Certified Regular Bus Commuter

Just yesterday, I got a funny surprise I was not expecting. After dropping off at my parents place I boarded this bus with company name JMK. This is one of my favorite buses. Colored mustard yellow. They ply the route from MIA Road – Ayala – SM Malanday and vice versa. They have 2 mustard colored buses and 2 yellow green buses. All of them are pretty clean and decent and very nice to ride on. When I get off at MIA Road from my Erljohn & Almark bus from home, I always look for these buses. They have become my favorite and I always make it a point to get my persona on any one of them. If I’m lucky I can find them all the time and normally I would be very satisfied. Aside from being clean, they boast of flat screen TV’s that show action/adventure films that sometimes makes me want to just ride along EDSA until the movie is finished. I have this thing about buses. I guess you could say I’m a bus addict. I enjoy the long commutes with the TV/DVD on and some really good show is available or if I’m really tired just doze off into nothingness. So, anyway back to my story. I got on it and grabbed the 1^st row seat at the front of the bus. Along Roxas Avenue the conductor sat beside me and asked me if I’m Bisaya. I guess it has to do with the accent. He told me that he recognized me from before when I rode that same bus wearing my brown Trench Coat and Leather Boots. I guess I made quite an impression and that time I was asking him for directions. I guess I could say that I was a regular bus commuter. Really certified now. He told me that he was also Bisaya. There are a lot of Bisaya folks here in Metro Manila. They are by the hundreds and more. So never be afraid folks. Some days, you might just encounter people who speak BISAYA on the road.

Filed under: Daily Travel Diary , bus conversations, bus trips, Daily Travel Diary

10/24 Registration – Success!!!

Today is the last day of the 10/24 registration for the worldwide photography contest. I was so happy to receive this confirmation email from them. Below is the email that they sent. I look forward to taking a lot of shots for tomorrow.

Hi Charisse,

Thanks for registering! The worldwide kick-off is set for Fri Oct 24, 10:24 GMT.

That should be Fri Oct 24, 6.24pm in Manila City.

Have a good shoot

cheers,
Regina De Rozario
http://1024.perceptionthree.net

Hopefully I get really good shots with my Sony Cyber Shot to win but I simply just want to participate and get my work shown, if they are good enough. Good luck to me.

Filed under: My Photography , contests, digital photography, My Photography

10/24 Photography Contest

A friend blogged about this and I became excited. You see, I am a photography enthusiast and as such would love to be really good at it so my most common subject nowadays is Zoe. My friend P let us know that there is this world event for budding photogs. Originally it was just for Lomography fiends but now it is open to all. I have yet to explore Lomography as I don’t know where to get a really cheap and good Holga camera but maybe soon I can find the time to go camera hunting for that Holga. Anyway, here is the link for the site so that you can register and participate. No need to pay any fees. You just need to take shots for a whole 24 hours on October 24, 2008. Please do register here. I will send in my details now to register and take a good bunch of pictures. Goodluck shooting and let us enjoy our cameras and images on that day.

P.S. J i know that you will be interested in this event.

Filed under: My Photography , contests, digital photography, photography

Who will be the next US President?

This is a question that I think I need not ask for the answer is staring at me right in the face. Come November 2008 with the US Elections will see a new era dawning. The first African American ever to be elected to the highest seat in the land of milk and honey. I am a Filipino and should not be concerned about who is going to be America’s president but I am concerned because our country has had long-standing ties with America and they are one of the world’s leading countries with an economy superior to ours but is right now experiencing some troubled times and the effect trickles down to us 3^rd world countries. Barrack Obama I’m sure will be the next one on the presidential seat. Results of new polls say that after their last debate, Obama is winning over Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain with their last presidential debate. It seems like “Change” is fast coming to the American people. Obama, the polls say is much more respected with regards to his stands on the economy and on a lot of important matters to the American people. I am definitely saying that come November 2008, Obama will set the record for being the first ever African-American to win the White House.

You might find this site interesting. It’s called Obama vs. McCain. I found it over the internet and it really compares “everything” about the 2 presidential candidates from their lives to their stands on issues concerning the American government.

How bout you? Who do you think will be the next President of the United States of America?

Filed under: News , global news, US elections

Of teething and Teeth…

Zoe is now approaching her 11^th month in our world and she is fast growing. Height wise, weight wise and of course intellectual-wise. She shows signs of being a feisty little girl who has little amounts of hair like me when I was still a baby. Like her, I had a little hair until I reached my first year and my mom made me

zoe with teeth and funny face

bald. I am soon going to follow in that tradition of being bald and will revisit it on Zoe by making her bald on her 1^st year. She is now teething and currently has sprouted a total of 4 teeth. 2 down and 2 up. She bites me constantly and also the other members of our household. I have brought her some organic toothpaste (Earth’s Best here at Rustan’s Makati) so that I can start her early on dental health. I am kind of anal in things about Zoe. The toothpaste came with a gum brush too. Pretty convenient and nice. We have fun brushing. She has fun licking and biting on the brush and she likes the taste of the toothpaste. She makes funny faces all the time and is generally a very happy child. No long crying bouts! I am thankful for that. I think that good habits should be started early on and what better timing than now before she turns 1. Happy brushing!

P.S. The organic toothpaste for all the mothers out there cost around Php 200 ++. It will last you a long time though because you only use pea-sized amounts.

Filed under: Mommy Talks, My Family News , family news, Mommy Talks, zoe

The Chiong Case – My thoughts!

I waited for 12AM last night for the show to air. I was really looking forward to it and what I found out was very interesting. It gave me an insight into what happened in one of Cebu’s most controversial cases to ever happen in the 90’s. Below are some of the points that Kara David raised on the show.

• The UY brothers were not even friends of Larranaga.

• Paco Osmena Larranaga was alleged to not have been in Cebu during the killings. As per statements from the defense witness, he was in Manila about to take his exams. He has statements from a businessman and his sons who were friends of the Larranaga’s. The defense also presented Paco’s boarding pass as evidence.

• No rape kit was used on the victim, Marijoy Chiong’s body but the convicted were also accused of this. I mean, just for me I think that proper protocol should be followed in handling cases such as this and that there really should be no shadow of a doubt as to whether the victim was raped or not.

• The forensics team at that time used old methods to handle the evidence. Evidence was not even treated with delicacy.

• The case was won more on circumstantial evidence and with the testimony of the state witness, David Rusia who is a drug addict. As commented on by someone last night “drug addicts are liars”. Who is to say that Rusia was telling the truth.

• The owner of the boarding house were the sisters were purportedly raped told the investigators that the room where the alleged crime was said to have happened was a very small room and a rape couldn’t have gone unnoticed.

• A few months after the guilty conviction was given, Judge Ocampo took his own life.

• Paco Larranaga during the case repeatedly asked the judge that he be able to give a statement but it was not granted.

I’m sure there were a lot more but on the top of my head, that is what I came up with. While I do not condone this rape-murder crime, I would like to also see that those suspected be proven really guilty beyond reasonable doubt with the circumstantial evidence plus forensic evidence and so on. Conviction should not be based on simply statement of sworn witnesses. Now, the convicted felons are in jail and it’s been 11 years already. Will the other body still be found or has it rotted away and gone back to the dust of the Earth? Was the conviction really a rightful one for all of the accused or was there some of them who were wrongly convicted of the crime?

We can only have so many questions and too few answers…

Filed under: News , cebu news