The Joy of Collecting: Natural Quartz Crystal

 

I started collecting quartz crystals when I was in college.  That was more than 30 years ago.  Can you believe it?  Let me share my collection with you.

Budol is Real

Getting scammed is the worst!  You feel stupid for being taken advantage of.  I was scammed online!  Let me tell you my experience.

Rinse Your Worries Off

More than ever, with COVID lurking in our doorsteps, it is essential that we practice the minimum safety protocols recommended by the government.  Unfortunately, one of the measures we must undertake is to restrict our movement outside of our dwelling spaces.  If you think about it, these measures are truly for our safety.  They however, add unnecessary stress to our already stressful lives.  So, what can we do to cope from this situation?

The Joy of Collecting: Model Cars

Things that give us pleasure.  We do tend to collect them.  We are talking about material objects here, okay?  For me at least, on the things I collect, they give me immense pleasure just by looking at them.  Something like a visual therapy.  My stress relieved.  My worries gone for a bit.  It recharges me.  It revitalizes me.

Do It Slowly, Baby!

In this hurried times, we sometimes complain that 24 hours is not enough for all the things we needed to accomplish for the day.  We tend to sacrifice a lot of things for the more "important" activities.  Most young adults nowadays skip breakfast and would rather "drink" their morning meals.  There's instant oat drinks and fiber-rich instant breakfast alternatives.  Some would of course opt for healthier drinks.  Thank goodness juicers were invented.  Not all juicers however, are created equal.

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

 

Are you getting enough sleep lately?  I know.  Almost every aspect in our lives has been disturbed or disrupted by this COVID-19 pandemic.  Our sleeping habit is no exception.

10th Year of the Blog: A New Leaf is Now Unfolding

10 years.  1 decade.  Can you believe it?  This year, 2021, marks the blog's 10th anniversary.  Congratulations self!

A Good Start

I just would like to mark this day, 24 February 2021, Wednesday, as a special day.  You know why?

SB19 - The EPITOME of SUCCESS Through HARD WORK

GET INTO THE ZONE!

For me the quintessential music would be the classical and theatre musicals.  It may be an elitist view but spare me for a bit here because I grew up with a grandmother who was trained in classical music and an aunt who would not listen to any genre of music except for broadway tunes.  The rebel in me would at times sound trip with my classmates in high school listening to cheesy music from the juke boxes aligned in street cafes near the school premises.  I do have my prejudice favouring some types of music but overall I can say that I appreciate a wide range of music genres.  Pop of course will always be there.  I would from time to time obsess over certified hits. 

If there was one pop boy band that really made a mark in my childhood days it would be MENUDO.  For those of you who have not heard of Menudo, it's a band composed of 4 Puerto Rican good-looking boys.  Or was there 5 members?  Geez, I can no longer remember.  Anyway, if you knew La Vida Loca Ricky Martin, then you should know that he was the youngest member of Menudo back then.  Their looks totally took them to a whole new level of popularity.  But there is no denying their talent and the amount of hard work they put in into their performances.  You would not believe the kind of popularity they had.  It would be along side One Direction and BTS.  That's debatable of course because back then there is no Internet but they were able to conquer the global market.  So, I suppose they should be considered one of the greats.

And now comes... (drum roll please) Sound Break 19 or popularly referred to as SB19.

I am a 48 year old snob mind you!  But OMG!!!  I was mesmerized and hooked by this Pinoy boy band.  Saying that they are a breath of fresh air is an understatement.  Would you like to know why I was so impressed with SB19?  Well then, read on...

The boys of SB19 from left to right are Justin, Sejun, Ken, Stell, and Josh.  I took the picture from their official YouTube channel SB19 Official.  So, copyright credit to the owner (CCTO).  I hope you don't mind me using your picture.  Thanks!

The Pinoy Shutterbug: Cactus Edition

I thought that raising cacti would be a walk in the park.  Though they are comparatively easier to care for, cacti still need a whole bunch of TLC.  In some cases a different kind of caring is needed.  Just the same, some species if truth be told are quite unfortunate looking and some literally looked like from another planet.  But I kid you not, some of the most gorgeous plants and flowers I have ever seen are from the cacti and succulents family.

Looks like a troll with seed pods for hair.

5 Tips on How to Get a Good Night's Sleep

1... 2... 3... 10,001... 1,897,657.876... Oops, it's time to get up!

Think about it.  We spend a third of our lives in bed.  Say, what?  If you are 24 years old now, then 8 years of your life were spent lying on bed, sleeping.  Amazing fact isn't it?  Since we are spending that much time sleeping, it just makes perfect sense to get the most out of it.  After all, a good night's sleep recharges the mind, body and spirit.

Here's some tips for you to get a good shut-eye:

The Pinoy Shutterbug

My very first shot of the moon.  I used a Vivitar telephoto lens with a Canon entry-level camera.  I was lucky, don't you think?  The craters are noticeable in this picture.  No post-processing was done with this picture.

I love taking pictures.  I call myself, "The Pinoy Shutterbug".  For me, it's like capturing emotions.  Even an inanimate object when photographed on a certain lighting condition can evoke a certain kind of emotion in us.  I remember our very first camera.  It was an "instamatic" Kodak camera.  It was one of the few things my Dad bought in Japan in the 70's.  At that time, we have to load films (which are then available in rolls of 12's, 24's, and 36's) and use disposable flash bulbs (that cubic bulb that rotate each time it flashes).   Because  the film and flash bulbs are very pricey, we were only able to capture "Kodak moments" on special occasions.

The Power of Three

I call this picture "The Power of Three".  This three-piece set is one of the many chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the newly opened Chinese restaurant, Lugang Cafe, in Megamall's new Fashion Hall.

#PHthankyou

The Philippines says THANK YOU to the whole world!

SALAMAT PO!

2013 Ayala Triangle Gardens Dancing Lights Display

Here we go again!  Every Christmas season, we anticipate the dancing lights display at the Ayala Triangle Gardens.  Just when you thought that you've seen the best from last year's, well, you'd be wrong.  This year just got better!

It's All in the "Billionaire's" Mind

Money, money, money... lots of money!

I have been busy at work that I had little time to update my blog.  That however, is no excuse.  So when I read an article shared by one of my friends in Facebook, I knew I had to do my part and share it through this blog.  We all heard, no doubt, that "our thoughts shape our circumstances"... that "we are who we think we are" and that "all is in the mind".  These asserts how powerful our mind is in determining basically the outcome of anything we set out to do.  Do you believe this?

The Bitter Taste That's Sweet

I have not met anyone yet who loves eating "ampalaya".  That's "bitter gourd" in English.  As the name suggests, this vegetable is terribly bitter!  Have you tried one yet?

A Walk in the Beautiful Ayala Triangle Gardens

Stressed out?  Close to being tightly wound?  Head out to the beautiful and refreshing Ayala Triangle Gardens.  Walk barefoot on the grass.  Commune with the hundred-year-old trees.  Unwind...  relax...  breathe some fresh air.  Feel solace... at last!

Charice Came Out of the Closet - "Opo... tomboy po ako." (Yes, I am a tomboy.)

CHARICE PEMPENGCO sporting a boyish haircut finally admitted that she's a lesbian.
Watch the coming-out-of-the-gay-closet interview below.

Finally, Youtube singing sensation and international recording star Charice Pempengco or more popularly known with just a single name, "Charice", in an interview in a local showbiz talk show this afternoon of 02 June 2013 admitted to being a lesbian.

One DIrection... to Summer Happiness

I recently bought some apparel in Penshoppe during their pre-summer sale.  I was with my grade schooler niece and guess what?  She was not interested in any of the candy-colored tank tops.  She was just in a corner staring at the giant poster covering one wall of the store.  Frozen, wide-eyed, and with what seemed to be a smile terminating in both ears plastered on her face, I thought, "this is it"!  It's the key to rectifying hyperactive children.  LOL!