The Benefits of Oregano

Oregano (Scientific name: Origanum vulgare) is also known as Wild Marjoram, Mountain Mint, Origanum, Wintersweet and Winter Marjoram.

Hand of Hope: Samuel Alexander Armas

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the paper, you probably will never see it.

Tracey Connelley, Baby P's Evil Mom, Shows NO Remorse

I have never been affected by any story as much as Baby P's story has affected me. Yesterday evening, I found myself sobbing twice! I just can't get over the sheer horror of the story.

Baby P's Murderers -- Why Are They Being Protected?

In my country, it has never happened before that the media and the people have been forbidden to actually reveal the names and faces of TC and SB, the murderers of Baby P.

That Winter The Wind Blows Finale: Did Oh Soo Die?

Over the holy week break, I spent the entire four days just watching the 15 episodes of this Korean show. Yes, I am a self-confessed Korean drama addict. I already have my favorite actors and actresses; albeit, I don’t know their names.

Jul 27, 2008

2 Year Old Developmental Milestone


Earlier, I was looking at a list of the Developmental Milestones for 2 years old. Paige pretty much fit the perfect picture of a healthy two-year-old kid. Yes, she can name her body parts including her "back" which is weird because it's not something we usually teach babies. We would usually say, "eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin, feet, hands". But back? No.

But anyway, I was looking at the list and making a mental note of the things I have to buy for Paige, like dough and stack rings. I noticed, however, that Paige has abilities that are not in the list.

So, for Paige's developmental milestone list --

a. Has memorized the alphabet and can sing the alphabet song from A-Z including the lines "Now I know my ABC, next time won't you sing with me."
b. Can count from 1-10.
c. Can sing the song Moonriver.

They should also add, Has a sassy mouth, to go with the list :)


Jul 25, 2008

Nene

Jul 23, 2008

Updates on My Precocious Paige

I don't know if my daughter is just way too precocious for her own good or all mothers think their daughters are just way too precocious for their own damn good.

Anyway, I decided to write a blog entry about Paige's latest antics so years from now, she'd read about how funny and wonderful she was as a 2 year old.

Yes, she's two year old now. She just turned 2 last Sunday and we had a wonderful family celebration.

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Paige with her "Mommy"

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Paige with her "Papa Lo"

She's really big now and she has a big sassy mouth to go with it.

The other day, her grandma was telling her to wear her slippers. In an exaggerated fashion, mommy was telling her that she's stepping on lizard's feces. (FYI, this scares Paige a lot. She's really, really disgusted with the black small "thingy" she picked up which turned out to be a lizard's excrement.)

But while her grandma was telling her about the threat of stepping on feces, Paige was just looking at her. And then suddenly she said, "psst!"

Mommy stopped talking and stared at her. I began to laugh at this point because I knew what was going to happen. And then, Mommy started to talk about the feces again and then Paige said, "Mommy, psst!" She followed this with, "Bad ka!" (You're bad!)

Her expression was so funny and my Mom's expression was priceless. I was laughing like a witless hyena!

Precocious.

Last night while in bed, I was talking to Erbe. I was asking him to pretend like he's some Hollywood actor.

"How will you react if you're in a scene where the doctor tells you you're dying of stage 4 cancer."

Erbe promptly answered with "uh?"
Yes, he said it just like that "uh."

I was understandably disgusted with his pathetic skills. :) and told him what I thought of his acting. I did not notice that Paige reacted to his acting with, "Yucks!"
But Erbe noticed and told me what she said. So, I turned to Paige and asked her to show to her papa the right reaction.

I was surprised when her face suddenly crumpled and she began crying -- no tears though. She was just acting, but acting nonetheless.
I was so shocked but I was laughing so hard.

The next day, we were eating and I was telling her grandma about the incident. My mother did not believe me. Paige was at that time sitting on my lap and so I relayed the whole incident again and when I reached that part where I said, "So, I asked Paige to show her papa the right reaction..."
Guess what happened?
Right there and then, at that table, Paige began to cry again! Again, she was acting -- no real tears, but she was right on cue! Mommy had no choice but to believe me.

Precocious, right?

One time, she heard her grandma singing. So, she just sat there and listened to her. After my mother finished the whole song, she heard Paige clapping and saying, "Very good! Very good!"

Sassy.

Earlier this evening, I saw Paige playing with two glasses. I told Erbe to take the glasses from her but he was still busy with something and he was too late -- the glasses slipped and broke. I was irritated with Erbe and so I began ranting. "See, I told you! I told you!"

After I stopped ranting, Paige began to scold her papa.
"Inga!" (See!)
"Ing mo!" (You see!)
"papa...bad ka!" (Papa, you're bad!)
Instead of getting mad, her papa just started laughing.

Again, precocious. Right now, as I am typing this, she's standing beside me nagging me to remove all her clothes.

*sigh

Jul 18, 2008

The Invisible Space Bubble


We were in McDonald's earlier. The place was packed. While Erbe was waiting for his turn to order, I looked for vacant seats. One table was empty except for this small white plastic bag daintily perched on the table. Nobody was there. It was ironic but the whole setup screamed, "I HAVE THIS FREAKING SEAT! STAY AWAY!"

Have you noticed that we automatically respond to things like that? I could have just removed the damn plastic since its owner doesn't own the table and the seats, but the little plastic demanded respect of space. Weird.

Right there and then, I was reminded of Bimbo's entry. He referred to it as the Invisible Space Bubble. He was pretty insightful. It's a damn good read. Maybe, you should check it out.

Jul 11, 2008

Wall E


I just finished watching Wall E. It's a really really good movie. It's a feel-good movie. You'll find yourself rooting for Wall E and Eve.
The movie concept is good. The minute you realize the plot, you'd think, "Can this really happen?"
It kind of reminds me of Waterworld and the book The Little Prince.
I love it.

Here's the plot:

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion. Joining WALL*E on his journey across the universe is a cast of characters including a pet cockroach and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers




I was listening to Miley Cyrus' 7 Things and I have to admit that I really like her voice. I don't like her but the girl has got a talent.





Now, the Jonas Brothers is another story. I still don't know if I like them. I've seen Camp Rock though (Thanks to Bittorrent), but I still haven't decided yet.



Jul 10, 2008

KISS 105.3 FM

I usually work late... In fact, I work all throughout the night. I have to listen to something while working; otherwise, I'd fall asleep. I cannot play the radio since I have Erbe to consider. And I'm tired listening to the same MP3s I have store in my pc.

So, I usually listen to online radio stations. I sometimes listen to Monster Radio or Energy FM. Yes, you can listen to them online. But the connection is bad. My favorite station is KISS 105.3. And guess where this station is located? Gainesville, Florida! Yes, it's kinda weird to think that my favorite radio station is halfway around the world, but it's amazing though.

And these are the jocks I listen to. The one in the left is Ryan Dupree. He's often the one I'm stuck with. He's okay. Riggs, however, the jock on the right is funny.













Anyways, I just realized that I feel stupid for writing this entry. It just struck me that I am listening to a radio station halfway around the world. So, I figured since I have nothing else to write, this will do.


Jul 8, 2008

10 Things that Made Me Happy Recently

I got tagged by Jinx. So, what are the 10 things that made me happy recently?

1. The Hail. It was brief...fleeting, but it was happiness. :)
Now what?
2. Ah, SE W810i Walkman cellphone. I am downloading ebooks and reading them there. Jinx, I downloaded Julie Garwood's Shadow Music and read it on my cp. It was a good read. Now, I'm reading Lyon's Lady.
3. My message tone. It's Mr. Bean. It never fails to make me smile. I used to have a baby laughing but it sounded too much like my niece, Cori and it depressed me because it made me missed her more. So, I changed it.
4. Angelina Jolie's Wanted and later I'm going to watch Will Smith's Hancock.
5. Sims 2 on my cp. It's really, really great.
6. Paige singing Moonriver. She belts out the song at inopportune moments.
7. Popcorn. lots of it for the last two days.
8. We finally transferred the aircon to our room. The heat is not stifling anymore.
9. New headset.
10. Pinoy Dream Academy. It's entertaining.
11. I'm learning French and Spanish online. Queiro ir al baño. (I want to go to the bathroom). :)

Finished! I have 11!
Now, I'm tagging anyone who reads my blog including my haters if you have a blog of your own.

Hail

We had hail earlier this afternoon.
At first we thought somebody was throwing stones on our roof.
It was only later that we realized what it was.

I think not everyone in our city experienced it. Jinx? Did you?

Jul 6, 2008

Digitel One Philippines Sucks!

I swear! I should not have transferred to Digitel! I had suspicions that they were doing bandwidth throttling. After doing the test with Glasnost, this is the result! I was hoping for a faster download for Bittorrent and I got the opposite! Okay, I don't need any argument over P2P. My point is that I am paying for a throttled bandwidth! They should have been forthright about that. I bought into the crap of faster internet connection. I am going back to Bayantel! Aarrggggh!







And look at the result of the speedtest! It's freaking unreasonable!




It really sucks. Big time.

Big, big sigh here.

Anyway, on a lighter note.


Here's a pic of the banana my mother planted. I don't know why I'm posting it. I just really love the taste and I'm amazed that it came from our backyard.

















And here's a funny but completely blasphemous pic I took earlier when we went to Church. This is a picture of the statue of St. Francis of Assisi. I know it's not supposed to be funny, but it is! It is!

Jul 3, 2008

Spare Me!

Hi Sher! Yes, you are right. It's nice to have a handful of mini-me copying everything I do. She's getting more adorable by the minute.

Ken, thanks for the "you're being missed comment." I'm sorry everyone. I have been so busy...

Anyway, here's something I got from my inbox. I call this series -- Please, don't say bad words.