Be Selfish - help someone today

LET THE MAGIC BEGIN! It's a true story that had happened in 1892 at Stanford University, but the morale is still relevant today. A young, 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education. They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski - who was quite a superstar those days. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success. The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1600. Disappointed, they went up to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1600, plus a cheque for the balance $400. They promised to honour the cheque soonest possible. "No way!" said Paderewski. "This is just not acceptable!" He tore up the cheque, returned the $1600 and told the two boys "Here's the $1600. Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left!" The boys were surprised, and quite overjoyed. They thanked him profusely. It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being. Someone special. He would have been within his rights to demand his "guaranteed money". And why should he help two people he did not even know? We all come across situations like these in our lives. Times when other people need our help. And most of us only think "If I help them, what would happen to me?" The truly great people think, "If I don't help them, what will happen to them?" We only think of ourselves, the loss we might incur, the trouble we might have to go through and the sacrifice we need to make. The great guys don't think of themselves. They think of the difference it could make to other people. And that's what drives their actions. They help not because someone else is watching, or because it will look good when the world comes to know about it. They don't do it expecting something in return. They do it because they feel it's the right thing to do. It may not surprise you to know that Paderewski went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were over 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them. Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help. The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover - who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to feed the starving Polish people. A calamity was averted. Paderewski was relieved! He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, "You shouldn't be thanking me Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them." Make it a habit to help others. It is rightly said that you can achieve everything you want in life if only you help other people achieve what they want in their lives. Do something selfish today. Help someone! Just do it. And don't expect anything in return. The world is a wonderful place. What goes around usually comes around. Let the magic begin! We just have our Company CSR

Luuuurve

Ah Love, it is so fickle. Sometimes it can be hard to get the chance at a happiness we  want or need. It's heartbreaking...and yet sometimes we are given the opportunity to make the most of it. And be with the object of our affection sans time and distance...

Salamat, Doc!

I got a terrible news yesterday that my Derma passed away by cardiac arrest. She was  also a mom, wife and a friend to everyone. I would  say I've had a personal relationship with her aside from the professional because I've come to see her on a regular basis the past years. She was also our customer because she is a Globe  telecom subscriber who would often call or visit our store when she has concerns about her accounts. Not to mention her clinic is a walk away from our Store. So I could just take my lunch break and have an IPL treatment or a facial from her clinic whenever the desire and the need arises. Talk about a Derma being your primary health care physician. No wonder vanity has become a billion dollar business. She was the doctor mentioned in my other entry who misdiagnosed my skin disorder a few years back.  She even gave me permit to leave from work as well as all the   Prescription for expensive antibiotic. That could have been a pass for me to have a hooky and leave from work but  because I don't want to spend a lot For medicine I have to make sure if I do have that disease because I didn't have the symptom. True enough mine was just a simple case of skin infection brought about by my dog. In spite of that, Doc is still very much dear to me. Lately I've been seeing an OB because I have a case of imbalance hormones that results to irregular menstruation ( sorry TMI) 

 I've taken anti fertility pills which also treated my adult pimples ( trust me adult Acne are for real) And then I was also given a prescription for Melasma as maybe a result of me taking the pills. It's crazy! Talk about an oxymoron..I mean I wasn't going back to my Derma because the OB kind of fill my needs. But of course I was already thinking of getting a shot of Botox just for kicks. I was actually thinking about it days on end before I learned the news of my Derma passing. 

Procrastination is my middle name. (I'm still working a great deal about this) Life - it's hard and fleeting but it's also exciting. The uncertainties and the unpredictability is what makes it beautiful. My Derma might be gone and it's sad but I know she has lived quite a life, leaving a legacy of making others feel better about themselves by making them feel pretty and nice, me included.

I'm Gay

What's in a name?  "Names has powers" from the novel of Rick Riordan, The Lightning Theif. 

         A lot of guys  asked  me (strangers) if I'm gay  based on my blog site nievagay. blogspot.com. So each time I have to clarify that it's simply my name Nieva Gay. I am gay but more defined as happy. Nothing wrong with being gay though, I'm friends with a lot of them.  My local friends would call me Nieva or Nievagay or Gay. My nickname is Gigi (like Gigi Hadid). So I am Gigi before it was even cool.  It's a Filipino thing to have nicknames, you know like your immediate family would call you and some really close friends who got to know you from childhood.  I don't know what exactly the meaning of my name, Nieva Gay - Nieva being an old name and Gay simply means happy. I was wondering if it actually means "never happy" because it's  quite the opposite.  I would have a long talk with my parents soon lol! I am actually happy and shiny (well most of the time)  and curiously enough my best friend Sheree has Gae as here second name...spelled GAE. So we are the Gae and Gay. 

        In Spanish  Nieva means snow. I wonder if I was white when I was born because I'm not that  fair skinned now. I was talking to this guy and he's European and he said my name Gigi is a guys name in Europe. Well there's also lots of women sounding name in our culture which is a guys name in Europe such as Mika, Adrien, etc. we have quite a discussion about my name. Anyway I found a clever way to answer the what's your name question - if you're a pop culture aficionado you would know this -  A girl has no name - some strong reference to the Game of Thrones latest season...

Election frenzy

We have cast out votes, tomorrow or the day after we're going to have our new President and Vice Presidents as well as new leaders  on the national scale as well as for our local municipalities. 

Much have been said, plenty of friendship forged and some broken - in Facebook  lingo we call it became friends, unfriend, unfollow or much more block. Many has opined and turned into political experts, expressing their views and about the candidates, some has bashed, made issues out of a non issue,  most have ask for respect and assert their freedom to exert and air their opinions. We are a democratic country after all. 

The contest for power has spawn wars, divided nations throughout history. In our country alone a lot of election related crimes happened.  Remember the Ampatuan  masacre in Mindanao? Not only the rival candidates were victimized but mostly media people. In the words of Anthony Bourdain - 

"Journalist have always been able to portray themselves as non combatant. But these days people seem not to make that distinction."

Many said that they will leave the county in case a certain politician win or does not win. I have plans of leaving the country but for an entirely different reason. With all its sham and imperfections, I'd still choose the Philippines. In our local lingo we call our country"motherland".  Like our relationships with our mothers however strained and sometimes complicated  we know we love her. We may fight and argue from non consequential and trivial matter to the important and life changing decisions we know in the end our utmost welfare and happiness is her well meaning intentions. We would leave home but then we would come back because we know she would be there welcoming us back into her fold. 

Quite often we change jobs, friends, and spouses instead... of ourselves " - fr d comics section of this broadsheet.

  Change comes from our own willingness to  embrace it from a simple obedience of traffic rules, knowing the issues and making a stand, helping the underprivileged in every opportunity presented, paying our taxes, sending a scholar to school and many other simple ways we could make a little difference to  our community. A leaders role will impact the country's growth or its eventual downfall but at the end of the day we also have a great role to play. The election had a very polarizing  effect. Our people  with their choice of candidate were as divided as the many islands of our country. And now that election is over let us once again unite as a people. We have shown how most of us had been  supportive to the point of being fanatical about our  support of a candidate truly we can use that energy and enthusiasm we have to a better use now that election is over. 

Written last May 10, 2016 a day after the National Election

(The 2016 Philippine election had been counted and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won over Mar Roxas et al and all of them has conceded and offered good wishes for the winner..There is still a little struggle over Leni Robredo and Bongbong Marcos (son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos), for the Vice Presidential position.  For senators, Mr Tesdaman, Villanueva is on the first slot, asexpected, Tito Sotto won as one of the top as a Senator (he is part of the TVJ of the Eat bulaga, the longest running noon time show in the country) and of course Manny Paquiao, the boxer and congressman elect. Interestingly, the Filipinos have always that uncanny way of choosing their leaders. Remember, the overwhelming succes of Joseph Estrada in the 90s as a president. We have chosen an action star,  to be our  top leader. The Filipinos has a way of transcendent where the line "only in the Philippines" or it's more fun in the Philippines  somehow proves...