Mga Salawikain

From my clan's e-group. Enjoy:)

***

MGA SALAWIKAIN.. .(DAW)


* ANG BUHAY AY PARANG BATO, IT'S HARD.

* BEHIND THE CLOUDS ARE THE OTHER CLOUDS.

* DO UNTO OTHERS ... THEN RUN!!!

* KAPAG PUNO NA ANG SALOP, KUMUHA NA NG IBANG SALOP.

* MAGBIRO KA NA SA LASING, MAGBIRO KA NA SA BAGONG GISING, HUWAG LANG SA LASING NA BAGONG GISING.

* WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.

* ANG HINDI MARUNONG MAGMAHAL SA SARILING WIKA, LUMAKI SA IBANG BANSA.

* TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO ERRS IS HUMANS.

* PAG MAY USOK ... MAY NAG-IIHAW.

* ANG TAONG NAGLALAKAD NANG MATULIN ... MAY UTANG.

* NO GUTS, NO GLORY... NO ID, NO ENTRY.

* BIRDS OF THE SAME FEATHER THAT PRAYS TOGETHER ... STAYS TOGETHER.

* KAPAG MAY SINUKSOK AT WALANG MADUKOT, MAY NANDUKOT.

* WALANG MATIGAS NA TINAPAY SA GUTOM NA TAO.

* HULI MAN DAW AT MAGALING, UNDERTIME PA RIN.

* ANG NAGLALAKAD NG MATULIN, LATE NA SA APPOINTMENT.

* MATALINO MAN ANG MATSING, MATSING PA RIN.

* BETTER LATE THAN LATER.

* AANHIN ANG PALASYO KUNG ANG NAKATIRA AY KUWAGO, MABUTI PA ANG BAHAY KUBO, SA PALIGID PUNO NG LINGA.

* NO MAN IS AN ISLAND BECAUSE TIME IS GOLD.

* WHEN IT RAINS ... IT FLOODS.

* PAGKAHABA HABA MAN NG PRUSISYON ... MAUUBUSAN DIN NG KANDILA.

* ANG BUHAY AY PARANG GULONG, MINSAN NASA IBABAW, MINSAN NASA VULCANIZING SHOP.

* BATU-BATO SA LANGIT, ANG TAMAAN ... SAPUL.

* TRY AND TRY UNTIL YOU SUCCEED... OR ELSE TRY ANOTHER.

* AKO ANG NAGSAING ... IBA ANG KUMAIN. DIET AKO EH.

* HUWAG MAGBILANG NG MANOK KUNG ALAGA MO AY ITIK.

* KAPAG MAIKSI NA ANG KUMOT, BUMILI KA NA NG BAGO.

* IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, SHOOT THEM. (NALUNDASAN)

* AN APPLE A DAY IS TOO EXPENSIVE.

* AN APPLE A DAY MAKES SEVEN APPLES A WEEK. (REALLY EXPENSIVE)

* AANHIN PA ANG DAMO KUNG ANG GARDEN MO'Y SEMENTADO.

* AANHIN PA ANG DAMO KUNG BATO NA ANG USO.

can't get over it

It's been almost a year now.
And I still can't get over it.
I don't think I ever will.
***

The most beautiful rainbow...

The most amazing sunsets...

The most majestic canyons...

Greatest newfound friends...

Best boyfriend in the world...

....BEST TIME OF MY LIFE ....

weightoffhershoulders

Thank you God for letting me submit my FYP final draft today. Only you could have made it possible.

But yeah, I don't know if I can say that "I could have done better". I don't know whether my examiner or supervisor, or both, will faint when they read my work. I'm pretty sure it is not up to their standard, just like everything else I do.

I tried you know. I started my FYP as early as I could in September, right after my killer Design Project which had been the bulk of my blog posts during that time too because of the way it's been sucking the life out of me. There was no way to tell that early that the next challenge (FYP) would be much, much worse.

I can truthfully say I've labored so much at the lab. There were times during the first semester that I was there every single weekday. Sometimes weekends. And the worst part was I was there during Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve..and all the important holidays I never dreamed of "skipping" for anything. I traded my FYP for time spent with family for the December holidays. I think that's what made me really hate it so much. Now I can say that it's TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT.

I was confident that I had a headstart among my peers, because I know most of them started only in December or the second semester. But even with that I still had to struggle so much. Even with those sacrifices my work is still CRAP for them damn supervisors (only one is official, the other one is somebody whose role I really don't know how to define).

Everytime I approach my supervisor to clarify things with my FYP, he shoos me away. He makes me feel stupid when I present to him my understanding of what's happening. He quickly dismisses me and tells me to go talk to the-other-one-whose-role-is-not-clearly-defined. Young Scientist of the Year what, where got time to answer stupid questions from a struggling undergrad???

Then the other one. I don't know whether to be grateful to her or not. She meddles with my work and sometimes it seems like she is reaching out to help me out of her goodwill, but sometimes I think it's because her ass is also at stake if I don't do well. So a while ago I gave her a copy of my thesis, and we spoke on how I could improve on it. But I mentioned that maybe we could talk some other time because I didn't sleep the whole night even up to the time we were speaking, so my brain can't really absorb anything. Instead of being understanding, she just laughed it off like it's no big deal I didn't sleep and I was tired. What's worse is that she beagan talking about her previous student who got an A, and how she's so good and stuff.

But what really takes the cake is when she commented: "See, I get better students in the past".

Like, WTF woman. My dead brain and worn out body couldn't take it anymore, but I just kept quiet. I kind of regret not retorting back: "Well that is most unfortunate indeed. I completely understand though, because I had much better supervisors in the past too, and I know it sucks how it is right now."

Throughout the project duration, I've been given feedback on where I was lousy at. I am unaware about the good things I did, if I have any.

The biggest difference between my Design Project and Final Year Project is the kind of supervisor I had. For Design Project I had a mentor, who patiently pointed out my flaws so I can improve, and gave out tremendous support and encouragement for me to carry out the process of improving. For my Final Year Project, I just have these superiors who don't give a crap, which drives me to do the same thing.

Wow. I think it is draining for anybody to read whatever I post nowadays. I feel bad too that my parents had to take in the pure, uncensored rant by my sleep-deprived self that I emailed them right after I was given that inappropriate comment this morning.

I am looking forward to better days though. Really. I sincerely can't wait to get out of here and fix my broken self.

PS thank you for those who bear with me through all of this, even when the ugly side of me predominantly surfaces. i am going to get my happy self back soon

5:39am

She doesn't know what had become of her. She used to be grateful for being given the opportunity to be where she is now, but now she is just spiteful. She is tired of everything, of having to conform. She is confused whether what she is doing really defines "doing her best", because it had made her numb and bitter and apathetic. She wants to please her parents, because she had always been driven by their approval, by their pride for her accomplishments. She has a whole bunch of relatives who are proud of her back home. If only they know of her struggles, of how she is tempted to overdose on Panadol pills that are primarily there to numb her throbbing headache, which she reckons may also be used to forever alleviate her of her misery. But she believes in God, in Heaven, and in Hell...and she still looks forward to that day when she will be with her love who promised to marry her.

A tear falls from her right eye as she contemplates on her dreams which she thinks are too simple for somebody given the opportunities thrown at her. She doesn't even want to share them to anybody for fear of being frowned at, except for that person who knows her best and bothers to listen to what she wants.

She is really tired. She wants to escape. Or even just sleep.

:S

Mama Papa pagod na po ako.

Surprise!

I am here again. What can I do, I am always in front of the computer these days doing my thesis and I take small breaks to freshen up. As usual I was researching for more stuff to put in my paper when I found this!!!

It's a schedule for some conference. Then I wondered, huh? My project is exactly like that, and if they've had a conference about it already, then what I'm doing now is not novel stuff anymore. Then I scrolled up again and found out that the consortium is still in about 2 month's time!!! (That treatment facility in the picture is where I go to on Thursdays to collect wastewater by the way).

Then have to pay somemore. It's interesting. I don't know whether this is some divine sign that I shouldn't treat this whole thing as crap because, well, my findings could potentially contribute to what will be showcased there. But of course it will all be credited to my supervisor's name lah.

Hmm, I wonder then how they will grill me during the oral presentation in school.

to the max

I would rather eat cow dung and dog barf than go through this FYP thing again.

One out of the 22 precious years of my life is enough already.

Matter of Taste

I 've read this before and it made me chuckle. Haha stress reliever talaga. Thanks Aldwin for sharing. I'm re-posting it here by the way:)

MK, it has some of the stuff I told you about before hehe:)

Matter of Taste
By Matthew Sutherland

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.
The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.
It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.
Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner, bedtime snacks and no one saw me take that cookie from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count.
The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines . If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the side walk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.
Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines :
Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK , I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.
One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!").
This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great!
In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.
Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.
I also share one key Pinoy trait --- a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!
It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS.
Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.
Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.
And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...
The Filipino, of course, has a well - developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet.
"What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"
Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum,yum. Bon appetit.
WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.
The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it.
Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.
Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like - well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping . None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.
Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.
Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where come from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent!!!
Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.
Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.
More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).
Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.
That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila --taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.
Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao , believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.
And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?
How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.
Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?
Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin?
Where else but the Philippines !
Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

*_*

I AM FREAKING FED UP.

Okay so as usual I am still doing my FYP and I'd like to take a break and go to Cheers (convenience store) and buy some noodles or something. As I was about to go, I realized I would be leaving my laptop behind. Then I remembered that's exactly what I did a while ago. I absent-mindedly went to the toilet and lingered there for a while and left my laptop prey for itchy hands. No wonder those people at the other table (I'm at YIH study room by the way) were looking at me. Now I know why, probably they were thinking how stupid it is to leave one's laptop unattended in public areas. That's what I think too when I see somebody doing that. But now, being on the other end of the situation, I realized it just happens even if historical records show that one had been careful with his/her things.

Whatever lah.

I cannot wait to get out of NUS. Furreeeaaaall.

Final year project finally coming to an end...almost there almost there

So I was at the Statistics department computer cluster (Thanks Joseph) last night/ early morning to do my thesis. I was in front of the computer, surrounded by books and leafing through my printed references I got from the web when suddenly I felt some sort of pain. Then I saw a bright crimson droplet on my finger and it was spreading like it had a life of its own. At first sight of blood I felt weak, but then at the same time I felt doing something crazy (around 3 am what) so I reached for the sheet that I printed my FYP graphs on and started writing this using my own blood as ink:


So there. A paper cut on my right middle finger prompted me to do this instead of, well, other acts of defiance or whatnot you can do with your middle finger.



This is a part of my FYP all-nighter survival kit.



This is the paper bag containing some of my FYP references I lug around school to do my thesis writing at the Engin computer cluster. It gave up already.


But I won't. Only one more week to do for this FYP thingamajig and I'd have my final draft already. Oh goodies I can't waaaaiiiiiiiiiiitttt. It'd be like a heavy, heavy burden lifted off of me.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Meeting halfway between sunset and sunrise

I really, really like this blog post by this nice stranger I stumbled upon online. I can totally relate.

After NUS

I will be working for....

Thank you so much Lord for this. It's one less thing to worry about, but the level of anxiety lifted off is really significant. Now I can focus more on more urgent issues at hand, such as my FYP due in less than two weeks.

Thank you Robs for telling me about this company!!! I had two rounds of interviews, but it was mainly because the operations manager had a meeting and hence I was asked to come back for a second round. Both interviews were pleasant ones. The first one was solely with the HR manager, and at first he appeared kinda...not so friendly. Haha. I guess because it was too early in the morning??? 8 am what. But I smiled and smiled and smiled a lot, and after a while he began to smile too and became more engaged in the conversation. Actually, he wanted to to speak more than hear answers from me I guess haha. It was really good I did extensive prior research on the company, and I had a lot of things to add when he was telling me stuff about the company.

Oh and that black NUS clearbook served its purpose well too. It contained all my interview arsenal such as copies of my resume, NUS transcript, cover letter, reference list, certificates from previous part-time jobs and even pictures from the Singapore Scholarship awarding ceremony.

The second interviewer was a really nice Australian guy (the company's head office is based in Australia). At first he was just looking at the application form I filled up which was handed out by their company when I first came. An attention grabber was my stint at the Grand Canyon (for the first interview too!). Then I offered to let him see my certificate if he's interested. He said he was so I gave him the whole of my NUS clearbook and he began to leaf through the contents one by one and asked me questions about them, which I gleefully answered. And then of course he had to ask me about civil engineering stuff.

This was the most interesting part!!! I couldn't believe myself!!! Thank you Lord for letting me be able to communicate to him using civil engineering jargon.

Actually the most important thing I guess is my genuine eagerness and enthusiasm to work in this field and for their company. I am really glad that I didn't totally give up on pursuing a career related to my field of study. It was only very recently that my views were broadened, that there are other possible starting points in engineering other than DESIGN WORK which I do not want to do (remember my post about my first interview??? haha)

For this one, I will be out in the field. I will get my hands dirty and I will be learning through a hands-on approach. My eyes will witness how a field abuzz with cranes and construction workers would finally transform into this beautiful and exciting new downtown and tourist attraction.

Then one day further down the road, I can point to the structures that beckon and tell my kids "Mommy helped build this thing!" Haha:)

PS To be honest, the reason why I seriously began to consider being a civil engineer, is that my would-be grandfather-in-law is one one of the greatest civil engineers in the whole of America. He is a world-class engineer and he even carries the name of the love of my life, who was named after him. Yes there is a cheesy part in this post =p

WTF

I am really sick and tired of all this school shit.

Happy

This is one of the highlights of my day:) I've always been an average student in class, especially in my engineering subjects (first year I used to be way at the bottom and it's really good I've made some progress). So yeah, having my classmates who are in the Dean's List wanting to see my paper is really an ego-booster for me. Plus, having my lecturer ask for my permission to send out my report in class is really something. Yay:)

9 months and counting!!!

Happy 9th monthsary MK!!!:)

Well this is my first successful attempt at using iMovie. Sorry I couldn't compress it any better than this, it keeps on dying out on me when I try to go for the one with no loss of quality.

I'll be better next time! :)

Please help us in our survey

Hello friends, online buddies, ex-classmates, acquaintances, and anybody with working experience be it part-time or full-time...

PLEASE HELP ME AND MY GROUPMATES in our project by participating in this short survey. We need about 50 respondents, so if you could just spare some time off to answer some questions (completely anonymous), we would really really appreciate it!!! :) :) :)

Here is the survey link.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nPqZrm_2bw14N7awNR31QUAQ_3d_3d

Yaaaaaay thank you!!! God bless!!!

Long Overdue Pinas Trip Blog Post

I've already posted these pictures in my Pinas Trip Multiply album, and I am blogging using Multiply, but since it has this brilliant means to cross-post to my Blogger blog, then I'm gonna put up these pictures here again. ;)

You know you are in the Philippines when you see a jeepney! Purple one somemore.

And when you see a baby blue and baby pink-colored overpass!

And of course anti-Gloria activists and their black balloons!

My Mommy (maternal grandmother) and Mama.

Tito Larry

The very skilled coconut vendor.

Cooking my mostest favoritest Filipino dish, adobo.

They were the ones cooking, and me...erm, busy documenting the events.

Silhouette of Taal Volcano. It was foggy when we came.

Ahhh inihaw na baboy, java rice, and sumkinda dried fish with toyo, suka, onions..the works. Heaven.

Halo-halo! Mix-mix!

I had to bring Pooh bear along in lieu of the one who gave it to me.

My parents and their sexy backs. Almost 23 years of marriage and still holding hands:)

Mama and Papa

The salesman-cum-saleslady, and another salesman at Kultura shop.

Dimple, Mama, and Papa

Papa's favorite picture.

Papa: happy

TV: drama

Papa: less happy

TV: more drama

Papa: Erm....

TV: even more drama

Papa: CANNOT TAHAN ANYMORE SIAAA!!!

Mama: cut and paste in photoshop issit??

Me: mama take my picture when I'm jumping okay

I said when I am in the air!!!

Bacolod chicken inato with sisig rice!!!!! droooool