Reminds Me...

"Pumapatak Nanaman Ang Ulan", UP Concert Choir, August 2006. Milton Keynes England.

No I wasn't there, but I dreamed that I could organize something like this.
This reminds me that I am a frustrated musician. LOL

Is It My Stupor

After four months here, nothing much has been changing. I have seen sources that younger people are ahead of me, either with better jobs or are studying higher college and would graduate soon, thus having a secure future. I DON'T KNOW. I JUST DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM HEADED. It just frustrates me. Sure, people can say that God has a plan, but like a candle, my patience is being consumed drop by drop.

But considering that Christ wants from us a relationship, not a religion. Like a brother, I should trust Him that everything will be OK. But as long as I die in grace, I will be good.

I'm not stupid. I'm just misguided, inexperienced, and wrong-timed.

I've got to rest now because I have a splitting headache. #: /

Forevermore - Side A

Long distance relationships are one of the greatest trials a couple has to face. This is the type of situation where one party has to go to a far place, leaving the other party behind for a valid and important reason. They opt to maintain their relationship by TRUSTING in each other and in HOPING to be together soon.

This song is dedicated to my dear Cris:

Forevermore
by Side A
www.lyrics007.com/Side%20A%20Lyrics/Forevermore%20Lyrics.html -

There are times
When I just want to look at your face
With the stars in the night
There are times
When i just want to feel your embrace
On a cold night

Refrain
I just can't believe
that you are mine now

Chorus
You were just a dream that i once knew
I never thought i would be right for you
I just can't compare you with anything in this world
You're all i need to be forevermore
All those years
I long to hold you in my arms
I've been dreaming of you every night
I've been watching all the stars that fall down
Wishing you will be mine

(repeat refrain & chorus)

Bridge
Time & again
There are these changes that we cannot end
As sure as time keeps goin on & on
My love for you will be forevermore

(refrain & chorus except last line)

As endless as forever
Our love will stay together
You are all i need to be with forevermore
(as endless as forever)
(our love will stay together)
You are all i need to be with forevermore.

Candlestick, My Dear Candlestick

Candlestick, My Dear Candlestick
by the traveler

Candlestick, my dear Candlestick,
keep the cold darkness far from me
stay right here, closer, by my side
light from you flicker tenderly

Passing the days become so weak
Giving yourself consumes your life
Hang on there, my dear Candlestick
Dripping away to give us light.

Candlestick, breathing, struggles on
keeping the perfect glow, your burn
You have become too short to be.
Goes to the point of no return

Candlestick? Why, dear Candlestick?
Why did you leave us without you?
Sorry that we depend too much.
Gone now, if only we had knew.

Nature's Wrath at Sea

Nature's Wrath at Sea
by the traveler

With a speck of light in the horizon,
a flash of light and thunderclap rips the clouds
a foghorn echoing through the frigid air
where it dares to steal the warmth within
and replace it with an jagged edge of ice.

Fighting the powers of nature is futile
The madness of the storm raises the water
like fire ants creeping up the cliff,
the waves meet
crest and trough
pounding and pounding
pulverized sediments break off
with the ocean drawing closer
and closer it comes.
The vain attempt to stop nature.

The tumultuous tides rushing in
swallowing the stony shore, incomprehensible
but what is reality, they are lies.
Just dark. All cold.

Filipino Expat Chronicles - The Uphill Struggle

It has been a month since I embarked on a leisure biking trip. This one is special, because I had my brother come along.


We took the Fish Creek route to Sikome Lake - took us like an 45 minutes from entry to destination.

A person hauling a croc?! Inflatable, that is. LOL


Me and my brother. We went north following the Bow River's west bank...

... and then south following its east bank. One of the hardest part we encountered is the steep uphill sections on the southbound Bow River Path. We had to stop at the crest of the uphill to rest for a while. But lo, what a wonderful view it was!

Just like in life, we all have our obstacles. We would feel like "burnt-out" and would like to quit. Well, it is normal to feel tired after exerting effort to your endeavors, but don't quit. Just look at yourself, and lo, what an accomplishment! You have gone a long way battling the difficulties - that is what makes you glorious.

Tragedy of a Mother

Tragedy of a Mother

A Tribute to Mary, Mater Dolorosa
who patiently bore the sufferings
of her son and of her sacrifices
until her Assumption.


One Friday morn, she wakes in dread
a nightmare shook her rest in bed
T'was just a dream, she hoped and sighed
It's not like that my son will die.

Her phone then rings - it's the police,
You have to come here quickly, please
We need you here. And that is when
The eyes of fear then welled again

She dashed outside to catch a ride
The chill, it bit her through inside.
It's strange, it seems, that place is filled
with people, gathered, grave and stilled.

To watch the scene, her heart, it aches
yet softly, shattered will it breaks
Amidst the furious crowd she cries,
when lo, her child, her precious, dies.

The weight and pain of what she bore,
She had for long, but is no more.
But then... Oh dear, it's all a dream.
She loves her son... from her heart's stream.

Kahit Kailan - Southborder

One of my favorite songs - dedicated to my beloved one. "Kahit Kailan" connotes as "Forever" - and the lyrics say, I will never leave you.

Kahit Kailan
by Southborder

Nagtatanong ang isip
Di raw maintindihan
Kung anong nararamdaman
Dapat mong malaman
Sa puso ko'y ikaw lamang
Ang nag iisa...

Pangangamba
Dapat bang isipin
Walang hanggan
Asahan mo na...

Kahit kailan
Di kita iiwan
Kahit kailan
Di kita pababayaan
Kahit kailan
Kahit kailan...

Bulong ng yung damdamin
Pagibig na walang hanggan
Ang siyang nais kong makamtan
Ngayon ay narito ako
Handang umibig sa iyo
Na walang katapusan...

Pangangamba
Dapat bang isipin?
Walang hanggan
Asahan mo na...

Kahit kailan
Di kita iiwan
Di kita pababayaan
Kahit kailan
Kahit kailan...

Kung ikaw ay mawala sa piling ko
Di na alam kung kakayanin pa kayang
Umibig bang muli
Kahit na ano pang mangyayari
Di maaring ipag-balik
Sasamahan pa kita
Hanggang sa huli.......

Kahit kailan
Di kita iiwan
Kahit kailan
Di kita pababayaan
Kahit kailan
Di magbabago
Kahit kailan
Kahit kailan

Haircut Day!

Before haircut











After haircut

Hungry for An Answer

Do you feel disappointed and useless? discouraged or emotional? Read the story...

Disappointment and uselessness. Pain and despair. Elijah looks over the wilderness and sits under a furze bush, swallowing his dry saliva. Hungry. Thirsty. But above that, he feels the burden of his memories of his past - and reflecting on himself, he is a weakling, a loser, a nobody. He thinks that his parents, if they was still alive, would disown him because since he had never done anything right, it is shameful for them to say, "Oh, this is my son". Elijah wants no more of this, so he said, "Lord, I don't want to live any longer! Just take my life! I want to die!". He wanted to cry, but his body is too dehydrated to spare even some tears. Then in his hunger, he falls asleep, hoping that he will die there.

"Get up," someone says to Elijah, touching his shoulder. "Get up and eat."

Elijah jolts up in surprise, but nobody is there. Just as he is about to wipe cold sweat from his forehead, he sees some bread on a stone and and a jar of water beside him. He is puzzled, yet hungry, so he takes some of his bread, and eats them, and finishes them all. After drinking the refreshing water, he falls asleep again.

"Get up," the same voice calls to him, and touches his shoulder. "Get up and eat, or else the journey will be too long."

Elijah wakes up again, and again, finds nobody, except some more of that bread. The jar is filled up again, too. So he eats, wondering what this encounter might mean, until the bread is all finished, and drank all the water. He is filled with energy, and gets up to continue his walk to the place called Horeb, where he will meet God.

Do you notice how tired and hungry you can get when you get mad or disappointed? Like what happened to Elijah. He wanted to die because he was disappointed and discouraged. Why? Because it was like his life was going nowhere. He wanted an answer.

God did soon reveal that answer. But say if he died right at that moment, would he have received that purpose?

So to all my readers, have courage! Don't be hasty. Continue to ask God for answers - and listen well to them, because might never notice them. And for those who are losing hope, God is always with you, and don't let Him down! There will be the right time.

God Bless.

Why Work?

For three months now, I have been employed, and this is a humbling experience not to achieve my goals and expectations in my work: simply because I feel that I should deserve better. With all the beefing up I did to attain a college degree, isn't it time for me to reap what I have sown? Then why am I still "tilling the soil" and living on a marginal wage?

These questions bother me. But I admit, I am still fathoms away from the "educational standard" of Canada. I am not smart at all, am I am an inexperienced whelp struggling to flap its wings but unable to fly. In the meanwhile, I bunked in the hole where I labor for hours and days. Oh how I wish I could have a better job, but still, I am not good enough.

My pride gets over me because of the nature of job. I work... but for what? Hearing last Sunday's gospel, a passage helped me think over the questions in my mind.

Jesus said:

"Do not work for food that cannot last,

but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,

for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal."
John 6:27

It is because of lust of money that drives people crazy over work. People like to earn more for equal or less work. but as Catholics, we should actually work not for the sake of gathering money or fame, but for personal sanctification and ultimately, the salvation of souls. Considering my work is trivial compared to those in the offices, I still find it humbling and trying me in a crucible, removing all bad intentions, so that my work will not be for the love of money, but for the love of God.

We should all seek God, especially at work, where the world is built upon. let us sanctify the world, and work for the bread of everlasting life.

‘I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.’
John 6:35b