Pancakes!

Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday
morning to fix his parents pancakes.
He found a big bowl and spoon,
pulled a chair to the counter, opened
the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister,
spilling it on the floor.

He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands,
mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a
floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks
left by his kitten.

Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated.
He wanted this to be something very good for
Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad.

He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all
into the oven or on the stove
(and he didn't know how the stove worked!).

Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and
reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor.

Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess
but slipped on the eggs, getting his! pajamas white and sticky.

And just then he saw Dad standing at the door.
Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes.
All he'd wanted to do was something good,
but he'd made a terrible mess.

He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But
his father just watched him. Then, walking through the mess, he
picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him,
getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.

That's how God deals with us. We try to do something good in
life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we
insult a friend or we can't stand our job or our health goes sour.
Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we
can't think of anything else to do.

That's when God picks us up and loves us and forgives
us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him.

But just because we might mess up, we can't stop
trying to "make pancakes," for God or for others.
Sooner or later we'll get it right, and then
they'll be glad we tried...

Please pass some of this love on to others..........
You would be surprised what a little
inspiration can do especially at the right moment!
Have a good day and keep trying.


Source: funnyfunpages.com

Bill Gates - For The Senior Class

I received this in my email almost a week ago and thought of sharing it... it's about life's simple lessons that we often forget...



Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.



Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

My Joy List

A new blog entry from Bo Sanchez, "What Is Your Joy List?" inspired me to write my own Joy List so here it is:

- I want to have at least one sunday lunch out with my family each month
- I want to share more long chats over lunch or dinner with my friends
- I want to connect more often with my relatives just to know how they are doing
- I want to achieve my financial goal before I reach 50
- I want to be able to give more to the less fortunate
- I want to travel outside the Philippines at least once a year
- I want to visit the Philippine's tourist destinations outside Manila at least once a year
- I want to go to as much amusement parks in different countries as possible (yes, I'm a theme park freak! LOL! =P The picture is us taking the "Around the World" ride in Amsterdam, loved it!)
- I want to watch at least one funny show that will make me laugh out loud each week to relieve myself of stress from work

May all our dreams come true... God bless! ^_^

~Cinderella~

Who's your favorite Disney princess? It had always been Cinderella for me ever since I was a little girl. The magic and enchantment, nothing compares! That's why when I heard that my favorite singer, Lea Salonga is playing my favorite princess, Cinderella, it's definitely a must watch for me!

But this time, it's not the Disney Cinderella that I fell in love with that will be appearing on stage. This one is adapted from the original musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein for television starring Julie Andrews.

I think the musical is more for mature audiences rather than small children. The humor is found in their dialogues that little kids might not appreciate much. There's no lively music that we enjoyed from the Disney version but instead we found ourselves listening to slow, melodramatic songs that's supposed to warm the heart.

As expected of Lea, the performance is beautiful and her voice is truly magical. I'm a big fan of her singing voice because it's crystal clear and always in perfect pitch! It's also nice that most of the cast were given their own time. Like the love story of the King and Queen, the evil step sisters and step mother, the fairy godmother as our story teller, even the mice and ofcourse the prince in his troubled time looking for his princess.

What I find really amazing are the costumes and production design! They're simply wonderful! The visual effects left me in awe, specially the costume change by Cinderella from her kitchen maid clothes to the princess gown in seconds! (Anybody can tell me what really happened there? ^^)

The show may not be as great as I expected it to be but the magical carriage, cute mouse puppets, colorful costumes, beautiful voices and performances are enough for me to enjoy the night! ^_^

Rating: 8/10

[JDorama] Teppan Shoujo Akane

Other title: Teppan Girl
Aired: October - December 2006
Episodes: 9
Genre: Food
Cast:
Horikita Maki - Kagura Akane
Tsukamoto Takashi - Ichijo Shinta
Jinnai Takanori - Kurogane Ginzo
Katase Nana - Saigoji Erena

Story:
Horikita Maki plays Akane, the only daughter of Tetsuma, the No. 1 teppanyaki chef in Japan. But after her mother died, her father just left, and she had to live alone with a restaurant to run all by herself. She's a skilled teppanyaki chef and strives to be as good as her father. Her skills saved her restaurant from being foreclosed by Saigoji Erena to whom her father had a big debt. On her way to looking for her father, she constantly end up in cooking battles to help other peope.

Review:
As much as I like Maki, this is definitely not one of her best performances. The series is too anime-ish and doesn't work that well in live action. The story lines are very simple but made over dramatic by the director which end up being kinda ridiculous. Even my brother who is a fan of anime and enjoys Japanese dramas didn't like it and found it boring.

I do like the love angle of Akane and Shinta though, but was ruined by the betrayal (even if it's not his own will). It kinda destroy the love Akane had for Shinta all this time.

I wouldn't recommend this drama unless you really don't have anything else to watch. But I still finished it (with the help of the forward button) for the love of Maki, and Shinta kinda reminded of me Yamapi too! ^^

Rating: 3/10

Watch Teppan Soujo Akane w/ English subtitles @ crunchyroll