Salamat sa pagmamahal. At lahat ng pait at sakit, pati na rin saya at ligaya na dala nito.

Hey, it's already the day before New Year. Cool.

Let me greet you HAPPY NEW YEAR.
May there be more love and blessings in your lives.

Thank you to all the people who made my life more interesting and more special.
Special mention to:
Mommy, Kuya, Ate, Nonay, Yano, One, Eo
Rowie, Toni, Karen, Bok, Erik, Ganns from the LHC
So many JVPs that I will not name them na lang sa sobrang dami.
My wicked sisters.
D.
Fr. Mimo.

Uhm... today we went to Malagos Garden Resort. That is where the Philippine Eagles are found. There are a good number of eagles there. Except it is a sad sight to see them there all cooped up in a cage, larger than others' yet too small for something as regal as the Philippine Eagle. Anyway, there are a lot of nice animals in the place. tamad lang ako mag-isip pa ng isusulat. Eventually, masusulat ko din ng maayos. When I have enough time.

Oh. Last night was my first time to entrer a casino. They wouldn't believe I was 24 and asked for my ID. I would have been flattered but the guards were too rude.

I do not understand why people are so hooked on wasting so much money on Casinos. It can be fun, but then... not that fun to spend so much money on.

It was already Christmas eve and Christmas still failed to come to me. It is never about the gifts. I think the ticket to and from Davao was a great gift from my mom, but there was still something missing about it. Of really truly understanding Christmas. God was nice enough to grant me a bit of it during the Misa de Gallo. Nope, it was definitely not the Mass, but fortunately it was short and sweet. It was that old man dressed in very old clothes and battered slippers. I have not organized my thoughts about it, but the sight of him amidst people dressed in their new clothes provided me with that great feeling of knowing God. I want to write about it as soon as I have time for myself. Right now, things are great with my family and relatives and I adore my lola who just celebrated her 90th birthday last December 28.

Hello! I'm right here in davao right now. I have been here since December 25.

Merry Christmas nga pala.

A while ago I was at the alumni homecoming of the Ateneo de Davao University. Just hoping to see who the people I would have met and known if I stayed behind, even just to study high school . Unfortunately, most of the people that attended the party were the oldies (of eventually, I will become). So my cuz and I split and went to this internet cafe that will soon be P5 an hour after midnight. Cool, huh. My stay here has been pretty enjoyable so far. But not enough to actually push me to a quick decision on what to do with my life. Whatever that means. Hahaha!

Gosh, I'm just so happy to have access to internet. Not that I miss it so much, but I miss it a little. But funny, Manila and the people there do not seem to cross my mind much. Once in a while, I do wonder how my good friends Christmas went.

Scene at the MRT:

A little boy about seven or eight years old who keeps looking at his watch. There would be times he would smile after looking at his watch. When not looking at his watch, he would look afar suppressing smiles.

My conclusion: He got that watch for a Christmas gift. The way he looked, it seemed like he wanted to tell the whole world that he had a new watch and that it was nice and funky and that everybody should take a look. But since everybody in the MRT were strangers, he just kept it to himself. I bet when he meets somebody he knows, he will share his joy about that watch. Sooo cute!

Scene at the MRT:

A little boy about seven or eight years old who keeps looking at his watch. There would be times he would smile after looking at his watch. When not looking at his watch, he would look afar suppressing smiles.

My conclusion: He got that watch for a Christmas gift. The way he looked, it seemed like he wanted to tell the whole world that he had a new watch and that it was nice and funky and that everybody should take a look. But since everybody in the MRT were strangers, he just kept it to himself. I bet when he meets somebody he knows, he will share his joy about that watch. Sooo cute!

Happy Birthday, D.
(Mababasa niya kaya ito?)

I wish you many things which I shall just keep to myself. Unless we get to talk.

The bridal shower ended unexpectedly yet interestingly. Hehehe! Go figure. :)

Interesting night last night. Details later. Hehehe!

Ooooh. My Excerpts article was also published in the ivolunteer website. Nice.

Friday the 13th kahapon! Yipee!
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Tomorrow, we shall give Bing her bridal shower. Yipee!
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Today, I almost wanted to hit this teen-age girl with my umbrella for bringing with her a lousy attitude on a shopping day. Good thing there was not enough space for me to swing my parasol or else... Grrr!

I am the Siren A man is often secretly oppressed by the role he has to play - by always having to be responsible, in control, and rational. The Siren is the ultimate male fantasy figure because she offers a total release form the limitations of his life. In her presence, which is always heightened and sexually charged, the male feels transported to a realm of pure pleasure. In a world where women are often too timid to project such an image, learn to take control of the male libido by embodying his fantasy. Symbol: Water. The song of the Siren is liquid and enticing, and the Siren herself is fluid and ungraspable. Like the sea, the Siren lures you with the promise of infinite adventure and pleasure. Forgetting past and future, men follow her far out to sea, where they drown.

What Type of Seducer are You?
created by polite_society

yeah, right! don't think so. hehehehehe!

Congratulations to Ganns and Cathy who got married last December 7!

here's an excerpt of the letter i wrote to the volunteers for this month. i think it's worth pondering on by anyone who loves God.

Yesterday, I had no idea what to write for my Kamusta letter. I wrote and rewrote several times but nothing seemed right. But while on my way home, some realizations came up that I thought might be nice to share with you.

While I was aboard an FX to Cubao, my thoughts wandered into my relationships with my friends and how much it has gone through for the past years. It was only recently that I made up with one of my best friends from college. There was no pinpointing on what happened between the two of us. I know many things have changed with him and with myself. I never thought it would affect our friendship, but apparently it did. Suddenly, we weren’t talking to each other and we were avoiding contact with each other. That was probably one of the lowest points in my life, as bad as my father’s passing away and worse than my break-up. (Disclaimer: there is nothing romantic with this relationship, okay. Everything between us is entirely and purely platonic.)

I wondered, “why was I so hurt by this?” The answer came. Because I gave everything I had for him. I would have given that last piece of Fita to him even if I wanted it badly for myself. Because I given him things that I didn’t even have enough for myself. And with our falling apart, I felt he took everything I had with him.

That realization of my frailty then made me realize God’s own infinity.

Being human, I just found out that I could only give so much to others. That I could only allow a certain level of self-sacrifice to preserve my own sanity.

Then I looked at the thousands of other people in Cubao. Each one I saw, God loved. And loved with a passion, at that! I imagined how many times each person in there have hurt Him? Tallying mine alone was plenty enough. Imagine multiplying it a thousand fold all directed to one benevolent Being. I cannot imagine how excruciating the pain could get! And yet, there He was loving me and everyone else each day. Loving everyone fully, totally and uniquely. Loved the way we needed to be loved.

In the end, all that I could say to Him was, “Grabe ka, Lord.”

I have seen the trailer of the "Two Towers" several times. I'm very excited about the movie. To the point that I actually bought advanced screening tickets for the movie worth P300 (bows head in shame). I went to the "The Fellowship of the Ring" advanced screening last year, too. After that I watched the movie two more times. I'm a fan of fantasy movies kasi. Movies like "Princess Bride", "Labrynth", "Willow" and "Never Ending Story." Love 'em!
*****

If you noticed in the trailer, Gandalf has returned, elevated to the status of White wizard. And if you notice, his hair has straightened out. Saruman the White also has straight hair. Gandlaf the Grey didn't have straight hair but Gandalf the White already does. I therefore conclude, White wizards are given hair rebonding privileges. Hehehe! Wala lang akong magawang matino.

Last night, I saw my old high school friends. I have not seen them since our high school graduation, except Elaine who I get to see during Ateneo-La Salle games. (She's on the other side.) Hehehe!

Chinky got married last February to her boyfirend (John) of nine years. Anna has been a nurse for three years already, planning to go to the States next year. She has been with Jonathan for the last seven years. He's a doctor and most likely will be following her to the States once he finishes his internship in Makati Med. Elaine, like me, has no boyfriend and feels hope as long as I don't have one. Hehehe! She works as an accountant for this semi-conductor company in Cavite.

The eight years didn't seem to change us on the surface. Yours truly is still the rowdiest and makulitest among all of us. I don't know if that's good but I can still make them laugh with my hirits.

I missed them. And I'm glad to have seen them again.

Hey, I've been getting a lot of good words from people I did not expect about what I wrote. Funny, because I never really considered myself as a good writer... or even a writer at all. Still, it's really encouraging to do more writing. But I know there is still much, much to learn.

Cool! I got published.

Thanks Solace, for referring the site.
Thanks Alelee, for encouraging me to submit.

I can't seem to find the time to fully express how it is that I am like what Rowie and Solace were a year ago. (Did that sentence make sense?)

But one thing is for sure, I am comfortable with whatever fears, pains, problems that I have. They have not gone away, yet I have learned to accept them, to admit that they are part of my life and to undestand that the inner beauty I feel right now is largely due to that acceptance and understanding. Does it make sense?

Yipee!

For the first time in my life, I am elated to get an UNO for my class.
Yup! I got a 1.0 grade for my Dev Com class in UP Open University.
It's a very big surprise. But definitely a wonderful one.

Yipee!

Now, I just have to file my LOA so I won't be considered AWOL. Hehehe!