I Love My City

I live in a very famous city in the Philippines, famous for being easily flooded.... Hahaha but seriously yes for locals that is what they would almost immediately state or ask, "Doesn't it get flooded at your place a lot?"

That may be true most of the time but still I love my city. I would have to mention that I have never seen such development in my city like this from the previous administrations that held office in our city hall.

Before I give some of the reasons why I like my city let me share you videos from our city government, again I'd just like to put it out there that this is not a paid advertisement.



1. Less stressful environment
I lived in the bustling heart of metro manila, Mandaluyong City for that matter in a condo for quite a while and I tell you even though I got more sleep, I didn't feel that I was more rested. Maybe it was because of the hustle and bustle that goes around. But here in Valenzuela it feels that you are more relaxed, maybe because of the suburban feel that it has and that when night comes everything is so silent, perfect for your quality rest. I even remember somebody who always says when she goes to my hometown that your place feels and looks like a provincial town, but then again you have access to everything and for me that is great!

2. Better sidewalks and roads.
To say the least we now have sidewalks! and a lot of them are real sidewalks! Thanks to the MMDA and the City Government most of the sidewalks are now walkable. I guess the only thing that's missing are trees and if they could widen it more. Trees, because like we all know it's hot here in the Philippines and trees along the way could help shade the sidewalks and maybe help encourage people to walk more.

3. Efficient city hall

Unlike before when you don't know how long it would take you to process papers or whatnot now you are confident that the processes are streamlined and efficient. Government employees are more efficient, I LIKE IT SO MUCH just like how Boy Abunda said it our mayor runs the city like a CEO. Truthfully it should be ran that way, the city is our business and we need to make sure that its operation is running smoothly! right!? I think other mayors should act like not like mayor but as a manager. Their performance separates the Politicians to Public Servants

4. Lesser floods
Just this morning I read a newspaper that we can say goodbye to flooding in the near future as the Flood Control system has been approved by the president already. But actually I am quite proud to say that the notion of our city being flooded all the time can actually be contested now.

Not that we don't get flooded anymore but in the past when we get flooded it stays there for weeks, now it would subside real quick. However, the government isn't stopping there as the president just approved almost a billion pesos for the flood control project for CaMaNaVa which stands for Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela which are the flood prone areas.

So yeah, these are some of the things why I love my city. I was suppose to write some more with the things that I don't like and what I would like to happen in my city but I guess I'll just put it in another post ;)

How about you what are the things that you like about your city? Put your answers on the comment section below!

2013 New Year Celebration

Today is day 1 of 365 brand new days.

And it is just but fitting to celebrate these new set of hope filled days that we look forward to.

Each year our family spends it just like Christmas together, setting fireworks off like there's no tomorrow, eat, drink and party like crazy people.

Our neighbors still has that videoke machine they rented but thank God that they've gone tired of one week of Gangnam Style and Pusong Bato singing.

The Year That Was - 2012

This year is about to end in a couple days so I think it is just appropriate for me to go down memory lane and look at the year that was.

Yes this is actually something new for this blog, imagine six years of blogging and this is the first time maybe because  I never really thought that anybody reads my blog before as I kept it more of a personal journal. Though the blog still remains the same purpose the difference now is that I think about the people who reads them hence, my improvement in writing albeit the grammatical errors from time to time.

Last year I have written 62 articles in this blog and this year? This would be the 48th article fewer than last year, true but only for this blog. You see last year when I met the people who makes up the community of Filipino travel blogger which caused my writing to explode to more articles and new blogs.

I love my PTB Family a lot of them inspire me so much that I found different lifestyle options for me which are still being decided up to this very moment.

Because of this blog I have around 6 blogs that I write on (ir)regularly. hahaha but they do get updated at least once a week.

This year I've also experienced earning a bit to pay for the expenses of my blogs that are self hosted. Yep some of the blogs that I have are self hosted.

I also got to win and received some gifts for my flickr account where I store that photos that I put in my posts. I actually won a year's worth of flickr pro so I didn't have to pay for the 24 dollar renewal then just before Christmas Flickr gave away three months free pro accounts. So I got my one year renewal extended to three more months, in effect I would have to renew my Flickr pro account as late as 2014! =D

Of Writing and Photographs

I am getting more time into blogging and I am getting the feel of having blogging as a job rather than a hobby. But just to clarify I ain't really making that much blogging.

It is a difficult job specially for somebody like me who has an attention span of a five year old toddler. I need a break like every ten minutes of writing maybe suddenly listen to music at the middle of writing an article, some say that it is how creative people work but I don't think that I am creative enough. Well yeah at least I consider my self as creative but I still think that I have got a lot to improve.

Let me lay my cards on the table, I am not a college graduate and I worked in the BPO industry for about 10 years and I guess that is where I got my communication skills honed to how it is today. But still I am not satisfied with my composition skills.

I started feeling this way since I started following this food blog of a culinary student. He hails from Zamboanga but lives in Pasig City. I like the way he writes his stories as he seems to personally communicate with his readers.

His choices of words are ordinary (though you'd need your friend google from time to time) but seem to run deep with a soul. He writes beautifully.

As I read through his food blog it made me wish that I could go back to college and finish a degree and may be really learn about writing.

Well I am still alive I guess I could still go back ey? any sponsors out there? hahaha.