Crimson Heavens

Lent is a forty-day long liturgical season of prayer, penitence and alms-giving for us Catholics (and some other Christian denominations) which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Black Saturday, the Saturday before Easter. We remind ourselves of Christ’s suffering, Death and Resurrection.

By right, all Catholics aged 14 and older are required to practice abstinence at least during Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent, and also, all Catholics aged 18-59 are required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday at the minimum. Abstinence means not eating meat (flesh of any warm-blooded animal) and Fasting means eating only one full meal a day (and two more meals if the quantity of both does not equal to one full meal, if really necessary).

To some Catholics, this is also the time of the year of which they “give up” something they really like to do as a sacrifice to God.

For Filipinos, singing of the “Pasyon” is an activity for the whole community. The Pasyon is a verse narrative on the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ, which is written in any major Filipino dialect. And then of course, there is the “Sinakulo”, a Lenten play, usually in verse which narrates episodes from the Old and New Testament. Also, for some specific provinces, other practices are also followed like the Marinduque’s Moriones, of which the locals reenacts the legend of Longinus, the Roman legionnaire who became a Christian, and of course the procession of the flagellants and crucifixion in Pampanga.

Personally, penitence by abstinence and fasting is one thing, but self-flagellation and crucifixion? Err…I think is just too gory….

Except for web and domain hosting services, I haven’t really purchased anything online as yet. Not because I am paranoid about the security issues of buying things using the internet, it is just that I have not found any reason why I should. For some, shopping online is convenient and the variety of products and services is really almost infinite (small business for sale too) but then again, I’m currently living in the country where HUGE SHIPPING FEES will always be an issue if ever I want to buy something from a reputable e-Store. Of course, this never stopped me from surfing around AMAZON, Buy.Com and of course, eBay…the king of online auctions—and boy did I see ‘em weird things being sold over there! Let me give you some examples:

1. Scottish Title and Land

2. Wiccan Lost Spells and Potion recipes

3. Mutilated Barbie

4. Real Tsansa shrunken head without human skull

5. Bullshit repellent

6. a genuine antique hobo whiskey bottle

7. Four leaf clover

8. Some animal’s skeletons

9. A Serial Killer’s Fingernails

10. A weird tree branch

I purchased a Windows-hosted account a few months ago for the purpose of showcasing personal projects on .NET (mostly themes and skins for open source .NET web applications) and I haven’t really done anything with it yet. I’ve decided to create another blog…A tech one this time and host it from there in the meantime.

Click here to visit it.

My earliest childhood memory was me opening a small picture book. I already knew how to “read” some words back then, like “cat”, “dog” and such so I really have no memory when I actually started learning how to read. I developed love for books, specifically fiction, and since we had bookshelves filled with the, I never ran out of books to read.

I started buying books for my own collection in high school. I’ve always been a fast reader and being a student, I bought them from a famous second hand book store chain in my country.  Until now, I still have the habit of buying 2nd hand books even if I can afford to buy new ones—some from a small shop in the city called Q8books and some from the Friday Market (they used to sell 2nd hand books over there only for 1/4 dinar each!).

It was in that Friday Market that I discovered “The Shadow of the Wind” a New York Bestseller written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It’s about the son of an antiquarian book dealer in 1945 Barcelona and how the mysterious book, “The Shadow of the Wind” pulled him in a web of dark secrets. An amazing plot, written in a way that there is a story within a story…Complex yet easy to read…

I wish I could write a novel like that…but then again…I lack one main ingredient…and that would be TALENT!

The last time hubby and I came home to the Philippines, we decided to pass by the Adoration Chapel in our Parish Church before going to the mall. Just when we were about to leave, an old lady quietly approached us and handed us a crumpled letter, asking us to open and read it. It was basically a solicitation letter, stating the old lady’s medical condition and asking from financial assistance to whoever can afford it.

My husband and I gave her 50 bucks. We were thinking that she is old, and she really looks frail, and if ever she does not use it for medicine, she would probably use it for food. For us, whether or not she is telling the truth, our conscience are clear. She smiled, thanked us and left.

On the last day of our vacation, just before we leave for the airport, I had to pass by the drugstore to purchase some baby vitamins for a friend here in Kuwait. I saw the same lady at the counter. She was counting her 5 peso and 10 peso coins and the pharmacist was patiently waiting for her to finish. I got curious, so I greeted her. She remembered me and thanked me again since she said that was the biggest amount that anybody can give her. She didn’t ask me to give her more money, nor did she imply anything with regards to that…It was actually a short conversation. The pharmacist handed her only one small tablet, which made me ask him “Just one tablet?!”, “That’s all she can afford ma’am…”

I don’t remember how much I gave to the pharmacist, I think it was more or less 500 bucks, and instructed him to give her more of those tablets within that amount and to give the change to the old lady. I didn’t wait, I left after that, but it was one of the happiest moments of my life…And if I had more with me, I would have given more…

Imagine being deprived of food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water and all other common necessities…

Extreme poverty. A terrifying thought isn’t it?

Children being forced to work at a very young age, just so they can have something to eat, not being able to get a chance to have proper education. Mothers who cannot give anything else to their children but sugar water. Families who live in the street, with nothing but cardboard boxes or hugs plastic bags to protect themselves from the rain. People with serious illnesses or the elderly, like that old lady, not being able to get proper medical attention because they cannot afford it at all.

Do you remember the last time u did something for these people?

For all Filipinos currently residing in Kuwait, you are all invited to attend the event “SALABAT WITH LABAT”. It will be held in the OWWA office beside the Philippine Embassy at 6:30pm on Thursday. This is an opportunity to interact (and yes, even party, woohoohoo!) with Labatt Jimenez, various Filipino organizations and other “kabayans”.

That’s all folks. Bow!

“Promise the moon”

The said phrase is an English idiom that means “to promise something impossible”. But when it comes to romance and courtship, it usually promising someone the moon pertains to someone (usually the male) promising to do whatever it takes to make the object of that person’s affection happy.

But according to this site not only you can promise someone the moon, you can actually fulfill that promise”—well, sort of. It seems that this site gives you an option to buy properties on the moon. Interesting isn’t it?

Personally I think it would be a unique and wonderful gift. Just imagine your special someone coming up to you and saying “Remember when I promised you I’d give you the moon? I can’t get you the whole thing, but at least I tried… “ and then handing you a proof of ownership of lunar property. Nyahahah! Awesome!

So, what do you think? I think it’s really cool to buy the moon for your loved one! At least some part of it, that is…

IT Professionals in Kuwait (ITP-K), of which I had just recently become a member of, is going to conduct a WEB DESIGN WORKSHOP that will be held in the POLO/OWWA office of the Philippine Embassy. 6 sessions, every Saturday, starting this weekend.

I’ll be there…somewhere…lurking… *evil laugh*…Nah, I’ll be assisting the lecturers so you’ll definitely see me over there.

Anyway, for all Filipinos in Kuwait who are interested, there are no more open slots…(BOO!), but, you can still try. Just email Q8PinoyIT@yahoo. com and see if he can squeeze ya in.

I just joined Dneero.com so I wanna know exactly how this works. So the first one I chose was to answer a survey about moi. Hmmm….

For those people who would want their own website using a domain of your choice for free… just go to http://www.hyperwebenable.com/. Hyperwebenable offers:

I have tried it myself and it’s true. I got http://carelesswanderer.com/ as my domain and had requested a wordpress script uploaded there. Only thing is you cannot access your site by FTP but they will install the scripts of your choice if you want to . They will also put Ad Scripts on your site…so if you don’t like ads that are not put by you…well…don’t go for it.