where the moon shines

Have you ever tried playing Free Rice?

Today I donated 490 grains of rice, and reached level 36 (out of 60) for English vocabulary.  I noticed just today that you can now switch subjects! Cool, more fun while donating. hehe Wait, while I was typing this, I clicked to switch to Math and now my donation is up to 520 grains! I’ll stop for the day though because I want to take a few more minutes to nap before I have to prep for work.

Now how exactly does playing Free Rice help alleviate worl hunger? Here’s what it says on their website:

Do I really make a difference by playing FreeRice?

The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007.

Now, let’s backtrack a bit. What is all this talk about World Hunger? For starters, you can read up some of the FAQs from the World Food Program.  Yes, we all feel hungry – that’s when our body tells us we need nourishment. Or simply, that it’s been hours since you last had a bite of anything.  But in many places all around the world, it’s not just about being hungry.  There’s malnourishment and undernourishment too.  Children of rural communities and depressed urban areas are most affected by hunger, but yes, those who are in the middle of conflict have less access to food as well.  

Every year, the number of people affected by this phenomenon is increasing at an alarming rate of 4 million per year.  It has become the number one health risk worldwide, greater than AIDS even.  I guess one of the reasons why we have not been very involved in efforts to address world hunger is that we take it for granted – specially when food is readily available for us.  Surely there’s more than enough food resources to feed the world’s population. What we forget is that equal rights to food does not mean that each person has equal access to these resources.

What can we do? You can give – time, effort, money – whatever it is you’re willing to give.  Me?  I write about it sometimes, I click the button on the Hunger site daily, and I play Free Rice whenever I could.  I won’t save the world, but we all must do what we are willing and can do to help out. Every little thing counts.

So I was totally excited to post my P365 photo for yesterday but then I remembered that I wanted to post today in keeping with the Bloggers Unite theme, Unite for Hunger and Hope.  And my photo isn’t really in keeping with the theme, if you  know what I mean?  It’s like saying I’d totally keep within my budget for this month, but seeing myself spending on too much food for just myself, or at a shoe store cashier and seeing the figure come up after my next purchase goes through the lady’s barcode scanners is just – ugh! But going back to what I reallly meant to say – please don’t kill me for talking about hunger and posting a photo of my latest guilty pleasure all in one blog post:

I’d been craving for Krispy Kreme’s Chocolate Carnival since I saw a poster somewhere a few weeks ago, I just never got around to buying any. Alfred was forced to go to Cubao yesterday morning just to buy dog food and grab a dozen of these yummies.  Thanks dear! I knew you would have been well within your rights to choose any of the three nearby grocery stores to pick up what Zune needed, but you honored your promise to get me these sinful delights anyway. Haha

I am thankful that I can eat something totally unhealthy like donuts, or anything else for that matter, it reminds me that there are people out there that don’t have that. I pray for them, and I hope that WFP gets to them too.  Not just because one is aware of these issues and want to help out doesn’t mean one has to starve right?

Thanks to the boyfriend who financed 50% of my newest toy, we went out today and came back home as proud owners of a Nikon D60! Woot woot!

We had to cash out Alfred’s last NCO paycheck at Citibank Paseo de Roxas then we had lunch at Jollibee right across the bank. From there we took a cab to Quiapo. Went in to inquire for a D60 at Henry’s, left because their stocks were just arriving in the next two hours. Tried next door at Mayer’s which was packed, and got good quick service from the attendants and manong who looked like he was the owner.  We were shown a brand new D60 and we said we were taking it. Went out to the ATM right across the store, came back not 3 minutes later to find that another guy purchased the kit that was shown to us. No biggie, they had more stocks from where it came from.  Five minutes later (okay maybe more), the whole transaction was done. The box was wrapped in newspaper, then I shoved it, along with the camera bag, into my reusable shopping bag.  

Backtrack to while we were in the cab on our way to Quiapo… Alfred went to the BDO branch near Citibank to withdraw from the ATM there.  He said he saw Chavit Singson there. He also saw a bank employee that reminded him of when he was working at the BDO head offices.  There are many different jobs in banking but the one he held while he was there so many years ago, doesn’t really have anything to do with banking.  To tell you honestly, he sounds bitter now when he talks about that 6-month stint.  He said that when he saw that poor guy earlier, he wanted to approach to tell him to get out from that joint and find something better.  Haha.

Anyway, back to the D60.  I have to be honest, the manual isn’t helping me a lot.  Maybe I’ll just read through it again tomorrow when I’m not sleepy.

I’m naming her Maxine, because she’s Frankie’s daughter. But I might still change my mind. No photos to post yet. Maybe I’ll share a few tomorrow.

For now, I sleep.

I have been MIA for several days haven’t I?  

On Thursday morning, I went to take a look at the job offer from another company and that took quite awhile – longer than I anticipated.  I fell dead asleep after having lunch on Friday. Stayed until 2pm at work on Saturday, then out with the boyfriend too. Today after work we went out to lunch and a stroll at the mall. Then the usual Sunday afternoon TV viewing, haha.

If you’re a blog addict like I am, being away from your domain can give you anxiety attacks, haha Being hooked on blogging is probably why Delaney gave me this award:

From what I gather, here’s the official description of the award:

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…

You know what I think? This award should be given to bloggers whose writing keep us glued to our screens like zombies, reading through their posts.  Bloggers who, when you first chance upon their blog, get you to spend hours reading through to their first ever post.  In short, these are the bloggers who keep me away from my bed, keeping me awake until I look like a zombie! Haha

Now, I decided to bestow this gift to bloggers that I super enjoy reading, but I’m more of a stalker in their blogs.  I’m not optimistic they would even notice that I gave them an award, these are very popular bloggers and receive so many comments for each post, but I’d love for you to get to visit them anyway. Oh okay, I’ll add in some super fun ladies who I’ve been stalking for a long time!  So check out my Zombie Chicken Awardees:

1. The Pioneer Woman
2. Bakerella
3. MammaDawg
4. KimB
5. and Delaney too!

Why don’t you go ahead and recommend more Zombie bloggers to me? 

****

On a very different note… Remember our condo units that have forever been in improvement mode? Well my brother just reminded me that we haven’t heard back whether the kitchen cabinetry installation is finished (and it should already be).  I wonder how the place looks like now?  I haven’t been there since the improvements were made, maybe because I don’t wanna feel bad that we can’t do more to make the space fantastic, or turn it into a big working kitchen filled with baking equipment, a zero radius sinks, Kitchen Aid mixer, oven, and everything else I drool over. Hays.

It feels to me like it was so long ago when I posted about my Nikon dreams over at my Blogspot, but the date just says Monday.  I have decided to wait until I have real more cash to pay up front for my first Nikon, and it may mean that I get to wait for the D5000’s release in the Philippines.  Seriously, I think that it’s worth the wait.  Just look at it, ain’t it lovely:

Okay, so it doesn’t really look much different from a D60 that I can purchase right now.  But there are reasons that’s really got me convinced to hold off for this one. Click on it and you’ll be taken to the DPreview feature on this baby, Nikon’s latest entry-level DSLR.  I called Columbia Digital, the official Nikon distributor in the Philippines, and all the lady would say was that it’s supposed to be here by end of May, or first week of June.  Now that’s not so far from now is it? And if it ends up too high above what I’m willing (and able) to spend on a camera? Then I’ll make the decision then to opt for the D60 after all, or maybe even a Canon.

[EDIT] Okay, I may have to reconsider here. I just saw that the D5000 retails for 849 USD in Amazon.  It will most probably be sold a few thousand pesos above that here in the Philippines. I might just go for a D60 after all…