Expressing my Outrage

Was watching the evening news today. If you're from the Philippines, you should be familiar with the Subic Rape case. Now for those unfamiliar with this case, this is about a Filipina who was raped by an American serviceman back in 2006. The reason for my outrage is that it seems that the American serviceman who was convicted in our courts got acquitted. Not only acquitted, but was able to slip away from Philippine soil without a trace.

My outrage comes from the fact that this person may not have been in custody at the US Embassy as we were all led to believe. There was even a press statement with the photograph of this person with a known Philippine official verifying that he is still in the Philippines. The US government refused to turn him over to be incarcerated in our jails when he was first convicted in 2006.

When the press checked our aiports and immigration, they were not able to find any documentation that the said American serviceman left the Philippines yesterday as soon as the American consulate was able to verify that he was indeed acquitted, as they claim.

I feel sad that our own government cannot control people like these just because he is an American and that holding him accountable will sever ties with the American government. I express my outrage for those rape victims and women exploited by foreigners because they are poor. Not only was the filipina victim raped, but so was our justice system and the public trust. We trusted the word given by the American consulate here in Manila that the person was still in their custody. Now how can they explain that the person has no documentation that he left the Philippines? Does this mean that being an American, they can just come and go as they please?

First there was Spam, Now comes BACN

Yep, you've read it right. Spam and BACN. No, I've not misspelled bacon and I'm not referring to food here. BACN is the new technical term for those marketing emails that gets to your inbox. Spam is when you get unsolicited emails that flood your inbox and may contain harmful files.

Now with BACN, you subscribe to these spam emails. It is when you fill out a form or join a forum or website that you will subscribe to a newsletter or agree to receive updates. It's those small checkboxes usually at the bottom of the registration page that you either disregard or unclick in order not to receive any marketing emails.

Basically they're both marketing or advertisement emails, the only difference is how it gets to your inbox. With spam, the advertising companies pays another third party company to get a list of email addresses that they can use. With BACN, you submit your email address to the advertising company by subscribing to a service or registering.

Writer's Block

Am supposed to finish a ten page article that is due tomorrow evening but nothing seems to make sense with the words that I am typing. Allow me to blame it on the pain that I have endured during my dentist appointment and I am now suffering from post traumatic stress. Just want to blame someone (or something) for my inadequacy to write. ^_^

Disappointed with my Dentist

It's been some years since I last visited a dentist. I just found a dentist who holds her clinic next to the clinic of my mothers' cardiologist.She was endorsed by my health care plan provider so I set up an appointment. I asked to have a simple teeth cleaning and the doctor examined my enamels.

The dentist decided to fix my front teeth. Now I have two front teeth that already have ceramic fillings. These teeth fillings were made by a cute dentist thirteen years ago and was crafted so beautifully that no one ever guessed that there are fillings on my front teeth.She was able to point out a small dot of black in between my teeth that had the fillings and said that these also needed to be fixed. I agreed. I asked what kind of filling she would use, she replied that she would use the one that is the same color of my teeth.

So I sat there for an hour with her drilling away at my front teeth, enduring the pain. My pain treshold is quite low and I had to ask her to stop quite a few times. When she announced that she was finished, I sighed with relief and was ready to run out of the dentists office. But something made me sit for another thirty minutes in that dentist chair.

When I closed my mouth it was nothing like the ones that I had thriteen years ago. I could not close or bite because the fillings were too thick. The dentist knew immediately what was wrong and asked me to sit back while she tried to fix it. Many times she asked me to bite, gnash, bite, gnash. In my frustration and pain, I just said that it was ok and went out in order to end my painful ordeal.

Looking back, the dentist who made my teeth fillings thirteen years ago was incomparable with the dentist that I visited today. I no longer know his name, but if I did, surely I would go back to his dental office and have him do whatever needs to be done with my teeth. He drilled almost half of one tooth, but as far as I can recall there was little or no pain and the work that he did was so great that it looked as if it was not a teeth filling but part of real teeth. And they were very smooth.

Now when I run my tongue over the teeth that have the new fillings, they are rough. When I got home, I examined them closely and I could see the bump of the fillings protuding from my teeth. Worst of all, I had to pay this dentist P1200 for her work on top of my dental insurance.

So for those who have regular dentists who do great jobs on your teeth, always remember their name, their clinic, and their number in case you need to have work done on your teeth again. It was a mistake on my part not to get a regular dentist. Now I have to pay the price for my folly.

Where to live?

Because I've quit my job recently to take care of my mother who is old and sick, I may have to give up my house. I have failed paying for the mortgage these past few months, not because I don't have the money to pay, but because I want to have a certain amount in my bank account in case of any medical emergency for my mom. I don't want to go through the same stress two years ago where I had nothing in my bank and she got sick. The company I was working for then could not enroll her as my medical insurance dependent because she was overage.

I live in a quiet village just a few kilometers away from the city. I chose to live here because i was sick of the noise and dirt and pollution of the city. It's a bit rustic and public transportation can be difficult sometimes, but it has been my haven for the past three years.

My brother is now urging me to get a condo unit within the city area. But I don't want to. I still prefer a small house or townhouse where I can do a little gardening and can paint my walls purple if I want to.

Searching for the right one

I may have mentioned in my first blog entry that I started writing again about four months ago. This was my prelude to resigning from my stressful night job as a call center agent. So far, the sites that I have joined as a freelance writer were not scams and they were able to pay me. But the rates are really low and they were only good for reloading my internet prepaid account.

Now I am looking for freelance writing sites that can give me a decent amount of money. Again, not too much but enough for me to survive. I know that my writing skills right now may be poor, but I do know that I can write articles and essays that are informative with little or no grammar issues.

I don't want to resort to getting another night job as a call center agent. Don't get me wrong. I respect and hold in high regard fellow call center agents who brave late night shifts and not so good callers. It's just that I am no longer as young as I used to and my health is failing me as I worked night shifts.

I hope that I can find the right writing site. Before my patience (and funds LOL) run out.

I'm Gonna be Writing my Blog

I quit working a few weeks ago and am now spending most of my time at home, taking care of my mom. Since she is a certified couch potato and is constantly glued to the TV set, I get to watch whatever it is that she is watching.

When I was working nights, I never paid attention to what was being said or shown on TV. For me it was a comfortable noise to keep me awake and drag my butt out of the house and go to work. But I guess when you're not doing anything, you tend to notice almost everything that gets said and done on TV.

I love watching cooking shows. But recently I've noticed that the hosts or chefs of these cooking shows have a phrase or word that they love so much. In fact, they cannot start cooking without uttering this word. It seems to be a staple in their cooking. Nope it's not a gastronomical term that you have to google. The word is....GONNA.

I've no problem with chefs speaking in our native tongue. But when they start saying the word gonna, my mind tries to dissect what they are trying to say. I can't claim that my English grammar is perfect. But you will never hear me say (or write) the word gonna or use it in a sentence. In fact this chef starts her show by saying," We're gonna start cooking."

I don't know if these writing shows have writers who could at least make sure that the grammar of their hosts is correct. But having these chefs use the word gonna does not make me stop watching their cooking shows.

This is all for today. Cause I'm gonna start on another article. LOL.

Created my Blog...finally!

I'm no stranger to the internet world. In fact I've been surfing the net since 1999. I am still able to use my first yahoo email id. But I have never created a blog. Friends keep asking me if I have a blog, and when I tell them that I have not created one, they never believe me.

I guess it's because they know that I love writing. It's a way to keep my sanity intact. I am currently earning dimes and pennies from my freelance writing gigs. I know it's not much, but it will be enough to sustain my internet connection bill.

First entry. Whew.