Every Day is a Gift

           Nearing to the culmination of this year, I made a reflection on what has transpired to me all throughout those months starting from January this year up till the end. I was surprised to realise how blessed am I as I recalled back all my activities this year. And everything boils down to this reality that life is such a precious gift. And it just come and go hence we need to embrace every second of it.  Consequently, I can compare life with a three-legged stool in the following components:  photo credit: Windmill 'De Berk', Veenpark, Netherlands - 1534 via photopin (license) -just like the stool which relies on its three legs for strength, we also need various support systems in life. Hence we need to establish as many friends as we can for they can journey with us no matter what kind of surface that we are trekking. -while on top of a stool is a space for a comfortable sitting, we also have spaces in our life th...

          A while ago, I was talking to my wife and she mentioned that when she was driving back home from work yesterday at the Freeway, there was an accident involving 4 vehicles. Those cars were in front of her and luckily she was spared from that accident and all its hassles. Then I tried to remind her to constantly maintain a proper and safe distance between her and the car in front of her so that if it suddenly applies brake, it would not put her into danger.             As I tried to reflect on that situation, I realised that life is like driving- that our actions are similarly affecting us and those people around us.  Anyway, here then are few similarities between the two of them: 1. Direction- in driving we always need a direction where to go and where to perform stops, turns and  slowing down. In life, we also need to have that directions (goals) for from them, we also set our strategies and steps o...

          My wife underwent thyroidectomy last Monday at Austin Hospital. Before her scheduled surgery, I was already trying to anticipate what will be the various scenarios on her big day. What I perceive was just a simple surgery then maybe after an hour or two, everything will be alright.            However, on the day itself, it was a long wait for me and I was filled with mixed emotions as I stayed in the hospital waiting for her to complete her procedure. What was perceived as an easy ordeal became a long and tedious waiting. We arrived earlier at Austin Hospital (actually she was expected to arrive at 11 am but due to our excitement, we decided to go to the hospital earlier). We went to the information booth and were  instructed to proceed to the 3rd floor for her initial steps prior to the surgery.           At the waiting room, she filled up paper works and got ready for her knife appo...

          In life, we have numerous occasions that we termed as milestones. What makes them deep-coloured is when we have the chance to celebrate them with good friends and special people in our life. We have gatherings such as work anniversary, golden wedding anniversary, retirement, birth of a new baby, birthdays etc..            As I celebrate one highlight of my life, my birthday, I am grateful to all people who have come and made it colourful. At the outset, I am thankful to God for the gift of life that He has entrusted to me. And although I know that it is but a borrowed one and that sooner or later, I am going to return it to its Creator, I am but extremely joyful that I embrace this life. Consequently, I recognise that I have a great responsibility to take care of it thus allowing it to grow into the kind of life that will make its owner happy. On the other hand, knowing that I have both yin and yang of this lif...

          Last Friday, October 2, we did our overnight camping in Venus Bay. All in all, we were 16 people in our group. Indeed we had a great time exploring some interesting places in Victoria. From home, me, my wife Yanyan and friend, Rod, jumped off and hit the road at 5 a.m. We proceeded to pick up two more friends at Harvey's place.            After settling down in each of our cars, we progressed  to our meet up point in one of the petrol stations in Chadstone. From there, we departed to our destination, Venus Bay Park, with a side trip to Wilson's Promontory. Our next stopover was Tidal River. " It is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the Wilson's Promontory region of Victoria."- source- Wikipedia- the free encyclopedia.          During this stop off, we spotted some kangaroos a few meters away from us. They did not mind us at all and some o...

A Guest Post: Change is a part of life. Every day we face different scenarios. Sometimes, we have no control over them. While, sometimes we do. Thus. the graph of life's activities is never constant. One such challenging activity is moving interstate. When we put in such a position,  most shudder at the thought of all the work involved. But, we have to go through the process if it has a positive impact on our career, family, or education. Moving interstate is a task which could get very annoying and complex, even for those who are used to moving locally. But, getting all irritated and giving up is not the solution. One must learn how to deal with this hectic and time-consuming task efficiently.  imagecredit:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/0/02/Moving_ house.JPG Presented below are some techniques that will help you get through this frantic challenge.  1. Pre-Packing Plan It is very important that one must start their preparation o...

          Light'emUp Creative Lamps- a Company owned by May Advincula- Chan,  is a store that makes and sells various and distinct kinds of lamps. Her designs are meticulously chosen therefore all are guaranteed to be new and can be used as modern alternative decors.  Basically her lamps are modular that if one purchases them during the holidays such as Christmas, they can alter the shape so that they can be used for any other places like bedrooms, living rooms or use them on special gatherings such as birthdays and parties.            Moreover, the lamps' shapes can be changed into 22 different configurations. Hence, if somebody likes to reshape any of his purchased lamp, he can bring it directly to May for the reshaping and without any additional cost at all. If distance is a factor, then they could also be given a copy of the instructions and do it themselves. On the other hand, these lamps are weather and wa...

             Lyceum of the Philippines Culinary Institute (LPUCI) enjoys another fruitful month as it celebrates a twin positive affairs on this month. The first triumph of LPUCI is its winning major awards on the just concluded Philippine Culinary Cup (PCC). This competition was held on August 5 to 8 and what made this event a more significant one is that it was held alongside another prestigious occasion and one of the country's biggest food expo, the World Food Expo (WOFEX).               This event is a major one since it gathers together the country's culinary schools and battle with each other on different categories. LPUCI has been an active and an accomplished participant on this event  during the previous years and this year, it became more successful when it gathered the following awards: seven (7) gold medals, nine (9) silvers and nine (9) bronzes.          ...

          Social networking sites nowadays have emerged like mushrooms and to name a few, sites such as Facebook, Linked, Pinterest, Brimble, Twitter, and many more have enjoyed much popularity as each day passes by. To cite a specific interest, we will take one particular site which is very popular nowadays and this is Facebook.             As of March this year, there are "  665 million users everyday and 751 million using Facebook from a mobile device each month."  (Reference: https://www.google.com.au/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=xdDXVYIBo-7zB-XZvfgL&gws_rd=ssl#q=statistical+data+of+facebook+users) . From this figure, one can find out how much relevance Facebook is having then at the present time.            But one may ask, how then could we find relevance in our time using any of these  social network sites? Answers may differ from one person to the other yet the most co...

" Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up."- Thomas Edison           Every now and then, we hear of people saying, " I'm tired of this world.", "I'm such a failure." "I don't want to move on anymore."..... so on and so forth.            How then do we gauge our life? Is life merely a matter of collecting successes (and never failures) along the way? Or is it the other way around?           At times, what makes us think that we are a failure is the standard that we put on ourselves and that of others. As Thomas Edison said beforehand, many among us fail when we are supposed to be at the verge of success.  imagecredit:           Actually there are varieties of meaning to failure yet the very common one among them is the reality that no one among us wants to experience that hurt and pain as a con...

Disclosure: " This post contains affiliate links- if you buy, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you."           Sometime last month, I accompanied my wife for her follow up check concerning her coming thyroid surgery. During that day, we waited for four hours before being accommodated. Though we were waiting for such a long time but I made use of my time by coming up with this blog post regarding patience.            When our appointment number was displayed, we were ushered to room number 24, back to the reception area and then room 4. While inside the room, she had her physical exams like getting her blood pressure then the doctor also tried to feel her thyroid nodes like those in the neck both left and right sides. Afterwards, the attending physician showed to us the result of her last  blood test and he was telling us that the thyroid seems to be stabilising.  photo credit: Just when you thought it wa...

          It's Friday once again. It may not sound true to you but it is just a personal observation that when it is Friday, the atmosphere around and everywhere is that of excitement and thrill. I know that it is probably a matter of mindset but for many people, Fridays means time for break from work, time to spend with loved ones, opportunity to relax after spending much time in offices, shops, workplaces etc.           From a woman's point of view (my wife), it sounds though much similar to mine like Fridays and weekends are days to spend for bonding, relaxing, having time together for activities that could build further the relationship as husband and wife, as friends, as ordinary people.           In my workplace, when Friday comes, people are so excited in coming to work and in ending their respective responsibilities also. This is contrasting to what Monday brings to people. Mondays are the opposit...

           Just recently, I have read in the news how a huge amount of money from people was lost as a result of a scam. And as far as I could remember, this is not the single case which I heard of involving the same controversy and sad reality. In fact, this very miserable experience is happening not just in one country but I believe that this is also true even to countries such as USA, Australia, UK and the like.           Examples of these scams could be online shopping and auctions, dating scams, computer virus/malware/spyware, rental fraud etc.              Therefore, this is happening everywhere and it is sad to note that many of these victims are innocent ones. While it is true that others fall as victims since they want instant big cash but it is very unnerving for some to undergo a terrible experience.  imagecredit:          On the part of the...

           Glancing at the chance of each new day, opportunities for growth ushers us along the way. As each new day unfolds, we welcome it with excitement and joy for we know that this new day will bring us into more understanding and learnings about ourselves.           Why then self discovery is very crucial? It plays a vital role for it enables us to perform positively in our various forms of relationship. Along the way, we come in contact with people whom some could give us a threat in which we have no control. Have you experienced a situation wherein you seems to feel uncomfortable or uneasy with somebody whom you just meet recently or even worse, a total stranger to you? imagecredit:            And as you reflect on the experience, you then discover that this person represents somebody in the past who extended and caused you discomfort as well as pain (transference). Good for you i...

          One time while at work, I was listening to the music and at a certain moment, the DJ greeted all his listeners of the day then wished everyone a great new day. While listening to him, I was struck by what he once mentioned that in each of our days, many possibilities are bound to happen. And I moved on with the rest of my day responsibilities, I once in a while thought of it and realised that indeed, what he said is true.           Everyday exactly is full of surprises for all of us. And even though no one among us knows exactly what will happen during the course of the day yet it is always beneficial for us to stay positive on things. Learn to say good bye to those bad energies in the past. Allowing oneself to move on is difficult especially if the pain inflicted by another party is deep penetrating. However, if we convince ourselves that we can move on from this pain and rather stay on what is positive out of the ex...

          Dreams have always been a part of our life. And they also drive us into more determination even at the steepest road we trek in life. Yet at the end of the day, it constantly goes back to us the answer whether we really want to realise those dreams or just leave them behind as such.            As one anonymous author said, " The tragedy of life is that many people have ambition and so few have ability. " Agreeing to what he said, I would say that uniquely, we are gifted with resources such as abilities, talents, skills and others that would become our weapons to make true those dreams.  imagecredit : http://www.splitshire.com/poppies/           Regrettable as it could be, some of us fail to utilise those tools so that we will reach our goal of success. Don't ever focus on those negative points in your life instead give your full attention to what lies ahead and what is pres...

          While listening to the preacher this evening time during our gathering, what struck me most out of his sharing was his mentioning about two qualities that every person must possess so that he will become successful in his relationship with others and these are LOVE and FIDELITY.           These two comprise the whole package in any positive dealing with one's neighbour. While listening to him talking about those two points, as much as I can, I tried to recall back concrete instances of my life to show those two qualities in my life. Looking around, I could also see affirming faces on the preacher's highlights.  imagecredit:    Ed Gregory           Anyway, you and me could identify certain relationships that we have in our lifetime. First and foremost, we have this significant relationship with those persons so dear to us like spouses, siblings, etc. Then next comes our relati...