Typhoon Ondoy

The country is in mourning as homes, livelihoods, and lives were washed away by Typhoon Ondoy last Saturday.

My family was among the more fortunate ones that were completely unharmed. As thankful as I am for this, my heart aches for those who have suffered this catastrophe — the hundreds thousands of people who had to seek refuge on their rooftops, cold, wet, and hungry; those who heartbreakingly watched their homes and everything they’ve worked for disappear beneath the raging floods; the young man who had saved over 30 people’s lives but failed to save his own; those who have lost their loved ones; and those who still remain to be unrescued.

I have never seen anything like this hit the country before, and I pray for courage, strength, and faith for the affected families.

Raspberry Tea & a Toast

For over two days, I have been trying to find ways to bring myself back to life. I’ve been at a loss because of the overwhelming amount of work ahead of me. I was frustrated, terribly stressed, and out of focus. I couldn’t find my balance.

This afternoon, I was happy to have the house to myself. I made a cup of hot raspberry tea, prepared a piece of toast and spread a little strawberry jam on it. I sat down and munched happily on the toast while waiting for my tea to cool a bit. I didn’t turn the TV on and left my phone inside my room. I didn’t want any distractions. I didn’t even consider turning the fan on. I wanted silence. Though I didn’t get absolute silence (there were noises from the vehicles and the neighbors), the environment that I had created for myself did wonders.

After a few minutes, I got up to get my journal then went back to my tea. I wrote about my recent struggle and how I took steps to address it. I wrote for about half an hour, taking small sips of the aromatic tea in between thoughts.

While in my little zen world, I could feel myself relaxing a bit and the stress slightly easing up. It felt good.

I am not completely back on track, but I hope that today was a start. Let’s see what tomorrow brings and hope that it’s good.

02.03.09

IT WAS GOOD.

Small steps toward a better world

“For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.” – FreeRice.com

This website makes it easier for everyone to help end, or at least ease, hunger in different parts of the globe. All you have to do is play a simple word game. Not only will you be helping a lot of hungry people, but this can also improve your vocabulary extensively.

So for those who have been wanting to do something to change the world, here’s one step further. It’s a simple thing that equates to a big gesture.

Today, I have helped donate at least 500 grains of rice, and I am not planning to stop there. I will be doing this once every week. That’s 25 new words and 500 more grains of rice a week. I’ve been playing their vocabulary game several times a day. It proved to be addicting.

Wanna help? Visit their website now.

While on the subject (of taking small steps into making the world a better place), if you also wanna help save energy, why not make Blackle.com your homepage? It’s a search engine powered by Google, but with a black background. As it turns out, it takes more energy to display a light screen than a dark screen.

I started using Blackle almost a year ago, and am still using it now. Find out more about it here.