I’m losing you and it’s effortless

Despite the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie thing with Grace and Jeb, I’m feeling quite down today. I blame it all on the introspection I did on the dorky email invite I sent last night, to what kind of leadership style I have to me not having someone to vent this all out on. Not that I mind being able to write in my journal; it’s just that I miss having someone to vent all the things out on. Not only any person, but a specific person.

So now I ask the question: Is a friend still a friend even if you hardly talk to each other? Let’s say you had a pretty good friendship, but then a lot of things happened to your individual lives — one of you got a relationship, both of you started working, or someone in the family goes away, or something like that — and because of all of this, you slowly lose contact. You still consider the other person as a friend, but you hardly see each other, let alone talk. You can’t wait to tell the other person about everything, but when you do, you get nothing back. You text, but you don’t get a reply because you’re from a different network. You plan something so you would see each other, but then the other person doesn’t show up. Or the other person shows up, but terribly late and everything’s over. You continue talking about time together, but nothing ever happens. You find out major things about the other person from someone else, and when you ask that person, that’s when you get to know what really happened. You feel like you’re giving everything to preserve the friendship you have and there’s nothing from the other end.

Who feels like that sometimes? How about right now? *raises hand*

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Dysfunctional Friendships

I’m supposed to be writing some articles for this freelance gigs, but nooo, I’m obviously not. I have my sources ready, and the document templates, but I am not doing a thing. Argh. I still have two websites to set up which is supposed to be up today, but no, I’m not doing anything either. Argh. How’s that for starting the year right? Hay.

But that assignment is due Saturday so I still have time…right? I have twelve articles due on Saturday and I finished one (but it is very crappy), so that leaves me with…11 more to go for the next two days. Great.

Okay, I shall stop the sarcasm now and I will focus on something more serious.

New Year’s Eve, my high school classmate’s dad passed away. It was a very sad thing to happen at such time, I know, and silly old me, I only texted her a day after. I didn’t know if I should greet her a happy new year still. Last night, some friends and I went to the wake to pay our respects and as expected, we saw other high school batchmates there as well. After praying a bit at the coffin, we gathered outside to stay for a while and talk about how we were, and about other people in the batch.

Ah, high school.

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Proud to be Pinoy

I was never tagged to do this survey (and I was waiting for a tag, hmph!), but since the holiday’s fitting, I’ll have it up now, regardless of the nontag. Today is the 109th year of Philippine Independence, and yes, that is disregarding the fact that the Americans and the Japanese took over our country afterwards. This is a day that we all celebrate, for we are finally free of the 300+ years of Spanish rule.

And because of this holiday, I’ll be stealing the survey that some people has done for the past weeks, 3 reasons why I’m proud to be Pinoy. I don’t know if I can stick to three reasons only, because being a Filipino is something I am really proud of. :)

1. Strong family values. I love how Filipinos have strong family values, about how one entire clan can live inside a single compound. It’s not only in the own family, but also in the way other people are treated — everyone of my parent’s friends are my Tito/Tita (Uncle/Aunt), and deep friendships are often compared to brotherhood/sisterhood. Filipino family values run deep, which is a really amazing trait that we have.
2. Our ability to find laughter in any situation, even at ourselves. It’s not about making fun of people or the situation, but finding the brighter side of each circumstance. I love how even in the most dire situation, Filipinos can still crack a joke to lighten everyone’s moods. :)
3. The Food. I know I’m an Italian food lover, but seriously, nothing beats Filipino food! Filipino meals are a different combination — the appetizer (soup) and main course are put together in one viand, and one can have as many servings as is permitted to him! The colors, the tastes — one cannot visit a Pinoy home without being full. And then dessert comes. :P Yum!
4. Our color. I used to dislike my brown skin color, but I realized that this color is something that I should be proud of. For one thing, I am not that susceptible to skin cancer, plus when I go swimming or get exposed to the sun, my color goes darker, but then gradually lightens up. No redness, no peeling skin.
5. The flexibility of the language. My friends and I were talking about this before, about how alive Filipino language is. It’s already amazing how many dialects there are in the country, and the other thing is that how the language can adapt to other languages. Like how most of our words are influenced by Spanish words — we got their words and made them our own. Or how we can mix Tagalog and English now without sounding really bad (I’m not talking about those who make tusok-tusok the fishball, that’s different :P). Another thing is how our language is not sexist, by having a gender-neutral pronoun to talk about something (i.e. kapatid = brother/sister, asawa = husband/wife).
6. Flexibility of the people. Put a Filipino in any country and pretty soon, he’ll fit right in. I find it funny how some people I thought were locals or Fil-Ams in Saipan and Guam turn out to be Filipinos who can still speak the language. :) Filipinos are hardworking people who can do everything for the family, which is probably why a lot of people sacrifice for their families in other countries just to help. Mabuhay kayo!
7. Beautiful, beautiful country. Despite all the traffic, pollution and whatnot, the Philippines is still a beautiful and colorful country.
8. Bayanihan. It is only in the Philippines that we have this, bayanihan. The picture of people carrying a house to move it to another place is priceless — only Filipinos do this. :)
9. Gawad Kalinga. And since we’re talking about Bayanihan, I could not fail to mention Gawad Kalinga. GK is started by a Filipino to rid of poverty in the country and also in the world, as GK is already present in Papua New Guinea. Being in a GK community is a really different experience. Even if the houses aren’t as grand as the ones in San Diego Real Estate, GK houses are still beautiful (and no doubt, colorful!) in their own way. :) GK is also not about building houses but also building homes. GK works, and I’m not saying that because I’m a volunteer, but because it is true. :) Don’t believe me? I’ll bring you to a GK site one time.¹

Well, I went three times the suggestion, but that’s because there is just so many things to be proud of in being a Pinoy. :) That’s why no matter how old and overplayed that Pinoy Big Brother song is, I still feel a kick of Filipino pride every time I hear it. :)

MABUHAY ANG PINOY! Happy Independence Day! :)

1. Which reminds me, I told Pierre I’d plan a Blogger GK visit. Will get to that soon :P [«]

The 7 People of Lamentations

Here’s something I learned last Saturday at the SFC Metro Manila Leader’s Assembly (MMLA). The theme of our community for this year is “My portion is in the Lord, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:24) and everyone’s been talking about this ever since some big things happened in our community. Kuya Cocoi was the worship leader last Saturday, and in the middle of the worship, he talked about the book of Lamentations. Lamentations is a book in the Bible full of just that: lamentations. It’s a long list of complaints that the Israelites (God’s chosen people) to God. Inside this book, Kuya Cocoi gave a list of seven people of Lamentations, and they are:

The Seven People of Lamentations¹
(From SFC MMLA, 5/19/2007)

1. The Guiltless One
   - those who feel no need to repent
2. The Stiff-Necked One
   - those who persist in their infidelity/sinfulness
   - they think that their sin is not that serious and fail to think that any sin, no matter how small, blocks God
3. The Impatient One
   - they repent, but they do not pause to learn the lessons God wants to teach
4. The Shallow One
   - takes repentance forgranted, keeps on repeating the same sin, undermining repentance
5. The Comfortable One
   - no problem with obeying God, but cannot appreciate the need to be purified by fire through trials and even persecution
   - to lament is to have a posture where we reflect on the purpose of God.
6. The Clueless One
   - those who do not understand the concept of command responsibility for collective guilt
   - we are one body in Christ, we are a part of one community and we should not be apathetic.
7. The One of the Other Side
   - the attackers

What’s even more interesting about this is that even if it classifies the Israelites of the early time, this could very well fit these times. Each of us could be one or two of them. Sometimes we even shift from one kind of person to another.

Who are you among the seven people of Lamentations?

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1. To read through the entire explanation, read this entry [«]

Filipinos are Special

It’s not a hidden fact to everyone that I am a Pinoy Big Brother viewer. I don’t think I’m a fan yet since I haven’t subscribed to 24/7 or went to any eviction nights, so let’s just stick to viewer. :P

Anyway, in the light of the recent event that a member of Slovenian Big Brother visiting the Pinoy Big Brother household for the Big Brother Swap, here’s a little tribute to Filipinos that someone posted in the PBB Forum¹ about how Filipinos are special.

This entry also goes out to Mae, maybe as an affirmation of sorts for what she just posted. :) [Warning, long read! But really, worth it.]

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1. No, I am not registered; I just subscribed to feeds. :P [«]