Today's #PpopWednesday#OPMwednesday is 「Shout For Joy」 by Gary Valenciano. A fitting song after Passover, Resurrection Day, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Never leave the Philippines without eating these fruits, and taking a bunch with you when you fly home.
Mangosteen
While popular in Southeast Asia, the Mangosteen in the Philippines is the best variant in the world. Mangosteen is plenty and cheap in the country. You can find it anywhere, from wet markets to supermarkets to street stalls.
There are also many other products made from Mangosteen, from coffee to juice to daily supplements, even a candy and cookies!
Banana (local: saging)
Like Mangosteen, Philippine bananas are the best in the world. There was even a joke how a Philippine banana was exported in the West, and a local restaurant bought banana supplies from those countries and used it, hence, their very simple banana dish (that is ₱20 elsewhere) is worth a Big Mac (₱200). Without them realising the banana they imported originated from their neighbour.
Of course it's a joke. Or maybe not. (We did have an incident like this decades ago, for shoes. Marikina-made shoes were exported. Branded. And then that brand sold it here. 🤣)
Trivia: An endemic banana, "abaca", is also used to produce "Manila Hemp", which is expensive.
Mangoes (local: mangga)
Yes, the best in the world too! Some of our Asian neighbours visit the Philippines just to eat Philippine mangoes, because it's very expensive in their country.
Pineapple (local: pinya)
The best? Well, some of those popular foreign pineapple brands actually have farms here in the Philippines because they found that Philippine-produced pineapples are better.
Trivia: Pineapple was brought here during the colonial era. It's not endemic.
Trivia: Pineapple fibres are used to make clothes, and are usually expensive. It's the most common Philippine linen. Filipinos were the first to create clothes from Pineapple fibres. In fact, like the Coconut, Filipinos found use to everything Pineapple, generally, nothing goes to waste.
Create three lists: "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", "CUR: Newsmast".
(CUR = CURated / CURation)
Search for "Flipboard" and "Newsmast" (Flipboard accounts share the same icon, Newsmast accounts share the same icon as well.)
Follow the accounts you're interested in. (It's by topic.)
Add each of those accounts to your "CUR: All" list. And to its respective platform list: "CUR: Flipboard" or "CUR: Newsmast".
Switch your "Home" view to "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", or "CUR: Newsmast".
Another way of doing it is by topic:
CUR: Nature
CUR: Current Events
CUR: Programming
Or, by region:
CUR: Local
CUR: Asia-Pacific
CUR: Africa
Adjust it to your needs.
In the Mastodon family, you can set the list to not show up in your "Home" timeline. This way, you can still see the posts from other people you follow without it being filled with curated content boosts.
Benefits of following curation accounts:
You don't have to follow every single account.
> Usually, accounts share other topics which you probably are not interested in. Curated lists filter these topics for you.
You will discover content and people to follow.
> Both Flipboard and Newsmast boosts/reshares the original post. You see the original source/account and interact with them directly.
> You can then choose who you want to follow directly so you can see more of their content and interests, and build a friendly relationship with them.
It becomes possible to only follow 10 accounts ever, yet consume hundreds of content and information.
This way, you can avoid following hundreds of accounts which will only make your "Home" timeline confusing; and more likely, you'll miss what matters most for you because of so many posts from so many accounts.
I hope it helps you! Welcome to the Fediverse #SNS !
P.s. If you're using an awesome Fediverse software or platform besides Mastodon, the steps are similar, if not exactly the same.
Here are some dating tips, nothing grand, but can be useful.
Know how to say “I love you” in the #Filipino language because we have two for romantic relationships.
“Mahal kita” = This is your “I love you” in English. It can be used romantically or for family and relatives.
mahal = ma (as in “mama”) + hal (as in ha + L) which means “love”
kita = ki (as in ‘ki’ in “kit”) + ta (as in ‘ta’ in “tank”) which means “you”
“Iniibig kita” = This can be translated into English as “I deeply love you” or “I deeply desire you” or both; and should only be used romantically. You could say it is a poetic way of saying “I love you”, however, it is more than that.
iniibig = i-ni-i-big (i = as in the sound of saying the letter “e” = iihh) which means “[deeply] love”
Understand what “mutual understanding” or “m.u.” is.
It's actually simple. “Mutual understanding” is that stage wherein two people are already comfortable with each other, but are still not officially dating. Usually, they do not know they like each other; however, there are those who choose it because they are not sure yet (especially permission from parents).
If the person you like decides to be in an M.U. relationship, don't take it negatively. It is a sign that they are considering dating you, just that, there are still things they need to settle on their end. Give them some time.
You need to clarify your relationship.
Never assume that you are dating. I've seen “couples” who never made it clear and later was shocked the other partner finally have a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”. The surprised party felt “cheated” but in reality, no one cheated, they were never dating in the first place!
It is important to make your relationship clear.
Are you dating exclusively? “Exclusively”, meaning, there are no one else both parties are dating.
Or, are you in an “open relationship”? An “open relationship” is a relationship wherein you allow each other to have other dates.
Are you actually dating, M.U., or just friends?
Are you “officially” dating? “Officially”, meaning, both of your parents know (regardless if they agreed to it or not).
“PDA” or “Public Display of Affection”
This is publicly holding hands, hugging, kissing (cheeks, lips), being overly sweet with each other.
Filipinos are generally fine with it. If you don't like it, a Filipino date might misinterpret it as you not being proud of them. Thus, if it is not in your culture to show PDA, then make it clear with the Filipino you are dating, to avoid misunderstandings.
There are also some Filipinos who are not into PDA, so, you need to be open about it. And limits.
You are not just dating one person, you are dating the entire family.
Filipinos are family-centric. And when it comes to Filipino, be sure to treat their families well.
This is a good thing. If your partner is telling you what to do, it means they really want to date you.
That's just 5 when it comes to dating. Marriage proposal is a whole different matter. We have our own form “dowry”, although less practised today, it is still good to know, especially if the Filipino you want to marry is traditional. (They may not tell you anything because you're a foreigner, but deep inside they're expecting it.)
It's Feb 28th, and if you're suspecting they no longer love you, maybe this #OPMwednesday recommendation will help: “If the Feeling Is Gone” by #EllaMaySaison
Our #PpopWednesday#OPMwednesday today is a lively song, 「Atin Ang Mundo」 (The World is Ours) from the Filipino boy band #TheJuans, that will surely make you dance.
「Christmas In Our Hearts」 was released on 1990-11-17 as the titular song of Jose Mari Chan's 7th studio album. Through this album, Jose Mari Chan was nicknamed “The Father of Philippine Christmas Music” and Filipinos start to play the songs from this album a week before September (“-ber months”) begins, the traditional start of #Christmas in the Philippines.
If you want to listen to the entire album, here are the links:
First time I pushed myself since I recovered from pneumonia and a water in my left lung (mid to late 2021).
I used the closed roads being used by two race events, #EarthRun and #ASICS run. 😜
I think being with fellow runners made it easier. I didn't feel any pain and I rarely had to catch my breath. Though I was still slow as compared to before I got sick, and had a lot of walks than runs, this was still far better than whenever I ran 5k solo this year.
#Streams galaxy
-- note 1: communication with the Fediverse is standard practice in this universe.
#Hubzilla galaxy
-- note 1: developed a way to communicate across the Mycelial Web (a.k.a. the multiverse). Can also communicate with BlueSky and diaspora.
#Friendica galaxy
-- note 1: developed a way to communicate across the Mycelial Web (a.k.a. the multiverse). Can also communicate with BlueSky and diaspora.
#X#Twitter Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; have not discovered there are other mycelium/universes besides their own)
#Tumblr Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; rumours has it their government decided against connecting with the other mycelium/universes, but they are aware)
#Flickr Mycelium (closed borders; isolated; aware of other mycelium/universes)
If you are new to the #Fediverse network (inaccurately called #Mastodon network) and looking for end-user apps for mobile and desktop, check this #PublicDomain list:
The popular song “Take Me to Your Heart” (2004) by Michael Learns to Rock is actually an English cover of the 1993 Mandarin original entitled “吻别” (“Goodbye Kiss”) by Jacky Cheung.
A great adaptation and reinterpretation of “Beauty and the Beast” as a Japanese anime set in modern times.
I love how they used Virtual Reality as a plot device only; and avoiding the pitfall of explaining things that are not needed to be explained.
I now understand why this received a 14-minute standing ovation at Cannes (the 7th longest at the festival). It truly deserves it. A Masterpiece. I've never seen this level of reinterpretation of the classic “Beauty and the Beast”.