MESSY BESSY

And now, something environmentally friendly and wonderfully local, too!   It's always difficult to make the choice between buying an environmentally safe, biodegradable, non-toxic product and buying the least dangerous regular but local product. So, it's great that Pinoys are starting to manufacture safe products. I've tried some of them and I'm happy so far. I just wish the Orange Blossom Surface Cleaner didn't smell so flowery-sweet, but that's just me. I prefer citrus scents. But give it a go. Messy Bessy is the brainchild of Krie Lopez. I can't show each product here, but just click on the image to see it up close.  Not only is it good for your health, your home and the environment, it also helps the young adults at the Virlanie Foundation.

COMPLAINTS.COM

A reader shared this site after reading my "Bad Service" article. It's a web-based, consumer-oriented site. Any complaint about any product or service is uploaded and creates a useful database for people worldwide.  So if you have another run in with terrible service, lodge a complaint. Before you buy a product or service, check it out and see what others have experienced. Based on the letters I received, it looks like PLDT should have more entries on this site. I believe it has one now. This is a tool that might make big, negligent companies wake-up and pay attention to consumers because it's their ego on the line and we all know how far they'll go to protect themselves. So check it out and spread the word. 

Does Your Spiritual Practice Translate Into Deed?

A very special individual is coming to town. He is going to talk to us about becoming more active in the world and how to bring our spiritual life into the will.  There is so much dissonance in the world today.  People go on and on about spirituality but are their deeds aligned with their spiritual practices or spiritual beliefs?  We are such a religious, Catholic nation, and yet we suffer under the worst forms of corruption.  The most evil people in government bow their heads in prayer for all of us to see.  We are such a devout nation and yet we turn away from social injustice.  How can we heal the dissonance? These are some of the things we will explore.  Be there and begin the process of transforming your life and the world.

GREAT BOOKS!

Check out ILIOS Books.  This started out as an initiative to service Waldorf parents in the country so we have a lot of books on Waldorf education, parenting, arts and crafts, children's books but we also have other titles on topics like nutrition, wellness, health, beauty, spirituality, Christianity, you name it.  If you are looking for titles you don't see in regular bookstores, visit us.  My partner and I are putting this business on hold until we can really focus on it so everything is 30% OFF.  Enjoy.

 

FACEBOOK: Too cute for me

Not that I haven't tried it.  Not that I'm not there.  It's a great networking tool but--and don't bother sending me hate mail--a rather juvenile one. It's made for teens I think, but lots of, er, oldies are spending a lot of time on it, sending each other cyber-food and I don't know what else!!  I took some of the tests. I'm right-brained AND I'm Rachel in FRIENDS.  Not particularly life-changing discoveries there, though I thought I would definitely be Monica. 

People find people they haven't seen in decades on Facebook, which might be the attraction for us Pinoys, who so love living in the past.  Cyber re-connections are made and people spend hours sending each other silly virtual tokens.  All in good fun, I suppose. Still, I worry about virtual relationships.  I really do.  I think people should take the time to catch up with a friend over coffee if they are sincere about re-connecting. I bet people get a kick out of seeing old classmates and acquaintances but would instantly freeze and back off at the prospect of physical meetings. Am I right?

I wish there could be a more productive use for such a tool--perhaps to further social change? If we could all harness something like this to swell up to the tipping point of change in this country then WOW!  Now we're talking.  If every Filipino used his Facebook time, energy, and network towards manifesting change in our country, can you imagine the groundswell????

In the meantime, I limit my participation to checking in with a few friends and family members whose photos are the reason I joined.

Censorship

I wrote about bad service in my column yesterday. I was spending too much time calling for service for my phone and Internet and was certain I wasn't the only one.  Of course I couldn't name the provider and wrote this in the original article :  "Which provider is it? You know I can't say because this piece wouldn't see print otherwise, which is another sad story.  Big advertisers, you know.  I do apologize for that inconvenience."

The paper edited it. I kind of new knew it would happen but I was still disappointed when it did. Freedom of the press isn't really happening here.  If you're editing your writers because you're worried about advertisers....hhhmmm.  Hence the blog.

Here, my words are mine.  They are complete and unedited.

Read the article. 

Hi Everyone

I've been asked by a lot of people to start a blog, but since it's one more thing to do, I've been putting it off. Who wants to read more of what I have to say? How can I write more than I already do in a week, which is already more than I can normally handle?  But this year I started doing NEW things.  I've moved South and have simplified my life.  I'm starting to paint. I've taken up guitar. At 41, that's no mean feat :).  So I'm trying to do the blog thing. Have patience.  One day soon I hope to have this up and running .....