My Simple Life

An undelivered e-letter for my loving Grandma

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, I thought you were my real mother. I thought you were my biological mother so I used to call you "Nanay". I did not know that you are my real father’s mother. Living on the same house with your youngest daughter, you treated me as your youngest son. You always there to treat my rashes (guyos/galis) on my legs! You were also delighted to blow the smoke from your tobacco to remove the angry little red ant stuck inside my aching ear during those sleepy humid nights! Well, I was happy then pulling patiently your white hair, in return.

AT THE EARLY AGE, you taught me the meaning of simple life in the countryside. During summer and low tide, we always visit the seacoast together to collect seashells for our dinner. Sometimes I joined you and the rest of our relatives to catch fish using a big fish net as everyone is intensely pullling the net from both ends. We were buddies to catch shrimps and crabs in the river as well!

THROUGH MY YOUNGER YEARS, you taught me the essence of “hardwork” and “patience” through your art of making mats. You loved to make beautiful, soft and colourful mats from pandan leaves. Night and day, you were busy weaving mats from long and dried strip of pandan leaves, just hearing the tick-tack sound as your finger nails touch the pandan strip - it was a melody for me!

YOU DID NOT FORGET TO TEACH ME the essence of togetherness and family ties during adversity. Every time that there is a strong typhoon, we always gather our belongings and stay with relatives in a big house! It was scary walking outside the house while the trees were swaying badly and hearing those thunderstorms and watching the endless flashes of lightning. On the other hand, it was an excitement for me being with my relatives- having a good time to play while waiting for the storm to subside until the next day. I also joined you to visit your ailing mother, far far away from home and had the chance to meet the rest of your relatives. It was then that I realised that we have a big family!

Well, there were times that you and Grandpa had confrontations especially after a “tuba” (coconut wine) drink session in the town which somehow gave me goosebumps during those times. My younger uncle and auntie were “referees” to sorted out the arguments. As the “tuba” spirit left, then every thing turned fine and life moved on…

AS I GREW OLDER, you are always in my side - being closer to your sons and daughters. How I could not forget those years that you were the one who washed my clothes - from jeans to underwears! Someone who always there to remind me to travel safely! Someone who will always provide a good meal before and after school. Someone who always happy to hear about my achievements in school and also someone who will always ask why I have to go back to school again (after finishing my engineering degree)!

TIME MOVES FAST, and Im away from home searching for better and enjoyable life abroad. I know you were happy for me when I left in 1991, 2002 and 2005 to study abroad! During those years you always there for my family and my young siblings. You were also excited to find out that I was going home for vacations - able to cook for my favourite meal - ginataang mongo (beans with coco milk)! You were happy again to wash my favourite jeans and white Calvin Klein underwears!

LIFE IS ALWAYS UNPREDICTABLE and the only thing I know that more than a year  now that I havent able to speak to you, and suddenly last month you were gone for good! Honestly, I must admit, I think I am your “favourite grandson” and Im honoured to accept that! I was guilty not to see you before you go. I was upset that I have not able to speak to you and tell you my life in Britain - struggling to finish my PhD research! I am sad to think that you will not be there when Im go back home to show my thesis - bearing a dedication for you! 

AT THE AGE OF 89, you gave your 100 percent undying love and care to your family! I am very happy that you were part of my life! Thank you for everything…

Your memories will remain in our hearts and surely you will be missed by your favourite “apo” as he continues his journey of living…

Lent Celebration... a personal encounter

The Lent season reminds me of my relationship with our Redeemer. It reminds me that Im a sinner and a special person died in the cross for my salvation from sin. The Lent also reminds me that despite the sufferings, there is always hope and joy. This is the time of the year that I have to rekindle and renew my trust and faith to Him - my faithful loving friend, Jesus.

This year, I have written two important journals on events that I did on the celebration of the season. Prior to the Holy Week, I visited Knock Shrine in Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland; and on Easter Monday, I climbed the 3rd highest peak of Mournes Mountain.

If you are interested to find more about it, please click the links: Knock Shrine and Mournes Moutain. Briefly, Knock Shrine is a well-known pilgrimage place where the apparition of the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and St John appeared to the residents in 1879, while Mournes Mountain is the highest land in Northern Ireland.

Photos taken in Knock Shrine and Mournes.

Snowy Ending of 2007 and Freezing start of 2008

I ENDED THE YEAR 2007 with 3 weeks holiday in Canada and the US. I spent Xmas with my cousin's family and friends in North Carolina. It was my first ever white Xmas and did enjoy meeting my relatives after more than 15 years of no communication. My cousin made my vacation a memorable one. Details of my trips were posted in my eTRaveldiary.   

           I started 2008 with a short visit to Montreal and Ottawa. Unfortunately, there was no fireworks in every Canadian house, except in Niagara Falls area where Festival of Lights was held during the New Year's eve. Well, we had a table of Pinoy foods and we enjoyed singing using the Magic microphone!

            It was a refreshing vacation to face the new year and of course recharging myself to continue my university research project. I do hope that I could finish it on time and finally have my PhD degree by early of 2009.

            Photos taken during my travel were posted in my Flickr account: Xmas 2007 Celebration  and New Year 2008.

           How about you, did you enjoy your Xmas and New Year's celebrations? Anyway, wishing you all the best of 2008!

Does life begins at 40s?

I dont know how many readers will react on my title and or does the statement applies to you? If yes, bear with me and if you have time, please share your thoughts about it.

    To be exact, two years ago I reached 40. Honestly, at first I was scared for being branded as “matanda” (old) and thinking that I cant do things anymore that the younger ones do.  More than that, Im also doubting of my life that lies ahead of me! The good thing is, reaching the age of 40, it provided me the courage to face the future with head’s up and with a heart of hope. Being 40 is full of life and excitement!

    Dec 14 was the day when my parents celebrated life for the third time of their marriage. They were happy to see me with open arms and through the years they were there to witness how I embraced life to the fullest. Until now, even they are far away, Im sure they are smiling - realising  how I survived and became an ‘optimistic’ Archer!

Through the years, I always embrace life with optimisation. Yes, I have dreams to conquer but most of them are still hanging around on my head. No, I dont have regrets of the bad things that surround me, but instead I face them with the guidance and the mantle of love of our Almighty God.

    As I always share to friends and even strangers that “things happened because of a reason”.  Sometimes we think that life is unfair - why there are kind people that suffer and the bad guys dont. Well, for the kind people - they have to be strong and have the perseverance to change things for the better and look for the brighter side of the situation; while for the bad guys - they will wait and one day they will face the consequences and of course providing them the opportunity to change. 

I dont want to write a long journal on my birthday, instead you as my reader has the chance to share your thoughts of being happy and fulfilled of what you have gone through in the world of living. Regardless of your age, I believe that you have something good to share to others, and most especially to me in my special day!

    Living is believing that every thing is possible!

Bag for Life... every little helps from TESCO

I love shopping and everyone does!

Every week I buy my groceries,including magazines and office supplies from TESCO. Since this is a regular routine I applied for its Club card membership which every shopper gets vouchers for every pound (£) being spent. The vouchers do not have a cash redemption value, but these are exchanged for goods and services  (excluding on-line) as equivalent to the face value printed on it.

Aside from the vouchers, every shopper has given coupons to gain extra points as addiitonal bonus points from the purchases. One of the coupons is the free 'green' plastic bag - the Bag for Life! Using it will also accumulate extra 'green clubcard points.

TESCO's green bag is a simple initiative from a retail industry that every shopper will benefit from using it. It reduces the massive disposal of plastic bags from the store. The bag is thick and strong enough to hold goods more than twice the weight of the regular/old plastic bag can contain, which means a ratio between 1:2 and 1:2.5. It can be purchase at 10p and can be exchanged if it is already worn-out for free.

It is really a substantial saving on the part of TESCO and it becomes more manageable for shoppers to re-use the green bag compare to the thin plastic bags that most of the time it cant be re-use anymore.

Aside from this green bag initiative, TESCO is also encouraging shoppers to return the used old thin plastic bags by dropping them to the designated plastic bins that are found outside the entrance of the stores.

Green thinking for a healthy and enjoyable shopping! Every little helps from TESCO makes a big difference to shoppers and to the community as a whole!

Watch this video, it is cool! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvFKnXNiwgk

My little contribution in celebrating the Blog Action Day today, October 15, 2007. Make a big difference in blogging!

Vote for Pinoy in 2008 Beijing Torch Bearer's Contest

If you have time to vote for the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch bearer's competition, please do it now before it ends this month (October 31). As part of the forthcoming Olympics, the Chinese organizer needs more than 21,000 bearers from the local communities and abroad, but only 8 slots are allotted for foreign nationals living in China.

There are four Filipinos vying for this prestigious position. Please vote wisely! Read their profiles carefully and decide for yourself our Sports Ambassador in the forthcoming Olympic event in Beijing. Good luck. While clicking the links, just ignore or cancel the Chinese Installer option. It does not really matter, the computer will recognise it.

These are the links:

JAIME FLORCRUZ

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=204

MICHELLE FLORCRUZ

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=205

MARCO ANTONIO TORRES

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=117

VLAD REYES

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=132

I also found out that the last Filipino torch bearer that participated in the Olympic games was in 1964 during the Tokyo Olympics.

Save Sibuyan Island from Mining Activity: An Open Letter

 

Dear Friendster Buddies,

I know some of you have visited my hometown, Sibuyan Island and able to climb Mt Guiting-guiting. And I know some of my Friendster readers have very good political and media connections in the country. Having said that, I ask your assistance to expose this small mining activity that currently on-going in the island.

It is not only a personal favor but for the rest of our kababayans living in the island - the place where Mt Guiting Guiting is located and popularly known for being the densiest forest in the world. If this mining activity could not be stopped, then this natural beauty is in peril!

Im asking your help if you could find someone or any alliance in the government or in media (film, newspapers, radio) to expose this mining activity and stop the permits issued by the Arroyo government.

This is the link of the anti-mining group for updates of what happening now... it is getting nowhere and tension is there! I did a short speech during the rally last Feb 2007 in my hometown. I love my birthplace where we still find the densiest mangrove area, smallest fruit bats, beautiful corals and beaches, wild flowers, and where we could still drink the water from the rivers and falls!

SAM stands for Sibuyan Akon Manggad... which means Sibuyan is my Wealth/Treasure! http://www.clearblogs.com/sam

If this activity will continue, I dont know if I could still invite you to visit my hometown - explore its untouched beauty and have a climb to its magnificent scissor-bladed peak, Mt Guiting-guiting!

Some of the stunning images of the island could be found at Gio Sabio's pbase site: http://www.pbase.com/van9338/mt_g2

For my friends and readers who have Flickr accounts, please share your images to the group photo pool at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sibuyan_island_philippines/

And for the rest with pbase accounts and other photo galleries (multiply, freewebs, travel blogs, etc), please send it privately. I will be featuring them in my personal website.

Your photographs will make a big difference to save this island! If you have suggestions to expose this environmental destruction, please email me privately.

Maraming Salamat po!

Rey Ramos

A simple favor... vote for my photos

I AM A PHOTO HOBBYIST and I love taking photographs during my travels or just even a short walk at the park or shopping. In other words, photography is one of my passions in life. Without my camera, I am hopeless and my day is not complete. It is indeed, my compact digital camera is my secret companion which provides me the inspiration to value life, family and friends, work, the environment...everything! Through the lens of my camera, I can see different emotions, textures, colours, dreams, hopes and the inspirations to live!

       For the past years, I always dream to take part in any local or international photo competition. And this time, I was able to participate in an international contest organised by the New York Institute of Photography. My two photos were accepted a week ago and the mechanism is quite simple. You need votes from anyone who has the chance to view my photos and aiming to be in top 100 at the end of the voting which is due on Saturday, 15 Sept 2007.

        This is really a personal favor! Really, I am inviting everyone who have access to my blog to visit my personal website and view these images. If you think these images capture your heart or maybe you think they deserve a place in the 100 spots for the final selection, then dont hesitate to cast your vote.

Your vote matters until Saturday, and I am be glad to receive your comments. Just click the underlined titles and you will get their links.

The first photo is a B&W image of Giants Causeway. This is a UNESCO heritage site in Northern Ireland. I love B&W and through this historical site, I could show the magic match of these colours. The second photo is the boy in the band who attended the 12 July event, Orange Parade being celebrated every year in Belfast.

Note: These photos have different categories in the competition.

I remember, every year our Miss Universe-Philippine candidate always wins the Miss Photogenic title and this is because of the on-line voting. Im not saying here that I will get the grand prize, but Im hoping that I will have the opportunity to be in the final round of the competition.

WELL, I DO HOPE that I will be getting more votes before the weekends.

This journal also posted in Filipinowriter.com

Celebrating Life – the life of Princess Diana

Few minutes ago I just finished watching on TV the longest ever concert (6 hours non-stop) I have ever seen in my entire life. I love to watch concerts and live entertainments but this concert for Diana is different in the sense that it is a celebration of her 46 birthday after she passed away ten years ago.

This is a gift from her loving sons, Princes William and Harry. It is a celebration for this special person who happened to touched different people specially the poor and the children.

The program started at 430pm and ended at 1030pm at the newest stadium, Wembley (England). During the program, there were video clips of people that Princess Diana supported on a very special way which were really touchy and inspiring that this beautiful lady captured the hearts of the people. Honestly, I am very sentimental person and watching these testimonies, I always have teary eyes.

Some of the highlights of the event which I really liked are as follows:

watching William and Harry opened the program introduced Duran Duran; the reggae number of Lily Allen which was really lively; the boys band, Take That that still the favourites of the British people; the rendition of P Diddy with the song, Missing You; the undying song of Rod Stewart, Sailing; the Swan lake production from the National Ballet company; songs from the musical productions of Andrew Lloyd Weber - the Phantom of Opera, Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, and the latest revival of Joseph and his Technicolor coat; the photographs of Diana and her children especially the candid shots during their family outings; and finally the tribute video for Diana showing she was very young and it was funny to watch them.

Finally watching again the two princes during the finale, I can say that Diana has the look of William and the stare of Harry.

Indeed, the Princess of Wales touched our lives in a simple way. She showed the world that everyone can make a difference regardless of what status we have in the society. Despite of her untimely tragic death, still she will be remembered for her generosity, humbleness, kindness, simplicity and most of all her love for the children. She will be missed and be loved forever!

This is the link for more details of the concert and performers.

http://www.concertfordiana.com/home/index.aspx

My Travel Journal

  A variety of free websites nowadays that provide a portal for personal travel journals and blogs, and one of them is TRAVEL BLOG.

It has an excellent and diversed number of members around the world. The salient features of this site are: (a) it has a good template that automatically lay-out the photos within the journal, (b) each photo could be linked to an existing site, (c) travel locations are indicated in the world map as indicated below where the countries that have been visited are plotted in red.

If you want to post your travel journals where other people around the world will read and appreciate your photographs taken during your holidays/trips, then join the site by clicking this link thru my account:

My Travel Blog: Digital_Explorer

Thanks  for the time navigating my blog and hoping someday you still have the interest to read more of my travel escapade. I will try my best to give the best places and attractions elsewhere, and feel the difference of having you (my readers) in my travel experience!

Please dont forget to leave a message in my comment box!

TRIVAGO: My Eworld Travel Companion

Recently, I signed up for another consumer site, TRIVAGO. As a member, I can post photographs and travel reviews and being paid thru the shares you got for every operation you made in the site. There are several levels for the members to undergo to increase my activities and responsibilities in the site. I will not explain further what this site can offer, but you can visit the site and if you are interested to join, please dont hesitate to sign up or send a comment. In this way, I could personally send you an invitation message and hopefully I will get extra points for your membership.

Please visit the link at:

http://www.trivago.co.uk/

or to my personal account:

http://www.trivago.co.uk/member.php?&member=11883

or you can also browse my other site, The DigitalEnvironmentalist which is also featured in my blog's contents side bar.

http://digitalnvironmentalist.blogspot.com/

If you just maintain as a guest, then it is still okey and you could still browse the TRIVAGO website if you want to search for tourist destinations in the world, including accommodations/hotels, siteseeing and attractions.

The Amazing Cross

Ash Wednesday is a very important day in the Catholic community as the start of the Lenten season. Last year, I was inspired to write my first celebration in Northern Ireland having attended a mass together with the rest of the students at my university. It was really a renewing experience in a new environment once to be a battle field between Protestants and Catholics.

At this moment while posting this, Im on my way to Heathrow to catch my flight to Manila via Cathay Pacific after spending 1.5 years in Belfast as part of my journey in pursuit of academic excellence. Im quite excited to see my home country again just for a short visit, to feel the warmth embraces of my beloved parents and the family members. While waiting at the airport lounge in Belfast City Airport (George Best Airport), I did watch a very inspiring video entitled: The Wonderful Cross...

I got the copy of the video thru the university church leader. Watching the video again reminded me once more the most precious presence from God to everyone, JESUS! It is an old story but sometimes we forgot about it as the passing times. Simple photos are flashed on screen having digitally done but with every slide symbolises the wonderful cross of Jesus as the words flashed on screen the short phrases but full of meanings. Looking back the old story of Jesus and reflects again what He did for us is just a simple way of recognising His undying and unconditional love for His sons and daughters.

Listen... Two Voices... Which one is louder to you? The Crowd  or The Cross?

The Crowd says follow us, The Cross says follow me,

The Crowd says rely on yourself, The Cross says rely on me.

The Crowd says earn your worth, The Cross says I am your worth,

The Crowd says bear your burdens, The Cross says nail them to me.

The Crowd says be happy, The Cross says be holy,

The Crowd says if it feels good, do it, The Cross says for love's sake, endure it.

The Crowd says honor yourself, The Cross says humble yourself,

The Crowd says do, The Cross says done!

"because of the cross my interest in the crowd died long ago"... Apostle Paul

My Life Down Under (Australia)

January 26 is a very important day in Australia. In some way, Im happy to celebrate with the rest of the Australians for this special event despite the fact that Im not an Australian but somehow I had the opportunity to experience the Australian way during my research program at the University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Living for two years in Down Under was a rewarding and memorable experience. I did so many things as a student and an ordinary person in a different environment, quite different from my home country. Having the opportunity to travel around Australia, I visited my friends in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. And within Queensland, I had the chance to visit interesting places in Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba. I was also able to work in a big shopping mall as a cleaner or 'dakilang janitor' and it was really a rare opportunity to work at that level of profession, and not to forget my extra job as a 'newspaper/leaflets' delivery man. And because of my savings from these jobs, I had the chance to travel in the UK, Sweden and Finland!

For details about Australia Day, visit this link:

http://www.australiaday.gov.au/pages/page3.asp

Oi...Oi...Oi... gooday mate!!!...no worries!!!

Looking back to my roots

This recent post is somewhat motivated by a website developed by a foreigner who happened to visit and live in my hometown, Sibuyan Island, Romblon, Republic of the Philippines. The website contains information written in a foreign language (either German, Dutch or even Danish, Im not sure), but it is not really difficult to browse and navigate the site and find something interesting about the island.

Sibuyan Island is the place where my grandparents decided to live more than 65 years ago. My grandfather originated from Kalibu, Aklan while my grandmother came from Manabo, Abra. Well love will always find its way and two of them met in Manila and eventually decided to settle down in Sibuyan since most of my grandpa's relatives are already lived there for a while.  That's for my father's side. On my mother's side parents, both of them were already residing in the island, a barrio called Taclobo.

Growing up in the island was not easy but it was full of fun, challenges and hardworks, not only for my sibling but particularly for my parents. In my early age, I lived permanently with my father's parents and during those times, I was able to learn on how my grandparents earned for a living. I had alot of fond memories with my grandpa during his morning work as 'bangkero' in catching fish using huge nets along the sea of Panangcalan. While my grandma finds her way to be a domestic wife looking up for my young uncles and aunties; and also she very good in making soft mattress using buri (palm) and pandan leaves.

Once in a while I visit my other grandparents and they were busy plowing, planting and harvesting rice! Especially during summer, I used to join my grandma to climb 'duhat' trees! It was really fun searching for sweet rounded purple fruit and my grandma always reminded me not to tell anyone where we could find them!

Sibuyan Island is always close to my heart, not because I was born and lived during my teens,but there is something special the island can offer not only to the people living there but to the rest of the world. I dont want to elaborate this, instead have time to watch this less 20 minutes presentations that Ive got from the website. Watching this video, provided me again a closer look of my hometown - its towering mountain, Mt Guiting-guiting, rivers, waterfalls, birds, beaches, caves, corals, mangroves and endangered species that could only be found in the island! Enjoy watching... welcome to my birthplace...

http://www.sibuyan.info/video/Videos/Sibuyan%20Englisch%20DSL.wmv

For the full details of these video productions, visit the following link:

http://www.sibuyan.info/video/video.htm

But on the other side, there is something fishy going on in the island - the illegal fishing! It is depressing environmental issue that the community is facing today. Watching this clips where the Mayor of San Fernando promoting the protection of Sibuyan's marine life and forests, I was stunned how dynamite fishing is destroying the island main livelihood.

http://www.sibuyan.info/video/Videos/Doynamite%20DSL.wmv

http://www.sibuyan.info/video/Videos/Philippine%20Marine%20Life%20DSL.wmv

Two years ago, there was a proposal to put-up an open pit mining plant in the island which the community strongly opposed it. Fortunately, the project was under review and Im hoping that this will NOT be approved by the Philippine government. For details visit this site:

http://www.friendster.com/35010105

Maybe someday in my special way of sharing a little contribution back to the place where I was born, I will extend my simple way in protecting the island, where most of the Sibuyanons called it 'HOME'.

Note: The videos featured here in my personal blog is solely owned by the website (http://www.sibuyan.info) and for details contact the owner with the following details:

Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Perschke

Am Eckland 4, 45481 Mülheim an der Ruhr

Telefon: +49 (208) 48 60 10    oder     +49 (208) 466 90 90   

Telefax: +49 (208) 48 60 11

E-Mail: stephan@perschke.de

towards REGENERATING my LIFE in 2007

For the past 40 years of my existence, I did not train myself to have an annual list of New Year’s resolution. I don’t know why I was not expressive enough to come-up my own ‘pledge’ to do better things for the new year and do something ‘new’ that will improve my personality and outlook in life. Fortunately, even without this list, I could proudly say that I am happy and contented for what I have achieved in the past years.

As the saying goes, ‘Life begins at 40!’ So, literally I embarked the journey of life last year and rephrased that saying… ‘There’s better life after 40’. To maintain a simple life in a big family of 10 is not easy. Fortunately, I am successfully enough to have an ordinary living through the love and care of my parents which they raised me and my siblings to be responsible human beings.

REDISCOVERING my own self for 2007 is an initial step to ‘renew’ the invaluable bits and pieces that I have started last year which I grouped into four (4) facets of my human existence as discussed below. Not to forget them, I came up with an acronym: ‘Spimenemophy’ – which constitutes the first 3 letters from SPIritually, MENtally, EMOtionally, and PHYsically and this is a continuing process in the years to come.


***SPIRITUALLY. This is rediscovering my faith and beliefs in God – allowing myself to renew/revive my relationship with the Creator. Frankly, I am not a religious person, but I truly believe that everything that we have now is a gift from God and a way of acknowledging is to return it back to Him by community service. It is a daily struggle to sustain my faith but having a community that I could cling to is much a comfort. With my small prayer group in the university, it is an effective channel for me to bond/unite with others having the same spiritual need and at the same time to reach out with other students. I am not exempted to question our human existence - why there are pain, suffering, war, poverty, discrimination and inequality in the society nowadays. Despite these bad conditions, I am very optimistic that these difficulties and struggles are temporary, and whatever little improvement we have contributed in the present time is not in futile for the generation to come.

HAVING THIS, I THINK IT IS EASIER FOR ME TO ACHIEVE THE REST IN ‘REGENERATING’ MY MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL WELL BEING.


***MENTALLY. This is also a challenging undertaking to achieve by not allowing myself to feel idle, bore and lazy for the whole year. I am quite lucky to have the opportunity to go back to the university and do further research in the field of real estate development. I don’t have any plan before to pursue further studies after I completed my research program in Environmental Engineering in Australia back in 2004. But with the current demand for people who got higher graduate degree programs is attractive, I took the challenge in investing my time and talents to be more competitive professional two years from now.

Being a full time researcher, I need to have more patience and perseverance to be able to meet my deadlines with my supervisors. Honestly, I am currently engaged with a piece of research that I have little knowledge/background and applying a methodology which I have not done it before or no any idea at all. Well, I think that is a valid reason why I want to go back to school after working for almost 17 years. My ultimate goal at the later part of the year as the results of my research is to submit journal and conference papers and to be recognised my contribution in the body of knowledge.

Inspiration is the key factor in regenerating my mental abilities through my hobbies and extra job. Firstly by having the resources to acquire reading materials such as books and magazines are providing me the venue to sharpen my memory, comprehension; to think analytically, and to learn new skills and at the same to improve my writing skills. Secondly, being a member of Dooyoo, it is an effective way to express myself and share my experiences to others thru my reviews. I do hope that I could maintain the frequency reading of 1-2 books per month, and the time to post at least 1 review per week. To date, I can manage to post in the site an average of 5 reviews a month which is equivalent to 1 review per week! It is also my wish to increase my readership and ratings/comments to the rest of the members. So far, my rating speed is only 5-6 reviews per day in the span of 6 months membership (quite low). But believe it or not, my rating speed is higher than some of the respected senior members of Dooyoo (since 2000) which they have an average rating speed of approximately 4 per day.

Thirdly, prior to my registration with Dooyoo, I already created my personal blogs and keep a record of my thoughts (in my poems), insights, and invaluable experiences. Getting feedbacks/testimonials are the main motivations for me to maintain these journals and having new posts in the few months to come could somehow inspire more people to read them. Fourthly, I am still looking forward to getting more interesting photographs during my travels which offer me the chance to be ‘creative’ and to see things differently which is evident through the images taken from my digital camera. It is my ultimate goal this year to visit some exciting places in Europe and Africa. I will try to work it out during the school holiday period to prepare the necessary documents in securing ‘Shingen’ multiple entry visas.

Lastly but not the least is my part time teaching job at the university which gives me additional income. And I am looking forward to be offered extra hours as research demonstrators/tutors to keep my mind working and inspiring more young people to be responsible future engineers/managers.


***EMOTIONALLY. Honestly, I don’t have any difficulty in dealing with people. But I think it goes back to ‘moderation’ by not allowing myself to dwell too much with ‘socialising’ and other extra-curricular activities that will affect my focus in my research. Sometimes, it is tempting to accept invitation from friends to have parties at night or even weekend escapades. Sometimes I can handle those offers but I can not resist saying ‘no, thank you’. I am a very friendly person and I will always go out from my comfort zone to mingle with different people in my workplace or even outside my university circle. It also my nature to dwell on things that you need ‘emotional’ back-up like helping other students in their research, or a colleague that need a hand in searching for valuable reference materials in the library or in the internet. With my little contribution in the prayer group is also helps me feel the sense of ‘belongingness’ and fulfilment to take part in the spiritual growth of every member.

Having access to internet and other telecommunications, this year is quite a busy year in responding email and text messages from abroad especially from my family and friends back home, not to mention my correspondence with people who are valuable in my case study areas for my research.

***PHYSICALLY. This involves maintaining healthy and stress-free living. I am not an athletic person, but I maintain a simple healthy habit for the past years. There are four major things that I do to sustain my energy and stamina: walking, swimming and playing badminton, and having a balanced diet. Last year, I could probably maintain a once a week swimming, but this time I intend to do it at least twice a week especially during summer time. My main health problems are: I am quite receptive to colds due to the rapid change in weather, and my occasional stomach pain due to hyper acidity. I think it is only a matter of reminding me to drink plenty of water and fruit juices, and less of spicy foods (which is difficult to resist). I do hope that this year will offer more possibilities of doing mountain climbing and walking which also allow me to socialise with the rest of the members of community (church). Playing badminton is a little bit conditional in the sense that it is dependent to school terms, and it also falls on Tuesdays where I have the chance to avail the ‘crazy Tuesdays’ discounted movie offer (half price). Nevertheless, I will ensure that I will get sufficient rest and relaxation for the rest of the year (not much as the ‘pig’ does).


***OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR OF THE PIG (RED)***
I do hope that being a Sagittarian and born in the year of Snake, this year will bring prosperity for my university research and spiritual being. I do believe that any person who has a strong determination to achieve something, at the end of the day he/she will be able to accomplished them with flying colours.

Based from the Chinese zodiac calendar, I will be lucky for this year for having a ‘fire’ element which does compatible for this year’s elements: water and wood. And at the same time, it is a ‘red’ pig so it is also related to the ‘fire’ element.

Regenerating spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically is not simple but it is achievable having a mind, heart and body that capable of doing little things differently for not only his/her own happiness/fulfilment but for the betterment of the community that he/she belong as a whole.