I was reading Dr. Harold J. Sala's column today and the first sentence of his article Your Trouble and a Good God, really spoke to me, "God works in and through the difficulties and problems that confront you in ways unknown to you. You only realize later on, in retrospect, how God was actually working in your situation" - because that is exactly how I feel whenever I confront my own problems.
The past month has not been easy for me and my business but for some fantastic reason, each and every problem was solved - even if it meant being solved at the nick of time! I did whatever I could to solve the problems and I guess God just opened doors for me by introducing people to me who can help me solve these troubles. It really felt so great! I didn't feel that I was alone in solving these problems! Praise the Lord talaga!
I'm a big fan of Tom Hanks since I've seen him start off in comedy (Bachelor's Party) and eventually become a two time Oscar winner for Forrest Gump and Philadelphia. I am now watching a horror movie in TCM called He Knows You're Not Alone and I was very surprised to see him in it! It's his first movie pala ever! He has a very short scene in it, maybe just 3 minutes but you can already sense his star appeal by his presence and the way he speaks! He's just really great! And yeah the movie is super scary! I was really scared!
Our
yoga teacher asked us to do a head stand in class today. The steps to
doing it look easy but I'm not sure if my shoulders and arms are strong
enough to carry my butete body! But if this guy here can do it - and he
looks much older than me - then maybe there's hope - I do have to lose a
few poundage in my gut though - a strong core really helps to raise the
feet vertically! Hay ang matanda nag-aambisyon pa!
The so-called sculpture art in Bonifacio High Street is really one big yawn! What if they put buildings like these as installation art, it would be pretty exciting!!
I was having lunch today when I watched this show in the Lifestyle Channel called What Not to Wear. They were featuring this lady firefighter who was on the tomboyish side and the show's style gurus were trying to teach her to add a shade of femininity to her sense of style.
Well, since the show's style gurus were very good, and not too intrusive, they made a changeover in the lady firefighters sense of style. She was so happy with what she learned that she said this, "I can't stop smiling cos' the future looks so bright!" - which really brought a smile to my face!
I was not exactly having a great week myself due mainly to the poor sales the past three weeks. Frankly, I was this close to having a mini-heart attack, but the last few days have once again brought great promise since sales have started to pick up, thank God!
We really have our "off-days" so it's important to have that feeling, "I can't stop smiling cos' the future looks so bright!" Otherwise, it's so easy to be grounded down and adopt that defeated attitude of hopelessness and quiet despair - and I don't want that - since I know I'm good at what I do - and I've always learned that we get the fruits of our labor soon enough - if we just work hard and we work smart!
Kudos to that young lady firefighter for that infectious optimism - it really made my day!
Well, it's Friday again, time to check my top ten favorite TV shows for the week ending October 26, 2012.
#1 Nat Geo - 24 Hours After Hiroshima
I was having my lunch when I saw this beautiful documentary on what happened to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped on it. I actually cried tears when I saw what happened. It was just really heartbreaking. I really hope to visit Hiroshima one of these days.
#2 PBO: Bituing Walang Ningning
I have never actually seen this classic Sharon Cuneta movie as a whole movie. I saw it being aired at PBO channel and I was somewhere in the middle, right before Cherie Gil showed her true colors. Love the film! Really a classic!
#3 TV5 Monde - 360-Geo - Iwahig
It took a documentary in French TV for me to learn about the life of our fellow Pinoy prisoners in the Iwahig Penal Colony in Palawan. Very well made docu, I cried watching this!
#4 Lifestyle Network - What Not to Wear - firefighter
It's hard to change someone else's sense of style in dressing up but the guy and the lady here in What Not to Wear did an incredible job in changing the sense of style of this lady firefighter who was a bit tomboyish and didn't like looking too feminine.
#5 TV5Monde - Les Bleues
I love this French cop series. Lots of eye candy, not so stressful to watch! For this episode, one of the cops bust a fight club ring.
#6 AXN - Amazing Race 21
In this episode, the participants are in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the schoolteachers were eliminated because they were U-turned twice, poor guys!
#7 Jack TV - Glee 4: Britney Bitch
Well, the cast of Glee do Britney's songs again! I love how they sing '3'!
#8 Talk TV - Titans: Hugh Hefner
It was very interesting to know how Hugh Hefner started Playboy. I learned a lot of things from this guy!
#9 Crime Investigation - American Greed: The Black Widows
These two despicable grannies kill homeless men and cash in on their insurance policies! They, of course, insure the guy before they kill him! Such evil women!
#10 Nat Geo - Scam City: Buenos Aires
OMG! I don't think I'm going to Buenos Aires after seeing this show! Or I should be just aware and not look like a tourist!
While we were waiting for Laura and Dylan's choral recitation today, Vic and I decided to eat at this restaurant in Katipunan called Saint Alp's Tea House. We decided to eat in a new place since we were familiar already with the food of the other restos in the building. Anyway, I found the items a bit pricey. We paid around 600++ for food and tea - something which an ordinary college student, I think, would not be able to afford.
I ordered the Taiwanese marinated minced pork and for its size, I think it was pricey too and I didn't quite warm up to its Taiwanese timplada. Ditto for the Oreo Milk Tea I ordered. I found it too bland because I normally prefer it really sweet. However, the place has a very laidback and cool ambience so it's really the perfect place to just chill while you're waiting for someone. Maybe I should try something else on my next visit.
I'm currently checking my Statcounter stats and I came across tv patrol/james blanco as a keyword. I googled it but I did not find anything ties in one with the other. Anyway, James appeared in the last Cosmo Bachelor's Bash so I instead looked for some pics of his from that great show! He's definitely yum yum!
If I were a Social Studies or a Christian Living teacher nowadays, especially for a high school class, or even a college class, my main project for the semester would be to ask my students to use the social network to do a good deed. It has happened several times before, when this girl gave her jacket to this girl cold from the rain, and this guy who posted this picture of an MMDA sweeper who needed medical attention for his diseased feet.
Since most of my students naman will most likely be in Facebook or Twitter, mabuti pa to use their time there for a good cause.
As to what their project will be, I will leave it to them. Basta how they will be graded will depend on the originality of their idea, their ability to help other people and the sensitivity they used in using the medium to reach out to other people.
I was reading this interesting interview with Erwan Heusaff today and he mentioned that he and his sister are both racing to reach the most countries they've visited. Solenn is at 45 while Erwan is at 42.
Unfortunately, I don't have that mindset and I would rather visit familiar places rather than seeing a new country.
That should change next year. Starting next year, I vow to visit at most three new countries every year - Erwan style!
Well, anyway, let me see, these are the countries I have already been to and should not be traveled to unless very necessary - like watching a concert or a tennis tournament - but of course!
#1 China
#2 Thailand
#3 Singapore
#4 Malaysia
#5 Norway
#6 Sweden
#7 Denmark
#8 France
#9 UK
#10 Japan
#11 Bahrain
OMG, I have been to some of these countries more than twenty times yet I've only been to 11 countries in the world. What a sorry list.
Ok now that I am aware of this shortcoming, I have decided to add more countries to this list by next year.
Tops of course is the US, where I'll have a reunion next year. Then I'd love to traipse around Central America, maybe add Costa Rica to the list.
Within Asia, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam are the most obvious and easy choices!
So that's 5 already for 2013! Ok na yun, tapos add another batch for the year after that, and so on and so forth!
I came across an article today exalting the miracles that happened to people's lives because they were devotees of Mother Mary and they prayed the rosary everyday. My tale though is less dramatic than what these people have experienced - since most of them survived a bus tragedy and the other, the Payatas landslide. My concerns are more mundane and are more rooted on simple requests and I've been lucky yet not having to ask God's help to spare my life.
I remember my Work Education teacher in high school express surprise and admiration when he saw I had a rosary in my pencil case. In high school kasi, I also wore a crucifix necklace made of wood, something which my sister gave me. Looking back, I actually viewed it more as a fashion accessory as well as wearing my faith on my sleeve - like literally. The truth was, our lives that time were in such turmoil, wearing that close to my heart was like my anting-anting.
These past few months I have returned to praying the rosary once again, everyday. It's actually the first thing I do when I wake up. Sabi nga nila, unahin si Lord, so pwes, pagkagising Siya agad inaatupag ko, by just praying the rosary. It's actually meditative and it serves to lessen the stresses of my daily concerns. Also, it allows me to verbalize aloud what things are really bugging me that day. That way, I feel I'm not alone with my problems and that someone out there is sharing my burden.
Yes, I can really, truly, testify to the little miracles praying the rosary has given me. In a way, this daily communication with God through Mary has saved my ass many times over. My life right now is like walking with one foot on solid ground and the other on a quicksand and in any given day, the quicksand could easily gobble me up. Thankfully, that hasn't happened yet - basically through the sheer force of prayer and faith in God. I know it sounds corny but it works!
I will not go into details about my requests because they are trivial compared to what ordinary Filipinos are asking but I realized that God loves us all and He does not think our struggles are trivial - so really guys, just surrender your concerns to Him and also pray to Mama Mary to ease your daily burden.
Today, she eased once again one of my heavy burdens and I am really grateful. Once again, she has saved me from sinking into that quicksand! I've learned that God populates this earth with His angels who come in the form of our friends and family.
Now that we're coming out with our first magazine, I chanced upon watching a Titans show in the Talk Channel, featuring Playboy magazine publisher, Hugh Hefner. The guy is really a giant and a pioneer! Imagine releasing Playboy in the 19-freakin'-50s!! Of course, if you released a smut magazine now, nobody would raise a hoot - but to release that kind of gentleman's magazine in that conservative decade, well, that needed a lot of guts. I think that's what I still lack nowadays. Guts and a creative vision.
In the TV feature, Hefner had those - lots of it! He has given the managing reigns of his publishing empire to the experts but has retained the creative control. As it should be. Playboy is his baby. And he's 84 now!! Imagine that! I would be happy to live up to 60 but to add another 25 years to that - must be the daily dose of youthful endorphins that he gets hehe
Well, I guess that should be our goal these next few months, to steer FABE into some sort of creative vision and that our readers can get something from the magazine. If we are able to achieve even 1% of what Hef had done, I would be very happy!
When Malala was shot a few weeks ago, I wasn't able to immediately post a blog article about it although I did express my disgust and shock through Facebook. However, tonight, I read an even sickening article insinuating that Malala was shot by the US as a publicity stunt against the Taliban! OMG, sometimes we think of the devil as some farfetched supernatural being but the actions of groups like the Taliban resemble exactly what evil is - shooting hapless teenage girls who just want to avail of the basic human right - education - to be able to read, write, count and express oneself and achieve one's dreams and potential!
The funny thing is Playboy or pornography don't hold a candle to the viciousness of the Taliban's hatred for women. For the Taliban, women are just, well, sexual vessels - just for sex. Don't educate them, keep them dumb and stupid and make them the man's slaves in their harem - under their beck and call. That's exactly what's going to happen if they don't educate their women!
I stand up with the rest of the civilized world supporting Malala and her incredible courage. I don't know how she's holding up now but her courage is unfathomable. September 11 was sickening enough, this incident comes very close.
It was quite surprising to discover two interesting movies while I was channel surfing this week. I haven't cried watching a movie for sometime now, but I did just that in Listen To Your Heart, a movie which I saw on Velvet this week. It's my favorite TV show/movie of the week.
Here are my favorite shows on TV this week ending October 19, 2012 -
#1 Velvet - Listen to your Heart - this movie about a deaf woman finding love made me cry this week even if it was melodrama at its purest. Did I say that someone dies of cancer here too?
#2 HBO - Take Me Home Tonight- Watching this movie was a lot of fun! I loved the music and Topher Grace and Anna Faris were just hilarious in it!
#3 HBO -Life's too Short -I love this episode where Sting has Warrick Davis dragged out of his charity dinner. Hilarious!
#4 ETC - Glee Season 4 - I think this is one of the first episodes of this new season. I forgot how enjoyable this show arranges all these contemporary songs! They sang It's Time by Imagine Dragons.
#5 Jack - Grimm - Grimm can sometimes be scary and sometimes absurd but their episode this week completely threw me off! The child was the killer and not the parents!
#6 CNN - Talk Asia - This week, this talk show talks to Japanese mountain climber Tamae Watanabe who climbed Mt. Everest at the young age of 73! And she's such a jolly person!
#7 Crime Investigation - American Greed - I rarely get to watch this show - di ko matiming! However, I saw this episode where they featured this high-powered New York lawyer who stole money from his clients using fake hedge funds!
#8 CNN - Inside Africa - I love this show! This week, they were in the beautiful island of Zanzibar.
#9 Bio - Celebrity Ghost Stories - I think I've watched already all the incarnations of this show except this one, which talked to the actress who was in the updated version of the Amityville Horror. Really gave me goosebumps!
#10 National Geographic - Scam City- This week, the show went to Delhi in India and it showed an interesting side to Delhi - that you can fake your own death and get a death certificate and claim your insurance payment - a get rich quick scheme!
Here are my top 10 favorite shows that I watched this week -
#1BBC World - One Day in London
I discovered an interesting feature show in BBC World entitled One Day and every week, they feature a city from all over the world. This week, they featured London. I miss London so much and everything the feature story said was true about the place - its multiculturalism, its pluralistic appeal in fashion and the arts, among other things.
#2 Jack - American Horror Story
I really have to watch this series weekly! It's amazingly frightening, I love it!
#3 AXN -The Amazing Race
The 21st season of the Amazing Race just started and I'm already rooting for the Chippendales!
#4 Diva Universal - Hot in Cleveland
Not all of Hot in Cleveland's episodes work, but the one where they had Susan Lucci, love that!
#5 Diva Universal - Suburgatory
I was drawn to this show because I saw Alicia Silverstone, of Clueless fame, and she was pregnant - a surrogate! That's where all the complications start.
#6 ABS-CBN -
Storyline: Birth
I love this show by Patricia Evangelista. It talks about ordinary people and their struggles. This week, they featured two mothers, one is a teenager giving birth, while the other has one child with disabilities and a dead one! Prepare your tissue paper!
#7 Diva Universal - Suburgatory
They showed two episodes back to back so I watched the next one. Jeremy Sisto here is hot hot hot!
#8 Diva Universal -Hot in Cleveland
In this episode, one of the sisters make out with David Gates but not the one from Bread!
#9 Crime Investigation -Evil Up Close: Motorway Rapist
I wasn't able to watch too many CI shows this week but I will make amends for that soon as I come back.
#10 Screen Red - Man of Vendetta
A terrifying horror story from Japan!
I wasn't able to watch much TV this week since I was in KL, so these were the only shows I watched this week.
#1 National Geographic - Scam City Bangkok
#2 National Geographic - Wild Case Files
#3 Velvet - Big Rich Texas
Well, it's not exactly street food since the stall was inside the Monorail station but the food was still good and of course, to go! I loved their sliced guava and you can add a pinch of salt - super yum yum! And then the corn with butter and salt was super yum yum as well! We went back to the same stall the next day and bought the same things, for a second round of eating!
I
am not really an ichthyologist but outing Nemo and his fish brethren
can easily be done if they were placed in this aquarium for studies in
finding the homosexual gene in fishes (what purpose in science that
could contribute, I wouldn't be able to fathom). Pag palaging naka face
towards the glass si Nemo, confeermed!
We are now in the last lap of our layout and finishing touches for the first issue for the FABE magazine - but definitely Dominic Roque, John Spainhour and Jose Sarasola are going to be featured there. Expect some sexy photos of the John and Jose and cute pics of the young teen heartthrob, Dominic, who plays Hubert in the top-rated teleserye, Aryana.
After sampling Indonesian food the night before, Marin Escudero and his wife Ainun Kamaliah Ismail, whisked Mama and I off (in grand style mind you - in a Volvo baby!!) to the suburb of Subang Jaya, into this interesting seafood restaurant where we sampled Malaysian style cooking! It was about a 30-minute drive from the center of Kuala Lumpur, and I had a first glimpse of the daily Kuala Lumpur night commute home. Well, driving here is really a breeze compared to the hither-dither driving we have to suffer through passing EDSA daily!
We arrived kinda late for our dinner since Mama and I had to freshen up a bit when Marin Escudero picked us up in the hotel plus the drive so I had to apologize profusely since Marin's family and Pierre Najeeb were already there waiting for us. Marin and Ai's two delightful daughters were also there!
As for Malaysian cooking, well, it's a bit different from how we Pinoys cook our food. It is certainly more spicy than what we are used to here, but the similarities include our use of coconut milk in our soups and banana leaves in our presentation of the food (I guess to lock in the flavor of the food). I especially loved the fish soup where they put coconut milk. They did not use it sparingly like what you taste in Manila restaurants, you could really savor it as you sip the soup and add to that the tender meat of the fish, what's not to like about it! Yun lang, I forgot to take down the names of each of the viands. I was famished already beyond belief so that flew out of the window pretty fast!
My other favorite dish was the squid barbeque style! Tamang-tama lang ang pagka barbecue sa kanya. It was meaty and tasty at the same time!
I had to avoid the crabs since Mama was there and she did not want me to have an allergy attack but I still ate (rather scraped) the tops of the crabs. I forgot what it was (Marin mentioned it to me) but it was salty and tasty, much like eating crab eggs or a variation of caviar.
It was certainly a seafood feast nonpareil and even if all we ate were fish and squid and veggies - ay super super busog pag-uwi! Yum yum!!
