english 101

I was in beautiful thailand last week with marsmyloves. Here are some points to ponder:

1. we have almost the same land area and population
2. same climate
3. same bumper-to-bumper traffic
4. they have tuktuk, we have our jeepneys (and tricycles)
5. their tourism business is way way booming than ours
6. their english needs some polishing though(there's some misunderstanding, especially pag tumatawad ka but they can communicate)
7. they have cheaper electricity (imagine 3 aircon in one house - monthly bill THB 1000 - just PhP 1500! fyi, philippines is among the most expensive in asia, why? i dunno why!!!!)
8. cheaper everything...

..... i think their economy is growing because they win a lot of tourists. come to think of it, our country can also offer the same plus, with our good english communication skills, they can easily roam around from aparri to jolo. this is one advantage that we have to invest on. because in the near future, as our neighboring countries improve their english (and ours' deteriorating), what more can we offer?

on the lighter side of life, read this:

My Friends,

Kakatawa 'to!

We've been friends for a long time ago. We come from the same alma
mother. Actually, our paths crossed one time on another. But it's only
now that I gave him a second look. I realized that beauty is in the eyes.
The pulpbits of my heart went fast, really fast. Cute pala siya. And
then, he came over with me. He said, "I hope you don't mine. Can I get
your number?"

Nag-worry ako. What if he doesn't give it back?

He explained naman na it's so we could keep intact daw. Sabi ko, connect
me if i'm wrong but are you asking me ouch?

Nabigla siya. Sagot niya, The! Aba! Parang siya pa ang galit! Persona
ingrata!!! Ang kapal niya! I cried buckles of tears.

Na-guilty yata siya. Sabi niya, isipin mo na lang na this is a blessing in
the sky. Irregardless daw of his feelings, we'll go ouch na rin.

Now, we're so in love. Mute and epidemic na ang past. Thanks God we
swallowed our fried. Kasi, I'm 33 na and I'm running our time. After 2
weeks, he plopped the question. "Will you marriage me?"

I'm in a state of shocked. Kasi mantakin mo, when it rains, it's four!
This is true good to be true. So siyempre, I said yes. Love is a many
splendor.

Pero nung inaayos ko na ang aming kasal, everything swell to pieces.
Nag-di-dinner kami noon nang biglang sa harap ng aming table, may babaeng
humirit ng, "Well, well, well. Look do we have here."

What the fuss! The nerd ng babaeng yon! She said they were still on. So
I told her, whatever is that, cut me some slacks! I didn't want this to
get our hand kaya I had to sip it in the bud. She accused me of steeling
her boyfriend. Ats if! I don't want to portrait the role of the other
woman. Gosh, tell me to the marines! I told her, "please, mine you own
business!" Who would believe her anyway?

Dahil it's not my problem anymore but her problem anymore, tumigil na rin
siya ng panggugulo. Everything is coming up daisies. I'm so happy. Even
my boyfriend said liketwice. He's so supportive. Sabi niya, "Look at is
this way. She's our of our lives."

Kaya advise ko sa inyo - take the risk. You can never can tell. Just burn
the bridge when you get there. Life is shorts. If you make a mistake,
we'll just pray for the internal and external repose of your soul. I
second emotion.

6 feet under and beyond

its been a while. may 20th was my last entry here in blogosphere. yeah i've been a lurker, briefly browsing entries, but i cant make my own post. thousands of reasons, make it gazzilions of reasons, but i just cant.

now i just want to make a chronicle of what happened for the past 2 months.

- change of address, to far far away taytay, rizal. 30 kms from my office, 1 hour when youre lucky but 4 hours when on heavy traffic. the heck!

- a major continuing medical education held at PICC. All doctors must attend one, private practice is one thing, but "going back to school" and refreshing basic knowledge in the academy is another. We have to admit, the older you are, the more you get alienated from the techie stuff.

- 10 lectures, 6 different topics, 2 venues in 2 weeks! man, this is the cycle!

- farewell to my good ole buddy, chard..... from cainta, to dubai, now to canada. another makabayan who will definitely be successful in the land of caucasians. i understand why most people move out of the country..... i hope 10 - 20 years from now, they will go back (i pray that when that time comes, our country has changed for the better)

- my 2 kids got sick, admitted at the royal, catholic, and pontifical institution at the heart of manila. kudos to dr. iluminada lerma, you're the best. thanks to my present job, i didnt pay even a penny - everything covered! considering how hard it is for a doctor to have a practice.... "bawal ang magkasakit"

- we have 4 puppies.

- a lot of movies shown, but thank God atleast i get to watch TRANSFORMERS.
awesome!

ok, its an eyesore seeing my last post may 20th, now it will be july 8th..... when's the next entry...................we'll see.

bye for now.

good samaritans in UK

UK is lovely! though i wasn't able to visit LONDON (which is the "real UK"), i got the chance to stay in Alderley Park (Macclesfield) and a day at Manchester. For not-so-geographically-pro (i admit, i am one) Alderley is a countryside (province). I love the place - beautiful (and very few) houses, huge lots, with cows and sheeps, vast grassland, few people, modern buildings/offices hiding on forests, few people, posh cars, few people, narrow streets and uh did i say few people? i did!

they say, alderley is the home for the rich, a house there cost 2M pounds (that's what the taxi driver told me), Posh and David Beckham used to live there (ok, i know the Philippines is not a football country). Simply put, Alderley Park is like Forbes park only multiplied in humongous british pounds!

But its not the place i remembered most. I took a train to Manchester on my last day. at the station, people told me that Manchester is different from alderley. Manchester is a city - and with it comes "all forces". People at the train station told me to be careful, beware of pickpockets, never to talk to strangers and check your wallet/belongings every once in a while. Ahh, the paranoia in me. With my Egyptian friend, we breezed Manchester with caution. If in alderley, you never saw a black guy - here in Manchester - you'll see people from all over - asians, blacks, middleeasterns, its like a mixed society (ok, ok, Manchester is a city, what do you expect).

at the end of the day, we went back with loads of goodies (oh well, my friend had loads, i just bought enough fyi - 1 pound = 96 pesos). we're always on the lookout for "bad elements". holding our bags and wallet tightly whenever passing through suspicious people. looking at each other knowing that we have to "guard our goods".

around 9pm (and there's still sun), we went back to the train station and went back to posh alderley. exhausted on the day trip, we went out to have dinner and by midnight started to pack things up. then i received a call - huh, me? who will call me here, i barely knew anyone?

I received a call from a man who told me that i lost my wallet in the train. to my surprise, my wallet is not in my pocket! the couple were sorry cuz they have to open my wallet (doesn't have money inside - only cards) so that they can contact me. they were asking on how they can give it to me. i told them that my flight will be 6am the next day. is it ok if i can just pick it up in their house. only to find out that they're place is 7 miles (around 20mins drive without traffic) from the hotel. I don't have any choice, i have to get the wallet this instance. so i told the unknown caller that i will call a friend (parang game show) to help me.

There's 6 Filipinos in the hotel (yes, we are definitely everywhere!), and its always nice to meet a kababayan (fellow countrymen) in a foreign land. i had TAGALOG chats with them everyday (for me, its cool to use FILIPINO abroad - para kang bisaya sa maynila ba, ganun ang feeling). i asked one to accompany me 7 miles from the hotel. so we went there around 2 am we found the place, the good Samaritans gave me the wallet, and as a token of my appreciation i gave them .... uh never mind, i gave them "something" for remembrance and invited them over to visit beautiful Philippines. the couple were sleepy already so we didn't have much time to chat.

Ahhh, my wallet, intact. complete. back to the rightful owner.

you see, i felt guilty feeling paranoid and all when i was at Manchester. and here, i found good Samaritans. no, they found me. my UK trip is over, but i will never forget those people - the Filipinos and the couple who got my wallet. There is hope to humankind.

UK is lovely! (spoken like a true Simon cowell)

globe imposible 3

dear globe (all comes in trilogy)

thank you for the quick response. i already got my reimbursement. SM San Lazaro Globe people were so kind, friendly, accomodative and efficient. Such a pleasant site to visit........hmm, i wonder why? Sa globe, POSIBLE. smart din pala sila ano?

.....will end my rant here (for now, actually). :)

kind regards,
rant-tarat-a-lot

globe imposible 2

dear globe

after i sent my email last saturday. i received a quick reply yesterday. in about six hours, i received a confirmation that i can now get the reimbursement at sm san lazaro! you see, i waited six months, i made an email expressing my disgust, and in six hours, i can now get my refund. amazing! sa globe POSIBLE! so? should i say now that globe people are actually smart afterall....... (it pays to rant....sometimes)

naaah, they should have done that months ago.

ps: they gave me an extra, i no longer need to reapply for my roaming everytime i fly abroad, they made my status permanent. am off to UK, see you guys after one week (talk about giving a price for their lack-of-"patient"-care)

kind regards
rant-arattarat

globe imposible

i'm tired of going to the mall following up the reimbursement from globe, so i emailed them.....

good day,

i have two accounts from globe that i requested for termination last december 2006. I have continously followed up the status of my termination. The instruction was that i will receive a final bill, and then i can have my refund to any globe station.

i have inquired with globe sm manila, sm north edsa, and the last was at sm san lazaro. By coincidence (or maybe, just maybe, there's a ghost employee), from all the 3 globe stations, the officer-in-charge was either on leave or already out of the office. If i remember right, sm manila instructed me that i can go to any globe station and claim my refund. but a month ago, i went to sm san lazaro to inquire for that. i filled up a form regarding my termination of 2 accounts, and told me that they will inform me if the fund is already available for pick up. the personnel specifically told me that i cant get the refund instantly, the instruction given to me by the sm manila personnel was wrong!

now, i have never received any follow up from your company. sm san lazaro told me that they will text me or call me after two days. is 2 days equivalent to 2 months globewise?.

the terminated number i have are: 09178586199, the other one, sad to say this, but i have already forgotten because i'm not the one using it (and its been almost half a year!).

please do check my account: these are my mailing address from the previous account ......(privacy).........sta cruz manila
the other account is mailed at ........(my dad-in-law doesnt want a penpal, sorry)..... san pedro puerto princesa city palawan

i hope that someone will address my concern, its been almost 5 months now. if this is the way you handle reimbursements, then you better improve the system. your people from different branches are saying different instructions. Sa globe POSIBLE! then prove it! All the while i thought globe people are smart...... sigh.

kind regards,
rant-arattarat

Easter family (mis)adventure

we just had a new addition to our family. at first, you have to spend some time with each other, sort of getting-to-know-each-other phase. know what to expect, listen carefully, gentle on maneuvering, speed up the acquaintance part, careful on sudden turns, get ready on tough times and rough roads, and if everything goes well, a nice break for a cup of tea will do.



and when you come to an unexpected twist of faith, bumps and bruises will definitely hurt.....



a quicksand along the way may stop you from getting to your destination.....



but perseverance conquers all.



all for my family. happy Easter!