the gradual fading

my feelings for you is like the withering petals of a flower.
the gradual fading of its beauty as it dries,
falling one by one... loosing its familiar scent .

josephine

William Parrish

"Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived".

Meet Joe Black

[Image courtesy of © Copyright 1998 - Universal Pictures - All rights reserved.]

Tohru Honda

"The part of a person that's remarkable is like the umeboshi (pickled plum) on the back of a rice ball. All around the world, there are different colors, shapes, and flavors, but because it's stuck to the back, they might not be able to see their precious umeboshi. 'I'm not special,' each one would think, 'just plain ole rice.' Even though that's not true, and there is an umeboshi on the back. The reason people get jealous of one another is because they can see the umeboshi on other people's backs. Even now, someone might be feeling envious of something you don't recognize in yourself."


Fruits Basket

(image credit : anime.com)

Fruits Basket

フルーツバスケット

another journey . . .

. . . and in a few hours it will be over. My special day will end and wait for another 365 days to celebrate it. Thankful to GOD for another string of age given to me to experience a beautiful journey as I travel the wonderful path called LIFE.

(image credit : Photobucket)

Suddenly I just remember...

"makaraan ang tatlong taon, na sa parehong petsa... may hinihintay akong isang tao sa aking espesyal na araw. masaya sana ang araw na ito subalit para sa akin ay hindi, dahil ang taong inaasahan ko ay wala."

■■■■■

bigla ko lang naalala, sobrang tagal na... nasabi ko lang, tapos na naman at nakalipas na. dapat kalimutan na dahil hindi naman importante. ^^

My Day!

. . . another year older

Chinese Zodiac : Horse ( 午 ) (Earth Horse)

The horse personality is often willing to give as well as expecting a lot of liberty. These people are extremely independent and confident. The horse person is very quick-witted, inquisitive and determined. They are very good at recognizing patterns: he or she is on to the thought in your mind even before you've expressed it. In general, these people are gifted. But in truth they are often more cunning than intelligent - and they surely know that. They adore being the center of everyone's attention, but they prefer to be recognized for their skills and are easily flattered. On the other hand these people have an honesty and genuine warmth which attracts lots of people and helps them make new friends. People as a rule confine in a horse because he/she is sincerely interested in their thoughts and feelings and is able to help with both wise words and an action, but there is a small problem about it - the horse person is so excited by new discoveries that it is difficult for them them to keep a secret. This is something that arises out of malice or revenge - sometimes they just cannot help themselves. It is easy to inspire such a person by new ideas and he/she tends to act on them without delay, carried away by the excitement of the moment. But it is also important to remember that there is a danger for a horse person to be too impulsive and it may cause some problems in the future. And if they do not see the result of their efforts, it is rather natural for them to turn off their attention to a new project and head off once again, brimming with new ideas. The horse person is always ready to offer good advice and can be very persuasive, but his/her confident and carefree approach hides inner doubts. Those who know such person will recognize this, and offer the support and reassurance he/she needs. A male that is born in the year of the horse is considered as a charming, suave person to a member of the opposite sex. Horses should beware of the Rat, as any relationship with this sign is said to be extremely trying for the horse. Of all relationships between Chinese zodiac signs, a relationship between a rat and a horse is said to be the worst (this relationship from a historical point of view, climaxed or was at its worst at the height of World War II, when Germany governed primarily by the sign of the rat threatened the destruction of the Jews (Israel, which is governed primarily by the horse)). The rat is way too calculating, dictatorial and possessive for the free-spirited and independent horse. A relationship with a rat can potentially break down the horse's free-spirit and cause rage in the rat - as neither will be willing to yield to the other. However, horses get along great with Tigers and Dogs.
Possible professions for people that are born on the year of the horse are that of an intelligent agent, a writer or novelist, an actor or a model.

Horse attributes

Zodiac Location : 7th
Ruling hours : 11 am - 1 pm
Direction : South
Season and Month : Summer, June
Gemstone : Beryl
Roughly equivalent western sign : Gemini
Polarity : Yang
Positive traits : Lovable, enthusiastic, independent, optimistic, strong, adaptable, generous, sociable
Negative traits : Anxious, fickle, defiant, tactless, selfish, gullible, inconsistent, quick-tempered
Countries : Portugal, Mexico, South Africa, Italy, Israel, Pakistan


(source : Wikipedia)

the five people you meet in heaven

by Mitch Albom

The story of a man named Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. His life's journey doesn't end when he died at the age of 83, its only the beginning of another path that he must take to complete his cycle of life. The novel narrates Eddie's life from the beginning, as the story progress telling what kind of a person he is, thus saving a little girl's life on the account of his. As we follow him waking up realizing that he was in heaven indeed, a succession of five people who are waiting to show him the true meaning, value, purpose of his life. In which each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, a lesson to share, and an unsuspecting connection in Eddie's life.
The novel only shows that between life and death there is a thin line that connects us from the time we are born and from the time we die, that in that line there is a story woven in our own ways we never suspected. A connection of our lives with other people's lives, overlapping and affects in a way we didn't know.

THE GENDER GAP INDEX

In global battle of the sexes, there remains a gap but Philippines has bridged it.

By DAVID CLARKE

LONDON (Reuters) - No country in the world has achieved equality of the sexes in the key areas of education, health, employment and politics, according to a new ranking of 115 nations published here.

Sweden has gone farthest in eliminating inequality between men and women, followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland.

The Philippines is the only Asian country in the top 10 and the United States comes in at 22. Yemen ranks at bottom.

The ranking, called the Gender Gap Index, covers 90 percent of the world's population and was compiled by researchers from Harvard University, the London Business School and the World Economic Forum.

"For the first time the gut instincts that many of us have are backed up by statistics," said Cherie Booth, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and a human rights lawyer.

"There's no way the gender gap between men and women has been eliminated," she said at the launch of the index.

The index measures gaps between men and women in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.

By quantifying differences between the sexes in access to resources or opportunities, rather than measuring absolute levels, the researchers sought to strip out the impact of economic development.

For economic participation, for example, the researchers measured the proportions of men and women in work, pay gaps and the ratio of women to men among legislators, senior officials and managers.

The study shows the gender gap for health and survival is very narrow across the world. Based on a score of 1 meaning full equality and 0 a complete lack of equality, the range for all 115 countries is just 0.9796 to 0.9227.

But when it comes to political empowerment - the ratio of women to men in parliament, ministerial positions, and the heads of state over the past 50 years - the best performer is Sweden with a score of 0.5501 but Saudi Arabia is last with zero.

The Nordic countries benefitted from a higher proportion of women in political office than many and this is the measure that hits the American ranking, despite its good scores elsewhere.

"Women have been empowered to participate in the labour force, but not in politics," said Ricardo Hausmann from Harvard University, one the authors of the report.

The Philippines scored well across the board and is one of only five countries to have closed the gender gap for both health and education.

The others are Dominican Republic, France, Honduras and Lesotho. France, however, only comes 70th in the ranking. It falls down on both the economic participation and political empowerment ranking.

South Africa is the best performer in Africa coming in at 18.

Source : MANILA BULLETIN, Sunday, January 14, 2007

Goodbye Job!

T_T My dog died this afternoon, a japanese spitz and he was my very first dog. Job was given to me by my friend as a birthday present as I remembered. I have him for seven years and this month after my birthday is suppose to be his eight year. He's so special to me even though that he never recognizes me anymore. When he was still a puppy I thought that I would loose him because he got so very sick. But he managed to survive the ordeal and turned into a beautiful and lively dog, of course with the help of my mom. That is why she was very fond of him and I think my mom likes him more than I do and vice versa. He's a very cute dog and his color is not all white, his coat has a touch of brown on them. Sometimes he looks like a very cute little lion after my mom gave him a bath and his all dried up. It's so sad that I can't even show you what he looks like because the pictures that I took of him are not in my files anymore. Still in grief for loosing him and I can't even subside my tears as I blogged this event.

JOB
JANUARY 1999
JANUARY 2007

* * * * *

here is a picture that looks like my dog . . . except the color


Picture source : Kimyata Japanese Spitz

A Delight . . .

Sarah

She is our very good pet dog, and we are in grief a few hours ago. My mom was shocked when my older brother told her, "Mama, Sarah is dead!". She still can't believe that Sarah is dead because their is no sign that she was sick at all. When I heard that I was in shock too, and I ask who was dead and he confirmed it was Sarah. As I rushed outside our house and look if she was really dead, my mom started to cry. Outside the house as I stood there staring at her lifeless body, tears started to flow down my cheeks. I was crying as I called her name out loud, "Sarah! Sarah! wake up... Sarah!" but she didn't budge at all. At first my mom wouldn't want to look at her, I told her that maybe she didn't wake up because when I saw her she was in her sleeping position. I was asking my brother if Sarah was still alive this morning and he told me that she's not in her best condition. Then my mom finally went to her and when she got back inside the house she says that maybe she died just a couple of minutes when my brother found her dead. She was so good to me, she never barks at me even though she doesn't see me everyday unlike my first dog who keeps on barking and barking whenever he sees me. Sarah was such a very good dog, the most well behaved among the two other dogs that we have. Yes, she barked at strangers and other things but when my mom always gave her a bath she's just quietly stays and waits until the bath is finished. That is why my mom was such in a grief knowing that she past away. Tomorrow we will bury her in the yard and surely my mom will still cry over her. Too bad I don't have any pictures of her when she was still alive... T_T

Goodbye Sarah.

Loooveee!

Welcome 2007 !

Hope this will become a fulfilling year for all of you, be happier, more love and a healthy life throughout the whole year. God Bless!