What is it you ask?

Why is this important to me?

This challenge is important to me because I need it badly. I have never been known to be punctual. I show up. But most times, I’m late. Sometimes I am early or on time, but it isn’t most times. And that’s not something I am proud of. I’ve actually come to accept that about me, but it isn’t a good trait so I want to change. And I need help to change, this might be it. When I die, I don’t want ‘the late…’ to be the biggest joke of all.

I know that the challenge isn’t about being punctual, but a good reason why I’m late for most things is because I don’t heed my own wake up call all the time. I’m in a love affair with the snooze button. An abusive love affair. So though the challenge may not make me punctual for every appointment I make, it will at least help set the tone for my day, and that’s good enough for me.

Also, one of my resolutions (trying to do a happiness project too, hehe) is ‘to have a bedtime’ and to ‘wake up early.’ Two resolutions. So this challenge will actually help me achieve at least three things: get to work on time, all the time, follow a bedtime schedule, and wake up early.

Why should I take the time?

Anything important is worth making time for. I will consider this an investment in time and effort, and the payoff will be big. Hopefully, I won’t even have to wait too long for the ROI.

Why now and not later?

Now is good a time as any. Besides, my word for the year is Start.

Why will this help me?

This will help me in so many different levels, I can’t even begin to list them. But finding balance before my actual day starts is an exciting prospect. Most of the time, I am a zombie as I get ready to leave home, and while I drive to work. I get to my desk, I sit, and it takes me at least 15-20 minutes to warm up and get things in proper perspective. This challenge, for me, promises a new way to start the day. If successful, I can hit the ground running as soon as I arrive in the office.

Why should I not give up?

In some form or another, I have done a similar challenge and I stick to it for awhile but not see it through the end. I have had enough of that. I shouldn’t give up because life is too short. I will think of Papa, and take on this challenge as a tribute to him who always gets up early.

Are you in on the challenge?

This has got to be the biggest Christmas giveaway this season! Even if it took me awhile to do the required tasks (mostly Liking and Following), the prizes at stake got me going on. hehe

Check out the massive Prize List:

The Prizes

One Winner of $100 Paypal Credits
One Winner of $50 Paypal Credits
Three Winners of $25 Paypal Credits
Five Winners of $10 Paypal Credits
Twelve Winners of $5 Paypal Credits
Three blog makeovers – special prize for bloggers who do the optional task only

And it wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support from sponsors:

Major Sponsors of GEORYL’s Christmas Giveaway

GEORYL | Techie She | Chika Bits | Dens Online | Stay at Home Wife and Mother | Work at Home Wife and Mother | Travel Yums | The Food, The Place and the Bad Trips | Mitigating Life’s Uncertainties | Blogger’s Notebook | Zowanderer | The Packrat Wifey | Enairrah’s Travel Thoughts | Enairrah’s Notes and Rumblings | A Wife’s Online Abode | Tinkerputt’s Turf | Simple Happiness | Impulsive Shopper | Momsdrive Online Finds | Nanay Blogs | Make Money Online | Samu’t Sari | The Traveler’s Journey | Khakiness | Walk With Me

Contest ends on December 23, and announcement of winners will be done on Christmas Day, December 25. Winners must have valid Paypal accounts to receive the prizes.

Congratulations Sheryl, for yet another successful project

Unlike Ondoy though, our place wasn’t heavily affected. Yes, we had floods, but not as bad as that nightmare of 2009. A few days after leaving the country though, Pedring still continues to make lives of countless Pinoys a living hell.

Many areas are still flooded. Hundreds of families have no safe and dry homes to go to. They are cold, wet, and hungry. Hundreds of babies are in need of milk. Some communities are cut off from aid because bridges have been destroyed or roads blocked by landslides. There’s not enough rubber boats to get to where the people are.

Although Ondoy left us with lessons and perhaps we already are somehow better prepared for disasters, it is once again proven that we haven’t truly mastered disaster preparedness. What’s worse, this lack in direction for what to do with babies in evacuation centers needing milk just show how government has yet to prioritize the special needs of children in times of disasters. I understand, hindi naman talaga inaasahan. Who knew that the land was so saturated with water that it can hold no more? Who knew the floods would be that bad? But the whole point of disaster preparedness is preparing for the worst.

Hindi man tayo maging handa kaagad-agad, sana man lang mas mabilis na natin na-momobilize ang resources at tulong pag nandyan na ang sakuna.

Watching the news the other day, Dad and I couldn’t help but exchange comments on how disgusted we were about the inefficiency and inadequacy of service. Hay. The death toll during the actual typhoon wasn’t much, hihintayin pa bang madagdagan in the aftermath?

But whining won’t do anyone any good. So to re-channel my energies, here’s some info on where you could send help for the victims of September’s latest pasabog:

• The Philippine Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.ph/donatenow
• The Angel Brigade: http://www.facebook.com/groups/145564996085/ (if you don’t have the money to donate, but have the time to help packing, then join the Angel Brigade)
• ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya – they are accepting donations at the Pinoy Big Brother Concert Hall. You may reach them at (02) 411-4995 for necessary arrangements

I’m sure there are many more groups accepting donations, these are just a few I would trust with whatever little I can donate. If the Angel Brigade still needs helping hands this weekend, I’m hoping the boyfriend and I can go get involved.

Lastly, I just really wanted to take a minute to thank the Universe for sparing my family from any harm this season. I don’t always verbally say thanks for every little blessing, but I am always grateful and appreciative.

For her birthday this year, she’s hosting another giveaway and there are 3 stashes up for grabs!

Each stash looks so full and a lot of beauty essentials in there too. Joining is easy, and if you have a suggestion for Phoebe’s new do, then you’ll have an edge over other entrants. So head on over to Phoebeann.Com and learn more about this fantabulous giveaway!

I got a couple of things bugging me since last night, and that’s not good when you’re driving (believe me!). I’ll write about them too, unless other things takeover. So here’s a non-beauty related mini-rant: A little annoyed that my work PC wasn’t moved over the weekend. Maybe they can repair one of the unused pedestals there and replace the casters so I have some place to store my bag and papers instead of crashing in on other people’s workstations. Better yet, have the thing repaired so two of my TLs can share it (after waiting in line for over a year!).

There was a time when I’d be online in Facebook for hours on end. I’d read updates, and go back as far as I can go if I ever miss out on logging in for a day or two. When I got my Blackberry, getting connected in Facebook became even easier. I was virtually online 24/7.

Facebook satisfies the tsismosa in me. Not that I look for or start rumors ha. I just mean that it satisfies my interest in my friends’ lives. Pareho lang ba yun? But the novelty of that soon wore off. Now I don’t care if I miss out on your latest status update. And I don’t view half of the videos that have been shared on your walls. I do check out photos. And I leave comments where they are welcome.

But it’s the game apps that really got me hooked in the first place.

There was Restaurant City. Then Farmville. Café World. Baking Life came next. And now CityVille.

Good thing though is I’m weaning myself slowly from all those. I only really actively play CityVille now, but even that I am slowly giving up. It’s just too time consuming. Hahaha.

Okay. Enough of this. I’m going to logon to FB now.

This is an entry to this week’s BC Bloggers Meme.

Checkout last week’s participants to the meme:

Blogaholic Mom
Riza Written
Momma Helps
Single Mother on the Go
Hot Fun Stuffs
Earn Online with Miss C
Here Comes April
Digital Catharsis
Mum Writes
Blogger’s Nook
My Sassy Chef
Sassy Promotions
El Oweini’s Life
Life Ascending
Consumer Mom Talks
Kharen’s Corner
I live to Eat
Chris Chronicles
JeanBeltran.info
The Way I See It
Two4Luv
Travel Sites and Scenes
Little Nars
The GreenHorn Thoughts
Celebrity Lifes
gene + experiments
Virtual Tralala…
My Thoughts in Letters
RJ’s Mama
Piece of Mine

If you’re joining us this week, link up with Mommy Diary.

I just drank a bottle of Minute Maid Pulpy. They say it’s got ‘no preservatives added’. Aw, c’mon…It’s bottled juice. Is that even possible? So I thought maybe… I’ll give it a try. It tasted almost like freshly squeezed orange juice with real bits of fruit swirling around the bottle. Not too sweet, and even a tinge of tangy that characterizes citrus fruits.

I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it’s got no preservatives added.  So I read the ingredients (even the fine print) and everything checked out! It really has NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED!  That means it doesn’t have ingredients that may turn out to be allergens, or worse…carcinogens!  Whew! Now that’s healthy goodness that tastes so good, I… feel no guilt downing a big bottle of Minute Maid all by myself No need to worry about harmful traces being left in your body either.

So okay, it’s got no preservatives added. That’s really good, right?  Not just because it doesn’t have those icky, harmful ingredients, but it also means… that you get all the nutrients from the fruit. Because it’s pulpy, you also get the fiber from orange that aids digestion, and is a friend for anyone who desperately needs to lose weight like myself!

So far anyone who still has a hard time believing that Minute Maid has got no preservatives added – meaning it’s THAT natural, it’s almost like it’s plucked straight from the tree, it’s just as Mother Nature wanted your orange juice to be, it’s got nothing but the good stuff yes, none of those potentially toxic stuff that can harm your brain, kidneys, heart; cause tumors aargh- the list of preservatives’ bad effects just go on!!! Anyway, just to prove a point on just how good Minute Maid Pulpy is ’cause it’s got NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED, I’m gonna show you just how much I love my Minute Maid Pulpy Orange – I took photos of my MM vendo experience from work! Haha Yes! First, I was excited about the new kind of vendo we have at work and wanted to give it a try, butI was more thrilled seeing that it houses my favorite juice drink!

Before this yummy drink pictured above arrived at my station, it was in this neat vendo that also carried other Coca-Cola products (including my favorite beverage, Coke!):

Though I was tempted to grab a 500-mL bottle of Coke, or opt for the 5-peso cheaper can below this rack, I stuck to my guns and hit C7 on the panel. I promised myself I’d make the little adjustments necessary to get to a healthier me, and opting for this drink isn’t a sacrifice at all!

Here’s my drink on board the drink elevator:

And finally, the small door opens with my small bottle of cold pulpy goodness ready to be picked up.

Now, there’s no reason not to replace my daily soda intake with the healthy goodness of natural juice.

Feels good to know about the real pulpy deal, right? C’mon show me a smile on the comment box, and you might win yourself a Really Pulpy Deal! (That’s a chance to win a Minute Maid gift pack simply by commenting. Sweet! C’mon you just might be picked as the lucky ‘commentor’!)

Love,

Me, a versatile blogger? Well, it’s really more of a scatter-brained blogger. How else can you explain incoherent posts jammed with sometimes unrelated topics? Hehe. But versatile is what we all want to be I guess. Throw me into any situation and I should be able to adapt, blend and in, and even maybe shine. To keep an interesting blog (even when it’s really just a personal journal like what Where the Moon Shines is), one must also be versatile. I hope I really have been able to show that by writing on a variety of topics. It also means being taking notes and photos of things I fancy so I can remember to post about them at a later time (something I haven’t been able to do properly, because as I mentioned earlier, I’m a scatter-brain!). Or researching on topics so I can talk about them without looking stupid, like what do I really have to know in order to post about rating cigars? I mean, that one’s bound to be extra difficult because I don’t smoke cigars. I don’t smoke.

Now, as a recipient of this award, I should share seven (7) things about myself. This is no easy feat, I have to think about 7 things that I possibly have not mentioned in my years of blogging. Let’s see…

1. I attended a writing workshop held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in the summer before sixth grade. I loved all two days of that workshop (or did we actually spend four days there?). The first part was a poetry writing workshop, and the second, was on story-writing. It was awesome being around creative minds. For awhile I was intimidated because they all seemed a lot better than I was, but no one was bragging really. And there was no competition. I only wish I could find a copy of whatever it was I wrote during that time.
2. Attending the workshop was my teacher’s idea. I mentioned her in my teacher’s day remembrance post. Our school paper adviser. She told me about the workshop before the school year ended but I never turned in any of the stuff I wrote. One has to qualify for the workshop, see. So one summer afternoon, while I was out at the SambaLikhaan with friends (playing!), someone came to tell me I had to go home because my teacher was there. Uh oh. She asked for my sample work. I rushed up to my room, rewrote a few poems onto clean bond paper and handed in the application form. I don’t think I got to thank her for coming over and making sure I would get into that workshop. Thank you Ma’am!
3. In sixth grade, I wanted to quit the school paper as my club. Okay, not really quit, but I wanted to join the glee club that year instead. I like writing, but I liked singing too. And I can’t be in both clubs since each student could only be in one. So I told the adviser, and she completely disagreed with me. She talked me through the decision, and she told me she was leaving the country. She’d wanted me to stick it out because she was leaving. In short, she made me feel that I was important for the paper. Hay.
4. To get into the paper, students are invited to join a writing workshop with real journalist as resource person. There we learned about writing for a paper and all that. At the end of it all, we’d turn in some work, and the resource person and advisers would deliberate on who makes it into the editorial team. Rumor has it that on my first year in the club, fourth grade, I would have been given an associate ed post but those posts are reserved for 5th and 6th graders. I was editor-in-chief on my last year. The training we had for the grade school paper was something I missed for the high school paper that I was part of only on my senior year. To be honest, we were all at a loss when we joined in. None of us seniors had been part of the paper before then. And there was no writing workshop. It was as if we were all just supposed to know what to do, automatically. I hope it’s not like that for them anymore.
5. Hmm what else should I share? I’m running out of ideas… Ah! I moved to a different school for high school. My dad and I went around to a number of schools near our area, most of which are exclusive for girls, Catholic schools. I remember being shocked at the tuition fee rates everywhere we went. Though I wasn’t asked to consider the cost at all, I think it still influenced my eventual choice.
6. I was supposed to move to a  science high school for sophomore year. I took the entrance exam, and passed. There were only 8 slots for that year. This is a special school and my brother attended it on his freshman year. I wanted to go there, there’s pride and getting in. But just a few days before school was supposed to start, I chickened out. So though I had begun to tell my classmates that I wasn’t going to see them that year, I surprised them by showing up on the first day of school. My mom, who was on a trip when I changed my mind, came home and wasn’t happy about it (she got over it easily though). My brother said that I should have pushed through with it, I’d get a better chance at getting into UP or Ateneo when time came. My rebound was that he didn’t even stay there for long. That was his mistake, he said.
7. For college, I was accepted at all the schools I applied for (even if I didn’t move to the science high:)). Of course, there was no question about choosing UP above the others. But then a few days before registration, I almost chickened out again. None of my friends and classmates were going to UP. I was going to be on my own. My bestfriend was going to Mapua and I seriously considered just going there instead. Tuition wasn’t a question, my parents took out a college plan for me. My mom was supportive when I told her about my doubts. In the end, I just couldn’t picture myself as an engineer. Could you imagine me being an electronics and communications engineer? Well I couldn’t. Haha.

Whew. Are you still with me? Give yourself a pat on the back if you’re still reading

So of course I’m going to pass on this award to other Versatile bloggers; before I do, here’s a reminder of the rules

* Be sure to thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

* Share 7 things about yourself.

* Pass the award to other bloggers who you think deserve it.

* Be sure to let the bloggers know you chose them to receive the award.

So without further ado, I hereby name the following as Versatile Bloggers!

- Bambie, from My Thoughts, My Heart, My Turf.

- Zoan, of Zowanderer

- Gee, of Georly.Com fame

Do checkout their blogs and see for yourself why I think they are versatile bloggers. Oh and let them know I gave them the award too, I’d only have time to go ’round to their blogs tomorrow.