Christmas List (My first Christmas post!)

Tagged by Ceemee

This didn't really come with instructions. My liberal interpretation of this meme is that I try to put up my Christmas wish list and you try to make it come true. Ready? Go!

Material stuff:
1. Books always work for me... I still haven't read Books 9, 10 and 11 of Wheel of Time Series... I've always meant to read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, Blink (see update below) and his new one The Outliers.

2. Practical stuff works too... I don't like buying clothes, so if your fashionable and think you can rub some of your fashion sense on me, feel free to try.

3. I've been meaning to get a foldable bike.

"Big" stuff:
1. Gift of your time and your ears. I'd like to share someone really important to you. He's someone who gives me hope and assurance and I I'd like you to meet Him too. It's the perfect season too, after all it's His birthday.

2. If you want to give me a gift that's really a gift for you, just go ahead and sponsor a kid at World Vision. (If you're interested and want to ask questions, feel free to contact me.)

3. Discipline and drive. Honestly, if you have a suggestion as to how I'll manage to get these 2 things, I'll appreciate it.

Others:

1. Hmm... something really helpful like inside information. If you have any tips to give me, say Oscar dela Hoya is throwing the match, maybe a certain stock will hit the roof, or whatever... that would be most welcome.

2. Hard cash!

3. If you still can't choose from those listed above, easy choices include a new phone, a laptop (or a mini notebook hehe), a car, Wii, a job that pays 7 digits/annum (ok, so this one is pretty serious--if you want to pirate me, please, I'm willing.)

Super wishes:
1. Ability to fly (if you can grant this, forget the car but I still want the bike).

2. Ability to read minds (not hear them like in What Women Wants mind you--that would be maddening).

3. Charm... oh wait, I already have that, except I'm somehow only able to charm the young ones and the young once... can't figure out the ones in the middle.

Oh, and if your planning to get me something that's not on this list, just go ahead and surprise me. (WARNING: Pens, towels and mugs are not considered surprises.)


Hmm... let me see, let's see if we can tag these people out of their lethargy: Cams, Miss Elle, Kaycee, Runawat Cat, and Rian. To you 5, if you want to avoid receiving mugs and pens this Christmas, do this meme. Let that serve as my warning to you.



NB If you don't know me and came across this list and somehow think, "My, how cheeky! Maybe I should grant a wish or 2 (or 3)..." You're more then welcome to do so.


UPDATE: I managed to acquire a copy of blink in a bazaar I attended last Saturday for only P150... it's a little below half the price because it's pre-owned, but it's in very good condition! Yay! To anyone who's considering giving me a book as a gift? It doesn't even have to be new! I'm of the philosophy that it's the content of the book that matters, not the cover. Oh, and I'd been wishing I could get a hold of a copy of Freakonomics too hehe... That's all folks! (12.01.08)

Happy Birthday JC!

What can I say? It's that time of the year again. So I'm starting a tag and maybe if we do it enough we might just convince him it's true.

The rules are simple

1. post an entry with the title "Happy Birthday JC"
   
2. Link to http://chickenmafia.com
3. And in the text body whatever greeting you might have in mind

Now if you do it within his birthday (and he ends up believing this meme is true) then he'll invite you to an ultra-secret, mafia-only, killed-if-you-squeal (or sing in a "squealy" sound) gathering where you'll get a taste of delicious and inexpensive food.

Easy enough to do right? Then go!

Meme: Quatro por Sais

Tagged by: Piapot and Aline

4 Simple rules:

1. Copy
2. Paste
   
3. Enter your answers
   
4. Tag 4 people
   

1. Four places I go to, over and over:

• Home - can't help it though that would change soon since we're moving.
  
• The Philippine Heart Center for Asia - yep, that's it's full name
  
• UECP - a place of worship and friendship (like cellgroups and Toastmasters--want to visit us?)
  
• Citismash - for my weekly badminton fix, incidentally we've resumed doing it weekdays, Tuesdays 8 to 10pm (leave me a message if you want to come and play)

We're back!

2. Four people who email me regularly:
Nobody emails me regularly, so I'll list down the most common sources of my email instead

• PPTA (Philippine Physical Therapy Association) Yahoogroup
• UECP Cellgroup Network
• Comments from here
• Friendster updates
  

3. Four of my favorite places to eat at:

• Panciteria Lido
  
• Mang Inasal
  
• Tempura (not Teriyaki Boy mind you)
  
• Lau Chan (shabu-shabu... used to be Lotus, but they've been gone a long time)
  

4. Four places i’d rather be:

• Beijing for the Olympics
  
• Michigan taking my NPTE
• Singapore or Hongkong for a year
  
• New Zealand (just because of Lord of the Rings)
  

5. Four TV shows I could watch over and over:

• The Simpsons
  
• 24 (Not over and over, but it's definitely my favorite)
• Chuck
  
• Seinfeld
  

6. Four people I think will respond: (thought they don't really need to)

• Cym
• Jo
• Rian
• and whoever else wants to respond may feel free to do so
  

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

While I'm not as well traveled as most people I've met in the blogosphere. I'd like to think of myself as an outdoorsman. I'm a scout and I've been camping since I was 8. In fact I was part of the Philippine contingent to the 1st ASEAN Jamboree last 1993 which was hosted by our country.

Last year alone, I was able to go to 2 church camps, UECP YWC Joint Camp in Pililia, Rizal, and the AZCOP Young Professional's Camp at Clark, Pampanga. On top of that, our family took 2 trips, to Davao June and then to Baguio October. And when Chin and Chloe came over, last November, we were able to bring them to Subic among other places.

This year has one of the most number of long weekends in no small part due to the law that moves holiday to the closest Monday. You would think that I will get to go out more this year, but it turns out no. Sure I went to Laguna a couple of times already, 3rd YWC Joint Camp at Butterfly Farm, and then to Pagsanjan with my friends, but that's about it.

These are the places in the Philippines where I've been to. Those areas with a darker shades of blue are those places that I've frequented (or have actually live at).

How about you? How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

My less than admirable Lakbayan grade: (special thanks to Tiohem for sharing this one).

(Created by Eugene Villar.)

Right now I'm face with what is to be one of the longest non-Christmas break I've had with nowhere to go but home. This 4 day weekend consist of the usual Saturday and Sunday of course, and then tomorrow we celebrate Ninoy Aquino Day (which should actually be Aug 21, JC's Birthday by the way) and then on Tuesday, Quezon City Day, the city were my work is at. Still I welcome the break.

Maybe I'll just hop on over to other blogs and live vicariously through them hehe... Here's an update on the dating meme. I'm happy to announce that they rose up to the occasion. So why don't you hop on over to their sites and check out:

• Cams' response along with her photohunt entry.
• Aline's juicy entry with her mouthwatering seafood find.
  
• Little Light hides her light in one of the more famous of mathematical operations.
  
• Prinsesa Musang kiss and tells (and also tries her hand on a rather difficult meme).
  
• Neuroticsister: busted and escaped--only to be lost in Mars.
  

Enjoy the weekend everybody! :)

Dating 101: A rather uninteresting meme

Yeah yeah, it's another meme. If you don't know how I feel about memes, read this. However since I was tagged by Miss Elle who's a kick-ass blogger, so I really can't help doing it (or risk a kick in the ass). So let's just get it over with, shall we?

1. When was your first kiss and where?
Hmm... I'll take the bait and answer this honestly. I was 8 years old and this happened at my tutor's house. One of my co-tutee stole a kiss on my cheeks. Apparently, she found me cute, even had a cheek pinch before the kiss. She's a year older if I'm not mistaken, and I actually had a crush on her then. I chanced upon her a few years ago and she remained cute... too bad she doesn't remember me.

2. When was your first real relationship and how long did it last?
Never had one. Yeah yeah, I'm such a loser. I probably should go and buy this cap.

3. What age were you allowed to date?
Err... funny this should be asked. I was never disallowed, of course I never did ask permission so I wouldn't know if I wasn't allowed to date then. Highly unlikely though so long as I don't ask for date money.

4. What's the craziest thing you did (for love) when you were a teenager?
That right there might be my biggest problem--I was never crazy enough to fall in love.

5. How long is your longest relationship and what's the secret?
Refer to no. 2.

6. How long did you date before you decided to settle down?
Permit me to change "did" with "will" and you got a question. A question I unfortunately have no answer for.

7. How long did you know he was the ONE?
I hope to God I never ever end up thinking of a he, any he for that matter, as the one.

8. Now, at what age will you allow your kid(s) to date? (if and only if I end up having kids)
For my boys, when they can show me that they're responsible enough to pay for their dates.
For my girls, when they can show me that they've met someone responsible enough to meet me in person and ask permission.
This question of course assumes that they actually ask permission which doesn't happen anymore these days now does it?

9. When it comes to your kids dating, will you be a cool parent or a strict parent?
I'd like to think I'd be a cool dad, but I'm liable to be strict. We'll see.

10. What piece of advice can you give to your child when they start dating?
Ask your mom.

Seeing as I rather dislike memes, I'm not going to impose this one on anyone else. I'm tagging the following person but only if they so choose to do the meme, feel free to decline via the comment section. So Cams, Aline, Little Light, Prinsesa Musang and her Neuroticsister, consider yourselves tagged albeit rather loosely.

If you've read this far, permit me to thank you for wasting your time with me.

An Update on the meme I did (dated 6/21/08)

Reminder to self: Don't do any more tags for JC. (Unless I've nothing better to post.)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Commencing my trek to becoming a Physical Therapist in the hallowed walls of UST. A journey I took blindfolded and did now know took 5 years.

*Am I glad I still get to say I was still studying 10 years ago. This aging business sure didn't turn out as fun as I thought it would 10 years ago.

2. Five things on my to-do list today:
It's a Saturday so I plan to

• blog
• do my laundry

*had both done before I even went to bed at 6am

• attend a post-grad update

*as a consequence, I didn't get up in time for this one

• hangout with friends

*nor this one

• find time to review for the NPTE

*pretended to do this for 30mins. while waiting for my dinner to be cooked

In that order. Now you know why it's taking me this long to take the exam.

*I was able to hang out with a sick friend and visit my gramps, so it wasn't a wasted weekend

3. Snacks I enjoy:
I snack quite a lot, and thus have to find a relatively healthy one that's filling and tastes good.

Yep! It has fiber too! Try it! :)

4. Places where I've lived:
Let me see... Middle Earth, Narnia, Terminus, Bayport, Hogwarts, the Old Republic, and of course, Springfield. Ok, so I'm a geek like that, sue me.

5. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire:
I'd set up foundations to help educate kids, assist field missionaries, lend start-up capital to gutsy and brilliant business endeavors and fund scientific researches for more efficient energy alternatives, economically relevant inventions or evidence-based studies on alternative medicines/ treatment approaches.

I figured a billion wouldn't be enough for all those, but we all got to start somewhere.

6. People I want to know more about:
Aline, Cam, Dianne, KM, and Vanny. (Yes, that means you've just been tagged )

*My heart-felt appreciation to Aline, Cam, Dianne and KM. Thanks for taking time to do this. (Yeah yeah, I'm such a drama king. )

Meme: Now that I know what it is, I have developed a dislike for it

Disclaimer: I'm only doing this because I was tagged by the "godfeather" of the Chicken Crime Family. For the record, I think this is a lousy meme. (Huh? What is a meme?!)It's not very interesting, and not worth the time to read it. It's a good thing it's rather simple to do. Feel free to just gloss over it and comment out of topic if you want.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Commencing my trek to becoming a Physical Therapist in the hallowed walls of UST. A journey I took blindfolded and did now know took 5 years.

2. Five things on my to-do list today:
It's a Saturday so I plan to

• blog
• do my laundry
• attend a post-grad update
• hangout with friends
• find time to review for the NPTE

In that order. Now you know why it's taking me this long to take the exam.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
I snack quite a lot, and thus have to find a relatively healthy one that's filling and tastes good.

Yep! It has fiber too! Try it! :)

4. Places where I've lived:
Let me see... Middle Earth, Narnia, Terminus, Bayport, Hogwarts, the Old Republic, and of course, Springfield. Ok, so I'm a geek like that, sue me.

5. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire:
I'd set up foundations to help educate kids, assist field missionaries, lend start-up capital to gutsy and brilliant business endeavors and fund scientific researches for more efficient energy alternatives, economically relevant inventions or evidence-based studies on alternative medicines/ treatment approaches.

I figured a billion wouldn't be enough for all those, but we all got to start somewhere.

6. People I want to know more about:
Aline, Cam, Dianne, KM, and Vanny. (Yes, that means you've just been tagged )

Photohunt: Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there!

Here's my mom, and she's my date last September 5, 2003 at the Manila Hotel. The day I took my oath as a licensed Physical Therapist.



We don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things, but she's always supported me. Yes, sometimes grudgingly, much like Marlin having difficulty seeing Nemo let go of his training wheels. But moms will be moms right?

I remember on the way home, I got a pretty scolding for wearing the lousy shirt I'm wearing. A cotton shirt will never look formal, it will crumple when you move. See mom? I remember what you tell me.

Things like this happen all the time because she loves me, I know that. And I? I definitely love her. I sure wish I say it enough, I don't and now it's sort of awkward to say so without an occasion. (Thank God for Mother's Day right?) I know this is cheesy, and I'm not likely to ever show this to my mom, but it doesn't matter. If I'm to start a blog, I might as well start it right and say the things that really matter to me.


Now I wasn't exactly tagged by Dianne, I sort of saw her post and tagged myself. I think it's a worthy cause and since there is no specific theme for this week I thought I'd go ahead and hit 2 birds in 1 stone. :)

1st Bird: PhotoHunt. Just found out about this last night after coming across Aloha Penny's entry and I got intrigued. Now I'm not much of photographer, but it's really quite simple. A theme is given for each Saturday. I just need to post a photo that best represents the theme and voila!

2nd Bird: A Mother's Day meme. Rules are simple: (1) Post a photo of you and your mom together and include “I heart my mom” somewhere. (2) Tag your friends! I'm only tagging a few people: runaway cat, tiffy, cams, maybe arbet, and carney. If you feel like doing this, just go ahead and do what I did, tag yourself!

Here's another one for the road!


Yep, that's the chocolates I'm giving her. (courtesy of my friend Pia--I'm sure you don't object right?)

PhotoHunt