A Poem I Have Not Named

Well this is what I have found so far. I have not found the others. This is one side of me I will probably not admit (only in writing i think). I am a poet (trying hard) and a hopeless romantic (walay uyab). Lol!


Love hurt, hurt love
Torn between two emotions
That I wish I could control
Like the rain and the sun
These two arrive every now and then.
Warming me with happiness, the sun
And then the rain washes them away.
Love like the sun makes me happy
Then like the rain, hurt gets in the way.
What can I do with these two?
One can't seem to exist without the other.
It's like when you fall in love,
Hurt is part of the package.
Love, and you will get hurt for free.
Funny, it seems to be.
But that's just how it is in love.
You have to be ready to get hurt.
Now I know I can't control them
So I just have to live with them
As I love more, I will get hurt even more.


There you have it! Still looking for that notebook full of those day dreaming stuff. Come back tomorrow!

I Got Soaked in the Rain

Rain.. Rain go away. Come again another day.. I always thought this song is effective. I keep singing this when it rains when I was young. Then you grow up and realize all was just child stuff and singing the song does not stop the rain. Well at least I tried it today and I still got soaked in the rain on my way to work. Now I am in the office with my pants and shoes all wet. I am shaking to my bones because the air conditioner as usual is in full blast. What a way to start my day. 

I hope this day will turn out not as lame as it started. Hoping for a lunch date with a friend. That would cheer me up. I also wish Rob Kardashian will become a champion in DWTS today. lol! That would also make my day.

P.S. Sorry I did not find that funny stuff that I promised to post. I remembered I threw it away because my best friend laughed so hard about it. I was embarrassed that time. 


Update:

It turns out my day is fine. I had lunch with the most amazing friend in the world. Lunch was superb. I ordered bento. You know what bento means right? It's a Japanese word that mean a complete meal. Yeah I ate a complete meal. I ordered eat from a Japanese store on the fourth floor of Ayala center Cebu. Then my best friend took me to Gelatissimo. We ordered ice cream. You how it is. Most of us love ice cream. Plus the sweet taste cheered me up some more. I just hope I don't get colds as a result of all these. I also saw a great friend of mine. Brigitte. She is the one who encouraged me to go blogging. I did not know I would love it. As usual, she is right. One other thing, my SSS loan got approved. I am 12k pesos richer. Just joking. I will actually use that money to pay for my father's check up this Monday. I am taking him to the doctor finally. 


Well, till next time. See yah!

Today I Swear Tomorrow Is Gonna Be A Brighter Day

The problem of having a blog title of "Project 365: A blog a day" is that you will (not run out of topic) but have to post something each day and sometimes you just don't have that much time. There is not much time to think or not much has happen on that day and you did not get inspired to write about something. This day is not an exception. I know that but I am dead tired and I had to edit yesterday's post because my phone did something to delete the finished post. It's just an hour before the day ends and I have nothing. A thought came to mind. I was a fan of pen and paper. I scribble in notebooks before because I was too chicken to try out blogging and my make my works public. So back to that thought that came to my mind.. I looked up my old stuff and found some of my scribbles. It's a poem I wrote last June 10, 2008. It's very old. I wrote it for someone I think. Don't ask who it is. Comment on it but do not dare mention names. You know what I mean. lol! So here goes the poem. Tell me what you think.

Today I write this little poem

As evidence of a promise I have sworn.

From this day 'till the time we're ready

I will prepare for a very special day.

When that time arrives

I am gonna make sure our love will be revived

Everything will be perfect

A surprise you will never expect.

This little paper though torn from a page of a notebook

Will serve as  the sole witness of the what I spoke

I will ask you to be mine again someday

I promise and wish that our love 'till that day will stay

I love you so much

And everyday I long for your touch

I wish you'll still be in love with me

'Cos I promise if you come back to me,

I'm gonna make you fall for me everyday.

It's cheesy I know. Don't laugh at me. I was young and a hopeless romantic. Tomorrow I will post something really funny (if I can find that scroll). Watch out for it.

What's for lunch?

I did not have any cooking lesson and my mum never allows me in the kitchen when I was young because I am very clumsy and I might end up with wounds or burns. So I grew having someone to prepare food for me. I guess we never anticipated I would be living away from them. So it has been a struggle living in the city. I don't know how to cook and I have to stop depending on fast foods.

With the growth of technology and the internet, I realized it's not too late to learn how to cook and I can do it without having to go to culinary schools. I have the means. So I search the net for recipes of dishes that I can cook in the house. Today I will be showing you how to cook a dish I've learned from the internet as well. In Cebu, we call it Pancit Bihon. Here's a picture of it below.

How do we cook Bihon? Follow the steps below. The ingredients, brand or anything that I have used here are all my personal preference. The measurements here are also based on my adjustments from the previous times I have tried cooking this. This is sort of my perfected version. So here goes..

What you will need:

Pork (If you want more meat in your bihon, put as much as you want)

Half Clove of Garlic

One bulb onion

Carrots (I only put one piece because I am not a fan)

Bell Pepper (I also use only a peace, still not a fan)

Cabbage (I put half of the whole piece)

Onion Leaves

One Pack Bihon (I prefer the brand Super Q)

Maggi Magic Sarap (or whatever seasoning available)

Soy Sauce

Vinegar

A little oil for the pork

Black pepper (you know what this does to your food)

Instructions:

1. Prepare all the ingredients. Season the pork and let it sit there for more than 5 mins to let the port absorb the seasoning. 
2. Heat oil in a pan. Put the garlic and just half of the bulb onions you sliced. Add the pork. Cook the pork well. I like my pork cooked like it's ready to be served as viand. Remove the excess oil (leave a little of it).
3. Once oil has been decreased, add water in to the pan. They amount of water would depend on the type of bihon you are using. With super Q, it says one and a half cup of water per piece of bihon. The pack has four pieces so I add six cups top.
4. After the water, all all the ingredients except for the onions (both leaves and bulb).
5. Add eight tablespoons of soy sauce and ten tablespoons of vinegar.
6. Add some seasoning and a little black pepper.
7. Once you have achieved your desired taste and it has started to boil, add the bihon (I assume by this time you have already rinsed it). Stir from time to time until there is no liquid left.
8. Serve the bihon. Add the onions on top. You may stir to mix them with the bihon or you can get creative. Put a little presentation of your food. Then mix it when you are ready to eat it. 

The reason why the onions were added last is because it gives out a good smell on your dish and you get this crunchy feeling while you chew your food. You will love it.

Enjoy!

Some additional pictures:

Sorry guys, I don't know what happened. I have complete this blog yesterday but somehow the blogger app on my phone took over. I have a draft there. I published the draft and deleted my finished blog.

Lunch at Casa Verde

I am not rich. I can't afford a lot of things but when it comes to good food, money is usually not a question. I am very fond of eating. So when there is something I feel like eating, I will try my best to come up with the amount to spend for some good food. Today is one of them days. I met up with my bestfriend Laika, went to Ayala and ate lunch at Casa Verde. This is the home of the best steak and ribs in town.

Soup.. When someone mentions soup, the first thing that comes to my mind is Casa Verde's baked potato soup. It's the best I have tasted! There are bacon, cheese and onions in it. I can't describe exactly how it tastes. All I can say is that I will be okay if it's the only thing I eat all day, everyday!

The main dish.. There are load of dishes you can order in here. But my favorites are Surf and turf and Brian's ribs. They are really good. I have tasted other ribs and steaks all over town but I gotta tell you this is the best there is. There is this other steak and mashed potato dish they have, I forgot the name. I have a picture of it below. It has mashed potatoes, cheese on top of the steak, tasteful garlic on top and some almonds on the side.  When you eat a pinch of all the ingredients in one, it is heaven! There is this crunchy feeling that you get while you are chewing your food. Just imagine me eating the food that I took a picture of today. :)

Drinks.. Like any other restaurant, there are a variety of choices for the drinks as well. But if you prefer the water, I don't suggest it. They sell the St. James water which is a service water in Don Henrico's. I can suggest you order the four seasons juice or shake. That taste great. There are other shakes that they have but unfortunately, I have not paid attention to their names. I love their four seasons too much. Lol! They also have alcoholic drinks available. I still prefer the four seasons though. *wink*

Dessert.. I am not so sure what other dessert they have. I actually only wanna order their Death by Chocolate. Its this big cake-like ice cream that can be shared with two other people. It is really good. I know it's just ice cream but coming from Casa Verde, it makes all the difference. It's just different. 

I am claiming a lot in here, am I not? Well you will never know until you try it for yourself. And oh, I found their website in case you are interested: Casa Verde, click here.

Please also click on my ads to support future endeavors.. Thank you!

My Hometown

In order to know me, you need to go way back. I mean, way back where I came from. Where I came from has played a great role in molding what I am today. I has given me a lot of reasons to continue holding on to dear life.

A Little History.. The name of my hometown is Sogod. It came from the Visayan word "Sinugdanan" which means start. According to some of my elder relatives, there are lots of stories about the origin of Sogod. One of them is about Sogod being the start of the spread of Christianity in the northern parts of Cebu. The second part is Sogod being the boundary of the start of the black sand extending to the south of Cebu and the white sand extending to the north. It is said that during low tides, there is a certain place on the shore where you could clearly see the mark where the white and black sand meet. There is this other story about the town, but I could not clearly recall it at this time. I will find out once I get a chance to talk to some elders.

Geography.. Sogod as considered a fourth class municipality. What that means, I have no idea. All I know is I intend to post some great info about our town. It is located 60 kilometers north of Cebu City. It is home to almost 29, 000 people as of the 2007 census. It has 18 barangays. They are the following:

• Ampongol
• Bagakay
• Bagatayam
• Bawo
• Cabalawan
• Cabangahan
• Calumboyan
• Dakit
• Damolog
• Ibabao
• Liki
• Lubo
• Mohon
• Nahus-an
• Poblacion
• Tabunok
• Takay
• Pansoy

Attractions.. Sogod is not only a place of beautiful people. It is also home to very nice works of nature. Alegre Beach is considered a five star resort and has welcomed thousands of foreign visitors for a long as I could remember. There's the Bagatayam falls and Binaliw cold spring. There is the Borrusia food park which I have not explored yet but is planning to. There are other attractions I will be posting here soon.

Getting there.. In order to get there, you will have to stay tuned. I am going to Sogod in a couple of days and I will be posting more about this beautiful town. In the meantime, I will leave you with a picture of you faithful author. Please also visit some links from my sponsors on my profile. It'll help me a lot in providing great pictures in my blogs.

Getting Rejected from Google AdSense

This is only my second post. One of the reasons of creating a blog is because of the chances of earning some income with Google AdSense. I tried applying yesterday but unfortunately, I was not accepted because my landlady's son already has an account and we have the same address. What's worse is my AdSense account is now disabled and I don't think I will be able to apply again. So I did a little research and found out I could submit an appeal if my account was disabled. I have never received any notification that my account was already disabled. I only noticed it when I tried logging in to AdSense. So anyone who can read this short post of mine, please be careful before applying for an account. Make sure that you checked there is no one else using the info like a physical address or an IP address. You may try submitting an appeal in Google, but anyone whose application has not been approved yet does not have any publisher ID, so the appeal would be a dead end.

** My post is colored purple 'coz I am dead, can't earn money anymore. :'( **




Ohw, I remember this other thing. There's this data entry job I am working on as well. You just have to type captchas and you can earn money from it. If you are interested try signing up here.

My First Time

"My first time".. This statement is like Helen of Troy who could launch a thousand ships. This statement could launch a thousand thoughts. This post is about some first times in my life. If you are a green minded person, then I am very sorry to disappoint you. This does not include that kind of first time. Lol! The first times I am referring to are some happenings in my life worth mentioning ( I think :] ).

The first time I got my monthly visitor.. When I say monthly visitor, I am referring to a girl thing. The one we usually are not too comfortable talking about. Menstruation. Ring a bell? Well for this one, I am a little embarrassed because this experience is very funny and my only defense is my innocence. I was too young and too busy playing to think about womanhood then. On that day, I was in school. I did the usual things. I listened to my teacher; I talked to friends; Did my school chores; and played afterward. I remember walking about a kilometer home and then threw my bag on the sofa. I almost tore out my uniforms because I could not wait to get out of them and I am gonna go out to play with my friends. When I finally got out of my clothes, I feel the need to pee so I went to the comfort room. Then I notice some stain on my undies and I immediately called my Mama to tell her that I soiled my panties. I just took a bath and proceeded with my day. The next day, I pretty much did the same things and then when I got home, headed straight for the comfort room. Then I noticed the stains on my panties again. With cheeks all red of sham, I told my Mama I soiled my panties again. So my Mama decided to look closely and realized that I have started my menstruation. She shouted so everyone could hear and all my siblings started to bully me about it. My Mama wiped my face with the blood that were on my panties for some superstitious belief about not getting pimples if you do it. That was really embarrassing and that gesture did not help at all. I still get pimples from time to time and I always get red cheeks when this topic comes up with our conversations.

The first time I competed in a sports tournament.. As a kid, I have always been the big one. I was not fat but big boned and the tallest of all the students. I a could never do a sit ups, pull ups and sprints. Those are my favorite exercises but I could never be good at them. So with this, my choice of a sport are Discuss throw and Javelin throw. I am big and strong, so this is to my advantage. The first tournament I joined was an inter-town event. I represent Sogod but there were like two of us for Discuss throw. I would never forget that day. We were in a different town. We went there and had a good start. All the other players in other sports did good. I was the one to throw first. We all get three tries and the longest one will be your score. I did well. My throw was really long and I was ahead of all the other players. Then it was time for my other teammate to throw. She threw really long as well but not long enough to throw me from the number one spot. But for some reason, one of the officials asked her to throw for the fourth time and that one nailed it. It was way longer than my throws and she was considered the winner. Dang that would have been my chance to make a name! But she was declared the winner and they were gonna send her to the next tournament which will be a competition against all the other provinces and cities in Region VII. The loser in me did not finish the day and went home. I went to my Mama sobbing at the end of the day.

The first time I competed in a badminton tournament.. Well the good thing about losing in a sport is you find yourself liking other sports. This is what happened when I failed in Discuss throw. I found myself participating in badminton trainings with some of my other friends. I did not have the slightest idea I was gonna be good at it. During the summer following the school year of that failed attempt at track and field, I joined the training and I realized I was good at it. Though I was still a little heavy, I managed to move fast and hit the racket hard enough to get it to the other side of the net. I found myself loving the game and having fun. So it lasted. I continued my training and attended after school practices. About five months since I started training, it was time for the annual Milo tournaments. Badminton is one of the events and our school always attend that one. I was chosen to play Single B and so my career started. I remember the feeling. The anonymity of the place. It was my first time in Abellana Sports complex. It was my first time to see such a big crowd and a big place with players from many places. My heart was pounding. It's like I am running after something and I could not keep up. My heart was beating so hard I could almost hear it go labdab labdab labdab. I still remember hearing the voice calling my name to go to court four. I could remember tying my shoelace and picking up my racket. I remember feeling like being in a scene of a movie, your heart pounding and everything is in slow motion. I remember the umpire climbing to his seat. I remember him throwing the shuttlecock at me to serve. I remember wearing my first expensive shoes ever (a Puma shoe bought by my Mama and Kuya). I remember feeling like everyone is looking at me. Then I threw the first serve. It was a long rally and I remember my knees and arms shaking but I still managed to hit the shuttlecock. Amazingly I was still focused so I managed to get the first score. Then I started to sweat and eventually the whole feeling of nervousness went away as the game went on. I realized my opponent was feeling the same and it was worse for her because she lost focused and sometimes failed to hit the ball. I won the game and guess what the score was? 21-0. My nervous opponent did not manage to get a score. That encouraged me and ended my tournament frights. Hayy... I could remember it like it was just yesterday.

The first time I went out of town away from Mama.. Since I got good results from my first tournament, my luck at joining bigger tournaments grew. I was second by the way. The champ was my friend Kara who played Single A. I was Single B champ and she was Single A champ. Our coach decided to take me along with Kara and some other teammates to Bacolod to attend the first Batang Pinoy National Tournament. That was my first time to go outside Cebu and also away from my family. I packed light. I only brought like one shirt for each day we were staying there. We had to ride a Ceres Bus heading to Tabuelan, Cebu and then the bus will be loaded to a big barge and then that barge will travel to Bacolod. Oh, it was such a nice feeling. Traveling I mean. We alighted from the bus and went to the side of the boat. The sea breeze against my cheek, I looked at the distant shadows of fishermen casting their nets. I saw some jellyfishes in the water and some trash. Mind you the sea was really dirty. While taking in all that scene and freedom, I suddenly heard some people shout. "There!", someone shouted. I looked to the direction they were pointing and saw the most beautiful scene ever. We saw dolphins! A group of dolphins swam near the boat and then showed off some of their amazing abilities to the people. They jumped and then swam and jumped and swam. It was such a beautiful sight. If DSLRs were only present that time, it would have been really nice to freeze that scene. That day was one of the best. I was also my first time seeing dolphins and big jellyfishes. So we arrived in Bacolod. I found it really nice. There were no traffic lights but the streets were neat. We settled well in the place. The tournament day came, we made some new friends from other provinces and regions. We also won. We were champions in the team event and got a bronze in the doubles event. My friend Kara was champs for Singles. There in our stay in Bacolod, I learned to take a bath without my Mama. I also learned to wash my clothes since my clothes were not enough. I also learned not to be too dependent to my parents. That was the start of my independence and the start of a very nice journey with badminton.

The first time I got a job..  Because I proved to be a really good badminton player (by this time I won a lot of titles), I got a good scholarship with a very prestigious school in the city. I studied high school and college at the University of San Jose - Recoletos. I got some good friends from there and the school also helped providing us with funds with our badminton playing journey. I got off high school and college with fair grades and I also won a national title in badminton. Having won and enjoyed my school years, it was time to move on. I needed to get a job. I applied to several companies, probably got turned down in some and some also had offers that I turned down. The job where I signed up a contract for was eTelecare aka Stream. It's an outsourcing company. Their exams where easy but it's the recruitment process that is a little long. I had to stay there from 8 in the morning until about 8 in the evening. But it was worth it. I passed their exams and interviews and the next day I signed a contract. So I started with the job, I got in a program they call Matrix. They were assigned to assist Dell customers. It was my first job and it is expected that in your first job you will be nervous. But I wasn't. I have had a lot of experience in badminton enough to take away all the feeling of being nervous during first time encounters. During the training for job, I did well. I got good grades. I made some good friends too. When the time came where we were gonna go live for the first time, I thought it was gonna be an easy job. I was wrong. I got my first call and the issue was about a blue screen problem, it was really hard. I got really nervous talking to an actual customer and plus I had to follow certain spiels and always try to make the customer happy. I managed to fix the problem but it took more than two hours. I got off with a good commendation from the customer but my heart has not stopped pounding the whole two hours we were talking. Then that also started my career as a technical support specialist. I managed to stay in that company till August this year. That was a good three years. I have found some good friends and learned a lot about computer troubleshooting. It was fun.

So that was the summary of pretty much my life. My life revolved around badminton. I could say there are other very nice events in my life that are worth mentioning but maybe that will be posted in a different blog. You will learn a lot about me as I go a long. Just keep up..