MOVING ON

These pictures were taken at my friend's apartment up on the 7th floor, after we got back from a recent hospital minor operation. He had to stay overnight previously to make sure he'd be fine. The snowstorm was raging when we were out ready to go home after his discharge. In the meantime as I accompanied him, my thoughts wandered out......I've learned to really enjoy and make the most of my experiences during snowtime, which is one curious aspect not usually described to most people who come from tropical countries like myself. I was grateful, though, that I had great exposure to one terrible winter storm one February over 4 years ago in Japan; I was told it's one of the few occasions that Tokyo experienced snowstorm as strong as that one in long years. I gleefully took pictures, and took note of how terrible it is really for someone who's from a tropical country not to be explained what kind of season "Winter" can be in its worst natural appearances. ...

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Last night, I happened to be watching TV, and heard in the background the remarks being made by a friend who was talking with someone on the phone. The person on the other line happened to remark in the affirmative that "he's from the Philippines" and my friend casually pointed out what his experience with previous call center agents that "they're not allowed to speak in Tagalog" [ wanna learn to speak Tagalog? click here] even if the customer (who in the case of my friend) happens to speak Tagalog. My friend whom I've known back in the Philippines wanted to seek help on certain problems he's been encountering with his recently brought HP Laptop . I could not help but say: "That's stupid!" I've heard this thing happened before, and I'm posting this blog just to express my disgust over this practice. Yet I'm curious why exactly? I should have asked my friend to ask the agent the reason behind the policy (are they actual...

MY FRIDAY STORY I AM THANKFUL FOR ... Author Unknown The partner who hogs the covers every night, because he Is not out with someone else. The child who is not cleaning his room, but Is watching TV, because that means he Is at home and not on the streets. For the taxes that I pay, because it means that I am employed. For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been surrounded by friends. For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat. For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am in the sunshine. For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing, because it means I have a home. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because It means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation. For my huge heating/cooling bill, because it means I am warm/refreshed. For the lady behind me in church that sings off key, because it means that I can h...

Praise God, today, I had the luxury of time that allowed me to discover the true author of that forwarded email...just as I suspected, someone's trying to make cool, stupid fools out of everyone of us.....curious to know more about the real source? then visit the blogs of "Fling93" (visit his site?) where he writes that the author is NOT Eduardo Calasanz. And that it's from the book "Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love" by Kent Nerburn (visit his site?) , and co-written with Richard Carlson (and the "article" is in Chapter 26). Note: I hope I did better this time! :D But what the heck, go find your life partners, for all you unhappy singles out there!

Hope everyone who finds time to read this forwarded message, will also find in his / her heart the courage to actually do the hard work needed to come up with a good choice for a life partner! Note: Of course, I would not check the veracity of the facts behind the story, i.e. if this is just one of the mild concoctions of one frustrated writer (or more) out in the world wide web. But please feel free to share, anyway!!! If not, do as you please. Happy searching for a life partner! Vaya con Dios!! > For those who have loved and lost, and lost all over again and for those who are still looking…..for those who found it …. Good for you! =) > > > > PARTNERS AND MARRIAGE > > Eduardo Calasanz was a student at the Ateneo de Manila University, > Philippines where he had Father Ferriols as a professor. > Father Ferriols, at that time, was the Philosophy department head. > Currently he still teaches Philosophy ...

Link PLEASE READ LINK Oh, Lord, I just love having dreams in my sleep, or else, I am surely have not been able to sleep well at all. I've known from my Psychology undergraduate studies, that when one is dreaming, one is having "rapid eye movement" (REM) or the state wherein dreams happen. Of course, I'd love to have the most pleasant dreams! I recall having dreamt of seeing myself beheaded, with me seeing actually where my head drops and rolls....the details are just so real...such that I'd still remember this dream even up to now when I've had this dream when I was still in elementary school. And I've had regular dreams of just flying, flying so freely, and letting myself falling from the very top of tall buildings, and getting myself dropping for a few floors, and eventually, I'd be getting the hang of it, and I'd get my gears moving, and I'd be swooping up, up and away.....flying, flying...flying like a giant wild bird!!! That sounds...

By William Arthur Ward /"target="_blank"> (more about him?) Believe while others are doubting. Plan while others are playing. Study while others are sleeping. Decide while others are delaying. Prepare while others are daydreaming. Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing. Save while others are wasting. Listen while others are talking. Smile while others are frowning. Commend while others are criticizing. Persist while others are quitting. Sent to you as a courtesy of... Your friends at AsAManThinketh.net For a free eBook of James Allens classic: (pls hit this link to visit "AsAManThinketh")

Very grateful to have been able to work again on this video that made use of the salvaged pictures I took during 2008 NYC Halloween Parade (visit the website of this 35-year old tradition?) . I chose from my friend, Yankeeboy's suggestions on which music to add to make the pictures, now turned into video, more livelier and interesting. He also told me that Screamin' Jay Hawkins would sing I PUT A SPELL ON YOU as he goes out of a coffin! This music certainly made the work more palatable LOL....and more fun to pour my time on.

I just want to give credit to the wife for patiently teaching her American husband to learn to  speak Tagalog.  And she is a Visayan at that!  Very good work, indeed!  It also shows volumes about the kind of loving this couple must have for each other. I'm always surprised when I hear some Filipinos I meet here who'd apologize to me when they can't speak really good Tagalog to me.  I don't take it really as a slight (even if they don't know I do Tagalog tutorials here in NYC).   Now, it's always easier for people to relate better with their loved ones if they speak a common language.  There are practical considerations for this.  It makes everyday life lighter and easier to pursue;  so much is lost in translation which can be frustrating for someone who likes to express something in a language that he/she knows best. But I'm just sure the wife is just like most Filipinos who are tri-linguals, i.e. they speak at least 3 languages including Tagalog (on which ...

I'm reminded by a hasty remark by a friend of a friend whose family have lived here in the US for the past 25 years.  She got so surprised at the idea of me teaching Tagalog on tutorial basis. She didn't ask about other details, but from the look of her eyes, she found the idea so disconcerting.  She's also from the Philippines, and their generation still speak the kind of Tagalog that's deep and respectful in tone (you'd know they speak their Tagalog in that particular manner by their age, certainly....noted for being deferential, kinda slow, & reserved); unlike the Tagalog that I've always known to be "Taglish (Tagalog & English combined or some say "conyotic"---don't know how to put the right N, if you know what I mean)," clipped and fast, without the "ho, po, opo, oho," & in a style that's notably as being from Manila as described once by a dear Visayan friend who remarked that Tagalogs speak Tagalog with a d...

I remember this ad to be last Coke ad I've seen on local Philippine television prior to my leaving for the US in the start of 2nd quarter of 2006. It has that certain quaint appeal that's not difficult to miss. Of course, it's a TV commercial, and an apparently, very effective marketing material at that, without trying too hard, but a bit sweaty pie-ish in delivery (sigh! what can I say about good looking people who are smiling a lot, enthusiastically, and with lovely looking eyes from those joining the crowd, and the smooth flow of moments in this brief ad!)...I could be not among its targeted audience, but I nevertheless can sense its alluring quality. I also know from my knowledge about Manila that this ad was shot somewhere in Binondo, or Sta Cruz.  Being a Tagalog tutor in a country other than the Philippines, I can see some other special things about the use of Tagalog in the ad. And in this analysis-of-a-response, I understood something in Tagalog, and I'm desc...

These photos are a mixed variety of those I took using my old Olympus digital camera and my Sony Ericsson celfone camera. You'd see the yawning differences in quality (color, light, ambient features), but I still feel confident on the composition of the images I have chosen and posted here, and to convey the great images one can behold, and very much worthy of sharing to others who have yet to be at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Having not much memory space in my camera, I settled with what I could just shoot and capture. My friend just went on shooting photos of what has caught her eye on what's beautiful, which quality abounds in this garden. As to the photos here, I'm proud to have captured what's basically, and naturally beautiful, without going out of my way to improve, repair, or change anything on the outcomes. It was sweltering hot when my friend and I visited the park over a week ago. I felt like I was back in the Philippines, but I try to ...

I'm thankful to 2 friends (John Brunas and Madeline Roesch) who helped pave the way for me to get to watch and appreciate the value of this 1935 movie from Universal Studios. John provided much interesting background about the movie, which I supplanted by reading pages of a movie book he co-wrote [Universal Horrors (The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946)]. James Whale, the director that inspired the main character in the biopic "Gods and Monsters" on his life, worked on this movie as a sequel to the 1931 "Frankenstein," and who first directed the First World War play "Journey's End" in London's West End (which in 2006 was brought on Broadway again but failed dismally in the box office; I saw a lot of viewers who were walking out even before the end of its First Act when I saw it courtesy of another friend). Just at the start of summer, I watched this movie with other film enthusiasts at Bryant Park, with my friend Madeline. The rains t...

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Feast Day 2006 Our Lady of Perpetual Help Feast Day 2007 Our Lady of Perpetual Help Feast Day 2008 For 3 years now, at the request of a long time good friend, I've done volunteer work for the annual Feast Day of the Mother of Perpetual Help, one of the Blessed Virgin Mary's (BVM) favorite depictions by those faithful people, those of relatively less faith from what is observed on the outside, and those decidedly curious onlookers. Of course, I like doing these volunteer works every chance I've got; I've gained much from it personally more than I can imagine those who have received my help have gained from my volunteer works in the first place. I've done works doing floral designs (where I always get to learn more about actual floral design techniques from among the best floral designers in NYC), as well as in installing and dismantling all the decorations for the celebrations, plus the whole process of providing a late dinner for thos...

Early this morning, while I was doing my home health aide parttime job for a 92-year old man in Harlem, we happened to pass by a nearby park. As my patient was busily sunning himself, I saw 2 postings in laminated plastic tied on the chicken wire fence in one portion of the park that got my curiosity. Try to read more clearly what the other photo says. Somewhat, my heart throbbed for the shock and pain of losing one's loved one, moreso, due to an accident in this case. The owner and the pet looked happy together in the first photo. I could only feel how badly the owner must have been missing terribly "Mushy," a dog that died due to a stray voltage over a year ago. In an instant, such unexpected and sudden death could occur, anywhere, for some unknown reason at all. I took the shots using my celfone, and got ideas on how to come up with more materials about a posting in my mind then, on photoshots I've made on cats I've met and whose owners I happen to know as ...

From Pics of CATS This is the office cat that takes charge of the whole law office of one of my clients. She's "Tiger," and stays somewhere in Downtown Manhattan; she makes sure rats don't dare stay in that office whenever all the workers have gone home at the end of the day..... From Pics of CATS Beatrice, the 1st diabetic cat i've ever known, that i met through Calvin & Matt, in their house in Brooklyn. Bea just loves to eat! Kitty, the cat who sleeps on my bed... {Alberto Giacometti's CAT at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; photo courtesy of Vincent Hayley} Mickey, Jeff's beloved puss! Look at those lovely eyes! He's Dusty. And sadly, he's now gone. He's Sam.... I can't recall this cat's name. That's Margaret! She's Nina, and she lives in Chelsea. ...