hope I do well, I hope I do very well ^_^

My Favorite TV Shows Nowadays

with a lot more time for R&R, i've caught on watching a lot of tv again. here are some of my favorite shows (in no particular order of importance) :

the nanny : (hallmark) i forgot how funny this show was, and with the numerous mentions of barbra, this is part of my everyday ritual

who's the boss (hallmark) : though i think this is already gone, i enjoy looking at their funny wardrobe and just love the character of mona, the sarcastic mother hehehe

american chopper (discovery) : love, just love this show, especially when paul sr and his brood are having arguments, love the motorcycles and the process of making them, this is just great

we built this city (discovery) : this is G.R.E.A.T great! i am in awe of how these great people transformed scrubland, marshes and/or whatever to the greatest cities in the world, and how they use technology to protect their city nowadays against the wrath of nature. london, paris, beautiful just beautiful and you'd be amazed at how they became the cities we know of

megastructures and frontlines of construction (nat-geo) : ain't i a frustrated builder!? hehehehe i really am, frustrated, city planner, architect, engineer. i hope i lived in the past so that i wouldn't have take a college course to build. well, i fulfill my dream by playing simcity4 rush hour, ceasar III, and other city building games ^_^

i watched this special yesterday in discovery which reminded me to make this list. it's about how the city of venice is trying to save the city from being buried in the sea. amazing... how they plan to do this, venice is just too beautiful to let the sea eat it

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (etc.) : carson's fashion tips are a blessing to any straight, gay or metrosexual's life, and it's always a treat to see them jumping like they're in tutus HAHAHAHAHA

friends : very funny... the cast is just great :) make's me miss my friends and wish we lived in a building just like monica, chandler, joey and rachel ^_^

well... let's see i can't think of anything more today so i think i'd continue to bore you sometime soon

Screen Protector - pfft! and my desktop

i bought a screen protector for my pocket pc yesterday. i cannot believe such a small piece of plastic would cost Php 500.00!! In US dollars (around $10) it wouldn't be that expensive but for filipinos!?

I've finally traced my desktop's problem, my friend Ryan C. was right, it IS one of the DDR memory modules i just recently bought (thanks ry). it's a shame, most retailers here do honor warranties, but on super-strict policies, i do not know why consumers here are not as protected as we deserve to be. Now I have to return AGAIN in that far-flung place just to be irritated by the under-educated technical staff.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

I could not resist... (a bit like voldemort) ^_^ I bought my copy of the Half-blood Prince yesterday and finished it at 2 am this morning, with the periodic break in between.

my reaction : SHOCKED! i am utterly stricken and stupefied! :D i expect some of you reading this might have not come to reading the book yet so i will not rob you of the surprise. i must say that this shocked reaction is not about the half-blood prince herself/himself anyway but of what comes at towards the end of the story...

for harry-potter followers... do not hesitate... read...

i cannot wait for the movie of this to come out, mostly because there will be so much kissing, i am already laughing by myself imagining Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe praising and worshiping Madam Rowling for writing in their favor HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (there, a little tease...)

lz

WHOA! WHOA! I have a new baby! 

lord, heal our land

this 5+ years old song really affected me a while ago (in church) after not hearing it for quite sometime, i think it's very appropriate for the country's current situation:

if my people will humble themselves,
humble themselves and pray
if they seek my face and humble themselves
turn from their wicked ways
i will hear from heaven and forgive their sins
i will hear from heaven and heal their land

lord heal our land father heal our land
hear our cry and turn our nation back to you
lord heal our land hear us o lord and heal our land
forgive our sins and heal our broken land

lord we bend our knees humble ourselves
humble ourselves and pray
lord we seek your face and humble ourselves
turn from our wicked ways
father in your mercy forgive our sins
father in your mercy come heal our land

lord heal our land father heal our land
hear our cry and turn our nation back to you
lord heal our land hear us o lord and heal our land
forgive our sins and heal our broken land

forgive our sins and heal our broken land!

words and music by tom and robin brooks

london here i come!

my lola was discharged yesterday afternoon. i was not able to personally talk with her doctor but my mom related the details of their conversation to me.

yesterday as i watched the live announcement being made as to who will have the honor of hosting 2012's summer olympics, i kept on wishing it would be london. well... i got my wish! and i vow to go to london on 2012 for the olympics! woohoo!

another trip to UST

i brought my grandmother last night to the ust emergency room because she was having chest pains. at first, i thought that it might be GER because as i asked her, there was no radiation of the pain and that she tasted something bitter earlier on. i had her brought to the hospital just to be sure, as only an ECG and a cardiac enzyme panel would confirm if she had MI.

the laboratories and the ECG results confirmed that she had an ischemic episode, she needed to be admitted. she was admitted to the UST CVU, and it is now that i see one of the reasons God gave me this time-out (^_^ you should see me now, im almost crying). i have a lot of free time now because i have to take care of my lola. she took care of me from since when and i think Mama Mary is telling me something, that i have yet more important responsibilities for the time being...

one of the best decisions of my life was transferring my lola to the care of Dr. Super Mario, i owe him a lot really. i think my former groupmates' and my great knowledge in cardio roots from him and that alone merits great gratitude, and now this... :-) God will bless him i know. and if ever you want great care hehehe i'm promoting him, he has a subspecialty on hypertension and atherosclerosis.

lz

for the benefit of the lay people :
GER - gastroesophageal reflux (heartburn)
MI - myocardial infarction (heart attack)
ECG - electrocardiogram
CVU - cardiovascular unit

jackfruits and mangoes

today, we went to my mom's friend's farm in rizal, even though the day did not start that well (the jeepney they rented got stuck in the mud because we went through a dirt road), everything worked out though. i was surprised how many produce we harvested, almost a dozen jackfruits, a lot of caimitos, santols, piñas and bannanas. i must say i enjoyed the experience and thought that i would want to retire doing something like that... eating what i plant and perhaps from time to time kill my cow to have some meat hehehe :-) tita caring, mom and i are thinking of putting up an orchid farm there... we will see...

i was surprised last night to see my left palatine tonsil to have a purulent material looking like tofu on it. i was first worried because in my experiences with tonsillitis before, none were like this: nonpainful and unilateral, so i thought they were polyps but looked at, of course, the blessing that is the internet, i saw that it was a bad case of strep tonsillitis, thank God.

Point of No Return

You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge,
in pursuit of that wish, which till now has been silent, silent . . .

now you are here with me: no second thoughts,
you've decided, decided . . .

Past the point of no return - no backward glances:
the games we've played till now are at an end . . .

Past all thought of "if" or "when" - no use resisting:
abandon thought, and let the dream descend . . .

What raging fire shall flood the soul?
What rich desire unlocks its door?
What sweet seduction lies before us . . .?

Past the point of no return, the final threshold -
what warm, unspoken secrets will we learn?
Beyond the point of no return . . .

Past the point of no return -no going back now:
our passion-play has now, at last, begun . . .

Past all thought of right or wrong -one final question:
how long should we two wait, before we're one . . .?

Past the point of no return the final threshold -
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn . . .

We've passed the point of no return . . .

-From the Phantom of the Opera

crumpled money

i was so embarassed... ^_^ forcing the ticket machine to eat my crumpled twenties hehehehe. after walking like one and a half kilometers from the nbi carriedo office to the lrt 2 recto station, i realized this would be the first time i ride this new public transportation. i entered the station immediately noticing the great difference from of course the ancient lrt and the more modern mrt 3. the station was spacious, and clean. i thought the escalators ran too slow but i think i must just have been in too much of a hurry. the next thing i had to do was figure out how to get the tickets because the old mass transits had tellers, this had ticket vendos. i finally got my ticket to araneta center cubao and arrived there after 30 minutes, it was then i realized that i had to walk to transfer trains (sigh). i hope everything was planned together so that walkways would not snake in and out of the buildings etc. well, i must admit, the lrt2 is a trophy for the filipinos, riding it was almost like going to japan ^_^ anyway i feel more of a filipino today having another experience under my belt

faithful in sin

me and my mom went to the basilica of the immaculate conception or the manila cathedral. once again, i basked in its peaceful beauty, and at its transept, layed the body of the cardinal. i saw in his face that he suffered a lot from his disease. i hope he has joined our father john paul ii and i believe that he will pray for our country, so that the peace he worked for may continue to reign.

i went to quiapo afterwards, navigating the narrow passages left by the epidemic of vendors and went up the escalator of a building which now serves as the nbi clearance center. i must admit, having experienced more worse procedures in this country, the quiapo experience relatively ran smooth. my nbi clearance however was not yet released, being a new applicant, i have to wait for it to be encoded... (sigh) well... the good things ended there. anyway, i applaud the efforts of the bureau to make their system more efficient. the payment for all kinds of clearances foreign or local was the same... good. the more expensive one is only for those who need it for naturalization blah blah, i believe that's good also, let those foreigners pay more hehehehe

I attended my nephew's 8th Birthday. Happy Birthday Ish! 

murky water furthers life

life abounds in the dark of the amazon, where fish almost blind search for food they couldn’t see. where carnivores flourish with just hope that the river of life will offer something on the next swish. yes. god provided everything. small fish big fish bigger reptile still, if knew the fish did that on the next flip his brethren catches him on her eager mouth, if knew the algae that littler sunlight will pass through on the onset of the rain, they’d stop struggling, they’d stop. but god gave them ignorance, unlike man which heads on foward, headstrong, unwary of challenges, obstacles but still i can see the intelligence of his design, of life, of the guppy, of the boa, weaved in the fabric of life where everybody struggles to be a colored embroidery of. and man like the turtle waddles slowly seeing the shore, where grass is plenty, and where she shall lay her eggs, carrying on the future, bringing forth the loves of her life out of the murkiness.

pictures from the archive 

the force is with me - - episode 1

here are some observations and details from readings about the star wars series.

i read somewhere that anakin was immaculately concieved (hehehe). watching episode 1 again yesterday, i heard anakin's mother talking that there was no father and how qui gon related to the jedi council that indeed the boy might have been conceived by the medicholreans well...

when the emperor touched the burnt anakin on the forehead he calmed down (ROTS) there were people saying that this was an act of compassion from the evil emperor but i don't think so... relating to obi-wan's touching luke (ANH) and qui gon touching jar-hjar (PM) i would think of it as the emperor using the force to ease anakin's pain

and i must express my remorse over what happened in revenge of the sith. it is really sad to see anakin succumb. he asked for master yoda's advice, and he did not listen. i do not know if master yoda did know what will come about. but had anakin followed his advice and not seek the cure for padme, he would have not himself choked her:-(

>>more to come

the kind clerk

i did see hope in the face of this one clerk. i saw that, in the midst of these people who seemingly are oblivious that they are in an emergency room, laughing, feasting on tsismis about the others who are working on patients, there are still people who go out of their way to make a patient, even though not suffering that much, comfortable.

the fear of pain may bring more suffering than pain itself. who wants to wait for their judgement hearing people giggling, not knowing what awaits them. it seems that the hospital system here in this country does not give a damn what the stamp RUSH means. what do you say is the difference of a laboratory exam result needed by the ER stamped with rush and that of an outpatient coming in for perhaps cough, a LOT, a whole damned lot, and it seems to me that both are processed in the same speed with the same priority. this saddens me. the way how they approach their obligations... finishing their conversation on the intercom about nba scores while an emergency room patient relative (me) waits for him to attend to him. this makes me really sad, this is the place where i am going to work in the near future and this is the kind of help we extend to people...

i do hope more people are fed with fire of the holy spirit to touch others the way how this one single clerk gave me hope. to trust that not everyone has become too miserable to care...

bolinao - - a series of photographs

what could be more soothing than lying on a bamboo raft looking at a half-moonlit sky, the moon, feeling the wonderful ocean breeze, hearing the giggling of your cousins and sibling and feeling the soft drizzle on you body... for me... nothing more (yet)

we were fetched early thursday by our hosts auntie lita and uncle alex and traveled on the new philippine pride: the north luzon expressway. the road's so smooth now you can drink an open cup of coffee without spilling it all over your crotch haha + at the pampanga-bulacan border we saw a wonderful phenomena 

we arrived at our destination after what seemed like traveling forever passing by several sea side towns and some centuries old churches. we were greeted by a sad-faced trillanes, sentinel to the beachfront property who understands only chavacano (this really made me grin) 

we unpacked and the elders prepared our meal while we rested i scanned the property, saw the cottage where ruffa gutierrez stayed during her filming of 'pinakamagandang babae sa balat ng lupa' i looked around the newly constructed beach house fronting the ocean.  

i can get used to this hahaha and what i really appreciated were the 1.5 foot thick barandillas of the azotea (i could lie anywhere!) 

we ate and the kids hit the beach afterwards while i waited eagerly for the sunset (this is the chance to practice again) and i think i did well enough to post it here ^_^ 

we ate dinner outside: ate ruth's barbecue and uncle alex's fishes were mmm just exquisite 

the next day after breakfast... 

we rode the caretaker's pickup to enchanted cave, a subterranean lake that was featured in tv a few weeks back. the water's temperature was divine and we dipped alone until a few annoying people disturbed us 

i photographed my second beautiful sunset and lied on the raft waiting for the evening meal... then it rained... then it poured... it rained like there was no tomorrow and this was of course a chance to sing and dance in the rain hahahahaha "you'll never know just how much i love you, you'll never know just how much i care, and if i try i still couldn't hide my love for you, you'll never know for haven't i told you so, a million or more times..." don't know why i chose that song well anyway we woke up the next morning and said our goodbyes and hit the road 

i thank our hosts uncle alex and auntie lita :-) for the wonderful time in bolinao 

digital fortress

i read my latest dan brown novel and i have been itching to make this review for the past few days i've been out of town.

the first thing i noticed : (with mr. brown's indulgence) "it is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake." someone died... AGAIN... as with all his novels mr brown seems to be following a well written formula and though i was disappointed at the onset, i tried to remember one of my favorite novels angels and demons and the similar the da vinci code, everything inside could be something i have not yet discovered about science... religion... the digital age.. well... there were things that i did not really know yes i'll give that to mr. brown but overall really, i am disappointed that mr. brown has not met my expectation. not after i have read his 'better' novels.

i thought for a moment why i would lean to angels and demons and the da vinci code... hmmm... is it because i am interested in religion? yet i am also really interested in the web, computers and the like... i surmised it must have not been me but the author... i ask you for your comments on how you rate this dan brown book so i may continue on evaluating my feelings...

erratum + auntie lita

i was reading my last post and oh my dear God! it was awful! i really apologize for my grrrrrramatical garbage hehehe i often check everything before i publish it but the heat must've taken over me... but no excuse... i'll try better next time

btw... i already corrected them hehehe

we came back from a handaan in my auntie lita's house. of course it was good food (as always) and tsimisan among the mommies group. we were joined by our neighbor tita lita (yep...) because she wanted to see my auntie lita's newly done attic because she is planning on having her roof repaired and my mom suggested she take this opportunity to expand her space.

i am thinking myself of having our own attic since our roof was designed for it actually. i've been inside and there might be like 10 feet high space inside our ceiling because of the soaring roof lines my ninong designed. all we have to do is to modify a little bit, add dormers, insulation and furniture and i have more book space hehehe ^_^ well... magiipon na lang ako for my OWN space (nyak)

lz

tin-tin's blog + rearrangin' my shelves

i got to the task of REarranging my shelves at home and of course i did not finish... i ended up having the worst sneezing fits of my life... well i have yet to finish it.

i took on this task because of the unorganized fashion of my shelves, not that they are displeasing to the eyes but because they are not grouped according to their subject matter but by their time of arrival to the library. i finished arranging (i hope... if will not discover more books in the back shelves of their kin) the botany and microbiology section of the library. sigh... i hope i get finished before classes start.

btw...

i found tin's blog on friendster. you're welcome tin :-) it's a pleasure helping you professor

lz

last thought before i sleep

looking through my pictures this night + i realized one thing + sigh... + im gaining my weight back + weight i worked hard for to loose for how many months + mmm... i think i have to start to heat up my program again and as a tool i think ill make a weekly weight count here so i'll see my progress + ok mark today i am 155 lbs + i hope i'll achieve my IBW with the help of God :-)

This is for Robert... I know you wanna see the Muñoz Overpass... naalala ko when we passed by from Trisha's debut and I had my camera within my reach... sorry though for the blurriness nasa kotse kami and besides i think it added to the effect (diba!?). hindi ko alam kung naabutan mo ang 2nd jollibee sa muñoz (notice on the right side, left side kung anatomical position hehe) 24 hours yan kalaban ng mcdo... remember mcdo? perhaps we'll see each other in a mcdo near you sometime in the future... God bless us, and may God's Holy Spirit be always with us especially when we make decisions... magandang gabi sa lahat ^_^ 

at nakatikim din ako ng TURON! in fairness... masarap ang turon nila 

Sa wakas! natupad na ang pinapangarap ko :-) makatikim ng kape sa Manila Hotel... and the verdict... lasang kape ^_^  

with all there is - - why settle for just a piece of sky?

"where... where is it written what it is i'm meant to be?..." the opening lines of what became one of my most favorite songs (of course nothing tops somewhere over the rainbow - for me that is). the enchanting timbre of the strings and the flowing music carries you slowly upward towards the climax... "papa watch me fly!!!" a 13 seconds D3 note that leaves you thinking... was that looped? i bet she'd never able to manage do it live... (yet she did! before the release of the movie "yentl" she played the soundtrack for her friends for comment. they said "oh... i bet that was looped," :-) touched a heartstring, the voice started singing and finished "a piece of sky" live, all at the dinner table was mesmerized...)

this was my first REAL encounter of who became my most respected singer. i searched online who sung this song and its origins. i discovered. barbra joan streisand. hmmm i previously knew this singer via the single most popular pop (how redundant can you get!?) song she did - - i finally found someone (tell him wasn't made yet) and her constant political bickering. i started to research on her and how was she able to do that song. and soon i was realizing that wasn't even a taste.

i discovered a few more months later - - she was the first woman ever to achieve all four major awards - oscar, tony, grammy, emmy - and the first woman recognized by the directors guild of america as best director... for the same movie where the song i am talking about comes from. she is also the highest female record seller ever and in the last few years has upstaged a few more others to become the third highest overall just behind the beatles and his highness king elvis.

i am humbled by her achievements - - from a humble beginning in brooklyn wearing clothes from thrift shops working her way up - - bitch and all. and all the while being the insecure and stage frightened girl she always was.

the longest note she ever held officially is from an unreleased song "make our garden grow" (23 seconds) and if you listen closely you will notice that she had still more to let out if needed (btw, i have a recording of this). she was asked during her early years, "how are you able to do that?" "i hold a note as long as i want to." will power sets her apart. but not only will obviously brought millions if not billions on her doorstep riding the early waves of the money market when e-bay, amazon and other net corps were just starting. she was able to make her friend donna karan's $100,000 into $160M (if i remember correctly) in a month's period playing with the market 2 hours every morning.

a lot lot more can be said and told about this woman who i just totally admire for her achievements and i just cannot continue on just from memory. recently rediscovering one of her songs, she made me realize that "there are no mistakes... just lessons to be learned"

lz

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum
benedicta tuae in mulier ibus.
Et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus.

Sancta Maria mater Dei, ora pro nobis
peccatoribius et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen.

lz

thought you might want to recite the Hail Mary in latin sometimes :-)

my friend philip did me a great favor! he touched streisand's star for me! thanks philip!