Bababa ba?

Josie and I were in National Bookstore the other night, after our isaw adventure in the afternoon. We were in the children’s books section looking for a copy of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” for her CWTS when we came across this children’s book by Robert Munsch.

We almost cried right there and then. We looked like bawling weirdos in the middle of National Bookstore. We were holding our tears back, while we both remembered our beloved mothers.

I almost bought the book, but it was waaaaaaaaay to expensive for a 20 page book. Well, children’s books are made that way: expensive, short, but with substance.

Enjoy.

I love you mom. :)

—
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When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

- Kahlil Gibran

Tomorrow, you come home… Yey! :)

Ever played Ragnarok Online? R.O.S.E perhaps? Tantra? World of Warcraft? Or even any online game?

Ever read Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes?

Ever thought what would happen if the elements of a classic novel and an online world were fused?

Wala lang.

Yun ang nangyari sa Don_Q.

(Hahaha. Wala na, nabobo na ako. Hindi ako marunong mag-advertise!)

Anyways, PETA’s Don_Q is on it’s final weekend (Oct 21-22.) Do watch it. As an (ex)online gamer and a representative of the Philippine youth (naks), sobrang naka-relate ako. Even though nung nanood ako, kulang na kulang ako sa tulog, hindi ako nakatulog sa theater. Nyahahaha. (I was lucky enough to be able to watch the critic’s night :p)

Don Quixote fights imaginary foes in his mind.
Don_Q fights imaginary foes in the online world.

Wala namang pinagkaiba, diba?

In online gaming worlds, we are all Don Quixotes.

Do contact PETA at the following numbers…

7256244
7218604
0917-5394707
0918-9068083

Cheers! :)

Aya and I went to Greenhills this afternoon. She needed to go to Diver’s Point to purchase, well, some diving gear. :p

Anyways. After buying her stuff, we found our way to Greenhills Shopping Center, and then to Theater Mall (ahh, memories) and then to Promenade.

Na-excite si Aya, naka-experience na siya ng “dibidi! dibidi!” encounter sa shopping center. Pero, a few years ago, when I was strolling by Greenhills, yung mga nakakasalubong ko naman ay, “boss, X!” Bwahehehehehe. >:)

Nagtaka naman ako kung bakit hindi na X ang inoffer sa akin (don’t get me wrong, hindi ako naghahanap ng X. :p Nakasanayan lang na makasalubong ng ganun sa Greenhills.)

Sabi ni Aya sa akin, “eh kasi, may babae kang kasama. Diba?”

Nyak nyak nyak. Ganun?

Anyways, raiding Fully Booked in Promenade was fun. Although I still have a lot of books to finish, it doesn’t hurt to look through some books. :p And of course, reading children’s books can be fun (reading lang. Kid’s books are waaaaay too expensive, hahaha.)

Guess How Much I Love You Read the rest of this entry »

My balls hurt…

*jump* *jump* *jump*

Well, that’s what you get for riding a tricycle that has a driver who doesn’t know what brakes are. Effing humps. From Philcoa to my house, there are around three humps. Hulaan niyo kung bakit ko nabilang. ;p

Anyways, watched ‘Step Up’ with Aya in SM NE’s The Block. Hahaha. Loved the place. Parang The Podium sa tabi ng MegaMall. Movie wasn’t as feel good as ‘Take the Lead’ but still good, nonetheless. Although medyo pareho sila ng ‘Take the Lead’ pero parang ginawa lang na ballet. Hahaha.

Nagpakabata sa Fully Booked ng The Block. Read some Dr. Seuss aloud, along with The Velveteen Rabbit, The Snowman and Wacky Wednesday. Mukha kaming ewan… Pero fun pa rin. Haha ^_^

I missed today’s mini-Oblation Run due to math-math-math with Ma’am Alelie… Depressing na nga na namiss ko, tapos depressing pa ang math (Sir Vry, balik ka na!)

Don’t get me wrong here. It’s not as if inaabang-abangan ko ang Oblation Run. Para kasing hindi ako nakakakita ng ganun araw-araw tuwing naliligo, umiihi, o tumatae ako. ;p For me, it’s more of a symbolic act.

And the nakedness, too. It was against the rules for children or adults to look at another’s nakedness; but the rule did not apply to newchildren or the Old. Jonas was glad. It was a nuisance to keep oneself covered while changing for games, and the required apology if one had by mistake glimpsed another’s body was always awkward. He couldn’t see why it was necessary. He liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on the woman’s face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed, and free.

–The Giver

I remember once in our basic course in Lauan, Phillip mentioned something about Adam and Eve’s nakedness…

“So kung hindi nila kinain yung fruit, hubad tayong lahat ngayon.”

And Miguel started talking about how things could’ve been if the fruit wasn’t taken.

In UP, we are constantly reminded of what the naked man symbolizes: it symbolizes the UP student.

The UP student starts naked, with arms wide open towards the sky.

Innocent. Free.

Oblational.

But as time passes by, the State and the University clothes the student. The student is equipped with what the State gives.

So what happens if the State equips the student with substandard education? Substandard clothes?

The student knows what he deserves. He has seen life face-to-face.

He then strips off his clothes, and fights for the truth.

Nothing’s wrong with the Oblation, really, and the students fighting for truth, they’re fighting for what is right. So why bash the student population? Even I, a non-activist, was hurt by the comments hurled by DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzales (even if he stressed that he was not bashing the whole student population, it still is an extremely atrocious remark.)

“UP breeds destabilizers, naked runners,” he says.

“Maybe we are going in that direction… there are now women running naked. I will not be surprised if they will go to school with only their books, nothing more.”

So you think this is where future leaders from UP are heading?

At least we’re heading and searching for the naked truth, rather than turning a blind eye to the country’s situation.

It’s an oblation, a full offering, for the Filipino people.

“Well-behaved,” eh?

No, I’m not getting myself involved in some activist thingies or something. It’s just I’m speaking my mind, just like what Raul Gonzales did.

Point 16

You a drifter? You… one of the crowd? You, who were born to be a leader!

There is no room among us for the lukewarm. Humble yourself and Christ will set you aflame again with the fire of Love.

Point 17

Don’t succumb to that disease of character whose symptoms are inconstancy in everything, thoughtlessness in action and speech scatter-brained ideas: superficiality, in short.

Mark this well: unless you react in time — not tomorrow: now! — that superficiality which each day leads you to form those empty plans (plans ’so full of emptiness’) will make of your life a dead and useless puppet.

Point 18

You persist in being worldly, superficial, scatter-brained, because you are a coward. What is it but cowardice not to want to face yourself?

Point 19

Will-power. A very important quality. Don’t despise little things, for by the continual practice of denying yourself again and again in such things — which are never futile or trivial — with God’s grace you will add strength and resilience to your character. In that way you will first become master of yourself, and then a guide, a chief, a leader: to compel and to urge and to inspire others, with your word, with your example, with your knowledge and with your power.

Point 20

It is inevitable that you should feel the rub of other people’s characters against your own. After all, you are not a gold coin that everyone likes.

Besides, without that friction produced by contact with others, how would you ever lose those corners, those edges and projections — the imperfections and defects — of your character, and acquire the smooth and regular finish, the firm flexibility of charity, of perfection?

If your character and the characters of those who live with you were soft and sweet like sponge-cake you would never become a saint.

Point 21
Excuses. You will always find plenty if you want to avoid your obligations. What a profusion of well-thought-out nonsense!

Don’t stop to consider it. Dismiss it and do your duty.

Point 22

Be firm. Be virile. Be a man. And then… be a saint.

Point 23

You say that you can’t do more? Could it not be that… you can’t do less?

Point 24

You are ambitious: for knowledge, for leadership, for great ventures.

Good. Very good. But let it be for Christ, for Love.

Point 25

Don’t argue. Arguing seldom brings light, for the light is quenched by passion.

Point 26

Matrimony is a holy sacrament. When the time comes for you to receive it, ask your spiritual adviser or your confessor to suggest a suitable book. And you will be better prepared to bear worthily the burdens of the home.

Point 27

You laugh because I tell you that you have a ‘vocation for marriage’? Well, you have just that: a vocation.

Commend yourself to the Archangel Raphael that he may keep you pure, as he did Tobias, until the end of the way.

Point 28

Marriage is for the soldiers and not for the General Staff of Christ’s army. For, whereas food is a necessity for each individual, procreation is a necessity for the species only, not for the individual.

Longing for children? Children, many children, and a lasting trail of light we shall leave behind us if we sacrifice the selfishness of the flesh.

Point 29

The limited, miserable happiness of the egoist — who withdraws into his ivory tower, into his shell — is not difficult to attain in this world. But the happiness of the egoist is not lasting.

For this false semblance of heaven, are you going to forsake the happiness which will have no end?

Point 30

You are too calculating. Don’t tell me you are young. Youth gives all it can: it gives itself without reserve

Point 31

Selfish. Always looking after yourself You seem incapable of feeling the fraternity of Christ. In those around you, you do not see brothers: you see stepping stones.

I can foresee your complete failure. And when you have fallen, you will want others to treat you with the charity you are not willing to show towards them.

Point 32

You will never be a leader if you see others only as stepping-stones to get ahead. You will be a leader if you are ambitious for the salvation of all mankind.

You can’t turn your back on your fellow-men: you have to be anxious to make them happy.

Had a talk with Sir Dennis this evening. Talked about UP, grades, studying, decisions, my homework.

Must… go… to Mass… more often.

Para bang nanliligaw ka.

(Here we go again with the ligawan and being with that certain someone for extended periods.)

Point 7
Get rid of that ’small-town’ outlook. Enlarge your heart till it becomes universal, ‘catholic’.

Don’t flutter about like a hen, when you can soar to the heights of an eagle.

Point 8
Serenity. Why lose your temper if by doing so you offend God, annoy other people, upset yourself… and have to find it again in the end?

Point 9
Say what you have just said, but in a different tone, without anger, and your argument will gain in strength and, above all, you won’t offend God.

Point 10
Never correct anyone while you are still indignant about a fault committed. Wait until the next day, or even longer. And then, calmly, and with a purer intention, make your reprimand. You will gain more by one friendly word than by a three-hour quarrel. Control your temper.

Point 11
Will-power. Energy. Example. What has to be done, is done… without hesitation, without more worrying.

Otherwise, Teresa of Avila would not have been Saint Teresa: nor Iñigo of Loyola, Saint Ignatius.

God and daring! ‘We want Christ to reign!’

Point 12
Let those very obstacles give you strength. God’s grace will not fail you: ‘Inter medium montium pertransibunt aquae! You shall pass through the mountains!’

Does it matter that you have to curtail your activity for the moment if afterwards, like a spring which has been compressed, you will reach incomparably farther than you ever dreamed?

Point 13
Get rid of those useless thoughts which, at best, are but a waste of time.

Point 14
Don’t waste your time and your energy — which belong to God — throwing stones at the dogs that bark at you on your way. Ignore them.

Point 15
Don’t put off your work until tomorrow.

I have a lot of potential within me.

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.

Which means that a murder victim is usually killed by someone known to
them and fairies are made out of paper and you can’t talk to someone
who is dead.

- Christopher John Francis Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon)

In layman’s terms, the best answers are the simplest ones. ;)

Ang math, hindi nabobola…

Good luck sa exams at midterms natin. :)

And then I imagined crossing out all the possibilities which were impossible, which is like in a maths exam when you look at all the questions and you decide which ones you are going to do and which ones you are not going to do because then your decision is final and you can’t change your mind.

- Christopher John Francis Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon)

Point 3
Maturity. Stop acting the child; drop that affectation that only suits a silly girl. Let your outward conduct reflect the peace and order of your soul.

Point 4
Don’t say: ‘That’s the way I’m made… it’s my character’. It’s your lack of character: Be a man.

Point 5
Get used to saying No.

Point 6
Turn your back on the tempter when he whispers in your ear: ‘Why make life difficult for yourself?’

The readings of the day talked about growing up and making mature decisions.

Have I been making mature decisions lately?

“All men have the stars,” he answered, “but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You–you alone–will have the stars as no one else has them–”

“What are you trying to say?”

“In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night . . . You–only you–will have stars that can laugh!”

And he laughed again.

“And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure . . . And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, ‘Yes, the stars always make me laugh!’ And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you . . .”

And he laughed again.

Back from the MegaBush in Lauan’s oratory.

The Way: POINT 1:

Don’t let you life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love.

With your apostolic life wipe out the slimy and filthy mark left by the impure sowers of hatred. And light up all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you carry in your heart.

Saint Josemariá Escrivá

What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?

Spent some time in Lauan’s oratory. In my mind, I just talked and talked and talked to Kuya Jess up to some points na either I’m nearly in tears, I’m about to laugh out loud, or I’m just staring at the angels in the altar.

But… Should have I listened instead? Should have I let Kuya Jess work His magic? Diba dapat pinayagan kong ipakilala Niya ang sarili Niya sa akin?

That’s for the next session. More readings, more reflection.

I felt really stupid for not being able to read the second point while I was there…

The Way: POINT 2:

How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ.

Saint Josemariá Escrivá

After coming from the Lauan center in B. Gonzales this afternoon, I decided to do some Katipunan tripping. I walked the long road of Katipunan for wala-lang’s sake.

Usually, when I’m in Katipunan and I’m low on cash, I end up in National Bookstore, searching for possible books that I might purchase and read after finishing any current book that I’m reading (asa pa na matatapos ko ang Sherlock Holmes collection in the near future, hahaha).

So that’s what happened. After walking the long stretch between B. Gonzales and the Ateneo overpass, I found myself in National Bookstore again, checking out the books that they had.

I chanced upon some kids, together with their parents, walking around the store bearing a couple of baskets and a few checklists. They were gathering the usual school stuff: Notebooks, pens, pencils, paper, scissors, glue, tapes, correction tapes, etsetera, etsetera.

School stuff.

Seems like yesterday when the damned smell of the newly purchased plastic covers for highschool schoolbooks alerted my nostrils. Ugh. I abhor the season.

Although things are going to be different now.

Pasukan na! Waaaah!

On a lighter note about pasukan…

Pia, my niece, just entered the room, wearing her newly purchased school uniform. Turns out she’s going to start her schooling this June. Yeeey! Pre-school na si Pia!

She’s gonna learn a lot! She’s gonna learn to talk, to spell, to do math, to extort money from her ninong, to harass her ninong…

Oh noooo. The kid’s growing up!

Hahaha.

I’ve been Googling this morning, searching for articles related to the the Sigaw ng Bayan claims of “9 million” visitors, when I noticed the new Google header. It was a detective figure, presumably Sherlock Holmes.

Click on the header and you’ll see what today’s tribute is about.

Happy birthday, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

Manila solon wants nationwide ban on ‘The Da Vinci Code’
by Tina Santos of INQ7.net

A DAY after the city council of Manila passed a resolution prohibiting the showing of “The Da Vinci Code,” a congressman from the city now wants the controversial film banned nationwide.

Read the whole article here.

Ermita takes flak for flaying ‘Da Vinci’
by Maricel V. Cruz of The Manila Times Internet Edition

“I think we should do everything not to allow it to be shown,” [Ermita] said. “I don’t see how we as a Catholic nation or as practicing Catholics would tolerate such a plot to be propagated in the name of freedom of expression.”

…

The House majority leader, Rep. Prospero Nograles, said it is not for Malacañang or the politicians to comment on the movie.

“It is for the bishops to tell us what we should respond to this blasphemy and attack on our fundamental Catholic beliefs. This should be the topic that our very vocal bishops should concentrate on instead of goings-on in Philippine politics,” Nograles, who chairs the House Committee on Rules, said.

“Watching the film or reading the book would not weaken one’s faith in God”, he said. “Faith is personal. Strength and weakness depend on individual, moral and religious conviction. Either you believe or you don’t have faith,” he said.

Like banning ‘Noli and Fili’

Rep. Jesli Lapus of Tarlac, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, agreed with Nograles. “It would be like banning Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,” he said.

Read the whole article here

Crash Migs! I love what your daddy said. Hahaha. Go Tito Prospy!

Anyways. This is gettings stupider and stupider by the minute. According to Mon, even Sir Pagsi says the TDVC banning hype was stupid.

Masiyadong overdefensive ang mga tao. Lalu na ang simbahan siguro. Yung gobyerno mas stupid. Tama si Tito Prospy.

A possible view on the showing of this movie is what if God is actually testing us? Maybe to separate the believers from the non-believers. Sino ang mga malalakas ang mga paniniwala? Sino yung mga utu-uto? Sino ang mga magpapadala?

Posible diba?

Anyways, yay, me! 300th blog entry!