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I want to re-hone my writing skills so I am going to begin (yet again) writing a short story which have crossed my mind lately. Your comments/reactions/suggestions are all welcome! biggrin I am still constructing the PROLOGUE of my story but hopefully I could post it here in no time... mrgreen

The following is from a British journalist stationed in the
Philippines.

His observations are so hilarious!!!! This was written in 1999.


Matter of Taste

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself
in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the
road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat
BALUT.

The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and
ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will
be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out
there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a
piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually
after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is. It's meant to be an
aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual
desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious
fluid.The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but
basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable
feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others
prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that
surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and
throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat.

They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called,
in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner,
bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from
the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in
the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work,
try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't
mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the
sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling
nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines.

Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK,
I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to
drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without
gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house
without baon (food in small container) and a container of something
cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants
on.

And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat
with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a
knife. One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people

always ask you to SHARE their food.

In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will
always go,

"Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!" wink . This confused me, until I realized
that

they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their

boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No
thanks,

I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your
plate,

you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who
may be

even hungrier. I think that's great. In fact, this is frequently even
taken

one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA
NA?" wink

as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.


Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other
Asian

cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol
Express

(strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut
milk;

anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer

wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche
(roast

pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a
stick,

and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries

constricting with each successive mouthful. I also share one key Pinoy
trait

---a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not
complain

about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana
ketchup, and

so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it! It's the
weird

food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell,
items

to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's

testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think
what

numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste,

BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS.


Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even
risk

arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like
Australia

and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell
from

more than 100 paces. Then there's the small matter of the purple ice
cream.

I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the

ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.


And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG
KAMBING

(goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)... The Filipino, of course,
has a

well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food

joke: "I'm on a seafood diet. "What's a seafood diet?" "When I see
food, I

eat it!"

Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the
guts,

etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names,
like

"ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or
"neck

and thigh" as in "neck-tie" wink ; "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken
wings);

"HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX"

(video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood).Yum, yum. Bon appetit. "A
good

name is rather to be chosen than great riches"-- (Proverbs 22:1)


WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the

first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has
provided

a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first
unusual

thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a
nickname. In

the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten,
but

when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.



The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls
and

boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy
for

anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it. Where I
come

from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten
to

death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to
adulthood.

So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious,
Peachy or

Apples. Yuk, ech ech.



Here, however, no one bats an eyelid. Then I noticed how many people
have

what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that
sound

like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding,
and

Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used
in

even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong,

Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a

doorbell name Ping. None of these doorbell names exist where I come
from,

and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.



Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was
called

Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.

Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come
from

"dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog

equivalent.



Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before
encountered

people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The

secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one:

Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the

"squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a
while.



Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming
their

children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same

letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy. More imaginative parents
shoot

for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy,

Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best
to be

born early or you could end up being a Baboy). Even better, parents can

create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey
Pie)

or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such
combinations

is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab
driver.

That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila -- taxis
with

the driver's kids' names on the trunk.



Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the
phenomenon of

the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus,
Joseph

and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao,

believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like

"Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
Between

you and me, I'm glad I'm not. And how could I forget to mention the
fabulous

concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is

supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is
designed

to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It

results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about

Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?



How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names
like

John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and

exoticism rule the world of names. Even the towns here have weird
names; my

favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to

Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be
true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called

Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines! Note:

Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

This was forwarded to me by my dear aunt. Do hope you'll like it too!

Items needed:

Mint
Candy Kisses
Tea Bag
Eraser
Rubberband
Toothpick
Chewing gum
Band aid
Pencil



NOTE: All scriptures were taken from The Bible (NIV)

I received this through email from my dear aunt. I hope you'll learn something from this... Don't let this resume leave your desk (desktop/pc) without reading the contents... Tc!

The Resume of Jesus Christ

Address: Ephesians 1:20 Phone: Romans 10:13

Website: The Bible. Keywords: Christ, Lord, Savior and Jesus

Hello. My name is Jesus -The Christ. Many call me Lord! I've sent you my resume because I'm seeking the top management position in your heart. Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in my resume.

Qualifications

I founded the earth and established the heavens, (See Proverbs 3:19)

I formed man from the dust of the ground, (See Genesis 2:7)

I breathed into man the breath of life, (See Genesis 2:7)

I redeemed man from the curse of the law, (See Galatians 3:13)

The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant comes upon your life through me, (See Galatians 3:14)

Occupational Background

I've only had one employer, (See Luke 2:49)

I've never been tardy, absent, disobedient, slothful or disrespectful.

My employer has nothing but rave reviews for me, (See Matthew 3:15-17)

Skills Work Experiences

Some of my skills and work experiences include:

empowering the poor to be poor no more, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captives free, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised, [See Luke 4:18]

I am a Wonderful Counselor, (See Isaiah 9:6). People who listen to me shall dwell safely and shall not fear evil, (See Proverbs 1:33). Most importantly, I have the authority, ability and power to cleanse you of your sins, (See I John 1:7-9)

Educational Background

I encompass the entire breadth and length of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, (See Proverbs 2:6). In me are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (See Colossians 2:3). My Word is so powerful; it has been described as being a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, (See Psalms 119:105). I can even tell you all of the secrets of your heart, (See Psalms 44:21).

Major Accomplishments

I was an active participant in the greatest Summit Meeting of all times, (See Genesis 1:26).

I laid down my life so that you may live, (See II Corinthians 5:15).

I defeated the archenemy of God and mankind and made a show of them openly, (See Colossians 2:15).

I've miraculously fed the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead! There are many more major accomplishments, too many to mention here. You can read them on my website, which is located at: www dot - the BIBLE. You don't need an Internet connection or computer to access my website.

References

Believers and followers worldwide will testify to my divine healings, salvation, deliverance, miracles, restoration and supernatural guidance In Summation Now that you've read my resume, I'm confident that I'm the only candidate uniquely qualified to fill this vital position in your heart.

In summation

I will properly direct your paths, (See Proverbs 3:5-6), and lead you into everlasting life, (See John 6:47). When can I start? Time is of the essence, (See Hebrews 3:15).

Send this resume to everyone you know, you never know who may have an opening! Thanks for your help and may God bless you!

Hi! I just wanna share with you guys some dolls I've made from a doll maker site.
Comments and suggestions or even questions are all welcome! Btw, the link to the doll making site is here...
DOLL SITE




#1 is a some kind of hip chic wannabe, a Britney Spears-wannabe (except she's a Brunette!)

#2 is a Oriental girl (probably Chinese), a Zhang Ziyi-wannabe

#3 is the feminine version of a cowboy...a Clueless-wannabe cowgirl LOL

#4 is none other than.... me! 4laugh

Xtra notes:
The dolls are personalized, you can make as many as you like... You can save them, email them but credits are given ofcourse to the owner and the website which is elouai.com.... I think the dolls have watermarks underneath too...

Hello guys! This season is so fun! Although I never got a lot of presents, for me, being w/ my family and friends and all those who love me, is the greatest gift I could ever receive this Christmas! Have a blessed new year ahead ppl! heart wink

Hi guys! Hey, do post your comments/suggestions about my journal entries! I would love to hear some of your insights... Thank you! biggrin

One hot summer day a little more than 100 yrs ago, a young medical student was going from house to house in a farming community in Maryland, selling books to earn money to pay for his education. Late one afternoon he called at farmhouse where the only one at home was a teenage girl. After he made his presentation, the girl said, "I'm so sorry, but my mother is a widow and we can't afford to buy books."

The young man then asked, "Would you be so kind as to give me a drink of water?" "Sure. But we have plenty of milk in the springhouse. Wouldn't you rather have a glass of cold milk instead" "I would be most grateful" the young man replied.

Years passed. The medical student became a skilled physician. One day while making his rounds he thought he recognized a patient as the person who, as a girl, had been kind to him. She, however, was too sick to recognize him. Things began to happen. The young woman was moved to a private room and given the finest care medical science could offer.

One day a nurse said to her, "Tomorrow you're going home." "I'm glad but the bills worry me." "Let me go get it, and we'll see how much it is." The nurse returned with the treasurer of the hospital, who presented the bill to the patient. She glanced at the bottom line. She was shocked at the high amount! But then she noticed these words written across the statement:
"Paid in full by a glass of milk. Howard A. Kelly, MD"

This story by Donald &Vesta Mansell from the site wit and wisdom really carries an important message. Most people I know do not understand the principle of giving. I don't really blame them. The world's philosophy of being successful in life is to get as much as you can, store as much as you could and then take as much as you would. This way you become successful. One guy used to say this to his friend, "I have already figured out why I am not a millionaire today. It is simply because I was never greedy enough. This is why I am not successful." Poor fellow. His concept of success deals with money and nothing more. No wonder he's so miserable.

Now do you need to wonder why we say that many people have 'crab mentality'? Ever wondered why we couldn't attain prosperity? Life deals with giving and sharing. Givers are those who are happy and takers are those who are not. The paradox in life is that the more you give the more blessings you receive.

How can you put a price tag on happiness? Helping people out by giving more than being a medical transcriptionist and just making "chika" or plain listening to my classmates or other people taking the course is what keeps me happy too. The work is tiring but the rewards are fantastic. I get to meet new friends, new faces and touching people's lives. I guess this is what God really wanted me to do and even though I'm not a regular yet, somehow I have a feeling that "I am successful!" biggrin

I want to share you this story.
When he was 7 yrs old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality and he had to work to help support them.
When he was 9 yrs old his mother died.
When he was 22 yrs old he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school but he lacked the education.
When he was 23 he went into debt to become a partner in a small store.
At the age of 26, his business partner died, owing him a huge amount of debt that took years to pay.
When he was 28 yrs old and after courting a girl for 4 yrs., he asked her to marry him and you can guess what she said "NO!"
When he was 37 yrs old and on his third try, he was elected to congress. But 2 yrs later he failed to be re-elected.
When he was 41 yrs old his 4-yr-old son died.
At the age of 45, he ran for the senate and lost.
When he was 47 yrs old, he failed as the vice-presidential candidate.
At 49, he ran for the senate again and lost.
When he was 51 yrs old, he was elected President of the United States. A firm believer and follower of the bible, and his name was Abraham Lincoln.

The measure of your success in achieving your goals will be your response to those obstacles. For the most part, you will not be able to control the obstacles, but you can control the responses you have towards those obstacles.

Persistence, therefore, isn't the ability to overcome obstacles; it is the willingness to continue in spite of obstacles. wink