Feast for the Eyes

I like going to supermarket and stores because I enjoy seeing how they display their products in an attractive and colorful way. I have no money most of the time so I always do “window-shopping”, feasting at their art forms.

One time at SM Supermarket in San Fernando, Pampanga, I saw a really beautiful display of ice cream containers placed in an open freezer of all sorts of flavors. I took photos of it though I think I’m not allowed to do so.

See those marvelous columns of ice cream as far as the eye can see. Isn’t it beautiful? Surely, younger children would be more fascinated, tugging their parents to buy one as well.

Talking about ice cream, my favorite flavor is vanilla, topped with cashews, rice crispies, cornflakes and more light-flavored toppings. Yum! My stomach’s grumbling right now.

Updating this post, my roommate just bought a container of Double Dutch ice cream and she kindly shared some of it with us. I topped it with my Quaker Oats cereals. It was delicious.

Sorbetes, kulay ay iba-iba
Sa mata ay nakakakahalina,
Sa dila’y nakakatuwa
Sa puso’y nakakataba.
Gusto ko pa ng isa!
Meron pa ba?

Buko Pandan and More

A month has already passed since the last time I have posted. This really tells how extremely busy I am with my studies. It’s not that I am doing it for myself or for my future life, the reason is more grander than that. That’s why I’m always struggling to perfect every little detail of it, even though I know I cannot be good with everything about it. And I know that every hardship would bear fruit, this undying perseverance to work (in my case, studies) would teach me order, discipline, and the necessary virtues in life. Of course, I still enjoy and have fun despite this busy academic life.

The weather have been bad lately due to “hanging Habagat” and low pressure areas. There was a time when it rained continuously for almost a week or more, I remember hearing from the news that July had an unusual number of typhoons. Every morning, the sky greets me with a gloomy face. I long for the warmth of sunlight once again.

Yesterday, my prayer was granted. It was a really fine weather, you could see the sunbeam creeping out of the leaves and branches of the trees as if the heaven was opening wide. But those wonderful sights only lasted in the morning. The afternoon sun was more intense that you would wish for rain was once again. What extreme weathers!

And since August is the national language month, I will write and post poems in this blog. I have written  one so far, but it is still incomplete. The inspiration came from one of my favorite desserts, buko pandan. Buko pandan is a mixture of pandan gelatin/jelly, shredded buko meat, sugar, crushed ice, and evaporated milk.

Tanghali, katirikan ng araw,
Ang init ay umaalingasaw.
Lalamunan ko’y tuyo at uhaw,
Tanging tubig ang nais isigaw.

At sa paglalakad ay namasdan,
Isang payak at munting tindahan…

To be continued.

Delivery

Another article I wrote related to Economics. Dormers always find it convenient and a happy treat to call for delivery, as long as they have money for it.

“Pa-deli tayo!”

Pagpatak pa lang ng alas-singko ng hapon, asahan mo nang maririnig mo ito sa mga usapan ng mga Pisay dormers. Ang “deli” ay salitang pabalbal sa “delivery” na maaaring napaikli na sa paglipas ng panahon at dahil na rin upang mapadali ang pagbigkas sa pag-aanyaya sa mga taong nais sumama.

Ang delivery ay tila isa ng ritwal na naging parte na ng buhay ng isang Pisay dormer. Ngunit bakit pa nga ba magpapa-deli kung mayroon namang Pisay cafeteria? At heto ang mga kasagutan:

Una nagkakaroon ang mga Pisay dormers ng pagsasawa o LDMU (Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility). Sa LDMU, habang dumadalas ang paggamit ng isang bagay, bumababa rin ang “satisfaction” ng gumagamit nito. Ganito rin ang sitwasyon sa mga Pisay dormers. Araw-araw, palagi na lang caf food kaya bakit hindi naman maghanap ng iba? Ngunit alam naman nating may kaunting kamurahan ang caf food kaysa fastfood.

Kaya naman sa mga panahong nakakaluwag sa higpit ng sinturon ang mga dormers saka lang sila nagpapa-deliver lalo na sa mga panahon ng linggo ng stipends. Tumataas ang kanilang mga baon, kaya naman bakit hindi na lang bumili ng mga fastfood para mabago? Dito, masasabi natin na ang fastfood ay isang superior good kung saan nabibili lamang kapag nagkakaroon ka na ng kakayahang mabili ito habang ang cafeteria food ay palaging “last choice”.

Narito ang listahan ng mga pinakamadalas dumalaw na fastfood delivery chains sa GRHM:

• Jollibee
• Mcdonalds
• Greenwich
• Chowking
• Binalot
• Box-O-Rice
• Yoshinoya
• Tapa King
• KFC
• Kenny Rogers
• Sbarro
• Wendy’s
• Burger King

Napapansin na rin na dumadalang ang nagpapa-deliver sa Jollibee, KFC at Greenwich. Dahil na rin sa araw-araw sila nakikita’t napagbibilhan sa cafeteria, nagsasawa na rin ang mga dormers sa panlasa nila. Paglipas ng panahon, mas naghahanap ng bago ang mga dormers at dumidiskubre ng mga bagong delivery chains tulad ng  Sbarro, Kenny Rogers at Binalot.

Kaya naman tara! Tawag na!

The Littlest Particle

Together with my groupmates, Cara and Isa, we made a children storybook with a twist of science that we needed to pass for Life Science. The main character is little Rachel Carson who wrote the “Silent Spring”, and the plot is about Biomagnification as the bad effect of  DDT or dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane on nature. The drawings are very simple, and I hope the plot is conceivable to young readers.

Once upon a time, in a dark little bottle, there lived a tiny particle with a very long name, but everyone called her Little DDT. Little DDT was brought out of her bottle every day to help people chase out pests, but no one ever thanked her. She was very sad, and wanted to show everyone that she was good for more than scaring away insects. “I’ll show them!” she whispered to herself. “I’ll make them see how great I can be!” And so began the plan that would change the world completely.

A few weeks later, the animals of the world were having a meeting. Everyone was talking at once, and no one noticed anything was wrong until one little chipmunk cried out, “Why are there so many rabbits?”

A hush fell over the animals as they tried to count. One.. two.. too many! Then they noticed that there were other things wrong with the group.

“Where are the ospreys?” asked a rat.”Where are the fish?” said a dove. “The balance of nature has changed!” cried an eagle. “What went wrong? What happened?”

Everyone started talking again, giving their own ideas, when suddenly one little human girl stood up and said loudly, “I volunteer to find out what happened! I’ll investigate this, and I’ll tell everyone at the next meeting what I found out.” Everyone agreed to this, and the little girl went away to start her work.

The little girl, whose name was Rachel, decided to go to the rabbits first. “Excuse me, Mr. Rabbit, but why are there so many of you?”
“Oh little girl, we haven’t seen the ospreys recently. They like to chase us around, you see, so now that they’re gone, all of us can come out to play!” Mr. Rabbit said happily.
“But where did all the ospreys go?”
“I don’t know, little Rachel. Maybe you can ask Mr. Osprey- he lives in that tree over there! You should see if he’s home, though.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rabbit!”
And she skipped away towards the tree.

When she got to the tree, she found that Mr. Osprey was very sick.
“Mr. Osprey!” she called out. “It’s me, Rachel. How are you, sir?”
“Oh, I feel terrible,” he groaned. “And it’s not just me- all of our family here is sick! Even the little ones are feeling sick inside their eggs.”
“That’s horrible,” Rachel said sadly. “But how do you think this happened, Mr. Osprey?”
Mr. Osprey thought for a moment. “Well, it might have been when I ate a very bad-tasting mouse a week ago. Perhaps the mice are also sick- you should ask Miss Mouse. She lives over there in that little burrow.”
“Thank you, Mr. Osprey!”
And she skipped away towards the burrow.

At the burrow, she found that Miss Mouse was sniffling, but she wasn’t quite as sick as Mr. Osprey.
“Good morning, Miss Mouse! How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad, Rachel, thank you for asking.” Miss Mouse coughed a little. “The family is sick as well, but we can get by.”
“That’s good to hear. But when did you get sick?”
“Hm..” Miss Mouse tapped her cheek as she thought. “I think it started last week, when I ate a piece of wheat that tasted terrible. You can talk to the plants, dear, or maybe visit the Wheat family over at the field. I’m sure Mrs. Wheat would be delighted to speak with you.”
“Thank you, Miss Mouse!”
And she skipped away towards the wheat field.

When she arrived at the wheat field, she was very surprised by what she found. The Wheat family didn’t look sick at all!
“Hello, Mrs. Wheat. How are you today?”
“Perfectly fine, dear Rachel. Why do you ask?”
“The animals had a meeting, and everything is wrong! I’ve asked around, and I noticed something strange. The ospreys and the mice are sick, and they think it’s because of something they ate.”
“Oh, that sounds terrible. Well, if it helps, I do remember that about a week ago, there was something that landed on me. It was very small, so I lost track of where it was after that.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Wheat! That might just be the key!”
And Rachel left with a smile on her face.

For days and days Rachel tried to figure out what could have gone wrong- and most importantly, what the mystery thing that landed on Mrs. Wheat was. She felt it was all connected somehow… Then one day, just when she was about to give up, she had an idea. A brilliant, wonderful, almost impossible idea.

The time of the next world meeting had come, and all the animals had gathered again. This time, though, they were all quiet as they waited for Rachel to present her findings.
“Animals of the world,” she announced. “I’ve figured out what went wrong!”
“What happened?”
“Who did it?”
“I found out that there was a mysterious little particle that visited the Wheat family- but it was so small they hardly noticed it. But they didn’t know that the particle affected them very much. When Miss Mouse ate a piece of wheat, she started to get sick, and spread it to all her family. Then, when Mr. Osprey ate a mouse, he got sick as well, but this time even worse than Miss Mouse! His whole family was affected, and that’s why they aren’t here right now.”
“So who is this mysterious particle?” asked the eagle.
“Here she is… Little DDT!”

Rachel held up a blade of grass, and everyone leaned closer to see the particle.
“So, Little DDT, why did you do it?”
“It’s all your fault!” she shouted. “All of you! None of you appreciated what I did for you!”
“That’s not true!” the animals cried. “We were always grateful.”
“Except maybe the insects,” Rachel added.
“But no reason can excuse what you did, Little DDT,” the eagle said seriously. “You tried to change the world in a very bad way, and for that we have to punish you.” The eagle raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. “I declare that Little DDT should be banished to her bottle, forever!”
“No!” cried Little DDT, but no one listened to her.

So Little DDT is now safe forever in her bottle, and the world is peaceful and everyone lives happily ever after.

THE END

Bente Pesos Noon at Ngayon

I needed to write an article related to Economics, so I thought of discussing the money value of twenty pesos this present time.

Lahat ng bagay ay kumukupas.

At sa pagkupas, kasabay ang pagkawala ng halaga nito. Ang bisikleta na palagi mong sinasakya’y marahil kalawangin na’t malambot ang mga gulong na hindi na halos nagagamit. Kahit ang lolo mo marahil ay malakas ang pangangatawan, malinaw ang mga mata, at maiitim at malago ang buhok noong kanyang kabataan, ay uugod-ugod na, ubanin at malabo ang mga mata. Ganito rin ang nangyayari sa halaga ng pera.

Pera ang tawiran ng bentahan, bilihan at kalakalan. Ito rin ang nagdidikta ng halaga ng isang bagay. Hindi maiiwasan sa paglipas ng panahon ay magkaroon ng inflation, ang pagbaba o pagtataas ng presyo ngunit kadalasan ay nangyayari ang pagtaas. Kaya naman ang dati mong kayang bilhin sa isang yunit ng pera ay marahil hindi mo na kayang bilhin sa susunod na panahon. Nawawala ang dating halaga ng pera.

Ayon kay Sir Espanol, alumni ng Pisay, nakakabili pa siya ng coke, bear claw, knick knacks, at chocolate roll sa Cafeteria sa halagang bente pesos noong kabataan niya. Marami-rami’t nakakabusog na rin para sa isang kainan. Kahit isang ulam at isang kanin ay kasya na rin daw. Ganoon nga siguro kamura ang mga pagkain noon.

Ito ang hamon ngayon: ano pa kaya ang mabibili ng bente pesos, na siyang pinakamaliit na perang papel ngayon sa Pilipinas, sa Pisay cafeteria?

• Anon1: Cheezy (P19)
• Anon2: Iced tea (P121) and small junkfood (P8)
• Anon3: Cupcake (P18)
• Anon4: Half Rice (P5), Food Sauce (0), Fun Chum (P8), Spork (P2)
• Anon5: Bottled Water (P13)
• Anon6: Orange Juice (P16)
• Anon7: Cheeze it (P6), Loaded (P6), Funchum (P8)
• Anon8: Bottled Water (P15)
• Anon9: Whole Rice (P8), Spork (P2), Sabaw (P0), Siomai (P8.50), Candy (P1)
• Anon10: Ensaymada (P20) (sakto at pwede na rin)
• Anon11: Bottled Water (P13)
• Anon12: Small Bottled C2 (P17)
• Anon13: Nestea (P18) (may nabibili ba sa bente?)
• Anon14: Donut (P14), Candies (P6)
• Anon15: Bottled Water (P15)
• Anon16: Buttered Corn (P15)
• Anon17: 2 Siomai (P15)
• Anon18: Half Rice (P5), 2 Siomai (P15) (magkakamay na lang)
• Anon19: Buko Juice (P14)
• Anon20: 2 Rice (P16), Sabaw (P0)
• Anon21: Butter Coconut (P12), Funchum (P8)
• Anon22: 2 Siomai (P15) (may nabibili ba sa bente?)
• Anon23: Banana-cue (P15)
• Anon 24: Kitkat (P11)
• Anon25: Butter Coconut (P15)
• Anon 26: Sago’t Gulaman (P20)
• Anon27: Half Rice (P5)

Marami ang tila hanggang tubig lang ang kinaya nilang bilhin, ang iba naman ay funchum at iba pang inumin. Hanggang pampalipas-uhaw lang yata ang bente sa kanila ngunit maaaring  nakakabigat na rin ng tiyan. Karamihan din ay naisipang bumili ng mga pampalipas-gutom na meryenda tulad ng mga biscuit, tinapay at mga chichiria. Meron din namang naisip na bumili ng kanin at ulam na isang siomai, o sabaw o food sauce para mabusog. Marahil ay pinakanakakatuwang ideya ito dahil naipagkasya nila sa bente pesos ang rice meal. Kaya naman pala kung gugustuhin.

Hindi naiwasang masambit ng iba, “May nabibili pa ba sa bente?”. Ang naiisip nila marahil ay kung may nakakabusog pa bang nabibili sa bente pesos. Maaaring wala na nga sa ngayon. Ngunit kung ang habol mo ay manaka-nakang pagkain, mayroon pa naman: kaunting tinapay, inumin, junkfood na pangmeryenda.

Asahan natin sa paglipas ng panahon ang bente pesos ngayon na may naibibili pa ay wala na. Kendi sa bente pesos?