Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

"It might be too early to write that." Charing said.

"Too early? If we don't write it now, by the time we do it will be 2010." I replied laughing.

She said this would be a long one to blog about because of a lot of things that had happened since the last time we posted something and I agree with her. So, I asked her to choose the best story of all time for her. She gave me a very interesting look and told me to start typing and she said this is the rule, whenever you feel like stopping let me know. She told me that the story she's about to tell is something I can relate to, she said she doesn't really want me to write this but its very timely and a lot of woman go through her situation but most of the time never get out of it alive.

I look at Charing and told her "You are already giving me goosebumps." and gave her a little smile. She asked me if I want to continue and I strongly answered "YES Please." She told me that we have to write her stories in ACTS like a stage play, I laughed.

ACT 1

Morgan is the main character of the play, she's a happy go lucky type of girl but very brilliant. She's gorgeous, she won the title "Miss Friendship and Best in Swimsuit" when she competed in a beauty contest when she was in college. She has a bachelors degree in business major in Tourism. She's a little bit liberated but hard to get. Her colorful life started while in college, because she's beauty and brain, a lot of guys are all over her. She has a lot of suitors most of them just want to get in her pants. But like I said she's hard to get.

She had a perfect idea, she talked to one of her gay friend his name is Gil they agreed that they will pretend to be BF and GF so no one can court her. It worked! She was able to focus on her studies but the adventure never fail to miss her. She was doing a research paper for her sociology class, and she was waiting for her research partner to show up in their meeting place when she met a guy, his name is Cooch they started talking introducing each other and why they were there. Its been 2 hours now and her research partner still not there yet, seems like they misunderstood each other as to where exactly they'll be meeting.

Cooch's friend already arrived but Morgan still waiting, she told Cooch to go ahead and that she'll be fine waiting there but Cooch is not wanting to leave her there by herself. Its been 4hrs now, the longest time Morgan patiently wait for someone, she's very impatient when it comes to waiting. If you are not there 30mins after the said meetup she usually leaves. She decided she can't wait any longer, Cooch invited her to come with him and attend a session, she was so naive and curious about what the session is all about so she went with them. It was only a block away from where she's supposed to be meeting her research partner.

ACT 2 ......to be continued

A cup of 'Chai Spice' black tea

I know...I know, its been awhile...I took a little break. Even Charing is starting to stay quiet and almost don't want to tell me anymore stories. Our last posting was all happiness and excitement about this new social networking,shopping and all-in-1 launchpad called 'BLASTOFF'. I still am excited about BLASTOFF, in fact last Oct 12 at noon CST, it officially BLASTOFF.

I guess it always happens that when there is a lot of positive energy coming I tend to forget that a negative energy is on its way to balance the surroundings. Sure thing a lot of things happened for the past three weeks or so that I've been absent from this blog. I'm still sorting which one is negative & which one is positive but what's more important is its like a cup of 'Chai Spice'' black tea that I'm sipping while listening and typing at the same time about Charings stories.

She told me about Jayne's story, she's very young about 26yrs old and a single mom. She probably would have a lot of good stories to tell her 4yrs old daughter if she would have lived longer. Sad, isn't it? But that's the reality of life. All good things can disappear in a second or a minute. The bad part of her story was she didn't die of natural cause, she was shot and the suspects are still at-large. Although her family has an idea on who might have done it, it will probably take a long time before that person will be put in jail. Especially, knowing the slow and outdated justice system we have in the Philippines that most crimes remain cold case for a very long time. Charing said she's following the story of Jayne, so she'll update us about it when something new comes up.

The main point of our story here is that the bullet shot that killed the life of that young girl happened in a blink of an eye. Jayne was a nursing student and wanting to continue to be an OB-GYN doctor, now all of those are gone. What will happen to her daughter is up to her siblings and parents. This is only one of thousands of sad stories that we often see on the street that wish we can stop, but how? I've been asking Charing same question and her respond to me was "I'm too old and too far to do something". She said the best contribution she can do is to tell the story and hopefully someone we'll be able to read it and possibly be able to do something or learn something that when they're face in such situation they will be able to prevent it.

We decided to finish drinking our 'Chai Spice' black tea and hope the next story would be a happy one.

Social Network Age to BLASTOFF

With the new and changing technology nowadays, even Charing was telling me she will be obsolete herself even before she leave the physical world. I agree myself, I'm glad they don't have these when I was in High School or College, otherwise I'll be more pain to my parents. LOL!

Anyway, with all these new technology social networking, chat and gaming seems to be the hottest trend, Myspace, Facebook, Orkut, twitter and so many other. Well, I frequent facebook more than any other social network but with this new internet launchpad with social network included not to mention that you'll earn EXTRA MONEY being part of it, I believe I'll be stuck on BLASTOFF.

Its so much FUN to have, if you will see the picture (sorry its a little blurry I did that on purpose) on the left, you can watch video, read the news, games, networking, shopping and much more! This will be the HOTTEST TREND globally. Fortunately, it was pre launch exclusively to Pre-Paid Legal(PPL) Associates, which I'm glad to be one of them, it means I get to setup myblastoff and invite my friends before the world can sign up.

Guess, you would want to be my friend and Charing's friend now too, don't you? Here is a video for more info.

Charings view about 'On the Canvas of Society'

Aside from Facebook, Charing and I are a big fan of YouTube and this video really caught her attention.

Its very sad video isn't it? Charing said she can't but be thankful that she was able to change the life of her kids, even though she felt like it was late but at least she was able to do a little bit of her part to better the life of her kids.

She said they used to live in one of those shanty house right next to the railroad, they're know in the Philippines as 'Home Along da Riles', she remembered the time when she feels like there was earthquake everytime a train will pass by. She wakes up every 5 hours that's the schedule of the train, almost no sleep for her.

Amazing how life of a person can change in a blink of an eye, sometimes it happens when you least expect it. It just shows that patience is virtue.

'Stories over coffee' - A Tribute to my friend -Ikoy (Last Part)

Sorry it took me awhile to finish my story, I think Charing and I drank more than 8cups of coffee that day :-) Anyway, let's finish it.

After the devastating Katrina that I was so lucky to get Ikoy’s first hand experienced, I didn’t hear from him until I believe after 6months or so. And after so long, his next news is another bad news…he was caught by the immigration officer and that he is facing deportation charges and his health was really deteriorating, aside from his diabetes, he is suffering from another sickness that is just wearing him down. He said he cant go to the hospital because its too expensive. But he said there were people that are very kind to help him and thats what he was thankful about. That was the last time I heard from him. I tried calling him again but his cellphone number has changed.

Then last November, I received a voice mail from a Filipina asking me if I'm related to Ikoy and to return her call. I called her and told her that I'm not related to Ikoy but his a good friend of mine back in Palau. She said Ikoy passed away and that they found my number in the phonebook of his cellphone. I did what I can to contact his relatives in Palau. The Filipina can't shipped his remains because he was undocumented and his passport was expired. She had to get a travel document and other release papers from the hospital, the state and the Philippine Embassy. I can imagine the times she spent and paper works she has to deal with just to send his remains back home. I admire that Filipina, she did all she can to send Ikoy's ashes back to his family, she's not even related to him. It took almost two months before Nanay Susan (Ikoy's Mom) received his ashes through FedEx, it was sad but atleast his home.

The thing I will never forget about him was he always have the smile and his sweet laugh that inspite of all the hardship his been through, he always keeps the positive spirit in him. He is a true survivor, he will never give up…’till he cant anymore.

To you my dear friend….IKOY, rest in peace and know in your heart, somewhere along your life journey you’ve touched other people’s heart (I’m one of them), I wish we’ve seen each other before you said goodbye to the physical world. May you continue your training and maybe next life time we will meet again my friend.

Charing made a good point when she said 'I wonder how many more Ikoy are here in the U.S., undocumented, working hard, getting paid under the table and will be sent home in a box through FedEx or other form of postal service.?'

'Stories over coffee' - A Tribute to my friend -Ikoy

Weekend is usually family time, but I can't sleep and Charing was telling me a story about a friend of her friend which reminded me of a good friend of mine in Palau, he passed away last November. This story is a tribute to him. I'll tell you about Charings story after Ikoy's story, by the way, I have to start telling story in English because Charing has some readers that wont be able to understand tagalog, but we'll make sure all our tagalog reader will still enjoy. Here we go!

It was a usual afterwork ‘tambayan’ (hang-out place in tagalog) behind Uncle Joe’s auto shop, the ’Bulabog’ barkada usually get together. It was one of those get together night that I first met Ikoy, I wasn’t close to him yet at that time.

I remember when I first met him (Ikoy), I didnt really like him, although I’m usually attached right away to gays because I have a lot of gay friends in Pinas, with the line of work that I was in (TV Production), I worked with gay people,as a matter of fact a good friend of mine “Greg” (I wonder how he’s doing?) is gay. But Ikoy was different, he is not the typical gay that you’ll meet, he was the sophisticated, snob type.

After a few meet up at the ‘tambayan’, BBQ gathering, Sunday ‘basketball games’ and pizza after the game at Rock Island Cafe, we started to click together. Aside from he was a good friend to my late ex-husband, I just started to really like him.

But I became really close to Ikoy when my life in Palau was upside-down, he was there when all the friends I know turned their back on me, I remember asking him a favor to watch my son DJ while I work and he did. He was the only one who have the guts to tell me the truth that my ex was cheating on me.

So, he was the only friend I had during my hard times in Palau, then he told me about his plan of leaving the island and finding a better opportunity here in the U.S., I was really sad I almost want to tell him not to go. But I know he wants nothing but a new outlook in life and help his family to the best that he can. He was a wonderful person that he understood my situation and he introduced me to his group of friends, I remember him telling me, “these are real people who will help you when you are in need and will accept you for who you are”, sure thing they are, I still would love to see them when I go back to the island, hopefully they’re still there (Rogie, Luloy, Juvie and Chaps). I had great times with them, I remember Halloween of 2001 we party ’till morning, after leaving Port Area at around midnight, my 5 passenger Toyota Landcruiser became 9 or ten passenger (LOL!), it was so much fun everyone was laughing even though they were squeezed at the back end of the car.

That was the last party we had he even said that’s worth a ‘dispedida party’ for him, he was all set, I asked him so where you going? Do you have family there? He aswered me “Bahala na (Whatever happens), Topo-topo barrega when I get there”, I can see the determination in his face.

One week later, we had our last drink together at ’Storyboard Bar & Grill’, in our conversation that night, he was the first one who gave me an idea of coming here in the U.S., he told me to apply for a U.S. Visa. With my life so wacked at that time, that thought didn’t even cross my mind. But I remember answering him, “I will keep that in mind”, then he told me to look for him when I get here. I gave him a hug,warm wishes, and goodluck, that was the last time I saw my good friend Ikoy.

I looked all over for him, when I got here. Finally, I was able to get hold of him sometime 2004, a year before the devastating Hurricane Katrina, I’m in California and he was down in New Orleans. We just said “hi and hellos”, we didnt get to talk for very long because we both have jobs and he kept changing his cellphone almost every three months. The longest conversation we had was August 2005, the day before Hurricane Katrina. I was worried about him, I told him to move out of New Orleans, and he said ‘no, they (his co-workers and friends) will be staying there, that it shouldn’t be so bad’, the next day, after seeing in the news about what happened to the City of New Orleans, I was calling him but to no avail. All I can do that time was pray for his safety. I tried everyday to get hold of him, it was two weeks after Katrina, I received a call from him.

He survived Hurricane Katrina, I heard one of the most traumatic real-life story of a person who survived mother nature’s fury. He was crying the whole time he was talking on the phone. I told him he can stop if its too hard for him to share it, he said “no, it will make me feel better if I can let it all out of my chest”, he survived 5 days of no food, he was just drinking the dirty flood. All he has was the blanket that he grabbed from the flash flood. It was afternoon of the fifth day being on top of the roof, when he was finally rescued by a helicopter. He said if he wasnt rescued that day, he would have not last another day, he said he saw several body of dead people in the water passing by him. The third day he said he was dillusional, he said he is not going to survive and that his body will end up somewhere that his family wont even know where he’s at. But he was thankful that he survived, he said that was a life experience he will never forget. His hardship battle didn’t end there.

....to be continued

Remembering Ninoy

This blog has to be written fast, its 9:30A.M. on a Friday, YEY! Happy weekend everyone! Well, in Pinas its already Friday night. Anyway, Charing and I likes to watch SNN (Showbiz News Ngayon) on TFC. SNN starts at 9:45am(PST) here in the U.S., some Pinoy likes to watch showbiz news more than the current events news, why? kse its a lot lighter to hear and aside from its the gossip of the showbiz personalities in Pinas, alam mo naman si Charing love nya talaga ang tsismis so GOW!

We're blogging about it as well because one of the host of the show Kris Aquino is the daughter of the late Ninoy & Cory Aquino and today is the 26th death anniversary (assassination) of Ninoy Aquino. Charing still remembers those days when she was outside the MIA (Manila International Airport) now NAIA (named after Ninoy) she said about a hundred or more of crowd welcoming Ninoy but Ninoy was killed even before he stepped on the ground.

Learning The Apps

After discovering facebuko, now Charing is really eager to learn about all this apps like Restaurant City, Mafia Wars, The Buzz (nde po apps yan), FarmTown, FarmVille at marami pang iba...nakakaloka! At bakit daw yung photos eh parang wall pa rin daw ang effect, nde raw puro picture lang at caption ng picture (hala ka JR, demanding na talaga si Charing dyan sa facebuko mo!). I am totally digressing out of the real topic here, kse naman ang facebuko nakaka-adik! Pati tuloy 'tong si Charing tsismosa walang bukang bibig ngayon kundi 'pwede ba makahingi ng facebuko'.

K, going back to the apps topic. So, nde knows ni Charing na matagal na kong adik sa mga apps na 'to sa facebook, if you happen to be a friend on my facebook, i have to warn you I usually send tons of gifts for you to check out the apps that I've been playing. Anyway here are some of the photos of the apps that I'm playing, its really fun and addicting naman talaga.

That's two of the several apps I'm playing. Anyway, so gusto ni Charing na maglaro ng mga apps na 'to sa facebuko, eh nde naman facebook yung facebuko, ang hirap i-explain...HELLO! Sabi ko na lang kay Charing under construction pa yung apps site ng facebuko so for now maki laro na lang sya sa apps ko sa facebook, ang matanda ayaw pinagpipilitan talaga ang gusto nya, kailangan daw sa facebuko daw nya lalaruin yun. Ay ewan ko sa'yo! Sabi nga ni Ruffy 'nakakaloka ka!'.

1st follower ni Charing, YEY!

Wilcam! Wilcam! I'm bery hapi I hev fellowers said Aling Charing. She meant welcome and she is very happy to see that she has the first follower of her gossips and stories. Now, she really is going to bug me everything she has something to say, I just got to be infront of my PC and keep typing while she talks...ahihihi!

Anyway, welcome gRace and hope you'll enjoy following Charing and her stories. She's got some cool stories actually. I hope you're Noypi because sometimes I have to write in tagalog coz there are some part of her stories that are just hard to translate in English, or if I translate it in English the essence is not there anymore.

So, seat back and relax while reading, oh Charing said don't forget to drink buko juice its good for your body as well as check out one of her fave site facebuko. Enjoy!

Charing going cocoNUT (buko) over facebuko

Kulit ni Aling Charing tumatanda na kse eh, so she was reading and laughing about the wall post of Angelina at yung kay Greta when all of a sudden nag pose yung monitor, hala! Aling Charing came running na parang may sunog sa kapitbahay, so I was like 'relax Charing...echos lang yan! Antayin mo babalik din yan'

She waited and waited according to her 30mins (with exaggeration) na raw sya nag aantay wala pa rin daw, so I click refresh and VOILA! 'ooops this link appears to be broken' aww snap! I look at Charing nangingilid na ang luha nya, and I roll in laughter...bwahahaha! ahihihi! Si Charing Adik na sa facebuko.

I checked the group page sa facebook, the site is really having prob nga so si Charing tlagang napa-praning...ahihihi! I told her she has to wait for I don't know how long and nde talaga mapakali, binukmark na nya ang page so check natin facebuko...yan meron na ulit.

Uy naka-Smile na si Aling Charing ulit...hehehe!

Mga Kwento ni Charing Tsismosa: facebuko FOR LIFE!

Mga Kwento ni Charing Tsismosa: facebuko FOR LIFE!
facebuko

facebuko FOR LIFE!

ahihihi! Si Aling Charing aliw na aliw sa facebuko!

Tinuturuan ko sya mag facebook the other day, when we came across on one of the link facebuko, and sabi nya klik mo yung become a fan, then she said 'weyt, weyt wag na lang baka maging bentilador (fan) tayo', I can't help but to LMAO!

So, we open the facebuko and 'ta dan!' Aling Charing is a big fan! Sabi nya from now on magfe-facebuko na raw sya everyday. And I second the motion..ahihi! Bat' nga ba kailangan pang pag aralan ang facebook sabi ni Charing kung meron naman daw facebuko na mas maiintindihan daw nya. Kaya naman ginawan namin sya ng profile nya sa facebuko (well, not really profile) pra makapag comment daw sya sa woll, and we did pra alam nyo babaengTagabukid is Charing's a.k.a sa facebuko.

Sa lahat ng NoyPi pino-promote ni Aling Charing ang facebuko...hehehe. Masarap, nakakatanggal ng uhaw pwede i-sif kahit saang internit, basta raw meron kayong buko juice on the side while reading and siffing inside facebuko

To Jonas (the author of facebuko) your brilliant! Buti na lang prends tayo at magkapamilya sa Mafia. Now, Aling Charing is wanting to learn about the apps Mafia Wars, Restaurant City and mga tagalog only Quizzes. Oh Great, I'm sure dun naman ma-a-adik si Aling Charing once matutunan nya...ahihi!

Charing-GO la ni Pepe

Saringgola (kite) that's what Charing's son calls it. Charing told me that her son once told her that "Gusto ko maging kasing tayog ng saringgola, Nanay." ( I want to fly as high as a kite, Mother.), Charing's response was "Kailangan mong MAGSUMIKAP, anak" (You have to strive really hard, my son).

Charing's son didn't really understood it before, he was only 7yrs old then. He didn't think that his Mom's answer to him was deeper than his questions. All he wants back then was to reach the sky like a kite, with freedom to fly his wings...nothing to stop him.

But now that his 30yrs old, he fully understood what his Mom meant when she said that. For him she was right, he needs to strive and work hard to be able to meet his goals. He finished college but with the system they have in the Philippines finding a job is not about WHAT YOU KNOW its all about 'WHO YOU KNOW'.

I guess nowadays nothing really works right unless you have a network of people that you know and trust your abilities. He was wondering what if he was a very shy type of person? What would happen to him? Will he be ignored even if he has the full potential and abilities rather than someone who talks a lot and sell himself just to get a job?

Charing has no answers to his questions...sad but its true. Shouldn't we have a qualifications to follow and background check to know who really qualifies for a certain job? Hopefully it will be answered sometime...who knows?

Charing introduced her storyteller

This is a short story (its not a gossip, promise!) about Charing's storyteller your very own e!, Eryca, my Dad used to call me Cinderella, when I was a kid they call me 'Ekang or Kikay'. Have fun reading.

I’m not really a big fan of ‘WRITING’. Although, I think writing has been an on and off part of me (parang gf and bf relationship, walang commitment, pag medyo nagsawa na cool-off na!)

I never imagine myself to become a writer, but a big break came when I went to Palau, I guess I just dont have a choice at that time. But DANG! Let me tell you, I was writing 10-25 articles per week (OH Thank GOD! that island was so lay back, that newspaper comes out bi-weekly then), how I managed to do that I dont know! LOL! Honestly, I surprised myself as well, I’m not bragging but I remember telling my publisher that what we are publishing is not a newspaper, it should be a newletter, because base on what I’ve studied newspaper is supposed to be current events, like fresh from today, if you published it a day or more ago then it becomes history.

But it doesn’t matter on that island because its so hard to get some bits, nothing major is really happening aside from family and clan events or their major holiday, crime is very rare either. That’s the only place in the world (I think? I’m not so positive!), that a presidential candidate can stand in the middle of the intersection WITHOUT bodyguards to wave and campaign and will still be safe and healthy at the end of the day.

Anyway, going back to writing, from a bi-weekly newspaper “Tia Belau” became weekly, then after 6months If I remember it right, because of my excellent writing and reporting skills (lifting my own chair…hep! dont even say a word..LOL!), we were publishing ‘twice a week’, take note from bi-weekly, I made the paper come out twice a week (Wednesday & Saturday). I cannot believed myself how I did that…but I did.

That’s when I realized I can write, it was hard but it was fun, I like the prestige that comes with it too! Well, my writing career only lasted for 11 months, I didnt get any increase in pay, so I decided to change my job.

I think writing is fun and easy if you put your heart to it, but to some people its just a piece of cake because they are born to write. There are also some who are gifted, they are meant to be writers. If I’m going to classify myself, I’m neither of the two, I’m not gifted nor born to be a writer.

For me writing is pleasure, writing is something that I enjoy to do and not I’m obligated to do. I’m so glad that they invented blogging, because I think that’s what I like to do, I’m a ’sort’ of a writer when I blog. I just wish I have something to blog about everyday. Well, with Charing's help I may have a lot of stories ahead. As well as my followers (if I will have any..hehehe).

Oh by the way, thanks for the interview Charing!

Haven't been here for ages

Yay! haven't been here for AGES! :-)

K, I'm back...maybe....I'll see....not really sure. OK,think I'll be more motivated to write this time but I don't have followers..oh well, who cares I'll blog whenever I feel like it. Maybe even if its just to write something about the VERY EXPENSIVE DINNER of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo (there we go, I'll definitely BURST!), anyway, while millions of Filipino people starving or struggling to put something on their table, their President is a having a $20,000 dinner at Le Cirque in New York. I'll end this one with the video below.

Sa mga kababayan ko ka-isa nyo ko sa pag sigaw ng "KAPAL NG MUKHA MO GLORIA!"