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I love flambés.  I used to take great delight watching our chefs at Cebu Plaza Hotel (now Marco Polo Plaza Cebu Hotel ) pour alcohol to their hot pan (steak, crepe, fruits and all others) so they would be able to create a burst of flames right there in the middle of the restaurant, in front of all the guests.  No, I don’t like the danger it brings, but I do love the smell of burning food and the wonderful sight of chefs expertly navigating their way through the routine.  And yes,, it was a great diversion from the yawn most of us Sales Account Managers had while entertaining clients.  It was during those moments when I fully realized that anything done in excess can really be stifling.  I used to really love dining out, go to parties, cocktails and premieres—it was a job any girl would really love (I was 25 back then).  But when it came to the point when we were required to entertain our corporate clients three times a day, fifteen times a week, on top ...

How do you cope with a broken heart?  There are a lot of ways, actually, but there’s one that I always say—just see it through.  Give yourself time to grieve, and see it through.  Do not attempt to skip the grieving process, else you’d only see yourself trip a second time. (I just read this somewhere—a John Grisham book, I think...he talked about grieving and I connected it to lost love.  Crazy reference, I know, but it makes sense, right?)   But if you want to laugh about it, here’s a funny take on The 22 Stages of a Broken Heart and moving on.  I wrote THIS ARTICLE  last April for a friend whose heart got ripped to pieces by a lost love.  She’s much, much better now--she read this article and managed expectations.  :)  Have fun!   ( note: when you click THIS ARTICLE and the page says FORBIDDEN , that means the publisher blocked the link.  Bring your cursor to the space beside the last character of the URL...

Who would have thought the word facebooking would actually become a legitimate word?  So many rules are changing, it’s definitely harder not to be updated these days. But that’s not my point here, really.  :)   I’m more interested now to discuss how facebooking affects how we all feel when we open it.  To the young ones, there might not be any at all; or if there is, I never really knew about it.  But ahhh, to those people my age (I’ve spoken to about fifty of them), there’s just too many stuff that goes on inside of us every time we spend too much time on Facebook.  It’s not really all negative, there’s just this kaleidoscope of emotions that many of us do not wish to handle.  I wrote THIS FACEBOOK ARTICLE   exactly a year ago…now, it might interest you to know that five of my best friends do not care to check their Facebook accounts anymore.  Or so it appears -- if they do check it, they make sure to spend...

When you start hitting 25, your friends all begin to get married and you start getting wedding invitations here and there.  I’m 41 now, and those invitations just keep coming.  I guess my kind of circle loves to get married late.  The girls are exited, the boys are…well, sometimes not too excited, uncertain even,  but willing to go through the hassle of the entire preparation hullabaloos.  I have another good friend who’s getting married this December, I just thought of sharing these articles I once made for a wedding planner in the United States.  This time, I took on the name of the website's title, The Bargaining Bride –yes, that kind who haggles, negotiates and bargains their way to a better deal.  Not all articles under the name are mine, but here are those that I have authored:  Your Wedding Colors Wedding Themes Wedding Videography Wedding Videos Wedding Photos Engagement Photos Your Dream Wedding Through Wedding Rentals The Importanc...

. It's been a year since I closed Divine Help , our maids and yayas agency, but I still get a lot of calls from mommies and homemakers about problems with their househelpers.  I know, I know....the world is evolving and the more modern our world has become, the harder it is to get trusted maids for our homes.  I know exactly how it feels when our maid suddenly decides to quit.  I used to cry (literally cry, my world comes crashing down on me) when yaya says goodbye, especially when the kids were smaller. I can handle all kinds of stress --an angry boss, a yelling client, a fight with my husband, bickering kids--but not a household full of three kids with no helper.  I've always been a working mom, you see (excuses, excuses).  And Filipina moms are exceedingly, truly dependent on yayas (that's a Filipino term for nanny) -- more of a cultural thing, really. So here's something I want moms to understand about maids and yayas -- they've changed.  Ev...

On this page you will see that I have a lot of articles credited to my name.  But I’m a ghostwriter, too --a writer who is paid to write articles that are officially credited to another person.  I write blogs, product reviews (long product reviews, that is), copies and press releases under another person’s name for a fee.  I can’t say it’s something I totally enjoy doing, but if only for the love of writing and seeing the result of my work afterwards , then I can say I get some sort of fulfillment in doing it.  (Not to mention getting paid, of course.) So, after getting due permission from my former clients, I’m posting here some of the ghostwriting jobs that I had – I could be Jandi , the Bargaining Bride (although not all that's under her name were done by me), Jennifer L . , Ryan or just plainly the good old Product Reviewer .  I talk about weddings, food trivia, restaurant news, F&B management tips (my client’s from the restaurant industry), health and...

As part of man's crazy nature,  we never get contented.  We constantly, constantly look for more in our lives.  I have come across a lot of questions about love, life and heartaches  (primarily because I have plenty of experiences on those)  and  though I never claim to be an expert, I always have a thing or two to share.  Read THIS ARTICLE  and be inspired. ( note: when you click  THIS ARTICLE  and the page says   FORBIDDEN , that means the publisher blocked the link.  Bring your cursor to the space beside the last character of the URL then press enter..and you'll be taken to the page.   URL:  http://beyondjane.com/relationships/this-stuff-about-dream-guys/ PRESS ENTER   ) .

While I have had a lot of writing jobs to show off, I have never really tried to edit professionally. My experience has been limited to editing high school articles in my high school paper (I was Features Editor back then – two of my dearest bestfriends were Editor-In-Chief and Managing Editor) and making corrections on my IELTS students’ writing tests. Well, not until recently.  I came across a wonderful woman who has a lot of fantastic ideas about memory enhancement and brain nutrition, and I helped her organize her thoughts for her already long-standing website.  We made her write-ups more spontaneous and engaging to her readers.  The challenge in editing her work, other than infusing accurate grammar and correct sentence structures with fluid thoughts, was to make sure to keep her views and ideas intact.   And retain her very own method of writing. We have finished the job, the 14 articles edited and enhanced. Now, three weeks later, I went back to he...

On this page you will see that I have a lot of articles credited to my name.  But I’m a ghostwriter, too --a writer who is paid to write articles that are officially credited to another person.  I write blogs, product reviews (long product reviews, that is), copies and press releases under another person’s name for a fee.  I can’t say it’s something I totally enjoy doing, but if only for the love of writing and seeing the result of my work afterwards , then I can say I get some sort of fulfillment in doing it.  (Not to mention getting paid, of course.) So, after getting due permission from my former clients, I’m posting here some of the ghostwriting jobs that I had – I could be Jandi , the Bargaining Bride (although not all that was done by her was done by me), Jennifer L . , Ryan or just plainly the good old Product Reviewer.  I talk about weddings, food trivia, restaurant news, F&B management tips (my client’s from the restaurant industry), health and nut...

Oh, so you're a sushi / sashimi lover too?  Which one has the nori?  How do you call the one with the fish toppings?  How about the square ones?  Know the various types so you can easily spot the ones you love meters away from the buffet table.   Read more here.  

I got converted in Boracay last 2002.  From being a party-goer, indifferent to nature to becoming a nature-loving fanatic.  Or was that maybe because I aged?  J  I made this article for a client, detailing why Boracay rocks.  Read more here .  (and by the way, I need to put it on record that I borrowed this photo from a good college friend who's always been great in taking pictures.  I tried to ask for his permission by getting in touch with him several times-I saw this photo in his Facebook albums, teehee- but he seems real busy lately.  So, my dear good friend, if you happen to recognize this photo in Google or elsewhere, please know that I did try to ask for your permission.  ♥ you. )

So you’re new in Triond and Online Writing?   Welcome!  I, myself,  am  less-than-a-year-old at Triond,  and I can say it’s certainly  been a captivating,  exciting, mountainous  walk.  I had to discover a lot of things by myself,  researching and learning things along the way.  I’d like to share with you a few facts  (including the links where I got them)  that a new Triond member needs to know.  You need to have a blog before you can have a Google Adsense account.   Part of Triond’s familiarization (or would you call that orientation?)   is that a writer can integrate  his Google Adsense account to Triond and maximize his earnings  once he has submitted his 5 th article.  But what they didn’t say is that you can’t do that without a Google Adsense account.  And you can’t have an Adsense Account without a blog. (And yes,  Triond leaves all that to us to figure out.)...

Yes, call them crazy (or not), but some people are buying and selling land on the moon!!   Read the FULL STORY  here. 

Can ,   could , will , would , may , must , might , shall and should   are  helping verbs called modals .  Each of them has their own functions.  As you read the functions, take note of the examples  and notice : ● when they are combined with an action verb, the meaning of the     verb changes.  Example :    can talk   -  ability to talk;  will talk   -      intention to talk ;  must talk -   the necessity   to talk ● they cannot act alone – they always need a main verb ● in using them,  the simple form of the verb is always used (without     s ,   ed ,  or  ing ) 1.  Can  is used to a.  express ability. The past form of can for ability is could . He  can  speak Spanish but he can't write it well. She  can  drive a car. b.  make requests and orde...