Kill me with Frustration

I just have to say my piece as a citizen of this country and I'm sure you've formed your own opinions and read pork barrel articles to last you a life time. But for a simple citizen, not even a top tax payer in BIR's coffers, a simple citizen who works and duly pays her rightful taxes without question, I have to say that I am deeply mad about this whole thing. Silent but seething with anger that I might lose my decorum and probably slap any righteous politician I come across the street. I know it's irrational to reach this level of anger, but no point in denying it.

I've worked for almost 8 years in private institutions and ever since I have always accepted that a chunk of my earnings go to the government. How it is being used, I only have a faint clue. They say it's for public education, infrastructures, healthcare and poverty alleviation. Okay. I look left and right. Result to prayers and goodwill when natural calamity strike. Enjoy majority of inefficiencies of Government agencies if I need to from time to time. Get irked at the public transportation that we currently have and receive never-ending, negative and literal progress reports on unemployment, poverty and crimes. I am not surprised about all of these because I don't think it ever changes anyway.  Year on year, we have had exposes, impeachments and scandals, but it just fades away until a new comes along. For some reason, it's not shock that will kill me, but frustration for this country.

Money is needed by the government. We are not contesting that. Pork Barrel was devised for the good and I believe it can actually work in the RIGHT HANDS. But obviously most of the politicians' hands are soiled. Billions of tax payer's money go to the personal coffers of these politicians that promised their servitude to turn this country around. Tell me....how hard can proper accounting and audit be? Sure funds are entrusted, a person is put in the position to allocate these funds, that person on his better judgment and research will allocate these funds to the rightful cause, someone logs it and someone liquidates it. We can go forward by publishing it for people's view real time, people make websites and update them every single day! Employ a think tank, an independent party of monitoring arm, business analysts and computer engineers! How hard can this be?  These politicians don't even have to pull their hairs to earn billions of funds, the working class have already earned it FOR THEM, presented on a silver platter. All they have to do is allocate them to where they are supposed to go, to our schools, roads, health and security.  Isn't that basic? Isn't that what Pork Barrel is supposed to be?

As much as I want to skin this so-called Madame-Fugitive-Napoles alive, I'd want to skin and boil the politicians that made her illegal business thrive and make them into a wonderful stew. Without these goon-politicians, do you think her business will survive in the first place? She's been doing it FOR YEARS!! How can this fly so gracefully? But of course, politicians protect this thief. And it would've gone on and on had this whistleblower stuck to family ties and shut up. Imagine, if this whistleblower was non-existent, this Madame Napoles may now even have enough money to pay off the debts of the Philippines and in another life she would've been this FINANCIAL HERO awarded by Malacanang! How stupid of us!

Pork Barrel in our incompetent and ineffectual system won't work. It's been 10 years of minimal result and continuous corruption in my working lifetime. I need changes. I need to know where my money is going and I need to see RESULTS. It's frustrating and not enough marching will fix this.

So Government, I really don't give a fuck about your explanation. God knows that when politicians go defensive on camera, they spew stupidity from their mouths.  What we need are actions!! Get Napoles, prosecute these invalid politicians and develop a system. It's our well-earned Money for our country. I hope these politicians understand what that means. 

The 34th Manila International Book Fair

HEY HEY HEY!

It's that time of the year again! In a few days its going to be September! And no, this not about Christmas, but it will definitely feel like Christmas to me and to all the book lovers out there!

It's the the annual, massive Manila International Book fair at the SMX Convention Center from September 11 - 15 (Wed - Sunday) at 10 am - 8 pm! 

This is where publishers, local and international book stores, book advocacy groups and independent literary shops converge and showcase what's new, what's hot and what's definitely worth-it in the world of literature! Imagine a clothing or travel bazaar only that it's books!

Thank you to the organizers for religiously hosting this event every September. Expect this to be jam-packed and worth your while. A scavenge hunt with amazing discounts.

Time to prepare my budget! And for those who are planning to go, please prepare cash!

You may find the list of exhibitors, sponsors and programs in this link:

http://www.manilabookfair.com/


Spread the news!

Winter of the World by Ken Follet

The first time I read the Fall of Giants by Ken Follet, I was hooked. As much as I am not a telenovela fan, this is my own guilty telenovela pleasure in literary form. I was hooked on the well versed effort and epic story of the main characters and how their lives are gracefully intertwined in the face of war. 

It took about 2 years for me to wait for the 2nd book and another couple of months to wait for a paperback version to come out. Finally I got it this year. 

This is the 2nd book of Ken Follet's Century Trilogy. The story centralizes on the 2nd generation of Fitzherberts, Peshkovs and Von Ulrichs and how their lives are magnificently intertwined in politics, war and relations. While the first book was set up on the 1st world war, the 2nd book is set in 2nd world war from the start of a rising power of Nazi Regime. More characters are introduced with sweeping connections with the main characters. There are the usual topics of betrayal, familial ties, politics and romance that are brilliantly knitted to create another epic story. Honestly, I don't know Ken Follet does it. How he maintains and flourishes stories with infinite characters in this magnitude. Think of Pillars of the earth. This involved clearly a lot of thought, writing and immersion to the web of characters. This is again an epic read. 

Best to read it on vacation! 

my frugal adventures.com

**Out in the leading bookstores. Got mine in Fully booked, mass paperback. 

BATTLE ROYALE Koushin Takami

With all the young adult genre novels about post apocalypse, future societies, angels, werewolves, vampires, zombies and everything else in between, one particular plot type that's out in the market is about survival, the basic story of to kill or be killed. And there's an interesting flavor if kids do it, the actual game of killing that is.

Imagine the SURVIVOR show, but instead of fighting for material reward, they are fighting for their life, survival of the fittest.  Also imagine that raging kids or teenagers are involved. It's either monsters or life threatening challenges are created by these sick organizers (usually the government) or the goal is simply for the participants to kill each other. I've read the Maze Runner Series and Catching Fire. Both have interesting plots and challenges. While Maze Runner is an experiment, Catching Fire is a tradition. If you like this kind of genre, I hope you won't miss Koushun Takami's The Battle Royale because by far, this one tops the list for me.

Battle Royale is about a yearly military government project where they randomly select a 3rd year HS class to be deported to a controlled island to kill each other. Winner would obviously be the last man standing. Society knows of this with only the hopes that their son, daughter, sister, brother or friend will not be a part of that selected class. Anyone creating violent objections from family, friends and organizations will immediately be put to death. The fight is televised and all actions completely monitored.

The kids being in the same class know each other and developed their own groups or connection, which is an added emotional burden. With minimal explanation, they were only given collars to wear and randomly selected weapons and supplies to carry in the island. There is no escape. If they try to escape, they will be killed. If they take off their collars, it will self detonate. If no one is killed within 24 hours, all collars will self detonate resulting to no winner. And some additional challenge, there will be randomly selected areas that the government will announce every few hours for the kids to avoid. If they find out that they are in the forbidden area at the announced time, their collars will also self-detonate. So the challenge is to strategically hide from your peers, familiarize the map, listen to announcements and efficiently kill opponents (which are your classmates and friends), without losing one's sanity. Did I mention that suicide is allowed?

What's interesting about the novel is how the human behavior will transform given the situation. It clearly mirrored the degradation of reasoning and emergence of paranoia and how these affect and transcend through their actions. The novel also explicitly showcased the emotional and psychological damage it has imposed on these kids more than the physical one. For round 30 so students, the author has given a glimpse of each student's background and how the person reacted to the situation. As a person, fighting for one's life, the reader will get to fully understand why someone pulled the trigger. Others were scared, others were paranoid, others became systematic while others were betrayed. It doesn't matter if they're highschool or college; it's the intensity and rawness of a person trying to survive.

Sure, there will be gory deaths and commendable twists. Written in 1996, a disturbing, fast paced and interesting read, this is the ultimate survival-thriller book. You've read Catching Fire, well this is as raw and real as it gets.

**OUT IN LEADING BOOKSTORES. GOT MINE IN FULLY BOOKED around 800 Pesos. Worth it. 

Buddy

With much publicity of my three dogs, Harvey, Chivas and Bruce, I believe we had unrightfully neglected this other dog who had been with us the longest. He came to our lives even before I even realized that I had so much affinity for dogs. He came to us when the family could only tolerate one simple pet. He was our beloved pet who was provided shelter, food and enough affection. Of all the dogs that we have right now who shared enough publicity, received extra attention and care, there's this one dog who remained silent and loyal to the very end. And it pains me to think we've let him down. Buddy, our 12-13 year old german shepherd - mongrel mix, died this morning.

It has been a week since he became lethargic. He wouldn't eat. No strength and affection would come from him. He'd always be at the corner where there was no light, watching and coping. He would vomit a couple of times a day and we knew something was terribly wrong. It was also this week that we found out that the dogs'  veterinarian Dr. Pedrito Peralta died of a heart attack two weeks ago. We thus experienced a shortage of good veterinarians. There was nothing we could do at that moment but provide him extra care, pray for him and somehow give him liquefied food. For the past couple of days before his death, he would always go to this one dark spot near the garden to rest. Sometimes with lack of energy, his breathing would be labored and a couple of times we mistook him for being dead. Every day, we would transfer him to a more secured spot, but every single time, probably with the remaining energy that he had, he would always go to that one spot near the garden even if it was raining. I knew from Marley and Me that dogs with this weird behavior are resigned to the fact that they are ready to leave this world. And we, his masters, undeserving humans, didn't do anything much about it.

We've let him down to the point that we made him suffer those last days. Even though we gave him extra attention, extra comfort and security it seems a pitiful effort for us to cover our guilt for the thousand times we have neglected him. We thought he was our wonder dog that he could withstand even the slightest pain. Buddy had always been quiet and resilient, but we forgot that he also needs comfort and peace.

He was the favorite of my parents, probably because seniors think alike. My father would always favor him against the pedigrees. Our helpers adore him. He has been with us for almost 14 years, that's unbeatable by far.  He is an excellent guard dog. He is patient and very loyal. There were times though that I had fights and quarrels with him. I wanted him out of the house for a couple of times because of how he bullied Bruce when our bullmastiff was still a small puppy. The fights and isolation would continue, and how much I pained him with words and gestures. He had suffered retaliation from the three dogs and for the last couple of years. He suffered a lot. On his last remaining days, I realized my wrongs and had my moment to cradle and say sorry to him.

I'm just so sorry again and again for not being able to rescue him from sickness. We have scheduled him for treatment on the day that he died and clearly it was too late. We didn't even give him the decency to skip the pain and suffering and just let him sleep. He deserved too much wonderful things that we simply have gotten frozen. We didn't act fast and we didn't act smartly. Early this morning we found him in the garden, with eyes opened and the last traces of dried liquid in his mouth.  We didn't even know the exact time he passed away, probably when all of us were sleeping. And just like that, it was never his method to grab attention and give us troubles.

I'm sorry, Buddy for the wrongdoings I've done. I apologize for not making you feel any better soon and I am sorry for all our shortcomings. You've been a good dog, loyal and patient. You've taught us to be better. Without you, we wouldn't have had the courage to take care of the three other dogs. You nursed us with the transition and we thank you. It's a sad day for all of us.

After saying my personal prayers, I thought of my dream to put up an advocacy group to shelter and redeploy stray animals. I don't know how I'll do it, but it's a profound dream. If I were to have one now put up now, I'll know what to call it. Buddy. Buddy Foundation in honor of a wonderful dog.

Thank you, Buddy. Rest In Peace, we love you.

I don't even have a decent photo of Buddy. If there's such  a  dog who'd shy away from the cameras, it's him. He's loyal, patient and strong. Clearly he was misunderstood most of the times, but he was part of our family. He has seen it all.  We will surely miss him. 

Bruce's Recovery Food

Every Sunday I do groceries primarily for Bruce and for the rest of my pack. And it's become a weekly routine. I love it. I've become more aware of the prices of goods and I've experienced the best groceries in town. For a while I went to Cash and Carry, Landmark and Rustan's Fresh, which are all in Makati. But now I stick to Puregold in Better Living or the new Metro Grocery in ATC cause of good selections and cheaper meat prices. I don't like SM Hypermarkets cause they almost have everything I need out of stock except for a steady supply of Coconut Oil.

Before Bruce was diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure, the dogs' meals were made of high-grade dog food mixed with human food leftovers. But ever since that frightening episode, I researched and decided to go Natural all the way...for all dogs!

When Bruce was in the hospital a month ago, I would research non-stop and vowed to try anything that would help him battle renal failure. I would rush home from the office at 4 pm and drive to the vet to give his dinner at 5 pm. His first natural dinner was white rice, boiled chicken breast, egg whites and cottage cheese. Absolutely NO salt. The helping was small more for a 15 Kilo dog while Bruce weighs 45 Kilos. At that time I just wanted to test if he would respond to this kind of food and I don't want to surprise his stomach too much.

First meal I bought for Bruce when he was still at the vet.  White Rice, Cottage cheese, chicken and egg whites

He loved it!! Every single day for those two weeks he would look forward to my visit. I'd like to think with those visits with home cooked meals helped in his speedy recovery. Probably it reminded him of home more than anything else. His packed meals would either be chicken or ground pork mixed with rice. I started to experiment with additional ingredients and give him 2 cups a day. He relished it. The veterinarians were impressed on how he ravaged his meals every single day, which is always a good sign of recovery. They would also applaud me to be the only dog owner that they know who would do hourly visits daily with home cooked meals.

He gets excited for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner

He does this really good obedient sit-and-stay kind of trick and looks at you with so much concentration.

1 full meal gets consumed in a minute. Before it was less than that, but we try to tell him to slow down. He now harbors a stronger appetite for anything!

I became more encouraged. I started to print out diets from sites and consulted this with my vet of course. Since he lost a lot of weight, our initial recovery food would include lots of carbohydrates, fats with right amount of minerals and right amount of protein. Low Sodium, Low Protein/phosphorous is key.

I took cue from the medical pet sites and bloggers. And as much as we would want to be precise, we relied heavily on right cups and proportion for a 45 Kilo dog. Ground meat that would just fit in one's palm is enough for one meal. We limited organ meats and cheese intake for the entire week. We only add cheese and butter for flavor. We concentrated on giving right vegetables, white rice, pasta, egg whites and potatoes.

WEEKLY GROCERY LIST:

1/2 Kilo of Ground Pork  - regular / with fat
1/2 Kilo of Ground Beef - regular / with fat
1/2 Kilo of Chicken Thigh Fillet
1/4 Pork or Beef Liver
1/4 Pork Menudo cuts (Extra treat!)
Cottage cheese, regular cup
1 bar of Unsalted Butter (This will last for 2 weeks) - Magnolia brand is cheaper
500 g Oatmeal pack (This will last for 2 weeks)
Salad Macaroni 1 Kilo ( This will last 1 1/2 weeks)  - Sunshine brand is cheaper
Rice (Majority of the week)
Baby Potatoes 5 Packs
Sayote 4 pcs, medium
Kangkong
Pechay
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots (Lots)
Apple  (Snacks)
Coconut Oil
Yogurt

Grocery Cost: It would cost you around 1,200 PHP per week. This could be shared by Bruce and Harvey (Bullmastiff, JRT). 

Bruce gets 2 full meals a day - that's 3 1/2 cups. 1 snack size serving for lunch, Occasional slices of cheese and biscuits for mid-afternoon treats and a small sized apple at night.

Sample meals:

1) Ground Pork + White + Rice + Egg Whites + Veggies
2) Mashed Potatoes + Unsalted Butter +Beef cubes + Egg Whites
3) Oatmeal + Ground pork + Squash + 4 Tablespoons of yogurt
4) Macaroni + Shredded Chicken + Carrots + Cottage Cheese/Regular

** Add crushed egg shells in every meal.
**mix and match as you'd like, experiment on vegetables

Snacks:
1) Apple
2) Small Banana
3) Cheese and Bread
4) Celery Sticks
5) Biscuits (Bruce loves Broas and Marie)

Ratio - 40% Carbs, 30% Veggies 30% Meat: 3 Cups for Bruce/meal. Full meal is twice a day 8 PM and 8 AM.

Cooking method: The meats are all cooked in one day to save effort and gas. We store it in the freezer to be heated for every meal preparation. Rice, potatoes, oats and pasta are boiled per day. We either boil or sauté using extra virgin coconut oil (Never use COD LIVER OIL) or unsalted butter.

We add KIDNEY TONE, a diuretic medicine prescribed by the vet with Antioxidants such as Vitamin E, A and Omega 3, which you can get from Healthy Options. We add those pills in every meal. The Vet said he could go back to his regular dog-food diet after 3 months, but from the looks of it...I think we'll stick to this. The dogs are happy.

Thank you God that I have help at home who does the cooking and mixing and matching of meals. That's why Bruce and Harvey are always excited. They'll never know what they're going to eat for the day. They love it so much that they've become our alarm clocks at 8 am and 8 pm.

Again, this is just my own concoction. You always want to consult your vet for any changes in your dog's diet. But so far, this diet for Bruce worked wonders!

Bruce's Must-Diet

My dog eats healthier and fresher foods than I do. Well for him, it's a must.

Kidneys extract wastes from the body, that's excess minerals and toxins alike. This organ is pretty smart and crucial in the balancing act of minerals. When one's kidneys are functioning poorly, it would be inefficient to excrete toxins from the body. This would result to various complications that would lead to death if not medicated immediately. Someone who is suffering from acute renal failure will feel nauseous, weak and very dehydrated. Someone who is recovering from Acute Renal Failure has to have enough support and care as far as diet and activities are concerned.

According to medical experts, kidneys do not immediately regenerate like other organs. If it gets damaged, it stays damaged for quite some time if proper care and support are not met. It's not like a normal wound that would just heal itself in a couple of days. Prognosis are usually unfortunate for badly damaged kidneys receiving poor maintenance or care. Since toxins and excess minerals come from the food we eat, proper diet should be applied if the patient wants to live long.

Sharing with you what I know based from what I read. But for those who want an access to thorough medical information, you may view medical sites and talk to your veterinarian.

Protein   -   

Everybody knows that protein is essential to everyone's diet including dogs. They need this to build muscles and aid resistance to infections. Protein is good from the sounds of it. But if the dog has acute renal failure most or a huge chunk of their kidneys are damaged abruptly. Change in diet should be done immediately.

Protein is found in lean and high grade meats, dairy products, egg and chicken. Basically you can ask your obsessive gym buddy or athlete friend what they eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Kidney Failure:   According to http://www.mcw.edu/Nephrology/ClinicalServices/, if one is recovering from acute or chronic kidney failure, that person would not want to stress out the remaining functioning parts of the kidneys. Once protein is digested, the by-products sent to the kidneys intended to be excreted from the body are toxic. Logically, too much protein intake means the kidneys will work double time to excrete these toxins. And for damaged and stressed kidneys, they might not be able to do the job efficiently, in fact they will be extra stressed and so toxins will build up. This is seen through BUN results (Blood Urea Nitrogen), which measures the by-products (toxins) present in the bloodstream. Normal rate is 20 - 30. When Bruce was diagnosed, his BUN rate was 65.

Low Protein:  The trick is to give them just enough protein they need daily cause you cannot totally eliminate this from their diet especially for dogs. Instead of getting high quality and lean protein, you can opt to buy protein with enough fats. Get the regular ground beef or pork. Instead of white chicken meat, get the darker one like thigh parts. And the amount is just as important. If before you give organ meats (liver, kidneys) to your dogs every other day, which is very healthy yet high in protein, you could probably just give organ meats to them twice or thrice a week. Eggs are high in protein, but have high biological value, so a large egg a day (egg whites only) is optimal nutrition for your dog.

Protein is a must, it's a matter of giving just the right amount, a little bit less than usual.

Potassium

Potassium is important in making the muscles work especially the ever-pumping heart. I remember watching Guga Kuerten, a retired tennis player, eating banana in between tennis matches because it keeps muscles from cramping under strenuous activities.

Bananas are primary source of potassium along with Oranges, potatoes, tomatoes

Kidney Failure: Kidneys make sure that you just have enough potassium in your diet. The rest they would have to excrete. If the kidneys are damaged, they might not excrete extra potassium from your system, which might lead to irregular beating of the heart or worse case, a stroke.

Low Potassium:  Just like protein, we need potassium in our body and all food has potassium content, we cannot really avoid it. The idea is avoiding giving high-potassium foods as often. Now, I only tend to give Bruce regular sized (Latundan size) bananas thrice a week for  snack. Mashed potatoes are included in his diet, only for 4 meals a week.

Sodium

Sodium is needed in the system to balance fluid and control blood pressure.

These are generally your ol' good salty foods found in canned goods, cheese, cold cuts and processed food.

Kidney Failure: Like Potassium, well-functioning kidneys determine just the right amount of sodium you need in the body. If the kidneys are not working at its best, sodium build up may occur and may result to swelling of organs (eyes, hands, anklets)

Low Sodium:  Instead of putting salt or using processed foods, cook foods with their natural flavor and avoid adding salt. Use herbs/spices instead to create flavor. Use unsalted butter if a must and AVOID canned foods. Before, I give Bruce repeated cheese snacks in a day which results to consuming 1 regular bar for 5 days, but now I've cut it down to 1 bar for 1 1/2 weeks, spread out in snacks and meals.

Phosphorus

It's a mineral that works with calcium that keeps bones healthy. Aside from keeping bones healthy, it's also needed to keep nervous systems working.

High protein foods also produce high phosphorous content like organ meats, dairy products, sardines and chicken

Kidney Failure: Kidneys create a delicate balance of Phosphorous and calcium. If Kidneys are down, kidneys will have a hard time excreting too much phosphorous. Phosphorous will build up and Calcium will not be properly absorbed by the body. In this case, bones will become weak and brittle and there will be undesired calcium build ups in the system.

Low Phosphorous: Minimal organ meats, high grade protein and cheese. Sometimes, we need the so-called BINDERS to include in the diet. These binders help kidneys in such a way that it "binds" phosphate to the food that your dog eats so that excess phosphate will not be absorbed by the body. I would limit Bruce's organ meats, cheese and would often give him crushed egg-shells as a natural phosphate binder.


Bruce's exact diet plan that will currently works in the succeeding post. 



Resources: http://www.mcw.edu/Nephrology/ClinicalServices/DietforRenalPatient.htm
http://www.2ndchance.info/kidney.htm
http://dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/diet_and_chronic_renal_disease.html