The Rule of Law, Transparency, Responsiveness, Consensus Oriented, Equity and Inclusiveness, Effectiveness and Efficiency, and Accountability — factors that measure good governance. And for sure, we don’t want to waste the opportunity to be led by a well-thought leader.
April 30th, my friends and I partook in the historical event of #BarakoParaKinaLENIKIKO who stood up and showed support as our most powerful tool to speak up, and have our fair share to uphold the best people for the job at Catalina Lake Residences Manghinao, Bauan, Batangas.
And to show support “Pihong Kita’y Panalo Rineh kay Kiko’t Lineh” Jaryl made this last-minute placard quote.🤩🤩🤩
The rally was supposed to start at 12NN but as early as 8AM we’ve had already settled in front of the entrance, so we can get closer to the stage to get up close with all the performers and the main reason why we’re here Leni-Kiko and the Tropang Angat Senators.
The early birds 🦅
Jaryl, Maja, Gia, J-Mac are with me at this rally.
Since we’re early, we’re situated near the main stage.
And to show that we’re all one in this battle, several volunteers around the province prepared free meals, water, merch, and snacks, so everyone could not go thirsty or hungry throughout the event.
Ahh! Ice Cream to soothe the scorching heat of the sun. 🌤🍧
Coffee and frappé by cafedelipa ☕️
A lot of talented Batangueños showcased their talents and big stars in showbiz were present to make this event rousing before we finally get to hear words from the main stars of the rally. Singer-song writer Nica Del Rosario and Gab Pangilinan sung Rosas one of the official VP Leni’s campaign song. Some big stars present were Janine Gutierrez, Jolina Magdangal, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Ogie Alcasid, and Sharon Cuneta.
After 9 hours of waiting, they finally showed up to tell their sentiments and plans once they win the election. With conviction, “Konting tumbling na lang, mananalo na tayo” VP Leni uttered. I teared up a little because of the hope that I can feel, and all the attendees’ warm spirits lifted when they appeared on stage.
Kulay Rosas ang Bukas 🌷
Given the freedom, we are proud that we’re part of the 280,000+ Batangueños who are hungry for good governance because we all deserve better, the Philippines deserve better.
Never mind how many hours and for how long we have stood, waited, and felt tired during the entire run of the rally, the main thing is we have made the right choice to support the righteous ones for a right government. We are all hungry for good governance, and it’s our time now to make it happen. Ipanalo na natin ‘to! ✨
It was raining hard as you walked into the café, you ordered a mocha-flavored drink, the usual chocolate for him. As you wait for it, you hardly stare at him. He waited for you to spit the initial words before the story finally began.
Your eyes were seemingly nervous, but you got through it. It’s the comfort of silence he gave you to sprung words and stitch phrases to share. It wasn’t easy, compared to how you were on the line.
You were like that. He smirked as a signal of happiness that can’t be contained. The atmosphere came alive, like a place in the world that’s beautiful. It’s inside that four walls, it’s in the café where you and him, built the connection and hope. From your heart to his, from your look to him, it all begin again.
The story of 2020 has been tough or even the worst one for most people. Days of mental anguish, financial strain, ailed relationships and existential career crisis. True as it could be, it wasn’t easy. But as always, after every experience paves us way to different life realizations and learnings.
This year, I did nothing but to motivate myself not to stay asleep with my dreams and rather wake up and chase them amidst of all the happenings in the world. I’ve gotten the ideal career where I excel the most, expanded my circle, kept the financial resource flowing and taught to look after myself.
It may be the year that is way far from what we’ve all expected it should be, but it taught us all lessons that we can definitely say, it made us better and stronger in a way.
After all, we always got to choose our own story and everything which makes our life inspiring. It may always not as great as we expected to be, but there are parts that can be captured by the heart which makes everything worthwhile.
They say life is full of surprises and uncertainties. Even though we don’t know where we’re predestined to be, we still keep going. One we’re certain about is that there are ups and downs ahead of us, and we don’t get to be assured of what awaits for us next. Things which prepares us for something that is meant to come.
When we were born, our future is already written in our palms. The so-called “destiny lines” are believed to drive our undertakings to a certain direction.
But whatever these lines tell the possible life path we may have, ourselves and our minds play a pivotal role in shaping our own destiny. We create our own will, and this kind of stuff is just a mere guide.
In real life, there are some people who live by what itches their interest. Everything is already planned from the moment they eat breakfast up to what book to read before bed. All the things that went through were already expected and happened the way it was planned priorly.
Come to look at the bright side if everything is unplanned, we don’t get to know what’s going to happen next. There comes the excitement at the moment where we’ll either be happy on the outcome or wiser the next time because we learned from what happened. See? Both a win-win situation, plus there’s a thrill and an element of surprise. It’s like watching a movie, there’s a twist in the end that we didn’t see coming base from our expectation.
We may not have gone to where we intended to go to, but we may end up where we didn’t expect we needed to be at.
May we not be afraid of taking risks and have imperfect circumstances in life. We just need to have a heart and soul which are brave enough to let things happen unexpectedly. Be it job promotion, feelings from the person you love, a tragic or happy ending in a movie and even a yay or nay moments on a travel escapade.
Sometimes we must let go the need to control the outcome of what our plans and expectations are, trust the process and see what happens.
I admit that I’m a non-dog lover. Maybe because I’ve got bitten when I was young. I have lived to be scared of dogs, like every time I walk by in our narrow street, I will always bite my tongue, so I won’t get noticed by the pack of dogs as I pass by. I don’t know but, I believe in its magic.
Until my brother had one, it took him a long time to have a dog, since I’m really not into it, we always argue. The barking, the shredding fur, the pooping and peeing, the smell, and stuffs — some minor issues I’m concerned with. I’m glad he considered my shallow plead. So, we adopted a native dog that has no breed, an Aspin. Having one require less maintenance than purebred dogs.
His name is Kobe, a great addition to our family just right before Coronavirus pandemic rebellion. He is 2 months old when we adopted him on 30th January. I can’t touch him, really scared of him, even though he’s that small.
There were consecutive mid nights and dawn he barked which put me into a really awful sleep. Agh, I don’t know why I’m the only one who complains about it in our family. I always come closer to his shed to talk to him that he’s really noisy. I always scold him because of his behavior. Funny how he stares at me and listen intently as if he can understand what I am preaching. I heard that he’s compulsive barking is normal since he’s into a whole new environment.
As the day passes, I’m getting used to his barks, and he as well got used to our place. There was a time that he really wanted to come out his shed, and he kept on barking. So, my dad let him out of his house, he hastily ran away beside a distant tree and peed, later he also pooped. I just learned something from that day. Those barks may be a sign of a comfort break, aside from attention seeking, or he wants to play, he’s hungry, and there’s a stranger.
On weekends, I used to feed him since my brother is out of town during those days. I got annoyed that sometimes he will make noise even though it’s only 10 AM, not his feeding time. He will stretch his body just to allow me see him because I always do my work in the kitchen near his shed. Poor boy, we have no food to feed him that early and wait for us to finish our meals first before he could finally eat. But I can’t take his appeal, I will then open canned goods for him to eat and stop the noise already. And I will start my preaching again as I feed him.
He became part of our daily routine. We let him out of his shed in the morning and sunset to play in the field, feed and wash him too. For the passing months I haven’t touched him yet. I just really can’t but, I love how I used to feed him and play without touching him. It has been 8 months since he’s home. I can’t believe the fact that we already incorporated Kobe in our everyday lives. He became quiet and adaptive as he age, he became comfortable to our place as well. The only time he will make noise is when he’s going to have a comfort break, when he wants to play, when he’s hungry, and he saw someone peculiar. Not to the point that we can’t get a comfortable sleep at night.
We really can’t avoid unfortunate events to happen in our lives. One morning, where the sky’s gloomy and the rain’s about to drop, my dad noticed that Kobe went missing in his shed. We all started to look for him all over the place. Asked the neighbors by any chance that they’ve seen Kobe. One of them said that he saw a dog walking outside our compound, he wasn’t sure if it’s Kobe. Until the rain came, we failed to find him, we really had no idea where he was. Whilst, my brother had no idea that his dog went missing because he’s out of town.
We ate lunch, I’m the one tasked to do the chores and stuff, I already had everything cleaned. I stopped and sat for a while, I’m suddenly reminded of how I prepare Kobe’s food after our lunch. As the rain came heavier, thoughts of where Kobe could have been situated hit my senses, tears in face came streaming. Maybe he’s shivering, wet and lonely and had no place to shed off. I just really can’t take to be reminded of those unfortunate instances and of course our bittersweet memory together.
Two days passed, we had no idea where he was. I missed the morning walks and plays, the sound of his noise. I used to look around our place if Kobe’s just hiding or nearby. I just can’t control my feelings and let my tears drip on my face, it hurt me so much. I can’t let go of thoughts that maybe he’s into another family, he got by the authorities, hit by raging car, and even worst, dead. But I’m still hoping that he’ll make his way home. And I won’t get tired of waiting for him.
Six o’clock in the morning, one of our neighbor came knocking on our door together with Kobe telling us that our dog was seen heading inside our compound. He looked so sad, starving, and chilling. We didn’t know where he had been, he just walked by inside the house, he knew the place, but he seemed to be aloof. Maybe he’s dealing with emotional trauma after being lost. We fed him, gave him water and pet him. We really missed him.
You’re really a grown up dog, our Kobe! You once got lost but you found your way home.
I felt relieved the moment I saw him eating the foods we gave him. It felt like he didn’t eat for ages. You are safe, you are home now.
I can’t deny that I really got inflicted by this happening. I still can’t consider myself as a dog lover, a frustrated dog parent in such different way, perhaps.
The moment he came back gave me deep realizations and affection towards him. He made me realized that in every fall, do not lose the hope for there might be a great come back. Thank you, God, we’re together again.
Here’s to more bittersweet memories with you, Kobe. 🐕🐶
I just woke up from a deep sleep. This morning smells like dreams which I can’t remember. My eyes were blinded with the glare of the sun on the window pane. It’s 10 o’clock, woke up this late because I needed to work and finish my stuff last night to reach my quota and tick all the boxes of tasks to accomplish until my exhaustion. I’m fully recharged now and I want to write something motivating.
Let me ask you, how long have you been waiting? How many wins and how many losses? Think about it.
Learning to wait for things always fall into place, they say. But, you wait and wait for something then you felt sad about the outcome. Are you still going to wait?
Perhaps yes, I know you. You believe that, if it’s for you, then it will be given to you. And if it’s not for you, maybe it’s a redirection.
What if I tell you that there is no such thing as perfect timing and circumstances?
Waiting for the perfect time, waiting for your dream job, waiting for the promotion, waiting for the approval, waiting for someone to love you back, maybe someone to come back, or someone who will slap you and wake you from the reality that, timing doesn’t favor those who were ready, timing favors those who try and those who were not afraid.
Don’t wait for the perfect time, or for the things to get better. Don’t wait for the right opportunity, or even for the right one. Know that life will always give you lemons which will make things complicated. Why don’t you pull up your sleeves, burn the midnight oil, grit your teeth to get everything you want? It is just like riding a bicycle, you must step on the pedal over and over again to keep you moving.
The person you’ve been waiting will come if you’re worthy to be loved. The promotion and approval you’ve been wanting will happen if you worked even harder than those who work hard as well. The job you’ve been dreaming of will happen in your life if you’re willing and able to pursue it. And the perfect time you’ve been waiting all along will eventually come depending on when you will put yourself into the real action. Guess you’ll run out of time if you don’t do it now.
As I am writing this piece, the mood rises and the mixture of positivity is overflowing. Let me wind down this a bit and ask you.
What if you tried your best, and you still did not succeed?
There is the drive and the passion to get what you want, and yet life doesn’t give the favor to you.
Remember, timing favors those who try and who were not afraid. Yes, you tried but, were you fearless? Vanish the thinking “I tried but, I failed. Maybe it’s not for me, I’ll wait for the perfect time, instead.”
Oh, com’on! Have you not read or heard to someone about the proverb, “Fall seven times, stand up eight” Choose to never give up and strive for more.
In the end, it still depends upon you, I may not know where you are coming from, maybe it’s good for you to try and just wait for some time whenever you’re ready. Um, maybe if you try, sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, or you’ll succeed. Who knows?
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Life moves pretty fast. Why don’t you stop and look around once in a while?
You may not notice your favorite toy when you were a kid that you liked to throw here and there and break its parts is now fully covered with dust. The childhood scent of crayola box that you used to sniff, faded overtime. Along with the leaves falling by your window from the tree that you used to climb back then, now drifting.
You may now blink, right before you set your foot forward to your whereabouts for the day, you will pass by the stray kids goofing and playing around on your way. You will hear calls on repeat from the peddlers of goods. When you caught a sight of them, you’ll notice wrinkles of hardship painted on their faces, and hard-earned sweat streaming down their necks. Hard sacrifices for their simple dreams — to eat for a day and live for another day.
While you stride on the narrow streets of your childhood place on your way to the bus station off to school and work, something in mind will hit you. A thought or two which will make you ponder about what you just saw, has something changed? Then, you’ll realize there’s none.
Now you’re sitting in the bus, and since your drop off point is the last, you chose the back seat to feel like you’re the main lead of the movie. You noticed the people standing in front of you. The one facing left who seems to be late incessantly looking at his wrist watch. On his right is the serious senior student, looks like he’s ready for a one-seat apart examination. Then there’r the recliners, seems like the whole world has heard all the battles they’ve started this morning. And of course the sleepers, whom are tired from a night-long wakefulness to finish their reports and staffs for work or school.
You will just ask yourself, do these people you are with, share the same problems as yours? You think maybe you all do, but fall into different categories. A long way ride it is, you can’t do anything but to think of some things and your mind is occupied with unwelcome thoughts which makes you emotionally tired. Bills are waving — electricity, rent, internet, plans, maintenance and others. You will then check your email inbox where requirements and duties are giving you a heads up to finish it in due time.
So maybe right now you’re stuck, you are asking yourself how can you get out of the hole you dug for yourself?
What you try to do is to stay positive and have optimistic point of view in this kind of negative situation. Realizations will bubble up like maybe you’re just feeling lazy, or somehow you made some sort of mistake which makes you feel stressed.
Then you’re looking at these messed up things as a chance for you to grow, because you believe that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonades which means you keep yourself feel encouraged in the face of adversity.
You believe in fate and faith, though at times it’s hard to trust faith because your fate tends to deny you for so many times. It’s hard for you to believe in hoping for something you expect to happen or have faith in someone to come in your life when wrong things ensue over and over again. But you still believe on its power. You believe in His will and His plans for you. And so you pray and trust Him.
Though the phasing of life is real fast, it is way too short to live it like you’re just existing.
You can live your life because you keep doing action to flight. You are capable of building a castle out of all the bricks that life is throwing at you. Yes it’s a hard journey that’s filled with obstacles and failure but you’re used to it now. Every day is a battle, but what’s waiting for you is worth the struggle.
***
The sky turned velvet, you’re on your way home now, as you walk through the narrow streets, the playing kids were gone to rest. The place became quiet as the peddlers earned enough today. You’re like them, they have routines same as yours, and they never stop.
So, you will wake up 5AM tomorrow to start the day, it’s the process. I know it’s tough, but so are you. For now, you can rest. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Okay?
Light from the fireflies appropriately represents hope, guidance, inspiration, and awakening
It’s past 12 midnight, there I was again — tired of counting sheep just to fall asleep. My brain begun to buzz and overthink things as my thought or two kept on racing which made me gnaw.
I’m lying in a comfy bed inside my serene room. As I close my eyes, I think of happy thoughts and take a deep breath. I tried playing the sound of blowing ocean waves in my head like I always do but, I can no longer hear it. It’s the distinctive sounds of crickets chirping outside my window echoing in my intellect —uhmm quite relaxing too.
Istarted to feel the cold wind blow into my face and absorbed the warmth of my own breath as I fill it in my lungs.
Subsequently, it felt like I was transported to another dimension. The cold wind vanished as I felt the heat of the sun striking onto my skin, the echoing cricket sounds turned into a looping and knocking rage of the vehicles in the city rhyming with the blabbering sounds of the people who pass by. I found myself crossing the street near the school of De Lasalle in my corporate attire.
Abruptly, a barefooted and dirty kid (evident on his white shirt) approached me and held my hand. I’m in a rush but I can’t do anything aside from being frozen at the moment because he might spit on me if I urged to pull back. Painted on his filthy face were the bruises and on his legs were marks maybe from a hit or violence. And his feet covered with sludge dirt walking into the city barefooted.
He’s way too young to be a beggar, not too old to provide the needs of his family. He needs help from the older one, an urge plead from the authority. This kid knows nothing about education aside from reading vandalism across the walls of the city. He’s been exposed to shenanigans, rascality or hooliganism maybe, instead of dreaming, playing freely, climbing trees, and running around here and there. His innocence was already filled with the foolish things of the world. Oh, poor boy.
Those thoughts ran through my mind to that moment he held my hand to ask for some pennies. I felt awful about my ruminations about him. I needed to give him food for he has still a long day to overcome and some coins to spend. As I get my wallet inside my bag to search for some, unconsciously the young boy was gone. He ran through the street and jumped inside the Jeepney (public transportation) to ask for money. I missed the chance of giving him a small help, a favor that could at least fade a little of his worries in life. For him to believe about the goodness of people. To give him hope that there are still some who offers help to those who are in need. But I failed, if I only didn’t hesitate at the first place.
I started to walk inside the hall of De Lasalle with the boy running in mind. I felt the wind blew hard on me, it was cold. The boisterous sounds turned rhythmic, chirp of the crickets calmed my mind. I found myself back in my bed, I opened my orbiting eyes and I saw the reality. It was a dream which brought me to a realization — a realization that everyone has an impact to the lives of others. In any form, whether you can help them, guide them or inspire them. Because it can also pave the way on how we can help ourselves. As we are to do unto others, as we hope they would do unto us in proper time.
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