Books That Changed My Life

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I haven’t read that many books for a long time now. So when dear Cathy invited me to her meme on Books that Changed my Life, I wasn’t sure if I can come up with a list. I told her these books encompass the 40 plus years of reading books.

Here goes:

One book that changed your life:

The Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
The Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren
The book inspired me to move beyond the pain of losing a son . Because the book talks about starting a service, I initiated the formation of The Compassionate Friends Philippines with the help of Cathy and Alma.

One book you have read more than once:

Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books)
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seus
I’ve read this over a hundred times that I have memorized it by heart, haha. This is one of my favorite children’s book and often read it to the kids at bedtime. I also read it to nurtture my inner child. I know …I know it shows I don’t read much.

One book you would want on a desert island:

The Holy Bible because it is the time to re-read it in a quiet place.

One book that made you laugh:

The Everything Cat Book, Features Expanded Information on Cat Breeds!: All You Need to Know About Caring for Your Favorite Feline Friend (Everything: Pets)
The Everything Cat Book by Steve Duno

This book made me laugh because my husband (who isn’t a cat lover) bought it for me. I think it’s such a loving gesture. It shows how much he cares about my love for cats.

One book that made you cry:

Lament for a Son
Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff

I read this book to understand a father’s grief and the pain my husband had to go through.

One book you wish had been written:

“How (NOT) to live with your in-laws” or perhaps “How to please your mother-in-law without losing yourself”

One book you wish had never been written:

How to Make War (Fourth Edition): A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare in the Twenty-first Century
How to Make War (Fourth Edition): A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare in the Twenty-first Century

We should make love not war.

One book you are currently reading:

Make your Words Work– by Gary Provost
I want to learn how to write but my sluggish brain can only take in new concepts one day at a time.

One book you have been meaning to read:

The Power to Change Your Life (Living with Purpose)
The Power to Change Your Life by Rick Warren

A newly bereaved mother who lost 2 children( and no surviving child) in one year gave me this book . She said that this book helped her move towards a positive resolution of her grief. Oh my god, her pain is double. I cannot imagine her pain at all.

Now it’s your turn… Happy week-end to everyone!

Blogger’s Rights

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Read EFF's Legal Guide for Bloggers
My daughter receives threats and insults from internet bullies every now and then because of her “bombastic” blog entries. I recall the times she was bullied on her entries about speaking english over tagalog, the jologs, the conyos and lastly, her roomie rants. Sometimes I attribute it to jealousy. One day she asked me if [tag]blogger rights[/tag] exist. Her celebrity entry drew the ire of the stage mother that the latter even threatened to file a complaint to the college dean. Nothing materialized of it. Good thing she didn’t file. My husband-lawyer was ready for a countersuit. My daughter has learned to publish blog entries in private or public mode to prevent harassment from internet bullies. It’s one reason she keeps changing her blog domain name. Anyway I found this site that provides a Legal Guide for Bloggers, a collection of blogger-specific FAQs addressing everything from fair use to defamation law to workplace whistle-blowing. These FAQs are limited to the USA laws but remember, most of our websites are hosted in US servers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) covers US servers. Some can be applicable to the Philippine blogosphere. A historical first in the [tag]Philippine blogosphere[/tag] was that time the PCIJ blog was slapped with a temporary restraining order. Nothing is FREE and dandy in the blogosphere.

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Reconnecting with long lost friends

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The blog is indeed a nifty tool for long lost friends who want to reconnect with you.
With the aid of google search, two friends I haven’t heard in years found me through my blog. One is Betty who is now based in Singapore. The last time we saw each other was in Sampaguita Residence Hall at the UP campus in 1978. Suddenly, my memories brought me back to those carefree years when we would gossip on our latest crush , search for dinner or just hang out in our rooms. I don’t know why I lost touch with Betty. It must have been because we left for the province after graduation or we were too caught up looking for jobs. Then there is Bing, my officemate at the UP Institute for Small Scale Industries. She is now in New York. Am I really that bad in communicating with friends whenever a milestone occurs in my life? Bing said that the last time she saw me was when Lauren was a few months old. How terrible I am.

I don’t think I meant to overlook or neglect friendships. I know that there are some friendships that wax and wane , going through cycles throughout the years. Some trail off when one person outgrows the other. I just didn’t know how to take care of myself during my early years of marriage. I thought family should come first. But I know better now. Friends are a joy. Adult friendships can be a good place for us to learn to have fun and to appreciate how much fun we can have with a friend. A friendship is a comfortable place to be ourselves. Bing and Betty are two friends that I want to reconnect. Hopefully I can visit Singapore or New York within the year.

I thought friendster was also another way to communicate with long lost friends until my techno-challenged hubby questioned me in a tone that sounded a wee suspicious. This conversation occured during our troubled marital years.

“Why are you at friendster?“.

“huh? How did you know that?” (sounding a bit defensive after hearing his suspicious tone)

“My fraternity brods saw your Friendster profile.”

“Let me explain. I am in [tag]Friendster[/tag] so that high school or college classmates know how to reach me. Ahhhah. you thought I placed that up because I want to date? Don’t you know friendster is also for social networking? Oh….and did your brods tell you that my photo is that of our son, Luijoe????.”

That shut him up.

My friendster photo has since been changed to our couple photo . And dear hubby is not so technically-chaellenged anymore.

Life’s simplest pleasures

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I have been tagged by Ajay to describe 10 of life’s simplest pleasures. She said that “The trick is to be original with your answers and not repeat those which have already been written by your circle of friends”. I have more than 10 of course but here’s my original list not found at Ajay’s list:

1. Watching little boys play with their dads or moms in a park. ( Yes I miss my son)

2. Butterflies that suddenly cross my path. (Is that a sign?)

3. Meditating in a Sauna room. (OOh the heat just makes you want to reflect)

4. A random kiss from my husband and not totally expecting it. (Inspite of more than 27 years of togetherness, I still get gooesebumps when Butch does that.)

5. An email from a long lost classmate or friend after finding me through my blog. (Wow, small world they found me)

6. A hug from my daughters. (I am loved!)

7. Laughing together as a family as we watch comedy shows. (Guess who has the loudest laugh?)

8. Staring at my pictures where I look so much slimmer. (I even look so much better now than I was 20 years ago. Narcissistic huh?)

9. Chatting with my siblings who are all based outside the Philippines (boohoo, I’m the only one left here)

10. Holding hands with my husband. (and … 🙂 )

Now tell me what are your life’s simplest pleasures?

* * *

Speaking of my husband, I got the surprise of my life when I saw his name in my googletalk a couple of days ago. I sent my first message. Butch replied with “we save on text messaging cost this way.” Apparently, his secretary installed it for him so it is easier to communicate. Yesterday, he sent me a rant:

gtalk.jpg
Haha, Butch hates crowds. He probably ended up at the crowded Skating rink.

As you might all know, I use the computer a lot for my business so I am pretty much online. Now it feels strange seeing his name highlighted in my desktop and seeing if he’s available or idle. One time he sent me a message and when I didn’t reply , he called me instead. “You’re not replying“. He probably thinks I sit all day in the computer chair or perhaps he can’t tell when my computer is idle.

What is even weirder is knowing he left the office already when his name is not on Gtalk. I feel like I’m snooping around or something. I have to get used to this [tag]Googletalk[/tag] business.

I went to the Iblog2 summit

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Even if I only stayed for the morning, I had a great time at the iblog 2 summit (view me here and here). Thank you to the organizers of the iblog 2 summit. You all did a great job. Really, a huge success in terms of registrants and quality of the speakers. (View gallery). I don’t have the figures yet but the room was standing room only . We had to get additional chairs. iblog2.jpg I happened to be the moderator of the Personal Blogging Panel and met Joel Yuvienco, Anton de Leon and Mike Abundo. They are so funny and perfectly suited for their topics. Mike Abundo innovated his open forum. He asked for volunteer bloggers to show off their blogs. In turn, Mike recommended strategies to improve the marketing effectiveness of the blog.

My daughter, Lauren just got in the room just before Mike closed the open forum. She readily volunteered her blog. Mike thinks that Lauren has too many “chicklets” in her side navigation. Guess what “chicklets” are!
Iblog2_Mike_Abundo_025.sized.jpg
(photo courtesy of Disini’s gallery)

Lauren protested , ” But I like the “chicklets”

I couldn’t stay till the end of the summit because I had to fix some legal problems. Glad to have also met Abe Olandres and Manuel Viloria, JJ Disini, and Adrian Sison. Incidentally, Adrian is about to launch his book on RA 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004) this coming June.

And the perks: An iblog2 t-shirt and a Certificate of Appreciation. How sweet.

iblog2iblog2
Rebecca Mackinnon and Dr. Ronald Meinardus

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The Mystery of the Poisoned Water Jug

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““[tag]Poisoning[/tag] shocks best, brightest in science high school”. Upon reading the news, I could only shake my head at the cruelty of this sick joke. Kids create pranks now and then but this is just too much. My friend Cathy Babao-Guballa aka Nancy Drew , blogged about The Mystery of the Poisoned Water Jug , an inside story.

Now it can be told…”“J” was not the first victim, mind you, she was the fourth, but the worst hit, in a string of poisoning cases that had been plaguing this high school for brilliant minds over the last few months. It was only when ““J” finally hovered between life and death, did the pieces of the puzzle finally fit.

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Tell me about you

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One of the greatest pleasures of blogging is getting to know you through your comments and blog entries. I’d love to meet all of you, so I’m asking you to tell me about yourself.

You see, I’m curious. I want to know if the people who find this blog are mostly males or females

1. Are you in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s?

2. What do you do with your life? Are you a blogger too? Or a bereaved family member?

3. How did you find this blog?

4.How often do you come to visit?

5.What topics interest you the most?

If you humor me and tell me all about you, I promise to do these things:

1) I’ll visit your blog. If you have one, that is. And, if you leave the link when you comment here.

2) I’ll leave a comment or two in your blog. Maybe more, if you convert me as a regular reader.

3) I’ll tell you at least ONE thing that I like about you/your blog. I might even write all about you!

Even if you leave comments here and there , you can always tell me something about yourself that you’d like me to know – maybe something surprising, something you’re proud of, or something you think is cool about you. I look forward to knowing more about YOU.

(I got this idea from from Shai Coggin and Cottontimer.)