Insightful, Hopeful

What would you do if you became rich? This was a question that my boss suddenly asked today in one of our group talks. On my way home, I remembered why this rang a bell to me. I just read the Inquirer staff interview with Rick Warren, the bestselling author of "The Purpose Driven Life". He talks about his book, his ministry, and what he did when he became rich.

The purpose-driven Rick Warren

Things that happened last Sunday, July 30, 2006. 

SPARKS 

I went to church at Sacred Heart Parish in Sta. Mesa. I attended the 3:30 pm mass which is actually for children, but I like this timeslot because the church is not as full as other timeslots in the afternoon and evening. Anyway, at some point in the mass, some people were shouting and some mild explosions were heard. These were happening at the left side of the church, and I was on the right side. Some panicked and rushed out. I was also affected and stood up, but I didn't run because I was far from the incident. There was black smoke and sparks. Turns out, it was caused by faulty wiring.  It was raining and the wire produced sparks and then flame. I saw Ryan, his sister and his girlfriend Aryan, we all chatted for a while, and waiting to see if the mass would resume. The lights were turned off so as not to worsen the situation. The priest decided to continue the mass. The people sat closer to the altar. Only candles were lit. It was one of the most solemn masses I ever attended. It was quiet except for the sound of the vehicles passing by. Finally, a megaphone was brought out so everyone could hear the message. What a blessed way to hear God's word :)

SPLURGE

After hearing mass, I headed off to SM Centerpoint. I anticipated the large crowd because of the 3-day sale. I even saw my sister's friend's sister Elvie, and also Ryan and Aryan. I bought medicine for my aunt. Then bought what I came for, an all-weather sandals. I went for the Sandugo brand which my friend Ken recommended. Also saw a cute backpack that was fit for the rainy days which I also bought. Saw some books and a fitness magazine and bought those too. I was looking for a pedal pusher, and saw a nice looking one that looked big, but since my hands were aching from all the baggage, I opted not to fit the pants. Turns out, it was way too big but it fit my mom, which was good. 

IDOLS

 I went home, and I remembered that Philippine Idol was showing that night. I watched it with my mom and dad. I was laughing hard in some parts because of some contestants. But in general, the voices of some contestants cracked but they were still in tune, showing still that the Filipinos have talent. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Cebu auditions. I know the Cebuanos are known for their melodious voices, and talented singers like Pilita Corrales (one of the judges), Vina Morales and Sheryn Regis.

SPLURGE 2

When I thought my shopping spree was over,  my sister called and said I should go to SM again. She wanted me to use my card to purchase a treadmill. We've been thinking of buying one ever since we saw a good one which could be bought at 6 months 0% interest payment scheme. This one could be bought with the same terms too. The salesman had his sales pitch, and seeing it was good, we gave in (gosh, more debts, but health is priceless). When we came home, I showed my sister the Fitness magazine I bought. There we were, dreaming of a fitter life. :)  But the treadmill does not arrive til Saturday.

So there it is, stories on a Sunday. 

I've been seeing some really interesting Pinoy sites. It's great that the Filipinos are making their presence in the internet. Here is a partial list of sites which I think are worth visiting:

Brain Gain Network (BGN) - for Philippine Technopreneurs

SME.COM.PH - news, forums and articles for Pinoy small and medium enterprise owners or wannabes

EAT.PH - Pinoy food

FilipinoWriter.com - creating a reading culture amongst Filipinos

I.PH -Pinoy blogs

Manily Daily Photo - see the Philippines through pictures taken by Analie Astorga-Motilla

Philippine Search Engines:

    MySearch.PH

    Tanikalang Ginto

 Blogs - apparently, there about a thousand blogs written by Pinoys, but Abe Olandres, the man behind pinoytechblog created a blog ring that caters to Pinoys. These includes:

    The Philippines According to Blogs

    Pinoy Travel Blog

    Pinoy Urban Living Blog 

Finally, after not being able to be online for a month or so, I'm back and with a vengeance hehe (just kidding).

It turns out, the modem was not working and so I bought an internal one which I installed inside the CPU myself.  I was able to succeed in adding memory in my computer (read the memory story here), so I was more confident this time.

I missed blogging, just being able to rant or rave about anything in your life. Also, my favorite co-bloggers, J and Cat are also back on track so at least I'll be keeping up with their lives as well.

 Btw, I just want to congratulate Cat for passing the NCLEX. Good job, girl! I knew you'd made it. Also, congrats to my friend Mel for passing the CIA (it's for auditors). I'm so lucky to have smart friends. :)

So what have I been up to? There's nothing much, but I had some nice memories recently. I've been able to go out some of my college friends last time, Marilen and JV and talked mostly about career. I also met Kate with Ken last time in Shangrila almost a month ago, and talked about raising Kate's daughter and some other serious issues. (Hello to Kate, who's just discovered my blog). It's really wonderful to go out to see old friends once in a while.

Oh, my mom celebrated her 70th bday last July 8. Belated Happy Birthday mom! We had a bigger celebration this time with at most 80 people, which is befitting for a superb woman like her. Love you mom!

Our AFLSer (Lea Salonga group) friend, Mimi, also came from the US. She got to meet us finally. We ate at Ebun restaurant in Glorietta. It was nice meeting you in person Mimi, and I hope you enjoyed your stay here.

Also because of the bad weather, I've had an excuse to continue my TV series marathon. I'm almost through watching the 1st season of LOST. Too bad Boone died. He is my crush in the series. I also like Kate's character though she didn't have such a great past.

I'm excited to watch the new reality shows "Philippine Idol" and "Pinoy Dream Academy". I wonder which talent show will produce the more popular star. The 1st season of a talent search almost always makes the winner an instant hit, and declines with the succeeding seasons. I hope these two shows will create a new trend since the contestants' age limit has been raised to 28 years old.

For the last few months, I have not been able to post anything. It's because there's something wrong with my PC and I can't connect to any ISP :(

I'm thinking of buying a new harddisk and reformating so that I'll be able to have a fresh start and hopefully eradicate the problems I had been having with installation, connecting to the internet, etc.

I'm now at my friend, Mimay's house, writing this blog entry. She asked me last week if I wanted to stay with her over the weekend coz it's her mom's death anniversary and her dad and bro were out of town.  I thought it was a great time to bond with her at the same time watch her favorite shows.

Before going to her house, I watched 6 straight episode of LOST, which she burned for me. Then when I went to her house, we watched the first season of Grey's Anatomy. She had been raving about the show, and I was able to watch the 2nd episode on the local channel, Studio 23. I was able to watch up to the 8th episode of Season 1. The show is interesting coz it has some comedy, drama and you learn a bit about medicine too coz the show focuses on the lives of surgical interns. It was just unfortunate that her PC kept on restarting on the middle of some episodes.  

I used to be a real TV addict, and before I had to wait week after week for my favorite shows. Right now, it's so much easier because the episodes can be downloaded on the internet or you can buy a DVD. 

Now, I'm back to being a couch potato, up until I can watch all the episodes I copied from Mims :)