2 gifts and counting..

"people making lists, buying special gifts.." keep echoing in my ears. yeah, the yuletide season fever is finally here. christmas party here, party there, party everywhere. a time to be with the family, our friends, our acquaintances, and people we have not seen back in our town. a time when we can rest from a year of work, schooling, exams, strict teachers, terrifying supervisors. a time when hearts are set free, exchange gifts to imitate the wise men gifts' of myhrr, gold and incense.

hahaha. i don't want to keep a serious atmosphere here. i just want to announce the two gifts that i have received so far. i guess this was already given to me. nway, just to be safe, "i assume.." first, a rubik's cube. yehey. it's second hand but doesn't matter as long as i can solve it. not everyone can solve it you know. i'm proud of having it displayed on top of my PC monitor. it's a mixed feeling when people get struck with awe when they see the cube solved on all sides. love the look on their faces. hahaha. i'm not bragging or anything, everything i just said is finished with "..modesty aside and humbly speaking.." hahaha.

second gift, shades. came from my teammate when we held our christmas party last tuesday. it's not the brand that i'm after but ika nga "it's the thought that counts." it's really the purpose of the gift that i'm contented with. anyway, i don't use it that much for now because i come to office at 6 AM and go out at 4 PM. not much sunlight to use it with. hahaha. don't want to get rayban (sana yun na lang! hahaha) and get it snatched somewhere in colon. oh well, i'm happy with it.

third, hopefully would be a jacket. discuss this later in my next articles.
that's it for now, two gifts to keep it going is not bad. hopefully i get more. Hahaha.

P.S. i'm still searching for a gift for this sunday's christmas party and i still have no idea where to find it. frank peretti stuffs, or chronicles of narnia bookset, and more. no band practice today so now's the chance. i found a long sleeve and a tie so cocktail party costume is partially solved. need to find a black slacks and leather shoes. tapos human, mura na og tawo tan-awn. hahaha. translated >> after that, i'll look like a decent man. lol!

Three More Days.. (or barely)

The gig that we we're supposed to perform in last week was cancelled. I think that was a blessing coz we haven't perfected the performance, and performing could have been tragic. Anyway, in the right time, we will be able to perform.

Barely three days to go till touchdown. We were able to practice yesterday. Luckily, we came up with a convenient time to practice knowing that I work on dayshift while my band mates are working nightshift. We played yesterday and as i expected we are definitely improving.
Aside from the minor faults, the performance was good. Everybody now has memorized the sequence of each of the songs, where to come in, to stop, etc. But still have more polishing to do. And definitely we're running out of time.

I hope we make it on time.

P.S. I'm supposed to look for a "cocktail" costume for our Christmas party yesterday but since we practiced, i left it for another day. After all, a good performance with no cocktail costume is better than a bad performance with nice looking clothes. Don't want to get remarks such a, "Maayo lang sa porma". Hahaha. I think i'll wear pants. To jive with the "banda" look. =)

'coz i'm caught in suspension

yup. i guess you're right. the title of this post is a giveaway. it's a line from the song Suspension by Mae. And it's one of the songs that a band i was recently recruited to will play.

here i am again to the "band" atmosphere. i can't say that i'm good nor i look good in a band but i guess everything's just pure luck. last year, i played for a band in my company's christmas party. i played bass guitar to complete a band to represent our team in the battle of the bands. we got the third place, in a contest between three bands. hahaha. not bad.

this year, i'm playing the bass again to a different band but this time we won't be joining a band contest. (sigh!) it could have been a great honor to lose in a battle of the bands twice in a row. hahaha. instead we would be performing for merely a presentation. an ice-breaker. sounds cool? that's the half of it. i think it's not a laughing matter this time.

aside from that, we would be playing this saturday. earlier than i thought. i dunno about the details but it's with other local bands here in cebu. one of my band mates was invited and fortunately (or unluckily is what i think is more appropriate) we were just practicing at that time, so we got ourselves to play. i dunno if this will push through.

i just pray that our performance will be well. anyway, what matters is that we play together as a "band" and not as individual musicians. as what Jack Black's character said in the movie House of Rock; "In the words of AC/DC: We roll tonight... to the guitar bite... and for those about to rock... I salute you.." This is gonna be one interesting Christmas season.

Wish me luck! =)

long time.. no see..

it's been quite a while since i posted something. the last time, if i remember it right, was april and the rest was on my college days. whew, it's been really awhile.

i have no choice but to make this one my new year's resolution: write. everything is just messed up. :) even the way i write. idea is not a problem but the way i turn into a literary masterpiece is just a mess. pure mess.

a good example would be the last two posts that i made. the statements are not that coherent. lacks smooth transition from one sentence to another.

anyway, i'm struggling to get back to the writing business. i hope my fans can wait. ;)

LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS

Many of us already have his/ her loved one. They are there to fill our heart with inspiration, joy and sometimes pain. Someone who will hold our hands while walking in the mall, hug us when we are sad, and sit beside us in the jeepneys as we go home. Someone we call honey, baby, dear, love, cupcake and many other sweet names. Someone who will greet us “Happy anniversary!” or give us flowers on our monthsaries. Someone who will let us feel just how much they care.

Most of the time, our loved one is just a stone throw away, but occasionally we can find someone who are miles away from their loved one, even continents away. They engage into what we call long distance relationships and have their long-distance boyfriends and long distance girlfriends. Now I ask you these questions, “Is it worth involving yourself in a long distance relationship?” “Do long distance relationships have happy endings?

People say long distance relationship simply doesn’t work. I think not. I believe that depends on the commitment that the partners have for each other. If they commit to their partners with all their hearts, then I think the relationship will work. Many say you’ll just miss the person too much. Yes, I think that’s true. It is true that we will be apart from our loved one but surely we will not appreciate someone that we have until they are gone. You will learn to value your partner if they are far away from you.

Why commit yourself to a long distance relationship when you can find someone who is near? To answer that, what if the long distance relationship is worth everything? The partner you love might even be better than the ones who are near. Isn’t it worth trying? They say that a long distance relationship is plagued with endless tests and temptations. That’s right but if you love the person dearly, you’ll stay true to him/ her even though you’re far away from each other. True love defies every law, even of distance and time.

How can you be sure that your partner is not cheating? My dear friends, there is no assurance but if you loved the person, you should trust with all your heart and mind. If your partner cheats, it is his/ her loss for surely he/she can never find someone as loyal as you. As Leo Buscaglia once wrote “Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.” And part of loving is getting hurt.

After all, we can’t really say that involving oneself in a long distance relationship is a complete waste of time. Just like life, every relationship is what you make it regardless of your distance with your loved one. If you fill your relationship full of trust and loyalty then I can say you’ll have a healthy relationship. But if you fill your relationship with doubts and assumptions, you’ll just end up hurting each other. If you love the person, you’ll love him no matter the distance. If you can love that much if your partner is far, how much more when he is near, right?

I can truly say long distance is not that bad after all.

"BaSuRa Mo, ChRiStMaS TrEe Ko.."

“Even the least things such as garbage can and have the potential to be beautiful.”

A lot of waste materials can be seen everywhere, waiting for proper disposal. Some are disposed properly while most are left indisposed and it becomes a problem because of the quantity of these indisposed waste materials. In the facility, we can see cans of soft drinks, empty C2 plastic bottles, waste papers, waste boxes and coffee cups. These things are already considered as garbage but why not use these materials as components of a Christmas tree? Making a Christmas tree out of these wastes can make a beautiful Christmas tree at the same time it minimize the amount of garbage from our facility. Right from the start, we knew that these waste materials are potential Christmas tree components.

Every material in the Christmas tree can be considered “waste” or “garbage”. Most of which can be seen in our facility while others are from home. Empty C2 plastic bottles, soft drink cans, and used coffee cups were the primary materials. Then coffer cup cutouts and plastic bottles were utilized for the side decorations. The star on the tip of the tree is made from the coffee cup. Green mosquito net was made as the cover of the base that gives contrast to the red Christmas tree. Then the other decorations were waste papers and boxes turned into cute gifts, ribbons, straws, paper socks and curly sheets making a Christmas tree made entirely of recycled materials.

After making the Christmas tree, we realized something. The Christmas tree is a reminder to us not only of the birth of our Saviour, but also to tell us that we can make something from our garbage and we can mold what we considered garbage into something beautiful. Every component is different and is considered waste but when put together it becomes a part of something beautiful.

My Visit to M.V. Doulus

Hi everyone. Whew! I've been to the ship but i was not really that thrilled. I mean, the line was long and you have to go around the pier just to get yourself to the ticket booth. The books? Men, they are really for kids. I mean, you got children books, bibles and all that. And oh, there's the almanac, thesaurus and and some atlas. Plus if you dig religious songs this is the place for you. Also some books to get your weight down, how to cook stuff, vegetarian recipes and books about tropical fishes (thrilling huh!). If you want to learn how to play soccer, yup lucky you! there are a lot of teach-yourself-how-to-play-soccer books.

What I liked about the visit is that you get to purchase books sometimes at really low price. If your lucky though. Purpose driven life books come at 200 pesos and the whole Lord of the Rings Saga comes at 400 pesos. Amazing right? THe three books combined to one compiled copy at a price much lower compared to purchasing the three books separately. Plus the nice sea breeze and as you go down the ship you get a glimpse of the whole pier 1.

If you love souvenirs, you are not lost. If you can afford there's the Doulos mugs that comes around 150 pesos. ( I couldn't afford so i didn't buy one.Hehehe) And the Doulos ballpen (Oh God! It's so dear) comes around at 25 pesos. And there are stickers, and other stuff that will forever remind you that you have visited MV Doulus.

Okey, okey I admit. I don't wanna spoil your POSSIBLE visit to the ship. But i wanna tell you guys i didn't enjoy the visit. As a book enthusiast, there are not much things to purchase. Or maybe i just expected too much about the ship and unluckily it did not meet my expectations. Or maybe just maybe, they have already run out of "good stuff" to sell. ( I heard that this will be the last voyage of the ship because it's so old.)

Hmm. That's basically it. Hope you still visit the ship after reading this. Hehehe. God bless and have a nice day.

TRIVIA: MV Doulos was made in 1914. And imagine how many years it has been travelin'. Almost a century. Cool!

P.S. The price of the books in MV Doulos come in Doulos units. So instead of 200 pesos you see 200 units which means 200 Doulos units. 1 Doulos unit is equivalent