Filipinos among world's heaviest smokers

Filipinos among world's heaviest smokers

This news is no surprise at all. Cigarettes are available everywhere.
They're cheap, they're marketed as a must-have cool accessory when going out, and tobacco companies have become innovative.
Marlboros now come in all colors and lengths and thickness, depending on people's mood and ages and what they want the world to see them as.
A stick of Philip Morris is the only thing you can buy with two pesos, and it lasts a while, giving the tired jeepney driver a much needed mini-break.

I'm a quitter. I've been one for a year now, and it feels good!
I no longer need a fag fix every three hours.
I don't include them in my daily budget anymore.
My gums look healthier and my face brighter.
My skin just looks so much better, and I smell fresher!

Many say it's so easy to get back into the habit, but I promise never to do it again.
It's the worst thing I can do to myself, especially now that I am no longer 23 years old.
And every time I experience the little wonders of being a non-smoker, I let out a long, big sigh of relief.
I'm able to, thanks to my clean lungs!

You're simply perfect.

We can't really have everything.
Otherwise we would be perfect and have achieved every objective we and the universe have set for us in life, and then it's time for us to die.
So it's all right to have challenges.
In fact, it's necessary.
Difficult, hair-pulling, make-or-break ones that will really push us to think what's important in our lives.
Money? Career? Love? Family? Religion? Fashion? Reputation?
And the list goes on.
And one of the things that determine that is a heart-attack moment.

I have had so many heart-attack moments.
Moments that compelled me to make the most difficult and life-changing decisions in my life.
And they were the moments that dramatically altered my life in ways deeper than any Chilean miner can dig.
And right now I am very close to making one.
It's eating up my brain, making my heart beat faster, firing up my ambition and reviving my passion for something I have always always loved doing.

But like any big event in one's life, I am faced with a big hurdle.
And I am aiming to get over it before the end of the day.
Literally, before sunset.
There is absolutely nothing I can do to slow down my heart beat or tell my thoughts to stand still.
This challenge is taking over me and giving me a kind of rush that I have not had in more than two years.
And you know what? That's a good sign.
So let me say a little prayer and get on with it.
Here goes....

CocoRosie - By your side

I made apple crumble in maple syrup the other day, and I had to use butter and serve it with vanilla ice cream. That was one of the rarest times since February that I allowed myself to have dairy. No biggie, I thought.
But within hours, my digestive system was disrupted, making me realize for the Nth time that dairy products were not for me.

My dairy-free vow that started on the first day of Lent has brought me nothing but joy and health. My skin is clear and glowing, my body has shrunk by at least three kilos, and my overall physical appearance has improved. I even have more energy. I don't pant anymore. I feel lighter. And there is less mucus in my body.

If this all sounds gross to you, I'm sorry. But going dairy-free is probably one of the best health decisions I have ever made in my life. Sure, I can break my own rule once in a while, but I suffer from the consequences, and that's even more reason to quit it altogether.

Go dairy-free. No skinny lattes. No frozen yogurt. No parmesan shavings on your salad. Just quit it and live happily ever after, smiling in a bikini and looking ten years younger.

Yup, I came up with the quote. Also made the poster without using Photoshop or Paint. And yes, the whole point of this is to inspire you and keep you going. You're welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISAPPOINTED

Yup. I guess that's the word to describe how I am feeling right this moment.
How would you feel if your sister got kicked out of college?
I have funded her education since her high school years.
I attended her high school graduation ceremony last year with my head held high, proud to be the big sister of a bright and outgoing young woman who knew what she wanted in life and had ways to get it.
So finding out that she had been dismissed by her college after completing her first year and a summer course broke my heart into a million little pieces.
My sister isn't stupid. I know that. She outsmarts me and my mother all the time.
She is lazy. She doesn't give a hoot about getting an education and she certainly doesn't think about all the other young girls in the world who could only pray to have enough money to attend a decent school.
Why do we all go to school, and strive to finish university?
We all want a better future. We all want to have careers.
We want to make empowered professional choices, so that we don't beg employers to hire us, or be forced to wait tables or clean toilets, or marry a rich but evil man.
And yet my sister is oblivious to all this, despite the fact that it's all I ever talk to her about.
So now she wants to go to fashion school.
Now she wants to start anew, and has promised me that once she is enrolled again, she will never ever ever take her studies for granted.
I appreciate she has to study something she loves so her attention won't stray.
But I really hope that my sister as staying power to last four years to be able to say she has obtained a degree.
A four-year course is a four-year course, whether one is learning about numbers, plants or fabrics.
I know that I have doubts about my sister's sincerity about wanting to study so badly.
But here I am, giving her another chance, as awesome big sisters do.
It's hard, sooo hard to think that everything is going to be okay.
That my sister will shape up and learn her lesson and tread the path to a successful career eventually.
It's even harder to think that she believes or listens to me.
I just hope that the way I expressed my disappointment - all those words I carelessly hurled at her and the disgusted look on my face as a reaction to her indolence - will not taint her appetite to try again.
I am very hard on her not because I want to feel powerful, but because I want her to look up to me.
I desperately want her to find out how I experienced university life and how I managed to build a career.
But for now, I hope she freaking finds a school.