Cutting My Hair Short...

After one year, finally I decided to cut my hair. Sometimes, girls try to shop or go to a salon to feel good. It is almost like a therapy, that having something new, may it be a dress, pair of shoes, or even hairstyle makes things better.

Last Saturday, after a very challenging week, hmm more like a year after my house arrest episode, I finally decided to cut my hair. And wow it felt sooo good. It was like saying goodbye to the one year of memories and experiences stuck with that bunch of hair. And yes, I did feel reborn.

This was the same length of hair I had when I was 13-16 years old. When my mother saw it, her first reaction was, “ohh I don’t like it”. But what the heck. J I simply didn’t care. The thought of somehow “looking different” than before was enough consolation. I was also strongly considering coloring it. But remembering how sensitive I am with make ups and some other cosmetic stuffs, I immediately changed my mind. But if ever I would color my hair, I will dye it red… haha.

Of course cutting one’s hair doesn’t make things better, but it made me feel better, so with enough confidence and refreshed morale, I think I am ready to go back to the battlefield again.

Discovering My Role Model In Life..

I have been thinking really hard these days. I’m trying to rationalize, who is my ultimate role model in life. And it was a difficult thing to understand, because there are so many people who came and left my life, leaving different kinds of impacts.

Just last night I watched a Polish movie about a person named Karol Wojtyla, the man who became Pope John Paul. He led a very difficult life, lost his family at an early age and lost most of his best friends during the war. He was an artist, a philosopher, an actor. He has so much love for his country and thought that continuously practicing Polish culture, using the Polish language, will keep the Polish nation alive.

He was the one who said that Nazis should be fought with love, because it is through love that these people will learn to surrender. If love is not used, Nazis will come in some other forms, in some other form of evil, but it is through love that a certain nation becomes strong and unified and able to survive challenges.

He entered priesthood because he realized that he loves God more than anything else in the world. He considers himself lucky for being able to discover his passion at an early age.
He taught me that there is nothing more important in the world but preservation of human dignity. And only those people who have so much faith can understand why there is suffering in the world. He says lucky are those who see the point of taking care of the sick, helping the weak and protecting life, because these are people who have so much faith in them that they learn to understand what human dignity is.

I see him as an amazing leader. It was not only because of his Catholic teachings, but his humility to accept things he cannot change, his courage to change the things he can change, and the wisdom to know the difference.

His call to universal prayer of peace, which called all the religions to pray for peace and belief that no religion abhors peace is a perfect example of taking love of humanity to a higher level. His humility to ask for forgiveness for all the sins committed by Christians to the world, the faults of the Church is another form of humility. His different visits to different countries is a concrete gesture of the Church’s willingness to reach out to people. His forgiving heart especially to the one who tried to assassinate him is the kind of heart I would like to have.

He was also very vocal in his positions towards forms of government that disrespect human dignity and does not protect women and children.

Indeed, it was through him that I realized that love is both patient and kind. I would like to learn to love like him. The kind of love not bound by borders, not bound by time. The kind of love that does not discriminate and does not ask for anything in return.

His love for his vocation makes him a very effective Pope, at least in my eyes. His acceptance of his own sickness of Parkinsons, was taken with so much grace and humility. His passion and intellect make him a prolific philosophical writer. Through his articles I learned to accept human suffering and ultimate protection of human dignity. Human dignity is not measured through your competence, for what you are or even who you are. Human dignity is something DUE to every human, for the very simple fact that God is present in each and everyone of us. We are all made in his image and likeness, and every person has the potential of being Christ-like to others.

I didn’t mean to make this entry sound so “religious”. It just so happened that the person I adore the most happens to be the former leader of my Church.

I would like to be a leader like John Paul. Someone with so much passion and humility in his heart. He lived a life which had meaning in its every second spent. He lived a life not for himself but for things that mattered to him.

I would like to summarize into 5 points the things that I remember John Paul with:

To live with so much passion is so amazing.
Love is stronger than death
To fight a certain evil, you need to fill yourself with love, because evil comes in different forms, but with love you become unified with your inner being.
Human dignity is beyond measure, every person is due of it.And only with so much faith, that you will understand the reason behind human suffering

"Only Spartan Women Give Birth to Real Men"

This is a totally random entry. I watched the movie 300 over and over and I still couldn’t stop myself from liking it. Well, I like Gerard Butler in the first place, (the guy who played King Leonidas). As an actor, I first noticed him in the movie Phantom of the Opera with his role as the Phantom. I also learned that he used to be a lawyer by profession before started acting, and his singing stint in Phantom of the Opera was his first professional singing attempt. For his role as King Leonidas, we worked out for 6 months to gain such physique and shaved off all his body hair.

I like Gerard as an actor. And I absolutely like his attitude in his job. It seems to me that he is the type of person who is an active learner. He is patient with his own growth, and he does not consider lack of knowledge as a factor. If he lacks something, he tries his best to acquire it. He seeks excellence in his own potential. That is why I’m such a great fan of him. For sure, if I see him, I will really ask for his autograph. This guy, definitely has intellectual humility.

Going back to the movie. The movie 300 is about the battle of the Spartans in Thermophelae. The whole point of Leonidas’ leadership was free men will refuse to be colonized. Gorgo, the queen told Leonidas to do away with the predictions of the oracle, but instead, as a King, think how free men will act in this kind of situation. With only 300 men on his side, (oh God, did I mention that they are soo good looking? :P), he went to the shores of Sparta and fought the Persians led by Xerxes.

The most amazing part of this movie was how Queen Gorgo was portrayed. She was highly respected by her husband and was constantly consulted about her opinion in government affairs of his husband. When the Persian envoy asked, “what gave this woman the right to join in the affairs of men”, her answer was, “Only Spartan women give birth to real men”. This line really left an impression in me.

Well in the film and history, Spartan men are portrayed as warriors. This line can be understood in such a way that since Spartan men are warriors, and warriorship is almost synonymous with manliness, then it makes Spartan women different.

But with how I interpret it, “Only Spartan women give birth to real men”, means at that point of history, only Spartan men understood the relevance of women in the society. They were strong women who had to accept their kids being separated from them at age of 3, and accept the fact that when their husbands leave, they may never see each other again. To be a mother and a wife was an honorable vocation. At least, that’s how I understood Gorgo’s line.

But in my humble opinion, every woman is worth respect. And real men will always recognize that.

Stormy Manila Welcomes Yoon Huat!

Gosh. When the 95% of MEtro Manila's electricity has been restored, my street was still part of the 5% trapped in darkness. You know how it sucks to be in that situation? It is terrible!! I'm afraid of the dark.. Well not because of ghosts. But I take so much pride in my 20-20 vision and getting stuck in the dark strains my eyes.

Yesterday, it rained real hard. Jaja and Iwere on our way to meet up with Chong. My favorite and first ever trainee as an AIESECER.

He was the same guy, who told me I ruined his life because he was held by military for a short while, and told me, I changed his life when he was about to leave the country.

He is turning 30 soon, and he was here at age 26. I was 20 then. It was really funny, that after so many years apart, our meeting yesterday seemed as if nothing has changed. He is still the same Chong that I know, only now with a cartoon like fashion, or more like fashion like Chuckie from the rugrats.

Now I am beginning to miss my home LC.. well, we have an LC date tomorrow!! So cool! Anyway, Chong, mabuhay and welcome back to the Philippines!!

I Survived Tropical Storm Milenyo..

I Survived Tropical Depression Milenyo..

The fact that I’m writing this entry means I am alive. I have survived the worst typhoon Manila has ever experienced in my entire 23 years of life. The epicenter of the storm actually moved to the Manila center.
Wednesday when it was announced that there was a storm coming on Thursday, September 28. We are used to this but it was a definitely a surprise when the storm moved its eye to Manila.

On Wednesday morning, I was in Makati, (the business center), to attend a meeting. It was in the street of Buendia when I experienced a downpour of rain- this was something normal. And suddenly the wind started to blow harder.

To my surprise I got stuck on the street when the water started rising to the knee level. Cars have attempted to cross the flooded block, some survived, some engines died. I was sort of in tears when I saw the water slowly coming in my car, and I just decided to give it a try, to cross the flood than wait for my car to be swallowed by water. I felt so sad, because I just had an overall car repair, and after this, I might have to spend again for fixing. I managed to cross the flood although I lost my brakes temporarily coz it got wet.

On my way to U.P. to pick up the birthday girl.

After my stint in Makati, I rushed back to Quezon City to pick up Ces-a friend of mine who was lucky to have her birthday on that dreadful day. I felt like I was inside a videogame trying to avoid falling debris, billboards, flying sheets of irons, tarpaulins, falling trees, and some other structures. It was a blackout since a lot of power lines have been damaged by the storm and it was really scary to watch trees getting uprooted.

I was in the U.P. compound from Ces’ house when a big acacia tree fell to the cars in front of us. The hood of the car before me was totally damaged and the trunk of the car before it was totally damaged as well. I really felt lucky, even though sad for the car ahead of me for a few seconds. I guess I was lucky because in my car, on board the birthday girl. J

Lunch time, we had a candlelit dinner, (because there was no power) in an Italian restaurant, with Jaja. The only customers there were us, the people there were gracious enough to sing happy birthday and serve us a sumptuous meal as we watch the flood water devour the street in front of us.

Trying to make the most out of the disastrous day, we tried looking for an alternate place to spend Ces’ birthday. (Both her parents are out of the country, her sister got stuck in the province, there was no electricity in her house, her house is so isolated)- thus she didn’t have a choice but to spend her birthday with me. Hehe. Ah, by the way, her boyfriend too was stuck in his home, since he was not allowed by the parents to leave the house. (In our culture this is normal, to be forbidden to leave the house in this kind of condition.) But Jaja and I were an exemption, we came from work, and we didn’t run out of excuses to stay out of the house, hehe.

We went to Eastwood, (an entertainment complex) and watched a movie. After that, we dropped Jaja home, then Ces and I went to my house, which was in Darkness. We celebrated her birthday again and in the evening we tried looking for an ice cream but have failed, thus we settled on buying a pudding.

Still…In Darkness

My district is still in the dark.. According to my neighbors, electricity will be back only by Monday, thus that means 6 days of darkness.. This is so sad! We don’t even have phone lines.
Things to do in the dark..
1) Nothing
2) Visit friends, bug them, sleep at their house.
3) Stay outside of the house as much as I can.
4) Pray
5) Imagine
6) Talk about horror stories.
7) Sleep real early.

But I seriously consider myself lucky still. Of all the trees that have fallen, I am still blessed it did not fall on my car. So many things were flying; the steel bars of the billboards, even flying babies. I am still lucky. But for the not so lucky ones, my heart goes to you.
The sun is up, it is a new day. Today is Saturday, and we will try to celebrate Ces’ birthday in a more decent way this time. J Let us also donate to those who have been victims of typhoon Milenyo.

MCP, MCP and another MCP

Three generations of AIESEC Philippines president. On the left is Tabbee, MCP 0607, Halmen MCP 0506, Cris MCP 0405.

Tabbee, you are always in my prayers. My love and support will always be with you.

Cris, I have forgiven you. I'm just very disappointed.. Let us work together, harder and better to achieve our goals.

One Boring Day at Work

Today is such an extremely boring day at work. The sun is extremely hot and I just feel so sleepy right now. This day is just plain extreme.Two of the student writers are with me now, trying to finish the layout of the publication...gosh, probably after 10 years we will be done. :)

The AIESEC Pajama party last Saturday was unbelievable.. WEll, I can't believe that people actually wore pajama during the party.. It was cool though. What else? Ah yeah, JM the manwhore a.k.a my AIESEC bestfriend is in Manila for work. So I guess, I will experience getting drunk this week. (sooo looking forward to it!).

Ok random news, . I am regularly playing badminton now with Coni at work, and for sure a month from now we can already beat the school’s varsity. Haha. My workmate is still in AIDS mode, (As If Doing Something mode), busying himself with you tube and mp3s. I’m just pissed that the IS people of my office disabled my sound card, thus my computer is totally mute. So sad for my workmates, they have to deal with my singing. And guess what my favorite song is at the moment.. I want it that way!! My workmate’s computer has been disabled for some functions such as MSN and yahoo, but he still has the luxury of listening to his favorite music of gospel songs.What else.. My neck up is so itchy. I guess it is the after effect of the shrimp that I had last night. Why do I always forget that I’m allergic to it?? Gosh, it really tastes so good.

Well, my work station has generally 3 functions; workplace, pantry and storage area. There’s coffee, thermos, cups and even paper plates and plastic spoons and forks are here. Students, find it convenient to put all their stuff in my workplace after functions.. where is justice??
Basically that's it for now. I am still acting as consultant for PBOX of UAP related with migrant workers. It is really interesting and one of a kind.

I had a videoke overload last night. It was great!! I was able to sing it's my life and living on a prayer!! I'm not really a bon jovi fan, (sssooo in denial haha!), but it's really refreshing to sing his songs whenever you are really tired and when you feel like shouting. Try it!!

Wow Philippines!! :)

These are all the many changes in my life..

Changes so far.


I'm working now as head of student affairs for the Entrepreneurs School of Asia, www.entrepreneur.edu.ph.

I'm still closely working with AIESEC. The SEE Program just ended. I will miss all the 14 trainees, they all rocked my work and world. It was a relearning, learning and unlearning experience for me.

I have other random jobs, but it has all been amazing.

In my job, I also got assigned as mentor for young adults and students almost my age. I am the youngest member of the mentoring team, and I am learning so many things about counseling. The students are really interesting.

Today, we encountered a problem at the library- some students use the library for hanging out thus we have to do something about it.. Hehehe.

The SEE program has also been the source of fruitful learning for me. It made me see places I have never been too. It made me see, taste, feel and understand poverty in dimensions I have never imagined before.

My AIESEC friends; Roy and Coni are also with ESA. They make my stay in ESA really enjoyable.