Herbert W. Armstrong - Raising the Ruins by Stephen Flurry

During my teen years in the 80's I used to subscribe to the Plain Truth and Youth Magazines published by then Worldwide Church of God headed by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. I was a high school student that time and my routine outside of the school involves mainly staying at home and reading all sorts of books, magazines and booklets provided absolutely free of charge by the Pasadena, California based religious group. I was a very avid reader and follower of Mr. Armstrong's teachings and I was even a student of the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course. I collected and read almost all of the books and booklets published that time and I can recall having a hard time trying to find a place for the stuff in our very small bamboo and "nipa" house which has only two rooms, one being our kitchen and the other the living room which used to be our  bedroom at night. Somehow I managed to keep all the stuff until my college days but due to the frequent typhoons that visit our hometown every so often, I was unable to preserve the printed materials. Had our house been made of concrete and galvanized roofing, there is a very big possibility that those materials could still be around till this day.

For so many years after I graduated from college and joined the work force, I totally forgot about the Worldwide Church of God and its free literature and teachings. I also lost track of Mr. Armstrong and I just recently found out his fate and what became of his church when I accidentally stumbled upon a magazine called "The Trumpet" and a hardbound book named "Raising the Ruins" in my home in the province. It turned out that my younger brother did not lose track and continued subscribing to the publications of the Worldwide Church of God or its offshoot which became Philadelphia Church of God after Mr. Armstrong's demise. I remember my younger brother which was a little kid then  used to fiddle with my magazines and booklets and somehow got attracted to the contents and became an avid fan himself while I totally forgot about it.

Anyway, after reading the magazine and the book, I suddenly remembered everything about Mr. Armstrong and his works and how it subconsciously influenced my thinking in my adulthood. I was deeply saddened upon knowing of the circumstances and events that transpired after Mr. Armstrong's death. The disintegration and eventual demise of the religious empire that he built was very akin to a classic and somewhat thriller movie which would make you loathe the protagonists. The conspiracy and the deception orchestrated by Mr. Armstrong's successor, was a treachery to the highest level. For one Mr. Armstrong himself should be blamed for his greatest mistake of appointing a successor which would become the one to destroy what he has started and painstakingly built for so many years. If he would have stuck to his original plan of relinquishing his powers to the council, things could have been very different today.

I salute Mr. Stephen Flurry, his father and the few faithful who stuck it out,persisted and worked hard to fight for Mr. Armstrong's legacy and for reviving Mr. Armstrong's writings and distributing it for free just like the old days. I feel guilty for forgetting about Mr. Armstrong and his works and for not having extended any support during all those years that his organization was embattled and under attack by the very persons that he trusted to continue his lifelong mission to spread God's word and to enlighten people about what the Bible really says. To make up for my shortcoming  in my own little way, I'm gonna help spread the word.

Toy Review: Nerf Gun

This toy gun is a very nice Christmas gift to little boys who loves shoot 'em up games. The toy set comes in pairs of two together with a dozen of darts made up of soft but sturdy material as "bullets". The darts have little suction cups installed in front  which sticks to its target when fired. The nice thing about it aside from the soft material which is not harmful to little kids, the suction cups sticks anywhere you fire it. Be  it on wood, concrete or glass. Procedure for firing is  the same as with a real gun,. You have to cock it first which is by way not very hard to do even for kids with weaker hands. The darts fires with just enough force but not too strong to hurt anyone who might get accidentally hit. Firing is not automatic though. You have to cock it for every shot. Each gun has six chambers for darts.

My son is enjoying it a lot and he loves shooting on the walls of our house and while he is very young, he already knows that even if it is just a toy gun, he should never point it at any person.

Travelling in a Wi-Fi Bus

Travelling by bus for 10 to 12 hours going to our hometown of Polangui some 500 kilometers south of Manila used to be so boring. But now after some years of not being home, I finally found something interesting in the buses that ply the Bicol-Manila and vice versa route. You know what it is? Wi-Fi. The buses that carried me to Bicol and back to Manila are both equipped with free Wifi on board. So from Cubao, Quezon City to the land of the Mayon Volcano in Albay, I browsed the Internet, sent some emails and endlessly chatted on Facebook till I felt dizzy of looking down into my laptop while the bus negotiated the bumps, twists and turns of the highway to Bicolandia.

The Wi-Fi service is a very welcome addition to the usual Video on Board amenity which used to be the primary source of entertainment while in transit from the big city to the province. It's nice to note also the improvement in the audio and video equipment of the buses having been transformed from the humongous CRT television sets to the modern LCD ones. That alone however cannot sway most people to ride a particular bus because to some, the choice of movie by the conductor and the driver becomes an annoyance to other people, and most of all, the passengers have no control over the type of movie to be played.

With Wi-Fi, the passengers with laptops and Wi-Fi enabled gadgets have endless possibilities for entertaining themselves and keeping them busy while traveling 500 kilometers and more. The Wi-Fi in the bus does not come without some hiccups though. As the source of the Internet access is via 3G cellular connection, we  have had some, in fact lots of disconnections due to the lack of cellular signal in some points along the way. I just hope that the Philippines' telcos will increase their signal coverage in the vast stretch of the Maharlika highway linking the various provinces of the country.

There is a very small number of buses that have Wi-Fi at the moment and the one the I rode on in transit to Bicol is the Antonina line. At six hundred fifty pesos fare from Cubao to Polangui with a latest model bus and very cold aircon system, surely it's a steal for me, with the more prominent buses charging up to almost a thousand pesos without Wi-Fi. On the way back to Manila it is the DLTB line. Though it is a hundred pesos cheaper than Antonina, i wouldn't recommend this one for you because their Wi-Fi sucks. It's so hard to connect and at one point some angry passengers suggested to the conductor to remove the Wi-Fi sticker displayed at the door of the bus because it is props only. For the 10 hour trip we never made any stable connection all the way. And by the way, their seats are also too darn straight verticaly so if you want to take some sleep instead because you cannot update and chat at Facebook, forget it because there is no way you can tilt your seat for even a little bit

My Little Architect and Graphic Artist

My little son Justin's artistic and creative ability is fast becoming evident and pronounced as he keeps growing up. Just a while ago, he called my attention and he showed me something he did on the computer. To my amazement, he drew doodles of the angry birds in full color using windows' built-in application Paint. I never taught him how to use or manipulate Paint but for some reasons he was able to do it impressively by himself. I'm so sure that even in school, where he is grade one, they do not have any computer subject yet.

His long time exposure with computers at home since he was a toddler might be one of the reasons why he finds it very easy to learn computer programs just by tinkering and curiously exploring everything he sees on the monitor. Even at this stage, he is already very proficient in using Google and Youtube for anything that catches his attention. As soon as he encounter a particular subject in everything he sees at home at school or in the neighborhood, he immediately googles it or search related shows in Youtube. Of course we let him do those things within our watch as he might stumble upon things that are not suitable for his age.

At this stage when we ask him what he wants when he grows up, he replies that he wants to be an Architect, like his proud daddy. There's some opposition from the mommy by the way, because me, the proud father never succeeded in earning the very elusive Architect's license for so may tries already. And since I am not a successful Architect, the wife looks at my career as something not worthy to be aspired for. I just keep on explaining that some things are not really meant to be but just maybe, our son will be the one who will fulfill that elusive Professional Architects' title and the money and prestige that comes with it.

Polangui Parish Church Visited

This is my second week on my old little home town  of Polangui and the places I visit always brings back memories of the olden days. The featured picture in this post is our old Sts. Peter and Paul parish church, built by the Spanish during their 300 year occupation of the Philippines.

Much of the old stone finishes of the church is now gone and it is replaced by concrete and paint. I wonder if it must have been very difficult to replicate the finish of the old stone walls because whoever decided the renovation of the church’s façade let it finished with cement plaster and paint.

I can still remember the moss laden stone walls of the church’s bell tower but I am sad to see it replaced with concrete and painted grey. They should have at the very least tried to retain the original material and fill up the gaps or whatever but having it painted tends to lessen its historical value and aesthetic quality.

In fairness to the Parish Pastoral Council and the people who helped restore the place, they have done a very good job in beautifying the patio and the “Cristorey”. The patio’s new look is a complete reversal from its sad state the last that I saw it more than 10 years ago.

As I walk the place, I recall my childhood, the first communion, the annual fiesta, Sundays and the holy week and it feels good to be back.

The bridge of our Childhood

After so many years of being away from home, I finally had the time to go home in our hometown in bicol south of the Philippine archipelago. The changes and signs of progress were very evident, from the new structures to faces of people that I never knew and people that never knew me as someone who used to live and spent wonderful childhood days in a little house by the side of the river.

The neighborhood in the vicinity of our old house hasn't changed except for a house in our back which were turned into a rented home and occupied by a family from some faraway place. Except for a very few of our childhood friends who chose to not leave the place and spent the last 40 years in the neighborhood, everyone else were either in Manila and scattered across the Globe as OFW's (Overseas Foreign Workers). I surely missed the gang and I was imagining that they were also here having some drinks and spending late nights chatting at the railings of the bridge.

That bridge was a silent witness to our growing up and if it can only speak, it can tell every detail of our childhood and secrets that we friends shared during those years. The bridge was the first thing that  I have noticed upon arrival and I took no time to stand right there and be transported in a flurry of memories. How time flies. I wish someday everyone will be home and together reminisce the laughter and yes, some tears for those growing up stuff like being scolded by parents, dumped by a girl and school problems.

 In the river below the bridge, we use to share the once pristine waters with the carabaos. While they huddle and keep cool at the shallow waters at the side, we little boys and girls are having a blast trying to swim. We learned swimming at the river all on our own without the aid of instructors and we also had our own shares of some life threatening situations by trying to swim without supervision. Those situations though very dangerous have made us strong and we learned to value life at a very early age.

It is my dream that someday, we childhood buddies will group together at the bridge and do a reminiscing of the wonderful past and on a broader context give our share in restoring the river to its glory days and to have a name for the bridge which until now is unknown to us.

My Little Equestrian

This is the second time that my son Justin is visiting Camp John Hay in Baguio City, the coolest place north of Manila and summer capital of the Philippines. He was afraid of riding a horse on his first visit but this time, he was not afraid anymore and he wouldn't leave the camp without riding a horse. He was very persistent on his request so we let him do it with the condition that his mom will join the ride. To our disappointment, the guides told us that they do not allow two people ride a horse at the same time. we also thought that the horse ride trek would be on a very short distance only. But alas, the guides told us that the half hour horse back ride will go quite some distance inside the forested area of the camp. As we were  adamant by the conditions, we told Justin that he would ride solo by himself and that they will go far into the forest but he would not budge. He is determined to do his first ever horse back ride. We  finally gave in and entrusted him to the Igorot guide who assured us that everything will be alright. Justin also told us that he's alright and he can do it excitedly.

A few meters going inside the wooded area, we were still very worried, so we sent his "big sister", Michelle to ride another horse and follow Justin. And off they went towards the woods. It looked like a very very long thirty minutes because we were anxiously waiting for them to come back. Every time a horse gets in sight, we were hoping that it was already Justin. We almost counted all the horses that emerged from the woods and several horses later, they finally emerged. Upon seeing them, it was the only time that we have relaxed and thanked God for the nice adventure for Justin who is very very happy that he was successfull in riding his first ever horse and became an Equestrian for thirty minutes.

Mighty Beanz Reviewed

My son Justin has been recently collecting Mighty Beanz toys ever since he stumbled videos of it on Youtube. What is a Mighty Bean and why does kids like it so much? Basically, a Mighty Bean is a toy shaped like a bullet with various characters ranging from obscure ones original from the toy maker and some taken from famous movies like Star Wars and Disney's Cars. Though the beanz appear to be of same shape, they are in fact of different sizes and matches the character that each portrays. Each has its own unique shape, size, weight,  name and number making it a collectible item. It's basically made of plastic and can stand on its own because of the metal bearing of various weights stuffed inside it. The toy seems to have a life of its own because they move like a small short worm tumbling downwards when set in sloping race tracks also made by the manufacturer. Kids can be creative and can make their own tracks. The kids race their beanz in the race tracks and each bean seems to have a unique racing ability giving character to their identity. Some are very fast and some are quite slow but depending on the configuration of the particular race track, slower ones on some tracks could be fast on some.

The beanz are designed to be collectibles because some are rare and limited editions wherein you can only have those rare ones by chance and luck. The beanz are packaged in such a way that you cannot choose what bean you will get. You also do not have the opportunity to determine what shape or size your bean will be despite lots of groping the package to see if it is a fat bean, a stout bean or a rare bean that is of unlikely shape like square or triangle.

Every buy is a surprise so the kids are very attracted to it. If they happen ot get something that they already have, they can trade it with their friends or use it as a bet in a racing game so when they lose they don't have much to regret but when they win their friend's bean which they don't have yet, it seems like a trophy.

Even adults like me is attracted to the Mighty Beanz so I support my son in his collecting efforts despite the wife's nagging about how the said toy cost which could have been spent in some other worthwhile items. I have a feeling that those toys especially the rare ones could be of some value in the future so whatever the heck, I'm joining my son in his Mighty Beanz collection quest.

Burnham Park is still cool

Our second day in Baguio City proved to be worth the travel because we were blessed with a cool weather and a lovely sunshine. The first day was not so lucky for us because of heavy rains which confined us to the mall and then later on our hotel the rest of the day after a futile attempt attempt to explore and visit the Mine's View Park despite the rain.

Our son had a blast riding a bike and really enjoyed the park. We have been to Baguio just last month but we didn't have the opportunity to visit Burnham Park, also due to the persistent rain. The last time that I have been to this place was during the 1990's when I was still single. The place is still good contrary to what other people say that it is already passe and not maintained properly. In fact, I found it more improved and cleaner than when I last visited it years ago.

The place is teeming with tourists both locals and foreigners alike. everybody is enjoying the place with the cool weather and bright sunshine. After our son got tired of biking, we proceed to the man-made lake and enjoyed rowing the animal-shaped boats. The lake is large enough to go boating around and we really had fun exploring the place from end to end.

We had a friend with us who is a member of the Philippine Dragon Boat team and we had a blast taking impromptu tutorials on competitive rowing. The children on board were so delighted with the rowing chants like "oars up" and "row".  Our friend-paddler remarked that the kids can be taught easily on competitive rowing and that they can be future members of the Philippine Dragon Boat team.

After the enjoyable boating, we explored the park further, ate some fruits and bought a native-made bird like toy which flies like a real bird. Such toy can only be found in Baguio, especially in Burnham Park. Amenities of the park includes huge playground for kids and an amusement park with various rides. If you have the time to visit Baguio, don't miss to visit Burnham Park. It's still there and still hasn't lost most of its charms.

Colors of Baguio City Philippines

Me and my family just went to a three-day trip to Baguio City, the coolest part of the Philippines north of Manila. The city has drastically changed from the last time we visited years ago but it hasn't lost the refreshingly cool weather, familiar pine tree scent and wonderful parks and tourist places. One thing very noticeable prominent is the hundred fold increase in houses that dot the city landscape. You can literally see a full mountain made up of houses stacked together making it the only city with such an urban cityscape. Night and day the mountain of houses never ceases to amaze visitors because of its uniqueness in the entirety of the Philippine archipelago.

Though it rained on our first day of sightseeing forcing us to defer visits on most parks and landmarks, we found ourselves having a blast on the succeeding days which blessed us with beautiful sunshine and pretty colors that only Baguio can offer.

Baguio hasn't really lost its charm contrary to what most people say and given the opportunity, we will come back and explore the richness and beauty of this beautiful city in the mountain.

Resort Review: Bosay Resort in Antipolo City, Philippines

After having seen one of the billboards of Bosay resort along the highway on our way home, our son Justin has been endlessly begging us to visit the place and go for a weekend swim.Finally, two weeks after that initial request, we finally gave in and went to Bosay for a spin one "sunny that turned rainy" Saturday. I said it like  that because it was a hot and sunny morning when we headed for the resort which is just a few turns (less than 2 kilometers)from our house then when we were there, all of a sudden it rained heavily. Our spirits weren't damped however because it was a very beautiful heavy rainfall amidst a glittering sunshine! I am pretty sure that a bright glowing rainbow is going on somewhere else while we are being showered against the morning sunshine.

The resort is easily accessible from Antipolo proper as it is very near the main highway and public transportation is highly and readily available. Getting there is very easy and wouldn't pose a challenge to anyone wishing to get there even if they haven't been to Antipolo before. Riding a public transpo or your private vehicle, all you have to do is find the Unciano Hospital and go right into the road beside it and two or three turns going down you will easily spot the billboard of Bosay resort. There is a driveway going down towards the gate of the resort and the first edifice that you will see is the ticket office where you will buy tickets for you and your group.

If you are in a vehicle going inside, be warned of two steep ramps going to the pools and cottages. I suggest that that you heed the warning sign not so prominently displayed there that all passengers of the vehicle should alight first for easy climb up the ramp. As I was distracted by my son's excitement to go for a swim, I did not noticed the warning sign and poor driver that I am, I was unable to give enough throttle to the car and we have to stop midway and go down slowly, change gear and go up again. I got worried with that climb because my loved ones are with me and it was a good thing no vehicle was following us on the way up.

Anyways, after that short adrenaline rush on the way up, we finally parked and my son excitedly ran towards the pools to swim. Bosay has several swimming pools and each of it has its own name like the "turtle pool", "therapy pool" and "disco pool". They also have a huge olympic size pool and pools with slides.

Amenities of the resort includes private and open cottages strategically located inside the vast compound with rolling terrain and lots of trees. One thing though that caused a little confusion on our way to our cottage was the confusing maze inside which made us literally lost and unable to find the cottage that we have paid for. Frustrated and tired looking for that particular cottage named R11 or C11? we just occupied the first vacant cottage that we stumbled upon and promptly notified the ticket office that we will use it instead of the original that we have paid for. We made some adjustment on the fee though because the one that we used is bigger to the one that we did not find according to the staff.

Finally after settling down, we were finally able to relax and watch our son and his two "baby-sitters" enjoy frolicking in the water.

Private Cottage

The Turtle Pool

Slide of one of the pools

Statue of a mythological creature called "Kapre" in the Phils.

Dinosaur Statue near the "Therapy Pool"

The dinosaur up close

The olympic pool

T-Rex near the "Disco Pool"

The T-Rex up close

The olympic pool as viewed from the "Disco Pool"

I wish I have collected these toys

Came across an exhibit of realistic miniature collection of toys at SM Megamall recently and I can't help but be amazed at the stunning details of the toys. The collection ranged from tiny toy soldiers arranged in battle formations to replicas of planes, aircraft carriers, cars, boats, ships and robots.

Looking at the realistic details of the toys continue to mesmerize me at no end. 'twas such a delight seeing those little toys and I felt as if I was transported to my childhood. The memories keep flashing while I stare with awe at the intricacies and sheer number of toys laid right in front of me.

I used to dream owning sets of those toy soldiers and war machinery during my childhood but till till this ripe age of 42 I really have't have the chance to fulfill it. All I can manage to acquire for the last so many years was my collection of scaled down sports bikes which numbers to a measly nine pieces.

Seeing the exhibit just renowned my passion for highly detailed toys and my thanks goes to the organizers of the exhibit who just gave me a trip down to memory lane. Given the chance and the right financial standing I would still pursue collecting miniature toys albeit now so much for my own purpose now but for my only son who is also very fond of toys.