Which Filipino Food Are You?

I borrowed this from Liza... Actually she taught this to me... Oh fine, I stole it from her (thanks liz anyway :) )



Halo-Halo: A medly of beans and fruits mixed with
ice, ice cream, and condensed milk

Which Filipino Food Are You?
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Halo-halo, I'm not surprised. I knew I was nuts.

12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country

I got this one from Mahar.

A booklet authored by Alexander Ledesma Lacson entitled "Twelve (12) Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country", has been making the rounds in Metro Manila. It may be may be a "voice in the wilderness” but Fr. Ruben Tanseco, S.J. has called the proposal, "very concrete, practical and doable" actions for ordinary Filipinos.
These 12 simple things are:

1. Follow traffic rules -- Why is that the most important? The answer is simple. Traffic rules are the simplest of our laws. If we learn to follow them, it will be the lowest form of national discipline that we can develop. Since it is totally without monetary cost, it should be easy for us to comply with, and therefore should provide a good start.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt. -If a seller does not issue an official receipt when you buy a product, the seller may or may not remit the tax to the government. Without an O.R., there is no record of the sale transaction, and the tax that you paid may not be remitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
3. Do not buy smuggled goods. Buy local, buy Filipino. -- It may not be good economics to buy 100 percent local products. What I suggest is for us to take a "50-50" buying attitude. This means that we must develop the attitude of using 50 percent of our budget for local products and the other 50 percent for imported choices.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively of our race and our country -- this is best addressed to the rich and the middle class in our country, who have contact with the outside world. It is they who talk to, dine or deal with foreigners either here or abroad. It is what they say and do which creates impressions about us among foreigners.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman, soldier and other public servants -- There is nothing like the power of respect. It makes a person proud. It makes one feel honorable. At the same time, courtesy to others is good manners. It is class and elegance and kindness. It is seeing the value and dignity in the other man. It is, in fact, a mark of a most profound education.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve. -- As Louis Armstrong says in his song: "I see trees of green, red roses, too, I see them bloom for me and you and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."
7. Support your church. (or charitable/ civic organizations -- :-)
8. During elections, do your solemn duty. -- Honesty, more than a masteral or doctorate degree, is what gives credibility. And credibility is essential because it is a leader's link to the people. It is what makes the people look to one direction, follow a common vision, and perform a uniform act. In short, credibility is what makes people follow the leader.
9. Pay your employees well. -- No exercise is better for the human heart than to reach down and lift someone else up. This truly defines a successful life. For success is the sum, not of our earthly possessions, but of how many times we have shown love and kindness to others.
10. Pay your taxes.-- In 2003, P83 billion was collected from individual income taxes. But 91 percent of this amount came from salaried workers from the government and private sector, people who had no choice since their income taxes were withheld mandatorily. Only P7 billion of the P83 billion came from businessmen and professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants and architects, among others.
11. Adopt a scholar or adopt a poor child. -- You can make a difference in the future of our country by making a difference in the world of children.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and to love our country. -- Today's children will someday rule and lead this world. But whether they will be bad rulers or good leaders will depend largely on how we raise them today. Our future is in the hearts and minds of our children.

Lastly, I'd like to add this: Support OPM. -- Especially these days. We have lots of bands breaking out - both indie and label and they sound great. Buy original CD's and try watching them live. :)

The Past Four Days

...has been, hmmm, colorful. Glad to be back home and blogging. Rather than bore you guys with a big essay as to what happened, I'll just share some excerpts of events since Sunday. :) I'm not sure whether to rate it as happy or sad so I'll just rate the events as I write and tally it all in the end. cool?

Sunday morning, I contacted my mom's manicurista to get rid of the troublesome ingrown in my left toe that has been causing my foot to bleed for the past two weeks. The nail's already deep and it wasn't a pretty site. It was a painful experience but I'm glad that's over. The manicurista cleaned off the rest of my toes (is that what you call all the fingers in your foot?). Then she placed some pink stuff on it. Not sure what that was but now my toes are all colored pink... hot pink. (looks girly... but no one will see it naman e... -10)

Went to Metrowalk and finally the Simpsons DVD Season 5 set is out. (I've been waiting for this for a long long time... +20)

Went up against Pao in billiards and I FINALLY RAN OUT A RACK! cool! It wasn't a gimme rack either and I finished the table with no flukes. (I'll have to rate this really high since this is one of my personal goals this year... +50).

Run out a rack - An expression in the game of 9-Ball where a players pots all balls from 1 to 9 in one turn.

I lost 10-9. (Who cares? -5)

Monday dawn, I woke up due to severe pain. It felt like someone was stabbing me. I woke up mom and dad to drive me to the ER. Dad decided to drive... in second gear! D'oh! I was squirming in pain and the car was "rushing" at 50 km/h in second gear. I told dad to pull over coz I'm driving from here. (Driving at 110 km/h in narrow roads in pain... -10)

At the ER, they stuck a dextrose tube up my right hand. Ow. Now I have to do everything left handed. (Good thing I'm kinda ambidextrous... -20)

Test results came back positive. It was bad. I've got blood everywhere! (Bleeding is never good... -20)

They injected painkillers to... er... kill the pain (duh). I also got a text message from Nikko at 4am. The first sentences I've read or heard so far that didn't have the words "blood" and "bleeding". (first positive signs... +15)

I was in shorts. I was lying in a bed in the ER. My toes are showing. DAMN THEY'RE PINK! HOT PINK! (no more pogi points... -15)

Medical City is nice. It should be anyway since it's new. Admitting was bad though. I was rushed at 4am and was admitted at 11am. Where was I during those 7 hours? in the ER corridor, lying in bed like a model... with pink toes... (nice place, bad system... I guess that cancels out... +-0)

I was brought to ultrasound to see how was everything and the results were inconclusive. The images did not show what was wrong and so I was scheduled for something more powerful -> a CT scan. This means I'll be out until Tuesday. (no work... but will entail backlog. I'm not able to relax anyway... -10)

Medical City has delivery services from the restaurants downstairs. All you have to do is contact their extension number. Cool! Among the restaurants available where Kitaro, Smokey's, Subway, Hungry Hippo, Pizza Hut, Basta Pasta, Dimsum and Dumplings, Max's, and 5 more that I forgot. :S (convenient! + 10)

CT scan was a horrible experience. First they injected me with 5mL of contrast to test if I'll have any allergic reactions to it. First 5 minutes were good but then I developed hives everywhere. Oh great... They had to rush and inject me (on the other arm) with anti allergy stuff. They had to prick me real deep coz that's how that med should be given. Ow. My left arm was now numb. My right hand is immobile. Then they injected 95mL more of that contrast stuff which was syrup like which means it's painful... very painful. They also warned me that that contrast stuff will be cold to my hands but hot to my internal organs and that the anti allergy thing has a drowziness effect. After the scan I looked drunk. They told me I had to stay at least until Wednesday. (It really felt horrible... -50)

Here's a quick fact on dextrose - there's this thing called backflow wherein if the dextrose bottle is empty, the flow reverses and now your blood is being pumped up. I felt kinda weak that afternoon then I saw that backflow thing. The nurse came running in then took out a big syringe. "ANO YAN?!? ANO YAN?!?" It was for the dextrose pala hehe... kala ko sa kin. Na tense tuloy yung ibang nurse sa background hehe. (exciting... in a not so good way... -20)

Nikko, his gf and Mags dropped by. It was nice having visitors :) Nikko made me get off the bed, unhook my dextrose thing and open the door with my foot (ala karate kid) though. (thanks guys! +50)

Oh great, now I have an ingrown on my other foot. (Ow... -20)

Docs came and finally signed me off (ugh, the term...) to be sent home. I guess the meds given to me worked but I really have to careful from now on. Check out was hell. The system was bad. The system was slow. (grrr... -20)

It was interesting texting, writing, signing and brushing my teeth with my left hand... (interesting... but not really helpful in the future :S)

Final rating? 10. At least it's positive. I guess it has been so-so the last few days. Interesting... in different ways :-/

BEST QUOTES / CONVERSATIONS:

(Doc at the ultrasound room) "Nurse, pull down his shorts and apply jelly. Generous application ha." (sounds kinda sexy :p)

(Maxicare representative) "Sir, since platinum cardholder kayo, you are entitled to a package with a large private."
(Di na ko nakahirit, I developed a sudden migraine due to all the jokes that entered my head.)

(While at the CT scan, I saw the results in a monitor on the wall)
"Tsong, ARE THOSE FALLOPIAN TUBES!?!?!?!?"
"Sir kidneys nyo ho yan"

(My doc discussing the results)
"Arnold, I saw the results of your abdominal CT scan and namamaga yung mga organs mo."
"A ganyan talaga yan."
"No, I meant internally."

Starbucks Names

"Good morning Sir! So that's one short capuccino decaf. Your name sir?"
"Arnold."
"Donald?"
"No. Arnold."
"Ronald?"
"Hinde. Arnold."
"Arman?"
"(Yamot)... Ensaymada na nga lang!"

Back in my old gimmick days, college days and early office days, I frequented the nearby starbucks for a mocha frap (pag gimmick) or a capuccino (pag nasa office). They're everywhere naman diba so there's gotta be one near you right now. For some reason, they always get my name wrong and so I tried changing the names I gave para wala nang problem. I'm sure some of you used different names din hehe... Here's the one I've used so far:

ARNOLD - I guess it's because I pronounce it with an American accent and nawawala yung 'O' but still it should be audible right? Instead of "Arnold", I always get "Ronald", "Donald", "Ronnie" or "Arman". I even tried pronouncing it ala Schwarzenegger para magets nila - "Ahhhnnnuldddd". Now they think I'm a weirdo. The worst one was "Dennis" - san mo nakuha yun?!? This prompted me to switch to...

A.J. - Two letters. Tignan natin if ma misspell mo pa yan. Well, they did. It worked only twice or thrice then it became "E.J", "A.G." and "E.G.". I even got "Age". Maybe it was because it had two syllables. I'll use my other (legal) name with only one syllable which was...

JAMES - Not bad when I first tried it. Feeling Lebron. It was only misspelled once but I decided to never use it again ever. It was really really awkward drinking from a tall mocha frap that belonged to "Jane". Next I used was...

BONG - One Syllable. Easy to say. Very audible. Manly pa. (Parang the Bakal Boys from Pinoy Wrestling). Hey, I ran out of names so I had to invent one. I thought it was a good idea until one evening I was ticked off while drinking from a cup labeled "DingDong". WTF?!? Let's try someone famous na lang. A name that's in the news today. Something like...

BRAD - I've only used it thrice and they haven't misspelled it. My problem with it is everytime I give out that name, they look at my tummy, tapos either iiling or natatawa (pero pinipigil). This implicitly means "Feeling mo Brad Pitt ka?". Well yea, pakainin mo lang ng mga 40 Big Macs si Brad kamukha ko na yun. :P

Buti pa yung Nescafe coffee machine sa pantry. The problem is there are times where it mixes up a capuccino by mixing a cup of creamer, half a cup of water, and sprinkles it with powdered coffee. Grrrr....

Any suggestions?

Tagged (from MK)

Was tagged by Knoll e... :)

1. What are the things you enjoy doing when there's no one around you?
a) sing until it rains
b) turn up the volume of the radio
c) practice sound effects
d) practice cursing using American slang/idioms with an optional British accent to use against stupid drivers. "Bloody Hell! Up yours asswipe!"
e) think up of snappy jokes to use for answering possible questions that will be asked tomorrow.

2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?
a) talking to B.
b) MySched Issues Updates from She (kasi it means it's already eod and time to go home)
c) burgers and fries (lowers stress but shoots up my blood pressure)
d) my hamsters
e) CSI/Simpsons/Friends marathon

3. Tag 5 friends and post it in theirs.
a) Liz
b) B
c) Pamie
d) Yas (u said u wanted a post topic hehe :P)
e) Ceej

Published!

My poem "Deployment from the 22nd Floor" was published in the fuCIOn newsletter and I won myself a 500 Peso SM GC! This will be the first time I ever won something from a poetry contest considering I've been joining all types of poetry competitions in high school and college... and I did it with my most nonsense poem written so far. :P



This was the article about me:



I didn't mention anymore in the article above because I wanted to make it short in simple, but I like writing these nonsense poems lately because it's easy to sneak in a serious thought or message. It's something like a half-meant joke.

Try reading between the lines ;)

Stories I Owe

"Arn, where are the posts you promised us in your previous entries?"

Er... Uh... well, I've been busy and my internet connection is really slow and I've plenty of stuff to do... ok fine I forgot. :P Thanks for reminding me though :)

African Lovebirds (from 06212005)

One day, a pair of our African lovebirds/parakeets escaped from their cage and hid behind a clay pot. Unlike Mayas, these birds haven't been outside their cages probably their whole lives and so they decided to hide instead of flying away. So as they hid behind the pot, I snuck up on it then prepared to grab both birds. Before I did, I asked mom if they bite and she said it's just as strong as a clothesline ipit. Shouldn't be painful right? Wrong! When I snatched both birds, they bit me and left 2 wounds on each hand (one from the upper beak and another from the lower beak). OUCH! I let them go for a second then snatched them again this time covering their beaks... well at least I covered them. They bit me again for two more wounds on each hand and this time they just wouldn't let go. I already released them inside the cage and one still had its beak stuck into my hand, viciously shaking its head. Parang nilabas lahat ng sama ng loob sa kamay ko. Grrrr... The first band aid only lasted 2 minutes as it was quickly soaked in blood.

Damn birds.


Oya Story (from 06302005)

There was this person who visited a tribe in the mountains. After weeks and weeks of studying their way of life, he concluded that the best way to help these people was to set up a system for them - laws, rules, a governing body and special roles. One day, he summoned all the members of the village and laid out his plans. For each statement that the person said, the villagers would all shout "Oya!".

"We need to create laws and empower people to enforce them!"
"OYA!"
"We need to store all of our food in one location then equally ration them to each person!"
"OYA!"

After plenty more of "Oya!" later, he concluded his speech and while walking back to the village square through a herd of cows with the chief, he said "I think I did pretty well there. All of the villagers seem to like my idea". The chief just nodded and nodded but then jumped back and shouted "Oh be careful! You might step on the oya!"

Hey it was funny back in grade 7!

Me and Kitchie

South Border at Bagaberde

Back to the list:

#25 - watch a live gig/concert. I've been wanting to watch a live performance (preferably by an indie band) for a long time already. Pao has this report to do in Music class where he has to watch a live band and do some analyses on it so might as well go together. We were able to catch South Border and K24/7 at Bagaberde last night. K24/7 is an R&B band and a good opening act. I don't have any negative comments on them except that hmmm... maybe they can mix in a little rap into their music. They sung 7 or 8 straight R&B's that I was looking for the skip button in my beer bottle.

South Border just rocks! They started with some unknown songs before bringing in the good stuff. I admit I'm a fan of the Luke Mejares fronted South Border and replacing him with Duncan and Vince was a decent (but not good a) move. After watching them last night, I take it back. It's a GREAT move because of one thing: Luke couldn't have pulled what the two did last night. Call me shallow for basing it on just one performance but hey, I'm still a Luke fan, I even have his corny-named album, I like his version of 214 , but now I'd rather have the two front South Border instead.

Some more RT's for the night:

• I parked outside on the street right behind a big No Parking sign.
• Bagaberde is a great place with a good crowd and has the biggest FlowerHorn I've seen.
• Their pool table is probably the slowest I've seen.
• The bouncer was a big hulking dude with shades, a moustache and tatoos all over his arms. Reminds me of Igno from Pugad Baboy. Now that's a bouncer!
• I drank twice my average number of beer bottles on a Saturday night. (yea, I had two :P)
• I wonder what Pao's next report is going to be? Burger eating? Human behaviour in strip clubs? :)

My To Do List

Here's the deal again for the week: It's going to be like seven Saturdays so do everything you weren't able to do because of work. Sounds fun right? Problem is, there's a catch - a very limited budget. I spent too much last month that it ate up my allocated budget for this month. Damn budget plan.

Here are some of the items in my to do list:

#24 - watch UAAP with the gang. DLSU vs NU then FEU vs UP. Tickets cost 220 LB and 100+ UB. I promised I'd treat them so that's 5 x 220. Good thing it was Pao's UPCAT and so I had to call the whole thing off. How convenient. :P

#17 - wash car. It hasn't been cleaned for the past three weeks and now it looks like the swamp thing. I find this chore annoying because it seems pointless - the weather is just not ideal for it since it's sunny in the morning then it pours in the afternoon. I can't have it cleaned because of the whole budget thing so I had to do it myself. Going against logic, I took out the car during a windy and dark afternoon (minutes before an obvious downpour) and started washing my car. It looked so stupid that a kid walking nearby asked his yaya "Bakit niya nililinis yung kotse nya e uulan naman?". "Ano sabi niya yaya?". "Yaya, bakit siya ganun nakatingin sa kin pero tinuturo nya yung sky? at bakit yun yung daliri na gamit nya?".

Damn nosy kid.

#31 - dispose old office files. I have a pile of old DD's and status reports in my room and I couldn't just throw it away in the trash because of the whole company security thing. The first option? Get a paper shredder! When I saw how much those cost, go to plan B: an old flower pot, a pack of matches then slowly hide a copy of the Clean Air Act under the rug.

I know it would have been interesting if I did most of these ala McGyver.

Oh well. Deep down, it's sad how everything really boils down to money. :(

Seven Straight Saturdays

"Pitchin WILD in the 9th"

The best sentence to describe me the past few weeks. I've been logging 10 hours of work per day through lunch for the past few months. I've become someone that I've been avoiding to become since January - a slave to work routine. Before I burn out (again), I opted to use 40 of my offsettable hours to take the week off and catch up on things I've missed or skipped because of work. I even made a list of these - some interesting, some boring, some just plain pathetic... :-/

By the way, in case you're wondering what with the baseball expressions, it's baseball season! Go BoSox! :)

"Pitchin WILD in the 9th" - baseball term where the starting pitcher is already tired because he's been pitching since the 1st inning. It means that someone is present and working but may be inefficient and ineffective. In desperate need of relief.

Tag-Board's back!

Hey! The message board is up again! i think the whole tag-board went down. Not sure why but... nah doesn't matter. :)