Can't live without

I remember when i was in grade school, the only people in the class with phone (landline) are those from the upper tier of the society. In a public school (i call it "Dela Salle Taytay") you can actually count those students who exchange phone numbers - those that belong to the "in" crowd. Yeah, i ask their numbers, too! because at the end of our "village" there is the good ole phonebooth, three 25 cents and your in the loop! (under time pressure though, cuz there's a long line of people waiting to use the phone booth)...

High school! Aha! zero backlog of PLDT connected the whole of Rizal to the civilized world. I was in a Catholic School then (let's call it "Ateneo de Cainta"). The masses are one with the affluent people now. You can call almost everybody, and you will really need a phonebook to store your classmate's (and friend's, and "phone pal's" numbers). Yeah, i used to have a pocket-sized book that i carry along ready to flash anytime once there's an exchange of phone numbers session.

College. This time a landline is not enough. the evolution of pocketbells, infopage and beepers! a one-line text to your friends and 'cool barkada' will always keep you in touch. communication is getting easier and smaller as we embrace the end of the century. uh, did i mention i received University awakening at the Royal, Catholic and Pontifical?

Post college. Cellular phones galore. I remember when the 2 network giants offer texting for free. text now and receive the message in an instant. no need to call an operator. communication in just a few buttons. death to beepers and all his friends (sounds like the latest album of coldplay huh). Text revolutionized our mobile life - from voting on tv shows, erap jokes, and even updates of the matalinong INDAY series. Everything you can get from mobile - news, chizmiz, games, ringtones, mms, movie snipets - wow. where was i? still with the yellow royal pontifical blood.

residency. The need to store evidence-based medicine at the palm of your hand is a must. volumes of books in a pocket sized gadget - PDA. Yup handhelds that is really a powerful device. Presentations, notes, books, chitnotes, quick reviews - all of them can be stored in just one device (external memory card is a must). 3 years of training under the four walls of maroon hospital. stinky? that's for you to find out. visit the place- its at the heart of taft avenue and if you get all sweaty inside, just proceed to the adjacent mall, viva la vida!


now? there's so many gadgets all over. ever heard of sandwich's hip music? "wala pa nung myx, wala pa nung mtv, wala pa nung internet, wa la pa nung ipod o mp3, wala pa nung cable, wala pa nung celfone, wala pa nung cd o dvd, meron lang beta max.....
today, there's so much instore for eveyone. you can personalize everything and chose whatever that fits your lifestyle. i love to live in this day and age. knowledge is really within reach.

so, what's next? hmmm....

(duke, i was FORCED to write this entry)

"12 Little things Every Filipino Can do to help our Country"

I found a book worth sharing "12 Little Things every Filipino Can Do To Help our Country" - Alexander L. Lacson

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ASK FOR AN OFFICIAL RECEIPT.
3. Don't buy smuggled goods. BUY LOCAL, buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak POSITIVELY about us and our country
5. Respect your traffic enforcer, policeman and soldier
6. DO NOT LITTER. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate, Recycle, Conserve.
7. Support your Church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your Taxes.
11. ADOPT A SCHOLAR or a POOR CHILD.
12. BE A GOOD PARENT. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country

Easier said than done, but the simplest act of goodness can really spell the big difference. Belated Happy Independence Day to all.

its been a while

It's been a while.

I know i can give hundreds, make it thousands, of excuses why i suddenly put my blog into hiatus. oh well, if my blogpost can rant, he would probably cussed me for abandoning him.

if simon cowell can say his apologies before the anouncement of this season's American Idol, then I can pretty much say whatever i want (this is my post anyways). Sorry po, subukan kong magpost ng mas madalas.....

so what's up?

excuse #1 - briefly, i'm still in the wonderful world of corporate pharma but no longer in Global City Taguig (a.k.a. The Fort). I'm now in Makati Central Business District. Yup, am in a new company. And i thank all the people from company A for giving me all the necessary knowledge and skills to survive in this business. I definitely wouldn't be at Company B if not for the training and experience i got from Company A, i will be forever greatful.

excuse #2 - busy life. adjustment phase. some stuff to read. new therapeutic area. getting to know a lot of new faces. travel here and there. start anew. ilovemyjob.

excuse #3 - i cant think of any..... ah yeah, i'd spent a lot of time watching korean movies during weekends (Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy, The First Shop of Coffee Prince, A love Story in Harvard, Il Mare, Eraser In My Head, The Classic, Addicted, Sad Movie, and a lot more). Thanks to the very "accessible bangketa's" with the ever accomodating vendors selling "DVD, DVD, DVD"

excuse #4 - ..... i'll park for now. until my next blog, when? hmmmm.....

*wink

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