Symbols of faith

Holy Rosary

This bracelet rosary I bought for myself in Manaoag Church here in Pangasinan two Sundays ago. My daughter egged me on visiting the shrine of the miraculous Virgen Milagrosa de Manaoag, for want of spiritual upliftment before going back to school for the second semester. Also, she wanted to buy some religious items to give as tokens to her classmates who are going for a six-month internship in Beijing, China at the end of November.

Here are more items we bought:

rosaries

Mini rosaries

bracelet with crucifix

Bracelet with crucifix for my mother who, at 86, still fancies wearing bead necklaces and bracelets. 🙂 And oh, that is my chubby wrist in picture by the way.

_________________________

I am not really a devout Catholic, but my daughter is. She religiously goes to church every Sunday and is in fact a very active member of the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Youth. Most of the time, she admonishes me: “Mama, bakit hindi ka nagsisimba?” (Mama, why don’t you want to hear mass?)

Not that I don’t want to. But I just can’t move my butt to go to church on Sundays, especially when I have to do the marketing and grocery shopping on these days. These tasks just stress me a lot because when I get home after shopping, I have to arrange everything in the cabinets and refrigerator. You see, I usually make it a point to have everything ready for cooking before storing them in the ref. This means marinating the pork chops; segregating the chicken in packs in such a way that one pack is good for one cooking; washing and draining the fish and so on, aside from cleaning the refrigerator and at the same time getting rid of expired left overs. Hence, by the time I finish, I am already too tired that I just want to sleep the whole afternoon.

But I do pray. I have a quiet time and place, known to nobody but me. And I have great trust in God.

I also recite the rosary. I believe in the intercession of the Blessed Mother, especially when someone in the family is ill.

Religious articles such as those in the above photos are just objects. Many non-Catholics question (or mock) the Catholics’ veneration of such objects. However I beg to disagree. For me, it is not the beads that I venerate when I say the Holy Rosary. It is not the wooden statue that I worship when praying before an image. To me, all these “objects” are merely symbols. And my faith is not on the symbol itself but on what the symbol stands for.

Live and let live. Peace I give to all.

Philippine Universities Drop Ranks; UP Now 398th

Last year, University of the Philippines barely managed to grab a spot in the Top 300 universities in the world according to a study conducted by Times Higher Education Supplement and QS Top Universities.

  • 299 - University of the Philippines
  • 392 - De La Salle University
  • 484 - Ateneo de Manila University
  • 500 - University of Santo Tomas

Although I’m not exactly very fond of ranking anything, I’m still disappointed in this year’s world ranking result, released early this month.

University of the Philippines drops from 299 to 398 (scroll down to the bottom). Ateneo now outranks La Salle as it moves 33 steps forward, taking the 451st spot and pushing the latter to 519th. UST gets the 535th slot in the ranking.

Ahhh, bullshit! There are so many far more important things that need to be done than worry about numbers and rankings. Yes?

Alert on Copyright Infringement Handling

By Aurelie A. Peralta

Intellectual Property Right is an exclusive right that is being given to investors for their innovations or creations. This right is protected by Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines or Republic Act No. 8293.

From the moment the work is created, there is already copyright. The domain of copyright extends to literary or artistic works including computer programs, multimedia work and databases.

When a person or entity illegally copies, reproduces, distributes or uses software programs without the permission of copyright holder there is a violation of IPR. Violation of RA 8293 regarding Copyright is subject to the following criminal sanctions:

a. First Offense – Imprisonment of one (1) to three (3) years and fine of fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00) to one hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000.00).

b. Second Offense – Imprisonment of three (3) to six (6) years and fine of one hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000.00) to five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00).

c. Third and Subsequent Offense – Imprisonment of six (6) to nine (9) years and fine of five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) to one million five hundred thousand pesos (P1,500,000.00).

d. In all cases, subsidiary imprisonment in cases of insolvency.

It is about time that everyone should comply and use only legal and licensed softwares.

Secrets and Lies. And Truths.

  • The past few weeks have been a crazy emotional roller-coaster ride.
  • I’m AWOL.
  • I’m NOT pregnant. :)
  • I’m depressed.
  • I’m not okay.
  • Unproductive.
  • Sick.

I’m planning to reveal something about me this weekend. It isn’t really something big enough to cause a fuss, but it will open *some* eyes to something some people don’t even know existed. I’m scared. Not that I’m afraid of what others might think, but…it’s about how I would be able to handle the situation without cracking.

No wonder I always breakdown. I’m a weak person. I’m not strong enough to accept and do anything when it involves my emotions. And I’m beginning to hate this life more than I ever thought I would.

My techie friend and favorite native veggie dish

If you have noticed, I have a new design. For this, I thank Wilson, my techie friend.

It was Wilson who introduced me to blogging… err… it was blogging that introduced me to Wilson. Oh well. Whichever way – either the chicken or the egg came first – doesn’t change the fact that Wilson is certainly the guy behind the creation of this blogsite.

If not for Wilson, I wouldn’t be here blogging my blues and thoughts away and sharing/exchanging comments with my readers out there. If not for him, I wouldn’t have met new friends online and offline, nor discovered more things I thought I knew but did not in fact know about.

Who would think that a techno-challenged mom like me who knew nothing more than sending and retrieving emails in the internet would someday be a blogging mom? Cool. Yeah. My kids initially showed repulsion about my getting into blogging. But to my amusement – they even now suggest topics for me to blog about. And I think they also love it when I feature them in my posts. Hehe.

So for all the joys that blogging has brought me, and for this new design, maraming salamat, Wilson!

(Note: Wilson Chua is the president of Bitstop Inc. a company based in Dagupan City which provides various computer technology services in Pangasinan and other parts of the country and has been operating since 1989, making it one of the pioneer companies providing such services in this city.)

Now, on to a gastronomic topic.

My favorite native veggie dish:

Here is my favorite native veggie dish.
veggie dish

The way it’s cooked, I should say – is very Ilocano. Very Ilocano in the sense that it’s not sauteed. You see, genuine Ilocanos never sautee or stir fry their vegetables. They just bring water to a boil, dump all the ingredients at the same time in the pot then let it simmer till everything is perfectly done.

I can hardly speak Ilocano. Basit laeng (just a little). But my maternal grandmother was a pure Ilocana. It was probably from her that I got my Ilocano taste.

I believe that when it comes to food, Filipinos have varied preferences. I call it the “regional taste” which is much like the regional differences amongst us Pinoys who are spread in all the 7,100 islands of our glorious country. For instance, the Pampangos and Tagalogs prefer their vegetable dishes sauteed in little oil or butter. Only few of them can probably appreciate an Ilocano vegetable dish that is simply boiled and seasoned with salt or bagoong.

The veggie dish you see above (called “dinengdeng” in Ilocano dialect) was cooked by my husband. There, I admitted it. LOL! Let’s just say that I can’t eat what I cook. I guess this is a common phenomenon. Thus, one time when I suddenly had a craving for this particular vegetable dish, I requested my hubby to cook.

So, do you want to know how he prepared it? Here’s how:

GREEN PAPAYA WITH CAMOTE TOPS AND BROILED FISH

INGREDIENTS:

medium sized green papaya

bunch of camote tops

broiled bangus or any fish

ginger

garlic

bagoong sauce or patis or salt (bagoong tastes much better)

PROCEDURE:

Peel the papaya and slice thinly. Crush the garlic cloves and slice the ginger thinly.

In an earthen pot or aluminum cooking pot, place around 3 and 1/2 cups of water. Add the garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil. Add about 3 tablespoons of bagoong sauce, depending on your taste. Add the broiled bangus or fish. Simmer. Add the sliced green papaya. Cook until crisp tender. Add the camote tops. Simmer. Serve hot.

You can also vary this recipe by adding camote fruit, which will pleasantly make it a complete meal of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and protein. Then you don’t need to eat rice anymore, which is perfect for those who want to lessen their carbo intake.