Cold Thursday...

Current Mood: Tired.. Just got home.
Song Playing: Kiss Me Through The Phone

A cold evening dear bloggers! I just went out earlier with my brother to Makati to visit some friends and of course, have a date with him. :) Well, it's my chance to bond more personally with my brother while doing our usual mall thingies. :)

Today's the last day of the month of April- yup, it marks the end of the summer season as well. Most people have awaited for this day, simply because it's pay day. I guess that explains the traffic beside from the rain thingy as a reason, haha!

I have some things to share with you, so permit me to fire them away.

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Victorina, the owner of the blog donavictorina.com will be hosting the Boracay Bloggers Summer Encounter for this year. This will be from today till' tomorrow, May 1. Yep, you still have a chance to be a part of this rare get together of Pinoy Bloggers.

Aside from the party stuff, this get together will also feature some forums and discussions with regards to some blogger issues and the like.

Too bad I'm unable to join this fun event. And oh, Brian Gorell will be there as well. :)

This event is sponsored by Philips.

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Speaking of Dona Victorina, I believe she and Brian Gorell are asking the help of everyone to locate the whereabouts of his ex-boyfriend and known scammer Dj Montano.

Let us recall everything. Dj Montano took away almost all of Brian Gorell's life savings and left him with nothing. He eventually fled to USA because of disgrace. It was a much publicized issue back then. It took off my goat when I've seen Dj Montano being interviewed for TV claiming that he already paid Gorell everything that he took, which obviously, is a lie in the first place. I was irate back then for what he has done to Gorell. Brian's just a good guy striving for his tomorrow, and Dj blatantly destroyed that.

Well, we have to admire Brian Gorell for his brave move to stand up above all these obstacles and become a better person. It was all beautiful.

Well, looks like this issue will now reach its eventual conclusion soon enough.. I hope. Brian deserves justice for all the scars that Dj inflicted him. He suffered so much already, and I think that's enough. He deserves to be on the track once again and walk straight towards his desired tomorrow.

I pity Dj Montano. He's worthless. Well, let us leave his fate to the Divine Omnipotence. HE knows what he truly deserves after all. Only HIM..

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This was funny. I got this news from cjandsuzy.com's Daily Adobo segment. Speaking of Cj and Suzy, I've heard that Suzy left Magic 89.9 yesterday. Aww.. Anyway, let's just be glad for her. :)

Moving on with the matter at hand, this news involves an incident in a Walmart Branch at Florida wherein a consumer bought something unexpected than a Nintendo DS.

Here, take a read:

A teen in florida got a brand new Nintendo DS for his birthday. He opened the package and he was rocked. The confused teen found a bunch of stones rolled up in Chinese newspaper in place of the popular handheld.

"When he opened it, he was pulling the seal off, my sister-in-law carries a pocket knife and she opened it and that's when he pulled it out and it was Chinese newspaper and a bunch of rocks," she explained.

The troubling discovery prompted the Florida woman to contact the local Wal-Mart where she bought the curious box and complain, but reportedly workers there told her it wasn't their problem and that she should contact Nintendo instead. Of course, Nintendo told her roughly the same thing, leaving mother and son with a $138 box of rocks.

Nintendo did give the mother and child a refund and $20 more to make up for the incedent.

God, what's with Walmart's products? From what I've read, all of their branches will be closing come May 8 because of the financial crisis.

Actually, there are a lot of complaints involving Walmart. These complaints involve a PSP Memory Stick full of porn stuff, expired canned goods and the like. My, my. So much for this financial recession.

How would you defend yourself from all these Walmart this last time?

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This week's American Idol Elimination Night was a shocker, with Kris, Matt and idol favorite Adam Lambert joining the bottom three.

Despite a great performance, Adam was struck by a setback as Ryan told him that he's a part of the bottom group. It was completely shocking. Guess he's unable to escape the grip of the Feeling Good curse doesn't it?

Anyway, the good thing is, Adam was safe.. At least for the time being. This proves that no one's truly safe in AI. Yep, as you guessed it, Matt was eliminated. He was also unable to have the judges' save option.

So much for this week's AI. Gotta wait for next week, wherein they'll be performing rock and roll hits, which gives Adam Lambert the edge over his fellow Idol Hopefuls. Well, I have to say, things are becoming more interesting as AI nears its eventual finale.

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Alright, that's it for today's post. Bye! :)

Mellow Wednesday...

I love my new look. :)

Current Mood: Nostalgic
Song Playing: If You're Gone by Matchbox Twenty

Hello everyone! As you see, it's raining like frenzy again, as opposed to the fine cloudy weather that we've had yesterday. Well, I guess that helped a lot in nurturing my nostalgic mood for this day, haha!

So much for my short hair, haha! My Twitter friends asked me about this new look of mine and why I decided on cutting my hair like this. I just replied, "Don't you love it when things are new?"

For the record people, I'm lovin' how I look right now. :)

You might wonder: why the title of this post is Mellow Wednesday? Well, let's just say that I've had a ton of realizations and nostalgic rundowns today. Shall we discuss some of those?

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My Puffy Yuri shared something with me about his female best friend. He told me that she's downright depressed, and that she's feeling so much hopeless because of her recent breakup with her boyfriend.

Thinking (probably) that I can be trusted, he shared to me the whole story about it. Her boyfriend, according to her, was pretty much unable to hold on with her mood swings, plus her assumption that after all, he did not loved her at all. She told him that he was the one who initiated the breakup. He sounded glad pa daw in his own part according to her. Another thing is, he told me about those pivotal moments that his best friend shared with him: the times wherein her boyfriend hurt her the most.

To sum it all up, her best friend was given a false promise by his boyfriend.

I suddenly felt sorry for her. I mean, my own breakup with Rei pales in comparison with this one. It was a cruel breakup. No proper closure occurred between the two of them. It was so wrong.

I know I've got no dibs about her best friend, but the thing is I'm also a girl, and I've felt how much pain she endures as of late.

So much for fake promises. I hate it whenever somebody doesn't have the guts to fulfill his/her promise. I'll understand if he/she has a proper reason to validate it but the fact is, why do you have to give a promise if you couldn't fulfill that anyway? Yah, you got me. I really DO believe in promises.

What irates me is the fact that her boyfriend's numb enough to see how she feels right now and how much she felt for him. Instead of returning the favor, he replied with ample insecurities, lies and the like.

I always believe in this three-way rule:
1. Once is enough. You've just been tempted/too assuming, I'll forgive you.
2. Twice is too much. I know you've realized how much you've made it hard/learned your lesson. I'll stiil acknowledge you.
3. Seriously? Stop fooling around mister. Get the f*** out of my life.

Tolerance is the answer. We must learn the act of forgiving and tolerating what is must. We don't need to act on impulse or emotion and forgive somebody right away. We must let self-respect exist within us, and realize that we deserve to be released from this cage of pain and be happy enough. I guess it's time we let go of that certain stupidity and tell him, "Hey, I'm done with all this crap."

The way I see it, due to her pain right now, she was unable to let go of the pain slowly and actuate the third step above. It wasn't easy for her I guess, and I understand that. I just hope that she'll be able to stand up above all these and finally move on, after all and that.

Of course, the best way through all these, is PRAYER. I'm pretty sure HE knows what is best for you.

Goodluck, Yuri's Buddy!

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I have 2 years left to pursue in my college life, yey! Yup, everything's nearing at its eventual conclusion. It made me wonder what the future's in store for me. Probably, it'll be all good, but still we can't just presume that easily. Life is a road full of twists and turns. You'll never know how it'll all wind up for you.

Fact is, I'm not getting any younger. We don't need to sit back, relax so much and say, "Nah, it's too early for me to worry about that." Have it this way: as we enter this slow transition from youth to early adulthood, we are slowly being given responsibilities that we need to carry out and fulfill prior to attaining early adulthood. Most of those responsibilities connect to that of our goals. That is why we need to be aware enough of those tasks in order to secure a seat within that eventual finish life after youth/college. It's all quite relative.

Let us also be aware of the fact that everything relies on NOW. Again, we have no idea how it'll all wind up tomorrow, the next day, and so forth. We need to act now and be sure enough of what we do want in life. There's no tomorrow for that one, rather the time for that is NOW. We're not small kids anymore to just play around and sit back while watching how the adults do their thing. We are slowly nearing that same stage, and if we just stop on moving forward, I'm afraid it'll be all over for you.

Best of luck to my 2 remaining years as a Bedan. :)

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That's it for today. Hope you'll continue following my blog. This is Melissa signing off. Bye!

Techie Review: My New Phone: Nokia N96 :)

As I've told everyone in yesterday's blog post, I bought myself a new Nokia mobile phone- the N96. Well, my reason for buying this phone was because I was so curious with its functions and why most of these tech reviewers like it. So, this one's gonna be quick. :)

The Nokia N96 is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode portable multimedia computer supporting EGSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100 HSDPA, WLAN and DVB-H Video.

With a 2.8-inch screen, 16GB of internal memory and support for video in a wide range of formats, the dual-sliding N96 will offer a DVB-H TV tuner for live TV broadcasting in select markets.

The Nokia N96 supports common video formats including MPEG4, Windows Media Video and Flash, while transferring and accessing videos is fast with a USB 2.0 connection and WLAN and HSDPA support.

The storage capacity of the Nokia N96 can be further expanded with an optional microSD card, such as the new Nokia 8GB microSDHC card which increases the available memory of the Nokia N96 to an impressive total of 24GB.

In order for owners to best watch all that TV, the Nokia N96 features a “kickstand” on the back cover that allows for hands-free viewing. The N96 also features media keys, a 3.5mm headphone connector and built-in 3D stereo speakers.

In addition to the video side of things, there’s the Nokia Maps application with AGPS, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, flash and video light and video capture.

However, some of the consumers were turned off by these negative points regarding the phone:

Negative

• CPU: N96 has dual ARM9 264MHz with no floating point instructions (N95 has dual ARM11 332Mhz with vector floating point)
• N96 has 8x image digital zoom and 4x video digital zoom (while N95 has 20x digital zoom and 8x video digital zoom)
• Same battery as original N95 (950 mAh), but the N96 reportedly has a much better battery life using the same battery (Nokia N95 8GB has 1200 mAh)
• No Hardware 3D graphics accelerator for N96
• No infrared port
• N95 classic has lens cover and much more qualitative shutter (N95 8G/N96 don't have this feature)
• No manually selected MMS messaging mode. If you write a long text message it will automatically select the MMS mode which could stop the recipient from receiving the message if they do not have MMS set up on their handset. (A Nokia USA employee stated that there is an update in the works to fix this very soon) It's assumed that this automatic selection of MMS mode is due to Nokia's Smart Connectivity)
• VoIP 2.1 support for WLAN and Cellular. However, the built-in VoIP client from N95 which allowed the end-user to make internet calls directly without installing any additional software has been removed from N96. The VoIP API which can be used by software developers in their applications, can still be used though. Of course third party VoIP applications are often neither as reliable, nor as flexible as the built-in one. This has changed recently with [www.nimbuzz.com/ Nimbuzz] a client that works better than any inbuilt software, so this is no longer a drawback with the n96.
• The pencil button that allows you to mark/unmark items and highlight text is not included. But this action can still be done however, by pressing and holding down the # key'.

Well, don't worry though. There are a lot of affirming specifics that places N96 on top of its predecessor:

• Dual-LED camera flash (single LED in the N95 8G)
• New audio DSP
• Longer music playback time (14 hrs) and video playback time (6 hrs)
• Windows Media WMV9 video codec added
• Hardware acceleration for video codecs for H.264 and WMV
• Mobile TV DVB-H 1.0 receiver built in
• S60 3rd Edition is upgraded from Feature Pack 1 to Feature Pack 2
• Symbian OS upgraded from version 9.2 to 9.3
• The Java ME engine is upgraded from MIDP 2.0 to MIDP 2.1
• User data is preserved when upgrading firmware (this feature is also present on the N95-2 as v21 installs UDP base files)
• Open C/C++ support
• New QuickOffice application opens all types of Microsoft Office files^{[citation needed]}
• New version of Nokia Video Centre (show & edit videos)
• New release of Nokia Experience software
• Micro 2.0 Hi-Speed USB (write 3 Mbit/s, read 4.1 Mbit/s - N95 8GB use full-speed USB)
• MicroSD memory card slot (as in original N95, while N95 8GB has no card slot)
• RSS 2.1 Reader
• FM radio upgraded with RDS
• N96 is a dual-band HSDPA (900 and 2100MHz, while N95 was a single band 2100MHz)
• No need to open the slide for optimal GPS reception
• Nokia N96 has VGA front camera (N95 8G has CIF)
• Video Flash light
• Upgraded Bluetooth stereo audio
• FOTA (Firmware Over the Air)
• OMA E-mail Notification v1.0
• OMA Device Management v1.2
• OpenGL ES 1.1 plugin
• Dual Transfer Mode (MSC 11)
• Support SPP Bluetooth profiles

In order not to keep the phone's abilities vague, let me give a rundown of its main specifics aside from those mentioned above:

• Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• Dual band UMTS / HSDPA: UMTS 900 / 2100 N96-1 (RM-247, Global), UMTS 850 / 1900 N96-3 (RM-247, Global), no UMTS N96 (RM-297, PR China)
• HSDPA and Wi-Fi access (RM-297 variant (PR China only) does not have WCDMA, WLAN and DVB-H)
• DVB-H Mobile TV (network-dependent feature)
• A-GPS Navigation using Nokia Maps, map data fetched using 3G or downloaded over the Internet and transferred to the phone over USB
• Access to Ovi
• Instant upload to Flickr, Vox, Yahoo! and Google
• Full xHTML, HTML, RSS reader browser
• Symbian OS v9.3 S60 3.2 Edition, user interface
• 16 GB of internal flash memory
• Max memory 24GB (16GB internal + 8GB MicroSD)
• 2-way slide, as in Nokia N95
• 5-megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss TESSAR optics
• Sensor for Auto-rotate
• VGA camera in front of the phone, for video calling and self-portrait use
• Dual LED flash for the camera
• Bundled with WaveSecure in Indian variant
• Plays music files, and lets you download easily via Nokia Web
• Allows high-quality video calling using 3G
• A built-in accelerometer when tilted as on the Nokia N82
• The new design includes:
  • Landscape-oriented design (landscape oriented speakers, connectors and buttons located optimally for landscape use)
  • Flip-out kickstand
  • Media keys available in all modes (even when slide is closed, for background control of music)
  • Media keys on short side can transform into gaming keys
  • Lock switch (enables quick lock / unlock of keypad)
• 128 MB RAM
  • Available memory for the user is 90 MB after operating system.
• Can play various types of music files such as MP3, AAC, eACC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WAV, Mid, RM (real), RAM( real), AMR, M3U (playlist)
• Can play various types of video files such as RM (Real video), H.263, H.264, 3GPP, HQ-3GPP (30fps), MP4, WMV, FLV (Flash player)

Personally, I liked this phone so much than N95 due to its sleek design and functions as opposed to its predecessor's rather rigid structure, plus its edge over the mobile phones' multimedia aspect.

Despite the negative thingies, I'm giving this phone a grade of 9 out of 10. :)

Techie Review: Samsung Mobile Phones

As I've promised, I'll be giving a review about these latest Samsung Mobile Phones and how they're set to invade the techie world. So, let's make this quick:

Samsung Blue Earth

Samsung has just revealed another ‘eco-friendly’ solar phone, the Samsung Blue Earth. The handset is made from PCM (Post Consumer Material - a recycled plastic) and got a concept of environment-friendly UI.

The phone may work in an eco-mode including Eco-Walk which adapts screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth usage. The Blue Earth also has a built-in pedometer which shows CO2 emissions by walking instead of driving.

Beside those features, the Samsung Blue Earth has a solar panel on the back for needed charging. Unfortunately, there are no specifications, pricing and availability at this moment yet, but we are sure it’ll be interesting news of this year.

Samsung M8800 Pixon

A follow-up to the successful Samsung Omnia, the M8800 shares most of its functions, well except for a few catches.

Specifications of the Samsung M8800:

- 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, video(WVGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps), flash; secondary videocall camera
- Quad-band GSM, HSDPA 2100 7.2 Mbps
- Dimensions: 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm
- Weight: 121 g
- 3.2″ TFT (256k Colors) 200 x 400 pixels with Accelerometer sensor
- microSD up to 8GB with 200mb Internal Memory
- GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
- EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
- Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
- MicroUSB port V2.0
- WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML Browser
- A-GPS function
- TV out functionality
- DivX/XviD/H.263/H.264/WMV/MP4 player
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/AMR player
- SRS (Surround Sound System) Virtual 5.1CH
- Java MIDP 2.0
- FM radio with RDS
- Built-in GPS receiver
- Organizer
- Office document viewer
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo/dial

Samsung W510 and F268

This one will be quick, since most of its features were vague as of the moment.

Samsung has released two new environmental friendly phones W510 and F268. The W510 is made from “bio-plastic” created with natural materials extracted from corn and F268 features alarm that let you know when is charged so you can unplug it and save the energy.

Also W510 features 2.1 inch display, 2MP camera, Bluetooth, FM radio, microSD slot. F268 packs 2MP camera, 2.1 inch VGA display, Bluetooth. Both phones will be available by the end of the month in Korea.

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Alright, so that's it for my short review. There's a lot whole of Samsung Phones being launched just recently. However, I chose these four primarily because of their deviance upon those other phones. Thankies infochat.com.ph for the rundown! :)

Techie Review: Canon EO5 500D: Hi-Def Video

For this edition of Techie Review, I'll be reviewing a new SLR camera from Canon: The Canon EO5 500D. Here, check this out:

Canon has just announced the 15.1 megapixel EOS 500D, known as the Rebel T1i in the US market. It’s a high-end consumer model which shoots HD video.

The upper-entry-level camera features a 15.1 MP APS-C CMOS sensor with 1080p HD video recording at 20fps. It also offers a 3.0 inch LCD with 920,000 dot resolution and an ISO sensitivity range expandable up to 12800 equivalent. It includes a faster Digic 4 processor offering better noise reduction at higher ISO’s and continuous shooting speeds of up to 3.4 fps delivering 170 large JPEG images in a single burst.

Features at a glance:
- 15.1 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
- Full HD movie recording with HDMI connection for viewing and playback on an HDTV
- ISO 100-3200 (expandable to 12800)
- 3.4 frames per second continuous shooting
- Max. 170 large JPEG images in a single burst
- 3.0” ClearView LCD with Live View mode
- 9-point wide area AF with cross type centre point
- High speed DIGIC 4 performance and superb image quality
- EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- Full compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites, including new Speedlite 270EX, TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II

Technologies Explained:

CMOS
Canon’s CMOS technology is one of the company’s key competitive advantages, with noise reduction circuitry at each pixel site delivering virtually noise-free images. In comparison with CCD technology, the lower power consumption characteristics of Canon’s CMOS sensors also contribute to longer battery life.

Signal conversion in Canon’s CMOS sensors is handled by individual amplifiers at each pixel site. Unnecessary charge transfer operations are avoided, vastly speeding up the process of getting signal to the image processor. Noise generation is reduced, power consumption is limited and faster frame rate potential is increased.

DIGIC
Image data captured by the CMOS sensor is processed by Canon’s purpose-built DIGIC image processors before being written to the camera’s memory card. DIGIC technology uses advanced image processing algorithms to ensure precise, natural colours, accurate white balance, and advanced noise reduction. Ultra-fast processing speeds result in highly responsive camera operation and near-instant start-up times.

DIGIC chips work with a high speed image buffer – reading, processing, compressing and writing image data fast enough to keep the buffer clear during long continuous shooting bursts. And because DIGIC integrates all key processing functions, power consumption is kept to a minimum.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System
The EOS Integrated Cleaning System combats sensor dust in three important ways: Reduce, Repel and Remove.
Reduce - Internal camera mechanisms are designed to minimise dust generation. The redesigned body cap prevents dust generation through wear on the cap itself.
Repel - Anti-static technologies, including a special fluorine coating, are applied to the low-pass filter covering the front of the sensor so as not to attract dust.
Remove - A Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit uses hi-frequency vibrations to shake dust from the infrared filter for a period of approximately one second after each start up. For instant shooting after power up, this feature is disabled immediately the shutter release is depressed.

Canon has also developed an internal Dust Delete Data system, which can map the position of visible dust on the sensor. This can then be deleted automatically after the shoot with the latest Digital Photo Professional software.

Clear View LCD
Canon’s Clear View LCD screens are 3.0” in diameter and feature a VGA (640×480) pixel resolution with 920,000 dots. This allows high-quality viewing of images and ultra-accurate focus checks in playback. Thanks to a wide 170º angle-of-view, a Clear View LCD can be viewed in a wide range of environments with ghosting and reflections being eliminated thanks to Canon’s unique dual layer anti reflective coating. This combination of features enables photographers to enjoy shooting from awkward angles.

Full HD
Thanks to the combination of a Canon CMOS sensor and DIGIC 4 processing, Canon is able to offer Full HD resolution movie recording in a digital SLR camera. An HDMI connection provides the ability to play back movies directly on any HDTV in high quality HD resolution. Canon’s Full HD products feature the same maximum resolution available for HDTV’s (1920×1080 pixels), ensuring outstanding clarity. Full HD exceeds the quality found in HD ready (720) resolution devices.

Picture Style
Picture Style pre-sets simplify in-camera control over image qualities. Picture Style pre-sets can be likened to different film types – each one offering a different colour response. Within each selectable pre-set, photographers have control over sharpness, contrast, colour tone and saturation. The camera’s factory default configuration is set to deliver immediately-usable JPEG images without need for additional menu settings. Picture Style presets applied to a RAW image can be revised with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.

Alright, so there you go. In a bit, I'll be giving a quick review about these new Samsung Phones, so keep it locked in here. :)

8:02 pm.... Thoughts and ideas...

Current Mood: Just fine.. :)
Song Playing: I'll Be Lovin' You Long Time

Good evening dear bloggers! It's a fine day for me, given the fact that I was able to hang out by myself without being hindered by the rain. Yep, it's a fine cloudy day in Manila, and a good day to do your usual gimmicks. :)

And as you see, I've cut my hair short. Wala lang, just for the sake of trying new things, and a new look as well. So far, I love how I look right now. It's quite refreshing you know.

I also bought a new phone- a Nokia N96. Yep, and it's all from my savings- from my allowances to my 1-month work stint. I guess it makes you feel glad whenever your efforts bring you good fruit.

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Let's discuss something here in this post:

When must a gentleman throw a punch?

I'm just curious with that idea. I know, it's a guy thing but perhaps girls like myself need to have our dibs on it, don't you think?

So I'm asking everyone: When must a guy throw a punch?

I have my own thoughts on that but I guess we need to leave it up on your hands, so that we'll be able to talk about something here in Princess Journal.

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Summer's end is approaching too fast. I guess I have to make full use of this summer vacation's remaining days prior to my 1st semester as a Third Year Bedan.

Time indeed passes out so fast you can barely notice the changes around you. Thing is, most of us hate it. We hate growing up, and we hate letting go of the moment that we are into.

You might just ask- why am I talking about these things? Let's just say that I've realized some things about summer.

To be factual enough, I'm loving it whenever summer comes. It's that season of the year wherein you're able to unwind yourself from all these stresses and rejuvenate yourself while enjoying the heat with everyone.

However, there's a sad tone deep in it. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but somehow it's saddening to have this summer thing. Have it this way: whenever a summer season arrives, it brings you the eventual fact that your life's nearing its finish line.

I know, I know. It's not right to think about that idea but the thing is, it's inevitable.

Think about it: whenever summer comes, you have to accept the fact that you have n summers left to enjoy given the average life span that a person has. Because of that simple aspect, you are left to face with the idea of enjoying those remaining summers to the fullest without minding the sad thing about it.

Alright, enough with that. Let's look at the bright side, we are still here enjoying how hot and humid summer can be, haha! Things might get worse any minute but come to think of it, we need to think how lucky we are knowing that we are still breathing and enjoying our dear lives.

That just proves the old adage: "Life isn't meant to be serious."

:)

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Thankies everyone for visiting my blog. Till' tomorrow, bye!

Downpour Monday..

If you're bored, then just take a click, haha!

Current Mood: Bored...
Song Playing: Alcohol Lady

Good evening everyone! Gosh, the weather's becoming weirder each day it makes me worry about it. In some ways, you have to, knowing that the climate's not supposed to be like this.

The good news is, we can say goodbye to those so-hot-days. The bad news is, well, we have to prepare ourselves for the impending symptoms of Global Warming, plus bad traffic and lousy gimmick days..

Enough said. Anyway, it was a boring day. I was at my house all day long. I just watched some TV and played with my PSP throughout the day. Guess this crazy weather made me nuts. Oh gosh..

Anyway, I have some things to share with you. Let's do this:

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Just moments ago, I've found something very interesting on the net. It was the top 4 list of the most dangerous roads in the world. Believe it or not, they're quite freaky and scary to go to. When will these engineers motivate themselves to lessen these scary roads and rehabilitate them? Well, only time can tell I guess.

So, here's the list:

1. North Yungas Road, aka “Road of Death”, Bolivia: This road cuts through the Bolivian Andes, running almost 70 km from La Paz to Coroico. It travels nearly 3,600 meters down and is comprised almost entirely of narrow hairpin curves. Unfortunately, their is no safety net below off the side of the road, and as you can see from the picture, the drop is quite severe. While you’re smart enough to read about this road before attempting to travel it, between 100-200 people a year over estimate their driving abilities, leading to their unfortunate death. Constructed in the 1930’s by Paraguayan prisoners, it would be easy to assume that they built it to be this treacherous on purpose. North Yungas Road is most frequently traveled by trucks and busses, which makes it’s span of merely three meters wide almost as terrifying as looking out the window when on it. If you still don’t fear the “Road of Death” be warned, these conditions are only what you would experience in the dry season. Let’s hope you don’t get stuck there in the rain.

2. Siberian Road to Yakutsk, Russia. If your looking to travel to Yakutsk, this is road is the only option you have. As you can see, you’ll be traveling on more mud than actual road so let’s hope you’re friends with a local tow truck driver! Expect traffic to come to a stop as many will wait for this 30 km long road to dry enough to considering driving on. But being a mud road isn’t the only thing that makes it dangerous. Many expects suspect underground gas leaks, supported by the reports from a majority of motorists who have survived car accidents on this road claiming that they can’t remember what happened. Perhaps Yakutsk isn’t worth visiting after all.

3. Guoliang Tunnel in the Taihang Mountains, China Before May 1st 1977 the only hope of making it to the small village on the other side of the mountain was to follow the along the rock foot path. In 1972 workers began a five year process of creating this 1,200 meter long tunnel, spanning 4 meters wide and 5 meters high. Wear and tear over the years has caused this tunnel to become uneven, but don’t worry, the view from the thirty plus windows will make your journey on this road even scarier.

4. Taroko Gorge Road, Taiwan. While this road doesn’t offer the twists and turns you’ll find from those above, you’re still riding on a wide open mountain side. Although an absolutely beautiful sight to see, don’t take your eyes off the road unless you happen to have a car parachute. Your best bet to enjoy this beautiful scenery would be to take a tour bus across it, unless of course your looking for a more scenic grave.

Expecting Philippines to be on that list? Well, you can attest to it that after some time, some of our scary roads will make it on that list, that is, if our engineers/government officials will start implementing road safety projects.

Scared of driving already? Well, you don't have to I'm telling you. :)

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I have mentioned on one of my previous posts that I'll be giving away a myriad of techie updates this week. Well, expect them to be granted as I'll be updating you this time with the latest mobile phones from Samsung, some hot cars from Japan and a hot discussion regarding these social networking sites.

Your Techie Princess Melissa's all fired up to give em' away. :)

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So that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed today's posts. For more updates, please subscribe to my feeds or follow me. Till' tomorrow! Bye! :)

8 Things about Melissa :)

Since I'm tagged by Lord CM, today's post will center on his tag, haha! :)

8 Things:

To Look Forward To:
1. The start of the first semester of my Third Year in college, haha!
2. The release of the home version of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. Yep, I'm a Tekken fan and believe me, I can beat you in a pulp, haha!
3. The conclusion of the playoffs, haha! I wanna know if Cleveland would make it. :)
4. Seeing Puffy :)
5. Being with my 4k and close friends as well as close classmates and batchmates :)
6. Gimmicking
7. The David VS David concert
8. Having new clothes :)

What did I do yesterday?
1. Woke up at 6 am for the mass.
2. Attended the mass with my family. :)
3. Drove to ATC with my family for a Sunday lunch date.
4. Watched a movie with them, did a little shopping while foodtripping. :)
5. Fixed my things.
6. Cooked up dinner for my family. (Yup, I insisted on doing so, and luckily they liked my cooking.)
7. Surfed on the net.
8. Watched TV and slept sweetly. :)

I wish I could do these things:
1. Be with my Puffy everyday, haha!
2. Be a Tekken 6: BR Champion, or at least a gaming champion of sorts.
3. Become an artist, a VJ or a DJ. :)
4. Be able to travel the entire world.
5. Become something larger than life, but hell, that would never happen..
6. Be able to have that fairy tale ending.
7. Be able to travel through time.
8. Kiss him. :)

Shows that I watch:
1. Smallville (Simply the best..)
2. Gossip Girl
3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (God, he's funny!)
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Prison Break
6. Zorro? Haha... It's interesting though.
7. American Idol
8. If bored, some cartoons/anime shows can do, haha!

People that I Tag:
1. Yuri
2. Ian
3. Yza
4. crisiboy
5. junks
6. Saul Krisna
7. soberfruitcake
8. reigun manik

Supposedly, I was about to post it yesterday, but due to some internet problems, I was hindered to do that. Well, enjoy my eight things! :)

Saturday Downpour

Bleeeh! Haha!

Current Mood: Lazy again...
Song Playing: Stuck With Each Other (yet again, haha!)

A rainy weekend to everyone! Yep, as the title suggests, it's still raining like crazy, and it seems that this would take a while. Well, guess we have to be patient enough in dealing with the crazy downpour.

I'm so much lazy today to do almost anything. Guess this crazy downpour affected me big time, haha! Yep, I felt so much cozy that I became lazy enough to take a nap instead of doing my usual thingies. Guess the rainy season has its advantages, and I'm making use of it thoroughly. :)

I know some of you has the same sentiment as I am. Well, you have to agree with me: the rain outside gives a comfy feel that brings us this sleepy mood. That is why I pity those who are taking their summer classes right now, most notably the stress-filled Mapuans, haha!

Sana hindi kayo tamarin! (Hope that you'll never feel lazy!) -Haha! :D

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Since I'm lazy enough to do almost anything, I've decided to use my DVD player and watch old episodes of the hit sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

I know, I know. It's a little bit' old-school, but you have to agree with me: its characters and storyline's completely lovable and fun to watch. There's a certain charisma within the show that you can't just resist, plus the fact that I can relate myself to them.

Actually, the show reminded me of my own barkada and how unique and "freakish" they are, haha! But seriously, you gotta love them for being there at all times and for who they are. To put it, they are precious treasures that I can't just throw off, and heck, if somebody opposes or hurts them, well there will be hell to pay. I'll be the first person to defend them.

If you haven't watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S., then why don't you give it a try? I'm sure, you'll have your lengthy dose of laughter and fun. :)

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Since it's raining madly lately, I cancelled most of my plans for the weekend. Heck, who'll be able to enjoy gimmicking or tripping in a time like this? Obviously, no one.

It's pretty annoying to know that we're just into the middle of summer, yet it started raining so hard. Most of my friends at Manila were complaining, due to the fact that most of the streets there went flooded for a short span of time. My friend Ian also shared to me that it's pretty difficult to go to school with the kind of weather that we're experiencing right now.

I guess something's not right with the climate. I mean, something effed it up to the point that it started raining.

Let's just hope that my intuitions aren't right.

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That's it for today's post. Oh, before I forget, please stay tuned for more techie updates this week. I'll be bringing a baker's dozen for you. :)

Thankies! Bye everyone! :)

2009 NBA Playoffs

Oh boy. Due to my laziness, and to some circumstances, I'm always hindered to watch the playoff games. It pisses me off whenever I tend to forget that there's a game to be watched, recalling so when it's about to end already.

Yup, don't get me wrong. I'm a sporty girl as well, and I love watching sports, most notably these three: tennis, volleyball and basketball.

In order for me to catch up with the games that I missed, I did some researching on the current standings of the 8 participating teams for this year's playoffs.

What's interesting in this year's playoffs is that it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers are all set to claim the glory that they deserve. Another notable team is Cleveland, who succeeded in hitting a clincher after 33 years, plus their undefeated streak in the elimination round against Detroit Pistons.

Yep, I am actually rooting for Cleveland or L.A., haha! I love these two teams, and I'm pretty much hyped up for their upcoming games. I'll assure this time that I'll never miss the courtside action.

Alright, so for those who were unable as well to catch up with the action, here are the team standings for this year's playoffs:

	First Round					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					NBA Finals
	1	*Cleveland	3
	8	Detroit	0
	4	Atlanta	1
	5	Miami	1
	Eastern Conference
	3	*Orlando	1
	6	Philadelphia	2
	2	*Boston	2
	7	Chicago	1
																E
															W
	1	*L.A. Lakers	2
	8	Utah	1
	4	Portland	1
	5	Houston	2
	Western Conference
	3	*San Antonio	1
	6	Dallas	2
	2	*Denver	2
	7	New Orleans	0

Rainy Friday...

Before driving to Ayala...

Current Mood: Lazy, Kind of sleepy, haha!
Song Playing: Stuck With Each Other

A cold Friday evening dear bloggers. Well, it seems that the weather took some twists today. Earlier this morning it was freakishly hot, but when afternoon came, hell froze over in favor of the rain.

Well, I guess the forecast is right: expect for more rain these next few days.

Anyway, I drove this morning to Makati to meet up with Puffy and accompany him for a little shopping. I also invited him for a simple lunch date, and then we played up Tekken 6: BR at Timezone afterwards, haha!

Yup, we missed playing Tekken together you see. :)

What's sweet is that he offered to drive my mom's car on our way home, which I rejected quickly. He's lazy kasi to bring his aunt's car, haha! Since he always makes it a point to drive me home whenever he brings his aunt's car, I assured this time that I'll be returning the favor to him. And it made him smile. He hugged me a little bit when we got home. It was the sweetest thing for me this day.

Yeah, and I guess it will always be..

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Fact is, I'm unable to think of something to talk about in this post. Probably it's because I'm so much lazy to do some thinking, or perhaps sleepy and all that.

Well, let's just say most writers lose ther drives to write in a periodic span of time.

Alright, guess I have something to talk about right now, haha!

I am a writer myself, and I am no exception on this one. Let's go straight to the point: why do most writers lose their motivation or drive to write?

Let's list down some notable reasons:
1. Absence of inspiration. Of course, it'll hinder you from thinking effectively and being wholehearted in creating your piece. It's essential to have an inspiration so to speak when writing something.
2. Wondering. Sometimes, we tend to wonder or think about something that much that it misleads us from the topic that we're writing about.
3. Span of time spent on other things. More often than not, being unable to write for a longer span of time because of being busy and all that causes most of us to eventually lose our touch in writing. But the fact is, some talented writers still make it a point to keep their skill intact, even with the time being laid on their writing breaks.

There are a lot of reasons other than that, but probably it'll take forever to list them all down. Well, let's just say that you're not a writer if you've not suffered from this one. We all experience this sort of thing. It's just that it depends entirely on us whether to keep our writing abilities intact.

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That's it for today's post. Hope to see you guys next time. Bye! :)

Beyonce explains the lipsynching video...

Alright, so Beyonce explains it all in this short video. Hope that it'll clear up some things surrounding that prank video.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Enjoy! :)

Rainy Thursday...

Nerdy perhaps? Haha! Me and Kriselle

A Good Thursday evening dear bloggers. Yep, it's still raining like crazy. Actually, I checked on the weather forecast and it says that it'll be raining for the entire week. It's just so weird to know that it's still the middle of summer and yet we're experiencing the curtains of La Nina. Oh well...

Since I'm stuck inside my home today(I was too lazy to do some driving today, haha!), I did nothing but to be vain with myself and with my little sister, haha! Forgive us for being so vain, it's just that the rain hinders us from doing anything... Well, in some ways I guess, haha!

I have a lot of things to talk about. Let's start away.

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Let's discuss the upcoming Pinoy OFW/Expats Blog Awards. Yep, for the second time around, the blog community will be recognizing OFW bloggers for their notable contributions in the blogosphere. It's also a simple way of saying thank you for the efforts that they have ushered as members of the Filipino migrant worker community.

Let's face it: without these noble OFWs, probably most of us are nothing.

It's touching to know how these Pinoy workers have gone through just to provide their families the necessities that they need and the conditions that they deserve. Their tears, their sweat, their blood- they never cared on shedding those just for the sake of their loved ones, and of course, proving to everyone that they can be catalysts for a wonderful future ahead.

So let us support and salute these OFWs for doing such a wonderful job and for being proud members of the Filipino nation.

In order for us to thank these noble OFWs, let us support wholeheartedly the upcoming 2009 Pinoy OFW/Expats Blog Awards. Let us join hands in promoting this event towards the blogosphere to help and thank these model Filipinos.

Three Stars and A Sun!

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Earlier on, I posted something about this Beyonce Knowles off-key board feed video that's circulating around the net. Amusingly, it became a hot topic on most blogs, forums, entertainment sites, and even TV and radio shows.

Regarding this video, recently, the person who posted this on the net just claimed on TMZ and Hilton that it was all but fake. It was a joke meant to play some pranks on Beyonce. He said that he just made some alterations on Beyonce's voice during the performance to make it looke like it was just a lousy lipsynching.

Yep, he is right. I've seen the source video of her actual Today Show performance, and it was all great. It pales in comparison to the worse and hilarious ambiance of the edited video.

Well, I guess all's well that ends well... No matter how big were the damages being dealt by the video, no one could change the fact that surely, Beyonce's one of the greatest performing artists of all time.

Cheers to that. :)

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Alright, so that's it for today's post. Thank you so much for continously following my blog. Hope to see you guys next time. Ciao! :)

Beyonce Knowles' out of tune lip synching of "If I Were A Boy"'

I was browsing a little over the net while thinking of something to post with regards to the upcoming Filipino OFW Blogger Awards when suddenly I found this one.

Apparently, this video shows Beyonce Knowles lip synching "If I Were A Boy" on an edition of The Today Show, and the recorded voice used for this performance, as far as this video shows, is completely off-key and horrible.

It's quite hilarious to hear the talented diva Beyonce singing this horrible. I have no idea whether it is true or not or how to validate any possible assumptions. I'll just try to check out something in relation to this video and give you some updates about that.

Here's the video. Judge for yourself whether it is real or not:


Enjoy. :)

Fastfood Reality

Just moments ago, I found this blog site entitled thispiggy.com. This blog site is quite entertaining, featuring some "viral" topics ranging from the bizaare to the peculiar.

One interesting blog post was this article entitled "Fastfood Reality." It shows pictures of some fastfoods' products the way they were advertised on magazines and their real appearances when served. It's pretty a good read. It's basically about consumer reality- giving you an idea whether these companies are deceiving you with their services and products.

I think it'll be a pretty good idea if we try this one. Let's feature some products' pictures as they were advertised on most mediums and their pictures/video showing how they really look or function in real life. Sounds interesting? Yup, it does. Maybe I'll do that one of these days.

Here's the link: http://thispiggy.com/2009/04/15/fast-food-reality/

Here's a sample excerpt of the post:

8. KFC Famous Bowl

Vs

Rainy Wednesday..

Yep, that's my windshield being splashed by the rain.

A rainy aftie everyone! Yep, it's still a rainy day, and most of us freakin' love it, well except for those who are having their classes and gimmicks this time, haha!

For some reason, I can't help but love the rain. It has a symbolism for me that I can't just explain. Let's also add the fact that the rain brings a cozy feeling whenever I'm inside my house or car, especially if you're in the mood to take a nap, haha!

Earlier this morning, I used my mom's car and drove from Alabang to Makati. Let's just say that it was a test drive to see how I'll fare in a condition like this, so I went driving around Ayala, Alabang and made the rounds on Makati. Afterwards, I stopped at Alabang Town Center to do some food tripping and a little shopping. Yep, it's a little bit creepy inside ATC, due to the fact that it seemed like I'm only the person who's inside the mall. Perhaps most people hated the idea of malling on a rainy day.

Oh well.. Anyway, I met up with my Puffy Yuri on ATC as well. He was there to buy some acessories for his mobile phone, so I insisted on giving him company for a short while.

It was short, but sweet for the two of us. :)

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I was testing something while browsing the net. I tried to type in some random phrases on Google to see how the results would be. I typed in the phrase "angering my friends."

Guess what came out?

No results came out, and Google replied, "Do you mean FINGERING MY FRIENDS?"

What?

I typed in more phrases. I tested the phrases "Why" and "How To." The results that came out from both these phrases were connected to, ehem, sex and porn. I dunno. They were just innocent phrases, but then the results that they produced were quite raunchy and peculiar.

After trying those phrases, I decided to test searching some images. I typed in the words "Nun", "Boy" and "Huge."

Guess what?

The number one images on all those searches were still, in fact, connected to porn and other adult thingies.

God. Does this mean that the net exists just to provide porn or something? Or is there a problem with my search engine?

Note, my safesearch was ON the whole time, and I have no idea why the results were that peculiar and crazy.

Google?!

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I also tested out something on my PC. Let's just say that I'm in the mood to test out my curiosities with regards to both my PC and the net.

I tried to create some folders using some peculiar terms.

I used the words "exe", "plus", "static" and "con."

Of all those words, con was unavailable and perhaps, prohibited to be used as a name for a folder. It was because Windows stated there that it was only to be used for military purposes and all that.

That made me conclude that some words were definitely not available for most users to use in creating their own folders.

Try it out for yourself.

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That's it for this post. For more updates, please follow my blog or subscribe to my feeds. You can also leave a message to my chatbox if you want. Thankies! :)