They say Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. Well, not for me. Last Friday the 13th (April 13, 2012), I was hired for a new job I applied for. I ventured in an industry that is different from the previous job I had for almost the past decade of my life, but almost quite the same. From a college instructor to being a customer care specialist in a call center. I entered the industry not just because it is a high paying job but also because the company I was hired in has been in existence for more than a century.
Anyway, enough of that. After all, this is about Friday the 13th. Some believe that the number 13 is an unlucky number because it is irregular. There is also this urban myth that if 13 people dine at the same table at once, one of them will die. Friday, on the other hand, became “unlucky” because it was the day Jesus Christ was crucified.
Some people even believe in the urban myth that cutting hair and nails on a Friday will bring misfortune. I wish I have written this article earlier so I learned of that and I wouldn’t have cut my nails. lol
It started with an IDEA. An idea that became a SYMBOL. A symbol that became a MOVEMENT. A movement that unites people to protect our PLANET. 135 countries and territories. 5251 cities and towns. Reaching 1.8 BILLION PEOPLE. Together, every one of us can go BEYOND THE HOUR. Everyone has the power to CHANGE THE WORLD we live in.
At 8:30pm this Saturday, March 31st, together with the billions of concerned people on the planet, we will turn off the lights (and uplug other electronic devices) for one hour. This will be in observance of this year’s Earth Hour. 60 minutes that can help make a difference. 60 minutes that unite people around the globe for a cause, regardless of color or race.
Visit the official Earth Hour website for more info or use the Twitter hashtag #EarthHour to join the conversation.
A contractor, together with the Philippine Reclamation Authority, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Environmental Management Bureau and the City Government of Las Piñas are proposing to reclaim the Bacoor-Las Piñas-Parañaque coastline of the Manila Bay through the Parañaque and Las Piñas Coastal Bay Project. It raised a lot of eyebrows including some birdwatchers and former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar.
They are against the project as it will harm the estuary that serves as a stopover of migratory birds and also serves as a catch basin of flood from Bacoor, Parañaque and Las Piñas.
The reclamation project (according to a TV report I saw) will preserve the front portion of the lagoon. But it will still lead to the its death as it will eventually dry up because the reclaimed area will block the water passage from the bay to the lagoon.
Let us join the more than 300k residents of Las Piñas City who already signed up to save the 175.307 hectares of one of the last bird sanctuaries in the Philippines. Saving the coastal lagoon will not only mean saving the sanctuary but also the neighboring localities that depend on the lagoon as flood catch basin.
March is Women’s Month in the Philippines. In tune with this, a 5 kilometer fun run that was organized by the General Trias Municipal Government together with the JCI General Trias Katipunan and Nagkakaisang Kababaihan ng Heneral Trias was held last Sunday (March 18). The fun run that was aptly named “Run For Your Rights” was for the promotion of women’s rights.
Students and staff of Lyceum of the Philippines University – Cavite joined the run through the NSTP 2 class. It was fun. It was my first time to join a fun run and I enjoyed it. Too bad I wasn’t able to have someone take a photo of me while running. I had a couple of snapshots though.
An article I saw earlier from the InterAksyon website was about road accidents. The article reports that an average 7 kids in the Philippines die every day because of road accidents. These road accidents are mostly caused by bicycles, motorcycles, pedicabs and public vehicles.
It was also in this article that a data from the Safe Kids Philippines that
“only one out of every four children has knowledge on road safety”
If basic education has the 3 R’s (Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic) of learning, road safety has 3 E’s (Education, Enforcement and Engineering). These are essential so when these children grow up, they won’t be road and traffic safety violators.
These trike drivers pose threat to the pedestrians by blocking the sidewalk and making them walk on the side of the road instead.
The Manila Metropolitan Theater (some call it MET) is a landmark in the City of Manila that was designed by architect Juan Arellano. It was built in the 1930s but was damaged during the Japanese occupation. It was reconstructed and was a venue of cultural shows, plays, concerts and even the defunct variety show of Batangas Governor Vilma Santos on GMA-7, VIP (Vilma In Person). But gone are the good old days. The lights, the music, the performers and even the audience are gone. It still stands at its original location at Lawton, Manila though, but has long been ignored.
My wife bought milk fish (bangus) stewed in mustard leaves and tomatoes for lunch. The food was great. I wish I know the name of the dish and how to cook it.
Nowadays, children don’t usually play the games children of my age used to play. When we were kids, my friends and I used to play games like tumbang-preso (a game where you put the slippers of the “it” player on top of a tin can and the other players try to hit it with their own slippers), patintero (a local game wherein the players draw line on the ground[in our case, the streets], a group of players ply the lines to catch members of the other group who try to cross it), shato (the objective of the game is to flick the shorter stick as far from the hole as possible using the longer stick) and agawang-base (Sometimes called maro – the objective of the game is to catch all the players of the other team to score by leaving the base later than the player you will catch).
Because of busy lifestyle, technologies and mostly lack of playing space in the urban area, children nowadays prefer playing games at home and online. They play games like DOTA (Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne), Facebook games, Grand Theft Auto series, and similar games.
It is very rare to find children playing traditional games today. You can see them play it on special occasions like the “Laro ng Lahi” part of sports fests in schools. But last weekend was different. I saw a group of kids flying kites on the vacant lot just beside our apartment. They were taking advantage of the windy weather and enjoying their childhood.
I cooked something for my wife and daughter last week. It was pasta cooked with Gourmet Beef and Mushroom Pasta Sauce. Ground beef, sliced button mushroom, tomatoes and Italian seasoning (dried marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil) were added to add more zest to the sauce. My daughter enjoyed it and still asking for it the next day.
Cooking at home is fun if who you’re cooking for is enjoying it.
