Life is short.

We must've said this many times in certain points of our lives, and which among these times did we mean every single word of it? And live up to its true meaning?

That got me thinking.

I suppose, it is human nature to realize life's value when we're at the brink of losing it. Or even worse, when you've already lost it (by then you're already six feet under the ground).

Luckily my mom experienced the 'former'.

Two days ago, she went through the most terrible experience in her life. It was already past six that evening, when mom decided it was time to return to the dormitories. Tired, she decided to get a taxi instead of taking a walk home. She stood at the sidewalk, waiting for a taxi to come by.

And then, the most frightening thing occurred. Two men in motorbikes were speeding towards her way. My oblivious mom of course, was just there, standing. Until...The biker snatched her bag, so swiftly, that she got dragged along the road until she flung to the road's mid section. She didn't realize what has just transpired. Trying to gain consciousness, she tried to stand up, but couldn't find the strength to do so. She laid there for a few seconds and noticed a car stopped. A man came out from the car, picked and brought her inside his car.

"Follow those motorcycle thieves", said my mom half-consciously.

Yet the man insisted to bring her to the hospital first. Still in shock, my mom did not notice how injured she was. When she arrived at the emergency room, that's when she saw the bruises on her face, arms and legs as well as a slight blunt on her lips. The medical team provided her with first aid including anti-tetanus shots. Mom stayed in the hospital for a while until her colleague took her to her apartment.

Aside from money, keys to her dorm, ATMs, identification cards and other things were all gone. Unable to think straight and read right (her eyeglasses got broken during the crime) she emailed us about the unfortunate event and called the bank to protect her account.

The following day, she felt nauseous and couldn't keep her balance. That was the time she cried and started to think of the unthinkable - dying. She said to her friend that she wanted to live cause she wanted to see us (did i mention that Kate and I will be in Malaysia this Sunday?)

So her friend took her to the hospital again for some more tests. Thankfully there were no fractures found in her skull. The doctor then provided her with pain killers and sleeping pills so she can sleep soundly.

Until now, the emails I receive from her are rather short...and most of the time misspelled. She'd email me between her naps. Honestly, when I heard the bad news, I really wanted to kill those bastards. But frustration was all I could feel that time cause there's nothing much I can do - I'm here in the Philippines and she's in Kuala Lumpur. And the thought of her face with bruises really saddened me...

But on a brighter side, I'm still happy and very thankful that God spared mom's life. She could've died that night, say, a bump in the head or getting ran over by a speeding truck. And we wouldn't get to see mom for her birthday and for Christmas.

I don't why this happened to mom, but certainly this made her truly love life even better. In her last email, she shared to all her friends about the frightful accident and how this has 'renewed' her.

Now, I can't wait to see mom, especially with her new perspective in tow.

So what happend to the Frog Prince?

Would you believe it?

I won something at our company's Christmas party last Saturday. And just when I wasn't expecting (because I left so dang early), that's the time lady luck decided to reach her hand into the bowl and draw my name. Funny, it's been three days and I just found out just now that I won something. So what is this something?

A cookie monster's delight:

Friendster's new green look hopes to capture a huge slice of the youth market

If you haven't logged in at Friendster for a while, perhaps this is the day you ought to visit your account.

As you can see, Friendster's sporting a greener look. The new logo looks like a green fluffy cloud with friendster printed on it. Its welcoming page is adorned with floral and paisley designs. According to the news, the leading social networking site aims to increase its user population especially in Southeast Asia.

The changes done in friendster sortta reminds me of facebook. It has an area where you can shoutout to all your friends what you're currently thinking but unlike facebook you can put a link, a picture or a video; a list of what others are doing; and who's celebrating their birthdays can be found on the right side. The notifications bar is now neatly arranged on the left hand side.

Of course, old features are still up - the who's viewed me (found underneath your primary photo) and the bulletin post (on the right hand side)

The new friendster promises to provide its users with the latest online games, payment systems and other applications that pertains to all - friends! New features include:

Toys make great photo subjects.

Here, I'm featuring this black & white batman statue, inspired by the art of Educardo Risso. It captures the superhero's complex nature. This statue from DC Direct was sculpted by Tony Cipriano, and there's only 7,000 pieces of this worldwide.