happy memories...

"everything you've done will become someone else's memory. the person might forget the exact words you said but there's no way to make them forget the way you made them feel."

this was one of the thousands of quotes that i receive on a daily basis. it's quite simple but the reality that it implied really tapped a senti part of me. just a few hours after i forwarded this quote to my friends <---thank God for globe's unlimitxt! ---> a very pleasant surprise came my way. i received a new friend invite thru friendster. it was from a friend that i have not seen for ages. i think the last time that i saw her was when i was still in 2nd year high school.

i don't know why but i was so delighted when i saw who it was. i don't even know how close we were then, all i can remember was that she was a transferee from another school when we were in grade 5, we became classmates when we were in grade 6 and we were groupmates in one or two of our activities in school. i can remember that my sister (who shares the same 1st name as her) and i went to their place in real, calamba a couple of times. i know that i enjoyed her mother's cooking and the stroll that we have by the river near their place. then she moved to lucena when we were in highschool and just came to visit a couple of times. apart from that my memory was just filled with happy feelings and nothing else.

today i discovered that one of my new officemates was a schoolmate of mine as well. she was younger by 2 years and i used to handle her for my troop for GSP. when i asked her for a name of her batchmate from Letran who was a girl scout, she just blurted out that she knew "Pearl Alemanza" it was funny that she knew my name but never recognized my face =) and she was so surprised when i told her " ako nga yun e " after shift we rode the same bus and we chatted all though out the trip, she told me that the reason why she could remember me was because i was nice to her then and that i was always the friendly type. so i remembered the quote again. now i know why it pays to be nice to other people. hmmm which also made me think about the people that i treated badly before, i bet they can still remember how bad i made them feel then

now i vow to try my very best to treat every person with respect <--- unless i'm provoked of course ---> so that i could leave more pleasant memories to people and when i die, they would remember me as a person who gave then good memories

frustrated korean

this was the name of my very 1st blog, since my friend rosemar introduced me to watching asianovelas, i have been fascinated with koreans. and now this is a passion that i also share with my mom. now i'm so glad that at least the virtual me can be a korean

see Lady Gwen in a Korean Traditional Garment for Royalty. I don't have anything else to say, i just want to brag about my new Oz World look wahihihi

the virtual me

pictures from oz world & imvu

the resurrection of Lady Gwen

people who knew me from way back would know that i was once addicted to an RPG that became a substitute to my addiction to mIRC... OZ World!!! it started with mark's discovery of the beta test for the game, they tested it out and eventually encouraged most of the family to try it. since we had a computer shop then, we had access to broadband connection 24/7. so it made it easier for us to play the game. its a really fun game wherein the player is represented by an avatar that you can customize. You can choose your own hairstyle, skin color, clothes that can make you dance and shoes that can make you run. your avatar can even laugh, cry, jump and even take a bow. it's just amazing! apart from chatting you also have the option to buy a house that you will decorate on your own, you choose your own color scheme and even the furniture that you're going to buy. now where do we get the money to buy things? thru fishing! fishing is the main source of income in Oz world wherein the fish that you catch can be sold to get gold (G) which is the currency in Oz world.

But then i moved to the call center industry, which required longer sleep time than usual. so just like the rest of my life, my online life took a back seat. i forgot everything about oz world....until my sisters advised me recently that you can play it for free again. and since we now have broadband connection at home, we can play the game with ease now. so now, i'm back!

but now my avatar looks pathetic because it's so plain. well i just have to fish a lot to get more Gs so that i can buy my old hairstyle and outfit, especially those cute running shoes....

Oh Happy Days

whenever my sisters and i are together, you can never expect a decent conversation. yesterday we went to watch eternity at the festival mall and had lunch afterwards. as usual, lianne was in her playful mode making up funny and absurd stories and coming up with wacky ideas that never fails to make zarah & i laugh. even the food that we were eating was not spared, nor the people that were around us. as usual, i was the "dakilang taga-tawa" which is normal for any family gathering.

this is the kind of life that i've been used to, having my family around has made me the person that i am today. thus, i am very happy with the decision that i made in moving to my new company. since i have relocated to alabang, i now have more quality time with my family. i can easily catch up with what's going on with my family on a daily basis, be it a problem that needs my attention or a happy event that requires all of us to be together.

whenever i say family, i do not just pertain to my nuclear family (mom, dad, nanay, bros & sisses) but the whole clan. my cousins and i were brought up by our parents like real brothers & sisters. we share all our triumphs and defeats together, we cry & laugh together through thick & thin. this is what makes me grounded, knowing that they need me & that i need them in every aspect of my life. it makes me proud to see how my little cousins grew up under their older cousin's guidance and how they make us feel young by keeping us updated about the ins & outs.

now we have sam from hannah & mark, who despite the trials that he went through during the first year of his life, never fails to bring us joy whenever we hear a positive development in his condition. then there's sean & rhian from nan & raissa whom we seldom see but still brings us happiness whenever we see them.

i could just go on & on and rave about my family, but i have to stop. of course i have 30 yrs of my life with them and i bet the disk space alloted by multiply for me would not be enough =) i'm just writing this down to tell my family that i have never thanked you enough for the happy memories that you've given me that's more than enough to last me a lifetime to be happy... so nostalgic noh... but seriously although we've been through rough times i really appreciate having this kind of family around me, you keep me sane in this chaotic world, you make me realize how beautiful my life is with your own woes and you make me happy during the saddest and darkest days of my life. thank you & i love you all... parang artista ano?

health vs wealth

i was absent from work last night due to severe stomach pains that i have been feeling for the past 2 days but just tried to ignore. i am a person who has a very high tolerance for pain, which really scares me because im not sure if i am already putting my life on the line because of it. my sister once told that one of her acquaintances is suffering
from colon cancer at the age of 34, that really scared the hell out of
me because we are almost of the same age and i often get tummy aches like this but always try to shrug it off as a mere tummy ache that could be solved by taking meds.

last night i wanted to go to the hospital for a check up but then i thought that i might get confined, just like what happened the last time i went there with a tummy ache i got confined for 3 days because of gastroenteritis. this i cannot risk now because i have just recently moved to my new job and have yet to enjoy the privilege of having leave credits. at the moment with 1 absence and 2 tardies i am on the brink of getting a CA (corrective action), which would really upset me because i never got 1 for my previous jobs and add to the the fact that i won't get paid. today i am still not feeling well and is still struggling to decide whether to go to the hospital or not. now this makes me wonder, is it all worth it? is is really worth it to sacrifice one's health over work?

i have always been vocal about how i despised the way the world is today. one has to work to earn money so that he could buy himself things. oftentimes these are things that are not even that important for your daily survival because what the human body just needs to survive is food, shelter and clothing and that's it. gone were the days that people led simple lives, planting rice and growing their own crops and raising livestock for their family's consumption. now everybody has to work so that they could cover for the family's expenses. we work 5 days a week, have fun during payday, rest for 2 days and then work again. it's just a vicious cycle. no wonder companies invest a lot on medical benefits of their employees because they know that they need it. my previous company's health card even covers P500,000/illness/year beat that!

come to think of it, if your life is as simple as just spending time relaxing in the province, away from the materialistic cosmopolitan world, you won't need any of that. just a sturdy roof over your head, decent clothing and good meals served by your mom is enough to make you enjoy the rest of your life. this is what my mom and i are planning to do once she retires, but to be honest i'm thinking of doing it at the soonest possible time. not because i'm being lazy but because i think i have already reached the realization that the most important thing in my life now is just being with my family and taking care of myself. but then again, can i afford it? and that brings me back to the same question, health vs wealth???

Welcome to Dongmakgol

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Other

The story was set on September 1950 in the thick of the Korean War when the Allied Forces led by WWII hero MacArthur succeeded in the Incheon landing. While most of the Communist People's Army soldiers were isolated by this operation died or hid in the mountains, Allied Forces often carried out indiscriminate bombings to clear out People's Army everywhere wherein some of these places were civilian areas too.


It all began when one of the planes of an American soldier crashes near a small civilian village hidden in the high mountains. He was later joined by 3 Communist People's Army soldiers and 2 South Korean soldiers who got lost and were led there by native villagers who were just willing to help. The village was called Dongmakgol.

Being isolated from the rest of Korea, Dongmakgol was a place where its residents lived simple lives as farmers. They say that the village was named as such so that they could live as carefree as children.

Upon seeing each other, the 2 parties aimed guns & grenades and made threats and curses to warn the other party. Unfamiliar to these weapons, thinking that the guns were mere sticks and the grenades were potatoes, the village folk went on with their own concerns until the soldiers accidentally blew off the storage hut for their food. Guilty that the villagers would have nothing to eat for the whole year because of them, the soldiers stayed and worked in the village until the new storage hut was filled with food. In the process they have adapted to villagers’ native culture and soon became close friends. Everything was already doing well and they have already considered to stay in the village forever when the Allied Forces attacked the village to look for the American soldier. Suspecting the village for a communist camp, a bombing was already planned to wipe out the village and its residents. To prevent the village from being harmed, the soldiers set up a decoy in a nearby mountain to be the target. Sending the American back to his base in the hope of stopping the bombing to be initiated, the 5 Korean soldiers fought to the end and sacrificed their own lives just to save the village.

Although the movie had a bittersweet ending, I would still consider it as a feel good movie. It’s a good balance of action, light drama & comedy that makes it a good movie to watch either before you go to sleep or after waking up in the morning leaving you in a teary-eyed bliss. =)

curiosity...discovery...change of heart

out of curiosity, because people were making such a big fuss about it, i searched for kc concepcion's blog. after reading it, i still couldn't see what the big deal was. just like any other blog that i've seen, she was sharing her thoughts & experiences and was just documenting it for other people to see. but then again i realized, it's kc concepcion meeting gabby, of course who wouldn't be interested

i am actually not posting this to rave about kc and her blog, its just that i found out that she was using multiply for her blog. a good friend of mine has long been convincing me to use multiply since i already have an account here. but then im really lazy in updating blogs, as you can see from the huge gap in dates of my previous posts from one another. i was already maintaining 2, one with friendster and blogger, not to mention my yahoo 360 homepage. each of them had a specific feature that i liked, that's why kept all 3, but now i think i'm not going to update them anymore.

i have just started updating it and so far i am enjoying the experience. multiply lets me upload songs and compile it as a play list that is being played while my visitor is viewing my home page, it also lets me upload videos that can be viewed by the public as well. i find the layout very user friendly and the site navigation is quite easy for both the owner and visitor. its a real treat for dummies like =) i really liked the preset themes that they have and the simplicity of the tools that i used to update the site. since this site is by far the best that i've seen, i'll just stick with multiply.

to view my previous sites, please click on the following links:
http://pearlailene.blogspot.com/
http://pearlailene.blogs.friendster.com/pearlalush/
http://360.yahoo.com/pearl0117

final post...moving to a new site

please be advised that further posts will now be made through my multiply site http://pearlailene.multiply.com thanks =)

Core Photo Montage