Wednesday, August 13, 2008

My www.sss.gov.ph comment

If you're one of those who belong to the working class in the Philippines then chances are you're also experiencing the horrendous (I credit Simon for the term), ugly, lousy, lame service the on-line SSS gives... Aaaaarrrggghhh I've been wanting to check my remittances because I've been planning to take a loan but, I CANNOT because the site is always, always down. I've checked and checked the site countless times hoping that I could see how much have I deposited but to no avail!
My goodness! This site reflects so many people in our government... if not always sleeping on the job, always absent! Hey, wake up! Get your feet going and start serving!

You know, despite this things I still have hopes that one day we can be better people, that we can change, that we will rise up again as a nation, as people who loves this country not because of what it gives, but because we own it, and it is our motherland. I thank you, bow.

Here's the site, you may wanna check it out if its awake already. http://www.sss.gov.ph

Friday, August 8, 2008

Drifting Away From You

I don't know what to do, I seem to have lost purpose on living. I'm so confused of what I'm feeling right now. I feel like I'm about to break apart. I mean, I don't understand it... I really don't I'm serving You but why do I still feel so incomplete? How come there's this emptiness that I still feel? All this time that I'm here in this place, thinking it is You who placed me here, not the circumstances behind it, that's what You told me, I'm here because it is You who placed me here, the sole reason is You.

Maybe I am being punished, for everything I did in my family, for the people I hurt, that I dissapointed, that I abandoned. It's so hard, I mean, I wan't to serve You in the highest way, but still everytime I come to a point I doubt You, I would ask if are you really ever there, if you can hear me? You know my heart, You know me best. You know my life is not pleasing before You, so why can't You just tell me straight in the face that I don't belong to You? Probably it would made this agonizing feeling go away? I can't tell what You wan't, You're being to silent in me. And I don't know how much I can take this silence, it's making me deaf!

What is it that You really wan't me to do? You won't let me buy something that I feel I could serve You better? Is it so much to ask? Is it that big of a universe that when I own one, the world will never be the same? Why can't I have it? I don't want to let go, but I can't hold on that long. Day by day I know I'm drifting apart from You, You can see it. You said You love me, simply because you're Love, tell me right now, that You love me show me that I'm being loved, I feel so alone, I feel so far away from You now, yet in reality I'm really not You see me everywhere I go, You know what I do, You know it. Yet, somehow I don't feel Your presence, I don't feel that intimacy that well I used to feel. Why have You sent me here? I was optimistic about You and me being together with this, but now it feels like I'm all alone, I have nothing to run to. You know I'm breaking apart because I feel that you've left me with nothing else. Departed me from my family, the people closest to me, the people I feel You when I'm with... and then you placed me to a place when I'm a complete stranger, nobody would care if I die tomorrow or today, nobody would even look for me if I disappear... So, please answer me... What am I doing here? I have no question about wny I have been placed here, but the question after that makes me bothered so much, WHY am I here? What am I suppose to do? You know, I still believe that only You can answer this question, I will not find it by myself, or to anyone. I'm getting tired of looking for the answer, I'm getting tired of listening to people telling me what to do. I'm so tired, I just wanna die right now... I want to finish this, I'm going crazy as days past, for I feel I'm stuck in this time zone, that nothing changes, they're the same as yesterday. It's so predicatable.

Or maybe I just miss playing guitar, it's been a week. :_(

Thursday, August 7, 2008

DD-7: Digital Delay


Have you tried this pedal already? This pedal rocks like crazy! It has updated new features from its predecessors and have definitely improve the sound quality of your tone.

Its new features are:

Expanded Delay Time Up to 6.4 seconds of delay time is available with the DD-7, a marked increase from its predecessor. In addition, Hold mode allows up to 40 seconds of input to be recorded for creating “sound on sound” performances.

New Delay Modes The DD-7 is equipped with two innovative new delay modes. Modulation Delay provides chorus-flavored sounds. Analog Delay offers a modeled simulation of the classic BOSS DM-2, beloved for its characteristic warmth.

External Control For hands-free control of the DD-7, an external footswitch and Expression pedal (sold separately) can be used. Tap tempo can be controlled from an external footswitch, while delay time, feedback, and effect level can be changed on the fly via Expression pedal.

Stereo Output Create amazing effects with the DD-7’s stereo output, such as spatial audio sweeps via true stereo panning. You can also use the stereo outputs to create separate dry and wet signal paths — handy for recording and live-performance control.

Holds up to 40 seconds of recording for sound on sound! That's unbelievably crazy! Check this pedal out because this is a sure knockout for you onstage live or even recording!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

ASPARTAME: Deadly Sweetener!

With regard to obesity, I think this is due to aspartame sold as
NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and no telling what since the patent expired
and its now in 5000 products and climbing! In the Congressional Record,
May 7, 1985 it says:

"Aspartame has been demonstrated to inhibit the carbohydrate induced
synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin (Wurtman affidavit ).
Serotonin blunts the sensation of craving carbohydrates and thus is part
of the body's feedback system that helps limit consumption to appropriate
levels. Its inhibition by aspartame could lead to the anomalous result of
a diet product causing increased consumption of carbohydrates."

NutraSweet was never a diet product. It was discovered by a Searle
chemist while testing a peptic ulcer drug and was intended to be a drug.
Then the chemist got some on his finger and found out it was sweet. Dr.
Wurtman is a brilliant doctor at MIT but he changed side after writing
about its hazards and became a consultant for NutraSweet. The National
Soft Drink Association wrote a 30 page protest which is part of this
congressional record stating they used the wrong test (would not pick up
aspartic acid), used the wrong solution (tested in a buffered solution
instead of beverage matrix, did not test for breakdown products (a
witches brew - methanol converts to formaldehyde and then formic acid -
ant sting poison, and phenylalanine breaks down to DKP, a brain tumor
agent), and didn't test for temperature elevation (at 86 degrees
aspartame liberates methanol in the can - methanol is a severe metabolic
poison!)

These are the devastations of aspartame (masquerading as a sweetener):

1. Devastation of the Nation's Health. There are 92 documented medical
reactions including seizures, blindness and death.

2. Hazard to American Aviation. Pilots have reported grand mal seizures
in the cockpits of airliners. Many have lost their medicals. Hazards
reported in many aviation journals including those of the Navy and Air
Force. This Russian Roulette with 400 passenger planeloads must stop.

3. Infertility, birth defects and mental retardation in children.
Irreversible damage to the fetal brain and developing child. While the
NutraSweet company puts out ads saying its safe for the pregnant woman
to use aspartame, in reality she could lose her baby because fetal tissue
does not tolerate methanol. Dr. Louis Elsas (Pediatric Professor at Emory
University) said at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor
and Human Resources (examining NutraSweet health and safety concerns 11/3/87)
"I have spent 25 years in the biomedical sciences, trying to prevent
mental retardation and birth defects caused by excessive phenylalanine.
And therein lies my basic concern that aspartame is in fact a well-known
neurotoxin and teratogen (writer's note - something that causes birth
defects), which in some as yet unidentified dose will both reversibly in
adult and irreversibly in the developing child or fetal brain produce
adverse effects." He goes on to tell how phenylalanine concentrates in
the placenta and causes mental retardation.

4. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In an original study by Searle,
Dr. Harry Waisman was asked to study the effects of aspartame on
primates. Seven infant monkeys were fed the chemical in milk. One died
after 300 days. 5 others had Grand Mal Seizures. Searle deleted these
findings when they submitted his study to the FDA. Monsanto bought
Searle in 1985. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
surveyed 80 people who suffered brain seizures after eating or drinking
products with Aspartame. Said the Community Nutrition Institute: "These
80 cases meets the FDA's own definition of an imminent hazard to the
public health, which requires the FDA to expeditiously remove a product
from the market.

It showed be noted that because Monsanto funds trade organizations like
the American Dietetic Assn., and American Diabetic Assn., etc. physicians
were never given the information on aspartame. They think its just a
safe sweetener. So when people have seizures they don't associate it
with aspartame. Dr. H. J. Roberts, author of books on aspartame and the
world expert, attended the American College of Physicians Conference here
in Atlanta and I went with him. In Neurology, one professor said:
"Please can somebody tell us where all these seizures are coming from -
no matter how off the wall it may be." As Dr. Roberts says, patients
spend huge sums of money for diagnostic tests but get no results until
they abstain from aspartame.

5. Connection with Persian Gulf Syndrome: A soldier told me they could
drink water and diet soda which sat in the Arabian sun up to 8 weeks.
Temperature inside the can was probably 150 degrees as it was 120 degrees
there. He said the guys who drank the diet soda have the syndrome.
Symptoms are identical to NutraSweet Disease: Memory loss, chronic
fatigue (methanol breaks down the immune system), headaches, insomnia,
joint pain, vision and equilibrium loss, etc., etc. On 60 Minutes a
couple of weeks ago one soldier talked about the burning tongue. A woman
on Internet (Brandi J.) had just emailed her story of how she had this
burning, tingling reaction to drinking Diet Pepsi. She said Pepsi said
it was the "sweetness" breaking down, and sent her a new case. Methanol
(a human specific poison) is what gives it the sweetness and when it
breaks down to formaldehyde it is bitter and burns the tongue.

One lady I met made the caps for the Persian Gulf and they were told only
to send things that were sugarfree and thousands and thousands of packets
of Diet Kool-Aide were sent with the caps! These packets mixing
chemicals and aspartame like this and Slimfast are some of the worst.
They have caused a lot of bad reactions.

6. Criminal violence, manic depression, anxiety and suicide.
Phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold in the brain and
blocks serotonin production. Today our nation is swept by a rage of
violence. Researchers attribute this in part to low brain serotonin
levels inducing depression, rage and paranoia. This is what is causing
all these panic attacks; they subside when we get the person off of
aspartame.

7. The SIGHT of America. The methanol in aspartame converts to
formaldehyde in the retina of the eye (ASPARTAME; METHANOL AND THE PUBLIC
HEALTH, Dr. Woodrow Monte (Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 36,
Number 1, 1984). Many people are going blind. In October, l986
Washington based Community Nutrition Institute filed a petition with the
FDA to ban aspartame because of blindness. This was reported in the
Chicago, Sun-Times, Friday, October 17, l986. One of victims in the
article was Joyce Wilson. In April, l984 he wrote this article in a
local Atlanta newspaper:

"Aspartame killed my wife. No words can express the agony and horror
sweet Joyce endured. This poison destroyed her brain, ravaged all her
organs and blinded her. She died at age 46 in 1991. .. I'm a man without
a wife because the NutraSweet Company is a business without a conscience."

We are constantly getting people off aspartame and when we get them in
time their vision does come back but many times by the time they are
warned its too late like in this case. Dr. Roberts just wrote a paper on
Aspartame and the Eye that I have available on email.

8. Sacrifice of the diabetics. How could anything be worse for a
diabetic than wood alcohol. This is what killed or blinded thousands of
skid row drunks during prohibition. Monsanto funds the American Diabetic
Assn., and the American Dietetic Assn. who recommend NutraSweet for
diabetics and pregnant women. What a crime. Physicians seeing diabetics
lose their vision think it is normal diabetic retinopathy but in reality
they are going blind. When the methanol converts to formaldehyde and
then formic acid the patient has metabolic acidosis. Physicians think
these are diabetic problems when in reality its because they are
consuming a chemical poison. It is no wonder Dr. Roberts (diabetic
specialist) calls this ASPARTAME DISEASE. The pattern and the symptoms
are predictable and you can tell them what they are suffering from before
you ask. Also, the American Diabetic Assn. knows - this is premeditated
because they refused to publish Dr. Roberts' abstract of diabetic
reactors to aspartame, and he's been a member of the ADA for almost 40
years. It was published in Clinical Research, Vol. 36, No. 3, 1988 489A.

Last year on October 1 we exposed the ADA here in Atlanta by giving out
medical documentation on aspartame and its effect on diabetics at their
walk-a-thon (sponsored by NutraSweet, of course). We dedicated the day
to Joyce Wilson whose son had married a week or so before and on her
empty chair was one long stem rose. We gave our press packs with black
lace for mourning and a single long stem yellow rose in her memory.

This year the ADA did it again, Oct. 1, and we were there again giving
out packets for the diabetic and their physician - but this time there
was not as many people. We had gotten to so many last year. A few days
before we did the same thing at the Juvenile Diabetic walk-a-thon where
almost 2000 participated sponsored by Coca Cola. They had a NutraSweet
Dessert! In the ADA event 10/1 I snapped a picture of such a toddler
walking with a Diet Coke!

9. Connection to Alzheimer's: Dr. Roberts has been researching
Alzheimers for 30 years and when aspartame was approved he noticed a
difference in his diabetic patients - they presented with memory loss and
confusion. He says the two amino acids in aspartame that are neurotoxic,
aspartic acid and phenylalanine without the other amino acids in protein,
and deteriorate the neurons of the brain. Alzheimers, a 20th century
disease, is now the 4th leading cause of death, with 4 million victims,
250,000 new cases each year and 100,000 deaths. 50% of all patients in
nursing homes are Alzheimer patients including baby boomers. When Joyce
Wilson died she was just like an Alzheimer patient - with no memory.
Dr. Roberts new book: DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE; A RATIONAL
BLUEPRINT FOR PREVENTION has already been nominated for a Pulitzer. (1
800 -814--9800 - you can also get his tapes on aspartame at this number).
Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon, in his book EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE
THAT KILLS 1 800-814--9800, tells you that the ingredients in NutraSweet
literally stimulate the neurons of the brain to death.

10. Multiple Sclerosis. People are being diagnosed with MS when in
reality it is methanol toxicity from aspartame. It does reverse if you
get them in time and we have seen some cases of vision return.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Job Qualifications Real Meaning Exposed!!!

To all fresh grads out there and those hunting for jobs, this is for you! Be mindful of these terms when you see them in the qualifications!

FLEXIBLE HOURS: Work 55 hours; get paid for 37.5.

COMPETITIVE SALARY: We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.

GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Management communicates, you listen and figure out what they want you to do.

SELF-MOTIVATED: Management won’t answer questions.

ABILITY TO HANDLE A HEAVY WORKLOAD: You whine, you’re fired.

SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED: Some time each night and some time each weekend.

CAREER-MINDED: We expect that you will want to flip hamburgers until you are 70.

COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT: We have a lot of turnover.

DUTIES WILL VARY: Anyone in the office can boss you around.

SALES POSITION REQUIRING MOTIVATED SELF-STARTER: We’re not going to supply you with leads; there’s no base salary; you’ll wait 30 days for your first commission check.

SOME PUBLIC RELATIONS REQUIRED: If we’re in trouble, you’ll go on TV and get us out of it.

SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE: You’ll need it to replace three people who just left.

PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS A MUST: You’re walking into a company in perpetual chaos.

CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE: We don’t pay enough to expect that you’ll dress up; well, a couple of the real daring guys wear earrings.

source:
http://www.pjlighthouse.com/2008/08/01/funnies-job-search-jargon/

Monday, August 4, 2008

G-U-I-T-A-R: won't mispell this word

Moving out has led to to many realizations, so many things have unraveled before my very eyes ever since I decided to step out of the boat and walk on water. One particularly, is that in this world, you can never be so much fulfilled in life, there will always be something better than what you have or wanted. Back then, when I was staying with my family I used to be content of living life picking only the things that I wanted to experience, 'I like driving so I'll take the motorcycle, I hate walking.' or 'I'll mind my own business.' Of course, by nature most of us want a comfortable life, the type that just say a word and it will be given, well I'm not saying that we live that kind of life as a family but something close :) So I'm kinda at tune with living relaxed not having to worry what tomorrow will be for I have security. Those were the times when all I did was... nothing, yes practically nothing. I was lazy, sleep late, wake up late and lie on a couch until I wanted.

Those things, began to change as time went by... We experienced crisis that well brought our house down literally, our business went bankrupt since my father went overseas to work. Then, our house (in Manila) caught fire and nothing practically left, but the foundations (good thing we decided to move out a year before the incident happened). So you see, those things may have been the shakiest times in my life. Well, to be honest I wasn't that sad about the house for ever since we transferred in Dumaguete, I kinda felt at home and wasn't sure about going back to our place. So, in short I'm done with that chapter in my life.

So, here I am in Cebu, one of the busiest place in the Philippines quite safe to say one of the more progressive ones, too. The place where I thought I could make a good start living life away from the comforts and security of my family. This place has led me to think of many things that I could not imagine I could be. One of it is the guitar, Cebu is where I rekindled my passion for playing, it made me dream big once more, it re-fueled my hunger to further more explore the mystery of this magnificent creation. Now, I could not quit on it. It's totally addicting, the euphoria I feel every time I held my hands in to it. Whew





How about you? Have you found a place or a person or anything that made you return to the things you love to do the most?





Next post: Creating a monster

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Preping my day with the blues

I love playing guitar! I can't think of it anymore statement emphatically than that, I think of it from the night I sleep 'til the day I wake up! I need to get my hands on it everyday for I don't feel right if I miss a day not playing guitar, damn! I love this instrument, and I could not express any better how I adore this masterpiece than playing it as long as I can. I'd make sure I play a riff or two everyday, just enough to make my day... and if my memory is good enough I'd be able to memorize that riff and record it at night time. THAT'S HOW MY LIFE BASICALLY WORKS! And nothing will ever stop me from living like that, do I make a statement here?

I hope so, because I realized that as you grow older, you know things weren't the way they were before, back then when you're in college studying where you can feast to the allowance mom and dad gives (thank you, guys for making it easier for me back then, *sniff), but comparing that to the present where you choose (uhm, It's more of a must on my part co'z of certain reasons) to live on your own and you finance everything you need now, so it's imperative for you to have a decent job... and KEEPING IT (most people at my age get a hard time with this). And can I re-iterate "...everything you need" not want that would be a different story now will it? Well, let's connect that to my the most favorite thing I wanna do in my life. Very recently, have I acquired such adoration over guitar, but don't mistake me as some newbie guy here who you now, you fell in-live with one thing then the next day gets tired of it and leave it to rot. It's not the case here, why? Let me give you a little background bout me. I began riffing (if there's a word) when I was in 2nd year high school, oh yes the good ol' days when the thing that motivates you to learn to play guitar is the girls you see around the campus... Hehehe I just loved the way they looked back then, so amazed and they go like, "how did you do that?" or "can you play this, or that song for me?" or "can you play this song for my debut", etc.

Back then, I had this feeling of being the ultra cool guy, a lot of my friends would told me co'z hehehe I'm the regular guitar player, you see I'm not a bad player at all. I have this skill of
resourcefulness, see what I do is look for songs which you know the cheesy type, with lyrics that make you remember your debt! And with the simple looking up in the internet, I find tabs of those songs, those songs are easy to play and I learn fast (I learned how to read tab without even using a guitar! We'll you don't need to, tabs come as they are). That was my life for maybe until first year college, but again times change and you're not the same person as you were 10 years ago, so I gave up guitar... realizing I can't make money out of it, I bagan to focus my eyes on finish my degree which greatly hampered my practice time until it came to a point that I said to myself "I'm no guitar player anymore." might as well finish college so I can work abroad, earn lots of money, marry, have children and send them to school, and go back to step 1. I thought that would be my life, a life of constant redundancy, well I'm cool with it... NOT! I had that in mind and I thought NO WAY that's gonna happen to me, there' s gotta be more to life than this! I thought that I could escape destiny, that I could stop the waves of the sea, that I could defy gravity... "The inevitable will be..."

Next post: The galaxy I'm in...