Teen Driving Issues

Whenever I watch our local newscast here in the Philippines, I always see one or two segments about road accidents. Before, I was surprised to hear such news on TV but now I guess I just take it as a normal happening, which is bad.

But that's the truth, a lot of road accidents involve bikes, cars and the people who happen to drive them or be the driver's companion.

Just like what happened to the Union City Teen who died days ago. This guy apparently lost control as he went all the way with an incredible speed in his car.

He died from serious injuries brought about by the accident while his companion was taken to the hospital for some immediate attention.

Take note that this wasn't the first incident documented ever in the US (and same here in our country). But my question is: Why are these mishaps look like a common thing nowadays?

Who is responsible for all these road accidents involving teens? Is it the parent who's supposed to guide these teens, the teens who's supposed to know (as early as now) what are the things they should be responsible for or the law enforcers who should always be visible to apprehend road offenders? Call it chicken and egg question, but I wanted to hear from you.

Dropped Paid Entrecard Ads

In one of my previous posts, I told you how excited I become when I have found out that there are a lot of paid Entrecard ads waiting for my approval. It is like looking at my blog differently then, because I thought that when you got a lot of pending paid ads for approval, it means that your blog is getting a lot of attention, that makes your blog worthy for ad placement.

But when I learned about this affecting the non-paid ads, then I started to think about it. Please don't get me wrong. It is not like I don't want to help Entrecard to earn, because I have been letting these paid ads to be on my blog for weeks. But when I notice the drop of EC based ad placement, that made me worry a bit.

I also noticed that a number of bloggers are beginning to cancel their paid ads and bluntly placing badges about their stand not to approve paid ads. I don't know what will be the implication of not approving EC paid ads but I wanted to respect the effort made by the bloggers who placed non-paid ads on my blog. :)

Pacman Mom's Five Gowns on her 60th Birthday

Yes, you heard it right, Pacman's Nanay Dionesia Pacquiao wore five expensive and elegant gowns as she celebrated her 60th birthday last Friday night.

Who could've imagined that she will have bigwigs from business, politics and showbizness when before she was a simple mother to her seven kids? Now, she is enjoying all the blessings and the attention brought about by the recent triumph of her son Manny Pacquiao.

I don't have anything against how she planned her birthday, Manny has the budget to call for such big celebration. The family had the legwork of people willing to help them carry on such grand party.

That was her way to thank God and herself for working so hard as a mom. And if there are other things that she wanted to experience for herself, let her be. She would probably call it over as soon as she became happier and more grateful of her blessings to share it to others in need. :)

Own or Rent?

If given the chance, will you prefer to own or rent your place?

In my opinion, there's no sweet and safe security that will equal to you owning your own place. It is like having a great fortune to think that you have something that you have total control of.

Although of course, it will not always be easy if you want to own one. You have to go through all the rigors of saving money, letting go of your little luxuries and learning some technicalities about owning a property.

Just like what we are experiencing right now. We just finished paying the equity of the townhouse that we got months ago. Now, my fiance Johann is the one in charge of monitoring the building and construction from time to time since he is now living in the same village where we bought the house.

Of course, that was just one phase of payment that was done. We still have to apply for a government housing loan and pay for it for a certain term (while having it rented because we now have another and much bigger house to look out for).

While we are doing that, we also have to pay a certain amount to my parents after our wedding because we are planning to stay in the house that my parents bought but was placed under my name. So technically, we have to take care of two houses, what a blessing! :)

But that also means that we should have to work double time to make money online and work on our future budget together. :)

So that's our take on it. How about you? Would you rather own your place or rent a space? :)

Slumdog's Child Actor is Homeless

Slumdog's child actor is struggling in the movie and in real life?

I just read this news article over Yahoo this morning and it really kept me puzzled for minutes. According to the article, Azharuddin Ismail, the child actor was sleeping when the demolition happened.

"When they came I was sleeping, they shook me awake and one policeman even threatened me," Ismail, surrounded by half-broken suitcases filled with clothes and utensils, told Reuters.

"What can I do if they have demolished my house? I will sleep out in the open."

I pity the child for experiencing such trauma. I mean, he worked for something so big, he helped India be recognized for the movie that was worth his time and talent, and now this is all happening to him?

What happened to the money he earned from it? Who is responsible for keeping his earnings?

In February, the housing authority of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said they would give Ismail and fellow child star Rubina Ali new houses. But Ismail's mother, Shameem, said the family is now at the mercy of the rains.

"We also heard that the government had promised us houses, but what happened? We are still homeless," she said. "My son has brought glory to the country, shouldn't he get some credit?"

I hope that Azharuddin Ismail will get some help from the government if there was really a promise of extending assistance to him and his family. Otherwise, this was just part of a large scale publicity and lip service to Azharuddin Ismail's family.

Jang Ja-yeon of Boys over Flowers Committed Suicide?

Jang Ja-yeon is one of the mean girls cast of Boys over Flowers, one of the recent Koreanovelas shown on ABS CBN.

I just stumbled this news online when I searched for some information regarding the show because the TV station is heavily promoting it. I must say that I am more for the Taiwanese version but let' see if I will get to like this one too.



Going back to Jang Ja-yeon suicide incident, according to some online blogs and sources like Wikipedia, she had episodes of depression and has undergone medication and treatment prior to the suicide incident that happened last March 7, 2009.

According to this blog, the family did not want Jang to be subjected to autopsy as the angle of suicide was evident that time.

To support that claim, Wikipedia has this additional information about her suicide incident:

An alleged suicide note left by Jang describes how she was beaten and forced to entertain and have sex with several program directors, CEOs and media executives, causing considerable debate about relations in the entertainment industry, as well as a police probe into her management agency

If this is true then we can just imagine how she went through some tough, traumatic times. I am not saying that this is really happenning in the showbusiness but who are we to say that these allegations did not happened in the first place? May her soul rest in peace.

Photo credit: googleimages

Blogging Contests

Have you tried joining blogging contests?

I did before. It was fun, but I did not win. :) I'll have to see myself winning in a blog contest so I can feel what the winners felt then. :)

Seriously, if I have more time, I will join another blog contest again. Prizes have evolved from ad space and EC credits to Paypal money, free domains, books, cds, and more. Isn't that exciting enough?

To add to that, what I wanted more about blog contests are the benefits that you will get when you both became a sponsor and a participant. You get the share of some link juice from the rest of the bloggers and at the same time you get to visit and discover blogs with same interest. Now that really spells fun. :)

Now I am thinking of having my own blog dedicated to join blog contests. How about you? Would you do the same thing? Or will you incorporate blog contest posts in your blog instead?

I Want Siberian Pups!

Siberian Husky!

When I discovered this dog breed online I know I wanted to have one. I love to look at their eyes, they look tough and mysterious. I would also wanted to feel their fur and really take care of them.

I see a number of Siberian Huskies when I go to Eastwood City every weekends. They accompany their masters every morning for a walk. They are huge ones and can really intimidate toy dogs and other people who sees them for the first time.

I can just imagine having this dog while I have my daily walk and teaching them some tasks. I also want this Husky (if I'll have one) to be a watchdog but according to some online references, they are generally friendly even with strangers and they hardly bark. :)

Well, I searched for some online reference and I found out that they easily get bored, thus needed more of your attention. This would be perfect as soon as I start to work at home, but for now, I'll just have to be contented looking at their pictures instead. :)

What breed of dog would you like to have as a pet if you don't want to have a husky at home?

Chatting with Blogger Moms

Well I am not a mom yet, but lately I found myself chatting with Mom Bloggers. They have interesting personalities and they have a lot to share to me about blogging in general and making money online.

Aside from that, I also got to know how they survived blogging and having a day job at the same time. Well, some have been thinking about giving blogging a go and stop working. A full time problogger is something that I want to do eventually, because I see that blogging will still prosper and not a fad.

Really, the thought of being a WAHM and a Problogger excites me. But for now, I still love the corporate life and my work in a call center. When I ask them about their opinion of plunging into Problogging this early, they told me to weigh my options first, which is good. These moms really are gems in my blogging stint as they are always friendly and willing to help their fellow bloggers. :)

Note: I would have to ask them first if its okay to share their names here. Will update and make another posts as soon as I got their approval. :)

What Makes You Smile

What makes you smile lately?

Whenever I feel low, I tried to think of happy thoughts, but that is not enough for me to smile.

What works for me is to listen to an upbeat melody to stir my loneliness or boredom and I will be okay after that. But this won't last long.

They say that a pet can help you feel that natural high but the problem is I don't have one. Well we have dogs here in the house but they grew up without much of my care because I am always busy and out of the house.

So based from my experience, it is best to talk to a close friend as I can feel at my most comfortable sharing my not so happy thoughts with them. Well, if you are lucky enough, you might share a laugh or two with them after, especially if your friend has a good sense of humor. :)

Remember to smile because your emotion affects your health. How about you? What makes you smile? :)

Photo credit: Coole Images - Flickr

Shaheen Jafargholi's Disabled YouTube Video

Have you heard of the name Shaheen Jafargholi?

I already made a post in my Online Diva blog about this cute boy who was challenged to sing his second choice piece after the first one was called 'off' by Simon Cowell.

Even if I already posted his audition stint in my other blog, I still want to write about him here because I really find him adorable and talented.

But when I checked YouTube today for his videos, I noticed something. The embed option is disabled by request. I was surprised because I seldom see YouTube videos being disabled for sharing. The growing number of viewers says something how this wonder young man is getting viral, just sad to say that I would have to settle for his picture right now.

Well, you can just go ahead and check out his videos in YouTube and see how he beautifully belted Michael Jackson's 'Who's Loving You' hit. :)

Slashed My Blog's Categories

I spent almost 30 minutes today to slash some of my blog categories.

This made me go through each of my posts, scan the content and tag with related labels. When I checked some other blogs today, I noticed that there were a lot of categories that it almost took one sidebar of their blogs.

And since I vowed to take care of this blog, I took care of cleaning these tags before all I add some more posts.

Let me give you some hint of my revamped blog's categories:

Now I have general categories regarding blogging, business, events, finances, health, recreation, travel among others.

I will also add some more posts regarding the genres of music that I love through random posts about YouTube stars. :)

Well, I don't say that this list is final. I have yet to check if I can add some more as I continue to blog here. But I will make it a point to focus on blogging about random surprises as much as possible. :)

How about you? Do you need to also slash some of your blog categories? Why or why not? :)

Momsense is Making Sense

Have you heard about Anita Renfroe before?

She is a Christian comedian who caught my attention after I saw her videos in YouTube.

Do you want to get a clue on how cool the lyrics go? Check this out:

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepy head
Here's your clothes
And your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now
Get up and make your bed
Are you hot?
Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where's your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat
Don't forget you got to feed the cat
Eat your breakfast
The experts tell us it's the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today?
Don't forget your piano lesson is this afternoon

That was just the first part of the song. Now if you want to hear it in full, then feel free to play the clip below. Happy Mothers Day to all beautiful Moms! :)

Yucky Chicharon!

If you are not familiar with Chicharon, this is a deep fried fat that gives a crunchy sound as soon as you eat it.

According to Wikipedia, this does not come only from pork but from other sources as well.

Chicharrón (also torresmo) is a dish made of fried pork rinds. It is sometimes made from chicken, mutton, or beef.

I just found out that there are variants of chicharon in other countries as it is also popular in the US, Andalusia, Spain and Latin America. :) All the while I thought that we're the only ones who has tasted this very delicious yet (bad for the health) treat.

In the Philippines, tsitsaron, as it is spelled in Filipino (chicharon is now an acceptable variant term, a derivative of the Spanish word chicharrón) is usually eaten with vinegar or with bagoong, lechon liver sauce, or pickled papaya called atchara. Tsitsarong manok, made from chicken skin, is also popular.

Okay, now that we know what chicharon is, I just wanted to share with you an Imbestigador (Investigator) episode where they revealed how other makers of chicharon are preparing it bad, too bad that it can cause more harm aside from its given health hazards.

I would like to share with you a documented video of how this was grossly prepared by some. :( Take a look:



That's so gross right? It was just so sad that they shortchanged their customers because they wanted to make money right away.

Let me know what you think in the comments section of this post okay?

Skipped EC Drop on Some Blogs Today

I survived 3oo drops today! :)

Take note that I completed 900 EC drops today as I focus on promoting my three newest blogs. I was so glad that the internet connection was not that problematic and so the pages loaded faster as I tried to load like 10 -15 blogs and drop in one go. :)

But I have to confess something today. I skipped some of the blogs that took too much time to load. A lot of bloggers wanted to make money online out of their blogging efforts, but before they do that, I believe that they need to get out of their blog clutter first.

I noticed a lot of slide shows and widgets that were unnecessary. Those widgets affect their blog's loading time and it will not help that much especially if they are going to 'sell' their blogs for ad placement and paid reviews. No clients would wanted to link to a blog that takes forever to load, or some blog that easily loads some parts of the page but not all the templates' content.

This will be my call from now on, and I hope that a lot of bloggers (who may have that concern) will do something about it.

Have you had the same concerns when you dropped ECs before? Let me know your experience here. :)

Random Surprises is Up!

After weeks of consulting my fiance about our blogging stints, he finally approved of me getting a .com for this blog. I am sooo happy! :)

And why not? I had this blog since March of 2008. Well, at first I am not sure yet of what to do with this blog. You know when a lot of bloggers are writing about their random musings? That's what happened to me.

I am not saying that its bad. What I want to drive at is that bloggers are entitled to their own blogging destiny. As for me, I want to revamp this blog and finally give it more attention now and getting a dot.com is my first wave of changes that I have to do here.

So today I registered this blog and gave it a new name. From lifeswinksblinksandtears.blogspot.com, I now call it random-surprises.com. Yey! :)

Why Random -Surprises?

Well, aside from a simple yet catchy domain name, I prefer a shorter URL because visitors can easily remember it, which will make my blog 'friendlier' to upcoming visitors. Before, I am not too keen about getting visitors for this blog, because it is a personal one, but now I realized that getting more visitors won't hurt right? That is why I am finally giving blog promotion for random-surprises a go. :)

While doing all these I will also have to work on some changes in this blog. I already changed my template, which is a lot cuter than the previous one. :) Next is to do a category overhaul since I noticed how different it is to use the label versus category functions for wordpress and blogger. Then I also have to write some more of my random surprises in different leaner categories and do promote my blog. :)

Let's see how this works for me as I also take care of my other blogs. I will keep you posted on my blog overhaul progress, but for now, let me know what you think about my ideas.

Or simply answer these questions:

When was the last time that you did major changes in your blog and why? Can you tell us something more about it? What were the lessons you've learned out of the experience?