Puerto Galera Trip

It was like I'd left behind something in Puerto Galera besides the ten pounds I gained in a span of three days and two nights stay in that island --- the strenuous but thrilling banana boat my friends and I had; the numerous yosi I puffed; the several shots of margarita and comfort zone I drowned myself with; the breath-taking beach and sand; the mouthwatering guys hehehe este foods and desserts pala; the various people I met; the guys I chatted with; the henna tattoo on my arm; and the heart-pounding nerve-wracking ferry trip back home.

Some invisible part of my brain forgotten on a shelf somewhere, some key ingredient to navigating the world abandoned in that cozy hotel room, in that 3-storey lodge.

I didn't even know how to look for what was gone, how to recognize it if I found it. How to ask for help.

But I didn't want to be better than anyone...

I just wanted to be me.

And, yes, I wanted to show up, to be noticed. But inside some of me still wanted desperately to disappear. Of course that's what had gotten me to Puerto Galera in the first place: trying to disappear.

Then each morning I woke up to the blinding Galera sunlight and thought I was a little boy in my bed at home again, that my father would come and wake me at any minute. And then, slowly, I blinked awake to the ceiling tiles and the scuffed wood floor, the chrome-rimmed bed and the hum of the room, and realized that I'd grown up.

But it was just one more thing. One more way the days would form and even at the bottom of everything I was, I just didn't care that much right then.

It was all about one more day and just for now and every other cliché in the world. It was all about waking and eating and running and sleeping. And it was about getting through to the next day... all of it even, nobody would hurt me.

I’m still alive, though I still wasn't sure I wanted to be.

Fabricated stories

Honesty and simply being truthful seem, on the surface, to be one and the same concept. However, though they are closely related in definition and are in fact listed as synonyms, there are fundamental differences between the two.

Truthfulness is defined as "consistently telling the truth, honest" in The American Dictionary, which also defines honesty as "the capacity or condition of being honest; integrity; trustworthiness." Honest means "not lying, cheating or taking unfair advantage." So what does that mean?

The definitions are nearly identical, so one must turn to the connotations.

Truthfulness is the more basic of the two, it implies, as the definition says, speaking the truth predictably. If one is truthful, one tells the truth when asked a question. One does not spread lies, and one faces reality as it is.

However, it is possible to be truthful and still not be trustworthy. If someone tells everything he knows when asked the smallest question, would you want to trust that person with an important secret? Likewise, someone can be truthful and still not be lawful, or entirely in the "right." For instance, someone could be involved in something illegal, and, when asked about it, could tell the truth up to a point. The person in question would be consistently telling the truth, but it would not be the whole truth.

Honesty is a somewhat more complex idea that covers a broader range of requirements. Honesty is truthful, reliable, trustworthy, and open. It encompasses the virtues of truthfulness without the gaps.

Being honest implies that you are willing to tell the truth at cost of personal risk. It implies being open and truthful no matter the conditions one faces. Real honesty means telling the truth out of respect for others and for oneself. Someone who is honest does not necessarily have to be asked in order to tell the truth; it is their standard of conduct and communication.

Of the two qualities, honesty is the more admirable because it is harder to both attain and maintain. Still, honesty cannot exist without truthfulness, for what is someone who has openness, reliability and trustworthiness but is without the ability to tell the truth? The answer is someone who can be trusted to lie openly.

However, while we try to develop that important quality of honesty, it is important to remember that honesty stems from respect for others, and that includes respect for their feelings.

Real honesty includes truthful tact. Honesty speaks for one's character and improves relationships with others.

I am the Island... I am not the rock

A long time ago, in a land and situations far, far away, I wrote of our story. No longer am I the washed; I am now the island.

The tumultuous world washes around me. I am dashed, battered, and abused. The waves of depression and loss sweep around me. They strive to break me; to eat away the foundation upon which I stand. At times they flood over me, burying me in their turbulence.

Yet they are only moments...

I cling to my support while submerged, confident in its ability to hold me steady and guide me back to the light of surface...

I cannot breathe, yet I maintain belief in the temporal nature of that which assails me.

I have been promised that I will be subjected to nothing that I cannot bear. I look around; see my torment, and say, "My God! The confidence You must have in me to subject me to so great a foe!" The greater my torment, the greater my hope, for my Lord does not make promises he does not keep.

And thus I am thankful for the billowing waves.

I am thankful for trial.

I look beyond my struggles; I gaze through them to the promise they wish to obscure.

I am the island. I am not the rock, I am but frail. Yet the rock is my foundation, and to Him I will cling.

Lenten thoughts

I asked God why I wasn't rich. He showed me a man with the wealth of a thousand kings, who was lonely, and had no one to share it with.

I asked God why I wasn't beautiful. He showed me a woman more beautiful than any other, who was ugly because of her vanity.

I asked God why He'd allowed me to become old. He showed me a boy of 16, who lay dead at the scene of a car accident.

I asked God why I didn't have a bigger house. He showed me a family of six, who had just been evicted from their tiny shack, and were forced, to live on the street.

I asked God why I had to work. He showed me a man, who couldn't find a decent job, because he'd never learned to read.

I asked God why I wasn't more popular. He showed me a socialite with a thousand friends, who all left the moment the money and parties were no longer there.

I asked God why I wasn't smarter. He showed me a natural born genius, serving life in prison for making ill use of his knowledge.

I asked God why He put up with a thankless sinner like me. He showed me His Bible. He showed me His Son who took my place at the judgment.

I knew then how much He loved me.

What's eating you today?

Are your problems weighing heavy on your heart?

Know, then, that you are loved.

If it doesn't kill you... it will make you stronger.

Critical Criticisms

It is easy to get angry with those who criticize you. But it is better to listen and to consider what they have to say.

If the criticism is completely misdirected and unfounded, then you can simply let it go. Yet often it can be valuable and productive to objectively consider what your critics are thinking.

The worst response to criticism is to become angry, insulted and defensive. For by doing so, you actually give more power and credibility to that criticism.

Instead, listen carefully and appreciatively to what your critics have to say. Even if the criticism is decidedly negative, somewhere there are positive insights that you can gain from it.

Don't let your ego prevent you from learning something valuable. Being receptive to criticism strengthens your confidence and can improve your competence.

Choose to know and understand what others think of you. Instead of getting angry and defensive over the words of others, choose to listen, consider and grow stronger because of them.

Find Me Soon

My name is Marvin.

I'm a senior supervisor at People Support Inc.

I go to the gym every after shift --- at least I used to. I have an amazing partner --- at least I used to. And I have a best friend.

6780 building is just a place somewhere in the world, somewhere in Makati to be exact. Maybe it's a lot like your world, maybe it's nothing like it.

But if you look closer, you might see someone like you.

Someone trying to find their way. Someone trying to find their place. Someone trying to find their self.

Sometimes it seems like you are the only one in the world who's struggling, who's frustrated, unsatisfied, barely getting by.

But that feeling's a lie.

And if you just hold on, just find the courage to face it all for another day, someone or something will find you and make it all okay.

Because we all need a little help sometimes --- someone to help us hear the music in their world, to remind us that it won't always be this way.

That someone is out there.

And that someone will find you.

How Many Text Messages are Sent in the Philippines Daily?

If we’re to believe PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno, Smart handles at least 800 million texts daily. That’s over 9,000 texts per second! A realistic figure?

As of 2006, there are 90 million people living in the Philippines. Let’s assume that only one out of three Filipinos own a cellphone. That’s only 5 million more than Smart’s advertised 25 million subscriber base.

It would take 27 texts per person to reach 800 million a day—very possible in a country where most people would rather text than call. Not to mention that this doesn’t take into account the millions of Filipinos working abroad, who rely on SMS to stay in touch with loved ones back home.

And Smart Communications Inc. isn’t the only service provider in the Philippines, you also have Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular.

It’s reasonable to presume that their subscribers account for at least 400 million more texts. Especially since Sun made a name for itself by offering unlimited usage at flat rates.

So, could it be that local cellular networks handle over 1.2 billion texts daily? The 30 million would have to text 40 times a day for this figure to be a reality. But again, in text-crazy Philippines, such a figure is reasonable.

Bill Gate's Advice to Kids

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, or anyone who has ever been a kid, here is some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech: 11 things you will not learn in school.

He talks about how feel good P.C. teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept has set them up to fail in the real world.

RULE 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

RULE 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world expects you to accomplish BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3: You will NOT make $40,000.00/year fresh out of high school. And you won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you EARN both.

RULE 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He won't have tenure.

RULE 5: Flipping burgers is NOT beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it OPPORTUNITY!

RULE 6: If you mess up, it is only your fault; learn from your mistakes.

RULE 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how COOL you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your room instead.

RULE 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and will give you as many times as you need to get it right. This doesn't have the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10: TV is NOT reality. In real life people need to leave the coffee shop and go to work.

RULE 11: BE NICE TO NERDS!! Chances are you will end up working for one!

Last Day at Fitness First

Yes.

After more than a year, I decided to end my membership at Fitness First and transfer to another health and fitness facility (GOLD'S GYM).

Also, I am trying to save some money because I am buying myself a Macbook very soon… Like tomorrow!! LOL. So I would need all the extra cash I can save.

Below is a copy of my cancellation letter:

Fitness First Manila

3rd Level, Robinsons Place Manila


M. Adriatico St.Ermita, Manila
Date: February 1, 2007

Re: Fitness First Account Number 01100164

To The Home Club Administrator;

I, Marvin Garcia, member of Fitness First Health Club since 11/30/2005 with membership number 01100164, am sending you this 30-day written notice to request cancellation of my membership and subscription from your health and fitness club effective February 28, 2007. By that time, I would have completed the minimum required term as stipulated on the terms and conditions portion of the agreement I signed when I first joined your club.

It is my understanding that my cancellation will not take effect until you give me a copy of my cancellation notice and receipt for payment for all required fees, thus I would appreciate receiving these documents as soon as they are available.

Furthermore, my cancellation should thus confirm that no payment will be taken out of the credit card information registered under my account for the months following the effectivity of my cancellation moving forward.

I will be surrendering my membership card to your facility upon expiry of my membership for your disposal.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely yours,

Marvin V. Garcia, ptrp
Team Supervisor l Peer Trainer l Service Delivery Department
PeopleSupport (Philippines), Inc.
People Support Center, Ayala cor. Sen. Gil Puyat Avenues
Makati City

YouTube Video Awards

YOUTUBE: 2006 was a pioneering year for online video, user-created content and the YouTube community. You let us into your bedrooms, created new forms of entertainment, and radicalized popular culture. Now it's time to reflect on what a tremendous year it was and recognize the best of the best during the first YouTube Video Awards.

YouTube has recently handed out recognition for the 7 Best Videos of 2006 in the very first YouTube Video Awards.

After 5 days of fervent ranking, the YouTube community came up with the seven best videos in 7 categories.

OK Go was chosen as Most Creative

Smosh made the Best Comedy

thewinekone got Best Commentary

Ask A Ninja got Best Series (beating Lonelygirl15,who is pretty much the unofficial YouTube mascot)

Terra Naomi got Best Music Video

the Free Hugs Campaign got Most Inspirational

and Kiwi! won Most Adorable.

The Boy Who Loved Me

I folded up into a clump in the middle of a sea of love letters, holding my knees tightly to my chest, and sobbed. I was floundering, torn between the deep attachments of the past and the pressing need to let go of them forever.

I was almost ready to die.

Three months earlier I could have sworn that I was the luckiest guy alive. Now, I might as well have drowned in the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away from home.

My dark night began in the aftermath of my break-up with my boyfriend. After a fair share of fights and emotional battery, I decided to end the eight-month relationship with the only love I knew.

In a split-second, I morphed back from a blushing, young prince to a pale-faced, plain-looking, Abercrombie-wearing guy in Havaianas flip flops with only my iPod Nano as a companion. He stole my magic when he left.

He took away my life, my dreams, and my dog.

But how do you go about forgetting someone who once meant the world to you? How do you forget the moments that made your heart skip a beat? How do you forget the future you once hoped for?

He was my best friend, my twisted sunshine. He still is. He could walk into a room and light up my day, no matter how bad it was. He's the one person in the world who knows me better than anyone else. He was my soul mate. He's the one being who knew me, and accepted me, and believed in me before anyone else did or when no one else would. He made me want to be a better man to my friends, to others, to myself. To have bigger plans and brighter dreams. To have a better soul. He's a handsome bright young man whose sense of wonder and adventure unfortunately outstripped my own so much that it magnified other, smaller problems to a point where, well....here we are.

For the first time in months, I looked around my apartment and felt the utter loneliness. I am left with nothing but his sweet scent on my pillows. I am stunned, incapable of taking hold of the notion of loss. He no longer binds me, but my heart refuses to move on.

In my insecurity and solitude, I find solace in the fact that this is not the end. Remembering that what lies in store for us isn't always that which we immediately hope for.

Life has a room for a little of everything. Sometimes you dance with a partner, and sometimes you dance alone. But the important thing is to keep dancing.

I still die everyday. It still hurts badly. Letting go isn't a one-time thing, it's something you have to do everyday, over and over again.

Good luck my love.

I hope you find what you're looking for. That hope is only surpassed by my wish it had been me.

It Takes Balls

I really don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive:

you've got to flap your arms and legs…

you've got to jump around a lot…

you've got to make a lot of noise…

Because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you're quiet, you're not living.

You've got to be noisy…

or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively…

My Pockets Are Empty

I always had a dream that when I am asked to give an accounting of my life to a higher court, it will go like this:

"So, empty your pockets. What have you got left of your life? Any dreams that were unfulfilled? Any unused talents that we gave you when you were born that you still have left? Any unsaid compliments or bits of love that you haven't spread around?"

And I will answer, "I've nothing to return. I spent everything you gave me."

For 24 years, I have always done what I wanted to do. Call me a risk-taker but I am still doing it… Call me crazy… call it a shame but I am still saying it… That’s my simple life philosophy --- be what you want, do what you want, say and eat what you want, so long as you’re not stepping on anyone.

I wore the clothes I wanted to wear no matter how crazy they look or how expensive or cheap they were. But hey, I never looked like a fool with my choice of fashion.

I tried all types of hairstyle --- set it on gel… have it dyed… cut it really short… and grow it back again… I even had my head shaved several times (despite the cuts I get whenever I let them do it)…

I went to places I have always wanted to go… name it; I’ve been there.

If I want to say something, I’ll say it… If I want to say fuck you, I'm going to say fuck you. If you want to beep it out, go ahead and beep it out, but I will still say fuck you!

For me, life is to be enjoyed. It is to be lived and to be lived well.

So at the end of the day, my pockets are all empty… but my heart is full, my soul overflowing and my whole being jam-packed. . .

Chanelling Darkness

Darkness.

Only darkness. A darkness of pain, loneliness, and hopelessness.

I just finished reading a gay and lesbian oriented book yesterday. Very well written. Very poignant. Very upsetting. All too comparable to my own life. I need to write a paper on this book, but I couldn't do it tonight. I was too disturbed.

Then I read story updates on the gay romances I follow on the net. Most of the chapters to various stories were happy, uncomplicated episodes, but reading about gay couples happily enjoying a long-term companionship makes me sad.

I don't begrudge them their happiness - in my own way, I am happy for them - but every happy gay couple I see or hear about is simply a painful reminder of how alone I am and have so often been.

Reading these various chapters after finishing that book has left me very down.

Very alone...

Do you realize that this has nothing to do with sex? Can you understand that? I just need someone to hold and to hold me. I need someone that really wants to know my troubles and help me overcome them. I need someone that I can trust. Someone who won't laugh at me or belittle my fears and pains. Someone who won't hurt me, and someone who won't leave me.

I would give everything for someone like that...

All that I am, all I own, all my dreams, all my love, all my trust, all my mind, my body, my soul, my life - all that they might ever desire or need or hope for; no need would be too much; no risk would be too great; no price would be too high to pay.

But none of that matters.

No one will ever know.

No one cares.

All of my love lies with me in darkness.

Something for the Soul

Gracious God,

In the busy-ness of my day, I sometimes forget to stop to thank You for all that is good in my life.

My blessings are many and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living, for the ability to love and be loved, for the opportunity to see the everyday wonders of creation, for sleep and water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels.

I thank you, too, for those things in my life that are less than I would hope them to be. Things that seem challenging, unfair, or difficult.

When my heart feels stretched and empty and pools of tears form in my weary eyes, still I rejoice that you are as near to me as my next breath and that in the midst of turbulence, I am growing and learning.

In the silence of my soul, I thank you most of all for your unconditional and eternal love.

Amen.

Half-Empty? Or Half-Full?

I've been told a zillion times that there are two ways of looking at things. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? I'm usually guilty of the former until recently when a girl named Aurora taught me that even if the glass is broken, it's just, well, glass.

I met Aurora very recently when I visited DLSU Medical Center in Dasmariñas to get some documents I needed for my US Visa application. I graduated as a PT at La Salle and took my licensure board exam in August of 2003. Upon arriving at the rehabilitation Department, I immediately noticed the pretty girl with pronounced facial paralysis. I asked my former clinical supervisor if she could let me assist in treating her for the day.

Upon looking at her clinical records, Aurora was diagnosed to have Bell's palsy. Bell's is defined as an acute, idiopathic, commonly unilateral, peripheral facial paralysis. Its cause is still unclear, and its development isn't well understood. But many doctors believe that a viral infection can cause the facial nerve to become swollen and injured. And while a mild case of Bell's palsy normally disappears within a month, recovery from a case involving total paralysis varies.

As for Aurora, the damage of her facial nerve was severe and would be irreversible.

Aurora was a former beauty title holder. She came from a prominent family and had a great life ahead of her. One morning, she felt numbness on the left side of her face accompanied by a buzzing sound in her ear. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Aurora's treatment involved a lot of facial exercises that includes movement of her eyes, nose, lips and tongue. It's amazing how she's able to smile after every exercise.

During the session, she asked me why I wanted to go abroad when our country needs medical skills. I was silent for a while. All of a sudden the thought of leaving the country came out like a bitter pill.

I reasoned that I needed to earn more money for the security of my family and for the realization of my dreams. After my explanation, she paused and smiled, "Our family have all the money, but even wealth can't make me smile normally again."

I looked at her and all of a sudden I felt small and embarrassed.

This was the response of a girl who was told by medical experts that she can never recover back to normal. Her queenly smile will forever be gone.

Shame, shame on me.

Problems can easily cloud our smiles. The colorful murals can all of a sudden transform to black and white canvasses. But in the middle of everything bad that happens, there lies opportunities. And our eyes should never be too tear-filled to see them. I guess, for people like Aurora, life will always be half-full.

My life is made up of years that mean nothing, and a moment with Aurora that meant it all.

Friendly Encounters

Of all relationships, friendship can be the most versatile and fulfilling because it is a gift bestowed willingly. Each person who receives your friendship should receive a part of you in the form of caring, concern, happiness, and support.

In return, you enjoy the companionship of your friends because they offer comfort, cheer, and a shoulder to cry on.

Like any relationship, however, friendship does not simply exist, but must be nurtured and encouraged to grow through actions, words, and reciprocal feelings. The first and most important aspect of being a good friend is treating others with the same respect and kindness with which you wish to be treated. Doing so can be a guide in forging friendships with others.

Being a good friend is easiest and most rewarding when you choose your friendships wisely. Friendships should be built upon a foundation of mutual trust, acceptance, and support. Show them you care, not just using words, but also using actions: Be courteous and kind, honest, and willing to compromise, and shy away from being overly critical.

When your friend encounters trouble, support their decision wholeheartedly, but always be willing to tell them when they're about to step onto a dangerous path. In doing so, you will help your friend flourish in their own way, while still being there for them. Really listen to and share in your friend's triumphs as well as their upsets with patience, kindness, and a sense of humor.

In any strong friendship, conflict will inevitably arise, but be willing to compromise and respect your friend's opinions. If they apologize, accept their apology with grace and forgive them promptly. Try to never hold a grudge, because holding on to negative emotions can put a strain on a friendship. Let your friend be who they are, not who you'd prefer them to be.

Friends don't always agree, but it's helpful to keep in mind that it's their enjoyment of each other's company that makes dealing with disagreements worthwhile.

There may be times when you feel ill equipped to be a good friend, but knowing and admitting this is just another part of a strong friendship. Your friend will understand that you, too, have issues of importance in your life.

Developing and maintaining rewarding and lasting friendships is a challenge, but one that yields beautiful results.

Unhappily Happy

Happiness does not depend on whether or not you always get your way. However, when you do choose happiness, events will more often go your way.

You do not need to accumulate a lot of things before you can be happy. Yet when you are happy, you'll open yourself up to all kinds of new abundance.

Happiness is not something that you can obtain by taking it from others. On the contrary, the more that happiness flows out from you, the more of it you will enjoy. If you limit your happiness only to certain specific situations or conditions, it will almost always elude you. Yet when you seek to bring happiness to every situation, it will be your constant companion.

Happiness is not the exclusive experience of just a lucky few. It is always there for anyone who is sincere and open enough to choose it.

Happiness is always there to choose, in any place, at any time, under a whole wide range of conditions.

Give happiness to the moments of life, and you will surely know it well.

A cup of coffee

Let me tell you a crazy story I heard recently. Sometime last year, a group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer...

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life...

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of
coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain looking and some expensive
and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said...

If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones... While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better
cups and are eyeing each other's cups.

Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups... They are just tool to hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change...

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.

Confessions of a Callboy

Night is the land of dreams, and the graveyard shift the territory of dream weavers.

Midnight mist. Empty sidewalks. Flickering street lights. Deep inside the nocturnal hush of the city is the hum of young men and women in different call centers all over the country. Like a black cat in the night’s shadows, graveyard shift pounces in the strange but exhilarating life of call center agents.

It was my turn to take a rollicking plunge into the neon world of midnight workers when I started working for a contact center October of 2003. I got hired as a split-skilled customer-service-technical-support agent answering calls from irate irrational foreign customers and replying to poorly constructed email requests during downtime. Taking calls can be physically exhausting and emotionally blistering. On my first night on the job, I had a headache roughly the size of Araneta Coliseum.

Playing the part of a nocturnal animal doesn’t come naturally. For several months, I was constantly fighting against my body’s biological clock. But thanks to my lively co-workers I made it through my regularization.

A few weeks later, I got promoted as a supervisor. More than ever, my job requires me to be awake during my shift. So, while my internal circadian rhythm tells me to sleep, I struggle to keep my eyes open during client conference calls and QA-calibrations.

Call center life is not easy. The stakes always seem higher at night. Jeopardy is too close a companion. You never know what you'll find in the shadows. On top of that, no one respects the fact that you sleep during the daytime. You have to be to work at 11:00pm so friends and family think that you have all day to spend time with them on “weekends” and “holidays”. They don’t consider the fact that you don’t expect them to hang out with you at 3:00am on your days off. And when you are trying to sleep in the daytime, there’s always a loud sound tormenting you into a restless, half-awake misery.

But why do people stay?

Call centers offer a lucrative future. Agents are well-compensated and gets 20% night shift differential daily. That’s over Php3,500 a month on top of the basic pay. That’s Php3,500 to be working the shift where there are the most drunks, the highest crime rates, and the most number of co-workers who haven’t brushed their teeth for too long. That’s Php3,500 to work when everyone else, including your friends is out partying or snug in bed. That’s Php3,500 to work on Friday and Saturday nights, Christmas Eve and New Year.

But money isn’t the only reason for staying. As for me, the job security, the-come-whatever-time-you-want-flexi schedule, the work environment, the goodbye-to-traffic-on-my-way-to-work daily, the unlimited-surf-all-you-can-until-your-boss-catches-you access to the internet, and the culture that encourages people to develop, grow and take responsibility are reasons that will always keep me from venturing elsewhere.

And on these ghostly working hours, the many great thank-you-for-calling-customer-service-how-may-I-help-you colleagues can almost always drive the night sweats away.

Why the World Needs Superman

*Note: On the height of the Superman Returns Movie craze, I wrote a movie review about it that I submitted as an entry to Literati at fabuloush.com. And although that fabuloush and Circuit Asia Philippines no longer operates here, I thought of posting one of my winning articles here in my blog. So here it is. Hope you like it.

How can one stay self-motivated and productive in the midst of turbulent times when family can be strangers, beauty is superficial and wealth is man's best friend? In this day and age, it seems like only Superman can help save the world.

Thanks to director Bryan Singer, the Man of Steel, after a long visit to the lost remains of the planet Krypton, returns to earth to become the people's savior once again. I saw Superman Returns with my brother 3 days after its release. Regrettably, work schedule and unexpected conference calls prevented me from watching its premier night. My entire two and a half hours inside the theater was spent answering my brother's questions about certain scenes that he didn't quite understand.

My brother is a freshman engineering student at De La Salle. And although he grew up as a smart kid, he was never fascinated in reading DC comics. Or simply, he was never fascinated in reading at all.

In the lead up to the final scene, Lois Lane sits in front of her computer, at a loss for words as she attempts to write the exact opposite of her Pulitzer Prize winning editorial, titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." I still stand firm that Superman Returns lacks heart.

However, the last ten minutes of the film perfectly encapsulates all that is amazing, heart-warning and fabuloushly touching about having Superman in our world.

But do we really need superman?

Maybe.

Maybe the world needs Superman for hope and inspiration. Maybe the world needs Superman for his dedication, heroism, decency and innocence. Maybe the world needs Superman for his bravery and boldness.

But while superman symbolizes justice, truth and freedom, the world needs more than a good-looking man in a tight fitting suit. We need ordinary people willing to do extraordinary deeds without asking anything in return.

We need people who have lived their lives in quiet heroism, love, accomplishment, and sacrifice to make the world a better place. We need people who do "what they need to do" one day, week, month and year at a time.

As the movie credits are being shown on the screen, my brother placed his arms on my shoulder and jokingly said, "I don't need Superman. I just need you kuya. Thanks for the movie treat."

Heroes, according to scholars, have something special that sets them apart from others in their field. Heroes can be peacekeepers, freedom fighters, earth watchers, special writers or ingenious artists. But in some rare occasions, heroes are disguised as brothers trying to enlighten a young inquisitive mind with a free movie pass, popcorn and iced tea.

I give 8 stars for the movie on its own merits. but a perfect ten for making me a hero to my brother and the absolute feeling of happiness I felt as we headed home from the theatre.

Moving Forward

Much as we would like, we cannot bring everyone with us on this journey called recovery. We are not being disloyal by allowing ourselves to move forward. We don't have to wait for those we love to decide to change as well.

Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to grow, even though the people we love are not ready to change. We may even need to leave people behind in their dysfunction or suffering because we cannot recover for them.

We don't need to suffer with them.

It doesn't help.

It doesn't help for us to stay stuck just because someone we love is stuck. The potential for helping others is far greater when we detach, work on ourselves, and stop trying to force others to change with us.

Changing ourselves, allowing ourselves to grow while others seek their own path, is how we have the most beneficial impact on people we love. We're accountable for ourselves. They're accountable for themselves.

We let them go, and let ourselves grow.

Today, I will affirm that it is my right to grow and change, even though someone I love may not be growing and changing alongside me.

Conquering Fear

Anything worth doing will always have some fear attached to it.

For example, getting married, changing careers, migrating to a different country --- all of these life changes can bring up deep fears. It helps to remember that this type of fear is good. It is your way of questioning whether you really want the new life these changes will bring. It is also a potent reminder that releasing and grieving the past is a necessary part of moving into the new.

Fear has a way of throwing us off balance, making us feel uncertain and insecure, but it is not meant to discourage us.

Its purpose is to notify us that we are at the edge of our comfort zone, poised in between the old life and a new one.

Whenever we face our fear, we overcome an inner obstacle and move into new and life-enhancing territory, both inside and out. The more we learn to respect and even welcome fear, the more we will be able to hear its wisdom, wisdom that will let us know that the time has come to move forward, or not.

While comfort with fear is a contradiction in terms, we can learn to honor our fear, recognizing its arrival, listening to its intelligence, and respecting it as a harbinger of transformation. Indeed, it informs us that the change we are contemplating is significant, enabling us to approach it with the proper reverence.

You might wish to converse with your fear, plumbing its depths for a greater understanding of the change you are making. You could do this by sitting quietly in meditation and listening or by journaling.

Writing down whatever comes up --- your worries, your sadness, your excitement, your hopes --- is a great way to learn about yourself through the vehicle of fear and to remember that fear almost always comes alongside anything worth doing in your life.

300

Shot almost entirely indoors, the Zack Snyder’s film adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel “300” brings memory of “Sin City”, the Quentin Tarantino (well, alongside Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez) film adaptation of the graphic novel of the same; hip and visually remarkable. Artistic in its noir-ish quality, it’s truly a visual feast for the eyes. Fighting scenes are superb making all other action/war movies look like girls’ catfights (now that’s sexist). Never has an epic war movie been this violent, brutal, enthralling and eye-popping.

Yes it lacks character depth yet that’s something not expected of a movie like this anyway. This testosterone-charged flick gets you off your seats in intense excitement. Kickass fighting, fighting and more fighting is what this movie is all about. Though it may offer not much story to tell, its spectacle deserves awe and appreciation.

Based on fictionalized history, this ballsy film accounts the glorious and tragic battles of the 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas in the point of view of the Spartan soldier, Dilios, during the time Persian King Xerxes demands tribute and submission of all kingdoms. A Persian messenger heads to Sparta to relay the message. Outraged, Leonidas kicks the messenger down into the chasm alongside his men. Anticipating retaliation from Persia, Leonidas devices a battle plan he introduces to the priests who in turn consult the Oracle about it. The Oracle disapproves of the march against Persia but Leonidas dismisses this and prepares his men even without the council’s sanction. Thus marking the start of the many battles the nervy Spartans won mostly. Impressed by the Spartans’ victories by far, Xerxes approaches Leonidas personally promising affluence and power if only Leonidas will surrender. At home, Leonidas’ wife, Queen Gorgo, gathers support for Sparta to send reinforcements.

Violence here is massive in the stylized battles. Heads, limbs cut off, bodies pierced by spears and raining arrows and blood squirting immeasurably are all shown unrestrictedly and excessively as if it won’t be at the mercy of censorship.

Spartans here are depicted as the perfect warriors being very well-trained, fierce and fearless taught never to retreat or to surrender and dyed-in-the-wool to combat.

Growing up, Frank Miller first came across the Spartans when he saw the film “300 Spartans”. His subsequent research brought him to the clashes between Xerxes and the Greeks. His graphic novel “300” is mainly about the Battle of Thermopylae adorned with fictitious events and creatures/characters. The Persian King Xerxes is interestingly portrayed as an obscure individual with streamlined eye brows, longer nails, even wearing make-up different from what History books make us picture him.

The movie, more than just a battle, talks about sacrifice. Leonidas and his men are on a suicide mission. Knowing his 300 men can’t overthrow the Persian army, he still presses on knowing they will achieve something. Something that will soon unite and ignite the whole country.

The movie is also about giving the audience the chance to experience something different—the battles, the landscape, the feel. I don’t know how much of the film has been faithful to Miller’s “300” but the film looks handsome a compilation of meticulously accomplished images joined together to create a film.

Reminiscent of “Sin City,” this film with its excessive, never-before-seen, exquisite violence, aside from its noir-ish look, ear-breaching musical score and vainglorious, kick-ass turns of phrase, is a must-see. Daym yeah!

Thank you Lord

Even though I clutch my blanket and growl when the alarm rings, thank you, Lord, that I can hear. There are many who are deaf.

Even though I keep my eyes closed against the morning light as long as possible, thank you, Lord, that I can see. Many are blind.

Even though I huddle in my bed and put off rising, thank you, Lord, that I have the strength to rise. There are many who are bedridden.

Even though the first hour of my day is hectic, when socks are lost, toast is burned, tempers are short, and my siblings are so loud, thank you, Lord, for my family. There are many who are lonely.

Even though our breakfast table never looks like the pictures in magazine and the menu is at times unbalanced, thank you, Lord, for the food we have. There are many who are hungry.

Even though the routine of my job often is monotonous, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to work. There are many who have no job.

Even though I grumble and bemoan my fate from day to day and wish my circumstances were not so modest, thank you, Lord, for life.

Amen.

Turning Point

You’re off the hook.

I’ve never really put much faith in all that “if you love someone, set them free” crap, as evidenced by everything I’ve done in my life up to this very moment, but I am determined to be happy.

Happy in this life.

And I love you. I mean, I always –--- I have always, always loved you.

But our timing has just never been right. And the way I figure it, time is no man’s friend.

So I have to get right with that and be happy now.

Because this is it.

I mean, this is all that we get...

I also want for you to be happy. It’s really important for me that you be happy. I want you to be with someone who can be a part of the life that you want for yourself.

I want you to be with someone who makes you feel like I feel when I’m with you.

So I guess the point to this long, run on sentence that’s been the last ten years of our lives... is just that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me.

PGH SCANDAL

ACTUAL SENTENCES FOUND IN PATIENT'S MEDICAL CHARTS at PGH:

1. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

2. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.

3. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

4. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

5. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

6. Discharge status: Alive but without permission.

7. The patient refused autopsy.

8. The patient has no previous history of suicides.

9. She is numb from her toes down.

10. While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.

11. The skin was moist and dry.

12. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.

13. Patient was alert and unresponsive.

14. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

15. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.

16. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

17. The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stockbroker instead.

18. Skin: somewhat pale but present.

19. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

*******

Sa PGH, may tinatawag na Central Block. Nandoon ang Radiology Department kung saan ginagawa ang mga X-rays, Ultrasound, CT Scan at Radiotherapy. Dito ko naobserbahan ang evolution ng mga pinoy medical terms. May mga pasyente o bantay na aking nasasalubong, ang madalas magtanong ng direksyon.

Mga Versions ng CT Scan:

1. "Dok saan po ba ang Siete Scan?"

2. "Doc saan po ba magpapa-CT Skull"

3. "Doc saan po ba CT Scalp"

4. "Doc saan po ang CT Scam?"

**********

Madalas akong mapagtanungan ng direction papunta sa Cobalt Room.

"Doc saan po ba ang Cobal" Yes, laging walang T.

Marami ang gumagamit sa term na Cobal. Saan napunta ang "T". Marami din kasing nagtatanong,

"Doc, saan po ba ang papuntang X-Tray?"

Conclusion: Ang "T" ng Cobalt, ay napunta sa X-Tray.

*********

7:00 am. Nagbigay ang kasamahan kong doktor ng Instruction sa bantay ng pasyente, "Mister, punta po kayo sa Central Block at magpa-schedule kayo ng X-ray ng pasyente ninyo."

3:00 pm.

Kadarating lang ng bantay.

Nagalit na ang Doktor, "Mister, bakit naming napakatagal ninyong bumalik?

Pina-schedule ko lang naman ang X-ray ah."

Sumagot ang bantay, "Eh kasi po Doc, ang tagal kong naghintay sa gate, haggang sabihin ng guwardiya na sarado daw po ang Central Bank kasi Sabado ngayon." (Nasa Roxas Blvd ang Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, at sarado nga naman yon kapag Sabado)!

***********

Nang mag-rotate ako as intern sa Pediatrics ng PGH, mahal na mahal talaga ng mga nanay ang kanilang mga anak na may sakit. Pilit nilang tinatandaan ang mga gamot at tawag sa sakit ng kanilang anak.

Doktor: "Mrs. ano po ang mga gamot na iniinom ng anak niyo?"

Mrs 1 : "Doc phenobarbiedoll po."

Doktor: "Ah baka po phenobarbital. " (Gamot sa convulsion ang phenobarbital)

**********

Doktor: "Mrs. ano po ba ang antibiotic na iniinom ng anak ninyo?"

Mrs 2: "Doc metromanilazole po."

Doktor: "Ah baka po metronidazole. " (Gamot sa amoeba ang metronidazole)

************

Ang tawag sa recovery room ng PGH ay PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit)

Doktor: "Mrs., tapos na po ang operasyong ng anak ninyo, punta na Po kayo sa PACU.

Mrs 3: "Eh Doc, saan po sa Paco? Sa may simbahan po ba o sa may palengke?

***********

Doktor: "Mrs. ano po ba ang sinabi ng dating doktor kung ano daw ang sakit ng inyong anak?"

Mrs 4: "Eh Doc sabi po niya Tragedy of Fallot.

Doktor: "Ah baka po Tetralogy of Fallot (Isang Congenital Heart Disease ang Tetralogy of Fallot)

************

Biglang nagtatarang ang isang nanay at sumigaw. Mrs: "Scissors! Scissors! Nag-sciscissors ang anak ko, Doc!"

Doktor: "Nurse, diazepam please, nag-seizure ang pasyente!"

*************

Doktor: "Mrs. ano daw po ba ang sakit ng anak ninyo?"

Mrs. 6 : May ketong daw po.

In-examine ng doktor ang balat ng pasyente. Wala siyang makitang senyales ng ketong. Tumawag pa siya ng isang Dermatologist para mag-examine nang husto. Wala talaga.

Doktor: "Mrs. sigurado po ba kayong ketong ang Sakit ng bata?"

Mrs : "Eh iyon po ang sabi ng doktor niya dati. Mataas daw po ang

ketong sa ihi dahil may diabetes."

Doktor: "Ah ketone po yon! (Ang positive ketone sa Ihi ay senyales ng kumplikasyon ng diabetes.)

**************

Doktor: (Sa buntis na mrs. na nagle-labor)

"Mrs.pumutok na po ba ang panubigan mo?"

Mrs:"Eh Doc, wala naman po akong narinig na pagsabog." (Hanep!)

My Little Walled Heart

I built walls around myself, tight, closed in walls, so it's like a real small room.

And I put in a door to my small room that I lived in. And every now and then I allowed someone to come in and stay for a time.

Once I let them come in it meant that they had a piece of my heart. That for that time I cared for them and loved them.

During that time they had the power to make me happy and they had the power to make me sad. But, after a while, I would make them leave my small room. And once they exited they were gone. They no longer held their power to bring me joy and they no longer had the power to sadden me.

It was done.

Complete.

Of course I allowed some to simply stay. They came and they didn't leave. I didn't want them too. I enjoyed having them in my little walled in heart and I wanted them to stay. These people made things good for me. They added to me. And I cared for them. They brought me laughter and tears. They fill in the walls around my heart with happiness and love.

I want them there. I want them in my heart for always.

I care about these people so very much and I know I always will.

Marvin Analyzed

Where my soul originated:

You come from the Ocean. You've always been drawn to the sea, the sound of the waves, the crystal blue water, near the sea is where you belong.

Marvin, definition: The Progressive, Unconventional, Determined Freedom Fighter

While the name Marvin creates the urge to be creative and original, we emphasize that it causes a restless intensity that defies relaxation.

This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the solar plexus, and tension or accidents to the head.

Your first name of Marvin has given you a quick, analytical mind…

You are creative, versatile, and imaginative. However, independence, positivity and the urge for action and progress are such strong forces in your nature that you find it difficult to control them.

You feel happy as long as headway is being made, but as soon as you are obstructed or your individuality and freedom of action are restricted, you experience an intense nervous reaction.

Moods of depression can result during which you become sarcastic and stubborn in your attitude toward everyone, especially to those in closest association with you.

This is a name that produces a great deal of emotional adrenaline and hyperactivity. It may not be appropriate for a naturally restless individual.

Health: D
Financial Potential: A
Professional/Job Success: A
Relationship/Compatibility: D
Charisma/Sex Appeal: B+
Communication Ability: B-

The influence is primarily masculine whether this name is used for a female or male.

Gump & Company, Forrest Gump sequel?

It worked for 1976 Best Picture winner Rocky, so who knows? Maybe a sequel to the 1994 Oscar champ isn't such a crazy idea after all.

Forrest Gump may help illuminate more of 20th Century history. DarkHorizons.com reports producers Steve Tisch and Wendy Finerman are reconsidering the script for Gump & Company, a sequel to Forrest Gump.

The script was written six years ago by Eric Roth, but ended up on the shelf, while Forrest Gump's creator, novelist Wilson Groom, worked out disputes over royalties from the original film adaptation. Now that the issue is settled, Gump may run again.

The storyline is set to pick up several years after the end of the first film. Gump's shrimp fishery has gone out of business, and Forrest will be an unemployed single father who somehow manages to be at the center of the most important historical events, this time of the 80's and 90s. Apparently the storyline even has him meeting an actor by the name of Tom Hanks.

Hanks and Gary Sinese are part of the planning, but no decisions have been made as to whether the sequel will be made, and if it is, who will star.

Waiting in vain

So it's been a little over 3 months now since that fateful day where my life turned upside down and that which I held as a constant suddenly became far too unsteady. Though I try to mask my uncertainty in a veil of confidence, at times like these, I can't help but wonder where I go from here.

If three weeks ago you had held up to me the freedom I now have, I would have very seriously considered grasping at it. And yet now here I am such a short time later with the very thing I used to desire, and all the feelings I once had have vanished. Freedom is no good when the desire to use it is lost.

I struggle with where I'm supposed to head from here. I want a monogamous relationship with someone, and nothing is holding me back from it, but yet any relationship I get into will surely be unable to escape the fact that I don't want another boyfriend. In my heart there is room for but one boy, and though he has chosen to vacate at present his place remains.

In a way everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed. Protocol no longer binds me, but my heart refuses to move on.

If I were assured the fortune of my wait, I would endure it joyfully. I am confident, yet insecure. I want that which I had, and yet I have no way to assure myself that it is something I can reacquire. What if it isn't, and I spend my time here in vain, waiting patiently for that which will never be mine?

I hate not knowing. I hate not being able to reach out and affect the situation. I hate that nothing will change for months. I hate not being able to just sit down with him, and let his confusion and insecurity drain away. I hate the separation. I hate not being able to think, "That boy loves me, and one day he's going to marry me."

What is it that says things have to be this way? Is the situation really so dire that being apart is the only course of action? Why can't we work through this together, helping each other and supporting each other as we grow and change? Change is not something to be scared of; it's something to embrace. Of course we'll change, and be much better as a result. Was our relationship so tenuous that it could only survive if we had stayed exactly as we were?

Where do I go from here? Do I hold out in my confidence, sure that what we had is what I really believed it to be? Do I move on? Can the two mix? Is it possible to move on while holding out? What would that be? How could I possibly embrace one person while in my heart holding a spot for another? How is that fair to any party involved?

In my insecurity I find solace in facts. Fact: I am in love with an amazing boy. Fact: I believe we're meant to be together. Fact: I believe that despite his confusion he'll be able to find nothing to compare with what we had.

Time progresses. People change. Situations change. Confidence waivers. Only my feelings remain.

They will remain forever.

My Local Celebrity look-alike

My Celebrity look-alikes

Strangers in the Background

Have you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background?

Looking at this picture with my friend Mitch (taken at 6780 building, parking lot) made me wonder how many strangers have pictures of me...

How many moments of other people's lives we've been in...

Were we a part of a stranger's life when their dreams came true? Or were we there when their dreams died?

Did we keep trying to get in --- as if we were destined to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise?

Just think, you, me, we could all be a big part of someone else's life and not even know it.

Makes me think...

Walt Disney's First Black Princess

The Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called "The Frog Princess," which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studio's first black princess.

The company unveiled the plans Thursday at its annual shareholders' meeting in New Orleans.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and the Disney-owned unit Pixar Animation Studios, said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using computer animation that has become the industry standard. He called the film "an American fairy tale."

"The film's New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said.

The movie will be scored by Randy Newman, who also wrote the music for Disney's "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life" "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Cars."

Newman performed a song from the score for the shareholders.

John Musker and Ron Clements, who co-directed "The Little Mermaid" "Aladdin," and "Hercules" will co-direct the movie. The pair also wrote the story for the film.

Disney said its new animated princess Maddy will be added to its collection of animated princesses used at the company's theme parks and on consumer products.

Know Me More

1. Would you marry for money?
--> No. I have lots of money. I need love. And love is something money can’t buy.

2.Have you had braces?
--> Nope. I have great teeth. Hehehe.

3.Could you live without a computer?
--> hell yes. It’s not a necessity.

4.If you could live in any past time period where would it be?
--> dark ages. sooo romantic. and so dead.

5. Do you drink enough water?
--> yep. The body is made up of 70% of water and I make sure I sustain my body with it.

6.Do you wear shoes in the house or take them off?
--> barefoot. aaaah the cold marble floor.

7.What are your favorite fruits?
--> apples and strawberries

8.What is your favorite place to visit?
--> The Church

9. Are you photogenic?
--> yes. Sometimes I wish I could be a photo for a day so I could frame myself up in the museum. hahaha

10. Do you dream in color or black and white?
--> damn confusing vivid colors.

11.Why do you take surveys?
--> well, I want people to know me. kahit bits of info lang.

12.Do you drink alcohol?
--> Everybody does.

13. What is the most beautiful language?
--> Language of the heart.

14. Do you like being kissed when you are asleep?
--> NO. I prefer to fight back.

15. Do you like sunrises or sunsets the most?
--> sunset. sobra. the colors. The beauty. haaaayyyy

16. Do you want to live to be 100?
--> NO DAMN WAY! i wanna die looking good and not all prune-like and wrinkly. LOL!

17. Is a flat stomach important to you?
--> I am so striving for that. =)

18. Are you tolerant of other people's beliefs?
--> yep. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Just don’t push it too much dude!

19.When you watch movies at home, do you like the lights on or off?
--> ay sus. who ever heard of watching movies with the lights on?!

20. Do you believe in magic?
--> No. not everything "magical" is real. most of them are illusions to make us believe they are.

21.Do you think you can draw well?
--> No. Stick figures lang. Hehehe. I’m such a “righty.”

22.Do you like to watch cartoons?
--> hell yeah!

23.At what age did you find out that Santa Claus wasn't real?
--> I never believed in Santa Claus but I believe in the magic of Christmas.

24. Do you write poetry?
--> yes. Scroll down and you’ll see.

25.Do you snore?
--> i dont unless after sex or sobrang pagod... studies show na mas nagsosnore ang natutulog ng nakatihaya... around 80% ata. or something. Then 60% pag nakatagilid. pero almost 10% lang ng nakadapa. eh nakadapa ako matulog. LOL!

26. you sleep more on your back, front, or sides?
--> nakadapa... so ON my front! LOL!

27.Would you rather have a poodle or a rottweiler?
--> a silly looking jack russell.

28. Are you basically a happy person?
--> yep. in a very dark sort of way. LOL!

29.Are you tired?
--> not one bit.

30. Did you drink anything with caffeine in it today?
--> nope. walang grande wet warm quad ristretto vanilla cappuccino sa bahay.

31. Have you ever met the one off the internet?
--> LOL. mai pen rai.

32. How many phones do you have in your house?
--> phones? 3. ang line? isa! LOL!

33.Do you get along with your parents?
--> sorta! sila ang di maka get along sa akin!

34. Do u smoke?
--> a lot!

35. If you're gonna talk to someone today, who would it be?
--> myself. I’d tell him to move on, be happy and enjoy. LOL.

Forever Friends

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it.

Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world.

Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it.
This is forever friendship.

When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full.

Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times.

If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows.

If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on.

Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay.

And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry.

You have a forever friend, and forever has no end.

Jonathan Fragata

Jonathan Fragata

I hate Jon! Don’t you just love to hate people who seem to have it all? Perfect teeth... Perfect hair... Perfect abs… I hate Jon! hahaha.

Jon is the baddest good guy I know. The perfect balance of someone who is reliable, responsible, and totally real, yet knows that a little immorality can be good for the soul. Someone who does what has to be done, yet still has a suitcase of bad-boy stories to brag about to his grandchildren one day. Naturally on the wavelength of the abstract, he seems to be on a deeper level of understanding than most people I know. You can talk to him about anything and he guards secrets with his life.Jon never fails to amuse me. Heck, nobody surprises me, (and scares me to death) with what he can do, what he can blurt out, and who he can brawl with (hehe, my apologies for the term), just like Jon does. But the good thing about that is that he can do all these for his friends. That makes me very lucky indeed (for I can't afford to have him otherwise... hehe).

Jonathan Fragata is one heck of a daring, bold, courageous young guy.

While Sigmund Freud believed in psychoanalysis, Jon believed in getting off one’s bottom and living life…

While Sigmund Freud said it’s about the past, Jon says it’s about today, it’s about the future: where we’re going not where we’ve come from.

Jon, I really am thankful for the friendship we share. I have learned a lot from this lad who possesses so much courage to do whatever he thinks is necessary, even if it may be unconventional to some most of the time. But come to think of it, to a certain extent, don’t we all wish to have such audacity too?

Today Jon, I want to thank you. Not for anything special, but just because you have a great personality that makes you pleasant to be around. Not just because you are so much fun, but because you know when and how to be serious. Not just because I feel like I can talk to you about pretty much anything but because you make friendship seem like no work at all, and even though that's the way it should be . . . Not every friendship is easy.

Although there are so many wonderful things about you . . . I want to thank you most of all for just being you. Because when you are just being you, it's so naturally comfortable being me.

Dude, I may not have been that expressive, but I truly am grateful for the friendship. Please continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

And when it seems you have no where to run, when it can’t get any worse… when you need a shoulder, when there is no one left to turn to… I will be here… as I always have.

Marvin

On Reading

I collected those long, melancholy lists of the great books that high school English teachers passed out to college-bound students, and I relied on having consumed those serious litanies of books as a way to ease my way into the literary life.

Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly and for all time. Great writing sticks to your soul the way beggar's lice adheres to your pants cuffs after a walk through untended fields.

I find myself happiest in the middle of a book in which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.

Here is what I want from a book, what I demand, what I pray for when I take up a novel and begin to read the first sentence: I want everything and nothing less, the full measure of a writer's heart. I want a novel so poetic that I do not have to turn to the standby anthologies of poetry to satisfy that itch for music, for perfection and economy of phrasing, for exactness of tone.

Then, too, I want a book so filled with story and character that I read page after page without thinking of food or drink because a writer has possessed me, crazed me with an unappeasable thirst to know what happens next.

All through my life I have told myself -- no, ordered myself -- to read more deeply, read everything of consequence, let the words of some new writer settle like the dust of silica into the ledges and sills of my consciousness.

Bad Days

I was functioning, moving forward, solving problems one at a time, but it was as if the very ground I walked on, the air I breathed was precarious and new. As if everything had changed, because I had changed.

I knew better.

I knew that no matter how bad you feel, or whatever horrible thing happens to you, that the world just keeps on going. The rest of the world doesn’t even realize that the monsters are eating your heart.

A long time ago it used to bother me that I could be in such confusion, such pain, and the world just didn’t give a shit. The world, the creation as a whole, is designed to move forward, to keep on keeping on without any one individual person.

It feels damned impersonal, and it is.

But, then, if the world stopped rotating just because one of us was having a bad day, we’d all be floating out in space.

Philippine Election 2007

Legislative and local elections are to be held in the Philippines on May 14, 2007. Positions being contested include half the seats in the Senate. The 2007 Elections are known as the Philippine midterm election as the election date falls half-way through President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's current six-year term.

All the seats in the Philippine House of Representatives are up for grabs. Representatives are elected for three year terms. The duly elected legislators of the 2007 elections will join the elected senators of the 2004 elections and will comprise the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Most representatives win seats by being elected directly, the constituency being a geographical district comprising of about 250,000 voters. There are 212 seats in total for all the legislative districts. There are also seats for organized representation of special minorities. Such representatives gain one seat for every 2% of the total number of votes in the national electorate, but are limited to three seats. Local elections for governor, vice governor, mayoral posts (provinces only) and mayoral posts in Metro Manila are up for grabs as well.

TEAM Unity

TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Unity is a coalition composed mostly of supporters and erstwhile critics of current Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Team Unity seeks to take several Senate seats in oder to ensure the passage of President Arroyo's legislative programs and also to protect her from any impeachment attempts by the political opposition after the midterm elections.

Genuine Opposition

The United Opposition Coalition was created by Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay on June 2005 to unite all politicians who wish to impeach Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The UNO started scouting candidates for the Senate as early as October 2006 to claim a large share in the Senate seats. On January 2007, UNO started short listing its nominees after a large number interested personalities wanted to join the opposition. The UNO has changed its name on February 12, 2007 at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila to "Grand and Broad Coalition" (GBC). On February 15, 2007 the group changed its named again to "Genuine Opposition" after a meeting with Senate President Manny Villar in his office in Las Piñas. Though the Senate President Manny Villar and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan are running under the Opposition, they remain Independent Candidates like in the Philippine general election, 2001. Then on February 28, 2007, the Genuine Opposition dropped Francis Pangilinan as its Adopted Candidate.