The Loch Ness Mystery

The word "Loch Ness" has been used widespread and is known worldwide, for it's not about Loch Ness itself but the legend of the "monster" that lives within its waters. Loch Ness is a large and deep freshwater lake situated in the Scottish Highlands. The Loch Ness monster is probably one of the most popular weird sightings that anyone knows about, it has been portrayed in the television and is widely used. Many believe that the monster was a dinosaur that was able to survive for a long time, many also have picture and videos as proof for the monster that was believed to be there. There have been a lot of folklore and hoaxes about this legend but no one has provided sufficient evidence to why there has been such sightings of a monster, even scientists and experts could not have sufficient information for the sightings.

FACEBOOK: Get Out of My Life!

With all the modern technology and high-tech gadgets we have now it is no doubt that we are all being influenced by it, both in a good or bad manner. With the technology we have now we are able to reconnect with all the people we know and even meet with new faces, schedule events, play games and even send virtual gifts, this is all possible with the social networking sites we have now, and I guess everyone knows what I'm referring here - Facebook!

Facebook has greatly influenced everyone's way of living, it's like they have another world that only they can relate to. It served a lot of importance to people by letting them reconnect with long lost friends, it also serves as a way to acquaint and have meetings with the comfort of your own home. Although facebook has a lot of advantages, its disadvantages weigh as much. There are a lot of people now - especially students - that are completely disclosed in their lives and that they only thing about facebook and spend too much time doing facebook. Many are losing studying and homework time because of facebook, they procrastinate just to open their account and even lack sleep just to update; as troubling as that may sound I can't help it but admit that I am also one of those who are addicted to facebook.

As troubling as it sounds, it gets worst since I spend so much time doing facebook, my once active lifestyle has slowly depleted. I even got sick for a couple of days and my doctor prescribed that I should get active and go out more. Those sayings made me realize that there is something more important to do that just facebook. Just a few weeks ago I started to lessen my time in the computer and since I am getting really busy with my school, I only limit myself to at most 2 hours of facebook.

Technology is not a burden it's the abuse of man that made it that way. Facebook addiction can be avoided if one can have proper time management and control to one's self.

Hobby as a Form of Inspiration

Hobbies are recreational activities that help us forget the stress and hassles of everyday living. There are a lot of hobbies a person can do, the range is endless; one can do sports or photography, it can be as crazy as sky diving to as boring as knitting. Everyone of us, rich or poor, has there own hobby, even if they may not know it is a hobby of theirs, it may not be only one thing but a lot of things that define who you are. Even I have a lot of hobbies that I really enjoy doing. I really like to eat, sleep, do facebook, watch DVD's and a lot of other things old people consider being "lazy" but it is my form of recreation, but I'm not at all lazy, I often do jogging and sometimes have walks with some friends. I may have a lot of this "unproductive" hobbies but the one that I'm most proud of is that I'm really fond of being in the kitchen and cook and bake a lot of different kinds of food.

Being a foodie myself, I REALLY enjoy food, I even consider myself as a food connoisseur at times. I grew this fondness of food when I was still young when my Uncle always let me try a lot of different kinds of exotic dishes, since we went out a lot and go to different places at that time. He served as a model for my inspiration for food and it's when I get to see outside, in the restaurants that I really get inspired into making new things. When at home and feeling a bit bored I just go to the kitchen and conjure something up with what I can find. Even though I had my failures it never stopped me from doing the thing that I really like, and amidst all that I also had a lot of successes.

Through this hobby of mine, I am able to feel relaxed even though I always keep myself busy. It is also a means of having peace in myself and just to forget my problems for a while. The most enlightening part is when others get to taste what you have made and there's this feeling of satisfaction in their faces. And it's when you see others that are happy for what you have done for them that makes you happy as well.

Fire Ruins Californian Suburbia

Supposedly, I was going to do a reaction on the earthquake that hit Churchill and other parts of New Zealand a few days ago, but then I came across this article about the recent fire in San Bruno, California. The fire apparently started from a blast of a broken gas line that sent flames through over 50 houses, and the numbers are increasing as the fire spreads through the neighborhood. A lot were shocked as the blast could be heard from miles away and the fire soared through the sky. So far, only 1 death has been reported but many lost their homes and belongings. It was still unclear how long it took to control the fire but they were still at it for half a day and between 100 and 200 firemen were at the scene to control the inferno.

Its times like these that you really have to be prepared for the worst. Knowing that fire fighters acted quickly to extinguish the blaze it still took then a lot of time, if you think about it what if emergency cases like these happens in the Philippines, are we ready to act quickly? Are we equipped for the job? Do we have enough workforce to help out the public in times like these? These are the question that I ask for it is better that we are prepared than having to face the consequences thereon.

Conflicts: Food for Relationships

Conflicts are inevitable between relationships, not just intimate relationships but the relationship you have with your friends and family. Having these conflicts strengthen and test the trust between relationships. Being able to resolve conflicts help everyone of us to do better in our lives. I have learned in the story "The Carpenter's Gift" that conflicts must be resolved so that relationships can be built stronger. I have also been in a lot of conflicts with friends but we let our prides down and find ways to be able to resolve these conflicts to make us feel well and break the awkwardness between us.

Wonders of Mt. Apo

Mt. Apo as we all know is the tallest mountain in the Philippines; having to read an article entitled "The Mysterious Mountain" gave me more appreciation in our own natural landmark. As I was reading the article it really crept me out, knowing that Mt. Apo actually had "snow caps" which were actually sulfur deposits. It really "fed" my knowledge as I was reading through the article that Mt. Apo had a lot of geological impacts because its not just a mountain, it's actually a mountain on top of a mountain. It was also very interesting to know that there were actually human sacrifices being done their in the mountain in order to please Gods.

Having read the article was not difficult to understand but at the same time some parts were out-of-this-world. The part where it had to talk about the geology of the mountain was a little bit confusing since I don't have such a narrow knowledge in geology, you have to review the terms in order to understand what was being meant. The entire article was very interesting to read, it was very informative as well. Knowing that there is so much to see in Mt. Apo gave me quite a thrill in going there.

A Little Appreciation Won't Hurt

Manners are the socially correct way of acting, they are important in expressing one's kindness and gratitude. We all need them to be able to leave good impressions on other people and to be able to develop relationships with them. Having well manners is great but with the generation today people are losing their well mannered behavior.

From what I have read in this story entitled "No One Stops to Say 'Thank You' Anymore" that even a simple "thank you" can show so much to appreciation. Most people today speak so much rude language that it becomes so common for them and that it is normal for them to speak such languages. For me, showing a little respect and well mannered behavior can have such a big impact on how people will react and have impression on you.

Smarts vs. Elbow Grease

The difference between the impossible and
the possible lies in a person's determination

-Tommy Lasorda


In this generation, being successful is a major concern; you have got to have the wits and determination and also the intellect and hard-work to strive whatever you might want to attain in life. But the question is which outweighs which, intelligence or the diligence to work hard. According to Tommy Lasorda, in a very powerful line of his, one can only achieve something through his persistence and focus. Through hard-work and determination one can achieve their goals and that they will be able to be successful. A teacher of ours told us this story about a girl who had that much determination to go to an American college, which she successfully did.

Growing up, my father always told us that with hard-work comes success and that intelligence is nothing without hard-work. I always believed in what he said, it was a sort of a motivation for me to be able to be where I am now. By refuting that intelligence is nothing without hard-work, im not trying to imply that intelligence is worthelss, of course it's not, you just have to mix it up with some labor. Being able to balance your life will always lead to good, and that having focus on what you really want will always help you to be successful.

The Toys are Back for the Third Time!

This week we had a lot of holidays and there’s nothing more enjoyable to do during these boring, lazy days than watch movies; and I watched a lot of movies this week. It started last Monday when a few friends of mine spontaneously decided to watch a movie in the cinema. So, we went to the cinema and watched this movie entitled “A Nightmare on Elm Street” it was a horror movie but it wasn’t really that good, it was very tacky as I may describe it. A few days after that we had no class again on Wednesday and I spent the entire day sleeping and again we had a holiday on Friday, which is today. Knowing I had nothing to do today I went out yesterday and bought movies to watch the entire day. I did bought a lot of movies yesterday and as of now I had finished about half of what I had bought. Just before I finish the other half I decided what blog I would like to write about.

Of all the movies I saw so far, which were “The Karate Kid”, “The Lasr Airbender”, “Saw V” and other which were not that good on my perspective, the one that I really liked was “Toy Story 3”. Ever since the first movie was released I was already an avid fan of “Toy Story” and I really liked the past two movies. I consider this movie one of the nicest movies I’ve seen this year, so far. To give an overview of the movie the story goes like this:

Now seventeen, Andy has long outgrown the toys and is preparing to move out of the house to attend college. He decides to bring Woody with him, and packs the other toys in a trash bag to be stored in the attic (a move the toys have long prepared for). However, his mother mistakes the bag for garbage and leaves it on the curb. After the toys barely manage to escape the garbage truck, they refuse to believe Woody (who saw what happened) when he says that Andy didn't intend to throw them away, and Woody and the rest of the toys end up sneaking into a box of donations to a local daycare, Sunnyside.

While Sunnyside's children are still outside, Woody attempts again to persuade the other toys to return to Andy's house, but Lotso, the day care’s “chief”, has convinced them that they will be happier at Sunnyside; Woody sets off alone. Meanwhile, the toys at Sunnyside discover Lotso's true personality for themselves: when Buzz goes to ask Lotso to transfer them to the Butterfly room, he is captured by Ken, Big Baby and Lotso's other minions. With Buzz's help, Lotso has all of Andy's toys imprisoned on the shelves of the Caterpillar room.

Woody returns to Sunnyside to help his friends escape. Woody tells the other toys about Lotso's past, convincing them of Lotso's deception and leading Big Baby to throw Lotso into the dumpster. As the other toys are saved, Lotso is found by a garbage man, who ties the bear to the front of his garbage truck along with other bug covered toys.

The toys make their way back to Andy's room, where Woody goes back into the "College" box and the other toys enter a box designated for the attic. When Andy reads the note and discovers his assumed-lost toys, he decides to give the toys away instead of storing them. Andy thanks the toys for all the time they spent together, then he drives away missing the toys. Woody says "So long partner," then introduces Andy's toys to Bonnie's toys. During the credits, Sunnyside is shown under the leadership of Ken and Barbie, where they have turned the daycare into a groovy toy paradise. They keep in touch with Andy's toys 'by slipping letters into Bonnie's backpack.

The movie was really awesome! I really enjoyed watching it and I won’t be having problems watching it all over again. Each “Toy Story” movie I watched, and I had watched each movie a lot of times, always has a lesson you have to realize at the end, and in this third movie I still am troubling to find out what that lesson really is but there is a more obvious lesson which was being able to truly appreciate friendship. Each “Toy Story” movie valued friendship but in this movie it really showed the true meaning in being a friend. I recommend everyone to watch the movie, trust me you won’t be having doubts about watching it; I personally give it a two thumbs-up (the production should pay me for this!).

Oh, and for the record I’m watching the movie again right now! :D

Goals: Motivation To Strive Hard

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfilment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

-Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

A very influential statement I truly put my life’s ambition into working from Rick Warren’s award winning book, The Purpose Driven Life. Having a purpose in life is very important for us, having a sense of purpose makes us who we are. Being able to find this purpose may not be easy but, as what the book explains, that only time and God will tell when we will find our purpose. I know we were asked to make a blog about our mission in life, not the purpose, but that phrase made me look through on what I’m going to do about my future.

Ok, now back to the topic, here goes…

As a young boy I always am fond of loving animals and food but growing up with people whose life’s work was dedicated to medicine, that certain field really caught my attention. There was this one time where my brother’s cardiologist did an ultrasound on his heart, because my brother had a heart condition before, and after the doctor did the examination she talked to me and explained about the circulatory system and how it functions; that experience really drew my attention towards medicine. So, as I grew older I’ve really set my mind into taking medicine as my life’s work, as it also serves as my mission. Helping others is also one of the highlights of my mission in life since the field on which I’m going to take is related to that kind of job. As of now, I am taking up biology as a premed course, and I’m slowly attaining my goals. I may have set my mind into this mission of mine but as the book, The Purpose Driven Life, says that your purpose may not be your dream or the thing that you really love but if it’s your purpose then it’s really your purpose! Getting closer to my dreams I may not be certain if it’s truly my purpose but if it’s not, I’m sure I can be able to embrace on what God wants me in my life.