It's a Good TV Day Among Other Things

I started my Saturday Morning by watching the NBA Playoffs between Phoenix Suns and LA Lakers. LA Lakers won but not with big margin, Steve Nash wasn't playing his usual A game. I was waiting for CNN to air Quest, this week's topic was about making music, Richard Quest interviewed Snoop Dogg weeks before he got (with some of his crew) arrested in Heathrow Airport in London for disrupting peace and mauling two Airport Security Men. I had a blast watching the show it was both entertaining and informative, Richard Quest even graced/disgraced (either way you look at it) the show with a rendition of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"

And because it was a Saturday Studio 23 showed, after a long hiatus, Seventh Heaven in its 9th Season. I miss the Camdens and it touched my heart when snippets of the Camden kids, when the show was starting, were shown. The kids have grown, I felt really connected with the show because I learned a lot from their episodes and I feel that I am part of the Camden kids' growing and learning process.

Then I saw in CNN, Lorraine Hahn's interview with F4. Yes, thats Jerry, Vanness, Ken and Vic. It brought a lot of Meteor Garden memories. How I cried when Dao found Chan Cai when she was evicted from her apartment because Dao's evil mother bought the place where she was staying. The image was so poignant that I remember the color of the shirts the actors wore that time. I'd love to see Meteor Garden once again. And Jerry is so gwapo, I am really fascinated with chiseled, well defined and structured faces.

It was good day of TV viewing for me, nostalgic, informative and entertaining.

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Despite my busy TV schedule, I still had the time to run a few errands for my parents. I went to the grocery to pick up a few things for the store. While in the vicinity I bought Jolibee burgers for the people at home. I was waiting in qeue when I started obeserving other people's behavior at the store and from my observations people can get really crazy when their "hungry" and when they are holding money. For example, the lady before me wouldn't leave the counter because she cannot wait three minutes for her order. The person at the counter asked her quite courteously to wait for her food in the dining area but the lady wouldn't heed the clerk's request. He's obviously in a dilemma because the lady was oblivious of the people behind her, waiting to get their food. The person behind me started saying "ang tagal naman" really loud, as if the world would run out of cheeseburger. Actually I don't mind waiting, it's not a matter of life and death. It's just peculiar that people would act this way just to get what they want and because they have the money you would have to grant their every request. People think that when you have money, you can dictate the world. It's very funny, I wanted to smile at the person in the counter because I can feel that he was really tense about it. And what's the deal with people not wanting to carry their tray? It's just burger and fries and you wanted to be assisted?, it's not like your old or crippled. (I saw this with other customers) Maybe these are the reason why God doesn't want Filipinos to get rich because when they have money they can really act quite incosiderately. And nobody says thank you except those who were paid to say it. It's sad that Filipinos don't know how to treat others with kindness specially people of their own kind. And don't even get me started with the way the DOJ Secretary is handling the Subic Rape case.

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You may have notice the One banner attached to this page. I got that from the One Campaign website. Everytime I see people from Darfur in Sudan it gives me a certain degree of sadness because the people there are so destitute. It would have been at least bearable if they are only dealing with poverty but they are not. Aside from extreme hunger they would still have to fight for their mere survival. The Janjaweed militias rape, steal, kill and inflict atrocities to their own people and mind you the Sudanese Governemnt condone these atrocities. It's really sad that we humans would allow this kind of actions to perpetuate. How can the world let this happen? It's an irony for me that celebrities would spearhead the One campaign when they are in fact one of the contributors of extreme poverty, of course not directly. Rich people hoard and abuse resources even if they don't need them. In turn poor people doesn't get their share of the resources because the rich people has already monopolized them. It's a futile attempt to give or donate money, people shouldn't be receiving donations if in the first place the resources were distributed fairly. Earth's resources should have been enough for every person in the planet but because of man's utter greed, it seem as if the world doesn't have enough resources.

I don't care about the politics of helping, I just wanted to help. No one deserves to suffer like this.

If you want to help, think of this, everytime you reach for an item in a counter or shelf in a grocery, ask your self, do i really need this? if the answer is no, return the item in the shelf, if yes buy it but make sure what you have is just enough. At least we can eradicate greed one person at a time, the root of poverty.

Think of these people when you start complaining about waiting in line to get your cheeseburger, some people have to wait in line just to have a chance in life.

Pray that the killing and mindless death stops in Darfur, Sudan and the rest of the African nations.

Maria Francia Posted At 12:57:00 AM

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What is Your True Color?

 

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection.

Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper you demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

Your true color is Black!


What's Your True Color?

Brought to you by Tickle

Maria Francia Posted At 6:58:00 PM

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Mindless Drifts of the Unemployed

Look at what boredom and unemployment can do to you, it can overhaul your entire blog for 5 hours. I like this template much better because it has a very organized and functional sidebar plus i'm back to dark background which I think suits my personality. This "overhauling" came as a whim, I was envious of other people's blog so I decided to give mine a makeover and because I'm out of my wits trying to figure what to do, I decided to embark on the project, and voila it turned out pretty okay, I find this a tad more reader friendly and organized (of course a must for me!)

I also made this blog more interactive by adding a comments page, of course not provided in other versions of the steelplant (i sound like i'm trying to sell something) because I thought the tag board would suffice but this time you can make comments on a particular subject or topic discussed in my article, cool isn't it? So before leaving, make sure to comment on my article, let's maximize the pages generously provided by HaloScan. Honestly, I cannot remember how many times I have changed my template, there are so many versions of this that I have lost track, I hope I can keep this for a long time. Starting something new always gives me the jolt, I can't stop writing and tinkering on the codes of this blog. The "About Me" pages is still in the works, be sure to watch out.

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I'm on the verge of being insane, I have been thinking why HSBC hasn't called me yet for my job offer, they must give a pretty good explanation why it has taken them this long to call me up, well their just delayed by three days (by my count), but I'm going crazy thinking of possible explanation as to why they haven't called yet and the bad part is that I can't do anything about it, I just have to WAIT, I can't leave the house from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (office hours) because they might call anytime. I can't even go to the bathroom long enough for me to do my thing since the phone might ring. I can't use the Internet since I might jam the phone line preventing them to reach me. I really want to join HSBC. They outlined great career plans and potential career movement that's why I choose to be with them rather than work in Malacañang (that warrants another entry). I feel there is gowth and development with them.

Patience is indeed, a virtue.

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And to avoid possible scenarios of virtual insanity, I took up painting again but to my surprise I didn't have any brush I had to use my fingers so I can commence my artistic and crative endeavors. Eventually I had to throw those "creations" because they were not good and because they were made out of sheer bordeom not because of creative juices. Then I read Dapitan, I find Saguid's literary work truly entertaining and thought provoking, although I don't agree with some of his articles, it gives me something to think about. I'm really blessed to have existed in the era where Angelo Suarez, Joseph Saguid and their legions graced to halls of AB, that is truly something that I will miss.

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Quick Question: Why are the housemates in PBB Teen all good looking? Is this another dubious plan of the media giant to propel someone to stardom? Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just find it tacky and abusive given the fact that these kids have sensitive and vulnerable situations notwithstanding that they are barely out of their childhood. I hope they handle this well, that the kids do not suffer from trauma from living with strangers and being watched by th entire archipelago 24/7.

I think they have already achieved their purpose since every blog that I visited has something to say about PBB Teen.

And since they are already using the word "dude", I'm dropping it from my vocabulary.

Maria Francia Posted At 12:31:00 AM

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In The Spirit of Lent

Among Filipinos the Lent is a very significant Catholic event but these days the meaning of Lent is lost amid the vacation, beaches, holiday pay call center agents are going to get and the controversies surrounding Christianity.


One particular controversy and the latest at that is the Gospel of Judas. On April 9, 2006 the National Geographic Channel premiered its presentation on the much taled about texts. Prior to its unveiling I have read and heard about this Gospel, one says that it will shake the very foundation of Chistianity and other saying otherwise. As a matter of fact, it doesn't really propose anything new but rather it presents another perspective, that of Judas. Although not written by Judas himself, it was written by Gnostics, it offers another explanation why Judas "betrayed" Jesus, it's not an apology nor an excuse given by believers of Judas but the reason why Judas did it. Rather than demonized and vilify Judas, it's as if we should hail Judas because he played an essential role in the whole story of salvation, if it weren't for Judas' "betrayal" we wouldn't have been saved. The most startling thing about this revelation is that Judas seem to have an idea of what he's supposed to do and this is well within the grand plan of salvation and that he has the strength to actually carry out this plan compared to the other disciples because he has that great spirituality that can perform the task.


We are no expert on this things but I would like to present a more personal view.

The important question now is, so what? Personally, it doesn't have any effect on my faith because there were no surprises there. I would still believe in a Higher Being even if they come up with the a Gospel of Whomever. The thing about faith is that it's something personal that I don't think any text can change that. The Church is being defensive with these controversies because they think that these text are the foundation of people's faith, it's not. It's the unique spiritual relationship that they offer with it's believers that keeps them in the flock. Sometimes I feel that the Church has actually lost it's focus when it comes to the believers' spirituality. I think the real essence of religion in Catholic Church is lost in all its pomp and pageantry, just look at the Election of Pope. There is no bigger cult than the Catholic Church. That's why it's no surprise that the Catholic Church is losing its usual constituents because the Church is no longer as personal as it used to be, it's no longer the sanctuary people wants it to be, it doens't offer the salvation people are looking for. The believers are not looking for a weekly tradition, they are looking for intimate and a deeply personal relationship with a Higher Being


Do I plan to change religion after everything? No, because I believe in the Catholic Church and it still touch me and way I wanted to be spiritually touched, plus all the cult-Ness and pomp and pageantry appeals to me.


Does it still appeal to you?

Maria Francia Posted At 1:28:00 AM

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