Best Freelance Websites

By Ma Cristina Lao on February 5, 2013

For those interested to work as a freelance practitioner, here's a list of the Best Freelance Websites available online.

1. www.elance.com

2. www.guru.com

3. www.odesk.com

4. www.freelanceswitch.com

5. www.worker.com

6. www.freelancer.com

7. www.getacoder.com

8. http://99designs.com

9. www.ifreelance.com

10. www.crowdspring.com

If you're a freelancer you can register free on some of the sites. For possible clients, check them out too and save costs! Good luck!

Free Typing Speed Test With Certificate

Do you know how fast you can type? Find it out with a free typing speed test at http://www.goodtyping.com/test.php.

After completing the test you can download a certificate showing your test results. Here's what I got. Try it yourself and check your typing speed now!

Get A Glimpse of Filipino Food

By Ma. Cristina Lao

I realize that most people like Filipino food so I decided to share one of my favorite dish.

I love the chopsuey. It's a prominent Filipino cuisine which mainly consists of vegetables in addition to chicken, fish, beef, prawns, or pork. I prefer to mix it with prawns, chicken liver or pork.

CHOP SUEY

 

 

Main Ingredients: fish balls, pork, prawns, any vegetables

 

 

After it is cooked quickly and bound in a starch-thickened sauce it would look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the vegetable dish above?

 

 

and your  plate....

 

 

 

 

Try it, it's deliciously yummy!

 

 

 

Sinulog Festival 2013

By: Ma. Cristina Lao

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. This festivity commemorates the Filipino people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.

Imagine the streets of the city lined with dancing young people with colorful ethnic costumes and Filipiniana dresses with the tune of the Sinulog beat. Sinulog roughly means the water current movement which describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance step, done to the sound of drums.

On January 20, 2013, I was one of the 4 million people who joined the celebration. It was a beautiful sunny day. I have here a couple of pictures that I want to share with you.

Around 4 million people attended the Sinulog Festival on Jan 20, 2013.

Sinulog dancers occupied the city streets.

Singer & actor Gary Valenciano also joined the celebration along with other big celebrities.

An amazing costume that is very exciting and uplifting

The prettiest dancer will be the first in line carrying the image of Santo Nino or little Jesus

Street dancing with their Filipiniana dress

Got hold of two dancers with the colorful ethnic cultural costumes.

-- Anyone is prohibited to copy these pictures unless authorized by the author --

Naturopathic Medicine Gives Hope to Cancer Patient

By Ma. Cristina Lao

Naturopathic medicine is a form of alternative medicine that favors  a holistic approach with non-invasive treatment like nutrition, herbs, exercise, natural hygiene, fasting and stress reduction to restore people's health. A cancer patient who was in a strict holistic regimen stressed that her diet includes raw vegetables and fruits, which is similar to a vegetarean diet. She is not taking any medicines but is very careful with her diet plan, with the guidance of her Naturopathic doctor. Aside from that she said she does not only look healthy but also feels great.

According to the  Naturopathic Medicine Network, food is the best medicine in naturopathic practice. Many medical conditions can be treated more effectively with foods and nutritional supplements than they can by other means, with fewer complications and side effects.

Naturopathic Medicine is represented in the United States by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), which was founded in 1985 and has 2,000 student, physicians, supporting, and corporate members.

If you have undergone this holistic treatment, please share your story here and tell us how it has improved your life.

What Happened in 2012?

By: Ma. Cristina Lao

The year 2012 is the most controversial year of all time. Nostradamus, an expert in Judicial Astrology, predicted that earth will be struck with a comet and will end on December 21, 2012. The Mayans, Incans, and the Egyptians also indicated that the apocalypse will also occur at the same time.

Most people are skeptical about it but a little worried. News reports also revealed that around a thousand people in China and other parts of the world are creating panic and really getting ready and are preparing for a possible disaster. The good news is, it's not true. So, what really happened in 2012? Well, here's the real heartbreaking events that happened this year.

January 13, 2012: Similar to Titanic, a cruise ship Costa Concordia slammed into a rock and capsizes off the Italian Coast. Around 11 people died and 22 remain missing.

February 11, 2012: Pop superstar Whitney Houston Dies at age 48. The cause of her death was not revealed. The world mourned the loss of their favorite pop singing sensation of all-time.

March 2, 2012: Tornadoes hit 17 U.S. states that killed 27 people and injured hundreds.

April 11, 2012: North Korea attempted to launch a ballistic missile into orbit but blows up just seconds after the launch.

May 26, 2012: Thirty-two innocent children were killed in Syria after government troops attacked the village of Houla.  Syrian President Assad, however, blamed terrorists to be responsible for the attack.

June 3, 2012: A plane crashed in Nigeria that killed all 153 passengers and unknown number of people on the ground.

July 7, 2012: A massive flood hit Russia that killed 107 people.

August 5, 2012: A plutonium-powered rover named Curiosity successfully lands on Mars.

September 9, 2012: A lightning started wildfires in Washington State, USA.

October 29, 2012: Hurricane Sandy hits New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

November 1, 2012: China presented a new proposal to end the conflict in Syria.

December 15, 2012: An American madman killed 27 people including 20 children in an elementary school in Connecticut U.S.A.

Dec. 21, 2012: End of the world.... A hoax.

My American Stepfather

 

 

A Father's Past

My papa always tried to be as open about his past and his previous family. He had 3 children, two boys and one girl. His wife was a red hair, and they were high school sweethearts, she was his first girlfriend. He never told me why he left his family for us, but I knew he was very guilty and hurting inside. His father worked as a miner, which was the main business in West Virginia during his childhood. His mother loved him so much, she sent us magazines of West Virginia every month until it stopped when she passed away in the late 80's. He didn't like to work as a miner like his dad, so he decided to be listed in the U.S. Air force as an airplane mechanic and technician.

Franklin D. Peek was a retired Sergeant in the U.S. Air force. He was from West Virginia, USA, and was married with three children and had a wife named Barbara. I was told by my mom that he migrated in the Philippines way back in the 1970's before I was born. They met in the late 70's and decided to live together. I was still 3 years old when I saw my stepfather, whom I respected as a father until his last days.

My Mother's Story

 

My mother was still 16 when she worked as a clerk in Golden Dragon Hotel in Butuan City, Philippines. The owner of this hotel was a Chinese man who got married with her aunt. Her parents were not rich so they cannot afford to send her to school. With 13 siblings, it would be hard to send everyone to school. Most of her siblings worked in the farm. It did not discouraged her to continue her studies as she was school scholar while maintaining high marks in every subject. One day, there was this big event in school a special "Valentines Day" party. All the young girls lined up and waited for their prince charming. My mother was sitting down as she was in-charge of the attendance. Then suddenly this handsome guy caught her attention. He was sort of staring at her at a distance. Then suddenly he approached her and said he wanted to ask a girl for a dance. She said pick any girl you like from that line. He said,  "No, I only want to dance with you. Is that okay?" Well, their love story started from there. That was how my real parents met. It sounds like a good love story, but it was not as good as it seems.

 

 

To be continued...