A video of Nina Simone

Nina Simone was a gifted singer who wrote poetry and songs, composed music ang played the piano. She sang this song - "Young, Gifted and Black" - which became the 'national anthem' of the blacks during the time of Martin Luther King. I can't help but be amazed at her talent and of how her audience reacts to her singing - simply awesome.

Cold mornings...Warmer days

Cold mornings remind me
of those days from long ago
when cares were free
and life was complicated

when isaw cost 2 pesos
and rice servings were heaping
when blue books were at 1 peso
and the SU was filled with students
when songs were sung till morning
and jeep fare cost 1 peso
when students joined rallies en masse
and filled 70 jeeps to go to Diliman
when flags waved high and red
and "Serve The People" was held with conviction

when hearts burned warm with nationalist fervor
and fists were held up high

The mornings are cold today
and pockets are burned
hearts are fierce
as more knees are weak from hunger
emotions are burning
as a few wallets are burgeoning with wealth

"..with fervor burning..."
fists are held up high.

one more year, one more chance

2009 is here. It's as if time is running at mach speed these days. I feel like I haven't accomplished as much as I wanted to and yet I finished a lot of stuff already..

So the new year is here. One more chance at life. Time to assess, discover and plan what I want to accomplish for 2009.

And to everyone else out there - I wish your 2009 will be filled with life, laughter and lotsa love to pass around and share.

Happy New Year!

5 Reasons why I want to have the New Fujitsu Lifebook T5010 Tablet PC

Here are my top 5 reasons of why I want this Tablet PC...

1. It has a beautiful display. Its screen display, for a Tablet PC, is exceptionally good (just like a real high-definition screen).
2. Its bi-directional hinge. The hinge allows you to turn the screen in either direction (it turns easily, even with just one hand).
3. The spill-resistant keyboard. Yes! I can drink my coffee with no fear!
4. It weighs 4.9 lbs. This means I can match my clothes to my handbag. Yup. Because it can easily fit in any of my handbags and I don't need to worry if the bag can handle it's weight, darling, because it can!
5. I've always been a Fujitsu notebook fan. So...of course I want to have this!!!!

I could stretch this list to reach 10 reasons but - the best reasons are these 5 ones so... 'nuff said.

Lingering Thoughts

Pause a moment
Take some time off and stop awhile
Languidly listen to
The effervescent whisperings of Lady Wind
Chronicles of the years
Vanished and seemingly forgotten
Of boundless terrains and open seas
Nothing and no one owned and everything free
“Forgotten times…” she whispers

Now she knows no boundless space
Foreign and massive bulks have arisen
Hampering Lady Wind’s passage
Strewing waste in her path
“Will no one weep with me?”, wails the sweet lady
Her countenance marred and ashen.

From the depths, several voices rise
Howling and wailing
“What has happened to us?”
Cousin Water blankly stares in murky stillness
Aunt Soil, stark and pale
“Where are the others?”
Cried out young saplings
Missing the stories of long-ago
Looking for Grandpa and Grandma
“Where has everyone gone to run, to crawl, to swim, to fly..?”

She circles round
Heavy…burdened
Listen
Hear her urgent whisper
“Let it not be too late…”
Feel
Her breath hot on your face
“Away with indolence…”
Then
Caressing your hair
Gently murmuring
“Together, we can do much…”


October 15, 2007

ramblings 1

the sun's rays can't get through
to warm my chilled mind.

i am numb.
and almost all will has left me.

when do all the troubles end?

i know.
they do not.

and so i fear.
i fear what may come today. tomorrow.

...we can be happy?
...we can strive and achieve the goals we set?
...there are no bounds to what we can reach?

but happiness is so arbitrary and relative
and so fleeting.
and striving towards goals is not a certainty
that those goals will be achieved.
and possibilities are not limitless
but hampered by who you know and what you know.

and if more troubles come
what then?

tomorrow is a question no one can answer.

a good evening

Last week i watched "Ang Aksidenteng Kamatayan ng Isang Anarkista". It was the Filipino translation of the play written by Dario Fo.

The actors were really great, although the best one was the one who played the part of The Maniac. He certainly got (and kept) my attention. The other actors, although possessing the confidence and talent for stage, in truth, paled before the mastery of the craft that was displayed by this actor.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening. Only two things marred my enjoyment. The first one was having had to watch the play with an audience of college freshmen who hardly understood the Filipino language (I spyed one student who was stealthily peering at her english-tagalog dictionary!). Could they have understood the essence of the play? Anyway that was the second thing that bothered me. The message, like an aftertaste, did not go down pleasantly. The fact that this play, written based on events in Milan in 1969, was translated (and fitted so snugly) into the Philippine language and culture certainly implies that cover-ups, scandals and the like existed and still exists. No amount of grandiose projects, altered economic indicators and high-paid PR agencies can belie the sad and sorry state we are in.

As the Maniac said, "We are already buried neck-deep in garbage. That is why we walk with head held high."

procrastination

oh no!!!
i really should focus on work today.
deadlines!deadlines!deadlines!
..i have to finish everything!!!
today!!!

argghh...
somebody should remind me not to procrastinate..

no.
i should have reminded myself not to procrastinate.
do the tasks at once.

do it now.


i should have those words printed in size 66, times new roman and hung in front of the computer.

patience

the kid has really been teaching me the real meaning of the word patience.
arrgghh...
the "look" has lost its effect.
the kid just smiles at me or just doesn't mind me.
grrr...
hmmm...when this kid gets a little bit older...
hah!
my time will come...doo-bi-doobi-doo-hmmmm

gloomy day

raining again.
why is it that when i plan on posting a few words it turns out to be a rainy day?
hah! does this mean that writing for me is sad and gloomy?
typhoon glenda has really been full of wind and rain, classes have been suspended. again.
so for two days now, the kid here has been running around, giving me a non-stop commentary on what pinky said (her toy bear) and what cuddly is doing (her toy poodle). the kid's supply in the imagination department doesn't seem to be depleted, no matter how much stories she dishes out.
hmm..to be kid once more. bah.
well, just one retort to that.
gloom on.

rebirth

what happened to me? after more than a year of seeming inactivity, here i am handling two projects at the same time!amazing! do you think making my own blog here jumpstarted my sleeping consciusness and awakened the long dormant soul that has been sleeping inside my body? i don't know. all i know is i am neck-deep in activities and plans, all of which are running full-force at breakneck speed. never have i faced this kind of situation. true, it's scary to start a business, to not use your own money end yet place everything at a risk. it's a miracle people even trust me enough to lend me their money. i know i haven't showed them anything so that they will believe in me but still, they do.

right now, i am trying to fight off the feeling that i can't do it. that i will just make all of these plans crash and i will be thrown in the trash can. no. really. i must stop thinking negatively. i have to get hold of myself. i have to work hard. now i really have something to sink my teeth in.

for more than a year now i have had nothing worthwhile to do. sure i do the routine jobs, things that need to get done and over with in running a home. but facing challenging projects? uh-oh...nope..never heard..

so this is sort of a rebirth. a rebirth that, i hope, shall turn out okay.

retrospect

i have so many dreams for myself and my family...but i haven't done anything to reach my dreams. are some people born to be creators and shapers? how do they do it? you...reach their dreams? is this some inate thing that you learn as babies?
time is running out on me. before i know it, i shall reach middle-age.
will i have accomplished anything? something? will i be proud of what i have done with my life when i look back on it in my old age?
or...will i ever reach old age?

rainy days

rain has been steadily pouring down our roof since last night. gloomy weather. you remember that song by Karen Carpenter? rainy days and mondays... love that song. the melody is good and the lyrics mirror my feelings. rainy days makes me think of days gone by, of missed opportunities and of what could have been things... could life have been different? i don't really believe in destiny. i know that i am the one who carves out what my life has been, and will be eventually. i guess i just don't know how to carve that well.
i hope tomorrow the sun shines.

it's been a year since daddie died and yet..i still have that feeling that i am going to see him again. i still see him so clearly in my mind. i guess i haven't let go.
oh, i know that he never is going to come back. but knowing something doesn't mean that you can turn away from wishing something else.
everyone feels the loss. my 6-year-old daughter hasn't forgotten him, sometimes just blurting out of the blue, "i miss dodo" (her pet name for her lolo) in the middle of her play, perhaps remembering the time when my daddie would play with her. my sister has become more reclusive since his death, her pain greater, i guess, since among us all she was the one most like him. and my mother? well, you know how mothers are. like a lighthouse in the middle of the stormy sea, scarred and all but still strong and giving light to those in need.
but in time, i know, we shall all heal. we simply must move on because, no matter what we do, life does go on..
hopefully i will reach that point of acceptance of reality soon. or sooner. it's just that life isn't the same anymore without him. and i really miss him. we all do.

a new door

for a long time now i have been wanting to try my hand at blogging. but you know how regular use of procrastination muddles up thoughts and mixes up plans somewhat. so i never got around to creating my own blog and just sighed about wanting to open one, etc..etc...
one can really just stay and not make any motion, not want to change anything, content with digging one's own hole, so to speak. i mean, not really content..maybe just shying away from the probability of facing conflicts if i change my routine.
well, today, i don't really know what came over me..a whiff of the smell of coming rain?...i just found myself filing up the form. and then here it is..
so maybe it is time. time for me to try opening a new door, peeping at what could be in store for me.
well, we shall see.