Sweet moments with Ms. B

It is summertime! The skies gets clearer! The breeze hovers faster! The sun shines longer and time for mountain climbing or hill climbing for that matter! Wowieeee! And during these lovely months, what better place to be than in BOHOL! It is where you can find TARSIERS- considered to be the smallest monkeys in the world! How - about - that!

But did you know that Tarsiers aren't monkeys at all. Actually, they belong to a different specie which is: Tarsius syrichta. Its classification is quite obscure and are often considered by taxonomits(researchers on the study of the general laws and principles of classification) to be "...of distinct suborder among the primates." Others classify these Philippine tarsiers along the line with the lemurs, lorises and bushbabies as prosimians. Oh, Whatever!

Tarsius syrichta simply called: Philippine Tarsiers (notice their sizes compared to human hands)

Bohol as most Filipinos know is a kind of circular island province rich in nature's goodness. It is located slightly obliquely below Cebu where I am now (actually i'm in Lapu-Lapu). Everywhere you gaze you see nothing but group of pointed hills! I took this picture myself with just a simple SLR still cam. I was truly awed by it! Aren’t you now? There are over three thousand of these hills stretching out the horizon. It is learned that these are corals of the sea bed some thousands of years ago.

We visited various spots like: Baclayon Church- considered to be the oldest in the Philippines; The Man-made forest in Loboc- lined upwith huge Mahogany trees all planted withthe vision and hope of a more greener Bohol; The Hanging Bridge also in Loboc displays man's ingeniuty over machines; The Floating Restaurant- winding through Loboc's deep forest. More of Bohol sites are of much significance due to the fact that according to Bohol's hitory it was afterall one to the earliest settlements of the Spanish conquerors; but a little later after Mactan Island.

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More of the Philippines (personal edition)

1. My Cebu...

2. Captivating Lapu-Lapu...

3. Radiant Philippines...

True friends are hard to find... But you know what? They are much harder to forget!

It was alomost six in the evening when i got to listen the latest edition of "Europinoy perspective"- a excerpt of a weekly radio program in Rome, Italy called: Radio Pilipino ng Vaticano. I was quite erked (if that's the correct term) bytheir topic which is "Being in-Love with the wrong person".

My! how wrong could that person be? I mean, is it really true that love is blind?

I'm asking this question because i only have one love all my life! And i don't think he is a wrong guy. Perhaps it is just our own perception of what LOVE is...
For me to love a person means :
1- giving it all
2-doing it righteously
3- share it contuinually
4-be with sometimes (of course you can't take him while peeing)
5-talk openly
6-laugh with sometimes (if it isn't corny ok)
...and the list goes on. Who's counting anyhow?

LOVE, that nice and wonderful feeling!

But loving a person doesn't mean you have to be blind, does it? In fact, you must be so ready with your feelings because doing it might put you in a bad situation later.But the risk makes it more intriguing, don't you think so? Am i making any sense here? Oh, how can i elaborate it further?

Love, as the word implies, is putting trust on someone... someone you don't even know that much all your life. But hey, no one knows for sure the other person, not until years go by with the relationship, who does?. Even twins argue once in a while, how much more with partners or lovers when they aren't blood related! And that is part of the whole process. We learn as we change, right? As you know change is great and it is the only constant thing in this world.

I believe it is in the sharing with that person -correct or wrong-over the years, that you would know how to love eventually. And who can judge better who is right and not?

It is the care one gives, the respect offered, the friendship bestowed! YES, i believe our beloved patner in life should be our best friend. It is the life-long togetherness which make the relationship flourish if not bloom to its fullest. It is putting your trust to that person which might help ease up the process of loving. Because loving is a struggle, a feat, a force so strong it drives one crazy, at times though. That is why it has to be felt for, sacrificed and lived for to its truest definition. But who can define what love really is...?

It is both the love and hate feelings that enables both parties to grow and learn and live. And that's what matters- to live- yes, because it is only in living that you can love and it is in loving that you continue to live! Now, i am making sense?

Did you know that when you hate someone so much it is because you love that person too much! LOVE makes the world go around.. yes, definitely. It can also make your head turn around and get crazy!
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Allow me to share with you one of my poems. It is about living: Live

Amazing shape!

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These are but a few of the many pictures i have on my Spain trip on a very cold December of 2002. Amazingly enough winter time in Canaria isn't too cold compared to the rest of Europe. In fact, I stayed over until the 20th and it was just a cold breeze though near the beach area! One thing i love being there is the sun. It shines to its fullest- noontime- but the air isn't hot at all. My! we were not using air conditioner inside the car, we just let our windows wide open! I know it is almost three years now but happy moments stays in my heart always.

Canary Islands are made up of seven (7) small islets ( Gran Canaria;Fuente ventura; Tenerife; La Gomera; Heirro and last but not least- Lanzarote) the bigest of which is Gran Canaria, where Mas Palomas is located down south. The beach of Playa del Ingles faces halfway to the great Atlantice Ocean. These group of islands are a few nautical miles off the coast of Africa, near its northern tip, just below Morocco. Oh, you must be wondering why i mentioned Africa. Yes, it is where these beautiful islands are located. The Canarias are separated from mailand Spain but they are provinces of Spain since 1821. more...

Maybe it is true that we don't know what we have... until we lose it
But it is also true that... we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.

Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back
Don't expect love in return
Just wait for it to grow in their heart
But if it does not, be content it grew in yours.

Don't go for looks
They can deceive
Don't go for wealth
Even that fades away
Go for someone who makes you smile
Because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

Find the one that makes your heart smile !

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real.


Dream what you want to dream
go where you want to go
Be what you want to be
Because you have only one life and one chance to do all of them.


May you have enough happiness to make you sweet
enough trials to make you strong
enough sorrow to keep you human
enough hope to make you happy.
Always put yourself in other's shoes
If you feel that it hurts you
it probably hurts that person, too.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.


Happiness lies for those who cry
those who hurt
those who have searched
and those who have tried
for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. -anonymous-
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And may i say : You have touched my life in ways only God knows. You have changed me unexpectedly into a better person. You have taught me how to live and love... then love and live!

When sugar started its full force of production the Philippines, it gained momentum in of the late part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century (1836 - 1920) it did well in providing almost one-third of all Philippine foreign trade, not to mention garnered the honor of being the most advanced manufacturing technology at that time.

By this time, a new kind of Philippine Society was formed. It was even called “Sugar society” (p.102). This was characterized by different thoughts (as compared to the usual ways of the wise- men’s views); acquired reactions to the current situations; vague perceptions of the confusion over social classes; new attitudes among workers with respect to the landowners; modern if not contemporary ideas on every angle of culture in general.

These and more were few of the many facets of society, which were encountered by the old town folks of the so-called “sugar society” as they were engulfed with massive changes brought about by the sugar industry.

However, a typical manner of receiving guests prevailed during these years. As learned, like when a royal family or a datu showed respect to a visiting foreigner like a conquistador and his men and were treated to a magnificent festive mood using imported china wares in serving food. Then an elegant ball was at hand honoring the big dignitaries. Politicians played major roles in the business arena. Commerce was at its peak and was doing very good as far as the rich landowners and the capitalists were concerned. Sugar industry soared high. These were during 1921 to 1934. Within these decade or more, banks were the major players, coupled with the landowners mortgaged lands as collaterals for increased capitalization. The rich obviously became richer.

The society created thru sugar was more of a one-way street, in the sense that only the lesser minority group of rich families enjoyed great wealth while the planters continued their toils. This high-class alliance of few locals spent extravagantly on luxuries so much so that they were living like kings and queens.

The vicinity where the people lived and did business has now trans formed into a bustling center; with new plazas everywhere, amusement centers, and the like. Markets got new facelift, department stores sprouted like di-cotylidons all over the place. A theater, a golf country club, a university, a jockey club, these are but a few of the amenities found in that sugarlandias of Negros and Pampanga.

Truly, the sugar industry has expanded the culture in sugar plantation areas, but despite all these, people’s sentiment still portrayed rich characteristics of old Spanish ways of land inequalities. Buried deep within this novel society which havd evolved, laid a very sad and unforgiving predicament among the town folks. Land grabbing was one of the major cause of conflict during those times. Protests after protests among the workers came into view against the hacienderos mostly for the change about improving the shares of the processed sugar. Chaos really stirred up the world of sugar planters. The kind of society that emerged in the sugar-rich plantations during these hard times was undoubtedly a very unstable one.

With such complexities occurring at a given time, i can say: the Filipino society was molded out of uncontrolled circumstances, a kind of unprecedented dilemma of events happening all together too fast too soon, notwithstanding the perplexities of life which could have been too naïve to have occurred too bluntly and modestly within the Golden years of sugar planting.
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Note: You must have noticed by now a few of my topics here pertains much of History. Yes, i feel a part of me is tinted with the past. As a child i have always wondered how vast a man's journey can reach through time. But i also was confused of man's existence. Insignificant? Maybe so, but slowly i came to know the ways how to better understand the future but by experiencing the past.

Now, can i say I love You?

Soaring high, among the cold beams of limelight
Softly spreading her gems, amidst the clouds of dreams
Then briefly but gently, she slides down the isle…

Her gaze is deep, her mind focused
Her wholeness embraces humanity…

She is fun and kind and sweet
She is simple yet possesses brilliance
Unequalled...

She has emerged high, far from yesterday’s passion
She has changed…bloomed, almost like a dandelion
But smarter…nimbler… more provocative than ever!

More intimate… but secretive, she is full of life and intellect
She sways much more graceful than a swan does its tail
She is the novel girl… the woman she has become ...

Who is she...?

... and so goes my poem