Cool Site

Some websites are really awesome while others are just plain boring. Yesterday out of boredom, I blog hopped and found this simple yet outlandish website. Death Clock tells you when you are going to die and it has a timer that tells you how many seconds you have left. You can also create your will, obituary, testament and other stuff. It's creepy yet ludicrous but spanking cool nonetheless. According to the site, my death arrives in 2068. I will be 83 years old by then. Sheesh.. I don't want to die that old. I don't want to see myself incapable of wiping my own ass after defecating or wearing adult diapers.

Scared To Death

Last night before going home after my shift ended, I went to the nearest carenderia in my place to fill in my hungry stomach. However, something happened that scared the life out of me.

Inside the eatery, I spotted two guys eating together, they seemed to be friends and one of them, a tall, mascular and brown skinned guy caught my attention. Despite that manly build, he appeared gay to me because of the way he was seated. He is such a huge gay guy, my mind had uttered.

I've ordered a food to be taken out and while I was waiting for it to be served, a man bumped behind me. Glancing towards his direction, I saw him headed towards his motorbike and it seemed he was saying something offensive but which I vaguely understood. All of a sudden, the gay guy stood up and confronted him. Based on his reaction, it appeared he was furious and in bellicose mood. I miscontrued him to be gay. Both of them were in a heated argument and within a moment, the ungracious man grabbed something from the ground. My knees shoke when I saw a half sized hollow block on his hand. The commotion intensified when the companion of that misconstrued gay guy picked up an equally huge hollow block. Imagining huge hollow blocks flying in the air, blood splattering all over the place gave me goose bumps and scared me to death.

Good thing that before the bloody fight erupted, the equally frightened tindera handed my food. Without batting an eyelash, I immediately grabbed the plastic container and walked as fast and as furtive as I can away from them. It gave me a sigh of relief. Few meters away from the fight scene, screams reverberated and bystanders not so distant came flocking.

Such incident really freaks me out.

Reunited

I took a leave from the hurly-burly of the metropolis to attend to my older sister's wedding and to be with my beloved folks. Though I encountered a lot of predicaments prior to it, my vacation was worthwhile and it even served as a catharsis.

The days preceeding my vacation were really tough. I lost my wallet and an inconceivable petty event took place that had me missed my flight. I had rebooked it but I was charged more than twice from the original cost of the ticket. That was too much but I accepted it without any complaints as I was in dire need to be home before the actual date of the wedding. Those incidence were melancholic and had almost left me at the verge of giving up but it never thwarted me from going home.

Seeing some of my relatives and my mother waiting for me outside the airport smothered all the nostalgia and plights that life had dished out on me. My mom's presence filled me with so much joy that I immediately hugged her tightly. Me, my mom and my two sisters are not really that close. We don't bond and talk that much like most siblings and their mother would normally do. My two sisters are home buddies while I am always out of the house and spend most of my time hanging out with my friends. Though we are not expressive and showy about how much we care and love one another, deep inside we know we love each other more than anybody else.

Being away from them because of my work made me value every moment I have with my family. So when I came home, I took the moment to show to them how much they mean to me. I didn't do it by saying I love you. Honestly, I feel ashamed in uttering those words and I haven't said it to anyone yet even to my dearest friends. I did it by simply starting a conversation with them and enjoying every second of it. If before I used to eat my meals in front of the television, this time I spent it with them and discussed anything under the sun. I swear, it brought me so much happiness by just doing it. It made me realize that what's lacking in our family is conversation.

Beside talking to them as often as I can, I also did most of the household chores especially washing the dishes. When I was a student, household chores were one of the reasons of fights in our house. I was so lazy that I always whined and stomped my feet as loud as I can whenever my mom asked me to do a certain task. I would even malingered to shirk my assigned chores. Now that I've grown up and realized how I love my family, I've done almost all chores in the house excluding the laundry. hehehe.. Those were the things I did that I thought would strengthen the bond between us. And I believe it worked as we've already shared our secrets and plans for our future.

My sister's wedding was succesful and that especial event was filled with bliss and merriments. The happiness I felt seeing my sister walked the aisle of the church going to the altar with my mom on her side transcended all the mishaps that had befallen on me. That moment made me realize that happiness can only be pleasurable and meaningful if it was felt after a series of frustrations and pains. And those strings of mishap happened to me to measure how far I would go, how long I would endure and how much I would sacrifice just to be with my family.

The vacation only lasted for 8 days. It was really short but I savored every moment I spent with my family and I will cherish those wonderful memories with them. This Christmas and New Year, I have planned to visit them again and this time, I'll make sure it would be longer than this.

Charlie Bit Me

My friend showed me this hilarious video from youtube and I instantly liked it. I've played it over and over again but I still can't get enough of it. I just couldn't help myself from drooling how cute these little boys are especially the younger one. They are irresistibly cuddly. I want to kiss and hug them tenderly and pinch their lovely cheeks.

The older brother has a funny voice and British accent. I just love the way how he said "ouch" and "Charlay bit me", it's like a music in my ears and the look on his face when he said it from 0:21 to 0:23 is priceless. And Charlie is indubitably the cutest baby I have ever seen on TV or Internet. His bald, huge head and his smile are adorable. He looks so fragile yet I want to pinch him till he cries. I just love the way how he giggled when his brother was hurting. How I wish I could have kids as cute and adorable as Charlie and his big brother.

Here's the video.

Skyscrapers

I really have this fascination with skyscrapers. Whenever I pass by around a tall building, I could not help myself from staring at it and appreciate its hugeness and magnificence. I am still astounded how these humungous structures were erected and how they were built to withstand mother earth's fury. Despite its adverse effects in the ecosystem and contribution in global warming, skyscrapers for me, are still a masterpiece and definitely one of the manifestations of man's ingenuity and a telltale of human civilization.

Here are some photos of world class skyscrapers:

Burj Dubai Empire State Building

Petronas Towers

Sears Tower Taipei 101 PBCom Tower

Intel to Pull Out?

I've read a news article online and this is something really bad for our economy. Intel, which employs more than 3,000 Filipinos and has invested $1.51 billion, is pondering on withdrawing its operations in the Philippines due to our country's high cost of electricity. Though this bad news is not yet certain, Intel has 6 to 9 months to decide whether to pursue in retreating their operations in our country or not.

I just hope they would go for the latter as this retreat will have a negative impact in our economy. My compassion goes out to their Filipino employees who will bear the brunt by this said pull-out especially now that prices of commodities have skyrocketed. May the Intel officials, despite the staggering high cost of electricity in our country, would realize that Filipinos are hard-working, dedicated and talented workers and may this realization aids their decision regarding the fate of their site in the Philippines.

Unscrupulous Taxi Drivers

I had another encounter with an unscrupulous taxi driver just yesterday while me and my friends headed to a comedy bar in Quezon City. I'm pretty sure most people have their share of bad experiences with them too.

We hailed a taxi along the intersection of East Avenue - Edsa and before we hopped in, I told the driver our destination. He responded saying "Sa Laffline sa Timog?" to clarify. I replied in confirmation by saying "Opo" and the four of us got in thinking he knows where to take us. There are two ways on how he can get to Laffline, he can go straight ahead to Timog where GMA is located or he can take Kamuning road via Edsa. Since the red light was on on the way to Timog, he veered to the left and took Edsa. Presuming that he would take the other route, I closed my eyes and took the moment to take a nap and relaxed.

The driver should turn right from Edsa once we reach the Edsa-Kumuning intersection. Since I didn't feel any motion of turning, I opened by eyes and to my surprise, we are already past Kamuning. I blurted out "Kuya diba sa Timog tayo, bat di ka lumiko sa kanan?" The driver retorted sarcastically by saying "Bat di mo sinabi?" (It's as if it was my fault) The cool that I am, I ignored his sardonic reply and just said "Okay, mag u-turn na lang tayo sa may Cubao". He uttered "San yun?". Hearing those words sent volts of anger to my brain and I became belligerent. I ranted at him. "Di niyo ba alam yong way or niloloko mo lang kami?!! Kanina sinabi niyo di ko sinabi kung saan kami papunta. Anong di sinabi, sinabi ko yon bago kami sumakay. Kung di mo alam yong way, sana sinabi mo na lang sa simula ng mabigyan ko kayo ng direction at ikaw pa tong galit." He continued on running his car. I asked him to stop. We got off the taxi, paid him nothing and slammed the door. This driver's style of shenanigan was so lame. It's conspicuous that he was just pretending that he wasn't familiar with the place.

That was not the only bad experience I had with a "mandurugas at gagong" taxi driver. The very first encounter I had was 2 years ago. I was already late for my first day of training that time. Since I was new to the place, I took a cab and told the driver the address that I obviously read from a piece of paper. He must have come to realize that I was not familiar with the place so the crooked taxi driver took advantage of my innocence by driving me in circles around Ortigas Center before he sent me to my destination. I ended up paying 80 pesos. Few days thereafter, I realized that our office was just few walks away from where I hailed him. The cost would have been only around 30-40 pesos.

Another one happened at Landmark in Makati City. After a friend of mine was done with her shopping, we went outside the mall and looked for a taxi. Since we are desperately in need for one as we have to run some important errands, we did not bother to fall in line at the taxi stand. We saw a taxi parked not so far away from where we were standing and we approached it. I told the driver our destination, he nodded and we got in. The driver fired up the engine and the taxi moved. However, he didn't turn on the meter. I told him "Kuya paki on naman ng metro". "Ay hindi kami gumagamit ng metro", he retorted. It was okay with me as long as we can get to our destination on time. "Magkano po ba singil ninyo?", I asked. "150 pesos", he answered. I was taken aback with what he said that I immediately told him to stop the car and whined, "ang lapit lang nun, tapos 150 pesos yong singil niyo. 50 pesos lang kaya ang bayad namin dun. Itigil mo bulok na taxi mo at bababa kami". We got off and to retaliate, we left the door open and ran away giggling. This driver was asking exorbitantly.

These unscrupulous taxi drivers need to be punished in whatever way possible. They may have swindled just a small amout of money but still they are cheating and their deception is utterly vile. They are no different to corrupt politicians. I may sound harsh and cruel but I always wish that these wicked and greedy predators will end up being robbed by their passengers or worse catch an accident while they are travelling on their taxi alone looking for another prey.

Ken Lee

My teammates have been cringing in laughter while blabbing about this Ken Lee video clip they saw in youtube. This video has piqued my curiosity so when our shift ended, I immediately went to Netopia to see it myself.

The video is about a girl's horrible English while auditioning for a singing competition called Bulgarian Idol. If Alyssa Allano's rendition of "Keys Me" was funny, Ken Lee's rendition of "Without You" was hilarious. It seems that someone has already snatched the title from Allysa.

Her accent in English is terribly bad that I hardly understood any word she uttered. If I was not familiar with the song she was singing, I would not know she was singing Mariah Carey's "Without You". Her pronunciation of the words "Can't Live" in the song sounded like "Ken Lee" and that's how the video got its title. Allysa is definitely much better in English than her.

This video made me realize that Filipinos are indeed the best speakers of English amongst all of the countries in the world where English is not their native language. Beside the cheap labor costs, I think our fluency in English is the primary reason why call centers abound in our country.

American Idol

A Filipina has made it to the top 12 yet again in the highest rated singing competition in the planet, American Idol.

I am not an avid fan of that show or any reality show in particular but knowing that a fellow pinoy made it thus far, liking that show temporarily won't give a pain in my ass. Though I dont get to see it as often as I want to because of my schedule, I find ways on how I get myself updated about what's up with Ramiele Malubay.

I'm proud of her more than the 2 previous Fil-Ams because she can really speak fluent Filipino. Unlike Camille Velasco and Jasmine Trias who barely speak their native tongue. Knowing that Ramiele knows our language and she even taught Ryan Seacrest speak a little Filipino on national television makes me feel that she's really proud of where she came from. Her presence in that show is a great manifestation that Filipinos are truly talented.

Ramiele has a talent and good looks and there is really a big chance that she would nail the title. I just hope that the Filipinos in the state would be united and support her. If she won't make it as the ultimate American Idol (I hope she would), making it to the top 3 is already so much for me.

How I wish we Filipinos in the Philippines can vote too. Being the texting capital of the world with over 25 million text messages sent on a daily basis, making Ramiele Malubay the winner is just a breeze.

Pacman

I was raised in a family where playing games have been the common form of bonding moment during family gatherings. As I grew up, the love for sport was etched in my heart and thus I became a sport aficionado particularly in volleyball. In fact, I had played that sport in school competition when I was in my elementary years. I stopped playing it when I entered high school as I became busy with my academic requirements. Beside volleyball, I also have knowledge on how to play a variety of sports such as bowling, billiards, dart, soccer and tennis. Basically, I am a sport-minded person and an advocate for its cause.

However, there is this sport that is so popular in our country that I adhored the most. I hate it because for me, it doesn't really promote anything but only violence and hostility. Winning the game by striking heavy blows against the enemy until his body succumbs is despicable. It's no different to cockfight which is illegal in our country.

Despite my negative perception against boxing, we really can't deny the fact that this person has brought much pride and honor to our country. He has changed the way how foreigners thought of the Philippines, that it is nothing but a country striken with poverty and corruption. With his numerous victory in international boxing, he has made our country famous and has been dubbed as a nation of world-class boxers.

Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao deserves all the recognition a fellow Filipino can give to him. I am so proud of him and he has made me proud of being a Filipino.