the monday caller

let me just relate a phone conversation i had last monday that pissed me off - big time. i can usually keep my cool whenever i get those calls: down to the "super kulit", "matagal makaintindi" at "far out queries"... but last monday, i really i had it.

me (M): good morning, admissions office.

caller (C): (she sounded that she just woke up) miss, pwede pa ba ako makahabol sa entrance exam ngayon?

M: im sorry miss, but its already 9:15. the exam starts at 8 am. hindi ka na papayagan ng examiner pumasok this late. but you can have it rescheduled.

C: (she actually yawned loudly) hindi na ba talaga pwede humabol? kagigising ko lang kasi at maliligo pa ako. ummm, ang afternoon exam dba is 1 to 4pm? eh kasi may lakad ako ng 3pm. hindi ba pwede hanggang 3 lang ang exam?

at this moment, i was starting to get irritated at her. maybe it was the way she talked. alam mo yung OA na pa-sosyalista ang dating? idagdag mo pa na bagong gising ang boses niya? i gritted my teeth.

M: miss, just schedule your exam at your available sked.

C: tomorrow kaya? ai wait, may lakad pala ako. hindi ba talaga pwede humabol this morning? (then she yawned again)

i was now really annoyed.

M: miss, as far as im concerned, hindi ang entrance exam schedule ang mag-aadjust sa iyo. if you want to take the exam, you should choose a time that will not be in conflict with your personal schedule. if you want to schedule your exam, you have to come here at the office & have it rescheduled.

i usually allow rescheduling over the phone but i was kinda curious to see her, haha.

C: ok. hindi na talaga pwede?

M: no.

C: (she yawned for the nth time) ok miss. bye!

i paused for a moment whether i was right in lecturing her. duh! i suppose i am. im sure you cant exactly comprehend why she was annoying but she really was. oh well, we dont know each other so, i'll just put her down as my "monday caller". haha.

The Spiderwick Chronicles

one of my recommended movies to watch this year. the magical characters were superb & funny...i love it!

FYI: the movie is adapted from a five (5) book series written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, with the same title, The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Double Sin & Other Stories

you'll find 4 good reads. 3 stories sucks.

"Double Sin" - check
"Wasps' Nest" - check
"The Theft of the Royal Ruby" - check
"The Dressmaker's Doll" - X
" The Last Seance" - X
"Sanctuary" - X
" The Double Clue" - check

10, 000 BC

yos & i share the same taste in movies.
we like it action packed.
we like it with wars.
we like movies with those "history" injected in them.

and this movie is one you must see! though some cinematic flaws did not escape my eyes, still, a must-see!

what my name actually means...

There are 12 letters in your name.
Those 12 letters total to 64
There are 6 vowels and 6 consonants in your name.

What your first name means:

Sanskrit	Female	Divine. A mythological Hindu title relating to Shiva's wife who is known by different names according to her exercise of power for good or ill.
Hebrew	Female	Variant of Deborah: Bee. Deborah was the Biblical prophetess who summoned Barak to battle against an army of invaders. After the battle she wrote a victory song which is part of the Book of Judges.

Your number is: 1

The characteristics of #1 are: Initiating action, pioneering, leading, independent, attaining, individual.

The expression or destiny for #1:
A number 1 Expression denotes the skilled executive with keen administrative capabilities. You must develop the capacity to be a fine leader, sales executive, or promoter. You have the tools to become an original person with a creative approach to problem solving, and a penchant for initiating action. Someone may have to follow behind you to handle the details, but you know how to get things going and make things happen. You have a good mind and the ability to use it for your advancement. Because of these factors, you have much potential for achievement and financial rewards. Frequently, this expression belongs to one running a business or striving to achieve a level of accomplishment on ones talents and efforts. You have little need for much supervision, preferring to act on your own with little restraint. You are both ambitious and determined. Self-confident and self-reliant must be yours, as you develop a strong unyielding will and the courage of your convictions.

Although you fear loneliness, you want to be left alone. You fear routine and being in a rut. You often jump the gun because you are afraid of being left behind.

The negative attributes of the 1 Expression are egotism and a self-centered approach to life. This is an aggressive number and if it is over-emphasized it is very hard to live with. You do not have to be overly aggressive to fulfill your destiny. The 1 has a natural instinct to dominate and to be the boss; adhering to the concept of being number One. Again, you do not have to dominate and destroy in order to lead and manage.

Your Soul Urge number is: 1

A Soul Urge number of 1 means:
Your Soul Urge is the number 1. With a Soul Urge number of 1, you want to lead and direct, to work independent of supervision, by yourself or with subordinates. You take pride in your abilities and want to be recognized for them. You may seek opportunities to display your strength and usefulness, wanting to create and originate. In your desire to manage the big picture and the main issues, you may often leave the details to others.

The positive 1 Soul Urge is Ambitious and determined, a leader seeking opportunities. There is a great deal of honesty and loyalty in this character. If you possess positive 1 Soul Urge qualities, you are very attainment oriented and driven to success. You are a loyal friend and strictly fair in your business dealings.

The negative side of the 1 Soul Urge must be avoided. A negative 1 is apt to dominate situations and people; the home, the spouse, the family and the business. Emotions aren't strong in this nature. If you possess an excess of 1 energy, you may, at times, be boastful and egotistic. You must avoid being too critical and impatient of trifles. The great need of the 1 Soul Urge is the development of friendliness, and a sincere interest in people.

Your Inner Dream number is: 9

An Inner Dream number of 9 means:
You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and what to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.

to know your name's meaning, click: http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp

Heroes Season 2

i finally finished the 11 episodes of heroes season 2..and what can i say?!
wow...wow...make it WOW, a hundred times!

a few spoilers for those who have not yet seen it:

a. hiro nakamura is the man! of all the characters of the series, he is my favorite!
b. a new annoying character villain in the name of adam monroe who has the same ability as claire.
c. new characters with awesome abilities: can cause a plague, adaptive muscle ability, electricity (mala-Volta), mind manipulator
d. old character(s) with improved abilities: parkman (awesome ability, i must say!)
e. new characters with same abilities with old characters: a cutie BF of claire, adam monroe
f. characters we have to say our goodbyes (i hope it does not have to be like that): DL hawkins, nathan petrelli, nikki sanders, hiro's father (ehe, forgot his name)
g. and guess what?! SYLAR IS ALIVE! and he is a menace, better than he was before! (grrr..)

volume 3 is entitled "villains"

ok, when will the writer's strike end?! we are waiting here, you know!

Sophie's World

an easy read crash course in philosophy. i recommend it.

why i like it: my knowledge in philosophy was refreshed...and to be truthful, some learnings from my college philo courses were heightened & clarified..hahaha =)

why i dont like it: the other stuff in the novel =)

top 10's halloween scary creatures

i know, i know! halloween is still months & months away...just read and get to know the scary creatures. admit it, you were scared of them before. hehehehe =)

They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky. But Halloween's creepiest creature customes didn't appear out of thin air, not even the ghosts. Many of them once instilled real fear in medieval towns, when folklore reigned supreme and getting freaked out came easy. Here we offer up some real science and history of the scary stars of Oct. 31. (--Heather Whipps)

10. Goblins
Made famous in fairy tales, the small and furry goblin is more mischievous than menacing. Legend tells of goblins hiding out in forests, pulling pranks and sometimes switching human babies for their own changeling spawn. Unlike some of the other creatures mentioned here and probably because of their disconnect from religion, goblins never quite crossed the threshold from the imaginary to cause real panic in medieval towns.

9. Demons
One of those all-encompassing terms for an "evil spirit," a demon can represent anything from a malevolent ghost or fallen angel to a puppet of Satan. Like the notion of evil itself, they have ancient origins and appear in folklore and literature across the world. The demon that possessed Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" is probably pop culture's most famous and most talented, with levitation capability, rotating head and amazing, life-like spewing action!

8. Gargoyles
They are one way to add a little freaky "je ne sais quoi to" otherwise lovely architecture. But gargoyles, those frightening stone monsters protruding from cathedrals worldwide, do actually have a function. They were incorporated into gothic stonework as early as the 13th-century to keep rain water off cathedral roofs, their mouths serving as the ejector spout. More spiritually, gargoyles were supposed to protect the congregation from the ever-present evil forces lurking outside. Two birds with one stone, so to speak.

7. Zombies
Kings of the b-movie industry, zombies are individuals who've either had their souls sucked from their bodies or been revived from the dead through black magic. Zombie culture stems from the voodoo religion of Haiti, where it is still believed that people can fall into mindless trances just like the walking dead we've seen on film (minus the missing limbs and snacking on human flesh). An ethnobotanist investigating the claims in Haiti found a toxic drug that could actually induce a zombie-style catatonic state.

6. Werewolves
Typically normal and well-mannered until a Full Moon kicks in, werewolves are cursed shapeshifters that have appeared in the legend set of nearly every culture going back to ancient Greece. Like witches, they were hunted in medieval times and blamed for community murders that couldn't be explained otherwise. Though the violent werewolf stories of old seem to have fallen off the radar, except in Hollywood, there remains an excessive body-hair disorder lovingly nicknamed "the werewolf disease."

5. Jack-oe-Lanterns
A standout among freaks and monsters, the nutritious pumpkin may be Halloween's most famous symbol. The practice of carving and lighting the gourd is a Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants, who used the more-plentiful turnip back home. Glowing, frightening faces emanating from the pumpkins were meant to frighten off the evil spirits thought to roam the streets on Oct. 31, the Celtic New Year's Eve.

4. Bats
They're blind, they hang out in caves and they inspire masked crusaders. But how did bats become associated with Halloween? The winged mammals can thank vampires for that. Like their Draculian counterparts, a small number of bat species actually subsist on animal bloode vampire bats have been known to attack humans on occasioneusing sharp teeth to cut into the sleeping victim. Their nocturnal ways and connection to Ozzy Osbourne probably don't help either.

3. Witches
Forget the pointy black hat and warty nose. Those popular associations are relatively recent compared with the long and often tragic history of witches across the globe. In the past, witches were thought to possess magical powers connected with the natural world. Like all pagans, they were demonized as heretics by the Christian church, a hunt that reached its apex in medieval Europe and 17th-century America. Good luck picking them out of a crowd today: witch costumes frequently top the list at Halloween.

2. Ghosts
Poke two eye holes in a bed sheet and you've got the easiest Halloween costume around. Becoming a real ghost is a bit more complicated. First you have to die, maybe tragically, then leave part of your soul hanging around earth to spook relatives and haunt houses. From a supposedly scientific angle, parapsychologists argue that energyeincluding what's in the bodyecan never be completely destroyed. Society seems to agree: various studies peg belief in ghosts at about 50 percent.

1. Vampires
They vant to suck your blood, and have for quite some time. Vampires have popped up in cultural folklore for thousands of years, though the fanged-and-coiffed version we know comes from the 18th and 19th-century myths of Eastern Europe. There, it was believed that someone who was born with deformities or died an irregular death could, after burial, rise again to terrorize the living. Vampires were considered eundeade and needed to feast on human blood to remain so.

SOURCE: http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/top10_scary_creatures.html

the top 10 mysterious disease

my field of studies is not medically related but this stuff got me interested. check mo, baka meron ka...hehehe, just kidding! =)

There are many sicknesses doctors can cure with the swish of a pen across prescription pad. But for all we understand now about some illnesses, there are even more that still stump the pros, confound the public and rage on uncontested. (–Heather Whipps)

10. Morgellons Disease
This mysterious illness, which has cropped up again recently, displays almost sci-fi symptoms. Sufferers complain of intensely creepy-crawly skin and odd fibrous strands which protrude from open wounds. Some in the medical community blame the "disease" on psychotic delusion, but others say the symptoms are very real.

9. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue is a classic MUPS (medically unexplained physical symptoms) disease, with a diagnosis based only on the ruling out of other possibilities. More than just feeling a little tired, CFS patients are often bed-ridden for days at a time.

8. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
One version of this rare brain disorder is better known "Mad Cow" and can be contracted by eating contaminated beef. "Regular" CJD is also always fatal, quick-acting and is the most common form, but develops in most patients for reasons doctors have yet to figure out and can not prevent.

7. Schizophrenia
Experts consider this the most puzzling of mental disorders, one which robs the sufferer of the ability to logically distinguish between reality and fantasy. Symptoms range wildly between patients and include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, lack of motivation or emotion, but the disease has no defining medical tests.

6. Autoimmune Disorders
A catchall term for a host of afflictions including Lupus and MS, autoimmune disorders treat the body's organs and normal functions as enemy invaders. They're usually chronic, always debilitating, and doctors can do little except ease their symptoms.

5. Pica
People diagnosed with Pica have an insatiable urge to eat non-food substances like dirt, paper, glue and clay. Though it is believed to be linked with mineral deficiency, health experts have found no real cause and no cure for the peculiar disorder.

4. Avian Flu
Humans have no immunity to the powerful flu virus carried by birds, which health official fear could mutate into a strain that can be transmitted between humans. Death rates for human infected are around 50 percent but, so far, humans have been infected mostly by direct handling with infected birds. A recent cluster of cases, however, appeared to involved its spread between people.

3. The Common Cold
Even with an estimated one billion cases in the United States every year, doctors still know very little about the nose-running, cough-inducing cold, whose root causes number in the hundreds (some headway is being made). Time and chicken soup, not antibiotics, is often the only prescription that helps.

2. Alzheimer's Disease
Not to be confused with the forgetfulness that affects most everyone in their later years, Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disorder that manifests differently in each of its sufferers. The exact cause isn't understood and it can't be effectively treated.

1. AIDS
Twenty-five years since it was first identified, there is still no cure for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS remains among the world's most potent killers, especially in developing countries. The disease likely started with a chimp to human jump, recent research confirmed.

SOURCE: http://www.livescience.com/health/top_10_diseases.html

GOOD food, gone BAD

(from: http://www.livescience.com/health/top_10_good_food_bad.html)
we better think thrice on loading too much of these stuff again!

Fish, cereal, yogurt and other basic food can be very healthy, until it is corrupted in the hands of food manufacturers. The more food is processed, the unhealthier it becomes. The healthiest foods have no list of ingredients. They are what they are. Here we present 10 healthy foods gone bad. -Christopher Wanjek

10. FISH STICKS
The fish part is usually pollock, rather healthy. The stick part seems to be the remaining 20 ingredients listed on the box, which aren't so healthy. Doctors have been advising people to eat more fish for years, because they are high in healthy fats and low in unhealthy fats compared to beef and pork. Yet when you buy processed fish products or when you order deep-fried fish from a fast-food joint, the bad starts to outweigh the good.

9. YOGURT
Armenians in my neighborhood when I was growing up used to make their own yogurt, which is essentially milk fermented with certain bacteria. This is high in protein, calcium and vitamins and can be eaten by adults, who generally cannot digest milk well. What is sold in mainstream U.S. supermarkets under the name yogurt is really a dairy dessert loaded with sugar and processed fruit, disguised as a health food. Try plain, fat-free yogurt and add your own fruit.

8. CANNED SOUP
Soup is remarkably healthy, inexpensive and easy to make. A lunch of hardy homemade soup and bread, cooked in bulk and frozen in individual containers for the week, will cost less than a dollar a day. Canned soup, on the other hand, is a miserable concoction of salt, fat, artificial additives, preservatives, water and maybe part of a carrot. One serving typically contains 1,000 milligrams of sodium, about half your daily allowance. Save your chicken and beef bones and vegetable tops and make you own broth.

7. GREEN TEA
Green tea is widely consumed throughout Asia and is nothing short of an art form in Japan. The tea contains antioxidants and other healthful components shown in clinical studies to possibly prevent cancer, heart disease, senility and other diseases associated with aging. But most Americans don't like the taste, so what you get here is a green tea drink loaded with sugar and other additives, sold under the disguise of a health drink. Any ingredient after the words "green tea" on the bottle chisels away the health benefits.

6. RUSSET POTATOES
At the risk of pissing off Idaho, the Russet varieties of potatoes, with their brown skin and white flesh, are only marginally healthy to begin with. Cheap and hardy, yes, with a few nutrients, they serve some purpose as a filler. But their starch is quickly converted by the body into blood sugar, called glucose, and raises the risk of diabetes and obesity. And because they are arguably the least flavorful of the hundreds of potato varieties in the Americas, we have to do things to make them tasty. We boil and mash them and cover them in butter, or we cut them into strips, deep-fry them and cover them with salt.

5. POPCORN
Popcorn today rarely resembles the healthy treat it used to be. Popcorn is, well, corn. It's high in fiber, low in calories, and contains only nominal traces of sugar, salt and fat. That changes, of course, when you add sugar, salt and fat. Microwave popcorns are the biggest offenders with their long list of ingredients to enhance flavor. Try buying popcorn kernels in bulk for pennies a serving and control the amount of salt and (real) butter. [While you're here: Find out why popcorn pops.]

4. SLICED BREAD
The most common form of bread in Americaethe mass-produced white, soft doughy bread in plastic bags with a shelf life of weekseis likely a major component of obesity and diabetes. True bread is flour and water with a pinch of salt and yeast. Packaged white bread contains flour plus sugar, corn syrup and often a dozen other ingredients. The processing creates a food product that, once eaten, is quickly converted to blood sugar, called glucose. This causes the pancreas to work overtime and ultimately destroys the organ. Even mass-produced whole wheat breads are unhealthy because they are made palatable by some evil means: the unholy trinity of sugar, salt and softening additives.

3. BREAKFAST CEREAL
True cereals---the likes of wheat, barley, rice and oats, to name a few---are and have always been the most important food of the human race. The combination of protein, healthy fat and vitamins is unbeatable. The word "cereal" has been hijacked, however, by food producers who make tiny, crunchy breakfast cakes out of true cereal with the addition of sugar, corn syrup, salt, food dyes and preservatives. Try oats with raisins, or barley with 100-percent fruit spread. These are far healthier and far cheaper. [Check out this cereal science.]

2. COMMERCIAL ORGANIC
It started as a brilliant idea. Dedicated farmers would become stewards of the land, shunning the toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers that had proliferated after WWII. They would raise food naturally, cultivate diverse crop varieties native to their soils. Animals raised for food would be treated with care and dignity. And for 30-some years, this has been the case. But organic food is so popular that its value system is in jeopardy. Big players such as Wal-Mart and Kraft want part of the profits, and their demand for cheaper production methods undermines what it means to be organic. And so we now have organic milk from caged cows force-fed organic grain. And we have organic junk food with organic ingredients flown in from around the globe, disguised as health food by virtue of the organic label.

1. PIZZA
What a pity that most Americans have never eaten pizza and confuse it for the junk food advertised on television. In Italy there are laws defining pizza, which set allowances on the type of flour, tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, basil and oregano. Pizza is inherently nutritious and filling. Street corner pizza shops in Philadelphia, New York and other large cities kept close to the original idea of simple, fresh ingredients. Then came the pizza chains, which put most local shops out of business. Fresh ingredients were replaced with preservative-laden, cheap and fatty ingredients that could be mass-produced, frozen and shipped across the country. Commercial pizza is now a high-calorie, high-fat, high-sodium, low-nutrient food.