My Death Notice

Engineer/Writer/Coffin Sales Agent/Preacher Ai Koh

The engineer, coffin sales agent, preacher and writer of Love 2 Type died at 7:00 this morning of decapitation.

Ai was born on December 25, 1981 in a small shack in Guadalupe, Cebu. She graduated with flying colors at University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines where she earned Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. Her thesis on Aerobic Granulation in Highly Loaded Reactor for Wastewater Treatment ingeniously reduced wastewater effluent that she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 2007 at the age of 26.

Because of her passion in writing, Ai didn’t finish her master’s degree in Business Administration to focus on her blog instead. She’s been a Bestselling Blog Author for 3 consecutive years since 2008 primarily because of her articles on Why People Need Coffins and How to Be a Billionaire from Coffins.

Answering the call of God to preach his Word about the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ, she was kidnapped en route to Papua New Guinea and beheaded. Her remains will be brought back to Philippines by St. Peter Memorial Plans to be cremated on August 2, 2011.

Van from Hell

One of the public transport available in the Philippines is what we call a jeepney, smaller version of open-air bus where the current minimum fare in Cebu City is 7.50 pesos (0.13 Euro). If you don’t care to get to your destination smelling smog and looking as if you’ve just been electrocuted with your hair standing in every direction, V-hire or Van 4 hire is another option.

Although V-hire costs a bit more compared to a jeepney, I still choose to take one every night from work because it’s a comfortable and air-conditioned ride. Last night however, I was the only passenger in a fully-enclosed van.

I was enjoying the music being played inside the van when the driver suddenly turned to a deserted road that is definitely not it’s normal route. Surprised, I asked the driver where we are going and he said that the main street is filled with traffic enforcer so he’s taking a shortcut.

Paranoia started kicking in and I thought that the driver has several male accomplices waiting somewhere that will get inside the van and gang rape me. After texting the van’s plate number to my friend, here are the things that crossed my mind.

1. I believe in Jesus and I’m going to Heaven when I die.

2. I already bought a coffin from St. Peter Funeral Homes and my mom  knew that I wanted my coffin to be orange in color. My mom will be 30,000 pesos richer then from St. Peter.

3. I will not die without giving a good fight. I don’t know how many times I cleared my throat to make sure my voice box was still in good order while I massaged my fingers in preparation for my upcoming scratch fight.

I was so busy thinking of possible strategies to survive the night when the driver suddenly laughed and asked: Are you nervous?

And then he made another turn back to the main street that’s filled with other vehicles and people.

Whewww!

I guess I’ll not be making a trip to heaven just yet.

Chartis Insurance for Schengen Visa

I don’t really care much for insurance because I believe that it’s like buying a lottery ticket where you give money to the company but you aren’t 100% sure that you will win or get something in return. Unfortunately insurance is a requirement for some countries like Belgium where the embassy notified me first that my visa has been approved but before they will release it, I have to buy a round-trip plane ticket with confirmed dates and you guessed it right, travel insurance.

Aside from meeting certain conditions like having a coverage of 30,000 Euros and should be valid in all Schengen countries for the whole duration of stay, travel insurance must be bought from reputable companies too.

The following are the only Philippine Insurance company that Belgium accepts:

ACE Secure
Chartis Insurance (formerly known as Philam Insurance/AIU Insurance)
Assist-Card
Blue Cross
Fortune General Ins. Corp.
Generali Pilipinas
MAA Insurance
Malayan Insurance
MAPFRE
Paramount Life and General Insurance Co.
Standard Insurance Co.
UCPB General Insurance Co. Inc.
Worldwide Travel Insurance Plans
Everest International Group Administrators

Out of the choices being offered, I chose Chartis Insurance Travel Guard Enhanced with a coverage of 2.5 Million pesos because it’s what my trusted travel agency, Easy Travel Cebu, offered. And so far, my experience with Chartis customer service has been nothing but Class A.

Now, I’m not sure if I will ever get to use this insurance but since I’ll be in expensive Europe for 28 days and who knows whether or not I’ll be stranded due to Iceland Volcano that-must-Not-be-named, I find that spending 3026 pesos (50 euro) from Chartis is actually cheap.

 CHARTIS PHILIPPINES
For further queries, feel free to call our Customer Service Toll-free at 1-800-1-888-5928, Mondays thru Fridays (except on holidays), from 8am to 5pm or e-mail the undersigned at wecare.phl@chartisinsurance.com.

Chartis Philippines Insurance, Inc.
(Formerly known as AIU Insurance (Philippines) Company, Inc.)
47th Floor PBCOM Tower
6795 Ayala Avenue Corner V.A. Rufino Street
1226 Makati City, Philippines

Emergency Assistance:
24-hours Hotline
Philippines: (632) 878 1280
Malaysia: (603) 2772 5672

Travel Kit – 11 Medicinal Must Haves

I’m off to wonderland next week so in preparation, I’ve been boosting my immune system with vitamins and minerals to be healthy and energetic enough to pull/push that huge luggage filled with frying pans and brooms.

Since being sick during holidays is such a killjoy, I went to our clinic to avail myself of travel kit loaded with medicines and dosage info in case of emergency. These medicines are available in Philippine local drugstore:

Celestamine / Antamin for allergies; take 1 tablet 3 x a day

Bonamine for motion sickness, nausea and vomiting; take 1 tablet affords protection for 1 day

Kremil – S/ Edroxid/ Simeco for hyperacidity; take 1 tablet after or between meals and at bedtime

Diatabs / Imodium for diarrhea; take 1 tab/cap every loose stool maximum of 8 tab/cap/day

Biogesic / Saridon/ Termagen/BioFlu for relief of fever, toothache, headache and body pain; 1 tablet every 4/6/8 hours interval

Carbocisteine / Ambroxol / Tuseran Forte for cough; 1 tablet / capsule 3 x a day

Mefenamic acid/ Midol for relief of mild to moderate pain including muscular, toothache and Dysmenorrhea; 1 tablet/capsule 3 x a day / as needed

Buscopan / Cospan/ Gasmid for stomach spasm, stomachache and gas pain; 1 tablet 3 x a day / as needed

Alaxan/ Advil for muscular and body pain; 1 tablet 3 x a day / as needed

Strepsils for sore throat; 1 lozenge every 4/6/8 hours interval

Neozep / Decolgen / Symdex/ Sinutab for nasal congestion, headache, fever associated with sinusitis; take 1 tablet / capsule 2/3 x a day

Know what’s the most important medicine here for me???  Medicine for my vomiting butt.   

Men in Kite

With my one large suitcase now weighing 30 Kilogram, I need to get another suitcase to even out the weight because anything in excess of 30 kg will be sent via freight or cargo according to KLM’s baggage rules.

But my mom doesn’t seem to be concern about any rules because every night when I came home from work, she always parade around her latest gifts for Raidon and my sister.

Last night were the kites.

It’s actually my sister’s boyfriend’s stepfather’s request but I thought it’s a splendid idea to see three men (grandfather, father and son) playing kites together. These three men aren’t related by blood but they are bonded together nevertheless by love which through life’s circumstances, has brought them together.

So anyway, after saying the magic word “RAIDON” and how Raidon would love to play kites with his father and his grandfather, mom went off to Colon street to buy 3 big kites with a spiderman design as her main priority because my only nephew is currently on his spiderman phase.

Kite costs 80 pesos (1.3 euro) each after mom haggled it down from 100 pesos (1.5 euro).

Now, if only it will all fit inside the luggage without breaking the wires.  Uhm, that’s a frying pan, brooms and other Filipino stuff that my sister have requested.