'Appy Birthday 4D!!

That last post segues into my heartfelt greetings for my dear brother 4D (Day's Darling Debonair Destroyer), otherwise known to the rest of the world as Chris-Amats Salgado. I'm very bad at birthdays, but to think that we celebrated his last one in the hinterlands of Benguet while Darling Day was in Fiji. So I really had no excuse not to remember his 30th year anniversary on this earth - especially since I had a text conversation with him earlier in the day on a totally different matter and was on YM while he was waxing nostalgic and acting all senti . We were in the middle of a C+C partners' meeting, and I even said, "Ang weird ni Amats, nag-iinarte..." Haha, and he had good reason to - we were talking for a good 20 minutes but not one of us remembered his special day! Not until Johanna came in, took a few minutes to think about it, and then all heaven broke loose as we tried to rectify our oversight!!

I still can't forgive myself dear bro, but my birthday amnesia (happened with Nanay D too once upon a time, twice upon a time pa yata, waah!!) doesn't mean that you're any less special in my life. Thank you for the love and the support, for being a confidant and a cheerleader and a matchmaker (although I think you know what the score is on that!! Sorry to disappoint, hehe... then again, the world has witnessed stranger things) and a fellow servant and a true brother in Christ, in every sense of the word. The world is a brighter place because you carry His light in your life.

Amats and his darling Daisy are two beautiful people who I trust implicitly. With my confidences, with my dreams and plans, with my "issues", with my time and love and friendship - and with a little list no one on this earth has ever seen. Ha ha - you are my objective Commission of Appointments: it's now unofficially your job never to allow me to "settle" for less. (You may add "Amats and Day have to approve of him" to the end of the list - he he). And that in itself goes to show how much the "family D" means to me. :-)

Let's keep praying for each other! Happy 30th birthday my dearest brother 4D, we love you so very much! May you find all your deepest desires fulfilled as you fulfill His!

E e e e... ;-)

Battle Scars

I'm all maimed and mangled. Physically, if not emotionally (boo-hoo, chorva...).

I hacked off a panel of finger flesh with an extra-sharp Solingen while cooking for Antoine a few days ago - it's still a little raw and sometimes itchy under the Band-Aid I use to keep the skin from flapping about. Although I bled copiously that night, it didn't actually quite hurt all that much - just like when I soaked up several rags' worth when I accidentally cut myself in front of my Mom a little while back (she could only watch, horrified, as the towel I used to tourniquet my finger with started to turn crimson; in the meantime, I went on with my chismis and kwento as if the life were not flowing out of me). I've had to stock up on Band-Aids lately because getting the blood out of white kitchen towels isn't much fun, and since the Montalban kids wiped out my first-aid kit bandage supply the last time I was up there.

But anyway. Haven't been doing well in the safety department lately, especially in the kitchen. Last night, I roasted some chicken thighs for our partners' dinner and, in an attempt to check for done-ness, managed to er, accidentally juggle a heavy and very hot Pyrex pan full of poultry and potatoes, with my bare hands. Ouch. Good thing the Solingen wound hurt more than the first degree burns.

Later, while I was putting away the silver, I cut myself again - on the finger next to the Solingen casualty, with a dinner knife - for crying out loud. I almost sawed my hand off. At least the knife was Oneida; Oneida, Solingen - if you're going to be injured, better do it with style.

And oh of course, I forgot to mention that, after a long drive down from BC and a few glasses of wine with the best friends (plus a heated discussion on "dysfunctionality" and "I can't believe you're such a jerk, Jerk!" - the kind of discussions you can only have with Miles and Ney and still love and be loved in the morning), I crashed in exhaustion on my adopted "bed," only to wake up past 4:00 on Monday morning. And because I vaguely remembered having promised my Mom I'd be home at midnight, I drove home on auto pilot, sick, hoarse, tired... and upon arrival at home base before sunrise, I managed to bang the car door against my face. Hard. Ouch to the nth degree. It was so bad that I thought I'd be wearing instant black eyeshadow the next day, but the only evidence of that embarassing mishap is a little bloody cut right below my left eye. I may not have a black eye, but I still look like I was in a fist fight...with a car door. And the car door won.

I haven't been this klutzy since puberty. Spirit of Amats, begone! Heh heh ha ha hu hu hu hu...

Do What You Love

Quite a number of people have recently been asking my advice on what they should do with their lives - some of them even break down in tears just trying to put into words how much of a burden it is to live in the present, how painful it is just to go through a single day doing something you know you don't want to do. How they hate their jobs, their lifestyles, their lives.

It's all really very sad. I don't know why they think I'm qualified to throw in my two cents' worth (unless perhaps they saw that Marie Claire Philippines feature) but I believe I now have an answer to anyone who may ask me the same thing again. And that is:

"Do what you love."

Plain and simple as that. Do what you love. Four words couldn't be any clearer. Do What You Love. Do - don't just dream, don't just draw up plans, but DO. Do what YOU want to do. And do what you LOVE. Not what you were brought up to believe that you should be doing, or what you may have a passing interest in right now, but what you LOVE.

What is the one thing - actually, as an exercise in life's focus, my "son" Jeryc once asked us to pick three things - you most love doing in the world? The thing you'd rather be doing when you find your knees buckling under the pressure of work you find no joy in. The thing that you could do in a state in exhaustion and still manage to smile about. The thing that gets you up early in the morning even though it's already kept you up all through the night. The thing that you know you're passionate about, because doing it gives you so much satisfaction, so much joy.

That's the thing you love. That's what you should be doing. Life on earth is too valuable to be doing anything else than pursuing one's passion.

But what about my rent, you may ask. What about my future, my kids' education, my loans, my daily expenses? What about the practical details of life?

Here's the second part of my "theory." Do whatever it takes to be able to do what you love.

If that means working at a job you don't particularly enjoy, then so be it. If that means long hours of practicing 'til you get things perfect, then so be it. If that means sacrificing comfort and safety and much-needed sleep, then so be it. Do whatever it takes to be able to do what you love.

I hit upon this realization in a recent conversation with my good friend Robbie G, a very talented and well-loved theater professional. He'd been sleepless for a few nights, not just because his Mom had recently passed on and he was attending to the many details of her funeral and honorings, but because he also had professional video production deadlines to meet - death in the family or no. In the midst of all this bustle, I asked him, "so is this (event and production) business your day job now?" And Robbie, bless his heart, drew his tired self up, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "No, theater is still, and always will be, my day job. This just lets me keep my day job."

Do whatever it takes to be able to do what you love. And then do it.

Two simple tenets in determining what we should be doing with our lives. After all, what we love doing was planted in our hearts by Someone who resides in our deepest desires.

Amen? Amen.

Quiet Time

I got it bad.

I don't know from whom - all three Sola kids, Ate Juwip, and even CC have all recently succumbed to a bad cough - but I'm sick (yes, again - there goes the superwoman persona out the window). Woke up this morning with a scratchy throat that progressively developed into a "frog" and eventually became full-blown laryngitis so bad that I had to cut my second class short. It probably serves me right for not taking care of myself better: was very tired even on the late drive up and should have rested immediately, but instead stayed up until past 5 a.m. reading class notes and fooling around on the guitar (BC does that - no matter how exhausted I am from traveling, when I get here I always gain my second wind). And then woke up at 7:45 (a little tug-of-war of flesh and spirit there) to get ready for class, and then talked on the development of the obscenity rule until I began to sound like a high-pitched Louie Armstrong.

The cold and rain that beset BC today made matters worse, and now it hurts even just to clear my throat, much less speak (but who to talk to anyway except my posse of neighborhood "puppies"). And I was so looking forward to an evening of stargazing from the balcony tonight (the sky was so clear early this morning when I arrived that you could see millions and millions of stars). Now it's just freezing rain and my hungry "monstahs" outside. Phooey.

And so I am officially mute. My BC time is the only real opportunity to worship and sing songs to God in solitude, and I haven't even been spending much quality time in BC lately, so this situation presents a challenge. I can play songs to Him, and my heart still lifts silent praises as my mind "sings" the lyrics, but it's an unusual (not to mention comical - good thing only He and I know how I look while I'm doing this) endeavor. I guess then this is an opportunity for my usual garrulous self to quiet down (albeit "forcibly"? hehe) and, perhaps, listen for once. And let Him do the talking. Roger wilco. Check check. Over and out. Amen.

Ebb Tide

So things have slowed down considerably these last few days. Time to breathe. Only God's strength and grace have carried me through the breakneck pace of the last couple of weeks, and now I'm happy to get a respite. Today I even had enough time to thoroughly correct and edit my students' take-home midterms (you gotta love internet technology and the "comment" function on MS Word) in terms of form as well as substance. In my heart of hearts, I know that editing (my OC'ness put to good use - I can spot a grammatical error on-screen from 10 meters. Seriously. The law secretaries' pool probably hated it when I'd casually walk by their stations and call out errors) will remain a huge part of my life - secondary to kusinera-ing and traveling and probably on the same level as writing.

But I'm happy for a little calm after the many whirlwinds of activity I was recently swept up into. Much-needed "me" time to do "me" stuff like practicing on the guitar or watching my reality and lifestyle shows, reading books, and OK, it's technically "work" but I love doing it - drawing up training modules for food service and preparation that I hope we'll soon be able to make use of at He Cares. And - yoohoo - I get some blogtime in as well.

I love the way our lives ebb and flow like the tides, synchronized divinely so the waters are not consistently raging nor still. This time of "relative rest", short though it may be (any time now and the pace will pick up again because of all the many things lined up), is just what I need to stop a while and take stock of all God has been doing in my life, and to look forward to what wonderful things He has in store for me as I prepare to once again run toward them as fast as they're coming at me! At this moment, my fingers are bleeding, bandaged, and sore - mainly from too much kitchen knife action (and one unfortunate near-Yakuza accident with a well-honed Solingen) and made worse by guitar practice. So it's a good thing that we won't be rushing into any more catering projects in the next few days at least(thankfully), but there's a lineup of events we'll be needing to deal with soon - and I need all my fingers intact for those.

In the meantime, while we're on the subject of slicing and chopping - I hope I get enough free time this weekend to have my hair cut (finally). Yugh.

Mammo

Had a very late night this last Tuesday - went grocery shopping for two households after work, dropped off stuff in QC before getting back to Valle at almost 11 pm, and then spent a few more hours making full use of all four stove burners and cooking several meals' worth of freeze-able food (hey, that's what personal caterers do, after all). Even though I'd finished by 1 am, I couldn't get to sleep, so I watched some Lifestyle TV until that channel went to bed; had a short conversation with David when he came in, and he too had to sign off...

I finally got some sleep at a little past 3, only to be jarred awake at around 5 am by an early bird text. And, again, at the unholy hour of 6:30, by the smiling face of one of the most handsome men in the world.

Little men, anyway - Antoine was awake, and he wanted Titang Honey to be too, so he could show off his little ocean coloring book. What a way to greet the early rainy morning - off the couch to plug in his "mammo! mammo!" (Ice Age daw) DVD and then haul him up to where Titang had previously been in dreamland (her "bed" being the best TV seat in the house). Because he's not three yet and still not fully expressive in the verbal arena, he gets by with grunts, a whole lot of hand-pulling in the direction he wants things done, and, when thoroughly exasperated, a full-throated "mammo!" (trans.: you silly idiot, can't you comprehend that I want the antedeluvian wooly mammoth on screen, and I want him now!).

Hmph. The thanks you get for spending the night shopping and slaving away to cook his food, only to be roused way too early in the morning to be at his beck and call and to stupidly giggle on cue and scratch the itch on his grubby little foot... actually, I wouldn't have it any other way (pushover).

And suddenly, seriously for the first time in my life, I want one of my own. Even "mammo!" at 6 a.m. would be well worth it.

Following One's Calling

An excerpt from Called By Name by Robert Furey (The Crossroad Publishing Co., NY: 2000) - a book that I can honestly say changed my life.

"* * *

There are certain rewards that go to all those who move toward their visions, blessings collected when one walks the right road. * * *

Among the rewards given to those who walk the right road are focus, energy, significance, courage, empowerment, accomplishment, honesty, identity, spirituality, acceptance, love, and freedom. Although they may come in different sequences to different people, they all reach those who have earned them. Those with the determination to move toward their visions receive the qualities and the character needed to accomplish everything their vision asks.

First, a calling is about focus. In a world filled with distractions, a calling makes one aspect of life stand out above all the rest. It pulls and makes a sound that only you can hear, as if it knew your personal language. It moves you away from the prison of other people's expectations as you find your own self-expectation. Focus comes with a triumphant shout that screams, "This is my life!" A person without focus is someone who has not yet heard his or her calling. But remember, a calling comes in its own time. Until then it is our job to learn as much as we can. When our visions emerge, we choose whether or not to move toward them. If we move toward them, we find our focus getting clearer and stronger and the distractions falling away.

As our focus becomes stronger, our energy increases. It may be called tenacity, perseverance, determination, or enthusiasm. Whatever its form, energy is one of the clearest and most accurate indicators that you are on the right track. When you find your mission, you also find the energy you need to make it happen. You find the power you need to make your life's work significant. This is important. Sooner or later we reach a point where we review what we have accomplished in our lives. Some of us try hard to keep this question out of consciousness. Realizing that one has spent one's life in an endeavor that one does not value can be devastating. To avoid the devastation one may try to avoid the question. This avoidance, however, requires a great deal of mental energy, energy that could be spent productively.

Our callings represent the work that makes our lives meaningful to us; that work makes our lives couunt; it gives our life significance. This means finding what needs to be done and doing it, whether that be as a Girl Scout troop leader or as a stay-at-home father. Your calling is the mission that makes your life significant and meaningful to you. You decide if what you are doing is significant. You live with the consequences.

If you find missions that make your life significant, you will be rewarded with the courage to carry them out. Courage then builds as you go. You gather courage as you move towards your vision. First you gain the courage needed to take small risks; as your valor grows you may become almost undaunted by fear. At this point you have made quite a spiritual breakthrough. You have reached the place where your calling is more moving than your fear.

Courage serves as the foundation for personal empowerment. Empowerment means taking charge of your life. It's the feeling of being in control of the things that matter most. Empowerment also reflects the confidence that you can live with those flaws and limitations that you cannot erase. It's the understanding that you can have the power in spite of your limitations. You can even be empowered by your limitations because they have so much to teach.

Empowerment is the refusal to allow other people to tell you who you are. It's the release of the defiant power of the human spirit. It is one of the feelings that come with the awareness that you have found your road, your niche, your place. Empowerment is the understanding that you have everything you need to learn how to do the things you need to do.

If you move toward your vision, you will find everything you need to be successful; you will find accomplishment. By "success" I mean success in the deepest sense of the word. You may be called to be an elementary school basketball coach. You may work your hardest to be the best coach you can be. You may never win a single game and yet still be very successful at this calling. Being called to be an elementary school may have little or nothing to do with basketball. It may be all about shaping the character of young human beings.

In order to understand sucess and accomplishment, you have to understand the true nature of your calling. Sometimes it's buried beneath distractions. These distractions often come in the form of pseudofailures. A pseudofailure is an experience that may be thoroughly discouraging until you learn that what you lost is insignificant. Experiences like this can teach us what really matters.

If you follow your callings, you will be successful. You will be triumphant (though often in a quiet way). You will know the victory of being true to yourself. You will know the satisfaction of having contributed to the universe, even if you never win a single basketball game. It won't be an embarassment that you're not surrounded by trophies. You won't need them. The real successes are the ones you feel deep inside. They occur when you know you've done the right thing. Instead of rewards you may receive criticism. Keep in mind that criticism doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong; it only means that you're doing something that your critics don't want you to do.

If you are true to your calling, you may disappoint a few critics along the way. Following a calling is a journey in honesty. Who you are may not be acceptable to some. But with your eyes on your goal you realize that critics are usually only distrcations anyway. Living honestly means living with the conviction that you are not going to live anyone else's life. You are honest with the world and honest with yourself. You are committed to what is right and make the contributions you have been asked to make. As you move along the path of your calling, honesty becomes easier and feels more natural.

As this path unfolds and honesty becomes more and more a way of life, your identity becomes clearer. Before you began your search for your calling you may have noticed how other people sometimes try to tell you who you are. Now that you've come close enough to feel its pull, your awareness is redirected. Now you are more aware of what you want to do with your time on earth. This is the point, as President Bush remarked, at which God introduces you to yourself. Your social world no longer defines you. Your spiritual world - your spirituality - is now producing the guidance.

As your identity emerges so does your personal power. You are aware that you have a direction and your own set of standards to meaure your progress. You are no longer dependent on the approval of others. You have become a force unto yourself, a force capable of accomplishing great things. I believe in the truth of what Charlotte Davis Kasl wrote in her book Many Roads, One Journey: "Our souls become liberated when we dare to dream, and the happiest, most content and interesting people I know are those who follow their calling."

We reach a breakthrough moment in our lives when we accept our callings. This moment may be a long time coming, but when it does come, we experience a conversion. We can never really accept ourselves until we accept our visions. But when we reach the point where we find peace in our callings (no matter how challenging they may be), we also find a genuine acceptance of ourselves. This acceptance recognizes all the flaws, limitations, and mood swings that come with being human. It's honest self-acceptance without the need for perfection.

Once individuals accept themselves, they can begin to love themselves. Once they accept their callings, they can begin to love their lives. This is one of the essential aspects of the conversion. Acceptance opens the door to love. Since callings lead people to the service of life, one could make a strong argument that the work of a calling is fueled by love. One could also make an equally intelligent argument that callings create their own fuel. People true to their callings are capable of giving love. Their love goes into their work and the people they serve. They share it, and it comes back to them even stronger.

Finally, there is freedom. This is actually quite a paradox because it would seem that a calling would restrict one's freedom. After all, if the road chooses you, how can you call yourself free? Well, first of all, anyone can refuse a calling. No one is forced to follow. Even though the echose of your calling may haunt you, you can build a lifestyle designed to drown out the voices. Many do. But freedom means nothing if you are not able to be true to yourself. Real freedom is about being free to be you. It does not mean being able to be and do anything you want. Real freedom means being free to be one thing - who and what you are meant to be. No one is freer than the person who can become who he or she is meant to be. You may never knowwhy you have been given a particular calling. But you will never know true freedom until you allow yourself to be what you have been called to be."

Lists

Reading CC's other blog today reminded me of my own list of the things I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime. Through God's incomprehensible grace, I've managed to get many things off my "to do" column into "done!" and was cheered to see that I've already done 152 things as opposed to the 36 things I'd still like to do.

I'm a big list-maker: it's part of my peculiar brand of obsessive-compulsiveness and a huge help in relieving the ka-ngaragan (i.e., stress. "Ngarag? Is that Tagalog?" - Alan S.)I like to subject myself to. Hmm. Over-achieving obsessive-compulsive masochist - Dr. Phil would have a field day.

But anyway. I usually start my day in a mad rush, stressing out about all the many things I need to do right before I get started on doing them, and listing them down once I get to the office or to the nearest laptop creates relative calm out of the chaos (God knows how many times I've begged Him to take control of my schedule, and He always pulls through - this list thing is just one of the things I've been given to cope!).

But the thing is, life, just like the working day, is not just about lists. All those plans and goals and "To-Do's" look good in writing, but they're just about as worthless as the paper they're written on if you don't get down to doing what you're supposed to do. National Geographic Adventure's motto is one of the battlecries I've chosen to live by: "Dream it. Plan it. Do it." DO it. Dream as much as you want, plan as much as you want - the listing down of "To-Do's" is part of that, not to mention the prayer that goes with the list - but all of that is a waste of precious time and God-given talent if you don't actually DO.

Someone I was once close with had big - HUGE - fantastic dreams and drew up such grandiose, knock-you-off-your-feet plans. But never, ever really got around to DOING very much - and even when he did, it was without dreaming and/or planning. Nowadays I get so frustrated at such lack of determination and direction, maybe perhaps that's exactly the state I'd have ended up were it not for the grace of God. I get so worked up about this senseless squandering of valuable time and talent because it represents my own greatest fear in this life: purposelessness. Because life's not about drawing blueprints and pretty plans and good intentions. Life is all about DOING all those many things you've dreamed and planned. Life is about waking up.

So do it, doggone it, DO IT! Grrr.

A Real Weekend

Finally. A real, two-day weekend starting tonight...haven't had any of those since, gosh, I can't even remember. God's been so very good in providing the strength, wisdom, and determination to survive the grueling schedule I've been subjecting myself to, and I give Him all the praise and credit for all the amazing accomplishments of the last several days. Glory to God! I'd like to say a little bit more, but I'm going to sleep straight through the next couple of days :-) Actually, just the next eight hours - Divi with my partners on Monday, Chichi, Jograd, and Neil (who's never Divi'd?!) so that should be fun!!

God's Glorious Generosity!

Glory to God! Those are the three words you'll hear most often these days from the partners of C+C Personal Caterers - a little commercial undertaking with the Big G as CEO. So many marvelous turns of events have transpired these last couple of weeks since we officially launched our little venture, that we have no doubt of the Hand behind all of these good things.

But sometimes human nature kicks in.

My human nature, in particular, although I know that by now I should probably know better. Many times God and I like to engage ourselves in a little game of brinkmanship - how far will we (well, actually I) allow ourselves to be taken for the sake of trust and faith. With respect to financial matters, especially - I cannot begin to tell you how many times God's allowed me to teeter at the edge of the dark abyss without actually letting me fall in. By nature, I am generous to a fault, but mostly only in times of abundance - in times of necessity, that generosity is sorely tested. Even if God has proven Himself to be faithful time and again.

In the matter of tithing, for instance. Some of my non-Christian friends find it difficult to swallow the practice; heck, some of my faithful Christian friends ignore the obligation altogether. I myself have been amiss in this commitment ever since I started serving more in mission and working less in the world, but now that I look back on it, that's no excuse at all.

Some Christians argue that tithing is an antiquated practice, a quaint old imposition that went out of mode in the New Testament "supplanted" the Old. Hmmm...makes you really wonder if our God is a capricious God who changes His mind on a whim (that doesn't sound like my faithful, steadfast God). In Malachi 3:6-10, passages many Christians would rather play down or gloss over, the Lord unequivocally says: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'"

Test Him, He says! But many of us would rather not put Him to the test where our finances are concerned - our faith ends where our pocketbooks begin. We claim to surrender everything to God; everything, except our wallets and bank accounts. Like many Christians, that's where my human nature second-guesses the Divine.

I've witnessed all too frequently how God has "thrown open the floodgates" and poured out His blessings in my life when I tithed, but I tend to have a short memory. Especially when my own finances are a little precarious and my trust is severely tested. But just yesterday, God reminded me exactly how silly I am and how extravagantly generous and faithful to His promises He is.

I hadn't received any income, whatsoever, since the 31st - for one weird reason or another, all my "multiple sources of income" weren't paying up. So I was getting a little fidgety, especially since a big part of my assets is not liquid and with all the new projects I'd be needing to advance money for, plus the tuition for a little educational thing-y coming up... But yesterday it was raining money, Hallelujah - a lot of my payables came pouring in, and I found myself with a considerable amount of cash on hand, ready to spend it in flash. But because of the trauma-inducing "brinkmanship" match I'd just survived, I was loath to spend the money on anything and instead wanted to chuck it all into the bank where it would be safe from temptation.

Before I could do so, I remembered my renewed commitment to tithe - especially now that my time and my talents are no longer exclusively devoted to mission work. God forgive me, but it took several minutes of debating with my conscience before I could set aside 10% of the money before me - 10% that could buy so many things, be plowed back into business, and all that jazz. It took another few minutes for me to scrounge about for an envelope, stick the money in there, staple the ends to protect the tithe from my indecisiveness, and address it. And even if I'd done this so many times in the past, sometimes with a lot more money involved, it still hurt. No one said that offering the first-fruits to God would be an easy thing, especially since one is tempted to keep them to one's self. Ouch.

Although I received the grace of peace once I'd set the envelope aside, I was still briefly entertaining thoughts of changing my mind about handing it over whilst on the way to the Center for a staff meeting. Just then, my mobile phone rang. And what do you know, Glory to God!, a sudden windfall for the business when a good friend requested C+C - as a gesture of support and generosity - to cook up a whole henhouse of chickens for our upcoming anniversary. I may be kuripot in times of adversity, but God is definitely not! Thank Him that's He's not as tightfisted or worrisome as I am, and thank Him that His reassurance of abundance and the overwhelming floodgates of blessings will pour forth once we take a step out in faith, staple that tithing envelope, and offer it back to Him.

Glory to God, indeed! And that's just part of the story. :-) More blessings have been rushing at us as fast as we can rush towards them - Glory to God!

"Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." - Luke 6:30

Riding Into The Sunrise

Going to try something new in a little while. Normally, I'm off to BC on Friday nights in time to teach my Saturday classes at UP Baguio - for a variety of reasons it seems that I can never manage to leave QC before 8 p.m. Today, although I managed to get all my work off my desk and clear all client e-mails by 5 p.m., I didn't feel like making an early start (TGIF has a different meaning for me; I left all the artists and other staff to unwind over another case of beer left-over from the last party while I had to prepare for yet another road trip) and decided to sleep off today's post-ngarag exhaustion.

And so, after my nap and pre-class review of notes, I'm going to ride into the sunrise of BC for a change, just in time for my first class at 9:00. Would be nice to get to the house without groping around in the dark with a flashlight - and that nice 24-hour carinderia off Legarda will probably have some decent food other than the cold midnight dinuguan I've been (not so miserably, actually) subsisting on. But the best thing about leaving for BC in the wee small hours of the morning: NO TRICYCLES!!!

Another new thing I'm looking forward to this weekend: some real quality time by myself in BC...I have the rare luxury of staying, at my leisure, 'til Sunday. For it is truly a day of rest! Ahhhhh, finally, a break. :-)

Happy He Cares Anniversary!!

Kuya Joe Dean finally got to live his dream.

He's always wanted to have a little acoustic Christian bar-restaurant where people can gather to relax and listen and sing along to live Christian music. Last night, the He Cares garage/feeding area was transformed into just that - and Kuya the Christian-folk singer/guitarist got to take center stage. But actually Someone else was the acknowledged Star of the evening: the Love of our lives, the Reason for our being, the One who truly cares for us. As He Cares celebrated the actual day of its "inception," August 10, ten years ago, we worshipped and thanked and jammed with Him who loves us unlike any other. Acoustic, unplugged. :-)

And I got to sing No Greater Love again, after what seems like ages - accompanied by no other than Kuya Ben S. Catering (a Spanish menu!) of course provided and presented with much love and personalized detail by C+C, which was born through and will always stand side-by-side with He Cares. For Christ Cares, if we haven't mentioned it enough yet :-)

No Greater Love
(One of my very favorite praise/worship songs, one of the very first I learned in the renewal, thanks to Momma Dave - miss you)

You loved me, when I was so unlovely
You sought me, when I was lost
You showed me how much You really loved me
When you bought me at the highest cost

There's no greater love than this
There's no greater love than this
That a man would give his life for a friend
There's no higher sacrifice, than a man should give his life
You have paid a precious price for me

You chose me, when I was so unworthy
You cleansed me, with Your own blood
You clothed me with righteousness and mercy
And You crowned me, with Your steadfast love

Talk's Not Cheap

I'm sorry, but I can talk your ear off. Honestly.

Sometimes, especially when I'm on a roll, I just keep going and going and going...take last night, when I outlasted two (considerably younger!) friends in conversation. And over more than a few beers, I should say. Yeah, those who know me well are familiar with my conversational stamina, with or without (preferably with) the alchol boost.

My style is less incessant than impassioned. Don't take my word for it, but as far as I'm familiar with my particular brand of communication, I try to steer far from the inanely trivial (unless it's the kind of trivia that's so inane that it actually becomes interesting or we're so stupidly inebriated that everything is inanely trivial). I'm big on dramatics as well, especially when launching into colorful narratives such as my conversion stories - caution to the shrinking violets and the easily surprised! But I'm also majorly into listening what you have to say -which is probably why I've continued to have so many marvelous conversations with old and new friends, again and again, until the new become "old," over the years. There's nothing quite like a good conversation - no matter how cute or hunky you may be, if you can't hold a decent dialogue, well, sorry very much hehe.

So shut up if you can't put up, and let me waste my saliva on someone more worthy (wait, that sounded a little kinky). I've been blessed to count some incredibly talented conversationalists among my friends, old and new, so in any relationship I should find myself entering into (ahem?), that quality is definitely a primordial consideration. :-)

So happy!!

I'm soooooo super happy...because of such a superbly happy birthday!! What more could anyone ask for: to celebrate yet another year of life surrounded by the people you love (and oh-so-many were they!!) and to be reminded how much God loves you through them. I'm still celebrating (figuratively and literally; just said bye-bye to some beloved friends who came by for the post-party clean up and wrap up) the day which was also the "birthday" of two new business ventures some partners and I just launched.

Thank you to my beloved family and friends who made turning 36 (yowza!) such a blissfully delightful experience - as in thank you TALAGAAAA! And thank you to my beloved dearest friends in heaven who saw to it that the evening was picture perfect, miraculously even in the midst of the storm - St. Ignatius my patron saint, St. Martha, St. Claire, St. Matthew-party-person-in-the-house, and of course the Lord my God, who enjoys a rocking party as much as I do!!! C+C and TWT! For His greater glory! My darlings, I love you all, and you know who you are!