SEAFARERS TAKES R&R TO OVERCOME HOMESICKNESS AT SEA

Time is gold as they say. And for seafarers every tick of the hands of a clock is important. Time management dictates the tempo of all activities on board ship. But like in any other human activities, may it be in sports, work stations etc., R & R takes a front seat after intense activity for the human body to rest and relax for a certain period of time.

For seafarers onboard, Rest and Recreation or R&R rarely happen because of lack of time, location and disposition of the Master or Captain. Frankly, R&R depends on the Master’s attitude towards his men. If the Master is indifferent and offensive to the common sense of camaraderie, R&R is usually put under the rugs.

But this weren’t the case of Master Mariner Jessie Juanico and Chief Officer Alejandro Bersaluna, both Filipino Officers who commands respect from their subordinates. The two officers were born leaders that they came-up with an idea to have R&R during in one of the voyages in Vietnam so they can share ideas, motivate their subordinates and enhance camaraderie among them.

It was during a lull in ship-to-port cargo operation when the R&R activity excitedly shared by the seafarers along the shoreline of Vung Ru, a serene, laidback, rustic and underdeveloped place in Southern Vietnam. The harbor-less LPG depot offers a beach of its kind which the locals frequently spend their time swimming, walking or by just sitting on the color brown sand to view the peaceful ambiance of the place.

The fun-filled and full of memories R&R in Vung Ru started in the morning and lasted till dark. Foods and drinks flowed like the cool breeze that continuously covers the horizon. More so the homesickness was eased by the sounds of the ocean waves that go back and forth on the shore and the swinging trees which also serve as canopy for beach goers.

It was such a good chance for seafarers to experience the place because Vung Ru is one of Vietnam’s LPG depots that serves international vessels, especially LPG Tanker ships that calls port in a regular basis, thereby giving seafarers a unique opportunity to splurge on the beach and spend much needed R&R to overcome mental and work fatigue. Here, raison d’être makes sense though.

THE ENEMY OF THE STATE

It was a happy day for the tourists from Hong Kong as they wrapped-up their visit in the Philippines when suddenly their tourist bus came to a halt. A man in camouflage uniform and armed to the teeth appeared and immediately boarded the bus. It took short moments until the passengers realized that they were being held hostage by the man standing right in front of them.

The hostage drama happened in Metro Manila, Philippines early yesterday morning (August 23, 2010) and lasted at around 8:45pm. The lead characters, composed of the lone suspect, the innocent tourists and the police authorities were caught in a high tense situation for almost 10 hours. The hostage drama ended in a bloody mess; 8 tourists were killed and the gunman was peppered with bullets from police sharpshooters or snipers, splattering his brain in the pavement as he gasped for air due to the teargas hurled inside by the policemen.

The gunman in uniform was identified as a dismissed decorated police officer who has an axe to grind against the people whom he accused of ending his career as a good officer and a gentleman. He blamed the authorities of indifference and injustice. In short, he was deprived to fight for his right in the legal processes in which he have had criminal cases that he denied but eventually decided in the bar of legal opinion, trashing his legal arguments to the dustbin of shame.

It was swift. The gunman who has a rank of Captain, re-enacted the hostage takers way of being the enemy of the State. He forced his way inside a tourist bus packed with Hong Kong nationals. The disgruntled police officer vented his ire against the people whom he accused of doing him wrong. His sentiments and grievances were heard through the media. But the authorities were determined to end the standoff and they did in a bloody fashion.

After the rainy scene settled down, the enemy of the State was killed and so with the 8 victims. Although, the hostage taker was taken-out forever the true enemy of the State of whom the gunman were accusing of are actually on the loose. They are actually in the judiciary, legislative and executive branch of government and hold your breath, the paid hacks in media organizations. Most of the people in these four branches of the State are the true ENEMY OF THE STATE.

SIMPLE FOODS FORTIFIED WITH HERBAL PLANTS FOR A SIMPLE HEALTHY EATING LIFESTYLE

LEMON GRASS

TURMERIC

MINT

Frankly I don’t indulge eating classy foods like beef steak, the one that is rare but could actually give you heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and of course colon cancer. Also, I don’t cringe on junk foods and soft drinks to avoid that sagging belly fats and extra weights that form part of a baggage of obesity.

But gastronomically speaking I never totally turned my back on eating meat dishes simply because it is more than hard to abstain from eating meat especially when it is cooked with herbal plants as ingredients. When added to meat dishes, the herbal plants acts as flavoring and as antidote to lessen or control the forming cholesterol and fats of meats. This is where one can have a simple food yet a healthy eating lifestyle.

That green leafy herbal plants like lemon grass, mint, turmeric, oregano and others can be used in different cooking styles and dishes. For example, lemon grass is best added to boiled chicken or boiled fresh fish. The lemon grass smell has a unique presence and the broth taste really good perfected by the extraction of lemon grass juice during the cooking period. The cooked lemon grass in a casserole of chicken or fish soup can also be eaten.

Like lemon grass, turmeric and mint are also good to have it cooked with chicken, fish and other sea living things and vegetables. In a tropical country like the Philippine Islands, the three herbal plants are commonly used in cooking meats and vegetables with coconut milk. Cooked chicken meat with coconut milk fortified with mint or turmeric is a total relish for food trippers or is it cravers?

For vegans and semi-vegans, the three herbal plants & coconut milk and vegetables like pumpkin, squash, jackfruit, string beans, eggplant, bitter melon, bamboo shoot, sweet potato tops and other green leafy vegetables are the best combinations of simple foods for simple healthy eating lifestyle. Bon appétit!!!

HIV/AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN A LOST FIGHT FOR THE CASUISTS

It is no longer a surprise why HIV/AIDS awareness campaign is ineffective despite of so many causes being put-up by various institutions or help-centers that provide information about the dreaded disease of HIV/AIDS. There are many factors why the campaign is losing the battle and that the people themselves are to blame for they ignore warnings of HIV/AIDS.

The disease is demographically wide in scope certainly because of convoluted reasons humans continue to believe that life is full of surprises and happiness in which to some extent is also full of excesses. The evolving world makes it happen for human activities to evolve that took precedence to the developing of new dreaded diseases like AIDS, H1N1, INFLUENZA, SWINE FLU, AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS (H5N1) and the new SUPERBUG VIRUS which according to the latest news emanating from all over the world is resistant to antibiotic drugs.

The AIDS disease which was discovered in 1981 remains as one of the threat to human health because the mortality rate is pretty much high among the carriers of the said disease. In the Philippines alone the case of HIV/AIDS infections & deaths continue to increase in spite of the many information disseminations being conducted by the different concerned agencies from both the government and private sectors (casuists).

The so called casuists obviously are losing the battle because of economic factor, technology, family, social, “gender defection” and other factors like survival from want. In Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines, the incidence of HIV/AIDS infections surprisingly increased this year of 2010. The news gathered around the city through the Department of Health stated that some students, m2m or men having sex with men and sex workers and blood recipient patients comprised the new batch of HIV/AIDS carriers.

There are roughly a number of students in this mountain resort city indentified as informal sex workers who sell their bodies to support their education. Other students are into casual sex for high tech gadgets like branded cell phones, lap tops and money for their personal needs. This sex activity was corroborated by a family friend, a former US Navy veteran with a dual citizenship.

He minced no words when he told me that there are students who offer sex service to retirees who frequent in a known place/road in Baguio City which served as a venue for various social gatherings. I consider this as alarming but I am not in position to blame neither the students nor the retirees for their actions because both of them are enslave of their own personal needs & predisposition.
And because of this, it is not surprising though that HIV/AIDS infection in the city will continue to add more carriers & deaths for years to come because everyone is guaranteed with the word “FREEDOM OF CHOICE.” Qou Vadis?

WHY SELF-HELP PROGRAM CONDUCIVE TO THE NEEDS OF A HEALTHY BODY & MIND

When it comes to health we cannot deny the fact that there are many self-help programs available in the World Wide Web which provides different forms, techniques, applications etc that are commonly attributed to Eastern or traditional medicine. Although, this type of health program is relatively reliable in so many ways, vast majority of the people remained dependent on Western medicine especially so when one needs surgery; a medical intervention outside the parameters of traditional medicine.

The fact that Western medicine provides relief to different kinds of medical problems, we should not be swayed by believing or of trying self-help medical program because as we all know, prevention is better than cure. The more we believe and practice self-help medical program the more we gain confidence in having a healthy body & mind.

DAILY EXERCISE FOR A HEALTHY BODY
Daily exercise is very helpful in maintaining your physical health. Whether you are employed or not you can do some short or light exercises in the morning before rushing to take a shower for your work. Like for example, in the morning you are already awake but still in bed, why not concentrate a bit and do some sit-up for minutes. Do arms stretching while you pace your self to the bathroom or do a squat for leg muscles and knees as you wait for food to be served on the table. There are many forms of light or short exercises that you can do in the morning and it depends on how you do it.

HEALTHY MIND
Well, I’m sure you readers are better than me because you might already have read the different medical journals or bulletins about the human mind, how to have a healthy mind to be exact. But I would like to share with you another self-help mind exercise which I consider as effective. If you love solving cross word puzzle or riddle or let’s say a “bookworm” in you and that’s it. You would be able to have a healthy mind in your lifetime.
Did you know that solving cross word puzzle daily makes the human mind stimulated in such a way that our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, ideas, knowledge & memories are energized and replenished thereby attacking diseases like dementia, amnesia or memory loss and even Alzheimer’s disease? The same true with being a voracious reader or bookworm which helped provide an antidote to fight mind deterioration due to various reasons like ageing.

GOOD EYESIGHT OR VISION
Everyone wants to have good eyesight or vision in their whole life but admittedly old age catches up with our eyesight or vision. As we grow old our good vision likewise changes, sometimes it’s tragic that eventually leads to blindness. But did you know that good eyesight or vision can be maintained during and after our childhood days? It’s simple. Look or view the vast open field of a farmland, plains, valley, mountain range, the wide open space of the ocean while standing or sitting along the shore or view the surroundings in the neighborhood right in front of your house' window. Massage your face, forehead, temple, pinched your brows from 2 – 5 minutes. Do these eyes exercise in your free time and you can expect results later.

WHY HOME BASED EXERCISE PROGRAM MORE ECONOMICAL THAN THE REGULAR GYM

If you think that physical fitness can only be achieved in a regular gym workout and by taking body supplements and vitamins could help do the trick, I suppose the notion is totally wrong because anywhere in your house is practically more than good to perform any exercise that suit your workout program. To begin with, I want to share my personal suggestions & exercise program which is part of my daily regimen of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and of slowing down the ageing process without spending much money in a regular gym.

IMPROVISED TOOLS OR EQUIPMENTS
Buying expensive high-end tools or equipments is not an option because you can improvise your own by using recycled materials like empty cans filled with cement for dumbbell; industrial container or bucket filled with water as alternative for barbell/dumbbell; a chair and stool made of wood or any material that can withstand your body weight; a welded iron bars/Dips stand for upper body exercise and last but not the least a Chin Up Bar or Pull Up Exercise which can be placed either inside or outside of the house.

SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE EXERCISE PROGRAM
Upper body exercise (chest)
Use a strong built chair placed right beside a wall to firmly hold your weights as you perform dumbbell fly, dumbbell curl & dumbbell press in inclined position. Other than the common push-up exercise, you can use stool made of wood for a better chest exercise in push-up position. You can also use bender for more chest muscle.

Bicep, shoulder, posterior, lateral exercise
For arms exercise you can use bucket or industrial container for added muscle firmness not only for the biceps but also the forearms. The bucket or container is also good in muscle build-up for shoulder, posterior/back and the lateral part of the body. Chin-Up Bar or Pull-Up exercise is more than good in building upper body muscles & strength.

Triceps, chest-lift, dips
The welded iron bars or Dips stand is more on building triceps and chest-lift (preventing chest from sagging or the so called “woman’s breast form” in body building parlance). And of course for cardio & stamina, jogging is the best exercise that you can do for a total healthy body.

NATURAL FOOD FOR MUSCLE BUILDER, STRENGTH, GOOD HEALTH
No need to buy expensive vitamins and supplements. Sweet potato, tofu, banana and other fruits & vegetables available in the market will help you realized a chiseled and healthy body.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA DISTORT THE REAL MEANING OF HEROES FROM VILLAINS

The score might be for sensationalism to attract more viewers, readers or audience to their horde of followers. Others perhaps do it for the sake of their profession unmindful whether their piece or report is bland, false, or half-truth half-lie just to have them presented to the gullible public. The mainstream media are armed with the words DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM OF SPEECH and “ENVELOPMENTAL JOUNALISM” (PAID HACKS) which they actually use to abuse their profession.

In the Philippines in spite of being cited as one of the most dangerous place for journalists to practice their profession, the members of the press still enjoy the power of their profession & continue to distort the real meaning of HEROES from that of VILLAINS; from the country’s national heroes, to prominent personalities and the people in conflict of the law. The Philippines’ national heroes were too complex to understand.
In the Spanish era Philippines, a well-off and educated hero in the name of Emilio Aguinaldo killed a poor, self-educated but true nationalist hero Andres Bonifacio. Historians and the mainstream media treated Aguinaldo as great as Bonifacio thereby creating the former as hero out of his treacherous and villainous action.

The same holds true with prominent personalities like the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and his wife the late and former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. Fanatical belief created the prominent couple as heroes of the Filipino people. I really don’t know what made the mainstream media and the various sectors came-up with the idea of exalting Ninoy Aquino as hero. There weren’t any substantial contributions Ninoy had to cause something to uplift the lot of the Filipino nation.

The sectors identified with the late president Cory Aquino said that she was the ICON OF DEMOCRACY. Of course she was, obviously because during & after her tenure there was freedom to re-loot of what remains of wealth Marcos et al looted. There were killings. The Mendiola massacre in 1987 where 13 peasants killed and 51 injured. The Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004 where 12 peasants and 2 children killed and hundreds were badly injured.

Because she was the icon of democracy a deafening noise coming from the idolaters calling congress & concerned authorities to make Cory Aquino a hero. That would be a possibility because the mainstream media and others are all agog about the hero issue since the death of the former president. They have the numbers & resources actually.

The making of heroes not only comes from the leaders of nations but from the average Joes and Janes. The mainstream media not to mention the film industry are guilty of making heroes out of villains, the one that who are in conflict of the law. Members of the press love to feature criminals cum Robin hoods in their repertoire.

Notorious criminals are featured in the media together with their sobbing family members whenever they are caught or killed by law enforcers. Often the showbiz-like emotional drama of sobbing relatives in front of camera get sympathy from media and eventually the criminals’ exploit are treated as heroics. When the smoke are cleared, the law enforcers are now the one being accused as villains and sued for violating human rights & so on & so forth. The mainstream media are party to the rise of notorious criminals in the Philippines.