Family Ghost Stories – Mysterious voice.. again

On By manegomezIn Family storiesLeave a comment

On the subject of mysterious voices, there was an incident several years ago involving my youngest sister. At that time, she contracted chicken pox and had to be quarantined on a separate room in the annex by herself. At around the hours after midnight (around 2 or 3 am), there was a knock on the door. Before she can get up to open it, a voice called out, asking her to turn on the internet (the main phone line and modem was located at that room. back then, we used telephone wires rather than wifi to connect to the internet). The next morning, she asked if I (she thought the voice was mine) came by in the middle of the night asking her to turn on the internet. I was bewildered because I was sound asleep in my bed at that time. Besides, I was scared of the annex (the hallway and stairs leading to that room creeps me out, not to mention the annex is known to be haunted) and I wouldn’t go near that room in the middle of the night even If I have someone to accompany me.

Who was it then? Nobody went up there during the night in question. All were asleep in their beds.

After that incident, my sister always kept the lights on for the rest of the night, and as consequence, she just watches shows online since she cannot sleep in such a bright room until she recuperated from her chicken pox.

There are several more stories involving that place, such as sightings of spectres and doppelganger. But those were stories for another timee

A certain incident in summer

On By manegomezIn Family storiesLeave a comment

It happened almost a month ago, when my cousin was visiting.

The house we lived in for 20+ years was originally a bungalow duplex that was modified to add rooms and annexes for the growing family. Eventually, people moved on in their lives, and certain rooms were left unoccupied. It was on that unoccupied room that it happened.

As it was a spare room, it was decided that my visiting cousin can use the room to sleep in while she was with us, but since from stories in our family that certain unexplained phenomenon seem to happen there, she adamantly refused to sleep there alone. I volunteered to accompany her, after all, we planned on watching anime (Durarara!!) until late into the night anyway.

The room was in the back of the house, and we were pretty much separated from the rest of the household. Suits us just fine, was what I was thinking at that time, for we tend to get really loud when watching anime.

Around midnight, at the peak of the Dollars arc, a voice called out from the doorway. We didn’t see anything as the only light was coming from the display screen of the laptop (and even if the door was behind the display screen, everything is dark beyond the light source). It was a decidedly female voice, and rather melodious and gentle, but there was a hint of annoyance in there. She (the voice) was scolding us for staying up late. It was not a simple statement of ‘go to sleep it’s late‘ but rather a full length lecture. I answered to pacify her but when I turned on the flashlight and swung it in the direction of the dorrway, there was no one there. We did not think much of it at that time (as we were all hung up on the series) and assumed that it’s just one of our aunts. Though frankly, at that time, I was wondering which family member it was as the voice, though familiar, I cannot pinpoint exactly who it was.

The next morning, I asked around as to who it was who lectured us, but no one in the family admitted to it. All of them had very solid alibi (they were already asleep). When I mentioned it, my cousin was even more frightened into staying in that room. That room has a reputation after all.

And so, that incident of the mysterious voice was added to the family lore of ghost stories. Our family’s collection of mysterious and ghostly tales is formidable, after all. If I have the time, perhaps I’ll post some of those stories here

Galantina: a Family Tradition

On By manegomezIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It is a tradition in our family to always have galantina as one of the dishes prepared during the Christmas Season. Apparently, the recipe came from my paternal grandfather’s family and has been passed down the family line. Currently, my aunt, the eldest, is the one preparing it. And as for me, the eldest in my generation, will be contributing to the family tradition by …recording the recipe for posterity（=｀〜´=).
Continue reading “Galantina: a Family Tradition” →

Plans for the Holidays

On By manegomezIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Term break has just begun and I’m already exhausted / buried benath the pile of things I need and want to do during the break from school. On top of that list of things to do is arranging my books and its already giving me a headache. I plan on making a database so I can kep track of my books. However, I am not that familiar with MS Access, having only used it once during my biostat class. As of now, I’ll try building a simple flatfile database using the mobile apps available and try to create a relational database on my pc once I’ve catalogued everything.

One thing I’ve learned is that if i try to do evrything all at once I’ll never finish anything. That is why I’m going to focus on doing one task at a time, hoping to finish everything before the new term starts. Wish me luck!

and by the way, I’ll try to be more active here on wordpress during the holidays as one of the items on the to do list. But that will come on its own time. 😆

Glucose came before cells did

On By manegomezIn School and Research1 Comment

A question was posed in our Carbohydrates Chemistry class regarding glucose. Every biochemistry student surely knows that glucose is the ubiquitous energy source of catabolic pathways. The question is, why?

Apparently, one of the proposed reasons is that it is present before life existed, hence, it is already waiting and available when the first living organism first appeared. Details are in this 2008 journal:

The prebiotic geochemistry of formaldehyde_Review

Other notes and homeworks  concerns in our class will be published to my other site so as not to crowd this one too much