Monday, January 31, 2005

usingenglish.com

3:23 AM

Sunday, January 30, 2005

dropped by at shadi's house after the fellowship.. hehe my usual routine na.. :)

1:05 AM

Saturday, January 29, 2005

How They Found National Geographic's "Afghan Girl"

This story was first published a year ago, in March 2002, when the National Geographic Society announced that the "Afghan Girl" had been found.
A National Geographic EXPLORER documentary airing in the United States on Sunday, March 9, 2003, tells the whole story, including an interview with Sharbat Gula.

She was one of the world's most famous faces, yet no one knew who she was. Her image appeared on the front of magazines and books, posters, lapel pins, and even rugs, but she didn't know it. Now, after searching for 17 years, National Geographic has once again found the Afghan girl with the haunting green eyes.

The mysterious Afghan girl whose direct gaze has intrigued the West for so long is Sharbat Gula. She lives in a remote region of Afghanistan with her husband and three daughters.

Sharbat was located nearly two decades after her picture appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1985. She had no idea her face had become an icon, said Steve McCurry, the photographer who made the famous portrait for National Geographic in 1984, and who tried to find her again during many subsequent trips he made to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

McCurry's photo of the girl was selected as the cover of National Geographic 100 Best Pictures.

In January 2002, a National Geographic team returned to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan, where Sharbat Gula was originally photographed, to search for her. She was identified through a series of contacts that led to her brother and husband, who agreed to ask her if she was willing to be interviewed.

Sharbat has been photographed on only two occasions: in 1984 and at the reunion with Steve McCurry this year. She had never seen her famous portrait before it was shown to her in January.

"This is the face that so captivated not only National Geographic readers but also anyone who saw her image around the world," said Boyd Matson, host of the National Geographic television show EXPLORER, who was with the group that met with Gula.

"We've known her face, but we've not known her story, not even her name," he said.

Final Search

National Geographic set out to make one last concerted effort to find the "Afghan girl" before the refugee camp in Pakistan where she had last been seen was demolished.

From the camp, the trail wound through several villages and into at least one dead end, until someone recognized the girl on the cover of National Geographic and said he knew her brother.

"The second I saw the color of her brother's eyes, I knew we had the right family," said Matson.

Because Sharbat Gula lives a traditional Muslim life behind the veil, she was not allowed to meet men outside her family. But the Geographic team was given permission to send a female associate producer to meet Sharbat and photograph her face.

Matson said that when he compared the photograph of the woman with that of the girl, he was certain it was the same person. "The irises of the eyes, the moles and scar on the face—all indicated this was the person we were looking for," he said.

Still, to make sure Sharbat Gula was the girl who had been photographed 17 years earlier, the EXPLORER team obtained verification through iris-scanning technology and face-recognition techniques used by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

After Sharbat's family granted permission for her to meet with the man who photographed her 17 years ago, McCurry knew immediately, even after so many years, that he had found her again. "Her eyes are as haunting now as they were then," he said.

"She remembered me, primarily because she had never been photographed before I made the image of her in 1984, or since then," he said.

Sharbat Gula recalled the experience of being photographed as a child, she told McCurry, because she remembered how her head covering was full of holes after being scorched by a cooking fire.

When they met again, McCurry told Sharbat her image had become famous as a symbol of the Afghan people. "I don't think she was particularly interested in her personal fame," McCurry said. "But she was pleased when we said she had come to be a symbol of the dignity and resilience of her people."

The award-winning photographer said his original image of Sharbat had seized the imagination of so many people around the world because her face, particularly her eyes, expressed pain and resilience as well as strength and beauty.

Sharbat Tells Her Story

When Sharbat agreed to have her picture taken for the second time in her life, she came out from the secrecy of her veil to tell her story. She wanted the people around the world who knew her face to know that she survived the refugee camp in Pakistan.

She married and had four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. She lives in obscurity, according to the customs and traditions of her culture and religion.

A member of the Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan, Sharbat said she fared relatively well under Taliban rule, which, she feels, provided a measure of stability after the chaos and terror of the Soviet war.

According to Matson and McCurry, Sharbat Gula has returned to anonymity; the latest publicity about her name and face is unlikely to draw attention to her in Afghanistan. "She will not give another media interview and she wishes not to be contacted," Matson said. Her family has relocated to a different village in a remote part of Afghanistan, where she will continue to live her life in purdah, he added.

Asked if Sharbat would benefit financially from her famous image, Matson said she was "being looked after."

"Clearly she has become a symbol that National Geographic has used to illustrate the circumstances of refugees like her, and many people have inquired about her," he said. "She stood for an entire group of refugees, not just Afghan refugees. She has helped us with our mission of educating people about other cultures and regions—and she's helping us again by drawing attention to the lives of Afghan women and girls in general."

2:55 PM

Friday, January 28, 2005

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

i have the dvd but got bored afte watching a fourth of the movie..

but it is a great concept. to discriminately kill off the memories we would rather forget. i could really use that.

i have so many bad memories that i am trying to let go.. and its very hard..specially if the things that remind you of them are there everyday. you dont know how its like to relive the pain each day. how its like to have the burden of carrying them and the occasional additional ones everyday. every single fucking day..

but i will tell you what it can do... it makes you feel numb to everything else but still receptive to despair, frustration and resentment. it makes you feel bitter. it makes you just want to drown in your own sorrows and get it over with. you just want to crawl under the sheets and sleep it off.. but you just wake up as you were... feeling as shitty as before. it is slow torture.. an excruciating and creeping way to a death you know is inevitable.

i do try to get over things.. but i cannot.. things that are beyond my control move against me. providence takes a dump on me.

so what is the point of trying? where is the logic of trying to go against an ugly reality? what is the point in trying to do things right when the concept of right and wrong in this world has been reduced to personal subjectivity? what is the poing of standing up for the things you believe in when what you believe could just be an idealistic notion that is no longer being valued in today's sybaritic and selfish world? tell me what is the point of trying to hold on to whatever faded shards of hopes and dreams that populate the soul.. when i can free myself of everything if i let go?

1:54 PM

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

You Are a Retrospective Soul

The most misunderstood of all the soul signs. Sometimes you even have difficulty seeing yourself as who you are. You are intense and desire perfection in every facet of your life. You're best described as extremely idealistic, hardworking, and a survivor. Great moments of insight and sensitivity come to you easily. But if you aren't careful, you'll ignore these moments and repeat past mistakes. For you, it is difficult to seperate the past from the present. You will suceed once you overcome the disappoinments in life. Souls you are most compatible with: Traveler Soul and Prophet Soul

11:43 PM

Monday January 24, 07:34 AM

Good Morning...To The Most Depressing Day

Feeling a bit miserable this morning?Well, there could be a good reason for that.Today is the most depressing day of the year, according to scientists.

Psychologist Dr Cliff Arnalls has come up with a formula pinpointing Monday, January 24 as the gloomiest day of all.

The Cardiff University expert weighed up the influence of a number of January-specific phenomena that ruin our mood.

He blamed miserable weather, mounting debt, the length of time since Christmas and failed New Year's resolutions for the depressing day.

The factors are compounded by a lack of motivation in the face of a need to take action.

For those wishing to examine their woe further, the formula is [W+(D-d)]xTQ MxNA.

It translates as weather (W), debt (D) (minus the amount of money to be paid on your next pay day) and the time (T) since Christmas.

Then there is the period since the failure to quit (Q) a bad habit along with general motivational (M) levels and the need to take action (NA) to plan something to look forward to.

- KA CHING!!! no wonder i broke down into a blubbering idiot today.

1:31 AM

Monday, January 24, 2005

im just fuckin pissed off with my life.. ambot hasta ang mga simple things mahimo og grabe ka lisod and complicated

9:00 PM

Friday, January 21, 2005

songs am currently lovin

blue and yellow - the used
over and out - the superjesus
boulevard of broken dreams - green day
i miss you - blink 182
nobody home - avril lavigne
pieces - sum 41
welcome to my life - simple plan
look what u've done - jet

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

why i dont like guys..

its not that i dont like them.. some are ok..like take brian for example.. he's one of the nicest guys that i know of. see.. its possible for me to say non-negative things about guys...

its just i feel that i dont need them. welcoming them into your life as a significant other means that you still have some empty space where u can put them.. that there are some aspects in your life that you feel lacking and hope that he can provide the missing pieces.

i admit that my life has chunks of missing pieces but i prefer to just slowly fill them out by myself. i dont need a guy to do that bec. what he can bring into my life, he can easily take away (and take more than what he brought in). so i'd be left even more incomplete than what i'd started with...

there was this saying i remember that went something like... its wonderful to be in a relationship bec. you gain an additional brain, a pair of arms and a pair of legs.. blah blah (thought imparted : you gain extra help...or something for ur life)

BUT, what if those brain, hands and legs aren't synchonized w/ urs? i mean, i can just imagine trying to go left and right and 2 pairs of arms flaying wildly around.. as if you had a grand mal seizure. or like those puppies who had the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain severed... they were just lying there jerking and twitching around.

in conclusion... i am content to having just my own set of central nervous system, circulatory system and appendages.

Labels: my articles essays

6:52 PM

i read the first few posts of my blog..way back in 2002. haha.. i feel like i wrote better then.. now im just ..well... empty. i feel stupid. need inspiration

2:59 PM

why didnt you call??

you know that situation when women bitch about the fact that they give their number to a guy and wait and wait for him to call but he never calls? i havent really experienced that coz i dont give my number out in the first place..

newai...a few days ago .. a new friend gave me his number coz i wont give out mine. he tried calling my cellphone a couple of times but i guess it was just his luck that im either sleeping or not with my phone when he called...

so we were chatting and he asked me why i didnt return his calls.

my ans was:
1. i dont know (why i didnt call back)
2. i didnt know im supposed to call back (im not miss manners ha..)
3. i lost your number...

haha..so now i know why guys dont call girls back.. sometimes u've really just got nothing to say to that person..so why call in the first place?

2:51 PM

Sunday, January 16, 2005

www.zefrank.com

1:45 AM

Friday, January 14, 2005

despedida ni kat

- so traffic..we started eating at 9..instead of 730
- kc was really surprised..hahah the cake is so cute
- esther cried coz she didnt know d i that we were supposed to give kat a going away gift
- they surprised me in return by giving me a gift... kat gave me an apron set, shad gave me a gift certificate for club ultima, lyn gave me a canadian thermometer and a foot spa set and est and bri gave me a bag! :)

11:24 PM

talk to her soundtrack!!!
-Cucurrucucz Paloma
-Hable Con Ella

* alberto iglesias
* caetano veloso

4:43 PM

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

thank you cher!!!!

for the altoids sours and the pixie stix and the card.. hehehe u've just made my week a happy one.. and for it to fall on a wednesday (my amazing race day!!) is just suuper!! i luv sour candies!!!

7:19 PM

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Preacher Dies During Sermon About Heaven

OVIEDO, Fla. - A Presbyterian minister collapsed and died in mid-sentence of a sermon after saying "And when I go to heaven ...," his colleague said Monday.

The Rev. Jack Arnold, 69, was nearing the end of his sermon Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church in this Orlando suburb when he grabbed the podium before falling to the floor, said the Rev. Michael S. Beates, associate pastor at Covenant Presbyterian.

Before collapsing, Arnold quoted the 18th century Bible scholar, John Wesley, who said, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done ... I go to be with Jesus," Beates said in a telephone interview.

Several members of the congregation with medical backgrounds tried to revive the minister and paramedics were called, but Arnold appeared to die instantly, Beates said.

Arnold had been the senior minister at the church until the late 1990s when he began traveling to Africa and the Middle East to teach pastors. The cause of death was believed to be cardiac arrest. He had bypass surgery five years earlier.

Beates also recounted Arnold's death in an e-mail he sent to members of the Central Florida Presbytery.

"We were stunned," Beates said. "It was traumatic, but how wonderful it was he died in his own church among the people he loved the most."

* wow.. how befitting!

11:23 PM

fark

i usually love to visit this site coz it usually compiles the day's most interesting news.. haha i love how the guy behind it writes the tag lines for the links of the news. among the funnier ones:

* Seal and Heidi Klum engaged. Heidi : "Im so happy." Seal : " Wock wock wock"

* Olive oil beats breast cancer. Popeye shocked she had breasts at all.

lol

7:12 PM

Monday, January 10, 2005

caramel apples

oh yeah.. i forgot i made some caramel apples last saturday... hehe.. had some difficulty letting the caramel stick to the apples but they still taste great! down to my last apple today

too bad i didnt take some pix.. maybe ill do that with the 2nd batch! hehehe

1:57 PM

Sunday, January 09, 2005

i heart simple plan

"Welcome To My Life"

Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
And no one understands you
Do you ever wanna runaway?
Do you lock yourself in your room?
With the radio on turned up so loud
That no one hears you screaming

No you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels all right
You don't know what it's like
To be like me

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

Do you wanna be somebody else?
Are you sick of feeling so left out?
Are you desperate to find something more?
Before your life is over
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?
Are you sick of everyone around?
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies
While deep inside you're bleeding

No you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels all right
You don't know what it's like
To be like me

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

No one ever lied straight to your face
No one ever stabbed you in the back
You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay
Everybody always gave you what you wanted
Never had to work it was always there
You don't know what it's like, what it's like

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like (what it's like)

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life
Welcome to my life
Welcome to my life


---hell yeah!

8:49 PM

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston Split

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood glamour couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston (news) have split, Pitt's longtime publicist confirmed Friday.

AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Brad Pitt

"We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate," the couple said in a joint statement released by Pitt's publicist Cindy Guagenti. "For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media. This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration."

The couple didn't indicate if they planned to file for divorce, and Guagenti declined to comment beyond the statement, which also said, "We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another."

The separation, first reported on People magazine's Web site, comes 4 1/2 years after the pair's Malibu wedding and after months of speculation that their marriage was in trouble.

In their statement, they asked for the public's "sensitivity in the coming months."

Aniston has recently been photographed in public without her diamond-studded wedding ring, according to People, although the magazine said the couple had spent the New Year's weekend together on the Caribbean island of Anguilla with Aniston's former "Friends" co-star Courteney Cox (news) and her husband, actor David Arquette (news).

Pitt, 41, and Aniston, 35, have been together since being set up on a blind date in 1998. They were married in a lavish wedding on July 29, 2000, on a Malibu estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Some 200 people attended the event, which included four bands, a gospel choir, fireworks and tens of thousands of flowers.

Part of Pacific Coast Highway was shut down to accommodate the influx of guests, which included actress Cameron Diaz (news) and most of Aniston's "Friends" co-stars. It was the first marriage for both.

Since their wedding they have been touted not only as one of Hollywood's most glamorous couples but also one of the film industry's most powerful. They are co-owners of the Plan B production company with producer Brad Grey, who earlier this week was hired to replace Sherry Lansing as head of the Paramount studio.

Aniston is perhaps the most recognizable star of "Friends," the ensemble show that concluded a 10-year run last year as one of television's highest-rated comedies. She also has starred in such films as "Along Came Polly," "Bruce Almighty" and "The Good Girl." Her father is veteran soap opera actor John Aniston.

Pitt, long one of Hollywood' most bankable film stars, is currently seen in "Ocean's Twelve." Other film credits include "Ocean's Eleven," "Fight Club," "Meet Joe Black," "Seven Years in Tibet," "Sleepers," "12 Monkeys," "Legends of the Fall," "A River Runs Through It" and "Thelma & Louise."

10:35 AM

Friday, January 07, 2005

business card puppy

10:58 PM

im trying to catalog my posts but im too lazy.. i will just start with the following posts

3:42 PM

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

http://www.jejune.net/diy/

* websites

10:20 PM

i threw a bitch fit earlier this evening... just right before we sang happy bday to me.

9:57 PM

happy bday to me

i turn a year older today.. pooh

thanks to all the ppl who greeted me.. heheh

thanks to my granny for my angpao!!

before i took my afternoon nap earlier, i was thinking of blogging something worthwhile in relation to my bday... but i really forgot what im supposed to write. pooh.. im getting old..

current bday wish : be thinner... one can never be too thin! hahah

i try to think of the things that i am thankful and here are a few :

* that i wasnt born in africa, islam nations and other thirld world countries where life could be very much worse. brrr...

* that's all.. i can think of..hahah

7:08 PM