Duh...Keep It To Yourself!

Tonight American Idol reached out to millions of its global audience to give back to the needy, the hungry, and the less fortunate ones. Surprisingly, some Americans especially those that come from tragedy-stricken areas are also suffering and need immediate help as well. The picture painted was more on the devastating effects of poverty. It is a realization for everyone of us that indeed no matter how much in need of help we are, still more people out there have more serious woes than we do. The hunger pangs brought about by starvation is something that you cannot ignore. Its immediate remedy cannot be postponed as well. I know what it's like to be poor and how hard it is to appreciate life when you're starving. I've been there once in the earlier part of my life, and I would never wish any of my children to go through the pains of starvation and hunger. I grew up in a family of seven. My parents were self-employed but it wasn't a secure and stable kind of self-employm...

About fifteen years ago, I was caught in a tragic vehicular accident. It was in the summer of 1992. We were campaigning for one of the most heated local elections in our city's history. We went to the remote coastal areas in the city to campaign for the candidates whom we believed were fit to run the city and bring favorable change to our community. We didn't know much. We were young. But young as we were, we were high-spirited and full of promise that we will be able to effect change in our community, thus, without any compensation, we volunteered to campaign for our favored candidates and really sweat hard for them to have a landslide victory in our place. Just like any other day, we were enthusiastic and cheerful as we headed to our destination for the day. One of the guys that I campaigned with, owned a top-down jiffy, and he came early to pick us up so we can reach our target area before noon time. I remember getting in the car, then getting off to get something that I for...

Just recently I took a 21 hour flight on my way back to the U.S. We had a stop over in Hong Kong because our flight for the U.S. doesn’t leave until the following day. On the day when we were to take the Hong Kong to New York flight, I was shocked at the new rules for taking liquids with you on board an airplane. Starting 21 March 2007, departing passengers can carry only a limited quantity of liquids in their hand baggage as an additional security measure as directed by the Civil Aviation Department. This is also a new guideline adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization. According to the new rule, the following items may be carried in your hand baggage only if they are stored in containers up to 100 ml and placed in transparent re-sealable plastic bag. (They actually give out transparent re-sealable plastic bags at the airport which is approximately 8” by 8” in dimension.) Gels (e.g., hair gel, shower gel) Lotions and liquids (e.g., sun cream, suntan oil, suntan spray...