Photographers

If there’s one talent I surely admire aside from writers, musicians, athletic people, etc. those would be the ones with good eye for beauty such as photographers. I am not really fond of having my photo taken but I surely love to see pretty pictures from both professional and non-professional photographers.

Here are some of the people I truly admire because they make my heart smile and fill my imagination with wonders whenever I look at the shots they’ve taken:

• Gladys Tolete
• Chito Cleofas
• Carlo Geronimo Villongco
• John Mateos Ong
• Gerald Parra
• Mark Goze
• Jong Navarro
• Richard Parcia
• Marco Cabazal

Thank you for the pictures that you continue to share. Viewer like me was able to see different places and feel different emotions because of your work of art.

Seriously Speaking: Public Servants

Our county has so many aspiring people who would like to run and govern our country, but do they still know what a true politician is?  To all the officials now seated to their RESPECTive positions, how many of them realize that to become a politician they have to serve and not be served, to lead the people in the progressive path, to set good examples, and most of all they have the capacity to change what we have been used to and start a new republic.

I know that this topic has been written and said over and over again.  We are very good at putting things in words but we Filipinos required to act for the betterment of our self, of our family, and concern enough to think of our country because it is our HOME.

I am not pointing fingers only to our government, because all of us are at fault.  But, for a moment reflect on this situation, our country today has about 85 Million Filipinos, can we manage the country individually and decide on our own – of course not, we needed true leaders. 

One of the Filipino priests commented on television that there are so many reason why our country is so poor but most especially because we always SIN.  It is just disappointing that we believe that we Filipinos are intelligent (but too intelligent that many turned out to be notorious and disgraceful), religious (however not too deep to realize that we can avoid sin), and full of optimism (then again having a happy-go-lucky attitude but not going to the point that we need to think deeper to do some action to solve our problems). 

It’s tiring and disappointing that a country that was used to be admired is so messed up.  We need to admit that we need to change slowly but with determination.  We should stop the antics and the comedy and for once let us get serious. Let us stop our arrogance and crab mentality, and start helping one another that we all go to the path of progress.

Let us clear our conscience.  Let us stop stealing from our country.  Let us practice to say enough.  Let us control ourselves when the power is bestowed upon us.  I know this is a frustrating plead to each of the Filipinos; I am hoping that this piece will be published so that I get my voice heard not for popularity sake but I am concern to our home. 

I honestly love this country, though I have Chinese blood flowing inside my veins and brought up with a combination of both Filipino and Chinese cultures, I believe that there is a meaning that I was born here.  Being born in a particular country is like being born without choosing who your parents would be, this was chosen for me.  As a respect, I should love my country as I love my family.  It is easy for others to say we can do whatever that pleases me – YES!  It’s a decision that we all make every day of our life, but not to the extent that someone else is suffering because of our decision.

Let us be true to our self.  Let us stop lying and sinning.  To the government who collect taxes, to the politician who create the laws, to the officials who implement the laws – let us aim to change our country starting from changing our self.  As a start, to the officials and working class let us do our job correctly and to all the Filipinos who have lost their trust to the government let us believe them that they will do good, let us do our share to support them, or even create our own programs so that we can help in changing our country for the better.

John Grisham Fan

I love John Grisham since high school. I love both “A Time To Kill” and “The Client”. He’s actually one of the reasons why I wanted to become a lawyer but didn’t pursue because my mother and one of my principals in elementary convinced me that I’ll earn enemies instead of friends. Hmmm looking back, I guess it was possible but hey I bet I can turn an enemy into a friend.

Let me tell you an incident last Saturday; I was an “addict” again. I stayed up all night on a Friday night working (this is not a Friday night syndrome… really) at the office and finally finished things at around 8am in the morning of Saturday. If I’m too happy I have that big tendency to work like crazy. So, I take the usual train ride going home and I saw this lady reading “The Summons” of John Grisham…

You see, I’ve always wanted to start a conversation with a stranger. I know that even though I barely got good sleep, I still look dignified and happy. I was really thinking, so Sorren is this the moment where you’ll talk with someone you don’t know? Then after the second thought and there’s always a first time lines in my head, I told the lady, “so John Grisham is also one of your favorite authors?” She said yes and for all you know we’ve talked about how we both like courtroom stories. She even watched the Ally McBeal television series and I told her so did I and my mom even knew that I love Ally. Pretty amazing, she said the book was okay and I told her the last John I read was “The Brethren” and I highly recommend that she reads it because it is both witty and funny. I also recommended that she watch the series “Boston Legal” too aside from admitting I got a crush on Alan Shore’s character, it’s another amazing courtroom thingy.

Yes, I spoke with that stranger about John Grisham, Ally McBeal, etc. but I didn’t get her name. Hahahaha so this blog entry is simply called the fan and categorized at Somebody. Should I include a new category called “stranger”? Wehihihihi suddenly I got a little scared there because I may end up meeting a real “addict”. Me and my fear sometimes! (^_^)

Good Cop, Bad Cop

My parents played the role of a Good Cop and Bad Cop. If Papa was the bad cop for instance then Mama will play the good cop and vise versa. It’s really good that one of the parents will honestly tell you what’s wrong, though it is painful to hear the truth, it was better; then the good cop will remind you that you are loved and cared no matter what.

Right now, the baby in our house is our youngest sister Jensen whom I call Shobe. Since Papa passed away and Mama is in abroad working, my other sister Jenny and I serve as Jensen’s parents. Funny that both of us also pick a role in deciding with our Shobe’s needs and wants. I wonder how will I ever handle it if I’ll have my own children. Surely, I need to pick a role too at different circumstances. The most important thing is parents should explain why it is not allowed or why it is. Logical, reasonable, and loving explanations are badly needed by every child. Geez, I hope I am getting this right because I just played the good cop and allowed my Shobe to stay overnight with her friend’s house while Jenny was quite firmed that Shobe shouldn’t be allowed to do so.

Surprises

Do you like surprises in the form of a gift? I love surprises both given to me or giving it to somebody.  Actually every member of my family is considered thoughtful; we find happiness when we share something special to somebody.

Daily life is already filled with so many challenges. Depending on the attitude that we may use, challenges may actually do good to make us a better person because we learn, so anyways, despite the perception used as front giving good surprises actually lighten the burden of the heart. Make someone smile now and give a beautiful present!

I Like You

I like you without knowing how, or when or from where. My heart beats faster when you’re around.  I’ve never been more sure that I do like you. I want to be the best that I can be for you to really really really like me.  An ordinary day becomes extraordinary, a simple tune turns out to be a heavenly melody… in short I am happier for the simplest reason that I am in love. The moment I want to stop liking you I just begin to fool myself; because right now, I surely pray that you become officially part of my life. I want you to notice me but it may be too much to ask. I guess it is still worth it that I’ve met you and you always smile at me whenever we talk. (Childish and shallow… I know)

Who To Write

I wonder who to write first?  My plan for this blog is to describe one person at a time depending on the mood I have and depending on the thought I currently have but of all the people I personally met in my life I don’t know where to begin…

Another dilema is should I write the first name or nick name of that person?  Or should I add the family name?  If I do not write, there is no way for me to remember who that was or should I put a code on the content and it’ll point out who that was (so I still need to be creative and do an impossible mission just to decode who the described person was — he he he making things complicated but fun).  If I do write the name it’s like making a testimonial but definitely I will have to be careful with my words to make sure that I will not offend anybody on how I see them or describe them. 

Yes, the writings will always be subjective but I’ll try to be objective if I can.  One thing is sure though, I will never make up stories to make the description sensational or exaggerated, it’s not fair and it’s not good.  But if I am to make jokes or just trying to be plain funny I may have to go that line but I will let my reader know *wink*

So who to write?  Is this a loved one?  A family member?  A friend?  An enemy?  Wait do I have an enemy (thinking) oh yes, I do have one forever and he knows it. Meet a stranger and write about that new person?  Or about myself?

Meet Somebody

How many people have you met in this lifetime?  Probably quite hard to count but one thing is for sure there are two main categories that stick to our minds namely, people who are special to us — the ones that we love and the complete opposite which is the flocks of men that we sincerely abhor.

Yes, everybody leave different impressions but either good or bad the most important part is we learn from others to become a better person.  It would always be a challenge to become a good person that's why we need the experience of others — their wisdom or their stories of success and failure because only then can we have a standard for our own or an easier tips on exactly how to do it.

So whether we remember a somebody or not… we have to explore life and look for that special lesson we needed to cherish breathing.

People

Life is really interesting every single day and what makes it more unpredictable is meeting different people.  Imagine all the stories that we can gather from the other 6+ billion people in the world!  Huge number with rich life stories to tell.  Well, I don't intend to meet them one by one but my goal is to meet the beauty of a person one at a time as long as I live.  Then that makes my life worthwhile.