It's a Church Song

Here's a video of my nephew singing while playing with her mom's camera phone. He actually turns off the volume of the speaker whenever we play this.

Ling Zhi

It has been 18 months since I was brought to the ICU due to hypokalemia which was caused by the steroids in the multivitamins I used to take. Ling Zhi, available at ELOV Chinese Drug Store located at one of the kiosks of your favorite mall. They are also the ones selling the Pei Pa Koa candies which are known to those who sing because it supposedly clears your throat. Anyway, Pei Pa Koa is endorsed by Kyla.

Two days ago, I was reading the candymag forum my niece left open in the internet browser and the girls were talking about the Ling Zhi vitamins, and they were talking about the side effects of the drug. One said she had pimples all over her face and back, the other said only her face became fat, and another said it damaged her adrenaline something and that she desperately needs a good derma. The side effects those girls experience are nothing compared to what I had. I became a veggie for hours in the sense that I could only move my head and neck part. The effing steroids made my potassium count so low that my muscles stopped contracting. It could have been my heart that stopped pumping if I weren't brought to the hospital sooner.

I hope nothing like that happens to one of those girls, or to others who take steroids for their sense of vanity.

And the reason about why I'm (re)writing about my Ling Zhi experience is because of the coffee someone gave me. Ling Zhi coffee (above photo). And it was still inside the yellow plastic bag with an ELOV print when it was given to me, complete with a tag price that says 285php.

I said nothing to the person who gave it to me for the fear of offending someone with good intentions. And, anyway, it's not really the exact Ling Zhi that sent me to the hospital. It's coffee. Powdered. Instant. 3-in-1 even. And I tried it the other night. Bitter to the taste. The catch is, it gave me the exact feeling that I had when I was taking the vitamins - that constant feeling of having a lump (of air/food) in the middle of my esophagus. I don't know if I'm just being paranoid of the name Ling Zhi but really, it's the same, exact feeling the vitamins gave me, aside from the fact that my heart beats faster than normal. I'm quite sure of it, because I noticed that feeling long ago, while taking the vitamins, even before I came to know it had steroids.

Now I still have 19 coffee sachets left. Who wants some?

Flattery

My niece asked this 2 mornings ago: "When someone imitates the way you dress, does it irritate you?" Taking into consideration that she's in her teens, and that fashion style is one of the most important things to teenagers (at least that's what I know of), I answered her in a way that will make her be proud of herself. "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. She dress up like you because she thinks you dress up okay." I was still in for more of the topic but she shrugged her shoulders and went back to her room.

And that made me think of myself. Has someone ever imitated me? Well one of my closest friends imitated my business and put it up 4 lots away from mine. Also, that same friend acquired a shih tzu of exactly the same color as mine 3 months after I got Princess. Flattery, indeed. But it irritates me.

On other notes, I would like to congratulate Vanessa Ann Balleras for passing the nursing board... and for having a boyfriend she loves and who also loves her with much intensity. I hope the sparks will last a lifetime.

New Shirt

I brought my shih-tzu Princess to the vet yesterday for the yearly rabies shot and since I left her there for almost four hours while my sis and I pay the bills and shop, I bought her a new shirt so she won't feel so neglected.

What's Real and What's Not?

Watching reality shows can sometimes be quite depressing, especially when favoritism of the show among the contestants becomes so evident you wanna pull the contestant having the opposite advantage out of the show. It's actually like watching a television soap, except for the fact that you know it's not fiction.

Text votes aren't real. They will actually evict who they want to be eliminated, no matter how many times you voted.

The opposite happens, though, in Pinoy Idol. They really follow the text votes. Proof of which was the previous elimination of two of their favorite contestants. But I've read somewhere that the so-called "network-war" played a big role in the incident; that the competing network was responsible for the big votes the lesser talented contestants got, resulting to the elimination of the better contestants.

I'm starting to hate local television. These text votes thing is a crap. I guess watching WWF is better.

Blasphemy

Every Friday night, an El Shaddai prayer meeting is held a few meters away from my shop, in a basketball court. How appropriate. I never get to see the actual prayer meeting because (1) I really don't go out of my shop till after closing, and (2) I don't wanna sin more than I already do. I only know about it because Niko's parents are in-charge of it, and because they use a booming sound system that it's impossible not to hear them even if you close your doors and windows.

I have nothing against their faith. I don't even care about a person's religion at all. I've even been invited and attended a grand El Shaddai prayer rally in Ninoy Aquino Football Field when I was in grade 5. I was there for the fun of it, because most of my friends went, too. We played, we ate, we slept, while Bro. Mike calls for miracles. And I can vividly recall how one mother pulled on the hair of her daughter while muttering curses at her just because she accidentally knocked over their bottle of Coke. I reall, too, how after a while the mother and daughter are talking quite happily while the daughter was combing her hair. And all of that happened while Bro. Mike was preaching and calling for miracles.

But miracles did happen (you can laugh at me if you want) that night. I remember being awaken by loud cries of those around me, some even fainted, their faces turned upwards towards the sky visible from the open field. Bro. Mike was crying so loud with that hoarse voice. And I, myself, clearly saw what they were looking at - the clouds formed the image of the virgin. It could have been a miracle, or a coincidence nonetheless. The clouds can form any images we so desire. It was a prayer rally, Bro. Mike been calling for a miracle, the people are so expecting a miracle, and they (we) saw what our eyes wanted to see.

That's faith.

And then they collected the "ikapu". And that's my point in this post. Haven't they gathered enough "ikapu" to build a church or even a small chapel in areas where they have a number of members?

The Sea and AdSense (Become Related)

Been quite a while since I last posted. A new email message regarding a comment made on one of my old posts actually prompted me to write again.

I love that poem. The Sea by Natividad Marquez. Seems like it's still being given to high school students for studying.

I'm actually pissed with Goo... I've been getting more than a hundred hits a day on my other blog but they won't approve my AdSense application. I don't know if I'd been declined, actually, for I haven't received any response from them at all... But it's taking too long. Perhaps a hundred hits a day isn't enough. DAMN!