Words of Wisdom

This morning I received a free text from SMS that says, "The person who belittles you is only tring to cut you down to their size." Was it inspiring. I mean, nobody's trying to cut me or something, or at least not to my awareness, but that phrase has gone deep within me and as soon as it reaches my deepest layer, it suddenly made me feel better today.

People come and go our lives, sometimes as fast as the ticking of the clock, sometimes as passive as the movement of traffic on the hiway. And there are some whom we choose to keep, and others we choose to throw, or I mean, to push just a little bit, while he's standing by the abyss. Hehehe. But the thing is, we have the power of choice. We can always choose to be happy. At times we feel low, we feel bad about ourselves, or in my case, my excitement is pulling my impatience on, but those are some of the moments that makes us human, and clinging unto Him with all our hearts and minds, and I mean all, that makes us his Son. So if someone tries to pin you down, don't bother. Let them suffer the consequences they bring to themselves.

I've been through a lot of struggles. Hay...napaisip tuloy ako...:) There are times when people even dictate who I am or what I should be. And when it gets into my nerve, I'm starting to fold up to my last piece. But hey, I'm here again, still as cheerful. Truly, I can feel that God is working into my life. For so many times I have surrendered my life to Him, and how many times did I still fall. But for my 6 falling off, I see to it that I stand up 7. =)

Let Him be in control of everything. Can't wait to see how good day will this be.

My Friend Goes to Dubai

Yesterday, our friend Naida left for Dubai. She knows we're going miss her so much.

Before she left, we had coffee in SB The Big Dome together with other COF last Monday night. Then Wednesday, we went to their place in Santolan, Pasig and had our last dinner with her.

Uhm...let me think...what would I really miss with this girl?

1. Badminton
   I think we'll never play badminton again. :( Because she used to prepare our food everytime we play on Sundays.
   
2. SMS
   Her sweet, inspiring text messages.
   
3. Hair
   Not so much. :)

Well...I guess almost everything.

We love this girl. She's a strong, positive, determined, and a straightforward person, and a caring, loyal, and loving friend. I hope to see her someday soon. Til then my friend...

There Are Some Things You Simply Can't Ignore

1. The phone keeps on ringing. You hear it from afar. You run your breath to pick it up only to find out there's someone sitting right next to it and pretending to hear nothing. I mean, come on, if you can use the phone to call someone, then why can you not answer it?!?
2. I eat heavy breakfast almost everyday and even so, I still get hungry upon arriving in the office. So what I'll do is to simply eat, again. I just can't ignore my own growl. And I love to eat quite a lot even if it doesn't show.
3. My officemate right next to me is into his iPod thing and I was able to hear Jessica Zafra and another Gay icon who's into gay lingo. I couldn't help but to laugh really hard. The odd thing about it is that it's been like weeks since my officemate take a cold-shoulder on me and there I was, laughing with his personal trip. I enjoyed it though. Hehehe.
4. Our internet had been down for a couple of days and I kept wondering what the hell happened with ISP provider and took them so long to fix the prob.
5. The spirit of Christmas is almost everywhere except in the office. And you can see it from our christmas tree.
6. I was on my up to The Peak Tower in Makati this lunch and by the elevator was I biblical quote of the day which says "If you hear God's voice, harden not your heart." - Ps. 95:7 How could I let it pass. In fact, I'm excited to hear Him.
7. I am about to get ready now for my class discussion later, and I can't find my book. Sshh! Just when you needed it most.

Harry Potter 4, Constantine Maroulis, and a lot more!

The long wait is finally over. My friends and I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on its first day of showing in Greenbelt 3. We almost lost our seats, and ask me why...(ok, thank you)...my friend who made the online reservation only got the reservation code 2 hours prior to showing and we were on our way to the mall. And not only that, she told us earlier that she forgot her password on the online reservation. But we didn't panic of course, since she still has few hours to retrieve it before we crack her bones. Hehe joke lang.

I haven't read any Potter books, but those who do said that there are some things not translated on the flick. There should've been a more exciting scenes on the maze, they said, and the nosy reporter has a much more silly acts on the book than on the film. As for me, I thought this time the movie is kind of matured. Or maybe I'm the one being childish. hehehe.

It's past 12mn when the film ended and it's one of our friends' birthday (Nov. 17). After all the greetings, we're supposed to stay a bit longer and have coffee and chat but we needed to go home asap to catch up for our sound sleep and get "normal" for our medical exam morning of that day.

Come Thursday morning, we had our medical exam. As usual, I had a lot of side comments on the clinic. I feel like they are all robots and everything they said is recorded. Maybe that's what they have been doing for many years now. But hell, it's not a good practice just so they know. Especially when I was on the physical exam room, I don't find our physical exam such an "exam". Well yeah, she let us pull our undies down and all, but she didn't even touch that "thing" you know. Don't get me wrong! This was my second time to have a physical exam and I think it is but proper for the doctor to do touch your "thing" to find out herself if there's something wrong with it or not. And she did nothing. She just asked us and how easy was it to say YES or NO.

Anyway after that, Reggie and I went to Robinson's Place for lunch. And while he was on his way to Makati to meet another friend, I stayed at Starbucks for a while until 2ish before going to PICC for our graduation. After the graduation, my boss and I, and 2 other co-faculty, went to Greenbelt 3 for dinner.

After we have eaten, I was supposed to go home and thought that I need to sleep early even if I know that Constantine Maroulis will be there at the park come 8pm. It's almost 8pm though and while we were walking down the ground floor, I thought of staying and hear the rocker's voice for a while. Since I don't have anyone to stay with me as my co-faculty wanted to go home already, I just told myself that if I'll see someone I know there, I'll stay, otherwise, go home and sleep. And when I was about to get a cab, I saw my two friends! Kuya Ahlet and Ate She and they are on there way to watch Constantine! And so I stayed.

After waiting for few more minutes, with our sweat all over, the big crowd started to scream as Constantine Maroulis sings. He is such a great performer. I like him better than Bo. I think he was overwhelmed too. He kept on saying how beautiful manila is as well as the people. And the sosyalistas and fashionistas were really losing their breath! I really like that scene, I mean, for a while they have lost their poise and didn't mind their sweat that at times gets into my eyes. True! But Constantine really rocks! And the Ayalas too! They are so clever to bring Constantine in town to light the Christmas tree in Ayala and pull the crowd on their place. I wish someday they could also invite Vonzell and Anwar for a free concert. Nah, that would be too much.

Full Up Friday

I got 'full-tank' yesterday. Breakfast at home, I ate heavy meal already, but when I arrived in the office, I went to the canteen with my officemate and there we ate rice and ginisang mongo. And then just before lunch, one of our students gave us Domino's Pizza and I ate two slices. That's why I had my lunch early afternoon with a piece of fried chicken and ginataang mais.

Yesterday we already received half of our 13th month along with our half-month pay. And so that night, my friends and I ate at Meylin's Jupiter and we ate pata tim and halaan. After that, we went to Music 21 and stayed there for two hours.

And now I need to save. Gotta pay some bills. :)

Honesty and Positivity

Each day, may it be busy or empty, seems to be a challenging day for me. I'm actually referring not to my work, but to my environment. Sometimes, you know, no matter how hard you keep yourself busy doing stuff, if you are surrounded by souls who have no good intentions on you, you can't help but get affected. That is, if you will allow them to touch your inner emotions. I believe that keeping your "positive signs" intact can shield you away from negative forces. But the big question is, how do you maintain your positivity?

I must admit that it is not easy for me to keep it. As a matter of fact, as I am writing this, I myself almost lost another plus sign today but again, as I will forever be grateful, God is working on my life that in His mysterious ways He was helping me carry my every day with positivity in mind. Prayer is my best weapon. If I feel like someone hit my sensitivity, I secretly pause for a while and offer a short prayer for myself and for the person whom I think has hurt me. Sometimes, I just utter His name and that's enough for me to become happy again. Another thing I do is to think of happy moments with my true friends and families, or simply with ordinary but true people. That way, I am trying not to give a thought anymore on what I hear and what I see that might just affect me.

Also, when I receive some comments or reactions from other people who are obviously doing such acts to shame me or just wanting to get everybody's attention (we call them "exhibionist" by the way), I ask myself, is this person has reputation for truth or lies? Is he credible to do such criticism? And if I found out the real answer, I'm telling you, that'll suddenly give me a big sarcastic smile on my face and in my mind I say "this person is so pathetic." hehehe. Nah, that last part wasn't true. But at least, you will realize that you shouldn't be affected by exhibionist. And if they continue to make noise, always remember that empty can is always loud. Innit? :)

But of course, you have to be honest to yourself. If you believe that you are not doing anything wrong, then don't be bothered nor interrupted by these noisy little cans who aims to attract everybody's attention and sadly fail in the end for not getting one.

If you have the guts to confront the person, if you think he's already stepping on your tail or if you see his hands already in position to pin you down like a nail, then do confront him. And I think I can do that. But first I make sure that my brain's with proper light and my heart's pumping well before I even say a word, or else I will end up being the bad cop.

Well, that's it for my day. I guess we should still live with the rule that says "do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you." (,")

Know Thyself. God speed.

Our Sunday Badminton Session

Since September 25 of this year, my friends and I have been playing badminton from morning til afternoon. We are really enjoying it so much because aside from the sport itself, that also serves as our bonding moment. That's how we truly miss each other. =)

Food and drinks are on a "toka-toka" basis. Reggie and I are in-charge of water, rice and utensils, while Naida is ever in-charge of food and her viands never, as in, never fail to satisfy us. She has been so generous to wake up early in the morning and prepare our ulam every Sunday. That is, with the help of her mom. =) Erwin, on the other hand, take charge in bringing softdrinks. Most of the time, we bring extra food for snack and as energizers, like banana and other fruits. It really "recharges" you after every exhausting set of game.

We usually bring in food good enough for more than 5 people and so there are some other friends of ours who share the food. It also happen whereby we met new people because of our baon. According to our friend Erwin, that's what's enjoying in Badminton Arena (the name of the badminton place). You can share food and games with anyone in the court regardless and I personally like it. You gain more friends, you enjoy being with your old friends, and sweat your body out. How can I be more happy on a Sunday? Of course we don't want to miss Sunday mass that's why we used to wake up early morning, around 7ish, to prepare for 8am mass.

And just this Sunday, I brought digicam to capture some funny moments. (,")

Here are some:


Erwin, Reggie, and Naida


Jane, Ek, Dan, and Joan


Huhuhu...see that red mark on my right cheek? I got a strong hit with the shuttle cock. :(

More badminton pics at my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/delpoy

Celebrating Eid Al-Fitr in Divisoria

November 4 was declared as a National Holiday for the celebration of the end of Ramadan. It was officially November 3 but to give us a long weekend, it was moved to Friday. And so few days prior, I already planned to make it a "real" vacation. I meant, just give myself a short escape from the busy corporate world. I told my sister and mom last November 1 that we will go out that Friday and I told them about this new mall in Divisoria, the 168 where you can buy stuff at cheaper price.

So from Bulacan, they met me in Tutuban. I was surprised to see my dad and two pamangkins with them. You know Divisoria, not a good place for kids. It was lunch time and we decided to eat at Max's Tutuban. My good friend Reggie saved me from our bills when he paid our lunch, sort of his treat for my family.

After that we went on to 168. It was not surprising to see a lot of people there because you know, most of the busy people, once had the opportunity to shop-til-you-drop on a holiday, always go to a place where they could buy more for less. So there you go. I bought my sister a pair of glittering sandals, a frosted white teeny watch, a long necklace ( I don't know how you call it) with gems of different sizes and on shades of green and brown, while I got another watch for my little bro and a pair of sandals for my dad. Oh and three sun glasses too.

After that, I brought them in Gateway Cubao. It was their first time to go there and first time to ride the LRT2. =) It was almost 3:00 pm and so we had our snack at Gonuts Donuts.

My nephew JM (7 y/o) ,when we were still in 168, wants me to buy him pellet gun but we refused that could hurt other kids. But he does not want to go home without having something so he just went to the arcade and play.

After they went home, Reggie and I went to Megamall to meet Sol, his friend from UK to pickup some pasalubong from Jayde who is in UK. I love what Jayde gave me! I cute little pale of White Choco Malteser! Hhmmm...yumyum!

Hay, finally we head home 8ish. It was indeed a long Friday but I enjoyed it very much. I never had that bonding moment with my family before.

Oh and by the way, while we were in Divisoria, I saw my co-faculty making "barat" with the vendors there. hehehe. I saw Ma'am Marianne and Sir JX, and also Pam with her mom. My two COF were also there, Erlie and Naida, but didn't have the chance to meet them.

Spending Halloween Vacation

Last 2003, I was in Naga City with my friend's family (Bartolome's). We stayed there for four days. That was, during that time, the farthest south I have ever gone. It was also my first time to see Mayon Volcano up close. I thought it was in deed amazing. Albay is one-hour drive from where we stayed in Naga. But it was only a day trip. Aside from Mayon, we also visited this big church famous during the Peñafrancia feast. I bought a native abaca slippers which I'm still using up to now.

Last 2004, I spent my halloween vacation in Ma. Aurora, Aurora Province. How I love that place! We welcomed All Saint's Day's sunrise by the beach and grabe, how amazing our God is to have blessed our place with such amazing nature. I can still remember, we waited for the fishermen to make daong and help them pull their nets full of fishes! And after that we went to this hanging bridge where you can see the undercurrent between the lake and the sea. I wish I could go back there some time again. Maybe when Ate Cash and Kuya Isa take another vacation in the Philippines.

This year, my halloween wasn't that exciting though. I spent it in my hometown (Sta. Maria, Bulacan). But I miss my family and I enjoyed that moment I spent with them yesterday. We had a nice chitchat, updating each other, telling plans and all. And my nephews and nieces are so kukulit! Kids are so nakakatuwa talaga! I love their being innocent yet so intuitive learning new things, how spontaneous and smart they are with what they observe, and you will just laugh with their kiddie jokes. Hay...

I also missed my mom's food kaya I had a nice lunch and dinner with the ginisang cabbage and grilled liempo she cooked for us.

I hope the next time I go home, we'll all be like that, all complete, eating lunch together, making noise with our laughs and shouts. And I hope the next time we will have this get-together, I'm ready to share with them my surprise, if God permits. Now I'm really getting to excited about it. Let's hope and see...