Blogging Miles Around the Metro

…Most especially in this side of the world. Though the young social entrepreneurs featured in the e-card below are not from Southeast Asia, a good number from countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand to name a few, were present at the Young Social Entrepeneurs’ Forum at GK3 recently held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This E-Card’s aim is to let the world know about the work of these young people all across the globe who put together business, innovation, and heart.

Concept by Gabriele Siegenthaler Muinde and Anthony David, put together by Idea!s and Tom Estrera. Help us spread the love, copy and paste to your blogs!

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Sighs!.. 2 days after the Glorietta 2 bombing.. a fire hit Seafood Seafood resto at Glorietta 4 around 12NN Oct 21,2007.

So what am i doing at Glorietta 2 days after the bombing last friday?

1. big possibility that there will be few shoppers around. (very true, very few people around)
2. i need to look for a new TV stand for a newly acquired TV..
3. low probability of having 2 accidents in the same week at the same mall .. (well i’m wrong..)

at around 12NN after visiting Automatic Centre and the furniture store beside it @G4.. a good number of people inside the mall just started running and shouting.. (what the f@#k! dont tell me there’s another bomb?).. I didn’t hear anything, so there’s no reason to panic- and just thought that maybe someone is just joking. haha.. Then all of a sudden most of the sales peep started packing their things and closing their shops. Don’t tell me there’s raid in this mall? there’s no pirated stuff in here right?..
Even heard someone shouted ‘ hay! wala na-naman benta’ ( no sales again.!)..ugh..

But i immediately changed my mind, when i saw the security guards of the mall started running and scrambling with their hand held radios. (oh no, its not a joke!).. after that, i turned the video cam of my Nokia N70 and walked to the nearest exit..

Outside G4, you can feel a state of panic.. police, firemen, paramedics, K9 units and your usual pinoy crowd started to work and of course speculate. I was impressed with the response time of the policemen, firemen and others on duty. They were there in a few mins (maybe because some of there were stationed at G2).

Anyway, just keep it cool.. no need to panic!

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I was surprised to know that Brazilians actually comprise the third largest foreign group in Japan. I have often wondered how Brazilians adapt themselves to Japanese culture which is as opposed to the geographic locations of these countries on the planet. The Japanese are polite, restrained and subtle, while Brazilians are warm, energetic and expressive. Once a year, Asakusa in Tokyo celebrates these differences and the history of these countries together through a day-long festival of feathers, sequins, bikinis, and samba; the Asakusa Samba Festival.

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With this stake in the ground, what do you think grows?

Photo taken by Marielle Nadal on the trail from the UP College of Fine Arts to the academic oval, UP Diliman, August 2007.

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As a means of mobilizing people and furthering awareness on certain advocacies, biking is certainly proving to be popular.

For those of you who do not know where Davao (in the Philippines) is, let’s just say that from Manila, it’s um, really far.

*****

Bike for Life

The Bike for Life Tour 2007 is a journey that will start in Metro Manila and will go all the way to Davao. There will be a core group of riders headed by James Auste, the executive director of the Cancer Warriors Foundation who himself is a cancer survivor. We will be riding together with 10 parents of pediatric cancer patients who are wards of the Cancer Warriors Foundation.

At the end of the day after each leg a forum on cancer awareness will be held with the message that Cancer can be Beaten.

The tour is not a race, but you are most welcome to join and ride with us on any of the legs.

This is the tentative Itinerary:

SEPT 16—- MANILA TO BATANGAS CITY
SEPT 17– RO RO TO CALAPAN, RIDE TO ROXAS OCC.MIN, RO RO TO CATICLAN
SEPT 18– BIKE TO KALIBO
SEPT 19- BIKE TO ROXAS
SEPT 20- BIKE TO ILO ILO
SEPT 21 RO RO TO BACOLOD BIKE
SEPT 22 BIKE TO SAN CARLOS
SEPT 23- BIKE TO DUMAGUETE
SEPT 24–RORO TO CEBU
SEPT 25– DAY IN CEBU BIKE AROUND THE CITY TAKE RORO TO BOHOL
SEPT 26– DAY IN BOHOL AT 7PM TAKE RORO TO CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY!
SEPT 27– DAY IN CDO BIKE AROUND
SEPT 28– BIKE TO MALAYBALAY, BUKIDNON
SEPT 29– BIKE TO QUEZON, BUKIDNON
SEPT 30–BIKE TO DAVAO CITY
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES………………….

With determination, passion, perseverance and faith in God, cycling 1500 kilometers is possible. Likewise, giving a child a fighting chance to beat their cancer is achievable. You, too can be part of ‘The Bike for Life” here’s how:

1. Pledge PhP300.00 for every kilometer that the cyclists will complete and each kilometer completed contributes directly to The Cancer Warriors Foundation’s fund for the treatment of these children. It takes approximately Php100,000.00 a year per child to fight cancer.

2. Joining any leg of the tour and giving a fixed donation of 1500 pesos per leg that you will be joining. Each leg will be approximately 100 kilometers.

3. Helping us find sponsors for the Venue for the Forum and the meals, and accommodations for the contingent at each of the stops.

4. If you know of any company that may want to sponsor the journey then we can give you the sponsorship packages that are available.

If you are interested, please get in touch with me through my email jamesauste[at]yahoo.com or Denise Matias at denise.matias[at]gmail.com

Maraming salamat po.

James

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Thai police offenders who refuse to follow their superiors’ warnings to mend their ways will find themselves shamed into doing so - forced to wear a hot pink armband adorned with the Japanese cartoon character Hello Kitty, beloved of little girls.

Frustrated senior officers searching for ways to force their underlings to toe the line believe the cutesy armband will be sufficiently humiliating to deter policemen from further misdemeanours.

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I was recently shown a photo by a friend that I found quite interesting. She’s living in an apartment in Bangkok and found her security guard asleep when she was walking in. She decided to take a picture of him (hoping of course he wouldn’t wake up and catch her. Fortunately she did manage to capture it.

She’s been complaining about living in the place for quite some time. The problems range from poor management not responding to fixing the problems in the apartments to guards who are either asleep or away from their duty stations. I can understand what she’s going through as she lives all alone and security would be something the apartment should address.

As a blogger, I feel it is my duty to expose bad business so that they do not become too complacent and start treating their customers properly and with due respect. So if you’re ever in Bangkok looking to stay in an apartment, I would advise that you avoid The River Mansion, 23 Phra Atit Road, 10200 Bangkok.

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Theme: “Young Faces of ASEAN”

 In observance of the 4oth anniversary of the ASEAN on August 8, 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in collaboration with the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand, is organizing an ASEAN Photo Competition from June to August 2007.

The objectives of the competition are:

• To showcase collective efforts of ASEAN Member Countries in celebrating the 40 th anniversary of ASEAN
• To promote ASEAN awareness and regional identity, particularly among the youth
• To provide talented ASEAN citizens an opportunity to express artistic vision.

The competition is open to all ASEAN citizens. There are three categories: secondary school students, university students and general public.

The deadline for submitting entries/photos is August 8, 2007.

For more information, please feel free to contact:

•  MR. SIPPAKORN PASUWAN at email address: sippakorn@mfa.go.th
•  MS SOONTRIYA KANCHANA at email address: soonthrk@mfa.go.th

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And the doughnut invasion continues.

Krispy Kreme’s third store opens at 9 AM on June 28 at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan! It’s going to be the first free-standing store in the Philippines, as well as the first drive-thru outlet in Asia. Check out their exciting gimmicks for the grand opening day:

• First customers to ring the cash register for dine-in and drive-thru will each win a FREE ONE-YEAR SUPPLY of Original Glazed doughnuts, one dozen per week!
• For drive thru: SIX MONTHS SUPPLY of Original Glazed doughnuts for the second customer, and THREE MONTHS SUPPLY for the third customer, one dozen per week!
• First 300 customers get a FREE NOVELTY ITEM (I wonder what this is)!
• SURPRISE CELEBRITY GUESTS will man the drive-thru on opening day (yesss, imagine being served by…Piolo Pascual?!)!
• The KRISPY KREME OPENING DAY CAR STICK-ON sounds like an interesting gimmick. Customers who drive-thru ith the special sticker on their windshield are entitled to a free Signature Coffee on a dozen doughnut purchase. So…where do we get these stickers? Show up on opening day and find out.

Hmm. I’ve never tried their Signature Coffee.
But I have tried their Original Glazed doughnuts, and they’re pretty good, though I only have a maximum eating capacity of 2 doughnuts. Hehe. I’m sure they’d be great with coffee though. Yum.

Hop on over to Greenhills on the morning of the 28th. Who knows, you might be the lucky one to get a dozen doughnuts per week for a year (your officemates will love you).

Photo courtesy of www.pdphoto.org.

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Call for entries: South-East Asian creative writing anthology for young writers

Publisher: University of Santo Tomas (UST) Publishing House, The Philippines.

Works Needed: Open to South-East Asian writers and translators below 40. Poetry, prose (fiction, travelogues, essays, blogs, etc), 1-act plays, short screen/teleplays, comics (not over 30 pages long), and everything in between–literary experiments as well as genre works (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc, or combinations thereof). Past published works are also welcome. Shorter works will have their originals as well as their English translation printed. No overriding theme(s) as yet. As the first installment of a hopefully ongoing series, the main focus now is establishing sustainable networks among writers and translators in the region.

Deadline: 1 August 1, 2007. Going to press by December or the first quarter of 2008.

Editor: Mervin Espina (The Philippines). There might also be a co-editor from a different South-East Asian country.

Editor’s Biodata: Mervin Espina spent his childhood shuttling between the southern suburbs of Metro Manila and Brunei Darussalam. At age 4, his life’s ambition was to become a garbage collector. To his parent’s relief he studied philosophy, literature, and Spanish at the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the Philippines. When he turned 18, he got a break freelancing as a writer and photographer for Philippine dailies and magazines, eventually gravitating to more music and film-related activities. He’s been actively documenting and participating in the Philippine indie film scene and has done production and translation work for numerous projects, like The Family That Eats Soil (2004) and The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (2005). He also helps program and organize film screenings and festivals in the Philippines and abroad. As for dreams of being a garbage collector—one needs only to look at his room. He’s a vegetarian and has two silver goldfish.

Editor’s contact: geneticleftoversoup@gmail.com / skype: merv.espina.

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