Power Nap, Power Play

Really got irritated today.

I was fortunate enough to have a three hour break. Though they were not consecutive breaks, I still enjoy the fact that after sometime, I would have one hour to do anything I want. I spend my first break eating lunch. The next was something that I really needed. I started at 8am so I was really drowsy by then, so I took a power nap. I informed my friends to wake me up before the end of my break. 

I plugged my ear phones and dozed off. I nearly dozed off until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I woke up startled and irritated, I haven't even been asleep for 10 minutes.  It was one of my colleagues and she was asking me to wake up to suggest things for supplies for the clinic. It was something that could actually wait. It wasn't really urgent and the moment I was already awake, she was already talking to one of our personnel and seemed to have given a fairly long list.

Aaargh! What the hell did she wake me up for?

Taking It Further Post Script

A friend showed me a scrap of paper with things listed on it. There were also tick marks beside each item. She said it was a list of things she wanted to buy last year. Those were the things she asked God to give her. Included in her list were petty things like a G11 Camera to big things like the renovation of their house. She was ecstatic to tell me that all those tick marks meant that those items were given by God this year. 

I nearly fell on my seat as she related these to me. 

Flashback. I made a similar list here on my multiply. You can view it here. I never intended to give it to God. I thought it was too materialistic of me to give it to Him. After all the kindness and protection that He has given me all these time, I still had the nerve to ask for petty things. Instead, I just listed it and posted it on this site just for fun.

I actually forgot about that list.

God seemed to have read my post. I found out after hearing my friends story that God gave me 4 out of the 7 items I listed. I got all within the year. This time I really fell of my seat. Maybe if I did pray for it and handed the list in God's hands I might have received everything on that list. Nothing's impossible for Him so I guess it could have happened. 

So maybe this is a practice in the making. Maybe I'll post another wish list here. This time I'll really leave it in God's hands.

Blank Sabbath Afternoon

Complaining about this may seem weird. Ever since I joined and became active in church activities, I must admit that I have never experienced such a calm and blessed Sabbath afternoon. On most Sabbaths, I kept running to and fro with tasks for the Church Youth Program, the Deaf Ministry and many other ministries that I had the great privilege of immersing my self in.

The routine was always worrying about the afternoon program and looking after the needs of the deaf ministry. It has always been my after lunch tasks. At times, I would also join the praise team in their practices. Sometimes, there are lunch meetings and after-lunch-meetings and other things in between. During retreats, I was one of the people behind the preparations. Just imaging the busy sabbath days I have.

November 27, 2010, will always be remembered. The Deaf ministry visited the Philippine Publishing House Church in Caloocan. We had a great Sabbath. We handled some parts of their program and the whole afternoon program. It just seemed that I was already used to the morning program duties that I expected something like that in the afternoon. 

I couldn't believe that this Sabbath was different among the others. I had nothing to do. Most of the deaf were lounging on their beds having a great time, some of us sat down outside talking and mingling with each other. I had nothing to do. 

No big tasks.

No running back and forth.

No meetings.

No programs to take care of.

Just me with the wonderful garden, the gentle breeze and the warm sun. It was really amazing. At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I took a walk around the garden and the memorial park, took some pictures and talked to God. 

I hope to have more of those wonderful experiences.

Moldy

Every person needs to pause once in a while from all the regular work he or she has been doing. With the week long Halloween break for me, I found it rather depressing.

Every working person would get a hard time cleaning up the house or the room especially if you work 6 days a week and on your days off, you catch up on sleep. That has already been a routine for me. Whatever short one or two hour breaks I get, I spend buffering all the other outside noises to enjoy a little personal space. Thus, you could easily picture out my room, our house to be in complete disarray. (Ok, disarray IS an understatement.) 

So today, a Thursday and the official start of my week-long Halloween break (I did mention week-long right?), I took the task of cleaning up my room (partially cleaning, that is). I have been pushing this task a long time only to regret it later.

Of all parts of the room I was meticulous about, I highly try to keep my books as clean and safe as possible. So, I couldn't forget the horror when I tried to take all the books out of my closet shelf (You couldn't imagine where else I have been putting all my books). Half of the books were wet and moldy. Ants apparently loved the place and the shelf was smelling of fresh mold.

In a sudden rush of mad panic, I immediately took out ALL the books from the shelves and started examining each one. A lot were still soaking wet, several started to have white squishy molds, but over all, the books were still salvageable if I can keep them dry.

That put all the cleaning effort to a halt and the salvaging of books to a start. I began perusing the web for potential book cleaning efforts only to find some really helpful but difficult to do ways to salvage moldy books or paper.

Here are some ways from museum SOS:

1. Find what is causing the mold growth. In my case it's a broken downspout. The water found its way behind my bookshelf. It caused the wood to warp and the books got wet as well
2. Modify the environment so that is no longer conducive to mold growth. The repair of the downspout would have to wait though. In the mean time, I tried keeping the closet open to let the air circulate. I also tried to blast the area with cold air.
3. Implement safety precautions for all the people working on moldy items. The page suggested things that are alien for me. I didn't follow it so I'll suffer the repercussions later. Great job, Worthy!!
4. Isolate the affected items. I immediately separated the bad books from the good ones.
5. Begin to dry the materials. The step suggested putting the books in an airconditioned space. Since I can't go to the nearest convenience store or fast food, to aircondition the books, I placed them outside in the sun where there's enough air circulation. (screw the sun though, it's a cloudy day today). Oh! and the guide also suggested putting the books out of humid places, but this is the Philippines for crying out loud. Humidity is best here.
6. If drying is not possible, freeze them. I had the idea of stuffing all the books inside our refrigerator but I knew someone would kill me when I do that.
7. Clean the affected items. Do not try to clean the active mold (soft and fuzzy) yourself. This got me really surprised. I just tried to remove all the molds by hand before reading this article. So good bye cruel world.
8. Dry and thoroughly clean the room where the mold outbreak occurred. Have I mentioned that cleaning the room went into a halt? Well, it's still on halt.
9. Return the materials to the affected area. I said everything went on HALT! Seriously though, I still couldn't return the books back since the closet and the downspout still is broken.
10. Continue to monitor conditions to prevent mold growth. Whatever.

Hope this really help. Just follow the instructions to avoid being like me.

Water: The Two Whites

October 10, 2010. The famed 10.10.10.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm. It was still dark outside but most of us were already up. I got up with quite a struggle. My body still bore the muscle pains of hiking the other day. It was hard to move my knees and my ankles. They were still tender. However, had I not dipped my body in the Hot springs, I might not be able to move at all. It was still a struggle moving from the bed to the bathroom and back. I had lean onto something, but it would be too embarrassing. Read more.

Earth: The Mountain Trial

Most planned trips have this rule: Expect the unexpected no matter how precise the trip was planned. A slight delay with the flight could mean the cancellation or postponement of an important business meeting. Several minutes delay could destroy the day altogether.

Our itinerary for the Sabbath of our trip was a short hike up Mt. Hibok-Hibok, one of the mountains in the island of Camiguin. Next was a trip to either the sunken cemetery or the famed White Island. We would cap the day by another dip in the hot springs of Ardent Springs.

We never got the chance to go the last two in our itinerary.

Though, dismayed and exhausted, the experience we had with Mt. Hibok-hibok could never be exchanged for anything else. Read more

Air: The Wind Rush

October 8, 2010. Dawn came. I was awake the moment my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning. People were still singing so I figured my companions might still be struggling from lack of sleep. I plugged my ears again and set my clock at 5:00 AM. By the time the alarm started, I was drowned by the sudden silence.  The singing stopped and the drunken revelers had packed and gone. It was still dark outside though so I went back to snooze.

I was suddenly awakened by someone grabbing my foot. Read more.

First Flight: Prelude to Adventure

Flight to Cagayan De Oro on this plane

I have been cooped up in the city all my life. So if there are times when an escape from the city life is possible, I instantly grab the opportunity without question. I welcome that change of environment with open arms. Yet for all those times I have travelled, I take shame to admit that I haven’t tried riding in an airplane before.

That is, until today... Read More

Finding Joy part 3

The Real Secret of Happiness.

All our lives we thought that life should be fun. Although it is true that we serve a God who wants us to be happy, fun was never written on the Bible in the context of something that God wants us to have in life. In fact, Pastor David Assherick says that the word fun never occurred in the Bible, but the word joy occurs more than 200 times. This tells a lot about the difference between fun and joy. Read more.

Finding Joy part 2

On reasons to be joyful in Christ.

True happiness could not be found in money, possessions or power. Yet in order to find real joy in one’s life, we need to know why do we need joy. Why do we have to be really happy?

Every Monday evening, our group dug deep into the study of finding Christ. A certain book called “The Steps to Christ” by E.G. White has become our guide throughout our quest with discussion material provided by... Read more.

Finding Joy part 1

Misconceptions on things that make us happy and things that bring joy.

What makes you happy? Is it wealth? Is it power? Is it possessions? In this God forgotten world, we have gone through depths to find one thing few people could ever find. Some think it’s money, or power or possessions. But more often than not, we could not find joy.

I am not referring to any individual. Read more.

Lessons from the Dead

A sad moment comes to any family when death knocks at their doors. For our family, it happened a day after my birthday. Our uncle who was battling against a lung disease succumbed to the disease on a Sabbath morning. It came as swift as it went. We buried him three days later.

All throughout those nights, I was there often taking part in the service for the comfort of the living. I haven’t been to many funerals so there are things that I don’t know. Of those that I have attended only two had great significance to me the others, I merely came as an observer. However, in those two times, I have learned a lot of lessons. This last one probably opened up my eyes the most... [READ MORE]

Once In A Blue Moon

Tell ya if the moon is blue. So when did it become blue? And why did they call it blue? Why are there so many questions? Should I answer them? Nah.

One day, after ESTRAGEL 4 practice, I came home dead tired. No the practice wasn't that tiring, rather it was fun (great set of exercises from direk arjay). I found my mother as she descended the stairs. She was dressed to go somewhere with my sister.

I saw them out. When I went back home, I went straight to find my slippers. To my disappointment, i found my slippers broken. It was as if someone with feet larger than mine tried to see if it fits. It was a real bad day. Those slippers (they were imitatio havaianas) were just 5 months old!

So instead of sleeping, I immediately went to the market to look for slippers. There were the usual ones: the hundreds of imitation havaianas, the regular slippers, and the not-so-expensive but durable islander sandals. But among those lines of slippers, one shop really caught my eye!

Man!! They still sell Rambo slippers!! It's been years since I last saw one of those! Cool.

I tried to ask how much. It was just enough. But when I looked at the slippers carefully - ugGH!! They were just imitations! RAMBBO!?