February 16-20, 2009 Peso-Dollar Forex

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One Day Of No Talking

Sunday morning, I finally went to the Doctor to have my throat and cough problem checked. The Doctor told me to rest until Monday and not to talk. According to his findings, my throat was swollen and I need rest. I was supposed to go to work on Monday but I have decided to just follow the Doctor's advise to rest. After I took my medicine and had my little breakfast, I went back to bed and sleep. Before I went to bed also, I informed my supervisor and the agency that I won't be going to the office.

I woke up that day around 11:30 in the morning and cooked my lunch. After blogging and watching some TV series, I went back to sleep. Yesterday was a silent day for me. I was only able to speak when my housemates arrived that night. My voice was cracking and it felt good that my throat was back in its good shape. The only problem that I am experiencing now is the drowsy effect of my medicines.

At work today, my supervisor asked me why I was on leave yesterday. I think my supervisor was a bit worried that I, including my two Filipino officemates were on sick leave yesterday as well. A pure coincidence I guess. When I left the office today, my supervisor even jokingly told me not to go on sick leave tomorrow with a smirk look.

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Philippine Presidential Election Video

I was browsing blogs when I saw this video that says it all when it comes to the Presidential candidates and the elections. The video is straight to the point and should be a wake up call to all of us. We should not rely on just the TV ads but on their candidates capabilities and track record. There should be a Pinoy Obama that can be a hope to the Filipinos. I hope so.



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How to Apply for OWWA and OEC in Singapore

The other day, I wrote a post about the number of OFWs around the world. With that, I would open this post with the statement that I am officially an OFW. Last Sunday, I went to the Philippine Embassy here in Singapore to apply for an OWWA membership. I also got my OEC (Exit Pass), which is a requirement if an OFW will exit the Philippines.

I woke up Sunday morning around 9 A.M. I was really tired and sore from my Chinatown and Mustafa shopping last Saturday that I wasn't able to wake up early. I sadly reached the Philippine Embassy around 10:30 A.M. to 11 A.M. I was surprised that the registration at the guard house is full. The last time I visited the Embassy was during the weekdays and there were few people. Inside the embassy was more jam packed. All Filipinos and foreigners were all there.

My mistake was, I didn't photocopied my documents. I have to queue for the photocopy machine. After my long queue at the photocopy, I was told about the procedure and was furious that my number is 226 and the last number that was called was 100. When it reached 12:30 P.M., I have decided to take my lunch first at McDonald's, Forum. By 1:30 P.M., I went back to the Embassy and luckily found a chair to sit in.

I even saw my former and current housemates in the Embassy. They were also applying for the OEC and the OWWA membership. My other housemate have a queue number of 286 and 400 digits. After five hours of waiting I finally got my OWWA form and the OEC pass. OWWA membership by the way is S$42 and S$5.50 for the OEC. Make sure to bring your contract and a photocopy of it, your work permit and passport. My housemates told me to bring my airline ticket but they did not look for it. Just bring it just in case.

One more week to go and I'm finally going home.

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OFWs Around The World

Everywhere you go, you would definitely see a Filipino. It might be in Asia, Europe, America or even in the Middle East. We Filipinos do everything for our families even sacrificing being away from them. I actually read this data weeks ago and wasn't able to post it. Since I can consider myself as an "OFW" (Overseas Filipino Workers), I was intrigued on our demography.

Here is the 11 million OFWs Around the World.

United States - 4,000,000
Saudi Arabia - 2,000,000
Malaysia - 636,544
Canada - 437,940
UAE - 450,000
Japan - 258,977
United Kingdom - 200,000
Italy - 200,000
Mexico - 200,000
Qatar - 200,000
Taiwan - 158,116
Singapore - 150,000
Hong Kong - 130,810
Australia - 129,400
Kuwait - 144,955
South Korea - 70,000
Germany - 65,000
France - 65,000
Guam - 45,600
Greece - 40,000
Bahrain - 36,718
Israel - 37,155
Lebanon - 30,000
Spain - 26,505
New Zealand - 16,938
Norway - 19,291
Netherlands - 18,456
Macau - 18,447
Sweden - 17,343
Thailand - 5,000
Nigeria - 2,324

I don't think I'm still not included in that list since that is only as of 2007.

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The Christmas Party Story

This Christmas party story has been over due for over two weeks now and I won't let this pass. The Christmas party happened last December 24 at the club house of Bukit Batok. The invitation was scheduled from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. I arrived the club house around 9 A.M. and my officemates directed me to go to this room where the registration of the party is held. It was raining at that time so I placed my wet umbrella on the floor near that room.

After the registration, they asked for my gift and they placed a tag on it. We then seated inside from the room that looks like a dance studio. I was looking for chairs and buffet and there is nothing. Around 9:30 A.M., the party started. I am just surprised that the theme to this Christmas party is the salsa dance. We were greeted by our officemate and a Salsa instructor. Right after their introduction, I immediately knew it that we're going to dance the Salsa. I have a video with my officemates dancing in my other blog.

Since I have no choice, I went on to the Salsa tutorial. I went to stand though on the back side of the studio so no one would see me. When it's time to partner with my lady officemates, I escaped and went to the toilet. Of course, I have kill joy officemates like me that escaped the Salsa dance. They seated near the toilet and after I relieved myself, I went to have a chat with my Singaporean officemate.

The Salsa dance/tutorial literally was the whole party. There are no presentations, games and fun stuffs. That surprised me a lot. That made me miss the Christmas parties of my former company in the Philippines. 30 minutes before 12 noon, the exchange gifts took place. Would you believe that I picked a number that is my own gift? I just told my officemate that that was my gift and he just gave me the gift that he received. After that, the Salsa contest happened and the awarding for the best dressed male and female. Of course, I did not win anything.

After that, we went to the function room where the food would be served. It is not buffet though and it took forever before the caterers. When the food were served, we immediately went to queue. My plate was literally full. The food was just okay but I still prefer the buffet served in the Anniversary party of my recruitment agency.

Here are some of the pictures from the party. Tomorrow would be the end of the holiday. Work again. I can't wait for January 23 so I can go home already.



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Excited About 2009

One more day to go and we are going to welcome 2009. I am very excited of 2009, not only I would be able to go visit my family and friends in the Philippines, but I also have one more year of work here in Singapore. By the way, my roommates and I are planning to go to Marina tomorrow night to watch the fireworks display. That I am very excited about. My first Christmas and New Year here in Singapore. I just hope the fireworks would fascinate me.

One more thing that I am very excited about 2009 is the Cinderella and CATS musical. I was very happy yesterday that I finally bought the premiere ticket to the Cinderella musical this coming January 2. My ticket for the premiere is S$75 plus Sistic fee. The cheapest ticket now is S$100. Pinoy talent and Tony Award winner, Lea Salonga will play Cinderella of course. I just hope I will see her perform. When I watched Miss Saigon in the Philippines, a different performer played her role.

You can catch Cinderella starting January 2 until January 22 at the Esplanade. CATS on the other hand will start on April 2009.

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Anniversary Party in Singapore

I just hope I can still remember the details of the anniversary party. Anyway, the Anniversary party of my recruitment agency was last December 20. It was held in Amara Hotel near Tanjong Pagar MRT. I went with my Indonesian office mate, which of the same agency. My Filipino officemates from the same agency was already vacationing in the Philippines so I was the only Filipino guy in that party.

The invitation said that the program will start at 12 noon and will end by 3:30 P.M. We came in late almost 1 P.M. and the CEO of the agency was already having his speech. Since the room was already full, we just sat on the table near the buffet. By 1 P.M., we started feasting on the buffet. The buffet was very impressive. They served many variations from Muslim food, vegetarian, Chinese and some that I don't know. There's this other room where they the deserts, seafood, salad and sushi are placed. I just love the look of the cakes and fruits. That was heaven! I tried to eat everything but my stomach cannot accommodate that much.

By 2 P.M., the much awaited raffle draw started. I honestly wasn't in the mood for the raffle since I usually don't win. There are 17 prizes by the way and I was surprised my name was called on the 14th prize. It was an envelope and you can see through the paper that it is $10. I was honestly dismayed to just receive $10 (320 pesos) so I just folded it and placed it in my pocket. They also have this give away containing green tea and a chocolate coated cookies from Marks & Spencers.

Two days after, I was intrigued by the envelope and opened it up. My eyes were beaming with joy that there are actually 3 pieces of $10 in the envelope. That $30 (960 pesos) saved me from the $12 Christmas food contribution in our house and the $15 Christmas exchange gift in our office. The saying, "Do not judge a book by its cover" is so applicable for me.

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Back With 2Kg Weight Gain

I'm back after many days of absence. I must admit that I am a bit weary and at the same time relaxed coz I'm not stressed out that I need to post a thing on my 4 blogs. I have many stories to tell from my long absence and I will start with my 2 kgs. weight gain.

The last time that I have checked, my weight is only 53 kgs. (116.6 lbs.) but only yesterday it is up to 55 kgs. (121 lbs.). I'm still underweight though coz my ideal weight is 135 lbs. But, I am very happy with the weight gain. I have to eat more and sleep late more (Is is true, you gain weight from sleeping late?). Nah, I have to sleep earlier maybe next year, hehe.

I just woke up actually. I just thawed the ham for my brunch and cooked some rice. I will have my brunch in a bit. I am so excited that after my brunch I will go back swimming. I have been absent in the pool for about 2 weeks I guess because of the back pain drama that I had. I'm still thankful for Salonpas for its wonders.

Check out my other three blogs, I have new material to be posted within this day.

Happy holidays!

The picture by the way is from the Amara Hotel during the 10th Anniversary party of my recruitment agency. I look awful!

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Evil Step Daughter Is Back

It has been two months now since we transferred to our new home. Honestly, it has been quite boring now without the vampire family and the evil step daughter. Since there is still communication with us, I got to know some juicy information about the evil step daughter.

I have mentioned before that it was evil step daughter's plan to get all of us out of the house. I have discovered that she is now having a hard time in finding new housemates. I'm just not sure if one or two rooms are vacant. I also heard that she is having financial troubles since she pays for the rent of the other rooms. The vampire mom even commented on my roommate that, "I thought she has many money?"

Well, that's all our questions. What happened to the riches of evil step daughter?

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Aircon Trouble

Last week, the aircon in our room are dripping water. We have informed our other housemate about it since he cleans the aircon. He fixed the water dripping last week and was pleased that the dripping sound when I sleep was gone. This week though was hell for me and my roomies. The dripping was gone but the aircon cannot produce cold air especially the past two days. It was great though that the electric fan was focused on me.

Last night, we have decided to open the windows and just turn the aircon off since we think that it only makes the temperature of the room more hot. I woke up this morning around 10 A.M. and remembered of the Pacquiao-de la Hoya "Dream Match" fight. I had a great sleep by the way. I just hope the problem with the aircon would be fixed soon. I'm not paying a high PUB just for nothing.

I'm now watching the live streaming of Pacquiao-de la Hoya The Dream Match. de la Hoya looked tired already in round 3. I hope Pacquiao would win!

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Smiling Moon In The Philippines

Yesterday, the world was blessed with a new phenomenon called the "smiling moon." It was sad though that after many tries of looking for the moon here in Singapore, I failed to find it. I was fortunate though to see the "smiling moon" courtesy of my blogger friend in the Philippines.

Here are other pictures of the smiling moon taken from my friend Joey while he was driving home from work.



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Filipina Domestic Helper in Singapore Gone Crazy

This is fresh news in Singapore and I got this on first hand. I was on my way home from Orchard when I noticed a group of people formed near the exit of Orchard MRT. I went to check on what's happening. There's this Filipina domestic helper seated on the floor and eavesdropper including the MRT security police surrounds her.

I didn't bother to ask the people around and just went to the bus stop since it was getting late. While I was waiting for the bus, other Filipina domestic helpers seated beside me and they began talking about the helpless Filipina domestic helper. According to them (speculations and facts), that the helpless Filipina domestic helper was cleaning the streets from Tangs to the Orchard MRT. Someone have noticed her and called the MRT security. That Filipina domestic helper spoke in English when she was asked by the police and the people around her. If she wasn't stopped by the people around her and the MRT security, she would continue cleaning the streets. Who knows what will happen to her, she might be even hit by a car. According to the other Filipina DH, that lady said that she has to finish cleaning until 1 A.M.

The other Filipina domestic helpers speculated that she was crazy, wasn't fed and paid by her employers and was even maltreated. According to them, that Filipina domestic helper is still young and was very thin. When my bus arrived, I did not ride it since it was full. I have then decided to go back to the exit of Orchard MRT to take pictures of her since I'm going to write this story. Even there are police, I still went for it. It is just silly of me to take pictures coz I got caught by the police. They ordered me to erase it though and leave immediately. I still can remember the airport incident I had with the police. Hahaha.

Now back to the Filipina domestic helper, she looked like on her mid 30's and was thin. She wasn't wearing any shoes and her hands and feet are very dirty. The other domestic helpers were right when they told that she cleaned the streets with her hands. When I got in the next bus, I saw an ambulance and a police car. I just hope that Filipina domestic helper would be in a better condition. Our embassy should do something to protect our domestic helpers in Singapore. There should be a routine check on their condition and programs that can help these Filipinas channel their stress and problems.

Picture courtesy of daylife.com. Photo shown is not the "crazy" Filipina domestic helper.

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Miracle Baby

I received an SMS from my sister yesterday and was very happy with my sister's good news. She's two months pregnant now after hearing from the doctor that she has an inverted uterus. This is a miracle baby!

According to Everydayhealth.com, "An inverted uterus is a naturally-occurring variation on how the uterus is positioned in the abdominal cavity. Instead of the uterus lying on top of the bladder, it lies to either side of it. The cervix (or the opening of the uterus) is still in the same place — at the top part, or end, of the vaginal canal — but the body (or fundus) of the uterus lies in an unusual direction."

I'm just very happy for my sister. They have been married for a year already and having this baby is a great gift for them and her family. I just hope she will be fine. Hoping that you would include my sister to your prayers.

Illustration courtesy of natracare.com

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Blog Leave

As of writing this post, I am on my 1,868th post for all my 4 blogs. The past two years of blogging have been a mixed of emotions. I am glad that my blog never answered me back on all my rants and raves during these past two years. Again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, my loyal readers, friends and newly acquainted friends for reading my posts and your support of course. I know some of my writing are non-sense but that's how my life evolve now.

Anyway, you may be wondering on the title of this post, "Blog Leave." In the past weeks you might have noticed that I sometimes skip on blogging. Because of that, starting now I will officially call this "phenomenon" as Blog Leave. Thanks by the way to my blogger friend Denis for that catchy phrase. Isn't that cool? If in the office, we have a vacation and sick leave, I think we bloggers should have a blog leave as well. Hahaha. That is pre-approved of course. Hehe.

I think it is just normal that lately I don't feel like writing. It has been toxic maintaining four blogs, working in the office until 6 P.M. and dropping Entrecards at night while watching TV series on my laptop. I have to change something in my cycle to balance things out. Speaking of dropping Entrecards, I have that story on my next post.

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Lucky Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat Lyrics

By Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Oooohhhhoohhhhohhooohhooohhooohoooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music, feel the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

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November 3-7, 2008 Peso-Dollar Forex

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Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) Music Video

This is a new hot video from Bootylicious Beyonce Knowles. The title of the song is Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) from her upcoming album, "I Am... Sasha Fierce." I was able to watch the video just now for two times and I like the video a lot.

Even the video is simple with a black and white backdrop, the dancing and the music made it all work. The dance moves of Beyonce reminds me of the Sex Bomb Dancers in the Philippines. Hahaha. Her moves was really impressive. She can really dance. Anyway, are the next music videos of Beyonce going to be all in black and white. I hope not.



I read from a comment in YouTube that one of the backup dancers of Beyonce in this video is a guy. Is that true? And who is that person? Hit me a comment.

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Lucky Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat Music Video

I have been hearing this song for two weeks now and I am so loving it. It is so soothing and very relaxing. This song is a collaboration of two great talents Jason Mraz and Bubbly singer Colbie Caillat. I just hope the music video for this song will come out soon, I'm excited to see it.

If you haven't heard this song, here's an interpretation video from SurpriseTalk of YouTube.



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Blind Singaporean Singing Abba

This is the last video that I recorded last Saturday. This is still of course with the blind Singaporean named Wa Yee. The song is titled "Take A Chance On Me" from Abba. She must have listened to the movie, "Mamma Mia!" Hehehe.

Anyway, here is the video of Wa Yee.



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