Duh...Keep It To Yourself!

I never knew how tight a spot could be until I was trapped in a corner that was so hard to maneuver, figuratively speaking. What I'm really saying is, there are difficult situations in life that you come across with and until you're in it, you will have no idea how difficult it is. On my wall this is what is etched, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take" which is in essence a very inspiring message for each one of us to not be afraid to test the waters and see if we make it or break it. The same saying prompted me to invest my talent, my skills, my energy and my finances on an entrepreneurial endeavor filled with big dreams and endless hope for a fruitful future ahead. Duh, it's a business venture, nothing more. That's what it is. After moving and barely being able to adjust my life to my new zip code, I jumped into an opportunity that just presented itself unexpectedly—a chance of owning and running my own business. I didn't even bother to look at th...

I did. I passed the driver's road test and got my state driver's license today. It was one heck of an accomplishment worth noting in my blog. It's one task that I completed and fulfilled with jubilation. Road bumps? None. Thank God. I'll share the experience to you in a future blog.

Somebody forwarded to me an e-mail which contains the following stories. Disclaimer: The following messages are not this blog author's original content. However, the author of this blog felt the need to share these amazingly witty stories to the readers out there who are smart enough to appreciate a good laugh and some sensible lessons in life. (To the author of this content: if you happen to read this blog and don't like the fact that your material is on this blog, feel free to send me a complaint and I will gladly delete this material from this blog.) Read on.   A must-read… >>> > Lesson 1: >>> > >>> > A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her >>> > shower, when the doorbell rings. >>> > >>> > The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. >>> > >>> > When she opens the door, there...

This year I came to learn about a new and faster way to die of cancer. No offense to the victims of this dreaded disease, but it definitely sparked a new sense of fear to anyone of us who could be diagnosed with this kind of disease. About three months ago, I met a Filipina and she narrated to me how quickly she lost her husband in six weeks time to pancreatic cancer. Then about a month ago, I happen to look for a good book to give for Father’s day and bumped into one best seller “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausche who also passed away a month ago to pancreatic cancer. May his soul rest in peace. On July 25, we celebrated our fiesta for our tiny city somewhere in the western hemisphere of the Mindanao islands, but sadly a good friend and neighbor of ours couldn’t make it after she lost her battle with the dreaded pancreatic cancer two days prior to the city celebration. Nobody knew how it all went but just last March she was full of life and vigor with no sign of an impending fatal...

I have this room. I call it chaos--my comfort chaos. It's where I spend hours in front of my computer, or just hours spent fidgeting around my electronic gadgets and accessories. I love the sense of disorder in this room. It gives me freedom to mess up and still be able to find my way around things as I channel all my creative energy into pure solitary moment of isolation from the world and relaxation in the deepest chambers of my being. Well, I was still up past 12:00 a.m., but the truth is, I did spend the whole night being up and about when my room of chaos challenged me to some horrid test. I love my Sony T7 camera. It's so easy to use and it takes good pictures. Of course I've enjoyed it for years now since it was given recognition for being an exemplary new product when it was launched. I keep my photos in the pro duo memory stick. The name alone for the media device sounds exclusive and of course, it is pricey. But I just love to keep my photos in there. It is easier...

Today we celebrate father’s day. I consider myself lucky to have both a father and a mother while growing up. It is a privilege not shared by all of us. For some, it’s their harsh reality that they ended up with just one parent raising them and for some unlucky beings, to be raised without any parent at all. I am grateful, indeed, for being lucky knowing that I always have two faithful supporters and cheerleaders on my side—my father and my mother. I have already previously attempted to paint a picture of what my mother is, so today I’ll take this opportunity to make a colorful description of the father I’ve grown to respect and love as a father over the years. Physically my father looks like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Brown though my father probably has 70% more likeness to the latter. Can you picture a morph of those two images? The flat nose is very prominent and very infectious as well. In fact, of all seven of us, none of my siblings was able to do away ...

Awesome! There is justice in this world, after all.

Tonight’s American Idol Finale between the two phenomenal Davids was a disappointment for me not because the contestants didn’t do well but because the judges were already calling on who won the title. To Simon Cowell, who’s always been an exceptionally accurate critic to every contestant’s performance, David Archuleta won the night. Randy also hinted after the third round that David Archuleta is the new American Idol. Paula on the other hand was tight-lipped about her Idol choice because to her obviously it was too close to call and more than anything else, it’s the voting public who picks the season’s winner. I usually agree with Simon Cowell’s judgment, but tonight I beg to differ. I think David Cook did a better job of showing more talent by choosing to go beyond conventions and showing his versatility as a performer. To me David Archuleta chose to stay on the safe side by singing a song that he already performed and to me it didn’t spark that much excitement. David Cook meanwhi...

I love to eat. I also love to cook. I really don't know which one came first, but I really love the idea of having the right color, texture and taste for anything that I put in my mouth--that is food. Just food, don't get me wrong. Somewhere at the back of my head, I have this prejudice about what a meal should be in order for it to be complete. Just give me the right combination of carbs, protein and veggies and my meal will always be complete. So, needless to say, even for breakfast, I appreciate a complete meal. At times though when I am in a hurry, a bowl of fiber-enriched cereal with soy milk and fresh fruit chunks will do. And still it is as complete as can be. But when I have all the time in the world to fix a sumptuous breakfast, this is what I come up with. I love scrambled eggs(semi-omelet style), slices of multi-grain bread and a handful of fresh fruit on the side. Unlike most morning scrambled eggs out there, I choose to make mine a little more exciting. How? Melt h...

Big Mall Day . A mall just opened in a remote municipality. Everyone was so excited to finally get to experience the fun of mall hopping. The entire community supported the grand opening by taking the time to check out the new mall. Dilemma: At mall closing time, chaos erupted. Everyone who went inside the mall was looking for his/her flip-flops that he/she carefully left behind by the mall entrance when he/she entered the mall. Lesson: Go to the mall barefoot. You can breeze in and out in your bare toes. The Key Word. A guy, who never went to the city before, decided to finally experience a feel of the city life by seeing tall buildings, watching a movie and dining out. It was lunch time when the guy decided to take a meal break in one of the food chains available inside a shopping center. Dilemma: It was his first time to see the foot-pedaled water dispenser. He was getting thirsty but he didn't know how the machine works. He was watching closely as everyone paced his way to t...

Click here or click on the box for a readable view. Read the boxed text. If you can decode the underlined words, then there are only two possibilities. Either you are smarter than most people I know or you happened to grab hold of the same book I'm reading at the moment. Either way, you're off to a good start, more so if writing is one of your passions. Being able to speak in metaphors or at least in some strange way of verbal sophistication sets an edge that almost always captures the reader's undivided attention and most certainly creates a thought-provoking process. Below you will find the simpler version of the phrases contained in the box. After learning the underlying meanings of these words and phrases, imagine yourself just being handed a pocketful of verbose tricks that you can share to your peers to project the brainiac that you are not. Oooppss, sorry . . . I must have hit you right where it hurts. Actually, I mean it. I mean the 'sorry'. Where to ? I ask...

Now that American Idol has finally boiled down to its last two contenders, I am so excited that my favorite contestant, David Cook is going to compete head-to-head with another equally talented David Archuleta. It is a thrill to see David Cook, being the wonderful and talented performer that he is on stage, battle his one chance to claim the title of Season 7's American Idol. He is always a pleasure to watch week after week. What makes David Cook such a fan-favorite is the fact that he has this amazing vocals that can literally rock a stage and sweep the audience off its feet. And despite his power vocals that amass enormous strength and confidence on stage, David Cook never fails to show through his vulnerable emotions that he so carefully protects behind those well-guarded moments on stage. It takes one equally keen soul to notice, that David Cook almost always gets teary-eyed during those humbling minutes when the judges throw their honest praises for David's amazing perform...

It is hard to live away from the place you once call home, because there really is no place like home. It is an awful thing to miss the place where you once had your playground as a child and probably spent the first half of your lifetime, whether it was an easy one or a time lived with tough challenges. Simply put, being geographically displaced from your familiar habitat and being separated from familiar faces could be so crippling at times. I thought I could be totally immune from the feeling of being homesick after being away from home for a while now, but, the truth is, that feeling has a life of its own--fading but never dying, just lurking somewhere in the dark corners of my deepest emotions. I must be really homesick, if I could describe that feeling with such colorful detail. Am I? Right now, I'm thinking of fish--dried fish, soup made out of fish, raw fish cooked in vinegar, grilled fish, fried fish. Fish...everything! Gosh, I must be going crazy. I'm picturing myself...

"It is sad that the fools are so self-confident and the clever ones are full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell - The Gambler A gambler enters the casino three times. Each time he comes in he gives $10 to the doorman. Then he bets all of his remaining money. And he wins, doubling his original bet. As he goes out he gives another $10 to the high-roller. He does this three times in a row. By the third time, when he goes out, he has no more money left. How much money did he have originally, when he first entered the casino? Find a five-letter word in the English language that doesn't change it's pronunciation even when you take out four of its letters. The shortest word in the English language that contains all the vowels is a seven - letter word. What is it? A man dies of thirst in his own home. How is this possible? What is the value of: Sin x/n What 4-letter sport starts with a T? The letters below can be rearranged into a sentence, but one famous puzzlist commented ...

I remember growing up in a strict Catholic upbringing and observing holy week as some sort of purging religious experience. The celebration would culminate with the Palm Sunday procession. We used to diligently weave some artfully crafted coconut leaves that we proudly wave as a reenactment to the welcome rites they gave to Jesus Christ during biblical times. Then we proceed to celebrate Ash Wednesday by having ashes rubbed on our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality—“Remember man, you are from dust and to dust you shall return.” It is a humbling experience and a great reminder to all of us to cast aside all worldly desires, after all, we all just vanish from this material world. Then the week-long celebration of the passion of Christ would highlight the Lenten season celebration—Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday, Easter Sunday. I remember our family celebrating this holy week as holy as it could be by observing penance, fast...

Today is a major day in our household. We rallied in front of our TV set and rooted for our favorite team to win this year’s football championship game. We had a feast enough to entertain ourselves during some boring moments of the NFL, and a feast to fill our stomachs enough to drive the butterflies away brought about by the tension of watching a truly magnificent football championship game. As we watched the pre-game show, it was obvious—everyone’s convinced that yeah, the New England Patriots are going to win the game and it’s not encouraging to see how the favor seemed to tilt towards the undefeated Patriots for a chance for history to be made by closing the season with a 19-0 record. But we like to root for the underdogs, and so to the NY Giants we wished our good luck and our hope of hopes that they will make history by delivering the biggest upset in the game of football. And history was made, indeed. The game was the finest sports match we’ve seen in a while bringing moments...

This is more or less a chronicle of unpleasant events that I’ve experienced in my life that really scared the living daylights out of me. Sweet Talk Way back in the early eighties, I was only a little girl. I grew up in a remote city in the western part of Mindanao in the Philippines. Our form of transportation was basically the simplest one. All we had then were tricycles and bicycles and of course, our flip-flops. We would be flip-flopping with our slippers across the town to get from point A to point B. Besides, everything is well within walking distance. One late afternoon around five o’clock I was sent to do an errand because one of my family members was sick and I was more or less the only one who was older and more reliable of all the siblings. I was sent to buy medicine about half a kilometer away from our house. Even if it was getting dark, I did what I was told to do and slowly paced my way to the pharmacy and after getting the medicine, I took the same route back home. The ...