I wish that my title really meant taking home Bamboo’s frontman Bamboo Mañalac home…
@the NCO Christmas Party - 2007 (taken by me or Vanette)
But what it really means is that I have reached deep into my pockets again, and bought yet another gadget to guarantee that I will be spending every waking hour in front of my PC! Haha. Yep, I finally have a Wacom Bamboo!
I’m still looking up info about using it with my PSPX or with Photoshop so if you know of any site that will give me free tutorials, please please please share the link okay? 🙂
Around Christmas and just before New Year’s I made a banner for Alfred’s family reunion. I didn’t know that they actually had it printed and used it until I saw the photos when Alfred came back. Here it is, slightly modified, life-sized, and with Alfred’s neices, nephews, and even grandmother posing for happy photos:
I’ve been meaning to post this since the third of January but it’s been stuck in my drafts for some reason. Don’t they just all look so young ang happy? Hehe. I’ve met all of them already, except for one of the girls, and Lola.
Around the world so many things are happening every minute of the day. I see news items on Msn.com, on TV, hear stuff over the radio on the taxi ride to work every night, and occasionally I read the papers in the mornings too.
I love the random reactions that go through my mind as I listen, watch or read. Really, sometimes I wish I carried a recorder around and just spoke into it so I could later blog them word per word. But that’t not how it goes. So anyway, here are some links to stories I’ve read this week and the reactions they elicited from yours truly…
Jessica Simpson’s pictures and her recent performance – I saw the photos first from sis Joan’s blog and my reaction was that I didn’t see anything wrong with the way she looked. In fact, I thought that she looked like she was having fun. Others hit her for dressing in a way that didn’t flatter her added curves, while others still hit her for allegedly letting herself go. In my eyes she was beautiful. I didn’t feel I had any right to bash her, because I don’t look that good in photos (yet, haha).
I was surprised though about the way they say she botched her performance as front act for Rascal Flatts a few nights ago. So unlike the Jessice I heard about in Hollywood True Stories.
This one about FedEx leaving Subic Bay to move to China, I actually read this in the papers. I had the impression that they were leaving Subic because of the economic crisis, but apparently it was a business decision made quite some time ago. It is sad that hundreds lost their job there, but China needs the jobs too considering the millions of migrants who went home for the holidays and with no job to go back to. FedEx will still have a base for its Philippine operations but it will be in Clark Field, not very far from what once was its Southeast Asian hub.
I’ve heard about the birth of the octuplets, the celebration, and later the outrage that welcomed them into this world. I’m a fan of Jon and Kate, Plus 8 on Discovery but I’ve never wished to have that many kids of my own all at the same time (although theirs were a set of six, and an older twins). But as for this latest set of multiples born in this world, it’s quite a different story. I was surprised that she already has six kids (sixtuplets?). And more surprised that she was in her early thirties, and single! And though I am happy that all the babies lived, I can’t help but also question what has happened. In an interview she admitted not having a very happy childhood being alone. Ugh, okay. O-K. Kids are not treats that you use to fill what was empty in your life. Yes, they have that effect, but they should never be brought to life with that in mind, nor should you adopt a baby because you want something to make you happy. If anything, take them because you know you can make them happy. I’m sorry, I might be hurting the feelings of other people here, but the tug of parenthood, in my opinion, is a tug borne out of a desire to care for someone else.
Anyway, goodluck to the mother and the rest of her family. May they have what they need to provide for all the needs of all their children. And in a few years, I hope to hear how happy and healthy all fourteen kids are.
There were more stories that made me laugh, frown, or had me puzzled throughout the week. These probably weren’t the most striking nor most significant to me personally, but these are stories of our world nonetheless.
There was an update for Ikariam a few days ago, and among the changes I’ve noticed are these little guys basking in the sun when a town’s mood is happy:
Yet another reason to enjoy Ikariam.
Oh, on a different matter…
I bought a kit from Funky Playground Design’s One Dollar Deal promo:
In a former life, my everyday life was battling against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, then of combatting the trafficking of children. But in the last three years, I’ve managed to steer clear of this advocacies save for the very seasonal activities I still join. When I saw the story on MSN.com, some of the sparks were rekindled in me. I’m referring to efforts to rid MySpace and Facebook of registered sex offenders. That’s all well and good, but I think they can only do that for sex offenders who have been convicted in the United States. MySpace and Facebook have worldwide following, how would they address the possibility that there may be child sexual predators online who come from other countries too? It’s a good start anyway, and it really should be up to owners of the social networking sites to institute safeguards for kids.
One thing’s for sure though, it is easier to safeguard kids online when there are laws like the COPPA for the US, and the one for Korea too. Because it obligates web sites to have a strict privacy policy for the information of minors.
Yet another reason to enjoy Ikariam.