In her first appearance on American television, 15 year-old Charice Pempengco from the Philippines performs an incredible version of, “And I Am Telling You.”
Watch her video here : Ellen Show
My deepest sympathy goes to the family of Dan Fogelberg. We have lost a great man. He will live on in our hearts and through his music. The pop-rock singer best known for his songs "Longer," "Same Old Lang Syne," "Hard to Say," and "Leader of the Band" from the 80's, has passed away at his home in Maine at the age of 56 due to prostate cancer.
Dan Fogelberg created powerful songs in simplest form which mostly dealt with emotional issues in personal relationships. "Same Old Lang Syne," which details the events surrounding a surprise reunion with an old lover, is a good example of Fogelberg's gentle approach to potentially heart-wrenching personal events.
I remember the first song I learned to play in guitar with plucking technique was "Leader of the Band." That was over 20 years ago. I chose it because of the beautiful melody and I found the piece easy to play. I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics or to what it meant. Only now that I watched him in youtube perform it, just him and his guitar, did I realize how personal it was for him. He sang it with so much passion and true emotion that you feel each word comes out of his heart and soul. This song brings back memories of time with my father, who has passed on. Most of us often don't realize how precious time is with the people in our life until we lose them. However, memories never fade away, and songs like this bring them right to the surface.
Just a few months ago I got hold of another piece by Dan. It's the song "Longer". Very beautiful song. I didn't think I could do it but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
Dan, your beautiful songs are the best gift we have ever received. They offer so much solace and comfort. You will always be remembered.Here are some of his songs:
Leader of the Band
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
I have been waiting for this release for weeks now.
According to afterdawn.com, rumors on the internet seem to indicate an iPhone firmware 1.1.3 release on December 11. The original rumor indicated a release of December 8th, however, so it is hard to say how accurate this could be. CNET France weighs in on the update, saying that they think that the new firmware will include a new disk mode for storing general files, and a voice memo feature to record your own voice reminders. The disk mode will work in the a similar fashion as the iPod, and will prevent drag and drop of playable music files to the iPhone.
Of course, this latest update, whenever it does come, will break the Jailbreak software that allows users to install third party software onto their iPhone, and so anyone using this software should probably wait for a patch. An official 3rd Party Developer SDK comes out from Apple in February.
via [AfterDawn]
I have been craving for balut for weeks now but the store I go to seems to always run out. This surprises me because they usually have a bunch of them in the fridge. So one day I asked.
How come you're always out of balut? Because it's winter. The lady replied. Typically, ducks lay more eggs in summer when the days are longer and fewer in the winter when days are shorter.
Ahh... Maybe that explains why they put lights on a poultry.
Anyways, I guess I'll have to wait until spring or summer. Or try to call the store everyday :-)
For someone who has not heard of balut, it is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside. We boil it and eaten in the shell. They are considered delicacies of the Philippines and some other Asian coutries like Cambodia and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer. The Filipino and Malay word balut (balot) roughly translates to mean "wrapped".
Most people prefer to eat balut with a pinch of salt. Others like to dip it with vinegar with chili. We usually start out by sipping the broth surrounding the embryo from the egg before the shell is peeled and the chick and yolk inside can be eaten. Nothing but the shell is wasted.
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
In the Philippines, balut have recently entered higher cuisine by being served as appetizers in restaurants: cooked adobo style, fried in omelettes or even used as filling in baked pastries.
Today, balut production has not been mechanized in favor of the traditional production by hand. Although balut are produced throughout the Philippines, balut-makers in Pateros are renowned for their careful selection and incubation of the eggs.
Fertilized duck eggs are kept warm in the sun and stored in baskets to retain warmth. After nine days, the eggs are held to a light to reveal the embryo inside. Approximately eight days later the balut are ready to be cooked, sold, and eaten. Vendors sell cooked balut out of buckets of sand, used to retain warmth, and are accompanied by small packets of salt. Uncooked balut are rarely sold in Southeast Asia.In the United States, many Asian markets occasionally carry uncooked balut eggs, though their demand in North America is not very great. The cooking process is identical to that of hard-boiled chicken eggs, and baluts are enjoyed while still warm.
Duck eggs that are not properly developed after nine to twelve days are sold as penoy, which look, smell and taste similar to a regular hard-boiled egg. In Filipino cuisine, these are occasionally beaten and fried, similar to scrambled eggs, and served with a vinegar dip.
The age of the egg before it can be cooked is a matter of local preference. In the Philippines, the perfect balut is 17 days old, at which point it is said to be balut sa puti ("wrapped in white"). The chick inside is not old enough to show its beak, feathers or claws and the bones are undeveloped. The Vietnamese prefer their balut matured from 19 days up to 21 days, when the chick is old enough to be recognizable as a baby duck and has bones that will be firm but tender when cooked. In Cambodia, most people prefer to eat it while it is still warm in its shell. Served with nothing more than a little garnish, it is widely popular. Usually, it is accompanied by a mixture of lime juice and ground pepper.
A friend of ours just sent us this comedic wonderful online holiday greetings from OfficeMax's elfyourself.com. The site allows visitors to upload a photo. The face is then attached to an animated elf body which dances to the tune of Jingle Bells.
Click on the picture to see my family's version of it.
Here's the captured video on YouTube:
(this post is incomplete! -- will update it later....)
Last summer I tried to sell my wife's car because we needed the money and I didn't wanna spend more on maintenance.
It's a great car but we thought it was right to let it go. Unfortunately, no-one made a good offer at the time.
So, I'm thinking of putting it back on the market next spring.
Here are some pics:
This evening was special because we met some celebrities from PI. Didn't know most of them, but hey, they're popular back home. Or at least some of them are.
The girls are from a group called Viva Hot Babes. The group popularized the songs bulaklak and sayaw kikay. They've also been casted on movies. These girls are sexy hot. So most of the movies they played on were not suited for the young ages.
Let me start with who I think is the cutest of them all. Singer, actress, and hotty Cherry Hazel “Sheree” Bautista. I think she's one of the original member of the Viva Hot Babes. I found some interesting facts about her on the web. She has been in the cover of MAXIM and FHM Philippines. She began her career lounge-singing in her hometown of Cagayan de Oro at 16. Her debut single, which I actually like was "Heaven Knows."
Sheree on MySpace
Sheree on Friendster
Here's the "Heaven Knows" video:
The other girl was Michelle Bayle. Just as hot and just as sexy. Whew! But she's more likeable. She reminded me of Bernadette Sembrano when I met her for an episode in "Nagmamahal Kapamilya." Michelle is as friendly and down-to-earth as ate B. She welcomes any conversation and she can talk for hours. She was one of the last ones to come but the first one to accept to have her photos taken.
Michelle used to be a high school cheerleader in Canada. Cheered for the Toronto Argonauts, who are part of the National Canadian Football in 2000. We almost had the same birth day. She was on movies and tv series like Panday, Beautiful Life, Otso-otso pamela-mela wan, Lastikman, Bestman: 4 Better, Not 4 Worse, Jologs, Basta't kasama kita, Forevermore, I Think I'm in Love, Sanggano't sanggago, and Pangako sa 'yo.
Michelle's Website
Michelle on Friendster
Now here's the fun girl -- Myles Hernandez. She stood up before I could ask her for a photo. She smiled, with her cute dimple, and said "do you even know who I am?" All I could do was smile in shame because I had no idea who she was. hahahaha. But she was cool with it. We talked for while. She was the jokester on the group. She tried to guess how old I was and she was off by 5 years (younger). So that made me happy. We took a lot of pictures together. She kept asking if I'd watch their concert and I just answered with a smile :-)
Miles' Website
But there were times that she herself would joke around and say "puro lang kayo pakuha ng pictures, wala naman kayong mga tickets!" And then she said "mga epal kayo!" What the hell does that mean? First time I heard that word.
There are only two days in a year I anticipate most for big sale shopping. July 4th and Black Friday.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.
The term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).
In many cities it is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up hours before stores with big sales open. Once inside, the stores shoppers often rush and grab, as many stores have only a few of the big draw items.
Electronics and popular toys are always on the top of my list.
I set my alarm at 3:45 this morning so I could have a big chance of being one of the first persons in line. My plan was to be at best buy and grab one of the 12 available 22 inch Samsung flat screen monitor.
I got there shortly after 4:00am but the line was already all the way at the back of the building. There were probably over 500 of them lined up. Some of them camped out. Of course I backed out. There's no way I could get that monitor with the limited number of items they have. So I drove up to my second choice of shop -- Staples. But not without grabbing a free coffee from Best Buy. At least I got something out there.
I believe this would be my 3rd Black Friday at Staples. They always have great deals on electronics. I bought 3 items.
Here's what I got from them this year:
1) TomTom One 3rd Edition GPS ($104.99 after $20 Gift Card)
I wasn't really planning on buying this one but I mentioned it to my wife when I was browsing the Staples Ad. Of course she wasn't interested. But everyone in front of the line kept talking about the GPS on sale. There were Navicon, Magellan, and TomTom on sale. I was behind an old couple who were browsing the Ad, and I asked if I could take a look. Navicon was on sale for $99 and TomTom for $129.99. I thought to myself that this could really be a good deal. And then the old guy asked me what items I'd buy. I said the items on my list plus the TomTom. He talked me into buying the Navicon because of the better features than TomTom. I told him I've never heard of Navicon but I'd buy it based on what he told me. However there's only 6 available in the store and I was 7th in line. The first 6 on the line were planning to buy it. So it's a matter of who gets to them first.
The door opened and we all raced to the GPS station. But there was no Navicon. Only TomTom and Magellan. So I grabbed one empty TomTom box because there's only 3 left. Then we proceeded to the register only to find that it's packed with people. People that were behind us in the line. People that were lucky. Lucky to have grabbed the limited stock of Navicon.
I ran back to the GPS station and got another TomTom box and gave it to the old couple. We lined up in the register to get the GPS. But they were giving the GPS even to those people who do not have an empty box. Now we're all pissed! The old couple was able to grab one. The last one in stock. And I was next in line. That meant no GPS for me. So, I thought I probably wasn't meant to have a GPS. But the old couple was really nice enough to offer me the GPS. I wasn't gonna accept it but they insisted.
Well, I'm glad I took it. This GPS is really nice. It's very easy to use and startup is really quick. And it's handy and fits in my pocket so I can take it anywhere -- even indoors. I love the night mode color too. I'll write more review later....
2) Maxtor 500GB OneTouch 4 External Drive ($79.98 after $20 rebate)
Now this was on the top of my list. I needed an external drive because my 250Gb is filling up fast. And this drive is the cheapest external drive I could find. Another good feature here is the one touch backup feature. I haven't used it so I can't write a review on this one yet.
3) Altec Lansing PC Speaker VS4121 ($19.98 after $20 rebate)
Ain't that a thing of beauty? Wait 'til you hear its sound. It's amazing! This was on sale for 75% off the regular price.
Each satellite contains 2 x 28 mm full range drivers, as well as a 3” mid-bass driver that points downward. The satellite is rated for 6 watts per channel, but those 6 watts are used very wisely. The subwoofer contains a single 6.5” long throw woofer rated at 19 watts. The total continuous power is rated at a meager 31 watts RMS.
These speakers do not exhibit any hiss at elevated sound levels by themselves.
The bass is very pronounced and crisp and not boomy or indistinct. The music is very clear and neutral without any shrieking highs or boomy lows. This was well worth my twenty bucks.
Now, the only item left on my list was a flat screen LCD monitor. I was pretty sure Best Buy ran out of this so I headed to WalMart because they have a 19 inch Acer Monitor for $150. They still have a few lying around so I grabbed one. As I walked to the Register ready to pay for it, I bumped into a friend. He was just at Best Buy and told me that they still have the Samsung 22 inch monitors. But we both thought that they would run out pretty soon, so I went ahead and paid for my Acer Monitor. Afterwards I drive to Best Buy hoping that I could still get a Samsung. I was really aiming for that one because I've had a Samsung 19 inch for a while now and I just love every bit of it. I got there at around 7:30 AM and voila! They had like 6 more available.
The main reason I wanted to buy a flatscreen is for my daughter. She always use the computer but the PC she's using has this bulky 20 inch CRT monitor which emits too much radiation and I'm really worried about her because her face is like inches away from it.
SAMSUNG SyncMaster 22 inch LCD Monitor ($199.00)
March 13, Sunday, in my bedroom.
It was seven in the morning when I got a call from our Operations team saying they could not access one of our production servers.
It didn't take long for me to start troubleshooting the problem because I had my laptop next to my bed which was already connected to the office through VPN.
The server keeps on going down because of a memory chip problem. Parts are on their way and it should be fixed soon.
I went in to the server and checked around to see if there is anything else failing besides the hardware. I browsed through all the log files but didn't find any WARNING or ERROR messages pertaining to the problem we're having. I can only see what the problem is through the console. Weird.
Anyway, I checked all the running processes and they were all working fine. Including all the daemons. Daemons: why the hell did they use daemon as a term for a background process? I've known this computer term for over a decade but I never really wondered why it was called a daemon until now.
So I made a research. And I pretty much got everything I needed to know from dictionary.com. So here it is, copied-and-pasted.
dae·monP Pronunciation Key (d
m
n)
n.
- Chiefly British. Variant of demon.
- Variant of daimon.
- Computer Science. A program or process that sits idly in the background until it is invoked to perform its task.
n 1: one of the evil spirits of traditional Jewish and Christian belief [syn: devil, fiend, demon, daimon] 2: a person who is part mortal and part god [syn: demigod]
| Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University |
daemon
meaning, later rationalised as the acronym "Disk And Execution
MONitor") A program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies
dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is
that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a
daemon is lurking (though often a program will commit an
action only because it knows that it will implicitly invoke a
daemon).
For example, under ITS writing a file on the LPT spooler's
directory would invoke the spooling daemon, which would then
print the file. The advantage is that programs wanting files
printed need neither compete for access to, nor understand any
idiosyncrasies of, the LPT. They simply enter their
implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do with
them. Daemons are usually spawned automatically by the
system, and may either live forever or be regenerated at
intervals.
Unix systems run many daemons, chiefly to handle requests
for services from other hosts on a network. Most of these
are now started as required by a single real daemon, inetd,
rather than running continuously. Examples are cron (local
timed command execution), rshd (remote command execution),
rlogind and telnetd (remote login), ftpd, nfsd (file
transfer), lpd (printing).
Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to
have distinct connotations (see demon). The term "daemon"
was introduced to computing by CTSS people (who pronounced
it /dee'mon/) and used it to refer to what ITS called a
dragon.
[Jargon File]
(1995-05-11)
| Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2004 Denis Howe |
daemon
/day'mn/ or /dee'mn/ n. [from the mythological meaning,
later rationalized as the acronym `Disk And Execution MONitor'] A
program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for
some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the perpetrator of the
condition need not be aware that a daemon is lurking (though often a
program will commit an action only because it knows that it will
implicitly invoke a daemon). For example, under ITS writing a
file on the LPT spooler's directory would invoke the spooling
daemon, which would then print the file. The advantage is that
programs wanting (in this example) files printed need neither
compete for access to nor understand any idiosyncrasies of the
LPT. They simply enter their implicit requests and let the daemon
decide what to do with them. Daemons are usually spawned
automatically by the system, and may either live forever or be
regenerated at intervals.
Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to
have distinct connotations. The term `daemon' was introduced to
computing by CTSS people (who pronounced it /dee'mon/) and used it
to refer to what ITS called a dragon; the prototype was a program
called DAEMON that automatically made tape backups of the file
system. Although the meaning and the pronunciation have drifted, we
think this glossary reflects current (2000) usage.
| Source: Jargon File 4.2.0 |
daemon
the Greek form, rendered "devil" in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Daemons are spoken of as spiritual beings (Matt. 8:16; 10:1; 12:43-45) at enmity with God, and as having a certain power over man (James 2:19; Rev. 16:14). They recognize our Lord as the Son of God (Matt. 8:20; Luke 4:41). They belong to the number of those angels that "kept not their first estate," "unclean spirits," "fallen angels," the angels of the devil (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:7-9). They are the "principalities and powers" against which we must "wrestle" (Eph.6:12).
Today while still on the shuttle, on my way to the office, I finished reading Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
This little book put an interesting perspective on what we may expect in the afterlife.
The story was about a wounded war veteran named Eddie. An old man who has lived, in his mind, a life that is somewhat luckluster or uninspired. He is lonely and transformed himself into a bitter old man, consumed by the thought of not having to accomplished anything worthy in life. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, a seaside amusement park, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds, "keeping them safe."
On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart.
He woke up in heaven and encountered five pivotal figures from his life who showed him the true meaning and value of his life. One by one, these mostly unexpected characters reminded him that all of us is somehow connected in many ways; that all our stories are somehow intertwined. With each person Eddie meets, a part of his life is revealed, even if he does not appreciate its significance at the time.
The last person he met was a young girl from the Philippines. The girl he tried to save from fires he caused when he burned the huts where he, along with his fellow soldiers, were imprisoned and tortured for months.
Through these five people Eddie understandood what the real meaning of his life was. And it's his turn now to enlighten the others.
Monday, 11:40 AM, Doctor Lago's office, at Kaiser Permanente in Milpitas, CA.
The X-ray result was negative, but I felt something tender on your ribs which I suspect a hairline fracture.
Those were doc's words. I should be happy for not having any broken bones. But darn, it's very painful especially when I sneeze. He adviced me not to play for at least a month.
That's what you get for playing physically unfit!
Well, honey, this may sound unfit for a catch-22 phrase, but yeah, I play to get fit.
My wife always seem to be hesitant on letting me play basketball because I don't look healthy enough to play with the kind of guys who play here.
But It's just one of my ways to unwind after a whole week of hard work. Besides getting fit and all....
It happened at 2:00 AM this morning. It was about my brother.
This was one of those weird dreams. In my dream I was asleep and was dreaming of something else. This sub-dream was about me and my brother going to a church on a hill. Although I have never seen that church before, it looked familiar but there was something different about it. It was very old and was surrounded by ruins like that of the chittorgarh or the arch of the septimius.
Then an old man came and put his hand around my brother's shoulder and walked with him -- away from me. From that moment, I kinda knew it was only a dream and for some reason I knew what it was all about. My brother knew what was happening too. He came to me and told me that he was sick; that whenever he coughs his head starts to feel pain and his face starts to feel cold -- like ice; that he will soon be leaving us; and that this old man will show him the way to the next life.
Then the sub-dream was over. I woke up and looked for my brother. He was supposed to be sleeping next to me but he was gone. Then I saw him rushing down a hallway towards the bathroom. He was dragging his right leg because he couldn't bend his right knee. I saw my mom, woke her up, and told her what was happening. She ran after my brother and I followed her. But she was slow. I was pushing her forward when I realized -- she wasn't my mother. This lady had a long blond hair.
My brother collapsed in the bathroom but I was able to catch him before he fell onto the bathtub. I carried him outside and asked for help. I was crying and screming but nobody could hear me. I found a white guy sitting outside, next to the door, but didn't do anything. No-one could hear me so I yelled out louder and tried to punch the wall to get more attention.
Then, someone came -- my wife. She heard me moan so she woke me up.
I thanked God when it was over and that it was only a dream..... But my heart was pounding hard and I couldn't breath for a while.
To all our families and friends, we send our warmest greetings as we approach this wonderful day, the Christmas day. We pray that we all experience the joy, love and peace of Christ, who is the living icon of God’s love for us.
Christmas, as a holiday, is a time for fun and festivities; a time for family gatherings where we share love, fun and laughter over holiday meals; a time for our children to wait for Santa; a time for Christmas trees, ornaments, gifts, cards, lanterns and twinkling lights; and a time for boys and girls singing carols like "ang pasko ay sumapit."
But let us remember that Christmas day, a Holy day, is a celebration of the birth of Christ Jesus. A time for us to give thanks to God for bringing us the greatest gift of all. The ultimate gift of love that we must all share to promote peace. Peace that we all yearn for. When your families and loved ones gather for a meal on Christmas day, with open hearts and minds, pray for love and peace, especially on our land, Pilipinas.
6:35 PM, Tuesday night. I just got out of Vasco Station. The night sky is finally clear now. Gone are the obscuring haze or fogs that had enveloped the whole bay area for days. Now I can clearly see hundreds of cars ahead of me as we reach the foot of the Altamont hills. Cars, despite the heavy traffic, run faster than the posted limit. I can tell why. It has been a while since we had this high degree of visibility. I can see how excited everyone is.
Then I saw this one car swerving, almost hitting the highway divider. A few more inch and it would have been a deadly one. I was so close to him that time. I felt scared..... That it might happen again. And that this time, might be it.
I have had my own share of unfortunate experiences with road accidents. If I am a cat, I only got 4 lives left.
The Book
College days, 1991. I was crazy about software programming. And at the time, my favorite was Turbo Pascal. I was so into it that I bought (or copy) every book I see about this software. My friends Kotzki and Banal were crazy about it too. We kid ourselves saying we can write programs even with our eyes closed. The school even sent all three of us to a programming competition.
One afternoon, my friend and I went out and bought some books. I got the latest Turbo Pascal book day. It had lot of good programming techniques and undocumented functions. I was so excited that I could not wait to get home to read it. But when we got on the bus, we were not seated right away because it was full. We were standing in the isle. I was holding my book on my right hand, and my left hand on the handle bars mounted on the seats.
It wasn't long when a couple of guys stood up and gave up their seats because their stop was coming. I opened the book and started reading when suddenly, I felt my body being thrown backward so fast that the back of my head smashed on the handle bar so hard. I thought I'd pass out. The conductor who was standing in the isle was thrown to the back of the bus with both feet up in the air. I can't imagine what could have happened to me if I was still standing when it happened.
A bus hit us from behind.
When we got out, my friend asked me if I was ok. I said "I'm fine. Forget about me. Let's get back inside and find my book."
The Bus
One afternoon I was riding a bus on my way to my 6 o'clock class. We were at the south expressway and just passed the Bicutan exit headed south. The road was almost empty and the driver was just cruising at a considerable speed.
The seats on the left side of the bus fits 3 people while those on the opposite side, where I was sitting, could only fit 2. There was a guy sitting next to me. Our seat was close to the door.
Everyone was calm and quiet. Until the bus started swerving and then I could hear men and women screaming. The breaks wasn't working, shouts the bus driver. I looked at the people on the left side of the bus and wished I was seated in the middle of one of those seats, using the persons on the sides as my cushion. The driver swerved right and tried to hit the side wall and use friction to stop the bus. But he missed it. We were then headed towards a ditch and that would have been very deadly had we got into it. The driver made a sharp turn and had the bus turning left, towards the center divide. It was then that I decided to lift my feet, bent them, pressed my chest on to my legs and my head in between them.
The center divide was strong enough to halt the bus. Luckily, no-one was hurt. If the bus went through it, towards the opposite highway, a lot of people could have been harmed or even died. I was more in danger because I was at the right side of the bus.
The Jeepney
Magallanes, Midnight, 1998. Close call.
I can't remember if I worked late or went out with my friends that day. I ride a bus to get home but the buses usually stay only until 10 or 11 o'clock in the evening. And I just missed the last one. So the only choice was to ride a jeepney. Jeepneys are the cheapest form of transportation in the Philippines. They can carry as much as 20 people with ease. Two passengers at front, sitting next to the driver, and a couple of stretched seats at the back where 9 people on each side can sit.
At the jeepney station, there was already an empty one waiting. I chose to sit behind the driver because I thought it was the safest spot in a jeepney. I was the first one on board. It was going to be a long night because the driver would never leave without having his jeepney loaded with passengers. I paid my fare and fell asleep. Minutes have passed until I first felt the jeepney moved. It was almost midnight and the jeepney was on its way out of the parking lot. I returned back to sleep.
We had travelled a couple of miles when, while entering the south expressway, on a curve where the area was so dark because there was not enough light-posts, in Magallanes, a big truck, which seemed to have come from nowhere, was backing-up and on a collission course with our jeepney. Our driver was not quick enough to react and hit the truck. I was asleep and didn't hear any scream. Just a wild crashing sound, and the jeepney ended up under the big truck.
The two ladies sitting next to the driver were both badly injured with their faces covered with their own blood. Everyone at the back seemed to have been alright except for one.....
Newton's Law of Motion : Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Everyone didn't expect that we're going to hit something, even at the last moment, and some of them didn't even bother holding on to the handle-bars bolted on the ceiling. When the jeepney made a sudden stop, all those bodies have been thrown at me. I couldn't react bacause I was asleep. It felt like I have been squeezed under a pile of a hundred elephants. I was crushed and could not walk or even move for at least half an hour. And no-one even cared. I had to drag myself out of the wreckage.
The Tooth-less Driver
Our friend Cherry was about to leave for Canada that week. We planned to attend her going-away party but we stayed late in the office that day.
Jay-Arr drove us that night with Jenny's honda civic. She and Yuri, her boyfriend then - now her husband, were comfortably sitting at the back. We were all kidding about being worried that we might get an accident since Jay-arr and I are known to possess bad lucks when in a vehicle.
And so it happened.
We were about to cross EDSA highway when a jeepney hit us directly on the driver side. It missed our driver, but the engine was badly damaged. No-one was hurt. We all got out to confront the Jeepney driver but when he got out, he looked really young. He was just a kid, a teen-ager, missing all his front-teeth. I wanna punch him in the face, but how could I? He was just a kid. He didn't even have a license.
Well, we ended up missing Cherry's party and spent the rest of the night in a police station. And nothing happened. For days, we have been going after the driver and the jeepney's owner, but we never got anything from them. I feel sorry for Jenny. She spent a lot of money fixing her car. But the important thing was none of us got hurt in that accident.
The Flying FX
One morning, on my way to work, the traffic on the south expressway was unusually smooth-flowing..... Until we reached the Sucat area.
I was in an FX at the time.
Nowadays, jeepneys' main competitions were the van-type, air-conditioned vehicles (I think they were classified as AUVs but I'm not sure about that.) One of them is called the Tamaraw FX which we normally called FX. I like them because, for at least a couple of hours, I free myself from noise, heat and pollution.
We have already passed the Alabang exit, and were just cruising and enjoying the smooth flow of traffic, when we saw break lights from half a mile away, started to lit up. We were approaching the Sucat exit. The driver was hesitant to continue on and thought of taking the back roads. He asked us, his passengers, to decide where we wanted to go. We were still a quarter of a mile away from the exit but he already slowed down while other cars were still speeding, we could hear them honking as they passed. Before we could answer, we heard the people in the back screaming, "Oh my God! we're gonna get hit! we're gonna get hit." I knew what's going to happen so I grabbed the back of the front-seat and pushed myself in between the two guys on my sides and used them as cushion. Then I heard a thundering sound from behind.
The bus driver tried hard to avoid us. There must be a lot of cars, incoming or already next to it, in the right side of the bus so the bus driver chose to go left. But still hit us from the back-corner. It wasn't a direct impact, but was enough to make our car swerve and lose control. The impact was so bad that the FX was thrown side ways and was really out of control. The FX rolled over, twice, and landing on its top. The FX was turning, like a turtle on its back, for a few seconds before it finally stopped.
The FX driver was gone. He must have ran out or was thrown out through the completely smashed windshield.
The two women at front, next to the driver, were still there, crying; bleeding. They were lucky not to have thrown out.
The guy on my left was fine but I could only see the lower part of his body. He was lying on his stomach, with his head underneath the steering wheel. He crawled outside through the broken windshield.
The big guy on my right wasn't hurt, but the lady next to her was badly injured. Her face was smashed on the side-window which was shattered. Miraculously, all four passengers at the back were ok.
I was lucky to be alive and unharmed that day.
I got home and told the story to my mom. She started crying halfway thru the story. She went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water but she dropped on her knees first and started praying and repeatedly thanking God for I wasn't taken from her that day. It was really disheartening seeing her in agony. It breaks my heart seeing her in tears. That moment was more painful than any of of the unfortunate events that had happened to me.
Worried about Leaving, not Dying
It's been years since I've had an incident. I thank God for all those times I walked out alive. Whenever I tell these stories, a question about fear of death always pops up.
If we believe in God and understands His great promises concerning life after death, then there's no reason for fear. This does not mean to say, on the other hand, that one becomes either nonchalant or reckless concerning death, but only to say that the forbidding, mindless fear experienced by so many should be overcome.1
For me the thought of leaving my loved-ones is far worst than death itself.
Thank God It's Friday!
But I came in too early today. I got here in the office just before seven o'clock. I didn't take the train today so I flew in -- I mean I drove.
No-one's around yet and it's awfully quiet here. I've already finished reading my emails and I'm ready to eat my breakfast. But I checked out my friend's blog first coz it's been a while. Alfie is the one who inspired me to have this journal.
So I clicked on my FireFox and typed in http://elf-ideas.blogspot.com.
Wow! As I looked at the new stuff he put in since the last time I visited his blog, I was telling myself, this could take a while. This guy never ceases to amaze me. He has written tons of new stuff. It really honors me to have personally known someone who could write this great. I wish I can write as good as this eLf. He is just amazing.
Sa Aking Kaarawan --
Salamat Panginoon sa biyaya mong
buhay at pagmamahal.
Salamat sa aking ama at ina
Na sa akin ay nagbigay buhay at gumabay
Sana ay nandito ka pa mahal kong ama
Mama, lagi kong hangad ang makapiling ka
Salamat sa iyo aking kapatid
Marunong umunawa at laging mapagparaya
Pasensya na at ako ang anak na mas pinalad
Nawa'y ang pagmamahal ng isang kuya ay maging sapat
Salamat sa inyo aking kaibigan
Kapag kinakailangan, laging nandyan
Bakit ganon, parang ang swerte ko
Maraming nagmamahal saan man tumungo
At higit sa lahat
Salamat sa aking mahal na asawa
Ang mga sakripisyo mo sobra-sobra
Hindi ko alam kung paano ko masusuklian
Basta ako'y sa iyo magpakailan man
Salamat sa bunga ng ating pagmamahalan
Zoe Elianna, ang karugtong ng ating buhay
Sya ang nagbibigay tibay sa ating pagmamahalan
Nawa'y masundan na nang lalong sumaya sa ating bahay
Salamat panginoon sa biyaya mong buhay at pagmamahal.....
