Nostalgia (my 9th)

Posted on August 25, 2010 by admin

FIRST TIME IN DIPOLOG/DAPITAN (Part I)

I was one of the faculty/staff chaperons of an Educational Tour

~~Almost to reach our destination

~~ That’s our first stop. For lunch. The place feels like attending a debu or a formal party. hehehe

~~ After lunch, this was the next destination. A student activity that was suppose to be done in an hour but we stayed there for more than 2 hrs because many students wanted to reach the top.

Do you wanna know how many steps i made? Oh well, only 3 of that 3003. lol!

~~Here’s me after making that 3 steps. lol!

It was during this trip that i met up close and personal the Miss Earth 2008 winner Karla Paula
and the ladies that won Miss Air and Miss Water.
I think Miss Karla is very beautiful.

Next to that peak, we proceeded to Rizal Shrine in Dapitan.

A sunset view i took from the top of the Lovers’ Rock inside the shrine. I can imagine Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken enjoy the sunset from that spot.

~~~

There’s much more photos to share about this trip so maybe i can post them next time as Part II.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as i enjoy recalling those moments.

This is one of the memories that brings a smile to my face at the same time sad because this guy here –

left this world unexpectedly (through a vehicular accident. he was hit by a speeding car heeding to the airport catching a flight) 3 months later. He was one of the persons that made this trip more lively and unforgetable for the students especially.

Nostalgia (My 7th)

Posted on August 12, 2010 by admin

MY FIRST PLANE RIDE!

It was November 2001. The flight was from Bacolod City to Manila. The plane ride was not the original plan. I was traveling to Manila from Cagayan de Oro City via Bacolod City to see a friend. Since i have enough funds for a Manila fare, my friend suggested that instead of getting a boat ticket, I should take the plane! I was excited but thinking of the “first time” the idea brought butterflies to my stomach.

The big day came and it was around mid morning. My friend and her kids sent me off and they did not left until the plane left. Bacolod Airport was not yet that strict that time that my friends can see me at the far side of the Admin building. They even saw me walking towards the plane and the kids shouted my name but i did not hear. My friend said i just walked straight and she can obviously sensed that i was sort of scared.

Really i was scared. And during the take off, I remember i closed my eyes but after a minute or two, i opened my eyes and started to get to the feeling and I was ok. The butterflies in my stomach was gone! I tried looking out of the window and it was a great feeling seeing the clouds so near.

The craft landed safely and I whispered a prayer of thanks to the Lord that the trip was alright and no untoward incidents happened.

I wish i had a photo of that first time!

Happy remembering everyone!

Nostalgia (my # 4)

Posted on July 7, 2010 by admin

Acid-base Balance 003

I love postcards! I started receiving them when I was still in highschool. But it was until 1995 that i started to receive them in several pieces after I met someone online who is a postcard collector. She was a Filipina by blood but become a US citizen when her family moved to the States. Her name was Melinda and she just sent me plenty of cards in exchange for Philippine postcards. It was more of a swapping than sharing. She sent me cards of her trips and my favorites are the ones of NY city especially of the Twin Towers.

The card am posting here is a card I received in 1989 from a penpal. Her name was Megumi Higa. We were exchanging letters and one day she wrote to me using a postcard. This card is one of the first cards i received during my younger years when i started sending postcards to friends.

This is what she wrote:

Thanks for the post card and letter! This post card is one of our SDA college I applied to, but I’m going to La Sierra this September. I’ll probably major in business but I might want to become a physician. I have a sister who’s 17 and a brother that’s 15. My sister is a Sophomore (10th) here but my brother isa Freshman at Far Easter University in Singapore. So all together there are 5 in our family. I’ll ask my dad if they know a Dr. Maehara when they come to the States this month. Thanks for teaching me all those Tagalogs. I can’t memorize all of it but I’ll try. I’ll teach you ILOVE in my language – Aishitimasu. Maybe someone might know. Well, I’m not worried about my finals. They’re not too hard. I only have Bible & Spanish II. Wish me luck. YOU have a good vacation, too!

Penfriends,
Megumi

I dunno when did we stop writing to each other but i can remember well that when i was in the last grades of primary school until highschool am so fun of having penpals. Some of them i met personally in years that came. But Megumi, we never met. I tried searching for her in Facebook but am not successful. Probably she is around 40 now because i was still junior in highschool and she was entering college when we started to write to each other.

She was a very lovely Japanese girl.

Weekend of Goodbyes

Posted on May 24, 2010 by admin

Id like to think that it is was a very lonely weekend because everyone was leaving. How i wish i too would pack my bags and go away. hahaahaha. Seriously i would do so if it is just ok.

Of the 47 ladies, there were only around 10 girls Friday evening. Thursday afternoon, my dorm partner left for a short fun vacation to Bohol. A dear friend left for Bicol early Friday morning. And i was left in a place where i can feel so much emptiness. Yet, the handful of girls and I went to church for vespers and the Saturday. I just missed the Saturday afternoon program because we came in late from our lunch rendezvous at the seaside.

Here are a few weekend photos to share:

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a sky photo i took while going up to the dorm through the side door.
when i don’t feel inside, i look up the sky to hope for a positive vibes.

This was taken around past 5 and i was waiting for the sunset. I enjoy the sky view from the fourth floor and i think last weekend is my last weekend to enjoy sky level view. We are moving down to the old dorm this week and there will never be any sky view anymore. Anyways, i did some ironing while waiting for the sun. And after sometime — i can already see red streaks of sun rays trying to penetrate my pink/lavender curtain. So i have to run outside the dorm lobby with my camera.

I clicked so many and this one is one of my favorites. Taken at 5:54 pm.

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I was really missing someone when i took those sunset shots. I was even wondering if he was seeing the sky view i was enjoying that moment. So i sent him an sms asking – if are we seeing the same sky because if so then for sure the world is just so small because we are seeing the same orange sky. He replied that he is not seeing an orange sky because sunset is being blocked by a hill. >> I think if there was no hill for sure the view would be very beautiful because that friend was out in the Lipata pier in Surigao. They were off to the other side of the island at 7 that evening.

Saturday lunch, i was invited to go along with my boss and friends to have lunch at Hagohoy.

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A distant view of Iligan City.

~~~~

I was still making this post earlier when the power was interrupted. Now i want to get online from my lappy but it’s not connecting. I really dunno what’s the problem. So the few more pics i wanted to share is there. I can use a usb but this office pc is pregnant with virus and I am afraid that my lappy will be infected if i will transfer files by using the usb.

So am publishing this post now and i hope that tomorrow i can add some more photos. If not tomorrow, the next day or if not the next day, will post it on Sunday at the main blog.

Update on My Blogging Life

Posted on May 1, 2010 by admin

As much as i want to update daily, i find myself lagging behind of what should be done. I feel my personal time is not as much anymore when i started blogging and when i decided that i have to maintain 3 domains on top of my normal day job. Back then i could stay up late at nights to update all blogs but now the situation is not like that anymore. But even then am trying to catch up as much as i can.

There are times when i have so much to say but I am away from the computer so what i do is jot down the ideas and try to make about them later. But when i do so, my fingers just rested on the keys and not doing a thing.

Summer months is almost over and i haven’t been away yet. I feel i need a break – even a short break to rejuvinate my old self. -) Anyway that’s a longing and i hope it will happen soon. I really need to get away if i want to improve in my blogging activities and even my life in the real world.

3 blogs – that was more than a month ago. Now i have 4 domains to maintain. In case you haven’t noticed them, they are:

Joys in Life

Dancing in Midlife Tune

Healthy Lifestyle

All About Her

Oppss to top that, i also have a subdomain on arlenecollado (dot) com whic h is the home of my digital scraps and also a photo blog in blogspot. Not to mention my old old blog -Life is What we Make it.

I know what i mentioned up can’t compare for those who have more then blogs to maintain but aside from this online life, i also have a normal day time work in the office and the asst. mommying role to 40 plus girls.

Well, life is what we make it! I find mine very challenging.

On Procrastination

Posted on April 26, 2010 by admin

The quiz result says that i should procrastinate because i work well with pressure and deadlines. Yeah, in reality, deadlines motivate me to finish my work on time or if not days before the deadline.

I just checked my email now and i received a renewal notice for the JIL domain. I got 30 days to renew it and possibly i will pay on the 29th day so that i would have the same deadline next year. If i guess it right, April, May, and June – are months that i should be renewing my blog domains. So i should reserve money in my paypal for that purposes. Meaning i should not withdraw them all for life insurance quote presentation kit because the kit is just for free. I need to withdraw my earnings for my monthly bills. Thank God my electric bill this month is very minimal. I just have a bill of more than P300.00 and just imagine the sweltering heat!

I don’t like to procrastinate in paying my electric bill because when the second bills comes surely it will be with a notice of disconnection. I hate the process when applying for reconnection so i should better be faithful in paying my electric bills early. How about you? Are you an on time payer of bills or you procrastinate, too?

A comparison

Posted on February 17, 2010 by admin

cropped

This was taken last year.

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Taken two weeks ago.

See the difference? For me pimples are like pain in the ass, so i am so thankful when later i discovered some natural acne remedies that made the latter facial photo looks different when compared to the one taken last year. I know that even if i have put on some foundation when i took that first photo, still my acne would be obvious.

Though i have really controlled my meat intake, but most of the time now I am on veggies thus it also helped me control the acne growth.

Healthy foods, lots of water, good sleep and exercise really contributes to a healthy looking you.

I Was a Serious Kid

Posted on February 18, 2009 by admin

You Were an Achieving Kid

When you were a kid, people often remarked on how mature you seemed. You acted quite adult.

You excelled at school, and you actually enjoyed it to a large extent. No one had to ask you to do your homework.

As a kid, you were probably a bit picky. You liked structure, schedules, and organization.

You had trouble being friends with regular kids. You probably were only friends with other serious children.

I learn to be really responsible at a very young age because am the eldest to working parents. So i was incharge of taking care of my siblings if my parents were not around. I seldom have the chance to play kiddie games because am always momma’s buddy. I remember when i have time to play outside the house and in awhile i can hear my mom whistling me to come home. Even though the situation was like that — i still had simple fun childhood.