Sunday, May 31, 2009

Issue nº 61 : Change


almost in the space of the same week, i received from two readers a text that was supposedly written by me. no, it is not mine - although it has a lot to do with the way i see life. since i found the material interesting, and in the hope of discovering the real author, i reproduce them below:
change.

but start slowly, because direction is more important than speed.
sit in another chair, on the other side of the table.
later on, change tables.

when you go out, try to walk on the other side of the street. then change your route, walk calmly down other streets, observing closely the places you pass by.
take other buses. change your wardrobe for a while; give away your old shoes and try to walk barefoot for a few days - even if only at home.

take off a whole afternoon to stroll about freely, listening to the birds or the noise of the cars.
open and shut the drawers and doors with your left hand.

sleep on the other side of the bed. then try sleeping in other beds.
watch other tv programs, read other books, live other romances - even of only in your imagination.

sleep until later. go to bed earlier.
learn a new word a day.
eat a little less, eat a little more, eat differently; choose new seasonings, new colors, things you have never dared to experiment.

lunch in other places, go to other restaurants, order another kind of drink and buy bread at another bakery.
lunch earlier, have dinner later, or vice-versa.

try something new every day: a new side, a new method, a new flavor, a new way, a new pleasure, a new position.
pick another market, another make of soap, another toothpaste.
take a bath at different times of the day.

use pens with different colors.
go and visit other places.
love more and more and in different ways. even when you think that the other will be frightened, suggest what you have always dreamed about doing when you make love.

change your bag, your wallet, your suitcases, buy new glasses, write other poems.
open an account in another bank, go to other cinemas, other hairdressers, other theaters, visit new museums.

change. and think seriously of finding another job, another activity, work that is more like what you expect from life, more dignified, more human.

if you cannot find reasons to be free, invent them: be creative.
and grab the chance to take a long, enjoyable trip - preferably without any destination.

try new things. change again. make another change. experiment something else.
you will certainly know better things and worse things than those you already know, but that does not matter. what matters most is change, movement, dynamism, energy.

only what is dead does not change - and you are alive.

***** it must have been three years ago since i read this article posted at warriorofthelight.com. it was a turning point for me to allow change in my life. i find it difficult to be flexible at times. i have this attitude to conceive how things should happen from one after another. yet unforeseeable events do happen. this would freak me out and lose heart when i felt i am not in control.

***** altogether, it brought me to new beginnings. it moved me to allow the wind of change to redirect my path. bend at times, sway a little if needed. it renewed my being to seek bigger life through maximizing the unseen resources at hand. though, i still have struggles and resistance to change. but learning how to loosen the grip, like a seagull taking its plight, has freed my spirit and brought more suprises that one has never imagined. life has always been a journey for me, rather than a destination.

*****now, i'm loving it day by day.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sony's Going to CDO

sony, a good friend of mine since college has been working for smart communications for quite sometime. you might have seen here at smart ponciano as a customer representative. throughout her work experience with smart, this is the second time that she will be relocated. the first one was in smart tagum. now, she is bound to cagayan de oro as a sales agent.

From Collages
last saturday night, we were at k-1 to have a little send-off and get together party for sony. aja sony! :)

change. change. change.

i have grown to like change. at one point in our lives, there are things or events that came upon us which lead us to another path of learning or maybe a heightened experience to live life to the fullest. moreover, anxiety, agitation, apprehension and stress may arise. they are normal and expected as part of the process that one must overcome. otherwise, the lack of courage and fear itself may overwhelm you. relax. keep it low and cool. hold on to the promise that the one above is in control of everything and has a better plan for you. bloom where you are planted, as they say. :)

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change;
at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or
in saying that we are not ready.
The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.
A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

~~~ paulo coelho ~~~~

Lachi's Experience

last tuesday, we went to lachi’s sans rival atbp (or simply lachi's)
with mj for a good lunch.

eating at lachi's is still a superb treat. their cakes are heavenly and sinful for those who are on a diet. but this won't stop us! ;)
we usually have our lunch or dinner there for celebrations or just to satisfy our food cravings after a days work! it was ayhen who brought us to this food destination. from then on, i have fallen in love with lachi's (including kim!). luckily, lachi's is near from our
workplace (@ brokenshire college, madapo davao city). from there, we hired a tricycle for p20.00 (pakyaw tirada!) and told the driver we were bound to lachi's at old AMA (@ marfori hgts.) that's it! they knew the place.

one of the reasons why we eat there every now and then, is because of 5 chocolate torte, which is kim's all time favorite! it is a luscious 5 layer cake. hmm, i not a food writer but it was really divine eating that cake. it seems like chocolate mousse cake but much more delicious! :) my personal favorite is their blue berry cheesecake! i just love cheesecake whatever the topping it might be.

for lunch/dinner dishes i always go for fish fillet or stuffed chicken glazed with pineapple sauce. for kim, as always it would be lechon kawali!

as always, it is safe to make a reservation first berfore hopping there. during peak (lunch/dinner) hours they are full. unless, you are willing to wait...outside. such as what happened to us. it was a unplanned trip to lachi's. we arrived there at 12.15pm and the place was jampacked. we almost waited for 30 minutes for a vacant table. good thing, they took advance orders. the place is quite small and can cater ~10 tables only. but most of the patrons (like us) are willing to wait. it must be the cakes! but i can really say it's worth waiting.
address: ruby st., marfori heights, davao city
landline: 082.224.5552
for more yummy photos please visit the following blogs: i found them while surfing the web about lachi's.

happy eating *smile*

Karen People of Burma

Report: Karen People of Burma
Producer: Bridget Antwi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNOCeVI8dbA
Over 2000 Karen people have been accepted into Canada since 2006. This is a profile of two Karen people, looking at their life in Burma and their journeys from refugee camps to Canada.




last tuesday, i received an email from mei tha informing me that he was featured on tv about 'karen in canada' months ago. i followed the link that he has provided and watched the documentary clip with my family.

mei tha is a good friend i have known way back during college through yoki, a close friend of mine and his wife now. there was a time that we have talked about mie tha's status as a refugee, his family, about the karen people and their struggle for political independence, the persecution they were experiencing being a minority in burma (now myanmar) and as christians. it was a humbling experience to learn all of these and yet i have seen peace in him.

i do missed them (yoki and mie tha), since they have moved to thailand and then to canada. i know they are more stories to tell to glorify the one above with all the blessings each they have recieved and the rich experiences they have encountered. it is simply an everyday miracle!

"history will never change because of politics or conquests or theories or wars;
that’s mere repetition, it’s been going on since the beginning of time.
history will only change when we are able to use the energy of love,
just as we use the energy of the wind, the seas, the atom.”
~~~ paulo coelho, zahir ~~~

Monday, May 25, 2009

Help Fight Global Warming

what is global warming?
global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the last century. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming)





yeah, we already knew it. but, have we done anything to fight it?

i found out tree-nation.com through an ad banner at sir randy gamboa's personal blog. i clicked on it and it says it will plant a new tree to every 10 new members who will join. this has encouraged to be one of them.
tree-nation is the biggest free internet social network with the objective of planting trees in order to fight poverty, desertification, deforestation and climate change.
at tree-nation we believe that planting trees is possibly the best way to fight climate change.

“deforestation and agriculture accounts for about one third of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities about 80 percent of total emissions from agriculture and deforestation are from developing countries” source: fao

“climate change is expected to increase the number of undernourished people and may reduce yields of rainfed crops in some african countries significantly as early as the 2020s.” source: fao


“desertification is potentially the most threatening ecosystem change impacting livelihoods of the poor.” source: united nations convention to combat desertification

have you ever planted a tree? i have done it twice, when i was in grade 6 and the other one when i was in 2nd year high school. i am glad i have done it! how about you?

if there's a will there's a way. we can simply start within our community and do something to fight global warming. it is not only by planting trees that we could help protect our mother earth. in my community, some of the household joined the waste segregation project of which bottles and plastics were collected every month and sold at the junk shop. the proceeds were for the utility bills of the chapel. this project lasted for about a year. too bad, this has been stopped. i kept on asking my mother what had happened.

but this has not stopped us. at home, we still segregate our waste and collect those we can sell later at the junk shop. i kept on reminding my father not to burn our garbage but i usually came too late. everything was already burned! :( better luck next time. we support earth hour too. have you? if the lights were on and nobody is using them, i turned them off. in this way we can conserve energy. this also applies to other appliances especially to t.v. and electric fans. this week i plan to buy a water canister. in this way i will not buy bottled water every badminton practice and could help cut down plastic waste. what do you think?

right now, i am still thinking what can i do to help. for sure, there is more to do. let's take it one step at a time.

on a personal note, we do not need to be somebody to be able to make a big or small difference for our mother earth. i believe that big things start in small beginnings. how about that? let's do it! spread the word!




Saturday, May 16, 2009

Farm Town Mania

recently, i recieved an apple tree from roxy. this has introduced me to farm town. out of curiousity and boredom, i checked it out!

farm town is an application in facebook were you can "design, grow, maintain your farm and even send gifts to your friends". as a farmer, you plow fields, plant seeds and trees, harvest your crops or hire somebody to do that for you, sell your crops in the marketplace. sometimes, you are also asked to water or take weeds on somebody's farm. this is totally amusing.

at first, i was completely lost. i tried to be familiar with the tools and started farming with 200 coins and an apple tree. after learning some basic farming actions, it came so easy and fun! especially if you got good neighbors who can teach you on what to do. i got one! sir james a.k.a. don santiago, hired me to harvest his crops and taught me how to do it. visiting his farm was another thing to do. i like his farm a lot. i definitely love this game! :)

i was also hired by another farmer. i don't know him. i forgot his screen name. i met him at the market place. his farm has fruit bearing trees, potato fields and a number of farm animals. it was a big harvest and i earned about 3000 coins on that. it is like you got a real farm! :)

i hope i am not addicted to this. :) yesterday, before leaving for a badminton practice, i log on to facebook and checked my farm. it alerted me that there were crops ready for harvest. i am 45 minutes late and i need to go. good thing! mj was there and was willing enough to play the game for me. i think he had fun too! after all my crops were harvested and sold to the marketplace, he plowed the fields and planted strawberries and rice for me. :) small joys!

From Collages
happy farming! ^_^ special thanks to roxy, sir james, mj and to my new neighbor jamie. xoxoxo

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Speed Testing - Wired Mumbling

yesterday, our globe broadband connection (up to 1mbps package) was installed at last. everybody was estatic with it, especially my parents. they are digital immigrant and trying hard to catch up with today's technology.

unfortunately, the experience was quite frustrating that night. my father was surfing the web and looking for certain videos on sustainable agriculture. 48 years kaayo! the waiting time is excruciating. it would take several seconds (~12s) to fully view a webpage and video streaming and downloading files were worst. maybe because everybody was online and everything was shared. however, there should be a decent speed rate during peak hours. another thing, the line was choppy. i do not know if globe is experiencing a network problem at this time.

i checked the internet speed that we were getting thru speedtest.net and here are the results:


my father woke up this morning at 5.30 am just to look for videos and it went ok. :)

i don't know when will it last. i hope it gets better day by day. ^^

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Facebook Time ^_^

it was raining hard early in the morning.
i went to work late.
work.work.work.
surf.surf.surf.

i checked my emails and facebook account...then, i realized. it has been a year already since i joined facebook. but it took me this summer only to explore and enjoy
it. maybe because having friendster keeps me busy in those days. :) however, at work, friendster is one of those blocked web sites. whew. however, this has given me an opportunity to work on my facebook account. :)

what's up with facebook??? im still a newbie. i get lost sometimes! toinkz. but i guess, one of the things that caught my interest in facebook were their cool quizzes. im not sure if friendster has these applications. i like their wall to wall posting. it seems everybody is updated with somebody's business. whether someone is taking a quiz, posting a comment on someone's wall or photo(s) and what's bugging them. simply amazing. :p i also playing Farm Town and still learning the ropes! :)

here are some of the quizzes that i took. you might want to see the results! :)

.::Discover the Secret Behind Your Name::.
cool! i never thought that i am "a very exciting person"! do you agree? :)
--------------------------------------------
C : You definitely have a partier side in you, don't be shy to show it.
H : You are not judgmental.
A : You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind.
R : You are a social butterfly.
I : You are always smiling and making others smile.
S : You are very broad-minded.
S : You are very broad-minded.
E : You are a very exciting person.


.::What is Your Chinese Zodiac?::.
Your Chinese zodiac is 11, year of Dog and you are born on Monday.
i was in deep thought after reading the result...affected.
"Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. " sometimes lang ha. :)
--------------------------------------------
Personality : People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.


.::What Your Birth Date Reveals About You!::.
Charis Barbosa, birthday date : 28
it sounds like me at times! :) but i guess there's more to discovery within me/a person as the journey continues. am i right?
--------------------------------------------
Your birth on the 28th day of the month adds a tone of independence and extra energy to your Life Path. The number 1 energy suggest more executive ability and leadership qualities than you path may have indicated. A birthday on the 28th of any month gives greater will power and self-confidence, and very often a rather original approach. Unlike much of the other 1 energy, this birthday is one that endow with the ability to start a job and continue on until it is finished. You may prefer to use the broad brush, but you can handle details as well. You are sensitive, but your feeling stay somewhat repressed. You have a compelling manner that can be dominating in many situations.


.::"Dr. Phil's Personality Test"::.
The Lively Center of Attention.
really? uhm, please the read the whole thing.
you might misunderstood the result. :)
--------------------------------------------
Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not one to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.


.::Which Car suits your Personality?::.
Honda Insight.
uhmm, if i won the lottery and would buy a car...i prefer BIG CARS! chevrolet tahoe or a nissan trooper or a toyota hi lux or a pajero. whew, i hope i got the car brand and model right! :p
--------------------------------------------
You're exactly what this world requires! You're personality is peace oriented and nature loving! You deserve to be seen in the World's most efficient Hybrid Vehicle! .


.::"What Color Is Your Heart?::.
Crimson
red na red jud!
--------------------------------------------
The Crimson Heart is assertive, brave, energetic, action-oriented, intelligent, individualistic, independent, impulsive, full of strength, competitive, eager, straightforward, forceful, headstrong, pioneering, a leader, focused on the present and freedom-loving. They can also sometimes be intemperate, violent, impatient, fiery, rash, extreme, and arrogant.


.::What does your birthday say about you?::.
February
hmm, it looks like me! :)
--------------------------------------------
Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislike unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizing dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.


i also got a sweet note from coney.
--------------------------------------------
Human Life is very precious and is meant for achieving true happiness. Every life is a mix of good and bad experiences.Perhaps both have to coexist. AT times, the course of life turns so drastically that we are wonderstruck. This too happens both for good as well as bad. It is rightly said that half of "life" is "if" (note the two middle alphabets) and three-fourth is lie (read it without "f"). But to see life partially is not fair. It has to be seen in totality. From this point of view, all experiences of life can be made enriching.
-From The Author of Think Positive and All Things Will Go Right

p.s. see you there!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Issue nº 197 : The Measure of Love

from: http://www.warriorofthelight.com/

“I have always wanted to know if I was able to love like you do,” said the disciple of a Hindu master.

“There is nothing beyond love,” answered the master. “It’s love that keeps the world going round and the stars hanging in the sky.”

“I know all that. But how can I know if my love is great enough?”
“Try to find out if you abandon yourself to love or if you flee from your emotions. But don’t ask questions like that because love is neither great nor small. You can’t measure a feeling like you
measure a road: if you act like that you will see only your reflection, like the moon in a lake, but you won’t be following your path.”


p.s. you may visit http://www.warriorofthelight.com/ for more interesting articles by paulo coelho. i am also a subscriber to WOL group. my first encounter with paulo coelho was through (one of his books) THE ALCHEMIST. it was truly an amazing story. a must read book if i may say. the following were the books i have read by this author.

From Collages

there were other titles i would really want to read soon.
these are available at a local bookstore @ p245.00 in paperback.
the winner stands alone (2008)
the magician, fernando morais (2008)
the witch of portobello (2006)
like the flowing river (2006)
the devil and miss prym (2000)
the manual of the warrior of light (1997)
love letters from a prophet (1997)
maktub (1994)
o dom supremo: the greatest gift (1991)
brida (1990)
you may also visit paulo coelho's official website http://paulocoelho.com/index.html.
happy reading! ^_^