Online Tutorials on Video

If you want to learn a new craft, hone some skills or just want to be informed of how things are done/made/created, you should check out www.videojug.com . A friend of mine stumbled into it after looking for some useful tutorials on making sushi rice.

The site has everything worth shareable under the following categories:

1. Food and Drink
2. Love and Sex
3. Beauty and Style
4. Sports and Fitness
5. Health
6. Leisure and Hobbies
7. Technology
8. DIY and Home
9. Pets
10. Parenting
11. Made by You
12. More (car, education, environment, jobs & careers, legal, modern manners, money and wealth, real estate, safety and survival, self help, travel)

I haven't explored much of its content but so far I found the site very helpful. I was able to find a good tutorial on how to make chocolate mousse and chicken cacciatore. I also got very good tips on growing tomatoes, installing invisible shelves and the making of the perfect tie.

The site does not only allow users to watch but also upload videos and create slide shows. It also provides for interaction through discussions. Much like google, I find the site very useful and very informative. I also like the fact that it has a special stipulation in its terms and conditions about responsible postings (i.e. no obscenities or patronizing of illegal activities) . I tried to type the word "bomb" and it returned video tutorials on making origami water bomb and stink bombs. Cool!

Visit the site when you have the time and learn more about life as explained on film.

Forest Park, Bacolod City

I didn't have any expectations of the place save for the animals, which I wanted my son to see (whatever they were). So when we got there I went, "Wow! this IS a park!"

It's an enclosed property (much like Eden Natural Park in Davao) only 30 times or so smaller. The greenery was a feast for the eyes. There were three playground sites complete with monkey bars, swings and see-saws for kids and feeling-kids. Lovers could take a stroll and settle on the many wooden benches around the park. We actually saw at least three pairs during our visit. Hmmmm, was that other girl still in her school uniform?

The lagoons and the bridges made a perfect site for the much needed emo moment. I made my mother pose in one of them, choreographed it even to make it more dramatic (echos!). Picnickers could bring their own food or order from the canteen located near the mini-zoo. We bumped into a few teenagers on the way to the cottage areas carrying bagfuls of junkies. I hope they know how to dispose of their garbage properly.

For the animal lovers, there were the rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, snake and monkeys in the cages and the kois in the ponds. One of the resident monkeys (lolo monkey, we called him) was a bit hostile though, banging on the cage and threatening to bite us. That's just because I touched the baby monkey's back a few times.

If action is your game, you can also check out the airsoft game site and ask around about membership.

Forest Park is located near St. Francis Village in Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod City. It is open from 7am-6pm daily.

Click to see more pictures >>>

The Lovely Bones (2002)

Written by: Alice Sebold

Plot Introduction provided in Wikipedia:

"In 1973, a 14-year-old girl named Susie Salmon is raped, murdered, and dismembered by a neighbor. Over the next few years she watches from a personalized heaven as her family and friends deal with their grief. She sometimes becomes angry and frustrated from the choices her family makes while looking over them."

It's another death story told in a rather creative way (If you've read Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven you'de know what I mean). It's actually a poignant recount of the events that follow the death of a daughter/sister/friend/crush/schoolmate.

The story of a brutal death does not end when a body is found or a murderer served with a sentence. It lingers. Like the wringing sound of a pulled spring. Each reverberation echoes the pain felt by family members, friends, relatives and the whole community touched by the deceased.

Death means something to the dead as it does to the living. The letting go part is never easy. Painful, especially when death comes in a rather unexpected and brutal way. The father, not willingto move on, consumed by anger. The other daughter who just wanted to be seen for who she is and not whose sister she was. The younger brother who barely new what gone even meant. The mother, struggling and finally giving up on family life.

If I were to dream of my own heaven it would contain a placid lake with me floating on it. The wind caressing my cheeks giving me a little push while I move past beds of lilies and lotus. It would be eternally misty, as in early morning.

Changes as They Come

The wheels have turned…

The old is now the new; power changing hands. Our old boss is back in barracks, and everything’s topsy-turvy all over, in a good way. She’s shaking things up, bringing it back to how it was before, if not better than how it has been. We’ve lived a different life since she left. Like children left in the care of a foster parent who never really saw the need to invest any emotion into the raising-the-kids part of the job.

My only qualm about this whole thing is I can’t freely rant whatever about work anymore. Because she’s reading my blog. Harharhar!

Welcome back, Ma’am Lei!

Gone Baby Gone

The toys are gone! The toys are gone!

I've learned during my last trip to McDonald's-Lacson that the Happy Meal Museum is no longer on display. Why oh why?

The counter people were kind enough to answer my questions. They said that Mr. Lopez , the franchise holder, has already turned over the operations of McDo Lacson to its mother company effective February 2008. And since Mr. Lopez owned the Happy Meal Collection, he took it all with him.

Why give up the franchise? They said he wanted to spend more time with his family. But that doesn't mean he's out of the food business scene, he's bringing another big thing to Bacolod as he did with McDo in the 90s.

Watch out for the opening of Starbucks in August!

Follow the link >>>Cool Post on the Happy Meal Museum by a fellow Bacolodnon!