as of 1130 this morning, it's officially christmas break ^^ yey!
all i want for christmas is (or ARE)
- world peace (honestly. of course, it's probably not gonna happen in my lifetime. but still~)
- to do something for the street children
On the materialistic side:
- anything from giordano (their jackets and shirts are nice but on the pricey side)
- new flats (the ones i bought from singapore are slowly wearing out. sadness)
- books! ^^
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
quiapo
today was the second to the last leg of data collection for our thesis. the last leg's tomorrow. tanya and i are going to interview the last few remaining people who haven't been interviewed yet.
today we completed our street-based children sample. we were aiming for 50 but we settled for less, given the circumstances. i didn't realize that street kids were very busy people. they had to help their parents and work, thus having almost no time for fun. the kids were friendly and sweet ^^ i loved emily and her family~ as well as norielyn's. oscar was just full of laughs. others were more shy and didn't talk as much, and there was one who just didn't want to cooperate.
after the interviews, i couldn't help but feel a bit sad. i wouldn't say that the future seemed bleak to them but their environment considerably hindered their potential to grow. Moreover, these kids have different value systems. To tell the truth, i sometimes find it hard to sympathize with them. Charity alone isn't enough. For them to develop and grow as persons, they also need a proper education and moral foundations. i don't know. seeing those kids just left me sad and well i've been asking myself all sorts of questions~ there must be something productive we can do.
on the lighter side of things, it was my first time to actually take a walk around quiapo. hehe ^^ my dad said he used to go there every day during his college days. i wonder how it was like then. saw an old-style camera, the one which looks like an accordion and which you have to cover yourself with a piece of cloth when taking the photo. coolness~
-0-
yesterday was the OIP party where the foreign exchange students sang songs from home. i got to hear a tibetan song for the first time =) and i got to sing Petit Papa Noel with the french students too. Fr. Ben, Dr. Angeles, and Rudy Ang were there too. It was actually my first time to see Rudy Ang in person. I thought he was a masterals student doing a study in the philippines at first haha XD
After the OIP party, went to Carlo's despedida with the ASEC people. It was fun. Emil and his barkada made good use of the karaoke machine. Spent the night chatting with Teruha, Cess, and her cousin Theo (who's visiting from Australia).
today we completed our street-based children sample. we were aiming for 50 but we settled for less, given the circumstances. i didn't realize that street kids were very busy people. they had to help their parents and work, thus having almost no time for fun. the kids were friendly and sweet ^^ i loved emily and her family~ as well as norielyn's. oscar was just full of laughs. others were more shy and didn't talk as much, and there was one who just didn't want to cooperate.
after the interviews, i couldn't help but feel a bit sad. i wouldn't say that the future seemed bleak to them but their environment considerably hindered their potential to grow. Moreover, these kids have different value systems. To tell the truth, i sometimes find it hard to sympathize with them. Charity alone isn't enough. For them to develop and grow as persons, they also need a proper education and moral foundations. i don't know. seeing those kids just left me sad and well i've been asking myself all sorts of questions~ there must be something productive we can do.
on the lighter side of things, it was my first time to actually take a walk around quiapo. hehe ^^ my dad said he used to go there every day during his college days. i wonder how it was like then. saw an old-style camera, the one which looks like an accordion and which you have to cover yourself with a piece of cloth when taking the photo. coolness~
-0-
yesterday was the OIP party where the foreign exchange students sang songs from home. i got to hear a tibetan song for the first time =) and i got to sing Petit Papa Noel with the french students too. Fr. Ben, Dr. Angeles, and Rudy Ang were there too. It was actually my first time to see Rudy Ang in person. I thought he was a masterals student doing a study in the philippines at first haha XD
After the OIP party, went to Carlo's despedida with the ASEC people. It was fun. Emil and his barkada made good use of the karaoke machine. Spent the night chatting with Teruha, Cess, and her cousin Theo (who's visiting from Australia).
Thursday, December 14, 2006
save the polar bears
i watched al gore's documentary "an inconvenient truth" earlier today. it was interesting and quite enlightening. i don't know when it started but i seem to have developed a sense of concern for the environment, as well as an interest in sustainable development. i found the facts emphasized in the documentary to be alarming, like how the rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere skyrocketed in the past few years, how fast the ice is melting in the arctic and antarctica. if before, people's projections were that we'd be in danger in the next 100 years or so, the number of years has dwindled down to 50-70.
i liked his example of the frog. a frog who is put in boiling water will immediately jump out, but a frog who is placed in water which is then slowly heated won't realize the heat until it's probably too late. like as humans, because we can't feel the immediate effects of global warming, we think that it's still a future problem, that we don't need to deal with it yet. After all, what we can't see can't hurt us. This is of course perfectly natural. I, the eternal procrastinator, am guilty of this as well. I guess this is why it's so hard to get people to be pro-active.
Globalization is taking its toll on the environment. There are polar bears which have even been found to have drowned because they couldn't find a strip of ice to rest on, and thus were forced to keep on swimming. Imagine being stuck in the middle of an ocean and looking around you to just see endless water. What a scary thought. Even the natural cycle and habitat of animals have been affected. The effects of global warming were even more extensive than i thought.
The big question is what can i do in response to this problem? Sure, I'm aware of the facts. I realize the consequences and i'd like to take some sort of action but where to start? Do i cut back on power use? Do i start using more fuel-efficient cars? Can the environment i live in adapt with me as make this change? Is it possible for third world countries to cut back on power and illegal logging and all those other environment-harming activites when their economies are dependent on these very same things? To tackle the issue, a major revamp is needed - a change in the equipment and machines we use, as well as in our outlooks, perceptions, and ways of thinking. the environment deserves our attention.
http://www.climatecrisis.net
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after watching the documentary, micah and i went to have our fortunes told. the lady used tarot cards, signature analysis, and palm reading. most of the "predictions" revolved around career and love life. it was fun and pretty interesting. some even hit a chord or two. i'm not sure if i really believe in the fortune telling thing though~ ^^
i liked his example of the frog. a frog who is put in boiling water will immediately jump out, but a frog who is placed in water which is then slowly heated won't realize the heat until it's probably too late. like as humans, because we can't feel the immediate effects of global warming, we think that it's still a future problem, that we don't need to deal with it yet. After all, what we can't see can't hurt us. This is of course perfectly natural. I, the eternal procrastinator, am guilty of this as well. I guess this is why it's so hard to get people to be pro-active.
Globalization is taking its toll on the environment. There are polar bears which have even been found to have drowned because they couldn't find a strip of ice to rest on, and thus were forced to keep on swimming. Imagine being stuck in the middle of an ocean and looking around you to just see endless water. What a scary thought. Even the natural cycle and habitat of animals have been affected. The effects of global warming were even more extensive than i thought.
The big question is what can i do in response to this problem? Sure, I'm aware of the facts. I realize the consequences and i'd like to take some sort of action but where to start? Do i cut back on power use? Do i start using more fuel-efficient cars? Can the environment i live in adapt with me as make this change? Is it possible for third world countries to cut back on power and illegal logging and all those other environment-harming activites when their economies are dependent on these very same things? To tackle the issue, a major revamp is needed - a change in the equipment and machines we use, as well as in our outlooks, perceptions, and ways of thinking. the environment deserves our attention.
http://www.climatecrisis.net
-0-
after watching the documentary, micah and i went to have our fortunes told. the lady used tarot cards, signature analysis, and palm reading. most of the "predictions" revolved around career and love life. it was fun and pretty interesting. some even hit a chord or two. i'm not sure if i really believe in the fortune telling thing though~ ^^
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
tarukan
one word to describe my immersion experience : overwhelming. emotions, culture shock, realizations - everything was just overwhelming.
i went to capas armed with these doubts, insecurities, and preconceptions. for two and a half days, i got to mingle with the aeta mag-antsi, experience how they live. we climbed mountains. we cooked meals using firewood. we slept on tugon beds. we covered the leaky roofs with rags when it rained really hard saturday evening. we got the stuff for our meals by plucking papayas and vegetables from trees, by buying payless from the small sari-sari store up the hill. we bathed in the creek beside our simple tugon-made homes. we were amazed by the clear night sky - it was possible to see all the constellations. the sky was littered with stars. we gazed endlessly at the flittering fireflies which tatay wilson jokingly referred to as "christmas light sa bundok." we basked in the warm glow offered by the rising moon. we relished the fresh air and cool breeze. we were both embarassed and grateful for the warm hospitality and generosity showered upon us by the community. every day, we would be greeted by the big toothy smiles and shy grins of the children. we would just sit down idly and chat with our nanays, learn about the aeta culture, and jot down a few aeta words.
the immersion was truly enrichening. i got to learn and experience so much. of course, two days isn't really enough to understand how the aetas live but it was able to give us an inkling of what hardships they went through, of how they spent each day. as my groupmate mike aptly put, the aeta's life is simple yet hard. i can say that after this immersion, i've come to appreciate the filipino indigenous culture more.
i went to capas armed with these doubts, insecurities, and preconceptions. for two and a half days, i got to mingle with the aeta mag-antsi, experience how they live. we climbed mountains. we cooked meals using firewood. we slept on tugon beds. we covered the leaky roofs with rags when it rained really hard saturday evening. we got the stuff for our meals by plucking papayas and vegetables from trees, by buying payless from the small sari-sari store up the hill. we bathed in the creek beside our simple tugon-made homes. we were amazed by the clear night sky - it was possible to see all the constellations. the sky was littered with stars. we gazed endlessly at the flittering fireflies which tatay wilson jokingly referred to as "christmas light sa bundok." we basked in the warm glow offered by the rising moon. we relished the fresh air and cool breeze. we were both embarassed and grateful for the warm hospitality and generosity showered upon us by the community. every day, we would be greeted by the big toothy smiles and shy grins of the children. we would just sit down idly and chat with our nanays, learn about the aeta culture, and jot down a few aeta words.
the immersion was truly enrichening. i got to learn and experience so much. of course, two days isn't really enough to understand how the aetas live but it was able to give us an inkling of what hardships they went through, of how they spent each day. as my groupmate mike aptly put, the aeta's life is simple yet hard. i can say that after this immersion, i've come to appreciate the filipino indigenous culture more.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
immersion
off to tarukan, tarlac tomorrow for immersion with the indigenous people, specifically the Aeta community.
excited? you could say that. i feel like i'm going on an adventure of sorts. kinda like extra challenge. of course, ate dudj warned us not to think of it just as a "trip."
nervous? definitely. especially when i heard that there were no proper bathrooms @@
ready? totally. well technically, i have yet to pack but i've picked out which shirts i'm going to bring (^.^)V
be back on sunday evening~
P.S. Advanced Happy Birthday to Yuki-chan and Kristine who're celebrating their birthdays on the 9th of december.
excited? you could say that. i feel like i'm going on an adventure of sorts. kinda like extra challenge. of course, ate dudj warned us not to think of it just as a "trip."
nervous? definitely. especially when i heard that there were no proper bathrooms @@
ready? totally. well technically, i have yet to pack but i've picked out which shirts i'm going to bring (^.^)V
be back on sunday evening~
P.S. Advanced Happy Birthday to Yuki-chan and Kristine who're celebrating their birthdays on the 9th of december.
Monday, November 27, 2006
meshed
the past few days have sort of blurred together. so i'm just going to ramble...
the past few weeks, my weekends have been spent at japanese class and at virlanie (doing thesis data collection). we have to be done before dec. 15...so far, we're halfway done. data collection at virlanie is actually fun. i get to talk to the kids and even teach them a bit of chinese. it's a learning experience.
i watched happy feet ^^ with my mom and eizel at greenbelt saturday night. it was so cute! reminded me of March of the Penguins, especially when the male penguins were carrying and sheltering (?) their eggs. Baby penguins are adorable. I think it's the eyes - big and round. The story was simple but it was injected with lots of songs and funny dialogue (i loved ramon and his amigos). it was a laugh trip ^^ cool animation too. they'll probably have stuffed toys of mumbles and the other characters out soon~ oh yeah, saw the ost at music one. i'll give it a listen the next time i'm at a music store.
when we got home after, watched just like heaven. i liked the book better but the movie wasn't half bad. mark ruffalo is the ultimate boy-next-door. i liked him in 13 going on 30 too. And i loved reese's apartment in the movie, with the private landscaped garden and all.
these days, i've also been watching House, M.D. i'm really enjoying it. I love the House-isms, although i'm not sure if i'd like to be at their receiving end. Seeing med shows makes me re-think my decision not go into med. Before, i wanted to be a doctor because of ER. I don't know~ On tv, it seems like such an exciting, high energy job you know - making correct diagnoses, racing time, saving lives, etc etc. But then, i don't think i could handle all that. I think i'd rather be an actor playing the role of a doctor than be a real doctor. And so, the question really is, what DO i want to be??? around 2-3 months left to ponder on that...
and i think that's all i've been doing these past few days...which means i haven't started with christmas shopping and card sending yet~
i need to go transcribe the interviews now.
the past few weeks, my weekends have been spent at japanese class and at virlanie (doing thesis data collection). we have to be done before dec. 15...so far, we're halfway done. data collection at virlanie is actually fun. i get to talk to the kids and even teach them a bit of chinese. it's a learning experience.
i watched happy feet ^^ with my mom and eizel at greenbelt saturday night. it was so cute! reminded me of March of the Penguins, especially when the male penguins were carrying and sheltering (?) their eggs. Baby penguins are adorable. I think it's the eyes - big and round. The story was simple but it was injected with lots of songs and funny dialogue (i loved ramon and his amigos). it was a laugh trip ^^ cool animation too. they'll probably have stuffed toys of mumbles and the other characters out soon~ oh yeah, saw the ost at music one. i'll give it a listen the next time i'm at a music store.
when we got home after, watched just like heaven. i liked the book better but the movie wasn't half bad. mark ruffalo is the ultimate boy-next-door. i liked him in 13 going on 30 too. And i loved reese's apartment in the movie, with the private landscaped garden and all.
these days, i've also been watching House, M.D. i'm really enjoying it. I love the House-isms, although i'm not sure if i'd like to be at their receiving end. Seeing med shows makes me re-think my decision not go into med. Before, i wanted to be a doctor because of ER. I don't know~ On tv, it seems like such an exciting, high energy job you know - making correct diagnoses, racing time, saving lives, etc etc. But then, i don't think i could handle all that. I think i'd rather be an actor playing the role of a doctor than be a real doctor. And so, the question really is, what DO i want to be??? around 2-3 months left to ponder on that...
and i think that's all i've been doing these past few days...which means i haven't started with christmas shopping and card sending yet~
i need to go transcribe the interviews now.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
kokology
i saw angel today =) we did what we always do, which is talk, chat, and laugh ^^
the asec people are planning another ice skating trip. a few more trips and they'll be pros =) i should buy something at the sm dept store so i can get ice skating coupons too. Hehe
Went to SM North Edsa this afternoon to buy a tape recorder for thesis. Tape recorders remind me of Felicity and her audio diaries.
Stopped by National and got Mom two Sudoku books and i got two Kokology books. Kokology comes from the japanese word "kokoro," meaning heart, mind or spirit. It's basically a pop psychology/self-discovery game created by a Japanese psychologist. The book contains these hypothetical situations and you answer some questions. Then, at the end, there are explanations to the answers you gave. It's pretty interesting though i'm not quite sure if it's really "scientific."
Books to put on my To Buy List:
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Books by Shannon Hale (saw a hardcover version of Princess Academy - cute cover ^^) Checked out amazon.com and all her books seem nice, in a fairytale way ^^I'll just have to look for the paperback versions at the bookstores.
For One More Day (i think that's the title) by Mitch Albom. He has a new book =) It's still in hardcover though.
The author of Devil Wears Prada (Laura something?) also has a new book, which is also in hardcover. Sigh.
*Currently reading Going Home by Harriet Evans.
the asec people are planning another ice skating trip. a few more trips and they'll be pros =) i should buy something at the sm dept store so i can get ice skating coupons too. Hehe
Went to SM North Edsa this afternoon to buy a tape recorder for thesis. Tape recorders remind me of Felicity and her audio diaries.
Stopped by National and got Mom two Sudoku books and i got two Kokology books. Kokology comes from the japanese word "kokoro," meaning heart, mind or spirit. It's basically a pop psychology/self-discovery game created by a Japanese psychologist. The book contains these hypothetical situations and you answer some questions. Then, at the end, there are explanations to the answers you gave. It's pretty interesting though i'm not quite sure if it's really "scientific."
Books to put on my To Buy List:
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Books by Shannon Hale (saw a hardcover version of Princess Academy - cute cover ^^) Checked out amazon.com and all her books seem nice, in a fairytale way ^^I'll just have to look for the paperback versions at the bookstores.
For One More Day (i think that's the title) by Mitch Albom. He has a new book =) It's still in hardcover though.
The author of Devil Wears Prada (Laura something?) also has a new book, which is also in hardcover. Sigh.
*Currently reading Going Home by Harriet Evans.
Monday, November 20, 2006
cool inventions
was just browsing through the week's copy of Time Magazine when i came upon their list of cool inventions. here are some that i found interesting:
the robot with a sense of taste. the one featured in Time is the robot that can taste wine. it can determine the type, brand and flavor; plus, it also suggests which cheese variants go well with the wine. how cool is that? ^^NEC, the company who came up with the wine bot, also invented a more general food-tasting robot last year. this robot can give the name and ingredients of the food it tasted, plus it also gives health advice. Japan comes up with all these fascinating robots! ^o^
Allerca is coming up with cats that are hypoallergenic so you won't have to worry about sneezing and allergies ^^ i'm really not sure how they do it but it might have something to do with changing removing a protein from the genetic make-up. Visit http://allerca.com for more information.
I would love to try out the Moobella Instant Ice Cream Making Vending Machine. Choose from 12 different flavors, 5 mix-ins, regular or light, then wait a few seconds, and there you have it! instant "machine-made" ice cream ^^ browsed the website (http://moobella.com) and interesting flavors are cake batter, butter pecan, maple and banana. if i could try out one of these ice cream treats, my first combo would probably be pistachio ice cream and choco chip mix-ins. if it's as minty as i think it will be, then it'll pass for the mint choco chip ice cream i used to get at "laura something" as a kid at bayview plaza ^^ all i remember was that the ice cream always came with an oval-shaped piece of rich chocolate with laura's face embossed on it. everytime ni and i went to bayview, we'd stare longingly at the ice cream display case. being a specialty store, the ice cream there was more pricey than the regular ones. sometimes though, mom would get as one each as a treat ^^ sweet childhood memories~
for gadgets, the Mio H610 DigiWalker (http://miogps.com/) looks cool, although i don't think i really need a portable gps navigator...unless i decide to join amazing race (speaking of which, the cho brothers are out). i'm not good at reading maps --:
the robot with a sense of taste. the one featured in Time is the robot that can taste wine. it can determine the type, brand and flavor; plus, it also suggests which cheese variants go well with the wine. how cool is that? ^^NEC, the company who came up with the wine bot, also invented a more general food-tasting robot last year. this robot can give the name and ingredients of the food it tasted, plus it also gives health advice. Japan comes up with all these fascinating robots! ^o^Allerca is coming up with cats that are hypoallergenic so you won't have to worry about sneezing and allergies ^^ i'm really not sure how they do it but it might have something to do with changing removing a protein from the genetic make-up. Visit http://allerca.com for more information.
I would love to try out the Moobella Instant Ice Cream Making Vending Machine. Choose from 12 different flavors, 5 mix-ins, regular or light, then wait a few seconds, and there you have it! instant "machine-made" ice cream ^^ browsed the website (http://moobella.com) and interesting flavors are cake batter, butter pecan, maple and banana. if i could try out one of these ice cream treats, my first combo would probably be pistachio ice cream and choco chip mix-ins. if it's as minty as i think it will be, then it'll pass for the mint choco chip ice cream i used to get at "laura something" as a kid at bayview plaza ^^ all i remember was that the ice cream always came with an oval-shaped piece of rich chocolate with laura's face embossed on it. everytime ni and i went to bayview, we'd stare longingly at the ice cream display case. being a specialty store, the ice cream there was more pricey than the regular ones. sometimes though, mom would get as one each as a treat ^^ sweet childhood memories~
for gadgets, the Mio H610 DigiWalker (http://miogps.com/) looks cool, although i don't think i really need a portable gps navigator...unless i decide to join amazing race (speaking of which, the cho brothers are out). i'm not good at reading maps --:
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