Close Pa Rin Kami Kay Jesus!

It's been four years since I came to know the Lord. Four years since I discovered that there is still hope in this world, and that, maybe, it's not as dark and as evil as I thought it was.

Seeing at least some of them who made this possible is like coming around in a full circle. I owe these people a lot, and I'm not ashamed to say that I love these people so much. If not for them, I would not have known Jesus. If not for them, I might even be dead by now - or worse (what a dark entry this is turning out to be :p). These are the people who saw me take my baby steps in faith and who guided me (some of whom are still helping me walk until today!), and they would always be special people in my life. We've gone to different directions after Ateneo, but it's always great to see them again - like we've only parted for a few moments.

To our Bible Study group, I love you guys so much! You've been my friends, brothers, and sisters. This is really cheesy, but you guys are incomparable. Thank you for the faith, for the laughter (dolphins are never going to be the same, as well as the geography of the US of A), for the songs (really fowerpul ones, dey are :p), for the craziness (I would never have believed an umbrella to be futuristic), for everything. Above all, thanks for giving me hope and faith again. You guys are completely amazing. See you all in heaven, if not here on earth.:D

To my D Group, Wow. I can't believe just how far we've come along. A lot of things have happened. One has already married, one is just on the verge of, and the rest of us are... happily single. Haha! It's been such an amazing journey, and I pray we still continue to walk together. All I can say is... Close pa rin tayo kay Jesus!

Our House

Here are some photos I took of our house in the province. You can view more at my Photobucket account. I'll try to add more photos in the account, but if I didn't, it means I got lazy.:P Uploading photos with a dial-up account is certainly not the quickest thing in the world.:p
I didn't put in a lot of pictures from inside the house, especially the rooms.

Anyway, I forgot to put in the labels in the pictures, so I'll just put 'em here:
*We did not post for our family portrait. My parents said that they gave a casual family picture to the painter, and from there, he let his imagination soar.:p Can you tell which one's me?:p Doesn't really look like me, does it?:p As a side note, most of the people who've dropped by the house get creeped up by it. It's not as if it's haunted or anything, I mean, we're still alive, ya know.:p But anyhow...
*This is actually just a wall decoration beside the family portrait. Got amused by it, so I took a picture of it.:p
*The rocking chair is mine. When I was younger, I couldn't fit in the regularly-sized ones, and I loved rocking chairs, so they got me my own instead.
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house at the back.
*Most of the outside shots are from the front yard, except for this and this, which are taken from the backyard.
*My mom's the one who fixed all of the landscaping, layout of the trees, flowers, etc.! Pretty good, eh?:D
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house, which is literally by our backyard.
*This dining area isn't actually where we eat. The table is usually reserved for when we have guests over. We usually eat near the kitchen, which is actually separate from this area of the house. Forgot to take pictures of it, though.:(

Some other trivia about the house:
They finished building it a year after I was born, so it's about 18-19 years old already.

There was an error in the design or the construction of the house, so the lot wasn't really maximized.

Until the storms of 1998-1999, my mom had a lot of orchids all over the front yard. It came to the point that even people we didn't know would drop by to by some from her. However, the orchids got destroyed by the winds, the rains (our area in Pangasinan being the entry/exit points of most storms), as well as some other factors that I very well do not want to mention here. Anyhow, in so saying, here they are.

Photos from X

Yay! Finally thought of a way to transfer the pics from my phone to my computer (hafta spend for it, but at least I have them here already). As a way of celebration, here are some artsy-fartsy pics I took, a couple from Samar and another in a mall parking lot.

I'll say one thing about my phone: it might have a lot of issues with life (if it's alive in the first place), but it can take pretty good shots.

Excellent!

Things to be thankful for:
· For a victorious Excellence Conference
· Being able to serve the Lord and His people
· Being equipped by the Lord to serve Him according to His plan, knowing it all came from Him and not from me
· Being able to laugh at most things, no matter how stressful or mundane these seem to be
· Having fellowship with friends, new and old, no matter what background, race, age, etc., knowing that we are all united by God’s most amazing love
· Seeing just how much God has transformed and touched the lives of people, and being able to witness just how hungry they are for God
· Answered prayers
· Being able to praise and worship Him openly and unashamedly, for the gift of freedom
· For love and family, that these are from avenues that we did not expect to come from
· For small things that the Lord uses to bless other people

Lord, thank You for a completely amazing week. This has been a week of blessings, and I praise and thank You for touching our lives all over again. I might not have been able to truly attend the talks in the truest sense, but that does not mean that I did not learn anything from the Conference – because I did.

Thank You, Lord.

And Anger Becomes Her

(This will be the first time I’m dedicating a poem to some people. In some ways, this is not actually a literary work but more of an outlet to release pent-up emotions. Anyway, take it as you want.)

For the people who crossed my life at one point or the other.
You know who you are.
If you don’t, then you should.


And Anger Becomes Her

What is she?
Someone laden with a hero complex
Or a vigilante

Yet not masked as such in the ancient day
For masks have served their purpose to conceal
And she is anything but untruthful
For she is fighting a battle

A futile one, some might say
Profanity, still others would shriek
Yet no matter how much others would weigh her down
She would not, in good conscience, relent
For to conform would be to accept things as a lost cause
And some things are still worth fighting for

What are these that try to contain her?
Those that made her reach the mark

For though she might not have the world’s record for patience
Seldom would she reveal her emotions to others
But for a multitude of reasons, one more vile than the last

A broken promise, led on but abandoned halfway
Supported and abetted by others in the plot,

Set to destroy what has sought to be protected

Cowards who could not have said what it is in their hearts
For it is indeed safer to not leave the cradle of youth

Than to enter a life that does not promise anything

Severed friendships for the smallest things
Allowing chaos to steal what would otherwise have been a true comradeship

As it is easier to believe what is comfortable, and not what is true

Blind assent to whatever is dangled over people’s noses

When they would choose to accept what is fed them as gospel truth

Daring not to explore what lies within, for minds are not meant to be used

Shallowness that would make the tiniest puddle proud of its depth
Refusal to open their eyes to what the world is shouting to them

For ignorance for them is truly bliss

Pretenses as transparent as a teardrop
Believing themselves to be brilliant, concealed in their cloaks of superficiality

Not realizing that everyone else knows about their facades

Taking advantage of other people’s goodness to achieve one’s desires
Call it development of gifts, honing of talents

Yet it is nothing more but exploitation of others for one’s self-gain

Those who take the gavel and proclaim themselves judges of the world
Quick to decide who is wrong, quicker still to deny their own

A “holier than thou” attitude that conceals a festering soul

Mind control, for there is no other such term
Seeking to manipulate thoughts and emotions of those who unwittingly entered

But wanting is not getting, and getting is definitely not keeping

Is that all?

Not by far

For there are others, some without words to describe them

Yet all a personification of man’s baser nature

In vessels not expected to pour from

Yet all these combine, coagulate, transform into one

Anger appears in many forms

Some choose to weep, others to wail

But she allows it to form a shield around her

Much like a stone that is as hard as it can possibly be

Seemingly unfeeling, appearing unyielding

Yet for every piece of rock, there a dribble of water may always be wrung

So she squeezes herself out by taking the steps to departure

And since farewell is said to people with honor,

She leaves without a word to anyone.