friendillion

Yes ladies, Don’t get married yet. Enjoy the life of being single first. Don’t be in a rush to marry the man of your dreams. Or have the baby of your own. That will come in due time. Rather, relish the privilege of being a “Bachelorette” . The life of little responsibilities, bounteous travel & adventures, and more importantly…. total “Freedom” ! Cassandra (not her real name), who is in this picture, is a friend of mine based in Tokyo. She is also a Web Developer like me and enjoys the perks of flexible working hours and earning potential. She left her parents after graduation and immediately got a promising job in Japan. Everything was doing well for Cassandra. Her career, her adventure for new food discovery and yes…. her love life. That is the reason why I didn’t declare her real name because she has a over jealous boyfriend. My friend is so madly in love that she probably could be tying the knot this year right….. Eeennkkk, WRONG!!!! Marriage is not in her mind…. well...

Do you ever get that feeling that when you take your long vacation then suddenly you miss home? That happens habitually when you stay in your vacation spot for too long. You begin to miss stuff at home like your Wifi speed, the Malls, your favorite Restaurants, and the sense that you’re being updated on all things. Your vacation spot or Province of your selection, though blessed with natural resources and beautiful surroundings, probably doesn’t have the things that big cities like Manila have. So these Metropolitan people are most of the time forced to go back to Manila, afraid of being left out if they stay longer in Rural places. Well, that’s not the case in San Pablo, Laguna. It’s a 1st class city in the south of Luzon. With a population of less than 300,000 locals, the place is popularly known as the “City of Seven Lakes” ! San Pablo has a cool climate owing to its location. It is nestled in the foothills of 3 mountains: Mount Banahaw , Mount Makiling and the Sierra Mad...

When a dog gives birth, they normally have 6-8 puppies in the litter. Simply considering a number of young animals born to an animal all at once or, in other words, multiple births from an animal. There will always be the “Weakest Link” ! A Runt that is used to depict the smallest or the weakest of all the siblings in the litter. That Runt will be needing a lot of extra special care and attention to ensure that they can feed enough and are not left out by the other bigger puppies. The Runt have a lot of disadvantages. Everyone seems to warn everybody against picking the runt of the litter…. saying that the puppy will be sickly, have personality flaws and behavior problems. They are often left out in the cold. My Son (Lorenzo) is a runt in the litter. His sibling and older brother (Luigi) was born normal, weighing in at 8 lbs at the time of his birth, and grew up intelligent, athletic, and was loved by many. Lorenzo, on the other hand, was born just above 5 lbs. He has a p...

Gadget or Chess? What do you like to play? Most kids will make the obvious choice but little did they know that even though they are quite entertaining.. they are falling for a big trap! These gadgets (Smartphones, PCs and iPads do cause harm in so many ways like…. Addiction, Distraction, Shortened Attention Spans, Reduced Reading, Lack of Exercise, Disrupted Sleep, Damaged Eyesight, Radiation, and many more. I must say it’s time to “ Rethink Their Wisdom ”! In comes the game of Chess! This popular game goes way way back in the Gupta Empire. Unfortunately, kids of this day and age have forgotten this board game or even worst didn’t know it exist. I always make it point to let my children know how important this game is and what benefits they will be getting from it. Chess can do a lot of things to kids and adults alike. It can Raise your IQ Level, Sharpen Your Memory, Teaches Planning and Foresight, Teaches Creativity, Promotes Abstract Thinking, Develops Patience & Thoug...

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day! While we are all accustomed to give importance to our mothers, wives, and even daughters… for me, however, there is a different type of mother that lingers in our society. Her name is Sr. Mary Grace Rillo, Superior of the Carmelites in the province of Lipa City, Batangas. Although she is fully devoted in the house of God, she makes time to check on the well being on each and every member of her family (even to the farthest degree). Sr. Mary Grace is a Scholastican and the eldest among her siblings. She should be taking care of the properties, businesses of her family but instead she is living the call to contemplative life in a powerhouse of prayer. I grew up knowing that I have an aunt who is a nun at one of the church in Batangas. I remember that my Grandmother (Tita Caring) and my Mom used to visit Sr. Mary Grace’s church regularly. As a child, I always get bored going to that place. There’s not much to do there but “Sit and Pray” . But I always been...

Me and my family went to Matabungkay in Lian Batangas just to swim on the beach. We knew before that there are some locals who used to set up ropes for donation for their April fiesta. Now it’s different…. We were surprised to see that there is now a 25.00 pesos Environmental Fee . And that is not for the entire family or entire group… it’s Php 25.00 per head. Isn’t that a little “ Overkill ”? This is Batangas were talking about not Coron Palawan. I mean I have no problem paying up the fee but my concern is… 1.) Does it have to be Php 25.00 per head. 2.) Are the Collected environmental fees will be put transparently into a general fund that will be used for improvement of tourism infrastructure. According to the municipal of Lian Batangas, a population of 50,000 residents, that they will implement collection of the said fees for the protection of their beach, their tourism, and their town. So before paying the Environmental Fee, I stopped my car, went down, and interviewe...

What is your weekend look like? Stay in Manila or Head out to Tagaytay? Tagaytay is considered to be the “ Second Summer capital of the Philippines ” with the first being Baguio due to its cool climate thus is a favored destination from those relatively more humid areas of the Philippines. With an average elevation of 2,000 feet, the popular place has become probably the most visited area on the weekend. Most urban dwellers visit the city as a reason for escape on their everyday busy life. They drove to Tagaytay normally to dine and unwind. It’s a perfect getaway! Me, on the other hand, wants to shake things a little. Dining is fine but sooner or later you will run out of restaurants to go to. Believe me, I’ve been passing through Tagaytay for most part of my life and I’ve been to several places… and dining out becomes from exciting to boring. So I did the “ Unthinkable ”! I searched, asked, and looked for relatives, friends, even enemies who are living in Tagaytay. Most ...

Where the hell is Suriname? Is it a country? Or the hottest restaurant in town? I wouldn’t have known until this girl (in the picture) came along. Her ancestors came from that place and yes… SURINAME IS A COUNTRY! Suriname is the smallest country in South America with a population less than 600,000 (5% of Metro Manila’s population). Despite its small size, Suriname is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse countries. No group forms a majority, and yet there is very little ethnic tension between them. The largest group are the East Indians, followed by Maroons, Creoles, Javenese, Chinese, Levantines and Jews. This is a legacy of centuries of Dutch rule, which entailed successive periods of forced, contracted, or voluntary migration by various nationalities and ethnic groups from around the world. But what I find more interesting is the country’s safeguarded nature. Nowadays, in most countries the ancient forests have long been cut down or reduced to smaller sizes. But in Su...

Today, I am no longer eating rice. I won’t be eating any of it. As much as I love to eat rice that goes well with popular Filipino dishes like Sinigang, Kare-Kare, and Adobo… I just naturally need to look for alternative ways like oats, porridge, fruits & green vegetables. That’s how it will go from now on. In the past few weeks, I’ve been exercising aggressively. But I know that exercise won’t be enough so I need to cut on my food intake. So I tried to reduce my rice from Unlimited Rice to 1-2 cups. Then it went down to just 1 cup of rice per meal. But somehow, I am still not content with the results. In comes Mike. A neighbor of mine were we used to play Badminton & Basketball in our compound. Mike was able to reduce his weight drastically just by taking Coconuts as his regular diet. He just eats the meat of the fruit and the juice. He goes by just doing that regularly. So me and Mike talked and I asked a lot of questions and what suggestion does he needs to gi...

Visita Iglesia is a tradition where people visit at least 7 different churches on Holy Thursday & Good Friday. It is one of the most popular Holy Week panatas, or sacred vows, that Filipino Catholics make. So I did my research on Google Maps and look for popular churches in Metro Manila. Although there are a lot of beautiful and famous churches in the city, I just don’t wanna go there just for the sake of it. Plus, the popular ones are the most crowded so I added some more research… until I found my 7 churches. The objective is to get 7 churches that will give significance and moral lesson to me and my family. So here are my 7 Churches and the 7 Lessons that we learned from it… 1.) REMEMBER THE DEAD, PRAY FOR THE LIVING (St. John Bosco Parish, Makati) => This church has been the Funeral chapel for our dearly departed (Martinez Family). This place gives us a lot of reason to remember them. The happy times together and why we will always cherish them forever. We als...