Gubatnon ConnectionConceive. Believe. Achieve.

Fellow GHS Alumni:

Here’s an invitation from the current GHS Alumni President, Nelson Fajardo. This request to post the announcement was emailed to me by my class ’74 classmate Leonora Funtanar.  Below is the content of her email:
****************

Please help us disseminate the info on the BARAGAT DINNER/DANCE FUNDRAISING initiated by the Gubat High School Alumni President Nelson Fajardo. The proceeds of which will support the association’ s scholars of the Meralco Foundation and the Gubat High School scholars.  Tickets are at P500.00 and P1,000.00 each. 

You may buy tickets at the gate of the venue or thru Ms. Bella Esparas Sanchez (class 73) cell no. 09298592085. The BARAGAT will be on June 5, 2010, Saturday, Kalayaan Hall, Club Filipino, Greenhils, San Juan.

As a backgrounder, the Meralco Foundation has so much respect and amazed by the performance of these scholars coming from our school.  Every year when they give these qualifying exams nationwide, they are awed by the outstanding results of the applicants from the Gubat National High School, surpassing other schools around the country.  As you may know, these scholars are from very poor families.    The Meralco Foundation shoulders only their tuition fees.  That’s why these kids are looking for sponsors on their lodging, and books.  Your assistance will be highly appreciated.

****************

As Gubatnon, I’m encouraging you to support this  Baragat 2010, and enjoy meeting old friends at the place.  So, whether you’re Anthonian or GHS graduate, please be part of this endeavor.

From childhood, I’ve always been touched by the sufferings of people who are in the level of poverty, because my family is among them until now. Since childhood, I’ve always dreamed on every election period that one day, my family’s sufferings from hunger and deprivation, could be resolved by new leaders elected. Now, I’m already on my middle-age, people shout for the same hunger and sufferings from poverty, because we have the same problem with corruption by politicians. We have always placed the solutions to our problems in the hands of politicians.

Thanks for my decision to join the Gubat St. Anthony Credit Cooperative (GSACC) at my hometown (Gubat), where members joined together with their little investments to put up a credit cooperative. Here, members help each other in building and managing a credit cooperative union which serve as source for micro lending when they need money for their business. Through this cooperative, I’ve learned the powers of self-reliance (by an individual) and cooperation from among people in order to change your social status from poor to financially stable. The money that I borrowed from this cooperative from 1986 to 1992 (before I migrated to America) were used by me to open a sari-sari store, and later to buy equipments for my growing three grocery stores, then buy the computer that I brought here in US.

“You cannot wait for politicians. Society must save its own self,” was said by Mexican author Carlos Fuentes, in a convention of writers at the McAllister Auditorium in New Orleans, USA. He was referring to the same sufferings by Mexicans and people from New Orleans, which is considered as “third world” state of USA. Related to this, let me tell the Filipino people who could read this article that they should rely on themselves, and stop waiting for politicians to help them. These politicians have their own elite groups and small groups joining together for their own interests, and simply using the poverty and sufferings of the people as their point of entries to their corruptions. Filipinos should start grouping themselves from small clusters and build their own organizations that could alleviate their own sufferings. The revolution, the change, should start from within ourselves.

Tired of the election fever? Tired of listening to black propagandas stoned by each warring parties? Now, let me change that worries, by sharing you a screamy story which I also shared in other Yahoo groups in the Internet.

*****************************

When I was a teenager at my hometown, I still believed on those aswangs, ghosts, and kapres, specially when I’m out on the road. Everything changed after my long years of stay here in New York City.

One night, I went home from the capital town of Sorsogon to my hometown at Gubat – driving my motorcycle. It was moonless night, and the wind was cold – sign of forthcoming rain on early morning. On that 20-kilometer driving from Sorsogon to Gubat, I was really scared to the bones, specially that I was the only one driving in a dark highway that’s cold and creepy.

When I passed, the barrio of Payawin, almost reaching the barrio of Carriedo, a very, very cold wind hit my body. Then, from the distant I saw silhoutte of giants waving their hands on me. I thought, they were the “Kapre’s” everyone was talking about. My hairs started to rise from my skin. My perspirations were as cold as melting ice on my face and on my back.

I thought, what if I reach the place where they’re standing, they’ll get into the asphalted road where I’m running and block my way? As they waved their hands from a distant, I knew, they’d be much bigger when I’m near them!

Being alone in a dark, and cold highway all I could do was pray the “Our Father,” and the “Hail Mary.” I can’t close my eyes, or else, I’ll get into an accident. After several repititions of the two prayers, as I moved forward to the waving giants, I finally reached the point where they were standing and waving hands at me. Then, as my motorcycle’s headlight hits these standing, and waving giants, I finally saw them in close-up range. As my motorcycle gets closer to them, I finally saw tall banana plants with their leaves waving on the air.

I didn’t know, if it was because of the powers of my prayers that the giants turned into tall banana plants. But after my long stay here in New York City, I certainly believe that those giants waving hands on me were products of my own imaginations.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Fellow Gubatnon:

I’ve been very busy rewriting my movie script, “Root of Vengeance” lately. But thanks, God, I’ve made it good enough for submission. Actually, resubmission to literary agents, because I tried submitting this script to few agents already. Below is just a logline and synopsis of it. But if you have time, and really curious on how a movie script for Hollywood is written, you could follow this link.

*********************

Title: Root of Vengeance
Author: Jess Guim
Genre: Sci-fi Thriller
Spec Script, 90 pages
WGAE# I47496

Logline:
Father and son venture on designing a super-hacking program which endangers their family and the world going into nuclear war. Now, they’re racing against time to save them and the world.

Synopsis:
Calvin Bailor, big-time programmer, is selling his hacking program to the FBI to save his $10-million worth problem on his consulting business and residential mansion. But Division Chief for Cyber Crimes, Hanz Graven, is interested in getting the program for his personal ambitions. So, he steals the program with the help of his Saudi Arabian secret partner, Sheik Ahmad, arms dealer and terrorist.

The program’s authentication process uses biometrics of Calvin’s eyes. To make Medusa work, he abducts Calvin, his wife (Adelle), and his son (Mark). While boarded in a private jet from New York to Paris, the group tests the program to hack a missile testing center in Japan. The test creates a pandemonium in Japan, and incites North Korean government to launch their own missile, targeting Japan.

Hanz considers the family as tough and dangerous. He chains them like hardcore criminals and terrorists in the jet. Hans orders father and son to remove the biometrics authentication on the program, or they’ll all die.

Mark finds a heavy-duty paper clip taped underneath his notebook. He always has this clip with him, to manually eject his broken DVD player, by inserting the clip’s wire on a pinhole at its front. Calvin unlocks his handcuff and other chains on his belly and feet using the paper clip. He fails to free his wife and son, when the paper clip cuts-off on Adellene’s handcuff.

The jet goes into trouble when a gangster accidentally fires and breaks its window, while he’s trying to stop the escaping family. Sheik Ahmad tries to escape with a parachute on his back, but Calvin shoots him while exchanging fire with him. Hanz gets the bullet-ridden parachute from dead Sheik Ahmad, and escapes the troubled jet. But the torn parachute opens like a blanket, and chokes him.

Calvin thought the tragedy created by Medusa program ended already after the jet crashed at the Atlantic Ocean. But five months later, the twin children of Sheik Ahmad, Abdul and Aisha come to avenge for their father’s death. Abdul explodes Calvin’s mansion using shoulder-type missile, and escapes on expensive limousine car with a backup rescue helicopter following them.

Calvin runs after the escaping car, using the EMS ambulance that’s going to rescue and bring him to hospital. The second fire truck that’s about to go to Calvin’s burning mansion accidentally hits the escaping car in an intersection. Calvin reaches the accident site and identifies the twin as children of Sheik Ahmad through an old French newspaper, “Le Figaro,” in the limousine car. The rescue helicopter picks-up the injured twins at the accident site.

Calvin finds the shoulder-type missile launcher of Abdul inside the car. He loads it with a projectile and fires it to the escaping helicopter – exploding it into pieces. Calvin vows to stop using his hacking program, and never to trust it to anybody else. Calvin receives $10 million reward from the FBI for killing Sheik Ahmad, a wanted terrorist.

*********************

The script is 90 pages in all. So, you really need time to read this spec script. Once you’re done reading it, please send me your own personal criticism on it. You could post your comments here, or you could send them personally to jessguim(@)yahoo(.)com – parenthesis not included.

Again, the main movie script is at http://gubatnon.com/movie_script_the_analyst.html

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Election fever is extremely an epidemic in the Philippines now.  Friends and relatives are even going to the extreme of separating from each others’ long friendships and family ties, because they could not agree with their choices of candidates.  I warn you, my fellow Gubatnons, not to go into this kind of situation. These politicians don’t even know you.  Why would you gamble your friendships and family ties to these politicians? As my father had always told me, “In politics, there’s no permanent friendships, no permanent enemies. There’s only permanent personal interests.”  Those politicians who are opposing with each other now, will soon be friends again after the election time.  But I doubt with you if you will still be friend with your best friend after election, if you broke your alliance with him/her, because of your different choices on candidates.

As a citizen, exercise your right to vote.  Select the right candidates, select the “lesser evils,” and with more accomplishments in their past records. Why I was saying “lesser evil,” because I’ve read in many articles that politicians are all evil. So, select the “lesser evil.”

By the way, I would like to thank subscribers to this blog who had started following my advise to practice building their own exposures in the Internet by doing their own free blogs from Google at https://www.blogger.com/start, and from WordPress at http://wordpress.com/. If you are going to try, too, I advise you to open a free gmail or Google account, and open a free blog at https://www.blogger.com/start. Once you’ve made your own Google Blog, from your blog, there’s an option to monetize or earn money from it. The “monetize” button is at the upper right corner of the window, when you are at your admin control panel of your own Google blog. Here, you will be applying for Google Adsense, a pay-per-click advertising that will be placed by Google in your blog. The amount of pay-per-click depends on how valuable is the ad.  An ad for a car, for example, is $2.40 per click.  Imagine if your blog topic is about cars, and people who visit your blog click your ads (let’s say a minimum of 10 in a day or more if you have more visitors), you’re earning dollars without going abroad, without leaving your family. So, my best advise open up a blog that’s interesting to you, and at the same time will give you good earnings from the Google Adsense.

There’s a lot of opportunities in the Internet.  Don’t waste it, like the way you waste your cell phone loads by texting worthless rumors and green jokes. But don’t buy offers of opportunities by the scammers (there’s thousands of them). Learn these opportunities for free.  Again, don’t be fooled by offers of million dollars earnings by scammers. Start yours for free, from the one I told you – free Google blog with pay-per-click ads of Google Adsense. And one more thing, don’t risk your permanent job, by focusing on this Internet opportunity if you are not sure about it. Take it as a hobby, with the promise of an additional dollar earning. Finally, if you have questions, please send it to me by email, or post it here as comment. 

Postscript: In case you visit here, and you did not find an update or new article to read, please visit my other web site http://overseasfilipinos.com . It has articles pertaining to secrets of success for a larger audience. I love to take pictures of New York City, and if you wanted to see the beauty of the city where I’m living now, please visit http://aroundnewyorkcity.com .

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Fellow Gubatnon:

This blog’s subscribers had increased a lot since I redesigned this “Gubatnon Connection.” So, from here, I would like to thank you personally for your trust on my writing capabilities. Gubatnon Connection, as you may know, is different from other Gubatnon web sites or Gubatnon social networking in the Internet now. It’s been my objective when I created this blog, that you’ll come here not only for fun but mostly to learn something about doing business in the Internet, secrets of success by the rich and famous, and any postive ideas that could change our lives as Gubatnon.

Writing for blog is a hard work, specially that I have other blog sites to maintain. Aside from “Gubatnon Connection,” I’m managing also a blog site for digital photography in New York City, a web site for overseas Filipino workers, and a new blog about writers. Sometimes, I would even contemplate of closing this blog in favor of my other blog sites with larger subscribers like the bigapplecity.com blog and the overseasfilipinos.com blog with thousands of viewers every month. But I’m a Gubatnon, and I love Gubat. I feel different when I write something for this site. I feel I’m connected to my Kababayans even if I’m here in New York City – the reason why I finally changed it’s head title from “Gubatnon Blogger” to “Gubatnon Connection.”

Fellow, Gubatnon, I urge you to invite other Kababayans to come, subscribe to this blog, and participate in discussions by leaving comments on the posts and pages. Thank you very much.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

In the late 80′s Donald Trump was at the peak of success in real estate business. But suddenly, his success was distracted when he diverted his attention to clothing and fashion business in Europe. The US economy went bad, affecting the real estate business of Trump, and it was too late for him to realize that he was losing $9.2 billions in this business. All the banks from whom he owed billions of dollars were all running after him, and he could not even pay the interests for his loans. He worked hard to recover back his loses, that by the late 90′s he’s back and thriving again. In his book, “How to Get Rich,” he tells the readers about this incident in his life. So, he advised the readers, “Don’t make the mistake I made. Stay focused.”

Full attention to one direction is very important even in driving a car. Losing your focus on the direction where you are running will surely place in you and others in danger, even to death. Students in colleges, who found freedom from being away from their parents, lose their focus on their studies when they start joining their bad friends in drugs and other funs. Some overseas Filipinos lose their focus towards the family and loved ones they left in the Philippines, due to bad influence by other co-workers in their place of work.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” have 10 tips in order to get out of the “rat race” or working for others on a nine-to-five job. The number 9 advise in his book was about FOCUS as an acronym for Follow One Course Until Successful. The “course” he was referring to in his book was about attention or direction. As an extra bonus for reading this article, let me give you the full list of these ten secrets to get out of the rat race.

1. Know the difference between an asset and a liability.
2. Make mistakes, learn from them.
3. Never say, “I can’t afford it.” Instead ask, “How can I afford it.”
4. Surround yourself with like-minded people.
5. Teach others.
6. Play the CASHFLOW board game to learn how the cash flows.
7. Mind your own business, your ASSET column.
8. Learn the vocabulary of investing and finance.
9. FOCUS – follow one course until successful.
10. Never stop learning.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

This article is a reprint from http://onewebplaza.com . The reason why I’m posting this here, because I wanted to emphasize to my fellow Gubatnons how important is owning a web site now and in the future. If millions of other computer users and Internet hobbyists from around the world are earning now, while they are at their own homes, then, why not other Filipinos? Why would Filipinos sell their properties to pay unscrupulous job recruiters, to work abroad for their families, when they could stay with their families and earn money by using the powers of the world wide web? Below, follows the reprint:

***************************************************

Top 7 Reasons Why You Need a Personal Website
Having a website of your own equals entering into an invaluable communication environment. There are at least 7 reasons why it is highly advisable for you to be present online:

1. Represents your personal profile
A website can be your virtual portrait, showing off your personal self to the world on a 24/7 basis. Among the most popular ways of presenting your personality online is keeping a webblog (otherwise known as online diary) or a photo gallery, where your friends can stay up-to-date with your daily living.

2. Spreads your voice across the world
A website can be your global “tribune” where you are able to share your knowledge, experience and enthusiasm with people who have common interests, but with whom you might not otherwise have crossed paths. A very popular idea-voicing tool is the discussion board, better known as “forum”. You can also have a guestbook on your site, where people can discuss your postings.

3. Lets you be in touch with people at a distance
A website can be a meeting place for making new acquaintances with people of different religion, nationality and age, as well as for keeping in touch with friends who may be on the other side of the world. Thanks to the almost unlimited online communication possibilities you can conduct one-to-one conversations with many different people directly from your website.

4. Broadens disabled people’s interaction with the world
A website empowers people with limited access, due to handicap or illness, to broaden their communication with others. A website can be a physically disabled person’s door to the dynamic world, allowing him/her to bridge over the difficulties of having a “different” everyday life. It can even be their office, where they can present and deliver certain home-made products/services directly from their living room.

5. Creates a web skill development environment
A website can introduce you to the secrets of www. The contemporary web design technologies have brought the art of creating a website just a few clicks away from the inexperienced user. Thanks to the popular WYSWYG (what you see is what you get) web design tools, absolutely everyone (irrespective of age or education degree) can build their own web page without any previous experience.

6. Makes extra profit for you with minimum investment on your part
A website can make residual profit for you, while you are sleeping or enjoying your free time. Thanks to the up-to-date techniques for bringing traffic to your website, you can earn easy money by simply having visitors click on certain product/service promos or links that are relevant to your site content pages (e.g. Google Adsense/Adwords ad solutions) without any initial investment.

7. Makes you a member of the biggest community of the world
A website is a must-have personal attribute nowadays, just like mobile phones and computers are. The fast developing technologies have converted having a website from a whim into a modern necessity. As of today, almost everyone has a web site, whereas twice as many people are expected to be having their own personal space in the global World Wide Web cosmos in the near future. Be forward-thinking, join this trend.

***************************************************

You could start owning a free web site (or blog) by opening accounts in either Google.com or WordPress.com and start your own free personal blog as a starter. Don’t force yourself by buying immediately a domain and build professional web site until you’re already comfortable doing your blogging from free sites in Google and WordPress.com. If you know how to use Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, you could surely do blogging by your own. It’s really fun, specially when it starts earning an extra money for you.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

While I was cleaning my bookshelf today, I found a small book from among my other collections. The book’s title was “The Richest Man of Babylon” by George S. Clason. It pertains to Babylonian parables, 6000 years before the birth of Christ, hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth.

The back cover further described the book as acclaimed modern-day classic, which offers to readers the understanding of – and solution to – financial problems. It holds the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and making money to earn more money.

Out of 144 pages, I’ve finished reading 44 pages only, because I have to watch the first “State of the Nation Address” of US President Obama. But while watching President Obama’s speech on TV, I did not waste time writing this blog at the same time. (That’s because the TV was at my right side.) It’s hard thing to do really – watching TV and writing a blog at the same time.

Anyway, here are the seven secrets I’ve learned from the richest man of Babylon – “The Seven Cures for Lean or Empty Wallets:”

1. Always keep 1/10 or ten percent of your earnings.

2. Limit your expenses to necessary things you only need.

3. Invest on a business that will earn even if you’re away from it.

4. Select the right person whom you’re going trust your money for business or investment.

5. Own your own home.

6. Save money for your old age, and your family.

7. Cultivate your own expertise, learn more knowledge to become more wiser.

Please come back later for more moneymaking secrets from this amazing book.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

We can’t be successful businessmen if we don’t know how to delegate our responsibilities to other people. This is the main reason why so many intelligent, highly educated Filipinos prefer to work for dollars abroad and remain servants for the rest of their lives. It’s either they don’t trust other people, or they don’t know how to manage other people to make money for them.

Working for the government for a meager salary had been my life for ten years after graduation in college in the Philippines. I had a master’s degree in public administration, and few units for my Doctorate in Philosophy which I did not continue, to use the money for my education in raising my family. I was one among those Filipinos who believed that having higher education while working in the government will elevate me to the upper level of my position, and have a better salary. I’ve waited for that aspiration to happen, but did not come even after three years I’ve graduated from my master’s degree in public administration. So, out of desperation, I started driving a tricycle instead every after office job to earn extra income for my family.

Even now, so many teachers, are leaving their families on Saturdays and Sundays to go to schools for higher learning, so, they would become Senior Teachers or Supervisors in their districts when they finish their masteral degrees in education. Millions of us do this, because we believed that becoming Senior levels in our jobs (by having masteral degrees) is the only way to raise our salaries. Out of desperation, these teachers leave their teaching jobs in favor of working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong.

When I tried tricycle driving as a way of earning extra money for my family, nobody from among my passengers knew that I was a master’s degree holder. Even now, I know, educated people would not do this, because that’s what we believed for centuries – “Nakakahiya ang ganitong klasing trabaho.” Most of us are afraid of what our friends and relatives will talk about us if they see us doing this dirty job, in spite of the fact that we were highly educated. That’s because for centuries we were made to believe that descent jobs are jobs by people wearing clean clothes, specially those wearing coat and ties. I found that idea wrong, when I earned millions of money instead after two years of starting as a tricycle driver. When, I delegated to other tricycle drivers later what I could not do (driving 14 more tricycles) to earn more money.

The difference between Filipinos and Americans in terms of professional advancements could be seen at the dining tables when they are eating together. Filipino parents tell their children to study hard, finish college and have a good job after graduation. American parents, while eating with their children discuss the day’s trends in the trading market. In short, the American families were talking about business to make money. While the Filipino families were talking about working for other people or how to become servants to earn money. That’s why undergrad Americans like Bill Gates and Michael Dell are billionaires, while intellegent college graduate Filipinos are merely working for their daily subsistence in America.

Nowadays, in America, you could no longer earn big money by working too much, or having double jobs. For a single job in America, six people are aspiring for it. So, even Filipino Nurses now are having hardships doing overtimes and double jobs at other hospitals, because there are more Nurses who offer their services at lower rates.

After 17 years of working in America as salaried consultant for other companies, I’ve found it for the second time that you could not advance yourself financially if you will just be working for others. You should learn to start your own business instead, and let other people make money for you. To be successful in this venture, you should know how to manage people, and delegate your authorities to them. Let other people earn money for you.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator