Unfunny

So beautiful? Are you kidding me?

/ iamsupercarla / 2 Comments

The Aquino government (no, not that, the recent one) is yet again facing criticism for its newest tourism campaign.  The new administration appears to be itching to replace everything the Arroyo administration cooked up during its reign.  So from this:

To this:

Really?  Are you kidding me?  “Ang ganda”?  That’s the best your hand-picked crew can come up with?

According to PNoy’s crew, this will still be up for discussion and focus group testing before its public release in January.

I mean, I get that it’s aiming to highlight the goodness of Filipinos.  I get that the administration wants to make the Filipinos known for their good values.  I get all that shit.

But do they also get the similarity between “Pilipinas” and “Filipinas”, the latter usually mistaken for mail-order brides?  Don’t they fear that the country will be known for pretty ladies instead of pretty people?

It’s just so open and raw and so vulnerable to be easily lost in translation.  It’s almost not okay.

And I have this feeling that the current administration  just wants nothing to do with the previous one.  It seems to be desperate to erase every single trace that the Arroyo administration “was here.”  But whether they like it or not, that administration’s tourism slogan leaves no room for misinterpretation.

And it certainly did not and will not potentially upset the Polish government.

Let’s see how PNoy can turn this around.  He may be a flop when it comes to first impressions, but he tends to be quite graceful at recovery.

 

Who would cheat on this housewife?

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Apparently, Tony Parker would.  Or rather allegedly.  Eva Longoria filed for divorce from Tony Parker.  He allegedly cheated on her early into their marriage and he kept in touch with the woman through Facebook.

I don’t know if I should be humored by this (because I use Facebook) or be fearful (because I am about 15 showers and 45 cartwheels away from being within the vicinity of Eva Longoria’s hotness).

Either way, it’s sad.  Their story book wedding was quite the buzz a few years ago.  It’s quite sad how these unions don’t last as long as we expect them to.  Or at least, long enough to have the wedding costs amortized.

Oh well.  Moving on.

The accident that was October 17th

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We received the invites around two weeks in advance, so it was not a surprise when October 17th came and we all packed in the car to get to Pampanga for Madison Sophia’s first birthday.

The Virays were riding with us, so that’s five of them, plus the three lolas.  Father knew we won’t fit in the van so he commissioned a relative’s car so the couples — namely Ted and Connie, Daniel, and Dylan and I — can ride in that one, since we have to pick up Connie and Dylan still.

And we picked them up.  We — Antipolo crew in the Vios, the couples in the Altis, and the big group in the van — all met up at Shell in NLEX.  After a quick break, we trekked the long ride to Pampanga.

The men never got tired pushing, but it just kept stalling.

The van kept stalling.  The moment we left the gas station, the van never stopped stalling.  Father had to stop numerous times to fix this and that, and eventually, Mother decided to move the lolas in the car.  Ted drove the Altis and Connie and I squeezed in front, and the kids rode the Vios.

The van was left behind.  Passengers were Dylan, Daniel, Father, Mother, Tita Carol, Tito Sonny, Rex and Justin.

The last photo of the van when it's still whole. No, we're not getting it back anymore.

I kept bugging them to hurry, because the party was starting and it was perfect.  Then Dylan texted.

5:23 PM October 17, 2010
Naaksidente kami

Everything went haywire from that point forward.  I grabbed Kuya Jun (Ate Monet’s brother), Ted and Tito Rod to drive out near the San Fernando exit, north bound, where they were hit by a wheeler truck.

There was no other way.  We had to take the Manila exit, then exit San Simon, then go back to NLEX north just to find them on the other side of the road.

They were at the shoulder, and the only person left by the time I was there was Dylan.  He was with Tito Rod, who I have no idea how he got there faster than we did, and he was getting pretty upset with the driver.

Dylan wanted to stay with him and accompany him to the precinct, mainly because Dylan felt his blood pressure is getting too high.

I failed to get a picture of the van, but here’s what happened:

They were running at 30 kmph when the truck hit them from behind, running at approximately 120 kmph.  They spun a full 360, the front hitting the railing.

RED:  The front bumper was gone.  Headlights were shoved in.
YELLOW:  No door can be opened.  The sliding door was forced just for them to squeeze out.  Dylan was the first to get out of the van.  He got out from the window.  The driver’s door squeezed Father’s leg, straining the muscle.
GREEN:  All windows were shattered.  Dylan said, they were shattered upon impact, which would explain why he spat shards of glass and why the rest were bathing in shrapnel.
BLUE:  The back was gone.  It was pushed so far in, the back row was almost touching the middle row seats.  That was where Tita Carol was seated.

Tito Rod was quick to file a case against the driver, the assistant and the operator.  They showed no remorse.

Dylan almost got out unscathed.  Rex said Daniel hugged him when he saw Dylan turning to look at the truck who was about to hit them.  Daniel said if he didn’t do that, the impact would have made his hips snap and dislocate.  Which would might as well be equivalent to months of pain.  Dylan had whiplash and x-rays were normal.

Daniel was topless because he was drying off sweat.  But the glass got too embedded in his skin.  He had the worst scratches.

Rex, almost scott free too.  Grazed arms.

Mother had fractured skull.  Was confined for a day to reduce the hematoma.  All clear now.

Father has strained muscles.  To date, he’s still doing pain management.

Justin needed 3 stitches from the back of the head, and lacerations on top of the head.  Stitches are out now and we’re still convincing him to shave his hair.

Tito Sony had a subdural hematoma.  Hand swollen like a pumpkin.  Released now but the hand still requires pain management.

Tita Carol had her 7th and 8th rib broken, and the doctor said it will take two months to fully heal.

So there.  Approximately 80,000 in medical fees (all eight of them), 225,000 in damages in private property, 45,000 for salaries and wages lost due to the injuries, and psychological damages yet to be accounted for.

The hearing is set for November 2.

Please don’t die on me

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For those of you who don’t know, I get easily attached.  I am attachment Barbie.  And not just any attachment Barbie.  I am attached to the things I bought with my own money.  So when my Blackberry started giving out on me, my heart started breaking into pieces too.

It just stopped charging! :(  And then I surveyed it… Sadly, it had too many injuries.

Dylan said, it’s begging me to let go already.  But I can’t, it’s my baby!!!

And then… the light came.

And I couldn’t have been any happier. :)

What is Parkinson’s disease?

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Parkinson’s disease, also known asParkinson disease, PD, paralysis agitans, and shaking palsy is a gradually progressive, degenerative neurologic disorder which typically impairs the patient’s motor skills, speech, writing, as well as some other functions. Sufferers often have a fixed, inexpressive face, tremor at rest, slowing of voluntary movements (bradykinesia), an unusual posture, and muscle weakness. In extreme cases there is a loss of physical movement (akinesia).

Parkinson’s disease is both chronic and progressive. Chronic means long-term, while progressive means it gradually gets worse.

Parkinsonism is a neurological syndrome characterized by tremor, rigidity, postural instability, and hypokinesia (decreased bodily movement). A syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs, symptoms, phenomena or characteristics that often occur together. Parkinson’s disease is the most common cause of Parkinsonism. Put simply – Parkinsonism includes the signs and symptoms that resemble Parkinson’s disease.

While about 5% of individuals with Parkinson’s disease are under the age of 40 years, the majority are over 50. When signs and symptoms develop in an individual aged between 21 and 40 years, it is known as Young-onset Parkinson’s disease. Approximately 1 in every 20 patients diagnosed with PD is under 40 years of age. When signs and symptoms appear in people under 18 years of age, it is known asJuvenile Parkinson’s disease. It affects both sexes; males slightly more than females.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, approximately 500,000 Americans are affected by Parkinson’s disease; about 50,000 new diagnoses are made each year. The National Health Service (NHS), UK, estimates that about 120,000 people in the United Kingdom are affected.

As a significant number of elderly patient with early Parkinson’s disease symptoms assume that their symptoms may form part of normal aging and do not seek medical help, obtaining accurate statistics is probably impossible. There are also a several different conditions which sometimes have comparable signs and symptoms to PD.

PD is named after James Parkinson (1755-1824), an English apothecary surgeon, paleontologist, geologist and political activist. In his most famous work An Essay on the Shaking Palsy (1817), he was the first person to describe paralysis agitans, which eventually was named after him.

Parkinson’s disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. Movement disorders describe a variety of abnormal body movements that have a neurological basis, and include such conditions as cerebral palsy, ataxia, and Tourette syndrome. Parkinson’s disease results from decreased stimulation of the motor cortex by the basal ganglia, typically caused by insufficient formation and action of dopamine.

There is no current cure for Parkinson’s disease (April, 2010). Treatment focuses on alleviating symptoms. Sometimes treatment may include surgery.

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I hope they find a cure soon.  This is one disease that hits really close to home.