Gone were the days when all I had to do was wake up, take a bath, get dressed, eat breakfast, and leave for school. I didn’t even have to stuff food into my lunch box, or prepare something hot to drink, or squeeze toothpaste onto my toothbrush! Yes, everything was prepared by my beloved mother. Even though she’d always prepared the same dishes, those remained very delicious and I think were getting better, too. ^-^
College was also an easy life for me as there were many carenderias(eateries) surrounding the school and boarding houses. But when I started working, I could no longer indulge in ready-to-eat food often. More so when I came here! If I buy 3 bentos (boxed lunch/meal) a day, I would burn at least 1,200 yen!
I started my attempt to qualify myself as a cook (even of the lowest level) for more than 5 years already, to no avail. Worse, I think that what little cooking skill I have is degrading! It seems that the dishes I prepare, may it be food flavored with salt or with soy sauce, those taste the same! That’s why, most of the time, I had to contend my self with fried foods. Am I just lazy to work on it, or is it time to accept defeat that I could never become a good cook?
I wish I could only just sit at the table and attack whatever food was prepared for me. ^-^
Posted: May 29th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under Family, Food
Taken from an article in Philippine Inquirer:
Philippines now ‘Second World,’ says Arroyo
“The economy is showing strong signs of health, not only because of the stock market or the strong peso, but on the fact that at last our people will be enjoying a per capita income of 1,400 dollars this year,” Arroyo said.
“Right now, we’re not Third World anymore. At 1,400 dollars we are now Second World, a middle class country, and we’ll be able to achieve, if we are able to continue the trajectory of (a) one percent decline in the poverty level, we can reach hopefully the First World status by the year 2020,” she said.
How do you really define first, second and third world? And the Filipinos receiving 1,400 dollars per capita income this year? Hahaha! Very funny… ‘coz the way I see it, especially in rural areas, many people are becoming jobless and prices are shooting up. I see more people having more difficult lives.
When I was still working in the Philippines, it really hurt a lot seeing my payslip with the 25-30% income tax deduction. I talked to a Japanese friend and she told me that their income tax is only about 10%! I would have paid my tax whole-heartedly if I am sure that it is used for the benefit of everyone. But no, last time I heard from the news, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) still was 40% off from its projected tax collection. The saddest part is, most of the tax evaders are the “big fishes”. Another thing that really infuriates me is the misuse of government funds. Why does the government allocate hundreds of millions of pesos for the election campaign funds?
Seeing the Philippines attain the status of a first-world country is really a wishful thinking. Unless the corruption is minimized (if not at all eliminated), and every Filipino take on the responsibility of reviving our country, then it’s just another impossible feat.
Philippines is my home. Despite everything, I still choose to stay there someday for good. I may not be a good citizen but I still want and I still hope that one day, Philippines will at least become what we, Filipinos hope it would become. ^-^
Posted: May 24th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under Opinionated Me
Having spent more than 20 years in a tropical country, I am used to temperatures ranging from 21C to 37C. However, after having a taste of autumn, winter, and spring, I don’t feel like going back to the Philippines! I even like winter more than summer. Obviously, I really, really hate sweating. ^-^
Spring is over and it is getting warmer (I really must buy lotion with sunblock a.s.a.p. ^-^). Anyways, this won’t be my first summer in Japan but I am still amazed by the very early sunrise and very late sunset. I think this what makes me like summer here a little bit. ^-^
Today:
Sunrise: 4:50 AM
Sunset: 6:59 PM
Posted: May 24th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under Experiences in Japan, Philippines
Secret housemates; housemates receiving the first batch of good and bad news through the Big Red Phone; swap with the Slovenian Big Brother house - these were the few exciting events that happened in Pinoy Big Brother Season 2. (I could hear someone mumbling… “What? About PBB again???“) Yeah, I repeatedly admitted my addiction to this show, but this time, I am sick of it! What with the “trial period” for the replacement of the forced evictee and with the re-entry of 4 evicted housemates; this reality TV show is becoming more like any Philippine soap opera! It’s like unrealistically bringing an already dead character back! I don’t even want to know their reason (excuse?) anymore! Tama na!
Yup, nobody forced me to watch this show but I’ve become more disappointed to the degrading quality of Philippine TV shows. I would rather “devote” more of my free time watching One Piece. ^-^
I hereby declare that I am no longer a PBB addict. ^-^
Posted: May 14th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under Things I love
This must be one of my rare geeky postings. ^-^ I came across this C code somewhere:
It looks like garbage to me and I agree, it violates many coding standards (I only know so few, though) but the code above is definitely a legal C code. I was even more surprised to see the output. I started to at least make the code readable but my head started to spin. Well, maybe I am not geeky enough yet because I haven’t tried the code out and did not try to decipher how in the world did it produce such output. But… how come the output’s like that?
Posted: May 9th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under The Geek in Me
I can’t believe it! It’s already Sunday night and the Golden Week is over! And I haven’t accomplished anything!
Before the vacation, I planned to study Nihongo, stop by every station from Osaka to Kobe, bike around Osaka, and finish the web site I’ve started. Well, if watching anime could be considered as studying Nihongo, then at least I managed to (half-)accomplish one of my goals. ^-^ I did learn a few new Nihongo words, though.
Guess what… I was able to stay inside my apartment for 4 days!!! Doing what? Mmmm… just watching One Piece (the anime)! Yep, unfortunately, it’s a new addiction.
Posted: May 6th, 2007 by shiera
| Filed under Experiences in Japan
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