how else can i help haiti?

I'm pretty sure that by this time most everybody who has access to some form of media knows what happened in Haiti recently. Or rather, what happened to Haiti. The devastation is so severe, I can't ignore the urge to do something.

And I don't want to just contribute prayers.

The first impediment is that I'm miles away. Also, I'm well aware that I'm not a doctor, not in the military, not in any government or humanitarian organization, and I have no training or background whatsoever, so I can't be sent out there. I'm struggling with my own expenses, so I don't have much to give. I don't have a credit card or bank account of any sort, so I don't even know how to give.

I'm therefore really glad about how citizens have created easy ways to contribute to Haiti relief efforts, that average janes like me can be a part of this somehow.

There is first of all that convenient way to send donations to Red Cross via text. We are told that every little centavo helps, so I'm not too ashamed to give a small bit at a time. I may be able to give more after the next payday - I'm sure it'll still be needed then - but for now, I give what I can.

Quite a number of bloggers have devised a way to raise funds through their blogs. I'm not sure how that works, but they tie-in with some organization, and for every comment received, x number of dollars goes to that charity. I was quite skeptical about this, but then again I had nothing to lose by participating. Most of them have links to other blogs doing the same thing, so I clicked around and left my comments.

Other bloggers have chosen to host contests on their sites, and the giveaway is a cash donation to Haiti relief ops in your name. Awesome, huh?

Other citizen bloggers and online shops have opted to donate a portion of their income for this specific time. Others have decided to give the income they receive from the ads, so merely visiting their pages and /or clicking the ads helps. Yeah, I did some of that too.

I'm also quite impressed at how one of the most popular Facebook games, Farmville, has used its easy access to FB users as a way to raise support. With a few clicks and a PayPal account (so that ultimately means real money), you can effortlessly give a donation while acquiring a cute, new item for your virtual farm. I actually have neither a Farmville farm nor a PayPal account, but the Hubby has both. Now a lovely fountain stands in the middle of his virtual hacienda as a receipt for our humble donation.

Of course I would love to do something more direct, more concrete. Maybe I should volunteer for an organization? I'm still clicking around to see in what other little ways I can help.

cute blog: fifi lapin

I've been following Fifi Lapin's blog for some time. Her ultra-cute site combines some of my likes: art, fashion and bunnies.

Image property of Fifi Lapin.

Fifi is an heiress with long, silky ears and a fashion icon. According to Elle Magazine, she is "the world's most stylish bunny". She posts charming fashion reviews and runway photos, but the most attractive part of her site (in my opinion) are those sketches of herself wearing designer clothing - with posh accessories to match!

Image property of Fifi Lapin.

Her flair for fashion has made her so famous, that lately there have been Fifi Lapin lines of postcards, T-Shirts, greeting cards and LeSportSac bags (I received a Fifi Lapin print purse or case of sorts for Christmas from my friend L. I was so thrilled!)

Fifi has a shop where you can purchase her prints. She also hosts contests every once in a while with cute Fifi stuff up for grabs.

how sweet it is to be apologized to

I love the feeling of receiving a sincere apology, especially one that is expressed in an effort to save a valued relationship. When the sorry is sincere, there hardly is any need for explanations.

Which is why I post a little celebration in receiving one of the most sincere apologies I've received in a long time. Salve of joy. It's so healing, especially after wearing a stake through my soul about it for a long time.

nomnomnom-ing

I arrived home at around half past two this morning, a full moon smiling with me as I stepped out of the car and into the threshold. I came from an awesome night with old schoolmates from the absolutely amazing college of UP Fine arts. It was great to see them all again, all in one place, all at the same time.


I've been looking forward to a rendezvous such as this. It would be a decade since I last saw most of them (online / television / magazine sightings excluded), so you could imagine how excited I was.

We had dinner and drinks at a really cute, cozy resto in QC owned by 3 other schoolmates. Really, really lovely place. Would you believe it? - It's called Nomnomnom Happy Food. Wonderful healthy gourmet-ish food at fastfood prices. Highly recommended.


Some 60 or so folk came, UP CFA graduates from different departments and various batches of the late '90s. There was a whole lot of us from our block and we filled half the smoking area. Everyone sort of just adapted into the scene, as if simply picking up from where we left off almost a decade ago, like we were never separated by years. Most of them looked just like the way I left them.

A lot of things were pretty much the same ...

R and J were still the fist to arrive and the last to leave.
D still has the nicest camera, and is still married to R.
MB still looks like she did in college.
MD still has her subtle-funny way of telling stories .
G is still nicey and unintrusive.
A is still the pretty girl who has never had a boyfriend.
JP is still on whatever regulated substances those are.
AL is still the weird artist type (with ultraman toy watch to match), still talks like a cool geek and is still a self-proclaimed closet gay.
D is still openly gay and openly flirts with AB. AB is still a sweet-and-sensitive toughie and is still dating C.
H is still a heckler.
L is still his heckle-buddy.
The single girls are still single.
And there was this whole confuddled commotion with paying the bill, like how things usually went when we ate at Mang Jimmy's ten years ago.
And JP hitched a southbound ride home with me like he used to.


... Though there have been a lot of interesting developments:

JP finally graduated (Centennial batch! Woot!) - big news of the evening.
D is a classy sort of sexy-manly gay who does some designing and a bit of modeling.
AB has a lot of uber-cool tatts.
MD just recovered from an operation that revealed she had a parasitic twin (oh yes, she gave us a detailed, descriptive report while everyone was eating).
MB, one of the owners of the resto we were eating at, is now a successful entrepreneur with a couple of businesses.
H is engaged.
D and R have three kids now.
R is a respected teacher at a girls' private school.
D spells his name differently now. He has a studio and does glamour photography; we see his work everywhere.
AL is a filmmaker and has a thing for K-pop.

It felt a lot like college hang-out days all over again - except that people were now more stable (in every sense of the word) and the guys knew how to handle their drinks (i.e., no drunken vomitfests). Too bad a lot of the other friends weren't able to make it.

It was a much-needed trip away from the usual everyday of present life. I'd love to call it a great night of catching up with old friends, but great is an understatement. Hoping and waiting for a second round ...

unconditional love

Found this sweet passage on a box of perfume I received.

philosophy: consider the opportunity to love the greatest of all blessings. the love you give is the love you get and it i all good no matter where love takes you. let the ability to love another belong to you forever and ever because real love stories never end.