English is one of the official languages of the Philippines and most Filipinos are fluent in conversational English BUT our minds and hearts think and speak in Filipino. This is true for most, if not all, Filipinos of every socio-economic class.

Venus Raj does NOT need to know from anyone how she should have answered. Surely, seconds after her stumble she already knew what she should have said. Almost anyone could give an acceptable answer to that question if they were given some time to think. In this case, she was required under heavy pressure to give an instantaneous answer which isn't an easy task for anyone.

In the 1999 Miss Universe Pageant, Miss Philippines (Miriam Quiambao) also lost her chance at the crown due to her stumbling at her final Q & A. And who knows how many of our representatives could have made the preliminary cut had they been able to satisfactorily answer the interview questions?

Almost any Filipino can smoothly engage in casual conversational English BUT this isn't casual conversation we are talking about here. It's a nerve-wracking split-second Q & A under heavy pressure on stage and live telecast worldwide.

Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia etc. etc. etc. are among the perennial finalists and ultimate winners of the Miss Universe Pageants. All of them use interpreters. All of them are at a great advantage. Using an interpreter buys you time. It gives you a few extra seconds to think and more importantly puts you at ease in a comfort zone when you hear the question in your own language. YOU AUTOMATICALLY FEEL AT HOME.

You are judged on the content of your answer regardless of what language you answer it in. It's NOT an English proficiency test.

Venus was robbed of the Miss Universe crown !!!.

If Venus Raj was given the opportunity to use an interpreter, it's certain that she would have given a totally different answer and Miss Philippines would have been Miss Universe 2010.

Miriam Quiambao, Venus Raj ---How many more of our contestants will be denied the crown because of our arrogance and persistence in not allowing them to speak from the heart?

MABUHAY SI VENUS RAJ!!! MABUHAY PHILIPPINES!!!

Where was President Noynoy Aquino last August 23? What did he do?

In their feeble attempts to cover all bases and show that the President was on top of the situation, Malacanang Palace alternately said he was near Quirino Grandstand (at Emerald Restaurant) purportedly to monitor the goings-on, and that he later was in a huddle with the officials of the Philippine National Police, the Department of Interior and Local Government and the city government of Manila.

The President waited until after 12:00 midnight before speaking in a press conference. His statement was good, but his appearance before the press, while already very late into the night, totally missed in capturing the people's state and feeling of shock, shame and grief.

Asked by a journalist if the Philippines should apologize or say sorry to the government and people of Hong Kong, the President misheard the question and answered wrongly.

I think it is not too much to expect and demand that the President of the Philippines commiserate and sympathize with the victims and all those affected, including all people of the Philippines and Hong Kong, in a solemn and credible manner. (We didn't catch the President reading his statement over at government station NBN and the privately-owned stations ABS-CBN, GMA and TV5 did not bother to air the actual presidential statement as well. The stations only started their broadcast when he was already answering a volley of questions from journalists who waited the whole day before the President bothered to face the nation).

It would have been better had the President just interrupted all TV and radio programming at 10:00 pm to deliver his message straight from his working desk and thereby dispensed with the press conference.

Those who were able to follow all or most of the events yesterday were all expecting the President to talk tough on what transpired, to announce a sweeping investigation, and order the relief of the ground commander and the Manila Police District chief. Instead, the President reassured the involved authorities of "presumption of innocence" and signaled the start of a possible assault on the right of journalists to do their work of covering similar events, like legislated news blackouts.

The President appears misinformed about the role played by media in yesterday's events. Based on accounts and reports by journalists, the ground commander issued no order for a news blackout. Neither was there any attempt to expand the police line or check crowd control. No one bothered to stop journalists, onlookers and unauthorized personnel from entering and violating the crime scene.

If there was anyone monitoring the situation as broadcast on television and on the ground, it was apparent that authorities were not following Police Operational Procedures on hostage situations. But no authorities higher than the ground commander bothered to correct the situation at several junctures. When the hostage-taker's brother was being forcefully arrested, an incident that would most surely agitate Roland Mendoza - and it sure did - the authorities did not do anything and alongside them, we watched in horror how the situation spiraled into violence and displays of absolute incompetence.

This is not to say the media is immaculately clean from accountability. Many were stunned by the pornographic live video feed beamed nationwide and worldwide when the editors and executives could have ordered a 10 or 15 minute broadcasting delay. In many instances, the journalists showed on video and described in detail via audio the location and movements of authorities around the hijacked bus. In another instance, journalists were heard laughing amid the terrifying situation. Indeed, August 23 was not the brightest day for responsibility in Philippine journalism and broadcasting as well.

But to even imply that the media may have made matters worse and thereby exculpate the authorities who failed to provide competent leadership during the situation is a different matter altogether.

Sticking to protocol, the President also appeared to have refused frantic calls from Donald Tsang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, leading the latter to complain about it before the Hong Kong and world press. Instead, the President had Foreign Affairs Sec. Alberto Romulo call his counterpart in Beijing and also Mr. Tsang to extend the government's condolences and provide updates on the situation.

The incident being very extraordinary, Mr. Aquino might have done better had he received the call from Mr. Tsang who only wanted to know the status of his people directly from him as the President of Philippines.

Today, the people of the Philippines still bear a heavy heart over the incident, grieving with the people of Hong Kong and for ourselves. Many who have relatives working in the former Crown Colony and in China worry about the possible social and economic repercussions of the hostage crisis.

We wonder if the President would do the same in the next flashpoint of his presidency and be as confused as he was yesterday.

Mwahugs,
Boyeng <3

Dry away the tears

Lay aside your fears

No more pain for my love

I am here, go to sleep

And when the angels come

I know that they will treat you well

They will pull you through

And lift you from what has held you down

There's a heaven up there

And it waits just for you

So close your eyes and dream

They'll be a world you once knew

A world without the pain 

That's stuck with you for far too long

A world that does contain

A love like mine to watch you grow strong

And when my time arrives

Please wait and make a place for me

For when I do arrive

Your face should be the first face I see

Dry away the tears

Lay aside your fears

No more pain for my love

You have now gone to sleep.

There's a predictable narrative to a lot of discoveries in molecular biology. The story begins when a scientist discovers that Molecule X causes Phenomenon Y. Perhaps we're talking about CREB and long-term memory, or serotonin and depression, or cholesterol and heart disease. At first, the data looks really solid – when the gene for Molecule X is knocked out of a mouse, Phenomenon Y disappears! And when patients take a drug that increases/reduces Molecule X, you get a change in Phenomenon Y! The causal relationship seems so simple.

And that's when things start to get complicated. Time and time again, the neat relationship between Molecule X and Phenomenon Y disintegrates into a knot of feedback loops, enzymatic pathways, environmental interactions and regulatory genes. It's not that Molecule X doesn't matter – it's that it doesn't exist by itself. Instead, the Molecule exerts its effects by interacting with a byzantine list of other molecules, all of which can also influence the biological outcome.

This leads me to stress. Last month, an article in Wired on the dangerous chemistry of chronic stress. Scientists have known for years that glucocorticoids – the molecules released by the body during the stress response – trigger a wide range of negative health outcomes. The list of ailments connected to stress is staggeringly diverse and includes everything from the common cold and lower-back pain to Alzheimer's disease, major depressive disorder, and heart attack. Stress hollows out our bones and atrophies our muscles. It triggers adult-onset diabetes and is a leading cause of male impotence. In fact, numerous studies of human longevity in developed countries have found that psychosocial factors such as stress are the single most important variable in determining the length of a life.

So far, so obvious: Glucocorticoids are Molecule X, and your health is Phenomenon Y. We should all be on beta-blockers, or at least practice Zen meditation. And yet, the situation isn't quite so straightforward. As I note in the article, there are plenty of things that increase glucocorticoids levels but don't seem to cause any negative outcomes:

Not every bout of stress is so devastating. As the Whitehall data demonstrates, executives in the corner office report high levels of stress and yet seem to survive just fine. Other experiments show that intense exercise — like running for hours on a treadmill — can lead to the release of glucocorticoids. And yet physical exercise is reliably associated with all sorts of positive health effects.

These anomalies have led some scientists, including Gould, to search for the additional molecules in the brain that might serve as buffers for the stress response. Gould's short list of candidates focuses on neuromodulators like dopamine and oxytocin that are released when we experience pleasure. She argues that these feelings of enjoyment — the ability to find meaning in our work, even if it's stressful work — may counteract the toxic effects of glucocorticoids. These molecules might also explain why not every janitor dies of heart disease at a young age and why enjoyable forms of exercise are good for us. "There are important individual differences in how people respond to stress," Gould says. "Soldiers experience lots of stress in war, but most of them won't get posttraumatic stress disorder. What accounts for those differences? And how can we help the people who are most vulnerable?"

Just look at sex. It turns out that sex often triggers a large stress response, leading to a spike in glucocorticoid levels. The good news, though, is that this stress is good for us. While chronic stress normally leads to a dramatic reduction in neurogenesis, or the birth of new brain cells, the stress produced by sex has the exact opposite effect. That, at least, is the conclusion of a brand new paper by Gould and colleagues in PLoS ONE:

Adult male rats were exposed to a sexually-receptive female once (acute) or once daily for 14 consecutive days (chronic) and levels of circulating glucocorticoids were measured. [SNIP] To evaluate whether sexual experience alters hippocampal function, rats were tested on two tests of anxiety-like behavior: novelty suppressed feeding and the elevated plus maze. We found that acute sexual experience increased circulating corticosterone levels and the number of new neurons in the hippocampus.Chronic sexual experience no longer produced an increase in corticosterone levels but continued to promote adult neurogenesis and stimulate the growth of dendritic spines and dendritic architecture. Chronic sexual experience also reduced anxiety-like behavior. These findings suggest that a rewarding experience not only buffers against the deleterious actions of early elevated glucocorticoids but actually promotes neuronal growth and reduces anxiety.

The takeaway lesson is that sex is both stressful and good for the brain. The "hedonic value" of the experience more than outweighs the temporary surge in corticosterone levels, at least in rats. Although sex appears to get less stressful the more we do it – we pump out fewer stress hormones during the act – such "chronic sex" still promotes all sorts of helpful neural habits, such as increased plasticity and new dendritic spines. (Of course, these findings probably only apply to pleasurable coitus. If you're not enjoying the act, then don't expect lots of neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus.) As I note in the article, these findings have led Gould to search for the additional molecules (let's called them Molecules Y and Z) that modulate and mitigate the usually destructive chemistry of glucocorticoids, at least when we're engaged in "naturally rewarding" activities. This data wouldn't surprise Marvin Gaye, who sang so passionately about the benefits of "Sexual Healing":

Sexual Healing is good for me

Makes me feel so fine, it's such a rush

Helps to relieve the mind, and it's good for us.

PS. Brian Mossop over at The Decision Tree has many more interesting thoughts on the subject.

PPS. Over on Twitter, Vaughan Bell cautions against automatically applying these rodent results to humans. That's an important caveat, of course. While sex inhomo-sapiens has also been shown to lead to an increase in the stress response, it's a little more difficult to check for neurogenesis in human subjects.

Starry, starry night... Paint the skies with blue and crystal colors.

Time is our most precious gift because we only have a set amount of it. We can make more money, but we can't make more time. When we give someone our time, we are giving them a portion of our life that we'll never get back. Our time is our life. That is why the greatest gift we can give to someone is our time. It is the best expression of love.

Baird's

From Huffington post: Baird's Brewery of Numazu, Japan

Is it easier for a foreigner to introduce a revolutionary product like microbrewery beer to Japan?

That's a good question. My answer is yes, so long as it is the right foreigner. By "right" I mean someone who comprehensively understands Japan, who can deal with Japanese people with cultural, social and linguistic understanding, and who genuinely likes and respects Japan. This is the type of foreigner that places like Johns Hopkins SAIS help to nurture. When you are this type of foreigner you get to participate in Japanese society on a deep and meaningful level but without having to face the same sort and degree of social and cultural constrictions that the Japanese themselves must often deal with. This kind of social liberation can be turned into a very valuable business asset.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs in Japan?

My advice is quite simple: Possess abundant reserves of passion, persistence, perseverance, integrity, and guts. Also, possessing sufficient "Japan skill" is critical to succeeding in business in Japan. Frankly, these Japan skills take longer and are harder to acquire than most industry-specific skills. Most foreign business people who do not do well here fail because of insufficiency on the Japan skill front.
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Ruthie Henshall is the quintessential Fantine. She lives, breathes, feels and believes the part, and that is what draws us in. She is not "acting", she is simply "being". Incomparably beautiful.

And with this so much passion and emotion from one brilliant performer, our very own Lea Salonga.




If only I had our Ma's power voice, she's convent trained, and you bet she sings like one of those pink sisters.

I am like an open book. A novel, rather. A thick one though, so you couldn't possibly read me in one go. And why would you want to? We've only just met. You skim through the boring parts and take a few glances at the interesting things. But you don't read me cover to cover. There's no need. I'm just some person. We've only just met.

Time goes by and you can't help but wonder if my book is full of lies. Surely no one is this open? This trusting? This vulnerable? You read it more carefully, trying to pick out the truths from the half truths, the lies from the facts… It's difficult to do. It all seems real, but is it?

The truth? Is my novel the truth? Yes. It is. But it is also the truth that I want you to see. Every last word is there because I want you to read it, because I want you to react in a certain way. This novel shows me at my best and at my worst, because I want you to see the bigger picture. I need to know that you know what you're getting yourself into, and I need to know that you don't mind too much.

Don't be fooled though. It's not as straightforward as it may look. There are hidden messages in every paragraph, in every line; in every breath I took whilst writing it.

Every last word will ache, craving your attention. I need to be read. I need to be read. I was written for you. It says.

Just beyond the sunset
Someone waits for me
Just beyond the sunset
Lies my destiny
Where the purple mountains
Lie in deep tranquillity
There I’ll find the treasure
Of love eternally

Just beyond the sunset
Waits someone so fair
Just beyond the sunset
All alone they wait there
Their hair is golden
The colour of the sand
Their eyes sparkle in the night
Like diamonds in your hand

Just beyond the sunset
Lies a home for me
Where the world is peaceful
Like a paradise should be
Just beyond the sunset
Someday is where you’ll find me 

Sketching 'dailies'...

I'm an intricate creature and convoluted at that. It takes patience plus continued existence to draw me out and be unperturbed. Thus, you end up with a formulated fabrication of yours truly as aloof and severe. As opposed to that, I aggregate the fact that I am...
a lover of laughing;
always laughing;
forever in want of being in tears (not a result of any accompanied heart ache, au contraire, I mean movie-crying);
never running out of daydreams;
continually daydreaming;
in love with books (naturally, reading too);
musically inclined.

Seriously, I COULD be mentally challenged. So forget your prior makings of me as aloof and severe, believe me, I am far from that. Although, it has been said that my being a perfectionist would drive you, just slightly, mad. Close friends have diagnosed me with OCD. I shouldn't forget to warn you about my being a narcissist, which would certainly have you riled, just slightly also. Oh! I have this perpetual tendency to be an egoist. I am an egoist. And yes, I am complex.

Let's not congregate on physical matters. Beauty goes farther beyond skin deep. Have you heard of the saying, "Tell me your hobbies and I'll tell you who you are?" Now you have. I love reading, ALOT. I get a natural high when I enter a bookstore. Even more so when I get to buy books and anticipate the pages I would be laying my eyes on. Ahh, bliss. I love stars and moon gazing. I love the beach and frolicking on its sands in a secluded island. I like writing. I have no illusion of writing a book/novel someday. I love photography, just looking, and taking too. I would also love it if I learned to fly, as in a plane. I have this fixation on wanting to become a fighter pilot. I love painting. I would love to get a tattoo someday when the time comes that readiness hits me right smack in my balls.

Sweet birthday

In a rush...

Books and more books!

Just arrived...

Breakfast on the floor :D

Tiptip

He was this cute little boy who shyly hid from his mom's skirt.

But look how handsome he is now.

Though he reassures me he's that same kid I knew.

(Chat with you again next time, Tip!

Oi Do, pirma unya ng autograph ha? :p)

And the passion that runs in the blood...

Started at a very young age at their own disco house...

Here is one of TV commercials he modeled of late...

Oh yes, guapito, I want some McDonald's breakfast delivery anytime!

Viva España

Olé, olé, olé!

That freaking octopus was so right. The Oranje team is on the loose looking for some calamari. Oh paulie, pauline, Paul, be extra careful :D

Felicitaciones el Paul! De largo España ustedes grande! Felicitaciones para combinar España. Bien merezca el triunfo, digno mirada. El Casillas hizo un gran trabajo e Iniesta hicieron la patada de Aniesta era so dramatico.

Viva España!

I thought I'll just follow the game on Twitter and Facebook can seem to me to be more interesting than watching a scoreless game. But when España made a goal. I think I'm alive :D

FIFA World Cup

Commentator on TV: 'Please, someone score a goal. I can't stand 30 minutes more of this.'

A lot of wasted goals for both teams. Another 30 minutes of yellow cards. Whadda?! Ack, should I be banging my head on the pillow now?

Akihabara by night

     I am so off to Tokyo! My friends are having the time of their life in the grills, greasing their blues away. But why I am so left here in the mountains without nothing to feed my grueling stomach? Let me have some taste of yakiniku, my dear friendships!

S.O.S

There will be a wedding on December to attend to. A girl friend who will be marrying a famous family name back in the homeland. She chuckles every time I tease her of this well-known clan that she will be embracing soon and be part of the tribe. I panic at the thought of what to wear. It's rare to find here in Japan a boutique where you could just ask for a fitting. There are shops though that would handle, if any ready-to-wear, customized fitting. Unless you'd go for a big brand designer, then you'll have a custom-made dress tailored only for you and your liking. This is one of those days that I wish I were in the Philippines, where I could just scurry to my favorite tailor/seamstress/local couture designer and ask for my design to be handmade-ready in a short period of time.

Anyway, here are some eye-candies I spotted from Etsy shops. And you know how well I love vintage designs.

Tiered 1970's Swiss Polka

1960's David Barr Fabiola Dress and Vest in black and white

1970's Nina hot bright red leather-strapped stilleto

Flamenco style 1980's Victor Costa

1950's black chantilly lace by Carol Craig

1970's long gown with rhinestones and open back detailing

A flower rhinestone bracelet

1950's Toni Todd ruffles

1980's square gold Chanel pearl clips

Antique mother of pearl and silver filigree ensemble set made in Palestine/Israel

circa 1930-40's

1960's Helen Rose vibrant fuchsia draped chiffon

Long tan wool dress in white beading by Gene Shelly's 1960's

1950's Grace Kelly rhinestone embellished bodice

1950's brocade pin-up halter by Estevez

Silk brocade cocktail dress in late 1950's

Es tarde por la noche

"Nothing will behave in the logical way you have come to expect. You will understand things only with your heart, and that can be a little frightening. For a long time, the journey will seem like a dark night, but then any search is an act of faith."

"I only manage to understand the simple things once I've embraced the complicated things."

...

  

     "No one can possess a sunset like the one we saw that evening", he went on. "Just as no one can possess an afternoon of rain beating against the window, or the serenity of a sleeping child, or the magical moment when the waves break in the rocks. No one can possess the beautiful things of this earth, but we can know them and love them. It is through such moments that God reveals himself to mankind.    

     People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower in a field, you will keep it forever, because the flower is part of the evening and the sunset and the smell of damp earth and the clouds on the horizon.

     That is what the forest taught me. That you will never be mine, and that is why I will never lose you. You were my hope during my days of loneliness, my anxiety during moments of doubt, my certainty during moments of faith. Knowing that you existed was my one reason for continuing to live.

     Then you came, and I understood all of this. You came to free me from the slavery I myself had created, to tell me that I was free to return to the world and to the things to the world. I understood everything I needed to know, and I love you more than all the women I have ever known, more than I loved the woman who, quite unwittingly, exiled me to the forest. I will always remember now that love is liberty. That was the lesson it took me so many years to learn. That is the lesson that sent me into exile and now set me free.

     I will always remember you, and you will remember me, just as we will remember the evening, the rain on the windows, and all the things we'll always have because we cannot possess them.

Go in peace, and dry those tears... Never forget me." He knew he didn't need to say this, but he said it anyway.

...

*Oh insomnia, I heard you knocking on my door again. You are the thief of my night. Slip away as my eyes heave to fantasia...

Mwahugs,
Boyeng <3

     While I was browsing for a job hunt here and abroad, there was one ad that caught me in curiosity. It's quite an offer, a lucrative income. You'll be compensated both in yen and in peso. Peso. You get it right. The job designation will be in my homeland. But gee, go back to telecommunications job?

How may I help you? I'm your friendly call agent bitch! :D

     Hmmm... Anyway, in celebration to my sister's blessed singleness for about 31 years now. Let me greet Dichi a merry birthday!

And my almost-sister just got hitched with her Biwi.

My best wishes to both of you!

However it rained tonight, we have crossed over the deuce brought by rain on Tanabata. And we don't have to wait for another year to meet. Not even in another lifetime, nor in heavenly rivers. Because you are the star in my milky way... that I love so much.