Half-played songs

Half-colored paintings

Half-baked cookies

Half-baked plans

Half-written stories

Half-read books

Half-meant jokes

Half-naked truths

Half-pursued dreams

Half-hearted goodbyes

Half-assed effort

Half-lived life

April 19, 2007

I love being a tourist in my own country. :)

Faye and I first went around Luneta Park and went into the Orchidarium because our first stop, the National Museum opens at 10 a.m. and we arrived at 9:30 a.m. After the orchidarium, which was more like a garden rather than an "orchidarium" (although in fairness, ang ganda ng fountain nila. Pictures at http://horn13.multiply.com/photos/album/58), we then proceeded to the huge National Museum, which houses five floors of Philippine art and history, from paintings, to pottery, to photographs and more.

We then went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and viewed an exhibit featuring works of artists painted on a palette. Ingenious! :)

From CCP, the next stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, which houses contemporary artwork as well as gold jewelry and pottery that are evidence of civilization in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

After the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, we headed to our final museum, and the ONLY museum, which allowed us to take pictures (again, see http://horn13.multiply.com/photos/album/58)…Museo Pambata! Fun, fun, fun!! I love all the things/exhibits visitors can play around with and take great pictures with!! Haha! Kids at heart kami ni Faye! I love it. :)

As if those four museums were not enough, we headed to PICC for the Manila F.A.M.E. International’s jewelry and home décor exhibits. By invitation only :P at nakapasok pa rin ang mga yagit. Haha. All the exhibitors were testaments of Filipino creativity. They make me so proud to be Pinoy. :) Mukhang imported? Hindi! Mukhang gawang Pinoy! World class! :D

We started our day at 8:15 a.m. and got back to my house at around 7 p.m., subsisting only on meaty chicken sandwiches, popcorn and breadsticks we brought along. Hehe. Such a full day, but we ended up spending only 190php on orchidarium and museum entrance fees (20php for the orchidarium that day, 30php student rate – hehe – for the National Museum, 80php for the Met and 60php for the delightful Museo Pambata), plus the 65php I spent on a pair of earrings at F.A.M.E. XD Not too shabby!

Museum hopping allowed us to get to know more about the Philippines and appreciate what ingenious artisans our country has given birth to. Perfect for cheap dates!! Haha! :)

There are 23 letters in your name.
Those 23 letters total to 122
There are 8 vowels and 15 consonants in your name.
 
What your first name means:

Your number is: 5

The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

The expression or destiny for #5:
The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

Your Soul Urge number is: 5

A Soul Urge number of 5 means:
The 5 soul urge or motivation would like to follow a life of freedom, excitement, adventure and unexpected happening. The idea of travel and freedom to roam intrigues you. You are very much the adventurer at heart. Not particularly concerned about your future or about getting ahead, you can seem superficial and unmotivated.

In a positive sense, the energies of the number 5 make you very adaptable and versatile. You have a natural resourcefulness and enthusiasm that may mark you as a progressive with a good mind and active imagination. You seem to have a natural inclination to be a pace-setter. You are attracted to the unusual and the fast paced.

You may be overly restless and impatient at times. You may dislike the routine work that you are engaged in, and tend to jump from activity to activity, without ever finishing anything. You may have difficulty with responsibility. You don't want to be tied down to a relationship, and it may be hard to commit to one person.

Your Inner Dream number is: 9

An Inner Dream number of 9 means:
You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and what to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.

http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp

I am the emerald earth
    That cradles life in the tender leaves of my resilient branches.

I am the golden sun
    That radiates luminous warmth and blazes with fiery passion.

I am the lavender breeze
    That dances gracefully, freely, and soothes with a gentle touch.

I am the sapphire sea

    That holds silent strength flowing beneath its serene waters.

I am the harmony of nature’s rainbow hues

    That revels shamelessly in melodic moments of bliss.

I am the phenomenon unparalleled
    And this is my womanly essence.
    This is my consummate soul.

MANILA, Philippines -- Pinoy is what Filipinos call each other, a term of endearment. You’re Pinoy from Pilipino just like you’re tisoy from mestizo or chinoy from chino.

It’s a nickname just as Minoy is from Maximo, Ninoy from Benigno, Tinay from Florentina and Kikay from Francisca. But now they’re Maxi and Ben and Tintin and Cheska.

You’ve been called indio, goo-goo, Negro, flip, noypits. Or Filipino, a biscuit that is brown outside and white inside, or a word stricken from the dictionary which means domestic. Ay, lintik!

You’re Juan de la Cruz or Mang Pandoy. You’re common tao, masa, urban poor but also Cecile Licad and Don Jaime, Jose Rizal and Tony Meloto, Shawie and Pacquiao and Nick Joaquin, galing galing.

Born June 12, 1896, the Republic of the RP is a Gemini, good at connecting, good at loving-loving, good at texting and interpersonal skills.

Filipinos like to yakap, akbay, hawak, kalong, kalabit. We sleep side by side, siping-siping, we go out kabit kabit.

There’s lots of us to go around. Someone always to listen to a sob story, even in a jeepney, to share-a-load or to share a TV.

Everyone’s tito, tita

Who has a hipag, a bayaw, a bilas, a balae, a kinakapatid? Who has an ate, dete, diche, kuya, diko? The maids call her ate, the driver calls him kuya and everybody is tito or tita.

Who has a Lola Baby, a Tito Totoy, a bosing called Sir Peewee, his wife Ma’am Lovely and their kids Cla Cla and Cring Cring?

The Pinoy lives in a condo, a mansion, an apartment, a bahay na bato, ilalim ng tulay, Luneta, Forbes Park, and Paris too!

He’s a citizen of the world, he’s in all the villages and capitals, colonizing the West, bringing his guitar and his bagoong, his walis na tingting, his tabo, his lolo and lola.

Where there’s a beat, there’s a Pinoy. You’ll find her singing in a nightclub in Tokyo, a musical in London, the Opera House in Sydney. Sure, they’ve got the infrastructure, the theaters and architecture. Who but Pinoys direct their plays, or trains their company managers, and imports our teachers, by the way?

Viagra to Victoria’s Secret

Look at that baggage—all pasalubong, none for herself. From bedsheet to hair color, Toblerone to carpet, Viagra to paella pan, Victoria’s Secret to microwave.

Hey, Joe, don’t envy me ’cause I’m brown, you’ll get ultra violet from that sun and turn red not brown.

Just lucky, I guess. God put us all in the oven, but some were uncooked and some were burned, but me, I came out golden brown!

Hey, Kristoff! Hey David and Ann! Your Pinoy yaya makes your kids gentler, more obedient, she teaches them how to pray. Hey Big Brother! Hey Grandma Moses! Who but Pinoy nurses make your sick days easier all the way?

We made the jeepney, the karaoke, the fluorescent bulb, the moon buggy. We invented People Power and crispy pata; popularized virgin coconut oil, scaled the Everest and made it with Cebu furniture abroad among the best. Ever trying for the Guinness World Record—with the longest swim of a child, the longest kiss, the longest longanisa…

Linguist

The Pinoy is a linguist. As in. As if. For a while. Open the light. Close the light. Paki ganyan naman ang kuwan sa ano. Tuck in. Tuck out. Don’t be high blood. If you’re ready na, I’ll pass for you.

Hayop; Hanep! Bongga ka ’day, feel na feel kita, kilig to the bones ako. Don’t make wala, don’t make tampo. Taralets na, babes, let’s go, nababato na ang syota mo.

I’m inviting you to my party, please RSVP. Oo means “yes” or “maybe,” or “yes if you insist,” or “maybe if it doesn’t rain.”

“Yes” is also a nice way of saying “no.” Yes, hindi kita sisiputin. “No,” eto na ako at ang barkada ko. Please don’t ask a Pinoy a question like that!

Just flows

She’s not so exact, not so chop-chop, she just flows and flows. Filipino time? Naku, huli din naman ang Kano!

The Pinoy finds time to be nice, to be kind, to apologize, to be there when you’re depressed, to help you with your utang and your wedding dress.

The Filipino is a giver, never mind what it does to his liver, never mind what it takes. Hardships of the Third World don’t dry up his blood, they just make him more compassionate, more feeling, of the other guy’s lot.

Note that the maid sends all her wages home to ailing daddy. She is the OCW whose labor of loneliness created the original katas ng Saudi.

‘Bahala na’

The Filipino is fearless, bahala na si Batman, which actually means Bathala na or “leave all to God.” Okay lang if I die by bitay, okay lang if I live, okay lang if I survive by the skin of my teeth.

Saway ni Inay: Di ka naman Bill Gates, di ka naman French, mahirap nang magbuhat ng sarili mong bench.

Be Pinoy! Enjoy!