Coughing and Sneezing this Christmas

The cold weather’s giving me sickness. Even if there is El Niño occurring in the country (and it was forecasted to continue till August of next year, thus aggravating the problem of water supply in the Metro), it still feels cold. Strange enough for me. I was really expecting Christmas to be warm so that I wouldn’t have to wear thick layers of clothing and shiver and sneeze while trying to survive arctic-like climate. But for now, I have the coughs and the colds.

I don’t know how I got these sicknesses. I should be immune to them, by the way. My immune system is so strong that I could get infected by bird flu and live. No, that’s a joke. Anyway, I have no idea how the viruses came to effect in my body. Besides, I eat plenty of healthy foods, disinfect my body often (I hate seeing dirt on my skin), and run a lot. So that means my immune system should be strong enough to fight off most of the bad bacteria and viruses that are threatening to kill me off. To my dismay (and it’s a fact of life), I found out that there are viruses and germs that are able to pass and slip through the defense systems of the body and infect the system. To sum up, we will still catch diseases even with the resistance-building foods and supplements available in the market.

Oh, and Christmas is closer than I thought. Already I see Christmas decorations and lights in every other house in the blocks. As well as people who are coughing and sneezing amidst the air of Christmas around.

Happy Holidays, then.

Omighod! I'm not happy enough! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Just taken the Happiness Test, and I'm so dismayed with the result. Anyway, to sum this up, I'm below the Philippines' line of happiness, which means, the mean score of the Philippines in the Happy Planet Index. Thankfully, I'm above the worldwide average, but not in the ideal average.

Here's the details of my test.

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Happy Planet Index

Your personal Happy Planet Index (HPI) is 51.8, which is similar to that of countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina or Timor-Leste. Not bad. This is above the world average of 46, but still below the target value of 83, so there is more you can do to improve your health and well-being, or reduce your environmental impact. Your score is below that of your country, 59.2. Below is a breakdown of the various components that make up your HPI score.
You:	51.8
Average:	43.2 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Life Expectancy Congratulations. Your life expectancy is above average for your gender and country. Whether it's eating well, not smoking, getting regular exercise, or just being lucky enough to have the right genes, you're doing something right. However, nobody's perfect and we could all improve our health a little! Aside from getting all the above bits of your lifestyle right, there are some more surprising factors that can influence your life expect - for example, giving up your car, avoiding living alone, moving out of the city or shrugging off stress.
You:	69.7
Average:	80.8 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Ecological Footprint Your ecological footprint is 2.28 global hectares, or 1.27 planets. This is equivalent to the average in countries such as Suriname, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Lebanon. Your ecological footprint is greater than the average for the country you live in. If you live in a country with large economic inequalities, do note that this might be the case even if you are environmentally aware and trying to reduce your footprint, as others in your country might be living in very different circumstances. For example, Brazil's mean footprint of 2.2 g ha does not distinguish between the very low consumption lives of tribes in the Amazon, and those of people living Western-style lives in the big cities, whose personal footprints will inevitably be much higher. You are using between one and one and a half times your share of the planet's resources (assuming no resources are put aside for other species). This is below average for industrialised countries, typical instead of people in many middle income countries such as Jamaica. The world average is 2.2 g ha. For those living in industrialised countries: you are probably already aware of your resource use, and act considerately. Knocking those last few deci-hectares of your footprint is, we know, very tricky. For people in the west, the most effective steps to take include the following: Park away your car for when you absolutely need it. Why not climb onto your bike, or the bus? 2-wheels good, 4-wheels bad (unless they're big, bus wheels, of course!) Cut down on meat. Depending on the animal you're eating and what it's been fed, it could be taking up to 16 pounds of crop feed from the fields to get 1 pound of meat into the supermarket. Of course, meat is not the only issue at hand. If your protein-rich vegan diet is being imported from the other side of the world, that's not too good for your footprint either. Perhaps the most guaranteed, but also most painful, way to reduce your footprint is to cut down on flights. For example, flying from London to Athens and back adds 0.77 g ha to your footprint - more than people in many countries use over an entire year.
You:	2.28
Average:	5.42 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Life Satisfaction You reported a life satisfaction of 7, which is about average for many Western countries, including the UK, Spain and Italy. Worldwide, 58% of respondents in the World Values Survey reported a life satisfaction of 7 or lower.
You:	7
Average:	6.74 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Well-being The new economics foundation (nef) recognises that there's more to life than feeling good, which is why our model for well-being is based on four domains – personal feelings, personal functionings, social feelings and social functionings. 'Feelings' refers to your attitude to the way you, your future and society are. 'Functionings' looks at whether you have the opportunities to do the things that bring you well-being. Like with life satisfaction, a score of 5 is theoretically the middle score, but, given the way most people respond to surveys, is below average.
Personal Feelings In this online questionnaire, personal feelings are assessed with two questions – one testing your optimism and one testing your self-esteem. You have some anxieties about the future or yourself which are affecting your overall well-being. These are not too severe though...
You:	5.05
Average:	6.03 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Personal Functionings In this online questionnaire personal functionings are assessed with five questions – two evaluating your subjective opinion on your health and how activity you are, the other three testing you for feelings of autonomy, purpose and worth. You are healthy and overall feel autonomous, purposeful and able to demonstrate your abilities to others.
You:	5.97
Average:	6.14 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Social Feelings In this online questionnaire social feelings are assessed with four questions – three assessing your opinion of your community, whilst the last looks at personal relationships. You have a strong sense of trust and belonging in your community and a happy personal life.
You:	5.81
Average:	5.67 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]
Social Functionings In this online questionnaire social functionings are assessed with four questions – two assessing your job / studies, one your free time, and one your community participation. If you did not respond to the work / study questions, your score is judged purely on the other two aspects. Your job / course is not really allowing you to function socially in the way that you wish. Either it is very dull and unrewarding, or it is very stressful, leaving you little time to do the things you enjoy - or a bit of both! Are they any ways you could make it a little better for you? Alternatively, one way to relieve the boredom of work, can be to find other focuses of interest. Many take up voluntary work to offer them an alternative purpose.
You:	4.61
Average:	5.59 [Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

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Well, maybe is the time for me to be happy more often. No, wait. That would kill me.

Today is December 1

Well, it's the start of the cold season already. Now it's the start of the 24-day wait for Christmas. And gaawd, there is something in Christmas that I hate. No, not that Jesus was born on this day. It's something the people do during this holiday season that I hate. And I'll just post that later on when my mind is set.

Speaking of Christmas, I already see people hanging Christmas decor on their houses. And on every other block I see lights, trees... and Santa Clauses? (Yeah, they really believe that Santa's gonna go down their chimneys to send out gifts to children when, in fact, we've got no chimneys here.) Anyway, the economy this year, and it would be great if everyone would wish for a bountiful 2007.

And about the storm Reming (Int'l 'Durian'), well, it didn't really hit the Metro, but it did hit the rest of Luzon, and fairly badly at that.

Anyway, I'll have to do other things now.

I see dead, people

I know it's kind of a bad thing to write bad and pessimistic stuff, specifically: depressing topics; and I know this could lead to my self destruction. But then I wouldn't have anything to write about and, worse, I wouldn't be blogging at all. So I'll just go on hounding you (and myself) of heinous things. Specifically: pointless stuff.

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I draw of people being tortured to their deaths. I don't know. I've been drawing them since the puppy of ours died. No, I'm not fixated on death, and I'm not a sadist, masochist, or both. It's just..., well, I just draw of them. I don't know why.

I didn't know I could actually draw. Even if it was by accident, I was shocked at the fact that I could draw. I usually draw of things like those drafters and architects usually draw: grid lines, blocks, house plans (how I got into planning places for people to live in, I have no idea). Now I actually draw of cornfields, grasslands, mountains, oceans, my own bedroom (like I said, I don't know). Though they will never match the brilliance of the most prominent artists here and then, I still consider them works of art, even if it was drawn on the cheap.

Anyway, I find strange the fact that I'm drawing of death. In fact, I love life, and I'll refuse to leave my childhood when I finish college (I fear of getting old). But then we must accept the reality that life continues, everything goes, and all things living and breathing must cease to exist at a certain point of life, including us humans. I might want to live a thousand years more so that I could prove that we're still millenia (millenias?) from extinction, but no-one could make it possible because we hold no control of life. Pardon the digression. Not that I'm aspiring to be immortal by way of a ghost, spirit or whatever paranormal entity who died a violent death, but sometimes I see myself being the one tortured to death. An absurd experience. I don't really want to think nor act of it. But until the fixation is gone I shall never stop of drawing things that make people shiver and human rights activists anger (huh?).

What have I been drawing, you might ask. Well, as I have examined the things that I have created, they're mostly made of stuff from history Guillotines, garrotes, gallows, drowning, burning at the stake, stoning, throat-cutting, gun shots, among others. The rest of the drawings I couldn't explain even a little because it features strange ways of flagellation and self-torture (Again, I disclaim any ideas of sadism, masochism, or both).

I've been obsessed with death for too long, too much, too late (because, I think this twitch should've happened before Halloween, not before Christmas). I should rest, lest my soul taken. Wish I live the rest of the day.

coming and going... (a tribute to our pet)

We waited anxiously for your arrival. Even before we saw you we already think of things that we should do with you. What games should we play? What Clothes should you wear? What do you look like? We had fun.

And then you arrived. We screamed with joy as you set foot. You ran around the house wildly. You looked at your new home. You literally liked your new masters... So much that your first act in the house: you peed on the floor.

Well, long story. On the first month if your stay you peed and pooped, peed and pooped, ped and pooped. But that doesn't matter. All dogs do that, anyway.

Then, naming you. We were in a little trouble trying to give you a name. You certainly looked like a female when, technically, you're a male. So we have thought of giving you a girl-ish name. Unfortunately the plan didn't pushed through and, instead, resorted to giving you a name of a chinese (?) animal, since you looked like them except for the spots, which are brown.

Anyway, we had totally enjoyable moments with you. We dressed you up with clothes that we know wouldn't fit you and could cause our untimely coughing because of your hair. We photographed your cute little face. We made pointlessness to you. Even if it was nonesense, you were great entertainment value for us.

I really thought our happy relationships with you would go on...

... But things must change, then.

One day, unexpectedly, you started getting sick. You lie on the floor. You didn't want to eat. You start peeing, pooping, vomiting... blood. I don't know why.

We wanted to save you then. But all is lost. Everything failed. We started to cry.

We looked at your frail and dying body and, before we knew it, you returned to... Him...

That's the last we heard of you.

Our mother says you were not worthy for us so He made you die. Our (self-important) father recommended that we'd better not grieve on you, and insisted that we look into our futures instead.

So we forget you...

But then..., I sitll miss you.

In Loving Memory of Our Beloved Puppy, Panda.
May 23, 2006 - November 17, 2006

Things I found out from the educational trips I have joined during my high school years

1. They always tell us to "always follow the S.O.Ps (standard operating procedures) or else, get scolded by your teachers or, worse, the principal of your school."

sublist: the standard operating procedures
a. you cannot eat inside the bus, unless you share your food to others.
b. always check your seatmate for anything. he/she might have lost something, or maybe your seatmate might have been lost somewhere.
c. do not stand up while the bus is rolling. your head might hit someone else's.
d. always latch tight to your valuables, lest you get surrounded by gang thieves.

2. You will always visit the birthplace of your national hero. I noticed this, even in my elementary years: I always see Calamba, Laguna as our itinerary. There is something about Jose Rizal that convinces every Filipinos that he will be around with us for generations to come.

3. All places have great entertainment value, if not educational value or both.

4. Celebrity sightings are rare collectors item during a field trip. (Unfortunately, I didn't see any prominent personalities going on vacation.)

5. Things can get nasty if the bus runs through bumps on the road.

6. Better not join if you usually get sick on the road.

Damn the block...

Oh, great. The block struck again. Just as I was about to start a new babble that huge cube exploded right beside my brain. Now what? I Can't Get A Single Thought Out.

Anyway, my new posts are in the process of being written. Two of them includes: what happened to my educational field trip that was hell for my feet, and thoughts about the upcoming holiday that is Christmas.

Until then. I shall rest for a while so I could melt off the cerebral fat deposits.

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For the people reading on multiply, I would appreciate if you read my blog via my blogger website. Everything you see on my blog on multiply are just mirrors from my original blog. here you go: http://amnip.blogspot.com/