So far, so good

What for should I ask more

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Heroism/Hero-is-in

November 30th, the birth anniversary of one of the foremost Philippine patriots, Andres Bonifacio.

Two quotes, coming from seemingly polar opposites, remind us of our individual and collective responsibility to build each other up and sustain one another amidst the temptation to live solely for oneself.


We are all here on this planet, as it were, as tourists.
None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years.
So while we are here we should try to have a good heart
and to make something positive and useful of our lives.

The Dalai Lama

Mapalad ang bayang linitawan ng mga bayani
sapagka’t ang bayang iya’y walang kamatayan.
(Fortunate is the country where heroes emerge
because that country will live on).

Andres Bonifacio

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A most perfect song while driving through the rain

This was the last song I heard on the radio last night after an hour-long trip home. This seems like a perfect fit for a rainy day drive; it has the right drizzle of being forlorn, with a splatter of hope, and spray of quiet delight.



There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea.
You became the light on the dark side of me.
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill.
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can be seen.
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh,
The more I get of you,
The stranger it feels, yeah.
And now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain,
My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh, the more I get of you
The stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the gray,
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,
I've been kissed by a rose
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,
...And if I should fall along the way
I've been kissed by a rose
...been kissed by a rose on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain.
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny, yeah
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby.
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh, the more I get of you
The stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
Yes I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you
The stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the gray.


from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/seal/kissfromarose.html

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Occupy "So far, so good"

I just happened to wander into a blog of a new acquaintance. It was like a portkey to yesteryears, when blogging was about the words and not the ads, badges, and links. The blog was honest, straightforward, and nurturing of conversations; it had none of the clutter that distracts or, worse, turns people off. And so in the next few weeks, schedule permitting, I shall undertake some pruning and snipping of the overgrown foliage choking my blog. I shall take it back from the visual excesses I've allowed to mask what I truly want to do here: share my life through words and the occasional photos. It will be painful, tedious, and unrelenting. *off to get my haz-mat suit*

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Friday, November 18, 2011

Called Out in the Dark (Snow Patrol)

Love, love, love this song =]



It's like we just can't help ourselves
'Cause we don't know how to back down
We were called out to the streets
We were called in to the towns

And how the heavens, they opened up
Like arms of dazzling gold
With our rain washed histories
Well they do not need to be told

Show me now, show me the arms aloft
Every eye trained on a different star
This magic
This drunken semaphore
And I

We are listening
And we're not blind
This is your life
This is your time

We are listening
And we're not blind
This is your life
This is your time

I was called out in the dark
By a choir of beautiful cheats
And as the kids took back the parks
You and I were left with the streets

Show me now, show me the arms aloft
Every eye trained on a different star
This magic
This drunken semaphore
And I

We are listening
And we're not blind
This is your life
This is your time

[repeats 5x]


from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/snowpatrol/calledoutinthedark.html

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Monday, November 14, 2011

World Diabetes Day 2011



Diabetes is a health condition that runs in many families, including ours. In the face of its myriad challenges, we can still do something about diabetes. It is not a death sentence. Click on these online resources to find out more about the diabetes. You may just be a click away from better health.


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Saturday, November 12, 2011

The new 7 wonders of nature (preliminary count)

It is with tremendous delight that I learned this morning that the Puerto Princesa Underground River has been named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, based on the preliminary count of votes. Organizers said that the official announcement of the seven who will actually comprise the prestigious list will be made in early 2012 after a more thorough accounting of votes, where one or more of the preliminary list members may still be dropped. Here's to hoping the Puerto Princesa Underground River will be retained in that final list =]

The list seems to reflect a (re-)shifting of interest (back) to what Asia and South America can offer as regards nature and the environment. Four in the list are found in Asia, two are found in South America, and a lone feature of nature from Africa. Then again, the list is a reflection of the tenacity of supporters in and for these areas =]

They are, in alphabetical order:

Amazon
Halong Bay
Iguazu Falls
Jeju Island
Komodo
Puerto Princesa Underground River
Table Mountain

Monday, November 07, 2011

Make the Puerto Princesa Underground River one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature!

VOTE VOTE VOTE until 11/11/11!
Make the Puerto Princesa Underground River a part of the New 7 Wonders of Nature!


To cast your vote:

Text PPUR to 2861 and follow the prompts/instructions and/or

Visit http://www.new7wonders.com

Here's why we should vote for PPUR:

https://www.facebook.com/PuertoPrincesaUndergroundRiver



Once again, here's how to vote for PPUR:



Voting ends November 11, 2011!

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Friday, November 04, 2011

The Dalai Lama: On introspection




Taking ourselves seriously means actually looking at how we are experiencing our life and, 
if there is something unsatisfactory about it, admitting it to ourselves. 

Our tension and stress do not go away by denying them or avoiding taking an honest look. 

And admitting that something is amiss is not the same as complaining about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. 

Nor does it imply that something is fundamentally wrong with us and 
we are guilty of being a bad person because we are nervous. 

Being objective, 
not melodramatic, 
and remaining non-judgmental 
are essential for any healing, spiritual process.

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Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Requiem for a blog lost

I’m almost relieved that a previous blogging platform I used to regurgitate thoughts masquerading as intellectual discourse has closed shop. If anyone where to find out such a record of my juvenile musings existed, whatever sliver of honor I have would have been reduced to zero.

Almost relieved. But still I mourn.

From 2003 to 2006, I just posted some 100-odd journal entries, a very small handful of which I was able to re-post in my current main blog. The rest are now mere bits and bytes billowing in the winds of cyberspace: the site’s permanently closure happened a few months back, which I only learned this weekend when I thought of re-posting something I wrote in med school from that site. Unfortunately, I was too late. There’s no way of retrieving those files again. The MS Word originals I wrote prior to online posting were stored in a computer that crashed a while back.

I say the disappearance of the said site is actually a boon to my existence. That site carried words that can only be put on paper by a stressed out medical student, trying to juggle family life, school, and the occasional love stories on the side. Those blog entries were replete with mundane musings, as random as how the Christmas season for a particular year officially started in September when I heard my first Christmas song blasted from a store as I walked to school. Or how stuffed myself with a tub of ice cream after a crap-filled hospital duty. Or how “Hope is just a cigarette brand” – the unforgettable title of an entry whose contents escape me now.

In total, they were juvenile, immature, whiny, verbose, verbal diarrhea that made me cringe when I used to go read them every now and then. But that is precisely why I feel a dull but discernible ache somewhere: regardless of it childishness, that blog was mine and me.

Those entries were verbal postcards from a journey that was not at all easy to make and survive.

Those blog posts were affirmations of my character’s growth, no matter how infinitesimal and subtle.

Those words were mine, written under the cloak of anonymity, which is the best truth serum.

That blog, while out *there* in cyberspace, is my small private nook, where my thoughts ran freely without fear of judgment and reprimand. That blogging platform apparently was home to fellow stragglers, with whom I enjoyed friendly banter and occasional verbal jousts. Nameless, faceless commenters enriched that blog. They, too, are lost. Perhaps forever.

I tried to get in touch with the owners of the site, begging for the opportunity to download my online journal in toto . They still not have gotten back to me yet. Life goes on.

So what have I learned through all this:

1- Live (and write) in the moment but do think about what happens in the next 5, 10 minutes/months/years, about the impermanence of things.

2- Whether you’re dealing with kingdoms and empires with succession issues or you’re in a once-in-a-lifetime trip or you’re just blogging your life away- it’s prudent to have a backup- backup king/queen, backup camera/memory stick, backup copies of your online work.

3- Some secrets DO get to be kept *wicked evil grin*

And so, with a relieved but still heavy heart, I bid farewell to those words written down in my old blog. Thank you for being a ready platform to rant on, lending a sympathetic blank slate on which I poured my heart out, in moments of glee and garrulousness.

Good night and thank you.

(Above: PINTADO by JUNYEE, 2005, photographed by me in the BenCab Musuem, off Baguio City.)

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