Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category

The Author of the “Pacific Rims” Book

Filipinos got used in a traditional book-launching by either their fellow Filipinos or international foreign author who came here in the Philippines to launch their books in the country, but recently both were merged. That is, a book launching authored by a foreign author but speaking in almost fluent Tagalog language. Is that amazing?

This interesting foreign author is a basketball fanatic named Rafe Bartholomew who just got curious about Filipinos success on sports arena who flew in the Philippines last 2005 wherein he created a book entitled “Pacific Rim”, as a proof of his good stay in the Philippines which supposedly to be only 1 year but becomes 3 years.

His book is about Philippine sports, particularly Philippine basketball, being him as a fan of basketball, which was released, not only in the Philippines but also in New York and San Francisco, wherein his book was greatly appreciated and patronized.

His almost fluent tagalong speech or way of speaking Tagalog language is one of the plus factor why Filipino book lovers were charm and got interested to buy his book wherein his never really disappoint the expectations, thus his book becomes a hit.

Housing Woes in the Philippines

Housing program is basically a never ending problem in the central point of the Philippine archipelago – Metro Manila Philippines. For it is where all class and types of Filipinos conglomerate into a congesting situation due to Manila is the center of commerce and industry wherein most Filipinos thought to gain a lot of opportunities for them to grow and progress financially and materially, thus squatting is rampant throughout Manila though there are spacious lots in their respective provinces wherein they could own it legally than just squatting which end up their houses being demolished because of lack of legal ownership of the lot or real estate their houses were erected.

However, though there are a lot of real estate communities being developed throughout the Philippines, it is inaccessible and can’t afford by a less learned and financially poor and destitute Filipinos, respectively. Yes, the Philippines then and up to present administration is trying and struggling to form an effective government housing program for the poor Filipinos to solve the congesting problem, basically on Metro Manila and to stop the battle between the lot owners and the Filipinos who love to squat on real estate properties they don’t legally own.

For every year, there is a struggle between the squatters and the house demolition team that demolished squatting houses on the lot of the real estate owner.

The Philippine government has settled some squatters that become homeless due to the demolition process into a government own house resettlement community which was founded and created by the government itself. However, these free housing programs have not yet solved the squatting problems.

Drive Green Drive

If you are living in a fully urbanized community whether in the Philippines or not, the fast and the furious modern lifestyle will cover your nostrils with smogs and smokes everywhere due to largely by continuing combusting of carbon dioxide of motorized vehicles, like your BMW, Ford, Honda or whatever you drive along the road. And due to this, the motor association of the Philippines has set a drive to drive green.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. ( CAMPI) is the one who set a green carpet to this green drive to promote and advocate clean and green driving in the Philippines through using alternative fuels for vehicles, like electricity, diesel, hybrid combination of recycled and bio materials that burns cleanly on the vehicle engines; fuel-efficiency that cut off extra cost for refueling your vehicles; and eco-driving tips like : 1.) regular car maintenance that use right specification of oil engine for one’s type of vehicle. 2.) Making a necessary adjustments for your driving needs, that is if your vehicle is not designed for heavy load driving, don’t stuff it with much unnecessary load because the additional weight could flat your wheels; and other adjustments like mapping ahead your road plans to avoid unnecessary stop-over. 3.) Don’t drive fast and reckless.4.) Know one’s limits. 5. Minimize the air-conditioning of your car and vehicle.

Actually the Chamber of Automotive Manufactures of the Philippine Inc (CAMPI) has set a 3^rd Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) having the motto: Drive the Green Road.

If you are interested in their advocates and wanted to know more you can get a copy of their “Green Motoring Guide” guide book at their office, since the motor show, I think, already ended.

Why Flip Flops do not Flop?

Compare to a movie box-office, flip flops sandals do not flop on the box –office rather it is a certified hit for modern day Filipino fashion style, especially for convenient and classy footwear, though the prize of these slippers (but some would not like to call flip flop slippers, don’t know why) are somewhat costly ranging from 100 to 1000 pesos per pair of flip flop. The price range depends on the design and size of it of course.

The difference only of this kind of slippers to an ordinary slippers and sandals is that it has a comfortable and flexible material where one’s foot will find at ease. Thus, even Filipinos love it too, aside from other races in the planet where flip flops is being sold, especially the Havianas brand. However, not basically all Filipinos have flip flops as their foot statement but other still content of wearing at least good slippers for casual walk within the house yard or on the casual places or on the beach. But those having a flip flop statement; they wear it sometimes in combination with a formal dress get up.

But some who loves flip flop, having a flip flops on your feet is like having an instant foot spa, that is what avid buyers or lovers of this kind of sandal or slippers reason out.

New Resident Diseases

How’s the health of Filipinos doing after back then it was tuberculosis or TB is the top health killer of many Filipinos? Have the Filipinos ‘health improve or degraded downward spirally into untimely death and uncontainable new resident diseases?

We are already knew that tuberculosis or TB is no more on the top of the list of serial killers of many Filipinos but its death rate cause by it, was already reduced tremendously, which is a good news that Filipinos already knew the secret to combat it and fight it back.

However, because the top health nemesis of Filipinos then have retreated and became just a small time health disease now, a new breed of diseases emerge and mimic the former success of tuberculosis. Guess what, here are the fab four new serial killers:

1. Dengue Disease – As we all knew it, this disease is a yearly health problem among Filipinos which kills mostly the young ones or the children. But the Philippines is fighting back hardly to reduce the rate of health casualty of his reoccurring disease.

2. Cancer, especially Colon cancer – this disease becomes popular because it attacks mostly Filipino celebrities like for example, the late former Philippine president Cory Aquino, actresses like Rio Diaz and Chat Silayan, and actors like Rudy Fernandez and Charlie Davao, and others. What a hip and “it” disease, is not it?

3. Diabetes – Ah, this one is a silent creeper killer. Some people don’t know they have it unless it becomes full blown and the asymptomatic sensation becomes symptomatic. This disease becomes prominent because of the emergence of cakes and sweetie foods serves on modern day Filipinos’ meals and important occasions.

This disease is really sweet, first it lullabies you with “I don’t feel any symptoms, I am okey, let’s enjoy sweet foods to the max”, until it suddenly stabs you and regretfully realize that it was the sweet things that makes your health bitter and sour now.

4. Heart Related Diseases – combine all the fab three new killers plus too much stressful lifestyle, you got this! It is so easy, is not it? Thus, those most hard working Filipinos often got this disease. For their too much focus and dedication on their work, they unknowingly abandon their personal health and to relax and enjoy life, thus they often caught this as a reward for their industriousness. What a bitter reward!

The fab four was brought forth by Filipinos’ modern lifestyle: fast and techy.

Dengue Disease In the Philippines

Annually, the Philippines have been plagued by a dengue disease especially among its young population wherein they are the most inflicted by the disease. The health department of the Philippines have done its best efforts and ways to reduce a dengue outbreak that happens yearly, through spreading awareness among those who are most vulnerable to this disease – the slum or scatters areas in the Philippines – where this originated from and how to control the mosquito carrying dengue disease from laying eggs and multiplying the dengue disease it carries within the archipelago.

Recently, there are reports or news of  Filipinos being inflicted by this disease ,however, its outbreak have been minimized as it was reported that the rates of dengue case today or this year 2010 have been reduced compared to the last years.

The outbreak begins when rainy days in the Philippines starts because that is are the days where streets and any empty unattended or abandon container either on garbage damp or anywhere it is dump was filled with waters which becomes eventually stagnant, thus creating a breeding grounds for mosquitoes to lay their eggs in it. Of course, though one strive to keep it clean and drain all their water containers within their areas, those damp water containers especially on garbage damps near a community are sometimes overlook which causes some dengue cases.

Tattoo Fashion in the Philippines

Body tattoo have now creeps into the fashion world of Philippine fashion industry wherein Filipino me and women avails to put a customized design tattoo on the parts of their body they wish to mark with tattoo. However, before modern day tattoo craze hit the modern Philippines, there already exist pre-Hispanic body arts in the Philippines similar to body tattoos. These pre-Hispanic Filipinos were called “Pintados”. Their bodies were tattooed with indigenous arts similar to tattoo arts today but with minor different variations only.

And this pre-Hispanic Filipino art is coming back with a mixture of modern designs and modern tattoo paraphernalia. Filipino men are the most in to this art trend wherein they mostly love to put tattoos on their biceps, triceps, hands and shoulders, while Filipino women loves to have their tattoos on their lower backs or under their belly button or sometimes on the ankles of their foot.

Even Filipino children were hook by this body tattoo trend; they too have tattoos on the parts of their bodies but only fake which came from commercial snacks or junk food products sold on sari-sari stores, as a free items.

However, though some Filipinos love to have tattoo in their bodies, some do not like it and see it as a dirty art and have threat to skin health.

Causes of Illegal Drugs in the Philippines

There are numerous forbidden drugs not only in the Philippines but also on different parts of the world; the reason they are forbidden because they bring harmful effects on the normal functioning of our cellular bodies, if taken or if taken excessively. But there are also drugs which have similar effects in the drug market yet they are not forbidden but legally sold, use and prescribe like the chemically made anti-depressant drugs, wherein taken excessively could result either into brain damage, insanity (increased anxiety and restlessness condition),suicidal tendencies, or even coma or death.

The effect of an anti-depressant drug is similar of the effects of the widely known illegal drugs: shabu, cocaine, and marijuana. These drugs do also cast away depression and stress from your cellular bodies, thus making one tune in a happy disposition and stronger-like feelings. The effects are the same, but these drugs are the most hated in the world, but mysteriously why? However, the marijuana is already accepted as part of legally used drug in some other parts of the world. But in the Philippines it is not yet accepted.

Even though there are stronger efforts of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA to eliminate the selling and use of illegal drugs in the Philippines, particularly shabu and marijuana, still the Filipinos keep on selling and using it, secretly. And why is it so?

Actually, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA just only cut and cut grasses when they become overgrown but never uprooted them so that the grasses will not grow again, yet they arrogantly boast they do everything to eliminate the forbidden selling and using of the illegal drugs in the Philippines. I think, they have overlooked the main cause of the use and selling of Illegal drugs in the Philippines or do they deliberately ignore the main causes because they too benefitted from the Illegal drug trade?

For me, there are three main causes or roots why Filipinos keep on using and trading these illegal drugs, that is,:

1. Poverty and Financial Destituteness – A very poor Filipino with less education and knowledge will be force to participate or sell these illegal drugs because of the large amount of money they could profit from it. For they do not have sufficient skills to apply on a specific job neither have money even to go to a vocational school in order to gain skills for a specific job.

2. Increased rate of Unemployment and Lower salary compensation – This is due to unmatched skills to vacant or available jobs, and if one Filipino could find a job, the salary compensation is very low and even though there is a demand for an increase, their employer seems deaf. So the resort would be to find any job that could compensate them well or have a higher amount of income to sustain sufficiently the daily needs of their family as well as for themselves.

3. Depression – It has many causes, namely of course poverty, unemployed status, poor income, family conflicts, conflicts on romantic relationships, poor spiritual lifestyle, etc. Thus, some Filipinos in order to combat the debilitating depressive mood will resort to an anti-depressant drug.

For me, if the Philippines, especially the Philippine president will focus on these three causes, not only illegal drugs will voluntarily uproot itself but also some crimes.

Desperate Filipina

In the Philippines, Filipino women have equal status or equal rights with Filipino men but this is only specifically on a non-Muslim places and communities because Islam religion are somewhat male chauvinist in their dealings with womankind.

Filipino women on a non-Muslim community in the Philippines enjoy every rights of a free human. Being just like the Filipino men, and one of these rights is to look for a foreign partner aside from her Filipino men counterpart and to marry these foreign boyfriends legally in the Philippines as their chosen husbands or spouse.

Actually, this has been already a trend to most young Filipina in the Philippines today, but there is a suspicious reason why. That is, a force “gold digging” because of financial poverty. Most young Filipinas pose as a sexy female model in a sexy cyber chat websites hoping to hook and to find a horny male foreigner that may have an option to marry them aside from paying them in exchange for cybersex. However, some other young Filipina women have other means and never participate in this kind of finding a foreigner lover but what they do instead is they make profiles on an online dating site hoping to find a rich foreign straight guy who are looking for a relationship.

But I am not saying all Filipinas seeking a foreign lover have this kind of intention and motives, it was just rampant nowadays and I was just concerned when will a desperate Filipina stop using herself as a bait to catch a big fat fish beyond the Philippine seas?

Pinoy Jejemon : Modern Day Pinoy Youth Expression

Some modern day Pilipino teens and youth today has find their way to be notice in the Philippines’ public eye through a kind of texting or SMS messaging called “Jejemon”. Jejemon is a kind of SMS messaging that adds either additional letter or number to a word invented by some modern day Pilipino teens and youths, match with a “jejemon get up” like wearing a colorful cap.

Example of a jejemon text is “eow poh, ajejeje”, which simply means “hello”. But this is just a mild jejemon SMS message, there are other two more kind of jejemon text that is already hard to decipher and jejemeon texters calls the other two kinds as benign and terminal jejemon.

Mild : “eow”

Benign : “eowh”

Terminal : “eowfhx6”

Some of the parents of the jejemon Pilipino teen and youths were really worried and anxious of what is going on with their children when they received a SMS message from their jejemon daughter or jejemon son, as it was reported on the news.

However, this is not alarming as to reprimand the Pinoy jejemon teens and youths from doing such kind of texting, though there are other teens and youths who oppose it and wanted to correct this kind of SMS messaging wherein they call themselves “jejemon busters or jeje busters”; because this kind of SMS messaging is just a mere a “children’s play” wherein anytime the Pilipino jejemon could correct it anytime they wanted.

“Ajejeje !J”