How To Have A Bad Day

» Wake up late, in a panic

» Rush to get ready

» Dress hurriedly
 

» Don't eat breakfast

» Drink lots and lots of coffee

» Cancel gym schedule

» Spend the day without a plan

» Focus on your failures

» Never smile

» Be selfish and unfriendly

» Criticize, blame, and complain

» Think negative thoughts

» Dictate, direct, command

» Always think about salary increase

» Don't forget to nag

» Don't overlook mistakes

» Grumble

» No time for lunch

» Harbor resentment

» Keep rushing

» Don't communicate

» Keep it all to yourself

» Worry about tomorrow

» Be rigid and cranky

» Post negative/hate status on YM, Twitter or Facebook

» Retire with bad thoughts and a full stomach

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Inspirational Story » The Bamboo and the Fern, Reflections on Toxic Mondays

One day I decided to quit…I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality…. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to reflect and have one last talk with Mother Nature.

“Mother Nature”, I said. “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”

Her answer surprised me.

“Look around”, she said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes”, I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

“In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. The same in year four."

“Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth."

"Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall."

It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. The Creator would not give any of its creations a challenge it could not handle.

“Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? The Creator would not quit on the bamboo.. He will never quit on you."

“Don’t compare yourself to others,” she said. “The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.

“Your time will come”, she said to me. “You will rise high”

“How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” she asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned

“Yes.” she said, “Give yourself a purpose by rising as high as you can.”

I left the forest, realizing that the Creator will never give up on me. And He will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.

Good days give you happiness; toxic Mondays and bad days give you experiences; BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL TO LIFE.

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The Guy Who Turns A Red Paperclip Into A House

Who could have thought that a single red paperclip could become the beginning of a great big adventure? During my bloghopping, I came across this blog by Kyle MacDonald called One Red Paperclip. Maybe you already know about him but I think his inspiring take-action-have-fun story is worth repeating.

This Canadian guy Kyle Macdonald was meant to be looking for a job. He was at that point in his life where he wanted his own house. But how could he get a house if he didn’t even have a job?

Thinking back his childhood he remembered the game he loved to play – Bigger and Better, which is a way of trading old stuff to get bigger and better new stuff. And then he saw it. One red paperclip, sitting on his desk, holding the pages of his CV together.

He then bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year.

His Trading Adventure

Kyle made his first trade, a red paper clip for a fish-shaped pen, on July 14, 2005. He reached his goal of trading up to a house with the fourteenth transaction, trading a movie role for a house. This is the list of all transactions MacDonald made:

On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.

 

He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington, which he nicknamed "Knob-T".

On July 25, 2005, he traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade the Knob-T for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).

 

On September 24, 2005, he went to San Clemente, California, and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator.

On November 16, 2005, he made a second (and successful) attempt (after having the generator confiscated by the New York City Fire Department) in Maspeth, Queens, to trade the generator for an "instant party": an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the holder's choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.

On December 8, 2005, he traded the "instant party" to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for a Ski-doo snowmobile.

Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, in February 2006.

 

On or about January 7, 2006, the second person on the trip to Yahk traded Kyle a cube van for the privilege.

 

On or about February 22, 2006, he traded the cube van for a recording contract with Metal Works in Toronto.

 

 On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the recording contract to Jody Gnant for a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona.

On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the one year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona, for one afternoon with Alice Cooper.

 

On or about May 26, 2006, he traded the one afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.

 

On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the KISS motorized snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.

On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan

"I knew it was possible," he said on the BBC's Today programme. "You can do anything if you put your mind to it."

Source: One Red Paperclip Blog

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Bohol Tour » Minor Destinations and Stopovers

To continue the series of posts about our Bohol tour a few weeks ago, I want to share some minor activities and quick stopovers we had. These activities and destinations, such as the tarsier and python/ostrich viewing, quick stop to the man-made forest and the hanging bridges are part of the usual tour package. If you are planning a Bohol tour, I suggest you skip some of these activities and spend the extra time to other worth-seeing and more exciting adventures.

The sad life of the suicidal Tarsier

I thought we were going to a forest or some enclosed thick bushes to see the famous cuddly-looking tarsiers with soft, grayish-fur – or perhaps it’s like a quick hunt in an enclosed forest. But no - we just made a detour in a residential place beside the highway, which is more like a souvenir shop with tarsiers and some flying lemurs in a big stinky cage.

I don’t know but I think there’s something wrong with the display of the tarsiers with tourist interaction on that cages – there’s a touch of cruelty to animals there. Some noisy foreign tourist still have their camera flash on while taking pictures and others are touching it despite the person-in-charge’s “no-flash, no touch” warnings.

Three Interesting Tarsier Facts:

1. They commit suicide during captivity due to trauma from touching and loud noise. (Is that so? Then why are these tarsiers in cages are not yet dead? – maybe they are in group therapy or in some kind of a self-help-pro-life session. ha ha)
 2. They are nocturnal animals and should not be disturbed at day time (Ah, ok. That’s why they are just clinging on those branches and not moving – because they are supposed to be sleeping. I will understand if they hate humans that much. Maybe they are praying that those who are taking pictures with flashes will be re-incarnated as a tarsier in cages too.)
3. They can rotate its head nearly 360 degrees – (Yay! reminds me of the movie “The Exorcist”)

-Source: Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc.

Eerie Man-Made Forest

Even if it is still noontime, the area has this late-dawn effect due to the towering mahogany trees growing straight up, obscuring the sky by its branches and thick leaves. 

Our initial plan was to do a short horror-comedy video clip on this eerie forest. Myself, in a hood as the killer-with-a-knife chasing the girls. But our camera ran out of battery charge (damn!) and we don’t’ have enough time. Sayang masaya sana yun. What we did is just a few not-so-perfect jump shots.

Hanging-out at the Hanging Bridge 

This hanging bamboo bridge is located across the upper part of the Loboc River. This bridge hangs approximately 20 meters above the Loboc River and slightly sways back and forth as you walk across. Other than the two bridges, there’s nothing there except for a souvenir shop.

Anyway, you can a have a refreshing drink of fresh buko for only 20 pesos there. It’s a good quick stopover to have refreshing break on a long road trip.  

The bored Python, crazy Ostriches and other animals

We have some pictures of the python and the animals in cages but I think they are not worth sharing because I’m sure you’ve already seen one - plus what’s so exciting about animals in cages. I’d rather watch Animal Planet or National Geographic.

However, you can still include this in the tour if you’re a fan of viewing lazy python, snakes, ostriches, owls and other animals in cages.

What I suggest is the zip-line or the butterfly farm instead. Zip-line adventure is definitely more fun than looking at these bored animals. 

Ok that’s all for our minor bohol tour stopovers. I should have included Bohol Bee Farm, Hinagdanan Cave and Bayoyoy the Dwarfman but I think these parts deserve a separate post.

More of Bohol on my next posts!
 
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SMS Advisory » Multiply service will no longer be available starting October 12, 2010

I received a text message (SMS) Free Advisory from 2295 at around 5:32 pm today informing me that Multiply service will no longer be available starting tomorrow, October 12, 2010. The message is official looking, I guess sent by Smart Communications

Here's the actual SMS message:

FREE ADVISORY: We would like to inform you that the Multiply service will no longer be available starting tomorrow, October 12, 2010. Thank you. 

I immediately check out my multiply.com site for the official announcement but I didn't see any. I googled the announcement but there's no related results. I'm worried because almost all of my personal pictures and videos are stored there. I totally abandoned my Friendster account (for the same reason as yours - all my friends are in Facebook now), but I'm still using Multiply for it's friendly media sharing plus the marketplace feature is quite useful.

Most of the time, these SMS notifications are annoying and misleading. I already requested to turn it off, but still, they keep on sending junk notifications.   

Accordingly, I called Smart customer service (waited 10 minutes - it sucks). I mentioned my concern, to verify if the advisory is official, the customer service guy told me to wait while he is verifying the information. I waited for another  damn 5 minutes, then he just hang-up. Yes, the line just went dead, nothing  - maybe  that's how they are treating pre-paid subscribers.

Anyway I tried calling again, after 20 long minutes I got an answer. The CS Rep said it is not from SMART. She said the advisory was from a third party provider and asked me if I have any push or pull subscription. A push-pull what? 

The bored CS rep. then rephrase her question: "Do you have any SMS alert subscription from other company or online applications?"

I said there was none, then she asked me if I would like to turn off my notifications. I said I've already done that three times, but I'm still receiving alerts - Thank you. I said my courtesy thanks-for-the-help then hang up.    

   

Just want to share this just in case you also received the same advisory. I hope Multiply is not really closing. Maybe I'll just have to check my Multiply account tomorrow. 

I guess it's just another glitch from Smart Communications' not-so-smart system. Their 888-1111 customer service is definitely a time-waster. 

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Inspirational Story » The Cracked Pot

Today is a perfect-10 Sunday. October 10, 2010 or 10/10/10. It was so rare to have a date like this. Some people believe it's a lucky day, but for me it's the best day to re-think of coming back on track - I seem to be losing track of my goals these past few months. However, I realized that goals are good, but not reaching them isn't the end of world. Hence, I just need to learn to be happy without being perfect. 

Speaking of being perfect, when I noticed the perfect 10/10/10 date, I immediately grab my Jurassic laptop to write about some inspirational rants about the problems of being perfect or something related to narcissism but I seem to run out of ideas. I googled some stuff and came across this story about the cracked pot. I noticed that I haven't added any inspirational story in my collection so instead of writing some narcissistic article, I guess sharing this story will get the message I want to share today. 

The Cracked Pot Story

A water bearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house.  The cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. 

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

Why?" asked the bearer.

"What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.

But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side?

That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house." 

Yodz' Notes: 

We all have our own unique flaws - Great! That makes us all a cracked pots. But as the above story said, it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. Imagine if all your friends are perfect - that would be terribly boring. We have just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

Hoping everything will be perfect is an insane way to live. There is nothing perfect in this world, and continually trying to attain perfection leads to so many problems. I never quite feel that everything is OK, and I think that stems from my unreal perception of how the world should be

There is a lot of good out there, there is a lot of good in us! We just have to remember to appreciate all the different people in our life.

So, to all the CRACKED POTS in my life - THANK YOU. You have made my life more interesting and exciting. You all know who you are.

Hope you all have a perfect Sunday, cracked pots!

Share this story on facebook, click the "Like"button. Salamat po!

Bohol Tour » The Nostalgia and Elegance of Bohol’s Famous Old Churches

Aside from its amazing natural beauty, Bohol is also home to a numerous historical stone churches, ancient watchtowers and Spanish era convents with great frescoes. Bohol’s vibrant tourist industry brought us, together with other travelers, on quick walking trips to these sites, which is somehow, is their way of telling us some snippets of their old history. We visited four churches in Bohol – Baclayon, Dauis, Loboc and Panglao Church. The impression these churches gave me is that visiting these sites was done for bland relaxation, picture taking and art appreciation.

However, my experience of doing this Visita Iglesia, which was supposed to give me lectures of the old life, always gave me this nagging desire to search for origin, purity and silence, amidst the apparent aimlessness and whimsy of modernity. Yet, these thoughts had taken a rather peculiar turn; it seemed to me that these churches was still there, not because of hosts of other reasons, but largely to thank God for not destroying the world at the turn of the century. Yes I know, that is the profane attitude of the modern religious elite, which I am not.

Baclayon Church: The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception 

The sun was at its noon peak when we reached the Baclayon Church. The church’s open area on the left side, used as parking space for visitors was almost full- a blasphemous presence of modern things against the century old structure. I learned that Baclayon is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines - from the looks of it, I will not challenge that. The structure looks like the wall of Intramuros in Manila. Inside the church are colorful frescoes and some centuries-old relics and artifacts, which are all religious in nature.

According to Regalado Trota José, a well known art historian and author of the book "Visita Iglesia Bohol", some 200 native forced laborers constructed the church from coral stones, which they took from the sea, cut into square blocks, and piled on to each other. They used bamboo to move and lift the stones in position, and used the white of a million eggs and lime as to cement them together.

Our driver/tour guide told us that there is some mysterious phenomena happening here in the church. He showed us the supposed replica of the face of Saint Pio, the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church, appearing in one of the pillars at the side of this centuries-old church. He said this is what continuously amazes the visitors here, so we immediately took our pictures with the supposed image as our backdrop. Well, for a non-devotee, this is nothing more than a natural anomaly.

We thought the church was closed, and we can only looked at it outside but there is an entrance via the sacristy. The church has strict policy on proper attire inside the church. According to the reminder posted on the entrance, “The sacredness on the Eucharistic celebration urges all participants to dress, manifest the importance of what they are doing.”

Don’t fret if you are on you usual tourist outfit. You can still enter the church because they will give you a large bandana to cover your voluptuous cleavage and legs – (so as not to distract the boys in their meditation.)

Church of Dauis: The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption
Located in the town of Dauis, three kilometers from Tagbilaran City, Dauis Church is truly one of Bohol's beautiful churches. Despite a semi-modern façade it has retained its Spanish architecture, with Romanesque and Byzantine influence. The interior has life-like murals painted on the ceiling. Beautiful frescoes painted in 1916 by a painter named Ray Francia decorate the entire ceiling of the church.

A local guide directed us to the enclosed well, called the Mama Mary's Well, at the foot of the main altar. She said the well is known for its healing power. According to the local history, this well originated from the Spanish era. Pirates often attacked Christian settlements and it was during one such attack that the people took refuge behind locked doors of the church. Besieged by the enemy for days, the people run out of food and water. The well miraculously sprang up and since then has become the source of drinking water for the populace nearby, especially during droughts. The water tastes truly fresh, despite the well’s closeness to the seashore.

Water from the well is available in bottles for free but you can give cash donation if you want. Your religious Mom or your Lola will love it as your take home gift (pasalubong). Just don’t forget to tell them that it is a special miraculous water. 

Loboc Church: The Church of San Pedro

We came across this church on our way to Loboc River for our Buffet Lunch Cruise. Actually the church is picturesquely located by the banks of the Loboc River. But due to our limited schedule, we haven’t had the time to explore the church and its adjacent museum.

According to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Loboc  church was built in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Jesuits, with enlargements in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Augustinian Recollects, and painting added in the early 20th century. The 17th century Jesuit church was later converted into apart of the three-level convento while the present church dates from the 18th century, with 19th century additions such as the belltower, the porticoes, and the funeral chapel. The convento is the only one in the country with three levels.

San Agustin Church and the Panglao Watchtower

The church of St. Augustine is 18 kilometers from Tagbilaran City, lying on the southwestern side of Panglao Island. The massive stone church is nestled on a plain, its back to the seashore and its right side facing a big, wide plaza which is the venue of the town’s many religious and social activities. We didn’t have the chance to go inside the church because of an ongoing funeral service.

Instead, we just checked out the nearby Panglao Watch Tower, which is a 5-storey bell tower built of cut stone in 1851. Octagon in shape and covered by a pitched roof, it is said to be the tallest of its kind in the Philippines. Well I don’t know how many are there in the Philippiines – maybe two? Ha ha.

They said from this tower, you can see the islands of Siquijor, Cebu, and Negros, and, with clear weather, Mindanao and Camiguin. Also the tiny islands close to Panglao, such as Balicasag Island, can be seen from this tower. However, the tower is in ruin now and is in dire need of repair. Based on its current state, I guess they are just waiting for its total collapse, for them to consider repairs.

There are other elegant churches in Bohol but you need extra day to visit all of it. If you are planning to visit Bohol, include a quick stop on these sites aside from the Chocolate Hills – you won’t regret it. 

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