Why the choice of words and grammar are very important

I am not a grammar Nazi (though I am slowly turning into one).  One of my reasons for re-checking my grammar is not to feel all high and mighty and superior to the rest of the earthlings, but to be clear about what I want to say or write about. I want people to understand if what I say had already happened, is about to happen or is currently happening.   I make a lot of grammatical mistakes, especially when in a hurry, but I try my very best to make sure that my subject and verb are good friends.  (I love my English teachers: Ms. Badeth Cabico, Sis. Josie Onag, Mrs. Convite- wherever you are, thank you!)

So anyways, while browsing for gift ideas at Lazada, I saw this nice toy:



See the description? Warning: Cannot Eat

Of course I wouldn't buy a toy that would eat my child, so this warning is really very helpful (my teeth are clenched while typing this)! It's a great gift for kids playing and learning (my face is now twisted in horror).

See how important grammar is?

But I will still buy this because it cannot eat my child.  Heheheheh.

Merry Christmas everyone!

More Diving Details

 Hello there!

I forgot to tell you, our fun diving lesson  costs P2,000 per head - inclusive of diving gear, boat ride, introductory lesson and cd (with videos and pictures).  The entire dive (including the ride and lessons) take about 2 hours.  It really costs P3,000.00 each but because it's the lean season, we were able to haggle for a much cheaper price.

I would have preferred diving with Mark Louie Ocheda (he has a Facebook account - he's good), but since we got a cheaper price, we went with this diving instructor and we regretted it because he didn't allow us to swim- he maneuvered us to where he wanted us to go.

Now, I'm looking for a school to get a license (I hope, I can afford it). Any suggestions?

Diving!!

Boracay as usual is a paradise for me. And I got to try again what used to be in my bucket list for two decades until I tried it a few years ago - DIVING!!!!

Here are some pics:

The reefs are dying!

The great photo bomber-me!

He's not nemo!

While feeding ze feeshes weeth ze hubby

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to view your creations under the sea. 

It's Christmas!

It's beginning to look like Christmas and if the traffic jam is the indicator, then Christmas is really near because traffic is worsening!

I got an early Christmas gift today from a friend, Aby.

Look!

Tadaaaa!!!

Colleen Colored Pencils!!!

Colleen Colored Pencils!!!!!!! 60 pieces!!!! Oh I was just eyeing them yesterday.

First Layer

The second layer including the neons!

 I just love how the neons look!

And a good friend, Atty. Bombet (and Caru), gave me this:

My first hindi "pirated" colouring book! 

Thank you!!! I feel so loved!

Now the question is - when will I find time to color?

DENGUE!!! BEWARE! (Updated)

I hate mosquitoes- I hate the buzzing sound they make, I hate their flying presence everywhere and I most specially hate the virus they bring to mankind.  I've come to master the art of catching them with my hand while their hovering, and when I open my palm, most of the time, they are still there writhing, their wings squished. In the event I still see them alive, I try to separate the wing one by one until they bid their last goodbye. Yes, torturing mosquitoes makes my day!

My hate for them increased last June when my son was diagnosed with dengue fever. Good thing, his platelet count were 220, 210, 200, 210, respectively, during his four days in the hospital. I was going crazy that time because even if his fever was only hovering between 38.5-39.4 (believe me, he has had fevers where his temperature soared to 39.9 and he didn't act sick at all), in the three days that he had the fever, he was (and looked) weak, and didn't want to eat, and complained of something outchy in the tummy.

On the third day of the fever, his rashes started to show, first, on the arms, then on the stomach. When we got to a pedia, the pedia suggested a dengue test because she said it looks like my son has dengue. I said, "Doc, can we have him admitted already, because he looks really weak and doesn't want to eat or drink." The doctor, surprised that I wanted my son to be admitted right away, said okay. I think she was concerned that I could save more if I would wait for the results to come out first before having my kid admitted to the hospital, but I didn't want to delay anymore.

This is his arm... Second day in the hospital - you wouldn't really notice the rashes but his whole body looks red.  On his second night at the hospital, he blew his nose and some blood came out - as if you've blown so hard when you have colds and the vessels burst - ganun lang kakonti. It was only a smudge but my inner self/goddess/alter was already being hysterical, but on the outside I was calm. When I informed the doctors, they said it wasn't a cause for alarm. My heart was  beating 1,000,000 light years per hour that time.

Massacre of the Filipino Language

With the advent of cellphones (and the limited characters for short message sending), people have resorted to "text-speaks". My eyes tear up when I see text messages such as this one:

"Je je je!  Nkk2wa k. Di q lam y u ngtxt s qin."

Ano daw?????

What's worse is when I see erroneously-spelled Filipino words that we have been taught how to spell since we were in elementary. This is how they are usually mutilated:

NAMIN (us) ---- NAMEN
HINDI (no) ---- HINDE
KULIT (annoying, naughty) --- KULET
SIYA (he, she - basta 3rd person) --- CIA
KAHIT (even if nga ba ito?) --- KAHET
PO (po/opo- to convey respect) --- POE (not the politician nor the late actor) or POH, and sometimes POEH (poehhhh???!)
AYYY (an expression, o linking verb ba ito?) --- Aiiiii!!! (Ha?!)

Me Wants these Cakes!

In a Christmas Party I attended, there's this cake that I wasn't able to taste because my tummy was about to burst.  Sadly, when I already had some space in my tummy to taste it, it was already cleared. Hahahah!

Now I'm craving for one!

 Here's another one:

Give me liberty or give me cake!

Zipline at Dahilayan Adventure Park

In my previous blog post, I said that we weren't able to try the activities at Dahilayan Resort Park because we were pressed for time.  We wanted to try the zipline first but we only had two hours of free time in the morning of our flight (Guess what, our flight was cancelled and we had to stay another day at CDO!If we only knew, we should have stayed in Bukidnon for one more night). But there's another resort, right beside Dahilayan which is the Dahilayan Adventure Park. I don't know if they are owned by the same company/person.

It was my first time to try the ziplining - they have three, and for P600, you can ride all three (not all at the same time of course!).

They've got the 320m, 150m, and 840m dual zipline. Dahilayan claims that their 840m dual zipline is the longest zipline in Asia! The first two ziplines are  done sitting, while the longest is done superman-style (though I felt like a bat in a suit, a bat with folded wings, err... basta, bat.).

It's super safe, even for seniors!

My souvenir pic - Mahal! P100 yata isa

Entrance

From the dropzone, going back to the front of the park

One has to ride a mini jeep to get to the take off point
for the 840m zipline (ride is free)

See, I look like a bat!
(NGITING TEENAGER YAN A)

The breathtaking view

And there's the dropzone, which sadly, for lack of time, I wasn't able to try. One will be pulled by a crane up to 120 feet, and dropped like a screaming potato up to within a few feet of the manmade lake. Then swing like a pendulum until the momentum stops you from swinging, and your heart has registered that you're still alive.

You'll be pulled up to the top of that crane

And swing, and swing, and swing, and swing

The swinging was the best part, I heard

I just hope I'd have another chance to come back here, and do the rest of the activities that I wasn't able to do, this time, with my family.  Who knows, with some luck and a lot of prayers, it might be soon?!

After this, we went back to CDO to catch our flight, which, as I've mentioned before, got cancelled because of a bird strike (hindi kasi sineswelduhan nang tama, kaya nagwelga ang mga birds). Kaya eto ako:

Ayan na yung eroplano eh, di na kami pinasakay.
Thirty minutes kaming nakapila sa  runway.

A Visit to Dahilayan Forest Park

This is a late post, but I promised that I will share with you one of the best places (favoritest? heheh) places I have ever visited in the Philippines (though my list is long), ladies and gentlement, BUKIDNON!

Dahilayan, here we come!!!

Work allowed me to travel to this place sometime in October last year.I wasn't expecting anything about Bukidnon. We were only told that it's cold, so be prepared. I wasn't told how beautiful it is. Bukidnon is about one and a half to two hours of travel by land from Cagayan de Oro.  The route, albeit full of roadblocks because of road constructions, is full of verdant pine trees, banana and pineapple plantations and tons of greeneries. It's really heaven!

May fog!!!

Before leaving for Manila, we booked at Dahilayan Forest Part. It is located at Barangay Dahilayan, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.  To get to Dahilayan, from the BuDa Highway (Bukidnon-Davao), one should turn right at the Alae Junction, then pass through Camp Phillips, straight to the Del Monte Pineapple plantation (about 20 minutes of bumpy ride)

Welcome to Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon

That's one of the vehicles that our group was in
- because it rained a little, and the road to Dahilayan
was like a mini-moon.

Here is our room:

P2800 a night, with free breakfast for two persons

That's my bed, just right beside the big window,
and that's the view when I woke up.

My little bed...

Our beds face that huge window.
Our room comes with a rbeathtaking view.

The CR

Sadly, the water is murky brown. That's the state of the toilet bowl when we arrived.
It has not been used. All the toilet bowls in the rooms we booked looked like that because of the water.
According to the staff, they have a problem with the water supply, so the water is brown. 

What's this?Oh, there's a sticker with instructions.

It's a heater!!!
We only discovered it when we were leaving. Haha!

See those four windows at the edge of the building?
 That's our room.

It's so cold in Bukidnon- I think it's even colder there than when I went to Baguio in June.  That's why the rooms have no fans and are not airconditioned. It was THAT cold. And well, there's an electronic fireplace that we didn't use, because, first, nobody told us about it, second, we didn't notice it,  and there, there were warm and fluffy comforters to warm us up so there was no need to turn it on.

Dahilayan Forest Park offers a wide range of activities such as the Luge, the ATV and Buggy Trail Adventure, Barrel Train, a traverse of the Hanging Bridge, Bungee Bounce, Zorb, Trampoline and Forest Putt Golf.

This is the hanging bridge (P100.00)

The place is surrounded by Venezuelan Pine Trees (they offer little pine trees for sale, if you want to bring home one), I've never seen one like this before, ever! Because of the very very limited time ( we only had about 2 hours of free time to try the activities), we weren't able to try any of the activities that Dahilayan Forest Park offered. Oh well, we wanted to try the Zorb, but we were told that the maximum weight limit of each person should be 60 kg. Hmph!!!!!

From our room, one has to walk to that building with the green roof
 - that's where their restaurant is

Nag-e-emote

Indian Pana, kakana-kana!

Playground for the kids

The dining area 

I ordered beef salpicao - buhay pa!! Me didn't like this

Sizzling something.

But while we weren't able to try the activities at the Dahilayan Forest Park, we did get to try the zipline at the adjacent Dahilayan Adventure Park. That's another story, of course.