365 days later... an oddyssey for 2009 and a question for 2010

I haven't made it a habit to make any resolutions, and I never planned to start now. Maybe a story or a question will do. Let's start with 365 days.

365 days. Yes it's that long. Let me tell you about it.

I thought of the perfect present for me for Christmas. Not that I believed that Christ was born on Christmas. Rather, I find that the season is appropriate to give myself a gift. Several people told me that sometimes one should indulge and treat oneself after one heck of a work load. One of those people was me.

Yes, I took the liberty of giving myself a gift. I planned it carefully. I saved up for it actually. It’s something I needed badly so maybe it was as well.

To those who know me, you might have guessed that it was a book. You’ve guessed it right. You really know me. It is a book, a very important one, too. It’s something that I really wanted since graduating. No, I really wanted that book even before I graduated high school. It was around 3rd year or something.

So this was my chance. I waited for a long time.

I wanted a Bible.

Not just any Bible. A Bible from my own blood, sweat and tears, I can identify anyone from our church or any other church who could give me a Bible the moment I asked. But I really wanted something that I would treasure because I bought it. This ought to be the perfect gift for Christmas for me now that I have a job. I waited long enough for this.

I browsed around the bookstores even before December. NBS, Powerbooks, Fully booked, even Booksale. I wanted to find the one that would definitely suit my needs, something really applicable to my current sinful condition – the depressed, and hopeless sinner type.

It’s the perfect gift, isn’t it?

It probably is.

That was last 2008.

Whatever made me hold back on buying a Bible at that time was entirely forgotten. It took 365 days – 381 to be exact for me to get a hold on that elusive Bible. It was like a treasure that took forever.

Shame on me.

In the span of 365 days, I bought a cellphone, an mp4 player, new parts for a desktop computer and many other things – but not a 450pesos worth of a Bible. A real shame, I was able to buy all those expensive things, but never the one thing that would get me at least one step closer to God.

I was able to buy the BIble. At long last, it took a long time. Just before 2010 started, I went out and made a great decision to buy the long sought after BIble. It's nothing grand at all. Just a regular Bible that I could call mine.

The experience made me wonder, how easy it is to make a split second decision to buy gadgets that we coveted and other material things that we wanted – not needed. Yet we forget to forge the strongest link with the person who could give you more than those things many times over.

But what could we humans do? We are sinful as it is. How could we make the decision to strengthen our relationship with God more than the things on this world?

We have another 365 days to think about it and probably change it.

HAPPY 2010!!

The Case of the Smelly Pandan

Two friends messaged me to post another blog. The first one sent the message on facebook. The other one sent it through my nerves. That friend lives between my ears. 

No matter how I try, I seem to find myself starting blogs and losing interest somewhere in the middle. In the end, I don't get any posts done. Don't worry though, it's a different case for eval reports and work related stuff. I also hit the deadlines with church related stuff.

Anyway, these days are really rock. My mind is currently in search for answers. You see, around our house, you could see leaves that look like this:
That's Pandanus or in local terms, pandan. Wikipedia says that it's a genus of monocots with about 600 species. Seriously I didn't know they were this many. The leaves are usually used in weaving mats and the like. Most of us also use pandan to give rice an aroma. Yep, it's that smelly. And of course, who wouldn't know of the all too common buco pandan? It's a delicacy!

So why did we put it around the house? Simple. Someone told us that pandan repels insects especially cockroach. No it doesn't kill roaches, my brother tried hitting the roaches with those leaves and they just scurried away. I didn't know which is really ineffective either the pandan or my brother. I'm betting everything on the latter.

Anyway, so someone did tell us to put pandan in every corner of the house that became home to squatter roaches.
I also placed some in our cabinet where we hang our pants.
Even on my bookshelves.

I was eager to see what would happen after I placed it there. I imagined some aura from the leaves would ward off the cockroaches that seemed to appear at night when our neighbors below us started spraying.

The chance for the pandan to show it's stuff happened last night. Our neighbor sprayed their insecticide in the middle of the night. Two things happened. First, the pandan was able to hold back the roaches from entering our cabinets and corners. Second, since the roaches had nowhere else to go, they went to the sleeping person on the bed which was none other than me!

Conclusion? I had one hell of a night swatting those roaches away. Killed a lot. I learned that pandan works and that my neighbor needed scolding for spraying insecticide in the middle of the night.

Burned.

December 23, 2009, 10:00 AM. All hell broke loose. It is a day to be remembered by more than 500 hundred families in the Makati-Pasay Area. Particularly affected were the shanties along the creek in Barangay Bangkal Makati and Malibay st. in Pasay.

The fire started somewhere in Makati, which ended at around dusk after ravaging the neighboring Pasay Area. According to news reports, around 600 families were burned down. Click <here> and <here> for more details on the blaze.

The news is more or less accurate. I just visited the place today. After helping out in our church’s annual gift giving for the poor, our Adventist Community Services team led by our church pastor went immediately to the site of the fire. We were going to survey the area so as to send in some help from the Adventist Disaster and Relief Agency (ADRA).

As we were traveling along EDSA, signs of the recent catastrophe were imminent. People were taking refuge along the streets and on the over pass. Relief groups were scattered distributing food and clothing to those affected. From a few meters away, you could instantly smell the fumes of smoke. Blackened iron which used to be the roofs of some houses scattered along the streets. Others were piled up on trucks.

The smell of burned things became stronger as we neared the area. Still more scrap metal, blackened by the inferno, were scattered all over the place. We entered a large clearing which used to be the BLTB Bus Station, which burned down several years ago. A long line of men, women and children filing for relief goods from the local government greeted us as we penetrated the affected area. Still more were trying to salvage what scrap metal or objects they needed to rebuild their burnt down houses.

Being one of the two who had a camera, I went straight to the area most affected by the fire and took pictures. Some men were walking in the waist deep waters of the creek, trying to salvage some scrap metal. Other women and children were trying to continue on living. Some were trying to conjure a passable meal for their families with what little they were able to save plus some relief goods from donors. Still others were trying to arrange and safeguard their belongings. Television sets, gas stoves, kettles, pots, pans, and some clothes were the only possessions they saved. All the while, few people still seemed to be in a state of shock, unable to accept the fact that their homes were burned down.

The adage still rang true. It really is better for your things to get stolen than burned.

The sad part was that so many people won’t be celebrating Christmas tonight the way they used to. I hope those people could recover their losses. They may be squatters and the like, it is true. Yet we couldn’t leave these now-homeless people alone while we drown in the merriment of the season. After all, Christmas is for everybody, isn’t it?

At the moment, we’re waiting for the goods that will be delivered soon to be given to these victims. The best thing that we could give to them at this moment is our prayers. Let us not forget them as we pray for blessings this Christmas season.

Distractions

I was on fire last month. My fingers were blazing hot. My hands won’t stop moving. Words streamed endlessly from my head directly to the computer word processor straight to my blog.

It was a spur of the moment thing. I just went home one day feeling tired of playing the usual computer games or reading other people’s posts and rants. I just felt like typing my heart away on the computer. I found myself there sitting in the quiet of the night my head brimming with endless thoughts about various things. Felt like lightning struck. I never felt this way before.

I was what you would call inspired. By what or who I have no idea, but the thoughts seemed to pour out like rain. No time to dilly dally, no time to spend joking around or watching something. It was as if a deadline was drawing near. I was typing like crazy.

I brought my laptop the whole week just to finish the post. I was so engrossed I used my entire spare time including my lunch breaks just to type everything down.

I ended up posting 1-2 posts a week. Everything was about my recent experiences, observations, and feelings. Everything made a career high of 10-15 visit to my blog in a day. Not that I care about the visits though. The number of posts and the endless stream of words coming out of my head was overwhelming. I was on fire.

It lasted for a month.

I dunno how come it ended too soon. The ideas were still brimming inside my head. I guess it’s already a common occurrence for anyone to get an idea several times a day. I did but I had a hard time putting it down unlike the month before. Whatever happened to me?

I was distracted.

I was clearly taken off track by several things that came all at once. It was like getting the whole basketball team to steal the precious ball away from you. There were so many things that came that I simply lost the time to write down the simplest thoughts that could blossom into inspiration. I found myself at a loss for words.

First came the game. I had that tendency to get hooked in video games. It’s an Achilles heel of some sort. That was the reason why I didn’t dare play on facebook. However, it was some evil wind that brought me to possess an NBA Live Game. Until now, it kept on taking away most of my time that instead of tapping away on the word processor,  I was tapping my way to the playoffs.

Next came the manga. It was also my downfall. I kept on reading manga which actually sparked my hunger for sports games. I thought I was already finished until the idea came back to reread some of them. So if I was not playing games, I was reading manga on my computer.

With these two distracters, I have totally forgotten to mind my blogs or even share the wonderful wisdom given to me. However, I seem to be reviving a bit after finding out that I could squeeze some time to write like this one. I hope I could post more in the following days until the holiday break ends.

 

 

Some Things I Wanted To See

I come now to a long period of rest from any activity. I find myself sitting on my bed with a laptop and a cell phone at my disposal with no one to text, call or even chat with. It has been almost a year since I last had this kind of moment. I feel like I could do anything with all the time at my disposal. I could watch anything I’ve missed watching.

Then again, I don’t think I can do that just yet. After all, not all of them are TV programs or movies. So after gathering all of my thoughts and pondering over such things, I have made a list of 10 things that I would really love to see and watch in no particular order. (I have long planned for this post and this is the perfect moment to do this.)

Stage Play – After participating in 4 stage plays (ESTRAGEL 1-4) and watching several others, I find myself missing those moments of practices as well as

Read More <=Click here

BREAK!!!

yey! after several days of waiting, the break I have been waiting for has finally arrived and what better way to greet a well deserved break than by posting one of many blogs to come?

For today, I have finally slept long and deep. Something like 10 or 11 hours of sleep. Now that's really long. I don't know why I was able to rest that long but I did. I wasn't tired or anything.
Sabbaths don't tire you out after all. In fact, you get to stay up from 8am to 7 or 8pm in bonding and fellowship with God and other believers.

Others who never had that chance misses more than half of their lives. But that's really what happens every sabbath. We start off at 8am and end by around 8pm. Of course, that's not pure worship service, there's eating, laughing and goofing around in between and sometimes the goofing part takes up most of the day. It's really a good way to start the break. So much for the sabbath.

So saturday night, I slept soundly and woke up the next day at 10am. Really late than my usual 6am. It's really one long slumber. I really appreciated it. So here's to that great rest!!

I just hope that I wont do that for the next two weeks. That's bound to be one great head ache if it did!

Taking It Further

I found several sheets of paper on the front desk of our clinic last week. On it were the names of all therapists with 3 blanks underneath. On the heading of the first sheet was marked “WISH LIST.” I didn’t know if I should jump for adulation or slump back in worry. Actually the feeling was something I felt whenever I go to buy my own shoes or clothes – clueless.

For a week now, it was a question that really bugged me. What do I really like? What do I wish for? Is world peace an option? How about love?  Or happiness? Or a house and lot and 7 boxing championship belts?

For a limited budget, those things are hard to find. Kidding aside, the more I think about it, the more I’ve realized that a person’s preferences changes over time. Whether it be something abstract as love, friendship or happiness to something more concrete and material as gadgets, cars and houses. Maybe it’s because people tend to get no satisfaction at all. Maybe not. I’m no expert so I can only answer for myself.

So after putting up my wish list for our clinic’s Christmas party, I have decided to take it further and find out what I really wanted. I know it may seem like I’m swinging for the fence, so what if I do? We all get a chance at bat anyway, so just give me my chance to swing for the fence, maybe lady luck would give me a homerun. Here are some of the more tangible items that I wished for in any order:

1.       Book  Collection – I’m starting to build up a collection of books by Robert Fulghum from your friendly neighborhood BOOKSALE. Yet this collection has lots of volumes missing. These don’t cost much, somewhere between 100-500 pesos, if bought from booksale. But that’s not all, I also wanted to build up my own Arnold Arre graphic novel collection priced at around 500 per book, my own CS Lewis Christian volumes collection (500 per book) among others.






2.       Notebook PC– Ok, so I already have a laptop. I even brogged (brag blog? bwahaha) about it last year. But laptops have a short lifespan and with the way I am carrying it, it’s lifetime would most likely be shorter. How did I know? I don’t know but I can feel it. I’m not after the classy notebooks something around PhP 15, 000 is enough for my needs.

3.       Handheld Console – I’m still undecided if it would be a PSP or a NDS. I have tried both and I liked both, but I can’t get both. I like PSP since it’s more cool looking especially the 3D effects. However, it’s bulkier than an NDS. An NDS on the other hand, aside being the only console among the 2 to play Pokemon Diamond, I liked its compact and game boy-like design and the prospect of having dual screens with a touch screen are cool. However, most games look like spawns from cartoons. Both consoles are as much as PhP 10, 000.




4.       Ipod Touch – Maricon, my friend bought one and I found it cool and useful, but her 32GB might be too much for me, 8GB might do the trick. I really have a hard time saving up the 5, 000 to 10, 000 peso Ipod. What really makes me want to get this is it’s wide collection of applications and wifi accessibility which means internet all the time. And from what I heard, it has an application that plays SNES games. woohoo!!





5.       Camera – I used to think that I really didn’t want a DSLR since it’s too bulky or too bothersome for me. Yet after hanging out with the Backlitas (church photogs) I seem to get the photography madness this trio brings to everyone. After some consultation, I found the right tool for me, a canon G10. It’s doesn’t require those expensive lenses but they say it produces great raw shots perfect for a blogger’s use. However, this really means swinging for the fence, it’s price is almost like any SLR at 25, 000 minimum.




6.       House – This is one big dream. And I mean BIG! I have no idea about the location or the prices. I never bothered to look. I just wanted to have one that’s all. It would be cool to own your own house no matter where it is. Personally, I’d still prefer the provincial setting on top of the mountain overlooking the sea. Just a small bungalow would suffice, I guess. If I get to own my house, the next wish will surely follow.




7.       Car – Again another gargantuan dream. Forget about the soaring gas prices, I still think that owning your own vehicle is way too cool. I need something simple and small, something perfect for my needs. I’m not sure what kind though and this is only wishful thinking since I really don’t find it practical. But wait, have I written anything practical on this list so far? I don’t think so.

Boy, this really needs careful planning.But as I said, this is a wish list. Now I could take action and make this a reality or just leave it as a wish. It's all on me. Unless anyone reading this would take pity and give me any one of these.