Happy Bulgogi Brothers Birthday to me ...?

Me and my best friend, Val, just ate at Bulgogi Brothers at Alabang Town Center. She sheepishly greeted me a happy birthday in front of our waitress. Lo and behold, I was surprised with an entourage of waiters and waitresses singing me Happy Birthday in Korean! They gave us complementary seaweed soup too. It's free and they only serve it for special birthday celebrants like me! Ehem.

When we asked for the bill, I was surprised to find a little kitty in it--a hello kitty post it note, i mean. It read, "Happy Birthday! An-yong Ha Se Yo, Thank you for dining here at Bulgogi Brothers. My pleasure to serve you again... God Bless... Yaz". 

How sweet and awesome right? :D

Well it wasn't really my birthday. Oops. But it all made me truly smile. More than the food, it was an unforgettable "birthday". Thank you thank you to Val too! ^_^

I am a CPA!

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announces that 1,995 out of 5,315 passed the Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination given by the Board of Accountancy in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and Legazpi this May 2012.

http://www.prc.gov.ph/news/?id=327

and I'm one of the 1,995 out of 5,315 May 2012 CPA board exam passers!

my little side adventure

After visiting the awe-mazing National Museum of Singapore, we passed through Fort Canning Park. Feeling ever the adventurous, I sneakily left my parents and went down a curiously placed staircase which led to this dark and quiet tunnel where I took the shot above.
My Singapore Experience (part 5 of many)

Marina Bay, Singapore

A panoramic view of Marina Bay, Singapore. Please click the photo to fully appreciate it.

Taken with a Sony Ericsson Arc S, 8MP cameraphone.
My Singapore Experience (part 4 of many)

Singapore Train Station Rules

No smoking. No eating or drinking. No flammable goods. No durians.
My Singapore Experience (part 3 of many)

In Singapore, good news makes the front page.

My Singapore Experience (part 2 of many)

My Singapore Experience (part 1 of many)

A panoramic shot from Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore. Please click the photo to fully appreciate it.

Taken with a Sony Ericsson Arc S, 8MP cameraphone.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Just Isn't Enough

This is a forwarded message from one of my favorite teachers in college, Ms Go. 

When DOING everything, just isn't enough,
And we find we're worn down to a thread,
We need to look and take stock of our lives,
And change our behavior instead.
If we're constantly taking on too many duties,
Others problems, other projects, get involved,
When we haven't the TIME to take care of ourselves,
It's in the world outside us we revolve.
We have to take inventory of just who we are?
Consider the things for which we volunteer?
For if we don't take TIME to take care of OUR lives,
It's our well-being that will soon disappear.

 

Written/copyrighted by Hope Ulch Brown, October 11, 2011

Libraries and Leuconia

Probably what I'll most miss from my school is our library. I love my school's library. Heck, I love libraries. Just that word is romantic to my ears.

I grew up in the same school, studied there in my grade school, high school and college years. It is in our grade school library that I first fell in love with reading and ever since, it has been a lifelong relationship.

Just last week, I visited my college library. We have good periodicals, probably the best in my town. I read an educational journal about the Philippines. It was published by Ateneo de Manila University and I've noticed that the best books and reading materials about Philippine History are published from Ateneo. Even our national hero, Jose Rizal, is from Ateneo.

The journal is called Philippine Studies. I braved reading it even though that September 2011 issue was about preconquest math. I learned so much about how advanced and civilized Filipinos were. I love reading about Pre-Spanish Philippines. Even at that time we already had an advanced and organized counting system which still closely resembles how Filipinos count today. We've also been extensively using math for business. Heck, Pre-Spanish Filipinos even knows and applies the concept on interest and compounding interest.

Math things aside, another fact I found interesting was that my country, the Philippines, has been mentioned specifically in ancient texts. Before it was named Philippines by the Spaniards, it was known as Leuconia.

"Leuconia, the ancient Ptolemaic name for the Philippines." (Manapat, 2011)

It's a beautiful name. :)

~

Manapat, R. (2011, September). Mathematical Ideas in Early Philippine Society. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints .