> today, 8 to 9pm, earth hour

let the light of love for mother earth shine as we turn the lights off at 8pm!

> problogger: are you one? take the test

this morning, i checked out luilakbayera's neighborhood blog posts in blogcatalog. and look, what i discovered -- a problogger test. thanks to duckeldanny.

i took the test. and lo and behold! whoa! poor me, i scored only 30%. a long, long way to go to be considered a problogger if the test is an accurate basis.

but test or no test, i admit i am not a problogger nor am i yet a competent blogger. but i'm learning. :)

> LIGHTS OFF on earth hour 2008, 8pm, march 29

"Turning the lights off for Earth Hour is a great first step, but if you really want to "see a difference, then make Earth Hour part of your everyday life."
read more here. you may also want to sign up for earth hour here.

> is blogging a slacker job? -- an ongoing study

i have much to learn on how to be a good blogger and an interesting writer. thus, i invest some time to learn the ropes by reading posts of the more established bloggers. one of them, connie veneracion, maintains several blogs like the mommy journals, where i first read the post about the recent column of the controversial malu fernandez on blogging.

i felt i had to leave a comment after reading connie's post and so i wrote: "...what got me was this: '…blogging…is a slacker job or a medium and pastime for lonely people to connect' -- which triggers me to start a research on bloggers by reading their “about me” sections as an initial step to know if malu f’s statement has any basis. (i am more sociologically inclined so i would reserve the loneliness research to psychologists.) subjects will be the top pinoy and filipino-descent bloggers as listed in Technorati’s Philippine Top 100 Blogs which i read in yugatech’s blog."

to start the research rolling, i googled for studies done about filipino bloggers and found posts in now what, cat? and filipino librarian. there might be more that i have not discovered yet. do you know of other researches? please tell me.

the findings of the said studies were limited to hits, gender, location, blog category, ranking, url/software used, update frequency, among others.

nowhere did i find any data about what the bloggers "do for a living or are busy with" to validated or invalidate that "blogging... is a slacker job." and this i will focus on.

as i said, i've chosen Technorati’s Philippine Top 100 Blogs to be a reference point of my pet study. however, the post says, "The current list may change on a daily basis and may not reflect the actual standings. This list will be updated as regularly as possible." i can't find the date when the list was published. so this leads me now to join the yugatech forums and ask for an updated version of the list, if any. i might just have missed the update when i reviewed the blog's archive.

i am serious about this study and i might in fact write the pinoy bloggers in the list in cases where there is lack of information about themselves.

it may take quite sometime for me though to finish the research as i am not lacking in other activities/work at home and outside the home. so bear with me, please.

> you tube and ken lee

this ken lee video has been going around the net for sometime now.

Write-ups say the contestant, valentina hasan, joined the second season of the Bulgarian show "music idol", performing her version of mariah carey's song "without you".

watch her audition:




in arathbenedek's description of this video, which has reached more than 1.3 million views as of this writing, he tried to be kind when he wrote:

This video is not intended for any ethnic tensions or historical debates. It's just a laugh, so I implore everyone to ignore any irrelevant comments and not to engage in pointless discussions.

watch valentina's return as guest in the "music idol" show and listen to her "improved english":





ken lee tulibu dibu douchoo. english? so what! but can you beat her confidence. if only for that, don't you think she deserves our standing ovation? Brava, Valentina!

> int'l women's day -- a mimosa for you, girl!

greetings to all women today!

much have been written about the celebration of the international women's day, and the plight and struggles of women worldwide.

today, let me just post this yellow mimosa flower i photoed march 8 of last year. the bunch was given to me by signora cristina fabris, an ex-boss while i was living in italy that time. it has been a practice especially in italy to give yellow mimosa to women during women's day.

a while ago, i googled about mimosa and found out that this yellow mimosa is from Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), which is not a true mimosa, says wikipedia.

i haven't seen such flower in the philippines. we have here a different mimosa though, the real one, i suppose. it's color is lavander not yellow. others call it touch-me-not or sensitive plant. in the philippines, we call it makahiya (the root word, hiya, means shy) since it's leaves fold inward or shrink when touched or exposed to heat.

i'm glad that the flowers given to women on international women's day are not of the makahiya variety. women these days no longer fold inward or shrink when handled the wrong way. they have learned to empower themselves and assert for what is fair, just and right.

auguri, donne!

> wikipedia online break up

breaking up is hard to do especially when done online. hahaha!

> sick of e-guilt?

blogger's N.B. -- readers of this post commented that they can't access the link or the url below. there was no problem when i tested the link or the url after publishing the post. this time, i checked it again. indeed, the link is kaput and nothing appears after copying and pasting the url. so sorry, guys!

got an e-mail this morning re "sick of e-guilt".

click here, or copy and paste http://info.org.il/irrelevant/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf and
enjoy the trip.

> performance level

i've been wanting to have a vacation from domestic duties and go to my family's hometown in albay.

the mayon volcano photoed from the balcony of my cousin's house in bacacay, albay

last time i went was end of oct till after all soul's day of 2007 to bury my father's sister. (perhaps the aunt timed her passing away during that long vacation so that family members who live in manila could come for the funeral.)

i usually take the bus to albay, specifically cagsawa bus' night trip. but my older sister, who was to travel with me that time, prefers day trips so she could see the view along the way. so i grudgingly approved to do as she wanted despite the knowledge that i would be awake most of the time...and feel all the more the uneasiness of having to sit for long hours in a claustrophobic space... and couldn't even read as i can't do that on any moving vehicle except the big ones like planes, trains and ships.

anyway, bus trip from quezon city to albay takes 12 hours with 2 stopovers for meals and bladder breaks.

now while sorting and organizing my digital photo files for "burning", this rummaging search produces a shot taken during one bladder break (i've forgotten which restaurant but it must be somewhere in quezon province) on that particular trip in oct 2007. get ready --




yup, ladies, "performance level" is ... down and seated. :)

> stand up for truth, justice and change but be home at 8pm

i thanked that my friend gilleth and i finished not too late in the afternoon of feb 29. we were invited by a de la salle u prof to read excerpts from 2 plays for the arts congress in dlsu. (pity us! the organizers could have just used a classroom for the arts congress. the huge yuchengco theatre seemed empty with less than 50 in the audience.) why, oh, why did they have to push through with this event. most of de la salle's students, teachers and even brothers would probably be in ayala, makati!

and that interfaith rally (vs corruption, zte-nbn lies and cover-ups, arroyo and administration) in ayala corner paseo de roxas was where this "makibaka, 'wag matakot" veteran wanted to be.

i hurriedly bid gilleth goodbye, and LRTied and MRTied (rode the 2 train lines) to buendia station. i hailed a jeep and got down at the corner of paseo de roxas-buendia. good that while still in dlsu, i changed into my lakbayera mode outfit -- jeans, mojo sandals and backpack. I was ready for the not so short walk from that corner to the other end of paseo near ayala, where i was to meet the hubby. it was almost 6pm when i reached our meet place.

"Let's walk closer to the crowd near the stage," i urged the hubby who readily led the way. yup, nearer so we could feel the energy of the rally and take some interesting shots.

"makikiraan lang po," as we excused and squeezed through the crowd. everytime we could find more-or-less our own space to occupy, i took photos as we chanted with the crowd or listened to speeches, thankfully short.

here are some photos of the feb 29 rally as we got nearer the stage. pov: moving towards the intersection of paseo de roxas and ayala ave.

excuse us, please!

banners galore! there were more banners, of course.
but they had to be folded/furled so those at the back could see the stage.

tell me, is that the exit to ayala ave?

kaya pala nawawala ang walis sa bahay nyo, eh!

message in the bottles -- Peace!

Need i say more?

j. lo with a phalanx of nuns behind him.

j. lo bravely states his stand for truth, justice and change

oops!

the head

at half past 7pm, we left a still huge crowd, with people who just left work still joining in. permit allowed the rally until 8pm. the protest action peacefully ended at 9.

but we had to rush home. we were tired and hungry and... and...and. fortunately, way home was unbelievably traffic-free! and fortunately, we were just on time to catch american idol's elimination night at 8pm! yeepee! ramiele malubay is still in!