jun.anteola

…can I tell you a story about a young couple who were celebrating a wedding anniversary?They were poor in terms of material wealth and possessions, but were rich in love. On that special day, they both wanted to give each other gifts.

Desperate for cash, the husband pawned his old cherished wristwatch so he could buy his wife a nice hairbrush. The wife, without telling her husband, had her long silky black hair cut, which she then sold to a wig maker, to buy her man a nice watch strap.

Imagine the surprise when each of them realized how much the other had SELFLESSLY sacrificed something he/she holds dear just to make the other happy.

The first comment came from emperorbananaketchup, though, over an article on scantily dressed women.

” … faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love. ”

- 1 Corinthians 13: 13

May we remember and live the true meaning and spirit of Christmas… love: for our fellow men, for our country, and for God.

Let us greet the New Year filled with hope and faith in what we can do, as we face the challenges of our time.

Have a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!!!

I’ve long been tagged by bluep, to show my desktop to the rest of the blogosphere (or to the very few who patiently see this blog every once in a while). Would you believe, I got to learn (finally!) how to properly do a screen capture through it? I was aware of the Print Screen key and what it’s supposed to do, but I am used to the right-click and choose a function from the drop-down menu system, and I couldn’t find one telling me to copy and paste to a graphics program. I even tried on different keyboards, thinking mine wasn’t working, and hoping it will do the trick. Oh, I feel so old and tech challenged!

So here is…

Nothing much to see really, just a few icons of my most used programs and files (organized in folders), and a picture of Palawan’s pristine water. Who’d want to clutter up and spoil the view anyway? I change screensavers often, but I’m almost always drawn to water scenes such as this.

Back to the game. Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.

You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

For MAC users: Press [ Apple] [ Ctrl ] [ Shift ] and [ 3 ]

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants. Continue reading this entry »

It’s been a week since my last entry, and before I lose momentum again, I’d better post something. It’s not the lack of material to write about, for ideas come in unexpected times and places. But I couldn’t be bothered to stop and jot them down, which I often regret when my WordPress page nags me to type something… anything.

Blogging can be a demanding commitment, too. If only because readership stats taking a steady dive isn’t a pleasant thing to see. Even if I had earlier on told myself that it’s mainly for leisure, and that I can’t be pressured. I lost much opportunity for link love when I failed to join the recently concluded Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007. I got nominations from Jim and Massa P, and hadn’t procrastination set in, could have had fun at least. I can never be at par with those who won, but being in the list on its first two weeks was exciting, and being recognized by two of my most favored bloggers was gratifying.

The piled up memes, tag games and invitation posts, are another story. Getting them sure gets me worked up. But putting ideas into writing needed more push. I guess I should have paid more attention in Mrs. Andoy’s Journalism class. And Mrs. Gamotin’s S-V, S-V-O, S-V-IO-O chant shouldn’t have been boring! And maybe, I shouldn’t aim so much to impress.

Regretful and repentant, I’m back.

The title is inspired by a phrase found in a submitted article at Nakanampucha!

“Circle, circle, dot, dot, now you have a cootie shot!”

A couple of lady friends literally dragged me into buying them each a pair of rubber thongs - cheap imitation of Havaianas. I couldn’t complain. A pair costs only P37.50 and because the request came from two trendy, label-conscious people who profess to shopping as a vocation and could actually afford the real thing, I was too happy to indulge.

But there’s a snag. They insisted that I buy for myself, too. Fine.

But jusnapaynepol! All had floral insoles! In bright, sunshiny yellow, Barbie pink, and scarlet that screams harlot! So they found for me a pair with black straps. Still floral insoles. And the sizes made it obvious that these were for daintier feet. The pair that fit me was a size 10, and I’m at least a size 6 at the men’s department.

“Do I really have to get them?” “Yes! Others have friendship bracelets, we have friendship sandals! Oooohhh… I can’t wait for the three of us to show these to the rest, on our next [dental society] meeting!”.

This followed by thrilled, NO, I’d say disturbing giggles.

Arrrrggghh… women.

“Circle, circle, square, square, now you have it everywhere…”

Beautiful women, who doesn’t like them? Our opinions of beauty may differ just as much as each woman is unique from the other, but each concept is as valid and convincing as anyone would want us to believe. How do we define the beauty of women? And how is one to present it so that it gets the admiration it is due?

Karl Bang was born in Shanghai and grew up with the traditional art of the Chinese, but was also trained in the European technique. This fusion of styles is much evident in his art - in the fluidity of line, in employing symbolism and hidden messages, and in the use of patterns characteristically Asian, and in the realism and expression of the western counterpart - making for a unique feel to his work. Which makes it universally appreciated.

But more than this, I am most impressed by the beauty of his favorite theme - women, and the way he shows them. Each work has a busy backdrop, having elements which could easily compete with, if not take away one’s attention from, the central subject. But no, they in fact emphasize, enhance, give meaning, animate and tell her story. These women appear feminine, gentle, caring, engaging, assured, powerful. And beautiful.

Click on the picture to see my collection of these beauties, gathered from various sources online.

I find myself spending even more time in front of the computer nowadays. No, not to do my usual research. Not to chat with friends and family. Not to update my blog. Not even killing time with novel, but useless and degenerative exercises I had earlier blogged about.

Not since I stumbled upon, uhh… StumbleUpon!. It’s just what it promises to be. A downloadable toolbar which gives one the pleasure of surfing through the best internet content recommended and submitted by other users. What’s even better is that we get to suit these random searches according to our preferences. Only pages we care to see, and hope to… yes, stumble upon.

…came across this site through the Green Living blog, and although I may not be able to find time for it soon, I’d like to have my own website and be able to say I made it myself. Much of the language in computer tech are alien to me, as is much of what is shared in the site but I’m sure I’d be able to use them some day. It should be useful and informative for you who are more advanced at this.

Recently I’ve been passing time over sleepless nights by learning how to make themes, or skins to some, for my Sony Ericsson phone. Which is fun actually, and isn’t doing much help for my insomnia. I get to share them too and check whether people appreciate my random streaks of creative genius. I use the free themes creator software from Lasyk, and upload them there and on Zedge.

It’s surprising how even up to now, Christmas way over, people are still interested in a Christmas lantern theme I made. But my personal favorites, below, aren’t left behind on the download counter.