Holiday on Monday - May 3

In observance of May 1 Labor day which falls on a Saturday, the President issued Proclamation 2043 which states that May 3 is a regular holiday (non-working).

The proclamation cited a law which states that the Monday nearest to May 1 will be considered a holiday if ever May 1 falls on a weekend.

So there you go, it's official, there's no work on Monday!

I have nothing plan yet for the long weekend break but I'll surely use this three day break to the fullest.

Our Front yard Project

Our front yard used to be filled with flowers and decorative plants but when our City Mayor started his sidewalk project in our community, we had no choice but to clear our front yard of our plants. What is left is just a cemented front yard and no beautiful plants in sight.

Well, I don't disagree with the mayor's project because sidewalks offers a safe area for pedestrian to walk to but I still long for plants to adorn our house.

The government used only 1.5 meters of our front yard for the sidewalk so there's still a remaining 1.5 meters free space. I was thinking that perhaps we could put up pots with flowers and plants in the remaining space, window boxes for plants and window boxes for flowers around the house so we could have some greens and lovely flowers to beautify our place.

I already told my father about it and he agreed with my plan. He said that aside from the plants, flowers, flower boxes and pots I should remember to buy garden soil too.

Iron Man 2

Yey! Iron Man 2 will have an advance screening here in the Philippines. The movie will be shown tomorrow April 30, five days ahead from the US Screening to prevent movie piracy.

So excited to see this film! My boyfriend and I will watch this on Sunday.

Sisterhood Award

Got this award from Grace! Thank you sis, I really appreciate it!

For the rules:1. Put the logo on your blog or post.2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

I have given this award a few months back so anyone who wants to grab this feel free to do so.

A Quick Post

I am suppose to do a paid post tonight but I can't think of anything to write about because I have this terrible headache.

This headache started right after lunch time today.

Oh well, I guess I need to sleep early and rest. Hopefully my headache will be gone tomorrow.

Web Hosting Providers

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Ranting About Our Electric Bill

I know that there will be an increased in electric bill charges for this month because the Manila Electric Company or MERALCO has already advised their consumers about this. They said that the losses sustained by the company due to the El Nino phenomenon will be shouldered by their users. I was expecting a few hundred pesos will be added from the previous amount that we usually pay for our electric bill.

But I was too shock to read the latest billing statement that they sent us from the usual P1800.00 that we paid for consistently they are charging us P4,080. There was an increase of more than a hundred percent.

How were they able to come up with this computation?

When I checked the graph that measures our electric consumption, the graph showed that our electric consumption for this month is a hundred percent higher than the previous month. But how could that happened when most of the time we experience rotational brownout in our area? We did not have any extra electrical appliances that were plugged this month so I believe the energy we used is the same as what we have used in the previous months.

I am going to contact customer service and complained about this early morning tomorrow.

This happens when there is only one company servicing electricity, there is a monopoly and they tend to abuse their consumers.

God's Whisper

This is God's whisper message to me -

Dear Joy,

No matter how lonely life gets, you’ll never be alone. That’s a total and complete impossibility. Because I will never leave or abandon you, Joy. You hear me?

God

PS. I’m sticking around no matter what happens, Joy. Live with it.

Manila Ocean Park Adventure

The Manila Ocean Park- Philippine's First Oceanarium

My brother and I went to The Manila Ocean Park last April 9,2010. The Manila Ocean Park is the country's first Oceanarium which is located behind the Quirino Grandstand.

We were there at around ten in the morning, and people were starting to line up for the tickets. We were expecting that the park will have many visitors that day because April 9 was an official holiday. Nevertheless, we were able to secure our tickets after fifteen minutes.

The Park's entrance fee is: P400.00 for adults, P350 for children 4.5 feet and below, senior citizen upon presenting their senior citizen discount ID is entitled to a twenty percent discount, and Manila residents with ID have a ten percent discount, and it's free for children two feet and below.

The journey inside the Oceanarium starts with Agos( Flow) which features a jungle-like trek and presents a man made waterfall with its water flowing to the eight big aquariums of the Ocean Park which contains fresh water fauna.

At the end of Agos is the Dalampasigan,  the visitors here can touch a starfish and an ocean star, which I did.

Next to Agos is Bahura (Coral Reefs) - it features 46 different aquariums with different species of fish that  inhabit coral reefs.

Laot (Fishing Ground) follows, it has four massive fish tanks which features marine fishes that people used for food.

After Laot is Buhay na Karagatan (The Living Ocean) - a twenty five meter walk along an underwater tunnel which is the heart of the oceanarium; here you can see how marine life interact with one another

The Kalaliman (The Deep ) which features the jacks that normally inhabit the deep ocean (oops...forgot to take the picture of the jacks)

Then the last two parts of the Oceanarium is the Pagi (Stingray) and the Pating ( Shark)

After the sharks, we exit to the the third floor where the Fish Spa and the Bottom Glass Boat ride is located. The fish spa cost P120.00 while the boat ride is P150.00. We didn't try these attractions because we were super hungry after touring the oceanarium.

Maybe we'll try the fish spa and the boat ride when we visit the Ocean Park again.

It was a great Ocean Adventure. I'm looking forward to my next Manila Ocean Park visit. :)

Math Tutor

Math has always been a least favorite subject of mine. I don't really fail in my math subjects to need help in my math homework but I don't excel in it as well.

If I would have been great in Math , I would have taken an Engineering course in college but I'm not so I took a Science course. Little did I know that my course also has a lot of chemistry subjects with many computations but not as complex as to solve calculus problems.

I have a friend in college taking up a course different from mine and she would always complain to me that she needs calculus help in order to pass the subject. She even asked me if I knew anyone that could be her calculus tutor.

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Chowking's Orange Chicken

Right after touring theManila Ocean Park, my brother and I were already hungry because it was almost one in the afternoon when we went out of the oceanarium.

Chowking was one of the food outlets at the Ocean Park and because it has a great view of the Manila Bay we decided to eat there and try out Chowking's Orange Chicken.

I had the ordinary orange chicken meal which is P84.oo and my brother had the orange chicken lauriat at P114.00. Drinks are not part of the meal yet so we had iced tea and nai cha tea.

Orange Chicken - Lauriat

Orange Chicken Meal

Chowking's orange chicken is made of breaded chicken strips topped with a sweet orangey sauce. For the lauriat aside from the orange chicken, it also had kropek, crispy noodles and a serving of buchi.

I like the breaded chicken strips but I don't enjoy the orange sauce because it taste bitter to me instead of sweet. So I ate my meal and enjoy it by eating the chicken strips without the sauce.

We capped our lunch with halo-halo for dessert.

Side Trip To Luneta Park

My brother and I went to Manila Ocean Park last Friday. We rode the lightrailway train (lrt) line 2 station from the Aurora Boulevard Station to the Recto Station and from their rode the lrt line 1 station from Dorotheo Jose to United Nations Avenue Station.

Upon alighting from the lrt, we can ride a cab to Manila Ocean Park which is behind the Quirino Grandstand but my brother decided that since it was still early we should just walk to the Manila Ocean Park passing through Luneta Park.

We enjoyed walking through Luneta Park because even if it was a sunny day the trees around the park provided shade and cool breeze to us.

And because it was a holiday on that day, a lot of people were on the park having picnics with their families. There was also a group of Korean tourists having their picture taking at the Park.

It has been ages since my last visit to the Luneta Park and I would love to explore the other areas of the park but because we're pressed for time we can only afford a few minutes at the Luneta.

Maybe some other time.

God's Whisper

My God's whisper message for today:

Dear Joy, Refuse to be bitter. It's a poison that you don't want even a single drop in your life. If someone has betrayed you, pity them and wish them the best. You move on. Your Encourager, God P.S. Forgiveness is one of the greatest things I've ever invented, Joy. Use it often.

Learning Nihonggo

I've always wanted to learn another language. If given a chance I would love to learn how to speak Nihonggo or the Japanese language.

Why Nihonggo? It is because learning this language would be a lot of help to my boyfriend because he does business with Japanese. It would be cool if I could read and translate too Japanese writings so that my boyfriend will not have a hard time deciphering the Japanese documents being sent to him.

I used to have a Japanese translation book before and have learned a few phrase but have forgotten most of it because I have not read that book again. Sometimes when I converse with my boyfriend using those few learned Japanese sentences he would correct me about the pronunciation. He worked for a time in Japan about five years ago for only a few months.

But in the meantime, while both he and I are still learning the language, should avail of the translation services of translia. Translia has the biggest network of professional translators so I am secure in the knowledge that I am given the most accurate translation for my documents. Translia offers quality translation at the shortest time possible and their services is at affordable prices.

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Health Benefits of A Good Massage

Every two weeks I make it a point to get a massage. Ate Linda, a massage therapist, visits our house regularly. Aside from me, my father, my lolo and my siblings would line up to get their massage too.

After a tiring day at work, a massage really does wonder to my tired muscles.

Here are some of the health benefits of a good massage:

1. It boost the immune system. According to studies, massage lowers down the stress hormone called cortisol. This hormone kills cells that are important in developing our immunity. A massage lowers the stress level in our body and lowers our cortisol with this action from the body it wouldn't be easy for us to catch a cold and other illnesses.

2. It is good for our blood pressure. This is because a massage stimulates the pressure receptors that direct action from the vagus nerves. The vagus nerve regulates the body's blood pressure.

3. It improves blood circulation. The pressure from the massage brings a fresh supply of blood to muscles congested with lactic acid. The flushing of the lactic acid from the muscles also improves the circulation of lymph fluids that carries wastes away from the muscles and other internal organs.

4. It relaxes tense muscles.

5. It encourages relaxation.

With all these wonderful benefits one can get from a massage why not schedule a massage for your self today.

My Grandfather's Blessings

With regards to the book challenge I've started this year, I have finished four books already and these are: "Emma," by Jane Austen, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," by Jules Vernes, "King of Torts," by John Grisham and "The Golden Road," by Lucy Maud Montgometry. I'm at the moment reading "Fearless," by Max Lucado but I'm reading it in a slower phase because the book is packed with so much beautiful insights, I want to savor every word I read from the book. It's like, I'm finished reading a page but I can't move on to the next because I have to re-read the page again, this book has that effect on me.

Knowing that I wont be finished with the book I'm presently reading for this month, I decided to scout for a new one to read while I was at the mall last Sunday.

I got "My Grandfather's Blessings," by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. from Booksale for only P40.00. On the cover of the book it says that its a book filled with stories of strength, refuge and belonging.

I started reading my new book this morning and I have a feeling I need to get a new book for this month's reading challenge again because "My Grandfather's Blessings," has the same effect on me as that of "Fearless." I end up re-reading the entire page to fully grasp the wealth of inspiration that it has. I know I will not be able to finish reading this in a month's time.

Clash Of The Titans 2010

My boyfriend and I watched "Clash of the Titans," last Sunday.

I was hesitant at first to see this movie because I've skimmed through an review about it in a newspaper saying that it's a boring movie. It's just too bad that I was not able to thoroughly read it to know the basis why the author of the article found "Clash of the Titans," unexciting. The author said that the Clash of the Titans movie released in 1981 was better than this 2010's version.

With the not so good review about the movie, I watched it with little expectations. I was surprised however to find out how entertaining it was. I actually enjoyed watching it. Boyfriend even said that he liked this better than "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," because he does not like the modern day setting of a greek myth in Percy Jackson.

And just like " Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," I find myself being reacquianted with my lessons on greek mythology when I was in highschool. Watching "Clash of the Titans," revived my interest in greek mythology.

This movie which is loosely based on a greek myth about Perseus stars Sam Worthington and the movie was directed by Louis Leterrier.

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Happy Long Weekend Break

I had a wonderful, long weekend break.

It started last Friday which was an official holiday here in the Philippines. My brother and I went to the Manila Ocean Park in the morning and spent the afternoon in the National Museum. The whole of Saturday was devoted to household chores. Later in the evening, my father and I went to hear mass together. With all my chores done the previous day, I was free to do anything I wish for Sunday which I spent with my boyfriend going to the mall and watching "Clash of the Titans."

I'm happy because the break afforded me the time to relax, to catch-up on missed house chores, to visit places and of course the most important of all is to bond with my loved ones.

Looking forward to other long weekend breaks....there's one coming next month.......and as early as now there's an intenerary already on where and how my family and my bf will spend it.

National Museum - The National Art Gallery

The National Museum - The National Art Gallery

This is the continuation of my post about the National Museum. The first part is about the National Museum's Museum of the Filipino People located at the old Finance Building, here's the link to that post .


This second part is about the National Museum's National Art Gallery.

The National Museum - National Art Gallery is located at the Old House of Congress near the Manila City Hall facing the Intramuros golf course. It serves as the repository of art works and masterpieces of the Filipino artists.

This building which houses the National Museum's National Art Gallery was original designed by American architect Ralph Harrington Doane to become a public library in 1916. The construction was halted due to lack of funds. Later on, it was decided that it will become a Legislative building. Filipino Architect Juan Arellano was commissioned to continue the project. It was inaugurated in 1926. The first floor of the building became the National Library while the second, third and fourth floors were occupied by the offices of the Senators and House of Representatives.

It was here where the Constitutional Convention of 1934 was held. It was also here outside the building steps where President Manuel L. Quezon took his oath as President of the Commonwealth.

The Senate moved out of this building in 1996 and renovations was done in 2003 to transform it as the National Art Gallery .

The National Art Gallery is home of Juan Luna's Spoliarium.


The oil canvas measures 400 x 700 cm, it depicted dead gladiators being dragged into the shadowy area of a roman arena. The Spoliarium won the gold medal at the Exposicion National de Belles Artes in 1884.

The painting reflected the maltreatment, abuses and the discrimination of the Spaniards against the Filipinos they considered to be indios.

The Spoliarium is found at the second floor of the museum at the Hall of the Masters. The Hall of the Masters exhibits the paintings of National artists - Juan Luna and Felix Ressureccion Hidalgo.

Behind this door is the Spolarium.

It is also here where you can find a sculpture made by our National Hero Jose Rizal while he was in exile in Dapitan. The sculpture is entitled a "Mother's Revenge." A dog came to the aid of her puppy being attacked by a crocodile.

Aside from works of arts by National Artists, there's a room also where you can find bone collection of various animals including that of the huge sperm whale. The National Art Gallery also houses a Herbarium.

Below is the second and third floor plan of the museum with its corresponding rooms and galleries

A whole afternoon inside the National Museum is not enough to explore the richness of the Filipino Culture. My brother and I will be back to visit it again.

The National Museum - National Art Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. 


* When my brother, my bf and I revisited the museum last November 2011, we were allowed to take souvenir shots of the art works inside the museum.  We also learned that we don't have to pay the P75.00 entrance fee every Sunday.  Here are some of my favorite artworks:

The Spoliarium by Juan Luna

La Bulaquena by Juan Luna

The Assasination of Governor General Bustamante

by Felix Ressureccion Hidalgo

the unfinished portrait drawn by

Fernando Amorsolo

at the background are the framed pencil sketches

of the late national artist

Revisiting the National Museum of the Philippines - Museum of the Filipino People

Since yesterday, April 9,2010 was a National Holiday, my brother and I visited the Manila Ocean Park in the morning and the National Museum in the afternoon.

I'll write about our Ocean Park adventure in my next post.

My brother and I decided to visit the National Museum because we wanted to see again Juan Luna's masterpiece - " The Spoliarium, " and at the same time reacquaint ourselves about the History of the Philippines.

The National Museum is made up of the National Art Gallery which is located at the Old House of Congress opposite the Wall of Intramuros while the Museum of the Filipino People is at the left side of the National Art Gallery at the Finance Street.

First stop is the Museum of the Filipino People

This museum holds thousands of artifacts salvaged from the warship-San Diego, that sank near  Fortune Island, just outside Manila Bay. The San Diego was a Spanish Battleship that clashed with the Dutch's Mauritius when the Dutch tried to invade Manila in the 1600s. 

It also showcase the anthropological and archaeological treasures of the early Filipino civilization.

Here's the Exhibition Directory that showcases the Galleries you will see inside the Museum of the Filipino People.

The museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. The entrance fee is P100 for adult while students with valid IDs and senior citizen is at P30 and P60 and it's FREE every Sunday.

Picture taking inside the museum is now allowed provided that it's not a DSLR camera..

Click this for my post on the National Art Gallery

Online Tutor

School year 2009-2010 has officially ended here in the Philippines. Most of the school kids and teens are on their summer break already.

Sadly, there are some students who cannot enjoy the two months off from school because they need to attend summer classes. Most of these students on summer classes failed in their math subject.

Perhaps they can avoid failing in the said subject if they tried the services of an online tutor being offered by Tutornext.com

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Noah's Park in Rodriguez Rizal

Last Saturday, my siblings, my brother's girlfriend, my boyfriend and I went to Noah's Park in Rodriguez, Rizal.

I've learned about this place through some of the blogs I've visited. I became curious about it ,so I planned this out of town trip with my loved ones.

Noah's Park is a lovely resort in Baranggay San Isidro,Rodriguez, Rizal which is beside Avilon Zoo. Entrance fee at the Noah's Park for adult is for only P120.00 while children below four feet is at P80.00.The cottage prize ranges from P200 to P600; there's a hotel too inside the resort, but I was not able to check the room rates. Our cottage which is called the Lake House which can sit at least six people is at P500.00. Visitors can bring in food and beverages, but bottled softdrinks has a corkage fee of P5.00 for each bottle.

But because we went there last Black Saturday, a lot of families were at the resort too taking advantage of the long holy week break, the three swimming pools inside Noah's Park were jampacked with people.

The swimming pool became a dipping pool. We only stayed at the pool for a few minutes because it's too crowded with people. We just enjoyed the scenic views the resort has to offer.

that's me and my boyfriend trying to catch a fish,

trying to perfect our jump shots

if I drop P500.00, is it a guaranteed wish for me?

In a scale of one - ten , with ten as the highest, I'll give Noah's Park an eight. It would have been better if they construct more swimming pools inside the resort so that people can enjoy the park's swimming amenities. Aside from the pools, there should be more shower rooms too. I also wish that the public officials of Rodriguez, Rizal can do something too about the dirt road going to Noah's Park and Avilon Zoo. They should construct better roads because these places are tourist attractions of their province. People will be more encourage to visit Noah's Park and Avilon Zoo if the road will become smooth for travel.

My loved ones and I had a great time last Saturday at Noah's Park.

Click this link to get the direction on how to reach Noah's Park