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Imagine A World Without Filipinos

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Homemade “Palitaw”

I am a very “trying-hard” cook. Look what I’ve managed to come up with yesterday right after waking up from a nap..

I used Mochiko Sweet Rice flour for this. Since there wasn’t a fresh grated coconut at home, I had to make do with these artificial dessicated coconut I found in one of the Asian stores. I also had the sesame seeds that I had to roast first before sprinkling it to the cooked “palitaw”.

Overall taste test result? Hmmn, not so bad but it would have been rated “A” had I have the fresh grated coconut.

Isabela State University Batch ‘99

Calling all graduates of the Isabela State University, high school batch of 1999, your batchmates are looking for you!

If you are a member of this high school batch and are interested in getting in touch again with your old classmates, you may send a message to ISULAB BATCH 1999 .

Folks , let’s follow the example of these young people, why wait for the 50th year batch anniversary to have a reunion when we can have it early on, while we are still young, while we can still see clearly and cataract- free and most importantly, can still withstand the rigors of partying and dancing to the dance tunes of our forgotten era along with our beloved former classmates?

Hot, Hot Weather

Whew ! This week was really one excessively hot week for us here in the East Bay in California. The temperature rose to about 100 degrees and my, oh my, that is really hot huh?

No idea how hot it is here ? When it’s 100 degrees outside? Try turning on your hair-dyer to medium setting and let it blow on your skin, and whoa, that is how it is here, at least that’s how it feels for me. I think the heat here, if it’s really at its peak, is worst than the heat in the Philippines. Before, I used to think  that summer in the Philippines was the worst thing ever but not when I came here. It is truly hot that when you go outside, you’d run back inside again, back into the shelter of your house.

The weather right now is so  different and there’s hardly any breeze blowing at all, but if ever there was any,  it feels so hot too. When the sun’s rays touches your skin, it’s like scorchingly hot, you’d feel toasted in minutes so I don’t know how those bikers who joined the ” Spare the Air Day ” campaign took in Mr. Sun’s angry rays.

Well anyway, here are some pictures I took inside our car on our way to Vallejo, California. The hills, which were so green before are now all dried up. It is no wonder why grass fires are so easily started here.

Credit Score Drop

Yesterday I nearly fell off my chair when I checked my FICO score through my credit card website. This website continuously monitors and updates their client’s FICO score thru Transunion so monthly I get to see my credit score.

When I saw that my FICO score has been updated for April 2008, I nervously clicked the link but I was so shocked when I saw that my score, which was really excellent, dropped about 97 points! I was really upset about it that I hastily enrolled to a credit score monitoring site to give me an idea on how bad my credit scores are now and how I can prevent it from going down even more.

Through that credit monitoring site, I learned that credit scores drop due to a number of reasons. One reason is that when we apply for too many credit loans in a certain period of time. This, of course, would also result to too many inquiries in our credit because everytime we apply for credit card, auto refinancing, home refinancing, the creditor makes an inquiry about our credit. Even applying for an apartment lease gives them a reason to pull up our credit. Another reason that credit scores drop is when we have high balances in our loans.

The reasons mentioned above were the exact reasons why my credit score plummeted. It was entirely my fault because I became reckless with applying for loans. I didn’t know before that these things will make my credit suffer. I was not “credit-savvy” since I am newbie in this credit score stuff.

I am very unhappy with what happened to my score  but what else can I do but to be calm and learn from this mistake. Anyway, there is still time to repair the damage done to my credit and pretty soon, maybe about three months, I will have an excellent credit score again.

So to my friends who are new to the USA, be very careful when you apply for credit. Whatever it is, if it’s not that urgent , don’t apply for it.