Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Medium


I have tried almost all blogging platform to self-publish my ideas. Name it. Blogspot/blogger, wordpress, tumblr, posterous, blog.com among others. Never forget my very first blogs are in Friendster, Myspace and Facebook.

Last week even up to yesterday, I am fixing the themes and lay-out of some of my blogs in Tublr and Wordpress. However I find it "not so satisfying enough" to feel it as "professional look" as I want it to be. Even the premium ( paid) themes are not really that good in my opinion. Or maybe I need something else. I tried the latest offering of Quora ( a question and answer site that offers blogging capabilities now) but I am not that  contented also. And then came along Medium.com that changes everything.

Medium.com as far as I remember started last year and I signed up via my gmail account. And now I can open my site via twitter ( such integration? because the creator of Medium.com was once worked in Twitter and Blogspot? I guess so).

As far as my opinion is concern, this Medium.com will be the next thing self-publishing is to crave about. Its main strength is the "community blogging" feature in which there are many "categories" that we can create and invite others to share their post there and I can also write in other community in which I can choose from various topics of my interest. How cool is that.

And another very good feature of this Medium is the design. It has a very good design when it comes to theme and lay out as well as the bigger font that makes it easier to read.

Unfortunately Medium is on beta version and I cannot post yet and all I have to do is read those "invited/try out writers that I envied. Please make us post now and do not make us wait that long. Please.. And these are some of the links of my favorite posts;

https://medium.com/turning-points/3eeba23e9895

https://medium.com/turning-points/3734d981054c

https://medium.com/lgbt-equality-1/c2bbe35926c0

https://medium.com/this-moms-life/e148b1d27340

https://medium.com/turning-points

https://medium.com/



Monday, March 25, 2013

What About Now?



It was good to know in this age of online media still there was a Batangueno newspaper around. I had seen it when I was taking my rest and coffee session at Cafe Baylosis in Batangas City. And upon reading  I had seen a familiar name, R. Muria and R. Lontok. How I wish I could take up Law. Oh I remember Rose ( my grad school classmate) chatted on me on Facebook and was encouraging me to take up Jurisprudence degree together with her this year. I said I will think about it. I said I need some rest from study. Studying was really hard. But enjoyable and enriching on my whole personality.

This week culminate the Holy Week in the Catholic tradition. I am looking forward for my next Visita Iglesia this year. Last year we were in Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban Quezon. And as of tentative plans, my cousin Heidi is inviting us for their churh-visit trips maybe on Thursday or Friday.

Yesterday we had watch the latest Disney's movie Oz. It was a reminisce of Johny Depp but he was not on the starring role. Basically it was a good movie with some magical twist towards the ending that made me believed once again. If you believe you can be whatever you wanted to be!

And lastly I can't believe that there was "Earth Hour" last Saturday. Imagine that in Mindanao. An 8-hour "Earth Day" everyday of their lives because of the rotating brown-outs. Is this Ramos-era once again? I hope not. So what about now? I am tired of Kris and Heart and Chiz and whoever candidate that wants to steal the limelight in social media. I am tired of the politicians who will do anything to catch our attention. I am tired of the traffic. I am tired of being tired. What about now?

I guess I need some spiritual retreat. A rejuvenating journey towards Jesus. This week.





Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Lunch


a potato salad..deliciously served..


seafood lomi? stomach-filled!


 mango juice? thirst quenchers!


ube dessert? satisfying finisher!

my lunch at Max's Restaurant since I have missed this joint since the branch in SM-Batangas is undergoing a renovation, I hurriedly went to its original branch at the heart of the city.

I Attended A Christening


Yesterday I attended a christening of the lovely daughter of my college classmate Sally. I became ninong once again to Aaliyah Louise together with our other classmates Roselyn and Donnabel. Rico and Wend did not make it yesterday because they were in the government sector and they had this emergency case.




Monday, March 18, 2013

Dusk


And I had been on a journey called photowalk yesterday..sometimes to clear my mind I have to do that so I'd grabbed  my camera ( my Nikon - with its battery, I almost always used my cellphone camera ).
It had been a rewarding walk though it was almost dark and I had to go since my camera had its limitation of lighting. Or else I should buy a DSLR but I opted not to since it was so expensive and so bulky. And at home thanks to my ate for the pasalubong from The Original Pizza Pie since they had gone to Los Banos to accompany Tintin with her many baggage.





To Forgive


I have attended the mass at about 4:30 PM yesterday and the homily was about the forgiving Jesus Christ. He forgave the lady sinner which was about to die because of having an affair. And she was saved. In our life we have met our enemies, worst enemies. But as Jesus tried to implied to all of His teachings that we should always forgive our enemies to be near to God and to be saved. Can you? I guess not. But time will tell.


Coffee Time


 Last Saturday night with my niece and nephews at Starbucks..good to have them at this coffee shop because maybe tomorrow we will be meeting at a bar drinking those beers and punch! Enjoy all the time with someone you love..



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Ninong


Yesterday as I had become ninong again..this time to Mylene's son Geof Adriel in San Isidro Batangas City..








Friday, March 15, 2013

Super Brands


A very nice idea I have read from Mashable..but is it possible? or too many copyrights and other trademarks to be violated..or it will never be the best idea since children will be confused. The answer will be in the near future. But I loved the idea..



Congratulations!!!


Last night as I jokingly said to my nephew Andrei "yan na ang pagraduate ko sa iyo ha". And maybe it will be true because I have so many schedules this summer that I might be short of cash for the whole stretch up to May.

Anyways congrats again and welcome to Saint Bridgets on your high school? I guess so.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Habemus Papam



I woke up at around 4:30 AM this morning and I turned on my AM radio. And every news was about the new elected Pope of the Catholic world. I was grateful and I prayed a personal prayer upon hearing the news. I went to the TV and just saw his face. His very calm face just like Pope John Paul II only younger this time.

And at last after days of no leader of the Catholic institution we have Pope Francis. He has his twitter account and Facebook page in which I followed now.

https://www.facebook.com/PopeFranciscus

And upon reading on Paulo Coelho's blog I got this one:


A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.
The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him.
She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.
“Teach me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone.”
story sent by David ( http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2013/03/13/the-stone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PauloCoelhosBlog+%28Paulo+Coelho%27s+Blog%29)
Well it is indeed a good world though my Lakers is on the brink on elimination despite the greatness of Kobe and on the latest report, he will be out indefinitely due to injury. Til next season Lakers!


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Aha Moments!


I may call it the "aha" moment. When I have solved the difficult puzzle in Bambi's tablet ( I can't remember the name of the game - it is a jigsaw puzzle literally) and they do not solved it for some minutes. When I have reached the summit of Mt Maculot a few years back I cannot help myself but wonder on the new perspective that I had on that top of the mountain. Such "aha" moment!

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine called me on the phone. I was never able to answered it since I had left my phone in my bag when he called. The following day he told me what had happened on that fateful day specifically that afternoon when he had seen the real life proof of what we are doubting for quite some time. And it was an aha moment for him. Not for me since I did not care for what he saw nor it did not affect my relationship with others.

I have known a couple who had never a chance to have a baby for quite some times. And on the 7th or 8th year of trying God made a miracle. They had their first born child. Aha moments indeed!




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Two Women

I am one of those two women. Definitely I am the first. The legal. I married my husband almost ten years ago. We had a beautiful and envied relationship in our honeymoon stage which last for almost five years. And then the inevitable happened. We had our children. And those lovely offspring of ours added the seal of love for the two of us. We are perfect family.

And my husband Jonathan wanted to have a great family. With his small salary in the local supermarket, we had difficulty trying to meet both ends of our obligation to our family. And I started to work also as a teacher. And once again with our busy schedules we tend to bind our love with such caring exchange of communication through the advent of the high technology like the cellular phone and others. However the times of our life seemed to be going in the wrong direction. Nationally the economy was slowing down in the midst of a financial crisis. And it hit the country in times when we least expected it. We were financially bankrupt since some of our savings in the bank was eaten up by the dying effect of financial crisis that circling the world's economy. And our country was no exception.  A financial blow was hurting our marriage that much. And we survived.

To make our income much higher to combat the rising inflation, Jonathan decided to apply for abroad's job. Luckily he was admitted. In Saudi. He was working also in the supermarket. And with his much higher salary we had paid some of our debts. And my married life seemed to be a blissful moment once again. We had our skype conversation every weekends and we exchange sweet-nothings over facebook statuses. And finally I felt alive once again. Until one day.

I was browsing on the facebook the name of Jonathan and someone had popped out. He had another account. And his status was single. I hurriedly clicked on the photo albums and my naive and dumb husband was cheating on me all these months and blatantly show the world that he was doing such illicit affair. Maybe he underestimated my capacity to search such act on the online world of social media. Maybe he thought that I was a woman with full of trust that I will never doubt his infidelity. He was wrong. 

And by the power I inherited from my mother, I tended to look deeper. And by chances I had uncover the unfaithful relationships between Jonathan and Jonah ( a nurse based also in Saudi). Imagine in that closed country where the laws are considered to be the strictest and there they are doing the unthinkable. I cried for days and nights without my unfaithful husband and my family as well. I kept it onto myself all the bitterness and the pains that seemed to agonized me upon knowing the truth. And I took some actions. I called up my brother and seek help. He assisted me to be able to talk to the other woman and we had our conversations that seemed to be those in the films where the legal wife had to remain her composure despite that fact that I wanted to burst into fire and kill the other woman. Tolerance had its virtue. And I made the decision to keep the family intact. Our two children deserved a father. I forgave him. 

Fast forward now. We are now living happily ever after in our country. He promised me that his mistakes be the greatest lesson for his life and to our family. I believed in him. I trust in him. Hope it will last forever.

And my classmate in high school just messaged me on facebook that she needed some help. Her husband in Kuwait now has other family. And I just sigh that indeed we are just living in the same situation. Only that I am on the way out and she is just on the beginning.

We the two women.Struggling for the sake of our family. For love maybe.

Friday, March 8, 2013

My Name is Lee Sang Joon


And we made it so funny and jokingly twisted some names of our "friends" with Korean names. Absurd as it is I do not know if this is right. I have made some sample and it made sense. The surname is right and the middle name but I am still confused how they ( Koreans) distinguished their relatives if there are so many Park(s) which is derived from merely the year of their birthday. Please explain to me. If I have seen this one a couple of days ago I could ask it to some Korean newcomers in our plant. I had the chance to talk to one Korean but it was brief and he was so inquisitive of the Filipino food and culture. I hope I could talk much more to him. If given the chance I will ask him about this "Korean names".

And by the way based on the table above, my name is Lee Sang Joon.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Let It Be

Sometimes it is too long. The wait is just taking us so long that we want to give up. And when we almost give up the sign of hope is just a glance away and we wait another longer.

Until something happens. Unexpected. A twist of fate. Divine intervention. Call it what you want. New perspective.

And we see the world as happier as we want it to be.

So whenever you are in a deep shit situation and you have nothing to turn to except God, just let it be.

Farewell To Mr. Kang




Another three-year term has ended..our expat manager will bid farewell this week..a newcomer will emerge for another three years! And we took the opportunity to have some nice and wacky shots from our photoshoots yesterday..again goodluck to Mr Kang and thanks for everything..may success be in your hands and ours too hahaha!!




It Begins Now

 I am now here in Batangas City. My hometown. My city. That never sleeps. I have myself and my mother. She is 83 now. And I am turning 47 th...