Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I signed up for PPP!

Yeay! I'm so happy that I was finally accepted by payperpost! Like this is a dream come true! Did you know that payperpost may be one, if not the best, online program that offers it's subscribers (they call us "Postie" cute right?) the one of a kind opportunity to post about the things we like and at the same time earn money!

A friend of mine referred this program to me and boy was I thankful! Imagine, they literally pay you $20.00 just to announce to the world that you're proud and happy that you got in their program! Isn't it great? The payperpost site is also very user-friendly even to newbies like me. Boy I am really ready to write some great posts from now on!

So to my friends out there, what are you waiting for? Why not join payperpost and join me as I earn while I continue with my addiction: blogging!





The Children of Chinese Businessmen

I'm not sure if this is true or if it is just one of my wild ideas. But I think some Chinese businessmen (and women, I don't want to be sexist) have their children work for their business once in a while. This is just an observation that I have gathered, because every time that I go to a restaurant (doesn't really need to be a Chinese restaurant) I see these Chinese looking waiters who stand out from the store team because they look Chinese and they don't seem to fit in.

Let's just say that I have a gut feeling that these waiters/waitresses are actually rich and are sons/daughters of the rich Chinese businessmen. I think that the reason behind having your children work like common people (if you were a rich Chinese businessman) is to let your children know that making money is not easy. The experience of being common people, the average low-wage salary type of people, would make their children more hardworking and grow up responsible and independent.

I know a Chinese family, friends of my family, who grew up living simple. Their children are not snobbish little rich brats that you would expect of rich families but rather they are rather down to earth totally disregarding the fact that they are surrounded by such extravagance and wealth.

Maybe this is one of the reasons why Chinese businessmen are successful, what do you think?

200 Pounds Beauty



This is a music video from the Korean Movie "200 Pounds Beauty". The song is entitled Maria and is sung by the main actress of the movie herself Kim Ah Joong. Anyway the song is a Korean rendition of Blondie's "Maria" for your information. Here is the lyrics:

"Maria"
(English translation)

She moves like she don't care.
Smooth as silk, cool as air.
Ooh, it makes you wanna cry.

She doesn't know your name and your heart beats like a subway train.
Ooh, it makes you wanna die.

Refrain:
Ooh, don't you wanna take her?
Wanna make her all your own?

Chorus:
Maria.
Youve gotta see her!
Go insane and out of your mind.
Medina.
Ave maria.
A million and one candlelights.

Ive seen this thing before.
In my best friend and the boy next door.
Fool for love and fool of fire.

Wont come in from the rain.
Sees oceans running down the drain.
Blue as ice and desire.

(Refrain & Chorus)

Ooh, dont you wanna break her?
Ooh, dont you wanna take her home?

She walks like she dont care.
You wanna take her everywhere.
Ooh, it makes you wanna cry.

Shes like a millionaire.
Walking on imported air.
Ooh, it makes you wanna die.

(Chorus 4x)

So and if you're wondering what the movie is about you can watch it from Crunchyroll and here's an interesting synopsis from Lunapark6:

"Han-Na is a very big girl with a warm heart. She is also gifted with an unbelievable voice from God. Han-Na has always wanted to be a pop-singer, but due to her appearance, could only work as a faceless singer. She provides the vocals for a popular singer named Ami, a beautiful young lady that can’t carry a note to save her life.

Also, Han-Na is in love with Ami’s music producer, Sang-June, but it is a one-sided love. One day, Han-Na is invited to Sang-June’s birthday party and receives a red dress from him to wear to his party. Han-Na is excited, yet scared. The dress is revealing and quite extravagant. With her very large figure, she is not sure if she could wear such an outfit. She does eventually go to the birthday party in the red dress, but is mortified when petite Ami appears in the same red dress. During the course of the birthday party, Han-Na absorbs more emotional trauma and she simply disappears……..

One year later, after Han-Na’s extreme makeover (major plastic surgery), Han-Na takes on a new identity and becomes Jenny. Jenny has a near perfect body and face. Nobody recognizes her, even her best friend. Meanwhile, the producer Sang-Jung is searching for a replacement singer for Ami, but can’t find anyone close to the talents of Han-na. Han-na as Jenny, now comes back into the picture and auditions for the job. Sang-Jung is immediately floored by her. She has the absolute beauty and that stunning voice. Soon afterwards, her dream that Sung-June will fall in love with her, is about to come true. Unfortunately, Ami is now jealous of her and feels threatened by her sudden success. She researches into Jenny’s background and comes up with the truth about her true identity. Will this ruin Jenny’s career?"

So you might ask me what the relevance of this post is to my blog... my answer? It's very relevant! It does not only concern physical health but it also includes mental health and even all around wellness. Think about it, we are surrounded by media that brainwashes us into thinking that skinny girls and buffed boys are the only thing beautiful.

Because of this g that the media is trying to portray, we have a society that looks down on obese people and think of them as ugly. In return these poor obese people become so affected that they are socially impaired and worst are driven to a life of self-pity and self-hate up to the point that they think of suicide.

We also have skinny people who believe that they are fat and ugly thus we have our beloved bulimics and anorexics. By the way the difference between anorexia and bulimia is that in anorexia, it affects mainly teenage girls (and even boys!) and is described by starving themselves to death so they are underweight. Bulimia on the other hand affects women to their early to mid-20's and they retain a normal body weight because they eat a lot but purge or throw-up the things they ate. Both bulimics and anorexics are laxative (a drug that makes defecation easier) addicts by the way.

But if you ask me, isn't it true that we find people who are skinnier more attractive? I am guilty of being a skinny person lover than a chubby person (but that depends if the person is cute hehehe ^_^). I even plan on dieting this summer because I see myself as fat, but I don't crash diet because I know that more harm can be gained from it rather than good. Crash dieting as defined by diethack.com is drastically cutting back on the amount of calories and fat that you take in on a daily basis. Similar to a starvation diet, a crash diet is often paired with other weight loss "fixes," including extreme exercise routines and the use of diuretics or diet pills.

So what are the effects of crash dieting? Well for one you become malnourished and there tends to be a"yo-yo effect" where a person not only regains his normal weight but also additional weight when he goes to his normal diet. diethack.com also emphasizes the following effects of crash dieting:

  • iron, vitamin B12, potassium and sodium deficiency
  • liver and kidney failure
  • heart attack
  • stroke
  • osteoporosis
  • anorexia
  • bulimia
But again the main reason why cause why people crash diet is because other people makes fun of obese people and bring their self-worth down. It would be nice if they don't treat obese people as monsters. People should really be educated that nothing would be gained from name-calling. Although the obese should lose weight but they should not lose their dignity in the process.

Leaving on a Jet Plane


Today I went to the city to get all my papers done. I gave the secretary of the Dean of the College of Nursing at Xavier University (XU) a letter requesting for a recommendation letter stating that I was indeed a student in the College of Nursing and that I am eligible to enroll in a nursing program in another school.

Yup, you heard me right. I'm transferring to another school. But I'm not transferring to another school because I failed or anything and definitely not because I kicked out or I dislike XU. I'm transferring schools because my family and I are moving away to Canada this May. It's quite sad really that I won't be able to graduate as an Atenean nurse. But I'll always be an Atenean in my heart and in my actions... as I told my clinical instructor, at least I won't have to worry about being the cause of a non-100% passing rate on the PRC Nursing board exams.

My God, this is one big hell of a step for me and my family. I'm very scared but at the same time excited because I sure do want to travel and experience something new once in a while. It's not like moving to a new place is a daily happening right?

I will sure miss my friends, my clinical instructors, and of course my beloved school. I'm also quite concerned that I might have to go back to 1st year college because my subjects might not be credited, but this fear is allayed by the fact that an Ateneo school is widely known and recognized in the Philippines as well as in the international field. Oh well, if i do go back to 1st year that would be fine with me since I really want to study again because I'm afraid that I'm forgetting some of the concepts that I have learned.

I just hope that everything turns out for the best.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Anti-Filariasis Medication

At last after a few days of waiting we finally got our share of the Anti-Filariasis medication. If you ask me, although the Department of Health has good intentions of eliminating Filariasis in the Philippines, their Anti-Filariasis Program is poorly implemented (well maybe in our Local Government Unit anyway). In our case, the people in our neighborhood were informed but the stocks of the drug was very limited and scarce. If we didn't go directly to the source, the main "barangay" (neighborhood) health center, then we wouldn't have received our anti-filariasis drugs. The information flashed on the TV was quite misleading and the people at the Barangay Hall were also misinformed.

With this kind of program implementation I doubt if the program would reach it's goals. One reason why people in the barangay don't go to the health center even if the services are free is because they consider going to the health center as a hassle and the line seems to go on forever. So if the information dissemination about the Filariasis program is vague then the outcome would more likely be a failure. The information dissemination was way better in Cagayan de Oro than here in the province.

But I salute our President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for using her powers for the good of all issuing
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 369: ESTABLISHING THE NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR ELIMINATING LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS AND DECLARING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER OF EVERY YEAR AS MASS TREATMENT FOR FILARIASIS IN ESTABLISHED ENDEMIC AREAS.

Lymphatic filariasis as defined by Executive Order No. 369
is a parasitic disease primarily affecting children, women and men living in endemic remote areas; Lymphatic Filariasis is a debilitating and disfiguring disease, comprising about 76% of cases living in 4th to 6th class municipalities in 36 established endemic areas out of the 48 probably endemic provinces in the country; advances in the field of diagnosis and treatment make the disease one of the six eradicable diseases as declared by the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, as documented by endemic countries able to eradicate the disease such as Japan, Korea, etc;

So I encourage all Filipinos to avail of the said drugs to prevent Filariasis and to go to your nearest health centers while supplies still last. Don't wait until you become like this:


Filariasis
Photo Credit: Stanford University