Pacquiao, crime and traffic

Pacquiao won and he won convincingly...he demolished Erik "El Terible" Morales in three rounds...if you watched the fight you'd agree with me when i say that he didn't look the "El Terible" anymore after the fight...he definitely looked like "El Tuliro".

this is another witness to the world that Filipinos can be great again...a world boxing icon in Pacquiao...a world pool champion in Alcano...hip-hop dance champions in Philippine All-Star...singing sensations...world-class artists...the list goes on....our nation can still rise up again from obscurity to greatness.

i wish that Pacquiao fights everyday...not only for the honor he brings to the country, but also for the other "significant" things he does when he fights....yesterday was almost zero-crime, yes zero crime rate...Manila and the whole Philippines was the safest place in the world yesterday...you could never find a safer place anywhere in the world than here...you could actually wear your most expensive piece of jewelry and literally have thousands of pesos in your hands while walking on the streets, and still come out alive...yesterday's traffic was the lightest...it took me only five minutes to drive from our church in Mandaluyong to our relatives' place in Pasig...the Formula One race could actually be held here...very few cars were on the road...buses were almost without passengers...traffic officers were conspicuously absent from the streets...who would need them anyway if there are no traffic violators.

and if only for these...i'd wish for more Pacquiaos.

believing is appreciating

there are times when i just feel like writing for myself and just expressing what i feel, think and see without any care for others…but there are also times when i want to write with an intention for others to read what i write and just elicit any form of reaction, violent or otherwise…but whatever my intention would be, i always try to make sure that what i write are real…they may be my own life experiences…situations….other people’s experiences…plain observations…helpful information…no matter what they may be, they just have to be real.

funny, but sometimes…well…ok…more often than sometimes…i find myself appreciating my own writings, my own creation…i remember that i used to record my own speaking engagements…and hearing them myself, alone, has given me goosebumps as i sometimes could not believe that it was me delivering that kind of a rhetoric…don’t get me wrong…my writings, my speeches, my creations are far from being flawless…they are not…they are absolutely flawed…it’s just that i appreciate my own creation because i appreciate and believe in myself…in what God has done through me…i appreciate their flaws, my own flaws…. i appreciate my own attempts to be honest along with my failure of presenting truth in its barest form… i appreciate what my creation lack… what could be added, and what they actually have….i appreciate the varying lengths of my pieces….i appreciate the ending… the beginning… and the body in all their forms.

do i sometimes feel scared of being criticized?...of course i do…everyone else does, i guess…but would that hinder us from doing what we believe we want and need to do?...it is in criticism that we learn…and as long as we live, there will be criticism…and as long as we live we never stop learning.

i am quoting what i’ve written in my previous post…

a real man will make mistakes...the man who never makes mistakes never does anything...i would rather make a hundred mistakes and accomplish something than to make no mistakes and accomplish nothing.

it is always good to do it right the first time...but the greatest mistake you can make is to be constantly fearful that you will make one.

so, let us continue creating beautiful works…let others constructively criticize them…only then do we learn more…never mind the statistics of having one great hit amidst a dozen failures…hey, Thomas Edison tried a thousand times before he got one right…we should be even thankful if the ratio remained at 1:12.

remember that we lose more than we win, but we win more when we try more…as long as we're breathing, we each have a random chance of hitting that bull's eye.

question is…did i write this for myself or do i want others to read this?...that one, i have to write about.

caffeine...oh, caffeine

if you missed your morning coffee and now you have a headache and difficulty concentrating, you can blame it on caffeine withdrawal...in general, the more caffeine consumed, the more severe withdrawal symptoms are likely to be, but do you know that as little as one standard cup of coffee a day can produce caffeine addiction...caffeine is the world's most commonly used stimulant, and it's cheap and readily available so people can maintain their use of caffeine quite easily and become addicted to it...and because this is true, i have been an addict for years.

i hate how coffee turns into addiction...how it keeps me up all night at times...how it burns and makes my heart beat fast.

especially the way it makes me crave for its rich and sweet promises of grains, aroma and taste...moments later, it puts me into a melancholic mood of coldness...before i realize it, it has consumed me before i should have consumed it...leaving me empty...hollow...bitter.

but then again...i crave for another cup...and another.

now tell me...am i a caffeine addict?

random

• i have a splitting headache right now
• as long as you're living, you'll never stop learning
• it's my no-drive day today so im stuck here in the office til 7pm
• one of our friends is having surgery tomorrow at 11am in Medical City, he has brain tumor
• i have piles of paperworks on my desk now, i couldn't find my pen
• it was freaking cold inside my office, i had to lower the airconditioner's temperature
• my last meal was 5hrs and 45minutes ago and i am starting to get hungry
• i just received a phone call asking for a person i do not know...wrong number
• my cellphone just ran out of battery...i didn't bring my charger, i have to charge it in the car later
• i am staring at my Starbucks Lucy tumbler that somebody gave me a long time ago

i will get my Starbucks planner...

i have started collecting Starbucks stickers for my mini-booklet...i still have a long way to go, but i promise that i am going to get this year's Starbucks Traditional Planner...i saw it last week and i have never stopped dreaming about having it....last year's planner is ok but what they offer now is way, way better than what they are giving now...i tried buying one last year when i thought i would not be able to get all the stickers i needed...but no stores would sell me one...well, that makes it more special...because nobody can buy it...you have to really be a Starbucks coffee lover to be able to get one...and i am one, so i am gonna get it....itaga mo sa bato, ika nga.

the Starbucks outlet in Tiendesitas is my new favorite...it is very cozily located...the inside portion is big and houses many couches to lounge on...its outside area is very impressive....it is large and the umbrella tables have enough space between them, unlike in other branches where you have to literally sway your hips in between tables so you won't bump them and run the risk of spilling the other customers' hot coffee, and making enemies as a result...this outlet is super!!

this is inspiring

recieved this email from my friend Jesse today...

We had an A-W-E-S-O-M-E time last night at the ABS-CBN Fellowship. We had the Philippine Hip-hop International Dance champions, the All-Stars, with us. They taught hip-hop to all the attendees. It was a blast! More importantly, during the breakout sessions, the All-Stars team members had a chance to personally share their testimonies of how they came to know the Lord and experience His life-changing power and favor ast they journeyed with Him on an incredible adventure of faith that saw a bunch of dreamers become international champions! It's kinda hard to capture with mere words; you have to really hear them and see the glow on their faces as they literally gush with a torrent of words of mixed praise and awe unto Him who took them from their respesctive lives of obscurity to the international dance stages of the world. Thus far, they have been hailed as the hip-hop champs of Europe, in Italy, and, most recently, in the USA, when they won the coveted title of International Hip-hop champs in LA. Both victories happened just this year.

Check out their winning dance routine in LA by clicking on the URL link below. It is awesome! I kid you not. When you play the video, you will see a time clock just underneath it. Pay attention to when the time reaches 2:14; that's the time the international crowd starts chanting "Filipino! FIlipino!" Just when you thought we were the basket case of Asia all over again, a young group of dance warriors lives up to the prophetic utterances that have been spoken over our nation, about how this nation will be great again.

Also, pay attention to the clock at 3:14. That's when they reveal the true "secret" of their success, which, if you're observant enough, is really given away not long after they get called onstage.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=71g5CY4fMC4&mode=related&search

competitiveness or envy?

anytime you believe you have to be the best in everything... whether it be decorating, cooking, writing, making friends, giving speeches or anything else...you open yourself up to envy...needless to say, a lot of us do just that.

we draw our self-worth from what we have and how we do...and when what we have is not better than what everyone else has ---which it never is--- envy takes over.

envy puts us on a never-ending race we can never, ever win.

as rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man.

a big difference..

somebody sent this to my email...what a stark difference between two conflicting situations...where would you rather be?

good to be back...

wow!!!!...it's been like eternity since i had the the time to write...did i miss writing? of course...i've been dying to write my experiences in the last, what...8 or 9 weeks ?....it's an old cliche,but it's the truth...i didn't have time to read, much more to write on my blog....blame it on my travels and my sickness...yes! i got sick and had to rush myself to the hospital because of abdominal pains caused by abnormal(?) or unhealthy eating habit....but wait, i'm going ahead of myself.

i have never had a crazier travel schedules than what I had the last two and a half months…drove all over Luzon…Nueva Ecija, Tagaytay, Batangas, Cavite, Olongapo, Subic, La Union, Zambales, Baguio, and Rizal…flew to Mindanao, Visayas, and Thailand…all in two months…wow!...just writing all these places made me tired…now, tell me what could going to all these places do to you…yes, it could kill you.

got lost trying to find my way in one town in Nueva Ecija…had to bear sleeping with a cockroach in a hotel room for one night in Butuan city…drove 10km of rough road on a pitch black night in Palauig, Zambales…almost spent the night inside my car in Batangas…met a minor vehicular accident while on the way to Zambales…drove through an almost Noah’s flood on a typhoon-drenched night from La Union to Tarlac….and to top it all, got caught in the middle of a military coup in Bangkok, Thailand.

did I mention that I had to drive myself to Medical City Hospital while typhoon Milenyo is wreaking havoc in Metro Manila?...i suddenly felt an unbearable stinging pain in my abdomen the day Milenyo literally took the lights out in the Metro…couldn’t bear it anymore I thought I’d collapse, so I forced myself to drive to the hospital…I had to undergo a lot of lab tests, x-ray and ultra-sound…after 2 days of waiting for the result, the doctor told me I had to watch what I eat if I want to live longer…now I am on a strict no-fat diet and on medication…I am just thankful that I feel better now and able to write again.