CDO here we come!
I guess having FB down for a looong time has given me the muse I needed to start writing again and what better experience to write about but the intense anticipation i have for my vacation tomorrow! yahoo!
As the title suggests we (that's me, tere kelvin and aya) will be going to Cagayan de Oro and to Camiguin to have some downtime (especially for tere who has just finished the legal torture which they hide under the name Bar Exams) and I'm already brimming with excitement and expectations. In fact I've prepared an excel spreadsheet for the itinerary and budget as well as bought new stuff just for the white water rafting. This is all our first time to do white water rafting and we've all summoned up the courage to actually go for the advanced course already. And since i've had a couple of officemates who've been there before they suggested the following.
- If you have a rash guard bring one (unfortunately we don't have any)
- Make sure your slippers/sandals/shoes stay on
- bring ziplock or a waterproof bag for your valuables (you know where we can buy a waterproof bag?)
They've also suggested places (Bigby's and Sandbar) but I guess for those who'd still be able to read and reply to this before we leave can suggest a few more. =)
Excited na kami gid! Mindanao here we come!
No facebook = better stuff to do
It has been more than 40 hours since I first saw this message from Facebook:
Account Unavailable
Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours. We apologize for the inconvenience.
And because of it I still can't access facebook (I can't play mafia wars!!! aagh). But instead of dwelling on it this made me realise how much time I spend on it when I could have used that time to do better stuff. For the past two days I've been cooking my own dinner and was able to clean some parts of the house and reading again Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. These are some of the stuff I take for granted now because I think I have no time when in fact I just choose to spend it somewhere else but will less satisfaction
So what has this experience taught me? One, that at least multiply is more stable than Facebook. (haha), two, that sites like facebook enjoin you to waste your time on them so that they get the airtime to pull in advertisers but ultimately leave you nothing but the small fulfillment of doing nothing worthwhile.
So i guess from now on if I do get my facebook access back, i'd just check the relevant stuff from my friends and then do the stuff i want like reading a book, touching up on my computer skills - and if time allows do some more mafia wars. hahaha.
Visita Iglesia
This Maundy Thursday I hope to finish my first ever Visita Iglesia with the following churches in my itinerary:
National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes
Sta. Teresita
UST
Our Lady of Loreto*
San Sebastian
San Beda**
St Jude Thaddeus
San Miguel
St Vincent de Paul
Ermita Catholic Church
Manila Cathedral
San Agustin
Sta Cruz
Quiapo
*Together with St. Anthony de Padua
** I am not actually sure if they allow visitors as I usually see their gate closed
I have long been wanting to do this but for some reason I always find a reason to postpone it but with all the blessings I've received and my own need to do some soul-searching I promised myself that I will complete this tomorrow. If anyone of you wants to join me just give inform me. I'll start quite early tomorrow. maybe around 6 to 7 am in the morning.
Have a prayerful Lenten break everyone!
Again
I spent last night up until the wee hours of morning so that I'd have a chance to talk to Tere who's quarter-way around the world (she's in Austria which is at GMT + 2) and just to at least catch a glimpse of her to sustain me for the next few days. She's there right now representing the UP College of Law in the Wilhem C. Vis International Private Law Moot Court and I do hope that all who reads this pray for her and her team.
But that is actually not the main topic of this post (tere, forgive me but I have to vent this out). While I was actually talking to tere I was again at my multi-tasking self. I was updating my phone's software, talking to tere, browsing through some long forgotten files in my external hd and of course surfing the net. And I don't know what brought me to it but I went to Friendster just to check it out (yep my friends, it is still alive!) and I was surprised to see a friend commenting on another friend's photo. The photo had two of my friends eating something in the beach and boy was i surprised. These were the ones I supposedly called my close friends and none of them had the gall to invite me to this beach outing. With my rationalising self I came out with possible explanations and of course I gave all of them the benefit of the doubt but in spite of it, what pains me the most is that this is I realised that this is actually not the first time that it has happened. We've been friends for 12 or more years yet it appears that we were only close during the four years that we were together. And when we stepped into college it was as if I was slowly eased out of their lives. Again, I can blame all of this on myself by being busy with a lot of stuff but now in retrospect how can I say that I'm busy to them when they haven't asked me if I was available in the first place?
And I guess that's the harsh reality of life. When people don't need you anymore or when they determine that you're not fun to be with or when they simply forget about you then you are nothing but a mere name in their phonebooks, in their email address list only to be remembered when they need it or to be recalled when you need them.
I wrote a post with the feelings eerily similar to this one but with a very different context and I never thought that I would be mentioning these poeple in the same breadth, people I truly cherished as friends. But there are times that the best thing to do is to shut up and let it be. Words need not to be spoken as I am not closing my doors to them but now I know who's who.
2 sets of friends, 2 different years yet the same feeling again. I don't know if its simply me or its because i get to be on the losing side of the bargain mroe often than I wished. These are the times that I doubt my own self and how I am as a friend to others. Do i just simply leave people that I care for, or is it they that leave me? Or is it simply because I get peeved at the small things?
Some may say that this is petty, that I can still expect these people to be there when I need them but for me the reality is that it is not. Friends will be there for the big stuff. Yes, some people will leave you when you need them and it is your true friends that stay but I believe it is the closest friends that pay attention to the small things. The world is large enough for people who care, but close friends can only be limited for those who you believe truly love you.
I know I have a lot of friends and acquaintances that I can always turn to but then again I used to say that I can count my closest friends, the people who I was not afraid to share with nor be afraid to be who i really am and be judged for it using two hands, now its down to one. There have been attempts to increase them but due to various reasons it just doesn't work out.
So for anyone who gets to read this (and labors through all of my venting) cherish the friends who you really are close with and who you value for it is the small actions that we do that will have the most impact in their lives. Be careful with who you choose to trust and to believe in as a true close friend, for after all it is a committment, a relationship that is nurturing and heart-warming
I recall a quote saying that the best conversation with a friend is just by being beside each other and in the silence you understand. These are for friends but for the true close friends we consider It is not enough you were simply there for him or her because in that special instance, it is not the big stuff that you share - the monumental problem, the wailing of a lost love, the success you experienced which makes a friend a close true friend, but instead as a close true friend, because of all the small details that you have shared together you know what to say and do right after that silent moment. That is the magic of friendship. Knowing that whatever happens someone will be there who'll lift your spirts up or help you soar even higher.
Friends are the ones who know who you really are, from the problems to the successes. Who does not judge, who does not forget, who pays attention to the little details that make you who you are and who simply loves.
My challenge to you know during the lenten break is to actually think of who you'll trust to be your true close friend. And by labeling them as such make sure that you pay attention to them and show them the love that they deserve.
As for me, I may have true close friends numbering less and less than I initially thought I had but in the end you don't need a lot, you just need a few who truly loves you.
Silence
I am silence, and silence is me.
No loud noises, no maelstrom of feelings unperturbed by the onslaught of emotions welling inside.
I am silence and silence is me
When I reach out to grasp the infinite prism of nothingness, surprisingly that nothingness itself stops me
I am silence and silence is me
Because amidst the presence of all the discord in this world there is nothing more peaceful, nothing as serenely perfect as the silence i have
the silence that i have when it rests contently with yours.
You are my silence and my silence is you
***
As you are my love and I am yours. I love you be!
Renewing phones
I renewed my Sun line today so that I can get hold of at least a new phone (my plan is the group plan 899 so I'm entitled to two). Renewing was just as breeze as I just had to give a valid ID, sign some documents, choose the phones and voila, I have two new handsets. We were to choose from one handset from plan 600 and another from plan 350 so Tere immediately chose the Samsung J500 while I chose the Nokia 2680 slide (yep, both are slide-phones, perhaps the in-thing in phone designs these days). Now you maybe wondering why I'm choosing to blog about this when I rarely do blog and more often than not they relate to more serious matter. Well the reason simply being is the fact that out of the two phones that I got out of renewing with Sun for another 30 months, I ended up not owning any one of them.
As obviously stated earlier the Samsung J500 went to Tere so by now you maybe wondering where the Nokia phone went. Well even before I renewed for the line I definitely knew where It will go through. Because as much as I'd love a new phone to replace my poor looking Motorola Razr Vi (plus add to the fact that I just got a new phone about three months ago to replace my p990 which got ran over by a speeding fortuner) I knew that there was one person who'd really appreciate it more. I think it has been two years as well since she got a new phone and I believe it was high time that I start paying off all the things she has given me from the very start.
And so as they both got home earlier I hid the phone in my hand, welcomed them and told my mom while suppressing my giddiness, "my, baka gusto nyo po ng bagong phone" my mom's eyes lit up. And even though she has a hard time understanding the new technologies of today and the intricacies of intelligent phones, it was very evident that she wanted it. Even exclaiming "madali lang ba gamitin to? yaan mo na aaralin ko na lang". She really wanted it. And then she told me "umaasa lang ako sa bibigay mo e, alam mo namang ayoko nang bumibili-bili pa". That's my mom, never wanting any more than necessary for herself just as she did so for the past 27 plus years that she has been taking care of me and kuya. Always us first. So I thoght that this gesture, even it may be small to some (or even worthless for others), can at least show my love to her.
And if by that small gesture I can feel her happiness, I myself am a happy son as well. For I know that it is through those small gestures I can repay the love they have given me all of my life.
Maybe its time you renewed as well, not necessarily including phone lines, but it should be a renewal of your love to your parents. Watchatink?
p.s.
Love you mom and dad!
A series of unfortunate events...
I must say the past few days have not been the most pleasant for me.
Last saturday, after filling up my car in a Shell Station (but of course) in Q. Ave I went directly home only to realize upon my arrival that my credit card was nowhere to be found. So I had to rush back to that particular station and ask the gasoline attendant boy if I left it and his immediate reply was "sir wala po dito". I then immediately went to the select station (since I bought a ferarri key chain) and asked the lady over the counter and again she told me it was not there. I was quite getting panicked already when I went back to my car to search for it again. When I was about to call Citibank to reRport my lost card, the gasoline attendant suddenly comes to me and says "sir nandun pala sa may hanginan, nalaglag siguro" whew! boy was i relieved. So i thanked him and went home to call Citibank just to check if indeed the card wasn't used while it was "lying around" and luckily it wasn't used.
And then yesterday I was about to go to UP to jog but I had severe headaches in the afternoon. I was forced to go home earler than usual and take a rest.
And just this afternoon after finally pushing through with my jog (together with Walter and Tess), we were crossing the road in a quick jog in order to avoid the oncoming traffic when I realized my p990 fell from my belt bag. I was frozen in the sidewalk just staring at it when the first two cars were able to swerve past it but suddenly a fortuner ran over it and my hopes of it surviving that ordeal was crushed. I got my phone after a few more cars went past it (it was really only the Fortuner who was fortunate enough to run over it) and to my dismay all it displayed was a blank white screen and a crack could be seen on its lcd. The phone was still functioning as I was still able to call some people and play some of the music but the display was really broken already.
So there, three days, three weird, unfortunate stuff happening, but amidst all of them I see lessons to be learned.
1.) Go fill up somewhere near your place so that you can return to it ASAP just in case you leave something.
2.) Fill up at Shell stations. Look how honest the personnel are! (I really want to commend the people there)
3.) When your head's aching, its your mind's way of telling you to slow down, so you really better do
4.) Value your life above your personal possesions. Heck, I could have easily gotten that phone had I wanted to and you woud probably be sending me get-well-soon messages now.
5.) Get a Sony Ericsson phone. Look how tough they are. More than once it fell from my hand and nothing happened, and now, a car ran over it and it still works (though no more screen). That's what you call tough!
6.) Lastly, don't dwell on the bad things but always try to look at the positive side. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason.
So do take care of yourselves and always remember to smile! =)
