Just posted some photos in my long-forgotten webshots account. From our day trips to Hadrian's Wall and St. Nicholas cathedral just around the corner from where I work.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561693224bLoWtd?vhost=good-times
It's getting colder and colder here not to mention the frequent drizzles and howling wind. When I got home last night, I noticed that the cover of our electrical box had gone off and my housemate clearly have no intention of fixing it, bloody Gr. Ela malaka, if you're reading this :)
We're leaving early today (it's just 4pm but it looks like 6 already I barely see the sun). Have I mentioned there's a high rate of suicide in some European countries as the lack or deprivation from light causes depression? Although there's a study from the British Journal of Psychiatry that suicide rates tend to go up during hot weather, and by hot they mean 18C.
Ciao!
-I fell from the stairs last Monday and broke the heel of my boots.
-I got in the wrong train last Tuesday because my colleague and I were so angry over some unethical practices.
-I got my pc installed only yesterday after a month of persistent email exchange.
-Survived the 4 degrees temperature yesterday. I wonder if I'd survive winter, this is just autumn.
-Loving Sainsbury's cooked Indian meals: I've tried lamb rogan josh, chicken jafrezi, and chicken korma, and they're all great. Hail to ready to eat meals!
-I'm hoping to get a new laptop by end of November, a lovely Dell XPSM1330 :)
-Need to force myself to go to the gym and sign up!!
It's official, just now, Glasgow is hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games beating Abuja, Nigeria.
Just how exciting Glasgow is? You can check my previous posts :)
Cheers!
I opened my browser and saw this really cool ad from Firefox.
They're looking for 'agents' to put up 3.5-feet firefox stickers in prominent places, but you gotta have a plan, if chosen you get an Apple Macbook as grand prize. I might try putting it up at the Angel of the North statue but I'm afraid that would result in me being booted out of this wonderful, highly-developed and migrant-friendly nation who have done so much for the world.
The Angel of the North at Gateshead. Photo taken from http://www.ukswebsite.co.uk
Puma Complete Trailfox image from zappos.com
Longbenton Metro Station
Ikea Gateshead
Asa-chan
Photo from GCAP. School children in Soweto, South Africa
The view from the bridge was exhilarating and it was very cold and windy I thought it would tilt. It does tilt (so cool!) to make way for the passage of huge ships, it's an architectural feat. Being new to the city, I did lots of consultations with colleagues and checked out Google maps just to be sure I won't get lost, and I didn't.
The Millennium Bridge
I've been very busy these past few weeks. Sorting out visa, entry and exit clearances, getting pissed off by the sheer incompetence of some people, though everything seems to be sorted now. I've started to pack my luggage, put my new skywards tags, list down things I still need to buy, and squeeze in last minute meet ups with friends and relatives. We just got back from a one day visit to my lola in the province over the weekend, very hectic and tiresome but I just have to see them one last time before I leave for a whole year.
I'm quite excited, it's gonna be a new environment, new people, new work altogether. I'm expecting lots of challenges too. Right now I'm trying to get accommodation remotely, google map comes in handy in locating potential flats close to the University.
My thinking is that I've survived Johannesburg, I'll definitely survive Newcastle. But looking at the weather and the kind of assistance that I'm getting, I'm starting to doubt that. My stay in SA is soo organised: somebody had picked me up from the airport, I already have a place to stay before I got there, transpo going to work all sorted out. This trip looks like a journey to Mars coordinated by Philippine airspace travel (which is basically nonexistent). At the moment, I'm quite stumped deciding over which shoes to leave and which to bring.
Good thing about me is that I don't easily give up. I was able to communicate with a Filipino living there in Newcastle and he's really so nice to help me out. Too bad he's moving to Australia.
I've also been negotiating with a Brit for my accommodation, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll see reason over the Western Union money transfer thing which I'm not gonna budge in.
I have a hundred things to do and only two days left, I think I'll be needing some vodka.
***
This is gonna be tough for hny and I, but we have plans on meeting up probably next year and we're both praying that he'll get the scholarship so we can travel around Europe together :)
Now, compare that to my mind-numbing experience with our very own Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in London. I emailed the Phil. Embassy in UK about the provisions they want to see in my contract. I asked them if it's possible to waive one of the two provisions (or even both) since the contract is a generic one (given to everybody who works for the Uni, from the highest to the lowest rank I presume) and I am fully aware that the Uni would not shoulder the airfare going there. No response. After a day or two, I re-send the email to another address posted in their website. Still nothing. I'm a total newbie to this process of applying for a verification of contract, I don't know the back door stuff , I don't have an agency (I fall under the category of name hire based on the POEA website) so I rely on government agencies which should inform me what to do and what the process is, and this is supposed to be the main reason for their existence. I decided to call the DFA Action Center upon the recommendation of a friend working there. Here's how the conversation went:
K: Good morning. I'd like to know how I can communicate with our embassy in UK aside from calling them? I already sent them an email but they're not responding.
DFA: Tawagan nyo na lang.
K: May nakapagsabi po kasi sa akin na the DFA Action Center can call the embassy on my behalf to clarify my queries...
DFA: Ay walang ganon..
K: E ano po pala ang ginagawa ng Action Center?
DFA: Ganito lang sumasagot sa mga nagtatanong.
K: So, the only way to communicate with them is by calling them?
DFA: Oo.
K: Thank you po. Pwede ko po bang makuha ang pangalan nila?
DFA: Ay hindi kami nagbibigay ng pangalan dito.
K: Ha? Ganoon ba...(the other party hung up)
I was so stumped that it took me a second to put down the phone and the absurdity of the conversation dawned on me. So the only thing they do apparently is answer phone calls which that person did incompetently. The other thing is that the person would not want to give her name and actually said that it's the practice of the office. Accountability gone kaput.
I know I'm just expecting too much from our government agency, but every time I deal with one (even with business establishments), I always have this mindset that I'm going to get a good service and a decent exchange from the other party. I guess I just have too much faith in the level of intelligence and common sense of other people. I still believe though that this is the right thing to do. I've worked in the government (in the academe though, which maybe makes it a different environment altogether) and I never did answer a simple I don't know on the phone and never left emails unanswered. I would always acknowledge or give an alternative. I don't want to be a let down. I've always loved my work and I believe that I am efficient, competent and intelligent, that's why I'm in that post. I'm supposed to be the go-to person on things that fall under my remit and I'm supposed to even have an idea on things that are somehow related to what I do and in rarer cases, even beyond. Why can I give 100% on my job while others bask in their mediocrity? Surely there's something wrong with our view of standard and quality service.
I have lots of friends in the government and I know that they work hard and they're very good at what they do. But they're just 10% of the lot. Why should we accept incompetence and inefficiency as the norm and be forgiving and just shrug this off as "ok lang?"
That person at the DFA who answered my call was so unhelpful and a total waste of resources. The email addresses posted at the Phil embassy in the UK website are not working, one is over quota, the other one just fails to receive and the others are simply ignoring my email. I'm thinking of seriously raising hell, not only because of this experience but for the many times that I've put up with other people's shit.
***
Update
My diligent searching in the net paid off ( I hoped), I found another email address (not in the Philemb website!) and re-send my appeal for help. In a few minutes after receiving my email, the labor attache who turned out to be based in Washington DC replied to me and referred my email to her colleague based in London. Now, why can this good lady answer and acknowledge my email in a matter of minutes while others can't?
Infuriating.
"The Shock Doctrine follows the application of these ideas though our contemporary history, showing in riveting detail how well-known events of the recent past have been deliberate, active theatres for the shock doctrine, among them: Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973, the Falklands War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998."
A breakthrough investigative research or another manufactured information being fed to the public?
Got this from "jewyoutube" ;)
Can't wait for season 2!!!
I've also sent an sms to my family: "Ma, baka mag-back out ako sa exam. Di na ako mageexam ngayon. Me dalawa ng nag-back out hehe." (Ma, I might back out of the exam. I won't be taking the exam now. Two have already backed out)
I received a reply from my father: "I'm disappointed when you show fear. So what if you fail. Trust yourself you can."
Hny also pep talked me about taking it once and for all ("we should be like the Spartans, hawoo hawoo! hawoo!), [I was pumped from the much-thought battle cry and] I realized that I really don't have anything to lose. If I fail then I failed trying which is more honourable than just quitting without giving a fight. Life is not always about certainties, you're not always on the winning end. You take the risk, stand your ground and when you lose and hurt your pride, you move on, you learn your lesson and try again. Sometimes we get so hung up with other people's perception about ourselves, we often get muddled with "what will people say?" and "what if" thoughts, we tend to miss the uncertainties and take risks which make life more exciting and fulfilling. There is a more beautiful life outside the box, beyond the norms, the gossips and the judgments. Live it.
And we do. That's why the day right after the exam we decided to fly to Palawan. :)
In the middle of our review (read: cramming) sessions for the exam next week, I can't help but take a quick break and share my thoughts about this issue that had taken the globe(oh yeah!) by storm. I won't add to the myriad of expletives and insults that had been said to her, she deserved each and every one of those and maybe more. Hny and I were talking and I told him that her President should do something about this, maybe declare her as persona non-grata and boot her out of the Philippines. If the government truly sees the OFWs as modern-day heroes, it shouldn't go easy on imbeciles trying to be cool by defaming its heroes. Obviously, she wasn't thinking when she wrote that crap. Didn't she know that the Philippines would have been long wiped out of the map without the OFWs remittances? Ignorance is a total bitch, isn't it Malu?
Maybe it's true that all Malu Fernandez wanted was to show off her "acerbic wit," and in doing so, incidentally ended her career and worse, got forever branded as "walang kapwa-tao" which if I remember my Psychology 108 (Sikolohiyang Pilipino/Filipino Psychology) class right, is the worst kind of label one could ever get in the Filipino society. Which leads me to the final point I want to drive at courtesy of the fine movie hny and I had finished watching just now (V for Vendetta): "You can kill a wo/man, but you can never kill an idea." And Malu's story just shows how potent and life-changing an idea really is, however brilliant or sickeningly stupid it is.
Got this from peyups.com, it's Malu's friendster profile, her friends names and photos blurred/covered up for the sake of saving them from further humiliation.
Guess who has 11 friends in friendster?
Sometimes, we have to learn our lessons the hard way.
I'm taking a short break from my hiatus to thank all the wonderful people who have made my 26 years simply amazing. Thank you so much. We may not communicate often but believe me I think of you not only on your birthday ;) Have fun, laugh a lot, travel some more, spend time with loved ones, change the world, save the cheerleader.
Much love to everyone!!
K
Last June, we found out that this semester is our last without incurring penalty subjects at the school. We thought that we're just gonna apply for a residency and take the exam in December, plenty of time to bum around and review of course. But, things don't always turn out as you planned. So we're on a "windang" mode once again (sometimes it just feels like you're too old for this) getting ready for the compre on the 29th of August. So much for travel plans to go to Palawan or even in Camarines to try out wake boarding.
A bit of good news though. I was offered a post in the UK and I'm quite busy sorting out documents for the work permit, etc. Hopefully the immig would find it believable that I've really 'bested' applicants from around the world and I'm the one for the post. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Another thing, if you haven't watched Transformers you're missing half of your life.
Lastly, to end this in a sober note, I've affirmed that sometimes we just have to face the consequences of our actions and live with it no matter how sad or painful it might be. It might take a while, years or even a lifetime to heal and forget, but life would always be a marvel to live.
Photo from PHIVOLCS
So much for perving Milo, I got this hot off the press from my subscription to MEDIES. Please pass on to friends, send in e-lists, or re-post wherever.
***
Secondary schools around the world have until 1 November 2007 to register for the 3rd Mondialogo School Contest (2007-2008).
Over 2,500 teams from all five continents are expected to participate.
As part of the launch, schools in 40 countries will organize a “Mondialogo Day” to present their projects and plans for the 2007-2008 contest.
Participating schools are matched with a partner team from another country to prepare joint creative projects illustrating a DIALOGUE BETWEEN THEIR TWO CULTURES.
Launched to coincide with the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May),the contest puts into practice the principles of cultural diversity and pluralism. According to UNESCO’s Director-General, these should be integrated into national policies, in particular those relating to education.
Teaching staff may register at
their school students aged between 14 and 18 years to take part in the largest global school contest until 1st November 2007. Following previous events in 2003/2004 and 2005/2006, the contest is now being held for the third time.
After registration, a draw is held to match participating schools with a partner team from another country or continent. The two teams then make contact with each other, agree on a joint project topic and work onthis in a process of continuous exchange.
The resulting dialogue between the cultures leads to the emergence of a joint creative project. This may be a piece of music, a play, a collage, a photographic documentation, a sculpture, Internet pages – there are no limits to the imagination.
In 2008, students and teachers from particularly committed schools will be taking part in the internationalMondialogo Symposium, where the partner teams will meet each other in person.After several days of workshops and joint activities, the three best
partner teams will be awarded sums of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 euros as part of a festive prize-giving ceremony.
Some 25,000 school students from 126 countries took part in the first Mondialogo School Contest in 2003/2004, instantly making it the largest worldwide contest for school students. The second contest in 2005/2006 exceeded even this figure, with more than 35,000 school students from 138 countries taking part.
The Mondialogo School Contest is a constituent part of the Mondialogo –Intercultural Dialogue and Exchange initiative, which was launched in October 2003 by UNESCO and DaimlerChrysler.
For more information please contact: a.hamshari@unesco.org
Someone will be totally pissed off...teehee
hotness..
With Milo Ventimiglia, one of the heroes in the popular series "Heroes."
I came back Monday afternoon and has been sleeping erratically since then. I have also developed a weird craving for meat which I don't understand since I've been eating sausage with poppy seeds every morning at the hotel as part of our buffet breakfast. It's buffet but it's the same food over and over again. Like mushrooms and tomatoes and croissant, etc. I found myself eating a Quarterpounder meal at 2.30am last Tuesday.
Doing some shopping and walking around the cityFrom a staff perspective, the WA this year is more organised compared to last year. We were not too stressed out (we had to rapporteur five or more sessions last year), we stayed in a very accessible hotel and we had time to attend plenaries and workshops and even network with guests and participants. There are still glitches but I'd say manageable, it's a lot of work to keep up with hundreds of people from 135 countries. And we had less volunteers this year.
The Opening Plenary at the Kelvin Grove Museum
Me and May-i with Socialist International President George PapandreouIt was also great to see my dear friends/colleagues in CSI and see old and new faces in CIV . We had enough time to catch up on what's happening with our lives, the project, and Johannesburg in general. Not all stories are happy though, there are concerns within the team and within the broader organisation just like in any normal organisation but I hope we'll all learn from those experiences and move forward.
Goofing around with Ben and JacobOh and lastly, we were given sufficient per diem this year that we spent in too much shopping. Woohoo! Ciao!
I'm off to Glasgow on Sunday and I haven't packed a single thing. Bummer. Lots of things to do but I just can't find the energy to start off with anything. Then I'll cram on Saturday, so predictable no
Have to sleep first..
Just got back today from our 6-day trip to KK. Lots of stories, no energy to blog. Will try tomorrow. Have to sleep. Quick pics..
back to the city from Tungku Abdul Rahman Park.
Ciao.
Day 4
The usually quiet Gaya street in the middle of the city transforms into a colourful avenue with local people selling their wares. You can find everything here from beautifully crafted batik made by the locals to fake Louis Vuitton bags from China. We got several dusters for grandmas, moms, and aunts; t-shirts for dads and some friends; white Borneo coffee; a nice shirt for hny and nothing for me. I was so tempted to buy an exquisite batik which would be great as a bed cover or wall hanging but it's quite expensive. Very much like the Kashmir-made bed cover I so covet at the Rosebank Sunday market in Johannesburg. I hope there'd be a next time.
We had a quick lunch in a dodgy Chinese restaurant. I told hny if we eat there I'd be signing my death warrant. My tummy hasn't fully recovered from my terrible ordeal the other day. I feel like my body took a lot of beating from the rafting we did on top of the grueling train , but every ache and sore was totally worth it.
In markets like these, you should be armed with good haggling skills. I got five "dasters" (long, comfy dresses worn inside the house) for RM55 while I chatted with the sales ladies about our soap operas, apparently these and our actors are widely known in Malaysia. While other Asian countries are exporting computer chips and cars, we are exporting soap operas haha They even asked if I'm an actress back here jeje I said no but hny later told me that I should've said yes maybe I could have gotten a better deal. But I was worried it might cause a stampede :D
We took a cab to Warisan Square to check out what their malls look like. It's nothing compared to the giant malls we have in Manila. It looks like it's quite new and still needs a lot of locators. Coincidentally, there was an ongoing sale that day, which further dented my credit card. We also saw a stall named La Manila and we thought it serves Pinoy food, hny took a closer look and saw that they're serving Vietnamese food instead. After a looong day, we had a 'healthy' merienda at Yogur Berry. It's frozen yogurt with your choice of 6 toppings plus an assortment of rotis. Looks nice and tastes good too. I hope they'll have a franchise here in Manila.
We headed home early as hny was already complaining with the weight of our shopping bags and also we need to prepare for the Kinabalu National Park trip tomorrow. Had dinner at Sinario cafe which is conveniently located behind our lodge and serves really good naan with tomato and kari dip.
Day 3
Just came back from a very exhausting but fulfilling travel adventure from Padas where we did white water rafting. I thought I won't be able to make it as my tummy has failed me again! Must be the drop of sugar cane juice hny shared with me last night at the night market.
To go to Padas, we had to drive from KK to Beaufort for 1 1/2 hours then from Beaufort, take the local train to Padas. The train ride was quite hellish, it was hot, slow and bumpy. We are the only Pinoys amidst a sea of young Chinese people. Well, maybe 3 if you count the Half-Filipino, half-Malay tour guide, who speaks super broken English hehe
The rafting was great and I'm glad we did it. Our raft almost capsized twice if not for hny's hefty weight, it does help sometimes bun... We were very lucky as most of the rafts capsized in the 7-named sections of the river (Warm up, headhunter, washing machine, cobra's pit, snake house, scooby doo, and lambada) , we even saved two rafters and geez, it was no fun getting underwater in the churning, chocolate brown river. But we were briefed so we basically know what to do that is if you don't panic. Me and hny and some friendly Chinese people again as well as the tour guide with a speech defect were able to triumph over the giant waves of the merciless Padas river. I couldn't believe I was able to hold on for that long geez
Details when we get back, we still need to find a Chinese restaurant here selling maki and drop by 7-11 for gatorade.
Day 2
Friday, May 11 2007
Started a bit late. Prepared our beach gear and met Crystal, the friendly owner/manager of the lodge, on our way out. We decided to walk from the lodge to Wisma (Plaza) Sabah to pay our white water rafting fee for tomorrow. The city is very walkable, it's about 3kms from end to end.
Walk early though as the sun is harsher here than in Manila, Malaysia is closer to the equator that's why. If you have a map, walking is a breeze and you won't get lost. After meeting with Misliana of Borneo Ultimate Sports Adventure Tours (BUSAT) who was very nice from the start (back in MNL when we were still making a lot of inquiries) and she also gave us a huge discount, we headed to Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal, a 10 minute walk from the building scorching hot though, slather lots of sunblock.
The WISMA SABAH building
At the terminal, there were several locals milling around, coaxing tourists to try this and this island. We discussed and decided to check out what's inside the building. There were several
shops, a waiting area and several tour operators inside. We opted for the first one nearest the
door. We paid Rm74 for two, including the RM6/pax terminal fee for three islands. We thought it's cheaper that way as they charge RM17/island, excl. tariff. And you have to pay RM10 each for entrance on the first island. Remember to keep your entrance ticket so you don't have to pay for the other islands you'll gonna visit later.
Inside the Jesselton Point Ferry terminal, shops upstairs, a waiting area for passengers and several tour operators.
Manukan Island. We reached the first island after 10 minutes in the boat and confirmed with the boat man the time he's gonna pick us up. It seemed that we were the only ones who are visiting more than one island. He told us he'll be back after two hours.
There was a walkway from the drop off point until the entrance to the island park. Under the walkway are thousands of fish, about three or four different species.
We opted for a table near the life guard as there were few people and swimmers on this side. There was a net which divide the schools of fish and the actual swimming area. It's prohibited to swim in their designated area of habitat. Swam a bit, despite the broken goggles we still enjoyed the serenity of the place. You go there to relax and unwind, you don't want noise definitely and it seems that tourists there know and respect that.
Manukan Island with a lone swimmer.
Approximately, 30 mins before the agreed pick up, we rushed to see if we can grab a bite before heading off to the 2nd island. We found 2 al fresco restaurants, one serving set meals: satay, fruits, veggies, etc and farther down, a buffet charging RM60. We ended up buying from the cooperative a beef and chicken dish and rice for RM5. You can bring your own food though if you don't want to spend money on food.
Sapi Island. After our quick lunch, we were picked up and headed towards Sapi Island. It's smaller than the first but there are more people swimming. We got down to business right away and swam our hearts out. Here, we also decided to rent snorkeling masks which I was so afraid to use for fear of contracting tb and other disease jeje. I just used the mask without the mouth gear. We saw more sergeant fish and a lone cleaner wrasse, a very pesky one which decided to hang out with us the whole time. This time the boat man stayed in the island and waited for us. After 2 more hours, we headed towards Mamutik.
Mamutik Island. The smallest of the three but has the most diverse species of fish. We were able to swam and fed them using leftover bread from other people's feeding. We were the last ones to leave and took good picture of the island and ourselves of course.
Dô and Tin at Mamutik Island, Malaysia.
Day 1 (10 May)
We're in KK!! And I'm writing this in a very nice lodge we found in the net. It's called Velvet Lodge and it's in the city center, lots of restaurants a few steps from the place. It also has a lounge, but we haven't been there as we're still trying to settle and count our ringgits. Speaking of which, thank God there's now a bureau de change at the KK International airport. We were quite worried..chit chatting with the staff now, he's half Malaysian half-filipino and he's been talking a lot! Super friendly :)
Got to go now...more tomorrow!
I received this article from my ivolunteer.ph subscription and I was really enraged (I'm ante-dating it so as not to get mixed up with my KK posts). Apparently, the multi-awarded former mayor of Naga City, Jesse Robredo was disqualified by COMELEC to run for the election on Monday because he is not a Filipino citizen. I just can't believe this.
I'm re-posting the article here, written by Geronimo L. Sy, published in the Manila Times, 10 May 2007.
__________________________
HERE I STAND
By Geronimo L. Sy
In defense of Jesse Robredo
There is no need to talk about the credentials and accomplishments of Jesse Robredo, mayor of Naga City. He is the city administrator par excellence and man of integrity. And he has been disqualified as candidate for mayor for the May 14, 2007, midterm elections because, according to the Comelec division hearing the case, he is not a Filipino. The case has been appealed to the Comelec en banc.
I refuse to read any political color to it. True, Mayor Jesse is in the opposition camp. He is, however, not of the type to descend into lawless violence, to shortcut and deny due process or to mindlessly grab political control by leveraging his electoral clout. He is the model of transparency and accountability in administering the once third class but now first-class
city. His city happens to be in Bicol, one of the poorest regions in the country.
Mayor Jesse has been elected five times by the people of Naga and overwhelmingly at that. If his action is not proof of his election as a citizen of this country, who else can be? Witness the millions who have chosen to be elsewhere and some (including politicians) who gladly take to a different passport. At a certain point in time, we ought to come to our senses and stick to the adage that we are what we do and that actions speak loudest. Mayor Jesse has faced down several similar charges on his citizenship way back in the nines.
Granted that the Comelec division’s finding is flawless, the timing is altogether a different matter. For cases of this dimension, the august body should always act with dispatch lest accusations of partiality and bias gain anchor. Surely, the administration needs the likes of Mayor Jesse on its side to show that we are a working democracy—to allow an independent local government official to govern and govern well; to prove that the ruling party tolerates
principled dissent and ethical responses. After all, the great project that is democracy is about the exchange of ideas in a critical and continuous debate between opposing stands of the majority and the minority. The administration exists to articulate the aspirations of the many. It never is about unfair and underhanded methods. The opposition is there to check on the excesses and not to forever plot to seize power. The acid test of any leader, local or national,
remains his commitment to good governance.
Maybe we should talk about his local governance. He is a leader by example and empowers people to help themselves. He redefined the meaning of participatory governance by opening opportunities for people to makes decisions and implement programs. Under his watch, his city has received more than 30 international, national and regional awards in local governance. These are no ordinary ones and include the 2004 UN Public Service Award for Local e-governance; 2004 UN Development Fund For Women (Unifem) and UN-Habitat Women-Friendly City Award; 2004 and 2003 PCCI Most Business Friendly City Award, 2003 World Bank citation as Model City for Government Procurement, 2002 UNDP CyberCity Award for I-Governance initiatives, Galing Pook (AIM) and Gawad Pamana ng Lahi (DILG). Jesse himself was the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, a recipient of The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM), the 1998 Konrad Adenauer Medal of
Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor and the first ever “Dangal ng Bayan” Award of the Civil Service Commission.
Contrast this to the petty tyrants and corrupt mayors elsewhere and your heart bleeds. There is no love lost for a mayor who hostages the country by exhorting citizens to join political rallies in our financial district. Or for a mayor whose city colors are gray and black in an environment of filth and darkness. Or for any local chief executive who puts self-interest above the welfare of his constituents. Mayor Jesse is not, by any measure, such a guy. He is a dedicated public servant, he is Filipino and he is running for mayor.
I won't be able to exercise my privilege and right to vote as we'll still be here in Malaysia until the 15th. As an unfortunate consequence of such, I'll be waiving my right to (verbally) criticize how we are governed for the next three years by the politicians who will get elected on Monday. I fail to do my responsibility and that's the consequence I have to face. Saying that there'll still be other ways to serve the country sounds too hollow and yes, just losing the right to criticize is just too easy a punishment. I guess I have to start with my penance now. (And we did! We hiked the Kinabalu National Park and did the canopy walk in Poring, my legs are still aching up to now)
It's funny now that I think about it, I really didn't have fond memories of Glasgow (except a time or two with my friends). And I find it odd because going to new places always excites me and it did actually, but it was a different story when I got there and stayed for a week. The weather has always been grey since the day we arrived. The conference organiser had to give out hundreds of raincoats to conference delegates. I got a yellow one, screaming "slow down" to incoming traffic. I didn't figure in a vehicular accident, thankfully. I'm not sure how one can, since the roads are too narrow in the city centre and the bus drivers seemingly polite with their hats and Scottish accents.
still the roads are quite narrow for a main thoroughfare, I guess most roads in Europe?
I had to wear eyeshades and draw my curtains to block out the light
I wandered alone one day, decided to skip the early part of the conference and visit the Glasgow Cathedral. I got there so early that it was still closed. The dead in the nearby necropolis kept their silence as I took frame after frame of that morning's stillness. They decided to keep mum about the cathedral's opening time. They must thought that everybody can read the sign, but what if I'm blind.
Early morning visit at the necropolis, too coward to go inside though
grey as usual and a drizzle every 5 minutes or so
how can people survive this kind of weather
I'm blogging about my new shiny, fresh books from FB.
Listening to an assortment of songs, mainly Coldplay's, Tori's, Freshly Ground, etc.
Trying my damnednest not to watch another ep of CSI.
And watching Alanis Morrisette's parody of My Humps in Youtube.
Busy.
Aside from the terrible heat today (31 deg), I couldn't complain more as I just received my freshly stamped passport from the British Embassy. They gave me 6 months multiple entry, God bless UK.
Did I mention I'm working full time now? From home? God bless Civ.
Now hny and I can focus on our travel to Malaysia which makes me a bit nervous expenses-wise.
I have to pay for everything for my Glasgow trip upfront then I'll get reimbursed later. Just too many expenses and the dollars won't come until the the first week and end of May. By then, I'll be paying huge amounts for my credit card bills. Ah life.
At least I got an uber-nice shoes for hny and myself, the amount of the latter totally pales in comparison to his shoes, like 13 times less. Oh well.
If you're a fan of the anime series Bleach and Naruto, you definitely know Dattebayo as they are the leading subber for these two highly-anticipated shows.
When DB released the subbed Bleach episode 122 yesterday, there was a "troll" message inserted in the opening message of the episode about the Virginia Tech killings. I'm currently downloading it so I don't have an idea what's its all about. I hope it's not another prank of DB as it might not elicit a chuckle from its supporters compared to the nicely executed April Fool's joke it pulled.
Read DB's apology here:http://yhbt.mine.nu/pr/30
Will update once hny and I finished watching.
http://yhbt.mine.nu
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Life's little surprises
Kinda busy today as I'm now working full time, eight hours of work...bliss.
Still with my org in SA, still with the same program, the name of which I'm thrilled to say whenever people asks where I work : CSI. Beat that. hehe
Okay got to go, the Italian slave driver needs my help ;)
So, Thursday night, the three henchmen and I decided to meet up at Henny Penny situated beside Hi-top supermarket in Quezon Avenue. The place is very unassuming, it's cosy and good if you want to have a quiet conversation. I plopped down on one of their comfy seats and surveyed the place. Not too many diners that night. There's a display window with lots of cakes and weiners at the counter and loaves of bread as well. A divider is up between the main dining area and the cashier's counter which displays different gourmet-flavoured coffee, which I didn't bother to check. I can still wait for my Kenyan coffee still traveling halfway around the world, I presume.
I was really famished and hoped that the food is great and the serving big enough to sate the revolution in my tummy. There's a lot in the menu but we all asked for the tried and tested selection: I had a plate of french toast, two eggs, bacon, huge weiner, and a grilled tomato (Php168) plus hny and I shared half a chicken (Php138). The guys had the same except for pancakes. I also ordered Buko shake (Php50).
The meal was very satisfying. The french toast cut in, bite-size for easier nibbling and the pancake were both fluffy and not too sweet. The sausage was tender and not oily nor rubbery plus it's huge! I also liked the roasted chicken with its sweet and spicy sauce, I think roasting was perfectly timed as if it's left too long the meat would be hard, too short there'd still be blood on the chicken.
While eating, the guys are comparing the food with other restaurants serving "breakfast" meals, like Harry's and Pancake House. The latter got the biggest flak for serving size and Harry's is a bit far along UST plus I remembered their sausage was a bit overcooked when I had it in their Baguio branch. Obviously, HP is the hands down winner.
Henny Penny is located beside Hi-top Supermarket along Quezon Avenue. Ample parking.
The commemoration of Holy week was one of those times when I felt like being part of the minority. I don't belong to an organised religion and sometimes the consequences of making that choice are quite discomforting. I've learned that since I was a kid, there'd be a time of the year when there'd be no cartoons on TV, for a week! That's quite traumatic for a kid you know.
Last week, I received an email from a colleague in Johannesburg inviting me to attend the World Assembly in Glasgow. I was asked to book my ticket and by Friday send back the costs that I'll incur for that trip. Knowing that the entire nation would temporarily hibernate for the rest of the week, I frantically called travel agencies trying to book my ticket. Communication with people during these times would be futile since their minds are already in vacation mode. I received erratic quotes (there was one where my name is Cristianne) though not entirely their fault. I think I did panic too. Thursday night, I was on the verge of crying, and yet again I was saved by Technology. Yes, that god-less, amoral creation of man. To cut it short, I was able to book a ticket with emirates.com and sent back the claims form that same night, within a few minutes, without the hassles of misspelt names and incorrect dates.
I still have loads of things to do and at one point wondered if Glasgow is worth all these sh*t. I have to cancel my attendance in a summer course on globalisation and civ soc, get bank statements, letters, and undergo the whole rigmarole of applying for a visa, where you're life would depend on a single individual with biases and prejudices deciding whether to give you that much-coveted stamp or deny you entrance to their blessed country. And yet, it's different the other way around, when 'they' apply for a visa to go to Asia, it's almost served in a silver platter. What's more pissing is the waiting time. I have to get my passport back before May 10 because of our trip to Malaysia.
Last night, I stopped thinking about these for a while and enjoyed glasses-ful of vodka, cherry and sprite, and I thought, this is how life should be; chilled, uncomplicated, worry-free. But no, because most of the time someone eventually gets drunk, makes a mess of himself, and you have no choice but to see the bastard home.
This sounds more like a pathetic pitch to sell breasts-enhancing brassiere rather than raise awareness for bone marrow registry. My advice to Wonderbra is that they try to raise awareness first among themselves on how not to objectify women.
A brassiere is seen to symbolise the repression of women's bodies. If indeed you want to feel free and unrestrained, you simply don't wear one. If they really want to celebrate femininity (and even freedom), they need to look at how UP does the Oblation run, female-version, au naturelle, without cleavage by Wonderbra.
It is also interesting to note that this event is celebrated in South Africa every year to "celebrate and rejoice women's femininity," the same country where rape statistics are so high it's unbelievable (one is raped every 26 seconds.) How can one rejoice in her being a woman in a society where mere possession of breasts and a vagina makes one a target.
We live in a world where a woman's beauty is judged by the color of her skin, the smallness of her waist, and yes, the size of her breasts. This is a society where people, through relentless advertising, are encouraged to want and buy more. And they'll tell you it's alright to give in by cleverly icing the real intent under the guise of social responsibility. While you party up a storm at a Wonderbra National Cleavage Day Party you can also affect people’s lives!
It's making me sick.
It's time for a phd.
Things are obviously hectic these past few weeks; work, school and a lot of things in between. It's easy to get caught and drown ourselves even with the mere idea of being busy and often, we forget how important it is to actually live for ourselves and for the people we love and care for. It's amazing how one can learn so much within a very short span of time especially once you've seen first-hand how beautiful yet short life really is. This is not supposed to be a philosophical post, I just wanted to share in a forum a compilation of beautiful music (fyi, another rare find of hny) which has been very helpful in keeping me sane and collected. After googling (Carl Doy/Martin Winch) in search of the CD cover, I came across the story behind the production of the CD titled Espresso Guitar. And this is the line I've read which lead me to write this quick reflective piece:
http://www.togethercollection.com/the-together-story.php
Weekend was spent meeting up with group mates for our two papers on traffic impact assessment. I was able to squeeze in editing articles for my volunteer engagement with a South African organisation and finish the e-bulletin for the CSI. In the midst of all these, I was able to watch the previous episodes of Naruto and Bleach. Both had extremely long fillers which started even before I left for Johannesburg and lasted until January of this year I think. With Naruto, I skipped the fillers altogether and watched the new season where Naruto and the rest are all grown-up and the new battles will involve the Akatsuki.For Bleach, I'm backtracking to watch the Bounto episodes which I have to admit is too long and after a few eps started to get boring, I started with episode 70+ and the non-filler episodes will resume at episode 109(?).
I also found an interesting Japanese series titled Gokusen. Watched the first episode online which was subbed by a fan but can't find the second ep. Though there are lots of uploaded episodes for season 2.
I'm also quite busy researching for the best places to go in Kota Kinabalu and its nearby islands for our travel in May. Like I've said in my previous post, we're definitely going to Mt. Kinabalu but not for the climb. I'm sure we're not fit enough to conquer it even though we can still get in shape as we still have several weeks. Quitters ;) Besides I'm reading posts from the Lonely Planet Thorntree forum and a lot were saying that one doesn't have to be a climber or be extremely fit to climb Kinabalu. We'll see.
I hope our next trip would be in Cambodia or India, which reminds me of the beautiful fabrics I've seen in the Rosebank Sunday Market in Johannesburg.
In the midst of my concentration in computing for the projected traffic volume for a proposed residential area in Sucat, a brown envelope was delivered to my uber comfy "office". It's my very own poster map of World Heritage Sites delivered all the way from the UNESCO HQ in Paris! I happened to visit the UNESCO website one day and saw that they're giving away free posters, so I signed up right away.
I have a penchant for traveling and I am very fortunate to visit some of the most wonderful places on Earth which would definitely make one think twice about the non-existence of a Great Designer. I have visited two in South Africa (the uKhalamba/Drakensberg Park and the Fossil Hominid Site of Sterkfontein), one in the United Kingdom (New Lanark), one in South Korea (Changdeokgung Palace), and one in our country (the Cordillera Rice Terraces). Unfortunately, of all the WH sites I've visited, the least conserved or protected is our very own. It is in fact marked as a "property in danger" by UNESCO and might be taken out of the list if it continues to degrade.(Although this action, despite being sanctioned by the World Heritage Convention, has never had to be applied, is our case going to be the first?)
There are still hundreds of places to be visited and explored, each of them of unparalleled beauty and each tells an interesting history/herstory of our species,
this thought alone made me realize how beautiful life is despite the difficulties we find ourselves in. There are still oases where we can find solace and bask in our God's/gods magnificence.
Some photos can be viewed here
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Next WH site: Kinabalu park in Sabah, Malaysia.
I never consider myself one, but today I have a feeling that it's quite apt to describe the intensity of my concentration in finding an easy and secure way to prevent the website that I'm tinkering from spam.
I've been a victim of comment spam too. All of a sudden I got a message from Rodrigo or Sara inviting me to try Viagra. Usually the reason for spam is to create links to increase page rank of that site. I didn't give a damn then but now that I knew better, I decided to make life more difficult for "email harvesters" or engine bots.
As everybody from Earth knows, Google is a very nifty tool to find everything you need (except for missing car keys, but eventually Google will get into that). I want two links protected: first, the mailto: link. The usual format uses the a href code, so when you click riskinnet, you're mailer (i.e, Outlook) will pop up and you can start sending email to the mailto: address. Second, is a web content form. I have created a from where non-malicious people who have legit queries or comments can directly type away their woes and when they click the submit button, it will directly send to the specified email address.
So I started with Google using keywords such as web content anti spam, mailto: prevent spam, etc and got more than 100 million results. I found several websites giving advice to newbies like me.
I decided to try two easy suggestions from those very helpful sites. First strategy is the use of a graphic @. You have to create an @ in Photoshop or in any image editing tool , save it in your server, and insert the image url in your address, like this one: riskinnet < img src = "/ images / @.gif" align = absbottom border = 0 alt= @ > riskinnet.com. The downside is that your email add won't be clickable, instead visitors need to type in your email address manually. The second defense is the use of ASCII characters in your email address. Letters and symbols in the email address would be converted to ASCII and then hopefully, the user's browser would convert those characters back to readable letters, but it won't be easy for spammers using automatic web crawlers. Related to this, I found a site which encodes your regular email address into a series of numbers and symbols plus the mailto: link and all you have to do is copy and paste in your a href code.
I still have to find among those 100 million results something that would help me protect the web form I created. I actually found one which uses CAPTCHA or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It has a web verification image for the user to type first before the form gets submitted. But my problem is I need to create an output page with meta html redirect in my form processing script. It's doable for a newbie but I'm quite exhausted at the moment.
If you want to put a stop on spam, you might want to visit these websites:
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/stop-comment-spam
http://www.ohlone.cc.ca.us/org/webcenter/emailencoder.html
http://www.protectwebform.com/.
Good luck ;)
