i've been to DVD heaven & back

i've been used to going to tiangges & divisoria to buy cheap stuff. but never would have i imagined a place that has everything that you're looking for when in comes to tv series & movies. if you're in search of dvd copies of your favorite western or korean tv shows/novela, QUIAPO is the place to be! as my roommate said, name it, they have it! from old stuff like charlie's angels & mcgyver to the new series like one tree hill & the oc. i really love this place! it's the cheapest alternative to video city, without feeling guilty because i can never purchase a boxed set of the whole 3 seasons of ROSWELL if i'll buy the original stuff. plus they don't sell it here in the Philippines, so technically i am not guilty of piracy hehehe

http://www.groupee.com.ph

http://www.groupee.com.ph, the filipino alternative to friendster. but what's cool about this site is that you'd have a chance to be featured on tv! but it's optional though, so for those of you who are too shy for that, you can just leave the box blank. i myself did not even fillout the form for 'my claim to fame' because i don't want to claim fame yet ;-)

i just recently joined a lot of groupees and i find the site really easy to navigate. it does not have the other fancy stuff that friendster & the likes usually have, but i am always delighted to log in to my account. i guess i'm more comfy with its set up.

to my friends i hope you would accept my invitations and give the groupee experience a try.

Positive (+)

this was the exact word that we were dreading to hear after Sam's test for SMA. how could a word that was oftentimes perceived as good, be the exact opposite for us. and as we have feared, Sam turned out to be positive of SMA. i really don't know how to react with this diagnosis knowing that this will be a big challenge for the family. but i guess all things happen for a reason, we may not know what God's purpose for this is at the moment, but i hope that he can at least give us a clue so that we will not be wondering for a long time. right now we will just concentrate on preventing the progression of the disease by looking after Sam's health. we are seeing a lot of improvement from the regular PT & OT sessions that he is having as well as mommy Hannah's daily exercises, which helps Sam's muscles to develop while the disease is just on its onset. but in preparation for the worse, we currently looking for the medical tools necessary to aid sam with this conditon. if some of you would know of anyone who could sell us a ventillator at a very cheap price, we would appreciate it very much. for those who are continuously praying for Sam, we thank you very much.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)

See our little angel SAM, he is currently confined at the Philippine General Hospital for the past week due to pneumonia and is under observation for this disease.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is one of the neuromuscular diseases. Muscles weaken and waste away (atrophy) due to degeneration of motor neurones which are nerve cells in the spinal cord. Normally, these motor neurones relay signals, which they receive from the brain, to the muscle cells. When these neurones fail to function, the muscles deteriorate. The brain and the sensory nerves (that allow us to feel sensations such as touch, temperature, pain etc.) are not affected. Intelligence is normal.

From the description just given it can be seen why the condition is called Spinal Muscular Atrophy - the muscles atrophy because of a problem in the nerve cells in the spine.

Infantile spinal muscular atrophy (Werdnig-Hoffamann disease) is the most severe form of SMA. It usually becomes evident in the first six months of life. The child is unable to roll or sit unsupported, and the severe muscle weakness eventually causes feeing and breathing problems. These children usually do not live beyond about 18 months of age.

SOURCE: http://www.mda.org.au/specific/mdasma.html

Although this has yet to be confirmed pending the test results scheduled for this Tuesday 25 Oct 2005, we hope that you would join us in praying for a favorable result and for Sam and his family to remain strong amidst this big trial that we are facing.

Wonderful Life

They say that no one's truly happy in this world. There's a doctor who dreamed of being a singer. A lawyer who wanted to be an artist...a janitor who couldn't be an actor . A mother who couldn't be a diplomat... a pilot who couldn't marry his true love... Life doesn't always turn out the way you expect it, but you still have to live it.

senti mode...

've been quite down & depressed lately. i had this feeling that my life was going no where, that the choices that i make do not seem to lead me anywhere & that my existence is really not that significant.... today i ran an errand for my mom wherein i had to walk through the uplb campus, it was really refreshing that at the mere sight of biosci & the library, i suddenly felt happy. i remebered my college days when i was hungry but have no more money left except to get a ride home. i'll just go to our tambayan and exhibit the power of my 1 peso increase a hundreth fold and end up eating spaghetti, pizza, siopao, mangoes, the ever famous nilupak, chicaron, lumpia, and the list goes on & on... when i passed by the library i remember how my bestfriend, my sister leslie & i frequently went there to study for our econ exams, but always end up just chatting & laughing out loud and still ended up at having decent final grades of 1.17, 2.00 & 2.25, respectively. remembering all these made me realize, that no matter how complicated and difficult my daily living is, i already have a lot of happy memories enough to last me through this lifetime to make me appreciate the beauty of my wonderful life =) all i have to do is to turn ON the happy mode & as ruby always tells me: "create a happy disposition..."

my sassy girl: chun hyang

my favorite quote from this series so far:

"So you made a mistake. It happens in basketball & in love. Just shape up from now on. Keep your eyes fixed on your goal. Still, no matter how focused you may be your bound to waver a bit"

this quote is actually quite true for everything else in our lives, as a friend once told me "u can bend, but not brake." let's not give up on the things that we cherish or those things that we wish to attain, be it to lose weight (especially for me) or things that you would like to have. just give it your best shot, because at the end of the day, the person who would benefit from it the most would be YOU. and if things get a little bit rough, just smile. as chun hyang said " smile chun hyang! goodluck comes to those who smile."

Letran Barkada

taken in front of the Grand Carousel at EK during our year starter

pictures with my dear childhood friends and their spouses

The VOICE

never have i realized, until now, the importance of having your voice. today i was not able to log in though i came to work because i do not have a voice. being a call center agent, the only thing that would be vital for us to be productive would be to have a voice. thus, i now understand how it could be frustrating for some mutes not to be able to express themselves. thank God this would only be temporary. though i do not have the golden voice for singing (pang red box lang po ito...) i am still very thankful that at least i have the gift of VOICE.

Sean

meet our other eldest nephew, SEAN. the apple of the eye of the Silo family who has now learned to flirt with the camera. if sam was a complete opposite of his parents, our baby sean is a replica of his grandfather & his dad. see how photogenic this little boy is?

today i watched charlie & the chocolate factory with my youngest sister & 5-year old brother. it was nice to know that they have not altered the story of the original willy wonka & the chocolate factory and just used better special effects. it's a really good movie that teaches a lot of moral values. however, i think the lessons to be learned from this movie was too much for my brother to digest because he became scared of what happened to the "bad" children. although kyle is an exceptionally smart kid, he is still having a hard time separating the ghastly punishment given between the real lesson behind why this happened. perhaps we should consider the age or level of maturity of a chlid first before we let him see the movie, so that he can properly learn from the lessons from the movie.

meet my cute little nephew SAM, the son of my first female cousin who got married. so as u may guess, he's very spoiled and is the apple of the eye of the whole clan. for him i am now defying my blog theme by using a blue font =)

he is considered as a miracle baby, not because he survived a severe disease nor did he give his mother a hard time when she was pregnant, but because he turned out to be the fairest of all the balagtas nephews, when both of his parents are from the "dark side" =) luv u ate han & kuya mark... thank u for bringing this wonderful child into our lives. *sob*

pyar hogaya

"Love itself is magnificent," I said, "but if people think that's what they feel for someone when they start dating, they're wrong. That's why they get divorced, because what they thought was love was something else. We don't even have a term for 'falling in love' in our language. Instead, we say pyar hogaya -- love has happened. That's what it's about. You see someone's kindness, their suitability for you, your heart opens to them, and love then happens. And when all your families are around to bless and support the union -- there is no greater magic than that."

-- For Matrimonial Purposes, a novel by Kavita Daswani

on quoting quotes =)

"There are some things in life that are nothing more than what they are, and they are not meant to last..." this was a line from the movie alecs & emma which struck my attention so used it as my signature for one of my email accounts. just recently, one of my long lost friends reacted negatively on this quote. he asked me what i meant about it and i just said that it didn't actually have a personal meaning to me and just used it as a quote. i don't see any underlying meaning to it, for me it states what it means...

so guys, upon reading this quote, what other interpretation would you have?

my favorite quotes from Sweet 18

"What's in the heart is more important than the words you say out loud in the long journey of life." - chapter 11

"You're scared and worried that you have to accept someone as a part of you, and be responsible for your feelings. But if you love someone, if you decide to live with him forever, you can't and shouldn't avoid the next step. This is how you become an adult. You falling in love, take on responsibilities, and take care of another person." - chapter 12

my first blog

this is my first blog. my friends have long been convincing me to create an account but i was either too lazy or didn't have the time to make one. thanks to this wonder of technology, that is "friendster," i am now starting to learn on how a blog goes. im so green at this so i hope you guys can bare with me :D