Charice Pempengco in Oprah Winfrey Show (Full version)

I’ve changed my mind. When I first heard Charice Pempengco in the Ellen Degeneres show, I wasn’t too impressed with the “birit” style. Though quite awesome, her lung-busting vocal skills are simply not my type of singing.

Today, my sister Lorna sent me the Full version of Charice Pempengco who sang “I Have Nothing” in the Oprah Winfrey’s World’s Smartest Kids and I am so bowled over. Charice literally blew them away. The audience gave her a standing ovation before the song even ended.

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To my visitors who watched the blogging episode of Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho, welcome to my blog. I already wrote about the taping of this episode…but I want to clarify portions of the show.

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My daughter used to tell me that I am so boring. I don’t take risks. I am not adventurous. Have some fun, Mom. Loosen a bit. Enjoy Life. Laugh more. This conversation happened four years ago. I didn’t know any better then. Our children teach us so many valuable insights, right?

Right, this is life. This is not a funeral service. Have some fun in it. Participate. Experiment. Take a risk. Be spontaneous. I shouldn’t be too concerned about doing it right or doing the appropriate thing. I laugh a lot now. I love jokes. I laugh at the witty articles written by the Man blog. I snicker at my husband’s corny jokes.

But wait. There are boundaries to laughter and having fun.

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Mayen Betita paused to sing their love song, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”. She giggled and placed her hand on mine as if placating the pain from narrating the harrowing events leading to the breakup with Timothy Ellis Cumper (also known as Ellumbra or Tim Cumper) her ex-boyfriend, a UK national.

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Happy New Year 2008! I greeted the New Year by taking a slice of this evil Dairy Queen Peppermint Ice Cream cake. Let’s all greet the new year on a positive note by setting goals for ourselves. It’s a good thing that my sister reminded me of my New Year goals last year. Yesterday, she read the Review of New Year Goals for 2007 and it reminded her to set her goals. Butch loved the idea of writing down my goals when I told him that I achieved 8 out of my 11 goals for the New Year.

I realize that goals need to be written down. It serves as an affirmation of myself, my life, and my ability to choose. Then I let it go. New Year goals are something we need to dig within and discover what we would like to happen in our life this year. It is an affirmation that we are interested in living life in the year to come.

So the questions evolved. What would I like to attain? Where would I like to go? What would I like to happen in my marriage and family life? I have to remember that I am not out to control others with my goals but rather giving direction to my life. So I continue on pondering. What problems would I like to be solved? What decisions would I like to make? What would I like to happen in my business?

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Technorati Tags: Happy New Year 2008

I always like to discover the person behind a family business. Who are the people running it? What makes it tick? What sustained the family business to continue on? I had the opportunity to chat with the charming and amiable Cristiano Barbazza the global president of Rudy Project and son of Rudy, the founder over dinner at the Podium. The little I know of Rudy project is that my darling husband wears this famous Italian Technically Cool Eyewear whenever he drives out on a sunny day. Another tidbit is that it’s also expensive but definitley high quality eyewear. Lastly, Rudy Project rings a bell because they often sponsor athletes. Not much is written behind the people of the Rudy Project.

Munching his pizza (strange to order pizza outside Italy), I was fascinated that as a 17 year old boy he started helping out with his dad’s business even after school days. More than money itself, he is passionate over developing technological advances in eyewear and sports gear every year. Money just follows. I believe it’s good business policy to develop the best product and the income will just come along with it.

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The walking and the shopping took a toll on our poor tired feet. My husband gave up on the Funan Digital Mall while I gave up walking through history lane at the National Museum. I thought of calling it a day but… my thoughtful sister-in-law suggested we visit Dr. Fish. Uh-oh, the first time I saw Dr. Fish was at an Ugly Betty episode chomping Betty’s feet. Dr. Fish eating away my feet seemed such a squeamish idea at first. Then again, pampering our feet at the latest spa place in Singapore called the Kampong Fish Therapy piqued my curiousity more than my feelings of ickiness. If you haven’t met Dr. Fish, it’s a fun, natural, painless skin exfoliating treatment. How?

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UPDATE: ‘Desperate Housewives’ apology over Philippines slur

Desperate Housewives’ latest episode (the first episode of the 4th season) had Teri Hatcher’s character saying this: “Okay, before going further, can I check these diplomas cause I would just like to make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.”

(This is the complete video of that scene)

I wonder if the writer meant it to be funny or what. Considering there are a large number of US-based doctors and nurses who are graduates of Philippine Medical Schools, then I think not. These Philippine Medical School graduates took up further training in the States. Before they can even practice in the US, our Filipino doctors called Foreign Medical Graduates have to take a USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exams) which consist of 3 parts to get into residency:

Part 1- Basic Subjects (can be taken in Philippines)
Part 2 CK – Clinical Knowledge (can be taken in Philippines)
Part 2 CS – Clinical Skills (to be taken in the US)

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Technorati Tags: Desperate Housewives

(Via Annalyn.net)
Tonight at 6:00 PM, Benj with other bloggers and journalists and possibly Malu Fernandez will appear in Media In Focus at the ABS-CBN News Channel Studios. (Media in Focus replays: 11 PM tonight, SAT 6 AM and 5 PM ) I talked to Anton de Leon , a fellow blogger based in Dubai and he admits that:

The reactions from people from all over the globe have been going strong. To this day, i have had reactions come from bloggers and readers who speak vehemently of Miss Malu and the acerbic wit she has pushed. It really has become an angry mob, but who is to blame here. Aside from Malu, i think part of it should be shifted to the people who allowed the commentary to be published. This is why, in this circle of work that i revolve in. we have these things called editors. Editors are supposed to make the call and check for content.

Over 2000 angry comments expressed to date! I can understand their feelings. Feelings are just feelings; there is no morality in the feeling, only in our behavior. We can feel angry without hurting or abusing others or ourselves. The thing is not a lot of people can express their anger appropriately. I too have been guilty in the past of name-calling but I have learned. Anger is an emotion we’re all prone to experience. Yes, it’s okay to feel angry , I agree. It points to a problem. In this case, it signals a problem that needs to be solved. Sometimes , it points to boundaries we need to set. Sometimes , it’s the final burst of energy before letting go, or acceptance settles in.

I would like to believe that this anger should now have a positive resolution. A few bloggers point out the lessons learned from the Malu Fernandez article:

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Technorati Tags: Malu Fernandez