msn article: power of prayer flunks an unusual test
link to article is
here. while the study was conducted with strict adherence to scientific procedures, dr. harold koenig (who didn't participate in the study) said "there are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either. there is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Moslem scriptures that can be
constrained to the point that they can be predicted." there was also something he said that cracked me up: "why would God change his plans for a particular person just because they're in a research study?". haha! rock on, doc! (fyi: the word 'koenig' means 'king' in german. it's written with an umlauted 'o'. but umlauted vowels are also commonly written with 'e' after 'a', 'u' and 'o'.)
as for my own experience, prayer has been the line that anchors me to God, especially in turbulent times. a lot of people don't know yet (except for my dad, sis, and boyfriend) but these past weeks have been really crazy for me. for many different reasons. still, i depend on the power of prayer to keep me grounded, to keep me sane, to keep me happy. and that's what i am right now. happy, and surrounded with so much love. ^_^
on to more positive news, i got a text message from one of my grade school best friends, george. he told me he just passed the recent bar exams. woohoo! a gay lawyer, how cool is that? i'm so happy for you, sister!!
Posted by Unknown at 08:09
smapstreet boys
smap and bsb, is that hot or what?? found
this vid in youtube (where else), smap singing 'i want it that way' with bsb. a clip from their show, smap x smap.
brian and shingo - wow, shingo mama holds his own against brian, in fairness to him. his english is very good, too. what's with 'believe when shingo says i want it that way'?? nyaha! i still prefer seeing shingo in samurai regalia than his smap couture (complete with dyed hair) ^_^
nick and nakai - go nick!
AJ and takuya - AJ is loads better than kimutaku. in singing. hehe. di bale, di kabawasan sa pogi points un. mas pogi nga lang ang boyfriend ko sa kanya. mwahaha! kimutaku sure makes green pants work. wow. well, he should be able to do that, right? after all, he's the very first non-western celeb to be an endorser for levi's. remember that levi's commercial (early 90's?) with a tanned asian guy?
howie and goro - sorry, i've been a howie fan since the beginning.
kevin and tsuyoshi - when i first saw these two, i thought 'they could be half-brothers. funny, what kevin said about him and tsuyoshi...they have the same eyebrows! wahaha! (
this vid features smap's interview with the backstreet boys after their song.)
some people might find this vid funny. some might even say smap sucks at singing english. well, let's put things in perspective. let's try to see how bsb sound in japanese. ^_~
i love bsb. i love smap. i love smapstreet boys!
Posted by Unknown at 15:41
omg, this is so true!
Your 2005 Song Is |
Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz
"Love forever love is free. Let's turn forever you and me."
In 2005, you were loving life and feeling no pain. you bet i am... and you ought to know why!
|
Posted by Unknown at 08:38
maligayang bati, itay!!
imperfect as you are, i couldn't have asked for a better parent. you're very loving, understanding and super-super thoughtful. now i know why so many people love you. para ka palang si daddy taba no? mahal ng lahat, hehe. i hope i make you proud. pasensya na, matigas ulo ko minsan. mana ko sa iyo e, anong magagawa mo? thank you for being a big, fat blessing in my life. i love you to bits!
i pray for better health and a long life for you. and for goodness' sakes, i hope you stop smoking!! :)
Posted by Unknown at 15:23
new blog template and a new dictionary!
もう夏です!i wanted this blog to look summery so voila! new template. ^_^
here i go again...breaking my no-blogging-on-mondays policy because i just have to say this: i have a new electronic dictionary. woohoo!!
it's the new
canon wordtank v80. (click link for more info about this model) this is actually a super overdue dictionary as i had to make do with the wordtank idf-3000 from elementary japanese to advanced class. duh! you wonder how i managed. なんとなくできて、うれしい。^_^v
what do i think of the v80? well, if i had i choice, i would've gotten a g55 or a g70 instead. the v80 has chinese dictionaries, which are not useful to me (at least, for now). it even has this 'speaking function' that teaches you the correct chinese pronunciation of certain kanji. cool, huh? but as i said, not very useful to me. the g55 and g70 (as well as the phased-out g50) have more english words, have a separate english thesaurus functionality, and have more usage examples.
what i particularly like about the v80 is the animated kanji stroke functionality, the same one in the g50 model. a must for serious kanji learners. the v80 takes it a step higher with the 'test' functionality, which allows the user to practice kanji writing on the screen using the stylus. coolness! also, you can use the stylus to search those pesky complicated kanji by writing on the screen. double coolness! now i don't have to know how many strokes a kanji character has in order to find in kanjigen. yebah!
oh well, i'm just going to make the most out of my japanese tools to help me pass 1kyuu and to help me do my translation work efficiently. ^_^
Posted by Unknown at 17:11
bits, bits, and more bits
why are there stupid people like this girl? she's schatz's stupid ex. i know i promised not to write about her ever again but still, i can't help but wonder why she can't shut up about the past. the past that she brought upon herself. still spreading made-up stories about the "shit sex" she has had before and how she was this uber unhappy girlfriend who was "used like a piece of meat". still telling anyone who'd listen how she's moved on with her life (when she obviously hasn't) and still continues to bash schatz. sheesh. but you have to hand it to her; she writes some good fiction. i mean, what imagination! i guess if you're born sick, you're really sick and you'll be like that for the rest of your sorry life (so sick that an exorcist will give up on her). and you thought strawberry fields was the place where nothing is real!
but thanks to father bob (of the greenbelt chapel), whose sermon today made me calm down again. thank you Lord for father bob, and for never failing to make me see the better side.
* * * * *
guess who i saw last night in glorietta. abby santos. hehe. like who cares?! kidding. well, i did see him. but more importantly, i saw
tanya! yep, the same
tanyalito, my friend from pms. yay!! she told me that she also bumped into peter (aka dao ming su) a few minutes before. we planned on having lunch together, maybe next month. sabi nya, magkalapit lang naman kasi kami ng building pero we never went out together. so we made plans to meet up for lunch next month...kabit sya, itataon ko sa birthday nya para makalibre ako. mwehehehe.
in the 10 mintues or so moment that we're together, i found out that she was in the exact same boat as i am regarding our careers. i found out that she would never want to go back to the public sector. like me. we have the exact same reasons too. while we think it's noble to work for your country and everyone should experience being in public sector at least once in their lives, never bring your youthful idealism into the bureaucracy. never go into public service expecting to "change the system". you will only end up disappointed in the end. that's putting it mildly, though. try 'disillusioned'. tanya said that no matter how dedicated you are to your work, you will only end up being eaten by the system. many times during my stint at the government, i would question my purpose. am i really helping this country get out of the rut it's in? does the work i'm doing help bring food to people's tables? is this job helping send children to school? was i really serving the filipino people, or was i serving selfish political interests? i didn't get clear answers.
still, i want to help. i figured i can help in other ways too. so i signed up as a child sponsor for
world vision. the financial support i give to the foundation helps send jhon carlo (my sponsored child) to school and supports the foundation's livelihood programs in his community in mindanao. i know that's just one kid. but i found out late last year that many people in my office are also WV sponsors (including the managing director)! yay!! i don't know how many kids our company is helping but that's serving the country too...changing the country, one child at a time. :)
this is not to say that my colleagues in the government are wasting their time. in fact, i admire them so much. i admire them for not giving up (unlike me and tanya), for not losing their unselfish dedication to serve the people and the president (whoever is the incumbent). thank you and may God bless you always. if you want to find the some of most brilliant and dedicated people in public sector, visit the office of the president. there are lots of them there.
* * * * *
i've been watching so many j-music vids on
youtube. well, mostly gackt, glay and laruku. i found glay's pv for '
rain'. OMG! i almost fell off my seat! teru, izzdatchu?? he looked like a drag queen. but a pretty drag queen. kinda reminds me of brini maxwell (i miss you, brini!). hehe. obviously, he didn't know how to 'act out the song' in front of the cameras yet. his hands were all over, he moves like he's having a seizure and he didn't look like the rock god he is now. i'm not too crazy about his long hair because:
1) his hair looks better than mine,
2) it's so not rock star hair, and
3) it makes him look 562% prettier than me!
wahaha! despite the hair, he looked very plain...walang dating masyado, ika nga. thanks to the fairy godmother of rock...she transformed teru into the drool idol we worship now, complete with uber cool wardrobe (fit for rock royalty), gorgeous hair and....ta-daaa! better eyebrows! haha! took me quite some time to figure out what was wrong with his face in the 'rain' pv. i thought the hair was pretty obvious. but something bigger is making him look plain. then it struck me after looking hard at the glay wallpaper i have at work: his brows. ^_~ before, they were just two plain horizontal lines above his eyes. but the fairy godmother of rock sprinkled her superstar dust on him and voila! killer brows. made his features softer, more feminine. so what if he looks like a girl? i like my rock stars pretty! I LUUUURRVE GLAY!
to prove my point, here's a shot of teru from 'rain'. get a load of the brows!
another one. this kinda reminds me of sabrina m or somebody else. some starlet:
now this is from the '
soul love' PV, taken from teru's angle:
gev, here's something for you!
brows from the fairy godmother...voila! rock god teru!
* * * * *
speaking of pretty, i saw
this vid of gackt...speaking in english! gawd, so hot! he said 'fine' and 'a little bit tired' in the 2nd sexiest voice in the world (the owner of the sexiest voice in the world is not a celebrity. he's a manager in an IT company. che-neeen! ^_~). i know it was just a few words but *sigh*. i never thought gackt could speak straight, understandable english because the english in most of his songs were terrible. you have to really strain your ears for you to understand what he was saying. like that time i was listening to 'december love song' for the very first time. i was like 'what was that again?' and i had to look for lyrics on the internet and read along as the song played.
hyde speaks better english than gackt but he loves the word 'f*ck'so much. @_@ his first english word?? i hope not. during that
live performance of 'ready,steady, go' in maryland, he screamed 'are you f*cking ready?!'. sheesh.
* * * * *
since i'm on the topic of hyde and live performances, i absolutely love
this clip from their smile tour. he sang 'hitomi no jyuunin' so brilliantly it almost drove me to tears the first time i heard it. and the hair! the hair again! seriously, they all have more beautiful hair than me. i told schatz i wanted to get a haircut like hyde's and he said the cut's nice but he's afraid it might make me look like wednesday adams. what's wrong with wednesday adams?? well, nothing, if you're really trying to look like her. but it's wrong if you're trying to look like hyde but end up looking like a member of one of the creepiest families ever! wahaha! ok, i get the point. ^_^
* * * * *
i don't know when i can go karaoke singing again at music 21. i'm so busy with work, like everybody else. but there are these songs that i wanted to add to my karaoke repertoire, you know...and i've been practicing them in my head. how pathetic!! well, that's karaoke deprivation syndrome. a little incurable, mind.
よい週末を!(yoi shuumatsu wo!) >> 'happy weekend' in japanese
Posted by Unknown at 16:33
good luck, herb!
you're moving on to a very big step in your life, and well on your way to making your dreams come true. i pray for your success. study hard but never forget to have tons of fun. take good care of yourself and don't forget your vitamins.
please keep in touch; i'll miss you. do keep in touch (or if you're very busy, i'll just read your blog. hehe). see you when i see you!
here's a little something for you.
this video of the week is in your honor. enjoy! ^_^
Posted by Unknown at 15:40
unwritten friendster rules
got this from one of the forum sites i visit. hilarious! haha! every time i read an item, i go 'oo nga naman!". some of the items are quite mean, but they're true, anyway. kaya sa mga kinakarir ang friendster, etong sa inyo:
unwritten friendster rules
1. To the people who does have more than 500 friends, are you serious? Nobody in this universe has that many friends...that's stupid. Go kill yourself.
2. If you're ugly stop acting like you don't know it. The captions under you picture that says "top model pose" doesn't convince anybody. at least you can work on your personality.
3. Don't ever post pictures and say "omg im so ugly" because if you were, you wouldn't post them. please put away the rod and reel cause your just fishin for compliments.
4. Nobody cares about threats over the internet. Don't try to act hard with the keyboard...that's so sad. unless you actually physically beat someone with the keyboard. then that's ironically hilarious.
5. If all your pictures look the same...don't post them all!
Please put some variety in your pics. Nobody wants to see your face 8 different ways. I don't care if its inverted, black and white, or faded out. a face is a face is a face!
6. Who really gives a rats ass if I don't accept you as a friend...MOVE ON. Don't send me another request or message asking "what's up?" I don't want you as a friend or I just don't care, that's what's up!
7. LITTLE 10, 11, 12, years old who have friendster and LOOK LIKE SLUTS, go somewhere else because NOBODY wants you here except pedophiles, and is that what you want. to be raped? No you don't. So RUN RUN FAST!!
8. No one is really going to die in 6 days or have bad relationships for 5 years if they don't pass or post your bulletin on. so stop saying that!
9. If you have decided to read this, You are a true Friendster Friend. Real friends read their bulletins.
10. It serves to eliminate people who are desperately trying to add "friends" like it's a popularity contest in high school. Good riddance!
item 10 >> my biggest peeve of all. adding friends as if their very lives depended on it. 'friends', come on. how about those begging for testimonials, or those who write testimonials so others can return the favor? you call these testimonials??
- hoy, bakla! bakit kita naging friendster??
- hi ganda! miss you lots. luv yah! mwah!
- _____ is a very pretty and cool person.
(and they never even met in person. wahahaha!)want more? how about reading the following 'friendster atrocities'? i have to warn you, though. the articles below are too mean. some of them are downright funny, but some of them are really below-the-belt. well, you be the judge. don't say i didn't warn you!
the atrocities of friendster
volume 1volume 2volume 3volume 4oh, and girls, stop posting your bikini pics in friendster. there are people on the lookout for those pics. they'll grab your bikini shots and post them in their 'bikini' (semi-porn) websites. really sick. and if you're in my friendster list and if i find naked pics in your account, i'm going to report you (to the site admins) and delete you from my list. that's what i did with my cousin. i see she's wearing clothes in her pics now.
Posted by Unknown at 08:13
viva santo tomas!
uhm...nothing new, is there??
UST Tigers, UE juniors UAAP overall champsFirst posted 03:01am (Mla time) Mar 16, 2006 Inquirer
Editor's Note: Published on page A24 of the Mar. 16, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas was formally awarded the overall championship of the 68th University Athletic Association of the Philippines during the awards rites at the Adamson University auditorium recently.
The Tigers, atoning for their dismal (
dismal?? try 'horrendous'!) sixth-place effort in the centerpiece men's basketball, ruled eight of the 26 events contested and finished second in eight others to win pulling away with 302 points.
University of the Philippines topped four events to place second at the expense of De La Salle University, which had five titles but fared poorly in other events.
The UP Maroons compensated by placing second in four events and third in seven to snatch runner-up honors with 244 points, 10 up on the Archers.
UST swept table tennis and taekwondo and topped men's badminton and women's chess, judo and swimming.
Far Eastern University, the men's basketball titlist, improved to fourth overall -- from fifth in Season 67 -- with 192 points despite not fielding teams in seven events.
Ateneo de Manila University slid to fifth with 180 points, claiming the men's football and women's basketball crowns.
Next year's host University of the East, which swept the fencing crowns, stood at sixth with 166 points; Adamson, the perennial champion in women's softball, was seventh with 87; and National University brought up the rear with 21 points.
Adamson University's Fr. Maximino Rendon, the Season 68 president, and Dr. Ricardo Matibag, the league secretary-treasurer, presided over the awards ceremonies.
The Maroons reigned supreme in men's baseball, chess, judo and swimming, while the Archers were No. 1 in men's and women's tennis, women's badminton, football and volleyball.
In the junior division, UE copped the overall title as well as Athlete of the Year honors through Nelson Mariano III in chess.
UE amassed 101 points anchored on titles in chess, table tennis, girls' swimming and a sweep of boys' and girls' volleyball.
Runner-up UST garnered 79 points with only a title in taekwondo to show, a far cry from the five crowns it won last year. UST was second to UE in the two volleyball divisions and in table tennis.
La Salle-Zobel topped boys' basketball, while Ateneo ruled boys' swimming.
Posted by Unknown at 07:57
huh?
so curious of the camera ^_^
Posted by Unknown at 09:00
birthday girl
親切な友達で、ありがとうございます。あなたの幸せを祈ります。
Posted by Unknown at 08:20
this week and every week after this
笑顔で週明けを歓迎したほうがいいんじゃない?
いつも業を煮やして、顔に老いのなみが出てくるし、胃の調子が悪くなっちゃうし、もっと年寄りのようになっちゃうよ。
いい資質で新しい週間を迎えて、うれしい心で生活を楽しようよ!
Posted by Unknown at 15:52