to gateway, cubao

It's semestral break and I am in Manila. Today, my daughter Marion had an office break due to a Malaysia and Singapore's holiday, and this afternoon, she brought me to Cubao via the LRT system. We went to Gateway for a walk, not really thinking of buying things but we saw this white blouse with red ribbon. It was simple but cute. I told her to try it on and it fitted her perfectly well. I haven't given Marion any allowance since she started working last May, so it was a pleasure for me to buy this blouse for her. We looked around but didn't get to like anything more, so we headed to the food court and ordered pancit luglog from Razon's. I'll say, pancit luglog served in styropor doesn't taste as good as when it is served in a plate and coca cola in dispenser should have plenty of ice which wasn't so in most of our fast food outlets. Next time it will be better to take snacks at the Via Mare located inside Rustan's Grocery. I think their bibingka is delicious and their coffee is good. Anyway it was a nice aftenoon spent together at the mall. We ended at Rustan's grocery. I bought few cans of tuna, a bottle of mayonaise and sandwich spread . Tomorrow I'll mix up a tuna spread for the children's baon to their offices and school. Modesty aside, my tuna spread concoction is one of my children's and many of my friends' favorite party snacks. Hey, I am in Manila and happily playing my role as a mother!

global economic crisis

As I follow the business and financial news internationally, I begin to worry about kins and friends in America and Europe. I hope they are not greatly affected by this global economic meltdown? I have friends and kins all over the world, some in Iceland, Ireland, London, Canada and mostly in USA. Are their homes safe? their jobs secured? Are their hard earned money saved in good banks? Have their investments in the stock markets plummeted badly? Where ever they are, I hope they can bravely weather this economic storm and come out unscratched. We haven't felt  the big pinch yet here in the Philippines, but maybe because we have been surviving economic woes ever since and have become accustom to hard life and frugality.
To the big spenders who are really hit hard, this is the time for us to reflect deeply... long time ago, a baby was born and his mother laid him in a manger......

October

October is one of my favorite months, owing to the special blessings from Our Lady. It is the month of the Holy Rosary. Yesterday was the Feast of Our Lady of Pilar and today, the feast day of our Lady of Fatima. Because it is a special month of our heavenly mother, I do feel more at peace. I believe and I know that I am under her maternal protection. Also since I have dedicated all my children to her, I know they are verily under her motherly care and protection too.
October is an important month for the Chinese. China celebrates its founding day on October 1st and Taiwan on October 10.
Of course school semestral break falls in October too! hehehe
And since I was a kid, I have always looked forward to celebrating my sister Helen's birthday on October 31. It was and is always a special event for me.
The month of October has set in and parties are beginning to roll. I just came home form a friend's birthday celebratiopn. I am full to the brim. I love eeating and the crispy Cotabato lechon is simply too delicious. Yummy!

tv programs

It may be interesting to know that I acquired my first tv set in 1982, two years after I transfered to my present home. Television was the least of the luxurious items that I needed to purchase for myself since I grew up without one.( Camera is also another equipment that is not one of my priorities too.) Today however it is the most common appliance found in a home. People can't live without it. We just simply glued ourselves to the tube. I realized I have become dependent on it too. I even have one inside my bedroom and I switched programs before I go to sleep. hehehe! But unlike many others who turn on their set the first thing they arrive home, my viewing time though starts at 9 pm. I am totally alien with telenovelas, be they Chinese, Korean or Filipino. I don't watch noon time shows either. I prefer to take my afternoon nap instead.
What do I watch? Sadly I can't even share with most of my friends my favorite programs. They are quite disinteresting to them.I tuned in to:
1. ANC for business news and World Tonight,
2. CNN for international news,
3. AXN for Amazing Race Asia,
4. StarWorld for Monk, also American Idol and Smarter Than A Fifth Grader which are not in season now,
5. Lifestyle for Iron Chef America,
6. and Bloomberg.
I tell you, the news on Bloomberg these days is so exciting and frustrating. It's not for the weak of heart. When I couldn't stand the bad news no longer, I quickly switch it off. That's the last program I usually watch before I go to sleep.
hohum!

connection down

My internet connection was down for more than a week. I am back again in circulation.

Back to war torn and flooded cotabato

I came home to cotabato yesterday. The first news to hit me from another cotabato bound passnger while waiting for departure at the airport was "Baha na naman ang cotabato."
What? Flooded again? What happened to the dredging project?
Is there no respite to this infamous place? It's one bad news after the other and its either one or the others: bombing, fighting, killing, earthquake, war, kidnapping, flood etc....
Why do we still come home to this forsaken land? Because life here is simple and cheap, friends have become like family members.... and because we have been here too long and too rooted that we do not know how to live and survive elsewhere anymore. What a paradox!

man playing God

Yesterday's big news regarding the successful testing of the Hadron Particle Collider in Geneva had me thinking....of the brilliance of research works and scientific breakthroughs. I marvel at man's intelligence....those physicists and scientists... the depth of their minds and the expanse of their works. I was happy at the success of the Atom Collider. I believe man is capable of achieving anything. On the other hand ...it is scary that we might over do things and bring our own downfall and obliterate our own existence. From time immemorial, man is never contented to be caretaker of God's creation. He wants to be more. And as we learned from the story " the tower of babel",  God put hindrance to this ambition by scattering mankind and confusing his language, yet God has not withheld from us our achievements and attainments in discovering his wonderful creation.
Honestly, I was scared at the onset of DNA cloning. I told my husband "Wouldn't this make God angry?" Who knows we might be creating our own monsters afterall.
Now, this recent atomic colllider has promises of scientific revelations but again, aren't we trying to beat God again?
I am on one hand happy at the thought that maybe one day my dream of traveling through a space tunnel would come true, but then what if we turn into nothingness instead.
May the Almighty God enlighten the minds and the works of these scientists, for after all He still has the final say.