From Russia With Love

I am a very very lazy blogger, I just realized that since I started this blog almost 2 years ago, only 2089 people took time to read my random ramblings... And I think half of these views were done by yours truly... Ok that may be a bit exaggerated... Maybe just a quarter of it. I wonder how accurate the stats are though, a glimpse at my most recent one:

My Top 5

PHILIPPINES - 917 views

I am not surprised. After all much of what I blog about, foodtrips, places I've been to, and other activities happened in the archipelago. Not to mention most of my friends are in Manila. So I guess the Philippines being at number 1 is justifiable. 

UNITED STATES - 441 views

I doubt if the Joe's and Jane's reads my blog. I am pretty sure my friends and relatives who have flown to the land of milk and honey are the ones who takes time to check what I have been doing.

GERMANY - 68 views

I honestly expected a middle eastern country; say UAE or an asian territory to occupy spot number 3. I have quite a good number of friends in Dubai,Qatar and Singapore. I called Macau my home for 14 months and even if I have yet to revisit that place, I managed to keep in touch with my Cantonese friends as well as my Filipino friends who work there. Germany, I probably know a maximum of 5 people there. 5 very busy people who I doubt has time to blog hop.

UKRAINE - 66 views and RUSSIA - 58 views

At number 4 and number 5 are Ukraine and Russia respectively. I definitely do not know anybody from Ukraine and Russia. I wonder what part of my blog interests the Ukrainians and Russians. Weird but interesting.

Well it doesn't really matter who reads my posts. I just want to write.
Busy busy week ahead. Time to hit the sack.

Bright Minds Read

"If you are a kid, reading is really important stuff."
- Bruce Jenner

As a kid, I used to read a lot. My allowance back then was just enough for my daily expenses, for me to purchase a book; I have to really save up for it. I envied my classmates whose moms buy books for them. You see my mom was a working one and I never really wanted to bother her to ask her to buy a Sweet Valley Twins book or a Nancy Drew book or one of those books that lets you choose your own ending. I simply borrowed from my classmates. I remember this particular seatmate of mine in high school; Ivy, she was really neat and took good care of her books.  Whenever I was given a chance to borrow her Sweet Valley books, I took extraordinary diligence in making sure that the sides of the book never had a crease. I read lying on my bed and opened the book just enough for me to somewhat peep through the entire page. I almost did not flip the pages, I somewhat figured out a way to flip my head, or my whole self. I may not have my own books, but I still consider myself lucky to have classmates with books who was kind enough to lend it to me.

But there are kids who can't buy books... and their friends can't buy as well... and I think what's worse than not being able to read is being able to do so but not having something to read. A few days back as I was cyber-stalking someone on facebook, I chanced upon a post from a friend who is very active with TREK (TRails to Empower Kids). A group of friends who did not just admire the beauty of the mountains but also saw how deprived the isolated tribes were. So they have decided not just to trek, but to bring treats to the tribes that they visit.

Sometime next month , August 25-26, they will again embark on a journey,to have a good exercise, to marvel at the beauty of nature and most importantly, to bring treats to Primary School Kids in Nagtipunan, Quirino.  I am such a wimp and wouldn't want to go with them, not for the fear of being away from my urban lived comfy life, but from the fear of embarrassing myself because I might just be deadload for the group.

So I just told my friend that I will try to collect books for the kids. And I need help. I need books that an 8 year old can read and learn from. To my mommy friends, I know some of your kids have been given books that they no longer read and are just collecting dust, I am more than willing to meet up, and catch up too with a cup of coffee. I also need pens, crayons.. lots and lots of them.  I want these mountain trekkers to really have heavy bags on their backs full of treats.

nostalgia kicking in again

a blogpost from DEC 2008.....

CATHY's ADVICE


I had a long chat with my high school seatmate Cathy a couple of weeks ago. It was so nice to talk to her again after a very long time. She has migrated, fell inlove, got her heart broken, cried an ocean, fell inlove again, got married and now living blissfully.  She has always been a delight to talk to, so sweet.. to the point that I sometimes wish I could be like her, but then again it would not be me anymore.
She was very enthusiastic when she was telling me about her wedding. How she met her lucky husband, how i loved the personal touch of her menu, how she managed to look stunning despite the fact that it was a do-it-yourself wedding.  Of course, no catching up will be complete without a little nostalgia… our carefree junior high school days, how we would go around the classroom after lunch break to collect some coins from our classmates to be donated to the school to build a new gymnasium (she was the elected treasurer, i was her appointed assistant) and the times i would go to their house in las pinas to finish some projects.

Then she asked me if I still write poetry. I said not  anymore. I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered that I used to write poems. Of course my works would not have been comparable to a Sartre, nor could have it been worthy of a Noble prize, but just the fact that someone remembered my works was compliment enough.  I used to write poetry, back in high school,intense emotions triggers my literary creativity.

Cathy then asked me to try it again, at least to keep me off the television. So here goes… I am not so sure if Cathy checks my blog.. i hope she’ll have time to blog hop one of these days and chance upon my page.

TEARS

The tears I shed,

tell so many tales,

If you see tears rolling down my cheeks,

Would you care enough to ask?

or care even more to listen?

Did I shed a tear because of deep sorrow?

Or could it be tears of joy?

I could have cried out of anger,

or could it be out of fear?

Would tears be enough to replace words I could not say;

like how much I am sorry, or how much I worry?

Am I glad?  Am I sad?  Am I hurt?

Is it because I am missing you?

Or is it because I am happy of where I am right now without you?

Did I try and lost?

Or was I lost and now happily found?

What are the tales that my tears are telling?

Would you bother to stop and try to comprehend?

Or would you just look away, and pretend you never saw me crying?

a bloody post

Been using my healthcard lately, something that is not really euphoric. Yeah Yeah I used to be fond of going to clinics... I'd be lying if I said I never liked being in one... after all, I did date two MD's. But lately I have been having some health related issues that I had to be dragged to a medical facility. Had to go through some blood exams as the  doctor suspected that I am anemic, after seeing how pale my palm was. I have decided to include blood typing to the tests too, after all, that's a whole syringe of blood to be sucked out of my suspected anemic person's vein... I might as well ask them to utilize every drop of it. Unfortunately, this specific test is not covered by my healthcard, I had to shell out 170 pesos for it. Geez i could have just taken an intelligent guess and say that my blood type is O, after all, 40% of every breathing human is type O.

After 8 hours I was able to get the results of my tests. Yup, I am anemic and yes my blood type is O+. 

I have heard before that Japanese people match personality traits with blood types. As if I do not know myself well yet, I have sought the help of my ever reliable friend Google to find out more about me based on my blood type.

I came across this blog : http://ladygirlsblog.blogspot.com/ and found this entertaining comic strip about my blood type:

On a more intellectual and less entertaining level, I have found out these personality traits and found myself nodding in approval :

According to this article,Type O's like me are social butterflies who are often popular and self - confident.  Creative, and enjoys being the center of attention.  I can make a good impression on people because type O's are often quite attractive. It says type O's are organized .. I am compelled to disagree on this part. But it also mentioned that type O's are determined. It was also nice to know that people who share my blood type are stubborn people and my  stubbornness will help me reach my goals and that I could be a good leader too.

Self-confident and stubborn... a not so appealing combination, but I am enjoying every minute of being me.