My honey sent me an email on personality traits exhibited by people born on a certain month... for me, here's what it said:

SEPTEMBER
Suave and compromising, Careful, cautious and organized, Likes to point out people's mistakes, Likes to criticize, Quiet but able to talk well, Calm and cool, Kind and sympathetic, Concerned and detailed, Trustworthy, loyal and honest, Does work well, Very confident, Sensitive, Thinking, Generous, Good memory, Clever and knowledgeable, Loves to look for information, Must control oneself when criticizing, Able to motivate oneself, Understanding, Fun to be around, Secretive, Loves sports, leisure and traveling, Hardly shows emotions, Tends to bottle up feelings, Choosy especially in relationships, Loves wide things, Systematic.

Looks like everything mentioned is true! CREEPY!!!

What a fun day this has been... woke up early this morning but got out of bed an hour after (try to figure that out)...

My mom gave me a kiss on the forehead with a smile to go with it. I can't remember how much of those I got when I was still little. And how much of those I'd want to get now that I'm an adult.

I asked my dad if he could take me all the way to the office as I have boxes of brownies to carry. He agreed. No questions asked. Drove off to work. Traffic wasn't so bad. It prolly took us 45 mins to get to the office. (I told my dad I had an 8:30AM meeting - which I did). Got to work on time. Second floor... I'm thinking to myself how much I hate birthdays, you always end up tired of saying thank you's.

As I walked inside our office, various colors greeted my eyes, balls of air floating all over. It was amazing. Balloons! I was honestly shocked. As I walked about four meters forward, behind me people were singing "Happy Birthday!" holding bags of stuff from the nearby Starbucks (they know I'm an addict). It was amazing. Fun fun fun!

My officemates gave me a gift... a box of flavored cigars (Coffee Caprichos) and a black leather wallet. 'Twas so cool of them. So now I take back what I said an hour ago... I love birthdays!

What a day... Got home at 2AM this morning, and woke up at 9ish AM. Ugh...

The day started unpleasantly until I came across this site (thanks to my ever so reliable blog buddy Nelz for this fabulous site. :) Get me some of them bachelors... yee haw!

Cosmo Bachelors

Be still my heart... sorry honey... I rarely get these palpitations

I was trying to brighten up my week by going through some random blogs I'd find in other people's bloglists...

Came across this blog of friends prolly from CA (not sure, I'd have to check again) hump.dekarabaw.com... It initially goes "something sure to offend"... but I know people should not take things like these seriously... Here goes...


courses i think they should offer in college:

*Accounting 127 - Accounting For All Them Chinese People Wandering Around In Jamaica
*Biology 165 - Seriously, What The Hell Is In This Siopao?
*Communication 151 - How To Communicate With White People
*Dance 162 - Interpretations Of The Chinese Experience
*English 134 - When You Can't Understand Your Vietnamese Barber
*Ethnic Studies 174 - How To Tell The Difference Between Indians And Pakistanis
*Filipino American Studies 182 - In Heaven Do They Have The Filipino Channel?
*Finance 118 - I Buy This Shit In California And Find Out It's Made In The Philippines?
*History 178 - The Short History Of Scandanavian Hip-Hop
*Mathematics 195 - Estimating The Number Of Black People Who Have Appeared On Friends
*Music 106 - Why, In The Name Of All That Is Sacred In This World, Do They Play Eminem's Videos on BET?
*Religious Studies 149 - Praying For People Who Think J-Lo Is The Virgin Mary
*Physics 187 - Fun With Street Racing Fatalities
*Psychology 150 - Differentiating Between Crazy Asian People, Crazy Black People, Damn Crazy White People, And People You Meet In College Who Are Just Plain CRAZY.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

And here I thought a shop in Dublin, Ireland called Knobs and Knockers (a door knob and door knockers store) took the cake for having the weirdest name I've encountered, I come across an actual town called Intercourse, PA. Read the link. Quite interesting. Thanks to my blog buddy Karlo.

I've been spending two days now on Visual Basic training. It's actually pretty good. Food is not scarce. I'm afraid I'm gaining weight. I need to check soon. Also, this week has been quite tough for me. I need to make do with a few hundred bucks just to get by. I never talked about my sky-rocketing credit card bills and I don't intend to. Let's just say, I could've gotten myself tickets to Europe for two with what I have to pay now. Oh well.

Argh! I need to check if Sex and the City is showing tonight. I doubt it though. But who knows. :)

Weekend was fine. Friday night was a blast. Saturday was cool. Sunday fantabulous :)

Didn't even get drunk on the four glasses of gin and pomelo, Friday night (which lasted till 5ish in the morning of the next day. Talked about tons of stuff with friends. All 20 of us together at friend's house. Chatted mostly about our past glory. It's so much fun to reminisce.

Saw The Bourne Identity and I really think Matt Damon is just so sexy. The pic was fine. A bit like Art of War by Wesley Snipes but Matt's presence in the film was just yummy for me. Wished there was at least one hot scene with him and hmmm... well, just him.

Had much fun with my honey the same night. Nah, won't tell the details. Might be too graphic for my own good. Might even end up with a stiffie... ha ha ha!

Last night, issue filled. Hillarious wise cracks. Great company. 40 friends in a house. What can you expect. Always love it when these people get together. There's never a dull moment. I even had a chance to participate in a taste test of coffee where I had to rate 6 different brands of coffee. I knew I was into gourmet coffee. I gave it a 7 out of a possible 10. Starbucks and Seattle's Best came next at 6 for each and the others just lagged behind. Although I was shocked at the local brew (Batangas' Kapeng Barako - I honestly don't know the English translation), it tasted pretty good. It probably needed more coffee. The brew wasn't rich enough.

Speaking of coffee. My mom told me French-pressed coffee is still the best. Darn, the French do know how to live life.

Before you start reading, note that the contents below were written a year ago.

On 9/11

This is an email I sent a cousin of mine in the U.S. after he asked me for my opinion about a certain article written by this Canadian. Contained in the email were comments by a friend here in the Philippines and my cousin's reactions to his comments and then my reactions to my cousin's comments. (confusing? he he he)

- this was written five days after the incident occured

"... I saw it(WTC Tragedy) happen as it was being shown on CNN the moment it occured. The utter shock of seeing two of the landmarks of American supremacy being "massacred" was completely unbearable. Knowing how much American pride I have actually absorbed with my short stay in the US, I was really touched and disturbed.

With all the criticisms I've been hearing with in the past few days from different mediums, I really don't know how to react to the inhuman actions set forth on US soil. I feel for the American people, all the hardships America has been through, trempled on by evil acts of terrorism. It definitely is an act against everything the democratic world stands for.

Although I believe that there is a duality in everyone in this world because of the attacks, in a macrocosm, the anti-America and the pro-America. I'm a Filipino, I believe I can say that I am pro-America.

America, so to speak, holds everything I believe in, maybe not all. It saddens me to think that there are elements in our modern world who still live and would die for terrorism. The plans of these terrorists and what they actually did holds much symbolism. The World Trade Center... as it is what it means... WORLD TRADE CENTER... the place for everyone to hold their commercial activities. The attack on this structure symbolizes the attack on the World. The Pentagon, being the stronghold of American(and world) intelligence and military power... same goes. These are structures that symbolize not only America but the free world. Any attack symbolize an attack on us, the believers of a free world.

As my mom would say it, "if America can be attacked like this, anybody or any country can be attacked as well"... It strikes fear on everyone here in the Philippines. With the support of the Philippine government to the US Military and US Government by giving open access to both former US Bases(Clark and Subic) to US Military forces, I believe that says it all and that causes alarm to all Filipinos all over the world. Even if it shows how much we are supportive of the US Government, it makes us a target as well. A developing nation which has issues of its own will now be facing larger and more complicated issues. We have, since the beginning of the 20th Century, bowed down to America.

As for the points my friend had raised, I do believe they were harsh and probably not contemplated on. He does believe in what America stands for in the world but there are just things from personal experience and probably his principles that can't be taken away, maybe for him.

My friend: did america stop capitalising on third world people's money? NO.

My cousin: This is true. It's called capitalism. You want to make money, right? That's why you expand your markets. Is there anything inherently wrong with that? I don't think so. If people are willing to spend their money on a product, then why not? It's called freedom of choice.

Me: Capitalism, is just that... capitalism. There is, however, difference in good and bad capitalism. Making money at the expense of other people's loss can be called bad capitalism. Capitalism which introduces new technology and processes to an outsource company is obviously good capitalism.

------------------

My friend: did the americans close down their sweatshops in africa, india, bangladesh,and the philippines? NO.

My cousin: While I personally despise sweatshops and oppose them, what happens to these workers when they lose their jobs? Can they easily find employment elsewhere?

Me: It's not a matter of losing their jobs whence these "sweatshops" close down, its a matter of creating a decent enough working environment for these so called "employees". There are model US Firms which I definitely commend ,in exempli; Intel and FedEx, but there are others that are just despicable.

-------------------

My friend: did they prostitute the young filipina? YES.

My cousin: Or rather, did the young Filipina prostitute herself?  Hey, prostitution exists EVERYWHERE. Hence, it's called the world's oldest profession. So basically, are you saying that without the US, there would be no Filipina prostitutes? I beg to differ.

Me: SOME people say that demand and supply are co-dependent, i beg to disagree... demand controls supply... products are not always supported and/or demanded... The "hospitality industry" could not have been the way it was in the days of Clark and Subic had there been no bases in Angeles(Clark-Pampanga) and Olongapo(Subic-Zambales).
If demand is low obviously supply would be low as well... this definitely doesn't mean that w/o the US there'd be no Filipina prostitutes.

-------------------

My friend: did they really bring peace to the world with their diplomatic policies? NO. it's becuase their policy is based on money and self gain. Not on true altruistic intentions.

My cousin: I don't think you will ever have world peace. Ain't gonna happen. Since the beginning of time, ain't never had no peace! But let's see, the US is always there to offer humanitarian aid where it is needed - and where do most countries go to when they need help. Hmmm.

Me: I believe both points are actually reasonable to me... I don't believe in World Peace but I'm hopeful for it. Regarding countries asking for US assistance...okay okay help... I believe the US can't really say no... without us(the developing countries) the US would also suffer... without the US we suffer... bygones...

------------------

My friend: DO you think they were really fighting for human rights out there?! That's one big BULL.

My cousin: I disagree. The US has a strong human rights policy in general. It's not perfect but the US has always supported democracy and the freedoms associated with it.

Me: Hate crimes included? No pun inteded... I guess that's where the "not perfect" comes in... it is, after all, an imperfect world...

-------------------

My cousin: And were it not for the US, we probably would not be alive today. The US saved the Philippines during World War 2.

Me: we weren't saved... the US only "protected" what was theirs... the only reason the Philippines was attacked so much was because it was a U.S. Commonwealth then... Singapore was attacked because it was a British Commonwealth.. same goes for Malaysia and Indonesia(Dutch) and Vietnam(French)....
The whole deal on US Philippine history is one that will constantly be debated for generations of Filipinos for as long as there is a Philippines and US...

Mark Twain(Samuel Clemens) once wrote about the way the US was meddling with the growth of the Philippines after the Spanish American War (which was obviously started by the Spaniards) and that the US should've left the Philippines alone after reclaiming it from Spain by winning the war and signing the Treaty of Paris. The way history tells it, the Philippines was supposed to have been let go but it wasn't to be so. Many laws and pacts signed by our "owners" which have abused the Philippines in terms of natural resources and the Filipino people... but of course they say that "that was then"...


*sigh*... the Philippines has been and will probably always be, a country of brown Americans... no matter what we say or do... I'm being true.

As you might have noticed there seems to be confusion with my sentiments for the US... wherein I don't agree with everything the US has done throughout history or will be doing in the future... I will always be pro-America, for I believe in Truth, Freedom, Liberty, and above all, Love of Country!

My heart goes out to those people who lost their loved ones. I pray for the souls of your departed. May they have peace.

I'm back. That was a good and quick recovery. Whew... Again, I'll see if I can muster the courage to spill the beans on what happened but I don't know if I can yet. I'm trying to get over it until now. I also don't know if it's better if I keep it to myself. But what's the point of having a journal if I can't say everything. I'll still have to wait for the right time.

I was surfing the SATC website and got this phrase from there. "Why do we only believe the negative things people say about us." Ain't that funny, coz it's true. Wish people would be more trusting with the good things people say about them. Believe in those more. It might surprise them, they'll feel better about themselves.

Weekend awaits. It's going to be bland, I just have this feeling it will. I don't know why. I'm thinking where I can get money to spend. Hmmm... Happy weekend to me! :)

Why now!? Why face something I had no intentions of facing!? How could it happen to me!?

I don't think it wise for me to continue this journal. Until the time I feel better or at least gain the trust I have for people, then I will make it a point to gain my enthusiasm for writing, but now, I just want to be seek refuge from what just happened.

Hope to be back.

Great weekend for me! =) Got my cafe mocha and cinnamon roll. Yumm... Hope the day goes well.