Limited..Handmade Soap Now Available online!!!

 

Handmade SOAP (I made it myself)

Making handmade soap was just a hobby for us, my mom teaches me how to make one and since then I sold dozens. I think handmade soap is a good business since my customers comes asking back for more. I decided to experiment into different shapes and molds and every extract (plant) available and try it first to myself. I hope that these New Year would be bright for me since starting a sideline business involves lots of time and people interaction, but nevertheless the joy of managing your own business however small it seems add happiness to my everyday life. By the way, I’m planning to sell my soaps in the internet if I have a lot of reserved stocks, God willing.

Goodbye Nash (dogs in Kidapawan)

I have a hunch that this would be our last time seeing each other so I take a picture. It is hard leaving home when everyday this creature “Nash” as we call him greets me everyday and wiggles his tail when I am back home.

I remember my first post, it was about him. No, he is not my dog he is just a neighbor’s dog. But what’s different from him is that he is always close to me. He would pass by and go first to our neighbor’s house, 2 houses from us to check the house where he was born then stay with me for a while. At the days end, he would go back to his home.

Quite uncanny and intelligent creature, he is not just friendly to us but all the dogs love him too.

I have left for a while, (about 3 months) and when I return, instantly look for Nash first but he is nowhere to be found. I now felt that he was caught by the City Pound and I am hoping that he is just fine.

My father told me that he is ok and at my neighbor and so I did not bother to find him anymore but he is not there. Weeks have pass and another dog was caught in our neighborhood. Luckily the owners knew about it and together we go to the city pound to check and pay the fine. Although its not astray they still catch them, even if someone from the house saw the dogs they would still get them. These are some of the violations I think they are doing while catching these dogs.

At the city pound, I saw the cage with the caught dogs. Gazing at their lonely eyes, I felt weigh down because I cannot help them. I know for sure they would meet certain dead as if I had visited a jail wherein the prisoners are sentenced to death. Adding to my loneliness is that once Nash had surely been their before and hoping, thinking that somehow, somewhere I would arrive.

No, he is not a stray dog, he is just going to his daily routine, and he is just an adventurer.

Working as Research Assistant

Working as a research assistant is quite a challenge for me; although I am out of school for quite a while I found the work suited for my adventurous spirit. It’s been three months before I left my OJT onboard and adjusting to a challenging job is a bit fun and exciting. But nevertheless, working in a government institution has its downturn. For instance, a project proposal can be approved readily but because of government bureaucracy, materials and equipments requested would not come in time. Just imagine waiting fro 3 months for the materials to come!!! And an office without a working computer albeit air-condition and lot of junk papers. What can I do with it? I just simply shred it to pieces and form into balls, hahaahaha just to make some paper brickets. That’s an output!! Not to mention recycling at it’s best!

Anyway, I have some accomplishments like training mothers how to make soap ( we use our own money just to produce one) tsk tsk tsk. And many more approved proposals but waiting for the materials to come. I hope to come up some ideas just simple ones, know-how like paper bricket, some food technologies and many more. Do you have any idea to share?? I have tons of papers to start a cheap project. Anybody could help or any simple technologies and cheap ones for the third world?? I would glad to hear from you dear readers, lot of thanks.

Farewell Madame President

Once a Steward, MS San Paolo Memories

At last I am back at my own turf, well, it’s a little bit hard to adjust in the dry land and I miss my blog so much, I just live you guys with my experience aboard MS San Paolo. Enjoy!!

First Step Seaman

At last I finished my basic safety training in Cavite, just one step ahead to get my seaman’s book. It is an enjoying and exciting training since I only have a basic swimming knowledge and never been in a fire drill before except once in my Boy Scout days. The fun and excitement was cut short by eye infection, maybe cause of to much exposure to dirty air Huhhh, sighhh..anyway the food and accommodation together with the climate makes me feel homesick. Nonetheless my mosquito net reminds me of my sweet bed where I used to sleep and awaken by the purr of my cats. Hehehhehee.

I cannot imagine myself today going to another vocation and job, meeting new people and trying new things again makes me wonder if I would love to have this job. But for now I love the work, the fire drill, the group life saving drills and the life saving courses makes me appreciate and value the work and courage of those who work at sea.

It would still take at least a month to get my seaman’s book and complete my requirements to board the ship. Maybe I would have to get a temporary job just to get by my daily needs. Thank you for all those who pray for me and for those who believe in my dreams. Life is always beautiful.

Hold on by 33miles-And my Parting Prayer

This song means so much for me when I felt cheated and left behind, deprive of happiness and left in the dark I know that Jesus is always there holding me. I know I made a lot of wrong moves, tons of mistakes and unwise decisions that left me sad and that add up to my loneliness and desperation.

My prayer :I have serve you LORD for many times and I am happy to have a chance to serve you but I hope that you are always by my side and teach me the path that I would be going to take. May you bless my plans and choose only what is good and completely reject what is wrong. Help me in my indecisions and control my temper in times that I would burst in anger to the extent that I might physically hurt other people.

Thank you for my parents for guiding me in my path and decisions to take, their prayers always helps me in time of need and feel your gentle whisper that draw me closer to you. I am ashamed to admit that I have not proven myself as a worthy Christian to all my friends and humbly ask for your forgiveness.

As I am going to take another career in my life, bless the people O Lord that means so much to me- my parents. It is with a heavy heart that I would leave my hometown church and would sorely miss the Sunday services we attended daily ever since I was a child. May you use other people with their talents to help build my community church and inspire other youths to have a life fearful to you.

I know you would never leave me nor forsake me, I humbly asked to bless all my plans and acknowledged you so that it would be done according to your will. Through Jesus Christ my Only LORD and Savior all glory and honor. Amen.

On ZIMBABWE

 If you think of Zimbabwe you could imagine people lining up in queue for hours, department stores with empty shelves and starving millions who are hurrying to cross the border to South Africa. A declining economy with inflation rates unmatched anywhere else in the modern world and of its famous leader Robert Mugabe.

Other than that few Filipinos knew that Zimbabwe was once called Rhodesia and considered the richest economy of Africa. Its capital Salisbury is teemed with new and sleek modern buildings with the highest life span and good education for its people. It’s leader then was Ian Smith, a white Zimbabwean, despite pressures and suctions from the western world, his country manage to stop rebels aided by communist China from attacking its country. The I saw pictures of its soldiers, the famous Green Beret and the “Saints” with their Canberra bombers and Alouette  Helicopter and of course I love to hear their famous songs; Rhodesia Never Die and If a World Has Another Hitler.

From what I have heard and read, Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe is a great and beautiful country with a lot of things to see. There is one song that says; You could never bee the same again if you saw the sunrise in Zimbabwe…

It’s really hard to think that a great country, a modern developing country can turn into a poor third world level. With Robert Mugabe’s rule the health and well-being of his people have dropped dramatically, which is as much an abuse of human rights as arbitrary arrest and torture. According to the World Health Organization, Zimbabwe has the world’s shortest life expectancy—37 years for men and 34 for women. It also has the greatest percentage of orphans (about 25%, says UNICEF) and the worst annual inflation rate (1,281% as of last month). He last allowed an election in 2002 but “won” only after having his leading opponent arrested for treason.

It was a beautiful country and it still is, but for how much longer? I hope and pray that someday the people of Zimbabwe can have a brighter future soon whether its a white leader or a black one.

click here for pictures of Harare

Click to Pay.TakeTheGlobe.com(click here)

Kidapawan Plaza

Another additional structure is found in Kidapawan plaza. This is the history corner besides the tennis court; a giant statue of Rizal enshrines the area and guesses what else? A life size cemented cannon complete with camouflage, ahhehehe, I guess fro visual effect since it is not historically accurate. Anyway this structure really adds color to the area, at least for now. But I hope they would give much accuracy to the real thing and in addition putting a museum dedicated to the history of Kidapawan or Mindanao in particular are very much welcome.

AFP-Day Parade 2008

    Well, it’s been a wile since I do not post any new pictures here in AFP armaments category. This new pictures are quite good since the AFP now wears new camouflage, digital camouflage I suppose, perfect for the digital age, har har har. A parade of LVTH-6, newly refurbished by our ever ingenuous army engineers, army gun trucks- a truck covered with bullet proof and has a mounted turret. A line of Simbas, V-150 and V-300 is the usual scene to watch. Not to be outdone, the air force also had a fly-over of their assets, namely OV-10, MG-520 attack helicopters and the Layang attack aircraft, a modified version of the trainer jet, SF-26.     Sad to note that we do not have any jets that participated in this parade except for a lone S-211, jet categorized as trainer jet but use as an interceptor, our only first line of defense. Maybe in years to come, we are expecting a more vibrant, stronger and powerful AFP.

Pictures courtesy of timawa forum click here for the link

Kidapawan- Mindanao’s richest town

Surprise! Surprise! Kidapawan City in North Cotabato emerged as Mindanao’s richest municipality, with only 12.46 percent poverty incidence.Other areas that made it to the list of “Mindanao’s 10 richest municipalities” are General Santos City, with 13.98 percent poverty incidence; Polomolok, South Cotabato, 14.29; Davao City, 14.94 percent; Tagum City, 15.42 percent; Cagayan de Oro City, 15.50 percent; Koronadal City, 16.18 percent; Digos City, Davao del Sur, 18.22 percent; and the towns of Padada and Hagonoy, also in Davao del Sur, with 21.99 percent and 22.60 percent poverty incidence, respectively. -

Link here

Philippines F-8 Crusader

Besides France, the only other nation to use the Crusader was the Philippines. In late 1977, the Philippines government purchased 35 ex-US Navy F-8Hs that had been sitting in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. 25 of them were to be refurbished by Vought and the remaining ten were to be replacement aircraft.

As part of the contract, Vought was also to train Philippine Air Force pilots and maintenance personnel. The two-seat TF-8A was to be used in support of the training effort, but it crashed on July 28, 1978.

The Filipino F-8Hs went to the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 5th fighter Wing stationed at Basa Air Base, Pampanga, in northern Luzon. This outfit had previously operated F-86F Sabrejets, which were by this time thoroughly obsolete. As part of their job in defending Philippine airspace, the F-8s of the 7th TFS intercepted many Soviet bombers which overflew the northwestern area of the island nation.

The corruption and mismanagement that characterized the later years of the Marcos regime was so bad that most of the Philippine Crusaders rapidly deteriorated and fell into disrepair, with very few actually being able to fly at any one time. During the confusion surrounding the departure of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the flyable Crusaders were flown to Clark AFB to protect them from sabotage.

The surviving Philippine Crusaders were finally phased out on January 23, 1988. In nine years, the PAF F-8s had suffered five major accidents, losing two pilots.

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f8_17.html

Tora-Tora

The T-28 Trojan was a piston-engine military trainer aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. NavyPhilippines as Tora-Tora seen in the skies above Makati during a coup de etat used by the rebel soldiers to ouster the then President Aquino. It is also used as not just as a training aircraft by he Philippine Air Force but is used as a dive bombers to attack the rebel positions in Mindanao. If I am not mistaken I remember one in Sta. Felomina in the town of Makilala, circa 1988. We heard and counted 12 successive bomb explosions and afterwards a trickle of indigent people walks coming down from these places. They are not rebels of course but people who are caught in the crossfire. Fast-forward today, there are now so few communist rebels that the air force focus its war on Muslim insurgents, this time in north Cotabato, 2 hours away from Kidapawan using OV-10 planes, I hope to touch one next time.(inset: that’s my brother wih his flight controller trainee friends)

ASEAN Air Forces

These are the present status of air forces in the ASEAN region. Singapore has its assets F-15SG Strike Eagle (24?) not sure how many and 14 Lockheed Martin F-16C and 40 F-16D.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Malaysia has 18 multi-role Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker and 14 Mikoyan MiG-29 for its air defense interceptor roles. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Vietnam has its assets 6 Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker and 11 Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. Not to mention 150 Mig 21, remember Vietnam War                                                   

Thailand has its new 6 Saab JAS 39 Gripen and additional 6 more are in order and has its arsenal 59 F-16 Fighting Falcon.

 The poor Philippines only have 6 flyable S-211. These are trainer jets converted to become our primary air defense interceptor force arm with rockets. We are the only air force in the world to use these as our primary jets. How can these babies intercept an intruding aircraft when its speed is just 660 km/h when all the air forces mention previously has twice that speed? We really are in a very bad situation right now.Our assets are aircraft design just for COIN or counter-insurgency (pang NPA at MI lang po). Already since the late 1994 there are rumors about the possibility of the Philippines purchasing 18 IAI Kfir C.2s from Israel, they are now in use by the Sri Lankan Air Force. Although the price is very low, no deal was signed. We at one time considered the purchase of the then   28 F-16A/B Block 15 originally built for Pakistan but embargoed and held back since 1990 and even at one point the Chinese offered their J-7 to us. I do not believe the Philippines do not have enough money to buy these jets, we only have to invest them to their primary function, the sovereignty of our mother land or else our freedom would cease to exist.

Superman’s religious affiliation- Methodist

Superman is the archetypal costumed super-hero. He is clearly the most influential character in the comic book super-hero genre. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [often mis-spelled “Joe Schuster”], both of whom were Jewish. The character of Superman, however, has always been depicted as having been raised with a solidly Protestant upbringing by his adoptive Midwestern parents - Jonathan and Martha Kent. Of Clark’s parents, Martha is the more devout churchgoer.

Clark Kent was raised as a Methodist. While growing up in Smallville, Kansas, Clark Kent attended Sunday church services at the local Methodist church with his mother, Martha Kent, every week until he was fourteen years old. These aspects of the character are not speculative, but are canonical - established by in-continuity published DC Comics. Action Comics #850 (August 2007), for example, identifies Methodism by name as the denomination that Clark Kent and his mother attended.

Jonathan also raised his adopted son with staunch Protestant values, but Jonathan has never been much of a churchgoer. Clark stopped attending church services when his super-hearing, X-ray vision and other super senses began developing. As Clark later told his wife, Lois Lane, he stopped attending services becaues he “knew too much about their lives — their problems — their lies… [he] was afraid” that he might lose his faith in people. So he decided to distance himself from such close-contact, frequent congregational worship and put his faith in “the best that humanity has to offer” (Action Comics #849, July 2007). As shown in a number of published comics, including Superman: A Man For All Seasons, the adult Clark Kent continued to visit and consult with the minister at his family church, even after he had begun his career as Superman. This does not mean, however, that the adult Superman attends weekly church services (he does not). If asked if he is a Methodist, the adult Superman would not answer “no,” but he would defer answering such a pointedly denominational question by suggesting that he respects people of all faiths and backgrounds and considers himself a servant of all humanity.

As is often the case with a character or franchise of extraordinary longevity, Superman has been reconceived multiple times. Throughout all of his incarnations, Superman has maintained his rural Midwestern Protestant upbringing, although rarely have the words “Protestant” or “Christian” been explicitly attached to his background.

Superman is sometimes spoken of as being “Jewish.” This may be an attempt to honor the fact that the writer and artist who created the character were Jewish. However, no textual support exists in any of the published comics, novels, films or TV series episodes to support the notion that the character of Superman is actually Jewish.

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Superman.html#Superboy

Water Falls Adventure

  We arrive at crossing old  Bulatatukan and started to walk immediately for about 45 minutes to Sitio Darapuay. A 4km, walk of rugged terrain. As we arive at the Sitio center, we found to our dismay that the place seems to be deserted, fortunately, the sitio kagawad gives us some help and encourage his reluctant son to help us find our way.    

After a gruelling hour an a half walk, we are greeted by an awesome waterfalls, not to the extent that is very big but the clarity of the water, the stillness of the place, and the undiscovered beauty of the nature gives you a feeling of fantacy and glee. We immediately get to the business of swimming and turning our turns to jump at the waterfalls. Much to my surprise it is much deeper than what I have suspected and the water is purely clean.

After an enjoying dipped, we ate our unch and shared it to our guides, and began to explore the upper part of the waterfalls and discovered that there is still another small falls. We carried our gadgets and began taking pictures of the awesome sight.

After a couple of hours, we started our treckked back stopping at our guides farm to eat some coconut and langka. We really enjoy each others company and have a lot of fun. Not to mention that we spend only around a a hundred pesos each.

My buddies Lifhjohn and Sherryl never get tired of exploring another waterfalls and to our delght, Kidpawan had plenty to offer. Follow our adventure at Lifh’s blogsite at  http://dahonline.blogspot.com/

Mt. Apo, Dare the Challenge

   As a true blooded Kidapaweño, one has to conquer Mt. Apo, the Philippines highest at 10, 311 feet above sea level; the mightiest surge of a long mountain range that extends from Cotabato, Davao de Sur and Davao City to Agusan and Misamis Oriental in Mindanao.

That moment came when the five of us classmates in medical transcriptions hastily decided to climb Mt. Apo last Dec.08, 2007. With no physical preparation and lacking equipment we decided to go on and registered at Kidapawan Tourism Council. We bought second hand jackets and mountaineering gear the night before the climb.

Starting early, we passed by curios onlookers and children with a staring glance. How on earth they decided to climb? This is not a climbing season and for sure it is deadly cold up there, not to mention that there would be no other climbers who dare to climb. Finally, we arrived at Brgy. Ilomavis and look for a porter and guide.

We started the long trek at 10am in the morning, passing bright dainty wild flowers and orchids clash with the forest green; there is also an orange field of flowers as a welcome sight to all who pass bye.

After an hour of steady climb, we got dog-tired and gulp the whole contents of my mineral water. We occasionally stop to gaze with awe the huge moss-covered trees, pitcher plants and the strange sounds of forest animals. Following continuous trekking for 5 hours, the climate becomes colder giving the forest a misty fog and a lingering feeling that someone is watching. There are a lot of rumors of those diwata or forest dwellers who sometimes play tricks on the hikers just like what happen to the 11 boy scouts who lost there way and did not survive way back in the 80’s.

 Using flashlight we continue to go our slow trek to Lake Venado, our first stop since we did not want to sleep under the forest.

A strong gush of wind welcomes us to Lake Venado; we immediately put up our tent and started to build a fire. Luckily we have a very good guide and in half an hour we where resting around the bonfire. After a heavy dinner we enjoy playing cards and end it up with a bottle of tequila.

I woke up early in the morning to catch a glance of sunrise on the lake and got awestruck on how magnificent the mountains, the serenity of the lake and the towering grandeur of trees. Past 10 in the morning when we started our trek to the peak, passing sweet wild berries yours for the picking and after 3 hours of trekking we finally arrived at last.

We linger a while and took pictures. Unfortunately we did not saw the vastness of Mindanao, Davao City and Cotabato since everything is covered with fogs. From that point however you could see the whole of Lake Venado and realized how diminutive and lowly you are compared to God’s creation. A glancing tear is just my response to how stunning and wonderful everything around me.

We decided not to go further down the extinct volcanoes mouth since our food supply is a little bit low and a trickle of rain started to come down adding to our dilemma the biting cold that started to give us a beating. Temperature goes down as low as 3 degrees Celsius so we hurriedly go down to Lake Venado under a heavy rain. I decided to go barefooted since it is too slippery. With our mission accomplished, we excitedly dried ourselves in our midnight bonfire and rewarded ourselves with dozed of sleep remorseful that we did not bring two bottles of our tequila.

The next morning we started early our downward trek to the jump-off point at lake Agco passing trough the same winding, knee-deep and swift-flowing Marbel river hugging the rocks and boulders, jumping from stone to stone to make a total of 13 exciting crossings from a single river. At this time, I decided to walk again barefooted and occasionally use my ordinary slippers abandoning my shoes.

Finally, at Lake Agco and back at civilization we had our first bath for 2 days. A hot sulfuric dipping pool soothes our tired and aching bodies sending our last night in the tent. Having had our share of adventure we reported the next morning in the tourism office to get our very own certificate of climb and bottles of free soft drinks.

This was the end of our one day plan and preparation in climbing the Philippines highest mountain proving that constant determination and trust to each other could make a very big difference considering that my companions are first time climbers, with a limited resources and a weather that is against us could not get in the way to the impossibilities.

Beyond doubt, it is not a record to hold but a constant reminder that you can do the impossibilities if you think you can.

Note: All pictures are copyright and own by Amos Gene M. Ladia

One-Eyed Cat