Communication-Sad but True

What's this word?
Does anyone still know the meaning of this?
This is so powerful.
It can make one happy or sad.
It can turn the world upright or upside-down.
What happened with this word?
It seams that everyone has already forgotten this.





Miscommunication here, there, and everywhere.
Conflicts arise here and there.
People often rely on what they think.
They no longer ask. They no longer communicate.
They prefer to be silent rather than express their thoughts.

One often think, "If I tell, I might get a negative reaction."
So, one would rather not tell.
It is easier nowadays just to keep everything inside them.
Just to be silent. Just to be still.
So I ask. Why? Is it fear? Maybe....
Is it because of negative thoughts? Negative conclusions?
Maybe...

People tend to say things they don't mean.
Or people tend not to say things they want to say.
Just to please other people.
People tend to say their Ok with what others do,
but deep down inside, they are not.

Although there is a spark of Hope.
That someday, everything will change.
That someday, people would be open.
That someday, people would express their thoughts.
With this, conflicts would be lessen, if not eradicated.

Communication would be more powerful than ever,
This would give us a better insight,
This would give us a better and more peaceful world.

Tacloban-Typhoon FRANK

My sister Leni got this clipping from an e-news group.
I just found this hilarious.

According to radio reports, the tension membrane roof of the P9.6+M Ampitheater was not yet tightly riveted. Around 4am of the 20th (makusog-kusog na guihap dida han gab-i han 19th), rainwater used the high-priced @#& as a catch basin. The steel structure that supported the roofing could not carry the weight of the @#$& steel web gave way in the end. . . Crick! Crack! Crash! Splash!. . . down came the rain and washed the spider out. . .

The devastation on the 2oth was shift (lasting around 3 hours).

Siring pa man han usa nga bugoy nga nagpipinamurot hin mga sim, puthaw, payong, ngan kun anu-ano pa nga mga igparatong, “Amo ito kay sige na man la it pag-inaragway hini nga Pintados, Kasadyaan, ngan Sangyaw. Nasina na la lugod hi Senor Sto. Nino. May pagkamalapirit liwat an baba hadto nga manunusing, ano? Pero may pagka-totyal an ungas. May nakit-an hiya nga orinola nga nakabalandra ha kalsada (baligya siguro ha baratilyo), pero guin-snob la, guin- hapil an orinola ngan nagsiring an mokong nga, Ambut ha im! Diri pa ako lagas!

Brown-out ... Lights Off....Dream

Typhoon Frank visited Manila last Sunday.
I was waken by the sound of strong wind and
rain on Sunday morning. I thought it would be
impossible for me to go to my regular Feast,
so, I just decided to read the books that
I needed to read (Those books were my
backlogs). I turned on the light, went
back to bed with a book in my hand, and
started reading. While I was doing that,
I was at the same time praying and hoping that
there won't be a brown-out.

A minute after, the light went out.
I thought "awwwww.... brown-outttt...".
When I looked around, I saw my roommate
just turned off the light!
I asked her, "Why did you turned off my light?"
And she said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I did not see that
you were reading. He-he-he!"

Meanwhile, my other roommate was dreaming. When she
woke up, she told usher dream. The climax
of her dream was that, she was being chased
by a ghost. When she opened the door, she
saw me, and I told her "Why did you turned off
my light?"

Too General Too Specific

Is it just me? Or is it just me?

Lately, there has been a battle within me
Should I do it? Or shouldn't I?
Several things needed to be done at work -
Research Works.
But how? Or is the question, why?
Why can't I do it?
Is it because of the lack of resources?
Don't have a step by step goal?
Lack of interest?
Or just merely subversion? Rebellion?
I couldn't comprehend,
couldn't understand.
I even have the time to write this
nonsense blog.
Or is it really nonsense?

Reasons.

I'm saying, it's too general.
I can't manage general things.
I want specific things.
I'm thinking, is it worth it?
Or am I just wasting my time?

I'm also saying, it's not one of my core gift.
Or is it really not one of my core gifts?
It's not in me.... I don't feel like doing it.
Or have I not just discovered the
extent of my core gifts?

I'm used to doing things whenever
there is a detailed plan.
Give me a plan, and I'll do it.
I still think I want ACTION!

So far, I was able to do small
research. Read promises like "It could
be done". My question always goes,
"How?"
What are the specific procedure on
how to do it?

Concepts?

Yes, concepts are great.
But I need ACTION!

I read yesterday written in a
shirt - "Action speaks louder
than blogs".

Well, that's the modern way for the
saying "Action speaks louder than words."

And I very much agree with that.

I say we need to define our goals,
hire more people,
pay for a real extensive training
to comply with the necessary
requirements,

and just do it!

Pyrolympics - Awesome!

This was one awesome experience for me. It was the first that I watched this spectacular event. Unfortunately, I did not bring camera with me. So, I just searched thru the web for pictures of the show. Hmmm... the picture above was taken last year. But, the experience I bet was almost the same if I watched it last year or this year. Will there be a next year? I hope so. So I could watch it again. :D

So what's so spectacular about this event? Let me recount what happened.

I was fast asleep at around 4 pm. last Saturday, 31st of May 2008. Footsteps of my roommate comming home from school awakened me. It was already 7:10 pm. As she entered our room, she told me that she was about to text me and invite me to watch pyrolympics earlier. "Huh? pyrolympics? When? Where?" I asked her. She told me it was at MOA and would start at 8 pm.

Again, I checked my watch... It was already 7:20. So, I told her, "Come! Let's Go!" And she hesitated since she was already conditioned not to go. I told her again, "Let's Go! I will be changing now!" as I reached for my shorts that I wore when I went to SM a few hours ago."No! No! Don't ask me that!", she yelled at me. But I kept convincing her to go.

Finally, after a few minutes of persuading her, she agreed, and we hurriedly went to MOA.

Going to MOA was quite difficult. There were only a few jeepney going to LRT Buendia at that time (I don't know why). And when we finally got a ride, it was very traffic!

I was already hyperventilating. :D Some of the passengers got their gadgets (mobile phone, psp, etc) and started to play. After almost an hour of ride, we finally reached LRT Buendia (normally, the travel would take less than 30 min.).

We went to the jeepney terminal for MOA. But when we arrived there, there was a very long queue! "Oh no!!" This was not a good site! Everybody wanted to go to MOA! Fortunately, the waiting was quick. We were able to ride soon.

Most of the passengers were going in groups.

Family, friends, etc. The ride was Ok. There

was not much traffic.

We reached MOA minutes before 9 pm. By that time, we were already hungry. We looked for some stalls that were selling food, but couldn't decide what to buy. We continued walking towards the area where we can watch the Pyro. Before we could reach the area, we heard loud outburst of the fireworks. The show was already starting! The people, including us, started running.

What an awesome site!!!! Almost all of their displays were really work of art!

Everyone were looking up. And for every display, everyone would shout (depending on how beautiful it was). All of us would say "wooooowwww...." or "wOOoooooowww" or "WOOOOOOWWWWWwwwwww....." for every display.

The show lasted for 15 minutes. The final display was really amazing. It formed like a curtain, with lots of scattered fireworks. And everybody were greatly mesmerized.

After the show, we were starving. We looked at some stalls selling food. We bought some food and quickly ate it.

We headed for the jeepney terminal. Again, there was a very very long queue. Longer than the first queue. Finally, after more than an hour of waiting, we were able to ride a jeepney.

It was a really an exhausting travel, but would love to watch it again. :)

I'm looking forward for the next event! :)

God's Outpouring Blessing - Just A Reminder

After a month of being assigned here, I finally am nearing the end of it.

Today is the last day of my assignment here in this company.

A mixture feeling of excitement, anxiety, and sadness filled me.

I don't know what will happen next. I know I am already assigned to another not so new company. But I don't know what challenges lies ahead.

My experience here was really different.

I tried so much not to mingle with the rest of the colleagues here.

I tried to eat alone, and work alone. I tried to do everything here by myself.

I tried to be as invisible as possible.

I don't know why. Maybe I was thinking it was pointless to mingle with others.

Although there were times when they caught me eating lunch, so, they just joined me.

There wasn't much work assigned to me , so there were times that

I sat idled. There were times when I would feel really sleepy, so I just made

myself busy (although not work related).

A few days before my contract ends until today, there was really no job given.

I just waited for my finished job to be tested. Unfortunately, until today, it

is still not tested. So, I busied myself creating blogs. :)

But of course, this is done secretly. They must not know this.

Actually, I felt guilty. I felt like I wasn't able to contribute that much here,

while everyone else were rushing with their deadlines.

But I could not do anything about it.

I brushed aside this feeling thinking, they won't even notice that I'm already gone.

But I was surprised this morning when the manager here whom I'm not directly reporting to, asked me if today was really my last day here.

And when I tried going for my usual lunch, I was invited to join with my

immediate boss and the other colleague. And this was a treat for me since I was leaving.

It was a very expensive restaurant but everything was for free. :)

In the afternoon, I was greeted by another colleague and asked for my email address.

This way, we would still have contact.

I was wondering, what have I done to deserve such an honored treatment?

I thought this was part of God's plan. Just to remind me of His overflowing blessing.

That no matter what I do, good or bad, significant or not, God's love and overflowing blessing

still pours upon us. :) And to remind me of God's presence in everywhere I go. And another

reminder, to thank the Lord in every blessing that is given, may it be seemingly insignificant

or great.

The Steadfast Love Of The Lord

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
New every morning. (3x)

Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord.
Great is Thy faithfulness.

Office on leave - no workload

...Turn on the computer
......Unlock the white drawer
......Open the drawer, and
get the unwashed Starbucks tumbler with a Christmas motif in it - snow, snowflakes and penguins
...Put the brown bag inside the drawer

...Sit down and wait for the computer to complete it's power up process
......Open the thunder-bird e-mail and check if somebody has a job for me
......But just like most ordinary day, there is none
......Open the client access and log on the i-series
......Open another session
... pressing the shift key, then the escape key, then 1, then press the enter key.

This is how it is done here at the client's office if you needed another session, since they don't allow another separate client

...Page-up
..... Page-down....
...Page-up
..... Page-down
.......Read interesting, unimportant emails
.......Page-up
..... Page-down

.......Call the office, and talk over seemingly important, yet unimportant matters
......Page-up
..... Page-down
.......Get water in the water dispenser
.......Drink lots and lots of water to hydrate in this dry area of the office
......Page-up.....
Page-down....
And that's how I spend most of the day whenever I have nothing to do inside this office named*****...
I'm waiting for the work day to end, so I can go home and rest after a looonnngg tiring daay...

Random Thought - Faith, Choice, Destiny

This is just a portion of an email to a good friend of mine just this morning. My friend just attended a retreat about Destiny and shared to me the details of this wonderful activity. I just thought of sharing what I replied to her in this space. These ideas are mixtures of the talks that I attended and the thoughts that came out based from those talks. This is just an opinion.

Here is what I said.

The story of Adam and Eve is a story about the human Free Will. The forbidden tree represents the things that destroys us (in any aspect), while the rest of the trees are the blessings that God has given us... The tree wasn't really intended to be planted just for the sake that the humans will have temptations. The point of the story was that Adam and Eve had a choice. And that is to eat or not to eat the forbidden fruit. We represent Adam and Eve. God gave us the free will to choose between good or evil. To choose between the two, is really up to us.

Well, I think if there is no free will, God will might as well create robots. :)

Based from the talks that I attended, sin is something that destroys us. This does not destroy God, but it destroys us. Sin is very deceiving. It would invite us and tell us that it would make us happy. But in the end, destroys us. God loves us so much and wants us to be happy.

Another story that was partially mentioned, was the story of Judas.

Judas had a destiny. He betrayed Jesus to fulfill the prophecy. But he had a choice to repent his sin against his Master. He had a choice to live or die. I think it is still a big question if he is really in hell or in Heaven. The very core teaching of our Church is the Great Love of God to us. That's why there is still a possibility that he could be in Heaven.

In the early days of the Church, the priests did not bless a person who committed suicide. We believed that they'd go directly to hell. Nowadays, the Church already bless them because we believe that they can still be saved.

I think we all have our destiny. And we have many choices on how we can fulfill it. That's the beauty of it. The choices are not too narrow, that we have a wide variety of choices that we can enjoy.