Five years!

Some time ago I checked my first post and realized that today would be 5 years since I started this blog. Time sure flies!

I used to write more but I don’t get to write as much as I would like to these days. Often times thoughts vanish before I am able to write them… well they don’t really vanish… more like the desire to write about them is gone when I am able to sit and visit my blog.

I remember that on the first year anniversary of my blog, I wrote an entry that used all the titles of my posts the past year and made a link to all of them. I just thought it would be pretty neat doing that and there was a satisfied smile on my face after completing the post. I would have loved to do that again but don’t have the energy to visit all my posts again. Arghhhh!!!!

Sometimes when I think about the past five years, I’d think that nothing seem to have changed much… yet sometimes I feel that so much has changed! A lot of times I still feel that I am a big kid with so much to be thankful for and look forward too but my big kid heart seems to have been scarred a lot of times too by events… people… thoughts… the world… my country… my family… my work. Yet I would vaguely remember a story I got on an email a long time ago of a prince (a statue) who boasted that he had the most perfect heart and was laughing at the heart of a poor man whose heart was tattered. The poor man however explained that his heart despite what it looked had a lot of good memories in them of though they seem scarred and imperfect, each segment is actually a piece of somebody else’s heart whom he has touched and has given a piece of themselves too. So like the prince who realized the value of what the old man said and gave a piece of his heart to the man and happily received a piece of his too, my tattered heart is a happy heart still!

So much have changed over the past five years too… new trends! Making money from your blog…Social networks like Facebook… then twitter even the templates of blogs are easier that you don’t have to edit from the html file. I get so many invites on facebook … even my nieces and nephews and grand niece have their own that they also volunteer to make me one. But I realize that somehow I am an old soul too and a non-conformist… hehehe… I still prefer doing things my way and still settle on doing things that I like… well at least for myself… some things I have to do for other people… sometimes I’m not really excited about but someone has got to do things or nothing gets done…. Arghhhh! Well that’s not really an arghhh but just a teenie weenie sigh… after all you do things for people you love and though at the outside there seems to be some grumbling… deep within there is actually joy because you are able to share a piece of yourself with them too.

Geez this is getting to be mushy when anniversaries should be happy post!

Well but it is a happy post after all because even after so many years I still enjoy seeing… thinking… and writing about fragments of my kaleidoscope life… my kaleidosthoughts!

As I say… happy thoughts… sad thoughts… anything goes… those are my kaleidosthoughts!

Seventy five

Today is my father's birthday. He would have been 75.
Yesterday we had a big celebration...
well big in the sense that the family is present
and we are one big family!
It wasn't really fancy... just food... and food... and
the sense of togetherness to celebrate a special event.
Then of course the oldies went to the cemetery
to light candles, offer some flowers and of course prayers.
That's it... not really fancy.

But I've told the office I wouldn't come today
SO I get to celebrate his day in my own special way
Just a trip to church (but don't i always do that?)
well with a special request that he looks after us
after all he is already in heaven fully at rest...
But the Lord could make him more happier
by taking care of the folks he left out here.

But there was another reason I didn't go to work today.
I wanted to spend time to do the review notes for my nephew
He's not doing well in school and it is his finals and
I figured that i'd help see him through

So I started my day going to church
Stayed a bit longer before going back home
Had breakfast then worked on the notes
Till my bro-in-law called me since it was time to fetch the kids
so we went and on the way I got a call that i had to see the teacher...
I said what???? oh my! what's more???

I went to the principal's office once again
I realized that the teacher did not allow him to take 2 exams
since he was laughing in class with one other classmate
That's it.. they let him out
I have accepted everything they have said against John in the past
but this time I said my piece and told them I felt it was too harsh...
I stayed there a long time and they did give him another chance

I remembered another nephew and papa.
He was worst than John when he was little
and papa would tease that he would surely get an award.
The teachers were requesting my sister to lessen his time in school
because he was too active and hard to keep up with...
but like papa they were more positive...
for true enough he did get an award.
He got "best in motor skill!" :-)

Some teachers know how to encourage students.
I wished JOhn's teacher knew how too.
And papa would be happy that he wouldn't just get a
passing mark in his card... a mere 75...
but something beyond... something that's given with love!

Sharing my double rainbow!

I think I am blessed that I have seen double rainbows several times already when most people I’d share it with couldn’t even imagine that there is such thing as a double rainbow. I have seen double rainbows on three occasions already – one while on sea going to Mindoro, one in Texas and another here in Manila on a morning on my way to work.

Today, I got to see another rainbow (my fourth!!!) after I came from church and I was with my nephew so I got to show it to him and I told him he was lucky because it is rare for people especially here in our country to be seeing double rainbows. Well somebody from Canada told me before that it is not really that rare… not frequent but not rare either. Well maybe it is so in Canada but over here??? Nobody has ever told me that he has seen one or someone I told it too ever said that he has seen one. But now, I know of someone else who could talk about a double rainbow… well I am not really sure if he’d talk about it… He is 10 years old and is more interested in computers than nature and would rather harvest from Farmville (of facebook… am not sure if I got it right since I have no facebook account) than plant something and harvest from our garden.

However, when I showed it to him he looked and we got to talk about it while we were on our way home. We actually came across it after church when we walked towards the mall where we were going to take a ride. It has been hot but there were some clouds today and there were some drizzle when we got out of church… too few drizzles actually. Anyway I saw this guy taking a photo of something from above so I looked up also and I saw a rainbow. It wasn’t even full yet and it was not that clear and bright but somehow I could see traces of another rainbow from the clouds just beside it.

My nephew wanted to buy something so I let him and when we got back to our ride, I saw the rainbow and it was really bright now… and it extended... the arch was longer and there was another one beside it but its arch was shorter and not as bright as the first one but certainly distinct. I pointed it to him and he actually saw it. He asked some stuff about rainbow like the pot of gold in the end.. and how it came about. Well I did answer but am not really sure if they were right… but I guess what’s more important is that we got to see it. It was truly amazing and as always, I am awed and feel blessed to be seeing such phenomenon!

Jeepney scare

I was seated on the third seat from the door of the jeepney and there was heavy traffic. The jeepney was small and it was crowded because many passengers had big plastic bags of the things they bought. We were half way through when I suddenly heard a man said “Akin na ang celfone mo… ayaw mo ibigay???” (Give me your celfone… you don’t want to give???) and he put out his knife. He pointed it at the girl at the entrance. He was from outside the jeepney and he had a companion. I saw that he was a big man… couldn’t help look at him. The girl did not want to give her phone and the old lady beside her suddenly stood and moved inside the jeep. That’s when my heart started to beat fast. He was big and he could easily move over to me and I started to withdraw too. The man on the other side was not moving… he had a big plastic bag in front of him that covered his body. It was fast and the girl also moved inside and said no… The jeep was not moving. Then suddenly the men left! They were not able to get anything. One of the passengers looked and could see that they were just walking… they could easily come back so we were all on our guard. Then the jeepney moved slowly and everybody started to talk. The old lady said that she noticed the man in red passed earlier and was looking at the lady who was sending text through her celfone and that she wanted to caution her but the other came before she could. That was the time the whole thing got into the lady and when she started to fear.

Me… I felt my fear earlier. I was held up before and was also brandished with a knife and even if I resisted still lost my whole bag to them. After the lady I would have been the next target and I had a bag and she didn’t. My bag did not really have anything much, not even money since I only retained a few after giving my mother the amount I withdrew from my payroll ATM yesterday, but the recollection of my experience flashed back plus the thought that I was thinking of buying a new celfone since the one I’m using is already acting up…

Oh well, I lost the urge of buying a new celfone. But I am really thankful that no one in the jeepney got hurt.

Ahhh God always protect us on our trips… deliver us from all dangers and evil!

Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam

It was hot once again today! In addition, there were 2 separate fires near my office that started in the afternoon. The siren of the fire trucks continue to roar up to the time I left Manila for home at past 9:00 pm…

The water level in our dams are at their critical…

There is drought is several parts of the country…

Dust is everywhere and it makes my eyes real dry!

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales has once again issued an Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam (obligatory prayer for rain) and we have been praying it at Binondo church since March 1 before the final blessing in our 12:15 pm mass.

The clouds went a bit dark over the weekend and I was hoping it would finally rain but it never came.

God we really do need the rain, please make it pour on us but let it come gently and lovingly, enough to remove the heat and sustain life.

Please make it soon! AMEN.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam

God our loving Father, creator of our earth and of the universe, and all the wondrous elements of nature that sustain your living creatures, we humbly ask you to send us the rain that our country needs so badly at this time, to irrigate our fields, to stave off a power shortage, to provide water for our bodily health, and to refresh our parched lands. At your command the wind and the seas obey, raise your hand Almighty God to send us so that crisis may be averted.

Merciful and generous God, open our eyes to the richness and beauty of your creation and instill in us a deep love for this earth and all that is in and around it. Teach us to be wise stewards of your creation so that we may always use them responsibly and protect them from abuse and exploitation. At this time of crisis, dear Lord, move us to share more and to love more.

Loving God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you entrusted the Filipino people to the special care of Mary our Mother, listen to the prayers that we bring up to her, our Blessed Mother, to intercede for us, for the protection of our land and our people, whom she loves.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Saint Rose of Lima, pray for us.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.

If the shoe fits

Our company is once again disposing ladies footwear samples bought and they are selling then to employees at a bargain!

They laid the footwears on the floors.. on the table... on the chairs... everywhere! Sandals, shoes, high heels, flat, different colors, different designs... so many of them!

Of course the girls from different departments came and got pairs that fit them...

And I too went to take a look...
Yup just take a look...
nothing ever fits me...
arggghhh...
What an irony...

I am working for a footwear company but could never get a ladies footwear to fit.

Someday I'll take a sit as they lay down different footwears to choose from. And I'll get me good pairs to fit and get to choose only the best...
the neatest...prettiest and most comfortable pairs
Oh well... I guess only in my dream! (^-^)