3) Keychains. You’ll be surprised on the variety of keychains available out there. Check out these displays. You can check out this page for more options.

4) Mobile Gadgets. If you have money to burn, try to find the portable gadget to fit your lifestyle. As long as it can house your tools and you can carry and use it anywhere (unlike a laptop, they can be a hassle to bring out compared to a PDA device).

5) Have a blog. Make a blog your own personal sanctuary. It will house everything about you. Your way of thinking, pictures, ideas, imagination, videos, etc. It’s everything about you and its yours so you can add anything into it.

Do you have other ideas that could serve as a personal shrine? Comment it here! ^_^

Popularity: 4% [?]

Pinoy Trivia

I borrowed a book from an officemate titled “Pinoy Trivia” by Bong Barraneda. In it are facts and trivia about common knowledge not everybody would particularly know about. And no, just because it’s titled “Pinoy Trivia” does not mean it’s everything Filipino related. There are facts and odd news from other parts of the world. Below are but a few trivias that really stuck in my head and I want to share it here for knowledge keeps. ^^

1) Why is the wedding ring traditionally placed on the third finger of the bride’s left hand?

The custom dates to the ancient Egyptians who believed this finger carried a vein leading directly to the heart. Writers later gave it the name vena amoris, or “love’s vein”.

2) “Here Comes the Bride” – played at almost all traditional weddings as te happy couple march to the altar – is actually the “Bridal Chorus” of Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. And it’s sung in quite a different setting. In this opera, the chorus starts singing as the hero, Lohengrin, accompanied by his new wife, Elsa, enters the bridal chamber, which is dominated by a very large bed. Their attendants then help them disrobe for their wedding night. Because of this sexually oriented scene, some religious sects have objected to using the “Bridal Chorus” as a wedding march.

3) A Japanese puppy named Haichi went to a Tokyo railroad station to see his master off, as usual, one day in 1925. That afternoon, at 5 o’clock, he went to meet the train his master always came home on. But that afternoon his master wasn’t on it. The puppy had no way of knowing his master had died in the city. Never giving up hope, Haichi went to the railroad everyday for the next 10 years – the rest of his life – and waited for the 5 o’clock train. Then, when his master didn’t appear, he went sadly home. When he died, the Japanese government put up a statue of Haichi on the spot where he had waited and sent small replicas to all schools in the country.

4) What language has the biggest vocabulary?

English, with abouot 490,000 words plus another 300,000 technical terms. It is doubtful, however, if any individual uses more than 60,000 English words.

5) There are many ways to play the ten opening moves in chess. How many – millions, billions, trillions, or even more?

Even more – there are at least 170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (17 x 10²⁵

6) A Friendly Reminder. The World Health Organization estimates that smoking the one cigarette stick shortens the smoker’s expected life span by 5 minutes.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Today is Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and an important part of this event is the reminder of global tragedies happening all over the world, more importantly the advocacies to save Mother Earth and our lives from dying.

I’ve very glad to hear that there are already activities going on today locally to promote preserving Mother Earth for future generations starting with cleansing of Manila Bay (or was Pasig River?). Either way, there will also be instructions and teachings on other ways to save our world. HBO will also show the controversial Al Gore documentary titled “An Inconvenient Truth”. I haven’t seen it but I bet it will be highly satisfactory to my tastes and expectations since I’ve already heard snippets of the documentary from friends and their anecdotes brought goosebumps to my skin.

Here is a trailer of the said documentary:

To give a brief history on Earth Day, please read all about it from an excerpt below taken from Wikipedia.

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S.

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Hyaku Monogatari

The hot summer months are driving my crazy. The intake of anything cold and edible is not taking any effect. Even the nights are warm, bordering on being sweat on the bed (eek!)

I want to dip my feet on a basin of ice-cold water, sip lemondade, have someone fan me while lazing on an easy chair outside the house wearing an almost bare-it-all dress. Really, who cares about mode of clothing at this kind of heat?!

Then I remembered Youko of xxxHolic, who was in the same predicament as I am in episode 10. Much as I prefer summer over the rainy season, the heat could really seep out all my energy and I could imagine myself literally melting like ice cream in hot midday.

Youko being Youko, she easily proposed a group date to her store helper, Watanuku, together with his school companions, on a night of Hyaku Monogatari, or 100 ghost story-telling in an old temple, guarded by a monk’s grandson, Domeki, who happens to be Watanuki’s so-called friend.

Hyaku Monogatari immediately garnered my interest, especially since I am very much into anything paranormal and related to Japan. The game starts with each player lighting a candle. Each player tells a ghoulish story, whether a known urban legend or personal experience. After telling the story, the player blows out his candle. This process continues until the room gets darker and only one candle is left. It was believed the ritual makes the circle a beacon of death and when the last candle dies, a spirit will show up or something tragic will happen.

You can imagine the tension in a group especially since this game was initially thought of as an invocation for spirits during Japan Edo period. It was also stated it was a challenge for soon-to-be samurais to test their courage. The origin of the game is unknown and it is not done often nowadays. But Hyaku Monogatari is not dead with the aid of media publications and internet channels to propagate ghost stories for everyone to gain access.

I want to try this game out with my friends. I hope they will agree to this though as I can’t seem to find a ready group of friends agreeing to this. XD

As of now, I found a few stories to satisfy my cravings for ghost stories. This stories could be good for your own Hyaku Monogatari games in the future.

Hope you enjoy these stories.

NOTE: These stories came from seekjapan.jp. If you know any other sources of Hyaku Monogatari stories, please share them with me. It’s hard to find these. ^^

Under the Peony Lantern – A Cautionary Tale of Sex with the Dead

Long ago, on the first night of Obon, a widowed samurai named Ogiwara Shinnojo sat on his porch, watching the day fade into night. To his surprise, a beautiful young woman and her maid, who was carrying a lantern emblazoned with a peony, walked near. The pair paused to speak with Ogiwara, and he found the young woman’s name to be Otsuyu. An instant attachment was formed, and Otsuyu promised to return the following night, at the same time.

From that night onward, always at dusk, she would arrive with her maid, carrying the same Peony Lantern. Ogiwara and Otsuyu rapidly progressed in their affair, and she took to sleeping with him, always leaving before dawn. This relationship continued for some time, and both were happy.

However, a suspicious neighbor, wondering at Ogiwara’s new habit of staying awake all night and sleeping the day away, hid outside his house, peeking through a small hole in the wooden wall in order to observe the old man’s nighttime shenanigans. Much to his surprise, he uncovered the widowed samurai passionately entwined with a skeleton, packing only scarce, clinging bits of rotting flesh and cobweb-infested long black hair. Half-mad, the neighbor fled screaming from the scene.

The next day he confronted Ogiwara, bringing with him a Buddhist priest who warned of the danger facing his soul. One cannot dally with the dead. Ogiwara took this to heart, and vowed to free himself from the spell of Otsuyu. With the priest’s help, he surrounded his house with ofuda, strips of paper upon which are written Buddhist sutras, offering protection from the supernatural.  That night, Otsuyu and her maid came as always, but they cried at the steps of his porch, unable to enter the house.

Night after night she returned, begging Ogiwara to remove the ofuda so that they may be lovers again. Slowly, the lonely old man’s resistance slipped away, and one night he left his house to join his beloved.

The next morning, he was nowhere to be found. His friends looked far and wide, until the neighbor suggested they search the cemetery. At long last, they found the graves of Otsuyu and her maid, emblazoned with the same peony pattern. Opening the crypts, no one was surprised to see the corpse of Ogiwara, still passionately entwined with his skeletal lover.

So they say.

With this tale told, wet your fingers and pinch out the fire of the first candle.

The Kiss of the Kuchisake-onna

One night, not so long ago, salaryman Taro was flushed with sake and success, having closed a deal that ensured money for his company and promotion for himself. In celebration, he had been drinking with his co-workers, and had more than his usual share.

In the bar, there was also a woman sitting alone. She was elegant and beautiful, with captivating eyes and glimmering black hair. Not unusually for the season, she wore a surgical mask that covered her lower face, as a protection from the various pollens and pollutions that tainted the air.

Salaryman Taro, feeling braver than usual, sat next to the woman and talked away at her, buying her a drink which she never touched and boasting of his success and promising future. She answered demurely but interested, and he suggested that they move to a more private bar that he knew, not so far away. She nodded, and with a wink to his co-workers the two moved out into the street.

Taro was quick to hurry her to a nearby, darkened alley, where he pulled her close and stared into her enchanting eyes. “Am I beautiful?” the woman asked, in a quivering voice, muffled behind the surgical mask. “Very beautiful,” he replied, moving his face closer. “Am I beautiful?” she repeated, reaching behind her head to undo the barrier between their mouths. “Most beautiful.” he said again, anticipating the kiss that was his.

The mask slipped from her face and Taro froze, unable even to scream. The woman’s mouth spread from one ear to the other, consuming her lower face. From the nose down, it was split, with two flaps of skin spreading to show her rows of sharp pointed teeth. Her hinged jaw opened impossibly wide, and her misshapen mouth somehow managed to form the words again: “Am I beautiful?”

Salaryman Taro, aged 30, was never heard of again.

So they say.

Another candle goes out, and the shadows around your home begin to resemble a long, gaping smile…

The Rule of the Dead

Perchance, with the extinguishing of your final candle, you should find that the evocation of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai has worked its magic, and a yurei has taken an interest in you and settled in your house. A word of caution: fear the dead, but most of all, respect them.

In Japan, the dead can be dangerous, and make demands on the living. These demands must be met with the utmost care. It is said: “To ignore tradition is foolhardy; to anger the dead by not providing for them tempts fate; to be in a place where others have died subjects you to forces beyond your control. Avoidance, care, ritual, respect, tradition. These are your bywords.”

Keep this in mind as you wet your fingers one last time, to protect them against the burning fire of the solitary candle illuminating this story. Keep your mind clear and your soul calm, ready to face that which is revealed by the encroaching darkness. Avoidance, care, ritual, respect, tradition.

Do you know where else I can find such stories? ^^ Please do share!

Popularity: 7% [?]

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