Lakbayan – How much of the Philippines have you visited?
June 20, 2007 at 3:36 pm | Posted in All, Life et al, Philippines, Travel | 5 Comments
How much of the Philippines have you visited?
Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.
I first read about Lakbayan at Shari’s misteryosa.com. I chanced upon it again at Jim Caro’s Blogbastic.
I want to laud Eugene Villar for coming up with this cool site. This is a good measure of how well-travelled one is in the Philippines.
I am a C Philippine traveller. I have been to places all over Luzon. having lived in Manila for 15 working years, I had the opportunity to explore Luzon more than the Visayas islands where I came from. Thanks to an ex who let me tag along with him on his business trips and to friends who joined me in my adventures. I grew up in the province of Negros Occidental – the shoe boot shaped island in the Visayas but have never been to the other side, Negros Oriental.
Nevertheless, I am happy to say that I have seen the Philippines (except for Mindanao, never had the opportunity) more than an average Filipino have.
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In these days, is it worth it being a Good Samaritan?
June 20, 2007 at 1:10 pm | Posted in All, Australia, Health, Life et al, Melbourne | 1 CommentThe shooting incident in Melbourne CBD on Monday the 18th has prompted a lot people to ask if it is worth it being a Good Samaritan.
One person died and two more were injured after being shot when they tried stopping a man attacking a woman. The gunman who is still at large has been named since.
So where does one draw the line in helping others? What I mean by others here is that people you do not know.
In situations such as this, where a man is hurting a woman, would you think twice about helping her? Being a woman myself, I don’t think I can would even try to stop a man trying to hurt someone. I’d rather call the police. When one is angry or stressed, one does not think rationally and can be very capable of doing stupid things.
According to Better Health
Anger is a powerful emotion. If it isn’t handled appropriately, it may have destructive results. Uncontrolled anger can lead to arguments, physical fights, physical abuse, assault and self-harm. On the other hand, well managed anger can be a useful emotion that motivates you to make positive changes.
Anger triggers the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response. Other emotions that trigger this response include fear, excitement and anxiety. The adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. The brain shunts blood away from the gut and towards the muscles, in preparation for physical exertion. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increase, the body temperature rises and the skin perspires. The mind is sharpened and focused.
We all know that adrenalin rush can do wonders to the physical and mental strength of a person.
But I digress. I happened to be listening to Light 89.9 FM on my way to work the next day of the unfortunate incident. The hosts were taking calls from listeners and airing their views on helping others and being a Good Samaritan. Some say they would still help but they will have to size up the situation first. Others say, just call the police which I think is the right thing to do. Clearly, people’s views have been somehow influenced by this sad event.
If being a Good Samaritan would put me and my loved one’s life at risk, I’d rather shut up and let authorities handle the situation.
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Headache, anyone?
May 29, 2007 at 10:41 am | Posted in All, Australia, Blogging, Family, Health, Life et al, Pensiveness/Rants | Leave a commentI haven’t been feeling really good lately. I was up to my neck with work until yesterday. Well, now there are still two instruments waiting to be done and I don’t feel like moving. I just want to sit here in my desk and stare at the computer all day. I have a lingering headeache. I had to repair and calibrate an old telecom test instrument which had an intermittent fault. Bangungot (nightmare) – that is how we termed a fault when it is very hard to fix, back when I was working in a GE wireless phone manufacturing in the Philippines. *Sigh* hirap talaga kumita ng pera. Glad it’s all done now.
Another reason for my headache is lack of sleep. Shane is bloody snoring! It’s loud enough to wake me up and when that happens I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep right away. During the day, I would feel tired and sluggish, will have headache and can’t think clearly. I am falling aleep even now as I am writing this. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Later………………
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My name is Possum, I’m not a RAT!
May 1, 2007 at 4:02 pm | Posted in All, Australia, Blogging, Environment, Life et al, Something Funny | 2 Comments
We have finally found out what is making noise outside the house in the middle of the night. There are nights that we would be awaken by some strange noise outside near the garage. We thought it was a stray cat.
On Sunday night, when Shane was taking out his hockey gear from the boot of the car to put back into the garage, he heard some noise and movement in the branches of the neighbour’s tree. It was dark outside so he can not figure it out. He called for me to get the torch (flashlight), and when we lighted the tree, there it was, staring at us, a possum. I ran back inside to get the camera and luckily was able to take a snap of it before it scurried away.
When we were in Adelaide, I also saw one in the trunk of a tree. I stood right next to it. I got scared. Thought it was a BIG RAT. I called for my companions, “Hey, look, look, there’s a big rat in the trunk of the tree”. When they realised what I was talking about, they all burst out laughing. I was then nicknamed POSSUM. 🙂
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Spilling my own thunder 