Think Out Loud

I want to give a shout out to my mentor and surrogate father who taught me a lot about photography the past 2 weeks, and shared many words of wisdom and life lessons to me. I know I will carry it with me until I grow old. I am excited to see how God will work in your life, especially now. It's a testimony that is very much anticipated by all of us!

 I found a dad in you; I hope you found a daughter in me.

I just came back from my 2-week trip in Antique and Aklan. Right now, I can say I'm experiencing slight symptoms of separation anxiety. I kinda got attached to the people i've been with.

Who would have thought that I would gain too much (not weight) in just two weeks? It was like I gained a whole lifetime and the feeling is ridiculously overwhelming.

To start with, this is what God welcomed us with on our arrival (by roadtrip from Aklan) at Antique:



Prior to my being a part of this mission, I was overwhelmed with so many "firsts". It was my first time to:

1. be a part of the Wheelchair Distribution Team
2. go to Visayas as a staff of Operation Blessing
3. go to Antique and Aklan
4. use a (brand new) DSLR during field work
5. be on the field for 2 weeks
6. spend my 2nd anniversary on field as an OB staff
7. work with the people I've been with (except Elvie because we're the only staff who were there)

And more than that, I was able to bond with these excellent, competent, and uberly crazy people who made my two weeks full of color and life.

Since Zek isn't in the picture above, he gets a special photo here. With me, of course, since I'm also part of the team.

Well, well, well... Love is in the air and it's not even February!

I just found out (from the ever-reliable Facebook) that one of my high school classmates is getting married tomorrow and one of my closest friends in college will have her wedding on Saturday.

Am I reaching the age where friends and people around me are getting married while I'm stuck on being single - without even one manliligaw? Oh, well. Shrug. Guess it is that time of the year.

Anyway, I'm off on a two-week trip starting next week. So no internet-pleasure for me. But it's okay. Field work's better. It makes my life very productive. And I'm going off as a writer! That's an added excitement for me. Hadn't been a feature writer for quite some time. I just hope I could bring our new DSLR, if we get the order on time. I think we're headed to the beach after all the work is done. Cool.

 But, I'm still praying for my own DSLR. At least now I know where to buy one.

It's almost midnight (at least in an hour) and Cyril and I are still chatting, which is turning weirder and crazier every second. Well, that's not really surprising because this is us we're taking about. It's just not us when we're not insane. Anyway, I didn't know it was his birthday today so he was screaming for attention (KSP if you ask me: meaning kuland sa pansin) in Facebook. I thought it was a spam because Facebook is streaming with annoying spams lately, but it ended up being legitimate and a real person. And that's where all this randomness and craziness started. It went from my poor memory of birthdays to cartoons to larry king and anderson cooper to his white hair to dogs and cats and then to the azkals. I couldn't help blurting out how p*ssed I am for missing the Azkals, most especially James Younghusband, in UPLB today.  I told him (more like demanded him) to make it his birthday wish that James YHusband and I meet. And he did. He wished JYhusband would crash land in my dorm.

Forgive my friend. He's got a really violent imagination. Watched too many looney toons back in the days (probably ages ago, when I was still a newborn infant. Ha!). Anyway, he's probably reading this right now and thinking of ways on how to exact revenge on my story and he'll end up writing a blog entry.

Then mission accomplished. It's high time he start updating that standstill blog of his. (If it was a notebook, it's probably all dusty and old by now.)

So hey, you're welcome. Don't mention it.
:-)

While last week has been my most stressful week to date, this week has been the happiest, saddest, coolest, and most aggravating week I've ever had - and it hasn't even ended yet.

Happiest because I was chosen as the Employee of the Month for April. It was totally unexpected. I never dreamed I would ever achieve that. But it happened and I'm greatly thankful to the Lord. It was really a  surprise. An unexpected favor from God. Though I know in my heart that there are still many things I need to improve on, I am glad that I felt God's loving assurance that He is pleased with my work. All glory to Him alone!

Coolest because for the first time in weeks, Angel and I went out for some fun. I brought her to the OMF bookstore to show her the biggest OMF store (so far) in the country. We bought some things (a book and a Bible cover for me, while a set of memory card verses for her) then we went to Shangri La for dinner. We ate in the foodcourt because Angel wanted to try out some food joints that could not be found in Davao. So fast food chains like McDo and KFC were quickly disqualified from our list. There's no dull moment when you're with Angel. Her stories are really one of a kind - funny and there's-no-way-you-could-have-done-it kind of way. Well, the idea of the whole thing, really, was just to hang out, bond and have fun instead of being stuck the whole night in our microwave dorm.

Next, aggravating because I had a rough time with 2 co-workers. I think I got into their nerves which I never intended to do. So now they got on my nerves. But I don't want to talk about it because it's not worth a blog entry. I just surrendered it to God and begged Him to help me get over my feeling of discouragement and negativity and just move on without sinning.

And finally, saddest because one of my closest co-worker, VJ, is resigning. She has become more than a co-worker the past two years and she has been a close friend, constant companion, mischief-partner, and confidante. CCRD will never be the same again without her. She is truly someone irreplaceable. But I am happy for her because she can now stretch out her wings freely and start working on the new things God wants her to do. She has new job assignments from the Lord now. I am really excited to see her bloom into the woman God wants her to be. I will truly miss our crazy antics and the simple sharing moments we had. But most of all, I will miss her everyday presence. I am truly grateful to God for the friendship we had and for sending her into my life - and into my first ever workplace at that! She is one of the few people who showed genuine sisterly care, not because she's obliged to, but because she simply wanted to. I felt God's unconditional love through her.


But, we still have at least two weeks to be together. So it's time to get rid of all the loneliness and just enjoy the moments we will have with her. It's not like the friendship is ending, right?

Thank you, Lord, for this precious gift of friendship that You have blessed me with. 

Letting go still has its painful parts no matter how ready you are.


But life has to go on. Flap your butterfly wings and move forward.

Win the goal God wants you to achieve.

I had the privilege of being part of the very few select who were able to watch two episodes of the all-new 3D version of Superbook.

Superbook is very close to my heart. Not only is it a cartoon, but it is a cartoon that I practically grew up with. When I was very young, I used to watch its every episode and I would even scream "Superbook" when it's almost time to watch it. I even tried jumping on a Bible to see if it would take me back in the time of Jesus. Of course, it never happened (but I think I just traced where my active imagination came from).


We watched the episode on the story of David and of the first fall of man. Based on cinematography and presentation, it gets an A+ from me. So happened, when we watched it, I was seated on the very front row with the speaker blasting right in front of me. I felt like I was watching in a cinema. The musical scores are surprisingly beyond average. The scripts were excellent. It clearly conveyed biblical messages (with no compromises) and were written very well. It has a touch of humor (especially Gizmo and Professor Quantum) and a touch of heart (kurot sa puso).

Now based on the content, I give it an A+++ (if that's possible). The stories, though portraying some characters in the Bible, were very much God-centered. It didn't put the glory on David, or on archangel Michael, but on God. Both characters gave the glory to God. On one scene, Michael refused to join or even listen to Lucifer's proposal of joining the would-be devil. Michael remained loyal to the One and Only God up to this day. On another scene in the story, we saw God's mercy and love portrayed in spite of the sins the first humans committed. David, on the other hand, kept telling King Saul that the Lord will be with him in battle (as he faces Goliath), the Lord would be his shield (so he has no need for King Saul's weapons and shield), and telling Goliath when he had killed him, "My God is not weak" (with emphasis). But the best part of the story (which I think all of us in the audience loved) was the scene when David and Chris were talking in front of a bonfire while David was playing the harp. When Chris praised him on his harp-playing skills, David had only one thing to reply, "I play for my God."

That spoke a thousand message to us. I almost bawled my eyes out.

I can't wait for the launching of Superbook. From what I hear, it's set to air on September. Even if I'm already 22 and far too young to be watching cartoons, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Oftentimes, it's the simple things that strike hard on our hearts. When we were young, the words and things we hear didn't really make much sense to us but after years of experiencing trials, problems, and victories in life, all of the things we heard started to make sense. It's like singing With Christ in my vessel at age 22 and above:

In Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm, smile at the storm, smile at the storm
With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm
Until He takes me home.
Sailing, I'm sailing home.
Sailing, I'm sailing home.
With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm
Until He takes me home.


Could we really smile now in the midst of storms looming on us from every direction? Do we really put our trust in Him when the going gets tough? Is Christ really in our vessel - our life?

It's not until you grow and get a good dose of reality that such words would start to make meaning. I admit that when we sang that again as a praise and worship song in one of our devotions, I caught myself finding it hard to continue. The lyrics suddenly made sense. A whole lot of sense. And hearing it being sung by innocent children  it makes my heart quench and makes me feel ashamed that even once I doubted Him.
I'm glad that after more than a decade, Superbook is back. I pray with all my heart that many kids, and even adults, would know a lot about God through Superbook and decide to love Him and accept Him as Lord and Savior.

It's Monday again (actually, it's tomorrow). Not that I'm complaining. I couldn't say I'm excited, to say the least, but maybe just looking forward to this week. I have a lot of things to do and I'm getting pretty challenged to finish it with a perfect bang! (The fireworks kind of bang - like when you accomplished something and the whole world is rejoicing with you).

Once again, it's script week. But right now, I'd stop hoping of finishing the scripts. Instead, I'm giving myself the ULTIMATUM right this moment that I HAVE to finish everything THIS WEEK. It's May 1 and it's time for fresh start; time to give up on cramming because it makes one ugly - and I don't want to be ugly. I could only use the cramming tool when I have no choice and when the situation calls for it.

Angel and I discovered this book entitled Kokology. It's like a personality test with questions that have no right or wrong answers. So far, the answers are ringing true to me. I guess this really is my personality and there's no denying it (when it comes to things like this, I'm usually in denial. Haha. Weird-lo!). It's pretty fun. I'll probably borrow that book when Angel's finished with it.

Until then, let me share a song Angel and I went gaga last week. A song from Narnia sung and co-written by Carrie Underwood entitled There's A Place For Us.