HK doggies

there are lots of doggies here... some finds:

this doggie got walked in the park..

this doggie got hugged..

this doggie got to be treated like a baby.. and check it out!!! it's a westland white terrier... a westie, complete with a scarf!!!

let me explain my hysteria. i love westies. but there are no westies in RP. i have been raving about them for months now, ever since kathy started a puppy craze in the office. i promptly adopted a westie in my facebook account. one with a red scarf. now, i got to see one in the flesh.. adorable!

look ma, breakfast!

trust me, these people know how to make bread. all these for just under 50 pesos. delicious!

beautifully mad

Causeway Bay is just as crazy as i remember it.. spectacularly noisy, smelly, and fun. it's a marvelous shrine to capitalism. you can't help but stand in awe.





and this is in a somewhat drizzly day! can't imagine when it's a good-weather one.

ayiee... i'm becoming one of them!

Lippo Center, revisited

this afternoon, i passed by my most favorite building in Hong Kong. my faithful readers will remember i made a post before. up close, Lippo Center is just as beautiful. really, there is no way to screw up a shot if this building is the subject.


and the building's fascade, which i never noticed before..

good building. :)

Condos, condos, condos!!!!

in cebu, the are only a handful of condos.. i should know since i have spent most of my free time looking for real estate. here in Hong Kong, condos are everywhere. just from the A11 bus ride from HKIA to North Point, these are some of the pictures of condo projects i took:




there are millions more! people here live like documents in filing cabinets. really strange, but somewhat romantic. i remember watching In the Mood for Love. Hong Kong in the 60s is really just as crowded and... tiny.

Did God know Adam would sin?

like many people, i have also struggled with this question. i did not want a Yes answer, i wanted a No. however, much to my consternation, i could not successfully defend a No answer. a Yes answer presented a lot of problems for me -- issues of free will versus predestination. jayjay said fore-knowledge will not necessarily logically conclude to predestination. he will answer Yes to the question, but will posit the inevitable "His thoughts are higher than mine" to explain how fore-knowledge will not interfere with free will.

i got online, and found a bloggers' post on this issue. please visit here.

i think the issue is settled for me:
1. God does know everything. If he does not, he is not God.
2. Despite God knowing everything, he went away anyway and created man.
3. He gave man free will.
4. Man used his freedom to sin against God. and he continues to do so.
5. But God desires friendship with man, even though he knew many will sin and betray him.
6. But as many as those who betray God, there will also be those who brave the odds and seek Him, and honor Him, and call on him through Jesus.
7. He will gather those who belong to Him so he may share His glory to them.
8. 7 will only happen if there is 6. 6 is only possible if there is 5. 3 makes 5 and 6 possible.

if you think of it this way, you will find that the issue of God's fore-knowledge as the ultimate killer of free will does not make sense. i challenge you to think about it.

happy thinking :)

Road Scene 2

The Serenading Manong

there is a manong near the intersection of Hernan Cortez and AS Fortuna (more commonly known to locals as Iskina Foodland). when traffic stops, he will approach the nearest vehicle, whip out his beat up guitar and serenade the driver. last time he serenaded me with some Elvis song i don't know the title of. this manong has serious belting powers.

he accepts whatever you hand to him. and like the true gentleman that he is, he will finish his song regardless of how much coins you fork over.

Happy Mama Day

to the most beautiful mother in the whole world. thank you for everything.

a married couple

Adobe Photoshop and MS Paint

lonely days at the office call for photoshoping or ms painting. just thought i'd show you some of my works:MS Paint. made this for Christmas 2007.

MS Paint. psychedelic pattern. based on a wallet my sister got me from isis.

MS Paint. seahorse painting. although i am not so sure if they are seahorses or some other creature.

MS Paint. made this summer of 2005.

MS Paint. my sunset painting. made this some time 2006.
MS Paint. a fried egg. not sure when i made this.

MS Paint. a painting i called "frenzied". i forgot when i made this.

MS Paint. independence day 2007.

MS Paint. my painting of my lola.

MS Paint. lonely planet. made this i think 2005.

Adobe Photoshop. if jayjay had a sister, she'd look like this. [UPDATE: jayjay actually has a sister. but she does not look like the fugly creature at the right.]

Adobe Photoshop. if nikki had hair, he'd look like this one.

Adobe Photoshop. el-el and ryan in their wedding attire.

MS Paint. created for Christmas 2006.

MS Paint. created for Easter 2007.

transparent payong

Boingboing reported on this massive graveyard of umbrellas in Tokyo, Japan. apparently, a huge storm came and destroyed all these cheap transparent umbrellas. so they piled them all together.


i actually have one of them transparent umbrellas! kathy's boyfriend bought me one from his business trip to Japan. he says they're really big there.

it's also quite cheap. kathy is asking Php 200 for this payong. i'm even not sure if she added her commission to the amount.

i've long lusted after these payongs since i saw the horror flick Dark Water.

Road Scene 1

(Where we show interesting stuff as seen on the road, en route to work and everywhere else. My daily grind is the Consolacion - Mandaue Highway, right turn to AS Fortuna, left turn to Banilad (Countrymall) and finally PDI Condo. Normal days I take my father's beat up Toyota, or if I feel like saving on gas (or if the Toyota suddenly hates me and doesn't want to work properly) I do public transport. For the record, I think commuting by public transport trumps private vehicle any day. It is much more interesting, infinitely cheaper, and more environmentally sustainable. Driving a car is only justifiable when you have to go home really late: taxi fare actually is more costly than just gassing up. Driving a car is also justifiable when you want to cruise around to impress girls. But if you already have a pretty girlfriend, it is best you avoid this at all cost. Besides, if you have a beat up old Toyota who will suddenly give up on you for no reason, you will be getting a different kind of impression than what you intend.)

In this episode of Road Scene, we have an old Taxi Driver trying to fix his cab under the rain. It is of utmost importance that he does not get wet. So manong ingeniously solved this by climbing his car and taking shelter under the hood.

It is unknown if he successfully repaired his vehicle.

By the way, don't you just miss the rainy days?

Happy Labor Day

Relax.. Take a break.. You deserve it! :)