Photohunt: Spooky

[caption id="attachment_4592" align="aligncenter" width="374"] a mausoleum in a Philippine cemetery[/caption]



Photohunting activity is here. Come and visit! :D

Even in broad daylight, this mausoleum is spooky to me.  :(

Eyeing for Sweatshirts as Gifts

Christmas is fast approaching and I am considering sweatshirts for loved ones as gifts.  The loved ones are many and even if they get to read this post, they do not know who among them will receive one.  :D  There will be a group that will probably be excited and another that will pray that they will not receive the sweatshirt, especially that I am looking for cheap sweatshirts.

I wonder if there are pure cotton custom made sweatshirts.  There must be but if I plan to buy cheaper ones, of course, they will be made of cotton poly blends.  They are claimed to be softer and does not wrinkle.

There are online stores now that offers custom made sweatshirts where one is allowed to pick the style, color and design one wants.   I bet the naysayers will change their minds now.  :D

Thursday Two Questions: Halloween

The net was slow so I only get to upload this now. :D :D :D

Halloween is a celebration that is adapted by the Philippines perhaps several years back (I am not really sure).   Every time I am asked about how I celebrate it, I cannot give an answer as I have not really celebrated it except by paying a visit to the graves/tombs before or after  November 1.  November 1 is a holiday for Filipinos and a time to visit their loved ones' graves.

I took time learning about Halloween.   Wikipedia has this to say:

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of its original title "All Hallow's Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows. Most scholars believe that All Hallows' Eve was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

[caption id="attachment_4579" align="aligncenter" width="480"] A visit to the grave[/caption]

Here are my answers to a meme at Self Sagacity with two (2) questions:
1. What are your favorite things about Halloween?

Well, if the celebration here in the Philippines about the dead is considered as a Halloween thing then it is seeing relatives again.  This holiday is like a reunion, too, meeting once again relatives that we have not seen for a long time.  There are also food to share, stories to tell, news to bite or not, et al.

2. What was your first experience at a Halloween Party like? (it could be your kids' or your relative's)

Honestly, I cannot remembering attending one. :D

If you want to play this meme, visit Self Sagacity.



That widget can be placed on your post if you decide to participate (just click on it and copy the link . If you do not have a blog, but a social network, you need to follow the rules, no exemption:

Before you link-up,
1) make sure you read the Thursday Two Questions Details Page,
2) you have Two Questions of your own that you posted, or use the Thursday Two Questions from Self Sagacity
3) visit at least two participants and answer their questions - that is how you will create a bond and friendship. Links are monitored & spam will be removed. Thanks for joining us today. (Just click on this link to visit the others.)

A Day in the Life: Typical Work Day for Me

Inspired by a photographic project called A Day in the Life.  Here is a post I have for this project (although this project is not running recently and I'm crossing my fingers that there will be a next run of the project), taking photo/s each hour of the day.  Now, you'll be able to tell the story about my typical work day.

7:30 AM - first things upon waking up

8:30 AM - prepping

9:30 AM - checking emails & zerox copies

10:30 AM - checking hubs

11:30 AM - looking for food

12:30 PM - tit for tat

1:30 PM - back to preparation

2:30 PM - receiving docs

3:30 PM - meeting with a team; one is absent

4:30 PM - late afternoon break from 4:15 pm

5:30 PM - heavy rains, dim skies

 

6:30 PM - on my way home

7:30 PM - at home about to have supper with hubby

It's only half of the day I have chronicled, I have to sleep now.

Photohunt: Sassy

Participants are photo hunting here!

[caption id="attachment_4548" align="aligncenter" width="540"] anime figure 1[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_4549" align="aligncenter" width="405"] anime figure 2[/caption]

These are two anime figures being sold in a Japanese anime figure shop. Most of these figures have tiny bodies not proportionate with those pairs of boobs. It makes me wonder why.

I know some are even collectors of these anime figures. Should I ask why? :D

Thursday Two Questions

As I was browsing the net about memes, I chanced upon this blog - Self Sagacity - and found this meme named Thursday Two Questions.  The blog owner's questions are:

1) Do you recall having memories of a place, or experience of something that you  actually feel the same?

My answer:

Lots of places and I have to say events that I could recall and actually feel the same. It also gives you that feeling of deja vu.  Anyway, there is this one place that makes me feel the same when I visited it after decades.  It was the university where my children had finished their college.

The University of Philippines made me feel small literally as it is such a very big university.  I first visited it when I applied for the entrance examination.  I felt like a tiny dot on the vastness of a piece of paper.  The same feeling was felt when I have to visit it again when we decided to jog every Sunday.  Good heavens, I wasn't able to go back to that routine again. :(   Anyway, back to that feeling again.  It is queer that I still find the university very large making me feel small.

[caption id="attachment_4535" align="aligncenter" width="480"] UP Oval[/caption]

2) Is there any cause and effect for you if you were to stay up late?

My answer:

There is always a cause for me to stay up late.  As a working mom, 24 hours in a day are not enough.  Coming from work, I cannot just perform at once to do the house chores so I have to take a rest and sometimes it drowns the drive to do the things that need to be done when something comes up in between like when one of the children would invite us to dine out, or when hubby wants to watch a movie with me. :D

It energizes me to stay up late. I know, it sounds weird.  I just need to go to bed late and feel that the day is over and things (though not everything) are completed.



That widget can be placed on your post if you decide to participate (just click on it and copy the link . If you do not have a blog, but a social network, you need to follow the rules, no exemption:

Before you link-up,
1) make sure you read the Thursday Two Questions Details Page,
2) you have Two Questions of your own that you posted, or use the Thursday Two Questions from Self Sagacity
3) visit at least two participants and answer their questions - that is how you will create a bond and friendship. Links are monitored & spam will be removed. Thanks for joining us today.  (Just click on this link to visit the others.)

NOTE:

I have this wrong.  Not exactly wrong as this was a previous meme.  Anyway, just click on Self Sagacity's blog if you choose to see what's new, or answer the questions above.

Disappointed With the Dinuguan & Puto Combination

It was my fault. I let that photo of dinuguan and puto combination fool me. Another photo enticed me and that was the turon split. The dinuguan and puto won. I got disappointed instead.

[caption id="attachment_4522" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Turon split
Photo credits: Tumblr[/caption]

How I regretted the decision. Yesterday I promised myself that I will not eat food other than barbecued chicken, turon split and halo-halo at Mang Inasal's. The dinuguan failed in epic levels against Papsie's dinuguan. :(

Papsie enjoyed his food anyway.

[caption id="attachment_4523" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Barbecued chicken
Photo credits: Tara, Let's Eat![/caption]

Photohunt: Empty

The photo hunt activity is here, and I am late! :D

[caption id="attachment_4505" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Inside a church in Ilocos Norte[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_4506" align="aligncenter" width="600"] near the ocean at Laoag

The surroundings near the ocean are still empty.[/caption]

Now, it's time to take the rounds. :D

Cajon Percussion Instrument

What is that cajon percussion instrument at cajon percussion instrument at musicians friend? The video below explains about this percussion instrument.



Cajon is pronounced ka-hon, interestingly the Filipino word for box.

The video mentioned that this percussion instrument has its roots in Cuba and South America. The sounds this box produces is truly interesting, delightfully good to the ears, and also produces perky sounds that make one wants to dance, or sways to its beat.

I got one video again with the cajon.

Are you game for a "One Word Meme"?

[caption id="attachment_4492" align="aligncenter" width="274"] DOGDOG (One word please.) BUT THAT'S MY NAME. :D[/caption]

For a change, I am participating in this meme. In my early blogging days, this is 'very in'.  :D  Are you game? It's not difficult. Let's see how you answer with only a word!

Thirty Questions

Directions: Create a new blog post. Write an introduction. Copy and paste the meme below into your blog, changing the ANSWERS to your own. Use the title of this meme in your subject line or create your own. Feel free to tag your friends or not. A LINK BACK TO THIS POST would be appreciated.

1. Where is your cell phone?   Bag

2. Describe your boyfriend/girlfriend?  Married!

3. Your hair?  Un-black

4. Your mother?  Dead

5. Your father?  Dead

6. Your favourite item? Laptop

7. Your dream last night?  None

8. Your favourite drink?  Coffee

9. Your dream car? AUV

10. The room you are in? Office

11. Your ex? Forgotten

12. Your fear?  Alzheimer's

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?  Mobile

14. Who did you hang out with last night?  Hubby

15. What you're not?  Traitor

16. The last thing you did?  Talk

17. What are you wearing?  Earring

18. Your favourite book?  Martin's

19. The last thing you ate? Chocolate

20. Your life?  Contentment

21. Your mood?  Light

22. Your friends?  Few

23. What are you thinking about right now?  You

24. Your car?  Nissan

25. What are you doing at the moment?  Blogging

26. Your summer?  Passed

27. What is on your TV?  Away

28. When is the last time you laughed?   Morning

29. Last time you cried?  Weeks

30. School?  Forgotten!

If you're into it, blog your own!  But I wish Atticus, Photocache, Prinsesa Musang, Ruby,  and Sarah will participate.  This is a tag only for the girls for now.  :D

I Wonder What Happened to the Motorcycle Helmet Act

With the increasing number of motorcycles along the roads that cause traffic, delays, and accidents, I wonder what happened to the Motorcycle Helmet Act 2009.  That law requires motorcycle drivers and riders to use protective helmets, and with PS and ICC seals.  These motorists should have taken a look at standard helmets designed for comfort, perfect fit and high quality.  It is beyond me, however, to know if this brand has been introduced already in the Philippines.

Every time we are on the road, we see many motorcycle drivers and riders donned in what looked like substandard helmets.  I wonder if this is being monitored, as to how many of them were already penalized for wearing substandard helmets.  The news is silent about this while accidents are claiming more and more lives.

In that law also, the dealer also will be penalized for not selling standard motorcycle helmets with PS and ICC seals, and those who tamper these marks.  Again, there is no news as to how the implementation had prospered, and if it helped in reducing the motorcycle accidents and deaths.

Mentioned shoei helmet can be considered a prototype for standard helmets.  It is designed specifically to the need of the motorcycle driver or rider.  The costs of these standard helmets might be thrice the price but with quality, safety comes first.

Between Need and Decency

An argument was raised about a situation.  The whole of it I wrote in MyLot with this title "Are you going to eat the hotdog?"

When I heard about the probability that the hotdogs being sold might be stolen, I made a firm stand that I would not be eating the hotdog if it's served to me after I learn it was stolen.   It was like conniving with the thief.

It was not determined if the hotdogs were truly stolen but my husband's argument is that it is not how the hotdog was obtained but that he helped the poor  peddler earn a living.  He added also, for people who are living scarcely enough, where or how the hotdogs were obtained is not what matters.  For these people, what will always prevail is the need to eat than be decent.

I tried to recall if there were times I succumbed more to the need than to do what is right when I was still very young.  I didn't steal food as far I can remember even if food was insufficient those times.  I remember I kept a toy from a playmate because I wanted it for myself very much and never returned it because we have no money to buy something like it.  I can almost feel the mixture of guilt and sad and happy feelings I had doing that bad thing, but this is different from being an adult who should know more about what is right from wrong.  I may sound absolving myself from the bad deed I committed when I was very young but I am set to my belief that adults should know better.

I might be able to understand the urgency in a situation and that being the cause to do wrong or to be indecent.  I can never understand someone who has enough, and even brags about abundance of money, and prefers to buy stolen food because they are cheaper.  It reflects greed more than the need.  :(

 

Plush toys for Christmas?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Plush Toys, Cat and Mouse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

If you are looking for stuffed animal toys, you can find plush animals here.  It is an online store that has a collection of stuffed toys or plushies classified according to animal, occasion, and license.  Aside from the animal plushies, there are also accessories, blankets and pillows, dolls, puppets, etc. one can choose from as gifts.

Christmas time looms, and yes, not with something positive, because you envision bloated expenses, and emptied purse.  Therefore, as early as this month, one really has to plan on what gifts to buy.  Plushies, or stuffed toys, or cuddly toys are always in demand during Christmas because it is always the season intended for the children, aside from being not too expensive.

Choosing what plush animal is best depends on what favorite animal a child thinks of.  That would be difficult to guess, of course, so I'd always choose a cat stuff toy.  For me, they always look cute. :D  What stuffed animal toy or plush animal are you going to choose if you do not know what animal stuff toy a child would want for Christmas?

Related articles

• Anwo.com Animal World Gifts Expects Strong Online Christmas Holiday Season Sales


• Design Your Own Stuffed Creatures


• Alcoholic Fruit Toy - The Plush Vodka Spiked Watermelon is For Adults (TrendHunter.com)

Photohunt: Hand

The photo hunt activity is here.



Here's my niece, Angel. Look at how she posed with her hand. This pretty child always poses with her hands.



Below is another pose with a drawing pen in her hand that came with a drawing pad, and was a gift from me. She looked a bit shy in this picture though.