age of consequence

You know, when it's not better it's good. We don't want to think the worst though it is the worst this morning ever to hit the northern provinces of the Philippines. It's not over yet, Parma the typhoon that went away came back to stay for days...that's so weird for a typhoon to do but yes it did happen and it wanted to sweep off whatever is on its path very "thoroughly" leaving more than the damages Typhoon Ketsana caused. Yup, our miracle was short lived, but people are not losing hope. God is with us in this most difficult times, as people have not lost initiative in helping each other.

Manila and the nearby provinces are recovering good, it's the Northern Provinces this time that's been badly damaged and is submerged in deep, murky waters. WE ARE ONCE AGAIN APPEALING for your PRAYERS. That there'll be no more casualties adding up to statistics, we have accepted our fate that properties and land doesn't belong to us but borrowed from nature. Everyone is accountable for mother nature's wrath, small island countries like ours are the most vulnerable to Earth's abnormal rising of water levels brought about by too much heat in the atmosphere.

This isn't a WARNING...

"We are at the age of consequence"

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Some beautiful photos of Philippines' Provinces of the North.

Ilocos Norte

Ilocos Norte

Laoag, Ilocos Norte

Baguio (Bag-yo)

Baguio
Pangasinan (Pan-ga-si-nan)
Pangasinan
Baguio
Vigan, Ilocos Norte
Banaue Rice Terraces (Ba-na-we)

We don't want all these to perish with bad, crazy weathers.

'Love each other, plant more trees!

xoxo,

Sassy.

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and yet another one

Please continue to pray for the Philippines as SUPER typhoon Parma/"Pepeng" is on its course to make landfall by noon tomorrow, Oct. 3. As you know we have not fully recovered from Typhoon Ketsana/"Ondoy's" onslaught last Saturday where many towns and cities are still submerged in murky waters. Typhoon Parma is said to be stronger than Typhoon Ketsana and already, Ketsana had brought an amount of rainfall that doubled the amount that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans.

It's a disturbing prediction that Parma will be stronger than the two, our land is already saturated in water, it wont be able to hold as much rainfall.

BUT, we are bracing ourselves for the worst, staying positive and holding on to prayers. People are evacuated to safer grounds while most are already staying at the evacuation centers citing that there's nothing "Typhoon Parma" could take anymore, since they've already lost their belongings to Ketsana. (and need I still say, they were chuckling while making that statement?) ^^ ahhh, the Filipino spirit,

"we always smile at things despite whatever things."


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Full Solar Eclipse

A friend of mine who's in Delhi, India is so fortunate to capture these photos and wrote a short account of it.

Photos by: Dona Diaz, July 22, 2009

"This morning I got a rare chance to witness a full solar eclipse here in Delhi. Said to be the longest eclipse of the century and only to happen again in the year 2132. I'll be dead by then.I'm extremely happy I took pictures, waking up so early was just so worth it..."

-Dona Diaz

Location: Delhi, India

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click here for the full feature:

Solar eclipse shrouds Asia in daytime darkness

Source: Yahoo! News

from an outfit to a bright turn ...

These are my windows... because I give my heart to it.

"Surprise! A meeting with the client and contractors in 2 minutes" ... my boss called out on me at the pantry while I was preparing to have my morning coffee ... I panicked. I was sooo dressed-down for a "not-expecting-any-meeting-with-the-client" Wednesday and practically had to make do with skinny jeans, pink RL Polo Shirt and choco-brown flats because I have NO time to change and didn't have my suit/jacket with me on this very day, while I usually have it, I could've easily put it on and it would make the difference!!! But what I have instead is: a Hollister hoodie, which will only make me lesser of a professional if I did wear that! aarrgghh... how can he do this to me?!

And so we went. Regardless of what I have on and what I know about these people I'm meeting for the first time ... what an impression I'm gonna make...hah! This is sooo brilliant of me! This is gonna go down in history!!! I mutter to myself as we drove to the client's office, walked our way to the lobby and in to the conference room ...

Making it to the meeting ahead of time made me feel so much better that I'm seated first while the others kept coming in and I wont have to parade around in my polo shirt and jeans to ease my way onto a seat. ^^ ... We waited a few minutes more, while I stayed self-conscious about whether I still have anything "more" unprofessional on ... like: are my earrings too big? is my lipstick too red? or did I put too much mascara? or I should have put on that expensive perfume ... those kind of thoughts ... and then, ack! my cellphone has dangling trinkets of pink plastic bears, 3 of them all lined up in a chain that dangles at the bottom of my flip phone! I immediately removed it ... 3 pink, plastic bears (jeez!)... biggest to the smallest ... they are sooo cute but at that moment they were like the most horrendous things I could get associated with ... this job sucks if it doesn't like cute! (I know.) But now ... the conference table is filled in by "grown, matured men" of 40 to 50-ish old, I knew I made the right decision of putting away those pink bears out of sight! Only me and my boss is nearing 30, I'm 28 and he's 29, but he was wearing one of his finest dress-shirts, khaki slacks, leather belt with a shiny silver buckle on ... and those, THOSE tan leather Lacoste gator shoes that he bought in Boston! ( ...sigh...) He makes me look even worse than I thought!

(breathing heavily.) ... The meeting rolled about site excavations, trucks, viewing decks, architects, building orientation... glass and aluminum frames ... we were dismissed ahead since we've already discussed our concerns and that ... we have NO problem with our schedule.

We then proceeded to the SITE.

Site...(aaahhhh... the ground location EQUALS heat, dust, mud, dirt, construction site, etc.) We walked a few blocks and the enclosed site was there, were trucks and excavation was on going, hah! who's laughing now?! Actually, there isn't anyone who's laughing but I just thought to myself that I have on the most site-visit-appropriate outfit between me and my boss!

It was business as usual, locations were discussed, steel tubes, frames ... dimensions, the works... I marveled at the ground and visualized how the building will look on it... It's a very unique love, between man and the "ground", when something as massive as to house businesses and people into one area is going to firmly stand on it, changing the landscape forever. It's iconic. It's one of those things that when I grow older, I'd be able to tell stories about...at that, I knew that I once again fell inlove with what I do as a job.

It takes hundreds of heads to work on just one building! ^^

Celebrate Earth Day.

I thought I'd be writing about Hollywood and how we know all about it here ... in a far corner of the world, we do know about Hollywood! But let's just save that thought for the real world outside the glitz and glamour, of fashion and gossip. The world outside is celebrating EARTH DAY and we had seen AL Gore at the mall ... uhmmm not the real deal of course! But just a production onstage with a huge screen playing the Inconvenient Truth, complete with props of a windmill and mountains. I'm glad they had that activity, that at least for us who were mere passers by had been reminded of what day is today...

"ah! it's Earth day, let's go celebrate!"

Ok were not really heavy activists for the planet earth and the biggest thing I ever did for mother nature was planting a tree 10 years ago in school... which is probably all grown and shady by now. Sorry that I didn't do much after, but carried canvass bags for shopping... and oh! I made a donation for the "Kapit-Bisig para sa Pasig Project" (arm in arm in saving the Pasig River) That in seven years, the Pasig River will be clean and rid of the slums that encroached the area. We have high hopes on the project, we just hope that people will do their part in saving the environment though it may begin in a small way, the effort becomes bigger when put together.

So... in celebration of the Earth day, we had a big, hearty dinner with friends... uhmm... let's just say it was an impromptu celebration that we had to think of a reason just to eat! (grr.) We even thought of celebrating our friend's birthday which isn't really today but we just wanted the birthday song by the waiters at Gumbo! (eyes rolling!) complete with maracas and bongos! haha I know, were crazy, but who doesn't do that in their lifetime? To pretend that there's a celebrant at the table? haha one of those days you know, when you're all tired from work and just want to hang out and have a decent meal ... fun for old people like us! Boring and stupid for others!

Well ... happy Earth Day all ... may everyone be protectors of all God's creations ... HUMANs included!

Of Husband and Biodegradable Plastics

more and more are going Bio

Our small home don't have gender issues when it comes to house chores. While I did the cooking my husband did the laundry and while I did the cleaning of the house my husband went to the grocery. Everything we have to work on together. But he does the dishes better because he leaves the sink dry and squeaky clean, while he always tells me to do the same, because I take too much time drying the dishes that I get a little "lazy" to completely dry the sink. >.< sorry hon... But what's so great about being able to share the responsibilities, we get to spend more time together, laughing. Though, at times he gets cranky when I spend half the day on the internet, doing facebook and tending on my pet Badgley. I totally understand why, haha he gets jealous of the time, but you know we spend 24 hours a day together. From home to work and back.

I'm sure a lot would wonder if we ever get tired being together. uhm... there are times when I also need space, when I also need time alone ... like when I really need to be alone like for buying him a present on his birthday, which has become a challenge for me because WE do go shopping together and it doesn't matter whether I'm shopping for underwear or buying makeup. He's just there, not helping me trying it on though or suggesting better colors, (that'll sort of freak me out!) But he's just there ... and ready to cash it out! haha (that's the best part!) He has no second thoughts in paying but of course, this is a marriage, time also comes when I do the paying. We share a lot and that's really good.

I guess if we stick to what works for us we'll be able to go on and on and on and on as we vowed to be.

Anyway, part of the reasons why I love my life now ... my husband being gender sensitive.

BACK TO WORLD ISSUES. I am currently keen on plastics...uhmm... not the persons! But plastics, real plastics that takes 500 years to decompose!!! Yeah, those! Everytime, I use one I make sure they are biodegradable. Or not use them at all.

Biodegradable plastics, I've mentioned them in one of my earlier posts. They are unbelievably TRUE. They exist and I hope that all the other stores would use the same material for wrapping if it's inevitable to use plastic. However, what makes me wonder is how they actually decompose, if it says biodegradable I assume that they shall rot on natural causes in a short period of time, but that's just my view as a person with common knowledge. But as my search on this progressed I saw some sites that said that these bags needs to be burned to get rid of, given that it is made of a biodegradable material, it wont do harm to the environment if burned.... uhm... this is quite hard for me to take ... "burning?" ... I'm anti-burning stuff unless for food. Besides if you ever encounter these biodegradable plastic material, they do look and feel plastic, without a hint that they are earth-friendly unless stamped with the word "BIODEGRADABLE"... So, NO! I'm not burning them... I'm not going to risk it, though I'm advised that it's not harmful whatsoever, I just wont. Just because it looks like plastic, feels like plastic ... it is plastic! But I'm truly glad that these inventions are made for the benefit of not just man but the environment. So thank you to all those who use these bags.

But if in doubt, "BYOB" (Bring Your Own Bag) to carry your shopping.

Going Green!

Well,what do we have here? ... a GREEN Bag! Nice. I do very much support the campaign for using the "Green Bag" at the SM Malls, actually they have already started using Biodegradable plastics which is really something ... I mean, I've never heard of Biodegradable Plastics before but now that they use it for every purchase made, it's indeed a BIG help to the environment.

And this "Green Bag"? I must have it ... and so does my mom! Actually, what it does is to lessen the use of plastics at all or even paper bags. Of course, even without the "Green Bag" the idea is there... use a BAG whenever you do your groceries or shopping instead of having your purchases be put in plastics or paper bags every time. That simple.

At least by this bit, I'm able to help save the earth and if there's more like me who are doing this bit ... the help is greater than we think is possible.